Escape

Luca continued to be savaged and eaten, over and over again. He tried to fight back, managing to strangle a wolf unconscious but he was quickly killed by another as he tried to finish it off.

He falls down in the middle of the pit after come back to life yet another time, he looks at Le'du's body and tears up when he sees most of the flesh stripped from the carcass, leaving only the skeleton. A wolf bites him and he gets up to try and retreat, getting dragged back to the floor by another, causing him to land on Le'du's bones and breaking a couple.

Luca looks down and sees that one of his friend's thigh bones had snapped and created a sharp point which had jabbed him in the side, drawing blood. He groans in pain and pulls it out as a wolf continues to rip and tear at his leg, in a fit of indignant anger he uses the bone and stabs at the wolf, penetrating its neck and killing it.

...

Luca examines the bone momentarily, mentally thanking Le'du for helping him yet again as he stabbed at another wolf that attempts to approach him. This continues until the wolves get organised and all rush at him, pinning him to the floor and tearing out his throat as he shouts in pain...

However, when he returns to life he grabs the bone and starts stabbing away again, taking out all his frustration, his anger, his fury on these mindless beasts.

Many deaths later Luca is panting heavily while resting atop a large amount of wolf corpses, their dimming warmth and blood matted fur providing an adequate seat fora temporary rest. Luca himself shakes and shudders as the situation finally hits him, his time being tortured, being forced to watch the same be done to Le'du, being dropped into this pit of hell.

Tears stream down his face as he softly whimpers at how much he'd suffered, the memories of it still clear and fresh in his mind. The pain of being torn apart, it was all too much for the young boy to handle.

A young wolf enters through one of the small entrances and Luca subconsciously stabs it in the throat, ending its life quickly. He looks down at the corpse and realises that this wasn't all of the wolves and he needed to leave swiftly, this could very well be his only chance as the conditions for his escape were perfect.

He gets up and limps slightly, one of the last remaining wolves had bitten his leg, making it difficult to walk on it. Regardless he crouches down and limps through one of the short doorways while still tightly gripping Le'du's leg bone.

After a while he manages to leave the structure, the night sky glaring back at him with thousands of brightly lit stars and a full moon. He ducks low to conceal himself from the moonlight as four Karaskir tribesman walk past.

"That kid has finally died, thought I would never get to sleep tonight!" one growls.

"Atleast he put up a fight, most do not last this long, I am sure our wolves will come out stronger from the struggle." another adds.

Luca grits his teeth but doesn't make a sound, there was a time for vengeance but now wasn't it. If they found him still alive his secret would surely be discovered, untold agony awaited him if that happened.

He creeps low and locates the treeline facing the direction of the Sua'jiki tribe, having remembered it from earlier. Luckily the huts were spread out enough that he was able to slowly make his way past them.

Halfway to the treeline, Luca spots the tent of Murin, the man he despised most in this world. He struggles with himself at whether or not it would be worth the risk to try and kill him, he'd be sleeping by now and this might be the only chance for revenge...

He twitches slightly at remembering his scalp being cut off and worn by the sick bastard, as much as he would like to kill them... He didn't think he could, the fear of the man was implanted deep and he shook at the thought of him.

Luca shakes his head and quietly walks past, deciding he'd get his chance someday. For now getting back home would be the best course of action.

He slips past the last patrol blocking his way to freedom, barely avoiding getting caught before pushing his way into the foliage, a place that made him feel incredibly safe despite it's close vicinity to the monstrous Karaskir.

Once he was around a mile away from the village he started quickening his pace, not minding the sound his stumbling steps made. He was driven by a singular goal, escaping the Karaskir at all cost, they'd have noticed the lack of their wolves presence by now and checked the Kennel, by extension finding all of the beast's corpses.

He had no idea how long he'd been limping but the sun was already beginning to rise by the time he got back into familiar territory.

"Lu!" a familiar voice shouts, causing his exhaustion to finally affect him. He drops to the ground heavily while quick footsteps rush to him...

"Ina?" He asks hopefully, he feels someone gently lifting his head and he sees her face. Her eyes are red and moist, seems as though she'd been crying a lot. He raises his hand and brushes the back of it against her cheek, only now realising she's wearing his bearskin. "You came looking for me?" he asks, feeling a complicated mixture of powerful emotions.

She nods and cups his hand between her own, "I had to! I could not bear to leave you alone." she says absolutely.

Luca pushes himself into a seated position while tears slide down his cheeks, this time not in pain, anger, or despair, but gratitude. "T-they tortured us, killed Cuth'lu... KILLED Le'du!" he says between heavy breathes.

Her expression turns sombre as she tries to comfort him with a hug, Luca taking this as a lifeline and reciprocating as tightly as his arms could muster. "We will hold a funeral for them, then, we will get revenge. I promise." she whispers quietly into his ear.

Luca gives a shuddering nod as slowly gets to his feet with her assistance, Sarr'ina wrapping them both in the bearskin to keep them warm in the night as they slowly make their way back to the village.