Oh look, an update! I know this took a really long time, but I hope it was worth it!
Oh, and to my dear, dear cousin, isimplylovett, this is just for you.
Chapter 11: An Odd Little Hawk
They set out early the next morning, much to the silent annoyance of many who would rather sleep for several more hours before beginning the exceedingly tedious task of marching. But rise they did and the entire company tramped through the thinning forest towards the dry, duney wasteland that waited for them just on the other side of the trees. Every hour, the trees became further apart, shorter and thinner. It was nearly time to set up camp when the trees finally disappeared and the great entirety of the ocean of sand stretched out in front of them to the horizon and seemingly beyond.
Rather than venturing out into the arid desert and risk being overrun by the chilling night before they reached a safe place to sleep, the company stopped at the edge of the forest, the vast giant of the Desert of Death looming over them menacingly. The sun set slowly, the cloudless sky blazing with the oranges and reds of the dying day. The fires were lit, and gradually, everyone wandered off to bed, most preparing themselves for the tough trek ahead.
Volug had never been fond of sleeping in the confines of a tent; he had always preferred a more open area, not closed off by walls. Even in Hatari, he had opted to sleeping in the gardens rather than the room Nailah provided for him. With a wide yawn, the bushy wolf stretched in the breaking dawn, the air still cold from the night before. The birds in the last remaining trees chirped quietly in the crisp morning, always feeling the need to be the first ones awake every day. Volug found birds to be somewhat of a nuisance. He was not thinking of his Laguz brothers, but the tiny, chirrupy rats with wings that populated every known brook and crag of the world. Even though they were less populous in Hatari, birds still proved to be a constant inconvenience in the desert region, deciding to flock to Volug whenever he tried to take a nap in the warm sun.
Scratching his side on a prickly tree, Volug decided that now was not the time to worry about those feathery mice, as he was to be the one to guide his group safely through the desert. Shifting back into his beorc form, Volug wandered into the barely awake camp, with only a select few choosing to be active at this time. He found that the beorc soldier were less intimidated by him when he wasn't shifted, though of course he preferred the majestic security of his wolf form, anything that he could do to get the Beorc be a bit less... annoying was worth the extra work.
Volug carefully followed the scent to the individual he was searching for, his ears twitching at each unknown sound as he went. Suddenly rounding the corner of a tent, Volug came across Rafiel standing in the cool shade of canvas' shadow. The calm white Heron turned to see who had come across his crude hiding place, and smiled when he recognized his wolven friend.
"Ah, Volug," Rafiel started, sliding his hand behind his back slowly; "You startled me."
The desert wolf growled something in the ancient language.
"Oh," the heron prince murmured, taking his hand out for Volug to see. A large, translucent blue crystal rested coolly in his frail grasp—a sending stone. "I was contacting Reyson and Tibarn. I do not believe I can… go back into the desert." Volug flicked a stray fly from his ear as the white bird continued, "So I requested an escort back to Serenes and a few re-enforcements as well." Rafiel looked down and rubbed the sending stone's smooth surface, "I have the feeling that we will need them."
Volug grumbled something else.
"No, they should get here before you must go, so you should still be able to leave the time you planned."
The wolf nodded in understanding and turned to leave, but paused and asked Rafiel one last question in the old tongue.
"Oh," the bird thought for a moment, "I believe Tibarn mentioned that Janaff would be accompanying you, while Ulki will be escorting me back."
With a final swish of his bushy tail, Volug left the heron to his plans. Birds had their own way of doing things, and he wasn't going to meddle. If Rafiel wanted to avoid the desert and bring in a couple of hawks, the wolf had no problem with it. Volug understood why the crippled heron wanted to avoid the desert; who would want to return to the place where they almost died? The wolf's ears twitched again. Though he didn't like the hawks of Phoenicis much. The one who called himself King Tibarn's 'Eyes' seemed especially odd, but of course there wasn't much Volug could do about that.
