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STONEHOWL: Having endured an attack by humans, Shadow found allies within some of the humans, and it had only been those who followed their shaman, the Bone Dancer, who sought to wipe out the Elves. In a fight, that seemed to favor the humans, the tides of battle turned when the trolls joined in the fight against the humans; knowing that the humans would attempt to drive them out next. The Bone Dancer was killed by Vineweaver, who had suffered unimaginable torture at Bone Dancer’s hands. Wanting to leave the tainted memories behind, Shadow led his tribe on a quest to find others like themselves. In their journeys they found the Next Ones (Children of the High Ones), Pridewalkers, and others – and in the end, Shadow led them to the Palace of the High Ones. Believing he had found everything his heart desired, the home of his greatest ancestors, Shadow soon felt the urge to return to the woods; return to what he knew was home. He discovered, it’s not the Palace that makes it home; but it’s what the heart makes the home. Now Shadow has led some of his tribe back to the woods, near the Palace, where other elves from other tribes, also followed; either curious to see more of the world, or inspired by the leadership they saw in Shadow. Elements: Hatred The need of help A stick Procrastination A change Dream “So you know about the tribe I come from,” Highsun said, gesturing at Shadow. “How about you tell me about your tribe – and how it is you came to seek and even find the Palace?” Shadow smiled, but it was one that was painted with pain. The past involved many losses very dear to him. “It began with the unfortunate death of the human chief’s son, a young hunter by the name of Krellin. Krellin was one of the most respected hunters among the humans, whom we shared our forest – he was destined, by human tradition to win the hand of their Chief’s daughter’s hand, Yurika. However, their Shaman, the Bone Dancer, had other plans. The vile subject of a human somehow reproduced and bore a child by the name of Tamier. The Bone Dancer betrayed Krellin by poisoning him as he fought a monstrous sized black bear; one that Krellin had been hunting for weeks. There was no way, normally, Krellin would have lost to the bear. He knew its every movement, its every thought; he would have known when and how to snare and trap the bear; and would have thus used the bear’s hide to give to their chief, Wurik, to win Yurika’s hand. “ (1) “During the Sun-Moon, when Sun And Moons share the skies, the Bone Dancer convinced Wurik that their god, Grethen was furious with the humans, and was devouring the sun. The Bone Dancer told Wurik the only way to appease Grethen’s anger was to wed two powerful people together; which naturally, the Bone Dancer said Wurik’s daughter,Yurika, and the Bone Dancer’s own timid son, Tamier. The Bone Dancer told Wurik that together, they would bare powerful children that would have the Blood of the Chief and the Blood of the Shaman. The Bone Dancer even convinced Wurik that it had been Grethen’s will that Krellin be killed by the Black Bear.” (2) “At some point, from what I was able to gather by speaking with Wurik many seasons later, that the Bone Dancer had cast his son and daughter out from the tribe. From what Wurik gathered, it seemed that Tamier had dream-visions that said that the time for war with the ‘wood spirits’ – which is what the Bone Dancer called us, had come to an end, and that there was now a time for peace. This, for whatever reason, did not fit in with whatever madness had claimed the Bone Dancer. But as a shaman to their god, none dared defy him.” (3) “Wait, before you continue,” Highsun said, “You were allies with the human chief?” “Indeed I was,” Shadow smiled. “I watched them and knew they were really no different than us. They wanted only to survive, to live, to have a family and enjoy the life they were given.” “But not all humans felt that way,” Highsun replied. “There was the one human who found this new forest home that clearly had a strong hatred for you.” (4) Shadow nodded, “He was one who clearly followed the madness of the Bone Dancer’s hatred.” Here is where Shadow paused. Here is where the story hurt the most. “Then there was a tragic accident. The human, Tamier, had accidently slain my sister, while hunting – mistaking her for a deer, he had thrown his spear, fatally wounding her. My chief and best friend, at the time, Wildthorn, had been her love mate. He lost all sense of right and wrong and wanted to kill every last human. I tried to stop him – but I couldn’t. He found Tamier’s love mate, Yurika, still with child and murdered her. Then when Wildthorn tried to kill Tamier, they both mortally wounded one another. The human told me, with his dying words, what had happened – how he had accidentally killed the ‘Wood Spirit.’ I believe him, because there is no need to lie when one is dying. That is the time to release all the lies, all the burdens that crush upon your soul.” (5) “That’s when I became Chief of Stonehowl,” Shadow continued the story. “But that’s also when human and elf hatred seemed to be escalating; and it’s during a hunt that little Windfetcher there,” he pointed to the soon-to-be-chieftess, “showed us all that she was ready to be Chieftess should anything ever happen to me. When we encountered a human hunter, it was she who spoke before I could – and spoke against the other hunters, all her senior within the tribe – that they could not kill the human just because he was close to our holt.” (6) “None of us could have predicted what would come next,” Shadow went on. “A betrayal within our own. We had always found Blackstar to be unusual. He was often a loner, and always aggressive with his responses. We all just believed there was more wolf blood in him than elf. It was strange, or perhaps because some kind of exact opposites, but our most gentle member of the tribe, Suncaller, was his love mate.” “You speak as if it were two males who were love mates?” Highsun asked, puzzled. “It was,” Shadow smiled, remembering Suncaller’s gentle features, and gentle smile. “But that makes no sense? How could they be love mates if they’re both male? It’s not like they can bare offspring?” Highsun persisted. “When you are love mates, there isn’t always a need to bare offspring,” Shadow smiled. “There is only love.” “I don’t understand,” Highsun began, but was silenced by his fellow tribesman Sandstorm. “Thanks to one of our youngest talented with Magic,” Shadow looked at Echo, “we learned that Blackstar had killed Suncaller, (7) by pushing him off from a treetop, while they were up there admiring the clouds and rain. He let Suncaller, the gentlest of us all, fall to his death, and blamed the humans. He claimed that humans had come by with rocks and sticks and knocked Suncaller from the tree, where he fell to his death.” (8) “We did not know what to do or how to do this,” Shadow confessed. “He had killed one of his own – an unthinkable act. And he blamed the humans. I followed him and realized he was allying himself with the Bone Dancer. That’s when Wurik came to me, and explained that the Bone Dancer was whispering into the ears of many in his tribe how Wurik was weak, and it was time for the Bone Dancer, the direct Shaman to their god, to take his place as Chief. It would seem that Bone Dancer sought to become Chief of the humans, while Blackstar sought to be chief of the Elves.” (9) “We would have never followed him,” Vineweaver piped in. Shadow smiled. “Good to know. But the others, weren’t so sure they would follow what would come next. An alliance with the humans. Suncaller’s father, Sungazer, was the first to remind me how his own mate, Rosethorn had been hunting a fang-tooth tiger, when the humans came across her, just as she was about to kill the fang-tooth tiger. The humans killed her, then killed the mortally wounded fang-tooth tiger and took its meat for themselves, leaving her dead corpse there.” (10) “The Bone Dancer’s lies,” Shadow continued, “turned the majority of humans against us, and the few humans that followed Wurik. It’s thanks to a troll by the name of Trollforge, who had crafted this metal circular discs he called ‘shields’ that we used during the battle.” (11) Shadow’s thoughts drifted to Trollforge. He couldn’t help but wonder what became of him – the troll that seemed unusually interested – even romantically in Purespring. (12) Shadow shook his head and continued, “As we did battle with the humans that followed the Bone Dancer, I had many of our tribe go in hiding, for there were those like Vineweaver and Stillbreeze who had just bore a child – and being a father and mother to their cub was more important than this war. But once again, little Windfetcher, the Chieftess that she will soon become, arrived with some of the tribe, just as it seemed the battle was favoring Bone Dancer and his followers. Windfetcher also brought an unusual ally – the trolls. With the trolls aid, we were able to turn the battle around. While fleeing the battle, Blackstar, ironically fell to his death from a tree.” (13) “After the battle had been done, Wurik, the Human Chief, decided he wanted to seek new lands. Start over. Have no ties to the land he felt was tainted by the Bone Dancer,” Shadow explained. “And that got me to thinking – what if there were other elves out there – like there were other humans? What if they were many more like us out there?” “You certainly do have a way of always thinking different,” Vineweaver laughed. “Allying with humans. Learning the human tongue. Venturing to find other elves.” “Indeed,” Shadow chuckled. “So we began the adventure. For many days, we were trapped in a cave because of severe snow fall. That’s when, one day, we saw smoke in the distance and decided to investigate and spotted elves – but unlike us, they had a strange scent and no wolf bonds. So we believed them to be humans – perhaps humans who had fled Bone Dancer’s losing war. So we erred on the side of caution – only to discover they were elves, and that one of our very own,” he pointed to Skyshade, “Recognized not one – but two of them – the twins, Wardance and Warsong.” (14) “That’s when they told us that they had been on the run from trolls,” Shadow explained. “I wanted to laugh. The trolls I knew were warriors, but never enough to give any elf with magic any trouble. But these elves, the Next Ones they called themselves – Children of the High Ones – swore that these were trolls that were forged in the deepest, darkest parts of hatred.” (15) “While we were camped in the snow, a Preserver, by the name of