Red Fern Forest breath of a fish

@Skadi

A putrid stench clung to the land, seeping low along the valleys and reaching up into the hills of the Vale with sickly fingers. The air was thick with a cloying stagnant fog, choking the lungs and burning the eyes of those who dared to cross where it lay thickest. A beast draped in a pallid coat moved through the miasma, at one with the noxious haze. That was not to say the influence of the effluvium was lost on the pallid ghoul. His pale eyes seeped with a thick mucus, and saliva pooled at the back of his tongue and dribbled thickly at the corners of his mouth.

Nearing a break in the red-leafed canopy, Garmr gazed up with fond regard towards the sky, eyes glistening with a fervent sheen. The sun, burning weak and sallow through the mist, was nearly overwhelmed by the bright beads of light flanking it. A grin pulled itself across the wraith's maw, knowing what it meant; Sköll had risen, the sun chaser now inching ever closer towards catching the sun. Things were starting to fall into place, and it was on Garmr and his kin to ensure the final push that would free the monster of the river Van from his bindings.

Long pale limbs carried Garmr towards the edge of a small pool, his muzzle dipping down towards the filmy surface. He dared not drink of it, the leathery dry pad of his nose stopping short of the fetid water. His silvered stare skimmed upward, finding a frog struggling and gasping at the surface. His tail lashed, knowing the creature's efforts were in vain and gaining a sick satisfaction of it. The pitiful wolves of this land would soon enough find a similar fate. Garmr turned away, senses sweeping the surrounding forest.

"@Skadi, come. There is much to be done. He beckoned, his commanding voice cutting sharp through the fog.

(This post was last modified: Apr 01, 2015, 07:03 PM by Garmr.)

@Garmr hehe... plague snorts with laughter-

The land here was dying. The fact of it was clear, but Skadi was still entirely in the dark as to it's cause. Everywhere she went, following faithfully after Garmr, was disease and waste. It was unnerving and disgusting to a woman who cherished the high, white-painted peaks of winter. The earth it's self seemed to be dissolving. Skadi lifted her feet high and clear of the putrefaction, but the scent clung to her ebony and silver coat regardless. Her black lips pulled back in revulsion, the teeth reflecting the eerie glow of a lime-green fog. She had finally come to the conclusion that these mutts had caused this with their dirty and wanton ways.

It further cemented her decision that she and her brothers needed to be here, to help cleanse this land. Her eyes stung and narrowed with resolve.

Garmr gazed upwards, an expression crossing his face that made her heart soar. He turned back to her, and in that instant he seemed to be more Garmr than he'd ever been before. Skadi leaned forward in abject adoration, not noticing how her eyes watered with the nearness. He beckoned her and she followed. She would follow him to the ends of the earth, lungs burning for air without care.

He bestowed as often as he berated. When her dearest brother gave mention of the work to be done, Skadi was quick to adopt his feverish pace. The air was thick and the ground soft, holding onto each step she made. The woman turned malevolent yellow eyes on their surroundings, expecting to see feculent natives shirking in the shadows. "They are a disease in this land." She proclaimed, removing a paw from a pile of sodden deadness. "How will we deal with such degenerates?"

@Skadi Dude's really losin' his marbles >.>

Like a hunter on the prowl, the silvered male was attentive as he moved through the tainted wood. Almost searching, though for what he did not know. Skadi's voice rose behind him, both a wind at his back and shackles around his heels; His sister both uplifted him and dragged him down. While Garmr recognized she was equally in tune with their bloodline's destiny, unlike his brother she lacked the analytical mind. A thoughtless woman, always asking, never knowing. But even then... His gluttonous ego preyed on his ever-dependable follower.

"Yes, yes," He hissed with a hint of ecstasy. "The blighted land itself is trying to shake the vermin from its back."

"Can you feel it? Can you hear it? Can you hear Him? Our lord grows stronger, soon... Soon it will be time." Garmr said, his expression wild, breath heavier than it needed to be. Garmr suddenly stilled, paws rooted in place, head held rigid to stare directly ahead, focus settled into the distance and ears intently poised forward. He was listening to a whisper too faint to hear, sending pale fur rippling down his back to stand on end in chills of both rapture and fear. Fenrir's blood coursed through him, and he could feel the ties gently tugging. Too faint.

"But he is not yet at his full potential. He needs more.... More. Damnit Skadi! We must give him what he wants! He grows impatient, he grows hungry." Garmr snarled, body suddenly animated as he spun towards her, teeth clicking as he snapped his jaws towards his sister's face.

@Garmr

She couldn't feel it and couldn't hear it, not really.


That inability didn't detract from her avidity, and Garmr was the only one she'd ever wanted to impress. She held still and waited, ears and eyes at the ready. The air swirled around her; rank and heavy, but empty. The dry rasp of branches and the distant squeal of something dying was all that met her ears. But did it really matter if she couldn't sense it now? She wanted to and that burning desire should make all the difference, it made her lie. "I do," She answered.

But Garmr had already left. His body remained, but Skadi could see he wasn't really there. He was listening in the way that she never could. It was this ability that forever held her fealty. She waited, ever patient as it came and went. He would tell what she needed to know, Garmr would never hold back with what was necessary. He snapped at her and she physically shied away, well used to his single-minded devotion by now. As she stepped back she was already worrying at the problem.

"What does he want? What else can we give?" It was only the three of them now, if Ainashi ever returned she would punish the child as soundly as his sire would. Thoughtless but shrewd, Skadi knew that they three of them would be needed to take back Nayeli and couldn't be spared. She could guess at the answer, but it was not her place to say it. He was the master-mind, she the pawn.

