Legends of the Garou
"Eye of Anubis"
Heeding the Ancestor's Call.
Ghost Paws hadn't wasted any time in whisking him away to a new life. She thought that perhaps he needed to learn of what he was, even if he hadn't become "Garou." Surely that was one of the advantages that the cursed Metis children had over other Garou; they were raised among the society and thus knew much more than those who were new cubs.
She took him through the Umbra where Anub'ru seemed little bothered by his surroundings, contrary to most "first trips" into the alien landscape. But she could guess he'd seen it before... it was as if Anub'ru was quite used to seeing the denizens of the Umbra; the spirits and the other entities within it's vast and changing landscape. Instead of acting wierded out, he seemed quite intrigued...
When finally he reached the bawn of the Caern, surrounded by a large network of huge and ancient tree spirits, Anub'ru began to freak out a little. Sure, he was used to seeing some of the spirits naitive to the area surrounding the sanctuary, but now he was seeing other spirits... some far more alien. Some more scary... and some, rightfully so.
The trees at the bawn were en wreathed in circles of War Spirits, dancing and chanting their rage-inspiring anthems. These strange embodiments of all things warlike seemed to disturb the young yearling greatly; and he clawed and pawed, pushed and pulled, doing everything he could to try to escape the grip that Ghost Paws had on him... but to no avail. She was ready for this, even if she was taken aback by his seeming lack of fear from most of the other spirits.
When she approached the War Spirits, they all stopped their Anthem and brought themselves to a spiritual "attention." She walked right by them, but they focused their glares on the new arrival in her arms. One of them threatened to reach outward to touch the young ling and was bit on it's... appendage[?] for it's troubles.
Threatening an all-out attack on the insolent whelp, it reared back, manifesting a vast scythe and beginning to swing for the small furry bundle. Suddenly Anub'ru found himself tossed into the air as a blur of motion erupted underneath him. Ghost Paws took to rending the spirit in a flurry of quick and sharp tearing motions, stopping just before discorporating the spirit. It halted its attack, noting the displeasure of the Athro spirit-tender. Standing again to regain its composure, it stood back at attention again as a soldier who had just been dressed down by its commander.
This all took place while Anub'ru was flipping through the air, and just as it seemed he would tumble as a furry meteorite to the hard ground, Ghost Paws came to catch him in just the same way he was held through the entire trip. A little unnerved but otherwise unharmed, Anub'ru settled back into her comforting grasp, and allowed her to carry him into the Caern, past the well defended bawn.
When finally they had trekked down the umbral trail which ended in front of a small hut in the forest, she began to press against the world, seemingly breaking through walls that weren't even there. It was as if glass panes were shattering and reforming around her with every millimeter of movement, glass that was unyielding and yet refused to cut or slice at her or his flesh. The feeling was unlike any other... save for the first experience he'd had when she first pulled him across. It was such a uniquely terrifying and amazing experience that Anub'ru was almost saddened when finally they reformed within the "real world" again.
A month had already come and gone as Anub'ru was being overseen by the Den Mother of the Caern. The Sept of the Roses oversaw this Caern of Wisdom which was situated within the valley of Roseburg, OR... a mere ten miles outside of town. His father Heart had been delivered the news by Ghost Paws herself; news which brought him to elation at seeing his destiny begin to prove itself. There was a legacy within his lines, and his son would be the proof of it.
The night of the monthly Moot had come up; Garou from all around the area came to celebrate the turning of another lunar cycle and to revel in the gifts of the Earth Mother. Drunkenness, debauchery, and the other festivities that were usually seen at moots were present. The young Kinfolk (as Anub'ru was being considered, given his lack of a change) and cubs were still to be kept back in the whelp dens. They often could be heard from their dens howling and yipping to answer the howls and calls their family were emanating during the revelry. The Elders of the Sept always found humor in this; one of the few things they could unanimously agree upon.
But the night wasn't going to be so easily over. The Garou had prepared the rite of the Great Hunt, and all Garou who were present were set loose to hunt down the Engling spirit. But back at the bawn, other more dangerous plots were unraveling. A small handful of Fomori scouts were being led by a Black Spiral Dancer through the underbrush of the forest. The Warders of the Caern were at their posts, but these Wyrm creatures were good; they utilized the sounds of the revelry to make their entry into and past them more stealthy.
Sneaking past the sentries and making damn certain to stay out of sight of the Sept-wide hunting party, these devious and vile creatures made their way into the camp and over toward the only other place they heard sound – the whelp dens. Of course, the Spiral knew right where he was going... At one point in his life, he had been a Warder of the Caern, that was until the night when he was captured and forced to dance the Spiral. Now, this once-proud Fianna was a loathsome Black Spiral Dancer. And his marks this time were the young ones of the Sept.
Slinking into the caves the Fomori (who were carrying silenced pistols loaded with silver ammunition) led by the Dancer came across the playing pups. Most of them didn't even take notice of the crew at first; that is, except for Anub'ru. Immediately his hackles raised as he stared at the creatures. Growling, he caught the attention of the other cubs and Kinfolk, who followed suit. The Dancer chuckled at their show of insolence, and ordered the Fomori to take care of the whelps while he went back to watch their backs at the cave entrance.
