Stephan Kalir's Story

Stephan leaned against the bar, in a somewhat relaxed way, keeping the hood up over his face. He wasn’t concerned about this place; he knew Ari would be safe here but that thought still didn’t ease his mind as he saw the way people were looking at her. Sure she was pretty as hell and she had an air around her that was wild; that was what had always drawn him to her. But it still didn’t give them the right to keep staring or glancing at her. His eyes roamed over the person next to him, his lips pulling back in a sneer as he saw how well the man was dressed, like a Nobel. You had to be pretty gutsy to wear clothing like that around here at this time of day, that or just stupid. When he mentioned snow, Stephan nearly laughed but he was able to keep his voice flat as he answered.
“Snow doesn’t bother me,” Stephan glanced at the person next to him, his lips pulling into a smirk as he leaned against the edge of the bar, his eyes never leaving Ari who looked slightly uncomfortable by herself. He turned as the Innkeeper placed two drinks next to him and her eyes smiled at him gently.
“Stephan, take off that ridiculous hood and let me see your handsome face again. It’s really been too long,” she reached up and pulled the hood off, Stephan remaining perfectly still as she did so. He beamed at her, his smile reaching his eyes as she winked at him.
“What the hell did you do to your face,” he asked, smiling slightly as she told him before she glanced over his shoulder, looking back at Ari and then at him.
“Now I know you’re not dragging that sweetness into any trouble,” she said ruffling his hair as she walked away with a sly smile and a wink. Stephan chuckled and turned back to the stranger, his black eyes narrowing slightly.
“So, stranger,” he said lightly, his voice low and dark but perfectly respectable, “You are not from these parts. Where do you hail from?”
He took a sip of his drink, not noticing how Ari had slid from her seat and had made her way through the crowd with feline grace and now stood beside him, her eyes flashing with curiosity. She stood tall and proud next to Stephan, tossing the hair out of her eyes as she looked from one man to the other. She didn’t trust the stranger, but then again she never trusted a lot of men. She shivered as she looked into his eyes, seeing for herself why they had caused her alarm the first time. From across the room one had looked blue and the other black but now she could tell that they were, in fact, both a deep blue and she smiled charmingly at him before playfully hitting Stephan in the arm.
“Hey girl,” he said with a grin after pulling a false face of pain and laughing slightly.
“You left me in the corner all alone,” Ari teased, her eyes flickering toward the man that stood behind her now. “And without a drink. But now I see that you were not being rude you were just talking to one of your friends.” The statement sounded more of a question as she spun back around to look at the stranger who made her enlightenment want to flare up….why she had yet to know. Her eyes locked onto his, their color changing from green to brown in a matter of moments before slowly sparking back to green.
"Tell us," she purred, her voice seductively sweet, "Where do you hail from? What is your name?"

Ari didn’t have a chance to listen to his answerer as the door opened, bringing in a blast of cold and a very grumpy woman walked in. Ari shrugged, this wasn’t her city and so she considered it none of her business and she turned her attention back on the two men. She had reached for the drink when the door opened and something, some instinct told her not to turn around. She stayed facing the bar; letting Stephan and the man next to her tell her how much of a threat the newcomer was. Though when everybody stood her body locked and she slowly stood from her seat and turned to face the newcomer. She felt her eyes widening as she recognised Sean and she felt a wave of relief wash over her, feeling safe at last until she saw the look that Sean gave her, if looks could kill.... She flinched and snuggled closer to Stephan who had seen the silent conversation and in an attempt to calm Ari he put his arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer to him. He bent down and murmured something into her ear as she nodded. Stephan looked around for Shelia, his eyes narrowing at the hug the two were obviously enjoying. As soon as she was finished with the Alpha he would get Ari someplace safe, he didn’t like to see her shaking next to him even though she was putting up a very good front of not caring. If she hadn’t been pressed against him he wouldn’t have noticed. The door swung open again and Stepahn silently cursed the Twins for making this harder. His eyes flickered to Ari, her eyes very much occupied on her drink so that she didn’t see the woman was walking straight towards them.
He almost released her as she jumped, the poke in her side releasing the nervous energy she had been hiding. Stephan thought he would have to take a defensive stance; to defend if that’s what was needed but was glad as Ari beamed at the woman, hugging her tightly around the waist before leaning back against him again.
“Really? Me,” she asked innocently, her eyes widening as her face took that sweet innocent expression as she laughed. She rolled her eyes slightly and took a deep drink of her draught, her hands shaking slightly. She placed the mug on the counter, clearing her throat before looking back at the woman. “This is my hero, Stephan. He’s saved me three times now and this....” she paused looking at the man across from her before responding, “Is someone I just met and have yet to catch his name. So... how much trouble am I in do you think?”
She felt Stephan tense beside her and she turned to look up into his face, his eyes were still locked onto Sean and she had to caress his face to get him to look back at her, mouthing something as Indrani took a sip of her drink. He nodded and Ari froze her heart racing in her chest as her eyes flickered to Sean and then back to his black eyes. She turned to sip her drink, letting her enlightenment come through just ever so slightly. It was a mistake. Her animal senses couldn’t focus, couldn’t stand the smell and the light and she nonchalantly reached up to rub her head, wondering why her enlightenment wasn’t working as well as it normally would. Stephan saw and his eyes began to scan the crowd, checking everyone’s face and looking for a suspicious character. Ari turned back to Indrani, her face appearing unconcerned, but her eyes said otherwise.
“So I guess this is how he’s going to play it...drag out the suspense of the punishment before actually giving it, huh,” she muttered, low enough so that only Indrani and Stephan could hear, shrugging lightly, “Well....I know I shouldn’t let it get to me but it is. How on earth did you get over here?”

