ElfQuest (c) Pinis; Windwalkers (c) me. Lyrics (c) Helloween, from their album "Chameleon"
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 - Longing
"Here is love and there is pain
it's all around, it's all the same"
- Helloween
She glided above the trees, watching the rainforest thin out beneath her. Sunstar was on a quest, a quest to find her lost love, or his body at the very least. It had been half a hand of days since she had bid farewell to her animal friends, convincing her wolf-friend, Ghostdancer, that she was able to do this alone. She had stolen out without informing the flock, but she knew they would follow, of the group of six hunters, two elves were dead, three captive and one had returned alive. They would hardly allow her, an elf maiden of less than thirty turns, to go against humans be herself. But she had a headstart, those following her did not have the tireless flight of her, nor the ability to soar above the trees and they would have to stop to hunt. She was running on little, carrying naught but a change of clothes, a waterflask, some preserved food and, of course, her weapons - bow, arrows and throwing spear. She had stopped little to hunt.
She woke at dawn, and flew until it was too dark to see. Her dreams were tormented, images, comtinuous images of plains and strange landmarks. Although she knew not who sent them to her, whether it be Twilight, Buzzard or Nightfire, the captive elves, or something completely different, she did notice that every night they were hazier, less detailed, as though the sender was giving up. Or dying.
As she flew, she hardened her resolution, fighting the strain in her arm-wings and the pain in her chest, with thoughts of Twilight. The two of them had been sort of friends ever since he had agreed to teach her the bow. But it had taken disaster for her to realise that she cared for him with a dedication greater than that for any of her friends, except maybe Magpye, who was more like a sister. She just hoped he still lived, that was all she wanted, even if he returned to the furs of Nightstar, the dark haired elf Sunstar suspected was his lovemate. If he could never care for her the way she cared for him, so-be-it. She would just be happy to see him alive and well.
Suddenly the plains began, opening up before her was a broad expanse of grass. It continued as far as she could see, an undulating field. There were a few trees and bushes dotting the flatness, and animals everywhere. She soared lower to observe them better. Striped animals a little like strangely shaped deer, deer-like creatures with straight, upright horns instead of forking branches, great shaggy deer. So much prey, where were the predators? She glanced around her, noticing a dark shape in the distance skimming the tops of the trees. Something large, an eagle? She did a double take. No, not an eagle, a Windwalker. Who had followed her? Who had the skill to follow her? It could only be one elf. The landscape below did not look to forboding, the animals appeared harmless enough, she dropped to the ground, and waited.
The dark-haired elf with the pallid white skin soared out over the plains, she knew he would be looking for her.
**Sable,** she Sent to him, watching with amusement as he pulled back his wings to slow himself in an attempt to locate her. **Down here,** she continued. It was hard to pinpoint Sendings, especially for poor disabled Sable who could barely Send himself.
**Sun?** He Sent puzzled, with the obvious emotional tinge that only juvenile Windwalkers managed. As they grew older, they learnt to hide the emotion, even to lie. But not Sable. Due to a horrific occurance in his childhood, when he had been the captive of a human for five turns, he had been left unable to Send skillfully and somewhat mentally unstable. Ten thousand years later, and he was little better. He was Sunstar's great, great grandmother's brother.
She waited until he appeared to be looking at her, and waved. There were two ravens following him. They cawed at each other and followed him as he soared down to land beside her. Ten thousand years had made him quite an accomplished flier.
