Lion Head Mesa infensus

set for prob the 25th, gonna say midmorning. drizzling. cold.

germanicus was near dead upon his feet when the red of the mesa finally presented itself. he had gone until he could no further. 

the man staggered into the anteroom. water rolled from his pelt and presumably that of @Nephele. his legs shook, but his voice did not. he called at once for pharaoh and for queen @Satsu, for @Arsenio, for any who might be listening. and would come at once.

the eagle used the last of his strength to bear the shadow into his own austere quarters, the closest room and the only one in a small hallway. there he lay @Crowfeather down and inhaled, struggling for a control that began to evade him.

his eyes did not leave the still young face.

trying to keep her mind off of her worries did not amount to much. satsu did not sleep, and as the days passed, did not eat, and withdrew into herself and her many thoughts about what crowfeather's fate may be.

when the call rose, immediate and desperate and familiar, satsu was on her feet; calling tamar to her swiftly, ordering that she go and fetch @Slate and alert jawahir, @Sayf, the other fellahin, anyone - that germanicus had returned.

with arsenio shadowing her satsu bolted through the palace, seeking the ragged shape of germanicus, or the face of sabah, and above all - wanting to know that crowfeather was with them and safe.

what she saw froze her in her tracks.

when the guard's voice rang out, the queen answered.

tamar kept behind arsenio but close at hand.

the roman's chambers were narrow. the boy physician lay on the low bed. the queen was stricken, still. 

after a brief, haunted moment, the maidservant galvanized herself. she felt the boy's forehead with her muzzle. "bring wet skins," she said quietly to any fellahin gathered. "we must pull the fever out of him."

Slate was not asleep. She was wandering around the area of Akashingo, wandering far and wide she would usually be found collecting plants, but not this morning. There were still dew on the plants, making them too wet to collect and soon it began to drizzle as well. Her fur became coated with rain and soon dripping. She did consider to find shelter, as the cold gripped tighter on her.

Then - a call. She pointed her ears toward the direction of the center of Akashingo and she wondered what that was about. She found her legs walking toward the direction of the call without thinking. She wasn't sure if she was welcome or not to enter, but she could scent the sickness within. She did not know of anyone else but the female she had lead to her end that was sick within Akashingo. So she entered.

She found queen Satsu, the golden female, whose name she had never been given, and two black figures. She stood in the back, silent for a moment as she sniffed the air and found even more sickness within. She then pressed forward, pushed among the wolves standing around the black figures and she soon found the source of sickness. Blood was stained across the black wolf lying on the rocks and she quickly moved forward, pushing aside any wolf standing there.

She quickly assessed the damage. Multiple wounds all over. She had never seen a wolf this damage and still alive. It was heartbreaking for the male did not seem old. She quickly pushed every thought of sorrow at the bottom of her mind. "bring wet skins, we must pull the fever out of him." It was the golden one who spoke and Slate nodded her agreement to signal to anyone who listened that she agreed.

She began to examine each wound to find the most serious ones, their exact placement, depth of cut and with precise movement of her nose she sniffed out each wound, licked it clean with care and urgency. She did not linger too long on each wound as she had to find the deepest and worst cuts of teeth. By the look of it this was the making of another wolf. She then saw the leg. Twisted horribly in the wrong direction. She knew she had to correct it and it was going to hurt him. If it wasn't too late to fix already. He might walk with a limb for the rest of his young life. She kneeled down and listened to his breath. He was gasping for breath in short harsh hard gasps.

"I need my plants and herbs. All my stuff along with everything else you have. Move swiftly." She looked at the golden female, not because she expected her to follow her instructions, but because she knew her, knew she could count on her to get things done. The standing black male seemed out of it, so did the queen. She had to count on the golden one now.

She began searching for cuts along his throat to find the damage done there. She hoped there would be a cut, or it meant one his lungs had punctured with the way he was breathing. She looked him over from tail to snout to find every wound and cut. Nothing must be overlooked. She looked at the leg again and decided that it had to wait. The way he was breathing was worrisome, she wasn't sure if he could handle getting his leg fixed right away, even if it was favorable to do so.

"I need water as well. Along with moss. As much as one can carry." She hoped someone would get her the things she needed. She looked around the room with sharp eyes, indicating that she was serious about being swift. The boy was barely hanging on and there was no telling how serious these things would turn out if she didn't deal as soon as possible. She had no idea how long the boy had been in this condition.

