The great wolves VII
#8 of The Kiroth Wars (old)
_Back to the wolf thread of the story :)
This chapter will reveal abit more of one character's past and introduces a new face - a character that turned out quite different then I had pictured him at first (which was as a foe, maybe he still is and we will see later?). This chapter was reworked to combine what otherwise would have been two chapters so that the minimum length for yiffstar was achieved - looking at it now I can tell that making this one was a good decision in any case._
The Kiroth Wars - The great wolves VII
The whole pack was in a great turmoil, none of them but Kor had expected anything like this. It had been an afternoon like any other without any unusual events when suddenly 3 heavily armed Kiroth guards had entered and taken Tessa away - no explanation, nothing. Now she had been gone for close to two hours and nobody in the room even knew if she would ever return. A single tear ran down Kor's face. He hoped with all his heart that this would only be a checkup of some sort, he couldn't accept the fact that he might never see her again.
Around him Delia and Tamara were in a state close to panic, Tani and Nika had their faces covered under their paws and Luscia just stared at the door with a grim expression. Neither Kor nor the alpha female were very happy about the way their little pack seemed to practically collapse at the first sign of crisis - there had to be a way they could bring back at least some order. Finally both alphas came to a decision at about the same time. They stood up and walked to the center of the room. Luscia gave a howling bark and every muzzle was facing them in an instant. Kor raised his hands to signify that he had something important to say:
"Please, everybody calm down.", he waited until they had obeyed as far as possible, "We do not know what the Lizards want from Tessa and it won't help to guess. There isn't anything we can do right now, but we have to keep our cool or there might be trouble for all of us. And then don't forget that we are one pack - we would greatly miss Tessa if she would not return, but we cannot let chaos and disorder weaken us. We must remain strong for the one chance we might have at some point to escape this prison."
He finished his speech and Luscia ordered the wolves to gather around closely - In times of trouble no pack member should be allowed to feel alone and helpless. Slowly a cluster of furred bodies formed around the two alphas. Both Kor and Luscia were busy licking and caressing their fellow packmates, strengthening the bond with each of them, trying to give them love and hope. Soon all of the little group was calmly snuggled together except for Delia and Tamara who just couldn't suppress their emotions and were crying into each other's fur. Kor moved closer and gently wrapped his arms around both of them, whispering tender words to them until they fell asleep. He kept holding them while exchanging glances with Luscia who was the center of a furpile herself. Together they kept watch over the pack.
Even before leading her out of the room, a strong collar had been put around Tessa's neck and a chain fastened to it. The guards didn't push or pull her around, they just seemed to try and make very sure she would not escape. For the first time in so many months she had left the stable room and when they stepped out of the building she felt grass under her paws. The sensation was wonderful even though it was dulled by the unknown purpose of her excursion. Finally she was led into a small and rather low gloomy building where a guard fastened her chain to a ring in the wall and left her alone.
She shifted uneasily as she waited for whatever they had in mind for her. There was a strange feeling of a familiar presence, something close, but quite obviously dark and tainted. The fur of her neck began to rise and fear crept up her spine to the point where she felt unable to move. Two yellow eyes began to glow in the darkness of the room, then she heard soft steps approaching and a deep smooth voice began to talk:
"Well well, who do we have here.. Look who has come to visit. Will you not even greet me?"
She swallowed and began to tremble. She tried to calm herself to be able to reply.
"Hello.. father."
Tessa shifted uneasily as the dark male padded closer, looking her over. He sniffed her and circled her once before he stopped in front of her again:
"So the lizard was right - you really are pregnant. And you haven't lost your ability to speak the high tongues."
He looked at her with a certain amount of expectation in his face, like he was waiting for her to respond, but she remained quiet and tried to evade his eyes.
"Daughter.. I know you hate me and I don't blame you. Just try to listen to me now.. in your own interest.. and in the interest of your.. children."
Tessa flattened her ears. He hadn't been speaking in a threatening tone of voice, but rather like he was actually meaning well. This made it so much harder for her to remind herself that every word and anything that might at first glance seem like a weakness or a true feeling was probably just one of his strategems, just another lie. She closed her eyes to hide her emotions and just waited for him to continue.
"Well..", his voice sounded dry but calm, "I guess I will talk and then you can make of it what you will. You.. all of us are in great danger. The lizards have a new warleader who obviously decided that we aren't good enough for his armies anymore. He is a madman with an irrational hate for all warm-blooded creatures and the cruelty of a demon. My loyalty to the clan has left quite a number of the lizards indebted to me so I heard of what happened to the wolves in Tesh'kel, south-east of here.."
He paused and looked at her. She still had her eyes closed, but had perked up her ears.
"They are all dead. Slaughtered. This new leader, Danuk is his ever-accursed name, decided that he would celebrate his ascension by holding a feast for his warriors. He invited the wolfriders first, praising them for their victories while offering them a plenty of food and drink which they happily feasted upon. After the meal was over he told them that he decided to reassign them to training Durgons for battle.
Some of them protested and argued that they had fought alongside their wolves for so long that they would not want to leave them for different animals, knowing that unneeded mounts were usually killed. He just gave all of them a wicked smile and a single reply - 'Yes they were truely marvelous creatures, I can tell by the way you enjoyed the meal' - and they all knew what they had done."
Tessa had her eyes well-opened now. It just couldn't be, he was a wicked lier and worse, but this wasn't his style. She looked back at him now and he continued:
"Danuk", he spat the name like it was a disease, "will come here in only half a moon and he already proclaimed that there should be a feast in his honor upon his arrival. Just for a brief time we need to forget our.. little differences.. and work together to get out of here. That or before the moon is over every wolf to the last pup will be dead meat on the plate of that madman."
He gave a brief howling bark and one of the guards that had brought her stepped through the door, unfastening the chain that held the young female. The dark wolf pointed at the Kiroth and then looked back to his daughter:
"Gurmok will bring you back to your friends. Tell them what I told you. Make sure they are ready for a quick escape in 2 days."
At that he turned around and stepped back into the shadows. The Kiroth guard walked out of the building with Tessa following him. Behind her the dark wolf stared after her for awhile:
"She did not even turn around once.. I taught her well. She is strong."
The darkness hid the single tear that dropped from his face. He laid down and tried to rest for abit, but sleep seemed to shun him again. It was always there, her face, her eyes. The blood, so much blood. The taste of it in his mouth, the color of blood on his fur that he seemed to never be able to truely remove. Her twitching body, staring at him, staring right into his eyes until her own eyes broke and the light faded from them. And the eyes of the pup that had watched and lived.
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