Lion Head Mesa smoke & burgundy

@Avicus was home.
in his mind merrick had reinstated her as the first princess among bears. the future of ursus belonged now in equal parts to aventus and to avicus.
he did not yet have the words to speak this. merrick had no words at all — save for those incensed. a golden coyote had come and gone, asking him to come again to the horrid catacombs. he signalled his blood flower with a chuff and traipsed only in that direction when she had come to his side.
they stood in the throne room of pharaoh. the white wolf sat alone for once upon his throne.
"this is the final time i will be summoned." merrick's voice was a promising ripple of rage. he had waited silently for his son to return. ursus would not wait for akashingo, but ursus would wait for those of their own. he had no loyalty to this man, and so his teeth might lurk in any way.
"what is it you want?"
merrick did not care who might hear his disrespect.

ramesses waited in a furor. submitting to the feral agonies of these witless wolves had cost him a good deal of investment in the young crowfeather.
now it did not seem he would have anything to show for it. akashingo's small stores of herbs had dwindled with all of this.
it must be over.
without his jewels or his queen ramesses waited.
the tread of not one but two wolves centered his ears. merrick, and a glowing red girl at his side with a pair of striking gemstone eyes.
whatever ire pharaoh might have felt a moment before swiftly blanched away. he was smitten, and leaned forward upon his throne. "this must be your daughter." yes. he knew of her. the lazuli eyes sought the deepwild indigo of her own.
but reluctantly ramesses turned back to merrick. "my physician went into the mountains and was mauled by the saints. that is two of akashingo lost. even if he lives and heals it will be a great deal of time before he is able to serve again."
ramesses stepped down and approached the two, standing close before them. "i have waited long enough for your god to speak. we will move to hunt them down."
his gaze shifted back to the flashfire young woman. "i would not dream to command ursus. i speak only for akashingo."

merrick did not care for the way that the man's eyes roved toward avicus. he made himself known with a toss of bloodstained hackles and a step forward.
"i have already sent spies to find our enemy. move too soon and your approach will be cursed."
his voice hung in dire pronouncement.
"i told you that ursus would not wait, and it is so. there will be more sacrifices when this is over. are you ready to pay it in blood?" merrick laughed.

merrick barbed ramesses, and pharaoh knew the bearwolf could be driven into a conflict. however he was not sure he wished to stoop into such a mess with the scarlet daughter of heathens so close.
ramesses retreated to his throne.
"you have done wrong in the sight of our alliance. how are we to catch the saints if we do not move as one? the roman is trained for these things. through him i will bring us a victory."
pharaoh was growing frustrated.

in Avicus, Ramesses would find only cold indifference.

she meets his gaze with her own countenance of stone, then her eyes shift, moving back and forth between the pair as they discuss the conflict. another one—not dead, but nearly. Nyra was biting off more than she could chew.

the tension mounts as the two men begin to argue. she cares nothing for signs and signals. she, too, wants to hunt them down. but she knows her father's words are right.

Aventus is in the mountains now, seeking holes in their defenses. once the shadow penetrates. . .they will be ready.

probably only post from me unless directly addressed!

"the saints were once our ally."
merrick's voice was cold and held the weight of massive claws.
"you will forgive me if i do not leap to your offer of alliance. but it means i do not need to obey you. our vengeance is not the same as your war."
the bearwolf was ready now to leave the chamber.

the girl was unmoved.
ramesses found himself further captured. 
"so you will not take my offer of a general."
his voice was poised, dangerous, the curled body of a serpent.
"but you will not work alongside akashingo toward a common end."
pharaoh's eyes were only for merrick now.
"when they fall, what will happen to their land? will ursus claim it?"

merrick's lip curled.
"i do not go into the mountains for land."
he wished suddenly and then to leap forward and cut out the pharaoh's heart;
eye shifted to avicus;
his blood flower surely waited for the same thirst to be satisfied.
"nothing matters more than the death of the ones who took our raven."
merrick was silent.

it was done.
theirs was an impasse.
pharaoh stepped down from his throne and walked toward the pair. he strode beyond them, not pausing this time to examine the close and eye-filling fever of the red hues.
at the doorway to his throne room the man turned back to look at the wolves of ursus. "do not make me your enemy, merrick. i will return from the mountains red with blood, to mingle with your own."
he was gone after that, footsteps fading against the stone floor.

the bloodlust did not depart when pharaoh left.
merrick had no head or want for alliances. his future had narrowed to a singular point upon a galloping horizon.
the bearwolf nodded to avicus and turned, following suit in a wolf-trot that carried them from the crush of akashingo into the cold and open air.
merrick wished to tell his daughter that he did not think he would return.