The Art of Fire (Settin' Fires)

[Njack]

Ene grinned, a stick in each paw. She'd had an idea, a brilliant idea. Many of the others were away, no one would even know she had done anything.

And it was meant to be that way. No praise, no reward... but the burning of the land before her.

It was funny, really. Ever since she'd escaped from that fire that she'd caused, it kept nagging at her mind. That acrid smoke, the way the fire consumed everything before its path.

It could be turned into a weapon.

She struck the twigs together, once, twice. It could take a while, but she was fairly certain there was no one else around. Once they lit, there was plenty of dead kindling around to burn. And then the raging fire would sweep forth...

Why was she doing this? Was she really that fanatical for Blood Mist, to wish fiery death upon their enemies? No. Not really.

The fire called though, and she briefly thought, before the twigs finally lit, how fire did not discriminate.

Neither would she. The fire would soon spread beyond her control. She was merely its creator.

Ene dropped the flaming twigs and watched as the fire blossomed into an inferno, slowly at first, but then faster and faster.

Then she ran.

[Sivoncé™]

Crouched low in a hunter's prowl, Solaris stalked the rabbit with practiced precision. The creature had no idea he was there -- no inkling to his presence whatsoever. Slowly, he drew himself silently forward until he was ready for the final pounce. He bunched back on his hind legs, building up the power to spring. An instant before he made the kill, the rabbit sprinted from its place and away into the forest. Solaris stood, eyes flitting around the surrounding woodland.
That's strange...I swear I didn't make a sound....
A foul odor tainted the air. Sluggishly, dark mist filtered through the area. The eyes of the black brute widened with realization.
"FIRE!" he howled, praying to Twilight his packmates would hear his howl. "FIRE, THERE'S FIRE!" He turned and darted towards the camp.

[Destiny]

Back at camp, Pyre awoke with a sharp thud of his head against some other wolf. Having spent so many moons in the, well, 'wilderness', shall we say, his sleep had become permanently light. Grasping the distant shouts, he allowed for a moment of chewing on them until his mind could make sense of it - fire? Bolting from his nest, and stumbling over several bodies in his mad rush to get outside, he picked up the howl, making sure everyone in the camp was awake.

Selia, though she had not heard Solaris, was awoken by Pyre, and after several moments of confusion hauled herself up, tried to rouse the other neophytes, and then raced in the direction of the nursery. Though they were not good friends, they were young, and she shoved herself halfway inside. "Everett! Ashlyn! September! Ashmil! FIRE!" With that, she felt a tug on the scruff of her neck; Pyre had grabbed her, and was dragging her in the direction of the main camp entrance. After several moments of struggle she succumbed, and the two bolted off into the forest.

[featherswift]

Her ears bolted up at the heart wrenching scream of danger. Fire! Featherswift jolted awake and complained as Pyre ended up stumbling over her form. However, she got up and ran out of the den, her senses alert. Solaris entered the camp in a frantic run and the sight of a glowing forest made her heart beat just as fast. Noticing that not all the wolves were up, she swept up her maw and howled as loud as she could a warning for her pack. The sheer booming howl was powerful enough to wake anyone up, just what she wanted.

Looking around at the now running Sheerans, she noticed Selia screaming into the nursary. Pyre dragged her form away and into the forest, into safety. Dread filled her at the thought of the pups being left here to die in the suffocating smog and fire. Taking on the 'hero' role not by chose, she ran towards the nursery and barked for the pups to come out.

"Come on, we have to get out of here. Now hurry," she said in the calmest voice she could produce in the terrifying circumstances. The idea of her body getting burned from the outside in terrified her, but she kept as calm as she could for the good of the pups.

[Sivoncé™]

It must've been strange for Featherswift, saving Winter's offspring from a forest fire; in the last forest fire, she'd killed their mother. Of course, Everett and Ashlyn remained pitifully unaware of this.

Ashlyn and Everett stumbled out of the nursery in a daze, their young eyes wide and fearful. Immediately, the smoke induced them to cough. Ashlyn blinked helplessly up at Featherswift.
"What's happening? What do we do?"

As Solaris streamed into the camp, his heart sunk as he saw that, already, the flames were soaring through it. Thankfully, Featherswift was seeing to it that the pups were out of the nursery. He eyes scanned the camp, fearful of the number of faces he'd yet to see fleeing the flames.
"Kasie? Milo? September?" He turned back to Featherswift.
"We should go to the Twilight Lake, we'll be safest by the water."

[Acacia]

September searched her ward Ashmil. She little she wolf soon was spotted bounding near the flame. September sprinted to snatch up her little fool and skidded into a patch of flames turning to protect the pup. A sharp searing pain shot through her body. /Dallas please be somewhere safe./ The she wolf thought as she ran to find an exit.

Kasie Stepped out of her den and the site before her eyes scorched not just the land but her heart. “EVERYONE, TO THE TWILIGHT CLEARING!” She howled loud and strong. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she witnessed September skidding into flames. She could see the pain on her pack member was experiencing. Yet she continued with the pup in her mouth. The wolf was definitely a brave warrior. She moved to lead her pack to safety.

