Jamil
I glared at the group of men that had surrounded us. I could see and count about six men standing before us looking like they had very hostile intentions. I did a quick scan of the environs trying to see if there were any others lurking around but there seemed to be none. Either that, or they were hiding well out of view. "Well, well, look who we have here." A man moved forward. He wasn't very tall but he had the muscular build of one who could take on ten men of my own size. He completed the look with a full beard which extended to his chest area. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" I snarled, my hand flying to my side only to be reminded that I had no sword. It wasn't exactly one of the most important accessories you thought to pack when you were preparing to go for a run. I groaned inaudibly silently cursing myself for being so careless. With what had been going on in the past couple of days, I should have known better than to leave the palace without my sword. Now, I was practically defenseless before six extremely muscular men. I looked over to Ulo and smiled. Ever the careful one, he had drew his sword from its scabbard. I wondered about how he had carried it while running but decided to not think about that. Not especially when we had a group two times our number (make that three times since Blaire could not fight) on our territory and with obviously hostile intentions. The man chuckled as he took another step toward us reducing the distance between us to about ten feet. "Don't come any closer." I warned, raising my arms in preparation for a fight. Beside me, Ulo brandished his sword. "Get behind us." I whispered to Blaire to which she promptly complied. If I had known that it only took six men to make Blaire calm, I would have arranged that a long time ago. Too bad we could not really dwell on that. Not with the man continuing toward us despite my warning. "Come on, boys. Is this how you welcome strangers?" He boomed as he moved another step. "Come any closer," I snarled, "and you will see just how well we treat strangers." His eyes flashed in anger and for a moment, I feared that he would dash toward us. Instead, he blinked and he was back to smiling which didn't look any more reassuring. Not with his beards that was thick enough to house a whole herd of deer. "Watch your tongue, boy. You are lucky I am not here to fight. Not yet." He added the last part like he was hoping he would be able to fight very soon. "I'm only here to talk so be a good boy and listen." "How about you be a good boy, yourself," I growled, not being especially pleased to be referred to as a boy, "and get the hell out of our pack." "How about you shut your trap, boy." The man snapped. "I see that you don't have my target here." A phantom rattlesnake made its way down my back as I got a really good idea about who his target was. I didn't know whether to be relieved he was not here or be worried about him running into these men, alone. I pushed the thought away. We had more pressing issues to deal with at the moment. "Since he is not here, I would speak to the most important person here." The man continued. "You, come forward." He pointed a huge arm toward Ulo. I snarled as I moved closer to Ulo. "He is not coming anywhere. I would advise that you leave while you still can." I wished I had a sword to brandish as emphasis but I had to make to with what I had. The man chuckled, this time, he sounded much more colder. "Are you coming, or do I have to come over there?" He asked, disregarding my words. "You..." I started through clenched teeth but was stopped by a warm arm on my shoulder. "Let me go see what he wants." Ulo whispered, his voice extremely calm. I always admired the way he was able to keep his cool under all conditions. "Are you sure?" I asked, glaring at the man and his other five companions. I would hate for anything to happen to my friend on my watch. He patted me again on the shoulder as if to say, what is the worst that could happen? before stepping forward. "What do you want with us?" Ulo asked as he took three steps forward, his left arm still wrapped around his sword. "You?" The man chuckled like that was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. "Nothing much. I only need you to carry a message to your father, Green, is it?" "Watch your tongue!" I snarled the same time as Indrik did. "Do you know who they are?" A timid voice asked behind me. "No!" I replied bitterly. "But stay behind me. I will make sure no harm comes to you." My entire body was tensed, ready to launch it the men so much as made a wrong move but instead, the man chuckled again. He seemed to like chuckling, I noticed. Probably because it sounded like a thunderclap which worked well to make his enemies uncomfortable. It definitely set me on edge. "Whatever. Tell him I said to prepare for payback. He has proven himself incapable of being a leader so he is going to face the consequences." "What do you mean?" I rasped but he simply ignored me. "Make sure you deliver my message." He said to Ulo and then, he was gone. I blinked as I stepped forward, Blaire now clinging to my robe for safety. "Where did he go?" I asked Ulo who replied with a shrug. "He just disappeared."Jamil After a quick search through the woods that yielded no results, we headed back to the palace with the hearty news. So much for trying to get everyone in a better mood. "Who do you think they were? You think they..." I stopped mid-sentence but the way Ulo looked at me informed me that he had gotten my message. "I don't know." He replied brusquely. I nodded. I wasn't in a very good mood myself. Good work universe. You have successfully ruined a perfectly good mood. Getting back to the palace, we elected to go see the Beta immediately. Sure, it was the dead of night but that kind of threat could not be dismissed easily. For one, the man seemed to have known a lot about us which was unfair considering that we didn't really know all that much about him. He had not only known about Beta Green but he had also known about his son. He hadn't mentioned my name but I had a feeling that he knew exactly who I was. Blaire too. Another suspicion that I had was that he had known we wou
