Werewolf: Appalachian Moonrise, Ch 1

[LadyTevar]

"Boars, yes," Caitlyn said. "Some bigwig brought 'em in fer huntin' awhiles back. THOSE... no. I"d been smellin' Taint m'self here bouts, lookin' fer the source o' it afore I went ta the Sept. These ambushed me."

[Cynical Cat]

"We're tracking taint ourselves," said Alexander. "A thief who is drinking tainted moonshine."

[LadyTevar]

"Tainted Shine?" Caitlyn repeated, looking over at the young Shadowlord. "Fegh... You're talkin' th' Bledsons, then. I keep lookin' fer where they're brewin' their BlackFire Shine, but ain't found it yet." The old woman gave a heavy sigh.

"Com' back ta my cabin, youn'uns. These old bones need a rest, an' we ken share what we know there." With cracks that sounded far too painful, the old woman took the form of a large red wolf, with the muzzle grey up over her eyes and fur hanging loosely off the once-robust frame. With achy joints she started down the hill, leading them to her home.

That she lived by herself, away from the Sept, showed that she believed well in the 10th Litany -- "Do not suffer thy people to tend to thy sickness."

[Charon]

Breathes-the-Winds looked up at the descending sun and the wolf frowned. "We will have to be fast. We do not want to lose the track and we need to be back at the sept before nightfall."

[General Havoc]

"They'll forgive us if we're a little late," said Sophie, who of course had no idea if the Sept would forgive them or not, but figured that anyone who did not permit them a bit of leeway after they had tracked down and destroyed wyrm-tainted boars in pursuit of their orders was an officious bastard whose opinion didn't matter anyway.

[rhoenix]

Though still in lupus form, Sees-Faces-In-Stars managed to shrug. "If we go by authority, she is former leader of Fianna tribe. I'd say she wins," he said with a grin. "Besides, this has been a Good Journey so far - it's not done yet."

He still stood on all fours, waiting for the others to make up their minds.

[Charon]

Breathes-the-Winds lowered his head, grumbling to himself before he warily looked to the sun again. Then looked to Arianne for her opinion on the matter.

[Cynical Cat]

"The sept meeting is entirely secondary," said Alexander. "Our mission is more important."

[LadyTevar]

"Ya'll comin'?" Caitlyn howled back over her shoulder, walking away.

[Cynical Cat]

"One of us is," said Alexander as he shifted back to Lupus and trotted after the Fianna elder.

[rhoenix]

Somehow, as if to giggle into the face of human understandings of physics and biology, Sees-Faces-In-Stars managed to shrug once more while in his lupus form. "Come, let us all go. Even if we were supposed to go straight back, we instead get an even better story to tell," he barked; not too loudly, as they were still in unknown territory.

[Devonie]

Arianne smiled and shifted into lupus, her form much like what the elder's must have once been, and trotted after Caitlyn.


After all, the banes were long gone and Sees was right - this would be a story to tell!

[Charon]

Breathes-the-Winds sighed and sullenly began to trot after the rest, one eye still on the sun. He didn't like this at all. And that none of them questioned why he was so against stopping, that made him wonder as well.

[LadyTevar]

The elderly Fianna's path led the young wolves down the hillside to a stream of clear water, which the Elder followed until it joined with a second, larger creek. This one she turned up, following a deer trail through dense green rhodendron and mountain laurel that wound it's way up the steepening hillside, the creek bounded on both sides by rock walls that it had cut a path though over the eons.

Then the path widened out into a surprisingly cozy hollow. A small house stood against the hillside, the back half dug into the hill, while the front half sat on stout wooden supports twenty feet tall to keep the house level. A large porch with white railings dominated the front of the house, high enough for a large Crinos to walk beneath. The house did not have siding, but what looked like graveled tar paper, faux-bricks in faded shades of brown, pink and ivory, like Neopolitian ice cream. The green tin roof had also seen better days, as ribbons of black tar marked out patched areas.

Two large narrow pines, their bottom limbs clipped close, flanked a steep wooden staircase that lead to the white wooden gate at the top. A dirt path, terraced with wide wooden steps, climbed the hill around to the backside of the house, where a much smaller, ground-level porch marked the back door.

There near the back porch the creek tumbled out of the hillside, into an aged enameled iron bathtub which held the water briefly before it poured out of the bottom pipe and down a series of small waterfalls to a clear green-water pond, alive with waterlillies and cattails.

The pond and the side of the hill across from it was fenced in, and a trio of wary-eyed goats watched the wolves walk in behind the safety of it. The horns on the male goat fully equaled those of Breathes-the-Wind. In the pond a number of ducks paddled, going bottom up to snag the waterlily and cattail roots growing within. A small hut served as a barn for the goats, half in and half out of the fence, with a taller fenced coop next to it holding a clutch of what looked like huge brown chickens... until the tom turkey strutted his way out from behind the coop, iridescent tail-feathers spread wide in mating display for the hens.

"Ya'll go up... I'll get som' water out th' back," Caitlyn said, taking the path to the back door with far more ease in lupus that she probably could in homid. The steep front steps she probably did not use at all anymore. From the windows, the house looked like a mere four rooms, with another room at the back door, set into the hillside so deep the window was half-hidden.

[Cynical Cat]

Stormwalker trotted after her. "Let me give you a hand, ma'am."

[Charon]

Breathes-the-Winds quickly shifted to his homid form once he saw the he-goat. The Garou shifted his hat some, making certain it was on before he looked to the stairs. He pursed his lips for a few seconds and then opted to look around some more, just in case.

