Gods and Men

Ashera cried out softly as she saw the figure again, this time for a lot longer than before. She ducked her head back behind Jocasta shuddering and whimpering slightly.

Axel had also noticed the figure as well, partly because of the wimper from Asher as he skirted over to Axel's side. Still looking to where the figure had been, Axel got his bow in hand and an arrow in the other, his mind practically forgetting the rest of the party.

"I'd put that away if I were you," a familiar male voice told Axel, "as you are all here on my request."
As he spoke the figure stepped out of the trees, revealing Aram, spirit of animals and hunting. He made his way over to the group, still speaking,
"You are all here for one reason. As you were told before, the spirit of life and death had gone missing. You need to find her. If you don't, life as you knew it will cease to exist. While she is gone, no one can die, and no child can be born. This means that those whose lives would be cut short by a sword must lie there unable to stand the pain but unable to pass on, and unborn children will grow inside their mothers unable to come into the world. The spirits must attend to their own tasks, which is why you were given this task. The other member of your group has been delayed, and will join with you at a later date. Do not fail me."

With those words spoken he began to fade back into the forest.

Axel stowed his weapon and dropped to one knee before his patron spirit. "I shall not fail you, my father." He took a dep breath, taking in the scope of the task before him. "I shall lend my strenght and knowledge to these people so as to speed our (he paused a bit on "our") journey." Asher was much calmer than before, and had moved closer to nuzzle the spirit's palm.

Jocasta waited a minute for the spirit to leave, dully noting the addition of a wolf to their group. Then she exploded.

"Zath's great big shiny ass!" she swore, "This is why I hate spirits. What's more important to the spirits than keeping things working? Where in the seven hells are we supposed to be finding a missing life and death spirit? And would you get up off your knees, man!"

She shoved her sword back into its sheath and grabbed at her horse's reins again. She clapped Myrddin on the back.

"Well, kid, take us to that campsite. I don't suppose anyone else has a tent with them? Cause otherwise it's going to be a pretty cozy night and I'm not going to appreciate it."

Pushing Myrddin ahead of her and pulling her horse behind her, she set off down the road.

Ashera jumped at Jocasta's exclamation, then meekly followed behind her. She threw a shy smile at Axel and the wolf as she passed them.

The group heard a light laugh from the side of the road in the shadows and then a voice,
"Well one of you doesn't seem to understand what's going on here! Bah! Mercenaries. They never understand the balance of things."

"Wait!" Myrddin cried, "Why am I here?! How am I supposed to help these people!" Upon receiving no response, Myrddin looked down, irritated. "Right. Campsite. This way." he said, leading the party back the way he came.

"Not so fast little mortal!" the voice said, "I still have to educate one of your friends."
A shadowy figure stepped out of the shadows, walking towards the group.
"Your mercenary friend doesn't understand why us spirits need to keep up with our own tasks." Maellora told the group. "do you think that any of our duties are less important than that of the spirit of life and death? Or do you think that it's not important that the sun rise in the sky tomorrow, or the trees continue to grow rather than wilt or die. You must understand this in order to fulfil your duty and finish this adventure. We may be able to help you with your task, but we do not like disrespect."
With that said, she vanished.

"Wait!" Myrddin cried again. "Dammit! Two spirits, and neither of them will tell me why I'm here. Anyway, campsite's this way."

Ashera giggled softly, then quickly covered her mouth with her hand and ducked behind Jocasta.

Axel rose to his feet and shot a glare at Jocasta. "Don't talk ill of my father spirit." Axel pushed ahead of the group, tailed by Asher, looking for a suitable place to set up their camp. Deciding on an area that was fairly flat, but nicely sheltered by surrouding trees, he informed the group of his decision (in very few words). He set up the small shetler he had with him and busied himself making a small fire. After that task was completed, he grabbed his bow, arrows, and a knife. Turning to the group, he said, " I'll be back with food." Then he turned and vanished with Asher into the trees.

Myrddin looked at where Axel decided to set up camp. "No, I've got a better spot." he stated.

