Honor Bound | (On-going)

Insubordination

 Roland and his pack created a massive bonfire in a cleared space just outside of the town. They piled bodies and windfall branches into the smoldering circle and the scent of cooking meat wafted through the air. 

"Any idea what did this?" Roland asked Fey.

"Hrmmn no. None of the bodies have the scent of spirits on them. Power yes, spirits no." Fey responded distractedly. She sat counting the bullets in her rifle's magazine.

"It smelled like Ulf'el, but not..." Lynda huffed in the wolf-speech as she dragged another animal carcass over to be burned. "I think this is it."

"Good," Roland looked up and around the clearing. From the village there was movement - a group approached them. "Looks like we have company."

Fey and Lynda walked up to the small contingent, as Roland added more logs to the bonfire. He glanced over to see them gesturing to the fire, and Lynda speaking with a shake of her head. He raised an eyebrow at the discussion, as it became more animated. Fey finally said something that drew an alarmed response from the villagers. Lynda rolled her eyes, shook her head bemused, and nodded. The villagers left, looking none too happy.

"They wanted some of the meat for winter," Lynda quipped with a shrug upon their return.

"We told them it wasn't safe," Fey added and heaved another log into the fire. 

"Yeah, by saying it was spirit-tainted." Lynda sighed with a roll of her eyes. "Way to go, you spooked every last one of them."

Fey snorted and flopped down on the ground. "We should go back to our camp and bring up our stuff."

Roland nodded, "Aye, but later. Right now we need to finish cleaning this up."

He looked between the buildings and the bonfire. His brows furrowed into an expression of deep thought. Lips pressed together into a thin line and he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Mark, why don't you take Dawn and Fey out hunting," Roland suggested with a wave of his hand, "I need to talk to the elders of this town."

He turned to Lynda, "I need you and Amber to come with me."

He received a few curious glances, but they obeyed. Amber and Lynda exchanged a doubtful glance, and Lynda shrugged.

"Can we swing by the camp after we get the meat?" Fey asked plaintively. 

Roland nodded his head, still looking out at the village, distracted. Mark, Dawn, and Fey shifted to their wolf forms. Roland turned and walked towards the town with Lynda and Amber trailing close behind him. 

They were spotted and the whole of the village peered out at the approaching Ulf'el from various locations of relative safety. Not that they had anything to fear from his pack. Roland frowned a little. Why were they acting so skittish? As they entered between buildings and onto the main dirt "road", the people parted way and let them through, fear in their eyes. 

It's almost as if they think we're going to kill them too. 

Roland frowned with a quirked eyebrow. Suddenly, Amber yelped a pleased sound and ran off past him. He stopped, and Lynda halted just to his left. Amber's path led her to a man and woman that were somewhat familiar, but he couldn't quite place why.

The three people discussed something in low tones. Roland's wolf nudged the back end of his consciousness and urged him to look around. Really look around. Roland obliged. 

Lynda, fully absorbed in Amber's conversation, stood still as a statue next to him. Elsewhere, all around, were the furtive movements of the villagers. Fear, worry, and doubt painted different expressions across the various faces around him. None of them paid attention to Amber nor Lynda. They all stared at him. His eyebrows slowly rose. It was like being under a microscope, studied and visually dissected by those concerned gazes. He adjusted his stance to be less... imposing. Being over six foot made him rather intimidating to some, and he wasn't here to intimidate. He was here to get some answers and maybe offer his help if they needed it.