Amber Dusk

[Gauta Firstflame]

The trek towards the Beacon was slow, especially after Gauta found more villages in the warmer parts of the realm. She decided to let the deserted ones stand unburnt, and from local voices Gauta learned that the ones still inhabited were not going to remain so for very long. Hundreds, if not thousands of beasts were moving South, and the Firstflame was leading one of all too many swelling groups.

It was another five days before Gauta reached the first signs of the Beacon, and by then night was already a mere hour away. The sun hung behind the fisher like a smoked bird, ready to drop beyond the heights to the west. Kastor's walls prevented her from peering inside the city even from the hills outside, and the only thing that caught her eyes was farmland and a mass of tents outside them.

In minutes Gauta was able to get everybeast walking into the space before the tents, and found that her paws were drenched in muddy water. "Blasted floods," she remarked to herself as she waded through the waterlogged soil.

All around the Firstflame were beasts struggling to make their way through the mud. There were moles from the eastern cities and the odd rodent or mustelid, but the closer to the gates Gauta walked the more wolves she saw.

She could hear Welk's voice next to her. "What are they doing here, in these tents? I thought they all lived north."

"Prey's getting scarce," replied a wolf, far thinner than what Gauta remembered her to be. "Ice is melting. We had to evacuate."

"Ryka..." Gauta mused. "You're not doing well."

"Better than Skuvi. She disappeared on her last hunt." Ryka shook her head. "We were as close as sisters can be, and now-"

"Remember her," said the Firstflame. "Let your memories of those you have lost burn bright within your soul, and ignite the fire of luminance."

"I-"

"Don't you see? Beyond the Veil lies nothing but more cold and more hunger and more suffering. Nobeast can bear this hurt without help, and we can't let Skuvi suffer for longer than she should, can we?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't let Skuvi fade across the Veil!" Gauta clasped a paw around her heart. "Remember her! Hold her close to you!"

"Firstflame," said Welk. "I know you are tired. Allow me to handle this. You should find a way to gain entry into the Beacon."

Gauta nodded. "Thank you, Welk. Stay warm, my friend."

Weaving around the tents took Gauta some time, but eventually Stia was able to locate the entrance to the first wall. The fisher made her way through a final stretch of mud before she was halted by a guard, a scowling raccoon with a steel-tipped spear. "Oh great, another one." he rolled his eyes before they directed themselves at Gauta, but not before a glance was shot towards his colleagues. "I've already told you twice - the Beacon's full. Stay in Hope."

A fox standing next to the guard snorted at the fisher. "If you do not understand, it'll be fine." She tossed a knife into the air, letting it spin around in the air before its hilt landed smoothly into her paw.

"Now, now," said a third guard, a squirrel with a smile that reminded her of Ruso, though his voice sounded deeper. "Don't be rude. We haven't seen this face before - most likely a new addition." Moving down from his wooden watchtower he made his way to Gauta, paws lifted up in a little flourish. "I'm sorry, but I don't think you and your family can stay in the Beacon for a bit. It's packed with refugees already, and some of them came here seasons ago."

"It's not my family I'm worried about," replied the Firstflame. Not for a while. "It's just that I have hundreds of followers all guided by the Flame, which has led us here."

"Don't tell me," said the fox. "You're one of those scorched ones."

Gauta nodded. "That's what we are called by the uninitiated."

The squirrel turned away from his comrades. "It's best that I defer this to the Hall. You two stay here and don't do anything stupid." With that said he sprinted into the city and beyond another gate, leaving Gauta to overhear the other two's conversation."

"You think she's the Firstflame dolt?" asked the fox.

"Yeah. Armet's helping to guard the Choir, remember? He told me four seasons ago that a fisher paid them a visit, and she got herself banished from their dwelling."

"Was she dressed like this? Head to toe in red? By the Veil, it's almost like she wants to set herself on fire too."

"Armet never mentioned that, but I think the age matches. Hey, maybe if she is who she claims to be I get some of your bitterberries?"

"If she isn't I get to take what's left of your nuts."

"Agreed."

The two then spent the next few moments talking about that Armet beast, and Gauta stood completely still and wholly bored as the topic of their discussion morphed into the usual youthful infatuations the fisher understood once, long before she decided to become a Rattler. They were about to vulgarly compare their chances when the squirrel returned.

