Post by Athena Fire-in-Snow on Oct 4, 2010 17:23:40 GMT -8
Maya stood, silent now, beside Amara’s pyre. Unlit, it stood four feet high, laced branches of oak and pine and cedar, inter-leavened with sacred and sanctified herbs. Vinnie had done a good job of building it, and now the bloody ruin of Amara was laid out on top of it. Her head had nearly been bitten off by the Black Spiral Dancer, but if it had not been for her...
She watched Vinnie circle in the sky, making a perimeter sweep. Savine-rhya thought that the threat she had felt coming was over; the two-pronged attack that had just been repelled the only immediate danger. But Maya didn’t want to let down the guard, not just yet. Not until the rest of the Sept returned, in any case. She had patrolled for the past few hours, giving Vinnie the time to build the pyre properly; he had known her much longer than Maya, had known her back in the Middle East, where Amara had come from. He was a wreck, they all were. But Maya would hold. She would hold. That was her job. She would hold for her pack...her clutch.
Only now she took a few minutes for herself, sent Vinnie off to stretch his wings, while she stood somberly to look at Amara. If it hadn’t been for her sacrifice, Annie would be dead, no question. It was no accident that Maya and Amara were nearby her, for Katanka-Sonnak required his children to defend and protect the Corax and Mokole, and Annie was also pregnant. Maya wasn’t letting Annie out of range if she could help it. So when Annie had been ambushed, had called out for backup...
Maya took a deep breath. She was getting tired of being too slow. They’d been close, very close, but not quite close enough. The Black Spiral Dancer had dropped Annie out of the sky, forced her into Homid somehow and sent her crashing to the ground. Amara leaped, landing over Annie in a protective crouch, a fraction of a second before a Spiral blurred into view out of nowhere and raked sharp, silver claws downward. He’d caught Amara on the neck, and she’d bled out almost instantly, her head nearly ripped off in one blow.
Maya couldn’t get there fast enough. She knew that, and not for the first time cursed her inability to heal at range, cursed that no one stood at the candles to save her packmate as she had saved one of theirs. But the Spiral was there, and she Crushed him into unconsciousness as Mangi had taught her, then took savage and deliberate pleasure in smashing his twisted black skull under her massive paw. If there had been others of his ilk in this area, hiding as he had hidden, they must’ve decided to run rather than fight her, because her raw-throated roars of challenge met with no response and the Umbral forest was still and quiet around them.
Amara’s absence was a hole in her mind, a fifth of her heart torn out, and Maya didn’t know what to do about it. Vinnie had started setting up the pyre, as Amara’s spirit wished; with Savine’s permission, the pyre was built in the Hall of Hallowed Heroes, a testament to Amara’s sacrifice. Come dawn, as Helios’ blood covered the land, the four of them would stand beside Katanka-Sonnak and light the pyre. They would stand with their fallen clutch-mate in the flame and watch the heat and light of the fire bear her up in smoke to the Celestine they all served.
Old words came to her, old words that she whispered as a prayer, onto the wind in the first of the predawn light...
From dust are born the sun, the sea and life
Dust we are, and to dust we shall return
It swirls in hope and song, and then swirls on
But dust does not forget the dream that stirs it.
Maya stood, waiting, as Vinnie circled down and Craig Lee and Sleeper walked up, all to await the dawn, together.
She watched Vinnie circle in the sky, making a perimeter sweep. Savine-rhya thought that the threat she had felt coming was over; the two-pronged attack that had just been repelled the only immediate danger. But Maya didn’t want to let down the guard, not just yet. Not until the rest of the Sept returned, in any case. She had patrolled for the past few hours, giving Vinnie the time to build the pyre properly; he had known her much longer than Maya, had known her back in the Middle East, where Amara had come from. He was a wreck, they all were. But Maya would hold. She would hold. That was her job. She would hold for her pack...her clutch.
Only now she took a few minutes for herself, sent Vinnie off to stretch his wings, while she stood somberly to look at Amara. If it hadn’t been for her sacrifice, Annie would be dead, no question. It was no accident that Maya and Amara were nearby her, for Katanka-Sonnak required his children to defend and protect the Corax and Mokole, and Annie was also pregnant. Maya wasn’t letting Annie out of range if she could help it. So when Annie had been ambushed, had called out for backup...
Maya took a deep breath. She was getting tired of being too slow. They’d been close, very close, but not quite close enough. The Black Spiral Dancer had dropped Annie out of the sky, forced her into Homid somehow and sent her crashing to the ground. Amara leaped, landing over Annie in a protective crouch, a fraction of a second before a Spiral blurred into view out of nowhere and raked sharp, silver claws downward. He’d caught Amara on the neck, and she’d bled out almost instantly, her head nearly ripped off in one blow.
Maya couldn’t get there fast enough. She knew that, and not for the first time cursed her inability to heal at range, cursed that no one stood at the candles to save her packmate as she had saved one of theirs. But the Spiral was there, and she Crushed him into unconsciousness as Mangi had taught her, then took savage and deliberate pleasure in smashing his twisted black skull under her massive paw. If there had been others of his ilk in this area, hiding as he had hidden, they must’ve decided to run rather than fight her, because her raw-throated roars of challenge met with no response and the Umbral forest was still and quiet around them.
Amara’s absence was a hole in her mind, a fifth of her heart torn out, and Maya didn’t know what to do about it. Vinnie had started setting up the pyre, as Amara’s spirit wished; with Savine’s permission, the pyre was built in the Hall of Hallowed Heroes, a testament to Amara’s sacrifice. Come dawn, as Helios’ blood covered the land, the four of them would stand beside Katanka-Sonnak and light the pyre. They would stand with their fallen clutch-mate in the flame and watch the heat and light of the fire bear her up in smoke to the Celestine they all served.
Old words came to her, old words that she whispered as a prayer, onto the wind in the first of the predawn light...
From dust are born the sun, the sea and life
Dust we are, and to dust we shall return
It swirls in hope and song, and then swirls on
But dust does not forget the dream that stirs it.
Maya stood, waiting, as Vinnie circled down and Craig Lee and Sleeper walked up, all to await the dawn, together.