Obliging their master, the grotesque wastes of human-flesh began to open fire, starting to pick off each of the wolves in their sight. Anub'ru wasn't having any of it, and immediately he lept at the Fomori closest to him when as if by a miracle, an Owl had come out of nowhere to catch the nearly-flying cub and to direct him to landing at the Fomori's throat. The gaffling spirit was protecting one who would one day be his responsibility to look after...
Landing on the Fomori, Anub'ru's fangs ripped into the throat and made efficient and quick work of this one, especially for one of his own size. Other Kinfolk were falling from the gunfire, whereas the cubs in the cave suddenly grew into their War Forms. Silver ammunition cut them down to size, but not enough to kill them before they struck their killing blows on the remaining Fomori. When it seemed they were about to go to the front of the cave and confront the Black Spiral Dancer, Anub'ru sat on the ground in their ways, and he looked up at them with a glazed look in his eyes.
"Do not be fools! Run to the back of the caves! I will fetch the others!"
The cubs looked at him in shock of the sound of the words coming from this pup. "How are you going to do that?" one asked of him.
"I shall worry about that, now go before you are killed! And defend the Kin!" Before he could even finish his sentence, the cubs began to high-tail it back toward the deeper reaches of the cave, almost as if they sensed the "Elder's" voice within him.
Looking upward as if he expected the assistance, the Owl Spirit appeared again and grabbed the small bundle of fur into his talons. Off they flew, up and over the head of the Black Spiral Dancer before he could even react, and luckily for Anub'ru, he was being covered by a stealth-gift from the spirit.
Soaring through the skies might have normally been unpleasant for one who was born of the Lupus, but Anub'ru didn't seem to mind this time, for whatever reason. When finally they landed, it was near the corpse of the fallen Engling spirit, where the majority of the other Garou were feasting and regaining their Gnosis.
The Sept Alpha approached the cub who was carried on the wings of the Owl Spirit. "What are you doing here?" he asked.
"The whelp dens! They are under attack! Hurry!" The words were more those of caution and less those of true fear. It was evident in his words that it was not simply the ramblings of a cub or Kinfolk. But with no hesitation, the Alpha emitted the Anthem of War, a shrill series of warnings in howl form, informing everyone where to go for the conflict. The Black Spiral Dancer heard this, and instead of running decided to try and at least make sure the mission was finished.
The Dancer ran deeper into the caves just as the Warders appeared on scene, shortly followed by nearly every other Garou in the Caern it seemed. Moving with a grim cunning and a preternatural speed, he reached the area where the cubs had holed themselves up. He could hear the snarling of the Warders as they came in right after him; instead of immediately striking out at the injured cubs, he turned to confront the Warder who was upon him.
The Wendigo Ahroun came with a fury of claw strikes at the Dancer who parried each aside with a tenacious and malevolent agility. Delivering a sharp kick to the Wendigo's stomach, the Dancer (who was by that point in Crinos form as well) dropped his claws down to the Wendigo's neck and raked the flesh and tendons cleanly with his toxin-dripping claws.
Howling in pain, the Wendigo answered this blow by turning his head to go for the Spiral's neck, but it was too late. He had already ducked around behind the Wendigo, and was proceeding to plunge his claws into the sides of his neck, only this time the cruel talons didn't stop until they had severed the spinal cord and shattered the surrounding vertebrae of the Wendigo. The Warder fell to the ground as its head was severed, not so cleanly from its neck and in an insulting fashion, he threw the head back into the tunnels to strike another of the oncoming war party.
It was time to finish his job before he was killed, thought the Dancer. Leaping with claws that glistened with a mixture of blood and green toxic waste, he came down at the child only to be met by the sudden appearance of a tall Jackal-like Crinos... one he knew on sight as Heart of Anubis. Growling at the Dancer, Heart snarled at him "What on Gaia's Earth are you doing, Storm Striker?!"
"Don't you see, Heart? For every visitation of destruction your kind wreaks upon ours, we will exact even greater vengeance!" Storm Striker, the Dancer growled back in poisoned words.
"Your kind? Our kind? ...then you have forsaken your people! Death awaits your traitorous soul, and I shall not keep him waiting." The Philodox howled loudly right into the face of the Dancer, a howl that was louder than it should have been, save for the intervention of spirits. It obviously had shaken Storm Striker because he hesitated in fear, just long enough for Heart to claim the advantage of acing on the faster tempo.
Setting to work, Heart pulled out his D'siah and began slicing Storm into ribbons. Even though pain was evident on the eyes of the Dancer, he still fought back unwilling to go down without a fight. He snarled as he dug his teeth into Heart's shoulder, but Heart threw him off and to the ground, coming down with his D'siah again, only this time hooking the front of the curved blade deep into the chest of his adversary. Feeling the wrenching of the blade as it twisted his insides around, the Spiral immediately began vomiting blood, and in one final movement Heart stepped down with a heavy foot crushing the throat of the turncoat. Internal bleeding might have killed him from mere blood loss had he not been forced to drown in his own blood first; for when he went to vomit again, the blood had nowhere else to go but into his lungs... a gruesome death for a deserving Dancer.