DECEASED

Truth Sniffer, Son of Braves the Flame, Grandson of Breaks the Wyrm, Great Grandson of Fights with Falcon's Claws, Great Great Grandson of the ledgend Blood Fang emerged from his den, rested, refreshed, and prepard for the day which lie ahead of him. It was to be the first step on a long path of pain.

Slowly shifting to Crinos form and stretching his muscles was almost becoming a routine now. Having been in constant battle and war for the past few months had left him with some scars to remember, and some of the deeper, not quite fully healed wounds started to protest now. Growling a bit at the fact that he was getting old and that his body was starting to betray him little by little, Truth Sniffer started his morning exercise routine to work out any soreness from the past few days.

The Wyrm had been getting more and more bold, emphasised by the fact that Albrecht himself was attacked and, it seemed, joined Zygak in her mad grab for both power and the unification of the tribes. Truth Sniffer had fought manny battles trying to get to Albrecht in the past few days, but in every instance, there were too many enemies adn not enough knowledge about their movements. All in all, it had been a rather frustrating life.

Summoning his Grand Klaive, one bestowed upon him from Vernon Chases the Great Wyrm, Truth Sniffer continued on with his morning routine. Ever faster, ever harder, Truth sniffer worked himself into a nice sweat before putting down his weapon. The sun was getting high in the sky, and he had little time before his bretheren would start to follow Albrecht's example in joining Zygak.

Having a moonbridge opened from the Caern in Canada which he had been staying at, Truth Sniffer stepped thousands of miles and confronted one of the few people he knew would help him - Christine.

"I need another favor from you, your sept, and your tribe, Christine. I need to learn the Black Fury gift of Bicante's Rage so that when I face Albrecht, I might have a chance of winning." Truth Sniffer was never much of one for subtlety, and Christine's expression told him that he should have, yet again, at least tried to be subtle.

"Why should we teach you such a precious gift? It is one of our tribe's most cherished gifts, it lets us stand in defiance against all of those who would try to take our caerns and our lives. To just give it away would be unthinkable. What do you offer in return for such a gift?" Christine's anger shined through in every word, and even if she could understand the right of it all, she still could not give in easily.

"I offer you a share in the glory, honor and wisdom that would be earned in killing a hero who had turned to the wyrm. I offer you whatever gift I have to teach in return, and I promise a time of peace if we are successful in our attack upon Albrecht, Zygak and the Thunder Wyrm. Those are the only things that I have to offer, would you agree to them, or would you want something more? I have little, but what I have or can offer is yours."

Christine looked Truth Sniffer over, thinking very deliberately. "I want for the rest of time, that whatever male Garou the Black Furies have to be adopted into the Silver Fang tribe and accepted as one of your own. That is the duty that you can do for the Black Fury tribe in exchange for their teaching you on of their most prized secrets. Do you aggree?"

Sighing in regret for all of the arguments and problems this would bring up later, Truth Sniffer simply nodded his aggreement.

"Good," said Christine, "now we can teach you this gift. Let us begin." And with that, there came a dark sort of light in Christine's eyes and in the eyes of those around Truth Sniffer, and he only wondered if he made the right decision.

The training went on for hours. "The best decisions are ususally the most painful to those who would make them," Truth Sniffer remembers thinking. If only it weren't true. After the training was complete, the old wounds ached a bit, but they were a mere twig compared to the mighty oak of pain that had resided in most of his limbs. To show pain was to admit weakness, though, and Truth Sniffer was never big on admitting weakness to anyone, even himself. Running off from the Black Fury caern in his Lupus form, he only hoped he could reach the battle in time.

When he arrived at the Trinity Hive Caern in New Mexico, everyone was already locked in a dire combat for their lives. Glancing around, he saw Albrecht, though, fighting with some people not of the sept, and slaying all easily. Screaming a battle cry, Truth Sniffer changed into Crinos form, summoned his Grand Klaive and started to charge Albrecht. Seeing Truth Sniffer running at him, Albrecht turned and ran, all the while laughing. Gritting his teeth for a long battle, Truth Sniffer activated gifts to give him to moon's protection, to ignore the pain that was still lingering in his body, to turn his body into living silver, and, finally, he activated the gift of Bicante's Rage. He could feel the almost supernatural guidance to his weapon and he knew that he might just have a chance, now.

Running after Albrecht was not easy, he seemed to have gotten rather sly in his short time with Zygak, and as Truth Sniffer was running, a fog seeemed to almost spring into existence.

