Under Alune

Against the Green Tide

Sunlight lanced through the roofing-leaves and lit upon an odd-shaped tuft of grass beside a still pool. Dandelions and clovers had budded sometime before the afternoon came, and a few mud-pixies were milling about confused. Darlaune bounded from the cool waters of the pool and giggled at them. She tip-toed, without dripping, to the tuffet. She pretended to take interest in it, as a child would a new toy, but in truth she watched to see if her father would come from beyond the barricade.

The pixies landed on her shoulder and waited impatiently for a while. Then, bored, they began tickling her neck and ears and asking, "What is it, what is it?" in their tinny voices.

"Keysean," she whispered to them. Darlaune then poked a finger down through the grass to touch him center-brow. "Mine."

The pixies cackled in a noise like the soft vibrations of thin metal stings, then began to chant his name. They flew in circles around Darlaune's head until she rose and swatted lazily at them. She gathered breakfast into a bowl and sat eating, leaning against the shifter's bulk. The sun and his body heat served to warm her perfectly, to her delight. That afternoon she ate what she decided was the best meal of her life.

She stayed near him they entire day; She sang him songs and tended the tuffet of grass that hid him. She planted mint for effervescence and thistle for health, aloe for regrowth, and sat amidst the perfumes until she fell asleep.

Every day she awoke from her day-bath and bounded over to the tuffet. Always, she checked first for her father's return, but two more days passed with no appearance of Barteriyud. The pixies brought her food, as was their duty in her father's absence, and played with her as the afternoons ebbed to evenings. By night she sang songs and reviewed her favorite story before laying her self down again.

Four days she went like this, seeing only the briefest of action from Keysean under Ala'une, when he moaned and shook the tuffet violently, then fell again to slumber. Then nothing but his breath showed her that he remained in this life. As Ala'une slipped to Ehma'zanue, Darlaune's anxiety increased, so by the fifth evening she couldn't imagine herself sleeping.

Indeed she grinned her widest at her lunar pendant as the sun set on the west horizon and Alune rose in its place. The pendant began to glow with a sleight luminescence. She toyed with it for a single wary moment then sat straddling Keysean's chest.

"Ayxt through Alune..." she began in sing-song voice. She touched the lunar pendant to one of Keysean's wounds and it healed instantly. Darlaune clapped her hands together and repeated the process over and over for each of his silver-wrought gashes. The pendant grew warm in her hands and gained a shade of blue to its glowing, but by the time such was noticeable she was no longer paying attention.

Keysean stirred. Groaning and gritting his teeth he tried to turn to one side or the other but found himself rooted to the... ground? Yes the ground. He could only recall fighting the gobold-kin as true memory. The rest was a dream, mix and mesh, of fighting and playing. Ever long games of him and his cubs in a field, and at the same, his fur coated in innumerous layers of dark gobold-sap until it was matted to his skin. All the time he had thought something was missing and now as he opened his eyes he recalled what it was.

---

Given that the Gobold forces were in full retreat, Aeisha's journey to the Splitway was simple. The shifters she passed acted as if they were too busy hauling orc carcasses to pay attention to her; Yet still she felt eyes watching her all the way.

The closer she got to the Splitway, the more combat she saw between the trees. She shifted into the fox form, her senses changing accordingly. They told her these things: There were no sounds of life around besides the brawls; The orcs were massing on the first mesa of the Splitway; and a mass repository of gobold-kin bodies was somewhere nearby.

The latter she found soon enough. Vast numbers of them were piled high in a ravine between the High hill and the Splitway. Shifters hurled them into the rift from safe positions behind trees. Others who were able to fly in warform provided distraction by dive bombing the masses of gobolds on the shelf.

Aeisha thought little of the mesa, only that it had once been a popular hangout place for shifter youth. Presently it was defiled beyond recognition and covered with scrambling swarming orcs. The pile of carcasses nearly bridged the gap, and as she watched, it was filled completely. The shifters roared together as one and stormed over the pile and onto the far shelf.