**You followed me,** she accused him.
He nodded. **No let niece risk life alone.**
Such a sentence was quite a feat for him. She had to chuckle. Niece indeed! She was somewhat nervous of him at the best of times, he had kept her captive and attempted to kill her father. Certainly he was a lot saner now, but... **What about Magpye and Lorrelei?**
Magpye was his soulmate and Lorrelei was their young daughter. **Magpye say you live many many years, you able to look after self, look after friend.**
Sunstar smiled again. Having surviving ten thousand years, mostly alone, she was sure he was perfectly capable of looking after himself, and perhaps even her. Despite being immortal, most Windwalkers rarely lived beyond five thousand, many never made it to a thousand. **Thank you,** she Sent to him, meaning it. Even though she was a little afraid of Sable, he was blood-kin and she sensed he meant well. And nobody knew as much about humans as he did. **Well, let's go.** She glided effortlessly into he air. Sable, after a running start into the wind, soared up after her. Ravens milled about his head, cawing to each other. Sunstar was a little nervous of the black birds. When she had first met Sable, nearly three turns ago, he had trapped her in a glade with more of the birds than she could count. But company was company, and she knew Sable's mind well enough, for her talent was a sensitivity to emotion and mild telepathy. Most of the Windwalkers had talents, Sable was a raven-friend, he could communicate with the birds and they did his bidding. The ancient elf was mad, but he was not entirely unpredictable, and he seemed to be trying to get along with her.
*
It was the better part of the day before the corpse of Slash, the first of the five hunters to die at the hands of the humans. Even then, the only reason they found him on the trackless plains was the ravens' eyesight and their sense of smell. He was in a sorry state. The corpse had been torn apart and mostly devoured, all the meat and some of the bones were missing. A large, deformed wolf-like creature with spots and a shaggy mane was lurking around the corpse, crunching bones, but Sunstar shot at it and scared it away. Her aim was not perfect, but she had not been shooting to do any more than give it a slight twinge of pain and frighten it.
Choking back her nausea - death was not unusual to the Windwalkers, but this was the first corpse she had seen in such a state, she touched Slash's ravaged skeleton.
The images that flashed through her head were vague, splashes of fear and a lingering trace of pain were all she could detect. She shrugged, turning to Sable, who was busily keeping the hyaena away by slinging stones at it. The sling was another weapon that was unusual for Windwalkers, but Sable had considerable skill at it. **Only pain and fear,** she Sent to him, and he shrugged, as though he had expected little more.
The blood trail that Nightstar had followed was long gone, but she had inborn direction sense and thus had given Sunstar what she hoped were fairly accurate directions. Keep the sun on you left side, she had said. So Sunstar lifted into the air and they proceeded onwards.
*
It was dusk before they reached the upside-down tree. Sunstar recognised it immediately - she had been dreaming of it for the last few nights. Beneath it lounged some great tawny creatures that resembled jaguars and the fabled longtooth. The female elf shivered slightly at the memory of the jaguar that had attacked her that summer. It had been Twilight that had saved her, although he had hidden the fact until she had stumbled on the truth. She still did not know why he had not told her, but given his apparent involvement with the attractive, but decidedly shallow, Nightstar, perhaps he had not wished to complicate matters by inviting her into the picture. So much for that plan, she thought ruefully to herself. One of the great cats yawned as Sable soared down to land amongst the roots, or perhaps they were branches, of the tree. The ravens wheeled and cawed, scanning the scenery for carrion.
The roots, or branches, whatever they were, opened up in such a way that there was a resonably good sized platform formed. Sunstar removed her pack and sat to one side, eating a piece of dried meat. Sable sat oppostie her, looking at her. He found it easier to Send if he made eye-contact.
**Do you think we shall find them?** She queried.
Sable nodded. **Must find,** he Sent to her. **Others follow, help us.**
**So the rest of the flock are following us?** She asked, somewhat unnecessarily. **How far behind?**
The pallid skinned elf grinned at her. Beneath the tree one of the great cats, a huge beast with a great shaggy black mane framing his head, stood up and stretched. Muscles rippled beneath his sleek golden brown fur. The sun, as she set and was replaced by the silver sphere of the twin moons, mother and daughter, it shimmered on his fur, seeming almost to illuminate him. He flung back his maned head, and let forth an enormous roar. The tree seemed to shake with the force of it and Sunstar was almost startled into falling out of it. Sable grabbed her arm as she fell back. The fall would not hurt her, but the lions quite probably would. The tawny females, four of them in total, all gradually began standing up and stretching in the twilight.
**Not near us,** Sable finally answered her question. **Much slower then us.** He shook his wings.
Sunstar had to admire him. His wings were induitably stiff and sore, for hers were and her wings were basically redundant in some ways. They helped her soar however, which conserved on the energy expended from wingless gliding such as was practised by her sire, Windkin. He was of Wolfrider/Glider stock. He did have many millenium of practise, of course.
