The old wolf has his audience, and he's loving every minute of it. 'Hey, quit shoving! I wanna sit in the front!' "No, me!"
Twofeathers waves a hand. "Settle down, children. Old Twofeathers can speak loud enough to be heard over the storm, if he needs to. Hush, and I will begin."
"So what happens? Does Longtail bleed to death?" 'Does Sunrises get kidnaped to England like Pocohontas?"
Twofeathers shakes his head. "No, no, no guessing. This is my tale to tell. And if you've been listening and remembering, you'll know that Longtail survives to be Chieftain. So he can't bleed to death.
"Awww." 'Maybe you could change th' story so he does?'
Twofeathers chuckles. "No. This is a true story...."
"Sunrises found herself in the Easterner's camp; they were a lot of unwashed furs, working a coal mine near-by. Their return from their search proved not-so-fruitless, for they had proof that the Indians had kidnaped their missing kid."
Twofeathers says, "Questions, many questions. 'What's your name, little girl?' "How old are you?" 'Where are the Indians who kidnaped you?' "Where are your parents?""
Sunrises does her best to answer the questions put to her, but the constant bustle about her sets her nerves on end, and the questions frequently dissolve into meaningless jumbles of noises in her head. She tries to explain that she wasn't kidnaped, and that she'd been happy living with the indians, but her stumbling, foreign-sounding words frequently just don't seem to match what's in her mind.
"Tarnation. They've brainwashed her, they have." 'They's not gonna do that to my boy.'
Twofeathers says, "Meanwhile, Pathwalker and Longtail watched the camp from a distance. Pathwalker's fair healer's skill stood the test; Longtail was walking on the leg without complaining -too- much, or maybe it was just that he didn't want to be left behind."
Sunrises looks between the men clustered about her. Many of the words they use are unknown to her, and many more are drowned out between the noise and her trembling nerves. She can't tell what they're saying, but it certainly can't be good.
Pathwalker shakes his head, "Well we found her easy enough. Now what? I can't understand anything they are saying Longtail."
A big bear crouches before the seated 'coon lass; kneeling, he's still a head taller. "Quiet down, men." he rumbles in a soft voice that still carries. "Now then. Let's start over with some order, here. What's your name?" he asks, and smiles.
Longtail flicks his ear and grumbles, "if we had ten foot tall ears we couldn't hear 'em from here. Maybe we should get closer somehow." He pokes his head a little down and rumples up his nose. "Couldn't tie it any tighter, could you?"
Pathwalker hmmfs, "What's the matter, forcing too much blood to your head and it's making you think brother? It's tight enough. If your foot starts tingling then we loosen it. So we need to get closer without getting an entire camp full of men and rifles after us. Ideas oh future chief?"
Sunrises looks up at the bear for a moment. First she says her name in the indian tongue, then, more quietly, she translates it. "Means.. Climbing Sun. Dawn." She still falters with her words, but seems perhaps a bit more sure of herself, with the gentle demeanor of the bear.
The bear nods. "Dawn. Okay. Dawn what? Have a last name?"
Longtail snorts, "Foot? What foot? I lost track of it ages ago." He shakes his head, "How about we put you in front, stroll right down there and you can protect your mighty future chief."
Sunrises frowns for several moments. This one's harder. It takes her a while, what with her limited knowledge of both English and the indian tongue, but she finally manages to make a translation. "Circle-tail."
Pathwalker hmms, "I also wonder what they were looking for, maybe we could use it to bargain with."
The bear nods. "Sircaltail. Hmm. Name's not familiar."
The loudmouthed fox from earlier tries to insinuate himself into the front. "Ask her if she's seen my boy."
Pathwalker looks at the camp and hmms, "If we are careful and loop out around the camp, we can get behind that wagon over there. It looks to be full of food, should help hide our scent. Are you up to being quiet for once, brother?"
The bear waves the fox off with a huge paw. "One at a time." Another smile for Sunrises. "How long have you been with the Indians?" he asks, and pauses. "How many winters?"
Longtail edges further into the brush, whispering even if he doesn't need to. "Even if we could get a bucket of that black sticky stuff, what makes you think they want it now?" He turns and pricks his ears forward. "For once? I'm *always* quiet. More quiet than anything else in the woods."
