ElfQuest (c) Pinis; Windwalkers (c) me. Lyrics (c) Cathedral, from their doomy days.
For more information on the Windwalkers, visit my homepage (one of many) - http://members.nbci.com/Sharna" Come here if you are confused!.
Autumn Twilight
Tongue tasting moonlight
A tribute to my pain
we could last for never (another game?)"
- Cathedral
The silver fish darted about in the water currents. Suddenly a missile powered down from above, sending them scattering in a silver flurry. On the bank crouched the forlorn shape of a golden haired girl. Her arms were in the form of wings and she appeared to be watching the ripples spread about the water. She was unhappy, that much was clear from her posture and the way she was maliciously throwing rocks into the water.
It had not been an easy few moons for the young elf, not since the birth of Magpye's daughter. The child was as dark-haired and pale skinned as her father, with the lungs of something many times her size. It had been Sunstar's job, as the mystic of the flock (second only to Skysong, but the old bird was bedridden with spring fever at the time) to present the child to the flock, and to discover her name. As she had first taken the child in her arms, she had been shocked at how easily the name came to her. And moreso what that name was. For the tiny infant was named Lorrelei. The name had so startled Sunstar that she had almost dropped her. Lorrelei was dead, and had been dead for over 20 000 years. She had been one of the true-blooded elves, who had been slaughtered by humans shortly after arrival to the World of Two Moons. She had died in a glade and her spirit had permeated the earth. It was she who was responsible for the Windwalkers' wings and their immortality. It seemed that finally that spirit had been reborn. Which probably explained the child's crankiness – if you had been trapped in the ground for twenty thousand years, you would be a bit anxious to be born again, and then be angered by your inability to do everything you wanted to because you were just too young. Sunstar knew it should not bother her so, but it seemed her friend had no time for her any more. She and Magpye had been best friends for most of their short lives, spending most of their available time together and now at the extremely young age of a mere twenty seven, Magpye had a daughter. Sable, the ancient, semi-mad Windwalker had proven to be a surprisingly better father than had been thought, although he was prone to sudden lapses of solitude-lust that made him disappear for days on end and made Magpye overly anxious. It seemed no one had time for the young mystic any more – even her animal friends, Fluffy the vulture and Ghostdancer the wolf were occupied in their own lives. Fluffy was old, and it pained him to fly and the wolf had disappeared off with Jester, her mate, to den down somewhere away from the roost and raise pups. So here she was sitting down by the water and scaring the fish. So this was solitude lust, she mused to herself. Although a common problem of the Windwalkers – the desire to be alone with nothing but the wind and the sky for company, Sunstar had rarely experienced it before, possibly due to her Glider/Wolfrider genes. As far as elves went, she was a regular genetical hodgepodge. Her father was half Wolfrider, half Glider and her mother had been a pure Windwalker. She had skills in flying that the other elves could only dream of. Yet she was still not happy.
She sat there, engrossed in her angst.
The young cat watched with hungry golden eyes. It had not been long since he had left the territory of his mother and he was starving. Days of living on a diet of ring-tails and small forest pigs had not been kind to him. But now he smelt something new, something that made his mouth water at the thought of sinking his teeth into its flesh. He studied it. It appeared relatively harmless, an easy morsel, and he began his stalk, body low to the ground, long striped tail barely swishing in excitement.
Sitting alone by the river bank was something Sunstar had done many times since the birth of Lorrelei. She sought meaning in the world, trying to meditate as she watched the ripples on the water. Beside her lay her feathered throwing spear, a light weapon, used for small game. Such was her sorrow for herself, her loneliness, that she did not notice the jaguar stalking her until it pounced.
There was a flash of brown and gold, as the large cat sprang from the bushes directly at her. She barely had time to see it before it had bowled the delicate elf to the ground. Its claws tore viciously at her as she attempted to struggle free from its grasp. The pain! Burning pain as it tore through her clothing. She pushed at it, her hands pummelling its face, seeking the eyes. The hot blood trickled down her chest. Her throat tried to form a scream, but it would not come. Even her struggles could not save her from the mighty cat, and she knew she was doomed. Killed by solitude-lust, that which had killed many an elf before her. Suddenly something strange happened -
The jaguar threw back its head, letting out a blood-curdling snarl of pain as a projectile weapon embedded itself in its neck. It sprung off the fallen elf, spinning to meet its attacker. But there was noone there. Suddenly another pain joined the first, as a dazed but still capable, elf maiden plunged her throwing spear into its neck. Her aim was not perfect, and the weapon was light, it did little more than bury itself in the creature's shoulder, but as another arrow shot seemingly from nowhere to join the first, it decided it had had enough of this prey. The great cat bounded, bleeding, into the undergrowth.
Sunstar was dimly aware that the creature had gone, and that she was bleeding quite badly. Clarity warred briefly, and inefficiently, with pain, and the last thing she remembered before falling into a faint, was the sight of a dark-winged elf gliding down from a tree at the edge of the glade. Everything was a haze, a haze of blood and pain, but she thought he had a bow strung over his shoulder.
*
**Are you all right?** Came the worried Sending. Sunstar blearily opened her violet eyes. She was still in pain, the dull ache of memory.
She nodded, seeing that her visitor was Dreamwolf, the healer. **Feel much better.**
The brown-haired elf patted her gently on the shoulder. **You should be fine soon, my dear, just thank yourself lucky that he was there to help you. We've lost too many to angst.**
Suddenly everything flooded back to her, and Sunstar drew herself into a sitting position, gritting her teeth in pain at the effort. Whatever the healer had done, it had not been enough to completely heal her wounds. **Who?** She asked, wishing she did not have too.
