Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Clearly fed up with waiting, Harriet threw her head back and groaned impatiently while turning on her heel and waiting elsewhere. When she turned around, she revealed that she had a dagger sheathed on the back of her belt, but she wore no more weaponry.

Fendros and Janius were too tense to sit around while they waited. They shared a short conversation with one another, most speculating on whether Galsek would go to his allies quickly, and what they would find there. It was possible that they would be tracking him for a few days, perhaps even weeks if it came to it. Before they could dwell on all the possibilities, Meesei said the word and they all shifted to leave.

"About damn time..." Harriet muttered just loud enough for Meesei to hear.

Once they were outside, Galsek's tracks in the snow were imprinted consistently, but it was barely a kilometre when they quickly faded into nothing. It was unclear what method Galsek was employing, but even his scent started to fork out to the point where it was impossible to find without going down many decoy paths. Meesei's ring kept their course true, however. No amount of tricks would deny that.

The warband marched on for about an hour before any physical evidence of Galsek appeared. They found a shallow cave up against an outcropping that caught Harriet's attention. It wasn't much of a cave so much as a large divot under the rocks, but it contained some torn strips of fur, thread, and wool. The glint that caught Harriet's eye was the false ring near the top of the pile. Harriet walked up to the cave, stooped to pick up the ring, and turned to show it to everyone. "Here's your ruse," Harriet held the ring under her thumb and flicked it in an arc towards Meesei's front. It's metallic sound lingered as it flew, silencing abruptly where it landed. "Have you still got his trail?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The leaders gathered were quiet for one another's responses. A few shook their heads. What broke the pause was a familiar voice from behind them all. "All we've gotta content with is the growing numbness in our asses!" Janius and one of the alphas parted to reveal Harriet in fur, leather, and mail armour, holding three javelins against the back of her neck with both wrists. She looked the model of a warrior, but for the distracting magical sheen on the strange new collar around her neck.

Most of the leaders present, seemed uneasy in Harriet's presence. When she started to walk closer, the sudden movement made the nearest to her flinch. She shifted her her javelins to one hand before breaking the new silence she had wrought. "I don't know about all of you, but I have a reckoning to get to. If ya don't mind, we should get going."

All around, the warband was standing at the ready. Many were as eager to get going as Harriet was, but they were beaten to protest by the one they would sent to death.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ah, yeah, you're right.

I edited in the confession. You may retroactively add that Meesei found no evidence of foul play in Harriet's decision making if you like.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

From his seat in the cold, Galsek took his time waking up. That was, until he felt Meesei's foot impact his ribs. At first, he waved his hands around in a small panic as he looked around to confront his surroundings. When his eyes adjusted to the bright snow and spied the potion held in front of his face, he glanced between the vial and Meesei's face for a few moments. His breath steamed in short puffs as he considered. Finally, he realised that it was not in his interests to waste time. He sneered, snatched the potion from Meesei, and rolled up onto his feet, clumsily running away.

Though Galsek seemed to be in a rush, he did not sprint. Most likely it was all he could do not to stumble over after his recent sedation. He looked over his shoulder to check if Meesei was following before he was out of site behind some rocks.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Galsek regarded the corners of the ceiling as if surveying its structure. "Oh, I would say this place is secure enough, so long as you remain inside." His gaze went back to Meesei, "Be careful lest you break something you intended to improve."

The grin Galsek wore changed into mild disgust as he looked either side of him. "So, what afterwards, hm? You wouldn't let me go just because you made a rash promise. You have something else in mind." Galsek smiled again and chuckled quietly. "Maybe you want to release me to face the undead horrors in the ruins below? Maybe you're just letting me go so you can hunt me like a rabbit, that sounds like something your prince would enjoy." His eyes lit up, "Or maybe you want to track me to my allies so you can attack them! Oh, clever dog!" He looked away, contemplating further, "Perhaps I am thinking over-much, perhaps you want to revel in the torture that is my beast spirit and would see me crawling back for help..." His head remained facing to the side, but his eyes met Meesei's again, "You did give me some time to think in the night."

Before letting the moment sink in, he sniffed and stretched momentarily. "Still, a quick nap would do me good. I was kept up all night for other reasons as you would know."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Galsek was eager to take Meesei's excuse as a sign of weakness and threw some discouraging words in her direction, but this was to be expected.

