Today was a wonderful day. Why, one might ask? Well, today was Reed's birth day. It had suddenly struck her that somehow, she had known which season she was born. It gave her a sense of hope, that eventually she might remember more and more. The memories were still inside her mind, she knew. It was proven to her when she'd recalled her familiar, Pip, when she had been with Eon. Maybe she just needed more time to remember them. Or maybe she needed others to help her.
As much as she enjoyed the open sea breeze that the ocean shores offered, Reed was beginning to grow bored of living off crustaceans and sea snails. Some of the fruits on the trees yielded sweet juice she eagerly lapped when she found a ripe one had fallen, but she found herself growing thirstier and thirstier for fresh spring water. So, Reed had made herself a promise for her birth day. She promised herself that she'd locate a nice fresh source of water somewhere inland, and she would procure something to eat besides crabs, clams, oysters and the like. Something that bled red.
Off in search of such spoils of plunder, Reed picked a direction and stayed true to it in her travels, taking her straight north into the swamp lands. Awful at navigation by land, she missed the signs that told her to go west for better lands and thus walked further and further into the cypress groves and underbrush, crossing from shallows to shallows and seeking out dry lands when she could. By the time she'd traveled from the ocean shores to her current location in the swamp, the sun had started to set in the distance. She'd succeeded in neither of her endeavors thus far, and her outlook for doing so was turning sour. "Ughhhhhhhhh" Reed groaned loudly as she tugged extra hard to pull her paws from the muck they had been sucked down into. "I'm so sick of this swamp!" As she spoke, her speech was muddled as she gripped her long dagger between her jaws and swiped at vines and foliage as it impeded her path. "I just," she huffed, "wanted to eat"huff"something besides" she puffed again, "FREAKING SNAILS!"
It was just another day of wild games and adventure for Huckleberry. For several days now, the idea of the swamp had invaded his mind. It started when he had overheard one of the elders telling old stories by the campfire where he'd been staying. It had been an old panther, weaving some tall-tale of the golden days when he stalked the bayou, wrestled with alligators, and strangled snakes for necklaces. Huckleberry's eyes had come alite, wide with wonder and curiosity in the dim light of the fire as he listened. It sounded amazing! But the swamp was no place for youngsters, the old panther had added on quickly, sternly telling Huck that he should stay clear of the deep mud and thick muck of the swamp. "There's dangerous critters out there," the panther had warned. But Huck paid no mind. He'd barely made it till morning with hardly a wink of sleep before he'd grabbed a small knapsack of snacks and belongings and headed off toward the swamp. He wanted to see an alligator!
So now here he was, wading through mud that came up to his knees and ducking his head under hanging moss and vines as he wandered around. The thick reeds around the water parted with a swoosh-swoosh noise as he pushed through. But still he hadn't seen an alligator. The water was too murky to just stick his head in (and he would know because he had already tried that at least twice before giving up on that method), but there didn't seem to be any sign of gators on the shore. He let out a little angry huff as he moved up to a sturdier piece of land and sat down for a moment to catch his breath and think of a plan.
"FREAKING SNAILS!"
A voice cried out and at first Huck wasn't sure if it was just another bird-call echoing through the trees and water. Nope, he'd definitely heard the word 'snails' in there somewhere. Getting to his feet, he scampered off toward the sound. It was in an area of thicker vegetation and even he had to push through the vines that pulled around his neck and shoulders as he tried to make his way through. He made no attempt to hide his approach, between the sound of branches snapping and the "sshhhhlop" sound of mud being flung around when he walked.
"Did someone say 'Snails?'" He asked curiously as he heard a commotion ahead. This must have been who he heard! He pushed through the last bit of leaves to see a brown wolf holding a knife in her mouth. Or was it a dagger? A short-sword? He wasn't sure on the specifics of such things, but it sure did look cool! And she even had a bandana around her neck. A sword. A bandana... and it even had a skull and crossbones. Huck paused for a moment, tipping his head to the side. "ARE YOU A PIRATE?" he blurted out with excited enthusiasm.
Reed continued to huff and puff her way through the thick muck of the swamp until she heard a crashing sound in the underbrush nearby. It was faint at first off in the distance. Ok. That was good. It meant that whatever was making such noise wouldn't find her stuck knee-deep in the thick, stinky muck. Only as she listened, she noticed that the sound was coming towards her, and quickly at that. Caught like a wolf mid-hunch, Reed started to panic as the sound came closer and closer. Her paws pulled at the muck harder, nearly yanking each leg to free it. She wasn't sure what was coming and she wasn't necessarily afraid of what it might be, but rather, she didn't like that her paws were rooted and she couldn't move at her own will. She knew she could keep whatever it was at bay with her dancing skill, but only if she could free herself.
