Zion: Light of the New Moon, Ch 1.3 Shrad
Zion - Light of the New Moon Chapter 1.3
Shrad When the Going Gets Tough
The party failed at traversing the Highway and must remain in the cavern until the weather clears. Nori is the main focus of this post.
While the Shradian Caravan spent their time lamenting their predicament, Nori Bahn spent the most of his time making the best of it. First, the ferret did a walk through of the entire cave system. He told the city dwellers that it looked like it was once a Wild Lander burrow, but none of them knew enough to know that he was lying. Nori realized that the beast that had created the passages was long-since dead, but having to explain that to the jumpy, easily frightened city dwellers wasn't exactly an easy thing to do in the middle of a blizzard, so he fudged the truth... just a little.
Once Nori was certain that the burrow was indeed safe, he went back to the area the caravan had set up for dealing with the wounded. Considering the fact that the wagon train had an abundance of supplies, they were dreadfully unprepared for the kind of damage that was done; he had a feeling that, by the time the sun rose more of the people were going to end up dead than healed. He paused once he arrived at the cot where Tolen Lerum was resting. Nori didn't know many of the travelers, but he had guided the caravan that the arctic fox had taken when he first came to Shrad-- the healer had helped the ferret keep his tail after a nasty run-in with a Slither.
"What happened?" Nori asked the black wolf seated at his bedside. Glancing to Tolen, the ferret could see that the fox's head was wrapped.
The wolf shrugged, "Hit in the head."
"How is he?" the Wild Lander pressed further.
"I'm a guard, not a healer." the attendant remarked.
"Why would he have a guard?" Nori asked, more to himself than the wolf.
"Captain Blackpaw demanded it, so I serve." the wolf responded.
"Fine..." Nori shrugged, and reached into his pouch and pulling out a pinch of Hefflys, "Give him this when he comes around... it'll chase away whatever headache he has." The wolf looked at him, head cocked to the side. Observing the ferret for several moments, he finally accepted the crushed herb, "Just a little though," Nori stressed, "Too much is bad." Without waiting to hear a confirmation, the ferret headed further into the cavern, looking for someone in charge; he found two.
At first, Nori had trouble hearing where the argument was originating. The sound of the voices echoed from here-and-there all around the cavern but, with a little patience and some careful rotating of his ears, the ferret found exactly what he was looking for. Carefully scaling a stalagmite, the teen clamored up to a ledge overlooking a section of tunnel. Far from what they assumed was within earshot of the rest of the caravan, the hyena Nori knew to be Majh Blackpaw was in a rather heated discussion with High Priest Tenge.
The city dwellers may have been skilled at keeping their discussions private in buildings, but they didn't realize how sound carried in a cave. Wishing he had snack as he watched the proceedings, Nori instead made due with paying attention to the drama that unfolded before him; the priest and priestess were having quite a colorful argument.
"We cannot be denied the road by a little weather." the High Priest grumbled.
"Calling this a 'little' weather is like calling your ego 'a little inflated'." the hyena countered.
"Watch your words carefully, Majh." the bear warned, "I don't appreciate your tone."
"Blow it out your ass." the hyena countered, "We both know you're far less in control here than you'd like everyone to think."
The bear scowled, and lowered his voice. Despite his prime position to overhear the conversation, Nori had to strain to hear the High Priest's words, "Neither of us have anything to gain by too many secrets getting out, Majh... just remember that."
"The way I see it, you have more to lose than I do." the priestess' muzzle opened wide as she added an all-too-hyena-like laugh to her words.
"You wouldn't move against me." the bear countered, "You'd have nothing to gain."
"A little fun,perhaps..." she smiled and, for a moment, Nori saw the unmistakable hint of fear in the High Priest's eyes, but Majh continued speaking, "But, you're right... I'd lose far more than I would gain." she casually looked around at the dozen attendants High Priest Tenge had with him, "Hmm... such a lucky number, twelve... all of them survived the weather, I see... not all that surprising."
"The High Priest of Shrad is always attended by his twelve most loyal guardians." the bear stated, as if from rote. It could have been a law, for all Nori knew... the High Priest certainly made it sound like one.
"So true." Majh acknowledged, as if bored, "But I'd be careful if I were you... a lot of things could happen between here and Zion... it'd be ashame if you lost one... or two... or three... or ten..." she cackled, as if laughing at some hidden joke.
"Tell me, Lady Blackpaw... how is your brother, lately?" the High Priest questioned, and then paused as the hyena's open paw struck him on the side of the muzzle; the slap was audible, "Then I take it he's somewhere in the caravan?" the bear took the opportunity to smile; he'd apparently unnerved her, "Good... I might have need of his services in the near future."
"Do not push me, Byne-Bear." Majh growled.
The High Priest backhanded the hyena, an expression of extreme fury on his face. Nori didn't understand the meaning of the nickname the priestess used, but it had an effect on Armenius Tenge. The hyena took her turn to smile; she had returned the favor by unnerving him, "Not a word to the caravan, and you can me to keep my muzzle shut as well." she smiled sweetly, apparently unphased by the bear's attack; the High Priest, on the other hand, rubbed the back of his paw where it collided with the hyena's face.
As the impromptu meeting slowly disbursed, Nori excused himself, sliding off the ledge so as to avoid being seen. The ferret skittered off down the hall before either of them realized they were being spied upon. A lot of questions filled Nori's mind, but he knew they would go unanswered for the time being. He made his way toward the back of the cavern, pausing once he came to the side-tunnels that several of the noble and/or rich travelers used as their own private parking lodges.
