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The stillness settled upon him with an unfathomable deepness.
Pilgrim Wickllrrackscar stopped racing, his weakened members panting as they struggled to catch their breath. The maddening weight of the Tropical’s mindsounds were gone. Not only were they gone, but he realized there was absolutely no other mindsound pressing on his consciousness, not even the faintest echo. He drew himself closer together, hackles raising as he noticed that even his surroundings had been changed entirely. The swamped ruins and ramshackle buildings were gone, replaced with a forest that felt far more like Woodcarver’s Domain. It was certainly cold enough.
Pilgrim was at a loss, the adrenaline of a race against death turning to outright dumbfounded confusion. He tentatively sniffed the air, hoping against hope to catch some scrap of a familiar scent, but he couldn’t detect anything recognizable. He was somewhere else, and he had no idea how to get back.
It was preferable to being torn to shreds perhaps? His race into the Tropicals had been a desperate gambit, and he had known going in that if they gave chase he would be lost in seconds. Pilgrim shuddered involuntarily. He liked a good brush with death as much as the next wanderer, but he had likely escaped dispersion by moments, if not seconds. Still his seemingly miraculous escape was not without stormclouds. Johanna was in trouble, it was likely Vendacious had caught her, and Woodcarver wouldn’t be expecting them back for a while yet, wouldn’t know anything was even wrong.
Could he do anything to help her though? Here in an unknown place, without any sign of home, it seemed quite unlikely. Johanna’s smart. he thought to himself, She’ll figure out a way to stay alive… unless her temper gets the better of her...
That wasn’t helpful. He couldn’t change anything from here, wherever ‘here’ was. Pilgrim sniffed again, this time searching for any signs of civilization. He smelled smoke somewhere towards the mountain, which begged the question, if there were no mindsounds, no tines, then who lived up here?
Lir’s ears perked up, as Pilgrim heard someone, no two someones, moving through the bushes a little ways off. They didn’t sound like they were heading his way, but Pilgrim slunk into the underbrush for good measure. He shadowed the duo, slowly edging closer, but making sure to stay out of sight. They smelled vaguely like Johanna and the rest of the Sky children, but… earthier? He couldn’t really explain it better, though there was something else nearby that he definitely did not recognize. The pair were following it, but slowly. Pilgrim chuckled to himself, he was accidentally hunting some hunters.
Risking exposure, Pilgrim darted his heads above the bushes trying to spot his fellow prowlers. It was a pair of the humans, doing their damnedest to be quiet as they snuck up on a large yellow avian creature. Pilgrim noticed with interest that the pups, and they were pups like Johanna and Jefri had been, not full grown like Ravna, didn’t seem to have any of their famous human technology. No meshwear, no scanners, just wool clothing they’d dyed blue and tinnish bows small enough that they could use them alone.
Curiosity burned inside Pilgrim’s mind like a hornet. Johanna had said that her people weren’t like Tines, that they had so much more science, they didn’t need to use things like bows to hunt. They didn’t even need to hunt, from her stories. Pilgrim hadn’t questioned whether she was telling the truth, after all, Johanna’s dataset was the only thing that had let Woodcarver defeat Lord Steel when he attacked. And Ravna’s crashed spaceship was the clearest proof any Tine could ask for that the Sky children belonged to a world beyond even the wildest Tinish dreamers.
Unless, it seemed, you were one of these humans. Pilgrim watched as the young male pup lined up his shot. The female seemed to be older by a few years, maybe she was teaching him how to hunt. His shot was certainly poor enough for a beginner, and the strange yellow avian bounded away on two strong legs with a loud warking warble. The girl smirked at her companion, then her eyes darted up to meet Pilgrims, and her face froze with fear. That fear evaporated into determined action dangerously quickly, though as she notched an arrow to her own bow and took aim in Pilgrim’s direction.
The wayfarer ducked out of sight and turned to run, but a whistling arrow struck Wic in the left flank and his foreleg buckled underneath him when he tried to bound away. Pilgrim skirted to a halt, turning back as Wic’s pain registered on his senses.
“Yeow!” he vocalized in accented Samsnorsk, “Wait! Wait! I’m not dangerous!” Scar and Lir poked their heads out of the brush in clear view, while Kil and Rac inspected Wic’s injury. The boy jumped up in surprise, dropping his own weapon, and the girl seemed equally taken aback by his words.
“It’s talking, Taki! That wolf is TALKING!” the boy said, clearly starting to panic. The girl that Pilgrim presumed was Taki grabbed her companion’s shoulder and stepped in front of him protectively.
“I know, I heard it!” Taki hissed, “Leave us in peace, Spirit! We have no quarrel with you!” she called out, one hand clasped around a necklace of some kind.
“No quarrel, true, but there is an arrow.” Pilgrim responded wryly. Wic seemed to be okay. The arrow had lodged very shallowly in his flesh, and Pilgrim removed it with a quick yank. His other three members rose out of the brush to face the humans, one of his members holding the offending missile accusingly.
