Herbalists' Cache pain into power

@Sun Eater

it is some hours he spends praying over the collapsed body of the chieftain. speaking great words into the air, one paw held sternly above a tuft of caribou hide and raven's feather.
his words are hurried whispers, fervent in their leave from his mouth. teeth grit occasionally, eyes pulling closed tighter with the end of each chant.
heal sun eater. he asks. strong and fierce, return to us. rise, sun eater, rise. the raids await, the blood calls.
sun eater, great lanzadoii chieftain. heal him, great one, bring him back. bring him back strong, bring him back swift.
he does not notice the faint movement of the chieftain stirring.

single eye slitted open. he did not know this brother, but in the wake of sulukinak's words, sun eater understood he had little choice but to trust, at least in part.

"brother. there is not cause for war. nagruk calls for it, but —" he licked his lips. "it is already here."

the rage of the last hours pounded inside the man's skull. the pain must go, the pain must be killed if he were to move with any authority again.

awake!
an eye pops open, crimson smoldering as it dips to look upon the marred man. he dips his head lower, breaths loud, impassioned.
no cause for war. was this not cause? him? mangled? dark fang makes a noise. it is a low, gurgling, thoughtful noise. then he exhales through his nose.
do you have orders for me? he asks.
should he kill nagruk? would that end war? did sun eater wish the war to stop? could it stop? many thoughts, dark fang has. in his mind, he only wishes to spill blood.
who was nagruk? why choose her for war chief and not meleys? was it not most logical to put in charge one of his kin? dark fang did not desire power—did not expect it. it was his thinking that meleys should be war chief.
and then, the most pressing question: how can there be war if the war chief has left?

war chief? gone?

sun eater felt a surge of anger but it would only dilapidate him to continually experience its sting. so he was silent, a cold smile creasing his face. "i did not want our sister to risk her life. she is needed. nagruk was a warrior of another clan. i offered her blood to eat. perhaps its taste was too much."

as he had done with sulukinak, sun eater sat up with a great unease, wincing with an audible groan. "you must go to sivaak. tell her what is happening. for now, she is saatsine. that means she is their enemy. she helped me. i would not see her or her children die."

"black hawk is a traitor. she chose to submit, but she is not to be trusted. she stands with blackfell. and my — star eater. sulukinak said she returned with the glacier scent upon her and did not come to me."

he could not yet accept that she was treasonous. he must know for certain. "if she is allied with them, then it is true that they will come," he made himself say all the same. talking took a monumental effort, and the chieftain lay down. "i will not ask you to fight, brother. my battle is my own."

much to think about. much to hear. dark fang's face does not betray much, other than the shifting of eyes, as more and more unfolds in the words of his newly found brother.
protecting meleys makes sense. she is their blood, but also, woman. woman brought life into the world; future of lanzadoii, future of their clan. he understood—only little. but his mind must be much more simple compared to sun eater's.
sun eater was great lanzadoii chieftain for a reason. dark fang was only teeth and flesh. teeth and flesh to rend other teeth and flesh. to hunt caribou, to run alongside the spirits.
i will do this. he says. he will find this sivaak woman, speak to her, force her to safety if he must. it would be done.
black hawk is a traitor. dark fang does not know this black hawk but he commits her name to memory. if he got the chance, she would die. star eater. brother's wife, brother's mate, mother to dark fang's nephews and nieces. she was not to be trusted either; this was what dark fang heard. but his fangs were not meant for her.
a traitorous wife must be slain by the husband she deceived. that was right. that was true.
ears prick as he listens. nodding, faintly. breathing, heavily. consuming this knowledge and thinking of it harshly. i fight, brother. he says firmly. i fight. it was true. beside you. it was true.

"i would not like to fight, dark fang," sun eater grinned through a greying haze of pain. "i am a warrior. i will die in fighting. but there is no reason to fight if i am who is wanted."

only him. 

he closed his eye and for a time it seemed he might sleep. the sound of his own voice was almost startling again when he heard it. 

"the saatsine must go. one of my blood must take them to a place i will decide when it is time. this land is rich, and the caribou have begun their spring walk."

"but i will find the truth of darukaal before they come. if my wife has gone to them, it might again be her voice which stops it. i will be slow."

"remember that they are not like us. they serve a throne. maybe a queen. you serve the caribou."

sun eater rested again. "we will gather the sun clan. i will give them three choices. and i will take any who wish to stand with me. but they must choose as you have."

he does not like to hear the voice of reason. this is what sun eater seems to be. dark fang itches to fight. to go to war.
but it is the words of his brother that sink deep. he did not wish to fight. it seemed his mind was so different from dark fang's, and yet he now held the loyalty of his brother.
it is a deep inhale he takes. eyes shutting momentarily. staving off the urges to demand they take the fight to this darukaal. he does not. he opens eyes and takes a paw to rest on sun eater's leg.
i will say much prayers that... and it appears to pain him to say this next part, there will be no war.
he rises then. now tasked with an urgency to carry out the orders given.
i go now, brother. i will find this sivaak. i return soon.

"go. ice raven will protect."

sun eater held his breath until his brother had disappeared, and then let it go in an exhale of pain.

he wished to live, but as he lay back upon the fetid earth beneath him, he knew such things were not his.

a surrender stole over the man, and he closed his eye to sleep.

strength must be gathered.