"Kalu, Hilro, move aside. I wish to speak with the Firstflame." The raccoon smiled as the fox scrambled for a sack just next to her while Gauta gave their comrade a good look. For a ground squirrel he was quite short, and his bone armour bore some markings with meanings the fisher had long forgotten. When a paw darted towards her shoulder she quickly moved backwards, earning a bemused chuckle from the Knight. "Don't like being touched?"

Gauta nodded. "Not for some time. What is your name?"

"Oh, call me Ashielf. Friends call me Ash."

"Warmth guide you, Ashielf. I am Gauta Firstflame-"

"No need for introductions, Gauta." Ashielf smirked. "The Emergency Corps has recorded all too much of your deeds, though I must admit you fled beyond our sight for the last few months."

"So do we get to enter the Beacon? I promise our stay will be orderly."

"Well, somewhat. You, singular, are allowed to stay within our walls for the time being."

The fisher could feel her fur tense. "Can you please guarantee my safety? I don't think my entourage would appreciate what's left of me returning to them in a casket."

"Oh, you're overthinking it!" Ashielf giggled. "Nobeast is going to lay a claw on you and get away in it when I'm around. As long as you give us your word as well."

"My word for what?" asked Gauta.

The Knight lifted up three claws and lowered them one after the other. "No arson, no fighting, no messing around with Rattlers. Your followers will be subject to the same rules if we allow them in, but first of all you must agree."

"Very well," replied the Firstflame. "I place myself under your protection."

"Right. Now that's over with, I'll accompany you into the Beacon." Ashielf wrapped a paw around Gauta's back, and this time she wasn't quick enough to avoid the motion. "Do try not to gawk at everything, Firstflame - I know it's quite the sight!"

"I suppose so," replied Gauta. Squirming away would do neither of them good - she would just have to bear with Ashielf.

The Beacon's walls were far taller when the fisher looked at them up close. The grey slate mined from Chandler's Light blocked out most of the light underneath the giant structure, and the fisher could only dream of the effort required to haul all the material from Chandler's Razor, not to mention to actually construct these great barriers.

When Gauta finally made her way across the tunnel Ashielf had to drag her away from standing still with her muzzle open. Farms sprawled between one wall and the next, with a few houses dotting the fields in the distance. Beasts around her were hidden by the mass of wheat as they bent down to pluck weeds away from the soil.

The two walked on for another few as they made their way to the second set of walls, and the Knight answered what few questions the fisher asked. "You see? Different walls are set up to allow beasts of different species to mingle with each other. Works like a charm." "Farms inside the city? To prevent a siege from cutting off food supplies." "Hope's the tents on the outside, followed by Plenty, Care and Hearth, and Duty's in the centre. There's also Filigree, Nourishment, and- oh, you can't remember them all?"

"No," replied Gauta, trying to hide her boredom. "I don't expect myself to."

"You will once you've stayed here for long enough!"

The fisher crossed her arms "How long have you been here then?"

Ashielf pointed a thumbclaw at his chest. "Almost my entire life! It's perhaps the best place a beast could be - there was everything for everybeast if you knew where and how to get it."

"Was?" asked Gauta.

"Was. Too many beasts here. Drives up all the prices. I do not hold it against them - it's a Knight's duty to protect all who cannot protect themselves." The squirrel's ears folded as his head turned towards the fisher. "Do you have one of those?"

"Pardon?"

"Duties. You're the Firstflame, right?"

Gauta nodded. "The Rattlers must have told you much about me."

"Oh, no. We've heard stuff from the Rattlers, but it's mostly my fellow Knights who told me all about you. I must admit I laughed at the times you got into trouble - Maru had to lock you up when you were in Staid Hearth that one time."

"And you're offended?"

"No! Nothing of the sort. I'm curious." The Knight rubbed the back of his head as he took a good look at Gauta from head to tail. "Why do you walk the path you do?"

"I was a Bone Rattler once, all those seasons ago. I was mated to one and was to be a mother to another when the Flame called to me."

"A literal fire?"

Gauta's brows furrowed. "No, a metaphorical one. I realised that dwelling on the dead makes you forget about their lives, their stories. The worlds beyond this one are dark and cold places, and fires have to be lit to warm dead, dark souls, to remind them that the ones who remain here still live for them."

"Would metaphorical fires do this time?"

