Ghastly Woods Here We Stand

The trek had been strenuous, monotonous and cold. Crowe was exhausted yet his eyes were still sharp and alert, even though his massive frame seemed to sag. Mapplethorpe said something about going further but the white wolf only heard so much of it. With his size and lack of any real endurance he was beaten at the moment, useless as anything but a pile of fur. He'd make a great sleeping place and that's about it. Still Crowe turned as if he were ready to continue and moved to Mercy's side as Sagacity took off to begin marking. "The snow isn't too high now, would you like to walk with me till we find a den?" Crowe asked tiredly, waiting for a reason to keep walking.

It was true he was tired, but he was also renewed, fiercely loyal and purposeful now. Anyone that wasn't one of them was enemy, and anyone that was, well... they were allies at the least. Crowe knew it would be longer still until he would be accepted fully into the pack, but maybe he would be allowed in the den now. At least he planned to ask, his den far from theirs on the mountain had grown quite cold without a pack around him. Silently he waited on Mercy's answer and further instruction from the leaders. Hopefully they would have an answer soon for the longer they stood stationary the more exhausted he found himself becoming. Crowe was spent, his size having betrayed him on such a long journey.

At first, the journey had seemed infinite. Through the swirl of snowflakes and clinging clouds, the few glimpses of the distant lowlands seemed like they might as well be as far away as the moon or sun. Each precipitous ledge seemed like a chance for Nova to stumble off of, falling endlessly to never hit the ground. The wind and cold cut through her pelt, the snow and ice scratched into her frozen paws, and pangs of hunger gnawed at her belly. At first, she whined and balked at every turn, eventually biting her tongue and staying silent when she realized she was doing nothing to help the pack's already frayed nerves. At some point it became purgatory, something Nova just had to endure before they all came out the other side of this ordeal whole. Almost trancelike, she focused on putting one paw in front of the other, watching the steady bob of Mercy's tail in front of her to keep from staring at the treacherous path ahead.

As soon as the snow became thinner and they entered the cover of the forest Nova was ready to call it a victory and stop there. She even managed to overlook the general creepiness of the place, just thankful that they could finally stop. But it seemed the trek wasn't over yet, Mapplethorpe asserting that there was yet farther to go. Nova glanced to Mercy to see what he thought of that, finding that he'd already managed to sit down. Taking his lead, she plonked her rear down next to him, ready to throw in the towel. Even her bones were sore, and she was fighting holding her eyes open for a minute longer she was so tired. She grimaced at what Mercy had said, "Yeah, but I hope this is the last time we ever have to "nomad" anywhere."

Naira
a lady might be afraid but I am not...

If @Taima and @Veronika can jump in ASAP so we can wrap this up? (don't want people thinking we left them on the mountain :p)

Mapplethorpe was right, they were still too exposed. She looked over her exhausted family before taking another step forwards, knowing those who had chosen to sit or lay down would manage to drag themselves back up. The going here, while challenging was a cakewalk compared to what they had already endured, and they would manage this last leg yet. Turning to @Sagacity she gestured that they had a little ways to go yet, turning to the south.

The deeper they moved into the woods, the better. A scattering of boulders began to flank their path, perhaps thrown from the mountain itself in some ancient fit of rage. The trees grew closer until they blocked out what meagre light managed to peek over the horizon and still they walked on, only slowing when a large jumble of stones blocked their path. Perhaps this will do?

Naira’s nose worked overtime as she moved closer, the last thing she wanted was to wake up a hungry hibernating bear. The stones jutted up from the ground like an ancient battlement, a solid slab providing shelter beneath from the wind and the snow. Moving in closer only the stale scent of disuse met her nose and she dragged her pads through the snow and dirt, making the first mark before looking questioningly towards Mapplethorpe. It was the most promising prospect yet, and she was happy enough with it to claim it as their own - with his blessing of course.

Will wrap up with Mapplethorpe if/when/after @Veronika posts. <3

A pretty little talking bird, repeating all

miss taima lyall

the pretty little words they taught you to recite

Taima Lyall held her place at the back of the convoy; she kept her head level with her spine, her ears down, and her eyes trained on the moving limbs in front of her. After some time she began to feel seemingly sightless as she followed her pack, her family, down from the mountain. Where they stepped, she stepped, and where they had sometimes accidentally skidded down the slope, she, too, followed. In regards to the stragglers who dared to follow in the pack's tracks, the girl paid them no mind lest she felt they were too close for comfort. The whole time they crossed the open plains and into the cold embrace of the Ghastly Woods, it seemed they had never even come close enough for her to pull away from her thoughts.

