FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter One

The Ice Cavern's Village

"My life was not an easy one, though I don't doubt that there are those that have lived worse, but because of the time I have spent alive the story is long, and filled with many events.

_ _

In the beginning my childhood was quiet normal I suppose, at least for someone born to a wolf pack of the North, in the village tasked by the spirits to guard the caverns one of the Six Sources, Ice, rested within, a task that often found my tribe in battle against those seeking this power. This task was the reason our people stayed in such harsh lands, we having guarded the caverns for generations, and expected to keep doing so for many generations more.

_ _

In the snow filled content of north the night and days are long, lasting weeks to months at a time, my mother told me that I was born just as the sun was rising to end one of these long nights, one that had been particularly cold and filled with storms, one that's cold had taken the life of her younger sister, and thus in her memory, my mother named me after her, and the name of Shiya was given to me.

_ _

My father, Amarok, did not like the name. He had chosen a name long ago that he thought would be more fitting for his son, he wanted me to be given a warriors name and often tried to convince my mother to call me Tulok, may parents argued much about it when I was a pup, but eventually my father grew used to my name, even found of it, and thus did not argue over it any further. Instead he saved the name for the next son the two of them would have, as the tribe expected my father to have plenty sons more.

_ _

My father was named after a large a fearful wolf from mythologies of the old days when people lived without fur and fang, and he did the name justice in every manner you could think of. He was a large wolf, the largest in all of the pack, and he was powerful, with no one able to match his strength. Of course that strength put him the right hand of our chieftain, and he was given the title as the tribe's fist warrior.

_ _

The chieftain thought highly of his strength, and it was no surprise to anyone that the chieftain wanted him to produce many sons that could be powerful warriors like him. In order to do that my father was given two wives, Adina, who was the tribe's strongest female warrior and stood at the right hand of my father in battle as the tribe's second, and the woman who was my birth mother, Pinga, who was the tribe's gifted healer.

_ _

My birth mother was the opposite of my father and my second mother in every possible way, small, meek, gentle, and filled with kindness. She was the one I grew to be like in both size and mannerisms, I was not a warrior like my father, it was clear to anyone that saw me, and thus from an early age, it was deemed that I would be a healer just as my mother was.

_ _

I do not know if my parents had any more sons or daughters after me, I was not with them long enough to know, many events happened that lead to me being taken away from my family, and it all started with the strange looking visitors.

_ _

These strange beings without fur or claw appeared before our tribe one day. The chieftain's young son had gotten into a fight with his father and run away, but to do such a thing in the Northern Tundra was foolish and suicidal, the cold and wild beasts that lived within the snow were unforgiving and would take the life of any that challenged it or did not act wisely within it, the ice would bring death to anyone, no matter how strong or weak, how old or how young.

_ _

Many were sent to look for him, but none were able to find him, and soon everyone feared that snow had taken his life, that is until the strange visitors without fur or claw returned him to our village, having found and saved him from the death that had been sure to come to him.

_ _

Of course our leader praised and welcomed these men into our tribe, offering them anything they could possibly desire as a reward to saving the life of his beloved son, the request they made to our chieftain one that would change the lives of all those within the tribe, and especially my own, forever."

Several young wolves, all with fur as white as snow, are playing with one another, wrestling the others to the snow filled ground, biting and clawing playfully as they tried to overpower the other. The game, though one that would prepare and train them for real fights when they were older, still nothing but a game to the children right now, no one paying mind to who was winning or who was losing.

Several men pass by, stopping to look at the children, several of them looking strange, completely different from the white wolves that filled the village, these men carrying no fur or claws, nor any fangs within their mouths, these men referring to themselves as True Bloods, they remnants of a race that had at one time filled and over taken the earth, the strength that race had long shattered, with very few members of it still remaining.

One of the True Bloods stares at the wild children as they play with one another, he smirking as he turns to a white wolf that he is walking with. "Honestly how do you tell your pups apart? To me they all look exactly the same as some as one another."

A very large white wolf approaches the man talking in a harsh and sarcastic tone of voice. "My son is the smallest of the children in the tribe, that is how I tell him apart from the others." He turns to the children calling out a name. "Shiya."

The children all stop their play as they turn to the large wolf that had called out the name, a small boy dragging himself out from underneath the pile of pups and running up the large wolf that had called his name. "Yes father?"