**Your wounds are deep,** the healer continued, as though she had somehow heard Sunstar's earlier thought. **I can but help in the healing process, the pain will lesten soon.**
The healer could knit bones but could not relieve the pain from some scratches? Sunstar was confused, but it was not up to her to question Dreamwolf's skills. Surely her foster mother had done the best she could. And she had not answered her question either. **Who was he?**
Dreamwolf paused, as if she was unwilling to answer. **Just one of the hunters.**
Why was the healer being so obscure? Dreamwolf and Sunstar had been friends for decades, and all of the flock knew one another, so why would she not give a clearer answer? **Does he have a name?** Sunstar asked, not willing to give up on this one easily - the least she could do was thank the elf!
**Yes,** was Dreamwolf's brisk reply, and that finally silenced the young elf. Surely there was some reason for secrecy, but she could not even guess at what.
*
Dreamwolf had spoken true - the wounds were deep, deeper than Sunstar would have thought. The worst of the wounds, a livid pink-red cut, ran from just below her armpit almost to her waist. And she had a nasty cut running down the side of her neck to her breast. There had been a lot of blood, the healer informed her, and the wound had torn through muscle. She would be very lucky if she managed to escape without some damage to her wing muscles. As it was, it hurt to move her left arm too much, and trying to rise it high enough to glide caused her to wince in agony. She was, as Dreamwolf had said, very lucky that Windkin, who was half-Glider, was her father, otherwise she might never glide again.
There was a motion of the skin that hung over the entrance to the nest. This was, technically, Jester's den, for it was on the ground where the red wolf could enter with ease. Jester was not here at the moment however, so Sunstar had the small den to herself and Fluffy. The poor old vulture did not do much anymore. The feathers about his head were developing a distinctly grey tint and he held his wings as it hurt him to fold them away properly. He rose his head and emitted a low Qwuacking sound as Magpye entered the den, the bundle of eight-moon old Lorrelei in her arms.
**Greetings,** she Sent, formally, as she sat down beside Sunstar.
Sunstar smiled weakly. **Hello Maggie,** she replied, **how is the little one? Still her noisy little self?**
Magpye had to grin at that one. **Indeed,** she chuckled, **driving her poor father nuts - and me too a little. I miss those days when we used to go out and hunt.**
**We still could,** Sunstar replied. **I'm sure the other elves would be perfectly happy with looking after the little screech-bird for a while. She is, after all, a High One.**
**It wouldn't be the same,** Magpye's smile was a sorrowful one. **I'm a mother now, Sunstar, and I've lost my innocence. Maybe when Lorrie is older...** She let the Sending trail off.
Sunstar nodded. She understood. The responsibilty of raising a reborn High One was fairly extreme, no wonder Magpye had turned responsible. Their carefree days were over. Magpye handed her the child. Lorrelei was going to be a beautiful young elf, she was already a beautiful baby. As yet too young to Send, the child was going through that odd stage when they made noises. She cooed and chuckled as Sunstar tickled her with her good hand. By about the age of two, the chick would become as silent as most of the elves here were. They had no verbal language anymore, although Windkin and Sable could both speak aloud. For many years Sable had experienced difficulty sending, but through healing and much encouragement he was beginning to learn again. The chick was a chubby little girl, with eyes of a bright green that seemed to bore into your mind. Her hair and feathers were as black as the wings of a raven, aside from a single band of silver that ran from her crown the entire length of her hair. She was growing fast, faster than Sunstar remembered Windwalker chicks growing, as though after finally being reborn she was eager to reach maturity, or at the least mobility, as soon as possible. It was interesting her talent had not manifested yet, Sunstar surmised, although she had not discovered her own talent as a mystic until several turns ago.
**A beautiful girl,** Sunstar Sent to the doting mother. **She will surely break many hearts when she grows up.**
Magpye had to chuckle at that one. Like all elves, Windwalkers did not put as much emphasis on relationships as humans did, and thus when love occurred it was pure, and more likely to survive. Still, the smile of an attractive elf could still tear at a male's heart. **Talking of breaking hearts, have you found out who rescued you yet?** The silver-haired elf inquired.
Sunstar shook her head. **Only Dreamwolf knows, and she refuses to tell me. I don't understand why. I don't suppose it really matters, but I would like to know - if only so I can learn to shoot arrows like he does!**
To an elf, gratitude was not really important where life saving was concerned. You did not need to thank someone from saving you from death, for with the elf flock being as tight knit as it was, everyone looked out for everyone else. To most elves, it was as unnecessary to thank someone for saving their life as it was to thank someone for a smile - rescuing them was not a favour, it was just something you did. It was more the mystery of it all that nagged at Sunstar, as she desperately wanted to know who her secret saviour was.
**You don't think it was Cormorant do you?** Magpye queried, referring to her older brother.
**Of course not,** the wounded elf had to chuckle. **He could not shoot a jaguar twice in the throat with an arrow!**
That was true of course, a bow and arrow were not common Windwalker weapons, with their wing-arms it was awkward to fire a bow with skill and most prefered the one handed throwing spears and javelins. Of course, there were a great many tales about Windwalkers that hunted with daggers fastened to their feet, or wearing vests carved from wood so as to have spiny points. The most common hunting technique of the Windwalkers however was to drop on their prey heavily from above, which normally pinned it to the ground if nothing else, and slashing its throat with a knife, or chasing the prey into their animal friends, generally giant eagles, who could finish it off with a slice of their talons.
**Who then?** She asked, and rattled off a list of names of the young hunters. **Brightblade, Nightfire,** she paused, **Twilight, Hover, Buzzard,** she stopped again. It was hard to think of all the hunters, for although she knew them all by name, many of them spent a great deal of time away from the flock and neither her nor Sunstar had paid a great deal of attention to them, as they were not yet of the age to notice - or so both of them had thought, until Magpye had Recognised Sable. **Perhaps Lightspeed or Slash,** she completed. Removing her child from her friend's arms, she added, **was it one of them? That's all the young ones, although it could have been one of the elders.**
**I don't remember,** was Sunstar's reply. **All I remember is dark wings, I was a tad distracted at the time.**
**That takes out Brightblade and Lightspeed,** Magpye replied. **Ever heard of one of the others being an expert bowelf?**
Before Sunstar had time to answer, Lorrelei began to cry. Magype sighed.
