[center][h1][color=red]Embers[/color][/h1]part 1[/center]

Long strides took Garna’Tenth of the Dragon’s Jaw tribe through the Desert of Sandravii the Jotundar called home, the giant bellowing loudly as she went. Around her where the remains of a divine clash, a graveyard of monster bones and pillars of eternity burning iron half buried in endless sands. Life was rare here. Scrubby bushes. The odd cactus. Hidden roots. Monsters from the war. And, racing away from her as she stormed after them, Jackalopes. The massive rabbits with their fruit bearing horns where rapidly bounding away from her, darting too and fro to avoid the grip of her massive hands. She didn't even try. That wasn't the point of this.

Out of a dune ahead of where they were all running burst Rath'Took, the old giant roaring and waving his arms while to her left another giant emerge from where she had slowly, carefully looped around the giant bunnies’ grazing spot. The cowardly Lagomorphs panicked at the appearance of more giant humanoids and darted right only to find a final Jotundar emerging from the sand in their path. This one was no giant however, if any present had known what a human was they would have said he was about the same size as a male adult, nor did he bluster and rage like their kin. 

The Jackalopes decided to take their chances with this least threatening of their pursuers, rushing him and trying to nimbly dodge his grasp. This was a mistake. The boy’s agility was yet to be stolen by size and so his faster hands succeeded where others have failed, leaping at a Jackalope and catching it by one of it’s horns.

The bunny struggled, dragging the boy along through the sand as it continued to try and escape, but his grip remained tight and slowed the beast till Garna’Tenth caught up, a great hand grasping the burdened bunny’s other horn. She stood two and a half times as tall as the boy and had since the day she was made. 

“Good work boy. First try too!” came a distant shout from Rath’Took. The other two giants had stopped running once Garna’Tenth had caught up.”took Ayr’Sala three tries to catch one first time we took her out!” he added before he and the fourth giant, now grown enough for a name and simultaneously too slow to filer old role, began bickering over that fact.

“Now get a better grip on it and I’ll get this over with.” Garna’Tenth instructed, her free hand going for a knife made of a scavenged dragon fang taht was tied to her hip by a crude leather strap. He did as instructed, gripping it firmly around the neck and getting a better stance to stop it escaping. Garna released the beast's horn and moved a hand, whispering “shh it’s okay” as she brought up the knife. Then with a swift motion predator fang met stem and a ripe fruit fell from its antler to the desert sands. 

“Why don’t we kill it?” The boy asked as the Jackolope struggled in his grip “It’s been ages since we had meat.”

“We don’t kill them. Ever. last time was an accident.” Garna’Tenth explained curtly as she continued to harvest the fruits from the rabbit’s massive antlers. “Poor thing broke a leg. At that point it was us or one of Fear’s monsters.”

“But why not kill them? I remember how happy everyone was last time you brought meat back.” the young hunter pressed on, as he eyed the beast hungrily.

“The Ashen Hands ate all the Jackalopes they found” she said, as if that explained everything

“Never heard of them” the boy responded, rightly confused.

“Exactly. They butchered all the Jackalopes in their territory and then had nothing left to eat. Most starved. The ones left formed the Tooth Takers.” she explained properly.

“The Raiders? I heard they eat people” the boy responded matter of factly.

“Those are the rumors. They’re bastards the lot of them even if they don’t. That’s what happens when you don’t respect the land, you end up living in the wasteland of your own making.”

“But we’re Fire! We aren't supposed to respect that land. Right? Because fire consumes everything in its path in a glorious inferno!” the boy’s sudden surge of righteous rhetoric spooked the Jackople even more than it already was.

“And then it burns itself out.” she finished for him before softly stroking the fur of the jackalope to try and calm it “Yes, we are fire, but if you want a fire to live you don't just pile all the fuel you can on it at once. You feed it and stroke it. Nurture the flame and it’ll keep you warm all night instead of only for a few minutes.” she explained, plucking the last fruit from the jackalope. She pet its head gently as she could with her massive hands and then told the boy to “Now let it go”

The boy hesitated for a few moments before reluctantly releasing the rabbit, which bolted off into the dues as soon as it could. “You’re all ok with this” he asked the others, who had arrived but remained silent as he and their boss talked.

