It was dusk and the sunset across the newly budding trees was just magnificent. He didn't often stop and admire nature but when he did, he was always all the more impressed at what Gaia could do with such a citified area. He howled his identification and walked in towards the cottage to find out if anything was needed of him. It wasn't, in fact the Glass Walker had his pack in some sort of meeting, so with a grin and a swagger he went out to find newest member.
He gathered up his pack and the four of them strode out to find the girl. Isabella, he corrected his thoughts. Now that she was his, he should learn her name. Pausing to ask where to find her – actually it was a demand he wasn't asking anyone for anything today and he learned that she was at Turtle Pond, so the four of them walked off to find her. Aturus was happy to see that she was alone, no Fianna Bitch near her, and he walked up to her. The one minor problem they had was that she didn't quite speak English. No matter he spoke to her in Garou- a growl type of speech, which she seemed to understand readily enough. He told her to stand up and follow them so he could begin to teach her about hew new place in the sept when a hard female voice stopped him.
"She is my responsibility until Rhya says otherwise."
He turned to see the Fianna standing in the near shadow of a tree. He knew she had not been there before and curled his lip at the gift from her totem. She stepped out towards them, no fear in her eyes despite the fact that she was only Cliath and that she was surrounded by four large, grown men. He stepped out of his group, pulled a bit of luck energy to seem even more intimidating and got up into her face.
"She is Shadow Lord and no longer your concern pup!" he snapped at her.
He might have admired the way the Fianna stood up to him, if he didn't despise the sight of her. He was hoping she might do something brash enough to warrant a beat down. It was time she learned who was in charge and how rank worked. She looked up into his eyes, gave him a small nasty smile and then put her arms around the other girl's shoulders and started to lead her away. Aturus was dumb founded for almost a minute.
"Where do you think you are going?" he demanded.
"To the cottage to speak to Rhya 404." She said, not even bothering to look over her shoulder at him. "You know the Sept leader? Your boss?"
"There is no need. She is Shadow Lord and therefore mine to worry about. You can go up to the cottage yourself if you have questions. She stays with us." Aturus said, rankled at her attitude.
"Absolutely not!" she spat, whirling around to face him. "It was decided at the last meeting that she needed a keeper, and I was appointed the job. Not by you but by Rhya 404! That means she stops being my responsibility when he says so. Now if you don't' mind, we are going up to the cottage to speak to my mentor."
Only the fact that he was very aware that his pack was watching his every move forced Aturus out of his shocked daze and moved him towards her. His fingers itched to wind around her neck and choke the life from her. He stepped up and pried Isabella away from the Fianna Bitch and began to drag his newest charge away with him. He gathered more luck essence around him to emanate his power and control.
"We can either go up to cottage to discuss this with the Elders," she sneered knowing that she was excluding him from that group. "Or she stays with me. When you are in charge I have to listen to you, not until that point!"
"I am your Elder pup! You had better start listening now unless you would like it beat into your head." He snapped pulling Isabella towards him. "Just because the Glass Walker licks your ass doesn't mean the rest of the Elders will. Be happy he champions you or else you would be dead by now."
He stopped in surprise when the girl pulled Isabella toward her and glared at him.
"Apparently you did not hear me. We either take this before the Elder's or she stays with me until I am told otherwise." The Fianna said, trying to shield Isabella with her own body. "As for dying, why should I be threatened to someone who gets cut with his own sword?"
Aturus was done playing; he backhanded her without a second thought and nodded with a satisfied smile when a small trickle of blood showed at the corner of her mouth. She calmly wiped her mouth and gave him a snide smile. She knew she was getting to him – he had almost convinced himself that Isabella had nicked him instead of admitting that she had snatched his klaive from his waist and cut him good. He did not want to waste the time in explaining anything more. He stood a step forward in a very menacing manner, and reached up to backhand her again as his pack surrounded the girls. He would have spent more time admiring the way he and his pack moved as one, but the Fianna deflected his blow with one hand and reached out, tapped him on the chest with the other, and he promptly fell to the ground unable to move. His muscles had no strength; he couldn't even lift his head off the ground. He had to stare up in embarrassment as the girl braced herself to fight his pack.