"It would help if you lit literal ones," answered Gauta, pointing at a line of smoke to the west. "Like that one." She took a few steps before the realisation hit. "Why is a fire lit over there?"

Ashielf looked in the same direction before turning to Gauta. "Funeral pyre."

"Who passed away?"

"Wolves. Two of them. Lodi and Kremil, a pair of mates. Caught something horrible in Hope."

Gauta's head drooped downwards. "I'm sorry for them. Could I go offer them some words?"

The squirrel shrugged. "If it makes you feel better. I've got a few doubts they'll mind."

"Very well," said the Firstflame. "Could you take me there?"

"It's outside the city!"

Gauta turned back towards the way she came. "And?"

"You just entered the Beacon and now you're leaving?"

"Kastor can wait," she replied, feeling her pawsteps quicken. "So can this city - I've seen quite a bit. Cities - they are all the same!"

"Hey! Stop!" Ash sped off back towards the fisher, curling an arm around her neck. "I still have to be with you to stop you from causing trouble, so don't go wandering off somewhere I can't see, alright?"

Gauta managed to pry herself free yet again. "I will not do anything you forbid me to if you stop touching me."

The Knight paused for a moment before he nodded. "Very well." He then muttered to himself about 'the beasts he has to put up with', but the fisher's attention was elsewhere. There is a funeral here, she thought, in the Beacon. Which meant them.

Why in the world do beasts afflict themselves with Bone Rattlers?

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By the time Gauta and Ashielf were outside the walls again the sun had made its way further west, and the pair's shadows stretched back inside the city.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" asked Ashielf, trying to catch up with Gauta, the taller of the two. "Wouldn't you like to go back to your followers?"

"There is no time!" The Firstflame snarled as she pushed herself to go quicker. "The packs could be gone any moment, and bad timing shall not doom my cause!"

"What on earth are you talking about?"

Against her better judgement Gauta paused to catch her breath. "It's the Rattlers. They're going to send the wolf souls away!"

"Away?"

"Don't you see?" Panic drowned the fisher's voice. "Whenever a Rattler conducts a funeral, they cast away the souls of the dead by sending them over the River. A realm where those who have died continue to freeze in suffering, those who have lived continue to drown in worries! Nobeast deserves to suffer like this!"

"Then what would you have us - have yourself do?"

"I'll keep them here. In the world of the unliving. Where they might be able to seek fulfilment one last time before they decide to move on. By their own volition, and not by the arrogant whims of some decrepit skunk!" The Firstflame's fist clenched before it loosened with a deep breath. "Please help me with this. I need all the help I could get."

Ashielf took a few steps backward as his ears folded. "I'll think about it."

"Very well. Let's go."

The mud had not dried much since Gauta was last in the tent-city of Hope, and by the time she found her way out of the muck, curses flowed from Ashielf's mouth in torrents, while Gauta's fuming was far quieter.

When the journey was over, both beasts were surprised by the sheer number of wolves in their way. The fisher was all too eager to shove their way into the centre, but the Knight simply tapped the nearest wolf on the back and showed his credentials. They were quick to part for the pair, and soon the Firstflame was able to take a better look at what was happening.

Two wolves laid side by side on a wooden bier, its edges beginning to catch fire. They looked awfully thin and wrinkled, but too tall to be old. Both wolves were thin - too thin to be healthy. The fisher winced as memories of three kits that once lived and breathed launched into her mind before she shoved them away.

All around her were more wolves, with pelts of white and grey and black. Words buzzed in their midst, and Gauta only managed to hear some snippets about longtusks and ice. Some amongst the wolves were completely stoic, while others were on the verge of tears - but nothing more than that. Wolves did not cry in funerals - Skuvi once told her they never did in front of other wolves, and back then the fisher wondered if they were even able to shed tears at all.

"Hear me, everybeast!" shouted Gauta before she realised that the chattering around her died down almost instantly. Her presence had brought the storytelling to a complete stop.

She could hear a single set of pawsteps behind her steadying - the squirrelknight was still by her side. However, by this time her attention was elsewhere.

Right in front of the crackling flames two Bone Rattlers stood. A wrinkled, well-dressed skunk was in front of his companion, occasionally adjusting his spectacles, and his flowing arm-motions indicated some sort of mastery. A Dancer of impressive talent. I hoped to be one all those seasons ago. Flailed like a kit, I did, and accomplished just as much as the average skunk.

