I just want to thank the creators of DARK AGES for creating such a great background and Storyseeker for correcting my fics and helping me with great ideas.
Interlude1: The Rising of a Dark Star
Somewhere somewhen
"Yes, maybe," a voice said, a voice she knew as well as her own, a voice she had heard and loved all her life, the voice of the person who had killed her... her mother's voice.
~ It is funny ~ Lucifia thought while she drifted in the darkness, which surrounded her. ~ I never thought it would come to one of these flashbacks? ~
And as if it would have waited on this, it began....
The first thing she saw and felt was warmth and narrowness, in darkness, with just with the sound of her own heart around her. But all this wasn't unpleasant, but comforting and peaceful. This ended when the shell of her world shattered and the incoming light, scandalously bright for her relations, dazzled her. Being angry and shocked of the bright light and the cold vicinity, she screamed out her misery, just to be calmly taken up by two strong and soft arms.
Being softly and safely held by someone, who cuddled her in their arms, her eyes slowly adapted to the surrounding luminous intensity, and she saw who held her. It was a gargess with hair as red as blood, even though the just hatched hatchling didn't know what blood was, her tiara shined golden and her eyes shined emerald-green, full of happiness and love. Aside hers was another face, which was one of a large eagle it seemed, with large brown eyes who even so looked down on her with love.
The hatchling gulped happily by the love she felt and snuggled herself in the warm arms.
~ Yes, yes ~ Lucifia thought since somehow she couldn't speak. ~ Might we fasten this up a bit, I have no time to go through all this again! ~
She didn't know to whom she spoke, but it somehow seemed to listen since her life went over faster before her eyes.... Well it wasn't like TV, more like living all this again, fully detailed but faster.
How she crawled, how she made her first steps...
Her first unintentional try in gliding, how she fell to what she thought was her assure death and as much as she tried, her wings wouldn't carry her and how her mother's arms saved her.
"I will always be there to catch you." Her mother promised and she knew with the heart of a hatchling that she would hold the promise.
And it went further...
The wonderful nights of playing with her siblings.
The elders telling them stories of the clan and the second telling them of her journeys until the morning.
The long hours of training her battle skills by the teacher.
The night that the second offered them training in shamanism and she herself started to learn magic.
The night of the Ascending, when she had killed the boar just to satisfy the teacher.
And slowly the living-movie came to it, the turning point in her life and she let it go slower, just to see....
08.06.1675; 20:52; The plain of the clan:
Little Panther landed gracefully on the plain like so many times before, it was just that this night she did it especially gracefully since she felt... great. It was the night when they would bind the guardian spirit anew on this plain and when they would do so, it would be accompanied by a large celebration in the clan, anew to make their clan save.
And she would contribute to this!
She had finally discovered a Tear of Naliko growing on one side of a waterfall and carefully cut off the blossom from the plant to let it live and make more blossoms perhaps. These plants were rare, like the elders said even before the whites came, since the healing powers of it made it desired not just by their Shamans, but by many animals. But since the whites had arrived, their men searched the woods for this blossom too, not because of their healing powers; the humans had no idea of it, but to sell them on markets as decoration for their women.
So the blossom had become even rarer and so much more precious for her clan. Besides that it was a critical component in the ritual to bind the guardian spirit, it served the shamans as strong medicine against various illnesses and for various other cases.
How it should be used would be decided by the leader and the second, either if it would be dried, held fresh or pressed out to use the juice. Little Panther felt the weight of the blossom in the bag on her belt and smiled, the stock of these blossoms wouldn't go out so soon.
Smiling, she came to the large fire burning in the middle of the clan's life, which burned due to mark the gathering point of the clan and to warm the elders who were gathered here to tell the hatchlings stories of how they had done so many times before.
Once, maybe a week ago, when she and her brother had to guard the hatchlings down at the lake deeper in the woods, she had heard two of them talking about how great it would be to not be the youngest generation anymore. Little Panther and Wolf had just looked at each other with a not so hidden smile. These youngsters had still so much to learn!
At the fire, there weren't just the eldest and youngest generations gathered, but even so her other rookery siblings who were chatting amongst themselves, seemingly waiting on someone.
That someone turned out to be her.
"Greetings sister, we waited on you!" exclaimed one sister. She had the appearance of a wolf with a white coat and her guardian was the Ghost Owl.
"Yes, did you forget?" A male, with the appearance of a bear, said whose guardian was a muskrat and who had to face many good hearted jokes because of that. "We wanted to bathe in the lake tonight before the celebration starts, our sister will come when her guard duty has ended."
Little Panther bit her lip, she had indeed forgotten this.
"Sorry, first I have to bring the leader something," she saw how the happiness in her sibling's eyes dimmed, "but if he allows it then I will return fast and meet you at the lake."
Wolf approached her and laid a claw on her shoulder.