An eagle circled lazily downward, calling above the din of battle after every few revolutions to get her attention. Aeisha waited for him to land.

'Got more of them coming from the west, Hunter pantomimed. Gonna have to go against the tide.'

'Which way?'

'Go up into the mountains for a bit, but keep the Splitway in sight. Hunter preened a wing. Go slow so the war-lords can get more of a foot hold. After about a mile you'll see a rope bridge.'

'Go across?'

'If the vampire-spawn have finished clearing it up, yea. Otherwise we'll have to lend a claw.'

Aeisha nodded then pawed the ground impatiently. Hunter cast his curved beak toward the gibbous moon then took off airborne. Aeisha followed him as far as she could, then tread the autumn loam at the foot-hills of the mountains. She felt a bit of calm return to her as the battle fell behind and she was left alone in the wood. The Splitway was dark beside her, its trenches and mesas hidden beneath the boughs and cones of evergreen and resilient oaks. Forms stomped quickly under what moon-light fell upon them, their green-skin melding with the dark leaves where they were not lathered in drying mud.

Presently, Aeisha could smell both fresh gobold-sap and the decay of vampires, so she edged closer to the Splitway. Soon she found a bridge, where at the far end were twenty or so orcs battling it out with Hunter and Viyku and Iyfril. There was a pile of them at Aeisha's end, which she deftly avoided before crossing the rope-bridge. The bridge itself was an odd cobble of beaten metal and carved plastic held together with lengths of discarded wire. She shifted into war-form, a process which took perhaps three-quarters of a minute. By that time, there were no more orcs left to fight.

"Well, that was- Whoa!" Viyku dodged quickly out of the way of Hunter's beak. His path lead him to the shadow of a tree, into which the vampire disappeared.

Aeisha came alongside Hunter and slapped him hard across the cere of his beak. The eagle-shifter shook his great feathered head once then bowed to Aeisha.

"My apologies, I..." Hunter began, "I lost control."

Viyku was materializing out of the shadow of a different tree. He gave a shrug. "No big. Plus, you missed."

Iyfril waved a hand at his clothes which caused all the gobold-sap there to evaporate. He plucked a pair of dark shades- ones with small round lenses and silvery frames that could only just be made out in the moonlight- from beneath his hat. "We should be leaving if we want to avoid attracting more."

"Avoid?" asked Viyku, grinning.

"One moment." Hunter went to the rope bridge and cut it from the mesa.

"Alright," said Iyfril wiping sap from the dark lenses. "There are a bunch more of those bridges that'll lead the way. From what I can see through the shadows, our best bet is to keep going westward while staying as far north as possible."

"What about the Gobold-kin, do you see them too?" asked Hunter

"No, things that are set to change a lot like them don't cast dark enough shadows for us to see from afar," He replied.

Aeisha nodded and headed across the mesa to the next bridge. They went in single file for the most part, Aeisha in front, Hunter in the rear and the vampires in between. After a handful of bridges and several miles, Viyku sighed aloud. "Soo... how's the ever changing life."

Then when no one responded he asked, "why's this druid got a woodie for Wolfhelm?"

"Some old feud," answered Hunter, sharply. "Completely unfounded."

"Old feud?" Iyfril let out a quick gust through his nose. "How old?"

"Iyfril here's got to know just about everything that goes down in this city." Viyku's hand snaked out from beneath his over-coat and he patted his friend on the back with one long-fingered hand. Then appearing to look up at Aeisha, he clarified, "well, as long as its got a good shadow that is."

"Which means I honestly know little of Wolfhelm or you two, besides what I've heard." Iyfril shrugged nonchalantly. "But that in particular is irrelevant. What I do know is there were no Wilder peoples -Druids, goboldkin, elves, fayrie and the like- hereabouts until maybe twenty-five years ago. Wouldn't have been much to sustain them anyways. The woods on the mountains there are sparse at best."

"I don't see how that matters anyway," said Aeisha. "The druid wants to kill us. His reasons are pointless."

"To you maybe, but to the mages..." Viyku left off, but Hunter was ready and waiting.

