The Wildwood tangled in the rigging

you do not know who is your friend or who is your enemy until the ICE breaks. He did not enjoy the fact that he'd bartered for Borden's mood with the life of children, the subtle threat which had rolled around the edges of his words. But whatever he had said, and what Angier had said, seemed to have done the trick. Borden's pale eyes, eerily similar to his own (Ice did not meet many pale-eyed wolves, after all) slid away from the dark stranger, who cowered away from them, and back onto the River male. He stood his ground patiently, and when the lines of tension erased themselves from Borden's face, Ice followed suit. His near-white ears fell back and his tail lowered itself. With a great sigh something sorrowful came across his face as he listened, speaking a silent "Now you are," with a halfhearted smile. It seemed these were bad times for everyone — at the beginning of summer, Naira and Rhysis had left their pack and children, then Indru had followed suit, and it seemed like Grizzly Hollow had fared no better... But he would not yield to Borden's misery, or somehow let him think that they were alone in suffering. Levelly he met his gaze, only averting it to look at Angier with pain. "I wouldn't be able to merely stand by and let you suffer as we have," he said, quietly, looking back to Borden. "I just wanted you to stop looking like you'd fly at me, which you did. Thank you." He drew a deep, shuddering breath of cold air, and exhaled it in a silent cloud of white. It rose towards the trees, but Ice wasn't looking — unsure of where to start, what to say.. what not to say... In the end he sighed again. "We've had losses too. Indru left at the end of summer, taking one of the yearlings with him, as well as one of this year's cubs.. and as if that wasn't enough..." At least it was likely Torrel was still alive. But Rissa... poor, innocent Rissa... "They came at the beginning of winter, and lured one of our young girls away. Her sister tried to track her but lost her trail in a snowfall, and three of us set out, following her trail. It led across the mountains." Slowly he turned his head to stare towards the east, the direction of the sunrise — and of Rissa's death. "We found her, alright... murdered by a pack of wolves. Their scents are burned into my mind, just like the sight of her body is." His lips curled back to reveal his fangs for a moment, anger and pain mingling in his eyes as he looked back at them. "Those bastards are getting braver. I smell them all over the Wildwood, but never fresh enough to hunt them down and make them pay for what they did. Keep your children close, Borden. If they took one.. what is to stop them from taking more?" Perhaps they were the strangers that haunted the cedar forest? And as if the threat of psycho wolves kidnapping and killing their children wasn't enough... "Those dead creatures? There's more of them to the east. More of them on that side of the mountains." It wouldn't surprise him at all, if those damned wolves were the source of it all — but he wasn't sure. Couldn't know. Could only smell their scents as they got braver and braver, ranging further and further west, and fight off the shackles of fury. He never found fresh enough trails, could never hunt them down like the filth they were. Allowing his ears to fall back again he waited, for how Angier and Borden would take these news. Not well, he assumed. .ice aesir

Note to self: Final Fantasy XIV OST - Answers

(This post was last modified: Jan 19, 2013, 10:54 AM by Ice.)

let the stars above shine in your soul

The secret impresses no one.

borden lyall

The trick you use it for is everything.

Borden dipped his muzzle as Ice thanked him for relaxing to a more well-mannered, somewhat personable state. His gaze dropped just enough for him to attentively watch as a puff of moisture rose from the pale man's muzzle, listening and learning of Swift River's misfortunes. His ears twitched, lowering further as he learned about Indru and the younglings... and the death of one of their daughters. His pupils returned to Ice's face for a brief moment, taking in a glimpse of his angered gaze. The act of scowling had come so naturally to Borden that he did not realize he was practically reflecting back the same look until he blinked and took a step back upon comprehending just how dangerous this rogue pack was. "Keep your children close, Borden. If they took one.. what is to stop them from taking more?" he extended, and the expression on the Leader's face melted away. The uncertainty and terror creeping back onto his face.