The rest of the hunt's planning was just a matter of communication now that the hunting grounds were allocated. Although on the surface it was hard to fathom all the details of such planning, all of the clan's alphas knew exactly what they needed to do with the limited information. This was such as the plan was similar to how they had always done it. Even Meesei missed out on unspoken details until she inquired further. By the end of it all, the entire clan was in the main chamber and were walking out of the gate in an orderly line. Each individual had a fur cloak set over their shoulders and were advised to take as little else as possible.

Meesei's pack were somewhat bewildered by all of the activity, but they followed along as best as they could. Ahnasha and Fendros were at first advised to leave Rhazii in the care of the young children who were staying behind, but Fendros would have none of it. Given the last time they left their child in the hands of a stranger, Fendros would settle for nothing short of Meesei promising to take care of the cub for them during the night.

The weather was slightly windy outside, though it was not snowing. It was cold enough to be uncomfortable, but not unbearable. Under Lorag's direction, the pack navigated their way to their allocated hunting ground for the night. At first, they were surrounded by many people descending the mountain, but as more and more packs broke off into the wilderness, they were soon left on their own. They came upon their grounds with roughly half an hour until the moons rose, so they decided to start early. Their furs, as they were advised, were to be hidden and found later so they wouldn't freeze on their way back. They were promptly stuffed into a hole beneath a tree that Ahnasha could mark with her claws before they began. Even in unfamiliar territory, the pack felt a sense of satisfaction at being able to hunt again. Fendros didn't have to worry about anything except the next quarry, Sabine had been lacking in exercise and was glad to be moving around, and Janius was just glad to get out from under the ground.

The soul gems that Meesei requested were waiting for her in a small sack when she returned to her pack's chamber. Without the bustle of the clan from over the balcony and through the doorway, there was a certain serenity that was conducive to weaving her enchantments. That was, when Leaps wasn't nudging her for attention or Rhazii wasn't crying for whatever reason. Whatever noise the children or pregnant women were making from their chambers didn't carry this far except in tiny echoes. In the middle of the night, there was some loud howling through the halls as Galsek and Harriet's beast forms struggled against their fetters. Thankfully their beastly howling was their only method of communication.

Between the silence and the distractions, Meesei was eventually able to get her enchantments done. It was only once the last one was finalised that she noticed a small boy, no older than eight, watching silently through a hole in the door. Once he was noticed, he gasped and ran off. An older child calling for a name seemed to resolve the situation without Meesei's input.

The next morning, there were already some returned packs by the time Meesei woke up. Most appeared to be going about their duties as before, save for skipping breakfast and looking tired from the night's activity. Others were either napping or finding a place to nap. The lieutenants returned with their packs, one by one. Some packs returned with kills that still had enough meat to salvage. By about three hours after sunrise, Meesei's pack returned in one piece. All seemed to be freezing cold under their cloaks, but a bath in the now crowded and tepid pool chambers later and they gained a spring to their steps.

Meesei's pack and the lieutenants caught up and were all pleased to report a lack of incidents during the night. Darahil made particular note to mention how anarchic the whole affair would have been had the unrest not been resolved.

Once a sufficient majority of the packs had safely returned, Meesei returned once more to Harriet to hear out her answer. A simple, terse 'I agree' was all she gave, and she did not speak further until brought before those gathered in the dining room to hear her confession. By her expression, Harriet did not enjoy the experience, but she remained stoic. Her confession was similarly terse, if slightly flippant despite her stern face. "I poisoned Jerrick to try and become leader," she said, "it turned out to do more harm than good. I wouldn't recommend it. I'll see you on the hunting grounds." And with that she turned and stepped away with no effort made to defend herself.

The audience's reaction was somewhere between indifferent and quietly contemplative. Either way, it seemed that everyone was too tired to kick up a fuss. Most had accepted that Harriet was guilty anyway. Afterward, some of Harriet's alphas came to her and asked if it was really true. A number of them felt that they would sooner blame Galsek for misleading her. Harriet responded by conceding that she trusted Galsek too much and shouldn't have taken his advice, but that it also doesn't excuse her actions. Other questions came about succession, to which Harriet directed all to the lieutenants and Meesei.

