Kassander bundled the freshly dried herbs together and stowed them with the others before sitting back and eyeing the small clinic den with satisfaction. He had them scattered over the lake region and the rock garden, but the ones he'd built before he moved from the steppes had sat unused for quite some time until he'd reclaimed it, so it had taken him much of the summer to clean out, repair, and restock them, but they were finally done just in time for the weather to turn. A frantic call at the border, seeking a healer, whipped him around. It wasn't an Ebony wolf, but a loner who called, and the howl made it clear it was an emergency. Hastily grabbing the very bundle he'd stowed in the emergency den, he turned and raced for the border without another thought. As he came into view of the border, he caught sight of a nervous-looking, emaciated elderly wolf. The wolf was clearly less than well, with his eyes gummy and his teeth rotten and decaying. A foul scent wafted into Kass' face when the wolf spoke, which he immediately did upon spotting Kassander. "You da heala man? You needa come queek, needa come now, meesta heala, it's me boys, dey's dying meesta." Every time Kassander tried to ask him to slow down, to tell him what was wrong so he could make sure to grab the correct herbs, the old man would frantically caper in place, drooling and panting as he repeated just that they were dying and he needed to hurry. Frustrated and caught by the old man's urgency he just scooped up the herbs he had with him and followed the wolf. The old beast was surprisingly spry and speedy - it was all Kass could do to keep up as he sprinted away from Ebony. No wonder he didn't think there was time to talk Kassander thought to himself as they continued their breakneck pace further and further away from Ebony, he probably took a whole day just getting to Ebony. They finally skidded to a halt outside a den and, gibbering, the old man indicated for him to go in. Without hesitation Kassander dove into the decrepit old hole. He was immediately confronted with a stench like that of the old man as three scrawny, mangy pups blocked his way, grinning and cackling. Behind him the old man began to laugh, a shrieking, hair raising laugh and his voice was joined by two more. A chill swept over Kassander and he backpedaled frantically, trying to extricate himself from the hole to face the growing mob. Stupid, stupid, stupid - walked into a trap like an idiot and now it was too late to do anything about it. ""