"That will be nice," he explained. "I will wait here."
Little Panther felt the skin on her dark blue cheek become slightly red.
"Thank you." she said and looked into her brother's eyes.
They first registered that they were looking on each other for too long when they heard their siblings murmuring and looking on them, slightly gloating.
"I must go." Little Panther said even more embarrassed, turned around and went to the leaders cave, leaving Wolf alone with his siblings.
"Ahhh." his white haired wolf-looking sister went into raptures. "I can see you both on your mating flight already!"
Wolf just looked on his sister angrily while she smiled one of her famous wolf's-grin.
"I think we should go now." The brother with the appearance of a buffalo said while laying a claw on his sister's shoulder. He was often silent and always thought before he acted. A calm soul, which made him in the eyes of many clan elders the best candidate of leadership in his generation... Unfortunately he had no talent in shamanism and only a shaman could lead.
Little Panther meanwhile approached the cave, her cheeks still a bit red.
~ Why can't they let this be a thing between us two? ~ She thought, but guessed that it was natural for rookery siblings to interfere in everything.
Sighing, she took the blossom out of her bag and studied it. It was of a dark blue shade around a purple centre, which seemed to burn. Little Panther smelled on it and felt at once more vivid.
"....The leader was forced to choose a new second by the elders since it had been three years without one." She heard her moth... the second saying and stopped.
~ They are talking about the new second ~ Little Panther realized.
She had heard the elders talking that Shaman wouldn't be leader for long anymore and that the teacher would take this place and the next second would be... well, either she or her brother.
Curiously, she sneaked to the entrance of the cave and eavesdropped.
"....Remember, the best way to mature is to have responsibility."
Shaman said and in this moment Little Panther couldn't get the idea out of her mind that he was indeed her father.
"I will choose the second in the next months when the clan has gotten used to me as leader." The second explained and so confirmed her daughter's suspicion. "Even though I already know whom I will choose."
"Who?" Shaman asked.
Little Panther's heart stopped beating.
"The lad." the second answered.
Little Panther's heart turned to ice, as her dreams of her future smashed.
"Why him and not Little Panther?" Shaman asked and if Little Panther would have been more concentrated on this, she would have noticed a slight disapproving tone.
"Little Panther is, in my eyes, too unsure." The second explained. "She is back in her warrior lessons and the learning of magic and even her skills in the art of shamanism are a bit backward compared to her brothers. Often she is diverted during the training and she is much too less eager in this... she wouldn't make a good second."
Little Panther let the blossom fall on the earth since she didn't feel her claw anymore, all she felt was her cracking heart. She ran away, tears streaming down her face.
Finally, unaware that she had headed there, she had reached the silent place, which was distant of the vivid clan-life where she had spent many of her rare free hours, while she had spent the other hours training in either her warrior and reading skills, her mastery of magic and the art of shamanism... and she had failed in all.
Little Panther allowed herself to fall into the grass and buried her face in it.
~ I have tried it ~ she defended herself against the voice of her mother in her head. ~ I worked twice as much as the others and I failed. ~
She felt more useless now than her teacher's criticism had ever let her feel during the hours of training her warrior skills and simply knew that she was the most useless and incompetent gargoyle of the clan... of the whole world!
But she had done everything she was capable of.
~ She is back in learning magic. ~
She had heeded the instructions she had got in magic by the second twice a week and had even read in the magic books of the second, studying her spells in some of her rare hours of freedom, but the most were in Latin, so that she had to even learn a second new language besides English.
~ She is back in learning shamanism. ~
Yes, maybe she wasn't so good in shamanism like her brother, but just because always when she listened to the teachings of Shaman or the second, she had to think on magic!
~ She is back in her warrior skills. ~
But she had tried! It was just that through all this learning of shamanism and magic, she hadn't got out as much as her siblings and what they had learned in games, she had to learn twice as hard in the hours of practicing.
Her mother's words just told her what she had already known since years, that she didn't manage to come through with all her tasks, that it was too much work for her. But this was what the second had told her from the beginning. It was just that she hadn't realized it.
"If I just..." Little Panther whispered, but didn't come any further. Instead she sat up and looked up to the moon.
~ The second wouldn't fail in this ~ she thought ~ she would do even more without any problems. ~
But she simply couldn't, as she had failed the second and so wasn't worthy to...
"Little Panther?" a soft voice behind her asked.
Little Panther turned around and saw Wolf standing behind her, the Tear of Naliko in his claw.
"You lost this." he said and gave her the blossom, sitting beside her.
He had grown tired of waiting on her and went to the cave. There he had discovered the precious blossom lying on the earth and his more precious sister missing and since he knew the place she liked to go.
"Thank you." Little Panther said tonelessly and turned to the moon, away from her brother sitting beside her, so as to not let him see her dried tears.