Amarok motions toward the man that had spoken up. "This man can't tell the difference between you and your friends because you all share the same white fur. Tell me, do you have any trouble telling your friends apart?"

Shiya lets out a laugh as he shakes his head no. "Of course not!! Why that's a stupid as saying a baby seal looks the same as a polar bear!"

The rest of the children all begin to laugh, they all amused by this thought, all of them throwing their own comments in as well. "I'm surprised you can tell us apart from the snow if our colouring the only thing you can see on us."

A white female wolf that is by Amarok's side lets out a laugh as she looks to the True Blood that had spoken up with a sneer. "You should put more thoughts into what you say, else more than the children will be calling you stupid, for a race that prides itself in and is always boasting about your intelligence I am sure that is not something you would like everyone calling you."

"The large wolf, as mentioned before, was my father, Amarok, and the sharp tongued woman by his side was Adina, one of his two wives. The two of them, though praised as the strongest warriors of our people, and ones that would lead our warriors both in hunts and in battle, did not converse well with the visitors that the chieftain had welcomed as guests, and did not hold themselves back from showing this dislike."

One of the True Bloods looks angered by the comment, he speaking to Shiya's father in a harsh tone. "Having to put up with a dog like you is one thing Amarok, but you should do better as to keep the tongue of your mate silent, I should not have to endure the cumbersome yelping of your bit-"

Adina lets out an angered snarl as she grabs onto thick cloak the man was wearing to protect him from the cold, she speaking to him in a threatening tone of voice. "Say it and rip your tongue out with nothing by my claws."

The children that Shiya had been playing with let out excited gasps as they all surround Adina and the man that she held, all of them excited to see how this would play out. "Oh Adina is angry again!!"

"She'll do it too! You should have seen what she did to my dad when he made her angry!"

"How much blood do you think there we be this time!?"

The commotion is subsided as the chieftain walks up to the scene, placing one hand on either of the arguing figures and and forcing the two apart. "Adina that is enough! These men are our guests and you are not to treat them in such a way!"

Adina lets out a hateful growl as she takes several steps back, she muttering hateful words under her breath that she dare not say out loud to her leader, the chieftain pointing to her as he gives her orders. "Go to your home, the manner in which you treat my guests is embarrassing and sets a poor example of who we are, I do not wish to see you for the rest of the day."

Adina looks to Amarok before taking her leave. "Do the smart thing and don't start following that man's advice, the day you try to get me to hold my tongue will be the day you lose your tail, and not one that hangs behind you."

Amarok nods his head. "I wouldn't dream of keeping you from saying what you want."

"Good"

Adina turns to Shiya before leaving as ordered. "Come Shiya, it's time to go home."

Shiya looks back to his father before following Adina home. "I hope your talk goes well." He runs after Adina keeping close to her heels.

One of the True Bloods looks toward Amarok once Adina has left. "You know what we call men who are treated like that by their woman where I come from?"

Amarok turns back to him. "Married?"

The True Bloods and wilds alike all begin to laugh at the comment the chieftain patting Amarok on the back. "Yes I suppose so."

The True Blood that had been speaking to Amarok looks away from as he now speaks to the chieftain while walking alongside him, they group leaving the area to go about their business with the tribes leader. "And that is one of the many reasons as to why I am never getting married."

*******

Adina sits within a home that had been crafted within the snow, it surprisingly warm inside despite what it was made out of, she right now working on mending a weapon that was in need of repairs, it a knife that Shiya's father often used in battle, Shiya sitting on her lap and watching her work, Adina ranting in a spiteful tone of voice. "I can't stand those men, any of them! I swear if the chieftain wasn't so found of them I would have ripped all of their throats out long ago!"

A gentle voice responds to her, another woman in the home with her, she Pinga, the second wife of Amarok. "Why do you hate them so much? I've seen them around the village, but never spoken to them to meet or know what they are like. They only speak to warriors, and act as if they are too good to speak to me."

Adina frowns as she looks over to Pinga who right now works on mixtures that she would use to help the ill. "They speak that way because they honestly think that way." She looks to the side while holding her ears back. "Ever since I first saw them they made the fur on my back stand on end, and not because they look strange. Every bone in my body is telling me that these men cannot be trusted, and I am not alone, Amarok feels the same, as do many of the other warriors."

Shiya looks up to Adina as he begins to question what he is hearing. "Why do the strange looking men scare you? They have no fangs or claws to hurt you with."

