The leaves in the forest stirred but everything was silent. There were no calling birds, no chittering squirrels, perhaps scared off by the murderous intent hanging in the air. The goose Blackberry crouched in the leaves, her eyes glaring out at the forest before her. It was dense but she saw faintly the glimmering colors of the cougar’s garden. Information the family gathered told her that that was where he was and where they should strike. She shifted ever so slightly, impatient, but forcing herself to stay calm.

When all was ready, when all were gathered here, they would strike. They would attack. And the cougar and his idiotic kingdom would fall. The strength and fear of her family would be proven, once and for all.

Once the battle begins, anyone is welcome to join! The thread will be updated every week.

Jayberry felt alive.

The forest was silent around her - the birds had gone quiet, afraid even to warn others with their songs of alarm. The Lessers, it seemed, had decided to get going while the going was good.

Idly, she wondered whether Huckleberry - if they showed - would bring Shiny, and whether Shiny would flee at the first sign of trouble if they did.

Her heart thudded easily - she wasn't nervous, why would she be? This Rift - her lips peeled back to bare her fangs - stood no chance against her and her family. They were many strong, and bound together by blood.

Her tongue darted out to lick her lips, and she wagged her tail, looking at Mother. Oh, this was going to be so fun! And a right of passage for Yewberry. If the brat didn't pull her weight, she'd tear those wings from her shoulders herself.

"She speaks." 'She thinks.' She does.

Yewberry scowled as she walked, paws light on the ground. If it was up to her, she'd sleep back at home, and wait for everyone to get back. But Mother had made it quite plain that she would be in a Cave's worth of trouble if she didn't show up for the fight.

Her chest still ached where Mother's fangs had torn into it, the skin there bald, lacking any feathers. The wound had healed, thankfully, scabbed over, no longer open and bleeding. But it was still uncomfortable, reminding her of her punishment - as Mother had meant it to.

She stepped lightly, the forest seeming incredibly silent, any sound she made feeling as though it would be magnified ten-fold. Ocasionally, a particularly dry clump of leaves would crunch beneath her paws, and she would still, iridescent ears twitching up. But soon she would be moving again, soon approaching Mother and The Goose's hiding place. She puffed a breath through her nose, plopping her butt on the ground and inclining her head to lick at the aching scab on her chest, pointedly not looking at her Mother.

Huckleberry crept through the dense Eridanus forest, shivering every so often from nerves. Shiny wasn't with him now - he had commanded her to stay back at the nest with Sylvanberry. There was no way he was taking her into a fight. He didn't even know if he had the courage to get himself into another fight. Not after the senseless, cold-blooded murder of the magpie.

He didn't bother trying to hide. He was too big. He simply set his feet down lightly, trying to make as little noise as he could as he went towards the meeting place. He could smell mother up ahead and the sweet scent of flowers beyond. He stopped a little ways behind them and shielded himself behind a tall bush, holding his wings in close. He would wait for mother's signal to attack. He gulped, trying to hold in his shivers. He wasn't ready for this.

@Heart-song @Cloudberry @Elderberry oops forgot to tag you

Elderberry entered at a slow, bouncing trot, his ears perked, and his feathers prickling. He had been scouting out the forest, learning its pathways and terrain. And now he stood, ready. He pushed his way through the undergrowth, being careful not to hide his approach. Quills trembling, head held high, he came into the clearing, right on schedule- and saw his mother there waiting, just as planned.

He snorted, letting out a deep, trumpeting rumble of greeting- low enough that it wouldn't carry very far. As he looked around, and saw that there were some of the family missing- the hybrid dropped his head and began to pull at the stalks of grass growing around his hooves. If they were going to be waiting some time, then he would do to gather his strength before the battle.

---

"When I speak."

When I think.

@Blackberry

Cloudberry fluttered in with a rustle of feathers, glancing about in silence as she landed. Four wings folded at her back, and she took stock of the situation.

She'd decided that she would do, for now; after all, Mother and Jayberry were "she," and that seemed to work well for them. She admired them, more than anyone else, though there was still a stirring of uncertainty. What exactly had driven them, for example, here today? They were going to fight--they were all going to find and attack a cat. But she didn't quite understand why.

Everyone else had seemed to accept it, though, so she resigned herself to assuming yet again that she was simply missing something that the others were not. They didn't doubt, so why did she have to wonder about these things?

She looked ahead more firmly, walking on wing and hoof to stand beside her family. At length, in her quiet, dull voice, she asked "How do we find him?"

Blackberry looked back as the leaves around her shivered and she saw them behind her. The family that had gathered with her, including Yewberry and except for Acaiberry. The coward. She would punish them when she got home. But otherwise they were there and ready to fight.

She turned back to the place where the trees ended, the garden that lay beyond. He had to be there. Who else would have such an extravagant, well tended place in Eridanus?

At Cloudberry’s question, she nodded in the direction of the garden. ”He is there. I know it.”