She looked on the moon, smelling absently on the blossom before placing it in her bag before looking to her brother, speechlessly. He stood in the second's favor and would become second and surely one day even leader, yet she couldn't be jealous on him, as much as she tried.
Wolf had indeed seen the dried tears on his sister's face and was going to ask her why she had cried, but before he could do so, the moonlight shone on her, brightening her slightly red face and Wolf had to control himself to not gasp.
~ She looks so beautiful ~ he thought.
Sure, he had noticed this long before, but now in this moment, he knew she was the most beautiful gargoyle in the world. Wolf couldn't say anything, but touched, nearly against his will, Little Panther's black hair and stroked it.
Little Panther smiled.
"Aren't you risking giving our siblings more to talk about?" she asked with a slight smile.
"Let them..." he said hard and added softer. "They speak the truth, I... I love you. Mine heart belongs to you."
Little Panther just stared on him and for one moment, Wolf feared that she would laugh about him. These fears proved unfounded when Little Panther took him by his coat and embraced him strongly, placing her leather wings over his shoulders like she had seen it by the elders.
He did the same with his feathered wings and such they were embraced, feeling strong and protected like they had never felt before.
This was the moment when her mother chose to jump before them.
Somewhere somewhen
~ Yes mother, you always had nice timing ~ Lucifia thought while she or her ghost floated in the darkness. ~ But after father's death you got me and my love to at least survive. ~
Yet, despite the sarcasm of her thoughts, a small part of herself felt the longing after the warm embrace of her love, but Lucifia rejected this at once.
~Love!?~ she thought ~I won't tolerate such weakness!~
While she thought so, she once again felt herself at the time so long ago.
08.06.1675; 22:04; a cave in the woods:
This night, after all what Little Panther had thought might happen as bad, the worst thing had happened.
First she had learned what her mother truly thought of her, now Shaman laid dead before them, and her mother actually told them that she was going to face these men.
"I know this is hard for you, but believe me, I am proud of you and my mate would be too." She declared to them and Little Panther tried hard not to show what she felt. She KNEW how her mother truly felt about her. "Follow my orders. I know you can handle it and don't fear, I'll be back to perform the ritual... the clan will be safe."
With this, their second turned her back on them and stormed out of the cave, to fight a fight nobody believed she was able to win.
Little Panther laid herself back in the warm coat of her brother... of her love. He circled his feathered wings around her, stroking her hair while he listened to the night outside the cave.
There was a scream, like that of a big cat followed by the horrified screams of a human, which died quickly, surely with his owner.
"There it is!" A voice screamed. "Follow her, don't let her escape!"
The gargoyle youngster listened to the footsteps of many persons running away quickly and then... silence. An unearthly silence seemed to rule outside, in which nothing seemed to move.
Finally, after minutes which seemed like an endless time period for them, Wolf decided to make the move. He removed himself from Little Panther and slowly took a look outside.
"All quiet." he whispered. "Come, before they come back."
Little Panther nodded, threw a last look on Shaman and then followed her love outside.
It was maybe the longest trip they had ever made in their young lives. They knew this area, not as well as the unsettled parts of the forest, but well enough. It was just that now, everything seemed darker and definitely more dangerous. Behind every tree might lay an attacker, ready to shoot with a bow and so they sneaked carefully on all fours to be no visible prey.
When they had finally reached the plain, by taking a large detour around the traitor Michael's house, they climbed on it again very carefully, but definitely quicker, and started to breathe again when they reached the secure plain, where they knew that they were safe.
Wolf-sister, who had returned from the lake, had fulfilled her duty to guard this part of the plain. A boring job indeed since no one had ever tried to attack them... Well, until this accident some years before, but the guardian spirit had saved the clan and so proofed the uselessness of any patrol.
So Ghost Owl was busy in looking at the sky and thinking, her head propped on a spear, of the celebration starting when the leader and the second, together with her siblings would return then to actually care for the surroundings.
So she was startled to see Wolf climbing up the plain, followed by his sister.
"Brother, Sister what is wrong?" Ghost Owl asked teasingly. "Forgotten how to glide?"
The look her brother gave her and the pained expression she saw in Little Panther's eyes made her smile collapse.
"What has happened?" she asked, now holding her spear in a defensive stance, as if she feared to be attacked in the next few seconds "Where are Shaman and the second?"
Little Panther turned her face away, looking into the woods and trying to hide the swelling tears, so Wolf answered.
"Sister, go to the clan and tell them that we have to make an assembly." he told her. "At once!"
Ghost Owl had more questions, but the look in her brother's eyes, together with the tone she knew from the second, made her follow his orders and ran quickly to the center of the plain.
Wolf looked around to Little Panther, who seemed to search the forest with her eyes for any sign of the second.
"Come, we have to report to the clan what has happened and must decide what to do now." Wolf urged her, laying a claw on her shoulder.
