Tiberius's Story

Blossom was awake, awake so early that it felt wrong. I... I... What was it? She lifted her head with ears fully pricked, a sudden silence descended on the surrounding area. Her fur began to fluff up, a sudden strangeness overtook her and she began to wonder, There's something wrong here... Her whiskers twitching, she got to her paws and walked away from her resting place. This place... feels like its dying... She saw it there. It was a flower, that wasn't just one flower.

As she got closer, the flower kept changing from one flower type to another. Daffodil. Sunflower. Lily. Orchid. Tulip. It was strange, yet somehow eye-catching. Once she got close enough, she touched it with her nose. And... Everything died.

"Ah!" Blossom jumped up and hit her head on the boulder above her. "Ow." She grimaced and rubbed her head with her front paws while resting on back legs, glaring at the boulder above. Letting out an uncharacteristic growl, she walked out of the small den-like cave. "Ahhh!" Smiling, she stretched out each of her limbs, including her one wing which she used to block the glaring sunlight to look out over the area. "Tiberius!"

She let out a shout and jumped back into the small cave and prodded Tiberius with her paws. "Wake up! It's morning! Er, maybe afternoon.... Who knew we would sleep that long!" She watched the sleeping form of her friend, and pounced on him, like a cat would a mouse. "WAKE UP!" She let out a howl that could deafen anyone nearby. It was even amazing that she was awake at this hour as usually it was Tiberius who awoke early, and her sleeping in.

Tiberius had woken up to the sounds of Blossom's earlier yelp, and so he didn't have any sleep to help number his friends assault to wake up. Slowly lifting his head, the right side of his face matted by drool and gravity, he groggily looked over to Blossom, his eyes trying to adjust to the daylight. His head hurt, he wondered if it was because he was sick or because he had slept on stone all night. What time was it? Without saying much more than a "get off", Tiberius limped outside and looked up at the sky. Wowzers, the sun was really high. Was it already past noon, or just a little before? He couldn't remember his directions for some reason. Either way he had slept in way later than usual, he hated wasting all those morning hours!

With a yawn, Tiberius did what he usually did rain or shine and started thinking aloud. "Meh, how'd we sleep in so late? The sun shoulda woke us up. Now I don't have any time to fish for breakfast. Oh wait, I guess I don't have any time to eat breakfast either. Maybe we can just eat a big brunch? Man, my head hurts, how did you sleep?" Tiberius chattered, feeling more awake now that he warmed up his jaw.

Trying to make the best out of his dwindling day, Tiberius idled away his time trying to make a snare trap. He knew that Blossom didn't like it when he trapped prey, but it wasn't like she had to watch when he ate it! Last time she practically guilt tripped him for a week for eating a rabbit, or "cute little bunny wunny" as she liked to call it. Well, she could survive off eating berries and nuts, but he needed something meaty once in a while. Fish would be preferable, but there wasn't any in this marsh they were in. Besides, going in the water made his fur smell, and that was something he could live without.

Strolling around their camp in a wider and wider radius, Tiberius tried to find the perfect branch for his trigger. It was always a tricky find. The branch had to be spry enough to bend without breaking, and yet strong enough to return to its original shape quickly once the trap went off. Finding what had to be the perfect limb, he triumphantly picked up a young blown over sapling in his mouth. Suddenly, his ears twitched. Something was near. Clanging and growls. Wolves who were yelling. A battle? Here? The whole reason they were in this marsh is because they thought no one else would want to be here! He had to tell Blossom.

Running through the undergrowth, Tiberius watched as the branch he was carrying connected with trees on either side of him at the same time, and he felt himself fly backwards. Stupid branch. Should have known that gap was too small to carry his prize through. A little dazed, Tiberius didn't think things quite through before he yelled to Blossom "Feathers! We gotta go! An army is comin'!" Realizing his error and hoping the battling wolves were to distracted to hear him, he ran back to camp to find his friend.

Blossom had giggled at the sight of Tiberius's bed fur and instead of replying to his words about his head hurting and other stuff, she just soaked it in. It was, after all, better to listen to Tiberius then set him up and put more words in his mouth. Talking wasn't a bad quality to have in a friend, Blossom guessed, but sometimes it did get a bit boring. It's just the usual morning Tiberius.

It was just a slightly late morning for her now, and it didn't bother her like it did Tiberius. In fact, she was actually somewhat happy that she was able to be one waking him up rather than him waking her up. So, in her usual dumb-happy way, she walked out of the cave-den-thing and tried to ignore Tiberius since he had a hungry look on his face. He's probably gonna try and trap some poor innocent bunny again. It was a sad thought that made her give him a wide berth since out of their entire lives, it always seemed to her that Tiberius was the one who had the hardest time with everything.

Blossom, of course felt the pain of being discarded by her parents but she never really felt the need to go back to her roots like Tiberius did. In fact, it was his searching for his pack that led the two of them this far. He also needed to eat meat, which was nearly impossible for two youngsters like them to catch. Life was hard, maybe more so for him then her.... Or wait, wasn't it.... She could no longer think since she couldn't tell whose life was hardest up until this point. It was confusing also.

And so, it was when she was eating the bulbs of some flowers when she heard Tiberius shout out. "Feathers! We gotta go! An army is comin'!" Her first thought was: I wish he would stop calling me that, and her brain finally processed what he said. Panic struck her. What was she supposed to do?! Run, of course!!!!! But Tiberius!!!!

She looked back to where she last saw her bumbling companion. I want to run, but.... but I can't leave him either!!!! Thankfully, she was saved from having to choose between saving herself and saving her friend when she saw Tiberius come running back to camp. "Thank the gods your back! Lets go already!" She turned to start running only to have her wing hit the side of a boulder, spinning her around to fall and hit another boulder. Stupid wing!