Forcing back another bored yawn, Volug continued his search for the commander as the camp began to stir in the warming sun. There were very few Beorc that Volug didn't mind; there was Ike, the commander of the makeshift army; Link, the strange, not-Laguz wolf-man who had washed up barely a week ago, and Micaiah. The last two gave him the same odd feeling as the dark one who followed Ike most everywhere and the whimsical swordmaster who said that he too was from the desert. Volug snorted. There was no way that such a peculiar Beorc as him could have been spawned in the noble desert. No, chances were that he was born elsewhere and ended up in the great Begnion sands at one point or another.
Volug shrugged these thoughts from his mind as he saw the blue-haired Ike headed his way, with—to the wolf's slight annoyance—Soren close behind. While he needed to speak with Ike, the desert canine would prefer if the strange-smelling mage wasn't present. Actually, why not wait until Ike was alone? Volug turned away from the commander and his Branded, but was stopped by a loud call.
"Oy, Volug!" Ike shouted at the retreating wolf who folded his ears back against his head and slowly turned around.
Only bothering to take a few steps toward the almost sour scent of the dark mage, Volug shuddered imperceptibly as the commander and staff officer stopped in front of him.
"You almost ready to go?" Ike asked as Soren scrutinized Volug's every move.
Before the wolf could answer, a loud screech broke through the still quiet atmosphere of the sleepy camp. Glancing back, Volug could faintly make out the approaching outlines of two large birds; hawks, based on his prior knowledge. He could sense both of the men behind him looking two, and he heard Ike mutter, "What are they doing here?"
Volug turned around to answer, "Rafiel call them. Doesn't want to go into desert. One stay here to help."
Ike nodded in understanding; the lone wolf's speech was much more intelligible now than it had been even just last year. "D'you know which one?" Ike already knew that the only two Tibarn would trust to bring back a heron was either his 'eyes' or 'ears', the only thing he wasn't sure of was which one would be staying with them.
"Janaff." Volug answered in a low growl; just that one word rolling over his tongue was enough to make another tremor work its way through him.
What made him uncomfortable about that hawk in particular wasn't the same thing that made the wolf nervous around Soren and Stefan—it was something else that he couldn't quite name, something just wrong with Janaff. Fighting to keep a scowl from making its way onto his face, Volug stepped to the side to allow room for the two large birds to land. The two hawks reverted to their beorc-like forms as Volug's tail swished irregularly behind him.
Having both the strange bird-man and the dark sage in his presence at the same time was nearly unendurable. But Volug stood there, bearing the uncomfortableness of the situation just as he would bear the intense heat of the sun boring down upon him.
"Ah, Ike," Janaff said, tucking his wings behind him, "Long time no see!"
"You're telling me!" Ike agreed, "I heard you'll be joining us."
The odd hawk nodded.
"I will go… to find the prince." Ulki murmured, clearly uninterested with the current conversation.
"You do that." His companion whispered to himself, fully aware that the other hawk could hear him clearly, "So, when do we get to leave, hm?"
"As soon as the camp is disassembled." Soren said, speaking for the first time, "Until then, we stand here wasting precious time."
"You complain far too much for a Beorc." Janaff said, glancing at the surrounding tents, "Rather than doing something about your problem, you stand here whining that others do not work fast enough."
With an inaudible reply, the mage turned to find something a bit more productive to do than argue with centenaryhawks. Volug couldn't help but smirk inwardly; though he didn't like Janaff much, he disliked Soren even more. With the Branded gone, the air seemed to clear somewhat, at least to the two Laguz present.
"Well then, the White Prince mentioned something about a strange beorc man with the power to transform." Janaff continued, "Where might he be?"
"Last time I saw him," Ike muttered, "He was helping Mia, Zihark and Stefan take tents down."
The hawk's keen eyes lit up, "Stefan you said?" He breathed, "Well then, it seems I'm off to find my old friend." With that, Janaff leapt up and flew high into the sky, looking for the other Branded.
Ike and the lone wolf glanced at each other briefly before Volug shrugged. The two wandered off together to discuss the plans for the coming day.
