Chapter 4: Turncoat

[Breila]

Carith's shout breaks Hedra's rage, she stops her curse, panting.

Looking around, she tries to find something to stand on so people can see her. She climbs it, then says in her best carrying voice that is not a shout: "Calm down, please. I was cursing the traitor in our midst, calling the wrath of the protector on her, to help our fighters catch her. Calm down. Calm down." She repeats "Calm down" again and again, until it becomes a soothing chant.

[Kafen]

Dee says in a low voice. "We should move back to the camp and support our side, then." He says and indicates the camp direction. "If they have a pack, we must make use of our own in that case." Drawing his weapon, he makes ready as they move.

[Ismaels-Legacy]

Within the milling chaos Hedra's ears catch snippets of dwarven chants that she had taught to the children. Their effect seems to be calming the crowd, making it possible for Callan to navigate the swirling eddy of people. His stride is barely broken as he snatches a heavy wooden ladle from the cook pot. Hefting it two handed, as one would throw a tree felling axe, he hefts it at the hidden fugitive. While he hurls the missile Carith continues forward, seeking to capture the fallen target as she hits the ground.

Dee and Slade are bolting quickly towards camp, weapons at ready when they see Carith and Callan bolting toward them FROM camp. Slade immediately breaks stride and comes to a halt, placing his back to a tree. In the confusion, he watches as a giant spoon is hurled into empty space, at a range far to vast to strike one of the rogues. Carith's expression isn't one to mistake, though; rage.

As the crowd begins to calm, Hedra begins a chant she remembered from her childhood that was used to calm children. The words talk about monsters beneath the bed and ghosts in the shadows, but continues on about revealing that which is hidden and how it can be brought to the light of day through faith. The chant seems to have a two-fold effect, the first is to calm the group even more, but also makes the invisible fugitive begin to glow slightly, as if she were a candle in the mid-day sun.

Callan's aim is impeccable as the girl's outline begins to glow. The ladle strikes her directly between the shoulder blades, the handle flipping upward and cracking her in the head with the momentum of the throw. She topples to the ground and Carith is immediately upon her. The girl's spell is broken as he concentration wavers, revealing a snarling young woman.

Dee witnesses all of this in a manner of seconds, flabbergasted at the turn of events. As he gathers his wits, a distant series of howls reminds him of his own plight. "WOLVES" he yells to the caravan, as he slowly lopes toward the clearing on silent feet.

[Jenara]

"Argghhh!" Carith screams doing her best to restrain the rage, there was so much of it inside of her, so hard to retain control.

"Shut up!" She screams straddling her form and grabbing her from behind, pulling the girls arms tightly across her form before flipping her over. "You are going no-where." Striking her face with a rough backhand slap.

"I have her." She growls at Callan, bearing her teeth, the new tattoo to her forehead seems to glow. "Get back to the camp, you heard that, those fools can't defend against a wolf attack." She growls again. "Go!"

[Breila]

Just as Hedra catches her breath after the chants, looking for some water to wet her parched throat, she hears Dee's cry of "Wolves!". This sets her mind almost reeling. She knows how to face people or undead, even managed to tackle an undead walking tree, but wild animals? They do not exist in the halls of the dwarves, there is no chant or song she has ever heard of that deals with them. Would the protector help them against this threat to, or would - horrible thought - he stay indifferent because the wolves, too, were part of the living world?

[Talyn]

At hearing the howls, Wolf perks up and tries to struggle to his feet. Without much attention on him anymore, he staggers away from the caravan towards the tree line.

They were going to kill him unless he could escape. He hadn't given in the first time, he wouldn't give in now. While he could still fight, he would!

Without a backwards glance and not thinking straight, Wolf does his best to escape.

[Stik]

"Stand down, Inky!" Callan's voice isn't particularly loud, but his tone could cut rock - he was a priest, but he was an sergeant, too, back when there was an army. "Do not hit her again. We need her alive, at the moment."

Callan ponders the situation for a moment, then speaks softly to Carith. "If it's a whole wolf pack we are going to need all hands back at camp, so let's get back there together, and quickly.

"But first - hold her still..." he quickly frisks Grace, taking anything that is not clothing but leaving Iggy's necklace in place. If Grace has a belt, he'll bind her hands with it. Otherwise, he'll use one of his own.
Then he takes her shoes off, so she'll be slower to run away, and ties them to his belt. He briefly considers a stomping on one of her feet - a broken foot would certainly keep her from running away again - but rejects the idea, in case she might be worth saving. That doesn't mean he can't threaten to do so, though.

"We're going back to the caravan now, Grace. If you try to run off, I'll break both your legs and leave you for the wolves. Got it?" Then he turns to Carith: "Let's go get these folks organized."

