Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Unlike Peiter, Sabine still took their encounter with the Cathay-raht rather seriously. She at least had the good nature to give an uneasy smile. "He almost killed you," she said, about to follow up when Peiter put his hand on hers. The words were just about forgotten as her face went red again. To make it complete, she repositioned her hand so that it was properly within Peiter's grasp and then looked up at his face. Just as she caught herself staring, Sabine turned away to look at the Pride. "Ha-...have you met any of the rescued pride? I have not spoken to any of them yet," Sabine's tone spoke of her being the nervous one this time.

"If we have a lead for finding more of the clan, I can get behind that," Gallus have a sad smile, "I would sooner see them out of suffering or hiding." Gallus straightened up from the map and gestured to it with a sweeping hand, "What is our heading?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sounds good.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I considered opening up dialogue with the members of the pride, but I think that would have made the posts a bit hefty at this stage. Should we say that they made some small talk with the other pack members?

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Though Sabine gave Peiter a smile, she was of a mind to slap Peiter for almost undermining the words that she had worked up the courage to say the previous night. Thankfully, Sabine was not a violent person and she didn't want to admit the effort she had put forth. Instead, she shifted from where she sat until she was close up beside Peiter and let that be her answer. She found it amusing to see his reaction anyway. "I am fine," she said, only at as high a volume as was absolutely necessary. Her eyes shifted to the bandages that now obscured Peiter's burns, "How are your wounds?"

Gallus put up his hand and nodded. "I understand. I didn't want to deny you the opportunity, but with what you say, your decision is probably for the best." Gallus' eyes returned to the map, "I never said anything about attacking just yet, only scouting. Still, you're right, we will need more numbers. Sending for an army from other clans will take a long time, so there'll be a few more options. Let's see..." Gallus straightened up and actually put more thought into other things to do. He listed them off with his fingers as they came to mind, "There's finding more remnants of the Senchal clan, there is rooting out and disrupting more of Vile's operations...establishing our own base of operations - especially if our numbers are to grow further, hmm...I suppose we could explore the possibility of combating this big force by other means; raids, assassinations..." Gallus blinked and glanced to Meesei and Ra'kalesh, "...I am still sounding too eager, aren't I?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The night passed without further incident. Apart from those on watch, Gallus gained the least sleep after butchering the prisoner for edible flesh and burying the remains in a shallow grave. He figured that even as the wretch that he was, the prisoner would not go to waste any further.

The first to awake with the dim blue light preceding dawn was Sabine. It was no wonder when she felt a sore jaw from clenched teeth and a certain tension in her shoulders. It wasn't nightmares that caused her the stress this time, but likely the emotional tumult of the previous day. She awoke with surprise to find a number of new faces, obviously the rescue was successful. She detected motion to one side and spotted Fendros on watch, they exchanged a wave. Due to the already building heat in the air, Sabine quietly found her breakfast and began eating it raw. In the wait for everyone to stir, she kept looking over the new faces, but she also found herself glancing at Peiter again.

The next to wake up was Rhazii. The small gasp that Sabine heard and the immediate motion to reach for Ahnasha and hold onto her suggested a nightmare.

Smelling food, Leaps eventually stirred and gave Sabine a good morning in his excitable croaking of an animal language and begged to be fed. Sabine giggled and gave him a scratch under the chin, before pointing to the still sleeping Janius. "Go wake Janius, go on," Sabine whispered. Leaps understood enough to start waking Janius up as he usually did, likely waking Kaleeth and Newt in the process.

Within the hour, just as the sky turned orange, just about everyone had risen. Once Gallus was awake, he retrieved the map leading to the fortress and gathered both Meesei and Ra'kalesh. "We need to plan our next move. Once we get orientated and packed, we ought to scout out this fortress, see what we're up against. Ra'kalesh, can you join us to fight, or do you and your pride need to recover further?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Cool.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Shall I skip to the next day, or did you have something else to do before that?

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

When the initial shock and surprise of the prisoner's execution passed after a moment, Gallus looked to Jo'rashaad with an open palm and an angered look. He looked as if he was about to shout, but instead he turned slightly away, scrunched his eyes, and pinched the bridge of his nose. It was only then that he realised how tired he had become after all the events of the day. He ran his hand down his face and sighed. "Well, that is decided, then," Gallus said with sarcastic joy, kneeling down to retrieve the rope used to restrain the glaze-eyed corpse that was their prisoner. "That was honestly a quicker death than your tone suggested he deserved."

Gallus' voice turned to a frustrated muttering as he untied the ropes, hardly audible by either Meesei or Jo'rashaad. What they could understand pertained to the prisoner's chances of survival being non-existent and something else about a lack of respect. All knew that if Gallus considered what he was going on about to be real problems, he would have to speak them, but Gallus was speaking from a tired and fed up mind. He spoke up more clearly with a more jaded voice a moment later, waving one hand, "I'll clean all this up. The sooner we get to tomorrow, the better."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

This time, Gallus did not motion between Jo'rashaad and the prisoner. He simply clasped his own hands behind his back, looked to Jo'rashaad, and then to Meesei. There wasn't much more information that could be trusted in the newly-infected Khajiit, that he could think of anyway. They now had a next step. To release this prisoner would be less an act of honour than creating a greater liability. There was no notion in Gallus' mind that he wouldn't just go right back to Vile. Still, what they said could be construed as a promise.

Considering what to do, Gallus opened his mouth and took a breath in, speaking slowly and clearly, "If you wanted to be completely fair, Meesei, I think the only redemption this creature is going to get in our lord's eyes is if he successfully escapes. A vengeful hunter is a renowned foe indeed."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Gallus put one hand over his chin and supported his elbow with his other hand. When the prisoner spoke of Vile's general being a werewolf, he lowered his brow, confronted. "A werewolf, you say?" Gallus' mind was brought back to Janius' description of the raiding party that nearly caught Sabine and Peiter. Their leader was a very tough Cathay-raht, but it wasn't enough to prove that the one they encountered was indeed the general. Still, the fact that he was a werewolf brought another important question into Gallus' mind. "Are there any other lycans amongst your 'legion'? Not including that clever perfume, of course."