"You can do this." Little Panther replied. "I want to stay here, just a bit longer so...."
Wolf shook his head.
"She won't come so soon, even if all has come as she had planned it," he told her and looked deep into her eyes. "Now we have the duty to act how she taught it to us... how they both taught us. We won't disappoint her."
Little Panther returned the look and finally she nodded, following her brother to the centre of the plain.
~ But I have already disappointed her ~ she thought desperately.
08.06.1675; 23:01; the fireplace in the centre of the plain:
Little Panther and Wolf came side by side to the centre where seemingly the whole clan was gathered, now looking on the returning youngster sternly.
"Why have you gathered us here?" A female elder with the appearance of a falcon asked. "And where are the leader and the second?"
"We have been attacked. The second lead our attackers away from us, deeper into the woods, so that we could escape." Wolf explained calmly. "And the leader is dead."
The murmur, which started on this, was horrible as seemingly all clan members spoke at once to each other. Some had white or red eyes, others looked rather afraid and some confused. It was the elder of Shaman's generation with the appearance of a bear with, due to his age, mostly a grey coat who brought the order back.
"Brothers, Sisters, be quiet!" The one who was called Elk demanded loudly. "I think we should first hear the whole story before we decide what to do."
He gave the shaman-apprentice a stern look, showing them that it was their turn now. Since Little Panther looked as though she was in deep thought, more down in the woods than by them, Wolf took the initiative.
Wolf went to the middle of the gathering and started to tell the elders of everything what had happened after they had left the plain. Many minutes later he ended the report with how they had reached the plain and looked around to his clan, who looked on him in silence.
"This ungrateful lot!" a female warrior with the appearance of a black panther snarled angrily, her eyes blood red. "Such they repay our clan's help!"
"We should go into the town and teach them a lesson!" a male elder suggested. "Let we pay them blood with blood!"
Agreeing murmurs came from the clan and Wolf noticed that even Little Panther was looking on the elder now with all her interest, but again the elder with the appearance of a bear calmed them down.
"This isn't the time for this! The orders of the second..." he hesitated shortly and corrected himself, "…of the leader were clear that we do nothing until she is back. Besides, the humans will just wait on an attack and make a trap."
"Then we should help the second!" Little Panther demanded desperately from the elder. "If we sent a patrol to the woods then we might be able to overthrow them."
"And what if she has already escaped them?" Elk replied. "What if she is on the way back and the patrol we send goes into a trap laid by the humans, for her? Does anybody want to tell her later that we lost one because we didn't follow her order?"
"If she still lives." a voice said.
Little Panther looked to the owner of this voice, even when she recognized at once where it came from. It was an elder, three generations above Shaman's and Elk's generation, with the appearance of a raven. Her once black feathers had become completely white-grey and she walked with the help of a stick, but her grey eyes were signs for her still sharp intelligence.
She had been against making Demona the second, despite that she was the only other shaman available. Indeed she had not voted against her in the council, but just because she was strict for the unity of the clan... what was left of it was she used to say, since she was now one of the minorities, who still remembered the break up of the clan so many years before.
"Based on what the young warriors told us, the humans following her were superior about her," she pointed out. "And due to that, she is so heavily wounded that we don't know if she has been able to escape them."
"SHE IS IMMORTAL!!!" Little Panther screamed on her with slightly red eyes, forgetting for one moment the respect she should have for an elder. "She can survive anything!"
The elder looked on Little Panther with a mix of false pity and arrogance.
"Maybe she is, but what if the one who led the humans was the Macbeth she told us about?" she asked. "Or what if they kill her temporary, but behead her and take her head back as a trophy with them?"
Little Panther stared on the elder, her anger changed to panic.
~ What if this has truly happened? ~ She thought about the head of her mother placed on a lance and shuddered. ~ No, she won't.... ~
"I don't think this is the time to make wild theories." the bear-looking elder said. "Neither do we have proof that it is Macbeth who hunts her, nor do we know if they have captured her."
"Then we should have someone sneak down into the town and eavesdrop on the humans." an eagle-like warrior suggested. "They surely will know what has happened to our sister."
Agreeing murmurs came from the mass of the clan and Elk sighed.
"Very well then." he replied. "You and you," he pointed to two female warriors, "will sneak to the town and hear what they have to say. Meanwhile, we must guard our home from possible further attacks, so the half of our active warriors will patrol at the border of the plain, the rest will guard the hatchlings and the rookery until the day. We must be careful now, since the humans might use our confusion to start an attack during the night."
"What about the ritual?" A lizard-like gargess asked, her split tongue hissing a bit. "The apprentices haven't ascended yet and we need someone to perform the ritual in three nights."