So saying, he'll half-walk, half-drag Grace back to the caravan, hauling her up and forward by one elbow to keep her under control and to spare her bare feet a bit.

Wolves. Just what we need. But, on the plus side, whether we kill some wolves or the wolves kill a pack animal, at least meat's back on the menu.

[Kafen]

"Look for company, too. They might have human company." Dee calls out to the group as hey move back to camp. He pauses to help stand the girl up as he closes with the group.

[Jenara]

Carith glares at Callan through her rage, her eyes tinted with red as she bears her teeth in an animal like growl.

At the mention of the Wolves, and saving the group her features soften, her teeth covers once more she pulls the girl up, not so gently letting Callan do his thing before half throwing, half pushing her into his waiting arms "Very well." She mutters, hand going for her axe she charges back into the camp, pausing but a moment to acknowledge Dee.

"Wolves, dinner.." She thinks to herself.

[Breila]

Hedra pulls her thoughts together. How to protect the caravan?

"Settle down, everyone" she calls. "Children, women and elderly in the middle, fighters outside. Kids, I heard you know the chants I taught you. Go on with them to call the help of the protector on us."

She leads the chants for a few moments, trying to see if everybody is there. Then she nods to the group and goes to find Carson and/or Dorir. "Do you have an idea where Wolf is?" she asks them quietly.

[Stik]

[OOC] Sorry for the long and busy post, but Callan has a lot on his mind. I'll trust IL to sort it out, timeline-wise. [/OOC]

Seeing Dee arrive, Callan says cheerfully, but with an edge to his voice: "Hey, Captain Howdy, nice of you to drop by and all that, but this one could easily have been running to you when she ran away from us, so how about you take a few steps away from her so I know you're not trying to take her away from me. Does that work for you? Good."

Callan drag-walks Grace into the camp and starts barking orders in his sergeant voice, deliberately talking over the dwarven priestess. Hopefully the memory of the last fight is still fresh enough that people will follow his directions this time around.

"Circle the wagons, pack animals inside. Everybody with a weapon, get it out, grab a lit torch and get on the perimeter. Everybody else that can swing a stick gets a stick and spare torch for the fighters. Noncombatants get on the wagons. Hop to it."

He continues striding through the camp, until he finds Iggy and Carson: "Iggy: This is not your Grace. It's a shapeshifter that looks like her. If it escapes, we'll never get the real Grace back. So gag it, bag its head, tie it up securely and tie it down to something heavy. And don't listen to a thing it says in the meantime. Will you do that for me?" Callan stands still only long enough to ensure that the gnome is complying, then grabs his spear and shield and heads to the perimeter.

"Listen up, ladies: wolves are lazy. They don't like to work for their food. Our job is not to kill them, but to convince them that this food is too much work. So stay calm, look tough, and do not give an inch.
"If they start looking bold show them a weapon, but don't wave it around, and look mean. And stare at their shoulders, not their eyes. It will unnerve them." The last bit was fiction, of course, but the human tendency is to look others in the eye, and canines see eye contact as a challenge, which could precipitate an attack.

[Jenara]

"Wolf, damn him, someone was supposed to watch him." Carith mutters in response to Hedra as she arrives in the camp. "No Matter, do as the man says, you stay near me and keep those people calm, I am going to stop some Wolves.."

[Breila]

Hedra rolls her eyes at the first of Callan's commands. They were settled for the night, so the wagons werein a circle and the animals were inside.

However, she's grateful for the advice on how to deal with the wolves. She makes sure the combatants get to the perimeter and are equipped with torches. During her round, she's talking to everybody, making sure they had understood how to behave.

[Talyn]

Wolf stumbles through the woods towards the howling sounds, not sure why he was doing it. He just felt drawn to it.

His thoughts were clouded and confused. There was someone back there... he was supposed to protect. Others he was supposed to help. It was all a jumble and he couldn't remember anymore.

The howling came again and drove him forward once more.

[Ismaels-Legacy]

As the rest of the party returns to the caravan, Wolf staggers towards the baying of the pack. In the hazy gloom of late evening, forms can be seen approaching from the distance. The mage's eyes focus on these forms, his irises changing from his standard hue to a pale, inhuman yellow. Immediately his vision improves.

Lupine forms dart through the trees, maintaining a wide berth around the campsite. Their shadowy forms remain just out of torch-light. Snarls and howls break the silence, causing the pack animals to shuffle nervously; even some of the people are becoming agitated.

On a slight rise, a single wolf, a smaller, leaner, hungrier-looking one is standing, watching the encampment. For those watching, a human figure crests the hill to stand behind the wolf, his form shrouded in the shadows of the night.