ElfQuest

7,000 YEARS BEFORE REAPPEARANCE
# 1 - 5

Two-Spear # 1 "A Tribe Divided Part One: Discoveries"
Two-Spear's been gone with the hunting party for three moons. His half-sister Huntress Skyfire protects the tribe. Rellah, a High One, doesn't like Two-Spear and tells her. Two-Spear, Graywolf, and the others come to a lifeless place. He needs a sign the humans aren't coming back. He dreams of a human skull, taunting him with glowing eyes. He says it means the humans are returning. At the holt Willowgreen tends to her garden when Two-Spear returns. He says her plants aren't needed. Hunters provide all they need. Skyfire learns he took them into the remains of a burned human village. Rellah asks her why Two-Spear hunts when she was chosen. They need a leader. Wolf and elf have grown apart in the past. Is their chief of elf blood or wolf? Graywolf comes to Willowgreen to heal large wounds on his back. As she does, they Recognize. They are called away. Two-Spear needs to go off seeking solutions alone. Sunfire will lead. He was born first, without Recognition, to Preypacer and Softfoot. She was born to Preypacer and Wreath. Her father's identity was hidden at first. She was born from Recognition and should be chief, says Rellah. Time passes and Two-Spear is still gone. Willowgreen fears for who he is and who he's becoming. Elsewhere, Two-Spear enters a cave. No-Name remains outside, fearing shaper-magic. He soon follows, entering a cavern. There's an altar with a throne. He strived to be more than elf, more than wolf. Willowgreen dreams of Graywolf.

Two-Spear # 2 "A Tribe Divided Part Two: Betrayal"
On the night he took the name Two-Spear, he said he'd join the old and new ways. The humans wandered. One pack broke away and returned. Two-Spear, Skyfire, and Icetooth burned their village. They had to pay the price, says Icetooth to the cubs. Skyfire comes to him. He's loyal to Two-Spear and she should trust him. Two-Spear knows the High Ones were in this cavern. He was brought here for a reason, the seat's been waiting for him. Sapling hunts with Skyfire. The others say Skyfire spends too much time alone in the forest like her brother. Skyfire kills a buck. Two-Spear opens his eyes and sees the Palace, where they came from. The High Ones speak. They were betrayed. Humans attack them. Two-Spear tries to stop them, but passes right through. He sees that the humans have always hated elves. He sees Timmain as a wolf facing the humans. Elves came here in peace. Humans chose to be enemies. Man only understands destruction. Elves must destroy them first. Graywolf finds Willowgreen at her garden. The old ones dislike Graywolf, thinking him too savage. He doesn't care how Two-Spear will react, they must comfort each other's pain. Rellah watches. Two-Spear and No-Name come out of the cave and head home to plan for war.

Two-Spear # 3 "A Tribe Divided Part Three: Challenge"
Two-Spear is impatient for the first time. There's another delay, humans hunting. There are three men and a woman with a child. Two-Spear and No-Name attack. The three men are killed and the woman runs. He killed her husband and brother and now she begs for her life. He kills her and leaves her son alive. At the holt Willowgreen can still feel Graywolf's touch. A cub grows inside her. Rellah finds her and points out that Two-Spear has yet to father an heir. Skyfire, Icetooth, and Graywolf are out hunting. Graywolf is distracted, thinking about Willowgreen. They couldn't wait for Two-Spear to return. They find the three hunters Two-Spear killed. It's the work of wolf jaws. They wonder what happened. They also find the human cub, left to die. Skyfire finds a strip of leather from her brother's spear. Two-Spear and No-Name return to the holt. He hits them with a painful sending for council. Willowgreen is happy to see him but he pushes her back. Rellah makes a comment and the chief threatens her at spear-point. He saw their destiny, they must embrace their wolf-blood and destroy the humans. There must be no mercy. Some of the tribe will stand with him. Skyfire won't. She has no wish to slaughter humans. There's no honor in leaving a child to perish. The tribe no longer wants his mad leadership. She challenges him.

Two-Spear # 4 "A Tribe Divided Part Four: Rage"
Huntress Skyfire challenges her brother Two-Spear. Rellah steps in, she won't allow it. Two-Spear cuts her cheek. She once told his father that the daughter would one day be true chief. She hopes he dies. He says they must fight for what it theirs, not hide. They have become weak. Recognition is not needed. Preypacer willed his birth. Skyfire reminds him she's Preypacer's child too. All would've been well if she hadn't been born. Graywolf keeps Willowgreen back. Preypacer and Wreath had no choice, couldn't fight Recognition. They didn't admit it to others or themselves, it was for the "good of the tribe." Only a healer was there at her birth. Preypacer and Swift-Spear watched from afar. Skyfire fires an arrow, Two-Spear throws a spear. Her father and brother trained her with a bow. She's hit in the shoulder, he in the gut. Two-Spear throws the arrow back, hitting her ear. He says she can end it. She punches him. He never let her lead the hunt as he promised. Did she threaten his leadership? He never feared that. He knew she coveted the chief's place. He even says that he cared. He was born to lead their people so they would never need to hide. He's beating her, hoping that he could convince her. She falls to the ground, saying no mercy. His tears fall on her face as he plunges his spear down.

Two-Spear # 5 "A Tribe Divided Part 5: Division"
Two-Spear's spear hits the ground near her head. He decided to show mercy. He now decides to leave. Skyfire gets up saying she's not finished. He knows he's not wanted. He tells them to wait for the five-fingers to return or embrace the new, without fear of any human. He won't wait for Willowgreen to heal Skyfire. She follows, as do Graywolf and some others. Icetooth stays but Skyfire tells him to follow his chief. Rellah calls them animals. Two-Spear's tribe is still moving, refusing to rest. He won't let Willowgreen heal him, they must learn to live with pain. He pushes her away. Graywolf goes to her. Two-Spear notices their closeness. He and Graywolf talk. Two-Spear says Graywolf deserves someone. Even Timmain knew there was more than one path. At the holt, Skyfire's bleeding has stopped. She has time to heal, lead the hunters, and plant the harvest before the whitecold. The knot is tied in the hair of their true leader. Soon, Skyfire and Sapling hunt. Her arm still hurts so Sapling finishes it. Two-Spear's tribe enter the cave shaped by High Ones. Here, they're more than elf, more than wolf, they're masters of the world. Skyfire calls council. None will challenge humans unless their lives are threatened. They can evade humans. Two-Spear says no more hiding. A warrior grows inside Willowgreen, the first of many. Skyfire says they must live in the now, no looking back. Two-Spear wants a world without humans. Skyfire sees the moons as brother and sister, bonded by blood, but always apart.