Nuntisiwas had found a large pile of dirt to roll in to try and absord some of the liquid from his coat after they came above ground. Now he sat on top of a building grooming the dirt back out of his fur. He was a rusty brown rather than his usual black, which should confuse the ones they were tailing, should they spot them.
Kabula and F'Foeg had gone hunting so he was at least spared their ceaseless chatter. Instead he had the Theurge keeping him company. Aside from occasionallly muttering or humming, she was quiet enough to keep their position from being given away. Of course, considering the melodrama going on down below, nothing short of jumping up and down and screaming "Look at US!" would get their targets' attention. Who needs to interfere? At this rate, they'll kill each other without me having to raise a finger! Of course, it may be in my best interests to keep them alive a bit longer. it is dificult to question the dead.
He eyed the Theurge sitting next to him for a moment. She was engaged in picking and some leprous scab on her arm. Sensing his eyes on her, she grinned, showing off a mouthful of daggers. "Do you wish something of me?" Her voice oozed with insincere subservience.
"No, nothing right now, making contingency plans." Indeed. How I HATE that creature. But she is useful to me for the moment, as insurence. If things go badly, I may need her skills to try and extract secrets from the dead. Unfortunately she can just as easily turn those skills upon others, if not kept properly occupied. I have no desire to share any of mine with anyone, least of all this creature. I will not be the victim of my own tactics. That last thought gave him pause. If he was not the victim, than who was he?
Nuntisiwas frantically went back to grooming, the mud on his fur suddenly seeming far colder and heavier than it had a few seconds before. The cubs would have to sort out their troubles on their own, he had enough problems to worry about.