"I know," Elk, who seemed to growl slowly to the respected gargoyle, said. "But we will talk about this tomorrow night.... If the leader hasn't appeared until then," he looked around the clan. "You all know what to do, now do your duty and believe me the clan will survive this like it has survived everything before."
The murmurs responding this from the dissolving assembly were not really optimistic, but at least not fearful.
~ At least something, ~ Elk thought and eyed the Wolf and little Panther, who went to their siblings.
09.06.1675; 01:44; the human town:
Five men stood guard in the middle of the town, looking fearfully at the sky from which they feared the demons would come to hunt them for what they had done. But there came nothing that they had to warn their families about, so they kept silent until they heard the sound of hooves coming nearer.
When they looked in the direction of the sound they saw the man, who called himself *The Hunter* and whom they had hired to expel the demons, coming back with the men of the town who had gone with him for the hunt.
The hunt had appeared to have failed, not just that the men were carrying the corpse of one man, who seemingly was killed by the demons. That was two deaths together with the losses at the beginning of the hunt and they could see just two of the Hunter's dogs left.
"What happened?" John asked. "Have you killed them?"
"I killed the Demon I wanted." the Hunter explained, studying the man in front of him uninterested. "But she fell in the river. I will follow its flow to get her corpse down it."
The men around John looked in panic on the Hunter, like on their friends who bowed their heads in respect of the corpse of the man with the open chest.
"And the others?!" John asked, his fair hair falling in his face. "We ordered you to kill them all!"
The Hunter's look grew icy, as he wasn't interested in the others. Since he had heard of the Demon, the queen of her damned race hiding here, his only goal had been to slay her.
"I have wounded the other, the old one..." he told them shortly. "I believe 'Shaman' is how you called him. He will be dead by now."
"But the others will take revenge! You let the two younger demons escape." another timid resident, who had taken part in the hunt, noted. "The gargoyles on the plain will come down and kill us all when they learn of this!"
~ Naturally they will do so, you idiot. ~ The Hunter thought. ~ They will do this or worse. ~
The first time when he had come to this town, a week ago, he had studied the area and learned where the demons lived. He knew that he had sentenced the town with all its residents to death. He had learned from the people living here that the demons were protected by some sort of ghost on the plain and that the corpses of some adventurers from outside, who had climbed on the plain to smash the clan during the day; were handed back to them in a state they didn't want to describe.
The Hunter had guessed that the demons were protected by some sort of spell, surely made by their queen, even when the people told him that the demons had some sort of power even before she arrived. This had shown to be the greatest problem in his planning since he couldn't be sure that all gargoyles would be killed. Finally, he had decided to make a trap just for the Demon to kill her and her companions, knowing very well how the other demons would react on this.
He looked around in the faces of the humans he knew he had sentenced to death.
They were farmers mainly. Strong, but not trained in any sort of fight, judging by what he had seen in the hunt just now. Since these people had problems fighting four gargoyles... Well three, not counting the one he had wounded first, they wouldn't have a chance against the whole clan, who were sure to come down from the plain to take revenge for their clan member's deaths.
The Hunter knew all this, yet he replied. "No they won't." he lied. "Trust me, I know these demons."
He looked around in the faces of the men, who showed respect since he had killed two of the beasts, respect which overthrew their mistrust.
The Hunter knew that leaving these men to their deaths by the demons' hand wasn't a good death, but he couldn't risk loosing his trophy, which had maybe drifted down the river not so far away as he feared. Later he would come back with more, better trained men to besiege the plain and kill the other demons, but he doubted that anyone, man, woman or child, would live this time.
"Well, I...." The Hunter started, when his dogs started barking like mad, growling in one direction.
The Hunter looked quickly in this direction, seeing two eye pairs vanishing quickly.
~ They are faster than I thought, ~ he noticed slowly.
"Nathan, Rex, out!" he ordered the dogs who followed his orders at once. They were good animals and he was happy that he had held them back from the hunt, as they would serve him well by finding the demon's corpse.
"What is it?" a man asked. "Why did they bark so?"
The Hunter looked back to the man, as they were seemingly unaware of what he had seen, which proofed once more their incapability in fight against the demons.
"The wind is unfavorable and bears the scent of the demons up on the plain." The Hunter lied. "They are trained to react on such."
Not one of the men around him noticed that the wind was indeed blowing from the opposite direction to the plain, which gave the Hunter the last proof he needed to know that these men were complete idiots.
He was just going to bring his horse to turn around and ride away, when he heard a voice calling.
"What is all this noise!" an angry voice demanded and when the men looked in the direction of the voice, they saw the preacher coming fast out of the church, still in his robe.
The Hunter's eyes became smaller. He knew that this man was smarter than the others and would surely not believe his lie.
"You have returned and seemingly your hunt has failed!" the preacher noticed. "Like I said! You fought without the help of God, so you had to fail!!!"
The Hunter stared down on the preacher from his horse.