Aurae, per her usual rose with the sun. She found peaceful and beautiful to fly that early, life just waking up and the colors of the sun rise painting her and everything around her in color. This was the sort of thing she never would have experience back home. Between a favorable wind and some help from her gift she was able to keep her self aloft for a good portion of the morning. That's when a nosie from below caught her attention. "Is that some one in trouble? Or just some one having fun. Well one way to find out." She said to herself as she planed out her dive. Having found an opening in the canopy Aurae angled herself for it and using her wings to stay on target dove for it. About a foot away from the tree tops she folded up her wings so not to hit anything. Once clear of the canopy unfurled her wings and pulled out of her dive. Pulling her legs close to her body, like a plane retracting its landing gears, so not to get her feet muddy or caught on anything she search for the source of the noise. As she weaved, dove, and rolled through the tree she spotted two wolves, one a silverfish color... and with a dorsal fin? The other one is stranger still, a one winged brown and green wolf. Emphasis on one wing, not two but one single wing on the body of what could almost be mistaken for a fox?

Aurae decided to take a closer look. So as she flies closer to them she rolls inverted over them. Completing her roll she banks hard to the right with her wings fully extended and with a soft flap of her wings to help slow her down. She glids to a walking landing a few feet in front of the two wolves. Holding her head up high, "Hi. Your funny looking. Whatcha you doing?" She said playfully.

Finally resolving to leave his hard sought branch on the ground, Tiberius briskly trotted up to where Blossom had stumbled. "Silly wolf, lets go!" Tiberius said quickly as he helped to pull her up by her scruff, ignoring the fact that he had been just as clumsy as he not a moment before. As he paused to help her however, the throbbing adrenaline in his ears calmed down enough to realize that the hasty pursuit he was imagining in his head hadn't materialized. He had sworn he heard shouting and clanging and fighting, but either it stopped or it was moving further away. Perhaps they would have enough time to grab what little they owned between them before they moved on. It would certainly be better than beginning anew like the often had to do.

Regardless, his wits were still rather short, and so when Aurae fell from the sky the your Arylne was more than a little spooked. Nerves or not, Tiberius did what he did best, and talked back to her. Not that he thought much about what he was saying, and as such he spoke in a lot of non sequiturs. "Whatchya mean? She can fly the same as you. I gotta fin cause I was born with it, not cause I was trying to be funny. What do you know? Please don't bring the war to us, we didn't mean to get so close to your battle. We are peaceful wolfs. See? She doesn't even kill prey. I do. But, only a little bit. I'll stop if you want us to. Is that what this is about, did we take your prey?" Tiberius rambled, backing away a few steps from this new Avira.

"Whatchya mean? She can fly the same as you. I gotta fin cause I was born with it, not cause I was trying to be funny. What do you know? Please don't bring the war to us, we didn't mean to get so close to your battle. We are peaceful wolfs. See? She doesn't even kill prey. I do. But, only a little bit. I'll stop if you want us to. Is that what this is about, did we take your prey?"

Blossom gaped at the she-wolf in front of her, and stopped only to yelp at Tiberius for lying and saying she could fly. "Shut up Tiberius, I can't fly! And I wouldn't want to anyway!" She bared her teeth at the stranger and tucked her wing in tighter, suddenly conscious of it presence. Her hide was bristling with petty anger at the stranger, especially since she knew that she was most likely the one, she called 'funny looking.' Tiberius's deformities weren't that bad since it also marked him as a water wolf, whereas her's was something even more unwanted.

Blossom resented the two-winged wolf even more, since she appeared to not consider them dangerous enough to be wary of.

A young wolf with a bandage over his eye greeted Tiberius as the young Arlyne tried to sit up from the stone floor. It was dark, musky, and strangely hot. Tiberius found himself panting almost as soon as he started breathing, and the incessant ringing in his ears just wouldn't let up. Every so often, the ground shook, and little splinters of rock whizzed past his face. His head hurt like the dickens, whoever they were. He could see that the bandaged pup was trying to say something to him, but Tiberius just couldn't hear what it was. It was obvious the other wolf was getting frustrated with him. Being able to hear his own voice was the only thing that assured Tiberius he wasn't deaf as he tried to ask where he was.

"The mines, bud. We are on the chain," Tiberius finally heard the other wolf say. As his eyes grew accustomed to the gloom, he could see that wolf was right. Up and down the a sheer rock wall to either direction, young wolves of all packs were bound to an iron chain that ran along parallel to it. The links were loose enough to allow for room to work, but certainly too tight to be comfortable. Every so often, a shout from somewhere high above was heard, and a boulder about the size of a wolf's head would crash down from the top of the cliff face, and smash onto the unyielding stone floor, shattering into fragments. These fragments were then picked through by the wolves on the chain, but Tiberius couldn't really tell what they were looking for. They were a sullen lot, none of them were talking, and even the spray of rock fragments didn't seem to phase them.

"I dunno wherer I am, whatsa goin' on? Where's Feathers? Who's chain is this? What'r we-" Tiberius slurred excitedly, before the other pup cut him off by shoving a fore paw to Tiberius' mouth. The bandaged wolf was looking warily down the chain, and when Tiberius matched his gaze he saw a much larger adult wolf making his way along the prisoner chain, obviously a taskmaster or something. The big wolf looked mean enough to be a bully, alright, carrying that leather whip in his mouth like he was.

"Look friend, the name's Keela. I dunno who Feathers is, but an hour ago they threw you down next to me like a sack of grain. You had an awful lump on the back of your head, which is usually how they get ya. They always match up the new slaves with us long timers. Now that your awake your gonna have to work if you don't wanna be whipped," the wolf Keela responded in a harsh whisper. At least, it sounded harsh because he had to do it loudly enough to be heard over the sounds of crashing rocks. Keela went on to explain that they were sorters, that as rocks came crashing down from the miners at the top of the cliff face, they were supposed to look through the shards for anything interesting. "They don't tell us what we are mining for, but only that we have to report anything we find that ain't granite. Your lucky, bud. Our job is way easier than the miners up above, or the hauler who have to come take all the scraps away. Just watch your head for fallin' rocks and may'haps you'll be able to go look for your friend at quit'n time."