"The whole lot of you, yer all nothing but a bunch of knuckle dragging, dog screwing, evolutionary dead ends that couldn't recognize a good thing when it bit you on the nose. You've no right to come into town and..." Fade-to-Black paused for a moment in her tirade, sucking in a huge gasp of air so she could continue screaming. She gagged as she sucked in a long hank of her own dark hair, giving the object of her ire the first chance he'd had to get a word in edgewise.
"And even look around? Very hard to recognize a good thing if we have no right to even come look at it."
"Don't try and be reasonable! I know you're just here as a spy! You and your cronnies are planning on coming in and raising hell, killing off our people, breaking anything you can get your hands on and dispelling the spirits we've worked so hard to get to aid us!" She'd been ranting nonstop for several minutes so the breaks as she tried to catch her breath were becoming longer and more frequent. The huge man behind her loosened his grip somewhat since it seemed like his pack leader didn't have the energy anymore to launch an outright attack.
"No, we came to ask your help. I am just accompanying these other two, to make sure they weren't harmed coming to see you. Which you would have found out if one of your pack members didn't have a very big mouth."
The woman bristled again. "Oh so now we're going to drag my boys into this too, try and pin it on them?"
"No, I am saying that one of them talks too much. And if you are concerned about spies, you should have a word with him about it."
"Yeah, but you were intending on lying to me, you were conspiring with them to keep information from me!"
"Because you would react unreasonably. It was a well founded fear apparently."
"I am not overreacting!"
Ghiyath cut in on the conversation as he saw the Glass Walker start to strain against the arms restraining her again. "That should be your first clue that you are, that you have to say you're not. You're being unreasonable."
"I am not unreasonable! You know I've got a beef with them! You should know better than to bring one of those THINGS into my city."
Lone Wolf bristled. "I am not a THING. I do have a name."
"What is it? Butt-sniffer? Nut-licker? Something properly earthy and primal?"
"It's Lone Wolf Circles."
"Ooooooh. I'm all impressed."
"I find your name equally uninspiring."
"Ooooooh. Uninspiring. They teach you that one, sit up and speak big words? Ain't you a good dog."
"I learned this other trick too, its called 'minding my manners'. I guess no one taught you that one. I am so sorry."
The woman bristled and the mountain behind her laughed. "I think he's getting the better of you, Boss-lady."
"You shut up, Poofs! I am not going to be outtalked by someone who can't write his own name!"
"You could fool me, chief." The mountain tighened his grip again as she tried to turn to smack him.
"My own pack's turning against me now!" her voice cracked and deepened as she started to shift up to Crinos.
"We are not, we are looking out for you. Even good leaders need advice sometimes, right? I would be the first one to attack if I thought he was a threat, right? It's my job to be in the front of the fight, to be your claws and fangs. I don't like trying to be your brain too."
"Well then stop trying to do my thinking for me!" her wolfish jaws snapped shut mere inches from his nose.
"I will when you decide you're going to start thinking again."
"Fine, fine, fine! I'll talk to dog-boy, make you happy, and THEN rend him!"
"You promise?"
"Fine, I PROMISE." He let her go and she rounded on Lone Wolf, clearly ready to move onto the rending part as soon as she could. "Talk fast!"
Lone Wolf did not look like he was going to be hurried, angry Glass Walker bellowing at him or no. "I was simply escorting Ghiyath, Azhar and Paradise to you, to make sure they weren't attacked by Black Spiral Dancers coming here."
The pack leader snarled heavily. "I see Ghiyath, you, and the Arab-boy. Where's the fourth one? Better not be another one of YOU!"
"I don't know if she is or not."
"How the hell do you not know!?"
"Ma'am" Azhar cut in. "She's just a pup, we don't know who the parents are."
"Did I ask you to interupt!?"
"No, but I'd prefer you didn't kill Lone Wolf for answering truthfully."
"And what's he to you?"
"Um, well, he kept me from having my head pounded in by their sept leader. I'd like to return the favor."
"You got any particular attachment to dog-boy, Ghiyath?"
"To him personally, no, but the Talons just got me out of really hot water, so I'd prefer you didn't go killing him."
"Fine, fine, fine." She poked one long claw at Lone Wolf. "You got a free pass this time dog-boy, but don't let me catch you here again and I wouldn't go wandering off by yourself either."
"I would not want to tresspass on your territory any more than I already have."
"Good." She rounded on Ghiyath the trinkets braided into her fur clattering slightly. She seemed to be completely ignoring Lone Wolf, though the irritated switching of her tail indicated he was not forgotten. "Now what you think yer doing, bringing me trouble and yanking my chain too? Piss me off and ask for help? You stupid?"
Ghiyath swallowed. "I was rather hoping you'd hold off on being pissed until after I got to talk to you."
"Little late now! What you want? This about this pup that got mentioned?"
"That's what I wanted your help about. It's a metis pup. I don't know how to take care of a metis pup and the Red Talons aren't exactly friendly towards metis, so they weren't any help, probably would have killed it if I'd stayed. So I brought it to ask you ladies for help."
"And we're supposed to know, why? Not like either of us have any pups or ever will."
"Yes, but I figured, well, you know, you were metis pups way back when so would kind of have some clue what needed to be done. That and you could beat the hell out of anything that was following me."
"Oh, so we're supposed to be all girly and motherly and be butt kickers at the same time. So you're saying we're butch?"
"No, no, nothing like that, but you kind of have a bunch of big burly guys at your disposal. You can have Fine Whine or Cheesy Poofs wail on the Spirals while you and Sweet-Luna's-Smile sit back and relax."
"And act all girly."
"You just want a fight today don't you?"
"Hell, yes. Feels like there's eyes on the back of my head all day. And Sweet-Luna and I split up to cover territory faster and she's not back yet. Yeah, I'm spoiling for a fight. Get it at all settled and over and done with. Make my skin stop twitching. I got feelings, bad ones. Trouble's coming. I think from the Lords, but no way to tell 'til it comes."
"If you're that concerned about your packmate, you could just go look for her."
"That's why I have my boys, to run errands, while I deal with important crap like this. Haunts-the-Skyline is looking for her. I may as well look at this cub of yours while he's out. Bet she looks just like you."
"It's not MINE!"
"Now who's overreacting?"

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Rutland, Nunitisiwas' problems, namely Kabula and F'Foeg, were up to no good. Of course, it was rapidly becoming evident why Nuntisiwas was in charge. His henchmen were proving they shouldn't be left to their own devices too long. This was clearly too long.
"I get her brain!" F'Foeg growled.
Kabula cuffed him. "You're being too loud! She's going to hear us!"
"No, NOW she's heard us." as their quarry shifted to Lupus and bolted away.
The two tripped all over each other as they raced after the other Garou. They could work perfectly well together, if they had a clear mission and someone to report to. Otherwise they both thought they should be in charge.
Their mission in this case, was to find something to eat. A normally harmless enough objective, except that Spirals, vile creatures that they are, often have rather exotic and degenerate tastes. Add to this the fact that it was Sunday night in the depths of winter in Vermont, and there weren't that many places open that served the sort of food that appealed to large degenerate carnivores, and certainly none that wouldn't look askance at F'Foeg's appearance. Perhaps Nuntisiwas should have found out more about Kabula's dietary habits before letting the two loose on the city. Too late now.
It was a game with them now, racing through the maze of the city after the fleeing Garou, trying to shoulder past each other, to be the one to get the first taste of blood. F'foeg occasionally managed to pull ahead briefly as they skidded around corners, but Kabula was far too competative to let him stay in front long.
They came flying out of the maze and raced along an open street after the long clean limbed grey wolf they'd set their sights on. It was unbearably beautiful and therefore that much more desirable, for they were sure her meat would be deliciously sweet. She couldn't pull far enough ahead to slip away and staying in the open was her only chance for now. If they corned her, they could make short work of her.
But wolves running openly through the streets of a city attract all sorts of unwanted attention, particuarly a group such as this. Their quarry might have gone unremarked upon, but the two Spirals were anything but unobtrusive. F'foeg's massively oversized jaws and near hairless head combined with battish ears and blood red eyes were impossible to miss, but Kabula was the true worry. She was covered in scars and the froth dripping from her jaws and the crazed look in her eyes led anyone seeing the chase to call the police and scream about the rabid giant coydogs running howling through the streets. Coydogs weren't uncommon in the area, but if anyone had thought there were actual wolves, then there would have been outright panic. Rabid wolves are the things of nightmares. Rabid werewolves were fortunately well beyond the residents imagination.
None of the werewolves causing the problem initially noticed the vehicle coming up behind them, but the shot from behind caused F'foeg to dive off the road. He didn't give up the chase, but he at least looked back to see the police cruiser bearing down on their quary and the still oblivious Kabula.
"Look out!" he howled and leapt back onto the roadbed, bowling Kabula out of the way of the car. She snapped and snarled at him for cutting her off, but the roar of the car quickly silenced her. The two bounded back to their feet and resumed their pursuit, now chasing the cruiser and the other Garou.
More shots rang out and the Garou in front howled shrilly as she was hit. She dove off the street and into the maze of alleys once more, the Spirals leaping after her once more, gaining ground now that she was wounded.