The next order of business was to enact the plan to track down the hideout of Galsek's associates. It would be a fight, so Sabine and Kaleeth were urged to stay behind with Rhazii and Leaps. There was some small protest from Sabine, but she did not force the issue.

Oswall, Vera, and Darahil had a short discussion about what the clan would provide. They came up with two skilled warrior packs lead by Oswall, and some mages lead by one of Darahil's alphas. Oswall was too old to be the strongest fighter of them all, but he had an air of respect for his leadership and tactical skills. Darahil's mages were not exactly Imperial battlemages, but they had skill in magical combat enough to assist with protecting against Vile's mages where Meesei would not suffice as an individual. Darahil and Vera proclaimed priority in leading the clan while the others would be away. Fendros, Lorag, Ahnasha, and Janius donned their armour and readied their weapons with the rest. In all they numbered twenty-five fighting lycans. If the collective measure of power across the small warband was not enough on its own, the planned time of attack would be just far enough from the previous night that most could transform and ravage anything that stood in their way. As least, whatever Harriet would leave behind for them after her last stand.

Before they would set out, there was another important matter to take care of. The first was Galsek. The warband would prepare in the main chamber while Meesei took care of him. He looked up from his now stressed looking bindings at Meesei as she entered. The corners of his mouth curled into a malicious grin before he spoke. "Have I finally outstayed my welcome, dear hostess?" he asked in sarcastic innocence.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Again, Oswall spoke in reaction to Meesei's first comment to offer some clarification. "Oh, do not mistake the punishment to be all I have planned for the boy. It is merely to satisfy the clan and its laws. He will be assigned a new mentor to receive lessons that will help him. I have just the one in mind."

The lieutenants gave no immediate response to Meesei's proposal for reforming the clan's culture and organisation. At this point it was so apparent that none were to deny it any further. As they stood up, they appeared collectively relieved that the long conversation would not begin that morning. Oswall was careful in getting up not to strain his wound.

"Of course. I will have them delivered to you within the hour," Darahil said neutrally, "I assume you will be continuing to help us to prepare the hunt? It is not a problem if you are not, but I will require your whereabouts to deliver the gems."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Ill will has little to do with it, though we know that they were not manipulated," Oswall mentioned in response to Meesei mentioning Harriet's alphas, "It is written in tradition. If we do not have a proper representative of those packs, they would be effectively gagged at this council."

To the topic of Caleb's punishment Oswall leaned forward slightly, but winced and stopped before bending too far forward. Though now under fresh clothing, his wound was still causing him pain. Likely he was just trying to look strong and would do better with another day resting. Still, he paused for thought, and then his eyes moved up. "I have talked to Vera about this. While he was indeed lied to and manipulated, he will be punished." He breathed in slowly and gained a stony and serious expression, "The usual punishment for crimes as dire as attempted murder is either banishment or execution. However, there is one lawful leniency he may gain, independent of his connections to the leadership." Oswall glanced to Vera for a moment, "He is not yet an adult. He cannot be expected to hold the same responsibility of judgement. With that in mind, we have settled to give him five public lashes. It will mark him, but it is a mercy."

Vera was mimicking Oswall's stony look at she looked out to the space behind Meesei. She seemed to breath shallowly. Evidently whatever protests she had were already spent upon Oswall earlier.

"I will deliver the punishment myself," Oswall finished.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Myself," Darahil responded without hesitation. "I have already made it clear that I have no desire to lead the entire clan. My research prevents me from committing fully, and I have already put forth my time for such a thing in the past."

Vera and Oswall glanced at each other, then looked to Meesei. "We were actually going to suggest that you take a seat at the table," Oswall said, matter-of-factly, "Whether as a lieutenant or a leader. Though, if you were leader, we would know you to be impartial as well as capable."

Vera nodded and added her own comment. "If not, either myself or Oswall would be willing to take the mantle. If either of us do not, we will not hold ill will."

To complete things, Oswall continued. "As for Harriet's position, there are a number of capable alphas of hers whom we believe would have what it takes. Tariam and Xander are two such alphas, though I believe Xander prefers to work the forge as he always has."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The next post will be a bit delayed. At a bit of a high work load right now.