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[color=#000000]мoonвow[hr][hr][/fancypost][fancypost bgcolor=; borderwidth=0px; width: 300px; letter-spacing: 2px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: tahoma; color: #ffffff;]
Moonbow sat in the main sleeping chamber, her wings folded comfortably behind her as she looked at the group of young kits and other NPC's in front of her. The flickering light from the fireplace cast an orange glow on her white feathers, contrasting with the darkness of the night outside of the window. Her watch would start soon, but she could take a few minutes to help put the younglings to sleep.
"Alright, alright," she settled them, watching them cuddle in together to listen. "One bedtime story, and then you all go off to sleep, okay?"
At their mumbled agreement, Moonbow cleared her throat, her eyes grazing the ceiling as she tried to recall the stories her mother had told her when she was young.
"Many seasons ago," she began, her voice smoothing into a mysterious cadence appropriate for such a tale. "There lived, in the great white North, a great Empire of polar bears known as the Silver Fang Dynasty. Now, the Silver Fang Dynasty was ruled by a huge monster of a polar bear known as Raknar Silver Fang, who was descended from the first polar bear Emperor, known only as Silver Fang. Raknar Silver Fang was a terror to behold, eight feet tall, nine hundred pounds, with a necklace of owl talons draped around his thick, muscular neck. The only flaw to his physical form was a deep, hairless black scar that slashed down his muzzle. His army held the Arctic in an iron fist, punishing anyone who spoke out against him with the harshest of punishments, and stealing the eggs from the nests of the snowies who lived under his rule."
Moonbow was dynamic as a storyteller, lifting and lowering her voice to keep her young audience spellbound in the story. They leaned in, their eyes gleaming with excitement.
"And yet, as frightening as he was, the Snowy Owl Confederacy took hope from that scar, because it had been left by none other than my illustrious ancestor, Stargaze Graywinter, leader of the Confederacy. It was she who had led the last great attempt to dethrone Raknar, and her talons that had scored his muzzle, narrowly avoiding his thick fangs as they snapped at her tail feathers. But the attempt had been costly, and the Confederacy was failing, because their nests were being raided and they were not able to replace the soldiers that they lost. As time went on, they were growing weaker and smaller, until little hope remained. Stargaze made a decision to risk everything, the whole of her people, the future of owlkind, in a last attempt to take down the Empire."
"Across the icy planes of Gar'dooshe, the final alliance of Snowy Owls flew, not knowing if they would ever return. Not knowing if they flew to their salvation, or to their doom. The sea-birds and the seals fled in the wake of the Confederacy, who blackened the moon with their numbers, the whole of their race combined into a final, desperate attempt to free their homeland from the Silver Fang Dynasty. They scaled the Ridge of Santise and came across the Silver Mountain, where the Dynasty centralized their power. At the peak, Raknar Silver Fang sat in his throne of ice, watching as the owls approached."
"With a roar of command that shook the ice floes, Raknar spurred his army into battle. He controlled the land and the sea, but the skies were the last refuge of the owls. In teams of three or four, the Confederacy attacked the guards, snatching them in their long talons, and pulling them from the ledge with a screech of victory. On the slippery ice mountain, with its narrow ledges, the Confederacy had the advantage, and one by one, they pulled the polar bears just far enough that the evil army fell to their doom."
Moonbow paused, twisting her head around dramatically to look at the kits and cubs before her. Her yellow eyes glowed in the firelight.
"But it was not over yet."
The snowy owl settled back into her nest, closing her eyes and drawing the kits attention with every small movement of her feathers.
"Stargaze Graywinter knew that as long as Raknar breathed, the Dynasty survived. She took an elite group of her closest lieutenants to the Peak of the Silver Mountain, and found the evil polar bear, his thick claws piercing the ice around the throne as he roared a defiant challenge. Screeching a battlecry, Stargaze and her fleet swarmed Raknar Silver Fang, snatching at his fur with their talons and trying to drive him toward the edge. They swooped and swerved in the air, trying desperately to take him down, but Raknar would not be so easily defeated. His paw slashed through the air, clubbing a lieutenant so hard that she fell from the air, never to rise again. With a renewed vengeance, Stargaze's fleet slashed at every inch of the tyrant with their beaks and talons, but with another swing of his massive paw, he brought down another owl."
"With blood dripping from his claws, he roared again, and Stargaze pulled her owls back for a moment to regroup. Four of them remained, and so the leader of the Confederacy formed a plan to defeat the bear. While three swarmed and kept Raknar busy, Stargaze flew as high as her wings would carry her, the air beginning to sting in her lungs. She peaked... and then dove, tucking her wings to grant herself speed. She fell faster and faster, the mountain growing in front of her, but she locked her attention on the black mark she had left on the bear's muzzle, and when she was close enough, she extended her talons and struck with all of the speed and power she had built in the sky."
"Her talons met in his eye, and she felt a great pain in her wing as she crumpled to the ice. But her effort was not in vain, for at the loss of his eye, Raknar reared in pain and shock, which allowed Stargaze's lieutenants to finally pull him from the ledge. He plummeted to the ice, never to rise again. Although Stargaze would never fly easily again, she had deposed the great and terrible enemy of all snowy owls, and she became the first Queen of the Arctic Owl Kingdom, which would rule for many generations to come, free from the Silver Fang Dynasty menace."
Moonbow opened her eyes to see the kits bouncing with excitement, some of them pretending to be polar bears as the others pounced on them. She sighed. Clearly, the story had not had the desired effect.
"Does anyone else have a good story to tell?" she asked, looking to the other adults in the room.
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[Hr][Hr][Center][size=6pt][font=georgia]female - snowy owl - knight - [abbr=hard difficulty - no kill, ask for injury or capture]battle tags[/abbr] - powers
