Posts by Quiver

Frosten’s ears flattened and she lowered her muzzle slightly. “How long has it been since you last saw him? Was he acting strange then?”

Valence tightened his grip on the sticky hilt of Blackpebble’s sword and sucked in a breath. “Right.” He said. “Keep quiet and watch your step.” He hadn’t seen any signs of Yellowsnag or Deardree, and they were both supposed to have been watching either entrance.

Rowe stepped around Blackpebble’s body and glanced at Molan and Cormac before following Valence’s lead. Where’s Raken? Why would he send Valence to come get me?

OOC: Timeskip/Character shift.

IC: Vivienne stared at the water as it rolled over the little pebbles and sand and rubbed at her eyes. She could feel Everly’s gaze on her. They’d hardly spoken a word to each other since leaving Lowfrost that night. “I can’t take this.” She murmured, burying her claws in the sand and looking despondently at Kip’s pups. Neither of them seemed to be doing well since watching their father disappear right in front of them, and she couldn’t blame them. “If he’s dead, his pups are orphans. If he’s alive ...”

Everly wanted to say something to make her feel better, even if for a little while, but he couldn’t. “Don’t go there. We don’t know what happened, but we’re going to find out once we get help.” He took in a deep breath and walked over to her side. “Meriska isn’t going to help, and the kits and the pups can have no part in this. That leaves you and me, and if Kip is in trouble—if he didn’t get away and they didn’t kill him—we aren’t going to be enough.”

Meriska watched Everly and Viv talk while she let the kits explore a shallow dip in the ground where the ocean water had pooled. They were finally able to crawl around on their own, and their eyes and ears had opened shortly after the boat met the shore again several days ago. Her ears strained forward to try catching bits and pieces of what Everly was saying to Viv, but she could scarcely hear a word.

Frosten paused a moment and hesitated, taking a moment to look around before changing direction. If Chandra had done something to the locket, she would've done something to Cringe's, too. "I know you said he was acting strange, but strange how? Was he trying to attack you, or anybody else for that matter?"

Rowe bit down on his tongue and nearly screeched, his head having smacked right into Strat's bloody body. The other fox had several bite wounds in his throat, and they looked just as fresh as Phyna's and Blackpebble's bodies. He turned toward Cormac and Molan the same time he realized that Valence was getting ahead of them and nearly shot forward after the mink. "Wait up, Valence!"

Valence hadn't gone far enough ahead to be out of view, but the darkness in every corner of the hallway both behind and ahead of him made it feel like he was miles away. He thought he heard a faint wheezing farther up toward the entryway that led to the surface, but he didn't get the chance to investigate it. Pain lanced through him from his chest and he let out a shriek that was cut off by teeth meeting in his throat.

"And who's going to help us?" Vivienne rose to her paws and shook sand from her fur, finally tearing her gaze away from the water to look at Everly. The rabbit remained quiet and she sucked in a shaky breath. "Kip's own family wanted him dead, our village wanted him gone, and the only ones that care about what happens to him now are standing right here on this beach." Her voice cracked. "Those pups are the only reason that I'm here and not still in Lowfrost." She said. "Kip will always be my son to me."

Everly lowered his head and rubbed the side of his right ear. "He's my family too, Viv." He looked sideways, not directly at her but off to the side. His gaze returned to Viv. "Meriska's been to a lot more places than I have. Let me talk to her and see if she knows any places that might have some creatures willing to help."

Frosten's skin crawled underneath her fur without allowing her expression to waver. Nothing of this is him. Not what Cringe has said or what Viitar said. What happened?

Rowe spun around and bolted after Cormac and Molan while his fur stood on end from the back of his neck to his tail. He could hear Valence's gurgling voice but didn't turn to look over his shoulder. He could imagine enough to know that the mink would be dead within seconds from the sudden blood loss.

"As much as I would like to blame you, this isn't your fault unless you're the one who killed him, which I doubt." Frosten's shoulders tensed and she flicked her tail tip several times. The smell of blood was stronger than it had been on the older scent, and the strange scent mixed in with it was stronger too.

Rowe scrambled after Cormac and Molan, his limp gone in the moment and absent beneath the rush of adrenaline. He didn't even know what they were running from, but the amount of bodies and the lack of light had every instinct in him pushing him to escape the dark.