**I better get her off to bed, you think hard about it my dear, he's got to be one of those. I don't know why its that important to you though. He obviously wants his privacy for a reason.**
Sunstar pondered it. Although described as "young" none of them were anywhere near as young as her or Magpye, except maybe Twilight and Hover. She had never paid much attention to the both of them, Hover was going through that obnoxious age of scorning those younger than he and Twilight she suspected was mildly crazy. He was slightly younger than Hover, probably around a century old and had the tendency to be quite loud and somewhat foolish. It could hardly be those two, she doubted either of them could shoot an arrow straight if they tried. Which left Nightfire, Slash and Buzzard. She sighed. She knew so little about them all. How had she been so wrapped up in proving herself as a hunter that she had forgotten who she could learn from? Skylark, a surprisingly muscular female friend of Hover's had taught her how to use the throwing spear, with the help of Chieftess Goldflash. The males had just been, there, occasionally watching her and laughing at her mistakes, talking amongst themselves, that sort of behaviour. Certainly any of them would have saved her, but how many would remain secretive about it. Now she thought about it, he had not even come to see if she was doing all right, and that was a little unusual. Probably it was someone like Hover and he was embarrassed about helping someone so young and inferior she reflected. So why then did it bother her so?
As Magpye hugged her a crooked goodbye and left, Sunstar had never felt so alone. Although definately no less a hunter or no less an elf than anyone in the flock, she felt a little like an outsider. Certainly, her skin was a lot darker than her kin, especially of Sable's and he was bloodkin, but that should make little difference. Her musing was disturbed by a Sending from Magpye.
**Somebody has dropped something by the door,** she Sent, entering the den once more. Under one arm she held her dark-haired child and in the other, a bunch of bright red flowers. Sunstar stood up and took them from her hand.
**Who do you think it was?** She asked, knowing there was more to this than just someone who had got tired of carrying some wildflowers they had picked, for one thing the flower was not a common one and some care had been taken in binding them together securely.
Magpye could but shrug.
*
It had been two days since the jaguar attack and Sunstar was bored with sitting around in the den or the small area in front of it. She was sure she could glide if she really wanted too, although her arm still ached and her legs too had been torn by the creature's talons, although not as badly as her torso. She decided to go on a little stroll. It was weird to wander outside on foot, but there was only Skysong in the meeting ground, with his lifemate Stormwind keeping him company and fussing all over him like a mother hen. The golden-haired elf stopped to smile at her mentor.
**How are you feeling dear?** Stormwind Sent to her, a mild tinge of concern to it.
**Much better, thank you,** she replied. **How is Sky recovering?**
The dark-haired elf smiled cheerfully. **He is much better, although somewhat engrossed in his meditations at present.**
**I have a question for you,** she stated, thinking that now was as good a time to find out who her mystery saviour was as any.
Stormwind nodded. **Yes, ask away, you know you are like the daughter Skysong and I never had.** They had never had fledglings because Skysong had already been old when Stormwind was born, and when the Windwalkers overtook the age of a thousand turns, children were no longer born out of Recognition. And Recognition almost never occurred amongst the Windwalkers, Sable and Magpye being the only recent case.
Sunstar paused, unsure of what Stormwind's reaction would be. **Do you know whom the elf was that saved me from the jaguar?**
**I am afeared not. I was attending to my lifemate at the time. Has Dreamwolf not told you?**
**She's being unusually secretive,** she replied. At that moment, young Dapple, a boy elf of little more than eleven turns barrelled into their patch of the clearing. He was a small, delicate child with shoulder length blond turning to brown hair and his brown wings were dappled with white, hence his name. He grinned impishly at them.
**Ya gotta hide me,** he Sent.
He was too slow though, for at that moment, golden-haired and green-winged Wren followed him into the glade and ran straight into him.
Dapple made the effort to run away, but was tagged by her with both hands.
**Hey, no fair,** he Sent loudly.
**Much fair,** Wren chuckled. The two were not bothering to lock send in the slightest. Stormwind laughed at them.
**Get away from here you little runts,** she Sent good naturedly. **Go and bug your brother or parents or some such thing.**
Skysong looked up, disturbed by the chicks and appeared to notice Sunstar for the first time. **Greetings,** he Sent to her, and then glanced at the two children. Dapple had wrestled Wren to the ground and was pulling her hair.
**Stop it already,** the dark-haired female elf grabbed Dapple by the back of his jerkin. **No mischief near Skysong - you have disturbed his concentration.**
**Sorry,** Dapple muttered, as Stormwind manouvered him away from the younger girl elf.
**Why do you not go and play somewhere else? Ask you father to teach you the bow or something.**
Sunstar startled. She had not though of it before, but Dapple's father, Swiftbow was the prime archer of the flock. He was swiftly approaching his first millenium, and had black wings, but maybe he was her saviour? At the very least, he would probably know. **Where is your father?** She asked Dapple.
Dapple grinned, **follow me, but he be very busy so he is not able to teach me nothing.**
**Teach you anything,** Stormwind could not resist correcting.
**Whatever,** he muttered, and darted away. **Come on Wren, let's take Sunnystar down to the river.**
Sunstar smiled to herself. Sunnystar now, oh well, it could be a lot worse. She just hoped Swiftbow was, in fact, by the river.
*
Nightstar was busily attempting to thread the bow succesfully. She could not get the hang of it, the sinew cord kept falling away at the inoportune moments. She risked a glance at the dark haired bowelf. He was watching her with that patient gaze that made her feel all the worse for taking up his time. She could barely string her own bow - what sort of hunter would she make? The patience for this she just did not have. It had probably been a foolish idea anyway, to learn the bow in an attempt to catch the object of her admiration's eye. He was not even here, probably off hunting suntails or some such thing. That was probably a fortunate thing, for she certainly could not have impressed him with her pitiful skill. Biting her lip in concentration, she once again attempted to get the sinew loop over the end of the bow.