Though she would never outwardly admit it, leaving the Pass had been hard. She knew she would always call the reaches of Cedarwood Forest home, but in the months that had come to pass, she had started to call the mountain range home... A place that would one day become hers should Datura ever return. It was the place where Mapplethorpe had groomed her, raised her into an image of his liking, taught her how to hold her own as a standing heiress. With her golden prince nowhere to be found and the pack moving away from their original claim, Taima's dream had finally fallen through. When she had once hoped to seize the territory for her own, she had grown empty and listless, aimless in her ventures aside from knowing how to be an outstanding young lady. What good was it to be proper when there was no longer a handsome prince to woo and behold and cater to?

Taima was now just a ward, the first of now three that Naira had taken in. Just a homeless heiress with nothing to inherit (at this point she had taken to heart all of Mapplethorpe's stories that he told Aponi and Nova, that they would grow to inherit their mother's lands) and nothing to strive for. Her father and mother, should they still rule in the west were eons away and were unreachable with the winter storms, Datura was gone, Aponi and Nova had never needed her guidance, and Mapplethorpe now exclusively saved his affection and praise for Naira alone. The Leader's words were lost on her ears but as the group came to stand before a rock formation, she lifted her eyes from the ground at last. For her, this place would never be home...

She vowed to herself that she would find her way out of here if it would be the last thing she ever did. She would make her family, all those who bore the Lyall surname, proud, and she would make sure that no Aquila, their servant or otherwise, would tame her ever again.

template base formed by GINNYSAURUS.

The trip had seemed endless, each step brought another shiver of pain racking her body, but they had made it. It was an impossible mission, yet through her new pack mates they found the will to survive. Her limp was more prominent than ever as she followed behind those who had taken the brunt of the journey. Pride was all she could feel for the wolves around her who had pushed on, kept going. Somehow it seemed they had all made it down alive, which was a feat in itself. As battered a bunch as they were, still they moved, finding just the right spot. Hopefully it would be a place without such an extreme winter, where food would be plentiful.

She wasn't sure if those around her felt despair as they hobbled down the mountainside, but she didn't. There weren't many memories for her there, but she knew for some, that it would be considered a great loss. The pups had lived their entire lives on the cliffs. They knew what life was like in high altitudes, but how would they fare down here?

The coming days were going to be busy regardless of how exhausted everyone was going to be. Border patrols would be more intense than they had been in their previous location, and the likeliness of wanderers passing too close would be increased. Things were going to be rocky, but she was ready. It was the dawning of a new era, and she was excited to see where it would take them.

On either side of the path the traveling party was forging in the snow unseen boulders and piles of stones were being uncovered underfoot. The trees were starting to become straighter while their branches overhead became more crooked and bent in shape. Eventually their pace slowed and it took a moment to discover why. Naira, her body language and energy, had piqued his interest and, in turn, the pack of wolves came to a halt to watch their queen investigate what might have been overlooked if they had kept moving onward. Mapplethorpe, as if he had been some sort of extension of her body, moved with her, his eyes and nose also taking in the covered site of what could be an abandoned den.

He was about to poke his head down the sizable tunnel that led underground when the sound of her footsteps dragging through the snow caught his attention. Was she...? Marking? His head came out from the stone slab that formed the overhang of the muddy burrow and his whiskered brows rose. His face began to wordlessly convey his question. Is this it? He caught her questioning gaze, searching her face for any sign that told him that she was positive in her choice... that this very place would become the heart of their new territory. She seemed to remain curious, asking him if he thought the old bear den would be suitable to claim.

A breath of air was forced out through his nose as he raked his eyes over the blanket of snow. His lips remained sealed, but before he could do or say anything else, he scanned each of his pack mates' faces before slipping down into the underground shelter. It was musty and cold, smelling of rotting tree roots and decaying leaves more than bear, wolverine, or fox. He chuffed and snorted after he withdrew his nose from the bed of forest debris on the floor of the cozy den. Turning about on his toes he crept back up the tunnel, his mousy brown head and russet ears coming up from the ground as though he had merely been asleep in the snow. For now it was just right, he and the rest of the pack could sleep above ground while Naira, Sagacity, and the cubs could huddle up comfortably inside; and, come Springtime, he was certain it would make a perfect rendezvous site for two or three growing cubs.

He cast his stark yellow irises back to his empress and with an approving nod, dragged a tawny paw over the threshold of their newly established sanctuary. There would be no songs of victory, no barks or yips of triumph, no exhibition that declared that the wolves of Nomads Pass had remade themselves anew. No. This would be their secret... their protection, their sanctum, their stronghold, where they would remain harbored from the events of their varied pasts.

They were now the wolves of Hollowheart Keep - they had all lost and thrived, hurt and bled but continued to survive - and they would prevail. For hollowed hearts and empty souls, this would be just another beginning: a chance to one day be whole again.

(This post was last modified: Dec 23, 2013, 08:46 AM by Mapplethorpe.)