"And I told you that crosses and bibles won't help against them either, just sword and guns like your people might confirm to you." the Hunter repeated. "I learned so long ago and two more of the demons died tonight through this. The one your men called the Shaman and... the red-haired beast."
The preacher's eyes widened, but the rest of his face stayed skeptical.
~ Good ~ the Hunter thought.
Then he led his horse slowly away from the men, following the way he knew that would lead him to his prey. Unfortunately, the preacher proofed to be stubborn and went aside his horse.
"Your words are blasphemy!" he accused him. "If you don't trust in God then you are no better than those monsters!"
The Hunter had his gun aiming on the preacher's forehead faster than anyone could react.
"Listen preacher, and listen well." The Hunter snarled, "God has allowed these creatures to exist on this earth and to threaten us all. I will correct this. If you call this blasphemy then do so, I call it correction of his failures."
With this, he ordered his horse to gallop away, followed by his dogs, not throwing one look back on the men staring at him.
~ You have sentenced them to death ~ the Hunter reminded himself again, but then shook his head, as they had no priority, the demon-queen had.
He, Duncan Canmore, would bring her head back as a trophy to Scotland, like he had promised it to John.
09.06.1675; 03:13; the shaman's cave on the plain:
Wolf and Little Panther looked around in the cave of the shaman, reserved for the clan leader. But the clan leader was dead and his successor's fate was unknown and somehow, Little Panther believed that she could feel it here, as if a part of the cave itself was missing.
~ You fool yourself ~ Little Panther said, ~ the second would say even so. ~
But she didn't fool herself of why she and her brother were here.
They had made the patrol on the borders of the plain, together with the half of the clan, checking the night for possible attacks following the first one. The other clan members had offered them a break, considering what they had been through this night, but both had refused, both felt the urge to protect their clan, besides they were too upset to sit around.
This was until the bear-like elder, who seemed to have grown in the role as a gargoyle in command, came to them and ordered them to wait in the cave of the shaman for them.
This had been some minutes ago and not one of them had spoken one word while they waited on the elder, who said he still had one other thing to do, this could only mean...
"My children," Elk's voice told them and Wolf and Little Panther turned their heads around to see their clan-father standing in the entrance of the cave. "Please sit down."
Both of them obeyed and sat down, not taking their eyes from the elder.
"Listen, our spies have returned." he told them directly. "They reported to me that the Hunter and his men, one of them dead, have returned to the village."
Little Panther felt her heart beating faster and she grabbed the claw of her love. She knew she was thinking like a hatchling, but deep down she had hoped that her mother would beat the Hunter and his men like she had done in her stories so many times before and would return to the plain unharmed with her attackers' dead bodies as trophies. Now it had turned out that these were silly dreams.
"What has happened to my..." *...mother?* she was going to say, but bit herself on the lips just before this, "…our leader?"
"The Hunter hasn't captured her," Elk calmed his children down, "but seemingly he believed to have killed her and they saw her fall in the river where she drifted away."
Little Panther looked on the elder shocked while Wolf took initiative.
"Then we have to organize groups to search the river for her." he suggested, but Elk shook his head.
"No," he replied. "I considered this briefly, but the Hunter is out there, following the path of the river and seemingly searching our leader's corpse... Apparently the Canmores haven't learned that she is completely immortal for them yet."
"So we can do nothing, but pray to the Great Spirit that she will come back to us?" Little Panther asked shocked. "That she is not discovered by the Hunter still dead and taken as a trophy?"
Elk shook his head.
"No, there is more we can do.... or better yet, what we have to do." he corrected himself and looked on both young warriors hard. "We can't just hope that our leader comes back in time to make the ritual, we have to consider that she won't come back, at least not in time."
There was a moment of silence.
"You want us to make the ritual." Little Panther noticed.
Elk nodded.
"One of you yes." he explained.
"But none of us has ascended to a full shaman yet." Wolf protested. "And it is necessary that always one older shaman supervises the ritual."
"We can't take care of this now." Elk explained irritated. "The clan is in danger, we don't know if and when the humans will attack again and considering what has happened tonight, we can't rely on that everything will go well." He looked hard on both young warriors and shamans in apprentice. "In some minutes, I will call the clan together to report what the spies have learned and I want to have something to calm them down, to show them that we are still secure here and for such I need your help, despite the rules."
Little Panther and Wolf looked on the elder, a bit surprised, as it wasn't his way to say something so rough. This showed them just how hard it truly was for him to hold the burden of leadership and how much he feared for their safety.
"We will wait until next midnight, then one of you will ascend and do the ritual the next night, can you do that?" Elk asked with a hint of desperation in his voice, just enough to let the youngster feel it.
Little Panther looked at the elder. This was it and she knew it, this was her opportunity to show not just her mother, but her whole clan her worthiness. Then she looked on her brother and love, he was the one her mother would have chosen, he was the one who should make the ritual and she should say this, but she couldn't.