Now where had his older brother gone off to this time?  Sigmarr had been scrounging around Ebony for any sign of his brother and found himself growing anxious.  He knew Kass was probably just out gathering herbs but something in the air didn't smell right.  Something seemed…. wrong.  Finally catching a reasonably recent scent trail of his brother Sigmarr set to following it.  Every step he took came more rapidly than the first and before he knew it he was in a dead run, unable to shake the ominous nausea boiling in his stomach. The scent trail led to the opening of a weird cave system and Sigmarr felt a chill down his back.  Why would Kassander go down into a place like that?  There was no time to doubt his nose and without a second thought Sigmarr dove into the crypt.  As he crawled further in his nose wrinkled at the disgusting scent of decay.  What in the- A fraction of light broke through the cracks above him, illuminating the figures of seven wolves.  A mangy aging wolf, three teen whelps barely nine months old and two other adults who seemed to be in better shape than the other four and the seventh…. Sigmarr's heart plummeted as he realized that the mob of wolves had his brother, Kassander surrounded.  No…  there was no time to think as the eldest wolf let out a shrieking cry and dove right for Kassander.  Sigmarr defenses were up in the blink of an eye a bloodthirsty snarl ripping from his throat as corded thighs launched him forward in a leap, landing squarely across the others back, fangs latching onto the left side of the old man's neck, right behind the jaw.  A bizarre shriek peeled from the old man's jaws as he collapsed, unable to bear Sigmarr's superior weight along his back.  Sigmarr's head thrashed, ripping muscle, vessels and sinew as the other adult males attacked.  Releasing the hold Sigmarr launched himself forward.  The two adults failed to get a grip on him but the big black one tore open the flesh of his right shoulder the smaller brown one opened a wound on his left hip but he barely felt it.  Rage had consumed him that these monsters would dare to hurt a wolf as kind and pure as his brother.   Skidding to a halt next to his brother he glanced at Kass.  "You ok?"  Ice blue gaze turned to the three whelps but all was silent as they stared at the older wolf in complete shock.  All eyes seemed to be focused on the old man who was lying terribly still, blood pouring out of the wound in his neck.  Good, Sigmarr had shredded the carotid arteries.  The black wolf nudged and licked at the older man but the other did not stir.  He turned his amber gaze to Sigmarr, hate boiling in them like a rabid beast. "Ya killed pa….  YOU KILLED MUH PA!!!" Sigmarr smirked as he snarled his answer. "Your pa' damned himself!  He's now in hell where he belongs and where I'm all to happy to send you, you depraved sack of shit!" That did the trick.  Both the males charged at Sigmarr leaving the exit clear. "Kass run, NOW!"  As the two males moved to attack him from the front the pups moved to attack him from the rear and for all his boasting Sigmarr suddenly knew he wasn't going to leave here.  Even so… he would protect his family to his dying breath, he would protect his brother come hell or high water and if it was to be the earlier… so be it. The brown wolf, being the faster of the pair was the first to leap at the Xanilov male.  Sigmarr's limbs suddenly coiled and as the other leapt Sigmarr pushed himself up and forward with practiced precision.  It was like being in the ring again.  When he'd been forced to battle for entertainment, he blocked everything from his mind… or tried to… Come on Kass…. please live…. please… please be happy, no matter what happens.  Fangs seized around the other males throat in a vice-grip and immediately he thrashed his head, willing himself to end this as quickly as possible, almost daring to hope that he'd make it out alive before the attacks suddenly hit him. The black wolf ripped into the left side of his neck, right in front of his shoulder, the white teen tore into his left thigh, the black teen into his right and the third teen of an earthen color leapt onto his back tearing into the flesh between his shoulder blades as his limbs coiled desperately to take the extra weight.  They tore at his flesh as though they were half starved but Sigmarr did not release his hold on the brown male until the other finally stopped thrashing and hit the ground with a thud.  The black male wrapped his fore limbs around the base of Sigmarr's neck.  More weight. Sigmarr ducked suddenly, limbs coiling sharply as he slipped under the males arms and pushed forward, fangs ripping into the black males belly.  The move caused his own flesh to tear, blood seeping in rivers from the wound in his neck but he'd achieved is goal as the ebony male yowled in pain before flopping onto his side, fangs lashing out and seizing Sigmarr's left wrist in a ferocious bite that caused the delicate bones to fracture, pain rocketing through his head. "Lafayette!" One of the teens, the white one, shrieked at seeing the blow dealt to his kin.  Sigmarr growled in disgust.  This right here was the problem.  How could these wolves care so much for their own family, their kin, their brothers and yet act as if taking Sigmarr's brother from him was as simple as slaying a rabbit.  Did they honestly look at Kassander and not think that he had family that loved him as well?!  Sigmarr choked, barely managing to maintain his grip as he felt fangs pierce his own abdomen, the white teen tearing into the flesh on the left side the black one ripping the flesh on his right.  The brown teen released his grip moving for a new target. Sigmarr wrenched his head sharply to the right, causing enough pain for the black male to release his left foreleg enough that with a mighty push he rolled to the side, once again allowing his flesh to tear, the pain to consume him as he stumbled back to his feet.  Sigmarr's head was swimming, he was loosing too much blood…. limbs shook as he watched the other four wolves get to their feet… dammit.  Shifting his weight to his three good legs he waited. The white teen charged first, aiming a bite for Sigmarr's eyes.  The Xaliov brute twisted his head and caught the other boys' lower jaw in his own, with a push and twist of his upper body he sent the wiry youth tumbling to the side with a satisfying crack and pop as the jaw broke and dislocated sending keening howls of pain echoing through the crypt.  Pain kissed Sigmarr once more as the brown teen latched his jaws around Sigmarr's left forelimb right above the elbow, the lower jaws wrapping around the inside of the limb leaving the throat exposed.  Without a second thought Sigmarr's head dove down latching around the youths throat and with a swift decisive bite he crushed the boys trachea leaving the boy to choke on his own blood.   There was a stab of remorse in his heart but it didn't last long.  For about the time he attacked the brown teen the black teens jaws latched around his left hind leg and severed his achilles tendon.  The moment the brown teens body hit the ground the large black male's right shoulder rammed into Sigmarr's side like a freight train, sending him sprawling on his left side, unable to further support his own weight.  Fangs latched onto his lower side between his hip and ribs, causing a cry of agony to slip from his own lips.  No… no… he wasn't going to give that monster a chance to pursue Kassander.  Twisting in an arc towards his attacker Sigmarr managed to lift himself on his right front leg enough that his fangs latched onto the other males genitalia before a thrash of his head ripped the appendage from the males body sending the other flailing and spasming away from him…. dying. Sigmarr got to his feet, vision blurring as he heard the black teen start to sob. "La…lafayette?…. Ambrose? Alzaphine…. pa?  I'LL KILL YOU DEAD!" The boy charged in a sloppy attack.  Sigmarr managed to throw himself over the boys back and pin the distraught teen to the ground.  He took a moment to look at the carnage around him and the darkness of his mind seemed to recede as he stared at the wailing, sobbing boy beneath him.  For a moment he thought he saw himself.  What would Kassander think of this if he were to walk back down here?  And then… didn't Sigmarr have the right to defend himself and his family?  Even if one of the wolves he'd slain was younger than himself?  Sigmarr lowered his fangs to the boy's ear and spoke calmly and solemnly. "The darkness of your kin sealed their fates and dragged them to their deaths… not I… had you not sought to kill my brother… I would not have needed to kill yours or do you think your lives and your loved ones are some how… more valid… than mine?" Sigmarr struggled for breath as he gazed for a moment at the ebony teen and then at the pallid one hunched sobbing in the corner. "I could kill you here boy…. take your sibling and get out of here.  Learn to lead lives of peace and understanding or suffer in the dark depravity like your family."  Sigmarr got off the child, watching dimly as the boy skittered over to his brother and both fled deeper into the crypt.  Sigmarr wondered if there were more of them down here though it seemed unlikely since no one else seemed to show despite all that ruckus. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Slowly, painstakingly Sigmarr emerged from the crypt, barely conscious as he collapsed outside the entrance.  A slight shiver ran through his body. "K-Kass?"  He couldn't see, all his sense seemed dull, everything in the world seemed to be fading into a haze. "I love you…you're… strong and kind, a… better wolf…than I ever…. tell… Sindri…. I really am…. sorry….." Final breath leaving in an apology he slipped away into the autumn air, rustling through the blood-stained leaves, traveling on the wind. "Speech"

