Haunted Wood trudging on

set in the south part of Haunted Wood! vague on assuming which of the pups are with him in case not all of 'em come along after the BFW thread. :)

After the pups had found him at Blackfeather Woods, it was as if a new found energy had overtaken Cicero. He had a task at hand, needed to bring @Euron, @Ramsay and @Maegi (or whichever of them wanted to follow) safely to someone he knew he could trust. The journey took them south first; he wanted to head straight west but it would be too risky to pass along many of the packs, especially considering Redhawk Caldera was one of those packs. His tred was slow and his fur was still patched with blood (it was hard to see what his actual injuries were but it was clear he was in bad shape).

After heading due south they turned through the shy deer steppes to reach another thick forest. Haunted Wood was a good place to take a quick break, but he did not wish to pause for too long. "Come," he murmured as he rushed the pups along, though it was mostly to himself that he spoke; Cicero found his body objecting to the long journey but he knew he must head west. That's where he knew Burke disappeared to; he had last caught Burke's scent crossing the mountain ridge to their west. That's where he would go and hopefully from thereon, he would find wolves that knew Burke's whereabouts, for he was not so sure that he still would recognise his old teacher's scent...

New scents and sights kept the boy moving forward even when his paws suggested that rest would be a better idea. He wondered where Cicero was taking them. How far they would need to go to be safe according to his father . He wondered when they would have something decent to eat. His stomach felt like it was burning and contorting on itself.

"I could look for some mice and catch up," he suggested as he padded along.

It was a long journey to undertake, both for boys this young as well as a wolf of his health and wounds. Cicero'd made sure that they had eaten from the caches before they had left, but there was little out here. Hunger was already starting to flare at the forefront of his mind but the thought of Burke drove him ever on. Burke had taught Cicero some of the wisest lessons in his life, and Cicero was sure that the former Dark Master would be well to his children. Perhaps he would not think so fondly upon Cicero as Cicero thought upon him, but that did not matter. Burke had always been soft for the innocent and Cicero was sure that he would think fondly upon his children, regardless of what else. They were like a miniature version of Cicero and — in many ways — Damien, after all.

His hungry thoughts were mirrored by Euron, it seemed, and Cicero nodded. "We need food," he agreed. The food they had eaten before departure from the Woods was no good anymore, though it'd gotten them this far, and they had not even breached the mountain ridge yet, where it would get tougher. They'd also unlikely get any food from other wolves out here, for they were too weak to steal any, really; they'd need to be lucky enough to scavenge some, but who would leave a carcass out in winter? They would need to be extremely lucky to manage that. "Cicero will look for corpses that are not fully eaten, then," he decided. They'd both do their bit to try and gather some food. At this point, even bones would taste good.

Cameo unless she is noticed. Feel free to ignore her.

It had departed the Commander after giving its words. Purposeless now, it remained in the haunted wood, acting much as any raven would. It scavenged, it slept, it preened in the evenings. Its eyes seemed to fade from hateful obsidian to cool, empty coal.

At least, until the sound of a voice drifted up and greeted it upon its bough.

The great bird came awake slowly, feathers ruffling as if it would tuck its head and return to its sleep. But a younger voice caused it to stiffen, and a moment later, its unnatural stillness made it clear that it was listening to the conversation going on down below.

There was little that Ramsay could offer to his traveling companions besides the use of his nose. They weren't following a trail now—at least not a physical one, but rather, the imprint of one in Cicero's memories—so he was blind in that respect. He plodded along beside his brother, agonizing over Maegi's absence and saying very little at all.

But she had chosen her path, and he had chosen his. Where Ramsay was concerned, two pillars was better than one; he had begrudgingly and reluctantly left Maegi behind for the stability of Euron and Cicero, but he hurt deeply for it.

