The Feud in the Forest (Private Rp with Wingfeather)

[tenebria]

Vaskra paused at her apprentice's distressed expression. "Tomorrow we'll go over it again" she added in a mildly reassuring tone before moving to the next subject. "Now we've settled all the sensible questions in that area, but here are some things that could happen to greatly alter our rescue." she said, pausing to make sure her apprentice was listening before continuing "The human boy which we are to rescue, could make a sound in fright when he spies us, which could alert any elves that went after the distraction party, and bring them all to us before we have undone the human from his bonds. In that situation, what is the best course of action?" she asked. Alistra blinked. It was funny, this was the first time she was actually considering the human as a real live creature that could move and yell and have it's own thoughts and ideas! "Well" she said, pausing again and blinking as she attempted to imagine the scenario. "I suppose we could grab the boy by the ropes and drag him after us" she suggested. Vaskra frowned. "He would become drastically wounded that way, and the terrain is not one you would be able to drag something as large as a human boy through" she pointed out. Alistra frowned again. Right, she hadn't thought of that. "Well then, I guess we would just abandon the mission? We could always redo it later" she said, more hesitantly this time. Vaskra gave a slight nod "That would indeed be one option. Another would be to draw back for simply a few moments until the distraction party regroups, and then launch a swift guerilla attack, taking out one elf at a time until we can reach the boy safely". Alistra had no issue imagining this scenario, and a slight bold smile came to her muzzle at the idea. Slipping in and out of the rocks, taking out one elf at a time, that suited her idea of a mission wonderfully!

[wingfeather]

Enilair backed up slightly, his turn? He did not even know the first thing of camouflage. But Grthmé had already begun counting. Enilair darted off into the forest thinking as he ran, he was grey so, what was grey in a forest? Rocks! It was not long before he came upon a pile of them and flattened himself amongst them, he closed his eyes and tried to breathe deeply as he waited for Grthmé. As if on cue the old grey wolf suddenly loped out of the forest, ears erect and eyes alert, his head swung back and forth as he searched for a scent, suddenly he looked up eyes immediately fell on Enilair, ''You'll have to do better than that, pup! Come on let's try again, this time try and become your surroundings.'' Grthmé did not even look at Eniliar, he knew what the pup's expression would be.

[tenebria]

Vaskra noticed, with misgiving, the expression on her apprentices face. "We hope to be able to continue with our simple plan though, these are only backups just in case the worst happens" she reminded her. Alistra sobered slightly and nodded in understanding, although her imaginings of such guerilla tactics made her fairly tingle with excitement and energy! She shifted slightly where she sat, and Vaskra could tell in a moment that the active young wolf was ready for training more her style. "Alright, let's do some practice drills." she said suddenly, getting to her paws. "I am going to make my way into the forest, and after... say 10 seconds, you come after me. Pretend I am an elf, and use your new found battle tactics to judge the best direction to attack from. If I catch you, you fail." she said, then suddenly leapt into the forest without waiting to see if Alistra understood. Alistra blinked, then swiftly began counting, adrenaline starting to race through her.

[wingfeather]

Great, Enilair thought, try and become my surroundings!? Who ever heard of such a thing? But he had to try he supposed. He did not know how much time he had as Grthmé had not specified, he came across an area of dense undergrowth, maybe this will be a good spot? He wriggled inside and closed his eyes, trying to become his surroundings as Grthmé put it. Pretty soon the grey wolf loped across the path senses alert for any sign of his young apprentice. He passed him! Enilair could not help but allow a small shiver of joy to pass through him. He contemplated on wether he should try crawling out, but before he could come to a decision he was pounced upon from behind. Enilar groaned, when would he ever learn! ''You did well till you didn't,'' was all Grthmé said getting off from on top of Enilair. 

[tenebria]

