When Gharna finished recounting of what Michael had told her, Runhar and Urla stood in a solemn silence. Runhar's expression showing a sense of awe and horror, yet lingering on a hard to shake of sense of doubt, while Urla seemed to be wearing her neutral pondering expression.
"You... hah... you are not taking him seriously, right, den sister?" Runhar said with a slight awkwardness to his tone. "As much as he is weird and fights like daeman possessed... I can not believe he wasn't trying to use bardic flourishes to his story." The young swine said with a snort.
"Den brother, you did not see how he behaved, you had to look him in the eye. As awful as he made this recounting sound, I want to believe it, although I dread to think such a people as the hooman truly exists somewhere." Gharna added with a decided tone, it was hard for her to doubt Michael's words. 'The way he told it, he might as well be a bard, but... even if it was exagerated... if such an exageration has a seed of truth in it... it is still concerning.' The sow thought as she glanced over to Urla, who seemed to take a sip of her tea.
"I believe you two are focusing on the wrong thing, young children. Even if on the morrow his kin were to show themselves here, it would mean the end of us in a conflict, regardless. Tis no different from a storm, flood, thunder or a forest fire. For now, we are powerless against such an adversarry if they do indeed exist." Urla simply said as if she stated a simple to understand fact. "We must see what we can learn from him. If he can share with us other inventions like the one he showed you at the river, and some of these prove to be true advantages to us, it would be foolish of us not to take advantage of such an opportunity. Still. We must be wary and not let our curiosity outweigh our caution. Treat Michael like any friend of the Tuskir, but always keep your eyes open on him."
"If he truly knows things that can come as advantageous to us, then we need to make certain he stays here. I realize my previous actions might make it easier for us to fall out of grace with him, but I will make sure to rectify that. I am certain if we can get close to him enough, we could eventually pull out of him all he knows." Runhar added as he gave Urla a nod.
The older Den Mother then shook her head. "My swine boy, you still have much to learn. If what Gharna said is true, I am certain he might be reluctant to share whatever destructive magics... or "wonders" his people made and then comes into fact that we do not know what he knows or not. Simply let him give us what he is willing to share." The elder den mother said as she finished her mug of tea, then proceeding to slowly get up and using her staff she stretched on her feet for a moment.
"I agree with Urla. Den brother, for all we know, he might know next to nothing that we need or that we can even manage to understand to make or use. I believe it truly is best to simply let him decide what is worth sharing. Like Michael said, the ability to conquer their world with their wonders is what led the less than humble of his kin to bring their home on the brink of destruction. I would prefer that our own home doesn't become a lesson in hubris." Gharna added with a snort and huff.
"Then we are in accord. Help him integrate with us and build a friendship between Tuskir and our lone hooman visitor. Should he choose to share with us something, good. Should he not, well, at least we have another set of hands arounds... plus the additional fingers which are much smaller could be useful... we could take silk from the Arachnions and have clothing with smaller stitching." Urla said as her expression contemplated on the uses of tinier fingers around the den.
As Runhar seemed to be about to add something, he stopped himself, his ears twitching as stomping boots could be heard approaching quickly. As the young swine was stood in the door's frame he leaned back and saw with his one eye, Oinna as she was stomping in a light charge, looking in quite the rush. "Is something the matter, den sister?" He asked the druidess in training.
The sow huffed as she took in a deep breath. "Woh... She arrived in a hurry at our gates. Didn't even wait for us to open them. She said her, Azhul and Michael had been ambushed by the laugh-... huff... cackling Hay-yen at the Sun Bridge River. At Michael's insistance she was told to come ask for help." The young druid tuskir said as quickly as she could, stumbling slightly over her words.
Gharna let out a squeal as she quickly yanked Runhar from the doorway and she rushed out towards her house. "I am grabbing my weapons! Quick! We need to move." The young hunter sow said almost leaving herself breathless.
Runhar took a moment to right himself from the sudden shoving, the situation at hand, making him not even acknowledge what usually would be a rude thing. "Oinna. Take your talismans and ointments and healing salves, anything that could help us tend to them if they are wounded. I am going to grab Rok to join us, he is small but quick. The sooner we get to them the better." The swine guard captain said as he rushed off, his and Gharna's initiative being copied by Oinna who after nodding, she herself rushed off.
Urla, who watched all this, kept silent and after the 3 younger Tuskir left, she smiled lightly. 'Huh. The beauty of youth and the speed it gives. I almost miss it.' She thought as her eyes fixed themselves upon a small wooden figurine on one of the shelves here, that depicted a tuskir man wielding a great axe. 'Sigh... if not for youth itself, i miss it for you, Terald...' As the elderly sow took a moment to close her eyes, inhale and then exhale a snort, she began making her way to the gate in a leisure walk. Once there she began dragging her staff in the mud to make a circle, followed by symbols surrounding it. She then pulled out some Freeze Plant leafs, along with a handful of water from a bucket and a few finger tips of ash.