Adina looks down to Shiya. "I am not frightened of them, I just do not trust them, these things are not the same Shiya."

Shiya rests his head on her leg while letting out a deep sigh, he not understanding the explanation, Pinga letting out a sweet laugh as she stares at home. "Oh my son, you are such a sweet little pup, you make me wish that I was as simple minded as you and did not have to worry about these complicated adult matters."

Adina puts the weapon she had been working on down as she begins to stroke Shiya's fur. "When they are here these men conspire with the chieftain every moment they get, I've listened in unseen and they talk of changes they want to make, of giving us buildings stronger than what we have, or medicines much stronger than the ones you make, and of power, a power so strong that it will make our enemies cower at the mention of our tribes name."

Pinga looks to the side. "It sounds much like the domestic cities you hear about from travelers." She shakes her head this not a good thing. "The spirits do not favour the domestics, if we are to lose our ways and become like them the spirits will turn their backs on us."

Adina frowns at the mention. "Speaking of domestics, did you know that the domestic woman do not have heat? Amarok and all the other men of the tribe would be much deprived if wild woman were to act like that."

Pinga drops what she is doing as she lifts her hands to her mouth and tries to hide an embarrassed laugh. "Honestly Adina where do you hear stuff like this? I swear you purposely hunt down information of this sort just to see my reaction towards it, you know I blush when talks like this come up."

Shiya looks up to Adina curiously. "What do you mean by 'have heat?"

Pinga holds back another embarrassed laugh. "Oh Shiya you sweet child, don't make this conversation worse for me with questions like that."

Adina looks back to Shiya with a grin. "You'll find out when you're older sure enough."

Shiya rests his head back on her leg as he takes a deep breath, letting out another deep sigh, he not much liking the fact that he didn't understand most of what was being said in this conversation.

Pinga motions for Shiya to come to her. "Come Shiya, let me show you what I'm working on, you'll very much need to know this when your older."

Shiya gets up off of Adina's lap, making his way over to his mothers and sitting her hers, he looking down to the ingredients that she is working with. "Why do the spirits say I should be a healer and not a warrior? I'm small right now but maybe I'll be as big as father when I'm older."

Adina lets out a laugh as she shakes her head. "Oh Shiya, you'll be lucky if you end up being half the size of your father."

Shiya looks to her with a frown. "How would you know? You can't see the future."

"I don't have to know the future to know small when I see it."

Shiya grumbles to himself Pinga placing her hand on his head. "Why would you want to be a warrior when you can be a healer? I know for a fact that you would much rather help people then hurt them."

Shiya looks up to his mother. "All of my friends are going to be warriors that protect the caverns when they're older, both the boys and the girls... I'm the only one who's not going to be one."

"You have just an important task as your friends do Shiya. You friends will become warriors and fight many battles against our enemies, and hunt many wild and strong beasts for food, but in doing this they will become wounded in their battles and then it will fall to you to heal those wounds and keep them alive. The warriors will depend on your knowledge and skills every day of their lives, which with your help will be long and strong."

Shiya smiles as he looks from his mother and back down to the work in front of her, it being a collection of grasses, roots, leaves, berries, flowers and other such rare things. "Mother... I have never seen you work with things like this before, where do these medicines come from? I've never seen an animal with such things on them."

Pinga looks down to the ingredients that she would be using to make medicines. "You are smart to see these as different, most of our medicines are made from parts of animals that our hunters brings back, but these ingredients are special and very powerful, they are also very rare around these parts, they grow from the ground in areas that are not filled with snow, and must be traded with travelers that come from such places to be obtained."

Shiya seems curious. "Have you ever seen these green and brown beasts that grow from the ground?"

Both Pinga and Adina laugh at the question, Shiya's mother shaking her head no as she corrects him. "They do not come from any beast my boy, they come from plants. When the snow is not as fierce and patches of earth can be seen such things will grow here as well."

Adina nods her head as she adds to the conversation. "You have never seen them, the cold has been harsh and relentless for years, practically since you've been born, but give it time, eventually the snow will grow tired of its howling and giveaway, and then you will see these little plants for yourself."

Pinga nods her head. "Yes, when that happens you will be hard at work gathering these little plants, so that we can store and use them throughout the cold winters when they do not grow."

Shiya reaches down, picking up a branch full of leaves and holding it up. "So I will see things like this growing from the ground?"