Berryseed came to us,” Shadow explained, “claiming that it was a preserver for another tribe of Elves like ourselves.” (16) “It was a short time after, the frozen trolls attacked with a fury and hatred I had never seen before,” Shadow continued. “That’s when we lost Sungazer, who died protecting Echo.” Shadow took a deep breath. “We also lost some of our wolves in the fight – and that’s when I Recognized one of the Next Ones – Joybringer.” (17) “Life became increasingly more difficult at that point,” Shadow confessed. “Foxhair and I had become love mates by that time, and Joybringer disrupted that.” Shadow shook his head. He could still see images of her in his mind from time to time. “Berryseed, the Preserver,” Shadow continued, “mentioned it had come from another tribe, like ours – Stonehowl. I thought perhaps that meant more Wolfriders. If we could unite them with us, we could come back and fight the trolls. So we fled the frozen lands and followed Berryseed.” (18) “During one of the hunts, Joybringer and I finally joined, and conceded to Recognition. It had been,” he paused, “a passionate moment. All the fighting led to a great amount of release.” Foxhair showed no signs of jealousy, only sadness for what would come next in the story. “Unfortunately,” Shadow continued, “because of that, I let my guard down and humans got close. One of them killed Joybringer with an arrow to her back.” Shadow paused, letting the images wash over him. (19) Shadow nearly whispered the next few words, “In one of my least proud moments, I lost control of myself. I took a life for a life and killed a human, and told the others, who looked on in horror to leave, and never come back. I brutally killed the human. Murdered him. Made him die painfully.” Shadow shook his head. “I knew we had to leave, and leave quickly. The humans would come back. And they would seek revenge. I told Berryseed to lead us quickly – and it did – it led us to the Priderwalkers.” (20) “The humans came for us,” Shadow continued, “as I suspected they would. They tracked us down across the plains to the Pridewalkers. The Priderwalker chief – or Sire, as he was called by title – Lionheart – said that the humans were newly arrived, and that such 'accidents' had happened before, and that there was nothing to worry about. That seemed... impossible to believe. Even more impossible was when I heard the human speak – when I caught his scent – it was none other than Wurik, the human Chief I once allied myself with.” Shadow shook his head. “It only complicated matters worse. I had gone days and days without sleep – even before they killed Joybringer. All I could do was lay awake at night and think how I could lead my tribe to safety. How I could lead them so that no more would die. And then then I Recognized Joybringer – my heart and soul battled one another. My heart belonged to Foxhair but my soul cried out for Joybringer. More nights of restless sleep. Then when I saw Wurik, knew it had been the human tribe I had once allied myself with,” Shadow paused. “I lost myself into darkness. It was,” Shadow's eyes moved to Stillbreeze, “she who took over as Chieftess during my lapse into madness.” (21) This is where Stillbreeze took over the story telling, procrastinating for a moment, as she sought the best way to explain the events that would come next. “There were those, within the Pridewalkers, who did not care for arrival. Immediately, Lionheart – their chief – or sire – did not hide the fact that he cared for little for us. His own son, Talon, also expressed a mistrust in us. But the most vile of them was perhaps Branchsnapper.” (22) “With Shadow falling ill, the act of Chieftess fell on me,” Stillbreeze went on to explain. “I suspected something when Talon challenged his own father for the right to be Sire. While Lionheart did not like us, he tolerated us because we had Children of the High Ones with us. Talon thought we were lying. Lionheart killed his own son in what should have been fair combat – but I have seen combat. Talon was young, but he was fighting sluggishly. I suspected that he had been poisoned, but I had – at the time – no proof to my claims.” (23) “When a creature they called a 'Quickdeath' came close to their holt, I struck a deal with Lionheart, that the elves of Stonehowl would kill it, if he and his tribe joined us in the battle against the trolls at the Palace. He agreed. Little did I know at the time, that the beast was virtually impossible to kill,” Stillbreeze said. “And if it had not been for Spearclaw,” her eyes paused on him foldly – a romantic tension had existed between the two of them since they first met; especially since Vineweaver had given them one night together, since Spearclaw was going to war. “Myself, and the others would have died at that creature's feet. But since we survived, that conniving Branchsnapper plotted and twisted. He promised Spearclaw,” her eyes going to him again, “that he could arrange an 'accident' to happen to Vineweaver. Then he told Vineweaver that Spearclaw had an interest in me. Then he told me about how we were safe with them, and that if we went to war, who would raise my newly born cub,” she held Sunsword, whom she had named after Suncaller and Sungrazer. “So then I spoke to Vineweaver and tried to convince him to stay – if only until our