"Do you think you can take me, pup?" Albrecht's voice rang from everywhere at once. "I'm a Hero, an Ahroun, I'm the king of the Silver Fangs, and you dare to try to defy me!? You will meet death at my hands for you insolence!" With that a blade appeared out of the mist, aimed at Truth Sniffer's head. Only the mystical aid to his weapon got it up in time to block Albrecht's attack, and that only by a hair.

Snarling, Truth Sniffer said the Arcane Phrase that would activate his Grand Klaive while shoving Albrecht's weapon away. "Now we see who will die!" Trith Sniffer challenged to the mist, Klaive seeming to flame with a silver fire. "That we will, pup!" Albrecht's voice and his weapon seemed to come form two different directions at once, and once again the only thing saving Truth Sniffer his hide was his skill, his power with the weapon, and that supernatural aid to his skill.

Throughout the fog for hours on end, you could hear grunts, cries of pain, rage, and battle. The ring of metal on metal was almost unceasing. Those who entered the area to see what was going on either never came out again, or were thrown out like an oversized football. The din of battle went on for one hour, two hours, three hours, only ocassionally pausing; but even during thos pauses you could hear grunts and snarls.

During the fourth hour of combat, Truth Sniffer could feel every muscle in his body screaming. He had used every trick he had, including calling upon his totem for aid in both offense and defense. He had a gash in his side, and his hands were almost numb from the almost constant ringing of their Klaives. His opponent looked similar to how he had started - that same mad look to his eyes, an almost stately manner to him still, yet he was winded, and had a slice that was soo deep into one of his left arm that it was basically useless now. Both men's silver fur was matted with red in places, some form each other, but most from those fools who had strayed into the fog to see what was occourring. Truth Sniffer had saved those that he could, throwing them clear of the fight, but during the last throw had recieved that gash in his side. Albrecht was giggling to himself right now, and periodically touching the crown upon his head, almost as if to remind himself that he still wore it, and Truth Sniffer saw an opportunity.

Feigning in low with only one hand on his Kliave, Truth Sniffer purposefully let his Klaive get knocked to the side. Spinning, he wrenched the crown form Albrecht's head with his empty hand just as e felt a foot of cold silver plunge into his body. Holding Albrecht's Klaive in himself with one hand, he used his other to put the crown upon his own head. "You are no longer the king of the Silver Fangs, Albrecht." Truth Sniffer's breath was labored to come, but he gained momentum as he went, still holding Albrecht's Klaive within himself. "As you have fallen from the path of our ancestors and strayed to the path of the Wyrm, I say that you are a traitor to our tribe." Now came the crucial moment, the one that would either spell Truth Sniffer's death, or make him more than he ever dreamed. "I hereby proclaim myself the ing of the Silver Fangs, and as such I sentence you to death for their betrayal. This is my right, and my duty. I am the king. I am a Philodox."

The moment seemed to last forever, with Truth Sniffer's voice still echoing over the plain. He half expected his head to melt away under the crown. He half expected Albrecht to laugh and drive that Klaive up to gut him like a fish. He knew that he may die in the future for what he just did, as so many Silver Fangs would challenge him for the crown just due to the fact that he is not Ahroun. The moment was only broken when ALbrecht removed his hand from his own Klaive and, sobbing, dropped to his knees, head down.

"Make it quick, that I may begin my path to redemption all the sooner." It was the last thing Albrecht muttered, but Truth Sniffer understood the impulse well. Removing the Klaive from his belly, Truth Sniffer raised his own Grand Klaive and, muttering a prayer to Gaia, killed Albrecht with one sure stroke through the heart.

Finding his way out of the quickly dispersing fog was easy, carrying Albrecht was not. The man was born hhuman, and upon his death he had reverted back to that form, but Truth Sniffer was barely able to walk himself. And, yet, he bore the weight of Albrecht on his shoulders, a weight that he was proud to bear. There was a weight heavier that a hundred Albrechts could ever be, though, and that was the weight of the crown on his head, the silver crown, the crown that signified rulership of all of the Silver Fangs, and in theory all other tribes as well. It was a weight that would only cease once Truth Sniffer was dead, but the day of his death would not be today.

When his sept mates saw him emerge, carrying Albrecht, dead, on his shoulders and wearing the silver crown on his head some merely goggled. Some rose cries of greeting, some of joy, and some even dropped to one knee in respect. "Things will be different, now," Truth Sniffer told himself, "better or worse is for people to debate, but they will be different." And with that thought in mind, he went to go and bury Albrecht, and to start down the path that he had set for himself. The path of a king.