Pathwalker closes his eyes and wonders just WHAT the stars were thinking of when they picked Longtail, but nods, "I don't think it was the black stuff. They seemed to be searching for something else for once. But let's go brother. Maybe we can figure out what they want. We'll probably just get captured instead." and starts to stealthily move around the camp towards the chuck wagon.
Sunrises considers the question for a few moments. "Two.. three winters." And then she thinks about the question for a few more moments, as though mentally retranslating, just to be sure she said the right thing. Finally, she nods. Then, looking to the bear, she hesitantly ventures, "Had friends.. maybe hurt. Animals-running." The others in the wagon hadn't cared, but this bear.. maybe..
Longtail shakes his head then ffffts the feather hanging from his fur out of his mouth. "That'd be stupid. We can't help anything if we're captured. Besides, do you want to be the one being rescued? How about we wait, night won't be that long."
Pathwalker nods, "If we can get to the wagon before nightfall, it will be easier to sneak into the tent where they are keeping Sunrises, now shhh!"
The bear furrows his brow. "You. Alixiev. You were with them." he says, pointing out the tiger. "You said something about rescuing her from buffalo." 'Da. Is right, snatch her up but good, -fwoosh-. Royce went looking for her friends, but no could find."
Longtail says, "*Before* nightfall? Why not wait till they're afraid of the dark and sitting around a fire?"
'Bah. Probably buffalo chips by now.', the fox says. "Ask her where my boy is?"
Pathwalker twitches his tail angrily a few times, "During the day, they would not expect us to try and enter their camp. At night, they have guards with guns walking around it. Which do you think is easier?"
Pathwalker nods in the direction of Longtail's injured leg, "How well will you be able to do in the dark?"
Longtail rumples up his nose, "*I'm* the one studying to be chief someday. Can you shoot an arrow straight in the dark? If we go in the daylight, we might as well sing to the sun. *I*'m just fine. Got here, didn't I?"
While she can't make out the exact meaning of the fox's words, she certainly picks up the gist from his tone. Turning her gaze back to the bear, she hopefully stammers, "Please. Want to look.. for them. Please."
The bear sighs. "Irish, if you don't keep your yap shut, I'm going to toss you out of this tent. Literally. I doubt she knows your son." 'Ask!'
The bear ignores the fox, turning back to the 'coon and placing a massive hand lightly on her shoulder. "We'll find them for you. You'll be safe here with us."
Pathwalker nods to Longtail, "And I notice you have the part about running ahead to get yourself shot down very well. I don't remember father ever telling me about that lesson."
The bear shakes his head. "Now, do you have any foxes in your camp?" He pauses. "Like him, only smaller? About your age?" He indicates the tall fox.
Longtail recites, "Leading is putting one paw in front of the other. Kept *you* from getting shot. Anyway, you're the one wanting to run out instead of waiting."
Sunrises shakes her head slightly, getting a very bad feeling about these furs going to find her friends. "No," she says. "They.. you.." She frowns a bit, and struggles harder to push the proper words out. "Wish.. to go look. Myself. Will be safe. Please." Then, at the bear's question, she shakes her head. "No. No fox."
Sunrises uses the word 'fox' with all the skill of one who's never said the word before, sounding out the word as she pronounces it.
Pathwalker realizes that Longtail is not about to give up, and maybe his brother will actually be quiet at night, "Had you kept with me, you would not have run into that man with the rifle. Fine, then, we shall wait till night time. Just remember, they will be quiet at night, so your talking will be like thunderclaps then."
'She's gotta know. They's the only Injuns in these parts.' The bear growls. "That does it. Get out." the bear says, standing up to his full seven feet, his head touching the tent ceiling. 'Ulp!' The vulpine slips out of the tent.
Longtail sits back on a haunch. He snorts again, humorously, "That's fine. It'll all be covered up by the sound of your walking. No one else hunts better than I do."
The bear nods. "I'll go with you, if you don't mind. It'll be dark soon, and there might be still more buffalo roaming around."
Pathwalker's eyes raise, and wonders if the shot to his brother's leg is hurting his mind after all. He just shakes his head and curls up low to wait.