Confused and alone, Tiberius for the life of him couldn't remember how he got here. All he could scarcely remember was an argument he had with Blossom over whether they should make a campfire in unknown territory, and nothing since them. Hopefully his feathered friend didn't get mixed up in this.

It wasn't a hard task he was forced to do. Menial, wearisome, dangerous, yes. But it really wasn't that hard. Tiberius soon got in the routine. The more benevolent miners would call out from above that a load was coming down, and all the sorters backed up. Of course, there anything to crouch behind, and the chain only let the sorters move so far away, so the Arlyne soon figured that the best way to not loose his sight to rock splinters was to take the shards on the tail. Turning back around, they had to scamper to sweep all the smaller bits of gravel down into a trough so that the haulers could come take away the bigger pieces, all the while on the lookout for something valuable. It seemed like such an inefficient way to search rocks, but it certainly kept a lot of slaves busy.

The young Arlyne could only thank his god when he was pulled off the chain and replaced with another slave who was fresher, the tuckered pup could hardly point to a spot on his body that wasn't sore. Being led away with the rest of those on his shift, Tiberius strained his neck and contored his body desperately to see the new shift coming in, desperate to see any sign of Blossom. He desperately wanted to call out for her, but he had already been whipped twice for chattering, and he didn't fancy the sting of the lash. No, he would have to be satisfied with the quick glance. There wasn't any sign of his one wing'd friend.

Iron bolts groaned as they were scraped along rusty hinges, as a few paces ahead an iron barred door was swung open, revealing a cell that was stone on three of its four sides. Presumably, they kept the large group together because they were easier to feed like that, and the lot was too tuckered or frightened to conspire about anything.

"Did you see your Feathers, bud?" Keela asked, seemingly in the mood for conversation despite his obvious weariness. When Tiberius shook his head, the other wolf continued. "Well, there be only two shifts of sorters, usn' them. If you didn't see her comin' in or here wif' us now, you can bless your lucky gods that she ain't in this prison. They only stick wolfs our age in the sorter group until we are stronger, there ain't no other place she could be if she ain't on either sorter line" Keela explained, obviously getting some satisfaction out of sharing a ray of hope with Tiberius.

Tiberius for his part was elated at the news that his friend could have in fact escaped the dreadful place. If what Keela said was true, it was only a matter of time before his resourceful friend sprung him from trouble like every time before. Sure this trouble was a bit thicker than they had ever encountered, but Blossom had been practicing those vine tricks. Take branch and jimmy the lock, and she would have him free. Them all free. Keela could come too. They could rid themselves of this awful mine forever.

Tiberius laid down in the corner, staring at the cell door, almost expecting his wild hopes to come true.

Tiberius

In a feat that could only be contributed to extreme exhaustion, Tiberius had managed to fall soundly asleep and the rough stone floor that carpeted the cell. It was not a fevered sleep, nor a lively one, but simple a deep, dreamless state in which his young body attempted to recover from the sudden exertions of the day. It was going to be one stiff morning, that as for sure. He had gotten used to sleeping on the soft loam of the woodlands, this stone was certainly going to cause his bones to ache.

A sudden CLANG! ripped through the cell, and even in his practically unconscious state Tiberius was not immune loud sounds stirring him from sleep. A ripple of fear passed through his stomach, and he wondered if was already time for work again. No, it was too early...couldn't he just stay in bed? Nevertheless, he didn't fancy getting lashed for loafing, and with bleary eyes he looked up, expecting to see platoon of guards standing in the cell. While there was one guard, yes, Tiberius saw that he was just escorting a young wolf into the cell. A second CLANG! of the cell door closing relieved Tiberius, as he realized he didn't have to get up.

He was almost ready to rest his chin between his paws and try to snooze when a sob caused him to take a quick glance at the newcomer. A bolt of excitement followed by a surge of dread shot through Tiberius' heart. It was Blossom. She was alive! But she was trapped, just like him. "Feathers!" Tiberius cried out, the shout of joy rousing hardly a stir among the other wolves in the cell. He wasn't even sure he had seen them stir when the cell door had opened. How did they remain asleep through it?

The young Arlyne tried to scramble to his paws to run to his friend, but his legs were so stiff he ended up falling forward on his chin before fully standing up. "Wherv...where 'ave you been?" Tiberius gushed, a little quieter this time, as he trotted over towards Blossom.

Blossom was so distressed in her sobbing that she didn't hear or notice a friendly wolf fumble. She didn't stop to notice until Tiberius was before her that she stopped and wiped her face with the back of a paw and cry out, "Tiberius! It was terrible! Those wolves died an-and and..." She rushed forward and shoved her face into his shoulder. She began to cry anew as the realization that they were both stuck in this horrible place bled all hope from her fragile heart. They would probably die here, forgotten. An exit from life that went unnoticed. What a terrible thing.... everything was... against them...

Blossom sobbed, "What's going to happen now?! Whose gonna check the snares for rabbits!?" Her thoughts turned to the idea of her fantasy land, back at the camp where she had been lying ti Tiberius about finding tracks of other wolves, and how she knew of this place that other wolves like him gathered.... And like how I lied about eating that frog he caught... and other things!!!

The young wolf had no idea what to say to his friend. Here he had foolishly gotten his own hopes up that Blossom would come along to soothe his worries and stop his tears, but here she was in a worse state than he! Weeping here, in a cold and indifferent cage. Their cell mates had to have grown hardened to the sounds of sobs by now, otherwise Feather's cries would've probably awaken them. Any second of sleep they spend scolding wolves they would have to pay for in the morning. Or whatever time it was.