Axel gave him a brief backwards glance before continuing on his way.

Myrddin looked up at Jocasta, "So, are we going to camp here, or at the other spot?"

Ashera moved to sit by the fire, shivering. She looked back at the others, not sure what she would do if they went to the other area.

Jocasta sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"This is good enough. Give me a hand setting up my tent."

As she went through the automatic process of putting up the tent, pulling the bundles off her horse and giving it a rubdown, digging a latrine trench, Jocasta reflected on the last hour or so.

It's great that the spirits are busy making the sun rise and everything, but they seem to be able to take enough time off of that to send people on ridiculous quests. Or chastise them for disrespect. Or bless a child in a rival town. I'm happy enough with leaving them alone to do their jobs as long as they leave me alone to do mine. Which they haven't.

Once Myrddin finished helping Jocasta set up camp (almost without incident!), he sat down at a nearby rock and pulled a small knife and a hunk of wood out of his pack. He sat and contemplated the wood for a short time before beginning to carve into the lump.

Ashera helped out a bit setting up, but her small size wasn't much use. When Myrddin began his carving, she watched from across the fire, fascinated, but too nervous to say anything.

Axel moved through the trees like water down a steem. It was so relieving to be alone with himself and the wilderness. Well, almost alone; Asher moved silently alonside him. The wolf had smelled something promising off to the south-east, so they were on the trail. Sure enough, After fifteen minutes of moving through the forrest, they came across a small group of deer feeding in a small clearing. They were careful to remain downwind of the group so as to not alert them of their presence. Judgin by the number of people who neede food, Axel picked a mid sized deer out of the group for their prey. He drew an arrow, knocked it, and took aim for a spot that would kill the creatire instantly. just after he losed the shot, he signalled Asher to move forward, spooking off the others. The shot hit its mark and the deer collapsed without so much as a wimper. The others flead for their lives as Asher burst into the clearing, but, as per plan, the wolf made no effort to chase them. Axel made is way over to the carcass of the deer and retrieved his arrow, inspecting it for dammage. The shot was a bit bloody, that was all. Picking up the kill, Axel and Asher made their way back to the campsite. The whole trip took them mabe 45 minutes.

When Axel and his wolf returned to camp carrying a dead dear, Ashera paled. She very much disliked death, and though she did eat meat, she hated seeing the animal before it was cooked. It usually made it difficult for her to eat if she had seen the animal ahead of time. Ashera moved away from Axel, feeling overwhelmed by emotions. She felt sorry for the dear, she was nervous around these new people, and she was missing her home. She kept her back turned to the group, as she realized that she was starting to cry (silently).

By the time Axel returned from his hunt, Myrddin had managed to whittle down the lump of wood into an unfinished, but recognizable statuette of Aram.

Ashera crouched down and hugged her knees, still feeling upset, but unwilling to let the others see how upset she really was.

Jocasta looked up from the fire as Axel arrived with the deer.

"Man that's a lot of meat. At least we're going to be eating well. You going to skin that thing, or do you want me to? Fire's set up right for roasting, or I've got dried veg that I boil up with the meat. Your call."

She did her best to ignore Ashera's breakdown, knowing that anything she said to the girl was going to be snarky and insensitive and would only make her break down farther.

Axel accepted Jocasta's help and began the process of skinning and cleaning the kill. Like a surgeion, Axel was clean and thurrough with his work; there wasn't much meet left on the bones at all by the time he was done, mostly just little fleks here and there. Once done with that, he selected some of the bones that were good for tool making and set them a little closer to the fire to dry. The rest of the carcass (and some of the entrails) he took off to bury. He returned with a handful of leaves and needles and such. Taking several pieces of the meet, he skewered them on a stick, wrapped them in some of the leaves, and held them over the fire to roast.

Ashera waited till they were done, and had started to roast the deer before she returned to the fire. She glanced at the carving and admired it for a few seconds before looking away again. Instead she looked around for the wolf, wanting to get a better look at him.