**Who?** She asked.
**Hunters - Lightspeed, Skylark, Hover, Swiftbow, Brightblade. All what can.**
They were likely to be travelling relatively fast then. She curled up as best she could in the fork of the root-like branches of the upside-down tree. **We must leave early then.** She did not know why, but it was important to her that she stay ahead of the rest. Perhaps there was a part of her that suspected Twilight would only notice her if she were his sole saviour. As she waited for sleep to overtake her, she mused. Why was she going through all this for someone whom did not really appear to care for her? Certainly he had saved her from the jaguar, but she did not owe him for that. No elf owed another if they saved their life. Something like that was beyond using as a bargaining tool. So why was she after him? Because she loved him? Certainly she felt a certain affection for him, and wanted to be with him, but she was young and naive. She did not know what love was, but then again, did anyone? Perhaps she just wanted to prove herself. Prove to her flock, Twilight and Nightstar that she was a child no more. Her thoughts became more and more obscure as she drifted off into oblivion.
*
It was midday that they found what remained of Brightmist. She was in a similar state to Slash. She was easier to find however, for the air above her held a couple of circling vultures. They were bearded vultures, like Fluffy, Sunstar's elderly animal friend. One held a piece of bone in its beck that it dropped on to a spiracle of rock. The bone bounced away, shattering. Both birds dived down to retrieve it. Sunstar alighted beside the corpse. There was nothing left but the bones, everything else had been cleared up effectively by the scavengers. Some of the bones were crushed open, by the heavy jaws of the hunched wolves. Sorrow welled in her at the sight of all that remained of the huntress. Brightmist had been an attractive, friendly elf whom had helped Sunstar mightily with her stalking and hunting techniques. It was horrible to think that she could be reduced to this state by something as horrific and uncaring as a human. She touched the corpse.
Flickering pain spread through her arms, starting with her wrists that were so tightly enveloped in thick cord that she could barely feel her fingers. Pain from the wound in her back, it seered with a fire more painful than any she had imagined before. She was exhausted, being dragged along by huge, gruff monsters that seemed uncaring of her pain. She stumbled, and one of them turned on her. Yelling at each other. He dragged her here, where she was hidden from the rest by some scrubby bushes. There he committed indencencies on her, ripping off her clothing and forcing her. She struggled, tearing at him with her fingers, closing her teeth on him. Blood, the coppery tast of blood, soared in her throat. Then rage. A hand across her face, skin darkening to a purple-black pain. The feeling of cold metal being pressed across pale throat. Pain, lifeblood flowing. Death.. He left her lying in the dirt, shaking as her life blood drained into the earth.
Sunstar threw back her head and howled her torment to the sky. Then she collapsed into the dirt. The effort of reading the bones and the terrible truth they had shown was too much for her. Sable rushed to her side, and crouched beside her, unsure of what to do.
A strange creature came over to investigate the howl. In some ways it superficially resembled the wolves, but on a much more delicate scale. Its muzzle was black, as were its enormous ears, but its body was a complicated mixture of white, brown and gold, blotched as if applied by a mad artist. The huge ears were radically out of proportion with the dainty feet and relatively light build. It sniffed at Sunstar's foot, alarming Sable enough to fling a stone at it. The stone bounced off its flank, inflicting no damage but hurting the animal. The patchwork wolf yelped and darted away. The creatures here were certainly a strange mixture. There were more of them too, watching him from a distance, seemingly just curious. Whatever their intent, they did not venture any closer to him or Sunstar.
When the golden-brown haired elf finally awoke, she let out a startled noise and grabbed him close to her. He squeezed her. **Is fine?** He Sent to her.
Tears were streaming down her face and she recounted what she had learnt. Sable shuddered.
**Must save them,** he replied. **Soon.**
The patchwork wolves appeared to grow bored with them and the pack trotted off, making odd high pitched yipping noises to one another. Sunstar wept. If that was what these monsters, these humans, were capable of, she feared for the surviving three elves. And she feared for herself and Sable.
