Emberflame Ridge Breaking News

Everyone can join, but mostly hoping for @Raleska after the recent Alpha challenge!

Things were changing really fast within the pack. It was dizzying... frustrating. He stood by and waited for the previous Alpha, Caiaphas to come back and put a face to the one he would serve until further notice, then the reins were changed over to Illidan, a man that Vengeance was impressed with by his witt and how he took charge over the little meeting he had with the pack... now, so soon after Illidan had taken the leadership role, he was already dethroned by the one who had come running back, sputtering accusations from the previous leader.

Knowing very well how Raleska felt about the dark male, and possibly the outcome of his leadership affecting the pack as a whole - not to mention the ill stability he saw within the pack's ranks, Vengeance took it upon himself to find the female who accepted him within the pack and speak with her. 

He wasn't ever really good at tracking. The man was only ever good at overpowering, sheer strength and battle savy - but he took his time to follow what he believed was that familiar Raleska scent. He had spent just enough time to follow... Slowly he crossed the land, following her trail and that of the other male she went with. He was on a self-given mission, nothing distracted him from finding his quarry, not even the strange burn marks on the ground. 

Now where was she... Turning his head left to right, ruby eyes scanning the horizon with a clear fury burning behind the glare.

Keeping the outcome of their meeting in Elysium vague for reasons, Raleska and Kaertok moved on. Never having been a wolf of patience, Raleska found a track heading inland, following it with a keen desperation that threatened to spill into her composure. 

They were losing time. They had little idea of where to go, and as the days ticked by Raleska felt dread encapsulate her. 

Passing by a row of thorny hedges, Raleska only absently noticed a wolf coming towards them. From a distance his posture looked as if he were on a mission, and no sooner had Raleska resolved to ask him for directions towards Easthollow did she recognize him; the male she had welcomed to Rusalka not so long ago. 

Concern dogged her steps as she barked at Kaertok in warning; her expression crumpled into a frown as she intercepted Vengeance. It was a bad omen he was here — either he had abandoned Rusalka or something else, and Raleska could not bring herself to think of that “something else”. Why are you not at Rusalka? She called over the wind almost accusingly, biting back the anxiety that clawed its way into her voice.

His wounds from Illidan had yet to heal form his mock challenge, and as soon as that had come and gone, the moment he had pledged loyalty to Illidan himself - the ranks were shuffled again. Spattered across his pelt were fresh wounds, some from the woman in black (@Rhællaa) with her white knight - others from Illidan himself. Scabs along his neck and shoulder from the battle with brute (@Daegon) not too long enough were still deep and a vicious red, yearning for rest with which he refused. Elongated steps broke the scabs as some continued to bleed once more as he cared little for their healing at the moment.

Scanning the horizon, it didn't take very long for him to finally spot the two as they were coming in his direction - they had spotted him long before he had them. They were already on their way, Raleska already looking as though she was less than impressed with the earthen behemoth - but his own temper had the best of him. Why are you not! The words exploded from his maw, every word ennunciated with great care as they boomed.

He couldn't even think of a time that he had risen his voice, to feel the vibration in his throat as it scratched at his vocals. A growl eascaped him before the man continued to speak for his reasons away from Rusalka. While you're off galavanting, the position for Alpha has shifted once more. Illidan is Alpha no more. Spitting fourth his words, he made his clear he wasn't impressed with the constant shift in leadership. Vercingetorix is now at the helm.

Raleska reeled back as the man's voice roared overhead. A growl formed in her throat, and she was about to remind Vengeance of his place (hah, could little shrimpy Raleska really take on Vengeance, I wonder?) when the words that fell from the terra-cotta man's lips halted her clean in her steps.

Illidan thrown. Vercingetorix at the helm.

Alarm alarm alarm alarm alarm! Klaxon bells shrieked in Raleska's mind. Her blood pumped. Her heart rate rose. Illidan, Vercingetorix. At the helm.

"WHAT?!"

The young Eyjolfur shrieked, her voice curdling the sky. She had told him -- she had fucking told him! "I knew it!" Raleska spat bitterly, recovering from the shock just in time for a blind rage to overcome her. She had known that fucking weasel -- that no good little scumbag -- was not to be trusted.

But she hadn't wanted to be vindicated this way! She hadn't wanted to be proven right, not like this.

Gathering a shaky breath, Raleska's fur smooth and a bit of her old assurance came back over her. Glancing to Vengeance, she delivered an approving nod. "You did the right thing to tell me." The Eyjolfur commended, noting just then he bore new cuts across his frame. "Is my brother hurt?"

Raleska had yet to decide what to do.. to continue her path and find her mother seemed important -- but her mother also would be furious to see Rusalka torn apart by the seams in her absence. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Raleska suddenly felt helpless.. and way too remote from the situation to possibly control it.

As the two stood their ground, growling filling the air as the two locked eyes, believing that they were in the right for their tempers flaring up. Dark lips peeling back in a demonstration that he would not back down. Not this time, should this get him kicked out of the pack so be it, he was not too fond of it anyway as of late.

But as her attention shifted to the news, he relaxed. Annoyed. But more relaxed all things considered. Although he had nothing against the dark male, Vecingetorix, after the last meeting he could only assume that no one would allow him to be at the leadership role for long - thus making a new change in leadership. He would not stand for such unstable ranks.

I couldn't tell. Not visibly so. To him it didn't really matter whether Illidan was hurt or not. Raleska's priorities were obviously clashing with what Vengeance himself thought was more important - and what the other members would find so too considering the puppies that they cared for so much. Your next course of action is obvious Raleska. What are you doing.

He never saw the importance of family, a pack was as close as it came but mostly for function, for strength in numbers rather than fighting alone. To him, the pack was more important than a renagade mother, a lost Alpha that hasn't been seen in over a month.

Raleska looked dumbfounded, for any observer keen enough to see the confusion that swirled in her gaze. Inwardly, she wrestled with what to do. She knew she had to look for her mother -- it was not like her to be gone this long, and it was not at all like the matriarch of the sound to not return. On the other hand, Raleska knew Caiaphas' vision of their future extended far beyond her own mortal usefulness -- she would likely be furious to hear that Rusalka was left vulnerable by her daughter's harebrained search party.

She flinched, drawn from the wrestling of her thoughts. Looking to @Kaertok, Raleska -- perhaps for the first time in her life -- sought the perspective of another. "What do you think?"

She hated the idea of leaving Caiaphas to die, if she was out there -- if she was not already killed.. but she hated the idea of Rusalka going to Drageda scum even more; the very thought caused her fur to bristle and her tail to lash.. and it was clear she had already made up her mind before she even finished talking.

The news that Raleska's brother had been overthrown made Kaertok groan internally. He had ditched a pack that had been so unstable, and he was loathe to ditch Raleska. He had grown to like her quite a bit, and this news was anything but good. The large white male stood quietly, keeping his thoughts and plans to himself until Raleska spoke to him directly.

If your mother is anything like you, she is either long dead or biding her time before she can return. I don't think there is much we can do for her. We can, however, keep the pack out of the paws of the wolf who brought about her disappearance. Kaertok believed Raleska's accusations of Verx even more now. No innocent wolf would overthrow an absent leader's child, especially when the situation was already so suspicious. Rusalka should be yours.