Frosten let out a short, shaky breath and ruffled her fur. “I see.” Why couldn’t he have just stayed in Salamandastron?

Rowe kicked out his hind paws just in time to feel them hit the creature chasing the three of them. He bit back a cry at the flash of pain it sent through his leg, but he kept running until he felt teeth meet in his hind limb not seconds after delivering another kick.

Vivienne took one look at Meriska and snorted, feeling her own blood beginning to boil just from looking at the terrified rabbit. "I hope you realize that the only reason I haven't forced her to go her own way is because she has kits. She's not your mate, no matter how many times you try to tell yourself that."

Everly didn't acknowledge her comments about Meriska. "I'm going to go talk to her." With that, he bounded over to Meriska and nudged Winnie out from under one of his forepaws when she dove head-first into his chest. "Meriska?" Her gaze fixed on the kits rather than him. "Do you know of any places that might be willing to help us?"

Meriska shook her head. Her teeth ground against one another and she shook her head again. "No." She said, still not looking at Everly. "Places like that don't exist." She held Jasper close when he came stumbling up to her, his ears flopping every time he moved his head to look at his father or herself. "You have a family to take care of. We're safe right now, and we can keep it that way if we make a new home. It could be right here, or even at Salamandastron."

Frosten's heartbeats quickened and she stopped. "Close." She murmured. "There's a lot of blood hanging in the air."

"Don't stop running!" Rowe snapped, twisting himself around and tearing his limb in the process. He slashed his claws across the creature's eyes and felt it let go of his leg just enough for him to stumble to the floor and scramble a few paces backward. His eyes widened and he dodged what would've been a swift bite to the throat, then scuttled to three paws and scurried after Molan and Cormac. I didn't even see it bleed.

"Kip is part of my family whether you like it or not, Meriska. I've known Kip since he was pup himself." Everly thumped his hind paws. "I'm not going to leave you and the kits alone, but I can't leave Viv to try finding out what happened to Kip on her own."

"Nobody is going to help her find Kip." Meriska finally turned her head to look at Everly. "She will be on her own, because she won't take the pups with her, and you have to stay here with the kits and I. Those wolves will kill her." She said. "They almost got her that night for goodness sake, and the only reason why they didn't was because you decided to be brave and stab a wolf in the eye."

"I can't tell." I just know there's a lot of it. Frosten tilted her head and stopped in the middle of a little clearing.

Rowe heaved himself out of what felt like a bloody nightmare he was leaving behind and out into the cool sunlight. His bones shook and he spun around with a snarl, waiting almost impatiently for the creature to show itself and fight. Instead, he heard a screech from within the darkness. His gaze flashed to Molan and Cormac.

Frosten fluffed her fur up and lowered her head until her muzzle was almost touching the forest floor. “There was someone else with him.”

Rowe swallowed a lump in his throat and bushed out his fur, his teeth showing in a defensive snarl. It was quiet for a few long moments before he could see someone coming out, but it didn’t more than a few seconds for him to recognize who it was. Raken came out, and for a second Rowe couldn’t decide if he was relieved or infuriated that the wolverine was still alive.

Raken lumbered out into the sunlight and craned his neck to look up at Molan and Cormac. Blood ran from a long slash across the wolverine’s neck, and other parts of his body either had more long, deep claw marks or bites.

Frosten crinkled up her muzzle and tilted her head. "I don't know." She said. "I haven't smelled it before, but it has the same strange scent that has Drizzle's scent all muddled."

Rowe stared at Raken, keeping his one hind leg suspended in the air and feeling his chest tighten. "What was that?" Did anyone else make it out?

Raken held a forepaw to the wound stretching across his neck. "We're leaving." He said, looking from Rowe to Cormac and Molan. "It won't be gone until we're gone. That wildcat has blood magic going through him, and I'm not about to be taken for a fool and have myself or anybody else get slaughtered down there trying to kill it." Not waiting for a reply, he motioned stiffly with his muzzle for them to follow him.

Everly wanted to object, and he almost did, but there was nothing he could think of to counter what she'd said. He couldn't stay with Meriska and their kits and find out if Kip was alive. The one thought that did come to mind made his stomach churn, and mentioning it to Meriska felt even crazier than considering it a possibility. "Do you want to stay here, or keep going south?"

