The First Called by the Beacon

They sounded as though they'd never dealt with snow before, both the tall one and the elf still sending from within the tunnel. Silverthorn looked up at Keleero in disbelief. **Where do you come from, that you're not dressed to go outside?** The open sending was full of open confusion and perhaps even a bit of scorn.

"Perhaps if we search the tunnels, we'll find what brought us here," he added after a moment of consideration. "I start to think it must've been magic." No kind of magic he had ever seen or heard of, not in his own tribe nor in any tale of their ancestors. But he refused to believe that he had been caught in his sleep somehow and transported so far, along with so many strangers, and known nothing of it. The world outside called, yet these two elves who were reluctant to even go out into the open air clearly needed someone more confident with them.

Keleero hesitated in answering Silverthorn's question. Then again, what harm could it do?

"I am from a place called Steepside Mountain," he said after Sunset had sent about her own home - sand and heat, how could anyone live there?! "The forest outside there has trees with leaves, not needles, and the sea is right at the other side of our home. I've never seen this white cold there, only rain." Then again, he'd only been outside a handful of times, after the fall of Elyro.

He gave a nod at Silverthorn's suggestion and led the way into the tunnel, reminding himself to walk and not glide. Showing as few parts of yourself as possible was always the best course of action outside the company of close family.

Inside the cave with the amber orb he spotted the female elf who'd been sending. As expected she looked nothing like a Steepside elf either. The strangeness had almost stopped surprising him.

Almost.

"Excuse me, but what are you holding?" He asked Sunset, looking at the small animal in her arms. Instinct took over and Keleero took off from the ground, floating closer to Sunset with his feet a head's height off the ground. Thankfully the ceiling was high inside the small cave so he didn't smash against it when he took to the air.

Behind Sunset and Keleero the great amber orb's glow began to blink. After a moment a gasp could be heard.

No-Sting stood up and tried to keep her breathing under control. Where was she? Heartbeats before she'd been standing with her feet on a snowy branch, ready to jump down on an unsuspecting crook-horn, Oddspot, her sister and her sister's bond at her side. And now...

At least her sister and their bonds were still there. Oddspot looked just as confused as No-Sting felt, pawing at the stony ground and making upset little murr noises.

~**Swift-Wind, are you hurt?**~ No-Sting lock-sent, before turning to take in her surroundings. As her eyes adjusted to the dark she felt her knees weaken. There was a flying elf the size of a young tree right in front of her, and another complete stranger. She could also smell wolf upon the wind. What bad dream was this?

Her knuckles went white where they grasped her dagger, still in her hand.

The sent image of sun and sand was foreign and unsettling, and Silverthorn gave his head a little shake to be rid of it. He watched his unlikely companions, wary - such hovering was not an unheard-of magic among his Wolfrier kin, but very rare. And this she-elf held a wildcat as he would hold a wolf-pup. "You bond with cats?" he asked as he sent to No-Tail to wait outside the cave, away from the little kitten that his wolf would no doubt see as a tasty snack. That was even more difficult to believe than the flying. Why bond with creatures that didn't live in packs?

"Do you all have tribes where you come from?" he asked them, the most astonishing thought of all. The Longvale Wolfriders numbered three-eights and six, no more. But if each of the stranger-elves he'd seen had a tribe of such size, then... all together, they would be almost as numerous as the humans that have plagued his tribe for so many seasons.

The change in the light startled him, high-strung as his senses were. He whirled around and lifted his spear, as he stood between Keleero and Sunset and two new elves that had appeared. They'd just come out of thin air! He was sure of it. One moment there was nothing, then two new faces.

"Hold there!" he called out. "Was it your magic that took us here?" It had to be someone's magic. Sooner or later that someone would have to appear.

No-Sting took up position between the strangers and her sister, dagger at the ready. Before her stood three very strange elves, all pale enough to be sickly and one so very very tall, floating above her head like a flower seed caught in the wind. Their ears were strangely bare as well, and the tall one's were strangely small.