At the count of ten, Alistra spun around and dashed into the forest, remembering to keep her paw steps as silent as possible, avoiding any such things that would give her away as she picked up, although with difficulty, her mentor's scent. It grew suddenly stronger the moment she leapt over a fallen log, and she dropped to the forest floor, breathing hard as she swiftly focused on camouflage, her breathing slowing as she closed her eyes slowly, keeping them shut and keeping her body relaxed as she took in the other senses she could. A swift sniff told her she was thankfully downwind, and the sun was warm on her right side, which meant it was to the west. Her ears twitched as she heard the forest sounds, and yet, not a sound of any disturbance. Taking a chance she opened her eyes again, slipping further into the west side of the forest, scenting now and then to keep on her mentor's track. And then suddenly, a flash of dark purple from amongst the trees. With a slight gasp she dropped, adrenaline pounding through her veins. At this point she had forgotten it was simply training, her heart pounding just as hard as if it had been a true elf. She waited a few more moments before shifting further to the west, slipping amongst the trees and plants as swiftly as she could without making undue noise. And then suddenly she could see her mentor, padding along slowly, ears forward, eyes roving the area around her. Alistra took another moment to be sure of herself. Downwind... camouflaged... sun from the west. Now was the time. Just as Vaskra stepped into a small clearing, where the sun shone the brightest, Alistra leapt from the shadows into the sunlight, tackling her mentor, but fully expecting to take down only air. So it was with immense surprise that she actually felt her body slam into her mentor's. She had gone for Vaskra's neck, and ended up hitting her shoulder, which was mostly to the same effect, offbalancing the tall wolf and causing her to stumble slightly, the sun in her eyes as she turned to look. Alistra recovered from her shock and leapt up again, swiping at Vaskra's paws, staying in the sunlight, then throwing herself at her shoulder. But this time... this time there was just air. And now she found herself turning to look into the sunlight, wincing slightly at the brightness. Before she could hardly think, the dark form of her mentor sprang from the light, tackling her hard and slamming her to the ground, her paw rested lightly on Alistra's throat. Alistra gulped slightly, staying still, her breathing hard from the swift attack. Vaskra suddenly smiled slightly, stepping back. "Surprsingly successful, although you could not bring me down" She said suddenly. Alistra looked shocked, getting to her paws and shaking herself. "You see, I knew you were coming from the west, so i knew which direction to be watching, and yet you still managed to get one attack in. If you can do as well with the elves, you will have a chance" she said solmenly, then frowned slightly "But, you must take care to always keep your back to the sun. You saw how easily the position can be reversed, and how much it hindered you" she said sternly. Alistra sighed, then nodded. Vaskra gave an abrupt nod, then glanced at the sun. "It is getting late, I do not believe we have time for another run today" she said, turning and calmly beginning to trot back to the Clan, Alistra swiftly following with a slightly aching shoulder.

[wingfeather]

Enilair stood up an shook his coat, he fully understood what the didn't meant. ''Ok, we have time for one last test before we should start back,'' Grthmé said pointing his scarred muzzle towards the the cool evening breeze. Enilair nodded wearily, never in his life had he gone through so much physical exercise in one day and was looking forward to a restful sleep. ''This last run will just be a short course that winds back to your den, your job is to keep up with me, or else we will have to start again,'' Grthmé explained as he stood and stretched his body. Enilair raised an eyebrow slightly at the term short, but as was his practice deemed it wise to ask nothing, ''alright I'm ready,'' he said trying to sound as energetic as possible. ''Good,'' was all Grthmé said before he whipped off into the wood. Enilair kept pretty good pace with him for the most part, the trail fairly rigorous too. It was littered with a lot of fallen and rotting trees and cliff-like rock formations which Enilair had some difficulty climbing over. It also did not help that they were traveling west for the most part, and the sun was constantly getting into his eyes. Finally they broke the tree line and entered the den area.

[tenebria]

Alistra was rather quiet on the walk back, her mind spinning with her teachings of the day. Wait had that all been just one day? She shook her head slightly. It felt like at least two! So much to remember! Her brow furrowed in concentration as she went over the different battle plans that were possibly to be used in the coming raid, wanting to remember each perfectly so she wouldn't have to relearn them. Vaskra glanced to the side at the silence of her apprentice, smiling slightly at the look on the red furred wolf's face. Good, the training that day seemed to have impressed it's importance on Alistra. Hopefully what she was teaching her could be used to keep herself, the other apprentice and the human boy safe when the time came. Which was so soon. The deep purple wolf's own thoughts turned to the discussion at the flat meeting stone, going over all that had been spoken of... and especially of the strange direction the elves were heading. Why would they ever head north? Where were they going? Her brow furrowed slightly at this worrying question that she knew she could not answer. Only time could tell what the scheming creatures were planning.