Janaff flew over the camp, scanning for the man that was hard to miss, even with inferior Beorc vision. The hawk had always wondered why Stefan chose such odd attire—though Janaff found the swordmaster's dusty blue robe quite becoming on him. In fact, Janaff liked most everything about Stefan; his long, green hair, his thick violet jacket, and even the way the colors of the scabbard for his sword clashed just so.
As this thought passed his mind, the hawk spotted his odd little friend, hauling several thick posts that had once held up the tan canvas of a tent with the help of his silver-haired companion. With him were three other Beorc, two of which he recognized as members of the army back in the Mad King's war, and one new face. Slowly, Janaff sank back to the earth, with the small group's eyes immediately drawn to him.
"Janaff!" Mia squealed, dropping the layer of canvas she was holding and running over to the laguz.
"Oh yes, hello Mia." Janaff murmured, looking through the violet-haired trueblade at the backs of Stefan and Zihark who were sliding the round logs into a long wagon nearby.
Dusting his hands off, Stefan turned around and paused for a moment when he noticed Janaff. Zihark smirked and looked over at the rainbow swordsman briefly with a short laugh. Smiling, Stefan shoved Zihark lightly to the side, and took several hesitant steps toward the hawk and swordswoman.
"Oh Stefan," Janaff said wistfully, "It's been so long since we last got together!"
"Yes, not long enough, it seems." Stefan whispered to himself with a slight frown.
"What was that, hun?" the hawk inquired, tilting his head toward the Branded swordsman, holding his hand over his ear to hear better.
"I said 'far too long for me'." Stefan said louder, his familiar smile returning in an instant.
"Mmm, yes." Janaff said, coming closer to Stefan and Zihark. "I see you haven't changed much." The hawk was running his hands along Stefan's arms as his violet friend snickered quietly.
Stefan's mouth twitched, "Yes, it seems I have a way of doing that."
Janaff smiled and patted Stefan on the head lightly. "You're an odd one, you know this?"
The branded rainbow swordsman forced a smile the same way Zihark forced a laugh back. "So I've been told."
"Well dear, if you need anything, don't be afraid to ask." And with one last pat, Janaff took off again, finally giving Zihark the release he desperately needed.
Mia couldn't help but laugh a bit after the odd hawk was out of sight. "Poor Stefan," she said, rubbing the desert swordmaster's back soothingly, "He's so cute, everyone wants him! How does it feel, hm?"
Stefan smiled and said nothing, his teal eyes sparkling beneath his green hair. Mia giggled once more before wandering to the next tent to take the canvas off with Link's help. Recovering from the spectacle, Zihark wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and patted Stefan's shoulder jovially before following their violet friend.
Just as every time before, it didn't take long for the mobile human forest to completely disappear, leaving little to no trace that it had ever existed. Ulki and Rafiel had left not long after the two hawks arrived, and the rest of the group was free to set out soon after the entirety of the sun's orb had shown itself over the horizon.
The next couple of days were rough, with dry, hot sand to deal with in the day; and bone-chilling, freezing sand at night. Volug got them to the safe haven of the capital of Hatari in a very short time, not willing to waste even a day in the arid wasteland surrounding it.
Itarah was a vast city, even by the rest of the continent's standards. It was situated between two massive cliffs, with huge buildings and other such structures carved into their surfaces. The wolves roamed the streets, transformed and not, visiting homes or stopping in the bustling market for a shopping trip.
Volug led them to the royal palace to speak with Nailah, who could provide them with a more accurate map of the region, as well as replenish the company's waning supplies. Though they didn't spend much time in the lost city, the army left a deep impression on the seldom-visited area.
They left soon after receiving fresh food and water, making frequent stops at villages on the way to the caves to quench their always thirsty selves and refill their water reserves. It didn't take long for them to reach the last town before the caves, and the group lingered at this location, resting before entering a new environment, harsh and unforgiving in its own unique ways.
So, if things go the way I hope they do, the next update won't take quite so long. Reviews always help you know.
Oh, I have some announcements for those who care. Sometime soon, I may be deleting the second chapter of this fic, and will also dropping the 'A Fire EmblemxZelda Crossover' from the title, as it makes it seem all long and ridiculous.