“which of you said that?” the girl Taki asked, agitation clearly growing in her voice as the number of visible heads doubled. She was trying to covertly get her companion to back away, but the boy seemed frozen in place. This situation could turn ugly fast. If the girl thinks I’m dangerous she might fight instead of running. Pilgrim realized. Perhaps now was not the time to poke fun. He moved out into the open, Wic hobbling forward without putting weight on his injured leg. Maybe he was more hurt than Pilgrim wanted to admit.
“It’s just me.” he replied. The Tine pack sat down on his haunches in the sunlight of the clearing, all five heads watching carefully while trying to look as non-threatening as possible. The girl Taki was staring at him, not moving a muscle, her brother peeking from behind her clearly terrified.
“You’re…” she started to speak then stopped. Five pairs of eyes winked at her simultaneously. She gasped, her skin going pale, then turned to her companion.
“Ten eyes!” she whispered to him, though Pilgrim could hear her quite easily despite her efforts, “it’s the ten-eyed monster that Hi-Sama spoke of!” the boy looked at her, eyes wide like saucers, but only whimpered in reply. Taki turned back to face a lounging pilgrim, holding her strange amulet in one hand as she spoke.
“Great Demon of the forests! We beg of you, spare our village!” She spoke it with such seriousness that Pilgrim was a little bit concerned. Did she think he was a Flenser fanatic? No, if there were no other Tines, then there was no Flenser.
Well at least things aren’t ALL bad…
“Uhm… sure!” he answered, heads bobbing up and down as he nodded, “But I-“
“And we entreat you, come to our feast, prepared in your honor!” she spoke again, whatever amulet she was holding must have been sharp, because Pilgrim could see a slight trail of blood dripping from her fingers where she gripped it white knuckled. She was absolutely terrified of him, but her eyes were locked with his and her jaw clenched firm.
“Sounds great?” Pilgrim answered uncertainly. He had wanted to head towards a village anyway, it was his best chance to get some answers, but he was a little uneasy with the way the humans treated him. They had clearly never seen a Tine pack before, and seemed to think he was some sort of primitive forest spirit? That could either be incredible luck, or a severely bad situation. Well there weren’t many better options available to him, Wic wouldn’t be able to travel long distance on that leg, and he had no idea how long it would take to find anyone else.
“Lead the way… Taki, was it?” the girl nodded, and Pilgrim got to his feet, “Just no more arrows okay?”
Pilgrim Wickllrrackscar stopped racing, his weakened members panting as they struggled to catch their breath. The maddening weight of the Tropical’s mindsounds were gone. Not only were they gone, but he realized there was absolutely no other mindsound pressing on his consciousness, not even the faintest echo. He drew himself closer together, hackles raising as he noticed that even his surroundings had been changed entirely. The swamped ruins and ramshackle buildings were gone, replaced with a forest that felt far more like Woodcarver’s Domain. It was certainly cold enough.
Pilgrim was at a loss, the adrenaline of a race against death turning to outright dumbfounded confusion. He tentatively sniffed the air, hoping against hope to catch some scrap of a familiar scent, but he couldn’t detect anything recognizable. He was somewhere else, and he had no idea how to get back.
It was preferable to being torn to shreds perhaps? His race into the Tropicals had been a desperate gambit, and he had known going in that if they gave chase he would be lost in seconds. Pilgrim shuddered involuntarily. He liked a good brush with death as much as the next wanderer, but he had likely escaped dispersion by moments, if not seconds. Still his seemingly miraculous escape was not without stormclouds. Johanna was in trouble, it was likely Vendacious had caught her, and Woodcarver wouldn’t be expecting them back for a while yet, wouldn’t know anything was even wrong.
Could he do anything to help her though? Here in an unknown place, without any sign of home, it seemed quite unlikely. Johanna’s smart. he thought to himself, She’ll figure out a way to stay alive… unless her temper gets the better of her...
That wasn’t helpful. He couldn’t change anything from here, wherever ‘here’ was. Pilgrim sniffed again, this time searching for any signs of civilization. He smelled smoke somewhere towards the mountain, which begged the question, if there were no mindsounds, no tines, then who lived up here?
Lir’s ears perked up, as Pilgrim heard someone, no two someones, moving through the bushes a little ways off. They didn’t sound like they were heading his way, but Pilgrim slunk into the underbrush for good measure. He shadowed the duo, slowly edging closer, but making sure to stay out of sight. They smelled vaguely like Johanna and the rest of the Sky children, but… earthier? He couldn’t really explain it better, though there was something else nearby that he definitely did not recognize. The pair were following it, but slowly. Pilgrim chuckled to himself, he was accidentally hunting some hunters.