He was dead. He was dead and there was no way out, and all because he'd been so, so stupid, so naive. He was going to die alone in this dank, smelly hole in the ground and it was all his own fault. He stared into the grinning, shrieking faces of the half-grown pups and knew this was the end. The expressions changed, shifted just the slightest bit and he braced himself for the teeth he knew would tear into him. But there were no teeth, and as he whipped his head around the sudden stench of fresh blood struck him even as the form of his brother skidded to a halt beside him. "Sigmarr!" he gasped. His brother had a fierce look to him that Kassander had never seen, a wildness. Some indefinably feral quality. "I... I'm all right." He swallowed dryly as a shocked silence fell for a moment over the group before a shrieking cry of anger and grief rose and both of the adults leaped forward. Kassander flinched, but both males dove for Sigmarr. Sigmarr cried out for him to run even as the pups leaped into the fray. Kass' legs coiled under him not to run, but to disobey, intending to jump in and pull the closest wolf off his brother... but his legs froze as his gaze met the face of a wolf barely older than a child. He couldn't force himself to move, couldn't will his fangs to sink into that young boy's flesh even to simply pull him away. He could not bring himself to harm a child, and as he froze he panicked. His breathing came in short, choppy pants. Black crept in on the edges of his vision, stained red with the blood that flowed from the wolves grappling in front of him. And he broke. Unthinkingly, he bolted for the exit like the coward he knew he was. He sprinted away from the hole for a few strides before he regained control and skidded to a halt to turn and face the entrance once more. But he couldn't make himself return to the fight. Until Sigmarr dragged his broken body from the crypt and Kassander sprang forward with a cry. "Sigmarr!" Sigmarr's faint words rang in his ears as Kassander threw himself into trying to stem the flow of blood. A distant part of him, the experienced healer, whispered that he was too far gone, that it was too late. But Sigmarr was his brother and Kassander was desperate. "No, Sigmarr," he sobbed, trying despairingly to put pressure on dozens of wounds when he had so few paws to do so. "You'll pull through this, you always do, you're the strongest of all of us. You're the best and the bravest and... Sigmarr!" The younger boy had fallen silent and motionless. No breath moved his chest, and Kassander felt his own chest constrict. "Sigmarr! Don't leave me!" A sharp howl of despair tore from his throat. Kassander clung to his brother's motionless body, pained keening barely audible as he pressed his face against Sigmarr's blood soaked pelt. ""

She had yet to leave the east to meet back with her cousin and his protege. She'd found herself more often than not ghosting around the borders of Ebony, watching over Raisa's pups from a distance - some small intuition, a gentle touch from Freyja bidding her to wait there a while. Perhaps it was that same intuition that sent her ranging farther west this evening. She'd been stalking a rabbit when a heartbroken wail wove through the land. Alarm shot through her at the sound - Kassander Xanilov's voice - and she raced with some urgency to seek him out. Long before she could see him, the metallic tang of blood fouled her senses. Below it a familiar scent. Sigmarr's scent. Her cool gaze took in the tableau and grief lightly brushed against her. Oh, no... not Sigmarr. Her eyes closed on the pain, but opened again quickly. He'd died a good death, it seemed, and no one lived forever. "Kassander?" she voiced quietly, surprisingly gently.

