Ankyra Sound manticore

when u have time! <3 

he traveled from donnelaith at dawn's first roseate light, revealing that he intended to return by late that eve, or the following morning. setting a quick wolf's-trot for himself, the druid closed in upon the miles in due time, and reached the coastline by afternoon. 

it was for the woman he gave out a low summons, requesting her presence -- his tones were underlaid with the pain and rage she had not seen in him, and lasher could not find it within himself to be still -- his dark form paced the sands as he awaited @Caiaphas.

as daybreak spilled over the empty strand, lasher's long shadow erupted lean and distorted across the pale sand. not even the distance could distort his agitation -- and even from her vantage caiaphas could see the man was troubled.

she drew close, though kept herself out of striking range lest his ire be drawn to her. sullenly her yellow gaze sought his own (though only for a brief moment) and she drew forth into a cat-like sit before him. he would explain, soon enough -- though the expression on her face conveyed well the question[s] that brimmed behind her still tongue.

she attended quickly, keeping from him -- this pained the man, and he drew himself up, arranging his features into a more palatable expression. "a new pack has settled upon this very beach, though i do not know their exact location. some days before, two of them struck into our midst, attempting to take my little daughters. my beta was attacked during an exploration, and my older son returned wounded as well. one of ours was also slain, and found dead near donnelaith. the cause of her death, according to our healers, was an infected wound which she was too stubborn to reveal, but who was it that struck her?"

his calm was contrived and weak; lasher longed to allow himself the relief of coming apart before caiaphas, but dared not. "have they attacked here?" his assumptions were bold -- behati would have come before him, had a corsair attacked her, or so he wished to believe, but she was dead, and her blood was upon his head.

as lasher spoke her expression morphed from one of concern to outrage - her ears slide forward and a dark expression captured her slender muzzle. for a moment she tried to make the connections -- wednesday (though she knew not her name) and ferahgo - they were clearly together. she had not found much damning evidence in the way to suggest they had set up a pack on the coast -- but one thing was clear -- their scent populated the strand.

an anger consumed her -- not only had one of their members attempted to harm her, but they had savaged a friend. little as she was, an ugly anger threatened to consume her. "they have not -- though one wolf attacked me near tokota river.. she was very large, white, and distinctly male in features." she canted her hip towards the druid, where the score of teeth still remained fresh on her pale fur. "i was scouting for a pack.. their scents are heavy near tokota, but they disappear near the ocean." her brow furrowed as she considered this conundrum. "i had the unique pleasure of meeting one of their wolves at my doorstep - named captain ferahgo." her hackles visibly lifted as she recalled their meeting. "i am sorry for your loss."

his body stiffened with wrath and with ire -- his countenance fairly blazed with it! -- as his eyes fell on the tooth-marks that had been laved cruelly into her flesh. "that is the very visage of the woman who attacked us, who would have slain the young witches," he spat when she had finished, emboldened by the anger that had come to rest upon the sylph's lovely features. 

"captain ferahgo." the druid repeated the name, rolling it o'er his tongue; his eyes came to rest again upon caiaphas, and he found solace in her very nearness. "what shall we do?" he asked of her. war had come to them; if they did not strike, the very flanks might continue to be tormented and chivvyed. and emaleth! deirdre! must he send them away, and where?

caiaphas had never considered what must be done -- she knew, in an impetuous way, the law of the world. it was kill or be killed -- the matter lied strictly in who was doing the killing.

"any physical attack is an act of war, and must be met with massive retaliation." every wolf knew the law -- she doubted the pirates were any exception. "we kill, or we are killed." her brow furrowed as she continued: "our fate lies in finding out where they are. they are between us, we know that much -- but we must find out where." she needn't elaborate on why this was a disadvantage for ferahgo's wolves -- she knew the druid to be sharp, and was confident in his abilities to parse form her clipped words her intentions. she was confident this served as a massive advantage for them -- flanked, these purported pirates would have very little chance to defend themselves.  " if we let them live, they are a threat not only for our lives, but for our livelihood -- the shore cannot sustain three packs in such close proximity."

he agreed with a sharp nod. her words were fierce, laden with confidence. a firm glut of decision overran her angular features, and not for the first time did lasher, even in the cold grasp of fear, find his breath cut close by her beauty. yet he held this to his heart, a place of succor in this tremulous time. yet his mind searched for reason. if there was a chance that this captain -- 

"ferahgo. perhaps he is one with whom we can reason. give us the white wolfess." the druid's sides lifted with a sigh; ears folded against his skull as he turned to ponder the sea with no small degree of pensiveness. "i fear war upon my doorstep, dear one," he breathed. "perhaps i am weak." 

a dry chuckle of self-deprecation followed; presently, lasher took his emotions in hand and throttled them to submission. "but you are correct."

caiaphas sensed the druid's trepidation -- but he, in truth, had far more at stake than she. he had a family -- wolves he fathered, wolves he loved. caiaphas had only the hide on her back to care for -- and in many ways, this was her drastic shortcoming. but she was happy he was here, and secretly, felt a strange sense overcome her to learn he had come to her in the face of peril.