[LadyTevar]

"Good manners an' good breedin'," Caitlyn said with a grin as she also shifted back to homid to open the battered screen door. It opened with a rattle and the jaw-aching tone of a rusted coiled spring stretching. The white-painted inner door opened far easier, as if it hadn't been locked at all. From the metal number partially hidden under the paint, this old wooden door may have been Door #2 from a school long gone.

Inside the door was a vestibule, where she took off the heavy coat and hung it up on one of many nails holding various coats, hats, and other garments. Walking straight through the next open door she went into a small, clean kitchen, dominated by the white stove and a round kitchen table. White cabinets lined the walls, leaving just enough room to walk around without hitting anything, although any shape but Homid or Lupus would be too big to move easily.

"So, who's yer family, then?" Caitlyn asked curiously, stretching to reach a hammered metal pitcher on top of one of the cabinets. "Your Klaive's got a hist'ry, I'm sure."

++++

The he-goat lowered his head at Breathes-the-Wind and shook his horns threateningly, the square eyes watching him like a hawk.

[rhoenix]

Watching the goat with interest, Sees-Faces-In-Stars looked from the goat to Breathes-the-Winds, and back. His shoulders appeared to shake with laughter for a moment before he continued, though he didn't say anything.

Following the others after taking deep whiffs of the surrounding air, Sees-Faces trotted inside, looking at all the sights, listening to all the sounds, and deeply inhaling all the smells of this place. He was in the residence of an elder - a former Fianna tribe elder, at that. He would learn all he could while he was here.

For now, he Listened.

[Cynical Cat]

"My father was Matthew Roars-to-Thunder, Theurge, Leader of the Storm's Eye Sept, creator of the Cairn of Storm's Eye, and Alpha of the Black Towers pack," said Alexander quietly. "He forged Stormtalon the year I was born."

[LadyTevar]

Caitlyn clutched the pitcher to her, looking at Alexander with the first respect he'd gotten from any of the Appalachian Garou thus far. Of course, this was the first time he'd -told- anyone who his father was. It was an impressive lineage.

Then sadness filled her eyes. "I'm guessin' he finally died fightin', if you've his Klaive," she turned away, soundlessly handing Sees-Faces the metal pitcher and gesturing towards the creek outside. If the pup didn't get the hint, it was his fault. "A damn'd shame ... I've sung his deeds afore. He gav' alot o' hope ta many, buildin' a new Cairn in these dark times. You've a lot ta live up to, then. Hand me that platter b'hind you."

A deep sigh came from the Elder as she turned to fetch glassware, her eyes distant. " 'Nother o' Gaia's best gone... an' here I am," she muttered softly, shaking her head as she gathered enough for everyone.

[Cynical Cat]

Alexander shifted to homid form and picked up the platter, handing it to the elder. "Yes, he did. A stormcrow brought me the sword. He had-" Alexander choked up. He forced down a sob and took in a ragged breath. "I was too young. He wouldn't let me come with him."

[Charon]

Breathes-the-Winds growled low at the he-goat, then turned and walked gingerly up the stairs, still expecting trouble. He stopped on the porch and looked back at the wilderness, sighing just barely with contentment.

[LadyTevar]

She pretended not to hear the sob as she took the platter and started setting glasses on it. "I'm sure as you weren't th' only one he'd not let go, young or not. If he'd let them, Shadowlords from all o'er would have swelled his ranks, made him King prolly."

She then paused to truly look him over, judging Alex silently. What she might be seeing she didnt say, nodding to herself. "Well, iffen a Stormcrow brought it, anyone who tries to take it best not go outside when it's rainin'. It's a heavy burden your Grandfather put on you, tho. Not many yer age could carry it." Whether she meant the Klaive, his legacy, or if she saw the future was not clear.

+++
The he-goat made a sound that only a fairytale book would call a 'baa'. It was as much a challenge as the growl was, before the goat turned around and disparangingly flapped his tail at the metis.

[Cynical Cat]

"Yes it is," said Alexander, "but I am a Shadow Lord and I am my father's son. As long as there is breath in my body I will be worthy of my heritage."

[rhoenix]

Seizing the metal pitcher carefully in his jaws, Sees-Faces-In-Stars soundlessly trotted out to the creek. At the last second, some sixth sense caused him to raise his tail, which was the only thing that prevented it from being caught with a loud BANG in the doorframe. Unable to help himself, he jumped about a foot into the air at the noise, shuddering slightly when he'd seen just how close his tail had come to getting smashed in the door.

After he'd calmed down a bit from the near-hit his tail had taken, he thought about what he'd just learned about Alexander. His history explained some of the Shadowlord's fervor to prove himself to others; with a father like that, it certainly made sense, he thought as he trotted outside, returning to the creek he'd passed, following the sounds of running water to guide him. His thoughts were interrupted by getting to a large, white...bowl thing that the creek flowed into and out of, and smelled faintly of old Weaver.

Shrugging as only a dog cannot, Sees-Faces-in-Stars carefully dipped the pitcher into the water, realizing it was too heavy and unwieldy to carry with lupus jaws. Looking around carefully, using all his senses, Sees-Faces-In-Stars didn't see any observers around. His form fluidly shifted into his homid form. With human hands, he picked up the pitcher, and walked it carefully back to the small house, eyeing the door as he neared it before approaching, as if to say "I'm onto your tricks now, you foul thing!"

Walking carefully through the door, he had made it inside without spilling a drop of the water until the screen door slammed again. Jumping involuntarily, a few drops spilled from the overly-full pitcher to the kitchen floor. A look of naked disappointment crossed his face briefly before he silently held the pitcher out to the former Fianna tribe elder.