The run had turned to a steady lope, carrying them across stretches of greenery the likes of which Crowfeather had never seen.
His eyes never left the mountain. By night they had reached the base of the stone tower. The dark wolf looked up to them with a prickling of nervousness. Some wolves were bold enough to clamber up those stone formations, others made mountains of that sort into homes.
Crowfeather had been rather quiet since their talk of oracles and brothers. He had wanted to give
@Germanicus a break from the constant chatter if he could help it. There were times when he was unable to withhold a question, others when he could not help but to comment on a piece of scenery. Crowfeather only hoped that the silver stalwart would not mind.
germanicus had come here just recently, and surveyed the stone ledges with a more confident eye. this part of their journey had been silent, and it continued as germanicus surveyed for himself the most opportune ways up.
but he did not share his findings; he gazed between the rock spire and the land they had departed. "can you see the lake from here?" the eagle inquired softly, allowing himself a moment's look toward crowfeather.
maybe the other would speak again. their discourse had dwindled over the hours. it was the way of the long wayfaring, but now the silence was near suffocating.
The mountain's towering peaks distracted Crowfeather for only a few moments longer before Germanicus' voice pulled his tall auds backwards on his head.
It had been some time since the dark wolf had checked for the sheen of water behind them. As he looked back in the direction they had journeyed from, he was certain he could see the running streams that connected to the larger water mass. Those would lead them back to the lake without having to search.
Yes, but if we go around that mountain point there,
he said and looked to the north of where they stood, we won't be able to see it at all.
The stone from the mountain crept down and into a point that caused a jut of rock and hill that would completely conceal their ability to see the water.
I still smell it.
Crowfeather wondered if that was the point.
"we should go beyond sight and smell of those waters," the ranger encouraged, though he was impressed with crowfeather's observation of their obstacle.
he would allow the young cohort to navigate them upward. germanicus sent his own senses to exploring for danger. while he was unperturbed by the reek that suddenly lifted into his nostrils, he must explain it. hard-muscled shoulder brushed against that of crowfeather. "do you smell that?" he murmured.
cat, hidden somewhere in the stones and perhaps watching them even now.
Beyond sight and smell of the lake water.
Crowfeather nodded his head in understanding. He looked back to the mountain and wondered if they journeyed upward if that would eliminate the scent of the water. Knowing that he wasn't going to get these types of answers from Germanicus, he began trekking upward and toward the steep point.
In another life, Crowfeather might have been able to find himself fond of mountain regions. There was a good deal to see where they were, far more to smell once he drew his snout into the air and drank the aroma on the wind. Something strange there, he noted with a curious expression.
Germanicus asked and Crowfeather looked to him with slightly bristled fur.
I do,
he answered in a hushed voice. What trouble existed there?
"it is a feline. they bear claws powerful enough to tear a man's head." germanicus spoke low-pitched and without sensationalism. "when you choose a path upward, walk carefully. look down, for the mark of its paw in the mud."
the storm would rise to consume them, coming up from the lowlands. it was a common-sense choice to locate a bower, as much for the rain's arrival as for shelter against the more wily hunter.
but once more the eagle did not speak. he would only guide. it must be crowfeather who ranged for them.
whenever the boy turned away, the muzzle of the soldier might swing side-long, stare observant and plucked through with a sort of vague wondering.
No amount of practice or determination would hide the expression of shock on the dark young wolf's face. The sound of the feline that could cause such hurt was all but crippling. Crowfeather had never had to encounter such monsters in the Starsea. There were talks of forest bobcats or foxes who had grown too sharp in their teeth, but never something like what Germanicus had described.
Crowfeather's eyes searched everything as they moved. The storm raced behind them. Each gust of wind carried the smell of rain on it. The dark wolf looked back and squinted his watering eyes against the sharp gust of air. It raced past him, touseling his fur.
We should find a cave, Germanicus,
he yipped softly to the silver male. With a hurried step, he swept up beside the handsome shape of the soldier and brushed against his side. The dull yellow of his eyes scoured the side of the mountain for a sign of a hole, somewhere they could seek comfort from the downpour.
this time the tactician took pity upon the younger wolf. germanicus hunted along the side of the stone where crowfeather's gaze directed. "here," he grunted, nudging at the spindled base of a single pine. when the branches parted, it was to reveal a low-slung entrance.
the place was not a true cave, more a deep depression set in the stone. the back was only jutting rock, and it would fit them tightly. but the crash of thunder and the cascade of rain to follow sent him to bustling crowfeather along.
he folded his long body into the hollow after, and was gripped with an anxiousness to suddenly be so close.
"this is how soldiers hide themselves before a battle," germanicus said. "heart to heart, so you might look into the face of the other, and know one of you will die."
daffodil-petal hue meeting the muted sun of the other's, so near. too near it would be, if the other was an enemy.