Another two yanks and louder "HNGGGSS" later, Reed pulled exceptionally hard as the sound closed in just in time to fall flat face first in the muck. When she quickly pulled herself back out of the muck, her entire face, neck, chest and shoulders were absolutely covered in the stinky mud. Her dreads were hardly discernible as they hung like large lumpy balls of mud from her head. Before her stood a handsome looking wolf, but not like she'd ever seen before. He had long golden hair, but it wasn't just atop his head like hers was. It was all over. "I did" Reed claimed as she answered his question with a smile and slight groan. Stupid snails. They were the reason why she was in this mess to begin with!
Then suddenly the other wolf blurted out a second question to her, one that made Reed pause as she tried to get back to her paws. Currently she was sat in the mud, having given up on freeing herself from it's grasp for the time being. Pirate, the other wolf had said. Reed knew what a pirate was, but she couldn't remember a time of being a pirate herself. Though she had waken up in the bottom of a sunken ship... but there was no proof that the ship was a pirate ship. Reed's smile lowered into a slight frown. "I'm not sure. I don't remember a lot of things. But... I suppose I could be! I do know how to use this dagger!" Even through her stumble and each of her words, she spoke with the dagger in her mouth, completely unaware that it was making it hard to understand all of her words clearly. "Who'r you? I'm Reed Blackpaw." She felt like there used to be more to her name, but what it might have been, she didn't know.
When the woman's smile turned into a frown, Huck wondered if maybe he had offended her. Was pirate not the correct term? Maybe he was supposed to say privateer or swashbuckler? Rogue? Sailor? His mind was swirling with questions and curiosities when she answered. She didn't know if she was a pirate? How could that be? Huck kept his head cocked to the side with a puzzled look on his face. Not being able to remember seemed like a good enough answer. He'd heard of folks waking up with bad memories or no memory at all for that matter. Maybe she was one of those ones! "But... I suppose I could be! I do know how to use this dagger!" Her next words distracted him from his questions and he stamped his feet excitedly.
"Whoah!" he said with a tone of amazement and wonder as he enamored at her dagger. He hadn't even really noticed or cared how her words slurred together while she tried to talk with it in her mouth. He supposed that was a skill in itself too! His tail began wagging quickly and he paused only for a moment when she introduced herself. "Well I'm Huckleberry Stone, but folks just call me Huck, so I guess you can too. S'nice to meet yah Reed Blackpaw." Meeting a possible pirate was almost as exciting as finding a gator!
"So where'd you get your dagger? Did you make it? Or steal it from a bandit? or or... did you have to kill a guy for it?" He spoke quickly with childish curiosity, leaning in and whispering the last part in a half giggle as though it was a secret. "I don't have anything fancy like that myself. Just some shiny rocks and stuff... but I was hoping to get something cool like an alligator skull or maybe some teeth. But all them gators are being sneaky today I reckon. I haven't seen one today!" He let out a huff and stomped his foot in the mud, his face wrinkling into an expression of frustration and disappointment.
'Huckleberry Stone' the other wolf quickly and eagerly shared with her. He even went so far as to give her a nickname to call her by, which Reed eagerly nodded along to and accepted. "Nice to meet ya too, Huck!" she quickly echoed with rising and matching excitement. Her frown was disappearing and was being replaced with a smile quickly all thanks to Huck. So, when he dove into more questions she didn't know the answer to, a frown didn't creep up again. Instead, her mind tried and tried to recall the answer to anything he asked.
"I uh" she stammered in response, using the moment where he told her about his rocks and his desire to hunt for gator accessories to quickly try to come up with something that seemed like a reasonable answer. His giggle of hushed whispers encouraged Reed's mind. "Well I uh," she started again, finally standing back up and wiggling herself free from the mud at last. She shook and sent clumps flying, then at last reached around to sheath her dagger on her side.
"Well!" she started anew, lifting her legs and shaking each of them off in turn, first doing the front legs, then the back. "You see this dagger here? It isn't any ordinary dagger." She leaned in just like how Huck had before and matched his same enthusiasm and tone, "It's a named dagger. It's called, well, I probably shouldn't even say it's name" She pulled away, feigned looking around to see if anyone else was nearby to hear them, then leaned in closer to whisper while giggling herself, "but I'll tell you if you promise to keep it a secret. Deal?" She didn't wait for a response before she fed him the information, "It's called Silencer, the Tideturner" Just as casually as she had leaned in, she leaned away again and resumed her normal tone to continue with her story. "It's said that someone with this dagger wields the power of the storms and winds. It's highly sought after, and there's nothing else like it in the entire entire world" She added the second entire while emphasizing the word to prove a point. "I had to wrestle some real scallywags to keep it out of monster's paws. Could you imagine what someone could do with this thing? That's why I have to watch over it carefully."