Ice continued and Borden was continually all ears. His eyes followed his gaze to the mountains, a lump forming in his throat. His decision long ago to leave the heights of Mount Dire seemed to have been well-played. In exchange for worrying about his children under the cedar trees, he had dodged the worser anxieties of troublesome ledges, hunting on steep and slippery surfaces and, ultimately, what exactly had laid in wait on the other side of what had once been Alexander Dieudonné's kingdom.

Eventually, his head tilted downward in thought, looking only to Angier for one long instance before turning back to Ice. "I'm sorry for your losses," he finally proffered, his voice heavy with consolation. It seemed in that instance, the tables had turned. In his absence, the wolves of the River had returned his first-born son, lifeless but intact. Now, in the face of recent matters, Swift River had also suffered loss. Several, actually. "All along without word from Swift River, I thought maybe I had been given the short end of the stick around here," he continued. "If there's anything I can do to help, you need only ask once. As such, I owe you and your pack my unabridged gratitude." He tried to smile but the corners of his lips merely quivered. In dark times such as this, it seemed too difficult of a task to even smile when seemingly everything in the Lore was falling apart... dying.

"If you will excuse me, I have someone to tend to," he pointed with his muzzle and a jerk of a head towards the dark man behind him. "And much news to share with my beloved. Thank you again." He turned to Angier, gave him a rather solemn glance, then strode on over to Follko, wordlessly motioning for the man to follow...

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Well, what do you want from me?

no one cares about

the man in the box

the man who disappears

The more Ice divulged to them, the more Angier's heart sank. Starting with Indru's abandonment, the loss of two of the cubs, and the death of another. Guilt began to eat at him again. He couldn't remember now if he could have been there to prevent it... could have been there to help Corinna out. His face twisted as Ice revealed that the death had been caused by a pack of wolves and, not only were the strangers abducting their youths, but they were fully capable of killing them.

Angier gulped down the lump in his throat. So much for planning to take Taima, his thoughts scolded. A part of him snarled and growled and egged him on to go ahead with his misdeeds, thinking that he could simply take her and leave Borden to thinking that this strange, ruthless pack had taken her. He took a deep breath, ultimately thrusting the thought away. What had he been thinking? His brows lifted in worry as he considered that he might have been delusional, starved to the point of hallucinations and maniacal fancy. His relationship with Borden seemed to have been mended, despite his deceptive ways in getting into Grizzly Hollow. Why else would Borden have tried to protect him from strange voices in the fog?

"Those dead creatures? There's more of them to the east. More of them on that side of the mountains," Ice continued. The tawny Lyall's jaw just about dropped. That's it then, he decided. Might as well take advantage of Borden's protection now... He held Borden's gaze as he looked at him. Angier gave him a nod and he listened as his brother gave Ice his condolences. As Borden mentioned that he was going to take care of Follko, Angier kept his eyes averted and his ears down. Only when he had gone did he lift his eyes briefly into the River Guard's face, "How many are there? Do you know?"