And was disturbed by two chicks suddenly gliding down from the surrounding trees, one of which was sending enthusiastically; **papa can you teach me the bow too? I must be better than her!**
Her concentration was lost, she tried to move the loop and the bow twisted in her hands, sending the string tumbling from her grasp. **Puckernuts,** she cursed.
**I fear you are just not cut out for the bow,** Swiftbow lock-Sent to her. His son plopped himself down beside him.
**We brought someone to talk to you, papa.** He Sent. His father patted him on the shoulder.
At that point Sunstar glided into the glade. Nightstar knew her only vaguely - the older elf paid little attention to the children, and she still regarded anyone below fifty turns as a child. Of course, every elf in the flock knew Sunstar, she had created quite a stir when she had arrived here over twenty turns ago, a mere chick. The somewhat darker than usual skin, the fact she was descended from Ravendark, the exiled twin brother of Chief Starlight contributed to it. Not quite as much a stir as the pale skinned, black haired insane elf Sable had created, for he was the son of Ravendark and thus over ten thousand years old. Indeed, there had been many a strange elf appearing in recent turns. Nightstar turned her attention back to threading the bow as Sunstar sat down opposite the hunter.
**Greetings Swiftbow,** the young golden-haired elf sent. **How goes the work?**
He shrugged and lock-Sent to her, **it would go fine, except that Nightstar here is about the most ineffective bowelf I ever have seen. She wants my son to teach her how to use it, but I fear she has other thoughts on her mind.** He grinned mischeviously, the edges of his blue eyes crinkling. **So how can I help you? Wanting to learn the bow?**
**Well,** she replied, **maybe, but that is not why I am here. I seek the identity of the one who saved me from the jaguar.**
Swiftbow chuckled. **You mean he has not told you? That is just his way.**
**Who?** Sunstar was now almost desperate to learn.
**Oh, I could not tell you that, it would be rude,** she could see from the look in his eyes that he was not quite teasing, but not quite serious either. **Now, why do you not give the bow a go? I'm sure my son would be willing to show you what to do.** He noticed her glance at Dapple, who was playing with one of the arrows. Wren had wandered off. **No, not him; put that down Dapple; you do not think I get them started that young do you? Dapple has his own chick-sized bow, but he is not very good at it as yet.** He winked mischeviously. **Although he can string it though.**
Sunstar tried to hold back her annoyance when he tried to send her away to train with his son. Then a thought occurred to her, maybe in his own mischevious way, Swiftbow was helping her discover the identity of her secretive rescuer. **Where might I find your son?** She asked, pausing as she tried to remember which one he was and gave up.
**Twilight is out hunting suntails on the eastern bank. He is collecting feathers for Cormorant to use in his creation of fish lures.**
The young elf smiled at the mention of Magpye's brother. Cormorant was the best fisherelf of the flock because he had found a most successful way to attract the fish to his bone hooks. He simply made the hooks resemble the insects the fish ate. It was a complicated process, and some of the lures never survived, but the few Sunstar had seen had been realistic enough to confuse her, momentarily. **Are you sure he will not mind me disturbing him?** She asked.
**Yes,** he replied, **but only if you can find him!**
He turned back to Nightstar and took the bow from her hands, threading it for her. She could not appear to get the knack of holding the bow sturdily with her legs whilst pulling down the upper side to meet the loop in the sinew. Sunstar noticed the older elf gave her a black look before turning back to her work. What was that for? Probably she was angry Sunstar had disturbed her lesson.
Well, they were on the western bank of the river, therefore Twilight must be on the other side. She had come to the conclusion now that Twilight had been her rescuer. It made sense in a way, he was always off hunting by himself and thus was more likely to stumble upon her by herself at the right moment to save her. She did not doubt that she would be dead if not for him. Her arm was aching dully, she doubted she could even fire a bow, but if Twilight could, it had to be him, did it not? She bid **farewell** to Swiftbow and young Dapple, and glided across the river. At least she did not actually have to use her wings for that!
*
The eastern bank of the river was less hunted by the elves. It consisted of some very old trees, and the animals that inhabited them. The ground cover was relatively thick, which meant that it was hard to see the prey, even though there was plenty of small prey, as most animals preferred good cover. The western bank was more open, providing a good environment for the delicate toothed deer and tapirs. For birds however, you could do little better than the Old Forest.
Sunstar glided from tree to tree, her legs paining her a little from the amount of landings she had to do. The foliage was too thick to glide properly, and she flapped from tree to tree like a true-blooded Windwalker. Or rather, leapt from tree to tree, preferring to move her arms as little as was possible. Somewhere a short distance away she heard the sound of a suntail screeching as it flew away from something that had scared it. She aimed for that spot.
It took her a while to find Twilight, he was sitting on a wide tree branch, supporting the bow against the trunk. Two Suntails and a small cackler were strung over one shoulder and he was eating a handful of berryfruits. He glanced up at her as she soared down to land beside him, and smiled faintly.
It was easy to see why he was named Twilight. His hair was growing blond-red at the roots, turning gradually darker to black at the tips - just like the transition between night and day. His eyes were the deep blue of the late dusk sky and his wings were dark, dappled like his brother's.