Luna I woke up to see Indrik staring down at me. I blinked, trying to recall how and when I had ended up here. I pulled a blank unable to recall anything after the tree man. I shivered as I recalled the memory which sleep had done little to dampen. "What?" I scowled up at him when he continued to stare at me even with my eyes wide open. That, and the fact that the way he was laying so close to me was causing some un-Luna like reactions in my belly. He smiled down at me in a way that warned that he was about to say something that was pretty silly. "Don't say it." I warned but of course, he was not going to listen. "You haven't even heard what I had to say." He grumbled. "I don't need to hear it before knowing what you are going to say." I scoffed, slapping his arm which was smoothing my hair away. "Well, I'm going to tell you anyway. So, I woke up this morning and the sun was beaming on your face." He pointed an opening in the branches above the bed which I was certain had
Jamil Morning broke with me still asleep which was rather unusual for me. Usually, I was out of bed before the crack of dawn. But today, I probably would have continued sleeping till noon if a knock had not woken me up. I groaned lazily as I stretched my limbs. The knock came again, forcing me out of bed. I stumbled over to the door in nothing other than a black trouser. Opening the door, I was surprised to find Blaire standing there and even more so to find that she looked more of a mess than I probably did, but then again, I couldn't see myself through a second set of eyes. Her chocolate brown hair had become all tangled and messy making me feel sorry for her as I imagined her trying to tackle that forest. Her face did not look much better with red looking eyes and eye bags. Her nose was running and her mouth looked like one of her lip paints had gone rogue and traipsed aimlessly all over her mouth instead of her lips. Her blue gown looked she had wrested it from a couple of deer
UloSometimes, I wondered if my temperament was a curse. Growing up, I had always been the most quiet of my friends, even more quiet than Indrik who had the most right to be quiet amongst all of us. Not so comfortable with people, I found it more comfortable to be in the company of books and weapons. Those did not seem so complicated. With books, I could easily travel into worlds where I had a measure of control. With weapons, I could focus on my weaknesses and home them into strengths. As long as I trained hard and well enough, I was certain to be good enough some day. This was not the same with humans. I could spend an entire year studying humans only to fall flat again as they brought up a side of them that I never knew existed. Books had their own twists and turns as well but at least, those had a resolution. Humans never did. They always seemed to manufacture a thousand more problems for every single one that you manufactured. Hearing Blaire's voice at Jamil's door, I had jumped
Ulo I daubed at my eyes, hoping that no one would be able to see the height of my humiliation. Crying? Seriously? I wished I could punch the living daylights out of my own body. "Yo, bud. You're okay?" Jamil came rushing over. "I'm fine." I snapped not feeling up to the task of dealing with Mr perfect at the moment. "Let's go." I continued, still daubing at my eyes and hoping it would be gone before we reached the palace. It would be really embarrassing to appear before the council looking all weepy. The entire way to the palace, I kept thinking of all the ways in which I could start up a conversation with Blaire and clear the air within us but it all ended up starting and ending within me. Then there was Jamil too who was only trying to help while I kept shutting him down. All of these were really starting to give me a headache so I was relieved when we appeared before the council and were asked to give our reports. We reported what we had seen and then watched as the counci
Luna There is a place for being a good teacher and there is a place for having good equipment and a perfect training ground. I had no idea who the children of prophecy were but I promised myself to say a very big thank you to them when we finally met them. My initial plan had been to train with Indrik for a short while but the process had gone so smoothly with trees set in place to match the exact thing that we needed. Indrik found it strange but I knew that the trees were helping us. When he needed to pull himself up, there was a branch just perfect for that. When he needed obstacle courses, there were just enough low hanging branches between trees to allow for that. Whatever we needed, the trees provided. Even the staff with which I had whacked his behind a couple of times now. By the time we decided to rest, the day had been far spent and we both collapsed, exhausted, to the patch of green grass that definitely did not appear out of nowhere to the middle of our training field.
IndrikI just had the best day of my life! That was something I knew without a doubt. Sure, I was super hungry, and every single muscle in my body ached but within my sternum, my heart raced with the enough euphoria to equal that of a man who had just finished a whole barrel of good beer. No, don't ask me if I drink. I don't. I gave up after drinking one glass once and waking up at the edge of the river and my pants might have been wet as well. Some of us are just too pure to be found drinking such unseemly things, I guess. No! I'm not trying to make my weakness seem like a virtue. What am I saying? It isn't a weakness. You know what? Forget I mentioned it. I was finally fulfilling my lifelong dream and nothing could stop me. It could be my imagination but I could already feel myself growing stronger by the day. Despite all of these, I still needed to eat though if I did not want to pass out with exhaustion which was why I was glad when Luna made a beeline for the kitchen as soon as w
IndrikFor someone who had had to give up on a lot of things, among which were my respect as the first son of the Alpha, my place as a wolf, my place as an elder brother to mention just a little, I wasn't exactly enamoured by someone who did not know the right time to give up. I know all about the difference between love and obsession and I was willing to bet my least favorite robe that this woman was becoming obsessed. I hated obsession. And besides, there was that other matter. I had barely stepped into our quarters when her unmistakable fragrance wafted over the air to me. You could never miss the mix of flagrant spices which I loved when they were used in appropriate proportions. Rosewater, Lavender, among other scents that I couldn't place. Seriously? Now, I didn't know all that much about female rituals but I was pretty certain there were some rules about mixing these scents. This was clearly a total violation of all of those rules. I tried not to think of my room continuing to