Howl called a stop when they were some malms off the Central Highlands map, in an isolated area northwest of Whitebrim; there was still a few bells' worth of sun left, but he began setting up camp anyway, building a small fire, erecting the pup tent, hardly big enough for the two of them even with excessive sharing, made of oiled peisteskin. He shrugged when Warren raised an eyebrow at it. "They didn't have Highlander-sized tents. Sorry. At least we'll have something over our heads."
Dinner was field rations, dried beef and hard biscuits out of a compressed packet; Howl had offered to hunt but his attention was on the first application of Rhalgr's Bile, which he undertook while Warren ate. He had on thick gloves and slid on his Ishgardian helmet for the operation, taken some yalms away from where Warren sat by the fire, downwind from his friend just in case; Howl was sparing no precautions, and as he dabbed poison-dampened apkallu down along the blade of the specially-prepared lance, he took his time, his gloves wrapped in a disposable layer of parchment which he buried under a fulm of snow after he was done. The down went into the special container for the blade as well.
"Being pretty careful there," Warren commented when Howl finally returned, the safely-closed blade hidden from view and the lance slung up over his shoulder.
Howl grunted, setting the spear carefully aside and peeling off his gloves to eat. "Can't be too careful with stuff like that. I'm still not sure even with that kind of poison that a spear will be enough to kill him." He paused. "Let's go over what we know."
He diagrammed in the snow, tracing arrows and approaches with the toe of his boot. "We'll be heading up to the training grounds tomorrow. I expect Ryuuga's first attacks will come before we can even see him. He knows we're here, after all, and he knows why. I'm not sure which one of us he's going to hit - me for sure, but maybe you as well - and I expect that to happen after we're on his mountain. It's probably going to be mental or psychological attacks." He looked up at Warren, his expression intense. "You told me before that everything he says is a lie. You're going to have to fight him off too. Don't listen to anything he says, especially about me. Okay? He's got ways of getting right into your thoughts - don't give in, no matter what." His tone was fierce, but soft. "He's going to try to use me against you. Don't let him."
He sketched again on the ground, adding a circle for the cave. "Up here is where I think we'll run into Ryuuga - and probably Snow. He's likely going to use her to get away if his first attacks fail. I think we should try to get to him if we can, but it's likely he's going to get away, and if we open our flanks or rear to an attack from Snow, we're going to be in big trouble. She's ruthless when she wants to be, and I'm still not sure what her agenda is. We have to assume the worst and protect ourselves accordingly. So we need to neutralize her one way or the other before we leave the mountain." He put a careful X through the "S" he'd written to represent Snow.
"After Snow is taken care of... then the real tracking will begin. If we're lucky, we'll have hurt him before he escapes, but if not, we'll have to hope to take him by surprise, if that's even possible given how familiar he is with me. But I expect he'll retreat deeper into Dravanian territory like so... into the most remote areas of the mountains. It's entirely likely we'll have to deal with other dragons, too. So we'll need to travel very light, and with minimal footprint." He grinned wryly. "So you'll not even have the silly tent to worry about. But if all goes well, we can catch up with him after a few days and put an end to this."
He stifled a yawn as he watched the darkening sky and motioned for Warren to pile into the tent. He had to do some careful wedging to get himself in without having one side bulge out ridiculously. They were a bundle of cloaks and light armor, not exactly warm but the fire and the proximity warding off the worst of it, and Howl felt fairly certain it was still more comfortable than the hollows in the ground he'd endured before. He couldn't exactly pull out Ace here, but he touched the bulge in his pocket where Ace was resting.
"Oh, by the way..." he mumbled sleepily, "thank you for last night. I've been having nightmare problems. Bet you have too." He opened his eyes enough to look at Warren, as much as he could see him in the darkness of the tent. "I expect that's our friend's fault. He knows we're coming... and he's getting scared." He grinned. "And he should be."
Dinner was field rations, dried beef and hard biscuits out of a compressed packet; Howl had offered to hunt but his attention was on the first application of Rhalgr's Bile, which he undertook while Warren ate. He had on thick gloves and slid on his Ishgardian helmet for the operation, taken some yalms away from where Warren sat by the fire, downwind from his friend just in case; Howl was sparing no precautions, and as he dabbed poison-dampened apkallu down along the blade of the specially-prepared lance, he took his time, his gloves wrapped in a disposable layer of parchment which he buried under a fulm of snow after he was done. The down went into the special container for the blade as well.
"Being pretty careful there," Warren commented when Howl finally returned, the safely-closed blade hidden from view and the lance slung up over his shoulder.
Howl grunted, setting the spear carefully aside and peeling off his gloves to eat. "Can't be too careful with stuff like that. I'm still not sure even with that kind of poison that a spear will be enough to kill him." He paused. "Let's go over what we know."
He diagrammed in the snow, tracing arrows and approaches with the toe of his boot. "We'll be heading up to the training grounds tomorrow. I expect Ryuuga's first attacks will come before we can even see him. He knows we're here, after all, and he knows why. I'm not sure which one of us he's going to hit - me for sure, but maybe you as well - and I expect that to happen after we're on his mountain. It's probably going to be mental or psychological attacks." He looked up at Warren, his expression intense. "You told me before that everything he says is a lie. You're going to have to fight him off too. Don't listen to anything he says, especially about me. Okay? He's got ways of getting right into your thoughts - don't give in, no matter what." His tone was fierce, but soft. "He's going to try to use me against you. Don't let him."
He sketched again on the ground, adding a circle for the cave. "Up here is where I think we'll run into Ryuuga - and probably Snow. He's likely going to use her to get away if his first attacks fail. I think we should try to get to him if we can, but it's likely he's going to get away, and if we open our flanks or rear to an attack from Snow, we're going to be in big trouble. She's ruthless when she wants to be, and I'm still not sure what her agenda is. We have to assume the worst and protect ourselves accordingly. So we need to neutralize her one way or the other before we leave the mountain." He put a careful X through the "S" he'd written to represent Snow.
"After Snow is taken care of... then the real tracking will begin. If we're lucky, we'll have hurt him before he escapes, but if not, we'll have to hope to take him by surprise, if that's even possible given how familiar he is with me. But I expect he'll retreat deeper into Dravanian territory like so... into the most remote areas of the mountains. It's entirely likely we'll have to deal with other dragons, too. So we'll need to travel very light, and with minimal footprint." He grinned wryly. "So you'll not even have the silly tent to worry about. But if all goes well, we can catch up with him after a few days and put an end to this."
He stifled a yawn as he watched the darkening sky and motioned for Warren to pile into the tent. He had to do some careful wedging to get himself in without having one side bulge out ridiculously. They were a bundle of cloaks and light armor, not exactly warm but the fire and the proximity warding off the worst of it, and Howl felt fairly certain it was still more comfortable than the hollows in the ground he'd endured before. He couldn't exactly pull out Ace here, but he touched the bulge in his pocket where Ace was resting.
"Oh, by the way..." he mumbled sleepily, "thank you for last night. I've been having nightmare problems. Bet you have too." He opened his eyes enough to look at Warren, as much as he could see him in the darkness of the tent. "I expect that's our friend's fault. He knows we're coming... and he's getting scared." He grinned. "And he should be."
People have forgotten this truth. But you mustn't forget it. You become responsible forever for what you have tamed.
Howl's Wiki
Howl's Wiki