Stardust cried out for her brother. He was missing in the time of danger. Her howl choked as she followed her alpha confused as to where to go from here. She just hoped he would make it to the clearing. If he could find it that is, she had never been outside of her pack territory herself.

Navaeh nosed the crying she wolf in the direction that she needed to be. She was silent knowing that some wolves would not make it out of this alive. They would burn or dye from smoke filling their lungs.

[Njack]

Knot bit his lip. "It's spreading," he muttered to himself. "The fire's spreading and it doesn't look like it'll stop."

The safety of his packmates was foremost, though. A lot of wolves had disappeared, and he wasn't entirely sure who was still left in the camp. Like Luma; who knew where she'd gotten off to since the failed rescue all those moons ago...

He ran up to Featherswift, who looked like she was escorting some pups. "Need help? We'll all need to get out of here pretty soon..." Knot turned to Solaris. "Who's unaccounted for?"

Knot kept the panic out of his voice. What he was feeling did not need to be broadcasted - it'd just make the others panic more, and that was unnecessary. It could even be dangerous.

[featherswift]

Saving the pups was the utmost thought in her mind, even though flashes of Winter's death kept entering her mind as she looked at her pups. Was she always to be plagued by the nightmares? A saying she'd once heard seemed like it answered the question for her: the first is always hardest. Featherswift wasn't going to kill another life or watch one die right now so she kept her face composed and pushed the thought away. Like Knot, she was thinking for the good of the pack because to panic now or yell in defiance to the Blood Mist that had made her commit such violence would only cause more trouble.

Finally, Ashlyn and Everett came out of the den, coughing as the smoke began to enter the clearing. Solaris suddenly appeared, calling out pack mate names before instructing her on what to do. She nodded and then turned her attention back to the nursery. Featherswift's eyes began to water, but she answered the question. "We need to get to the Twilight Clearing. There's fire," she calmly barked. Inhaling smoke, she coughed violently and quickly pushed her body to the floor so she could breathe. The fire was just coming too darn fast. "Keep your mouth and noses to the ground," she instructed. She scanned the area for any escaping wolves and found the two pups she had been missing. Relief washed over her as other wolves took charge of them and ran out. Now she had to get these two.

Kasie howled the instructions for the pack and Knot appeared asking if she needed help. "Actually, yes. Help me make sure their following. I don't want them to get lost. We can't carry them because we and them wouldn't be able to breathe," she said as she began to walk out of the clearing with her tail flicking for them to follow. "We have to go, follow me," she sang to the pups, again making sure the panic wasn't there. It was however, setting in. Her fur was on end and she fought her instinct to raise her hackles in fear. Red was filling her vision as fire alighted nearby trees. Golden One, protect us!

With that, the troupe and her moved out towards safetly, not knowing what awaited.

[Sivoncé™]

Solaris took off towards the Twilight Clearing, leading the way towards the safety of the lake.

Ashlyn and Everett stumbled fearfully towards the camp exit, eyes squinted against the grit of the ashes. The pups whimpered as they were forced to leave their home. There was no telling whether or not there would be anything left for them to return to when all was said and done.

(sorry for the crappy post, I didn't really have much else to do here but get my wolves out xD )

[[[šσul•rεaþεr]]]

"Everett! Ashlyn! September! Ashmil! FIRE!"

At first, he didn't budge. His name wasn't spoken. Then he registered the word "fire." Kichigai lifted his head slowly, watching everyone run. Everything was dark and fuzzy, the voices of the other pack members were muffled and panicked. The orange and white pup tried to make sense of the situation at hand. Where was everyone going? What was happening. Then, again, the word "fire" hit his ginger ears. This time, however, the meaning of the word became clear to Sheeran pup. "Fire" meant danger, and danger meant he had to run. Kichigai jolted of his nest at the sudden realization. He whipped his head around, searching in vain for the other pups. He had seen a female take them out of the den, but he didn't know where to. He peeked out of the den, searching for familiar pelts. He caught sight of what seemed to be another wolf, but it had turned out to be more smoke. He was scared now. Where were uncle and father? He wanted to cry. He wanted to scream out his fear to the world. But he wasn't going to do that. What would father think of him if he were to start bawling at such a crucial moment? The pup could already hear his father's gruff voice chastising him for his weakness.

But Kichigai was terrified, running out of the den and into the clearing, searching wildly for a helping hand. He had no idea where the exit was, or if it was even safe to use it. He couldn't see any fire at this point, but the smoke was overwhelming. He coughed as the bitter air entered his throat. He couldn't take this anymore. He opened his mouth to scream for someone, anyone, to help him. Nothing. He coughed again, tears brimming in his mismatched eyes, threatening to spill over. He tried to shout again, this time managing a drawn-out croaking sound. He gave up on screaming, instead listening for the sound of others. Kichigai could hear the muffled pawsteps of other wolves, but he couldn't make out where they were coming from. The orange pup gave up, laying down on the ground and whimpering. The tears spilled out of his blue and green eyes, soaking his cheeks in the warm liquid. "Help....." He whimpered to no one in particular.

[[Oh my god am I late with this. Oh well. Sorry if it seems dramatic, but in my mind, there is no way a pup Kichigai's age would be able to escape a burning camp without the help of an older wolf.]]