"We-uh, we are, Feathers. We'll check the traps ourselves. We-uh, we uh just gotta get outta here first," Tiberius said with a wearily, almost disgusted with how unconvincing he sounded. So much for brightening the mood. He would probably been in the same state as her had fatigue not been weighing so hard on him. He shifted his stance to better accommodate her weight, and laid what he hoped would be a comforting paw on her shoulder. It was trembling so much, but he couldn't guess if it shook more from his nerves or hers. How was he ever going to get back to sleep, now?

"Look, Feathers, we're tired, we outta get some sleep first, right? We'll dream up a good plan on what we need ta' do tomorrow. If there is a way in this place, there's gotta be a way out, huh? Mayhaps we'll even find a good rock wolf to break us all out, yeah? That's what this whole place is, just a giant cave. We just gotta find the right wolf to make us a way out," Tiberius whispered wishfully, timing his sentences to fit between her sniffles. Never mind there wasn't a Dimitrios to be seen in this cell, they had to be out there. They couldn't be mining so much ore without a rock wolf. They just had to get off the chain tomorrow and find him.

Assuming she would follow his lead, Tiberius would gravitate back to the spot he had been laying earlier slump down again, surprised to see how much heat had already been leeched back into the stone in just a few minutes. It was like he had never laid there. Making room so that she could share whatever meager warmth was left on the spot, he would lay his head back down on the granite.

Blossom

Blossom did not notice the way Tiberius shook, or even how his voice trembled a bit. Distraught and about to fall over, she followed Tiberius back to the spot where he had been laying. She did this without question. She had not really understood what he said about the traps and a rock wolf and perhaps it was a good thing her brain was not working right. The statistics of a rock wolf being here and being nice enough to help them escape were.... not in their favor. If anything that information alone would have made her more depressed.

As it is, she was tired mentally from the stress, fear aloneness adrenaline that had followed her awakening. And so, it did not bother her when her stomach twisted in hunger and made her curl up even tighter when she collapsed next to Tiberius. "I wish Drais was here."

She had mumbled the words under her breath and quickly after wrapping her wing over herself like a blanket, fell asleep. She began to snore softly.

If he had to guess, he would have said that it was mid-morning by now. They had to have been on the chain, what, three or four hours by now? Morning had come too early, of course. But morning always came to early. It's just here there was no sun to help wake the wolves up. Instead they used whips. Much quicker that way.

Tiberius was no better at the job today then he was had been yesterday, and now he had the added chore of teaching Blossom what they had to do. She had done well enough not to get hit so far, which was better than he had done his first day, but they still had a long way to go before lunch. He wondered what they were going to be served. "So occasionally the rocks they push over are hollow, or have big crack in 'em. That makes 'em split a whole lot more when they fall, so always make sure you face away when they fall. It looks cool seein' them explode the first few times, but by then you are totally covered in pebbles," Tiberius advised, trying to be helpful for his friend.

He hadn't forgot about his plan from last night, as threadbare as it was. But he hadn't seen a Dimitrios all morning, and when he squinted to look up at the wolves tossing the rocks over the cliff face he couldn't make out their pack. He still had faith they could come out of this, he only hoped that Feather had the same attitude.

The world had been cold when she awoke from her restless sleep, and even colder in that she was forced to dig laboriously. She was supposed to be digging? Or something like that? She really didn't know.

All she did was copy whatever Tiberius did, not really knowing what these wolves wanted them for. All that she knew was that sometime the rocks from above would coming shooting down to hit the earth in a explosive manner.

Unlike Tiberius, when she had first seen the falling rocks explode, she felt sick. It was nothing awesome to her. In fact, such effects as the dust and small shrapnel that came from the rocks led her to using her wing as a shield. It was better then getting dust in her face. Well... at least it was until Blossom began to feel the effects of intense labor.

She began to pant and whine.

Her small body really was not meant for such hard work. Her paws were too small to even be intended for trekking through mountainous terrain while even her short and slim leg bones kept her from walking long distances. Not to mention that she was always working on her balance as one side of her body was heavier due to a pointless, feathered appendage. Even now, her wing was causing her problems. Her back muscles were aching from extending her wing for protection from flying debris.

Blossom was as her name implied, a small she-wolf with delicate features that demanded gentleness for fear of being crushed by any type of thoughtless action.

Her stomach growled loudly. The miserable feeling of being pushed to her physical limits made her ask, "I'm starving... Tiberius? When will they let us rest?" Her voice was low, not wishing to be caught for doing something wrong and endure the punishment.

"When will we get to eat?"

Whatever vague hopes Tiberius had had of being slightly better at his task today than yesterday were gone. There was no getting better at this. The boulders from above never came down in a straight line, for despite the many tons of rock that had traveled down the cliff side it was still not completely worn smooth. They always found areas to bounce and ricochet on their downward journey, leaving a wolf sized boulder to launch through the air and land in some unknown location. It was stressful. Almost as stressful as worrying about Blossom.

"I dunno, Feathers, I think I was out cold yesterday when they fed us out here. Hopefully soon." Tiberius responded with a wry smile. He had managed to sneak in a few thoughts about escape in between his stints of concentration to dodge boulders. The point he kept coming back to was that they would never be able to escape without first getting out of these chains, Dimitrios or not. The Arlyne wasn't completely sure how the cuffs worked, other than they came on and off. When they were slapped on there was no special process, but when they were taken off a guard had to stick a straight metal pin in a hole on the hinge. The hole was much to small for a wolf claw to fit in. Or any rock shard for that matter. He had already tried to jam several into the aperture, to no avail.

A bead of moisture on his snout struck him with inspiration. What if he forced some water down the lock? He wasn't that good at aquakinesis, but surely he could do something as simple as pushing it into the mechanism. No fancy looking shapes required. Just force. He would need more than a few tears, he figured. In an effort to lighten both of their mood, he quietly explained his plan to Blossom after a patrolling wolf had passed.

