Hug the Children with your Nuclear Arms

((I made a sort of western map for the thing. So is it like, fictional countries with some real ones thrown in? Or else how would there be a 'greek' or 'egyptian' pantheon?))

The journey towards Kanten was made shorter by the convenience of using the river. On rafts, it took just a couple days to reach the bottom border of Salinas. From there, a week's journey on foot carried them near the area the city was in.

"I wonder if Relan still runs this town," Kitai wondered out loud. "I know he was injured in the final battle of the war. Whether we get help from Kanten or not may hinge on how much power he still holds."

((Yeah, that's pretty much the basic idea I guess. >.> The more I think about it though, the more I'm not real crazy about it. I'll think of something. Hopefully....maybe...>.< Just send me the file and I'll doodle up the eastern half.))

Akaelin hadn't been to crazy about the rafts. It was sort of hard to look dignified when you were leaning over the edge, emptying the contents of your stomach into the river. Even the slightest boat motions made him sick. It didn't matter how calm the water was, or how large the vessel.

He had threatened to kill whoever came up with the boat idea several times.

The wolf didn't bother to answer Kitais question, figuring that she was just thinking out loud. He had been doing a lot of thinking himself lately. There were somethings he wanted to run by Arlyn and Nathifa after their trip to Kanten. He was dreading the trek to Nara. They would probably save that for later though, since it was a good ways away, on the eastern half of the country.

"There it is." Kitai pointed down the hillside to the town laid out in a small valley below. Towns such as this were quite common, but she recognized the clock tower that stood in the center of the village. "Should we leave most of the group here and just send a small party into the village?"

"I just love scaling valleys and shit," Akaelin mumbled under his breath sarcasticlly. "Send a small party in. There's really no need for all of us to go down." He thought back to the plans he had made earlier. They were doing so much travelling lately. It was starting to wear them down. Also, the rebellion was starting to neglect the fighting practice they so despretely needed. They would soon have the quantity, but it would be useless without the quality.

"It should probably be people that he remembers," Kitai said. "But we should probably bring along more people in case there's trouble." If their ally from the last war was either dead or not in a position to command the forces of the town then there could potentially be a negative reaction from the villagers at their appearence. The news of the coming apocalypse must have spread to here by now and the townspeople would most likely be suspicious of any unfamiliar faces entering Kanten. She glanced back to see if Quill would be coming, but saw her sister leaning dreamily against Birch with the faint scent of poppies wafting around her - obviously in no condition to be one of the people to go down to the village.

Weak willed skank, Akaelin thought bitterly to himself as he traced Kitais gaze over to Quill.

"Then that would probably be myself, Eliza, you, Faorn..." he trailed off absentmindedly as a name he'd rather not say came to his mind. He decided to skip it. "Jetta, Enthea, and perhaps a few others."

"Okay," Kitai struggled off Leartes to go notify the people named for the group. It would also be a good idea to find a horse she could ride down to Kanten, as showing up on a hellcat wouldn't be a very favorable first impression. Nathifa had already heard and was standing next to her mate, but Jetta was drifting somewhere near the back of the group. she noticed that Akaelin had trailed off at one point, and assumed that one name he was thinking of was Sai's.

"I'll wait here with the rest of the group," Arlyn offered. Even if he had been asked to go, he probably wouldn't have been able to. He had either pulled a muscle or twisted something in his leg during his little skirmish with Bairon. He gave no indication however, cursing himself for his age. His body just couldn't take as much stress as it used to.

Akaelin acknowledged the wolfs wishes, grabbing a spare horse by the reigns for Kitai to use later.

Kitai struggled onto the horse and rode it up to the front of the group to where Jetta was waiting after she notified her. With two more weeks of traveling under their belts, her pregnancy was starting to show a little more now than it was when they left Salinas. Kitai smelled another scent coming up next to her and saw Arakil on his own horse. "I'm coming with you too," he said. "If there's any trouble I'll make sure that nothing happens to you." Kitai nodded, used to her brother's overprotective behavior by now. She gently nudged her horse forward to start walking down the gradually sloped hill leading down into the shallow valley.

((I won't be able to reply until either Saturday morning, or night. Some of the band is staying after school and ordering pizza for the football game. Then I have senior pictures saturday morning, a little break, then I have to go to band for a festival at 3. TT^TT))

With Davyn on Faorn's horse, and Faorn in her wolf form, together they made some quiet jokes during the journey. Sarian perched on Faorn's shoulder, tucking her head in her wing. Faorn glanced at her shoulder. Sarian was sleeping.

"How does Sarian sleep like that?" Faorn muttered. She winced as Sarian automatically sank her talons into Faorn's skin, to get a better grip.

"I'm not a tree branch, either." Faorn said loudly. Sarian didn't move.