Pinga shakes her head no. "No, only little plants can grow here, this branch is from a plant much larger than anything that can be found as far North as we are."

Shiya looks up to his mom questioning her in a tone of disbelief. "Larger than father?"

"Yes, much larger than your father."

The voice of Shiya's father interrupts the conversation. "Who is larger than me?"

Pinga chuckles to herself as she looks over toward her husband. "No one is my love, you are the biggest and strongest wolf in the pack. We are talking about the trees I get my medicines from."

Amarok looks down to Shiya who is right now holding up a branch and looking it over. "Are you learning much from your mother?"

Shiya nods his head as he looks back to his father. "I always am."

Amarok gives a wide grin pleased to hear it. "You are a good boy, you will keep the lives of our warriors long and keep the tribe strong with this knowledge, I never had a healer in my family before, and I am nothing but proud to have one now."

Shiya puts the branch he had been holding down as he leaves his mother's lap and makes his way over to his father. "Why can't I be a warrior like you? Why a healer like mother? Is it because I am so small?"

Amarok kneels down, swiftly picking the young boy up and holding him up as if he was as light as a feather to him. "Warriors do not have to be tall to be strong, why I have seen small warriors who though lacking in strength were as fast as the wind and could fall the same enemies any warrior larger than them could. If you have the heart and blood of a warrior you will become one, how big you are, male or female, what you are on the outside does not matter."

"So I don't have the heart nor blood of a warrior? Is that why I can't be one?"

Amarok shakes his head no. "With me as your father you have those things sure enough, but you have something much stronger in you that overpowers that strength." He puts Shiya back on the ground patting him on the head. "You have kindness, love and compassion, more than anyone else I have seen at your age or even in many older than you. You are meant for a role much greater than that as a warrior, warriors like me are envious of the things you carry."

"Are you just saying that to make me feel better?"

Pinga looks to Shiya. "No Shiya, it is the truth, though warriors can win battles kind hearts and understanding can stop them from happening in the first place."

Adina lets out a sigh. "Unfortunately once wars over powers sources such as the one we guard start there is little kindness can do to stop them, our enemies are not going to back down from kind words, and these True Bloods that conspire with our chieftain do not leave when 'kindly' asked to do so."

Amarok looks over to his second wife. "You do not exactly ask them kindly." Amarok turns back to Shiya. "Never lose your kindness son, it is a trait that is becoming rare in these times, something that is even starting to become forgotten."

Adina speaks to get Amarok's attention. "So, what did the True Bloods want with our chieftain today."

Amarok lets out a heavy sigh as he looks over to Adina. "Nothing good, as they always they have brought with them many gifts that will either make our lives easier or appeal to our chieftains own personal greed, and as before the payment they ask the chieftain of in exchange for these things is for him to simple hear their plans out."

"As before they speak of the Six Sources, of the one resting within the cravens that we guard to be more precise, and how with our help they wish to capture it and harness its power. Our chieftain's stance on the matter grows weaker each time they come, the gifts they constantly bring him make his mind sway more and more in the True Blood's favour with each visit. I fear that one day his mind will change, and he will give into their request."

Adina shakes her head. "We do not endure the harshness of winter for no reason! For ages our people have lived in this spot for one reason alone, it is our purpose is to protect the caverns of the Ice Source from anyone that might come intending to harm it or seek its power, that power is not something that can ever be or should be controlled. These men that bribe our chieftain with gifts are no different than the men that attack use. They're goals are exactly the same, to try and obtain a power that they cannot have."

Amarok nods his head. "I have reminded him of this time and time again, but every time I am to remind him he seems more and more reluctant to listen to me... it will not be long until he gives in to their requests."

Shiya stares at his parents as they continues to talk.

"Though the previous conversations had held information that I would not come to understand until I was old, this conversation was something that I understood even at my age. Everyone knew since the day they were born that the purpose of everyone in the village was to protect the Ice Source that dwelled with in the nearby caverns of ice, though a free moving spirit that once covered and governed the earth it had come time for it to rest.

_ _

The six sources though powerful and formidable had at one time been unobtainable, that changing after they had destroyed all previous life upon the earth, bringing everything to ruin before once again granting life and starting the world anew. Such a task had taken get strength even from spirits as powerful as them, and all six sources came to rest, as to recover the strength that was lost in the re-creation of the world.