**What brings you to the Old Forest?** He asked her. She could detect a faint edge of nervousness to his Sending.
**Your father sent me here to learn the bow from you.** It seemed the most appropriate excuse.
He laughed. **With that arm injury, you could barely hold it.**
**When it healed, I mean,** she scolded him. **It's healing fine by the way.**
**That's good,** he replied, smiling ever so slightly.
**I am surprised you even care.** It sounded more malicious than she had intended. **It is not like you came to check on me, ever.**
A flicker of hurt crossed his features. **Of course I care,** he Sent with an edge of indignation and concern. **I saved you from the spotted cat, did I not?**
Sunstar grinned to herself - she had a confession, so it had been Twilight. **I was most impressed by the way you shot it,** she Sent. **I would like to be able to shoot arrows as you do.**
He grinned, at her, his dark blue eyes shining. **When you are fully healed, come find me and I shall show you.**
**Certainly,** Sunstar replied. She had to confess to herself, the idea of seeing the young (ish) elf again was an attractive one. He was good looking in his own way, with his piebald hair and friendly grin. She felt bad for accussing him earlier on. **So why did you not tell me?** She asked.
**Because...** Was the only reply she could recieve.
**Because is not a reason,** she chided him.
**Well, it is the only one you are getting for now!**
There was a long, uncomfortable pause. Twilight kept himself occupied by stringing his bow over his shoulder.
**Anyway,** he finally Sent. **I have to get these feathers back to Cormorant. Maybe I shall see you later?**
**Maybe...** she replied, knowing full well that they would meet again - with a flock this size it was impossible not to. He had already glided from his perch, the birds on their string trailing behind him like a banner.
*
The summer turned to autumn, the leaves turning a burnished red or golden yellow and drifting to the ground. To celebrate the turn of the seasons, the elves prepared a feast. The hunters went forth to hunt the deer of the western river bank, leaving Sunstar behind, no matter how hard she begged to be allowed to go, no matter what she did to prove her hunting skills, the Hunt Leader, Brightblade, had considered her too young. Everyone had gathered to watch as Brightblade, Twilight, Skylark, Slash, Swiftbow, Buzzard and Brightmist departed on their way.
Sunstar sat in the glade, surrounded by the other non-hunters, plucking birds and skinning rabbits in preparation for the feast. Some of the others were preparing dishes from fruit, fish and nuts. Cormorant sat crosslegged, biting his lip in concentration as he created a fish lure from a bone hook and a pile of feathers, held in place with fine sinew. Lorrelei sat playing with a doll that Silvermane, who grandmother, had sewn from rabbit hides into the rough shape of a wolf. The wolves themselves had returned in recent days, bringing with them three pups, all with the uncanny intelligence of their sire. Ghostdancer lay beside Sunstar. The grey-white wolf looked almost relieved to be able to leave her offspring to someone else. Dapple and Wren were entertaining them, whilst Jester supervised.
The hunters returned late afternoon on foot, carrying with several red deer. They dragged themselves wearily into the glade, greeting their families and depositing their deer for the others to clean and prepare. Out of the corner of her eye, Sunstar noticed Nightstar stand up and approach Twilight, who looked like he could barely keep his eyes open. As she threw her wing-arms around him in a welcoming embrace, Sunstar returned to her task. There were tears fighting to surface. Over the past few moons she had been learning the bow from the elder elf and had thus developed a considerable interest in him. There was another side to him, different from the smart mouthed elf she had seen with Hover, the side of him that was both gentle and a craftelf. He had built his own bow from scratch and fletched the arrows himself.
She knew not how he felt about her - she had tried to read him as she had some of the other elves, her talent as a mystic manifested in being able to feel anything extreme or well rooted in an individual's psyche - hence she had determined Sable's madness, but Twilight's seemed to be hidden by a fog. The harder she tried, the harder it was to find. Nightstar, an elder dark-haired beauty, basically fawned to Twilight, her emotions were easy to read without her talent. And now it seemed her feelings were being reciprocated. It mattered little anyway, Twilight probably viewed her as a mere chick, or at the least a fledgling, as most of the hunters had the tendency to. Forcing back the feelings, the uncharacteristic jealousy, she turned her attemtion back to what she was preparing.
Unlike their Wolfrider ancestors, the Windwalkers did not fear fire in the slightest, and although they occassionally ate their meat raw, they also cooked some fairly tasty dishes. Food was smoked and dried for the winter months, although here in the rainforest it rarely got cold enough for food to get scarce. The cooking fires were started, and various stews concocted. Sunstar always enjoyed feasts, except in this case, when she was distracted by Twilight and Nightstar who seemed to be spending the entire evening together, laughing out loud as they sampled various preparations and Sent High-Ones-know-what to each other.
Cormorant stalked over to talk to her. He was of relatively sinewy build, muscular from swimming - he was probably one of the best swimmers in the flock, his long silver hair matched that of his younger sister's, and his mother's. His pale blue eyes, strangely intense, focused on her.
**Have you tried the fish?** He asked, proffering her a wooden bowl filled with white pieces of meat floating in some sort of brownish-red sauce.
She shook her head.
**Oh, what's wrong?** He affectionately patted her on the shoulder.
She glanced at Twilight and Nightstar, the latter of which was watching, as if transfixed, whilst the former sampled some fungi dish.
Cormorant chuckled. **Do I detect a tinge of jealousy? Why do you not just Send to him yourself? I'm sure you would proof to be a more interesting conversationist than that parrot.**
By parrot he meant someone who made a lot of noise whilst achieving little in the way of sustanence.
Jester suddenly bounded over to them and tried to pull himself into Cormorant's lap, grinning like a madwolf.
**What is he up to?** Cormorant asked, knowing that Sunstar could glean information from intelligent beings with ease.
**Nothing,** she replied smugly. She knew full well what the golden-red wolf was up to. His elf friend, Dreamwolf, was shy and relatively plain, and it was part of a complicated ploy between Magpye and her (with some help from Sable, but Sunstar had as little to do with him as possible) to get the two together. How Jester fitted in, was unclear, but if Cormorant took a liking to the wolf, surely he would take a liking to the healer to.
Jester sent her a colourful, cheerful greeting. **Meat?** He asked, with typical wolf tact. Sunstar proffered him a piece of suntail, which he took delicately from her hand.
The conversation continued, as the moons began their dance across the sky.