Sarian liked this journey-- there was no reason why she needed to be in her human form, so she enjoyed staying as a hawk. Faorn shivered. She wondered what it would be like to be born as an animal. But turning her thoughts to something else, Faorn asked herself where they were traveling to. She didn't bother to ask anybody, though. She was happy being a little ignorant, though a little annoyed with herself.

((How was marching band at Marshall, Kitai?))

Enthea had taken to the air as a dragon, one of the gryphons following her as one of the 'extra' people. Akaelin could actually tell which gryphon it was by its color - black and brown - which was the same color as Keyls hair. He had the urge to shout 'you whore' at Enthea, and did just that. He was a bit bummed when she didn't reply. He had actually come to enjoy their playful insults. Something had been eating at the dragon for a matter of time now, or at least ever since the other Ministry people had shown up.

It really wasn't his problem, however, so he didn't ask. He made his way down the valley in his wolf form, checking footings and making sure they were secure enough for Kitai and her horse.

((it was okay, even though the bus ride was pretty brutal. Things got halarious where the guard was sitting on the way there due to people getting hit by our flags as we were attempting to tape the new ones on at the last minute. They look like stars, and they're so far my favorite flag for this year's show))

As they got closer to Kanten, Kitai's ears picked up a variety of noises from the town. There was a lot of yelling and crashing noises. At first she assumed in a panicked moment that the horsemen may be attacking Kanten, but then noticed that there wasn't nearly enough destruction for it to be the work of the Triumverate's minions. There seemed to be a great bonfire going in the center of the main square and she could see a group of villagers carrying something toward it.

What is this a group sacrifice or something? Akaelin mumbled, then shifted to human form. He looked around, unable to discern exactly what it was that they were carrying over to the bonfire. Maybe a pig? Sayne probably would've been able to tell, but the falcon was more towards the back of the group and Akaelin didn't feel like moving all the way back there just to ask a question.

"This doesn't look good." Kitai gave her horse another kick to urge it to go faster toward the village, frustrated that she herself couldn't just change form and run there herself. When she was nearly to the town, the crowd had almost reached the bonfire and it was clear what it was that they were holding. It was an animal, but not a pig, goat, or anything else usually used in sacrifices to the gods. The animal they were carrying looked like a very scrawny wolf, as if it had been mixed with a smaller canine, and its right eye was missing. One question remained - why were the people of Kanten going to burn an unconscious were that used to be their leader?

Akaelin really didn't care if Relan was about to die. At least the people of Kanten could've shaved his hair off first. Burning hair smelled terrible. He thought back to Arlyns words several weeks ago and mumbled a quick curse under his breath. A fast glance up at Enthea showed the dragon looking down at him as she circled the sky. Akaelins eyes flickered back and forth between her and the fire, speaking for themselves.

Get rid of it.

Enthea seemed to get the message. She stopped circling and started to descend at a rapid pace, flaring her wings out as she hovered over the bonfire for just a moment. Folding them against her back, she landed on top of the flames, her fire retardent fur smothering them out.

"Allllrighty then!" Akaelin called out, clasping his hands together, one overtop the other. "Does someone want to tell me why the people of Kanten have turned into a bunch of sadistic arsonists? I'm actually quite curious."

Jetta darted into the unruly crowd as soon as Enthea distracted them by smothering their fire, and grabbed the unconscious Relan from their midst. Before any of the villagers could react she had left the crowd as quickly as she entered with the wolf-jackal safely in arm.

"Are we sadistic arsonists for trying to save our village?!" One of the Kanten townspeople asked. "A couple of weeks ago one of our caravans came across a town that had been completely destroyed. There they found a man on the brink of death, who we managed to save by changing him into a werewolf. He told us that the horsemen of the apocalypse had been there, and that one of them had even rippled the limbs off of a live infant! Relan was the one who convinced us all to turn against a god with the intent to kill it, and so the gods are angry at us! If we offer him as a sacrifice then perhaps they will be appeased and spare our village the fate that the other one recieved!"

What Akaelin really wanted to say was that the entire town was a bunch of lazy fucktards who couldn't do a thing for themselves. He bit his tongue, however, and kept his voice even - though his expression was one of irritation.

"You cannot expect to sit and watch the end of the world come, hoping that some god will take pity on you. Do you want to know why? Because they won't. You can't depend on anyone but yourselves and if you simply set people ablaze, you might as well paint a big sign that says, 'Easy Pickings'. You say the gods are angry at you? Most gods don't help those who don't help themselves. Either that or they just don't give a rats ass."

He really couldn't help some of his words. Akaelin hated people who expected the gods to do everything for them. If their crops failed, it was the gods fault. If their muffins tasted bad, it was the gods fault. If the flowers weren't quite red enough, who's fault was it? Not theirs. He really meant no offense to Nathifa. He had said most gods, after all, not including all of them.

"Either you can keep on killing people off - and by all means if that's what you want to do go ahead. Or you can fight against a real threat along side us."

