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Post by oddsong on Oct 21, 2008 3:57:41 GMT -6
"No."
It took Thornberry an instant to slide off Smirk's back and position himself between Silent and Stormfire, facing the young chieftess. The poor elf behind him was trying to be brave perhaps, but even with Sunsong and Windsoft holding him his sending wavered like that - Thornberry dreaded to think what might happen closer to the mountain. Not just to Silent, but to all of them. Why was Stormfire so eager to ride into things?
"This isn't our rotten business. If there is something dangerous in that place, what do we care if someone finds it? Let the humans find it! If we don't come near it, it won't follow us. We are a tribe, chieftess," he leveled a look at Stormfire - using and meaning the honorrific, but reminding her of her duty, as well, "not a warband on a quest."
If the others would think him a coward, let them. A hunter was not a warrior - a hunter lived to provide, and if the prey was too strong, there was no shame in running. Even good magic sometimes made Thornberry uncomfortable; the thought of running headfirst into a nest of bad magic tasted as sour as sickness.
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Post by Viola on Oct 21, 2008 8:42:59 GMT -6
"I agree." Longdusk had rode forward and posted himself next to Thornberry. Continuing in sending, he looked to the vicinity of the woods, eyeing it suspiciously before turning back his gaze to Stormfire. A bit more tactical than Thornberry's blunt words, he said: *We're in search of a new holt. We can't discover everything that sparks attention. This place is soaked in magic and it doesn't feel well. Everyone can feel that. Stormfire, you really want to put the tribe in jeopardy just to discover something that pulls on you?*
He narrowed his eyes. *Tribe comes first, chieftess, and that pile of stones breathes danger.*
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Post by Kris on Oct 21, 2008 20:50:55 GMT -6
First Thornberry . . . then Longdusk? Stormfire looked from one to the other, hackles rising at the challenge from each. They're going to test you, her father's voice echoed in her head. Well, here it was.
And neither of them were Skystrike or Longtooth. They were solid hunters, good tribemates.
But Stormfire met their eyes without flinching.
"All right. I've heard you both." She stepped closer to them both, keeping them before her. "And I say that leaving this behind us would be as foolish as walking away from a pack of spear-carrying humans. Worse, because if it is bad magic, it's elf magic. Can't you feel it? It's not just there--it's calling us. Reaching out to us! It's a mess we don't dare leave alone, whether it hunts us or others. Because if it does go after others, how does that make us any different from humans who lay traps and dig staked pits for us and the pack? Aren't we also doing harm by doing nothing?"
She had no idea who heard her and scoffed, or who listened. But Stormfire had no intention of leaving that mountain unexplored. Even as part of her cringed at the thought of going near, she recoiled at the thought of anyone else encountering it.
"I'll never ask any of you to do what I won't or can't," she told Longdusk and Thornberry. "But I won't leave a threat at our backs just because it had nothing to do with us. And I won't leave a danger for others simply because we've nothing to do with them."
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Post by Anna on Oct 21, 2008 23:22:13 GMT -6
Icemark rested his hands on Silvercub's slim shoulders, looking between chieftess and the two hunters. He was concerned. Stormfire's reasoning was very sound. However, he was the father of a young cub and he had no wish to take her into danger when it wasn't absolutely necessary.
However, he couldn't let danger brew behind him when it could someday follow and put that same cub at risk, when it was stronger.
*The chieftess is right, but so are you two,* he finally sent, nudging his wolf closer to the trio. He glanced at Mist, wondering why the healer hadn't spoke yet. *We can't leave this pooling magic unexplored, but there's no need to risk those who are most vulnerable. Some can pull back and wait at our last camping grounds, while others go to see what danger there is in the fallen mountain.*
Windsoft frowned, but nodded. "Sunsong didn't unshape the dens this morning, so that location is safe. Icemark is right; Silent and Silvercub, with a few others, could go back and wait for us to rejoin them." She gave Longdusk and Thornberry very level looks. "Elfin magic is elfin responsibility, my friends. We dare not leave it festering if we can dispel it or keep it from harming others."
Sunsong patted Silent's thigh gently, then nudged Shade to go to Snowtreader's side. She didn't say anything, and her gaze was anxious as she looked between Longdusk and Thornberry, but her positioning made clear what she intended to do.