"I think I know how to get us out of these irons, if you let me have some of your water at lunch. I'll force it down the lock to break it open. Look for a good place for us to duck into, no use getting off the chain if there is nowhere to run."

Blossom paused to stretch her wing, giving her back muscles for a brief moment... before a rock fell and exploded, peppering her side with tiny rocks. She yelped and ducked back under her wing for protection. "I dunno, Feathers, I think I was out cold yesterday when they fed us out here. Hopefully soon."

Blossom moaned, "Uhhh, that's terrible." She was starved! How have the other wolves here endured this treatment for so long without... without breaking? The horrifying fact of how these wolves would mostly die, brought back the memory of that place where they would end up if they ever broke, just a little. I guess, they break no matter what... "I think I know how to get us out of these irons, if you let me have some of your water at lunch. I'll force it down the lock to break it open. Look for a good place for us to duck into, no use getting off the chain if there is nowhere to run."

She perked up, just a little bit happy to smile a tinsy bit. But then her joy at having Tiberius here to think up a way of escape, died just as her stomach grumbled loudly enough for some of the fellow prisoners to stop and stare her. The look on their faces telling her they were all hungry, and that it would be better if they weren't remembered of their own hunger by listening to someone else's stomach growl. She tucked her tail and dropped her ears, mouthing, "I'm sorry" and then going back to searching through the piles of shattered rocks.

That is when she got the idea. "Oh yeah, I think I have a berry-plant-seed in here somewhere." She stopped working to sit and dig her snout through the inside of her wing. She always carried seeds, and some healing plants underneath her wing, in the tight spots where her feathers could act as small pockets to hold things in place. The idea had come to her when she had to stop carrying what bits of food she had scavenged to stop and preen for her wing would get heavy and itchy when left neglected. It had been a glorious idea. "I think- I have-" She began spitting out several seeds, most of which, to a non-Aven wolf, looked like seeds of terrifying and mysterious origins. "A peach tree in here... as well."

And suddenly, out from her wings came an ivy plant. Blossom stared at the small ivy and for some reason, laughed, "You know, I forgot I had that in there."

"Hey! Get back to work!" A guard snarled at Blossom, walking down the line toward her. She yelped and using her wing, covered the pile of stuff that had fallen out from her wing. "Y-ye-yes, s-s-sir." She stuttered out the words and began to work more vigorously than before, fear making her shake.

Thankfully the Guard didn't do anymore then glare at her for awhile before moving on. She slumped a little, her poor beating so fast it scared her.

Tiberius was curious about Blossom's collection of seeds, however he wisely chose to avoid chortling about it until the guard had left again. Pushing a small pile of gravel into the sorting trough, he turned back to his friend to see her rather out of sorts. He had been watching all morning how the work was wearing away at her, with little that he could do about it. He wasn't in much better shape, but she had the added challenge of having a gentle personality in a not-so-gentle place.

"Yous alright, Feathers? Don't worry about this place, we won't have to see them much longer. Though a few of your plants would certainly liven up the atmosphere in here. Gray rock on black rock is kinda bland."

The young wolf smiled at his own joke, and his smile managed to get a little bit bigger when he saw a pair of slaves wheeling a large cauldron down the walkway the paralleled the working area. It was a great brass affair, and from the crusted on goop that stuck to the side of it, Tiberius could guess that it was rarely washed. The food that came out of it didn't look much better than the that old stuff. A mix of tannish-red slop that was ladled out into a depression on the ground. Or on other words, it was ladled out onto the floor. The little divot they put it in was only there to keep the slop from running onto the walkway and slipping up the guards.

As their station received food, Tiberius watched expectantly for water to come as well. None was forthcoming. He supposed they considered the slop to by moist enough for them to get by. He sniffed it. It didn't smell like food. You couldn't tell that from the way the other prisoners dug into it.

"Please tell me you can grow other food than this."

"Yous alright, Feathers? Don't worry about this place, we won't have to see them much longer. Though a few of your plants would certainly liven up the atmosphere in here. Gray rock on black rock is kinda bland." Blossom shook her head at Tiberius, thinking that none of her plants could survive here long. Without sunlight, without water. I guess my ivy plant will die soon... She had begun putting back the seeds in her wing,
ruefully thinking that if she a pair of wings, she'd be able to fly away. To fly away to find food. Speaking, no, thinking of food, she saw the large cauldron moving down the line by a few wolves.

She stopped working and sat, eagerly awaiting her portion.... that is, until she saw the food... she stared at the slop in front of her... then glanced at Tiberius. He doesn't like it either... but... Her stomach growled once more, and without even thinking or even wondering what the slop was made of, dug it. Just like the other prisoners. It didn't taste particularly good, but it filled her stomach and it did seem to keep her from starving. "Please tell me you can grow other food than this."

Blossom looked up at Tiberius, once she had licked up all of the food in her reach. "Sorry, I only got berries... and I know you don't like eating stuff from plants." She went back to licking the depression on the ground, not caring that all the food was gone and that all she was licking, was the ground. We didn't get water, but that ivy plant needs water.... It was while she was doing this, that she saw Tiberius... He seemed unable to take the heat of this place.

Suddenly jumping upwards, she pulling something out of her wing and dropped it in front of Tiberius. Then using her whole body as a weight, was able to shove Tiberius's head to the ground. Making it so that his muzzle was pointing directly at the plant... and there on his snout... a bead of sweat fell onto the ivy plant she had laid before Tiberius. Then, she let go of her friend and stared intently at the plant.... and... was rewarded with a small movement of the plant, another small lead budding just a little. "Hah!"

Blossom grinned, and gently moved the plant back into her wing. "I'm so glad you're a water wolf, Tiberius." She had always thought it weird that he sweated like crazy and on his face! Whereas, she an Aven, did not emit sweat on her muzzle, only her paws but then again didn't all wolves sweat just a little bit? But I guess, cause he's a water wolf... Water wolves are weird. She stopped thinking about it all quickly, since she was just a young wolf not interested in matters that did not concern her plants.