Around midnight, Nightingale and Dawnsky, two of the older female elves, began a tune, Nightingale playing on the wooden flute she had created and Dawnsky on a complicated bow - a bow with many strings that played at different pitches. She was the lifemate of Swiftbow, and Twilight's mother, which probably explained where the instrument had come from. It was a lively tune, a dancing tune, and the elves quickly took up the rhythm. Flinte, the flock's tool maker, began by tapping a large rock with a small stone of hers in time with the music, Blackthorne, the plant shaper, drew out a little whistle he had created from a piece of deadwood and took up the tune. Somebody else began singing and a few moments later, everyone was either wrapped up in dancing or making music along with the rhythm. It had a very tribal, gutteral sound, an effect aided by Goldflash and her father Stormcloud who had rough drums - skin stretched taut over a wooden frame.
Jester leapt to his feet and bounded around the dancers, pouncing and twisting with ease, despite his somewhat advanced age. Jester had elfblood, thus would live longer than normal wolves, but still a mere heartbeat compared to the extended life of the elf. He encouraged Cormorant to dance with him, or rather, along behind him, by continually running back towards the fisherelf and whining at him whilst tugging at his leggings. Reluctantly, Cormorant gave in, and danced after the wolf. Sunstar noticed the two of them were travelling in the general direction of Dreamwolf.
The three pups darted amongst the dancers, making high pitched whining calls and small howls to one another as they ran around the dancing elves and generally got underfoot. Ghostdancer was more reserved, she stayed close by her elf-friend, Sunstar, whilst keeping a lupine eye on her youngsters. Sunstar noticed that Magpye and Sable had left Lorrelei in the arms of Silvermane and were dancing and whirling around each other in a passionate hurricane. She envied them, wishing she had the freedom to whirl around with the elf of her choice - preferably a soulmate. Recognition rarely occurred amongst Windwalkers, but Sunstar was not a full blooded Windwalker and it was widely rumoured and suggested that she would Recognise one day. The Recognition between Sable and Magpye had come as quite a shock, since both were full-bloods.
As she began a solo dance with her wolf, she noticed that Twilight and Nightstar, dancing around each other, hand in hand, were manouevering towards her and she decided that she had somewhere better to be. Ignoring Twilight's Sending of greeting, for reasons she could not fathom herself, she glided away into the trees, Ghostdancer followed her a short distance then, whimpering, returned to watch her pups.
She needed to be alone, but she understood not why, alone with naught for company but the gentle whistling of wind in the trees and the feeling of air on her feathers. She returned to the riverbank, the place where she and Twilight practised with the bows. A padded skin, peppered with holes, was tied to a tree, she threw a few stones at it for good measure, wishing that she had brought her bow and arrows with her. But she was dressed for a feast, in her sable-black outfit trimmed with squirrel tails. A small parrot chattered angrily at her and flew away. She did not like Solitude-lust one bit, and it amazed her how Sable took delight in becoming lost in it frequently. She mused to herself, trying to determine exactly why Twilight's attentions to Nightstar bothered her so much. Windwalkers were not generally prone to jealousy and did not tend to bother all that much about who they got involved with. You "played" with whomever you liked, until you found a lifemate and settled down to a semi-monogamous relationship. This sort of relationship jealousy was as uncommon as the feeling that if you saved someone's life they owed you something. Sunstar could certainly not understand why she felt as she did.
*
**You missed a terrific dance last night,** Magpye informed her late the next day. **Skysong got out the fermented berry juice and we danced until dawn.**
Sunstar knew that the term "danced" implied more than just run-of-the-mill dancing. It induitably resulted in a lot of bed sharing too. **And Lorrelei?**
**Lorrelei and the other children fell asleep,** she chuckled.
She dared not ask about Twilight, she knew what he would have done and did not need confirmation of it. **How is Sable now anyway?** She asked. **It has been a while since I talked to him.**
Magpye shrugged. **He seems good, he is not quite up to conversation yet but he has achieved short sendings. He is very good in other respects though, I must say.** She grinned mischeviously and Sunstar snarled at her in mock imitation of the wolves.
**Do you ever fear that you have grown up too fast?** Sunstar asked, not wanting to be overly nosy but curious nevertheless.
**Yes,** Magpye nodded. **I miss the carefree days of our youth, but then I see Sable or hold Lorrelei, and it all seems worth it. You will understand one day.**
The younger elf nodded. Somehow she doubted it.
*
It was a cloudy, dull day when a small group of hunters sent out again. More meat was needed, and as the weather grew colder, the larger prey moved further away. Perhaps if Sunstar had of talked to Twilight she would have been invited on this hunt, for her bow skills were decidedly good, but she had all but ignored him ever since the feast. He seemed distant anyway and Nightstar, ineffective hunter that she was, was included on the hunt. Along with her and Twilight went Buzzard, Nightfire, Brightmist and Slash. They departed on the morn, somewhat excited at the prospect of hunting once more. Sunstar watched them leave, it was traditional, but she ignored the warm smile the piebald haired elf gave her, and refused to return his Sendings.
The farewell was disturbed anywhere, by a very worried Sable gliding to the farewell point and with a complicated array of gestures and one word sendings, managed to get his message across to the flock. Lorrelei, too young to walk, had apparently disappeared. From what else Sunstar could gather, her father had gone to check on her in the morning, to find that someone had taken her and placed a strange black wolf pup in her place.
Something niggled at the back of Sunstar's mind, as she remembered the vision she had received of Lorrelei's demise twenty millenium ago. **I want to see the pup,** she had Sent to Sable.
**Yes,** he reply-Sent, somewhat stiltedly, **Sun see pup, follow Sable.** The Sending was so tinged with concern and fear that Sunstar knew he had not even attempted to hide the emotion. He was frightened that he had lost another child, like his first son, Darkstar, all those centuries ago. But he led her to the nest of he and Magpye. The hunt departed.