As she finished her tall tale, she readjusted herself to stand proudly, no, heroically, to put emphasis on how seriously she took her self-assigned job. "If you're looking for gators, I seen some back south where I came from. The water runs better there, and there's less mud to deal with." Tyr she could do without the mud. "I could help ya look if ya want? Watch your back in case one of 'em gets all 'ornery. They probably won't like giving you their skull or teeth."
Huck squinted a bit as little lumps of mud and grime went flying when Reed took to shaking her legs off one by one. "You see this dagger here? It isn't any ordinary dagger." When she leaned in, Huck's tail froze with anticipation. His ears pricked forward and he leaned in equally close, tiling his ear toward Reed's mouth to allow her to share whatever secret information she might have. He wanted to know so badly now! It wasn't an ordinary dagger?! That meant it was something special! When she offered to tell him the secret, he nodded quickly and his legs wiggled up and down in the mud as he tried to contain his excitement at being included in the information. "Uh huh, I promise," he wispered in agreement, wiggling closer still and putting his butt down to the ground in a sit so he could more aptly pay attention.
"It's called Silencer, the Tideturner"
"Whoaoooooh" he whispered as Reed's words started weaving an imaginary story in his mind about this legendary blade. He imagined one hundred foes falling at the end of the dagger - their battle cries silenced forever and one lone survivor sneaking away to tell the tale. 'It was the silencer.' That survivor would whisper in the dark corners of taverns and alleyways to anyone who would listen. 'The Tideturner felled one thousand monsters at the battle of blackwood!' another would say. "Scallywags....." he whispered again in amazement as his eyes nearly glazed over with imagination. This lady must have been a real warrior! A hero maybe! But definitely an adventurer if she had such an important dagger like that. And on top of that: she had to keep it away from evil-doers. She was definitely an adventurer.
Huckleberry lifted his bottom from the ground, his tail resuming its excited wag when Reed spoke of alligators. He'd almost forgotten the alligators! It was hard to focus on something like that when you were face to face with someone so amazing like this. "Really?!" he replied, his voice returning to normal volume. "Gosh that sounds like a lot of fun! And with your - " he coughed, looking around to make sure nobody was listening before whispering - "... special dagger..." - his voice returning to normal "... I bet we could make quick work of a gator. By golly we'll just have to yank those teeth out by force if they don't wanna give'em to us." He stepped back from Reed allowing her some room to move and hopped over behind her where her trail in the mud led. He assumed south was that way since she said it was the way she'd come from.
"Last one there's a gators lunchbox!" he called in a teasing voice before pushing off through the brush again, following the trail through the mud that Reed had left.
It seemed that Huck bought her made-up story easily enough, and inwardly Reed let out a sigh of relief, grateful that he hadn't questioned her any further. In fact, he seemed to buy the story a little bit too much. She started to worry and wonder if he'd be telling others about the dreadlock wolf he'd found stomping through the swamp muds with a special named dagger. If he did, would she be ok with him continuing her lie? 'Yes' she answered with little hesitation. As Huck moved to give her space, she shook herself once more and turned to lead him back along the path she had made on the way here. However, as he mentioned yanking teeth out of an unwilling alligator, Reed began to wonder if he had the wrong idea.
He stepped forward into the underbrush, shouting back at her, and she watched as his long, golden hair started to push through the foliage ahead. There she lingered, frowning. He didn't really mean he'd go on and yank the teeth out of the poor gators, did he? That sounded awfully painful and mean just to gather something nice to have... Maybe she just had to clear the air with him.
Clearing the frown from her muzzle, Reed leapt forward to catch up with the other wolf. "Wait!" she called after him, her sword and dagger jangling on her side noisily as she pushed through the brush herself, her paws slipping from time to time in the slick muds. Heck this swamp! "I uh," she started, her voice still raised as she tried to scramble and catch up. She wasn't made for this! She was brawny and thick, after all, not lean and agile. Her thick fur snagged on every twig and stick that reached out towards her. Despite her struggles, she managed to reach Huck and when she did, she panted out "Wait", repeating herself a second time. This was important! They needed to be on the same page. She didn't bother taking a second to catch her wind and instead continued on past her heavy breaths. "I don't think... that's very nice...yanking their teeth out... by force." She didn't want to make quick work of a gator with her dagger. The dagger was meant to stop evil, not to be used to take things that belonged to others just because. Reed understood the cycle of life and her part in it as a predator, but that didn't give her the right to cut up a gator's face for another wolf's satisfaction. That would make Huck the monster here. "We should just ask them." she suggested as her panting calmed down. She tossed her head, reshuffling the dreads that hang around her face. "I'm sure they'll be happy enough to oblige us." Being nice went a lot further than being mean, she had learned in life. Too bad most of that lesson had been taught to her while she was sheltered and safe as a youth.