**Are all humans like that?** She asked Sable, the closest she had to an authority on humans.
He shook his head. **Many, not all.** He paused. **Many not kill you after.**
She shuddered. It did not occur to her that the haunted elf had viewed the world of humans through a selective peephole. Ever since he had been taken captive as a fledgling, he had looked on humans with something well over the border of disgust.
The red clay monolith rose out of the plain grass, like a worshipper of the sun. The dainty golden-grey creature, with its resemblance to the hunched, spotted wolf sniffed at the foot of the mound, pawing at it. It licked termites from a small cavity in the monolith with an unusually long tongue. As the two elves soared down to roost beside the termite mound, it darted away, perhaps mistaken them for eagles.
**We are getting closer,** Sunstar Sent to Sable.
The elder elf nodded. **How know?**
**The dreams,** she replied. **I have been sent images of this place.**
He seemed satisfied.
*
Brugah marched across the plains, his trusty crossbow close at hand. His shoulders were covered with the hide of a large cat, a lion pelt. He was the hunter and he was on a mission. It had been some time since the hunters had brought in the three bird-spirits and he had wandered out on his own to see if he could find the dark-haired one that had got away. He liked to hurt the little ones, but alas only one of the females had been brought in and he had been forced to kill her. He licked his dark lips in rememberance of that occasion, feeling the tightening in his loins. His desires for the flesh of children, human children, had almost resulted in his death, years before. Only by sheer luck had he made his escape from that village, escape to the isolated city in the foothills around the plains, the city of Stonetower. Here he had found a substitute for the targets of his dark desires, the spirit "pets" kept by the townsfolk. Nobody cared about the slaves - in fact he imagined a lot of them used their "pets" in the same way he did. It was a shame that the golden haired one had hurt him, bitten him on the lip. It was a shame that he had been overcome by rage and killed her. He liked it when they resisted, he liked it when they fought. She had so much more spirit then the dead-eyed pet-slaves in the city. And he had killed her. But one had got away, and he would find her, he would find her and capture her, and she would entertain him until he bored of her.
*
It was time to hunt. Sunstar did not wish to pause for that length of time, for even though game was plentiful, it meant a stop in their journey. She mainly agreed to it because Sable was visibly tiring. His wings were stiff, although he never complained, never even mentioned it, she saw the way he winced every time they lifted off, the twinge of pain that crossed his ageless face was easily visible. A part of her craved Twilight, to see him, to hear him, to touch him again. And another part of her was frightened. The sooner they found the missing hunters, she would have to face the fact that he may be dead, or at the least that he would turn his back on her and rush into Nightstar's arms and bedding. The truth nagged at her, she was just a mere chick after all, what interest did a hunter have in her? Maybe the blood call of the hunt would do her good. Despite the Wolfrider blood, Windwalkers did not experience Wolfsong, what they experienced was different - and the exact opposite. Solitude-lust was a good way to think too hard about what was bothering you, and a good way to find out things you were better off not knowing. It was even harder for Sunstar, her hunches were always accurate, thanks to her talent. Except where Twilight was concerned. She could learn nothing of his emotions, not even how he felt for Nightstar. Perhaps that was why he fascinated her so. Perhaps that was why she was flying across the countryside to attempt his salvation.
At least the game was plentiful, but she did not wish to kill anything especially large. It would take too long to process any of the deer-creatures, unless they left most of it to the scavengers. The answer to her hunt revealed itself in the form of a most bizarre, and very ugly, bird. It was strutting through the long grass with a few of its peers, a fat black and white bird with a scrawny, featherless neck coloured in gaudy and disturbing colours. A piece of skin hung from beneath its bright red beak and swung from side to side as it walked. It was a bit like the wattle-necks of the rainforest, but smaller. She was airborne, and wanting to experience the full adrenaline rush, decided to swoop on it. Here she had the advantage that unlike most Windwalkers, she could grab it. Many of the other Windwalkers hunted prey in this fashion with their knife between their teeth so it was easy to reach.