"The mages-" he clicked his beak closed hard. "Their policies and laws and politics are just as useless to us as their little parlor tricks. If you want to play happy lap-dog with them, you be my guest."

Iyfril's hat slipped a bit over his shoulder as he gave Hunter a glance. "That's the way it's got to be. The mages keep the law so the-" he gave a sort of shudder- "High-order doesn't have to get involved. And I'm sure you all don't want to have the Natural Agency tramping through your hamlet, do you?"

It was the shifters' turn to look disconcerted. Then, frowning, Hunter answered, "The Nat-agency is already involved, and they know we have no part in this."

"Besides he took the first move, attacking without warning, which doesn't help his position much," added Aeisha.

They crossed the only available bridge. By the looks of things, they were in the center of the Splitway. For a while they moved on in silence, each with their own thoughts taking precedence. There was a place, perhaps two miles further, where the vampires shared an odd shock and dark glances.

Hunter, who hardly ever missed anything, spoke up. "What, what's the problem?"

"Nothing, really. Vampire thing," answered Viyku quickly. He was moving northward, hoping to find a bridge there, and quickly. Apparently something had rattled him.

"Listen, leech, we don't have time for fun and games," snapped Hunter.

"You may as well tell us," added Aeisha. "If we can't trust you then there's no reason for you to be here."

"Trust?" Iyfril shook his head. "Simply doesn't concern you."

"But if you must know," Viyku's lip was curling slightly, "There was a Nosfertati lair once in Theyeark, had a tunnel leading up to the Splitway so they could send ghouls out to attack Wolfhelm and breed shadow-giants in the darkness of the cracks."

Iyfril nodded to Viyku. "Well said. But the entrance to that tunnel is nearby. It is not a place any of us wish to visit."

Aeisha looked to Hunter who nodded in acceptance. She assumed he knew what they were talking about so left it at that. Heading north, they crossed over a trench whose bottom was lost in the darkness. Looking down the length of it, they could see small lights dancing like fire. A stuffy-nosed cackle went up into the night followed by a gout of flame. Just then, there came forms pouring from a distant mesa, over all connected bridges, rushing westward over the mountain slopes and nearby shelf-land. Viyku, behind her, gave a single low chuckle.

"Incoming," he said, looking at his hands. His long fingers were melding in pairs, growing talons from the tips, and bending at several impossible joints. His overcoat stretched upward from his back, becoming smooth dark bat-wings. He grinned.

Hunter snorted. "Still a while yet. If I were you I'd be more worried about that."

Aeisha looked around excitedly, then sniffed the air. The smell of gobolds was overpowering, but there was something freshly fecant on the the air. She looked past the vampires who's decaying odor was stale in comparison. They looked right back, then all turned to look at Hunter.

He sighed then strolled over to the large, heavy frond of a fern. Peeling it back, he revealed a heap of rotting flesh- maggot ridden entrails and peeking, broken bones. The vampire's were emotionless, Aeisha covered her snout immediately.

Allowing the frond to fall back in place, he lead the way to the next mesa, moving north-east, which brought them within jumping distance of the mountain range. Aeisha had held in a shudder and now safely away from the disgusting pile it burst free unchecked.

"What the hell would do that?" she asked. She could still smell it, so kept her paw over her nose. Peering over one sandy colored digit, she could see Hunter peering at the underbrush here and there.

"I don't know, but I'd keep my nose covered if I were you Eesh." Hunter's large golden eyes swiveled to the vampires. "Tell me Iyfril, do you know much of orks?"

"As much as I know, to better or worse," he replied.

"What would cause them to s*******r but not feed?" Hunter's eyes fell to either side of their path as they continued on. There were many more piles of rotting carrion, some of them evidently from different types of animals all left in one stinking heap. He was very glad when they left that particular mesa, crossing a deep and jagged rift.

"Nothing, except perhaps the coming of noon-time when they are sluggish at best." Iyfril stroked his chin. "But even so, they would just lay beside the heap and feed off of it slowly."

