It was a dark and stormy night...
Jul. 16th, 2007 05:19 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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zg_shadows...and the Get of Fenris fostern was shivering in the rain.
She was cold, and she could barely hear the barked orders from her Sept Alpha. All around her she could see the faces of her Sept grow tight and grim.
"The cubs and the cliath shall take the kin to the highest ground and stand guard," Skadi barked. "No Den Parent. The cubs stand alone, and any who live through this night shall be cub no longer..."
Bridget stared at the little gathering of the cubs and cliath. There were only four of them - two cubs, and two cliath. Ewan Scartane, the youngest of them, was only twelve, and had gone through his First Change a few months ago. He was so damn small, and yet his back was straight and his expression was determined.
"The theurges shall stand at the circle. Summer Storm Rising, Winter's Curse and Sedna's Fury shall all stand as protection, and shall die first. If one theurge dies, the others continue, as long as there is a chance of completing the Ritual. Understand?"
Bridget raised her head up, and looked towards the fierce grey haired woman who was speaking.
"Yes Skadi-rhya," she said, and was pleased that her voice did not fail. She wondered what it would feel like to die. She had never really thought it likely to come to her quite so soon. She wasn't twenty yet. To dwell on that kind of thing wasn't exactly the way of the Fenrir, however, and whilst Bridget might not be the purest bred of the Fenrir, and suffered horribly at times for being the only garou on this island who hadn't been raised within the Nation, she was still Fenrir.
"The thing will come to us," Skadi was saying now. "It will come out of the ocean, as all the old songs say. It will come to devour, to destroy, to drag us back with it. It will be terrible and it will be more powerful than anything any of us have ever seen.
"But, in the moment it comes on to land, it will be weak. It is a sea creature. It is not meant to set foot on Gaia's grey stone. That is why we draw it out. That is why it is us who must make the stand.
"It will bring with it all the trash of the depths. All who are not already assigned - you shall fight the monsters it brings. You shall force them back into the ocean or you shall kill them. Do not take to the seas..."
Skadi gestured towards two rough skinned and hunched figures who stood at the edge of the gathering. "There are others who shall fight beneath the waves."
She turned back to her people.
"Do not attack the monster itself. That, my friends..." and she grinned a sharp toothed grin "...is taken."
The three men who stood beside Skadi were not speaking. Jude Manyskins had barely spoken since he came to the Orkneys. He was as silent as the grave, and as unyielding as carved ebony. Fergal of Ulster was beginning to breathe more quickly and the muscles about the edges of his jaws twitched. Jamie McKipsie was the only one of the three who seemed remotely normal. He brushed drops of rainwater away from the bright yellow football shirt (Arsenal's away strip, he'd explained) he was wearing.
These three men were not members of the Sept of Singing Seas. Fergal and Jude had come in response to Skadi's call. She had chosen them as her last packmates. Jamie was an oddity; he had arrived at the Sept three nights ago, looking for Fergal, and had now chosen to stay for this battle. He would stand next to the Pack of the Dark Water Rising when they went into battle.
Skadi looked at her pack. She looked at her Sept, and there was an expression in her eyes that Bridget had never seen before. Only a few of the older Garou there recognised it; an old and fierce joy that had once come upon Skadi at the start of every battle, before she grew old.
"The kraken is rising," she snarled, and lifted her face up to look upon the moon. "And we will make an ocean of its blood. We shall make a cup of our own bodies, so that Father Máni can drink his fill, and we shall make a song with our death cries that will echo through the Nation for a thousand years."
I'm going to die Bridget thought, and found, to her surprise, that she was not afraid.
I'm going to die she thought but I think I'm going to make sure the rest of the world will live. And that's something I'm OK with doing.
"Go," Skadi yelled, and gripped her klaive tightly in my hand.
As the wind howled, it sounded like a single great wolf cry, filling the island with its rage and fury.
The howls of the Sept of the Singing Seas mingled in amongst it as the Garou turned and made ready for war.
She was cold, and she could barely hear the barked orders from her Sept Alpha. All around her she could see the faces of her Sept grow tight and grim.
"The cubs and the cliath shall take the kin to the highest ground and stand guard," Skadi barked. "No Den Parent. The cubs stand alone, and any who live through this night shall be cub no longer..."
