Sheepeater Cliff i knew but i forgot

the long wolf-trot carried him from the plateau. some tension had settled there, betwixt the ruby and the willow, though he hoped it would pass. 'twas not something that needed to be fed, not with atticus lying damaged in the den of the woman who would have been wife to him, mother to his children. he pitied blue willow for many reasons, though taltos was tactful enough to keep such sentiments to himself.

the day's noon found the delta perched upon the stone ridges of a cliff riddled with sheep odor. he had eaten before departing his den, yet it stirred the primality within him all the same. glancing upward, lasher began to climb higher, disdaining the danger of his decision, a low, amused hum thrumming in his throat.

When Osprey discovered a familiar scent trail beyond the borders of the plateau, she licked her lips thoughtfully and decided to track down its source: Lasher. His scent led her due southeast, parallel to the river. She hugged against the foothills, then began to climb them when the Delta's trail led her there. Eventually, she spotted him perched atop a cliff jutting overhead and paused, one paw raised off the ground and her head thrown back at a severe angle.

She opened her mouth to call out to him when Lasher turned away from the ledge and began to climb higher. "Hey! What're you doin' up there?" she shouted, blinking her two-toned eyes against the brightness of the Caribbean blue skies. Even as she spoke, she scrambled to climb, hoping to catch up with him before he lost her.

thanks for joining!

he did not know why he climbed, only that it seemed to satisfy a deeper longing within him, a void thus far unfulfilled. and though it was foolhardy, the celt no mountain creature, he hauled himself ever higher, pausing only to let tongue loll in a pant as his toes gripped the edge of of a tiny stone shelf. it was then that he heard a voice, but distant as it was, lasher did not hear its words. murkwater eyes narrowed; the slim form of a dark young wolf had darted toward the foot of the cliff.

fanacht ann! the delta called down to what he supposed were one of the children, come to follow him upon the slopes. a great anxiety seized taltos; he should not have clambered so high. thus, he began to make his way back to the safety of the earlier cliff in an ungainly fashion, hoping to deter his companion from imitating his dangerous decision. such was his distress that lasher did not realize he had spoken the tongue of the glen, sliding unbidden into it.

Osprey didn't know what to make of the shouted warning. She didn't know the words, though she understood the tone well. She paused, watching as Lasher turned and began picking his way down toward her. Figuring he meant to come down to meet her, she ambled onto a small ledge and deliberated whether to stay put and wait for him to come to her or whether she should meet him in the middle.

Weighing his tone against her sense of adventure, Osprey Jr. decided to climb up a bit further. "I'm gonna go there!" she yelled up to him, pointing her ebony snout at another outcropping perhaps thirty feet above her current position and perhaps fifty feet below him. Without waiting for a response, she began to climb again.

hii

in true osprey fashion, she did not heed him, but began to clamber higher, despite his tone. the man grit his teeth and continued to let himself down the outcropping, intending to speak coolly to the girl for her misbehavior, and as his backfeet touched down upon an outcropping not far from her intended point, lasher clutched desperately at its edge and let his murkwater eyes bore down upon her traveling form.

enough! the delta called down to her, his tone more forceful with these words. it is not safe, osprey junior. go back. if she had a sense of urgency, she would heed his warning.

:D

She kept climbing up until Lasher rebuked her, his words and tone unmistakable this time. She froze and looked up at him, then shouted, "You don't have to yell, jeez!" All the same, young Osprey did as she was told, albeit with a loud and exasperated flapping of her lips as she she dramatically flopped to her bottom.

As the pack's sub-leader continued making his way down to her, the child jabbered at him, sassing him but with a jokey glimmer in her two-toned eyes. "If you want me to listen to you, you should speak in my language, y'know. How'm I supposed to know what you said? What the heck does... fan knocked ann mean?"

junior halted, thankfully, and lasher dropped down to his previous ledge. had he been another beast, perhaps he might have scruffed the child for her insubordination, but there was a soft spot in the creature's heart for the young ones of the plateau. a vague expression of amusement passed across his features as she settled herself dramatically, and he drew to her side. it means 'stay there' in my language. sometimes when i am quite upset, my tongue forgets what it is we speak commonly.

he eyed junior presently with a mixture of affection and trepidation. what would you have done if you had fallen, fearless one?