_ _

One of these six great powers had gathered in the area of my village, where it chose to sleep for thousands years to regain its strength and after doing so would awakening and dispersing its power across the earth once more, until that day though, the task of protecting this power while it was vulnerable and slept was given to the members of my village, and we became the cavern's guardians."

Amarok looks over to Shiya. "The time to sleep is soon, you should join the other pups of the village and rest."

Shiya nods his head, he getting to his feet and leaving the place his family called home, quickly making his way through the chilly snow filled village toward a hut near its center, he stopping for a moment to look up at the bright blue sky above him.

Another pup in the village approaches Shiya. "It's difficult for me to sleep in the light too."

Another young member of the tribe speaks up, she also heading towards this shelter. "My father said that there are places where people get both the darkness and the light every day. Did you know that?"

"Impossible!"

"It's true, my father wouldn't lie to me. He also said that there are places that only see snow for but a moment of the year."

"Everything would look so strange without snow... I can't picture how things would look without it... it must be dull."

Shiya looks to the others. "My mother said that little green plants grow when the snow is gone."

The other two pups look not to believe him. "You trying to tell me that everything turns green? That would look silly! Could you imagine everything you see being green? She must have been joking."

One of the older members of the tribe hurries the children alone. "Inside now before you freeze to death."

The three make their way inside continuing their conversation in the shelter where many other children of the village had already gathered, and where several older members of the tribe tried to get them gathered to the center of the hut where they would sleep, one of the children proving to be exceedingly difficult. "No I don't want to sleep with the others not after yesterday!"

The adult lets out a sigh as she shakes her head. "And what happened yesterday that was so bad that you can't sleep with the others?"

"Someone wouldn't stop farting! It lasted all night and no one would say who did it!"

The other children break out into fits of laughter, the woman who was trying to get them under control sighing once more while shaking her head. "You don't have a choice in the matter, if you sleep alone the cold will take your life. You need to sleep near others to keep warm that's a fact of life, you either sleep together or die alone from the cold, it is how life works, there's no choice to be made about it!"

One of the younger children begins to whine. "Why can't we sleep with our parents to keep warm?"

One of the older children laughs at the comment. "You're so stupid!"

"I'm not stupid! Why could they possibly be doing every night that they wouldn't want us around for and have to send us here?"

"Oh you're sooooooo stupid!"

"Stop calling me that! I am not!"

The adults continue to gather the children together. "That's enough talking, it's time to be quiet and sleep."

It takes several minutes for the adults to get the children calmed down and under control, the children of the tribe all gathering within the center where they slept huddled and near one another, keeping each other warm from the cold they lived in. Shiya whispering to the child near him. "It must be really cold for the True Bloods... they have no fur at all to protect them from the cold and have to wear the skin of other animals..."

The child that Shiya had whisper to lets out a yawn, he already tired and starting to drift to sleep. "Their reason for being here must be really important if they're willing to stand and brave the cold when they have no fur..."

*******

"The days continued as normally as any other, with there not being much talk of the strange furless villagers that had come to visit our people. Our chieftain trusted these people, though not many others did. My father, Adina and the other warriors were all suspicious of these men, and did not like the way they would constantly speak of trying to control the great source that our people had been chosen to protect, the gifts they would bring to the chieftain as to try and get him to change his mind not helping these matters. The warriors knew their goals were no different from those who would attack the tribe in order to gain access to the caverns where the source slept, the True Bloods just having a much different way of how they attempted this, our chieftain the only one they were fooling with this act, and in reality, he was the only one that they needed to fool to get what they wanted.

_ _

My father and the other warriors spoke of these events and what should be done about them very secretively among one another, each time the topic came up they became more and more careful to make sure that me and the other children were not around to overhear what they were saying, I and the other children were of course curious of what they were talking about, but our attention was also easily swayed by games that the other children and even the adults would start with us. The children as young as me were completely unaware of what it was the adults were planning, we never saw it coming until the day it happened.

_ _

The days that passed were nothing but normal to me, and I honestly could not much tell the difference between them. Me and the other children never wandered from the village, we had been told the stories of the frightening monsters outside of the village and how the quick the cold would kill you if you were to venture unprepared, unlike the older more rebellious children in the village I and many others were still too young to think to challenge the stories that had been told to us, and thus always stayed where we knew it to be safe.

_ _

Most of my time was spent indoors with my mother, where she would teach me of how to tell one healing ingredient from another, these the very basics to what I would need to know when I one day became a healer like her. On days where sun was warm and the snow not as cold my mother would set aside my lessons and let me play outside in the snow with the other children of the village.