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Post by Kris on Oct 21, 2008 23:31:07 GMT -6
Stormfire drew a deep breath at Icemark's words, but her spirits rose as Sunsong came to stand beside Snowtreader. So, too, did Whirlwind, Tallspear, and Journey. Tallspear made a point of standing just behind her on the right-hand side, gripping his spears lightly as he met first Thornberry's, then Longdusk's eyes.
**No matter what you decide,** Tallspear lock-sent to her, **we're with you, chieftess.**
Stormfire looked again at Thornberry and Longdusk. "You two are good hunters and guards," she said at last. "Will you stay and guard those who return to the dens? Icemark is right. We cannot risk everyone--and many who stay will need protection."
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Post by Viola on Oct 22, 2008 10:55:05 GMT -6
Longdusk looked at Thornberry, feeling that they were cast aside like little pups. The young ones seemed to gather as one behind their new chieftess. Loyalty was one thing, but risking your life for something nobody knew was another.
*Sometimes you need to turn your back. You can't face everything and sometimes it's better to leave things be which are above your power. From bands of humans we can turn, we must turn, because we cannot slaughter every human band on our path. That's not who we are. This is something else. This is pure, twisted magic.*
He felt as if Stormfire wanted to prove herself, but lining them in the face of danger was hardly proof of good leadership.
~*~*~*~
Lightgaze bit her lip. *Stormfire... what you're basically saying is that you don't know what's out there, that it might be evil magic, and you want to split up the tribe because you want to investigate it?* She lightly shook her head. *Listen, I'm fully aware of the fact that I'm not the bravest of the bunch, but...*
She hesitated a bit, but made herself to go on. *We're so few already. Splitting up and leaving two of your finest hunters behind cripples your group, if you want to go to the mountain. What if something happens to you? We wouldn't even know what happened if we go back. We rode for about a day. We'll be well out of sending range if we go back to the dens Sunsong shaped this morning and we're moons away from the old holt.*
She turned to Windsoft. *I agree partly with you, Windsoft. Elfin magic is elfin responsibilties, but this is strong magic. We all feel it. What kind of strong magic users do we have to counter anything shaped magically? Our swords, arrows and spears? It might not even be something we can actually fight.*
~*~*~*~
*But we can only find out when we approach it,* Firecat told her. *If we don't know what we face we don't even stand a chance. You can't tell me that hunters aren't cautious. Because we are.* She snorted at Longdusk's remark. To her it seemed he was acting like a coward.
*This might be pure elf magic, but we have something our pureblooded ancestors had not, and that is wolfblood. We are faster, our senses are better, and we are more cautious. I think we can face it.*
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Post by oddsong on Oct 22, 2008 15:37:39 GMT -6
Catching Longdusk's gaze, Thornberry clicked his teeth and lock-sent a wordless impression, agreement and mutual strengthening. Stormfire's words, and Windsoft's backing, went clear over the hunter's head. Elfin responsibility? To whom? Theirs was not the task of safeguarding the lives of bear cubs and deer young and human spawn. His ears twitched irritably. She was trying to prove something, he thought - no, worse. She was drawn to that wretched place, and not her alone.
He was not. Firecat had a point in a sense - the wolfblood, strong in him, resisted the sense of the magic and its whispering. It told him to stay far, far away. To take the pack in a different direction entirely and never return.
He was not leader of this pack and didn't mean to become that.
"Maybe we can, but why?" he snapped again. "For whose sake? I don't care about holding myself better than the humans, I care about surviving. We didn't set this trap that it's our place to tear it down." A trap, yes, it could be... elves lured in with elfin magic, who knew what beast of magic-gone-bad could be lurking within in, waiting for them like a spider in its web. "Don't lead us into an open maw on the faint hope we can stab what's inside."
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Post by Anna on Oct 24, 2008 10:42:55 GMT -6
**Unless you two plan to challenge for the chief’s lock, show throat and back off. You know better than to confront a new alpha still establishing authority.** Mist advised calmly. **You objected, she listened, and then revised her plan. She even gave you a choice. Sureshot would not have. He’d have sent you whimpering back to the holt with your tail between your legs. You have the luxury of seeing no further than the immediate tribe. She doesn’t, so either follow her to face the danger or guard those she sends back to safety. The choice she left to you, you’ll note.**
Mist gave the two a stern look, then turned his ice-blue gaze to Stormfire. He gave no sign of the lock-sending he’d done to Thornberry and Longdusk. Stormfire didn’t need to know about it. Perhaps it undermined her authority a little bit, but it was either that or knock the two skulls together. They were so intent on what they thought and wanted they weren’t listening to the cub, nor acknowledging the fact that she had listened to them, and heeded their protest as much as she could.