ANGIER LYALL

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you do not know who is your friend or who is your enemy until the ICE breaks. Ice was not the actual father of any of Swift River's cubs, but especially since Indru's disappearance it felt like he took on the role more and more. First Fenru, and then he'd started to take Rissa and Aiyana for patrols... Though, the black girl had shut them all out now. He knew the feeling creeping onto Borden's face, the fear of losing that which you held so dear: he knew it, he felt it, rolling in his gut every day as he found no way to escape these problems. They had no weapons against the rabid animals, and less knowledge of the ghost pack of wolves which threatened their young. Pity and compassion lined his pale face as he looked at Borden, watching the movements of his head, but never quite directly looking at his eyes. As the condolences came, Ice's ears slicked backwards for a moment. Who was this man, who apologized for their pain, when Ice had not done the same courtesy to them? "And I for yours," he said, forcing the slight shame down. He did not know how to navigate these waters, and tried to learn from Borden instead of be aware of his own shortcomings. His ears flickered up again and his head tilted slightly to the side. Did their packs have a history? He had never met them before, except for the odd encounter here and there in Relic Lore. It must've been before his time.. a long time ago... "We're in this together," he replied. "If there is anything we can do, let us know." The River wolf's silver eyes drifted to the dark-furred wolf again, the one cowering nearby. Scarred, graying on the muzzle. Who was he? Ice's attention snapped back to Borden for a moment, inclining his head. "You're welcome," he responded lamely, before the Cedar patriarch swept away, bringing the skulking man with him. That left Ice and Angier — Angier, who Fenru had driven out. Why? He'd never bothered to ask the lad, though maybe he should've. In thoughtful silence he watched as the fog swallowed the impressive Borden and his dark shadow, only brought back to the present by the sound of Angier's voice. "How many are there? Do you know?" He wished he did, but he wasn't certain. Sighing out a cloud of moisture he looked up towards the looming peak of the mountain again, before shaking his head. "I smelled some.. four, maybe five, individuals around her corpse... But so many had touched her and crossed tracks.. I could easily have missed a few, or taken one for two different. I was... distraught." Ice's silver eyes slipped back to Angier's, for a moment staring into his pale yellowed ones, before looking in the direction Borden had disappeared again. "Who was that?" His curiosity demanded his tongue speak the question, even when such dark things loomed on the horizon. He knew that they would have to act, and soon, before more innocent lives were lost. .ice aesir

Note to self: The Piano Guys - Michael meets Mozart

let the stars above shine in your soul

no one cares about

the man in the box

the man who disappears

For Angier, whatever silence lingered between them felt... awkward and, sadly, somewhat intimidating. The Lyall sniffed, listening earnestly as his questioned as answered. His ears held their positions on either side of his skull, barely touching the ruff of his neck. "Fou-- Five?" he echoed incredulously, his lips parting in disbelief. Just five. Though the idea of other packs around Relic Lore was not a farfetched one, to think a pack of five could easily take and kill what they please had him wholly perturbed. Swift River had been large when he had been apart of it, Grizzly Hollow even more so... but five individuals somehow seemed much more dangerous. To operate just as they were, they must be adults or at least adolescents edging on the cusp of adulthood; and, more importantly, something was not right with them and their presence, according to Angier's logic, had brought on recent happenings.

He closed his mouth, plucked away from his cloud of thoughts by Ice's next question. "Who?" he asked, a brow arching. "Him? Follko? Er, jus' someone who... who left Grizzly Hollow er somethin'." The left side of his mouth drooped downward; the words coming from his mouth striking a chord within him. He might as well have been telling Ice about himself... Angier the Disloyal.

A slight wince pulled at his pale mask, "Ya don't... Ya don't know 'im, d'you? Last I checked he was some sorta Guard or pup-watcher." His eyes sought out something much easier to look at - the ground, a tree in the distance, Ice's shoulder... - and he made an attempt to swallow the concern that was reforming in his throat. "He... He might not be back, Borden... He doesn't take kindly to, er, wolves who abandon the pack." A memory of Fenru's impressive stance, the warning growls he had been given, flashed at the forefront of his mind. If there ever came a day when he double-crossed his brother now, given current circumstances, Angier might as well consider himself dead.

He made a feeble attempt to change the topic, return to the subject of the rogue pack of murderous wolves, "I haven't seen any of them, the band of wretches... We 'aven't done anything to them, what do you think they want? What do these... deaths... mean?" He blinked, briefly resting his gaze on Ice's nose before looking away in thought. Nothing about this sickness, this darkness, and all this hush-hush business made sense. "We're out of ideas. Borden has the Guards patrolling and making sure the cubs don't go too far. The youngsters, they manage to leave anyway. Ya can't talk to 'em, ya can't chase 'em down, ya can't keep them away. I don't know what you an' yers are doing, but we're almost waiting for something terrible on our end." He gritted his teeth. "I don't want to accept it, but Borden is afraid. He won't admit it and he's trying his best to make sure that fear doesn't spread." A shake of his head made a shiver shake him from his head to his shoulders, "He thought that by coming out here his worries would go away; I can see it's only made it worse..."