_ _

Our games for the most part were the same, use our teeth, claws and strength to try and to overpower the others and bury them in the snow. Sometimes I would win these games, though for the most part, I mostly remember losing at them, the times I found himself at the bottom of the pile buried beneath the others and covered in snow how things would usually turn of for me, the end result not mattering much though, as no matter what the result the games were still fun.

_ _

The strange furless villagers continued to come and go from the village, always coming back with more and more gifts to present to our leader, and each time they did my father and the other warriors grew more and more cautious of them, until one day, when the many gifts had finally reaped their desired result, and our chieftain granted the True Bloods access to the caverns where the Ice Source slept, and then agreed to help them contain and control it.

_ _

I do not know how the announcement was given to the people of our tribe, or for certain what exactly happened or what played out, I can only make assumptions on that from the little I do know. The only thing I am certain about is how things ended."

The children of the tribe are all huddled together sleeping soundly, Shiya snug among them as he usually was, tucked among the others as warm as could be.

A sudden, loud and angered voice bellows in the air, startling and waking all of them. "Shiya!! Shiya!!"

The children who had been both woken and frightened by name being called all have their attention at the entrance of their snow hut, where the three True Blood visitors right now stood, none of them looked happy, the one calling out Shiya's name the least so, his arm and side wounded and filled with blood. "Which one of you little brats is Shiya!?"

The children all look fearfully to one another, all of them having been woken by such a frightening scene with no one knowing what was going on, the adults that looked after them while the children slept gathering them together and moving them back from the men that had entered. Neither them nor the children giving the man the answer he was looking for.

One of the adult wolves of the tribe moves to keep the children protected behind him. "Please leave, Shiya has done nothing! He has no idea of what is happening right now! There is no need for you to drag him into this."

"Point him out to me dog or you will lose your head!"

One of the True Blood's looks to the wounded member that was bellowing his orders loudly in his anger, he presenting him with some information that would help him. "Amarok said once that his son was the smallest, so just look for the smallest little runt you can find."

The man's eyes search through the young children that were gathered there, they soon falling on Shiya, he grinding his teeth together as he storms toward him, throwing both the full grown wolves and small pups aside as he makes his way toward him, reaching down and grabbing at Shiya, catching and holding him by the tail when Shiya fearfully turns to run away from him.

Shiya lets out a frightened yelp as he turns back to the man that had caught him, he reacting by turning to and biting the hand that held onto him, his small fangs barely breaking through the flesh, the man grabbing onto the fur on the back of his neck and pulling his teeth from his hand. "Do that again you little whelp and I will snap you in half!"

Shiya lets out a frightened whimper and he silently nods his head doing as he is told, the man holding him under his arm as he takes him with as he and the others leave the shelter.

Shiya gazes out as his surroundings, the village not the same as it had been when he had gone to sleep, things strewn about and in a mess, while patches and spatters of bright red blood fill the snow upon the ground, it clear that a fight had taken place here.

There is something else he also notices, that there are a lot more True Bloods here right now than he would normally see at one time in the village, whatever it was that had happened having drawn many of them here. Shiya looks over to one of the True Bloods that walked alongside the one holding him. "What happened...?"

"Silence dog."

Shiya remains silent asking no more questions, the men making their way through the village until they reach the home of the chieftain, who right now stood outside of his home, the warriors of their tribe all kneeling on the ground before him, they bloody and wounded from the fighting that had taken place, Amarok, the one that lead the warriors and Shiya's father, at the head of the warriors, fighting and pulling against the restraints that we forcing him down keeping him on his knees.

The chieftain stands before him, the tone in his voice one of anger. "The decision of who I allow within the caverns and what happens to the source inside belong to me! How dare you defy my orders and gather my warriors to attack me as you have! I trusted you with my life and this is how you choose to treat that trust?"

Amarok lets out a vicious snarl as he tries to lung at the chieftain, the restraints that bound him in place holding him back and keeping him from doing so. "It is not your decision! The spirit that rests within the caverns is not yours to do with as you please! Our purpose is to protect it in its slumber from those who would seek out its power! You are no exception to the rule!!"