The wolf pup was pure black and relatively young in age. It had definately been put there purposelly - it was unsteady on its paws. Sunstar immediately picked it up, noticing that it had distinctly emerald coloured eyes.
**I think your daughter was never missing,** she Sent to Sable, although still somewhat nervous in his presence - she had not forgotten how much he had frightened her nearly three years ago when he had sought vengence on her father for a crime the glider had no vindictive hand in. **I would guess that her talent has manifested.**
She gazed into the wolf's green orbs. There was definately a feeling of familiarity there. **Lorrie,** she Sent to the wolf, **be an elf again.** She added to the sending a picture of Lorrelei as an elf.
A moment later she handed the chubby, dark winged baby back to her father. Sable's relief ws so plain that he had to sit down and held his daughter close. **Thank you,** he Sent, genuinelly sincere.
Sunstar shrugged, trying to Send to Magpye who was out hunting for her daughter. **It seems your daughter's talent has manifested,** she Sent to Sable. **She is going to be a real handful. But that is what happens when you father a High One.**
The pale-skinned elf just grinned and held his daughter close. Sunstar could never doubt the love he must feel for his child, and the protectiveness. The protectiveness he had felt for Darkstar had driven him into a vain act of vengence. **Bye Lorrie,** she Sent to the child. **Don't scare your papa like that again.** Who knew, maybe the child would understand. A shape-shifter then - there had been no other shape-shifters born on this World of Two Moons as far as Sunstar knew, and she knew most of the legends. Just like their ancient mother, Timmain. It was an omen, but she knew not what of.
*
It had been two hands of days before the hunters returned. The flock were getting decidedly anxious. Food supplies were fine, there was enough small game about that none risked starvation, but they all worried about their friends and family. Swiftbow was especially anxious, for two of his children, Brightmist and Twilight, had gone on the hunt and he sought out Sunstar to see if she could discover a means as to why their return was delayed. She had been unable to, her talent only extended to places or living beings she could see and touch. Skysong was sick again. The spring fever had remained in his system too long, and Sunstar feared for him. It had been ten moons since he had contracted the virus, and still he coughed and wheezed, and grew tired quickly. When Dreamwolf had examined him she had found there was nothing she could do, there was something wrong with his lungs, something beyond her skills - beyond the skills of any healer. He could not gain the required concentration to gain knowledge. So it was left in the hands of fate.
Blackthorne and Skylark were playing a game of dice in a small clearing along the path the hunter's used, when suddenly something disturbed them. Someone came crashing down, in a semi glide, semi fall to land between them in a flurry of feathers. It was a very rumpled Nightstar. Her clothing was torn, her wings and sleek black hair bedraggled and snagged with twigs and her eyes held an expression of fear.
**Thank the High Ones I found you,** she Sent, trying to pull herself into a sitting position and giving up. **I did not think I would ever make it back alive.**
Skylark looked her over, she seemed uninjured, just a mess. **Where are the others?** The huntress asked.
**Dead or lost,** Nightstar replied morbidly, choking back a tear.
Both the listening elves startled. **Dead?** Blackthorne queried.
**Or lost?** Skylark continued. **Where? How?**
Nightstar shook violently and Skylark wrapped her arms around her, embracing her.
**You are safe now,** she Sent, **please tell us what happened.**
The black-haired elf choked, and began her tale, combined with choking cries and sudden shakes.
It appeared that the party had followed the prey across to the plains, which was quite a glide by any means, and had set about hunting down some sort of deer-like creature. As they were surrounding the chosen victim, and preparing to attack it, humans appeared on the scene. The last time they had ventured to the plains, there had been no human habitations in sight, thus this came as something of a shock. It appeared the humans had been tracking the same animal as the elves, an adult buck with two thin, upright horns (no forks) and a wounded hind leg. Seeing these creatures attacking their prey, they had set about attacking the elves instead. Buzzard and Slash, both approaching on foot to spear the buck, had been the first brought down, one with a small metal bolt through the chest, the other with a knock to the hit from a human club. Twilight and Nightfire had been brought down with bolts and Brightmist and Nightstar, the only two who recognised the onslaught for what it was, had tried to escape, Brightmist taking a shot to the back. Nightstar had not seen what happened next - she just wanted to get away from the scene and to safety, but when she had returned to the area later she had found nothing except Slash's body and a trail of blood. Slash was very dead, the club had snapped his skull like deadwood and he had not been a pleasant sight to behold, but Nightstar had hardened her will and followed the bloodtrail.
Some time later she had found the body of Brightmist, who it appeared the blood had come from. She too was dead, the soil around her body stained red. She appeared to have been killed not by the bolt, but by a slash across her throat. She had marks on her wrists as though she had been tied firmly. Here the blood trail had ended, although Nightstar had managed to track them a little further before she had lost the trail entirely. She was not a particularly skilled tracker. Luckily, her talent of direction sense had got her back in the direction of home succesfully. She had not idea of what had happened to Twilight, Nightfire and Buzzard, the thick grass of the plains bore no easily discovered tracks, and the vast quantity of animals had obliterated many of the signs. She hd tried Sending, but received no reply. As she finished her tale she collapsed sobbing onto Skylark's shoulder.
Skylark and Blackthorne exchanged a bleak look. This was not good, not good at all - hideously bad in fact. Five of their best hunters, five of their friends and family, as good as dead. Neither looked forward to reporting this to the flock, but they could not ask Nightstar to do it, not in her current state.
*
The tears rolling down her cheeks, Sunstar hugged the grey wolf close. Realising her anguish, Ghost nuzzled her, licking away the tears and Sending her reassuring thoughts. Unfortunately, there was little a wolf could do to comfort an elf. He could not be dead, could he? Sweet natured, gentle Twilight. And she had ignored him for the last moon or so, caught in petty jealousy towards Nightstar, the only survivor of the tragedy. But surely she would feel it if he were dead? Surely she would feel something. An emptiness perhaps? But her talent did not work that way, and the only elf that could tell her, Skysong, was dying too. Not the quick death of the metal bolt, but the slow, aching death of disease. It was not even as though Skysong were that old - certainly he had been the eldest of the Windwalkers, but he was younger than both her father and Sable and neither of them had those problems. Both still behaved like youngsters without difficulty. WIndwalkers were immortal, there was no way that Skysong was dying of old age. She had tried Sending to him, but he could not answer her queries, his visions had abandoned him.
