Prelude to the Art of War

The pack having some time to kill before venturing into Akna's nest each went about making their own preparations for what was yet to come.

Zas for his part set out to seek Rends the Gar. The time had come.

The Silent Strider wandered around the barren landscape searching for his packmate. Unsurprisingly, finding a large white man armed to the teeth was not difficult given the number of gathered Garou. However, the Philodox's search was eventually successful as he found the Get of Fenris sharpening his knife blade against a stone.

Zas approached his seated packmate and spoke in a thought provoking tone, "We have a lot riding on this upcoming task don't we?"

Rends looked up from his work, but kept up the rhythmic stropping.

"I reckon. But we gonna be ready this time. And we gonna have allies there with us. It ain't gonna be the same."

He stopped his work, bolstering the knife and pocketing the whetstone as he stood and set out for the Get camp, waving for zas to follow.

"You ready?"

Zas followed after the ahroun closely considering the question. After a few moments the philodox replies.
"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure if I'm ready for this."

Zas looks to the distant Fenris camp and then to his packmate as he says with concern, "But, I know what I can do to be better prepared for what's to come. It involves asking a lot...I do mean that-a lot from you. You think you'd be up for a challenge?"

Curious, Rends regarded his packmate.

"Depends. Whatcha got in mind?"

Zas looks directly into Rends eyes and says bluntly, "Teach me how to fight like a Garou. Show me how to put bite behind my bark. I know how to fight in the ways of my people, but not like a Garou. To be Apache means to be a warrior-being a Garou...doubly so.

I can't promise I will be an easily trained student, but I can promise that I learn.

In exchange for this I'm prepared to offer you lessons on areas of my expertise as well."

Zas pauses and looks back to the Get camp and says, "They don't respect me. The only way that is going to change is with your help."

He turns back to Rends, "What do you say?"

Rends regards his packmate for a long moment, taking stock of him. He then looks to his Tribesmen, many of whom can be seen sparring, tending weapons or armor and otherwise preparing for the battle to come. Over the din can be heard a lone Galiard strumming on a harp and singing a bittersweet song. The words are in old Nordic but death, loss and a strong sense of fatalism carry over regardless in the mournful tune.

"We Get are more direct than most other Garou. There ain't no fancy tricks to earning our respect. You gotta understand that our Tribe is the greatest of Gaia's warriors. We are the strongest and therefore we have the greatest responsibility to fight. We lead the other Tribes not with fancy words and bindin' shit. We charge into battle where others are too afraid ta get their claws wet. You wanna earn our respect? All you gotta do is be up there right behind us, doin' your part to kill the Wyrm. No tricks, no fancy talkin', no compromise. You kill your enemies, and you destroy their power base."

Rends nods in greeting to the Get as they enter the camp, some of them giving Zas curious looks but none questioning his presence. Rends the Gar leads him to an empty circle of small stones, setting down his pack outside and removing his shirt before stretching himself.

"You wanna learn to fight proper like? Good. None of us expect you to be there at the front, leadin' the charge. That's our duty and honor and our place as Fenrir. But my pack ain't gonna be at the back with the Kinfolk or watchin' the wounded. We's gonna be right in the fray where it's all happening. And right now you'd only get yourself kilt up there if you keep up like you has. I'll teach you to fight like a Garou, but you gotta show me how you fight first. I need to know what I'm workin' with. Stay in Homid. No gifts, no fetishes, no weapons."

He sets his feet wide apart, raising opened hands in a guarded, strong position as he stares down Zas.

"Get me out of the circle, if you can."

Zas nods and says, "No weapons-well, this should be interesting."

He then enters the circle and stares momentarily at Rends, then to the circle itself.
He looks around the area quickly creating a plan of action. After a few seconds he gazes over to Rends and says, "Well, let's get started I guess."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zas sprinted towards Rends position. Upon seeing the Get of Fenris remaining stationary, Zas's run turns into a slide as he tries to grab the ahroun's hand.

Upon making contact, Zas completes his motion by sliding between Sylvester's spread legs, gripping the ahroun's right arm and pulling it down to the ground behind him. Zas then uses his built up momentum to spin his body to face Rends' backside and kicks out with both feet into the ahroun's knees as he jerks the ahroun's arm back towards him in an attempt to flip the large man head over heel.

Unfortunately, Rends's upper body strength and firmly planted stance prevented the desired motion, though the kick to the back of his knees did cause the bulky Garou to stumble forwards slightly.
Zas upon seeing this initial plan not work, capitalized on his placement behind the Get and leapt atop the stumbling white man and gripped his head in an arm lock as he whipped both legs around Rends' chest and interlocked them as he then tried to pull Rends neck backwards in the direction of the edge of the circle.

Sputtering and trying to pry zas arms loose Rends manages to wheeze out a few words.

"Nice trick. But you now yous mine."

