July 15, 2058

Outskirts

Lynn Lake, Algonkian-Manitou Council

~~~

A truck pulled up to a inconspicuous hill past the outskirts of Lynn Lake, the unofficial capital of the Manitou tribe. Two elves wearing tribal acolyte outfits staggered out of the truck, holding arms around each other for support. Both were leaking blood out of their noses, their mouths, even their ears, and it was a miracle that they were both still standing, let alone conscious enough to have driven their truck to this point.

The two walked around to a door you would barely notice unless you were staring right at it, built right into the hill. The two limped down sod steps, into a hidden building underneath, propped up with wooden and metal frames. A tribal elder named Caelan Bluebell was waiting for them, and this meeting wouldn't be pretty.

Caelan was pouring himself some tea when his two acolytes staggered in. Caelen dropped the teapot and rushed over to tend to their wounds.

"What on earth happened? Explain!"

"Leon and his allies......killed the hellhounds......never seen anything like it......"

Caelan cursed.

"We had to fly away......Leon shot at us......we casted Invisibility......but couldn't hold it......"

The acolyte talking vomited up some blood before he could finish his sentence. Caelan applied some basic Heal Wounds magic to the two, but the internal damage would need medicine, and probably surgery. Flight and Invisibility magic being used by low to mid-level shamans like these two caused so much physical drain, that around 30 seconds more of using the spells might've left them in a coma. You needed serious mental willpower to be a top-level shaman, capable of resisting the drain damage from high-level magic, and these two didn't have it yet.

"One of Leon's allies......he glowed with power......he tore the hellhounds apart......he moved so fast......"

"So the rumours were true. Brandon Rivers is allied with Leon Eagles."

"We're sorry......Elder......none of the hellhounds survived......please forgive us......"

"We gained information. There are other plans to try against Leon Eagles. I'll get the surgeon. Lie down and try to get comfortable, she'll be along shortly."

Caelan went off to fetch the tribe's surgeon. He wanted to say a lot of things, most of them involving shouting, but held his tongue for the moment.

They had a perfect plan to deal with one of the biggest obstacles to Manitou success, the government's pet shadowrunner Leon Eagles. Unbeknownst to all the Algonkian fools planning to disrupt their cargo shipment, the details were leaked to them intentionally, by allies in Quebec playing both sides. Even the helicopter pilot the Algonkians picked to fly Leon around was also a double agent, leaking details of Leon's plan and site of attack. Caelan knew the Council Chiefs would send Leon Eagles to disrupt the shipment, and Caelan had planned to use these acolytes to spring a trap on them, releasing tamed hellhounds they had acquired from Tir Tairngire animals traffickers to kill Leon while he plundered the cargo. It would be a huge loss to the Algonkians, and glorious personal revenge against Leon, who they considered the prime suspect for the murder of their former leader Derek Highsun.

Caelan did not expect even a man as capable as Leon Eagles to deal with the ambush, but perhaps the acolytes had bungled things. Brandon Rivers was certainly a man to be feared, and the mysterious elven woman Leon was constantly seen with might've also hurt matters. If only they had sent Leon alone......but even then, the young man had great instincts, for a breeder. Caelan wondered if the rumours of him being the legendary Seattle shadowrunner "Wild Fire" were true. He had dismissed those stories from their unwanted (but greatly needed) decker allies, thinking them fantasies woven from too much time in the Matrix. But supposedly Wild Fire could walk among the shadows unnoticed with powerful magic, and treated the vast and vicious Salish-Shidhe wilderness southwest of the Council as a mere playground.

Despite their failure though, there were other plans in the works, other methods to try. Surely one of them would work, even on an experienced shadowrunner. Once Leon was toppled, and once a few more troublesome people were removed, nothing could stop the Manitou tribe from gaining their independence from those round-eared breeders. They thought they knew the land...... and yet they still used the white man's technology to poison their lands, used the magic of their so-called "Mother" to selfish ends, and held the same attitude to elves that the white men had to the AmerIndians back in the day. Hypocrites, the lot of them.

They would be cut off, permanently, and life in Manitou lands could be made pure, and uncorrupted by outside evils. A snowy, natural paradise......