The chieftain crosses his arms. "If your strength weren't so useful to me I would kill you for this betrayal, but if I were to do that not only would I lose my most powerful warrior but the other warriors would indeed rebel against me. I need you Amarok" The chieftain looks from Amarok and to the men that had retrieved Shiya, he motioning for them to step forward. "Regardless, betrayal must be paid for in death, someone has to receive this punishment of yours."

Shiya is thrown to the ground before Amarok, he not having the chance to get up as a foot it placed upon his neck, pushing against him and holding him to the ground.

Amarok begins to protest this action. "Shiya is just a child! He has done nothing wrong!"

The chieftain looks around him. "Who else's life would you expect me to take? I can't take yours, I've already explained that we need you." He holds his hand out to one of Amarok's wives, who right now sobs loudly at the scene before her. "While your wife is our healer, we can't get rid of her. Your son is the last one left for this punishment to fall to."

A woman's voice calls out before any action could be taken upon Shiya. "Amarok has two wives!"

The chieftain looks to the woman that had spoken up, one of the warriors getting to her feet and holding her hand to her chest, this woman no other than Adina, Amarok's second wife. "Take my life! Spare the boy, he had done nothing wrong!"

Amarok cries out in protest. "Adina no!"

Adina looks to him with a frown. "Would you rather your son die!?"

Amarok falls silent, he unable to answer, he not desiring either of their deaths.

The chieftain takes a moment to think, he eventually nodding his head. "The boy will live, and Adina will face Amarok's punishment in the boy's place." He looks back to Amarok. "But understand, if you are ever to betray and attack me in such a way again, the boy will die." He looks to the True Blood that held Shiya down. "Take the boy with you, keep him where Amarok cannot find nor reach him. If Amarok acts up again that I will give you the command to slay the boy."

The True Blood nods his head and he lifts Shiya up once again taking him with him, the chieftain than motioning for Adina to step forward. "Come here and accept your husband's punishment where all can see you. So that everyone may know how stupid it is to act against my wishes!"

Shiya is taken away from the scene, out of the village and toward the metal vehicles that traveled upon the land that the True Blood's used to reach their village, the man that held him opening the back and throwing the small child inside among the boxes and crates stored in the back, Shiya staring back at him frightened and shaken as he questions him. "The chieftain isn't really going to kill her is he!?"

The True Blood smirks at the question. "Did you not look back to see what was happening behind you? He already has." He shuts the door surrounding Shiya in chilling darkness.

Shiya's heart sinks at the news. "Adina..."

Shiya whimpers as he shivers in the cold, he never being forced to be alone before, his family and tribe always making sure that a child as small as him always had someone warm to cuddle up to, Shiya crawling between the crates and boxes stored in the truck to try and keep warm, the metal floor and walls just as cold as the snow outside, he doing his best to curl up to try and keep himself from freezing, the tears he cried freezing solid to his face.

A loud roar startles Shiya making him shake even more, the metal vehicle he is in beginning to tremble as it starts up, the doors to the front of the truck opening as two of the True Bloods enter, one on either side. "Well this is a mess isn't it?"

"I've heard word that the other tribes protecting the other sources reacted in much the same way. The tribe that guarded Lightning ended up getting completely wiped out in the fighting, the Commander General was not happy about that at all. Without the protecting tribe's cooperation we have no knowledge of the source or of how to begin handing it, he suspects it will be lifetimes before we're able to get that one under control, if we are ever to get it under control at all."

"I wasn't talking about that, the stupid dogs can go ahead and kill each other for all I care, it's no skin off my back. I mean what are we supposed to do with this dumb mutt the chieftain gave us to look after? He's no use to us he's too small to do any work, just where does he think we are to put him?"

"I have a cousin who likes dogs, I'll give it to him to look after. He owes me a favor after all so hopefully he won't complain too much."

Shiya lets out a surprised yelp as the vehicle he is in jerks forward and begins to move, the two True Bloods continuing to talk. "At least that Amarok's vile wife is gone, I swear dealing with Amarok is one thing but dealing with her was a whole other pain."

Shiya yells out to the men in the truck. "Don't talk about Adina like that! She was a kind and caring person who was only mean to people that deserved it!! She shouldn't have had to die!"

"Shut up dog, so help me if you say another word I will go back there and muzzle you!"

Shiya speaks up between sobs. "I don't even know what that means!"

"Keep talking and you'll find out."

Shiya slinks back toward the ground, shuddering from the cold as he once again curls up into a tight little ball for warmth. He having no idea of where he was going or what was in store for him.