"I will do it." she told Elk, not looking on Wolf by this. "I will ascend and do the ritual. I have seen the Leader and the second often enough doing it and they explained to us every part of it, exactly."
Little Panther couldn't let him rob her of her one chance to become the next second and she knew she would be second when her mother would come back and see that she had made the ritual, that her daughter had maybe rescued the clan even when she hadn't believed in that she would be capable of that. Her mother would be proud of her.
Elk studied her for one moment longer seriously, and then he looked to Wolf who nodded slightly after a short break.
"Well then, so be it," he confirmed. "I will go and gather the clan at the fire, please be there soon."
With this, he turned around and left the cave.
Little Panther looked on Wolf, who studied her with a sort of doubt in his eyes which she could feel more than she could see.
"What is it?" Little Panther asked tensed.
Wolf bit his lip, even when he would never say it to Little Panther; he knew that he was better in shamanism than his love. Maybe not much and he was sure that she would be equal to him if she would have had more time, but he was better and he believed she knew it.
"Nothing." he lied and shook his head. "It is just that being shaman... and later even second will be a burden. You know this?"
Little Panther nodded, yet she knew what he truly wanted to say, that she maybe couldn't handle it.
"I know, but together." she softly stroked his snout, "we will come through."
Wolf smiled and hugged her.
09.06.1675; 21:13; the border of the plain:
The gargress, who would one day be known as Lucifia, and her rookery generation stood around at the rocky part of the plain that they used as a meeting point for their generation. In the years before, they did so to have fun, undisturbed by their younger siblings or the elders, now they talked about more serious matters.
"I wish they would attack." Ghost Owl snarled, her eyes blazing red, and pushed the blade of her sword into the earth. "I would like to let them pay for what they did to our leader!"
"And what then?" her buffalo-like brother, with the guardian of a fox, asked. "You know we depend on their food to support the clan."
"But what she says is the truth." one of their brothers, a male with short brown hair and a dark golden skin, responded "We can't let them get away with this so easily!"
"This isn't what our teacher had said." Wolf said. "She just ordered us to do nothing until she returned. I might imagine that she will indeed punish the humans for what they did. Great Panther, she definitely will not get over the death of her mate and leader so easily."
"Maybe the one who rules the clan meanwhile could do something even while she is away." This came from the sister with white skin and long white hair, bounded to a long plot nearly all the way down her back. "We shouldn't give them more time to prepare themselves, or to let the one directly responsible escape."
Wolf shook his head.
"The elder won't do this." he argued. "He is much too careful... he has lost two of his siblings by the humans already, remember?"
"I didn't mean him, but our sister." White Star, who was called so for obvious reasons despite her guardian spirit, said as she looked to Little Panther. "If you...." she bit her lip and corrected herself fast, seeing the slightly pained look in her sister's green eyes. "When you ascend, you will be the only shaman available, which means that you will be the leader."
Before Little Panther could say something, Wolf took the word.
"No, Elk is leading the clan and he will do so until our teacher returns." he replied. "Little Panther... no one of our generation has enough experience to lead."
"But he is no shaman." White Star pointed out. "How can anybody lead a clan without the help of the spirits?"
"The teacher told us stories about the clans in Europe... all over the world and that they had no shamans as leaders and mostly don't even know what shamans are." the brown haired brother said. "So it should be possible to lead the clan even without the help of the spirits for a while."
"You forgot that she even told us so that the clans in Europe are mostly extinguished." Ghost Owl retorted, crossing her arms. "I don't want this to happen to our clan too."
"We don't even know how long the teacher will be absent." the buffalo-like brother noted in his usual calm manner. "Maybe she will even return before our sister ascends, so talking about her successor is much too early."
"By the way, I have to prepare for the ascending." Little Panther explained. "I'll see you later at the ceremony?"
Wolf nodded and gave her a soft, personal smile.
"We will all be there." he explained, accompanied by the agreeing murmurs of their other siblings. For some reason, they hadn't told them about their new relationship, which was so much different from a simple brother-sister relationship.
Little Panther smiled and left.
With secure steps, she went to the centre of the plain where one of the elders, a wolf-like female elder with a grey coat, was just ending a story she was telling to the 17 year old hatchlings.
When she arrived there, the hatchlings noticed her and ran to her at once.
"Sister... "a male hatchling with the appearance of a hawk, whose feathers were white around his head, and with brown shining eyes.
"Sister, have you heard of the second?" a female hatchling with purple skin and ash-grey hair asked.
"Will you be the next second?" a male hatchling with the appearance of a crow asked.
"The second will come back," a male voice asked fearfully, "won't she?"
"Is..." another hatchling started, but Little Panther stopped them.