Aturus was the biggest, standing 6'2 and very much resembled a body builder. He was proud that people acknowledge his build. Wyrm's Demise was his Beta, and stood 6 foot. He was built like a football linebacker and was as solid as a brick wall. Menacing Attack was the third in the group, also standing at 6' tall. He had forearms like tree trunks and routinely made a show of picking up taxis in traffic because he could. Killing Blow's made the group four and was the shortest at 5'10. He often tried to pass off being 6' but never quite managed to convince anyone. He was as solid as the rest of the pack, hands like huge hams and no neck of which to speak. All in all The Mighty Attacking Blows, as they called their pack, were some big, mean and very solid men.
Hence Aturus being knocked to the ground, by a tap of a finger from a little girl, shocked him. He watched the Fianna take up a defensive posture as his pack began to move and prepared to attack his pack. Isabella leapt onto Menacing Attack's back in one swift move seemingly out of nowhere. Somewhere between the ground and his back she pulled out something, and began to garrote the man as soon as she latched onto him. She was like a burr that couldn't be removed. Menacing Attack turned in circles trying to reach her from every angle possible as she merely held on letting gravity work for her.
Mean while, Wyrm's Demise and Killing Blows had flanked the Fianna Bitch. If Aturus could have, he would have winced in sympathy. She turned with speed and grace and caught Wyrm's Demise squarely between the legs. Garou or not, when your manly parts were kicked into your gut it hurt! Killing Blows stepped up and punched her straight on the cheek, which she shook off with a glare before kicking him between the legs too. Aturus tried to lean up, she caught the slight movement and landed a solid blow from the heel of her foot to his chin and his head snapped back.
'The world must be ending. Or maybe I'm just not really here.' Aturus thought and concentrated on trying to stand. He half expected to look up and see a purple sky or the moon strung like a balloon. Those events were far more likely to happen than one small girl, still in homid form, single handedly beating up his pack.
Meanwhile, Isabella hung on tightly while Menacing Attack turned a sickly shade of blue, a loud rasping indicating just how hard it was for him to breathe. She looked over to Aturus with a snide smile and went back to choking his pack mate.
The Fianna geared up for round two, stopping Wyrm's Demise in his attack with another solid kick between his legs, he actually fell over, facing turning various shades of purple and gasping, much to Aturus' disgust and shame. Wyrm's Demise appeared to have passed out, which the stupid little girl didn't even take time to notice. She missed her kick to Killing Blows, but that did no good as the man shifted to Galarbo snatched her up and tried to choke her. To break his grip she merely dropped downward, letting her weight and gravity break his hold and stepped back. Before Killing Blows could even think, her foot snapped forward and kicked him in the throat and he stumbled back a few steps gasping. Aturus finally was able to stand, the effect of Falling Touch wearing off rapidly. He pulled his klaive from its scabbard, ever present on his back while in the Park, and swung at her with everything he had.
He should have been mortified at the thought of using it against another Garou, but this was war and the Bitch was going down, he wanted to look into her eyes as he struck the killing blow. In reality, he swung and hit the tree behind her embedding the sword deeply into the trunk, which he tugged at and couldn't move. More to his surprise another Garou popped out of the shadows, literally, just under the blade of the sword. It was the Fianna Bitch's pack mate, the loopy Child of Gaia. Her timing had made him sick; she was kneeling just under the blade which should have cut her in half and calmly assembled something. Meanwhile the Fianna Bitch had jumped up and landed on the pommel and quillons of the sword, which should not have been possible. She kicked out with her foot and caught him in the throat and finishing her round house, caught Killing Blow's with the tip of her foot, in the eye.