ANGIER LYALL

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(This post was last modified: Jan 30, 2013, 07:28 AM by Angier.)

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Follko listened quietly allowing Angier and Borden to speak with the white wolf. Though twitched an ear in annoyance after Angiers comment about him leaving the Hollow. Follko had made sure to stay away from the pups was all. He hadn't meant to be so disconnected from the pack. It was the elders way of keeping the pack safe and healthy instead of him traipsing around the territory giving them all his illness. Follko especially wanted to stay away from the pups. He knew that the wolves most likely to die from illness were pups and elders. I will have to speak with them about that after he's gone.. Follko glanced towards the white wolf with a serious expression on his maw.

"What I'm doing here is only for their ears youngster...." He spoke calmly eying the white wolf from his short distance away. Only Grizzly Hollow Wolves were going to hear of his concerns.

Feeling a wheeze coming on Follko cursed himself and succumbed to a fit of coughing. Once it was over he relaxed his body concentrating on even breaths to keep from coughing anymore. Closing his orange eyes again Follko waited until the three wolves conversation was over.

Ears flicked forward when Bordens voice caught them and Follko opened his eyes. Borden motioned for him to follow and so the dark elder did. He knew what was coming. It was only natural. However Follko hoped to make the break not a dramatic one. Perhaps that wouldn't happen.

(exit Follko)And everyone else?

“Never to suffer would never to have been blessed.”
--Edgar Allan Poe  

you do not know who is your friend or who is your enemy until the ICE breaks. Follko's serious expression did nothing to faze him, nor the words spoken. If anything, it only irked him, and in his state of being already riled up he snapped in the air in his direction. Get out already, for Borden's shape was slowly being eaten by the fog and Ice had no desire to spend more time near the arrogant old man. Not even the knowledge that he could probably take him down easily in a fight calmed him. Knowing that the dead animals had reached the cedarwood to the west did not make his mind easier, and speaking of Rissa's fate was like making it all come alive again, the pain, the worry, the helpless anger. So when Follko gave in to a fit of coughing, Ice's silver eyes grew wide and he flew a foot into the air, landing in a ready stance with his teeth bared and tail high. Was he.. was he sick? Like them? For a moment murder was spelled across his face, masking the fear beneath, but then the elder wolf was gone, following Borden, and Ice slowly relaxed. Follko, Angier called him, that dark old wolf. Grizzly Hollow. When he heard it, he knew it. Was it, hm, Fenru who had told him? Probably. Fenru said a lot of things. But if he had left, why was he back? Frowning, Ice stared at the vague shapes in the fog, before they disappeared altogether and the hushed sound of Borden's raised voice came rolling in like a distant echo of a dream. Well. It wasn't Ice's problem, and if he had been Borden, he probably would've reacted the same way. Blinking a little he shuffled the snow with a paw, trying not to remember all the souls who had come and gone from Swift River while he lived in there... not to remember Indru, who had come and gone many times. Somehow, he found himself grateful when Angier steered the conversation back to the pack of bastard wolves, and the near-white Guardian sighed. "I haven't seen them either," he confessed quietly; always too late, only seeing their slowly-filling tracks across the white snow. Always smelling their foul stench on branches and trunks, never quick enough to catch them and bleed them. His mind thirsted for the snow painted red. Angier's sudden tale of the Hollow frustrations made Ice's ears fall backward, and he turned to peer up at the towering peak. These were dark times indeed, and by the sound of it, Borden was not one to be afraid often. But if his children were threatened.. if their entire existence was threatened... it only made sense to fear. Ice knew the feeling, the cold fist around your heart, choking, gripping, mercilessly forcing the life out of you as each breath you took closed your throat more and more. "He does well to fear," he said quietly. "For the life of his young." Silver eyes returned to the tawny man. "I don't know what they want. They've never been here before. They've never shown up at our borders. One day, Rissa was just gone, and they were here. No questions, no ultimatums, nothing." His voice ended with the click of his teeth, his heart light and fast in his chest. "We're vulnerable, Angier... all of us." Quiet. "Because we know nothing. We cannot predict them. Aiyana would not follow anyone these days, barely even the ones she knows, but what if she was overpowered? What of the children who know no pain, who will believe good of anyone who smiles?" Clearly not one of the River children, but who knew what other pups roamed the forest — what of Borden's children, or the pups up in the mountains? He might loath Rhysis, but he would not wish Rissa's end upon innocent children. "We should stop waiting. We should stop guarding." His voice hardened, his jaws tensed, and his gaze flicked up to the ever-present Serpent. "We should end this, once and for all, before they destroy us." He wasn't sure how, or even if, they could stop the sickness, but one thing was certain: if they united, they would be able to bring down the black-souled bastards who murdered the children of others. .ice aesir