"Little brothers and sisters; please be quiet." she told them calmly. "I will answer your questions as well as I can."
On this, dozens of curious and fearful eyes looked on her and Little Panther started to feel the weight of them, the weight of the hatchlings whose world had been shaken if not destroyed.
"Yes I will ascend tonight and become a full shaman to bind the guardian on the next night." she explained to them. "This is necessary to protect the clan."
"But shouldn't the second to this?" Little Raccoon, a male hatchling with light-brown skin, fair hair and a beak said.
"She is missing." one of his sisters said, since she felt her brother had asked something foolish. "You know this."
"The Hunter has taken her as a trophy and has killed her like he did with the leader." another whispered depressed, just loud enough that Little Panther could hear her. "She will never come back."
"NO!" Little Panther nearly screamed and on the look of the elder she added calmer. "The elders have told you that we don't know this. The second might return even tonight, we just have to have trust in her... It is like in one of her stories she has told you. The Hunters could never defeat her and they never will, believe me."
She looked around in the faces of the mostly scared hatchlings. They remembered the stories of the second very well, of her fights and adventures and maybe it was just one further adventure... but the adventure didn't taste like one they had heard of, it seemed dark and dangerous and the hatchlings didn't want anything else then that the second would come back and tell them stories.
"I know that the second will come back and take her place as leader." Little Panther promised them, remembering what Wolf had said to her. "But until then we have to do as she would have wanted, this means that I will make the ritual and you will listen to the elders.... this way, we all will make her proud."
She saw some hatchlings nodding obediently and smiled. They didn't look happy, but at least they didn't seem so depressed and scared anymore.
"I have to go now and prepare myself for the ascension." Little Panther said. "I hope I see you there."
On this came agreeing murmurs from the mass of hatchlings and Little Panther forced herself to smile.
"Until then."
With this, she turned around and went up to the cave.
Arriving at the entrance of the cave, Little Panther could hear that some of the elders, who had apparently taken the swords for the ceremony from there, and thinking that it might be a good idea to know what they were speaking about, she hid in the shadows before the entrance, listening strained.
"... Will Wise Snake and Old Weasel be the other guards." a voice said that Little Panther recognized as the elder Grey Wolf, one of the eldest warriors of the clan.
"Good, I know they can handle it," another voice, which she recognized as Bear's said, "if necessary."
There was a longer silence and Little Panther thought about going in now, but then Grey Wolf's voice continued.
"I don't even want to think about it." he replied.
"I too, but we have to for the clan's sake." Elk informed him and Little Panther felt that he was going to say more, but a third voice, which she recognized as the raven-like, grey-feathered elder whom she disliked very much.
"She shouldn't even make the ascension!" she pointed out. "Our son should."
Little Panther clenched her fists and had to suppress a growl, but wasn't surprised. Somehow this elder had never liked her... or the ones looking European/German for that, but her especially, even when she never shown it too openly.
~ Maybe because she knows who my mother is? ~ Little Panther thought for the first time.
"We have spoken about this," Grey Wolf replied. "She wanted it so, so we have to trust her."
There was a short silence in which Little Panther believed to feel how the elder shook her beaked head.
"I don't think that the survival of the clan is something we should play games with." the old raven said. "And we all know that he would be the better shaman."
There was a longer silence now and Little Panther prayed to all spirits that at least one would contradict... no one did.
"She will do it." Grey Wolf set against this, but it didn't sound very convinced.
"But what if she does not?" the old raven asked. "What if she fails and comes back without being a full shaman or worse, becoming such a... a thing that we have heard of? Can you answer me that?"
There was a longer silence.
"Then our son will take her place." Elk said finally, trying to hide his sadness of having to think on this. "True, it may be hard for him, but he can do it if necessary... I know."
Little Panther felt as if someone had punched her heavily in the stomach and wanted to vomit... They didn't believe that she would manage to ascend and they were actually even planning to make her love her successor!!!
She tried to sort her feelings, she wasn't sad or angry like maybe she should be, but just simply beaten.
When she had regained at least a bit of her strength, she walked into the cave trying to smile.
"Elders." she greeted them respectfully, noticing at least Grey Wolf and Elk wincing a bit.
"Child," Grey Wolf started, not knowing what to say and unsure of how much she had heard.
"I see you came to take the swords?" Little Panther asked, pointing to the Angel-Swords in his claws.
Elk nodded.
"Indeed, even when we know that we won't need them." he explained what Little Panther knew was a lie. "I think it is better to leave you alone now... I'll send your brother to take you when it is time."
Little Panther nodded and studied how the elders left the cave and after even the old raven with her stick, who gave her a somewhat estimated look when she was at the entrance, had left, Little Panther collapsed on the bed.
She didn't cry, even when she first thought she had to. She simply looked on the ceiling of the cave, trying not to let the desperation overwhelm her.