“Yeah.” Rath'Took, who, like Garna’Tenth, was made rather than born, replied. “Might not be righteous, but it works.”

“You were telling us about the war just last night!” the boy complained. “When you were warriors fighting against a world that would smother our flame if it could.”

“We aren't the armies of god any more” She scolded as the other two came to help gather up their haul of fruits. “We’re just people now, and we’re going to do whatever it takes to survive”

[hr]

After catching two more Jackalopes they were done. Night was a few hours away but the frigid desert night was no friend to the Jotundar and so the party made sure to leave plenty of time to reach camp. They were wise to do so, being forced to hide from one former monstrous allies that etched out a living in the wastes, and reached the metal spike they were currently calling home only a short time before sundown. 

The Jotundar didn't have much in the way of possessions, and so the camp was mostly defined by the presence of the giants themselves and the rough pile of trade goods they had stacked up. Shards of ever hot metal and bones and fangs of old beasts where the main goods found in the desert, along with some preservable arid plants. They'd trade those for fish from the river tribes and acquire salt to preserve it from the ocean ones, both of whose trades required either extreme bravery or extreme foolishness depending on who you asked. Obsidian blades could be acquired from those who had settled near mt Eldahverr after having failing to enter it and floating rocks to lighten their packs could be acquired from the madmen that lived near the world scar.

Once they were close the relief the party felt was still palpable, the heat from the spire of red hot metal washing away their fears of freezing to death in the desert night. 

“There you lot are!” came a call from the closest lookout, a Jotundar armed with a pair of Dragon claw knives the size of short-swords. “Argar has been worried sick about you Rath'Took.”

“Well he can stop worrying, I made it home like I always do!” the old Giant called back cheerfully “and it’s been worth the worry. This boy’s a natural Jackalope catcher.” 

The lookout eyed their armfuls of fruits hungrily “They’ll be glad to hear that! Everyone else is back already, thank father flame none are as slow as you, but it looked like we were going to have a meager evening till you lot showed up last thing” 

“They started cooking already?” Garna’Tenth asked, not liking the sound of the others hauls. They’d probably have to move again soon. It was always a risk, but one they’d taken a hundred times already.

“Yeah. better hurry if you want that done around the same time.”

The party nodded and then hurried on past. Meager had been the right word for it. A few roots, cactus flowers and bugs you needed nerves of iron to catch where all roasting away close to the iron spire while the Jotundar sat around on rocks and skulls to talk.

The party dropped off their haul with the cook for the day and went their separate ways till dinner time. It was while they were digging in to their haul that the past returned.

Garna’Tenth had been discussing when and where they’d be heading off too next now that the area looked like it needed time to recover when a shout drew their attention.

“By Sartravius’s beard! The Turtle, it’s coming!” came the cry. All eyes turned north, to the distant Giant’s bath where, sure enough, the great turtle of the river leech was descending from its seat of power for the first time in years. Silence reigned among the shocked and horrified Jotundar, until one finally cried out that “It’s coming to take its revenge!”

“Quiet, we don’t know that!” Garna’Tenth shouted down the coward before they could spark panic, but the ember of doubt was already sparked. Worried muttering began to circulate speculation running rampant.

“What are we going to do.” someone asked

“We’re going to go,” Garna’Tenth said with certainty “where everyone else is going. Back to the Final Crossing” 

[hr]

It took a week to reach their destination, but once they caught sight of it, it was clear they had not been the only ones to decide to come here. An agreement had been made decades ago, after they burned the boats they'd used to cross the Taipang, that they’d come back together there if it looked like the wordless admission of surrender to the wrathful storms hadn’t ended the war. The burning of the ships, gorlied rafts really, had been a declaration that they’d never return to the forest’s they’d ravaged, lacking as they did the resources to build new ones to cross the deadly river once more.

Here, now, gathered among the ashes of that surrender, was gathered the single largest host of Jotundar since the war for the Dragons Foot had ended in defeat for the forces of destruction. Despite hardly representing the totality of their kind, for those who had traveled far had likely not even seen the turtle, it was still a pot all but ready to boil over. 

