The Tangle Lies are simple, truth complex

Tags for reference. PP’ing Stingray a bit (hope that's ok! If not, I can change). Open to anyone, can be a short thread.

Njord and @Meerkat eagerly awaited the return of @Swordfish from his first mountain excursion with @Quennell. The parents hoped the duo had a good time adventuring as they puzzled over their boys becoming big brothers in the Spring. Yet, day by day, time passed and the explorers became overdue.

The weather did not cooperate either. Fresh snow fell night after night. The sky was dark and overcast. “@Stingray and I will check tha Tangle,” he told Meerkat. It was the last place Njord had tracked the boys, their pawprints headed North Easterly. “We’ll see if there’s any sign of ‘em.”

With Stingray in tow, the pair set off. The deep drifts made travel difficult, but Njord did his best to cut a path through the snow for his son. Occasionally, a thick windblown crust offered relief from the arduous work. It was on one of these spots that Njord spied a pile of fresh scat.

Bear.

His jaw clenched as his hackles prickled reflexively. Immediately his head swiveled around and looked for danger -- a sinking feeling in his gut.

Njord’s eyes flicked across the snowy scrim, the woods ominously silent around the man and his golden-colored son. He looked out into the distance and spied Nova Peak. A haze of low clouds and falling snow covered the mountain's peak. He listened to the wind. Something wasn’t right.

“@Stingray,” Njord called, urgency in his voice. “Be a good lad and head back to Sapphique. Find ye mother. Tell ‘er I’ve gone out tae track ye brother and @Quennell. I shant be long.”

The seafarer did his best to shroud the fear in his heart from his son. He promised @Meerkat that @Swordfish would return safe and sound… and to think they had crossed paths with a bear only to end up like Raleska… well, it was unthinkable.

A muscle popped in Njord’s jaw. His teeth clenched so hard they could have cracked.

At first, Stingray refused, but eventually, the young wolf obliged. Njord did not move from his place until he was confident his son was truly headed back to Sapphique.

Only then, did Njord turn and run into the wilds.

A day went by. Then two. The old trail was difficult to follow… Njord would find their scent before losing it again under fresh snow. Bear scent interweaved wolf’s. After a long and arduous trek, Njord found the first signs of blood.

He smelled it before he saw it. His heart jumpstarted with panic and willed his long legs to move faster through the drifts of snow. The scent became stronger and stronger until, at last, Njord had found the site where Swordfish and Quennell had taken shelter from their assailant.

Tears pricked at Njord eyes. My poor son! The stench of blood and fear caked the walls of the humble burrow where they had hidden from the grizzly.

Njord turned away and back out into the open.

“Swordfish!!” He called out into the wilds.

“Quennell??” A game of Marco without Polo.

There was no response. Had they moved?

Were they dead?

Njord felt feint at the thought.

Njord did not linger long at the gruesome site. To smell Sworfish’s blood and fear was too much for the saltwolf father! He continued on and followed their meandering trail. He was in the Northern Sunset Valley, now, and it was evident that the boys had been confused about which way to travel.

One thing that was clear, though, was that bearsign was common along the path. Njord wasn’t the only one on the search for the young Sapphiquians…

A small voice in the back of his mind.

Was it better to find their bodies or nothing at all?

Njord persisted. The weather turned more severe.

A sign of a direction change towards Dragoncrest. A moment of relief. Yet their injuries would be too grave to continue for long.

Njord hurried and crossed back over the Tangle towards home.