The Sentinels that you would be shaking right down to your soul

AW - also any from leadership or @Lasher if u have time

following her interaction with the stangely garbed wolf, caiaphas had felt a bidding of dread rise in her stomach. for what reason was the cult seeking blacktail? she recalled how lasher had told her of his intentions before their move -- silently she wondered if the courtesy had not been extended to the blackfeather wolves on behalf of the very reputation they had carved for themselves. it would be her second time coming so close to lasher's fold, and this time she took the same great effort to avoid unwitting trespass. she lifted her slender muzzle skyward to announce her approach and stood quietly at the brim of the forest awaiting interception.

caiaphas. he recalled the burn of her words at their meeting, but brought himself into her presence all the same. the druid's muzzle had been freshly scored by the woman's teeth, and there was a new and unlikely darkness to his gaze as he stood before the saltwitch. she had doubted him. dante had. undoubtedly there had been others, shaking lasher's faith within himself, shattering his sense of worth. 

taltos spoke not, for within his jaws was clutched the blank-eyed and mouldering head of the pale woman, and he cast down the grisly object and smote his paw upon it, that it rolled into her presence. and yet he did not speak, for this was all that needed to be said. so unlike the gentle wolf was the macabre scene, but then again, many things within him had changed.

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she had not expected the vision she beheld -- a wearied, haggard lasher with the multilated head of her assailant clutched between his jaws. her face crushed and beaten as if some bloodied and gory offering set forth before an implacable and justless god. some would have been sickened by the unnatural curve of wednesday's smile, or the crookedness of her burning yet sightless gaze -- but in caiaphas, only a sense of self-righteousness stirred.

she did not miss the sting of lasher's gaze as he approached her, nor the coldness in which his demeanor seemed steeped of. in some ways she did not regret the sharp words she had spoken -- in other ways, she felt an immediate and urgent need to restore whatever irreparable damage she had done to his psyche. she lifted her muzzle and for a moment only stared at the face of her assailant before speaking. "i came across a strange wolf inland that was looking for the blacktail deer pack. black with white shoulders and mismatched eyes. part of the blackfeather cult -- friend of yours?"

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the pale woman's flaccid tongue seemed to lick the earth; lasher stared at the bloated flesh, unable to tear his eyes away as the seapriestess spoke in her usual tones, almost casual despite the barbs she had fed him with the bitter soup of her own doubt. the witch described a wolf; taltos shook his head, for he had never heard of such a creature.

"i know no wolf by that description," he answered quietly, carefully, though the crushing sorrow that played about his mind came to dance upon his tongue. he could only recall meeting one member of the blackfeather wolves, some long time ago, and it had not been a man.

caiaphas had hoped lasher would disclose some sort of revelation that threaded together her strange encounter with cicero -- and when he shook his head, she felt a sinking feeling embrace her. she could only wonder what motives this piebald wolf had -- and was inclined to believe they were anything but kind. she had known the witch meldresi to be somewhat of a strange figure, guarded and dark -- and burke -- well, caiaphas didn't hold him in very high regard.

"he wanted to know where the pack was now. i did not tell him." she leveled her gaze, as if expecting to be showered with accolades for her very unusual show of loyalty. but the haughty expression was brief, for there seemed in lasher's gaze some sort of brewing trouble that caused her to pause. "now -- what's your problem?"

a muscle jumped in lasher's cheek; he turned aside and instead walked beyond caiaphas, expecting that she would follow him over the borders in the vague direction of the sea. when the woman had presumably joined him, the druid turned to her a face filled with dolor and pain, and had it not been for the stentorian control he had finally found o'er his wild emotions, the druid might have wept in her presence.


"you doubted me, all of you." save for gentle blue willow, of course, whose loyalty was a testament to her love for his capricious self. but dante, caiaphas, even aria - they had taken that knife of old and thrust it into his back, cloaked with a caesar's cape. "and now i doubt myself," lasher whispered in a broken voice, before he drew a sharp breath and fixed his eyes upon the horizon.

she willingly followed, a long ear cast forward in trepidation. he turned and it was then that the shocking mask of sorrow lasher bore hit her - she felt it full force, not unlike the sea's whipping gale. she had never seen such an emotion in such magnitude trouble lasher's features, and in turn, it troubled her.

she whipped back her head as he accused her, her teeth clashing in a sharp retort. "wrong -- i doubted the word of a stranger -- a stranger that very well could have killed you." she insisted hotly, feeling falsely accused despite the perfectly reasonable cause lasher had to feel doubted. "you went alone." she finished flatly, her gaze quieting from incensed to cold.

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"and if i had?" lasher hissed, unable to stop himself -- he did not hate caiaphas, no, he loved her in this moment more fully than he had ever before. "i would have died in service to my pack, to my glen, to my witches. to you," he added somberly, and thus did the tears come, trickling in unabashed trails down his cheeks. taltos could not fix his gaze away from the saltwife; he looked upon her and into her very eyes with the blood of his wound a brined freshet from his heart.

so much had changed within him against his will; he was a tortured man. he could take no succor with his daughters, no delight in the drift of the seasons, no happiness in the lash of the sea nor the wind in the canopy above. "yes, i went alone. i would not bring another to die, if that is what my life came to, and it is something that not a one of you sought to understand!"