The shadow followed the silver wolf's instruction, seeing the dark entrance that the pine had created in the stone. It looked tight and secluded like it would keep even the smallest raindrops from falling onto their heads. There would be little for Crowfeather to complain about.
Hurrying through the pine, brushing droplets of rain onto his coat, the seer slunk into the carved shadow and pressed himself against Germanicus. When the soldier spoke, it filled the younger wolf's stomach with beating wings.
Heart to heart, so you might look into the face of the other-
Crowfeather found his eyes tracing the rough features of the older male. It was intoxicating. His breathing slowed and he straightened his features into a placid expression. The twittering of his tail ceased. If he could not control the wild pattering of his heart or the fluttering of birds in his belly, he would control his frame.
Oh, but he would not have minded gazing into the face of Germanicus for longer.
This is- it's nice,
Crowfeather whispered.
the eagle wanted also to say that yes, it was this sort of thing, in the hours before a dawn that would be bloodied.
he said no such thing. ears splayed in a brief flick of apology and consternation, more the latter than anything. germanicus pulled himself smoothly away from crowfeather. he pressed his spine against the miserable wall. set flank to flank with his acolyte was not so —
"do you have any regrets, coming upon this journey?" he did not look at the young navigator as the words floated into the rainy wind.
Pulled away much too soon, Crowfeather refound his anxious footing and gazed out of their hideaway into the falling rain.
The silence was fine, but when Germanicus spoke again, it was to ask whether Crowfeather had any regrets in agreeing to the journey they had made. The dark wolf looked to him immediately, wiggling his long frame so that he could see the stony expression on the soldier's face.
No, I do not.
The answer was quick, firm, without any flickering doubts or hints of double meaning. It was at this moment that the dark Crowfeather looked back to the rain. The rumble of thunder outside the shelter brought a shudder to his body.
Do y-
Crowfeather did not have the courage to finish such a question.
"i do not."
he had none at present. perhaps a handful of days before might have provided a different answer for crowfeather.
"i wonder if you will change your mind, however, when i tell you that you have taken us close to the westernmost point of the teekon. and that i mean to go just as far east."
weeks of traveling. they would see the end of summer and change of the leaves, if the boy did not become as those before, and depart. or if germanicus himself did not balk, in the end.
Relief, and then Germanicus shared a thought.
The wondering was justified. Were it not for the dependence that had started to bud inside of Crowfeather, he might have a different answer too for the journey yet to come. Instead, the idea that he might be allowed to remain with Germanicus longer, on a further voyage than they had experienced, was a precious thought.
I will not leave you, or change my mind.
But I might like to know why you think I would- change my mind, that is.
The second remark was less sure. Crowfeather valued the opinion of the silver guardian. He wanted to know almost every thought that existed behind the vivid yellow of Germanicus' eyes.
it was the eagle's turn to be silent, watching the grey slant of rain outside their narrow shelter.
"i am most accustomed to being alone. i expect, at some point in our journey, that you will grow tired." disillusioned. that the grandeur of what was a journey now might only be a millstone later.
he leant his head back against their backdrop. the sungold eyes shut, and the eagle's chest swelled with a long breath. "it is a dismal odyssey."
Crowfeather had known the solitary type. Many of the warriors of the Starsea were that way, lonely and rough. He had admired them when he was no more than a whelp. Age showed him the horrors of being a fighter. Each time they went to battle and returned, it was with hardship on their bodies and dismal horror in their eyes.
Germanicus' eyes did not hurt Crowfeather the way that the warriors of Starsea had. Whether this was the soldier's knack for hiding his emotions or not, the seer did not think that he would know.
It will be better with someone at your side,
the dark wolf said as confidently as his nervous nature would allow. Crowfeather did not meet the noble man's gaze this time. The heat in his cheeks was much too warm for him to withstand without increasing the intensity with Germanicus' canary stare.
easier. "perhaps." he shifted, feeling at last the long days in his hipbones. unable to stretch in their cave, he was resigned to a harsher sleep. but their shared warmth surrounded the pair. the eagle's body began to slacken into something like peace.
any other time, he would have willed himself to sleep. but now —
"perhaps it might bring its own set of trials."
yet his voice was warm, ending as a yawn broke over his silvermoon jaws.
How rewarding that will be,
the dark wolf uttered into the darkness.
The silver guardian's yawn brought Crowfeather down into a position on his belly, paws stretched out in front of his chest like a sphynx. He had been allowed to sleep deeply when they had been beside the lake. It was thanks to Germanicus that he had been strong and rested enough to make it to the mountain and the shelter they had found.
I will keep watch, Germanicus. For the feline with claws.
Crowfeather's voice was soft, though, hoping that the silver shape beside him would have already found peace in rest. His watchful eyes returned to the rain and danced with firelight at a strike of lightning that illuminated the sky in a brilliant sheen of white.