Cubs. All of them. Even those that were old enough to know better.
“The concern appears to be that you itend to go howling into the very jaws of the monster, Chieftess,” he said mildly. “You’re clever, so I doubt very much that’s your intent.”
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Post by Kris on Oct 25, 2008 1:40:57 GMT -6
Stormfire glanced from Lightgaze to Thornberry to Longdusk to Firecat, and then back to Mist. Father, I wish--and she stopped. It wasn't Sureshot's authority she wanted. Sureshot's way was to remind, quietly, that he was chief, and then to slap skulls if he didn't get the result he wanted.
Waterdance, Quickflight . . . it's you I need, more than ever. Your quiet strength, your wisdom; let both flow stronger in me now.
"I've no intention of splitting the tribe up, Lightgaze," she said. "I'm taking scouts; that's all. We're not going to challenge anything that's there. We're going to see what's at that mountain, make sure it's safe, and then come back. If it's safe, we'll den there and rest for a few nights. If not, we'll stay in the last den Sunsong shaped for us.
"Longdusk, Thornberry, you seem to think I'm going to go raging in, spears at the ready. Do I look like a maddened bear to you? It'd be a stupid thing to do, and against the Way. I'm going because I want to make sure that what I'm feeling, which is what you're feeling, isn't something that'll follow us or anyone else. And because it's dangerous, I'm only asking those who want to, to follow me there. I call no one coward who won't go. You have to decide what's right for you.
"And, Mist . . ." Stormfire swallowed as she met the Healer's gaze. She wasn't sure what to make of his demeanor; her instincts shouted that he was behind her, loyal, faithful, even as she suspected him of mocking her. She raised her chin, the better to look him in the eye. "You should stay here," she said. "I'll be back, but until I return, you'll speak for me."
She looked around at her tribemates. Some looked at her in approval, but the rest clearly thought she was barking mad. I'm not sure I'm all that sane either, Stormfire thought wryly. But the pull from the mountain would drive her out of her wits; that much, she knew. Leaving it behind would never be a choice; she would have to face it, or kill herself trying to forget it.
And if there was something or someone there who could hurt her tribe, Stormfire intended to leave it a lot less lively.
"I've got Windsoft, Tallspear, Whirlwind, and Firecat," she announced, ignoring Sunsong's sudden gasp. The treeshaper needed to rest, and Stormfire resolved to see to it if she had to club her sunny-natured friend. "Who else?"
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Post by Anna on Oct 25, 2008 10:22:11 GMT -6
"Me," Oakstaff said promptly, then frowned at Stormfire. She should have known that without him having to volunteer. He followed his chief, wherever she went.
Mist watched Stormfire and his expression, now, was completely enigmatic. After scolding Thornberry and Longdusk, he couldn't very well question her now but he didn't like this. He had no wish to stand in for her as chief, but more - she was heading towards the danger while the others headed away. She was more likely to need his healing than the others. He wanted to snarl at her and ignore her command...
...and that very urge was the reason he didn't say anything. That pull was on his elfin senses. The danger wakened the wolf. He could maintain his balance between them, but it would be hard when stressed so. He'd do as Stormfire ordered and simply be ready should they sense any harm befalling their tribemates.
Windsoft simply nodded at Stormfire's decision, then glanced towards Journey. She knew what choice her son would make and while it worried her, it was his right. At least she'd be there, too, and not back with the others, waiting.
Sunsong bit her lip and watched Stormfire with wide eyes. Stormfire had turned her away, but had also explained it. She was taking scouts - and Sunsong was no scout. Still, she wanted to go and see what was in the mountain. What elfin lure was being cast at them and why?
But she was no scout. There would be no need for a plantshaper, and therefore she would add nothing to the party, but be one more thing they'd have to look out for and take care of. Sunsong sighed, reached out and patted Stormfire's arm, then urged Shade to step away from the group gathering around Stormfire and join Icemark.
"She's not shunning you," Icemark said softly, reaching out to take her hand as she got closer.
"I know," Sunsong murmurred. "I'm not a fighter. I don't scout. I wouldn't be any help to her - but I might be some to you and Mist." She gave the gatherer a smile - not as bright and sunny as her usual, but an honest smile still - and clasped his hand in return. "Mostly our trails have gone together, Stormfire and I. Sometimes they diverge, but they always come back together."
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