~**I am unharmed,**~ she lock-sent to Swift-Wind. ~**I'll try to figure out what's going on. Just stay back, keep an eye on our bonds.**~ She cursed herself for not being able to keep her fear out of her mind's voice. As one of the strangers shouted accusations of magic her heart froze. ~**Swift-Wind, whatever you do don't make anything fly around right now. Don't want to get this pinned on us now, would we?**~

"Are these troll tunnels?" she asked, keeping her distance. That was the only thought that made sense - those backstabbing green skins must have knocked her and her small hunting party out somehow, she knew they could do that, and now they'd woken up in a trap. The way out was probably just that, another trap in the trap. "We didn't come here by choice, if that's what you're asking. How long have we been here? How long have you been here?"

The questions seemed silly, but the three other elves were looking at her and Swift-Wind as if they'd appeared out of thin air - which was impossible. She needed answers. Preferably ones that didn't end with someone bleeding.

An idea struck. If these were troll tunnels, her mother couldn't be far away. If Swift-Wind and she had been taken, surely her mother would have hurried to the trolls to negotiate? **Mother? Mother are you here?** she open-sent, stretching her abilities to their limits. **Whatever the trolls are demanding from you, don't give it to them! Swift-Wind and I are unhurt, we will find a way out of here!**

The look on Sunset's face drove a spike through Keleero's heart. He'd seen that look on several faces over the years; winners of challenges, elves returning from outside patrols, elves returning from Elyro's meeting chamber. But he knew well enough not to comment on it. Such pain was better locked away, kept safe in your own mind. That's how you survived after all.

Keleero kept well out of the way of both the big cats - well big-ish, they at least weren't the size the panther had been - and the tunnel. Who knew when the next elf would pop up and dart for the exit?

At Sunset's question he put his hand on the nearest wall and reached out with his magic. "It's hard to tell. There's a collapse farther down that way." He gestured at the tunnels leading off to their right. "And these walls have been worked at with something other than water. But this cavern has been here for a long, long time. And that," he indicated the amber orb with a look, "has been here a long time before anyone worked on these walls with tools."

He flinched a little at the new stranger's loud sending. It sounded full of genuine confusion. "I'm sorry, but I doubt your mother is here or that you're anywhere near home. The rest of us aren't, at least."

No answer. No-Sting swallowed against the lump in her throat. Their mother would have answered such a sending immediately if she was in range.

Oddspot had shaken off the worst of the first shock of the change in scenery. Her ears and eyes instead focused on the tiny cat in the arms of one of the new elves. It didn't quite look like a kitten should, nor did it smell quite right, but it was definitely a kitten. Motherly instincts bloomed within Oddspot, aching and bruised since the loss of her newborns only a few moons before. The lynx of course had no words for these emotions, nor did she draw a clear connection between losing her own kits and wishing to protect this one. She just acted on them.

No-Sting grabbed Oddspot by the scruff of her neck as she began to advance on the elf with the strange kit. ::Why move?::

::Kitten.:: The send held no words, just the image of the kit, a feeling of the chilly cave and a wish to protect.

No-Sting didn't answer - there were more pressing matters to deal with first.

"We just 'appeared'?" she said, her voice shaking despite her efforts against that. "How is that possible?"

She was brought up short by one of the strangers began to order the rest of them around. She eyed him warily, trying to judge his age. Was he an Elder?

Despite her doubts, she took a few steps closer to what appeared to be the exit. Her stomach was grumbling, reminding her why she and Swift-Wind had been out hunting in the first place.

~**I say we go with him for now, but stay alert,**~ she lock-sent to Swift-Wind. ~**They clearly have more people out there so keep your dagger ready if they suddenly get any crazy ideas.**~

Out loud she said: "Lead the way," to Silverthorn. She then turned to Sunset and gave Oddspot's neck-fur a tug. "This bag of fur here seems to like your kit. She'd like to stay here with you, help keep you warm, but I could drag her along outside if you wish."