To Dream a Reality

[Stormfollower]

"I loath to leave any alone to the mercy of the sea. I know well those currents to the north and west and if there be a hope of finding the White Sybil upon the white foamed waves it rests best beneath my hand on the tiller..." He frowned through a pause then continued his thinking aloud.

"Remis shall wake soon... and with my mind on the sea I will not be able keep his dreaming calm." He looked down on the sleeping wolf-form of his son and gently ran a huge furry hand across his head.

"We need the plant of dreamless sleep if he is to ever be cured of his diseased mind. It would be disastrous to have to deal with both him and a hurricane at sea." Even as he spoke a warm wind blew up from the coast ruffling their hair and bringing the smell of the sea.

"And now we have enemies beneath those waves as well as above...no, we shall not take my son to sea without the verdant leaf. I must continue to the hills and find such. The rest of you go to the coast and make ready a ship, If do not return to you within the month you must go on without me. Find the White Sybil and renew our rede with our ancestors. And beware the goblins. The Seventh Hammer knows they will be searching for it too. Thankfully they hold no love for the sea. Still, should they ever form an alliance with their gilled cousins it would not take them long to find her at all."

[Stormfollower]

"Travel well my friends" Picking up his son he set off down the west path on the other side of the mountain pass. The rolling hills in the distance layed themselves out in a rippling sea of green grasses. It had been a long time since the shaman had traveled those ambling paths. Most of the inhabitants were animals whose habits and traits he knew well. The most prevelant amoungst these animals was a great herd of sturdy long Upland horses, renown for both their beauty and speed. He could see a small scout group of seven of them waiting just below the gravel outflow of the pass standing as the only true wardens of the lands that spread out to the west. All of them had the long and vibrant golden manes and tails that were the distinguishing feature of their breed though there other coulours and markings ranged the entire spectrum of common horses. Each one stood proud, its chest out and head held high awaiting the arrival of the strange black werewolf their friends the eagles had warned them of. The leader of the group of horses, a great black stallion stood ahaead of the others blocking the only way between the two huge bolders that marked the end of the pass. The golden mane whirled like strands af sunshine in a turbulent eddy of some forgotten brook as the winds buffeted the noble beast from behind.

Stormfollower looked back and up towards his companions at the fork in the pass and throwing the limp body of Remis like a sack of flour over one shoulder he spread his arms wide in thier direction.

"Upland horses!" He yelled at them, his joy at the sighting apperent even through his visage as the Garu. "It is as my dreams have fortold! A premonition that my search will be greatly successfull! It looks like I will see you far sooner than much later!... Lest the sun forget to rise."

[Mujbura]

Mujbura was unsure if she should follow Stormfollower or not. Surely he and his family had things set in place so that all would go well. She glances over at Zask, "Such a kind soul." she thought. But also was not surprised given the company he had kept.

Stormfollower had run and she glanced at Zask once more then set her feet to the ground. She would follow her friend, she had made a promise and the promise had not yet been fulfilled. Even without the promise, she would still remain at his side, for theirs was a bond beyond friendship. Stormfollower had made his way a distance from her, but he was still within sight and the quickness in her feet aided by her continued wolf-form helped her to keep pace.

And follow she did.... Over the treacherous paths, rocky and steep, through the valleys and to the shore. All that she had done was for her friend, and their people. She was not about to abandon him now, nor ever. As the sun had always shone on even the smallest seed and given it life, so she would be there for her dear friend and brother whom she loved dearly.

Her padded wolf feet carried her to him, and she had to hide the fear his Garou form had created within her. A kindred spirit, and pure heart. These are only some that had staved off the fear. She had kept her distance, less in fear and more in allowing him to tend to his duties to his son. As always, the careful observer, maternal protectorate and loving caretaker is how she watched. Even if his power far succeeded even that of her own.

He had arrived at the mouth of the pass and she had seen the proud beauty of the Upland horses while Stormfollower stood with his son draped over his shoulders and arms extended. Slowing herself to a trot she approached, then slowed her steps even further to walk up slowly behind him. Glowing, amber eyes of the wolf look up at him and she nods her head once with a single word whispered to his soul of a promise to be kept with undying love, "Always." She turns to face toward the horses on the hill and stands at his side, and slightly behind him. She bends her fore-legs and lowers her head. A respectful kneel for the Upland horses that she now faces while standing at her friends side.

[Stormfollower]

Stormfollower aproached the black stallion and bowed also.

"Lord Sreasthued, long has the time been between our eyes meeting. Your proud people, ever in my heart, still fill the tales I tell to the southlands. Hesuefell, your sturdy cousin has bourn me well over the years and should be not long behind us. Long is your mane sire and your tail shines brightly."

Sreasthued nodded once before his deeply resonant voice filled the air, though his mouth did not move. It was as if his mind could take flight from the confines of his head and reach those around him.

"Welcome home wild man, and welcome home wild woman." He noded once to Mujbura. "Time has passed since last we looked into the eyes of each other. Your deeds and services are long remembered. Though time for us is this moment and will be so in all the moments to come. Hesuefell will be welcomed and his deeds too are long remembered. Your manes are long and your tails are bright."

