With each breath the two of them exchanged, Öde continued to step further. Bit by bit he worked to close the gap that had settled unfavorably between them. She still quivered; he could hear it in her voice, so he knew he had to move with caution. Thankful she was distracted enough with their conversation, still intent on healing him. HAH! What about him suggested he needed a cure? He was magnificent. He was powerful. He was a god.

He smiled, a minor growl vibrating between his teeth as they peeled away from his darkened lips. "Help!" he mimicked her, his eyes suddenly growing wide and fearful - the windows into his tortured soul, or so he would have her believe. "I'm trapped, help, help!" his coltish voice begged from the wolf's maw, it's movement not even necessary to speak. It would only help further the ruse that his cries came from within. Much like a popular fairytale Öde made it seem as if he were in a red hood, sitting within the gut of the big, bad, wolf.

In reality, I am the wolf, and I like it that way.

Before he could make his next move though, the mare proceeded to do something most peculiar. In this time of duress she reached down to grab a rock. Red eyes flashed with humor, wondering if she intended to bludgeon him with a pebble. She certainly wound up with an intent to do harm, and instinctively Öde felt himself flinch, but the rock went sailing harmlessly towards the water, skipping delicately over the surface.

She counted aloud as he did under his breath, jaws parted with something akin to awe. Was she a god as well, able to make stones fly rather than sink? He glanced to her suddenly as she challenged him, his chest unknowingly swelling with misplaced pride. "I can do much better than that," he snarled, not even bothering to put on his boyish act. Living up to her expectations he would not stand to be outdone by this game, but it didn't matter that he was young. Evil in all of its forms is easily beguiled by the sins it boasts. Pride, greed, anger... they all spur the demon and the boy to prove he could not be outdone; same as the devil loves his fiddle.

So she left, but he hardly noticed as he nosed around for some rocks. He thought on his first try, the perfect rock was the key, so he took his time finding a smooth and shiny one. With little grace he hurtled it to the side, but it sunk with a resounding plop. He huffed, then grabbed for another. It too, plopped. He puffed, then grabbed another, and another, and another. Plop, plop, plop!

A furious growl shook his chest and with little dignity the great wolf's head leaned down and ate hundreds of little pebbles. He shook them back and forth in his mouth, each one ricocheting with a hard sound off his fangs, while some flung out of his lips and scattered to the side or into the creek. When all had fallen uselessly from his mouth, Öde realized he had been played the fool. Likely she had a magic trick that let her fly stones, allowing her to escape!

"No!" he roared, leaping forward into a swift lope, his nose guiding him on her trail.

[I kinda left this open for you as to whether or not you want to continue with him finding her, or say she escaped because of the great head start :3 ]