| Wolves of Ironhold - Prologue |
| Summary: | An argument between father and son. |
| Date: | 10/09/1865 IE |
| Related: | All related to the Wolves of Ironhold plot. |
| NPCs: | {$npc} |
| Players: |
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Two men sit in a cabin in the depths of the Heartswood. The language they speak was ancient before the vast span of forest that blankets these lands was so much as seeds in the wind.
"The women came and went. You worry too much." The Younger of the men grunts to the elder.
"And you worry too little." It is resignation that touches the Elder's voice, not anger. "They were the start. The Silver Blades will come, as they did before. I should have been more careful with you."
"How? Imprisoned me like you tried to do with mother and Alon?" The Younger man shakes his head, "No. We should be free to hunt. If the Silver Blades come, then this time we will kill them just as they cut down our family."
"Our family drew blood first! Upon those whose only wrong was living too close to us! Just as those you killed!" Now there is anger in the Elder's tone. Enough so that the Younger actually shrinks back from him a bit. "You speak of being free to hunt as the beast, but you speak of revenge as a man. We are neither. We should not try to be so."
"We are both, and we must be both or we are nothing!" The Younger finds his voice and his anger now, "And I tire of hiding. If the Old Prey is gone…or reduced to something we cannot face…then we should find new Prey. Men are plentiful, we are not."
"To do so would be the final death for us," The Elder warns. " Their numbers are TOO great, and ours too few…too scattered."
"I will not cower! We are stronger than they." The Younger bellows, and the Elder just looks upon him sadly.
"One of us to one of they…yes. But they are many." The Elder shakes his head, "Do not do this, my son. The path you walk will be your end, as it has been for so many of us. The Beast's blood is strong in you…I had hoped your mother was close enough to the First that between she and I, our brood would be able to resist the call of the moons. But I was wrong. We should move on…find another place. That would be safest."
"No. I am finished with running. Flee if you want old man. If you are too weak to avenge our family then I will!" The Younger turns and storms out of the cabin, his form twisting and growing and sprouting fur even as he crosses the threshold.
The Elder sits silent as he watches the Younger go, and sits for much longer besides, accompanied only by the sound of the wind through the trees outside.