She hovered above it, then dropped on one of the birds. Her dive was headlong, with her hands stretched out before her. Carefully controlling her fall, so that she was not falling too fast, she crashed into the bird just as it tried to flap heavily into the air. The force was enough to knock it to the ground, where it flapped in a pained and disorientated fashion for a few seconds before she pounced on it and grabbed it, breaking its neck with one easy twist. The other birds had long since fled. There was no blood, the kill was cleaner like this but took a good deal more skill. If her timing had been off she could have either crashed to the ground or the bird would have escaped. She crouched, panting in the grass, for a few moments, as the adrenaline surged through her body, carrying with it her doubts, carrying them away from her. She finally tied a cord about the birds neck, stringing it over her shoulder and fastening it to her belt so she was able to fly comfortably with it. It would be very nice to sink her teeth into warm, bloody flesh again. Windwalkers had not lost the predatory instinct.
*
The shattered bones scattered about the plains as Brugah kicked them. He had reached the place where he had killed the she-spirit. Her bones were so pathetic, the pathetic remains of the little bitch that had sunk her teeth into his lower lip so hard that it had swollen and he had been unable to eat for days without pain. He had been required to kill her. He crouched by her pathetic remains.
"See what happens if ya hurt me, little bird," he gloated. The memories were fresh in his head, fresh and enticing, and the pull in his groin was almost intoxicating.
*
What was most bothersome of the plains was the flies, Sable reflected as he swatted another of the pesky winged things away. It did not please him to allow Sunstar off hunting on her own, but he knew that despite her young age she was a skilled huntress and unlikely to come to any harm. It was the presence of humans that made him nervous. He had been here before, centuries ago, before the human city had been created, but he could smell the humans on the wind. And how he hated those monsters. If there was anyway he could succesfully do it, he would kill every single one of them. His wings were stiff but he did not complain. Sable rarely complained. There was no purpose in complaining about something unless you could change it. He stretched his arms, massaging the aching muscles and trying to loosen the pain. He allowed himself a brief memory of his smiling daughter, held by his beautiful soulmate and grinned to himself. It had taken ten thousand years, but he felt complete now. He had many children, but only two had ever stolen his heart - Darkstar, long dead, his demise aided by the black viper (and bane of the Wolfriders) named Winnowill and little Lorrelei, the reborn High One with shapeshifting skills. The other children were memories, some dead, some probably still alive. It was his feelings of protectiveness towards Sunstar that had shocked him the most though. She was blood, but not direct, yet he felt this urge to protect her from harm almost as if she were his daughter too. There was absolutely nothing sexual about it. Despite his millenium of experience, emotion had never been the loner elf's strong point, aside from hatred and fear. The only soulmate he had ever really loved was Magpye, the rest had all acted suspicious towards him, keeping his chicks from him. And now his world was a maelstorm of emotion - love, joy, delight, it was no wonder that he often had to go off on his own to rest from it all!
Before him, the ravens scrabbled with a hooded crow. The air was filled with the harsh cawing and the flapping of wings. The ravens were his friends, always had been, always would be. And they knew things. Sable had a vague idea of why Sunstar had gone off alone to rescue the captives, provided they were alive to save, and he suspected that her efforts would not be in vain. But he daren't tell her this, in case he was wrong, even if he had the words to say so.
**I bear food!** Sunstar's Sending was delightfilled. Her somewhat thoughful mood appeared to have been broken from the thrill of the kill. Three corpses, bound together by a piece of cord, descended sharply from the sky, narrowly missing Sable.
**Hey!** He exclaimed.
Sunstar landed crookedly, almost falling over with laughter. **Sorry,** she Sent.
He untied one of the birds and flung it to the ravens. The hooded crow made a valiant effort to grab a piece but was hounded away by the starving corvids. As soon as it was gone the two of them proceeded to peck out the eyes and tear apart the tender breast.
The two elves plucked their birds and ate them raw, relishing the sharp taste, so fill of flavour, unlike the meat they had dined on for the past few days. By early afternoon they were ready to continue on their way, so stuffed full of food that flight was lurching and lazy. By dusk however they had reached the waterhole.