This post just gave me a lot of "War of the Ring" feels. xD Ice is hereby Aragorn, tired of waiting, rushing off to kill Sauron (Slyscar). >__>;

let the stars above shine in your soul

Is now a fan of "Aragorn! Ice." :D

no one cares about

the man in the box

the man who disappears

Though Follko came forth Angier did little by means of addressing him. His ears barely twitched and he kept his gaze forward, pinned on Ice's shoulder, even as the older man began to hack and cough and Ice let out an aggressive snap of his jaws in Follko's direction. He held his breath, still just visibly trembling as he realized just how shaken up he had become from learning of his brother's fearfulness. "He does well to fear," Ice began with a murmur and something within Angier cringed. It felt as if the manifestation of his own dread had woken up to its fullest degree and was starting to gnaw hungrily at his insides, starting at his throat and hastily making its first round about his torso and abdomen.

As Rissa's name tugged at his eardrums he tried hard to imagine her face but found that he could not. It was for the best, he tried telling himself; he would rather be spared the imagery of her once youthful and lively figure now still and lifeless in the snow. Ice continued but the Lyall did not return to the conversation until his name called his attention back, "We're vulnerable, Angier... all of us." His eyes went back to the Guard's face, remained there just long enough to gauge his feelings in his expression and match it to the solemn tone he was using, then fell to the ground to the left of his own forepaw in the snow. He grimaced. "Because we know nothing. We cannot predict them."

Ice was right... Borden was right... Now he had to figure out what to do, find out what his brother intended to do, how he would counter this unseen threat. Angier's brows touched one another as he flinched, thinking suddenly of all the ruin and heartbreak that could be had should this pack of five overrun the land and conquer everything he had ever known in Relic Lore. He would have to rediscover Vlarindara's cave and hide... and while he sought refuge Indru's boy, whom he had once provided for, could be sent running for his life... and Fenru's remaining siblings sent into darkness without their father to protect them. Borden's own children, his nieces and nephews, could be subject to their own losses... and, once upon a time, he thought the loss of his his Vlarindara had been so tragic. The men (and women) still standing amidst all this could not wait. They could not even afford to standby and safeguard what they held dear. Now was the time to act. Whether or not Borden was ready, afraid or not, he would have to see to it that his bloodline and pack was secure, that the wolves of Grizzly Hollow were spared by any means he could yield.

"Thank you," he finally said, a grateful smile appearing on his worried face. "Thank you. We... We will. Best of luck to you, Ice... and Fenru... Corinna, Aiyana..." His mouth twitched again as the guilt resurfaced. "We'll make it through," he tried to hearten him as much as himself. "We'll both make it through, and you can count on us."

ANGIER LYALL

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(This post was last modified: Jan 30, 2013, 07:59 AM by Angier.)

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