Longtail keeps his curious eyes watching the lumps in the far distance, like he can figure out things going on over there.
A tall fox stalks angrily out of the tent, ears down and fur bristled. And he's heading straight for the pair of Indians.
Sunrises pauses for a few moments. "You.. not hurt them," she says. With a quick glance at the other furs in the room, she says, "No.. gun."
Longtail cocks his head then whispers, "Pathwalker... redfur's coming this way."
Murmurs. "She doesn't know what she's asking." The bear smiles. "Two rifles. Myself, and Angus." He taps the bulldog behind him on the hip. "Okay?"
Pathwalker is already crouched and nods. He pulls his knife from it's sheath and hopes that the fox turns before he spots them.
Longtail slips his knife out, lowering to the ground as much as his leg allows. He hisses just slightly as the bandage tightens, grimacing.
The fox grumbles loudly as he approaches the bushes where Pathwalker and Longtail are hiding. "Cuss Morgan for a Injun-lovin' bear." he says, not that the two can understand him.
Pathwalker remains so still that his muscles ache with the effort, tensed as they are to leap.
Sunrises shakes her head a few times. "No guns," she repeats, more firmly. "You shoot indians." This much she's certain of.
A short terrier in high boots pokes his head out of the chuck wagon. "Hey, Irish! Where ya going?" he yells across the camp. 'Just ta take a leak. Got a problem, cook?' "Nah. Have at it."
Longtail frowns and sticks his knife away. He tenses, aiming lower and finally holding quite still.
The bear sighs. "I'm afraid I can't let you go on your own, and we'd rather not go without any protection." He pauses. "Uh. No guns, no go. We stay, and you stay, too."
The fox stops at the bushes not five feet to the left of where the cougar and wolfcub are hiding, and starts fumbling with his gunbelt.
Pathwalker remains motionless, knowing that even if they could take the redfur quietly, he'd be missed before dark comes.
Sunrises pauses for a few moments. Then abruptly wipes at her eyes, fearful that the beginnings of tears might be forming. "Why keeping me here? Is not home."
Longtail blinks for a moment, then his nose wrinkles up with a sneeze.
The bear sighs. "Dawn, your home isn't with the Indians either. You aren't like them."
Angus taps the bear's shoulder. "Want me to take a couple of men and go look for them again, now that the buffalo are long gone?"
The fox goes about his business, cursing the parentage of bears and Indians to himself.
Sunrises looks from the bear to Angus and back again, shaking her head. Her friends have a better chance of survival being possibly wounded than with a bunch of men with guns searching for them...
Longtail tenses up quite suddenly, pulling his second leg beneath him.
The bear hmms. "You don't want them to go? Why not?"
Longtail leaps forward, both arms in front of him in a leap to tackle the stranger (now that his pants are down). The wolf, for all the rush, actually remains *quiet*.
Pathwalker mentally screams, but silently moves to support his brother, either to help restrain the redfur or snag his gun.
Longtails' leap is short-- but long enough to catch the fox around the ankles. The fox, startled, flails, yelps loudly, and falls down, his hat rolling off down the hill. "Halp!"
Sunrises stumbles to find words to explain to the bear. "Buffalo, they.. maybe live. Men with guns, they don't live."
Pathwalker reaches out a hand and tries to slap it over the redfur's mouth.
The bear nods. "And if I give you my word myself and Angus won't hurt your frien-- eh?" 'Halp!' is audible in the distance.
Longtail yanks the legs of the pants a bit lower and uses them to tie the fox's legs together, somehow. He's panting pretty heavily.
Pathwalker holds his hand over the fox's mouth tightly and motions to his brother to get the gun and get them back behind the bushes, quickly. Someone had to have heard the cry.
Longtail gets a kick in the muzzle for his efforts; Pathwalker gets bitten pretty hard on the hand. "Halth!"
The terrier pokes his head out of the chuck wagon. "HEY! INJUNS!"
Sunrises pauses and looks up at the sound of the calls. And her mind immediately pieces together what must be going on outside. It'd be _exactly_ like Longtail and Pathwalker to stumble their way into the settlement.. as though they hadn't faced death enough in one day.