*
Dawn at the waterhole was a very noisy affair to say the least. The huge herbivores, from the great shaggy antelope to the delicate gazelles, from nosehorns, great heavy creatures with hard skin and short tempers, to snakenoses. And birds, great hoards of birds. Even a couple of the great tawny cats sauntered down to the waterhole, the herbivores seemingly unconcerned by their presence. Sunstar and Sable were moved on very quickly. Despite the amount of mud, it was impossible to discriminate any marks from the others, perhaps elves and humans had been there, or perhaps they had not. Sable did find a feather caught in a bush that was mostly pale rimmed with dark. It could have been one of Twilight's dappled wing feathers and Sunstar felt her hopes rise. The dreams had got worse though, now they were nothing but a haze of pain and she feared her mysterious informant was not long of this world. They had passed a number of waterholes on their travels, some little more than muddy puddles, and this was the biggest. A stream that filled it wound down from the foothills, thus this was the river they decided to follow. They were now relying entirely on Sunstar's visions for navigation. Luckily she had a good memory of her dreams and could determine the rough direction. Besides, the human settlement required water of some description.
Further upstream the stream branched, or to be completely accurate, two creeks merged to form the one they had been following. By now they were in the foothills however, and if she soared high enough, Sunstar could see the human city in the distance. It looked like a huge growth, expanding over the hills like a blight. There was smoke too. She glided down to join Sable and pointed, **that way.**
*
The city of Greytower was a strange one. It was very isolated, and thus had more that its fair share of villains and criminals lurking behind the walls. The many small creeks from the mountains fed it with water and a sanitation system and the bountiful plains fed it with meat. From the mountains and small woodlands, edible berries were collected. The humans had everything they needed, even extending to fields of wheat and corn. They farmed goats and cattle for milk, and sometimes meat when times were harsh. Central to the city was the tower that gave it its name. The tower was much older than the city, having been built several centuries before by an exiled noble and his family with a hoard of slaves and a small army of followers. The noble had used his army to capture the humans that roamed the plains, men with skin as black as charcoal and teeth as white as ivory. They had built the tower and eventually the population had increased, spreading across the hills a messy array of houses, both peasant hovels and stone cottages. The tower was no longer the home of the nobles but instead a sort of complicated private menagerie owned by the ruler of the city, a brown-skinned man known as Rahyd'ma. He was, let's call it a "collecter", with a menagerie of beasts and other things besides, that astounded the villagers. It was he whom had first introduced the spirits as "pets".
Back before Greytower was built, the plains had been the home to a tribe of elves. Stockier than the High Ones, but taller than the Wolfriders, they had hunted the beasts of the plains with the aid of the patchwork wolves. These beasts were far too small to ride, but had a highly structured social group that helped the Plains-elves tremendously. They were worshipped by the dark-skinned humans they shared the plains with, and the two lived in relative peace, side by side. Until the white men had come. The exiled noble had broken the spirit of the native people, and in doing this had captured or killed most of the Plain-elves. The few survivors had been so divided up that they had died out too, for like the patchwork wolf, the Plains-elves were highly social creatures, unable to survive alone. For reasons known only to himself, the noble had kept the elves alive in his dungeons. The following rulers, perhaps from superstitious fear, had also fed and looked after the captives. Many had died, for they were creatures of the wild and did not take to captivity easily. But a few had survived, even breeding. When Rahyd'ma had assumed rule, he had moved the captive elves, training some as slaves and giving some of these out to his loyal followers. The more willful ones had been kept in their cages, until their spirits too were shattered. He was considered a somewhat eccentric ruler, but a powerful man and someone you did not want to cross unless you wished to wind up with snakes in your bed or poison in your wine. His hunters had been sent out to capture one of every animal species they could find, and others were employed to do nothing more than collect food for the beasts. The larger part of the collection was carnivores, for most of the plant eating creatures, particularly large ones, were killed and stuffed. Many of the villagers believed he kept the meat-eaters alive as a punishment for those who crossed him. They were probably right, certainly many of them had dined on human flesh.