Risking exposure, Pilgrim darted his heads above the bushes trying to spot his fellow prowlers. It was a pair of the humans, doing their damnedest to be quiet as they snuck up on a large yellow avian creature. Pilgrim noticed with interest that the pups, and they were pups like Johanna and Jefri had been, not full grown like Ravna, didn’t seem to have any of their famous human technology. No meshwear, no scanners, just wool clothing they’d dyed blue and tinnish bows small enough that they could use them alone.
Curiosity burned inside Pilgrim’s mind like a hornet. Johanna had said that her people weren’t like Tines, that they had so much more science, they didn’t need to use things like bows to hunt. They didn’t even need to hunt, from her stories. Pilgrim hadn’t questioned whether she was telling the truth, after all, Johanna’s dataset was the only thing that had let Woodcarver defeat Lord Steel when he attacked. And Ravna’s crashed spaceship was the clearest proof any Tine could ask for that the Sky children belonged to a world beyond even the wildest Tinish dreamers.
Unless, it seemed, you were one of these humans. Pilgrim watched as the young male pup lined up his shot. The female seemed to be older by a few years, maybe she was teaching him how to hunt. His shot was certainly poor enough for a beginner, and the strange yellow avian bounded away on two strong legs with a loud warking warble. The girl smirked at her companion, then her eyes darted up to meet Pilgrims, and her face froze with fear. That fear evaporated into determined action dangerously quickly, though as she notched an arrow to her own bow and took aim in Pilgrim’s direction.
The wayfarer ducked out of sight and turned to run, but a whistling arrow struck Wic in the left flank and his foreleg buckled underneath him when he tried to bound away. Pilgrim skirted to a halt, turning back as Wic’s pain registered on his senses.
“Yeow!” he vocalized in accented Samsnorsk, “Wait! Wait! I’m not dangerous!” Scar and Lir poked their heads out of the brush in clear view, while Kil and Rac inspected Wic’s injury. The boy jumped up in surprise, dropping his own weapon, and the girl seemed equally taken aback by his words.
“It’s talking, Taki! That wolf is TALKING!” the boy said, clearly starting to panic. The girl that Pilgrim presumed was Taki grabbed her companion’s shoulder and stepped in front of him protectively.
“I know, I heard it!” Taki hissed, “Leave us in peace, Spirit! We have no quarrel with you!” she called out, one hand clasped around a necklace of some kind.
“No quarrel, true, but there is an arrow.” Pilgrim responded wryly. Wic seemed to be okay. The arrow had lodged very shallowly in his flesh, and Pilgrim removed it with a quick yank. His other three members rose out of the brush to face the humans, one of his members holding the offending missile accusingly.
“which of you said that?” the girl Taki asked, agitation clearly growing in her voice as the number of visible heads doubled. She was trying to covertly get her companion to back away, but the boy seemed frozen in place. This situation could turn ugly fast. If the girl thinks I’m dangerous she might fight instead of running. Pilgrim realized. Perhaps now was not the time to poke fun. He moved out into the open, Wic hobbling forward without putting weight on his injured leg. Maybe he was more hurt than Pilgrim wanted to admit.
“It’s just me.” he replied. The Tine pack sat down on his haunches in the sunlight of the clearing, all five heads watching carefully while trying to look as non-threatening as possible. The girl Taki was staring at him, not moving a muscle, her brother peeking from behind her clearly terrified.
“You’re…” she started to speak then stopped. Five pairs of eyes winked at her simultaneously. She gasped, her skin going pale, then turned to her companion.
“Ten eyes!” she whispered to him, though Pilgrim could hear her quite easily despite her efforts, “it’s the ten-eyed monster that Hi-Sama spoke of!” the boy looked at her, eyes wide like saucers, but only whimpered in reply. Taki turned back to face a lounging pilgrim, holding her strange amulet in one hand as she spoke.
“Great Demon of the forests! We beg of you, spare our village!” She spoke it with such seriousness that Pilgrim was a little bit concerned. Did she think he was a Flenser fanatic? No, if there were no other Tines, then there was no Flenser.
Well at least things aren’t ALL bad…
“Uhm… sure!” he answered, heads bobbing up and down as he nodded, “But I-“
“And we entreat you, come to our feast, prepared in your honor!” she spoke again, whatever amulet she was holding must have been sharp, because Pilgrim could see a slight trail of blood dripping from her fingers where she gripped it white knuckled. She was absolutely terrified of him, but her eyes were locked with his and her jaw clenched firm.
“Sounds great?” Pilgrim answered uncertainly. He had wanted to head towards a village anyway, it was his best chance to get some answers, but he was a little uneasy with the way the humans treated him. They had clearly never seen a Tine pack before, and seemed to think he was some sort of primitive forest spirit? That could either be incredible luck, or a severely bad situation. Well there weren’t many better options available to him, Wic wouldn’t be able to travel long distance on that leg, and he had no idea how long it would take to find anyone else.
“Lead the way… Taki, was it?” the girl nodded, and Pilgrim got to his feet, “Just no more arrows okay?”