Pathwalker growls and punches the fox in the throat with the other hand and then grabs for the gun.
Longtail looks upward, "stuff his headcovering in his mouth," he hisses. He fumbles, trying to get the gun while looking behind Pathwalker.
Sunrises abruptly stands and hurries to the entrance of the tent..
The bear frowns, waving at everyone else in the tent. "Go see what's happening."
Sunrises reaches the entrance of the tent and peers out, trying to locate Longtail and Pathwalker.
The fox gets punched in the side of his head as he rolls to the side, taking the gun with him as he rolls. "Halpth!" he yells. -BLAM!- Looks like the cook's got a shotgun-- first shot went high over your heads.
(to Sunrises) There's a large scuffle way on the other side of the camp, up the hill- looks like that fox ran into the other two. Longtail looks like he's trying to pull the fox's pants off.
Longtail frowns and takes a tuft of tail fur right near the base of the fox's tail and gives it a good hard yank.
The bear clamps a hand down on Sunrises's shoulder. "Looks like your friends are okay." he says good-naturedly. "DON'T HURT THEM!", he bellows.
Pathwalker winces and then moves in and shows the fox his knife, holding it to his chest near the throat. Or at least trying to hold it there, figuring the cook won't shoot if they also have a captive.
Sunrises yells to Longtail from across the camp, in the Indian tongue. "Idiot! Run! You want be killed?" Her voice is colored by fright and concern..
Pathwalker flicks his ears and hisses, "Get hold of him. Maybe we can bargain with his life for ours and Sunrises...." and blinks at Sunrises shout. "Surely she knows we can't outrun bullets?"
The fox yelps, trying to curl into a ball, and fouls up Pathwalker's carefully placed knife. He tries to yank his tail out of Longtail's hands, eyes clenched shut.
Longtail looks up at Pathwalker then shrugs. He just finally *sits* down atop of the fox. What better way of keeping him down? Tie his feet together with pants, then sit on him.
The bear says, "Can you tell them we won't hurt them?"
Pathwalker hmmfs and just holds the knife near the fox, figuring that should be enough of a threat as the fox curls up like a cub.
About a good half of the camp is running towards the scuffle.
Sunrises pauses, looking up at the bear. Then she nods. She calls out to her friends, "They say.. not hurt you!"
The fox yells, trying to squirm out from under Longtail, 'Gedoffame!' and shrieks as he sees the knife.
Pathwalker blinks, but keeps the knife close to the fox and shouts, **They already shoot Longtail for no reason, and steal you. Why should we trust their words now?**
Longtail holds on tight, no worse than riding, could it be? He yips a bit, jarring a pained leg.
The fox quits struggling, watching the knife with round eyes.
Sunrises looks up to the bear, swallowing nervously. "He say.. been shot. No reason."
The bear nods. "If you stay, I'll let them go. You see they're all right, yes?"
Longtail lunges for the pistol from his seat, poking the fox in the ribs as he leans downward. He doesn't look in much shape for going.
Pathwalker keeps the knife very close to the fox's throat and shouts, **Redfur's life for ours, and your freedom. **
Sunrises shivers softly, and stumbles as she tries to translate back and forth. "They say.. trade fox for me." She looks up at the bear, trying to gauge his reaction.
The bear shakes his head. 'Miss Dawn, we need you to talk to them. Tell them 'come back tomorrow, and bring their chief, and we'll talk."
A wall of furs with guns hover menacingly near Pathwalker, Longtail, and their captive. 'Shoot 'em already!', the fox whines.
Pathwalker presses the tip of the knife into the fox's throat fur, just to make it clear he's serious.
Sunrises calls, "Says.. let red-fur go. Bring Summer Storms Racing tomorrow, for talk." She adds, "Don't hurt him.. you hurt, they shoot you.."
The bear yells, "Men, back off. Slow. Let them up."
Pathwalker growls, **We let red-fur go, they shoot us.**
Longtail brings over the muzzle of the gun, pointing it how he's seen it pointed. "This swingy thing underneath.. isn't that what makes it fire?"
Pathwalker nods to Longtail, "But be careful, you kill him, we die."