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caiaphas' mule-length ears flew forward as he challenged her -- at first, a red rise of incredulity flushed her features -- a fevered anger snaked its way through her stomach. and then she witnessed the emotion that overtook him -- a deep and wracking grief that could not be fled nor hid from.

she did not rush to console him, yet neither was she repulsed by the tears that she beheld brimming along his cheeks. "we do not understand because one is a terribly pathetic number." she rejoined blandly, unmoved by his noble statement of dying at their behest. "it was risky. the thing about life is that it is remarkably futile. you dying would not save me, nor your glen, nor your daughters." she sighed -- if she continued, it would be akin to scoring the wounded back of a man while he was down. caiaphas kicked many things while they were invalidated, but lasher was not one of them. begrudgingly she pulled alongside him and steeled her temper, electing instead to be supportive, how ever inept she was at the role.

had lasher the ability to throw up his hands, he certainly would have done so, but as it was, lasher merely shut his jaws and moved alongside caiaphas. he did not feign peace, however, for he felt none, and it did not matter, for the priestess would have seen through his attempt at deception, and he did not feel strong enough to field the glass of her ire.

and so the pair moved in a tense silence, lasher oft leading, seldom following, with no true path in mind, until the churning of his legs paused and he granted caiaphas another lingering stare. "if they truly intended to mount an attack against us, my death would have given them pause. do not think i seek to martyr myself in your eyes."

she remained silent, though lasher still glowered. idly she wondered if it was worth poking the simmering coals -- in her mind, he had certainly been rash -- heedless. any sorrier of an end she could not fathom -- what if the pirate's teeth had found him, or stolen him away? caiaphas had not fretted for blue willow, or lasher's children -- she was concerned only with herself in this situation and in her eyes she had nearly lost a comrade due to a stupid, brash decision.

but she said nothing, drawing to a halt as lasher looked upon her. the rancor in his expression was virile -- not unlike some heavy-handed riposte -- and it was enough to encourage caiaphas to keep her berating words to herself. your death would have given them victory -- boldness -- the seawitch thought, though clamped tight her tongue between needle-teeth. another sigh expelled from between her clenched jaws and at length she supplied an unsatisfying and inconclusive "fine."

they had reached an impasse of sorts -- lasher was silent and caiaphas smouldered alongside him. he wondered why she took so much care with his well-being -- while they were quite close, taltos did not know what she had invested in him emotionally, and perhaps would never know -- the saltwitch was a closeted and shadowed beast. and yet he was touched by her obvious worry for him; presently, a smile tugged slowly at the edges of his mouth and he turned to her again.

"it is soothing that you think so highly of me," he murmured gently. "i would have worried had you intended to go alone yourself." he was a hypocrite, yes, but not one that could admit his fault, and he warmed to their interlude as they continued to move through the land, though he did not see the spring colour that had come to lie upon the ground in place of the receding snow.

the terseness between them seemed to dissolve, though caiaphas was reluctant to release her grudging expression. he had gone alone -- and while he was not hers to command, caiaphas felt a slight sting of powerlessness in learning he had defied the only thing she had ever asked of him. sulkily she looked upon the umber tint of his fur, her gaze trailing along the grey ticking that flecked his muzzle. "no need to worry - i don't exact revenge alone." after all, caiaphas had never been one to play fair.

her sulky distance charmed lasher; soon the anger of their previous conversation dissipated. while the hurt remained, lurking for the pointed strike of a vulnerable moment, the druid had regained some small taste of his former good humour. his eyes came to rest upon the seawitch -- if she allowed him, he would lean forward and press his lips against her dark cheek but for a moment.

"perhaps i hold what you think of me in high esteem, and that is why what you said affected me so," the man admitted, his eyes finding the horizon for a long moment before he looked to the high priestess again.

she would allow him: but only for a moment. should he stray too close, he'd find the serpent's lash. still somewhat grudging of his disregard for his wishes she cast him a cold look before turning her cheek away from his touch. she would have simmered for a moment longer had he not spoken -- the honesty behind his words seemed to strip her of the last vestiges of her umbrage. but she was a woman -- and a proud one -- and she did not immediately relent. "a smarter thing to have done would have been to hold your own skin and blood in high esteem." she trailed off in true snipey-woman fashion, though her words lacked the barb from before. "if there is a next time, you'll make it right." with finality to her voice she rose, intending to return to her grotto unless lasher intercepted her.

she pulled away from him; her ire was unrelenting, and though he knew that it came from a place of care, he was stung anew. wilted as a flower in the summer's heat he watched as she departed him, and sighed a great sigh of regret as he too turned and stepped for his home.