His ears swivelled around to first his brother and then his father as they discussed food. Ramsay was no use hunting; he'd never even tried before. As they conversed, he surveyed their surroundings: a thick forest, considerably brighter and more varied than Blackfeather Woods. His eyes trailed over the fog-heavy brambles and leafless bushes that made up the undergrowth, then climbed the papery trunk of a birch tree and fell upon the raven overhead. He'd seen plenty of ravens in his life—they blackened the skies of the woods even in the dead of winter—and thought nothing of them as a species. Although Blackfeather Woods held ravens sacred, it didn't faze him to suggest, "that's food."

@Adriel Just adding a tag because they noticed her and are talking about her so it's your turn if she'd react, lemme know if you want me to skip her though if she wouldn't! :)

He was about to leave to scour for rodents. But Ramsay indicated a raven, and Euron's eyes followed and narrowed upon the dark feathered bird where it perched in the tree. His tail gave a twitch of contemplation as his ears were drawn forward. He was an agile sort, and briefly wondered if he could climb the tree... but he abandoned that thought rather quick. The tree was not suitable for climbing, possessing no ladder of lower branches, and the bird would fly off. Or so he believed — it did not appear injured and certainly not wingless.

"I want a foot." Euron declared as his eyes lingered on one of the black talons that wrapped around the branch. His mind churned: how could they get this bird? Euron had managed to ambush several small chickadees and finches in the bushes but never a raven. With no strategy springing to mind immediately, the boy passed a glance to the older and wiser Cicero.

Ramsay's eyes fell upon a bird and Cicero followed his gaze as he indicated it as food. Cicero would have no qualms with eating the raven, really, but there was one problem... It was very high up, and Cicero was not too convinced that he would be able to move fast enough to get it.

"It will fly up if we can even reach it," he said in a low voice, as to not to startle the raven, "If we can think of a way to give it a rustle so it flies up we can see if it is injured. If not, it is better to abandon the thought of bird on our menu." Euron had already claimed a foot though Cicero did not think their odds very high. He thought it would do them better to skirmish for carcasses and try to find some mice they could grab. Still, it was worth a quick try to do this. "Perhaps if one of you throws a stick at it..."

The raven sat unmoving in the tree, and the little dwarf's eyes remained fixed on it for a long while even as Euron claimed a foot and Cicero refuted their ability to catch it. His eyes bounced between the bird's breast, the branch it rested on, and the point where the branch attached to the trunk. Perhaps if they could only break the branch, then the bird would tumble to the ground...

That wasn't possible though, and at length, Ramsay took his father's suggestion. There were hundreds of sticks around, and after a few seconds of rooting around, he found a decent one. Not too small, not too thick, and not too long. Tilting his torso unsteadily, Ramsay scooped it into his mouth and rounded on the tree. A normal would would have cranked their head back and thrown the stick with a quick flick of their muzzle. Ramsay didn't have such maneuverability, so in the end, his "throw" was more of a "drop", and the stick tumbled embarrassingly to the ground.

"Can't," he declared as he stared down his nose at it, then turned back to his family for more ideas.

Euron watched as his brother made an effort to throw a stick at the bird. Ramsay was unable to sling the wood where it needed to be slung and Euron stepped forward to try his paw at the task. But as he gathered up his own stick and positioned it so he grasped it by one end, the raven suddenly took to its broad black wings and sank into the shadows of the distant trees. Euron let his stick drop, stared after the raven for a moment, and then said, "oh well. I will look for mice."

And so he did.

Last post for me :) Since Adriel went inactive I pp'ed him out.

last for me too! feel free to archive as is or tack on another post, Chelsie <3

Ramsay made his best effort to throw the stick up at the bird, but it did not reach by far. He assessed that he could not reach it, and Cicero glanced up and then shook his head in agreement. The bird, too, seemed to agree as it took off, not liking its chances, perhaps. Well, it was for the best, perhaps, for they could focus on more attainable goals now. Euron was quick to decide to go look for mice, and Cicero nodded. "Cicero will try to scavenge," he said and then made to move off, leaving it up to Ramsay to choose with whom to come or if he wished to try something on his own.