**What can I do Ghost?** She asked the wolf rhetorically.
To her great surprise, the wolf answered. **Mate missing, track mate, bring him back.** It seemed unusual to get such cohesive sendings from the gry-white wolf, perhaps some of Jester had rubbed off on her.
**But he could be dead!** She Sent to the wolf.
It was too much for the wolf's brain to cope with - missing mates was one thing, death was something even Jester had trouble comprehending. It was beyond Ghostdancer. She whimpered and nudged her elf-friend with her nose.
Sunstar leaned against the comforting hulk of the wolf, and cried until she had exhausted herself in to sleep.
She was flying across a sea of grass, as far as the eye could see. It was covered in animals - large deer like creatures and something larger, something spotted and so tall that its head almost reached her. Although she was gliding, she seemed not to be moving, as though the land beneath her was moving instead. The landscape zoomed beneath her, more animals, a tree that appeared to be upside down - roots to the air, a great pile of clay over which insects swarmed, a creek surrounded by scrubby bushes and then into small hills and something very strange. She had never seen human houses, but she had heard of them, and this was what they might look like - except this was much larger than any her father had ever described to her.
Large rock sculptures too squared off to be natural, gaps between them filled with humans and carts. Horses, near-wolves, miniature jaguars, wandering about. The humans looked up at her, pointing. She tried to pull higher, away from their view but she had no control of her flight. Suddenly a tower reared up before her. She was heading directly for collision, but could do nothing to stop it. The brick wall got closer and closer, than suddenly, blackness...
Ghostdancer yelped as Sunstar woke and knocked the wolf with her head. She had received a vision! She did not understand where it had come from, for that was not the way her talent worked, and each elf had only one magical talent, if that, but she did not doubt that it was accurate. Besides, she had nothing else to go on. It did mean, unfortunately, that she was going to have to converse with Nightstar, something she did not relish.
*
**I do not wish to go back there,** the beautiful dark-haired elf Sent in response to Sunstar's question.
**I ask not that, I just want to know how to get there, to where Brightmist fell.** She could sense the contempt the older elf felt for her, it was almost tangible enough to taste, but she could not understand it, not without physical contact and somehow she doubted Nightstar would allow that.
**They are dead,** Nightstar sent desperately. **The humans got them, do you know what humans do to elves?** Her Sending was somewhat patronising, she was one of those elves that considered under fifty-turns old elves had the minds of small children or intelligent beasts. She paused, as if Sunstar was not aware what she implied. **They kill them. You know what death is like I trust.**
The rage seethed inside Sunstar, how dare this elf treat her like a chick. Yet she was the only guide she had, and with her direction sense the dark elf should be able to give accurate directions. **My mother was killed by a human's arrow,** she Sent, **And I have been in the head of a slaughtered elf. I think you can assume I know what death is all about.**
**So why do you want to go traipsing across the countryside, you want to bring back a corpse?** She glared at Sunstar, her blue eyes almost malicious. **Not much fun when they're dead, are they?**
It was almost to the point where Sunstar was going to break. She tried one desperate ploy, hating herself for doing do. **If you tell me where to go, I shall make sure that every elf knows of the part you played - if I can bring even one back alive.**
Something seemed to click in Nightstar's mind - but not the way Sunstar had hoped. **Yes,** she Sent slyly, her eyes narrowing. **If a chick like you wants to go out to take on a whole flock of humans to save a couple of corpses, then I shall not stand in your way. However...** She paused for dramatical purposes.
**What?** Sunstar replied tiredly, she was almost prepared to agree to any condition provided the damned elf would tell her what she wanted to know.
**However,** and Nightstar grinned in a way that was almost charming. **If you bring my beloved Twilight back alive, I want you to never talk to him again.**
Beloved? The bitch could not be speaking truly, could she? Why would such a hellfire be the beloved of someone such as Twilight. Was it worth agreeing to that for the information she required? The plains were a big place, Magpye had been there once, on a soul journey that had lead her to Quicksnake, the tall snake-eating bird whose form the original Lorrelei had formed to escape the humans back after the landing. But Magpye would never return, not with the reborn Lorrelei in her care. She doubted she could find the human roost just by travelling the plains - even with the landmarks that were fixed in her mind. And even if she could, she doubted any of the elves, provided they still lived, would live that long. And some must live, why would the humans take them with them otherwise? And dump the bodies? The humans must have some plan for them, she surmissed. She was dimly aware that Sable had unpleasant experiences with humans, perhaps he could help her. Choking back her nausea and rage, she nodded. **I agree I shall only talk with him if he agrees to talk with me,** she replied. **And I am sure that when he is returned to your arms, he will lose all desire to associate with me at all.**
Nightstar pursed her lips, as though she had eaten something sour.
**Look,** Sunstar attempted reasoning once more, as futile as it proabably was. **You are not going to save them, the flock believes them dead, and you have only me to rely on. Twilight is lost to you, but if I find him and bring him back, he will not be. If you do not tell me the way I can not hope to save him.**
The elf looked at her intently.
**And if I die or get caught attempting to save them, you are rid of me.**
It seemed the final point that twisted the elf's twisted mind. **Fine then,** Nightstar Sent, **if only to get you pesky little chick of my back.** She described a route and a direction to Sunstar in the most patronising way possible.
Sunstar nodded, committing it to memory. She could feel that Nightstar spoke truthfully, another benefit of her talent, and then she glided out of there as quikly as possible.