Day 37: Hostility

Emyri held Leone tight, supporting his weight and staring up with wide eyes as the bear girl rose up from behind them, larger than life itself. Well, from her perspective as she was on her knees, to Emyri this woman looked much bigger than your average human in scale, definitely fitting for a snow bear. How could they have missed it so close by, she asked herself.

"GGGGRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-Aaack! Cough cough! Ouch!" The Grizzly Girl grimaced in pain, twitching and turning herself in circles like a dog chasing after its tail. She bonked her head into another tree, reviving that furious snarl as her eyes flared up and she turned to see the Nekomata litter shaking in fear. Cyri glanced at her daughter who held the hunter in her arms, the rest of the cats intimidated and paralyzed.

"Girls, up high! Help the little one's who can't climb yet!" Cyri was the first to react, looking back to her people and taking command. Zimi helped as well as numerous other Nekomatas as they scooped up the kids and helped them climb up one after the other. Emyri looked around and saw her mother giving her a look. Nodding, she helped lift Leone up on his feet when the Grizzly set her eyes on them.

"Stop! Hunting! Meeeee!!" She yelled before charging forward on all fours. Fortunately these cats have quick reflexes and jumped out of the way, although Emyri noticed she was not targeting anyone specifically. Zimi caught up and helped her settle Leone to rest against a tree temporarily, hissing as she noticed the blood on her paw. Her heart started to race when she realized whose blood it was.

"Eeeeeeeeeee!" One girl cried out as she slipped and sunk several feet from her grip on the tree, scratching herself with splinters. The Grizzly stood up on her legs and began ferociously scraping her backside onto it, which caused it to shake. Several Nekomatas panicked and jumped to a safer branch, with a few reaching down to help the slippery girl climb back up. The Grizzly was huffing and pouting, baring her teeth when a voice grabbed her attention.

"Hey you! See something you like?" Cyri called out, swinging her hips in a mocking manner.

"Grrr it itches!" Her voice bellowed, leaving the Head Mother puzzled and without a comeback. "It hurts!"

Cyri stepped back when the bear settled back on all fours, crushing the snow and creating a slight grumble in the earth. Emyri gasped when the bear began to charge forward, straight for her mother!

"Leave me alllooooooone!" The Grizzly shouted, crashing from tree to tree with Cyri struggling to pick up speed with her paws sinking under the snow. Climbing and leaping from tree to tree as fast as she could, Emyri managed to pounce after her mother, knocking her sideways and sending her away from the Grizzly's charge.

Zimi bit her lip, struggling to calm down as she glanced at Leone's injury. He was still conscious but the looks of anguish on his face made it clear he wouldn't be able to fight this time. Nor should he, she would be against the idea even if he is the best bet to survive this. His back was not looking good, recalling her mother's teachings she reached for his hatchet and placed the wooden handle in his face.

"Bite on this." He did so, to which she placed both paws on his wounds. "I'm sorry but this will hurt a lot so just bare with it."

Adding pressure to the wounds would help reduce blood loss and hopefully encourage clotting at a quicker rate. The cuts were deep but not too thick thankfully, she reached for his flask of water to wash off some of the blood on him. He groaned badly but shook his head when she asked if he was still with her. Good, because this was killing her too.

"Gods, your back isn't looking good." She said, her eyes drifting away as she saw the Grizzly using another tree as her back scratcher. "Wait..."

She helped him walk back to his mare before inspecting the bags the horse carried, retrieving a large leaf that covered her paw. No herbs, they won't work on him. Acting fast, she placed the leaf over his wound, covering most of it as the cuts covered a large part of his back. Taking his belt off, she wrapped it over his chest to keep the leaf in place.

"Stay here and keep this thing tight!" He nodded as she hurried back to see her family still in trouble, Emyri barely managing to evade those large paws as the Grizzly clumsily collapsed head first into the snow. Something was shining under the early sun for a second, it was quick but enough for them to notice.

"Emyri!"

"Yea, I see it!" She stepped back and bent her legs, breathing in and readying to pounce as the Grizzly began to stand up once more. Leaping up, she miscounted in her head and jumped too late, meeting the heavy slap from a white furred paw which sent the girl crashing against another tree.

"Emyri!" Cyri cried out before the Grizzly focused on her. With a furious snare, she bared her teeth back at the beast as her tails rose up. "That's it, you've made your biggest mistake yet!"

"HUNGRYYYYYYYY!!!!" Shouted the Grizzly as she charged.

"Bite me!" Cyri responded, ducking below the Grizzly's breasts and cutting her arm, wincing at the resistance she felt against her claws.

Now finding herself beneath the bear, the Nekomata did her best to evade each incoming paw as the Grizzly scamped and moved around, trying her best to find her attacker. Losing her breath, Cyri found her tails getting caught before she was pulled away by the bear, pinning her down with no way to escape now. Cyri screamed back into her face despite this, which to her surprise had shocked the Grizzly and left it dumbfounded. Rather, it was making a weird contorted face before yelping and twisting around, crashing on her side with Zimi rolling off her back.

Cyri sat up and watched Zimi shaked her dizziness away with a large arrow held between her teeth. Confused, both girls watched as the bear sighed in relief and rolled on her back, smiling and hissing in excitement.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaahhh, so good. The cold, it feels so soothing."

"What?" Cyri shouted, with Zimi spitting the arrow out.

"She had it stuck to her back, I figured she was scratching her back hard for a reason. Besides, her words made more sense when you think of it."

Cyri looked around before running to her daughter's side as the other cat girls slowly descended down to meet them. The Grizzly was wagging her paws around, beaming and making a snow angel out of her eight foot figure. Zimi knelt down to watch her friend carefully analyzing her body.

"Any cuts, wounds?"

"Nothing but a hurt back." Emyri answered with a closed eye. Her mother booped her on the head and huffed.

"You nearly killed me thinking you were hurt, shame shame shame!"

"Hurt... Leone!" She gasped, hurrying up to her feet and running off. Zimi ran after her as they found him with his mare nuzzling his hair and a familiar pair of kittens hugging his sides.

One looked over at her spoke out. "His eyes are closed, will he be okay?"

Emyri felt her heart begin to rise, a rising flood forming into her eyes as she fell on her knees and hugged Leone tight. Her mother held a paw onto her shoulder as the other girls began to form a crowd.

"Girls, we have a friend in pain. Hold him carefully, we need to hurry back."

Emyri sniffed as her nose began to get runny, closing her jade green eyes and facing the other way. Zimi held her paw, nodding when she looked up before touching her forehead against hers, holding it for a brief moment. Parting away, Emyri rubbed her eyes and sucked in her breath as she stood back on her feet.

"O-Okay, let's go."