Time slowed to crawl and the world took on a surreal quality. The Fianna Bitch used his klaive, the one that he had fought so hard for, as a spring board, propelled her self up and over him leap frog style. As her hands touched his shoulder to steady her as she passed over him, he felt a slight tingle as his legs refused to hold his weight anymore he knew she had used Falling Touch him again. As he fell he watched her leap forward, knee bent and burry it into Killing Blow's forehead. He hit the ground face first, because his hands didn't have enough strength to lift from his side to stop it, and heard a loud crack and then the sounds of another man falling.
He managed to flop over onto his stomach; he could see Menacing Attack kneeling on the ground, Isabella still garroting him. Wyrm's Demise was curled in the fetal position on the ground and Killing Blows was laid out on his back, face covered in blood. As he watched a sick feeling filled the pit of his stomach as he saw the Fianna Bitch eye his sword and then walk towards it and try to pull it from the tree. She gave it a good yank and managed to move it slightly, but it was still embedded. A red haze covered his eyes and he no longer felt limp. She was giving it another mighty tug when he realized he did have the strength to stand, and did so. With a furious snarl he placed his hand on top of the pommel.
"I believe this belongs to me." He snapped and began to move to kill her for touching it.
A low wail that seeped into his bones stopped him in his tracks. The melody wound its way into his brain and shut off all aggression. He could have cursed in frustration, but the music wouldn't let him. It soothed him, made him calm and peaceful. He knew the Child of Gaia had something to do with it. These girls and their gift could drive a man crazy, unless of course you were under the thrall of the music that mellowed you into non- thought. He sickened as he watched The Child of Gaia get her pack mate and then walk over and take Isabella in tow. The trio of girl's looked small and dainty and dammit how was it even possible that they could have just beaten his pack? It wasn't possible- there was no way it could happen!
Aturus gathered his pack mates up. They looked pitiful; Menacing Attack had a thin trickle of blood around his neck where the garrote had been, but at least color was coming to his face. Killing Blows had a huge lump on his forehead that was split by a pressure wound that still bled rather freely. Wyrm's Demise was still red in the face and limped gingerly. It was doubtful he would ever have children. Aturus had taken the least physical damage but that meant nothing.
"This isn't over!" he snapped at the retreating forms of the girls.
The Fianna turned around and stared at him, her lips quirking.
"We'll be at the cottage talking with Rhya 404 if you need anything." She held his gaze never wavering. "I would say it is quite over."
She walked backwards, until the heat of his eyes (or the slope of the hill) finally made her turn and continue her walk away. At least he hadn't been outstared by the pup. Growling, he turned sharply on his heel and began to walk back to his car, with his pack meekly following behind him. Nothing was said, no one was daring his anger, and everyone was just trying to forget. However it was a very small caern and it was a matter of time before word got around.
Even as Aturus looked over his shoulder to watch the girls, another was watching him. Through time and mystic nature of the umbra two spirits sat side by side smiling. It was a most amusing show. The luck spirit sat on the left a wide grin splitting his pixie face. He didn't like to be duped and was glad that one of the Greats had deigned to grant him this favor. Father Thunder sat on the right, despite his title the totem more resembled a model from Abercrombie and Fitch rather than some craggy old man – well as much as an umbral totem could. He looked at the small spirit.
"Well what do you think?" Father Thunder asked.
"I think that he might not understand that one should not abuse the gifts of the spirits. But it was very amusing to watch." The Luck Spirit said. "Luck is a gift not something to hail the noisy yellow monsters with."
"Maybe we'll have to give him another lesson." Father Thunder said. "As for now I have other matters to attend to."
The spirit nodded and dissipated. Father Thunder stood and looked over the shadowy figure of Aturus. His eyes darkened and became the deepest pools of black. He did not like the fact that one of his children dared to think he was equal. He allowed the Garou name because he found the homage quaint, now that he knew what Aturus really thought discipline was in order. No one stood so low before a totem and dared to look into their eyes as if equal. Luck was not to be had for those who dared to challenge their Gods.