[wingfeather]

Enilair tried not to pant, he did not want to look like a tired pup to his mentor. instead he drew himself up and tried lifting his legs higher as they approached the dens. Truthfully he was absolutely exhausted and could hardly wait to just go and lay down on the cool den floor. A cool wind from someplace deep in the woods suddenly blew threw his mottled blue and grey fur refreshing and reviving him, it also cleared his burnt out mind somewhat. He discreetly looked back up at Grthmé, the old grey wolf was loping easily just before him, thoughts of the one-eyed wolf's past entered his mind again, how can anyone live with such a tragic history. He genuinely felt very sorry for Grthmé and wished there was some way he could comfort him.
Grthmé's thoughts were on a similar tract, his mind was running threw how surprised he was of how well Enilair had been doing, not perfect and he still needed a lot more training to even nearly pass the standards of even the lowest of warriors but nonetheless he still did fine for his first official day, his daughter would have been just about Ennilair's age... no she would have been slightly older. Swiftly without even wanting it a memory of his family came to his mind: a brown and blue wolf was at his den mouth informing him of an elf sighting at the far end of the boarder, summons from Froedi for to take all the best warriors and investigate, he walked back in nuzzling his young and beautiful mate goodbye, his daughter prancing about his legs, ''I wanna go too father, I wanna be like you,'' he licked her too, ''not today my Stormflower.'' He left his den, patrolling the forest with ten other strong wolves, no sign of elves, smoke in the distance behind them, the dens! RUN! Everything ruined and blackened, his mate his daughter..... gone.
Grthmé's entire body suddenly began shuddering, with a gruff bark and a howl he bounded into the forest, leaving Enilair looking after him, perplexed.

[tenebria]

Alistra padded along in rare silence, her brow still furrowed as she tried to focus her mind on the training tactics... but they were already slowly slipping from her thoughts as her imagination once again took over. The raid was so soon! Her first mission, and her first test! A gleam of reckless determination sparked in her eyes as the scene played out in her mind... completely regardless of the training tactics she had just been taught, and the seriousness of the mission that had been impressed upon her for a short time. Two.. no... three elves would come for them while they were helping the boy get free.. she would use a triangle leap to take them all down in one go, toppling the tall tree like creatures, they wouldn't even have a chance to grab their bows, they wouldn't know what lightning had hit them! Her tail waved slightly behind her as her adrenaline flamed. Vaskra's thoughts were interrupted as she noticed the distracting motion and she glanced over, a frown coming to her brow and she sighed, shaking her head slightly at her oblivious apprentice. Such an Araedi, this one. So like her mother.

[wingfeather]

Enilair stared after his grim metor with confusion in his large blue eyes, was that about? But his mind kept on replaying the soul wrenching sound over and over, he didn't know what it was about but for some reason his mind tied it to Grthmé's past. Enilair wined in his throat before turning in trotting quietly towards his den. Greynan was their waiting for him, ''well, it would seem that you have had quite the day,'' he said with a deep throated chuckle observing his apprentices bone weary paws. ''Quiet,'' answered Enilair, momentarily forgetting about Grthmé's outburst and collapsing onto the floor. ''No doubt hungry as a whole legion of elves as well,'' Greynan said glancing back at Enilair as he walked to the farther more cooler area of their den and returning with a large chunk of meat. ''Just about,'' Enilair responded eyeing the meat hungrily. Greynan set it before him. ''Eat up and sleep well, for no doubt your training will be doubled two fold.'' But Enilair did not hear as he was practically inhaling the meat, after he had licked the last drops of blood immediately he felt the full effect of his days training. His mind felt dead and his bones seemed as if they had gotten softer and heavy, then without even realizing it his eyes began to droop until they closed and his entire body relaxed, enfolded in the heavy dreamless embrace of sleep.

[tenebria]

Alistra's eyes were glazed slightly as her imagination took full control of her mildly exhuasted brain, and it was only when her mentor growled at her in a low tone did she snap out of it, shaking her head and looking around with a dazed expression. "Go inside, I shall bring some meat from todays kill" Vaskra said in a mildly gentle tone. She knew her apprentices mind would be quite worn out from the unusual exercise. Alistra glanced over to the dark opening of her den and gave a slight nod, looking back to her mentor. "Thank you" she said, dipping her head, a bit of a sheepish gleam in her eyes. She knew she'd been caught daydreaming... which was quite embarrassing considering the lessons of the day. Vaskra gave a slight nod and trotted into the darkness, disappearing from sight swiftly in the night. Alistra suddenly yawned and turned to the empty den, padding inside and stretching before flopping down. "Just until Vaskra returns, then I can sleep" she murmured to herself. It wasn't often she lay down when she was actually out of energy, but tonight she certainly was, as her frequent yawning told. Feeling her mind begin to slip, she shook herself hard. Hmm what would keep her awake? Ah! Review! Settling herself again with a determined expression, she attempted to sort out the tactics she had learned. "Attack with the sun, downwind preferably. Use a distraction to turn their attention. Go for the vantage point, either sweep the legs or topple from the top." her voice slowly began to slur, and her words began making less and less sense. "Never turn your back to your opponent in the sun... wait no... never let your opponent turn their back to the sun.... never turn your back to your opponent's sun..." her words dropped into unintelligible mumbling, and in a few moments she was fast asleep, tail curled around her, and dreams of blinding sunlight and tree like elves taking over her thoughts.