"Well," Junior answered, "that sounds like your tongue's problem, not mine." Despite the petulant choice of words, she smiled at Lasher to show she didn't really mean any disrespect by that. She though she had a fair point, though.

"Gone splat, I guess," she replied cheekily, eyes following him as he joined her. "I wasn't going to fall," she added more sincerely. "Just 'cause I'm young doesn't make me stupid. I knew what I was doing. Anyway, I have sticky feet, like a spider, so I cling to any surface I touch," she fibbed, giving Lasher a playfully challenging look.

he liked her cheekiness; out of the four young ones, junior reminded lasher most of peregrine. he smiled as she spoke, giving her a genuine nod of agreement. i do not think you stupid because you are young, simply somewhat reckless, but we are all reckless in one way or another. he glanced to the cliffs above them, then returned his attentions to the girl.

what was it you were doing out here? taltos asked suddenly, a cheeky glow in his eyes to reflect her own. if she did not wish to tell him, that was all right; he would not press her. the child was old enough to roam alone and guard her own secrets.

He wanted to know why she was out here and Junior promptly replied, "I was following you. I wanted to talk to you, I guess, 'cause you're one of my dad's special friends." And that made something pop into her head and, nearly as quickly, out of her mouth: "Why was my dad peeing on your head that one day? When the sun went away?"

lol

junior was given a slow blink, mild fear dawning briefly in his eyes. yet it was not fear of the unknown, but rather how to phrase such things to the little osprey, in such a way that she did not immediately run to peregrine with a butchered version that would insinuate the delta's guilt in the ruination of her mental innocence. you will not like what i have to say, dear junior, but that is a question better suited for your father.

having no knowledge of junior's wisdom when it came to carnal activity and reproduction, lasher wanted lastly to confuse her with alternate versions of such sport; if she had not yet received the quintessential lesson from her father or her aunt, how could he find himself worthy of informing her? a rueful expression floated into existence upon his face. this is a branch of a talk that is not mine to give you.

This wasn't the first time she'd been stonewalled (nor would it be the last), yet Junior wasn't going to accept Lasher's answer at face value. "Why? I'm asking you 'cause you were there and it's about you!" she counted, furrowing her brow at him, one corner of her mouth twitching downward. She grunted in frustration, realizing he was unlikely to budge after feeding her that particular line.

"First you yell at me, then you won't answer my question. What's so special about you then?" the youngster asked in a catty voice. "Will you at least explore with me? Or are you gonna insist I can't climb?" she wondered querulously.

he half-expected the fiery words, but true to form, he was less inclined to speak of what had transpired during that odd night between himself and peregrine. instead, his gaze cooled somewhat, and he regarded her with the hint of a disapproving frown tugging at the edges of his mouth. junior, the man spoke, and his tone was firm. i am not the one to ask. this is a conversation which you must have with your father, and you must accept that.

to her commentary upon his 'special' role, taltos gave no response, but his eyes warmed once more to the thought of exploring. if you stay with me, and heed me if i say we must turn back, we can attempt to climb as high as the mountain sheep, he invited, wondering if she would accept his stipulations.

"Fine," Junior answered just as coolly, "I will ask my dad why he put his weiner on your forehead." Her words contained the promise of a belligerent youth... though, in truth, she was likely to forget all about it within the hour.

Especially since Lasher seemed open to the idea of a joint climbing session. "I'm an Outrider, you know," she told him. Technically, she was an Outrider-in-training, yet if she was making the effort, what was the difference? The point was that she was an adventurer and explorer at heart and by trade.

"We gonna eat one of them while we're up there?" she asked hopefully as she readied herself to ascend.

i do. it is a good role for you, he answered, placing paws against the rock face and levering himself up several feet. he was greatly amused by junior's 'weiner' comment, but decided not to laugh at it, lest he encourage such words or offend her.

it is my intention. when i was very high up, i spotted a couple of lambs. of course you know how nimble sheep can be, but perhaps we will earn our mountain legs today. tossing the girl a mischievous smirk, taltos threw himself into the business of climbing, knowing she would be alongside him.

