Thus, he patrolled. His lynx form moved along the top of the walls, memories of the Eirachi and the cultists trying to destroy it flashing in his mind every so often. They had come out of nowhere, silent and deadly and cold. Since then, Morgan had set up twice as many patrols and guards as they had before. She, among the others, did not want to miss anything. Noah often took to helping the guards during the day, but this was his first time on a night. He kept his eyes out over the tundra, scanning back and forth as he traversed the fortress wall.

Had Noah not been paying such close attention, he might have missed the descending man. His ears perked up as he watched Deimos settle on the wall, his companions below, and he trotted towards him. His lynx form was easiest to balance atop the heights of the wall, and its night-vision aided him as well. He was nearly silent as he approached the once-General, head cocked slightly with curiosity. [say]What brings you up here at this hour?[/say] He asked across their shared attuned bond, settling in a few arm lengths from his side. He couldn't help but notice the way the warlord's shoulders slumped, and it caused a tight ball of concern to sit in his gut.

Noah did not know what Deimos (and Hotaru) had done.

[say]I asked Frey for help,[/say] Noah revealed, shifting his weight some from paw to paw, [say]and they tasked me with keeping watch over the Citadel for at least a night, among other tasks.[/say] The god surely had been paying attention to him, for each task seemed perfectly molded for the hunter. Though, the idea of hunting a frost giant did bring some trepidation to his heart. It was not, however, what he was doing tonight. So he pushed the thought aside, and watched out over the wall, and asked Deimos another question. [say]What is it that you are brooding about tonight?[/say] He asked the question as if this was a normal thing for Deimos to do--which part of Noah had decided it was--and there was a tinge of teasing on the corners of each word he spoke.

As Deimos went on, however, Noah's blood ran as cold as the ice that helped fortify the very wall they perched on. He felt the world slow down around him, even as his heart picked up speed. [say]"It is because Morgan helped the Grounds over longnight?"[/say] Noah knew that Morgan was tolerant of the ascended living in Halo, but he had no idea of her true feelings and of her ties to them. He had believed, until now, that Morgan had gone out of the morality in her heart. To be an aid to the people of the Grounds in a time where her people were far safer. He questioned this now, as his heart beat against his chest like a warhammer.

[say]What else did Safrin tell you?[/say] Noah questioned the warlord, the urgency and panic unable to be fogged out across the bond.

When we pulled Neron from power Morgan was ready to kill him. I saw it in her eyes. Now she shares his bed.[/say] Noah's claws dug into the ice beneath him, cracking it as his anger manifested in every part of his body. What had Morgan done? she let a snake, dangerous and vile and dark, sneak into her bed and let his dick change her into someone the hunter no longer knew. He hissed then, releasing what the growl had summoned. He stood, and paced along the top of the wall for several minutes in silence, though the fury that bubbled beneath the surface was not masked by the bond.

[say]If the old gods hate Morgan because of her choices, then I have to believe they will support those who support them.[/say] He was facing away from Deimos now, looking out over the frozen world. His frozen world. The world that Morgan betrayed.

He needed to stop the destruction. He needed to protect himself, and he needed to protect his home. He had gone to Frey for this very thing, and he knew

[say]Tell me more about your task from Safrin.[/say] The lynx did not look back over his shoulder at Deimos. He watched as the wolves disappeared on the horizon, the faintest of lights coming up in the distance, as his anger bubbled and churned within him. While sunrise was still far off for them, the whispers of it started early over the vast tundra.

[say]We have to protect Halo at all cost. You, our general, have to have that in your heart too. I cannot let my home be destroyed again because of the gods. The Eirachi attack was enough to know that, had one of the heralds or their gods above them had that same anger, we would all be dead.[/say] It was Neron's choices and his running to the Voice to escape his child sacrifice to the Eirachi that caused the attack. the Eirachi was merely a seasonal deity -- lesser in power than the gods, but still powerful enough to kill -- and the idea that her power was only a fraction of what Safrin or Ludo or Frey might posses made him shudder.