Stormfollower bowed once more and began to speak. "I have come seeking"

"You seek the leaf that will calm your sons Out-dreaming" The King of the Upland horses interjected.

"Yes Greatmane, It is the only way."

The huge stallion shifted in place back and forth his huge hooves each as large around and a mans head clapped against the rocky ground like a miners sledgefalls.


"No there is anouther way...Our Dreamer, Shusadrifell has come here to look apon your sons eyes. Hers is a power even greater thasn your sons. Leave him with us and she will make his life calm once more. As long as he is with us" said the King "He will be as calm as a lamb, his thoughts will be merry and he will no no labour nor sickness. If it be your will"

Stormfollower bowed low and lay his son on the ground before the horses. One palamino mare came forward and gently smelled at Remises ear.

"I leave him with you untill such time as a cure be found, Thank you King Sreasthued, may your mane grow longer and your tail shine more bright than the sun."

[Stormfollower]

Under the watchfull eye of the palamino mare Remis stirrred from his long sleep. He streached his arms and smiled at the sun on his face. Then he looked around. A joy filled his eyes that Stormfollower had not seen in many years and he began to rise, as he did so he slowly transformed into one on the upland horses. He was now a black stallion like the king and with a final rearing and gleefull jump he raced off into the hilly grasslands below quickly followed by the rest of the herd.

"Goodbye Remis, may you find peace in the wilds away from the evil minds and greed driven dreams of man."

Stormfollower stood and watched them gallop away for as long as his eyes could still see them. As he did his form diminished and he became his human self again then slowly he transformed back into the form of a much smaller white werewolf.

https://picasaweb.google.com/AztecStone ... 1640805458

[Gilliadson]

Zask followed close behind Mujbura and watched the events transpire between Stormfollower and the Upland Horses. Still in the form of the wolf, Zask also bowed his head reverently to the Leader of the Horses and remained silent.

[Jetamio]

Jetamio whined softly in her wolf form as she watched her son run away with the horses. She half wished that she could join them, she had always had a special love for horses, and even now part of her itched to ride the great stallion, but she would not allow herself to even consider indulging that notion. They were too wild, too pure to be tainted by the desires of her humanity.

[Stormfollower]

Stormfollower noticed her longing.

"I too envy them thier freedom, It is the source of all Power. But I think that it is not something that we can claim. These proud animals lay no claims on any concepts from mans laws. Nay, I am afraid freedom is something that we have abandoned in favour of greed."

Then he too looked longingly over the plains where his son now roamed free from his past and free to enjoy his future and he wondered if he should ever even try to return for him one day.

[Stormfollower]

And so it was Stormfollower and his trusty companions left the plains to head back up into the foothills and over the trail to the coast. There a ship awaited them which Oakanada had purchased with guild funds.

Preparations were made for what may turn out to be a lengthy journey on dangerous seas to seek out the White Sybil, Stormfiollowers master-piece, a ship made entirely of white stone tiles held together by a magical alchemical compound he had discovered while in the airless lands of the grey.

Meanwhile Remis enjoyed his new found freedom amongst the high horses of the Uplands but not without cost for at night he now dreamed, something he could not do before and when he dreamed he dreamed of her. Silent she would wisp her way into his dreams. Sometimes with but a glimpse and other times a torrent of chaotic images would flood his entire night driving him mad with desire. But always he would wake to the calm of the horses and the gently ease of their master dreamer who would console him for long hours before they returned to their simple life of just being. Yet she knew it should not take such consoling and she knew it may not be long before he fled from them, back to the life of gathering all mankind endured. Such was their way, more was the pity

[Stormfollower]

The ship gleamed an irridecent white of the purest pale in the early afternoon sun as she sat proudly in her birth at the docks of the hidden cove. A fitting vessel to seek out the legendary White Sybil. Sleek, white and obviously fast. Her appointed name "Jetamio" glinted golden and still freshly wet from her nameblessing as per Stormfollowers wishes. Oakanada had done well in the great shamans eyes and he smiled for the first time since leaving his human form. Still in the guise of the white werewolf he surveyed the docks below warry of the other boats that neigboured the new scout ship of the Wolf Cult. This port was hidden well from the rest of norrath, another of the back water eddies Stormfollower knew and trusted well in the past, but such places were being discovered every day and this one may have fallen into the realm of a known haunt. Only one way to find out. He tred with sure strides down the hill and into the Boatwrights villiage. The prospect of her maiden voyage sparked a new vigour into his step and within a few strides he found himself loping, once more, headlong towards his destiny!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwy_8O_3mWk

[Xar'Zith]

Jetamio stood at the bow of the ship named after her, an honor she still had trouble fathoming. It made her a little nervous, as if the ship would sink or sail depending on her own actions.

She turned as the white werewolf boarded, and smiled at her husband despite her uneasiness.

"Tell me where and I shall summon the winds, my love."