Rose petals and a scent of iron [m]severe violence

[Skoll]

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For Lubomir! My guess is maybe she finds Lubomir before Skoll and he runs, or Lubomir sees her, armed and armored and obviously looking for trouble, and calls out that there's an intruder? The deep blue of the sky was just beginning to give way to the faint orange glow of daybreak, but Skoll knew that an hour was left to pass before the sun was fully in the sky. There was a light fog over the ground at the base of the mountain, a fair ways down from where he usually slept, and only a few birds had yet begun to sing. He had only just woken up, and would give himself a few minutes of lying on the dirt of the mountain side before rousing himself and beginning his morning practice. A chance wind brought a familiar scent to his nose. He looked down at his side...his weapons were still in the pack. Even if they had somehow slipped out during the night...the smell of oil accompanied the scent of iron that had carried on the wind. He rose, tying the pack to his waist, and securing the square hard-wood shield to his left arm. It might be nothing, but the hairs were standing up on the back of his neck, and someone with steel arriving in the pre-dawn hours did not ring friendly to his ears. He looked down, but through the fog he saw little. He began to descend down the mountain slope, unsure of who he would find. Inferni? It was possible that the coyotes were attempting a raid, but Iskata had told him that their leader was playing defensively, trying to at least buy enough time for his children to grow up before engaging in any open hostilities. The smell of coyote had also been in the air, and so he was now certain. It had to be Inferni. Well, if it was, and they wanted trouble, he would give it to them. He recalled the last fully armed battle he'd had defending borders. Himself against seven. He wouldn't be able to do that again. He had taken extensive damage in that fight, and besides, the darkness had allowed him to kill off three of his enemies before they even knew they were fighting him. He would have no such advantage this time, and Inferni would probably only send people against him who knew what they were doing, not religious fanatics whose histories mostly including brutalizing tied sacrifices. ~The lyrics are from the best song ever written.

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