cubs got older. But that played into Branchsnapper's plan, because then it made Vineweaver believe that I also had an interest in Spearclaw.” (24) “Well,” Vineweaver smiled, “that's what we wanted him to believe. Branchsnapper had no idea that we had the senses of our wolf brothers. We could smell him when he was spying on us. We knew he was there. So we would 'send' to one another and give the illusion that we were falling for his lies. Then, when we were ready, I threw down the Spear of Challenge. He knew he was caught, once we explained how we could smell him.” (25) “With a little bit of my magic,” Vineweaver made a gesture with his hands, and the vines danced like snakes, “I got him to confess what he had done – and how he had been working with Lionheart the entire time, and how it was he who had purposely stayed as a close ally to Talon, so that he could poison him before the fight with his own father. Needless to say, Shadow took over from there, having fully recovered from his illness, and threatened both of them and sent them scurrying with their tails between their legs.” (26) “The fight should have ended there,” Shadow continued the story once more. “It should have,” Stillbreeze agreed. “I learned from Rainbringer, Lionheart's mate, that she was glad that Lionheart was gone. That they had stopped being mates long ago, and he only kept her at his side for appearances. But if either she, or her son Talon dared speak out against Lionheart, he would brutally lash out at them.” “The time came to march against the trolls who had seized the Palace; and with me came – from my tribe; Foxhair, Moonsong, Treerunner, and Stream; from the Next Ones, only Wardance; from the Pridewalkers, Goldmane, Hammerfang, Shadestrike, Spearclaw, Snowcloud, Clearwater, and Mountainheart. Those remaining were from my tribe; Vineweaver, Stillbreeze, Echo, Windfetcher, Sunsword, and Skyshade with her two twin cubs, Dawn and Dusk; from the Next Ones, Warsong, Daymist, and Riverfall; from the Priderwalkers Rainbringer, and Dawneyes. That night, however, there was no difference among any of us. We all sat together, in a circle sharing stories, for this might be the last time any of us saw each other.” “When we marched to the Palace, it was Treerunner who perished first,” Shadow said. “He was struck by a crossbow bolt through the chest. The trolls had been anticipating our return. Took the time during our absence to dig holes into the ground that they covered with leathers, so that they were impossible to see in the snow. We were ambushed.” “Little did we know,” Stillbreeze added, “that Lionheart and Branchsnapper rushed to the human tribe that was led by Wurik. They murdered Wurik and demanded the other humans, who had always been timid of the 'wood spirits' that they follow them or that they would die as well. Windfetcher was approached by Branchsnapper, who had snuck back into the edges of the camp and lured her there – claiming that Shadow had asked for her help – and her help alone. When we learned this Vineweaver went after her. But that's what they wanted – Vineweaver gone and out of the way, because they feared his magic.” “Shadestrike was the next to die at the hands of the trolls,” Shadow continued, “a blade run through his body, as his brother watched in horror. His brother, Hammerfang almost died as well, if it hadn't been for Stream who had proved herself a warrior.” “I got there,” Windfetched added to the story, “just as a troll stabbed Shadow.” “In the meantime, Lionheart led the humans to us,” Stillbreeze said. “Lionheart went straight for the tent with the cubs, which had been handed off to Rainbringer to protect. He had intended to kill them – but Dawneyes and Rainbringer stopped him. At the cost of Rainbringer's life. That bastard Lionheart murdered his own son before – and then he murdered his own mate.” Shadow grimaced. Two wars. At the same time. Both suffered great losses. “Goldmane was the next to die, giving her life for Hammerfang, whom she had laid with weeks before marching to war with him.” The next part of the tale, Stillbreeze choked as she spoke the words. “My cubling, Echo, took the head of Lionheart, which Dawneyes had severed and entered the battle – demanding the humans to stop. That's when the snake, Branchsnapper emerged, spilling his poison between his lips about how we were evil and vile, and used magic to taint everything. Then he made a lunge for Echo, but Dawneyes stepped between them – Branchsapper killed her with his blade, but she had struck a fatal wound to him. The last thing she saw was Rainbringer, waiting for her, as she had always done...” “I arrived at the scene of the initial fight in the snow,” Vineweaver added, “where I saw Moonsong. I tried to convince her to come with me as I pursued the others, but she would not have it. She knew the snow trolls would come back. She wanted to wait for them. Take more of their lives if she could. And if she couldn't... she'd join her mate. When we … left the cave... we found a few additional troll bodies around her... but she too was dead. But there was, at least, a smile upon her face. She had killed more trolls, as she wished; and I believe, in the end, she found her mate waiting for her.” “Inside the cave, we had discovered that the trolls actually enslaved other trolls and used