"I will keep my eyes wide then. There is obviously something here in this forest with a l**t for killing and little else."

Viyku gifted everyone with a smirk. Scratching his head with one grotesque talon he asked, "you mean besides us four?"

"This is no time for jokes!" Hunter scowled, then sighed, "Vampires..."

The dark clad figures shrugged. Viyku drew his smirk ever-so-slightly wider. "Shifters... so haughty."

Hunter frowned anew, looking to Aeisha. She rolled her eyes and motioned for them to continue. Instead, Hunter spread his wing-arms wide and took to the air. He began to down-shift as he wheeled about for altitude and was soon an eagle flying high above them. Viyku waved to him slowly as he disappeared over the tree-line.

"Think he'll come back?" asked Iyfril, in a sad tone.

"He'll be around," she replied anyway, shaking her head slowly.

"At least we have an airborne scout now," said Viyku. "I can't believe we still haven't found this damn Brambelhein. I mean, how does a guy go about hiding a whole bush fortress?"

"His woods, his rules." Iyfril shrugged, "Just be glad we can see the orks so far out and that the trees so far haven't been hostile."

Viyku harrumphed and hunched deeper into his coat. The way he looked, Aeisha could swear he had shrunk a foot or so, but knew it was only an eye trick. Still it must have been a good one to fool a shifter's eyes.

They went in silence for a while. Occasionally, Hunter could be seen above them, gliding lazily across the starry sky. The three ground-bound travelers began to feel an odd vibration then, which they all passed off either as stress or some sort of gobold activity. Aeisha sighed anxiously at Ehma'zanue hanging above.

"So you and Keysean are married," said Viyku after a while longer. "How's the little tyke doing, current status excluded of course."

"He's still playing for the Conquistadors," Aeisha frowned to hide her anxiety. "We still live in Albuquerque. Got two tykes of our own now."

"I haven't seen him in years, since he was a teen-" Viyku then muttered something like- "for the most part-" but Aeisha couldn't be sure.

She did however have something of a startling realization. "You two were the ones that came to wolfhelm way back then."

"Yes. Us two and... 'Ma.' "

"Kandais?"

"Yea, her." Something in Viyku's voice expressed distress.

"What's she doing while you two are out here with me?"

The vampires were silent, then Iyfril said, bluntly; "Waiting for Col on the other side I guess."

"Oh," Aeisha was immediately sorry she'd asked. "I'm sorry."

"Eh, people die, it's-" Viyku began.

Two things interrupted him. The first was an increase in the odd vibrations they all felt. The second was a harsh eagle-cry. Every eye shot to the sky above, which was almost immediately occupied by Hunter's rapidly diving form. He was in war-form by the time his talons touched the ground.

"Brambelhein-" he panted, his eyes shooting to the east. The shifter then pointed his beak to the south-west. "Wind-barge!"

"Wind-barge?" Aeisha exclaimed. The vibration became a dull hum, which quickly became a distant roar as a large blimp-ish contraption became visible above the trees. As it passed over the Splitway, a very large and winged form broke from alongside it and dropped to the ground below.

Aeisha was rushing eastward before anyone could stop her, over bridges and through a small group of unwitting orcs. She ripped into their flesh without a moment's hesitation and sent them tumbling off of a rickety rope-bridge.

"Wait!" came Hunter's voice through a haze that might have been blood-spray or leaves brushing against her face, She couldn't tell the difference.

"Wait!" Her feet hit the edge of a mesa and she stopped. Dirt crumbled away from her blunt foot claws, falling into the depths of a ravine. She growled aloud then began to breathe slowly, trying to calm herself down.

"There's no way across!" said Hunter not too far behind her.

Across the ravine, which was at least twenty-feet wide, was a knotted mass of thorny vines and underbrush. Though there were an uncountable amount of sickly looking trees to block her view, Aeisha could see behind them the verge of an impossibly large bush. She focused hard on it, holding back a bark with a low, whining sort of growl. Then, slowly, she turned to Hunter.

"Well, what are we waiting for?"