They quickly learned that turtle had descended at the call of its masters ship, and had then had a strange construction built on it’s back through the night. The screams caused by that construction had been louder than any they had ever caused during the battle, or so tale from the river giants went. Child like people had boarded it and then it had lumbered off into the forest, crushing everything in its path. Suffice to say the fact that it was not swarmed by angry squalls for this hypocrisy was extremely unjust in the eyes of the Jotundar.

Now that it was gone to destroy the jungle nobody could agree on what to do. Some left, but those that remain bickered endlessly as tensions rose. The local river tribes were getting both fed up and worried about the damage the mas encampment was having on their local fish stocks and a number of watery graves were not helping matters. Grudges, old as the war and dnew as the desert, where boiling to the surface. 

The Dragon’s Jaw tribe managed to accrue all of this information in the day after their arrival and came back together for and evening meal to discuss it. They were not sure why it wasn't so cold at night nearer the river, but it meant they could handle the night with just a campfire made from the greenery that clung to the edge of the great desert, nurtured by the river. Not that there was much of that left now after a week of Jotundar occupation.

“This has been a Vulkandr sized waste of time” Garna’Tenth admitted in between bites of overpriced fresh fish. The river giants where demanding extortionate trades for their skills, both because of demand and to try and convince people to leave sooner. “I’m sorry I said we should do this.”

“Ah it wern’t just you” Rath'Took said from across the fire, stepping in before his old friend began beating herself up to hard for this “and besides, it was worth coming to not having to worry about becoming turtle food”

“A steep price for peace of mind” Garna’Tenth responded. They’d burned a lot of supplies getting here, and going out into the desert again. “But one we’ve paid already I suppose. Best get out of here before the rush” 

“If they’d delayed this long I wouldn’t expect them to head out anytime soon. Not till this place is a wasteland at least.” Rath'Took said. 

“Can’t believe they’re arguing about what to do. The ones trying to reform the army are the worst of the bunch, just fools grasping for power. Even if they get tribes onboard they’ll have nothing to fight. Except everyone else.” Garna’Tenth replied, ending with a touch of worry

“Mmmh. Wouldn't worry bout that.” Rath'Took responded “Didn’t someone try that already? Yarta’far? Yogsta’rar?” 

“Yanta’zar” Argar’Took, who was sitting next to him, supplied.

“Yeah! Yanta’zar.” Rath'Took clapped the other Giant on the shoulder int thanks and then continued “Sea Giant. Got a couple hundred odd Jotundar together few years back after a bit of conquering and then tried to invade the desert. Whole thing fell apart down way south of us as I heard it.”

“When’d you hear this?” Garna’Tenth asked. Rath'Took was never one to leave a story untold a dozen times over.

“Today” he replied “Me and Argar heard it from some fisher-woman while we were asking around. Was why she was sure it’d never get off the ground. Only other option was to go conquer the north, which is even dumber”

“Fools errand that” Garna’Tenth said, and most of the old giants nodded in agreement. 

“There's some in there that’ll argue till the end of time if they could about that and all sorts of other things. I heard that there was a big hoo ha over some old fear monster’s grave up near the mountains that's just been discovered. Half a dozen tribes all shouting and hollering about who gets a claim once they all go back north” Argar’Took began to gossip before being interrupted by a younger voice.

“Was that it?!” Complained the boy who had helped the pair of hunters

“Was what it?” Garna’Tenth asked

“The turtle is gone! The Giant’s Bath lies undefended! And your just going to dismiss the opportunity to finally claim it so easily? Like this isn't a golden opportunity to finally strike back?“ he asked

“The war is over boy.” she told him, tired of repeating herself already “and serpent’s titan leaving its post makes it perfectly clear that we aren't considered a threat anymore, so we don't need to worry about it starting back up again anytime soon.”

“You say that like its a good thing. That it’s good to be considered weak and meek and of no concern to anybody. How does that not fill you with shame? Because the enemy has left their gate unguarded and any brave warrior of Sartravius should be jumping at the opportunity to take revenge. But all I see here is cowards.” the boy retorted, fire in is words.
Garna’Tenth lashed out with a hand at the child, but found only dirt as the boy scrambled out of the way just in time.