"we could, but he was not much for talking." she considered for a moment if he would procure the pale female -- she didn't know enough about him to feel comfortable with an accurate assessment. "he attacked me when i didn't answer his inquiries. perhaps he is more reasonable, but i would not trust him. he's a pirate, more or less." war was an enormous effort, and it came at an enormous cost -- she understood why he remained hopeful. "if he gives us the woman, what will you do to her?"

"i would not trust him either," he agreed in a gentler voice gone somewhat sodden with exhaustion, the tension of the last several days wavering forth from the druid in transparent tendrils. wreathed in her scent, he felt he could sleep upon the very sand, but the time for that was not at hand. he pondered her question, for if indeed the pirate captain would hand over the would-be assailant to donnelaith, lasher was not certain what he would do unto her.


death was his first thought, but it sorely affected his emotions, to be the harbinger of death for a madwolf. "perhaps inflict pain upon her, for what she did unto my son, but i would bring her to you for her fate." casmir would recover, and now that his intense wrath had ceased, lasher could not know if he would slay the woman outright. "she has affected both of us."

caiaphas allowed her gaze to slide towards lasher's muzzle as he spoke -- his answer puzzled her. his sense of justice differed vastly from her own. where she would annihilate an entire nation for one perpetrator's justice, lasher would have seen to it the individual received punishment for their iniquity. perhaps this was the difference between kings and dictators -- between good men and bad.

"and what? she will have magically changed? your beatings will show her the falseness and error of her actions?" she cut the male a look that told well she knew the futility of the notion of justice and nobility. "if you beat her, you give her a reason to return to finish the job she started." the she-wolf sighed heavily, weighing the options before her. "that's if we find ferahgo and if he gives us what we want. want if he says no? do you negotiate with wolves responsible for savaging your home?"

he felt a perverse sense of his own weakness fill him at her quizzical expression and following words. sense they held, but he was ever an emotional beast. peregrine's explanation for the murder of junior swam unbidden into his mind -- even with no sense of kin between donnelaith and this assailant could lasher find a reason to slay the woman. shame coloured his cheeks beneath his dark fur, flushed the tender flesh of his ears, but he accepted her words.

"i would not negotiate with him if his answer was no," lasher murmured, and the sting of her chastisement, for that was how he had taken her rebuttal, was plain upon his features. "and i would slay her without question if she struck again, but i do not wish to allow her that luxury." 

taltos knew what it was he must do, but his heart vied with the primality of his wolf's-mind, and he was torn.

caiaphas leveled her fierce gaze towards the strand besides them and watched the frothy breaks of water sunder the sore.  she could not refute lasher for his sensibility -- he had too much at stake. "none of them deserve any luxury." she thought a moment of her encounter with ferahgo - it had not gone well enough where she wished to face him again. "if you seek him out, do not go alone. i would go with you, but he would recognize me and i believe that would be cause for alarm. our options are slim -- push back and kill them, or make them leave." caiaphas preferred the former, but she knew the druid's predilection for kindness would hamper his ability to agree with her. "either way, the grotto is open for your kin."

lasher desired that they could be equally met in this, that he possessed the fortitude of spirit had by caiaphas, but his laments for such went unanswered. though she warned him not to go alone, taltos had already decided he must. against the wishes of his packwolves he had come to saltwinter, and against her warning would he seek out ferahgo. the druid would not endanger another for the sake of his family, and each able body was needed at donnelaith, in case of sly and coordinated attack. dante would lead in his stead if death befell the glen-man.

"and donnelaith is home to your own," he rejoined in kind, turning to meet the hawk-brightness of her fierce gaze with the churning murkwater of his own eyes. he wished that he could have visited her grotto under more pleasant circumstances, but here it was, and he would see its loveliness all the same.

had caiaphas learned lasher had no intention of partaking in company during his dangerous visit with the rogue pirate, she would have sat lasher then and there as if he were an impertinent child about to be disciplined by its mother. fortunately for him, caiaphas possessed no crystal ball -- and she would have been blissfully unaware of his bravery (and perhaps, stupidity) as he embarked towards the pirate's home.

"very well then. i trust you will make this an expedient venture. i will seek donnelaith in a few day's time, if that is time enough for you to gather your companions and speak to this pirate. we will decide then our course of action. is this a reasonable plan?"

he nodded again, smiling. though he had no intention of gathering his wolves, he would accept her words all the same. gazing once more upon the sea, the druid gave a long sigh. "peace is never everlasting," came his soft lamentation, thrown toward the surf like some ugly bauble. 

to caiaphas lasher looked again, and smiled wanly, tiredly. "i will look for you upon my threshold, caiaphas," taltos intoned, reaching to nudge her shoulder once before gathering himself to his paws. there he would pause to hear what she would respond, before pacing down the strand in the assumed direction of home.

lasher's grave lamentation was met only with a simple stare -- caiaphas had never considered tranquility any more enduring than the fragile strains of a spider's web. she dipped her head, snaking it along the length of his muzzle before she too turned homeward. she was content with the itinerary the two had proposed between each other -- tomorrow, she would embark upon the journey to donnelaith. it never occurred to her that lasher had no intention of sticking to their small plan as she bore her way down the lonely strand.