Rocky Wasteland

Nova skirted through the trees as the adventurous afternoon turned into a tranquil evening. The light of dusk shot through the trees in the many hues of splendid gold, and even the shortest of objects jutting out of the ground sent out its own majestic shadow hurling into the east. The peaceful melody of the Arlyne's brook that coursed through the Land of Nigerius that had long faded into the distance once again began to be picked up by the ice wolf's ears as a change in plans had led to Nova straying back towards the lake. He was thirsty, and the hike home was going to be quite long before he reached the snow line.

The rolling hills that flowed with earth signaled that Nova was entering into the territory of the Dimitrios, if he were but a click or two inland he would be able to see the famous Onatah Cliffs that the earth wolfs pocketed and lived in, though he wouldn't be surprised to see a few of them closer to the lake, as any other water ways weren't until further in, where snow-melt from the Ausi lands drained into the gorges between the larger cliffs. In any case, the wooded area had slowly faded into the rocky wasteland that formed the chaparral at the base of the cliffs.

The whole of the lake was a radiant orange by the time Nova had lain his eyes on it. The surface was like an uninterrupted golden disk nestled in the grass. Upon closer examination, however, Nova came to realize that the reflection was not an uninterrupted scene like he supposed, in certain patches, the sight of the sun was strangely distorted. The patches were long and narrow, slowly drifting along with the mild undertow. As a smaller patch drifted to where Nova stood on the bank, he immediately recognized it. It was a piece of ice. But Nova had created nearly as much ice when he had been in the lake earlier that day, and if had, it would have largely melted off. Puzzled, Nova began to trot along the bank, only to discover a few minutes away several sets of paw prints going to and from the lake sunk in the mud, as well as a deep groove where something heavy and board-like had once sat. Nova reeled back a few steps out of surprise. No doubt about it, someone had crossed the lake on a bridge of ice.

Nova's puzzling over the miniature glaciers that floated in the tranquil Maxim lake was broken by a jet of flame in the sky, illuminating the landscape like a second sunset in the north. Biting his lip, Nova spared only seconds to lap up precious lake water in slake his thirst, before dashing off to see what had happened. There hadn't been any other disturbances since the initial flame, and in the twilight Nova could scarcely position where his nemesis was before he was practically on top of him.

What he saw cleared his panic, but it was no less shocking than if he had run into a Tenneth raid. On the contrary, while there were Tenneth there, they were in no position to do any fighting. Shackled to a sledge, Nova watched a Tenneth wolf drag along another unconscious fire wolf on a hastily made wooden sled, guarded by three Ausi's. A few meters away was a similar group, though there was only two guards for that pair of hostages. It was a great tactic, Nova thought, to shackle the active prisoners to the ones that had taken more of a beating. It would be very hard to fight while carrying the weight of another wolf. But where had they come from?

"Oi! Scout!" Nova practically jumped out of his skin when the guard bring up the rear approach him from behind. When Nova inquired about what had gone on, the guard wolf was only too proud to report that, while the Alpha was still recovering, a group of soldiers seeking glory for their leader had descended the day before to try and rattle the Tenneth a bit. That very afternoon, they had saw a disturbance near the lake, and moving in to inquire, they jumped a small group of Tenneth weary from fighting a skirmish with an unknown group of wolves.

"Think about it, mate. Hostages to make the Tenneth think twice about attack'n. A claw in the face of Tenneth pride. Metal armor with the help of the Dimitrios. If the Tenneth even try attack'n again, we can always threaten to execute 'em" the guard explained, justifying all the reasons of their little raid.

"Though I wouldn't put it past those savages to attack again anyway" another Ausi said, overhearing the small talk, glaring at his Tenneth captive who had growled at his last remark.

In some ways, Nova was relieved. If this little group of heroes in any way represented the Ausi, then his pack wasn't planning anything major, at least while his Alpha was recovering from the last attack. But would this attack just fan the flames of a larger disaster? Would the fight ever stop?

Taking a step back from the situation even as he began to run forward, Nova couldn't help by wonder if he had been cursed with bad luck for working with a Cancius. The absurdity of this whole situation was appalling, and in the perspective of all that had happened that day, Nova actually felt his fear of the impending wave of doom coming their way start to melt away. He barely even registered Dey's snark or Durandel's desperation. Really, could anything else REALLY go wrong in this situation? It really couldn't get any worse than this. He even started to chuckle as he thought of different ways it could get worse.

"Oh sure, sure, I think it'll work, Khan! And I think it is actually a volcano too, swarming with Alva and soon to be struck with Borak thunder! Don't forget an impending Dimitrios landslide!" Nova laughed unseemly, most of what he said getting drowned out in the roar of the wave. He then started to wheeze since running and laughing don't exactly go together. Two weeks ago the most danger he had been in was deciding if he wanted the chicken or the fish for dinner. He had had his life in peril so many times that day, that he refused to be angry at it any more. Besides, it looked like they were going to make it out of the flood plain. They were getting to be in the rocky wasteland leading up to the Onatah's that he had run into those Ausi raiders earlier.

"Up we go, lets ride it out!" Nova shouted, a little more levelheaded as they started up the hill.