Before she could take a better look at the Dancer she was distracted by the other Rattler, who hung behind the other one like a looming shadow. If Gauta's looks could kill the entire Beacon would have been inundated in corpses. Her voice dripped with venom. "Rellan."

"You are here at last," he snarled, stepping in front of the skunk. A few hollow bones were strung through a piece of rope in front of a simple tunic of black and white - the garb of a high-ranking Singer. A skunk's minion through and through... I didn't miss much. "For four seasons I've tried to find you, and now you approach me instead."

I can't beat the stuffing out of you without coming closer, dimwit. "You were never that great at your job, dear. Still, it's good of you to actually try that... but you never did something on your own initiative unless the Choir told you to."

"Could you two be silent?" asked the grizzled skunk. "I'm trying to take a good look at Lodi and Kremil here."

"Yes, Elder Buran." Rellan quickly nodded. "I'll try to get Gauta to be respectful as well."

The younger fisher crossed her arms "Well, I'm not falling for that trick again. I'm not a Rattler anymore - I need not heed your orders, nor that of your elder."

"You are still a guest, Gauta!" Rellan slammed a footpaw onto the ground, earning some gasps from the wolves behind her. "You will treat us with the respect we deserve."

"Believe me, I'm already doing that. How could you expect to deal with the living when future corpses are all you see in them?"

Ashielf patted the fisher on the back. "Firstflame, please-"

"You Rattlers only gaze upon the dead and the dying, preparing them for the journey into the next life, while completely throwing that of the living to the side. Life comes before death, and we have to take care of the former first. The living take precedence over the dead!"

"Says the beast who abandoned her mate and kit to chase some abstract concept." Rellan's ears folded and his whiskers tensed. "Flame this, fire that. Bonn left me without a trace and don't for a single day think you aren't to blame!"

The light within Gauta's eyes vanished. "Gone? What do you mean by 'gone'? Tell me!"

Rellan nodded. "I came here to find him, and I found somebeast else. A shunned Rattler who has forgotten her roots and failed to grow new ones."

"I told you I am no-" Gauta's eyes widened as she felt a chill overtake her. Clutching a paw above her heart, she caught sight of the older rattler suddenly leaping up and wincing.

"Lodi's resisting," said Rellan as he turned towards the Elder. "She's becoming malignant - I can hear her."

I'm dead... no! No! I must live! Live to feed the pack, live to feed Kremil!

Buran shook his head. "If one turns, then the other follows! Be on your guard, Rellan!"

You will not extinguish my mate, skunk!

Rellan shook his head. "It's a bit too late for that, Buran!"

"Enough!" A wolf just beside Gauta emerged from the crowd, an unsheathed claw pointing towards her. "If you keep spoiling this-"

He was interrupted by another wolf with snow-white fur and a red mark atop his face, who simply lifted a paw to silence his companion. "Ferro, no."

We shall remain here!

"But Bahto-"

Through fire, through flood, we shall be together! Always![/i]

"No blood will be shed. Not in front of Lodi, not in front of Kremil."

The white wolf took another step forward and Gauta locked eyes with the Ice Walker, but she turned away almost immediately to look at a panicking Rellan hurrying back to the squirrels. Ashielf put a paw on his sword as Bahto approached further, but all he did was speak, his voice calmer than even Ryka's earlier that day.

"Go home."

You will not tear us apart, Rattlers! Never![/u]/i]

The fisher's gaze hovered on to the Rattlers. Buran's movements turned hectic as he attempted to rein in what was left of Lodi and Kremil, and Gudra "I am Gauta of Gryf's Roost and I am called to the Flame. You have no right to-."

"I am Ferro of Bahto's pack and I am called to ripping whoever infringes upon our traditions into tiny pieces! I have every right to stop you."

Bahto shot his subordinate a glance which made the smaller wolf wilt, then he turned back to a trembling fisher and an apprehensive squirrel. "Leave. Please."

Gauta nodded, and sprintedthrough the mass of wolves, with Ashielf following closely behind. She could feel the voices of the two wolves receding into the faintest screams and the chill in her bones fading as she cursed herself for her inaction. Bonn, when I find you, I'll keep you safe from your father, from the Rattlers, from everybeast. For Lodi, for Kremil and for us.