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While the four young ones were just about done gathering and preparing, as they approached the gate, they immediately saw their den mother as she was chanting, placing the leafs she had in the circle and splashing the water on the inside of it, letting the ashes from her fingers be picked up by the wind.
"Wind of winter release your frozen hate. Let your typhoons howl and chase. Let us quickly reach our fate. Tundra Hunt!" The old sow chanted, lifting her staff and slamming it down at the circle's edge, at the end of the chant. The beads on her druidic focus light up, along with the runes that were written on cloth straps wrapped around the top of it. Within the circle a strong chilling wind began to form and spin strongly in place. Once done, Urla began leaning against her staff with a tired oink leaving her snout, as she looked at the four ready to leave.
As they approached, Runhar smiled to her. "Thank you mother, we will make sure they are ok." The guard captain said as he stepped into the circle, once he got out of it and began walking out the gate, the wind seemed to stick to him as he began dashing with a speed uncanny even for their kin.
"This is the first time I get the chance for a fair fight! Wait up!" Rok said as he dashed through the circle himself, his speed picking up upon leaving it as well.
Gharna quietly nodded at Urla with an expression of focus bordering on anger, most likely due to one of her best friends possibly being in danger and with that fury brewing inside she took to the wind and after the other two.
Oinna who was a bit behind, as stomped over while still checking her satchel to see if she took everything that is needed. "O-oh truffles... I hope this is everything. Oh Brood Mother, let the furless one be fine, I don't know if any of this medicine works on him... magic does... but last thing I need is to poison his wounds." She said with several anxious oinks as she then rushed through the circle of wind and out into the forest as well.
++++
Azhul snorted at the air, her expression showing worry as she was carrying Michael. The two were covered in a mix of dirt and a specific type of leaves from trees. "I do not think we have much time left, Michael." She said as she slowly lowered him in a sitting position against a tree, making sure to put him seated and leaned on the right side of his back so the tree wouldn't push against the dagger.
"Ugh... well I am glad we finished things at least somewhat, only one last thing we need to test. Hand me the handle of the wire." The human groaned as he reached out, at which point Azhul handed him a stick which was tied to some fishing line going up and over a branch of the tree and down to the other side. The young man then gently pulled on it, letting the wire then slightly loose and repeating the action a few times. "Does it look like it is lulling its head?"
"Y-yes. Horribly realistic." Azhul said as she looked on the other side of the tree, where they propped up the Hay-yen corpse they still had, fresh wounds opened on it out of which they squeezed blood out.
"Good. If what you told me on how they finish off their own kin if they are too wounded to treat is true, then, this should work." He then hooked the handle on a branch nub that the tree had, checking afterwards an improvised garrote much made in the same manner, using thick short sticks for handles. "And the second one?"
"The snare loop? Yes, here. The other wires are set up as well, so our flanks and back are covered." Azhul said as she handed him a second handle, this one going much lower. "The moment they pass inbetween the trees in front of the bait, if they rush it, the snare should tighten by itself. If the Hay-yen passing through there moves slow, then this should let you do it instead." Azhul then slightly paused as she snorted upon the light breeze passing. "A-and you said this kind of thing your people used for hunting animals?" The big sow said as she then reached to the ground and lifted up what looked like a blanket of branches with leaves tied together with the same type of fishing wire.
"Yeah. We figured the animals weren't smart enough to notice them so if you put it in a path you knew it was passing through it would just trap itself. Although there are better ways to do it, I am working with what I can." Michael replied as he took the second wood handle and simply put it on the dirt near him.
Azhul took a moment to pause as she threw the blanket of vegetation over her back and looked over to the bushes of the same type of plant where she is supposed to hide. Right before she turned to head there and hide, she took a brief pause. "Michael. Do you think of us as animals... or beasts, too?"
"Azhul... every person, at the end of the day is an animal, me included. The difference between us and beasts is that we have the choice to be like them, but we can also talk, feel emotions and reason. We are self-aware. I had a lot of times where reason, even with my own people, when they got agressive, it didn't work, so... I had to be an animal to deal with them. Right now though... I think I will choose to be more beast than person, if it means I live. As much as I would rather talk things out and I-... am afraid to kill. I am more afraid of death." Michael said as he was still slightly shakey, maybe from the dagger in his back or maybe from coming to the realization that there is a corpse next to him on the other side of the same tree. It was hard for him to say, it could have been even the fact that, that person, the Hay-yen, ... he made it into a corpse, which was something his mind was pushing away due to the urgency of the moment.
The sow felt herself at a slight loss for words as she listened to him. She slowly began getting into position, covering herself, leaving her halberd at her feet in the tall grass, which was also covered in mud and bits of leaf. She looked over to Michael, as she could still see him from her angle. Her mind was slightly distracted by the answer she got, which seemed to get her stuck in a moment of pondering. Still, this instant got interrupted by a stronger scent finally reaching her flat snout. Azhul then looked over to Michael, who could see her from the corner of his eye. She let out a light huff and a nod of her head. "They are coming."