Sunrises looks back to the bear, quite obviously frightened now. "They say.. if.. they let fox go.. you shoot them."
Longtail turns it on it's side then aims it at the fox's nose. "Tell 'em to let Sunrise go..." doesn't matter that the fox doesn't know his language.
The bear kneels down next to Sunrises, patting her shoulder reassuringly. "If we wanted to shoot them, my people could hit them at that range without hurting the fox." He pauses, trying again. "We won't. Just want to talk to their chief."
Sunrises calls to her friends again, her voice pleading. "They not want shoot you. If wanted, could! They want talk to chief!"
Longtail calls over, "If all they want is to talk, why they want to keep you?" He looks away from the fox and gun for the moment.
Pathwalker's nerve is still holding, barely, as he tries to figure a way out, **Why they steal you? And why shoot Longtail?**
The bear calls out again, "Back off, and lower your guns." 'Why?' "Do it!"
Reluctantly, the furs nearly surrounding the group take a few steps back. A few.
Sunrises calls back to her friends. "Don't know! Get chief.. Get chief, please.. Will find.. different way home.." She looks to the two indians pleadingly. She doesn't want them to get killed because of her..
Pathwalker thinks and nods, **Tell them move back, drop guns, we leave redfur, bring chief tomorrow** and whispers to Longtail, "When they drop the guns, you take the gun and head to camp. If I don't catch up with you before you get to camp, warn the tribe."
Longtail shakes his head, "And if they keep chief? I won't just leave you." Heroic? Or airheaded..
Sunrises looks up at the bear. "They say.. they say.. Tell men move back.. drop guns. They not hurt fox and bring chief."
Pathwalker growls, "Longtail, the chief will not come alone. They can kill us easily, and will if they get nervous, redfur or no redfur. A chief has to know when to run to get help, and that is NOW."
The bear smirks. "I'd rather not have anyone hurt. And my men won't just drop their guns. I may be in charge, but I can only do so much."
Longtail hisses, "You go. I'm not running away from anything. Messengers go running for help, the chief stays with his people till they're safe."
Sunrises shivers softly. "They.. frightened you shoot them, if they let fox go.. Please.. drop guns.. Drop guns and they go.." She pleads with the bear desperately, taking hold of his arm.
Pathwalker hisses, "And how will you keep Sunrises safe? At best they take you captive. More likely they fill you full of bullets."
The bear shakes his head. "I can't help you more than I already have. You'll just have to get them to trust me."
Longtail snorts, "And what do you do? You go, I can't move that fast. And I've got the gun."
Pathwalker growls, "I had thought to stay with the fox, give you head start. But maybe you have an idea. Why don't I trade redfur for you? That way we have a captive too. What do you say Longtail?"
Sunrises shudders, and looks back to the other cubs. "Please, please go!" she calls in the indian tongue. Tears have begun to form in her eyes, but she hastily wipes them away.
Longtail's ears both flatten backwards and he growls, "I can take care of myself. Do *you* want them to find camp? I can't run, and you can't take the fox. Listen to logic- just *go*."
Pathwalker frowns, then nods, "Forgive me brother. You so rarely make sense that I tend not to listen when you do. Try not to get killed or father will have my hide." and he touches his brothers shoulder for a moment.
Pathwalker shouts to Sunrises, **I go. Longtail stays. Tell bear to care for him.**
Longtail sits down a bit harder on the fox, making sure he's not going anywhere.
Pathwalker pulls the knife away carefully, stands up, and starts backing away while Longtail has the gun pointed at the fox, he shouts, **Bring chief tomorrow at dawn.**
Sunrises swallows, and translates for the bear, explaining about Longtail's wound that needs tending, and that the other will bring the chief...
Twofeathers says, "The bear nodded, and the miners let Pathwalker go, leaving Longtail and Sunrises behind." A nurse pokes her head in the door. "Mister Hundredtails, time for your medication." 'I was just finishing. And it's 'Hundredtales.' The kids groan disappointedly. "What happens next? Do they have a shootout?" "
Twofeathers waves a finger, getting stiffly to his feet. "You'll just have to come back tomorrow to find out. Good afternoon, children.."
The old wolf grins, and limps out, cane tapping on the tile floor.