She needed her items, now.

snaking her way to where the activity was centered, jawahir came upon the scene late. tamar was there, head bowed to a broken body, and one of the bear-wolves, commanding the fellahin; meanwhile the queen ascendant looked paler than normal, otherwise useless.

the creature that jawahir perceived to be on top of things (slate) demanded herbs and moss; there was a flicker of something within the courtesan's dark eyes, remembering what maggie had been like in the end. off they would go — making short work along the corridor to the overland path, and away.

jawahir knew of some places that herbs were kept; mostly along the stretch of hallway underground, but it was not likely that moss would be there, nor that much would grow within reach of the steppes. in time they would return with what they could carry: clusters of fresh herb matter of various kinds wrapped in thick yellowing leaves, and some clusters of a lichen-like growth. no moss, not without a longer excursion from the mesa.

these things they dropped by the door for tamar to take, and went away again, and again. with sayf's help the pair of fellahin did their best to gather what had been stored — as this was a pleasure palace, there was little that could be used for medicine the likes of which crowfeather required.

feel free to skip jawahir and pp them as needed from this point!

Throwing in Sihaya so he may gather intel! please feel free to skip me :)

A storm rolled through and with it came a trio of wolves into the palace. Sihaya heard the commotion before he saw it – the panicked voices and quick sounds of running paw steps echoed through the great Mesa’s chambers, awaking him. The adder picked his was down the hall until he arrived at an apartment that had been transformed into an emergency room. The Fellahin bustled in and out with herbs and supplies. Sihaya stayed out of everyone’s way and clung to the shadowed walls like a ghost.

He spied a dark boy on the floor, unconscious. Was he dead? Queen Satsu was there, looking terribly concerned, with two wolves of unfamiliar scent. One seemed to have the learnings of a doctor. Perhaps their allies the Shabti had mentioned? Sihaya kept to himself – for he knew there was nothing he could help with – and observed the scene coolly to collect more information. Was this the work of the mad queen?

one post!

ramesses was still annoyed by the presence of a child on akashingo's lands.
he strode haughtily through the hallways, seeking arsenio or sabah to demand an extra set of patrols for such interlopers.
upon the way he heard the hoarsened voice of the roman roaring out. intrigued by the pain in the tones, pharaoh was immediately diverted.
a small crowd had gathered outside the stunted little hallway. ramesses could not see into the chamber, but the spill of voices piqued him further.
pharaoh strode forward. he would shoulder those from his way who did not move, and the sharp cut of his lazuli eyes dared a challenge. upon the sad little bed lay his chief royal physician. ramesses let out his breath and swung his head toward satsu, and then germanicus, hunched against the wall. the boy reeked of mud and fever.
there was an old woman here. she smelled of ursus. the pagan, wild scent firmed his jaw. "send merrick to me!" he shouted to any listening fellahin.
with a snarl he pulled from the thronging room and departed at once.

it was not satsu who moved to command.

the woman slate spoke decisively. she caught the healer's eye and was reminded that they had both been with maggie when she passed from this world. was it not a sort of bond between them?

she scrambled away from crowfeather, meaning to run for the entrance to akashingo.

pharaoh suddenly filled her vision; she was the casualty of his long legs, thrust aside and directly into the shadows where @Sihaya loomed. the girl bit the inside of her jaw and slithered from between them both, pharaoh's command booming in her ears.

she would do both.

tamar did not stop until she had reached the rough camp of the bear-worshippers. merrick lay close. a shrieking rabbit lay pinned beneath one hard wrist. the girl blinked and yanked her gaze away as blood began to coat his jaws.

sickened, shaking, she rushed to gather any medicinal-seeming thing: twigs, globs of collected cobweb, berries, grasses, leaves of a dozen different shades. tamar stuffed them into a ragged piece of torn skin, hardly daring to breathe or look at the bear king. "pharaoh wants — has asked that you come to the palace. now."

she heard merrick scoff, felt him uncoil in a snakelike way nearby, sensed the burn of the unnatural single eye. but tamar was off again, scudding across the mesa-plain until she had reached the arch, the anteroom, the hallway, and slate's side once more. "here," she gasped, unrolling the skin near crowfeather's head. "i will go — again — if it is what you need."

done w germ here <3 feel free to powerplay!

he would be directed. the room cascaded into motion and voices that blurred his eyes.

the eagle pressed back against the wall.

so focused he was this time upon the shadow that he did not see the cunning eyes of sihaya which drank in every detail of each happening.

silence gripped him. he would move as an automaton upon a single word from slate or satsu.