Meriska's pupils dilated and she ground her teeth. Wolves in the north, all those hordes and foolish woodlanders in the south...Is Salamandastron any better? "I don't want to keep going south, but ... I don't know if I want to stay here, either." She said. "Why does it have to be so hard to find a place that's safe?"

Everly rested a forepaw on top of Meriska's and pressed himself against her for a few moments before going back to Viv. His throat suddenly felt dry when he made eye contact with Viv and he halted a couple paces away from her. He looked back over his shoulder at Meriska and saw that she busying herself with keeping their kits close to her and out of the pool of ocean water. "Catori took her pack south, didn't she?"

Viv's expression changed the second Everly brought up Catori's name. Her claws curled into her forepaws and she shook her head. "You know she did." Her words came out quiet. "Why're you bringing Catori up?"

"We could ask around--" Viv's sudden growl and abrupt rise to her paws cut Everly off and had him looking over his shoulder to see what had caught Viv's attention. Standing less than a pace from Meriska and his kits was a wolf. One of its eyes was scarred, and its lips were peeled back in a snarl while its good eye focused on Viv.

Vivienne stood defensively in front of Darcy and Acu the same time Everly shot off to Meriska and the kits. Her growl turned into a snarl and she buried her hind claws into the sand and rock. How did they find us? We haven't been on land for more than a few days.

"Who are all of you?" Jacy asked, taking a step to the side and tilting his head. "What're you doing with wolf pups?" I knew I saw something down here the other day!

Meriska gathered her kits around her and was about to run just as Everly grabbed her forelimb and pulled her back. "Hold on a second." He whispered, looking Meriska in the eyes. "If he wanted to attack us, don't you think he would've done it before Viv noticed him?"

Vivienne's eyes narrowed and she took a step forward. "Where are you from?"

"I live here." Jacy no longer had his attention on the rabbits but instead fixed it on the badger. "Not here as in right here, but in Salamandastron." He said. "Now are you going to tell who you all are, or why you have wolf pups when none of you are wolves, or not?"

"You live here?!" Meriska sucked in a breath and dug her claws into the sides of her head. She clutched Winnie's forepaw and had to pull Faline back when the little rabbit kit tried to go over and see the wolf.

"Are you the only wolf in Salamandastron?" Everly asked. "Do you know any wolves that went by the names of Catori and Sokanon?"

Vivienne's head whipped to the side and she looked in disbelief at Everly. "Everly!"

"Yes." Jacy couldn't stifle the growl that rose in his throat or the shock he felt in hearing those names. "I knew them." He said. "I haven't heard those names in moons." There a brief sense of grief that threatened to spill out, but he looked off to the side for a moment and let go of a long, deep breath. "I'm not answering any more questions until you answer mine, Everly." At a look from the badger, he puffed air through is cheeks and let his shoulders relax. "I'm Jacy."

Everly exchanged a glance with Viv and avoided looking at Meriska. "This is Meriska, my mate, and our kits, and the badger is Vivienne." I take it Jacy wasn't fond of Catori or Sokanon, either. How would he feel if he knew that they were Darcy and Acu's grandparents? "We're from a place to the north called Lowfrost Point." We're all that's left.

Jacy's ears pricked forward and he nodded his head to Meriska and Vivienne as they were introduced, taking notice then that the rabbit made no mention of the wolf pups. "I haven't heard of Lowfrost Point, but I do know a bit about Catori and Sokanon." He said. "They're no friends of mine, believe me."

Vivienne couldn't hold back the sinking of her shoulders or the fear creeping into her as the she remembered cradling Kip while his packmates went about tearing the village apart looking for him. "They weren't friends of ours, either." She said, looking at Jacy. "It's a long story."

Jacy cocked his head sideways and wagged his tail at the sight of the two pups,. He didn't have to look at them long to notice how exhausted they looked. I miss you and your mother, Citali. "Why did you come all the way down here from ... wherever Lowfrost Point is? And why the questions about Catori and Sokanon?" He said. "They went south last I knew, and Catori was killed a while ago trying to wipe out Redwall."

“We’re looking for help.” Everly knew nothing about Salamandastron or Redwall, but he knew that Meriska knew about the latter. He could feel her body tense at the mere mention of Redwall. So Kip's mother died a while ago, but what about her pack, and Sokanon? What became of them?

Vivienne sucked in a deep breath and looked from Everly and Meriska to Jacy. “Is Redwall far from here?”