[I know I can't make this thread private, but we cleared this thread with Time :) . We'd prefer no one join please! @Grusha ]

"Come along seestra," Tae called playfully over her shoulder, as if her larger twin weren't obviously following along behind her.

Both Mal and Hel happily stalked ahead, sniffing and snapping at the things that came across their paths. Tae's excitement was infectious, and the canines before her were showing obvious signs of enthusiasm. The mandible-marked filly's pale eyes were alight with interest and intrigue as she and Grusha moved easily across the lands. They were practicing their patrolling, or at least that's what Tae had told their Father. And that wasn't entirely untrue, either. After all, this wasa sort of patrol. 

They just weren't looking for the usual things that the herd did while on patrols. They weren't looking for threats or problems. Instead, the girls were looking for bones.

"The dead in the Throat dry up so fast and their bones become brittle because of the heat. What we need is a place where the ground stays moist and cool. A place like the Woods, but more heavily travelled..A place like-" Tae's glistening pale gaze locked onto that of her large sibling, as she grinned wolfishly. "-a place like the Hidden Falls. Only we'll have to stay hidden while we're there."

The girl shot a mental nudge to both Mal and Hel, who suddenly ceased their panting and whining and grew silent. Tae was thinking of all the things that they could build if only the bones that they found were stronger. Perhaps even more flexible? Her mind reeled at the possibilities, and she found her grin growing even larger. 

"Come seestra, let us see what there is to find."

 

Tae nodded decisively. She hadn't heard anything of the monster since she and Grusha had last encountered it. Surely if someone else had killed it, they would have heard? Felling a monster was no small feat and helovians loved to brag...No, the mandible marked filly was confident that the monster was still alive and well, lurking out there somewhere, just waiting for them.

"He is probably just licking his wounds and waiting to retaliate." A grin parted Tae's dark lips. "And we will be ready, won't we seestra? Ready to rid the world of him and to put his bones to good use. A small ear flicked and Tae considered her twin's question. "Well, they don't call it the Hidden Falls for nothing. If it is here, we'll find it."

Tae looked ahead, barking mental orders to the two black canines ahead. You two keep a look out. We are not here for rodents or birds, we are here for bones. Tae paused thoughtfully, tossing a glance over her shoulder to her twin with a sly wolfish smile. Or monster bait . Mal and Hel growled in response, lowering their noses to the ground and proceeding forward diligently. 

Tae's pale eyes scoured the landscape. She locked onto a deer path that looked seldom used and her grin widened. "This way seestra. Let us see what lays in the heart of the Hidden Falls."

The brush was thick, but Tae's sleek body pressed through the branches that tried to hold her back easily. Mal and Hel raced ahead, noses down, sniffing intently for signs that bones might be buried near by. Eventually, the path widened slightly, and, as they continued down it, it widened more, breaking into a small clearing. Tae halted, her body breaking into ghostly smoke for a moment as her eyes narrowed, surveying the area. 

"Do you see anyone?" She whispered, both to her companions as well as to her twin. Across the field was a hut made of stone with a pool of water in a trench out front. Other than that, the area appeared to be well-used, but currently vacant. 

 

Tae bristled as Nashoba ran towards the earthen contraption. As excitement wafted through her small body, she felt her magic take hold and wisp away her form even further, until there was nothing but a ghost standing beside its semi-skeletal sister. Either there would be someone in that hut, or there wouldn't. If there was then perhaps she and Grusha would finally find the monster-bait that they had been looking for. There were two fillies and three hounds in the clearing - if someone was in that hut and hadn't come out yet, either they were dumb and deaf, or cowardly. Regardless of which, they would make good bait.

And if there wasn't anyone in the hut?

Well that just made their hunting all the easier.

Mal and Hel stood sentinel just a few meters behind Nashoba, ready to lend their assistance should the wolf indicate that there was anyone inside. However as the black exited clearly indicating that there was no one inside, the other two jumped to their paws. Immediately their noses lowered and they began to trace intricate patterns on the ground, creating a grid-like pattern between themselves to ensure that no inch went unsniffed.

Nobodyth home. Tae grinned. "Let's see what has been left behind..."

Tae, who trusted in the abilities of her companions completely, moved behind them like a general watching her men scour the battlefield. Suddenly Mal broke out of his grid and lurched forward a few feet, nose down but tail wagging decisively.

What have you found? Tae inquired as Hel moved to join his smaller counterpart. Neither the hellhound or the wolf replied. Instead, they trotted over to where a lump of earth curiously was protruding from the rest of the earth.

"What is it?" Tae asked out loud now, her tone excited but also authoritarian. >>Warm. Smell like ... blood<< Came the response. Tae's mandible-marked skull turned towards Grusha with a grin. "It seems they've found something, seestra." She crooned excitedly, prancing forward to investigate what the canines had unsurfaced.

Mal and Hel began to dig (with Nashoba's help (?)). This is what they found: bones, small and hardly formed with flesh decomposing around them, loosely holding them together in the form of a young foal, and a stone-statue of a wing and horned horse, sprinkled generously with blood that still glistened acidly; the magic of the God still pulsing through it.

"Those aren't bones." Tae observed with disappointment, leaning back on her haunches and staring disapprovingly down at the canines. 

 

Tae's disappointment wavered as Grusha approached. The younger twin who often considered herself to be the leader while Grusha was the muscle, felt as though she was responsible for the fact that this grave wasn't the epic bone-cache that she had expected. That Grusha thought she could find a use for the pitiful sack of not-yet-formed bones made Tae breathe a sigh of relief. "True. Maybe we can use them to pierce things..If they were sharpened enough.." Both of the girls had noticed their Father's piercing but he had never let on how it was done, or even when. There weren't many around with their noses pierced - or anywhere else for that matter - and so the girls were left to devise a method for getting their own piercings, themselves. 

Perhaps that was what they could use the tiny bones for. And once that was done, having a collection of needle-sharpened bones might be useful in and of itself. Getting hit with a sharpened bone spike was one thing, but a hundred tiny puncture wounds? Now that was interesting..

"Do you think that statue is meant to serve as some sort of ... protection?" Tae mused, looking at the god-blood covered stone relic now discarded on the dirt. 

Having dug up the grave, Mal and Hel had trotted off a few paces, resuming the grid-like search that they had initially begun. After only a few moments however, both canines stopped apruptly, hackles raised. Their ears were perked forward, and they moved towards Nashoba with their teeth bared, though obviously not at their black cousin. Hel growled and began to inch forward, his eyes intent on something moving just past the circumference of the trees. What was it? A deer? A moose? The hellhound sniffed the breeze and edged forward once again. With three of them it didn't much matter what the creature was. He knew that they could take it.