[SRP]Serpentine Secrets (Death Rattle)

[Pandora Talie]

It had been a long time since Death Rattle was out on her own like this; her own boss for a while.

The ash and charcoal colored dire meandered around some boulders and looked to the cloudless blue sky squinting for her companions. Jackal and Hide, the pack's twin crows, mostly let her be as they scouted on ahead. They were out of sight for now, but they never strayed far. There was not another soul to be seen as she glanced across the trackless sandy landscape. The hot sun was beating down, and she decided to take shelter from its gaze for a short while in the shade of a particularly hospitable rock formation.

‘Rattler’ as the alpha called her, set out on this journey seven nights ago with the task to locate the seers foretold lands; the Sand Raiders would be home. The only information that was given to her was to travel southeast and to follow the rock cliffs until she discovered a rock shaped like a serpent. Her memory settled on the sand drawing her alpha had drawn for her before she embarked into this desolate wasteland.

Her icy colored eyes inspected the veins and channels eroded into the stone walls and crags that she happened upon as they explored. This one in particular looked more like something she shat out earlier this morning than the serpent she was seeking. “Well, not much point in sitting around here,” with a heavy sigh, she rose from where she sat, shook the dust from her pelt, and continued on her way.  

[Pandora Talie]

Death Rattle always maintained a very specific pace, taking breaks at regular intervals as the terrain allowed. This exact pace was to keep up her strength and not tax herself, a lesson well-learned early in life. A close friend of hers, one she considered an equal in strength, lost a fight to the death because he was exhausted. Not the type of thing you forget, watching a friend get his throat ripped out just because he wasn’t at his best that day. In any case, her only other regiment was to seek shelter when the sun was at its highest or when the twins signaled that it was best to stop.

The days passed uneventfully and the she-wolf dragged on. The twins would occasionally drop a scaly beast at her feet, sometimes on her head and unexpectedly may I add, for a little snack and unfortunately that was pretty much her only nourishment these days. She was appreciative of the gesture, though, even if she didn’t show it. She had to keep a tough front after all.

Her tongue raked her dry mouth and as if by some miracle, she paused and sniffed the air, it smelled of vegetation and -water.

And it was a good thing too, she’d had so little to drink recently that she felt as though she was drying up like an old husk left out in the sun. Overhead the crows squawked enthusiastically indicating something worth seeing just beyond the ridge ahead. From the top of a small rocky hill, Death Rattle saw what all the excitement was about.

Ahead was a massive lake, perhaps the largest she had ever seen. Wow, she mouthed, wasting no time dashing down over the hill to the lake’s shore. Now, this is something, she thought following the shore for a few meters just sizing the thing up. While she explored, the pair of crows kept watch, perched on the rocks overlooking the lake. Death Rattle looked around; there’s no way nobody calls this place home, she sniffed. “I wonder who that is.” Someone else is definitely here. Actually—sniff—smells similar to Thief’s scent. Like raccoons she thinks. Death Rattle jumps with a twist, feeling a small p***k on her hindquarter. Bee sting? Looking to her back, she finds a small feathered thorn embedded in her skin. That’s new… The she-wolf’s legs began to wobble, growing weak as the poison took hold. Aw dammit.

Paralyzed, she watched helplessly as a party of furry bandits approached her with sticks. That figures, she thought, as the biggest of them cracked her over the head.  

[Pandora Talie]

Bleary-eyed, Death Rattle rolled over and blinked with much consternation. Ow. She was in a small wooden cage surrounded by a large tribe of raccoons. But something else struck her immediately, and it wasn’t another stick. In the background beyond the throng was a serpent-shaped rock formation. Well, what do you think of that? Suddenly bemused, she hardly noticed as a very self-important creature presented herself. “Welcome to our home Ms…?”

Death Rattle just ignored her staring at the snake-y hill and other landmarks outback. She had been moved while she was unconscious and she searched for something familiar. And did the twins get away?

Annoyed and getting impatient, the raccoon looked to her subordinates, “Is there something wrong with her? How much poison did you use?” She got a shrug in response.

“Mussurana!” Another called to their leader from the side, ”We spotted the birds again, outside of camp, but they’re wily and we can’t get a good shot at either of them.”

“Keep trying,” Their leader rested her head in her hands, obviously exasperated. It's hard to get good help nowadays. “Well, we have all the time in the world. I’ll be back later; see if another couple hours in the cage helps to jog your memory.” With that she departed, leaving a couple of guards to keep watch and make certain that the big she-wolf didn’t chew her way out while unattended.

As the hours dragged on, the guards lost interest in the calm, quiet Death Rattle and began to distract themselves with a game of chance. Death Rattle watched the sky. Another hour passed and a familiar shadow stealthily swept down. They exchanged words in the most hushed of tones, and before anyone was the wiser the bird was off.

“Hey!” An excited raccoon startled the lazy guards to attention. "Did either of you see one of those crows?" They shook their heads.  

[Pandora Talie]

Over the next week, try as they did, no amount of poking and prodding would get Death Rattle to talk. “Come on, aren’t you tired of this by now?” Mussurana must’ve asked at least eight times now. As usual, she received only silence in response. The big wolf, yawned, rolling over and stretching luxuriously.

You see, she knew that there was no point causing a scene or railing against her situation. That would only put her at unnecessary risk at this point. They had already completed their mission after all. At least one of the birds had—no doubt—already gotten word back to the pack and as long as these furry little jokers played nice she was content to just wait patiently for her crew. Indeed, this was a vacation compared to the other cells she’d enjoyed. At that, Death Rattle almost laughed. She cracked a giant toothy smile, which in any other situation would’ve been more than a little unnerving to another mammal.

The raccoon sighed and left in her typical huff, “all the time in the world!”

A warm breeze caressed Death Rattle snout. Guess yours is a small world.  

[Pandora Talie]

Death Rattle didn’t bother to straighten as she heard the sound of her packmates arriving into the area.

Initially, it appeared to her that the Raccoon tribe was gearing up for a fight. Scouts returned from gathering reconnaissance and the lot of them rushed and hurried about, concerning themselves with various things of a preparatory nature. What followed, however, was the beginnings of a grand battle of words. She couldn’t hear from where she was, but it was obvious that the raccoon tribe surrendered in the end. A credit to their quality of character, her furry captors all stuck by their pragmatic leader.

Death Rattle had a knowing smile when Massurana threw open the doors to her cage. “All the time in the world,” the she-wolf teased, slinking off to meet with her pack.

Night Fell was not hard to find. She gave him a brief report, downplaying her getting shot and spending all her time taking long naps parts. After getting dismissed she decided on taking a leisurely stroll and getting a better look around the area. She had grown somewhat curious about a few things after being cooped for such a long time, so she wandered around and explored the Oasis. Maybe she could even sneak a little snack while no one was looking.

It was largely much and more of the same that she had already seen. There were algae stained rocks with green patches of life surrounding the water, but then she came across something interesting. A sizable cluster of wolves and raccoons had gathered about a rock wall near the back of the oasis. The raccoons were showing off a few large and obvious carvings and trying to explain something. It was not the sort of thing that would normally get a wolf with a name like Death Rattle excited; however, everyone looked pretty stirred up about something. The esoteric images depicted here featured all kinds of wolf iconography and the symbol used by the Sand Raiders! And these etchings were not recent. In fact, one even looked a lot like Dawnfire, our Seer. What does it mean?

TWC: 1556