them for digging and mining,” Shadow went on to explain. “Wardance, Hammerfang, and Mountainheart agreed to descend into the caves to free those trolls to cause a distraction with their rebellion against their masters.” “I had come into the cave just in time to see Hammerfang, dying on the floor, with Mountainheart trying to protect him. Mountainheart felt that his name needed to be redeemed after the actions of his brother and Sire,” Vineweaver explained, “I believe, having watched him fight against those troll slavers, he honored his name once again. Wardance was down there too – fighting the best he could – but even Mountainheart was slain.” “Clearwater was the next to fall,” Shadow added, “as we drew closer to the Palace.” “Why do you continuously say their names?” Highsun interrupted for a moment. “Because to us, it's very important to remember their names, and remember their bravery, and how they gave everything – even their life, so that the Palace could be ours once again,” Shadow explained. “We were hopelessly out numbered, and for a long moment, I believed we would all perish against the trolls. But then it happened – one of the trolls burst through the tunnel, horribly disfigured, exclaiming, before dying of his wounds, that the Elves had found 'the others'... I had no idea what that had meant, but the troll leader, Scalphunter certainly did. His grand posture of victory suddenly changed to one of nervousness and fear.” “It turns out it had been Firemane, Twostone and Fairskin, of the Next Ones,” Shadow said. “Controlling fire, stone and flesh. It turned out that Vineweaver jumped down and helped Wardance against the trolls, because he had sensed magic close by – which had been the three of them. With them free, the battle changed in our favor. The battle was over – I was giving Scalphunter, despite all he had done – a chance to leave. Instead he grabbed the sword of one of his fallen legionaries and lunged at me. Windfetcher jumped between us, shoving her dagger into his gut, even as he landed on top of her. She did not fatally strike him, but she saved my life. That's when I gave the command for wolf, elf, lion, troll – all of them to kill Scalphunter. And to do it slowly.” (27) “After that, the Palace gave the 'Call' which those within ranger responded to; but as you know, even as we left the Palace, Elves from all around were still showing up.” (1) See April 2007 Grab Bag: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/april2007.html (2) See May 2007 Grab Bag: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/may2007.html (3) See June 2007 Grab Bag: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/june2007.html (4) See October 2010 Grab Bag: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/oct2010elfquest.html (5) See August 2007 Grab Bag: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/august2007.html (6) See November 2007 Grab Bag: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/nov2007.html (7) See March 2008 Grab Bag: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/march2008.html (8) See Feburary 2008 Grab Bag: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/feb2008.html (9) See May 2008 Grab Bag: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/may2008.html (10) See June 2008 Grab Bag: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/june2008.html (11) See July 2008 Grab Bag: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/july2008.html (12) See September 2008 and October 2008 Grab Bags for Trollforge’s Secret And Final Fate: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/sept2008.html and http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/oct2008.html (13) See August 2008 Grab Bag for what REALLY happened: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/aug2008.html (14) See March 2009 Grab Bag: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/march2009.html (15) See April 2009 Grab Bag: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/april2009.html (16) See May 2009 Grab Bag: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/may2009.html (17) See June 2009 Grab Bag: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/june2009.html (18) See July 2009 Grab Bag: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/july2009.html (19) See September 2009 Grab Bag: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/sep2009.html (20) See October 2009 Grab Bag: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/oct2009.html (21) See November 2009 Grab Bag: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/nov2009.html (22) See December 2009 Grab Bag: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/dec2009.html (23) See January 2010 Grab Bag: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/jan2010.html (24) See March 2010 Grab Bag: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/march2010.html (25) See April 2010 Grab Bag: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/april2010.html (26) See May 2010 Grab Bag: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/may2010.html (27) The most Epic Sized Stonehowl Grab Bag, which was from June 2010, and intended to be the final piece: http://www.tawmis.com/stonehowl/june2010.html The following months worth of stories can all be found here: http://tawmis.com/stonehowl/stories.html