[wingfeather]

Three days later...

Enilair woke early the next morning, a habit he had been teaching himself lately, quite honestly he didn't even know how he had fallen asleep with all the excitement he had building up within him. He yawned and tilted his head in thought, what was he so excited about last night he asked himself groggily. Suddenly he stood up, grey ears erect, ''ITS TODAY,'' he yipped jumping to his feet, the suspense of three long days finally releasing. From near the rear of the den Greynan's grey head came up, ''Enilair look what all this athletic training has made of you,'' Enilair's mentor said in a disapproving voice though there was a smile on he old wolf's muzzle. "sorry Greynan,'' Enilair apologized bumping his nose against the other wolf's head. ''That's alright young one, at least I'll get a break from you for a few days,'' he said teasingly, he sighed, ''I'm going to miss you,'' he said smiling sadly as he looked down into the younger wolf's bright blue eyes. ''But things will probably get back to normal once Grthmé and I return,'' Enilair said with a smile, he didn't like the sad look in his mentor's brown eyes. ''Perhaps,'' Greynan responded in a musing tone, but he did not think so, Enilair had gotten a taste of a warrior's life during the vigorous training he had been doing the past few days with his other mentor Grthmé, generally a young wolf doesn't want to revert back to the less active life. Although on the other paw Enilair had always been a more scholarly type... Greynan sighed again, the pup still had his life before him, he had plenty of time to decide upon what he wanted, ''we should see if the hunters have returned with food,'' he said briskly walking out of their den with Enilair following behind him.

[tenebria]

Alistra shifted in her state of unconscious sleep, a frown passing over her brow. Something was off. What was it? She shifted again, tail swishing over the floor. She was too tired to wonder about it... besides surely it wasn't morning yet. She'd just fallen asleep! Suddenly, an ear piercing shriek of delight almost broke her eardrum, and she leapt up, her agile limbs rocketing her a good two feet in the air as she let out a snarl of surprise, landing in a defensive position as her tired crazed eyes swept the corners of the den. What was it? Where was it? And then she registered that her head was rather hot... and heavier than usual. Letting out another yelp she dove on the ground and rolled quickly in the dirt, hearing a muffled squeak as whatever the heavy thing was was catapulted off her head and banged into the wall. She sprang to her paws again... just as her mentor raced into the den, serious gaze darting about. "Alistra, what in...." he voice trailed off, the violet wolf's gaze narrowing as she stared at a corner that was glowing red. Alistra looked over, and her ears flattened in embarrasment. The red dreki tilted his head in confusion. What had gone wrong? All he'd wanted was a pleasant snooze with his mistress! He let out a smoky snort, and immediately trotted up to the silver wolf to plant himself at her paws. Alistra gave a slight groan. Not again. This was the second time in a row she'd awoken to the little creature in the den! And today of all days! "I'm sorry Vaskra, I didn't know it was in here" she apologized, growling at it slightly. The dreki seemed to wilt under her gaze, wings drooping. Vaskra shook her head slightly in exasperation. "Take it back to Amida immediately, we are much too busy today to spend time over such things" she said with a frown, turning and trotting out. At her mentor's words, energy and excitement suddenly zipped through Alistra. TODAY. YES! Her eyes sparked with excitement. Today she got to show her true mettle! "Hurry up and get on!" she barked to the Dreki, padding towards the entrance the moment the little creature, almost on flames with happiness that she had spoken to it, flew up to her head and anchored himself on the slightly singed fur.