Bridget stared at the little gathering of the cubs and cliath. There were only four of them - two cubs, and two cliath. Ewan Scartane, the youngest of them, was only twelve, and had gone through his First Change a few months ago. He was so damn small, and yet his back was straight and his expression was determined.
"The theurges shall stand at the circle. Summer Storm Rising, Winter's Curse and Sedna's Fury shall all stand as protection, and shall die first. If one theurge dies, the others continue, as long as there is a chance of completing the Ritual. Understand?"
Bridget raised her head up, and looked towards the fierce grey haired woman who was speaking.
"Yes Skadi-rhya," she said, and was pleased that her voice did not fail. She wondered what it would feel like to die. She had never really thought it likely to come to her quite so soon. She wasn't twenty yet. To dwell on that kind of thing wasn't exactly the way of the Fenrir, however, and whilst Bridget might not be the purest bred of the Fenrir, and suffered horribly at times for being the only garou on this island who hadn't been raised within the Nation, she was still Fenrir.
"The thing will come to us," Skadi was saying now. "It will come out of the ocean, as all the old songs say. It will come to devour, to destroy, to drag us back with it. It will be terrible and it will be more powerful than anything any of us have ever seen.
"But, in the moment it comes on to land, it will be weak. It is a sea creature. It is not meant to set foot on Gaia's grey stone. That is why we draw it out. That is why it is us who must make the stand.
"It will bring with it all the trash of the depths. All who are not already assigned - you shall fight the monsters it brings. You shall force them back into the ocean or you shall kill them. Do not take to the seas..."
Skadi gestured towards two rough skinned and hunched figures who stood at the edge of the gathering. "There are others who shall fight beneath the waves."
She turned back to her people.
"Do not attack the monster itself. That, my friends..." and she grinned a sharp toothed grin "...is taken."
The three men who stood beside Skadi were not speaking. Jude Manyskins had barely spoken since he came to the Orkneys. He was as silent as the grave, and as unyielding as carved ebony. Fergal of Ulster was beginning to breathe more quickly and the muscles about the edges of his jaws twitched. Jamie McKipsie was the only one of the three who seemed remotely normal. He brushed drops of rainwater away from the bright yellow football shirt (Arsenal's away strip, he'd explained) he was wearing.
These three men were not members of the Sept of Singing Seas. Fergal and Jude had come in response to Skadi's call. She had chosen them as her last packmates. Jamie was an oddity; he had arrived at the Sept three nights ago, looking for Fergal, and had now chosen to stay for this battle. He would stand next to the Pack of the Dark Water Rising when they went into battle.
Skadi looked at her pack. She looked at her Sept, and there was an expression in her eyes that Bridget had never seen before. Only a few of the older Garou there recognised it; an old and fierce joy that had once come upon Skadi at the start of every battle, before she grew old.
"The kraken is rising," she snarled, and lifted her face up to look upon the moon. "And we will make an ocean of its blood. We shall make a cup of our own bodies, so that Father Máni can drink his fill, and we shall make a song with our death cries that will echo through the Nation for a thousand years."
I'm going to die Bridget thought, and found, to her surprise, that she was not afraid.
I'm going to die she thought but I think I'm going to make sure the rest of the world will live. And that's something I'm OK with doing.
"Go," Skadi yelled, and gripped her klaive tightly in my hand.
As the wind howled, it sounded like a single great wolf cry, filling the island with its rage and fury.
The howls of the Sept of the Singing Seas mingled in amongst it as the Garou turned and made ready for war.
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no subject
Date: 2007-07-16 05:40 pm (UTC)How come I always miss the stuff I want to be involved in because I'm tied up with something else?
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Date: 2007-07-16 05:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-16 05:56 pm (UTC)I just thought it was one of the things being discussed next weekend, but never mind...
no subject
Date: 2007-07-16 06:29 pm (UTC)If it's something you had intended to go to, then I could run it as a scene, but there is a high risk of character death, and I'll have to think through NPC responses. I'm very sorry I hadn't realised that you were planning on being involved.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-16 09:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-17 08:20 am (UTC)I'm glad to see that Jamie wears the away strip for away games!