Seeing that no other food would be forthcoming, and that other wolves were beginning to look greedily at his own pile of mush, Tiberius reluctantly began to eat it. At least it would be a short break from the menial task of pushing rocks around. Lowering his head, he hesitantly opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue to get the smallest sample possible, when suddenly he was forced face-down into the mush. Thinking it was one of the guards having fun, Tiberius relented, until he realized it was Blossom that had shoved him down. Mrgh, well, she had done worse before.

Upon his release, he looked over at her little experiment, while nibbling on his food. He hadn't thought of using his own perspiration as a source of water. Perhaps because there always seemed to be another source around. Staring at his snout until he went cross-eyed, the Arlyne was disappointed to see no other obvious moisture beading up yet. Salt water was harder to manipulate, anyway. It was much heavier, and it always seemed to take double the effort to force it do anything. Working with spit was almost impossible, considering it was only like ten percent water.

Trying to lick the slop off his face, he decided to ask what was so important about her ivy. He knew she liked plants, but Blossom was acting like this was more important than a mere morale boost. "So how long we gotta wait now, Feathers? You going to grow a key with that thing, huh?" Tiberius joked, finally cleaning up the last of his rations. It tasted like deer that had been thrown off a cliff, stomped on by a bear, and left to rot in the mud for a month. Not good.

Blossom shook her wing out and yawned, "Ti-be-ri-us!" She nudged her friend with a bit of a forceful kick, "Mh, wake up..." She had just come back from a different shift in the work schedule, if you could call this work since they were slaves now... but she did have some hope now since she had made a friend here, other then Tiberius. And that friend, was just a bit weird like her. But she hadn't told Tiberius yet since she knew he'd assault her with questions that were too much for her and besides.... She was happy being Tiberius's only friend but sometimes...

Uhhh, these thoughts are terrible... but tonight, he'll be happy I made another friend... he'll see.... Blossom nudged him again, and wondered, How long have we here now? Days? Probably a fortnight? She shook her head and mumbled to Tiberius that he'd better wake up or the guard would beat him.... while... slowly.... falling asleep.

*****


Blossom trudged forward, her sleepy eyes not helping in the dreary darkness of the tunnel. She had been upset days earlier when Tiberius and her had their time together cut in half due to her being put on a different schedule. She was now mining while Tiberius slept, and vice versa. To make it worse, she was put nearly at the end of this line of workers, at the far end of the tunnel where the lights weren't very good. It made working difficult.

This had all been stressful, but it did have a perk to it. And it was in the form of her new friend. Who had cracked Blossom's shell of shyness that had so far kept her from talking to anyone beside Tiberius above and even below ground.

"Hiya Blossom!" The cheery voice was loud, and it made Blossom trip, giving the guard in front of her to growl warningly at the one-winged wolf. Blossom flinched before quickly getting back up and moving to the pile where she was supposed to working. The Guard soon went back to move up and the line of slaves.

"That guard, why didn't you bite him for that?" The owner of the voice stepped forward into the light showing a small black and red cub. The girlish cub was adorable and for some reason, appeared to be a free wolf here. Yet it was strange since all the guards here acted as if they couldn't see the cub at all. "You should trip him next time he walks by."

Blossom shrugged, "I'm not a fighter. And if I do that he's going to kill me." The cub, blinked and her red eyes began to water, "I would never let him do that! I'd scream if you'd die. I don't like bullies either."

A small laugh escape from Blossom, she had never been around cubs before and it truly was strange to be talking to one. "Well, I don't think you have a choice. Remember, I'm a slave?"

The little cub's face scrunched up, "Stelmaria told me what that means... and she says it means you are someone that obeys someone all the time! Is that true?" The cub moved forward to sit on a pile of rocks.

"I guess that's what it can mean." Blossom sniffed, and pulled the cub out of the way of the flying rocks. "Do you have any more water for my plant?"

"Oh, yes! But Stelmaria only let me take a little." The cub handed a small vial of water to Blossom in a secretive manner.

"That's okay, just a little is fine.... it'll keep my plant alive at least." Blossom dug out a plant from her under her wing gently lying it on the ground. It was the ivy plant from before, but now it was bigger, with some small vines growing from its epicenter. She dropped the water on it before putting back under her feathers inside her wing. "Thank you."

The cub smiled, "I don't get to see a lot of those down here."

Blossom nodded, and sadly went back to digging and sifting through the piles of rock and dirt. She had to wonder who this cub really was and why she was down here, but... there was a certain aura emanating from this cub that kept her from asking questions. "That is sad."

The cub's ears perked up, "What do you mean by that?"

Blossom stopped digging and tried not to cry, "There aren't plants down here, but back where Tiberius and I lived, there are plants everywhere! As well these big tall ones that are called trees! And, a-an-and I miss it!" She started crying.

Oh, I shouldn't have started talking about home! Blossom wiped her tears on her wing and miserably went back to work. "Y-You miss your... home?" The cub asked innocently, and went to stand behind Blossom.... "What if I could get out of here? Would you go back?"

The question made Blossom freeze completely. "Oh.... can you?!" She turned to look at the cub with wide eyes that were full of hope.

"Yeah. Mmmmm, but I'll have to make Stelmaria do it since I'm not allowed to go up there." The cub smiled, "I just miss my friend. Her name's Blue, can you find her and tell her I miss her?"

Blossom began to smile like a fool, "Yes, I'll do it but my friend Tiberius, can you let me bring him with me?" The cub nodded.

"I'll tell Stelmaria to get you tonight, don't forget." And with that, the strange cub walked into the dark shadows and disappeared.