She was done waiting. The family was here, all the family that she needed. Her vengeance would come now.

She leaped our from her hiding spot and let out a loud screech and launched herself forward, racing out into the garden. She immediately spotted Rift upon the roots of a great tree and bared her teeth. ”Go, my children! Attack!”

Rift was, in fact, in his garden. He was lounging on top of one of the roots of his tree, looking down at the nature below. He wanted to see everything so he’s know when Sebastian was here. The two hadn’t spoken in a long time, not since the fire, and there was a need to clear the air. It was this day they had decided to meet.

He didn’t suspect at all any kind of attack. He didn’t hear the gentle stirring of the leaves, and he didn’t notice how quiet everything was. He was too deep in his thoughts to be concerned. He was nervous, very nervous, for his meeting with his brother. Would they reconcile and part in good terms or would their relationship finally come to an end? That was such a horrifying concept to Rift that the mere thought got his ear to fold back.

But he was jerked out of those thoughts by a horrible sound ripping through the air. He stood up in an instant, his ear perking a second later. From the edge of the trees, a shape came flying. He narrowed his eyes to see it closer and realized that he vaguely recognized it. The brown body, black and white head. It was changed and horrible, but it was, most certainly, Blackberry.

At first he was furious that she dared to show up here again and intended to leap down and teach her a lesson but then he saw the shapes behind her. His eyes widened with horror as he saw how many they were. It wasn’t just Blackberry here.

He had to warn the forest. He needed his allies. He could not face these horrible creatures alone. He pressed his paws hard against the bark as magic flowed and he sent it up to the top of the tree with one message - alert the forest.

A second later, the branches of the great tree began to shake. Faster and faster, making such a loud, shivering noise that Rift knew it would carry a good distance. The branches were waving wildly, as if a gale unlike anything the forest had seen was shaking it, calling out to all creatures in the area, attract anyone that could see. Rift needed the forest at his side now.

He did not leap down from his spot, growling down at the berries gathered below. He growled lowly and unsheathes his claws. If they wanted him down for a fight, they’d have to force him to the ground.

@Elderberry @Cloudberry @Jayberry @Yewberry @Sebastian @Flit @Enka @Oliver @Mercurius @Pride @Petals
I’m pinging anyone I know that lives in Eridanus and those that said they were interested in helping Rift defend himself. The battle has now begun!

When Pride first saw the shaking area of trees, he was lying half-awake with the children. He at first thought that perhaps one of Amras' experiments had gone wrong--it was from the correct area, at least, or at least he assumed: Rift's garden.

"Mercurius, I'm going to see if Amras needs help with something. It looks like one of his works has gone wrong," he said, wryly and tiredly amused. "Look after the children?" He then pushed out, stepping into the forest and moving down the path at a swift, floating trot.

Behind him, he felt his familiar touching their mind-link, tentatively and tiredly, in a question that could translate to something like, Do I stay? Or come with you?

Just stay there, he thought back at her, firm and reassuring. There was no need to bother her with this, though if Amras had done something catastrophically bad she might be curious to see it. He wanted her to learn, too, as best he could, but-...

Pride froze, in motions as well as thoughts, as he saw the blur of colors up ahead. The Bloodberries..? Here, now? Really? Alarm, outrage and disgust sparked up in him at once. They must be attacking the trees, then--or someone in them.

Thinking fast, he sent his thoughts back to his familiar.

Pride began to summon up a mist around him. He had a plan--and he had to move fast.

_______________

Back at Mercurius' garden, the white hare abruptly sat stiffly upright. Her pupils dilated, ears flicking up, as if terribly alarmed--and she was, by Pride's adrenaline surge along their link. Something was wrong.

Then, directed by his imagery and thoughts, she scurried over to Mercurius--and rapidly began to scratch a drawing into the dirt before him.

It was a goose--badly-drawn, but as close as she could approximate to Pride's swift instructions--with teeth along its chest.

The hare then bolted from the garden, toward Orion, to seek further aid.

in case Amras would come--
@Amras

Oliver was in Eridanus simply for gathering seeds. Rift had given him baskets, which made it ten times easier to collect and transport them.

His own garden, in Canis, was coming along well. There were pools of purified water, rings of ferns and sprouting trees, and grasses forcing their way through the thin layer of dirt he'd laid over the rock. The bones, in their own way, helped--it seemed that they were good fertilizer, somehow. But--

Oliver froze, ear-tufts flicking up and eyes widening. He sat up a little, peering into the trees, where one was swaying madly up ahead.

...What was that?

"Rift?" he called out, hesitantly. He pushed up, gathering the seeds to him; he'd seen plants move, but only by the cat's magic. Never any other way. So the whole tree swaying was--bizarre. He moved toward it in bounding glides, awkward even with the baskets, until it was closer in sight. And then he saw the Bloodberries--and Jayberry among them.

She looked good! He was relieved, by this, and called out a greeting.

"Jayberry! Are you okay? --What's going on?" The last was something of a confused afterthought.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}