 It had left an impact none the less, the confrontational bravado replaced with panting fear and shock. “You know where the ‘Brave’ warriors are” Garna’Tenth shouted at him, before pointing across the river. “You can find their bones over there. You haven't seen war child, haven't seen the clash of the titans that trampled us underfoot without even noticing. You haven’t watched as your friends and your lover were torn apart by storms given life by a vengeful god. No. We aren't the brave ones, or the strong ones, but we are the smart ones. That fight was over before you were even born boy and only the ones who accepted that are still alive.” 

The old Jotundar was left panting after letting lose her wrath. After a few moments to compose herself she spoke again in a quieter voice. “You’ll have plenty of time to reflect on your foolish words on night watch boy. So sit back down and keep quiet if you know what's good for you.”

The boy looked at the other faces in the crowd, getting only stern looks from those who had been in the war, but a few fleeting looks of sympathy from the other children and those who had once been children like Ayr’Sala. These were quickly hidden before they could be noticed however, leaving the boy alone in his shame.

Scowling, the boy returned to the circle and picked up his dropped fish. While the others gossiped and planned the boy silently ate, and schemed.

[hr]

Garna’Tenth rolled over in her sleep and then woke up feeling a touch of cold. Grumbling, she opened her eyes and found that it was near dawn. The soft orange glow of Heliopolis’s immanent arrival was smudged across the horizon, so it took her a few moments to realize that the night fire was out. 

“Damn that boy.” she muttered, standing and looking for his incompetent disobedient ass, yet found no trace of him. Nor, now that she was looking, could she find any trace of most of the half grown children. Ayr’Sala was also gone, along with a scant few adults.

“Children! Where are you! This is no place for games!” she shouted, rousing the rest of the tribe in the process.

“What’s going on” Rath'Took complained as he awoke to her haulering. He extracted himself from his lover's arms and looked around for a few moments, but instead of noticing what Garana had he spotted something going on deeper into the sprawling Jotundar camp. 

“What on earth is going on over there,” he asked, pointing towards a large gathering near a great bonfire at its center. This in and of itself was not unusual, some would be leader was always throwing speeches around somewhere in camp, but what was was that the attendees of this meeting where mostly half grown children like the Boy.

Garna’Tenth joined her old friend in looking down at the congregation “That. Does not bode well.” 

[hider=summary]
Jotundar from the Dragon’s Jaw tribe hunt jackalopes in the Desert of Sandravii. They catch one and then there is a discussion about whether to murdur it or not between a pro murder new hunter referred to only as boy and an elder called Garna’Tenth who exposits on the value of living in harmony with the land.

The hunters catch a few more bunnies and get fruits from their horns before returning home late to their tribe. There they cook up the food and have dinner. During this Shengshi summons the massive turtle Chuanwang down from the giants bath to act as a house boat for the dreamers. The giants see this and freak out.

The Dragon’s Jaw tribe travel to the place where their kind originally arrived in the desert, a ship  graveyard that they had used to cross the Taipang river before burning them. The Jotundar had agreed to return there if their race was ever threatened as a whole again. Many have gathered there in response to the turtles, but as they all discovered it had had nothing to do with them and the turtle wandered off into the jungle days ago with its new passengers.

The tribe does a bit of investigation and discovers that the only reason anyone is still here is because they are taking the opportunity to argue about all sorts of things. Most notably there are attempts being made to use this gathering to form an army for various goals, one of which is to conquer the giants bath.

This is dismissed as foolish by the elders, but the boy and Garna’Tenth get in an argument over this as well. The boy calls his elders cowards for not leaping at the opportunity at revenge. Garna’Tenth respond with violence and tells him that if he wants to find the brave Jonture he’s more than welcome to go cross the river and dig up their bones. 

The boy is assigned to night watch as punishment for his words, but he steals away in the early morning along with many of the other half grown children (read, 20-30 year olds) to attend some gathering of their age group at the center of the combined Jotundar camp.

[/hider]