It took a few moments for Tiberius to respond to Blossom's kicks. He wished that she would shoved off and let him be. Even if the guards had to come in and drag him out, at least he would still have that much longer to lay still. He had hardly slept a wink all night. Keela made sure of that. Today was going to be that much more terrible being bone tired. As his friend's kicks began to grow weaker, and her voiced softer and more resigned, the young water wolf finally decided to pull himself up. Perhaps work would be able to distract him from his dreary thoughts.

It wasn't long before they were out on the line, and he was shackled between two wolves he didn't know. He didn't want to get to know them. He wanted the other two back. But one was moved to the other shift and the other was dying in the medical bay, if not already dead. Keela...that stupid pup. Didn't he know he was half blind?! Why did he think that he could guess the trajectory of a ballistic rock! The chains that cuffed his paws to the running line was awfully small target for that boulder to hit, especially when it was attached to a much larger one. What did Keela think he was going to do once he broke free? There was no where to run. The only two parts of the cave they were every shown was where they slept and where they worked, there was no way that silly pup could have walked his way out. Well he was out now. Perhaps being creamed by a boulder really was the only way out of here.

Two more boulders smashed in front of Tiberius, one close enough that he could hear the shrapnel whiz by his drooping ears. So sunken in the doldrums was he that he failed to spot the piece of crystal that clearly just from the broken geode. "Aren't you gunna say somethin'?" a young Jivanta next to him asked. Tiberius snapped out of his stupor long enough to follow her gaze, and saw the purple shard poking out of the rock. Sure he'd say something. Anything to break the routine.

Calling to the nearest brute of a taskmaster, the Arlyne reported his discovery. Surprisingly, the guards expression suddenly softened. Not out of compassion, but out of fear. Seeing the change, Tiberius felt a little nervous about his discovery. Had he found the wrong thing? As long as he had been here, the most interesting thing he found inside a rock was more rock. Now that he actually found something, he thought the guard was going to melt.

The guard pulled together his composure, and with a speed surprising for one his size he trotted over to one of his mates and muttered something. All work came to a close with a bark from the other wolf, and before Tiberius could get faced the right direction the lead chain was suddenly dragged along. They were being taken back to the cells. Quickly getting to his feat so that he wouldn't be dragged, the Arlyne tried to pop his head above the slaves behind him so that he could look back at the commotion of the guards and other wolves behind him, but he was too short. And then they rounded the corner, and the spectacle was gone.

Tiberius soon found himself back in the cage, crammed to double capacity with both shifts of workers stuffed inside. The guards said nothing about why they were brought back, or how long they were to wait there. Well, the last thing the Arlyne had expected of his discovery was a day off. He was immediately tempted to follow the example of the others on his shift and plop to the floor in exhaustion, eager to get the extra sleep. Before he did so, he stepped over the tired masses of young wolves until he found Blossom and gently prodded her. If she would wake up, he would report what had gone on. He would not press too hard, however, he knew how valuable sleep was here. Otherwise, he would follow the example of his fellows and try to get some actual sleep, all too uninterested in the gem he had just discovered.

Blossom slept, but it appeared that rest was not easily found, for her dreams were full of monstrous shadow wolves and flowers that changed colors before dying, and draining all the land of life. It scared her a lot, but not enough to rouse her from her nightmares that held her so tightly in its grip. It wasn't until Tiberius came back that she was roused just enough to awaken. How long had she slept? What did that friend of hers tell her again? Wasn't she supposed to escape with Tiberius today, er, tonight?

Blossom yawned, getting up to stretch out of her front claws as far as she could reach and... Pop! Crack! She let out sleepy moan at those sounds of her bones, the result of having only slept in one position the whole night. Finally, she looked up at Tiberius, not before peering around the whole cell to see if the other wolves were listening in. Then, what could only be described as a sneaky look on her face, Blossom limped forward to grab Tiberius and using her wing as a curtain enfolded both their heads within it.

"Tiberius!" She couldn't contain her excitement and let out the happy shout before remembering that this talk with him was supposed to be secret. As quickly as it appeared, the happy and excited look on her face was quickly replaced with one that was hilariously serious for the one-winged pup. "Oh. Uh, Tonight..." How do I tell him? He'll probably think I'm lying.

She narrowed her eyes and was quietly muttering things under her breath.

Suddenly she retreated without telling him a thing. "Uh, I just remembered. I found this better spot way ovvvveeeerrrrrr here." She moved clumsily to the far back of the cell, where it was darkest and motioned for him to join her. It's better if I just show him. Besides, I don't wanna answer all his questions.

It then while she was motioning for Tiberius, that out of the darkness behind her, a darkness that she had thought was a just wall, came a voice... "I assume your are Blossom?"

The voice was cool, female... and terrifying. A small squeak of fear erupted from Blossom, but she quickly smoothed out of her ruffled feathers before looking at now seemingly endless darkness, where the voice had come from. In it, she saw pale gray eyes looking back at her, practically glowing in the darkness. That was all she saw. The pair of eyes that towered above her, and yet, appeared to have no body attached it. The eyes revealed no emotion, but paired with the voice, it gave off the air of being uninterested. "Yes, I'm Blossom... Are you S-St-Stelmaria?"

Blossom couldn't help stuttering out the name as her fear was barely being held in check. There was a quick blink and the free-floating eyes lowered for brief second then resumed their normal height. Blossom took it to mean that the mystifying wolf had nodded. So, Blossom turned around and quickly beckoned for Tiberius to follow. Only letting out a barely audible whisper of: "Hurry!" before turning to bravely follow the gray eyes into the darkness.



Stelmaria watched the petite green she-wolf beckon for her friend to follow, and soundlessly backed away, waiting for the other wolf to join them in the shadow of her portal-like darkness.

Behind her, unknown to Blossom and Tiberius, a female wolf hidden under multiple layers of shadows was creating an opening with the use of geokinesis while Stelmaria was using her darkness to hide it from prying eyes.