With a growl Rends let's gravity win, letting his bulk fall on top of his packmate. The air leaves zas in a painful gust and his grip is weakened for just a moment but it's enough. Rends pays himself free, moving quicker than a man his size normally could. He pins zas in an armbar For a moment before releasing him once he made his point.

"Yous about the dumbest clever fighter I seen. Why you reckon I say that ?"

Zas looked up at Rends and says in a voice rapidly sucking in air, "I-I....don't..really understand. Why do you call me clever but dumb-these seem at odds."

Rends stands and offers a hand to his packmate.

"That trick almost worked, and if this was a straight up fight it may have. But the point here weren't to knock me out. It was to get my out. You was so focused on being clever and out smarting the problem that you blew it. Remember, yous Garou.  Garou is stronger than most anything out there. The times you need to be clever and theys times you can get too clever and land a good hit but lose everything. Strike first, strike hard and save bein clever for the camp fire and planning."

Zas looks at Rends and smiles as he says, still slightly wheezing, "You didn't say you had to be conscious to be drug outside the circle..."

Zas makes to stand up as he continues, "I wasn't trying to get you out of the circle because it wasn't going to happen with you still awake. Your size and weight make the idea of me overpowering you without weapons and forcing you out of the circle-a joke. If you were asleep or defenseless however, I could."

"Whether you intended to or not-you gave me two instructions; try to get you out of the circle, and show you how I fight. Getting you out of the circle didn't work, but you were able to see me fight. I don't come at you straight ahead unless it's advantageous for me. I strike where there is an opening. This is who I am and how I fight. It was not cleverness or wit it was tactical."

Rends shakes his head, frustrated.

"You's missin' the point of what I'm tryin' to say. Look, you ever been in a barfight?"

He continues on before Zas can answer.

"When I first left home, first town I ended up in I ended up scuffin' up a steamboat crewman's boots. Feller was a steamboat himself, big enough to make me second guess myself, and he was drunk as an Inj... well he was real drunk. Anyhow, he grabs me and throws me down an alleyway with three buddies ready to do me in. I didn't have no gun, couldn't change to Crinos fer fear of breakin' the Litany, and had no friends."

He looks Zas dead in the eye and holds up two fingers.

"I won that fight in two hits. First one I broke his nose. Second one I smashed his head in on the alley wall. The others pissed they pants and run off."

He positions himself in the circle again, taking a slightly different stance, tighter and more centered.

"Point is, I shouldn't a' won that fight. They shoulda licked me good. They was stronger than me, bigger than me, they was more of 'em, and they was more experienced than me. But because I hit their leader so hard so fast, the others turned tail even though they could have still kilt me. You can try to choke someone out, trip them up, misdirect them. But for every second you don't kill them, you give them a second more to kill you. Don't give them the chance. You out numbered? Out gunned? Outclassed? Showin' down against a whole posse armed with silver and ridin' Nexus Crawlers? Then you bet your ass the best thing you can do is fuckin' tear they heads off, every last time. They expect you to run. Hide. Call fer help. Don't do what they expect. Don't play by they rules. You win. You kill. You act."

The nearby Get have formed a circle around the two Garou, listening to Rends; some of them nodding in approval. Expectant, they turn to Zas as some start placing bets for or against. The harpist in the background has changed tunes to something with a powerful staccato beat, a strong baritone quietly chanting a war hymn along with it.

Zas gazed at Rends as he told his story, and then allowed his stare to widen to include the gathered Get around the circle. When Rends finished Zas looks back to him and says, "I didn't think killing you was the goal, but I hear what you say-move like lighting and hit like the buffalo....even when I know I will lose."

Zas considers his words for a moment before resituating himself, taking a breath and saying, "Again."

Rends nods in acknowledgement and resituates himself, closing the gap between his legs to keep the same technique from working again as he braces and prepares for the crazy injun's next move.

Zas seeing Rends position indicating his readiness, moved his head slowly side to side looking for his best approach, similar to how a lumberjack looks when observing a tree that's about to be cut down. When he found it, he nodded and began walking up close to Rends' left side in a calm manner that made it seem as though he was going to leave the circle.

Some of the Get who'd placed bets on Zas began to get frustrated from his lack of activity and attempted to ask for the money back disgruntled.

Zas for his part waited til he was within a few steps of Rends before rushing past Rends with his own left arm outstretched about to perform a clothesline against his packmate.

Rends had a mere moment to react, but was quickly able to duck under the blow, but was unable to avoid Zas's kick to the side of his knee. The kick hurt enough to momentarily cause the rather collected ahroun to spin around in a rage and take a swing at his packmate, but as he spun with his right fist coiled up like a spring to hit the philodox, he heard his packmate from behind him. Rends dropped his fist and stuck out his right leg to trip up the silent strider as he turned to see the attack.

Zas narrowly avoided Rends trip as he jumped through the air with a powerful side kick to Rends' chest. Rends slid a few feet backwards from the blow but kept his footing as he watched Zas continue his rapid assault.