*
Sable could feel the fear racing through his veins as the two elves approached the human city. It was late dusk, the sky had turned deep blue now the sun had vanished behind the mountains. Humans were the enemy, they were also what he feared the most. The tower rose form the landscape as if it were a crude phallic symbol, the grab-bag of hovels littered about it like stones. Sunstar swooped low to investigate. The houses were a bizarre array of different styles. Stone houses with tiled roofs, wooden buildings topped with thatch, some appeared to be made from various oddbits. Others were the circular clay huts of the native plainsmen.
The streets may have been empty of people, but they were not devoid of life. A scrawny silver backed near-wolf searched vainly for lifestock left out accidently, a hunched wolf crushed a metal pot that had been left outside into a pulp with its powerful jaws. Hooded crows and vultures fought over scraps of food that had been thrown outside, presumerably to be cleaned up in this manner. A cloaked human hurried from one house to another, clutching vainly to a lantern. Sunstar almost freaked, this was the first human she had seen since she was three turns old. They were so big! Almost twice as tall as the diminutive Windwalkers. Sable was emanating a weird mixture of fear and loathing.
**They are in there,** Sunstar nodded in the direction of the tower.
Sable nodded. **Yes.**
The golden-haired elf ventured a Sending to the tower, searching for life beyond the grey walls. **Hello?** She Sent almost timidly.
The returning barrage almost flung her from the sky. So many voices! All Sending to her at once. They were as inexperienced at Sending as Sable it seemed, so filled with emotion that they could not be true Windwalkers. She risked a Sending to Sable.
**There are more elves in there than I can count!**
**Yes,** Sable had evidently caught some of the messages as well. He paused, as though considering something. **I think, Plains-elves.**
**Plains-elves?** Sunstar was aware there were other elves out there - Wolfriders, Gliders, Sun-villagers, but she had never heard of Plains-elves.
**Meet them, many turns ago,** he replied. **Daughter, Kiara.**
The she-elf was startled. She had known Sable had children before Lorrelei, she knew the story of poor Darkstar, but she had never guessed how many. **What happened to them?**
Sable shrugged, although they were flying she could see the movement in his shoulders. **Go away. I return, no elf, think they dead.**
**How many children have you fathered, Sable?** She asked. **What wonders have you seen?** It was more a musing to herself than a real question.
**Many,** she could sense his grin. **Many elf out there, some swim water, fly sky, ride wolf, deer, goat, big birds.** He stopped. **Only us wings though.**
**The stories you would be able to tell!** She Sent to him. **Would you share some with me?**
**Thought you never ask!** He Sent, sounding delighted. **After all this, be happy too.** And he would too, she could sense it in his Sendings. All those years, and all he had really needed was for elves to not treat him like some sort of insane freak. It must have been quite shocking for him and the tribes he met, since none of them would be familiar with winged elves.
**But how are we supposed to find Twilight and the others in that monstrosity?** She asked him.
**Send one elf only,** he replied, and she cursed herself for not seeing such a simple solution earlier.
It was hard to seek out the mind of an elf she did not know, but her tentative Sendings did not result in any replies from the elves she knew. Finally she caught one of the Plains-elves. Windwalkers had skills with Sending that far proceeded any other elves. They had no spoken language at all.
**Who are you?** The Sending was faint, a female.
**My name is Sunstar, I have come to help you,** she replied. **And who might you be?**
**I am Kiara,** the reply startled Sunstar, but it made sense. If Kiara were Sable's daughter, she and Sunstar had shared blood which would make contact easier. **The humans keep us here.**
**Why?**
**We are their slaves, their play things. Some of them like to mate with us, others make us work for them.**
Sunstar shuddered at the memory of Brightmist's demise. It appeared it was not an uncommon practice. The thought made her sick, mating was one thing, but forcing it was another. **I am of the Windwalker flock,** she Sent. **Some of my friends have been captured and brought in there. Have you seen them?**
**Wait a moment,** was Kiara's reply. Perhaps she was conferring with her fellow captives.
A few minutes later her reply came. **Cemba has,** was her answer. **Strange winged elves, yes?**
There was something bordering on hope in her Sending. **Yes.** Sunstar replied.
**They be the captives of the Collector-man. Have you come to save them?**
**Yes.**
Sunstar had now alighted on one of the many protuding roof tops of the tower, crouching like a gargoyle. The ravens had soared off at some unspoken command from Sable. He now sat their cross-legged idly fiddling with his slingshot.