It was all very drab in Stelmaria's eyes, indeed, she had known this was gonna happen sooner or later. What with the way Riko often snuck away while pretending to play hide-and-find with the triplets. And it didn't help that Riko was now a feared entity to the lax guards down here.

All in all? Stelmaria could care less about these young wolves she was supposed to be freeing, but Riko, the adorably demonic wolf cub had commanded her to do so. And like the rest of her fellow brethren and sistren that were below sane, she could not refuse.

Tiberius had listened intently to his friend's words, despite the fact that he had thought he would be the one with news to share. Well, hers had been all the more interesting, apparently. It came with a pair of ghoulish eyes!

"Whaa...!" Tiberius trailed off in a yelp.

Prudence forced Tiberius to bite off his shock. As it were, he merely stared with mouth agape at the apparition. His friend's stutter had done little to improve his confidence. What in the wide world of wolves was going on? Was this some kind of Kamarian? He didn't think that Kamarians could go invisible. Perhaps this wolf wasn't a wolf. And how did Feathers already know her name? Was this demon her guardian angel? Or, erm, devil? Gee whiz, the coolest thing his imaginary friend ever did was run an imaginary race with him, not give him a portal out of jail. Some wolves got all the breaks.

Seeing that his feathered friend was willing to take a hesitant walk into the darkness, Tiberius felt obligated to swallow his fears and follow into the shade. The water wolf took a moment to rip his gaze away from the scene and look back across the overfilled cell. Wolves of all temperaments were sprawled across the floor, some talking in low whispers, but most of them sleeping or pretending to. And yet, none of them seemed to be interested on what was going on over here in the corner of the cell. The meek Jivanta, the same shewolf who had pointed out his discovery earlier, looked directly at the spot he was standing, and yet there was hardly a stir across her features. It was like they were invisible.

His hopes of escape began to rise despite his fears. What if this really was a way out? Had Blossom convinced a wolf to steal them out of this place? There was only one way to answer those questions. Before his friend's tail completely disappeared into the shade, Tiberius gently nipped at it, holding onto the fluffy appendage with his teeth so that they would not be separated in this gloom. He wasn't about to be parted from her again.

Blossom almost let out a frighten yip of terror when Tiberius nipped her tail as the shadows encompassed them totally and what appeared to be the portal opening to the cell, closed silently and quickly. No longer was there an opening but a wall of solid rock, like that had really just stepped through a portal. Blossom couldn't help but wonder what it was that this Stelmaria had that could do such a thing. Maybe, she was like the her little cub friend who walked by unseen by the guards? Maybe only I can see them? But what about Tiberius?

Blossom stopped thinking about it once Stelmaria started walking forward into what Blossom saw as a terrifying darkness that could very be limitless. But it's not limitless: There's a floor, and I'll bet side walls, a ceiling and- "Ommphf!" She had just walked smack into a.... wall...?

"Careful, just follow my tail." The cold voice dropped a few degrees, as her pair of grey eyes narrowed. And right when Blossom was gonna ask 'What tail?' there behind the eyes, dark shadows pulled back to reveal a white and black tipped tail that oddly enough, made Blossom think of ink. There rest of the strange wolf's body stayed a mystery as the stranger continued forward, not waiting for Blossom to get up to follow.

Strangely enough, Blossom for some reason thought Stelmaria's tail was emitting light... But how could she do that? I thought she was a Shadow wolf... but... Blossom couldn't make sense of what strange powers this stranger had, and she really wanted to ask Tiberius what he thought of it all but it didn't feel right.



Blossom let a small whimper as she halted to lick her paws before jumping back up to rush after Stelmaria.

Hours had passed since they first passed through the portal, but there was no light other then their Guide's tail. And to add to this stress-inducing atmosphere, the temperature started to increase making Blossom's feathers itch with heat. Indeed! Every so often she'd rustle her wing as if uncomfortable, but to her credit, she spoke nothing of it, just continued onwards.

Throughout their trek, Blossom had begun to count rabbits in her head. 44 rabbits in the burrow. Where do they go? 44 rabbits! It didn't make much sense, but to Blossom it did. And finally, it became dull. So she would stretch her wing out to touch the wall that they seemed to be following when she realized... The wall was not dirt, but a shiny black rock that was smooth in some spots, but then rough and rippled in other spots. I wonder what it's called.

Sadly though, the shiny smooth black walls were soon replaced with dirt, and following it, they had begun to walk upwards. And after what seemed like an endless uphill walk, Blossom saw a light. "Tiberius! Look! Light!" She would have run upward to it if she wasn't exhausted from their day's fill of walking. But, with every step, they got closer to it, and with every step, she realized that the temperature wasn't dropping. No, it increased, though it wasn't blaring hot.

And finally, finally, after who knows how long of being imprisoned deep inside the earth, Blossom walked out of the tunnel and into the light. Oh! It's air, clean air! She inhaled long and deep, before turning to Tiberius and grinning like a fool. "Tiberius! We're free! Look Trees!" Although the environment which they had entered was dry and sparse with trees, Blossom started jumping up and down in her happiness before her joy was cut short. There, in the darkness of the hole they had come out from was the free-floating eyes, glaring annoyance at her. "Oh! Thank you!"

The stranger spoke, "Don't forget what you swore in promise of being set free. The wolf you seek is that way, closest to the base of the fire mountain. She travels with a fire wolf and an ice wolf, and she dons a lightning pendant." Blossom looked to where the she-wolf was pointing, at a mountain that was covered in dark shadow clouds. Red light appeared at the point where the top of the dark mountain met the dark clouds. "It is only half a day's walk. I suggest you hurry or you will miss her. Don't even think of reneging on your promise." With that, the gray eyes blinked and... disappeared!

"Uhhh, mmmm, 'kay." Blossom's voice trembled before she turned to Tiberius and smiled, "I guess we gotta go to the fire mountain then?"