Zas landed from his kick, his feet like springs forcing himself forwards as he followed the kick with a flurry of punches aimed at Rends' head-which the ahroun easily deflected or caught and pushed away. All the while, Zas pressed forwards and when he saw there was an opening, Zas extended his left leg and hooked it backwards into the ahroun's sore knee as he pressed with all his might against Rends lower torso, in the opposing direction in a sweeping manner.

Rends's left leg crumbled and the taller bigger ahroun fell under the barrage of his packmates blows. He noted that he had fallen mere inches from the stones border. He then began to rapidly stand up again to go on the offensive, not about to lose to this injun in front of his tribe.

When Rends fell down, Zas did not stop his attack. He jumped to the scrambling Get's chest and grabbed his right arm and then fell backwards himself as he wrapped his legs around the arm, his heels digging into the ahroun's throat creating an arm lock.

The gathered Get who had moments before been demanding their money back, changed their demands into doubling up on the wagers.

The gathered get had started cheering, some for their tribes man but a few of the more reckless gamblers for zas. Rends hadn't expected his lesson to be learned quite so quickly, and was surprised at the quiet Philo dog's sudden ferocity.

The hold on his arm was painful, but nothing unfamiliar. Yelling with effort Rends managed grab zas knee, squeezing with his fingertips right between the joints. When the legs loosened up he got control, rolling the two of them to the side as he put zas in a vice like headlock.

TThe were cheers from the watching get, but fewer than he expected. Surprised Rends looked around, only then noticing he'd rolled them both out of the circle. Laughing he released zas and helped him up.

"See? Much better."

Zas nods once at his packmate and regains his feet as he says, "I think I understand. For Garou it is best to give your entire being into every attack, to throw everything at your enemy-holding nothing back. I have not been Garou because I restrain myself in combat. If I remove my self-imposed holdings of my assault I will bring glory to the pack."

Zas ponders his own words during a long reflective moment before turning to Rends and asking, "What happens though, when I give my all to one enemy and there's still many to come? During the fight with the Skin rippers and Akna, we had hundreds of foes to fight before even getting near her. What do we do in cases like that?"

Rends nods along, taking a water skin from one of the nearby Get and taking a quick drink.

"Right, you cain't hold yourself back. Garou fightin' ain't about fancy moves or forms and shit. It's about hittin' hard mostly. But it's also knowin' where to hit and how. When we fought Akna, I didn't give her the chance to stay out of our reach like she could have. I jumped up on her and rode her down rather than stayin' to fight the Rippers on the ground. You have to know what your priorities are in a fight. Always have a list in your head of who needs to die first and who's dyin' after him, but be open to change it if the situation calls fer it. But don't get ahead of yourself, and don't get cut off from the rest of us. You can bet I'll be makin' a beeline for the biggest nastiest thing I can see, so if you wanna get in on the real fight jest stick with me and we'll do jest fine."

Zas looked on at his packmate for several minutes listening intently. He then stood up and walked around as he began talking, "I think I will do what Gaia intended and follow your lead when it comes to combat decisions. My mind must be focused elsewhere-focusing on why what we are killing needs to be taken care of first. Keeping track of who and what needs to be destroyed when, is your specialty. You can count on me to help you go after whatever target or prey you choose-regardless of whether or not they are the nastiest thing in sight.

I think it would be... helpful for me to know what or who your target is before hand whenever possible. Following your lead is good, but I can't help much if I don't know who you want dead. None of us can. Whenever we get into our next fight, can you call out or signal or do something to say who your target is? We can do more damage if we all work together as a pack."

Rends noded, giving the waterskin back to his Tribesman.

"Fair enough. I got a few ideas fer how ta keep us all together on that kind of thing. If I can work it out, we'll all be moving together without anyone but us knowing what we's doin'. That's a job fer another day though. Fer now yellin' and howlin' and talkin' through the Stranger will have to do. You ever wanna get some sparrin' in, lemme know. You and Mocks could both use the practice. 'Course I gotta learn Zoe how to fight with that knife too now. And after we wrap all this up I reckon I'll try to make Adren..."

He trails off, realizing how busy he's going to be shortly; something seeming to hide just behind his eyes haunting him as his gaze wanders over to the direction of Los Perdidos.

"I need to get some other stuff sorted out, first. It sounds selfish, but I had some stuff come up while we was talkin' with Death that didn't settle right. I gotta get me sorted out after we deal with Akna.

Zas smiles and nods at his packmates response and adds, "You have a lot to keep you busy in coming days. I would like to continue to spar with you when you have time again. I found this to be helpful."

At Rends' latter vague response, Zas says, "You remember what the spirit said before going to meet Noir Kaermode the first time? About how we each approach our deaths differently? I think it was telling the truth. Death is personal. It deals with each of us in its own way. Whatever it was that you found discomforting, is something you can choose to accept, fight, or ignore.
I personally choose to accept one thing at a time, anything more than that makes life complicated. For now I accept that after we deal with this situation with Akna, I think all of us will rest easier. Beyond that, things don't matter much. I hope this helps."