Hunting wasn't her favorite sport (perhaps to her father's disappointment), yet to be invited to come along was exciting for the youth, especially considering it was just the two of them. Wordlessly, Junior threw all her energy into the climb, grunting occasionally with exertion but otherwise maintaining a poker face. It was definitely a challenge, testing her balance and her strength, yet Junior met it enthusiastically and managed to keep pace with the adult.

the young osprey kept fine pace with the glen-man, and he smiled briefly to himself as they climbed. at length, a thin, long ledge became reachable; lasher gestured that they should pause here, to regain their bearings. as he perched precariously upon the stone lip, he gazed down with dizzy joy at the ground far below them, and grinned brightly at the young outrider.

murkwater gaze traveled upward; he spotted the thin footpath of the mountain sheep, and presently he heard their bleating. gingerly, he straddled the tiny trail and began to haul himself higher, eyes casting sideways to monitor junior's progress.

Lasher signaled a break and Junior took it gladly, panting as she smoothed her tongue over her hot and twitching muscles. Before long, he motioned for her to follow again and young Osprey fell into step beside and slightly behind him as he led the way toward a narrow trail leading upward. Junior walked carefully, peeping at the view (the heights did not bother her) but mostly looking ahead, in the direction of the bleats which grew louder by the second.

he crouched in the path presently; a young goat was well within sight, its hindquarters turned toward them. the angle of the wind was not enough to bring the scents of himself and junior to its nostrils, he supposed, though a more wary adult with sharper eyes might have spotted them immediately.

still, taltos felt the rush and the risk was worth the experience, and presently he lunged up the tilted side of the mountain and snapped for the kid. his first blow did not land, but a deft sweep of forepaw against hindleg caused the animal to stumble. the young goat was small, but its size belied latent strength; it bleated loudly as lasher caught fast his teeth in its rump, and he struggled to maintain his hold, expecting junior to aid him in the next few moments.

Wanna wrap this up, since I know Lentil's making his debut soon? :D

Junior fancied herself many things, though a Gamekeeper wasn't one of them, much as her father would've loved that. When Lasher made his move, she hung back, watching and learning. It wasn't that she wasn't interested, per se — though hunting did seem too laborious for her tastes at times — but that she didn't know what she was doing. She observed, only moving closer when it was clear Lasher could use her assistance.

While he sank his teeth into the animal's rump, Junior trotted around to its anterior. She swallowed as she watched the animal struggle and cry. She didn't feel sympathy for it. Rather, a savage instinct welled up within her and she lashed out without really thinking, her jaws closing around its throat. Shut up, she found herself thinking as she squeezed. Shut up, shut up, shut up! And it did shut up, its bleat becoming a strangled squeak, then a bubbling rasp, then nothing.

When she let go, the freshly dead goat fell limply to the ground. Junior took a step back, then looked up questioningly at Lasher. She didn't feel pride over the kill, so to speak, but a sense of satisfaction. She nodded, her lips drawn in a tight, bloody line.

of course! :) you can fade with your next post or we can fade it here

she moved to help him, and when she lifted her mouth from the flesh of the kid, he noted the blood with satiation. eartip flicked at the long bellow of the deprived sheepmother; her horns glinted menacingly in the sunlight, and lasher did not know if she would approach, but did not dare to take such a chance.

moving himself to the lip of the cliff over which they had come, he dragged the kid forward and began a descent. with junior's help to alleviate the weight of the burden, they would be able to move it to the more stable cliffs, from which they could either continue the torturous trek down, or drop the kid and descend after it.

whatever was decided, taltos had enjoyed himself immensely, and managed to give the girl a fond look as he clasped their burden in his jaws.

The bleat of a bereft nanny made Junior's ears twitch as her eyes shifted to the remainder of the herd. They flicked back to Lasher just as quickly, for the male was already beginning to tow their kill to lower, safer ground. She sprang forward to help, bringing up the rear as he dragged the carcass over the ledge. When Lasher glanced at her fondly, her eyes seemed to sparkle in the sunlight before she was forced to look down at her feet to stop from plummeting to her death — and taking Lasher and the dead goat with her.