Loric Kriabnish, a fox Nori had come to know well was in attendance. He was overseeing the repair of his wagon, a massive, highly ineffective carriage. Nori could count at least half a dozen reasons with a casual glance as to why it would have been better served as a pile of firewood but the ferret just chalked that one up to another difference between a city dweller and a Wild Lander: the noble was far more interested in luxury than practicality.
"I want this repaired by the morning." the fox ordered, circling the damaged carriage, "More weight at the base-- if this topples again then heads will roll." he promised. Nori rolled his eyes and sighed; considering how much surface area was on the thing the poor workers would surely die. The ferret passed by without comment, having come to realize that most City Dwellers did not want to be told how moronic half of their ideas were. He marched past, sighing to himself.
If Loric's mood was an indicator of the rest of the caravan it was obvious that nobody was particularly pleased with the situation, Nori was in an even worse mood. He'd been out in the Wild Lands countless times, though each time it had always been with a group much smaller than the several hundred heads in the caravan. One thing he'd learned during his time as a Wild Land guide was that more people usually caused just as many problems as they prevented-- in this case, not listening to him was a pretty serious one.
The city dwellers, as usual, figured that a road was the safest option for crossing the Wild Lands; if they were going to just keep making stupid assumptions then why did they bother having him along in the first place? The ferret sat on a rock away from everyone else furiously polishing his hammer; focusing on something helped keep him from lashing out at any of the careless caravan travelers that were nearby. It was getting dark beyond the cave, and everyone was starting to quiet down, settling in for the night.
"No." a calm, deep, gravely voice spoke quietly. Nori perked his ears; although he wasn't in a mood to talk, anytime someone had a quiet conversation he couldn't help but be a little curious; he blamed it on his species. "Everyone does." the voice continued. Even though Nori was straining to hear he couldn't manage to make out the other half of the conversation, "It won't be a problem." the voice explained.
Curious anew, Nori slid his hammer back into place on his back and slowly got up, moving quietly toward the discussion. "I was concerned, but didn't doubt you for a moment." the voice stated with conviction. Creeping closer, Nori suddenly realized why he recognized the speaker, and everything snapped into focus by the time he peeked around the stalagmite and saw Gaerid seated in the floor, casually rubbing the neck of his feral rottweiler. "You always come back to me." the bounty hunter said to his pet.
Wyse let out a faint, rumbling whine, and licked Gaerid's wrist. "I know you do." the bounty hunter smiled warmly, leaning forward to touch muzzles with his pet. The two licked one another's lips and the feral dog rested his head on Gaerid's shoulder, letting out a soft woof'. The bounty hunter chuckled in a flat tone; the sound unnerved Nori greatly. "I suspect we'll find out in the next few days." Gaerid sat up, cupping the dog's muzzle in his paws, "I know you're eager, but we have to be patient... I need to know for certain that you've chosen the right one."
Feeling more than just a little uneasy, Nori quickly turned to leave, but froze the moment the bounty hunter's voice spoke up, "Come... join us, boy."
"Do you..." Nori began, feeling incredibly uncomfortable at the situation, "Do you talk with your dog often?"
"All the time." Gaerid responded, eyes glued to the ferret, "He's worth talking to." Nori didn't like that look... it made him feel like the bounty hunter were trying to figure out the best place to stick a knife, "I take it you don't have a dog of your own?"
"Not a four-legged one, anyway." the ferret offered in a poor attempt at a joke. The rottweiler, both of them in fact, continued to watch him in a way that made him feel like the main course of an upcoming feast.
"A shame." Gaerid noted in an eerie, emotionless monotone. He reached his paw out and Wyse obediently pushed his head up into Gaerid's palm. The bounty hunter patiently patted the large dog's head, still watching Nori, "A good pet can complete you.. make you whole... fill gaps in you that you didn't realize were there."
The ferret opened his muzzle, ready to offer up another quip regarding 'filling in gaps', but his voice was taken from him when he considered the bounty hunter kissing the feral dog just a minute before... after that thought it just felt like the wrong thing to say, "I wouldn't know." Nori said instead.
"Hmm..." Gaerid confirmed, offering little else.
"Was that everything?" Nori asked.
"No." the bounty hunter answered.
"Then what else?" the ferret inquired, every moment making him less and less inclined to be in the rottweiler's presence.
"I wanted to wish you a good night." Gaerid answered.
"A good night?"
"Yes." the bounty hunter noted, "It's so hard to get enough rest on the road..." he explained, his voice devoid of emotion, "...always wondering what might happen while you're asleep... what might be lurking in the shadows... wondering if you were really, truly safe and not having answer... things like that." Nori noticed that Wyse's eyes were burrowing into him expectantly.
"Don't worry though... we're right here if you need us." Gaerid turned to the ferret and offered a smile. It was a purely mechanical motion, no feeling behind it-- certainly didn't reach his eyes... the cold, brown orbs continued to stare out at him, boring into him. Nori quickly got up and left. "Sleep well." Gaerid called after him.
Nori did not sleep well.
* * * * *
The Shradian Group has completed Chapter 1.
Although the caravan suffered a major setback due to the weather, the majority of travelers survived to continue on once the storm passes.
The minor injury sustained by Lord Kriabnish heals now that the Event Arc comes to a close. Since Tolen received only a single Serious Wound, it twtoo is recovered.
Nobody within the caravan received any significant amount of fatigue, so they are all fresh and ready to continue.. once the weather permits, of course.
Please watch for upcoming contribution opportunities as Chapter 2 will soon begin. Congratulations to the Shradian party for surviving Chapter 1!