Kassander curled around Sigmarr's limp form, clung desperately to him, keening his grief into the blood-stained pelt of his only brother. Wrenching sobs wracked his body until... a voice spoke his name gently and, gulping, he forced his head up to stare at the speaker. "Katja?" he asked in a voice gone hoarse. He stared at her uncomprehendingly for a moment before his gaze dropped once more to the quiescent form in his arms. He felt suddenly drained, empty, as though the viking's sudden appearance had suddenly removed from him the grief. It was still there, but a step removed, as though he were temporarily cocooned from it. He spoke in a dull voice, as much to himself as to the silent woman. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't been so stupid and trusting Sigmarr would never have needed to save me. If I hadn't been so weak and afraid I could have saved him. You were right, Katja. I'm not fit to lead Ebony. All I have ever caused as alpha has been death and heartache. All Ebony has ever brought my family is death and heartache!" The last was said on a sharp snarl that faded as quickly as it came. He raised his head to the viking's silver gaze once more, his expression lost and hurt, bewildered in his grief. "I don't want it anymore, Katja. I don't want it."

The boy's sudden outpouring of pain and grief wasn't completely unexpected. She'd been around death and violence her whole life, but her time as a mercenary had brought her into contact with all sorts of wolves, and more than once had she been privy to wolves experiencing the shock of loss for the first time. She stood silent and still, letting him speak without interruption, until he finally tapered to a halt. Pacing forward she seated herself by the taller male's side. Leaning down she pressed her cheek against Sigmarr's forehead a moment, before lifting her head to stare at Kassander. "He wasn't a child, Kassander. He made his choices, as you made yours - you are not to blame for what happened tonight. He died a good death. He will feast with Odinn this night." She brushed her nose against his shoulder with quiet sympathy. "Grief is wasted on the dead, Kassander. They have no need of it, and your brother would not thank you for blaming yourself."

He listened to her words, his head drooping, and he selfishly wanted to reject them. He wanted to wallow in his guilt and misery, damn it, and all she was doing was making him feel even more confused and lost. He just wanted his brother back. He wanted this day to have never happened. He wanted... he wanted his family to be free from the burden that Ebony had become. "I want you to take Ebony," he said in a rush. "I can't do this anymore - I can't keep putting my family through all the pain that pack and it's stupid name has caused them. It killed my ancestors, it broke my mother, it set my sisters against each other.. and now.." His voice broke and he went silent. "Will you help me bury my brother?" he asked in a very small voice.

As Kassander's words tumbled out a faint frown formed on the viking's muzzle. This was... unexpected. When she'd badgered him some time ago about his unsuitability for alphaship she had wanted him to pass the pack on to one of his siblings who would be more suited to the task... not offer it to her. This, perhaps, was what she had been sent here for as much as a chance to mourn the loss of her own protege. She dropped her gaze to Sigmarr's face... wishing she'd gotten there sooner. That she'd never left. But she hadn't, and she had left, and like she'd told Kassander, there was no use crying over it. "If that is what you want," she said cautiously, "I will take alphaship of your pack. It will not be Ebony - I would leave that name and that legacy to rest until a Xanilov wishes to take up the mantle once more." He asked if she'd help bury Sigmarr, and she nodded, standing. It made her feel old, as though she ached in all her joints, to have outlived the child she'd seen born. He'd died so very young... "We should bring him home to rest on Ebony land, as does my sister."

"It is what I want," he said fervently. "I don't want my family to have to carry the burden any more. You can do whatever you want with it." He took a deep breath, feeling like a great weight had been released. That was it - he was no longer an alpha. He was free to be just a healer, just a brother... to grieve. "I will carry him," he said grimly. His fault. His. He'd gotten his brother killed. His own stupidity, his own weakness.

He wiggled his way under Sigmarr's limp body until his larger brother laid over his shoulders in a fireman carry. Katja was by his side as he carefully stood to balance his precious burden. I'm sorry, Sigmarr, he cried silently to his silent brother. I screwed up. I'm so sorry. With another deep breath, with Katja beside him, he set out slowly for Ebony's lands. Yfir's lands. No longer his territory, but he would make certain Sigmarr's body rested in the lands he'd grown up in.