The water won't spare us

Jaden Ohanzee · 10-17-2011, 04:58 PM

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sincerest apologies for incredible length. Words - 1200+

Jaden was much further from Ichika now then he had been since the founding of the pack. Before now there really had been no reason. Nothing but laying the foundations for a fine pack had consumed the past three months. As Shishen, a combination of hunter and lead archer, it was the brute’s responsibility to assure there was enough food stored to last through the oncoming winter. Day in and day out, any time he had free Jaden spent hunting and caching prey unfortunate enough to catch his deadly arrows. Only because he had recently clamed a home in New Glasgow had this venture from pack land been appropriate. The place was in need of supplies, containers, and anything useful he could stuff into the dwellings dark green walls.

He wore little: Jaden had on him were his dagger, bow (with a few arrows of course), their respective quiver and sheath, and his deflated and empty satchel. The anticipation of free cargo room in his usually full leather satchel made it blatantly clear just how much the man had intentions of claiming. The brisk journey toward Halifax had been kind to his paws and to his endurance, but with that satchel full of metal cook wear and whatever else, the journey back would be much more tiring.

Halifax was surely a promising destination for any scavenger. Jaden easily recalled the massive cityscape from his memories of days a as a loner and knew from experience what the crumbling walls had to offer a persistent scrounger. The only real down side to it was that it took nearly two days of travel on lupus legs to reach the city. This was simply because of Inferni; cutting around those retched coyotes was essential. You see, Jaden was in fact a trained killer with a nasty disposition to mouthy coyotes. Should one come to find itself slowing down the ex-assassin, Jaden knew he might not be able to keep himself from painfully showing that coyote the natural dominance of bigger, smarter wolves. Though doing this would likely not have the Shishen loose a single wink of sleep, Ichika prided itself on peace. Explaining a brutally beaten lippy coyote to Nayru wasn’t appealing. So he strayed away from them and, before dusk on his second day of travel, Jaden could smell the tell tail tang of rotting wood and crusty concrete.

The city’s long fingers extended some way into the country and dotted the land with small buildings and other structures. Each was a great place to start scavenging and Jaden quickly changed to his Optime form to do so. A dilapidated little tavern just north of the main city materialized out of the forest. An eerie, clandestine purpose clung to its rotting walls. As he approached, the scent of various wolves ebbed out of the surrounding area. They were all tangled and difficult to separate from one another. Simple curiosity as to why made this Jaden’s first stop for exploration.

Nothing seemed out of place at first glance besides the ominous energy that Jaden could swear wept from the builds murky windows. Murmurs and voices were enough to indicate an energy source inside. Creeping closer to the building’s far left wall, Jaden maneuvered around junk and derelict trashcans before pressing one ebony ear against the wood and began to listen. Movement, voices, wolves were defiantly inside. Faded foreign gibberish was one of the first things he heard and it had him sure that this vantage point was no good. When one of the voices, strikingly familiar and male by the sound of it, cleared into something easier to understand, it called to a ‘Zolen’ or ‘Zalen’. Which exactly was difficult to tell from the muffled conversation but neither name rang familiar. The word ‘Employer’ was an indication of some mysterious other character besides two males. There were at least three wolves inside and two were being contracted. This was begging to sound exactly like a sinister collusion to the trained warrior.

Suddenly movement cut the last thought of sinister notions from Jaden’s brain and he ducked behind the tavern’s derelict trashcans. Peeking out, he watched and grimaced as a female coyote hybrid found its way out of the forest and toward the tavern. She disappeared out of sight and Jaden stepped quickly to the building’s corner and peeked around. The she-mutt pulled open a door not too far away from his corner and stepped inside. Before the crimson and ebony male could think, he silently leapt at the prospect of a better vantage point and caught the door gently with his paw before it closed. With the cracked door, there was much better transfer of sound. The voices were one longer muffled and he listened carefully as a female began to speak.

The leader of this gathering, as it would seem, spoke confidently and clearly her intentions to destroy Salsola. She spoke of slavery, murderers, and the lack of justice not just there but in all of the surrounding area and unclaimed land. All of this was shocking and defiantly did not cooperate with Ichikan notions of peace. But to destroy the pack? Would the death of a few dishonorable wolfs be appropriate to stop such a thing? Not to Ichika. Never would killing be considered right by the laws of his pack but Jaden knew better. He knew that to let an atrocity like Salsola live and thrive without check would be just as bad, if not worse than killing a few dishonorable wolves. But he had never heard of Salsola before now besides a little information from one pregnant coyote…

Eris Eternity! He had met her in the rich sunflower valleys and she had given him his limited knowledge of Salsola. She had been pregnant then and was one of the few coyotes Jaden had ever met with a pleasant disposition. She had lied to him, claiming to be a lowly new recruit to the pack and had failed to mention anything about slavery or murderers. The brute felt anger bubble within him and had to hold in a curse as his mind built a rather nasty picture of this lowly coyote. His grip tightened on the door’s knob. He should have known not to trust an honest and pleasant weak blooded creature like her!

As soon as the female in the tavern finished speaking, voices met hers with praise and they included the female closest to his held onto door: the weak-blooded coywolf. Jaden had to do something. There was some more clarification needed but he mostly agreed with this group’s goals. Perhaps he could inquire about it. If this group was as noble as it sounded they wouldn’t be too put off by an innocent inquisitor. If they weren’t, he would need at least a face to tie this valuable information to. Only one way to find out. Jaden finally pulled the tavern’s door open and ducked silently inside. The dusty atmosphere shrouded every creature within. He didn’t intrude far and was completely silent. Only those with view of the door or paying attention to the coywolf he had stepped in behind would notice him. He crossed his arms and waited patiently for acknowledgement; words suddenly seemed to escape him in the presence of these five other canines.

Jaden does. "Jaden speaks." Jaden thinks.

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