@Skadi

"Blood! Blood, you daft woman!" He screamed, his ghastly visage turned on her alight with anger. His poor, stupid sister couldn't even put two and two together. Yet again he cursed his slightly more intelligent brother's absence, he would have known what Garmr meant without wasting breath on foolish questions. Spittle flew from his lips, ribbons clinging to bared teeth that flashed towards her. He stopped short, more bark than bite as his fangs clacked a hair's width from her face. Unfortunately, Skadi was all he had to work with, and the whelp if he was so "lucky" for the kid to turn up again, and so he had to trust Skadi's devoted nature would make up for her cluelessness.

Panting, the rage in his eyes soothed somewhat, a beast still lurking beneath the surface but at least reigned in as he righted his wild posture into something more gentlemanly. A dry, cracked tongue soothed over his slabbering jowls, clearing away some of the errant saliva. "Not just meat and blood, not just lowly prey," He explained, voice gruffer than his usual smooth tones. "A sacrifice" He breathed. A god so noble deserved only noble tributes. Anything less would be an insult. "The blood, no, the life of a predator... of a wolf."

He looked upon Skadi, or through her, rather, trying to get a read on whether she finally understood. Whether she would bend like she had every single time before and follow his whims.

There is a family of deer nearby. Hunt Opportunity

@Garmr -facepalm- homicide? multiple homicide? is there a difference?

She needed him to say it, the conclusion she'd slowly come to. He had to be the one to suggest it. It was one thing to do everything that Garmr wished over the years. Apathy and deception. Murder and abandonment. Ambushes and outright-attacks. She had enough conscience to know that they were not good things she'd done, but Garmr had asked and she had complied. That was her life. They weren't her decision, she was just following orders. An irrelevant technicality that Skadi clung to. She didn't want to make those decisions and have them on her conscience.

A sacrifice, he decreed. The slow smile started along her jaws at the prospect. One of the heathens here? Her mind inquired, wanting to be sure of the task. She looked to Garmr and he stared back so hard that she knew. Yes, they were going to kill one of the wolves here. Vermin under their feet. Oh. Her mind eased back with, only a heathen? Well, that was perfectly acceptable.

"They are a disease, a disgrace." The rank breeze continued and Skadi pushed right through it, eyes fixed on her Lord. Her lips curled with distaste. "Is one enough?" Was the response she ultimately breathed back with, her body already trembling with the prospect. Inching forward ever so slightly to hear the plan being laid out. She turned to scan their surroundings, as if they skulked and sought to bring down the reckoning that was coming to them. The land dripped and oozed with dying things, but no wolves. Not yet.

"How will we catch them?"

@Skadi

Garmr could see it, she understood. He saw no doubts stirring in those drab yellow irises. He knew she would help him, and do it gladly. That was all he needed from her. The narcissist inside him purred as she moved in closer, depending on his words to guide her.

Skadi's first question earned a bark of a laugh from the ghastly male. "Oh, no. Not until the land drinks in the blood of every single filthy cur, will He be sated." Garmr nearly shuddered at the thought of it, a world finally purged of the unclean. A world where he was truly King.

"This place is crawling with rogues, it shouldn't be too hard to catch one off guard... Between the two of us they wouldn't stand a chance," Garmr mused. His silvered eyes narrowed to slits as an idea curled forth from the dark recesses of his mind. The corners of his lips curled upward, a treacherous glint taking hold in the seeping silver of his eyes.

"Or... Actually, one of those pack wolves would be perfect." He said, his tail lashing with subdued excitement. Taking one out alone would make their odds much better if they had to go head against the entire pack. However, the most compelling reasoning was he could make them pay for the suffering that wretched pack had put him through, for what they had taken from him. Of course, it would only be a drop in the bucket of what they owed.

"Pack wolves are like deer, stupid and predictable. We'll find their usual routes, and lay an ambush, attack any that walk alone."

Skadi is referring to this spot http://relic-lore.net/showthread.php?tid=8789

The land was soaked in death and disease. Skadi was oblivious to it. A plan was being woven that eclipsed her notice of it. She had shifted forward, tears running down from the fumes, all without knowing her plan-maker was the source of it all. She had been brain-washed to do many things and believe a twisted version of reality. This was nothing compared to that.

She had to agree that it sounded perfect. Skadi had never been one to appreciate the intricacies in abstracts and ideas, but it did seem appropriate. Oak Tree Bend had been the pack to lead them here and one of their own would open the gate to their destruction. He was right they were like prey animals. Shrinking and concerned only with continuing their wanton-filled lives. Just like deer. But that didn't mean they were without merit. Skadi licked her lips, letting the distinction blend in her mind.

Hunt them just like deer. She gave a sly look as her task oriented mind jumped ahead. "I know of a spot where they come and go." Her eyes were bright at the idea of taking a Bend wolf at the very spot she had promised trouble in. "The oaks saplings are thick and make good cover." There was also the fact that the area already stunk of her, hiding their scent would not be much of an issue.

@Skadi Totally ran out of juice on this post, you can go ahead and archive :p

"Good," Garmr said simply, as if he had expected nothing less of Skadi. There was no gratitude in his eyes, only the constant determined burn of his mission. His sister, like everything else in his life, was only a resource to be used up until there was nothing left. "Time is not on our side. We'll go now, take the runt with us if we come across him." He sneered at the thought of his son. As much as he hated dragging that disgrace along, the soft, spineless mutts of this land seemed to take pity on @Ainashi, making him a decent enough bait if they needed.

"Lead the way," He ordered her. A misnomer, he'd never let himself be more than a pawstep behind anyone else. With no time to lose, the silver spectre started off into the choking haze.