Kiara paused, and then very tentatively Sent, **there are some of us here who want to feel the wind again. Could you, perhaps, also rescue us?**
This silenced Sunstar. She knew it would be asked, and wanted to say "yes", but did not want to get their hopes up. It would make things many times as awkward. **How many are you?** She asked tentatively.
**Not quite three hands,** she replied. **And not all will want to escape.**
That startled Sunstar further. **Why not?**
Kiara's reply was quite distressing. **Some of us have been broken, tamed like those ugly near-wolves. In fact, some even enjoy the attention of the human men.** The disgust was so tangible, it sent spiders of fear crawling up Sunstar's back. She could not leave them here if it was at all possible to save them.
**I shall do my very best to help you escape, but please do not get the others too excited about it - we may not manage it and it would be better if the humans did not learn of it.**
Kiara's Sending was filled with agreement and some hope. **That is all you can do.**
**Now, how well do you elves know the tower?**
The ravens returned before dawn, having explored the tower from the inside. Sable and Sunstar had got little sleep, they knew the only way to act was at night and had fought their weariness to examine the tower, and city as much as possible. The tower was solid, but the upper levels had windows, these were narrow, but a Windwalker could probably squeeze through there with little problems. The lower openings were barred, heavily, beyond them they could make out the occasional shape of something alive.
The ravens perched on Sable, one on each knee, and he held an odd screeching and cawing conversation with them. Windkin had once told Sunstar that her mother, the deceased Skydancer, had been able to communicate with her bearded vulture friends, learning their language through centuries of living alone with no other company. Sable's talent with the birds however was inherrent.
She had told him about her conversation with Kiara, and he had shown exactly as much interest in her as she had expected. He was happy to realise that she still lived, but did not seem overly keen on meeting her. Perhaps his times with the Plains-elves had not been happy ones.
After much squawking and whatnot, Sable Sent her a brief condension on what the birds had said. Very brief.
**Many cage, hold many animals, held shut by metal things, can only be opened by this.** He held up a silvery-grey object, that presumerably one of the ravens had picked up in its beak. Sunstar had never seen a key before, and had no idea what it was.
**I have to go in,** she Sent to Sable, and he nodded.
**Me stay, try not kill humans.** He grinned ferally and she wondered if he was joking or not. Sable's hatred of humans was great, so powerful that surely it would shatter him one day.
**Please do not,** she Sent, half in jest, half out of concern. **This will only work if the humans do not learn of our existence.**
**Know this,** he replied, handing her the key. **May not work every door, get others you find.**
She nodded. This was more a pre-empitive exploration anyway, the actual rescue would need more planning. She needed to know the lay out of the tower first. If she could get Twilight and the other hunters to a window they could simply soar out, but the Plains-elves would have great difficulty in doing that!
She curled up on the narrow rooftop, hoping to get some sleep before dusk. Hoping that none of the humans would see her. They had chosen this spot for a reason, only one opening had any view on it what-so-ever and that one seemed to open into an empty room. From the amount of dust in the room, it was unlikely to be visited. From the street below, they were hidden by the various protusions and gargoyles that decorated the tower. Sable sat beside her, wrapping his arms around his knees and falling asleep in this seemingly uncomfortable position. The ravens perched atop the gargoyles, sleeping and quarreling with pigeons.
*
As dusk fell, the humans retreated into their habitations once more. The day had been, fortunately uneventful, almost restful. Sunstar took a deep breath as she steadied herself to enter the tower.
**Not forget,** Sable lectured her, **no get lost, and get out before dawn.**
She nodded, as if she could forget that. Clinging to the key as if it was her only contact with life, Sunstar glided up to the opening, angling herself so she could get through it without having anything to support her. A normal Windwalker could not have done that, for the opening was too narrow to glide through and there was nothing to perch on, no window ledge or balcony. Once again she thanked her Glider genes, and glided across the small room, careful not to leave footprints in the dust. She tried the door handle, it opened with a groan of protestation and she winced. Carefully only opening it far enough to squeeze through, she entered the hallway of the grey tower.