The cruiser screached to a halt and two people quickly piled out. One, the driver, was clearly a patrol officer. The other one could pass for a police officer, but only if not closely examined since there were no official insignia on his uniform. Not that anyone would want to get close enough to such a towering mound of muscle to check whether or not he was actually with the police.
"We got one wounded! Call into the station and get some more backup and make sure they have that 'special issue' stuff Hans sent over."
The patrol officer lunged back into the car to grab the mike and the car's other occupent lunged at him, barking, frothing, and snapping ineffectively from behind the cage that seperate the driver from the backseat. He ducked back out and clicked on the mike "We have a situation requiring Animal Control's assistence. I'm on scene with our outside specialist and his...dog." The beast in back threw itself against the side glass excitedly, sending spiderweb cracks through it.
The mountain opened the door and let the beast out, grabbing its leash as it leapt past. "Just have the ones we picked for special training sent. And Hans if you can have the dispatcher reach him."
The patrol man nodded nervously and swallowed convulsively as he watched the huge man hold the snarling, lunging attack dog back. "Don't worry boy, Skippy and me have plenty of experience getting rid of varmints like this. They won't be trouble much longer, not once Skippy finds 'em."
The two headed off after the wounded animal, the dog now silent and straining at the end of the leash. The officer was glad they were leaving. He was pretty sure nothing would survive "Skippy" finding it. Thank God there was someone handling that beast, someone big enough that he looked like he could just crush the dog's skull between his bare hands if it came to that.

Sweet-Luna's-Smile ran as fast as she could with a silver bullet in her shoulder. Bad enough to be chased by two unfamiliar Black Spiral Dancers, but now she had the special hunters from the police department after her. Clearly someone at the department had gone bad. Not bad in the usual sense, but bad as in the Wyrm-tainted sense. Killing the police might just attract more attention, but letting them have the bullet riddled corpse of a Crinos Garou would be even worse!
She raised her muzzle and called for her pack, hoping she was close enough to their territory that one of them would hear them.
Behind her, the two Spirals let loose with hyenalike cackles and wailing, whooping howls to drown her out.

Fade-to-Black paused in her examination of Paradise as she heard the plaintive howl of her missing packmate. It was promptly drowned out by the wails of approaching Black Spirals.
"Crap."

"CRAP." On top of the building, Nuntisiwas smacked himself in the forehead as he heard the wails of his hunting henchmen. "Give them a simple task, and they screw even that up. Have they never heard of stealth?" He shifted to Crinos and stood up, ready for the fight he knew was coming.

"CRAP!" as Ghiyath pulled Dhul Fiqar out of its sheath. "Up on the building! They're behind us too!"

"!@#$%^&*!!!" Lone Wolf looked over at Azhar, not quite sure what the Theurge had said. From the expression he could guess it had much the same meaning as the previous utterances, just in a different, unfamiliar language.
"What's the matter? or what's worse?" Lone Wolf kicked off his shoes and started to shift up to Crinos.
Azhar pointed up at the top of the building. "That's the guy."
"What guy?"
"The one I wanted to run with!"
"Oh." Lone Wolf looked perplexed for a moment. "It seems like the right word...." He looked up at Nuntisiwas' dark, looming form. It most certainly was the right word. "Crap."

Part 7