[wingfeather]

Greynan walked out of the den, Enilair walked quietly behind and to the side of the old grey wolf. The young wolf had not noticed the change that only three days of training had wrought upon him, his step was light yet firm and confident. His body as constantly alert, though at the same time relaxed and calm, even his form had altered in that now he was lean and well muscled. Though he still had a lot more things he could improve upon, his attack and defense postures still needed quite a bit of work, as Grthmé never ceased to remind him. Tracking, he had become more skilled in, but nowhere near the warrior mentor's standard, but still he would ''survive'' as Grthmé put it. The feeding grounds came into sight as they past the dens, Alpha Froedi was already there, as was his trusted Beta. Greynan and Enilair seated themselves at the gathering circle of wolves as was custom of the Visdomr pack. After most of their pack mates had assembled the hunters came forward and distributed the food amongst the seated wolves and then resumed their own positions. All eyes turned to the forest and, after a short silence, the Alpha dropped his head and began eating, the rest of his pack followed. Some wolves picked up their portion and bore it back to their dens, and some others also departed to bring meat to the guards. Enilair had not spotted Grthmé among the wolves. Perhaps he was on guard today, at the borders, he though to himself, though he knew that wasn't true, Grthmé always went out of his way to stay away from others, he was probably hunting his own food.

[tenebria]

Alistra leapt out of the den into the early morning sunlight, the dreki letting out a thrilled squeak at the smooth fast ride. She moved to a swift lope, heading for the moss covered healers den. It seemed the dreki recognized the route, because he began making pitful whines and squeaks from the top of her head, but she steadily ignored it. No time to waste on a small dreki, she was going to prove herself to her entire clan today! She had just reached the entrance, when the dreki, seeming to be desperate,suddenly hung himself upside down in front of her eyes, clinging onto her head fur, and giving her the most pleading stare she'd ever encountered in her life. "No, you can't come with me!" She said forcibly, and sprang into the den before the creatures gaze could change her mind. "Amida..." she got no further as the healer trotted up. "Ah, he found you once more I see" the light furred wolf spoke softly. "Yes he did, can you get him off?" Alistra said, now becoming a bit alarmed as she felt the dreki's claws clutching her fur. Amida's eyes sparkled with a moment of amusement. "The dreki will only listen to you, once they choose their master, they are not easily persuaded to leave" she said, watching calmly as the young wolf shifted impatiently. Apparently the three days of intense mental training hadn't done too much to dampen her reckless energy. But after all, she was Araedi. Alistra attempted one last time to shake off the leech like creature, then spoke in a slightly embarrassed uncertain tone "Detatch and go to your cage". Immediately the dreki leapt off her head, almost quivering with joy at being able to obey her command, hovering in the air for a moment to look at her with an adoring look, then dove into the cage without hesitation, almost burning a hole in the roots as he wiggled through them. Amida once again barely hid her amusement. "Good luck on your mission, young Alistra" she said softly as the young wolf gave her a hasty bow and dashed out the entrance, just as the Alpha's strong howl split the air. The hunters had brought in the fresh kill for the morning breaking of fast. Taking a moment to be sure all was secured in her quiet abode, she padded out after the energetic apprentice.

Alistra hurried through the gathering wolves, ducking and weaving to get back to her mentor. She knew it would not be looked upon well to arrive to the meal late, and especially not on such an important day. Vaskra was waiting for her, and simply raised an eye slightly at the bedraggled appearance of her apprentice before turning her gaze back to the Alpha who was sitting in front of the fresh kills. His beta and the hunters sat to his right, but all other wolves were simply nearby. It was not the Araedi way to assemble in an orderly fashion. The Alpha's gaze swept the wolves, seeming to linger slightly on the apprentice and her mentor before passing on. All wolves remained silent, watching their clan Alpha. Vanorr, seeing all wolves accounted for, glanced over their heads to the lightening forest. The simple motion caused the others eyes to avert in that direction as well, and then he let out a short quavering howl before delving his jaws into the portion of meat before him. As soon as his howl ripped the air, all the wolves stood and came forward, the Beta first, the hunters second, then the elders, healer and pups, and after them the warriors and apprentices. All picked up an equal portion and moved off. Some stayed near the clearing, while others retreated to their dens, or even the seclusion of the forest. A group of warriors retrieved the remaining portions and portaged them to the sentinels on watch. Alistra and Vaskra each retrieved their meat at their time, and, with the elder leading, they trotted back to the den. Immediately Alistra lay down and began ravaging the fresh meat. "No need to gorge yourself, a heavy stomach makes for a lazy warrior" Vaskra's reminder cut in. She looked up and gave an apologetic flattening of her ears, and settled to a more reasonable pace... but her nerves were still racing. When would they leave? Would the Alpha call them first? Or would they simply set out on their own? Suddenly she could hardly eat for the excitement in her bones.