"We won't fight against the gods again!" The same villager protested. "Wars against immortal beings bring nothing but death and loss! We will not once again put our necks on the line so that your ragtag group can carry out its own desires!"

Relan's remaining left eye flickered open and he changed into his human form, gaze drifting upwards to where he saw Jetta standing above him. "Hmmm, guess I'm dead," he commented. "That didn't hurt at all. But wait, you didn't really die if I remember correctly...but how are you still human?" Relan got up and looked around, eye catching on Enthea sitting atop the smothered bonfire and the Rebellion group that had come to the village. "You came at just the right moment," he continued. "Now what is this new threat that you speak of? I assume that we're not just talking about one god's misplaced desires for world destruction?"

"Doing nothing will bring you the death and loss you speak of," Akaelin pointed out with a shrug. "But so be it. It will be a shame to see you fall." He hoped that someone in the village had artistic talent. They would need to get to work on the easy pickings sign.

Enthea clambered off the smoldered wood and moved with an odd amount of grace over to the small group, then shifted form. She quickly explained the situation, about the three norse gods and their riders. "Our forces are growing steadily," she added, "But every little bit is most certainly welcomed.

Faorn's jaw dropped at the scene. "What. the. hell." She said.

Those villagers had... problems. It was a good thing that Enthea doused the fire. She stood there for more time as Enthea explained their situation. Bed time stories! Faorn thought sarcastically.

Faorn blinked, thinking that the villagers might not be added to their forces. But who knows? Faorn thought.

"Yeah, who knows." Davyn echoed, behind her.

"Stop reading my thoughts!" Faorn snapped out angrily.

"Hey!" Davyn waved his arms in the air, "Not my fault we're twins."

"It was that god-forsaken mother." Faorn muttered, "I'm glad I have Sarian."

The man that had spoken up seemed pretty fixed in his opinions, as did a majority of the other people in the crowd. But Kitai noticed that there were groups that didn't look Relan directly in the eye, obviously uncomfortable with what the village had been doing prior to the Rebellion's arrival. But that group of people was outnumbered and clearly scared of dissenting.

"So then you wouldn't care if some people in your village came even if not all of them did?" Kitai asked the vocal man, who seemed to have taken it upon himself to be leader. "If some people want to die, it's their own choice I guess."

"Damn right it's their choice!" the man yelled back. "Going with you is certain death!"

Despite what the new village leader was saying, one young man had made his way to the edge of the group. He looked back nervously as he darted out from the crowd to run toward the small Rebellion group. In a little bit a few others from the back joined him, and soon the people in the crowd that disagreed with the majority left the rest of the townspeople and followed.

Seeing as how this was probably as good as it was going to get, Akaelin turned his back on the villagers, and started back up the way they had come without another word to them. Enthea once more took to the air as a dragon. Keyl had remained the sky, circling incase of an outbreak. They had so much more to do, but their next stop would be Nara.

Jetta helped the injured Relan up onto the horse behind Kitai, as he was in no fit state to walk on his own after the beating that the villagers gave him. He tore a strip off of his shirt to wrap around his head and cover up his empty eye socket from the injury he sustained in the war against Lycaon, weakly clinging to the werewolf in front of him for support.

"Too many times does our religion blind us from the truth," he commented with a sad look back towards the villagers who had stayed behind. "If we are all to die anyway, it will probably be them before you."

Kitai nodded in understanding. It was the dominant purist religions in Salinas that made most of the country so anti-were. Her own village had its own resident goddess of the moon, which was followed faithfully by most citizens even after the event that was considered the village disaster. She half-turned in the saddle to talk to the uncertain followers from Kanten that had joined them.

"Don't worry, you are all welcome," Kitai reassured them. "His silence means that he approves in a way. He's more of the silent leadership than the friendly huggy type."

Akaelin gave Kitai an amused look when he realized that she was talking about him. It was true though, he wasn't the huggy type. Infact, if anyone came at him with a hug, he'd probably rip their arms off and make the person eat them with their feet. He didn't say anything as they scaled up the mountain to rejoin the remainder of the group. Arlyn gave a slight frown at the slim number of people that had joined them, but otherwise didn't comment about it. "I'm assuming we're off to Nara now?" he said to the younger wolf.

"Yes, and no," Akaelin replied vaguely. "While it is important that we collect as many forces as we can, we still can't neglect quality, which is what we've been doing. The entire group travelling around, only stopping to spar during rare breaks, is ineffecient and unnessicary."

"So you're suggesting we should set up a base and only send out small parties," Arlyn said, his tone have statement half question. "That is exactly what I am suggesting," Akaelin replied.

((So how about, I had this funky ass dream last night. Kitai had four kids. Two of them looked like her, one looked like that Verin guy from Arcaeus, and the fourth looked like this other guy from a seperate site I go on. XD Kitai's such a whore.))