Kirsten rode into the city of Newhaven, the rain pouring now around him, pelting his skin. The horse was soaked, from sweat or rain it didn’t matter. The steam rose off of both of them, the horse’s breath heavy as it reared and let out a raw scream, the voice dark but scratchy. It was a call and he rode the thick muscled horse through the now almost empty streets, his dark eyes scanned the roof tops, nodding as his men stood, raising their bows before leaping away. He met Catlen, his normally blonde hair now brown as it was soaked with rain. His hood lay across his back, collecting rain as his hands reached of the reins. The smell of wet leather was incredibly rich and Catlen whispered to the horse, steadying the black creature that towered over him. He watched as Kirsten dismounted, transferring the black leather into his other hand. The beast, blinked, its black eyes peering through the wet tangled mass of hair that was under the face shield made of thick leather. Catlen shook his head, knowing perfectly well that Kirsten didn’t need that or the saddle with the spikes sticking out of it. He ran his hands down along the horses legs, pulling his hand away, wet with sticky blood and with a mild curse towards Kirsten he lead the horse away.
Kirsten smirked and walked into the building, pulling off his riding gloves and slamming them on the table causing Erin to leap up from his seat, the chair flying back to clatter against the floor. The man’s eyes narrowed as Kirsten laughed, sitting down in the chair across from him and throwing his muddy boot up on the table. Erin growled slightly, watching the mud from the boots run from toe to heal and onto the wood, the grit and dirt spreading slowly in puddles. Kirsten’s red cloak dripped water onto the floor, leaving two large puddles and his hood only showed the tip of his nose and his lips, water dripping off of them as his lips pulled into a thin smile.
“What’s the news on the girl,” he said, picking at his fingers and only glancing at the boy when he didn’t speak. “Well,” he said pulling his boots off of the table and leaning forward in his seat.
“She got away but we’ve found her again...in The Inn,” Erin looked away from Kirsten’s eyes, blushing as he shrank back from Kirsten’s wrath.
“Damn it! That place is neutral ground....We can’t go hunting in there,” he slammed his fist into the table, his lips pulled into a snarl. “How did this happen? I gave you simple orders Erin!!” Kirsten’s eyes blazed, his body quivering in anger. He could tell he was hurting the Empath that much was obvious as he sorta shrank back without him having to lift a finger. He watched, considering how to kill his second as he pulled a dagger from his belt, digging the tip into the table as he stood, the chair groaning as it was shoved across the floor. “Tell me something good Erin or Alecto is about to get a promotion.”
Erin stared at Kirsten, he was in a blood rage, that much was obvious and this one was the worst he had ever seen. He knew as well that the threat put forth would be followed through on. Kirsten had already disposed of several Seconds and Erin had been there to see the last one...it wasn’t pretty. He stood tall as Kirsten advanced around the table, looming towards him like a dark shadow, the room beginning to change around them.
“Ari entered the bar with a man and a while later, she was followed in by a woman and again, a man and a woman. Your telepath was able to get a message out that it is the Alpha but at the moment he is not paying attention to the girl,” Erin said in a dead tone, his eyes flickering as the room returned to normal.
“The Alpha? You mean you have a Hunter in there,” Kirsten shook his head slowly returning to himself.
“We’ve been sitting in there the moment she escaped,” his eyes were fixed straight ahead, not looking at the man who stood in front of him, but rather through him. “Already we have six archers on the rooftops, all the gates are being watched and our most skilled are circling the Inn as we speak. They won’t move without your permission and not one inside, but rather three. The streets around the Inn are being watched by the less skilled. All wait for your command.”
Kirsten nodded, mildly surprised that Erin had been able to execute all of this and get the reserves out and ready as quickly as possible. He rubbed his temples, three inside a nest of assassins; that was big. If they tried to make a run for it outside, Ari would be dead before she even got a breath of fresh air. The Inn was seen as neutral territory and he certainly did not want the entire Wolfpack on his back if he attacked. Then again, Ari was a wolf which meant that they would Hunt him down anyways. He decided to take his chance and nodded to Erin. Watching as the Second walked quickly away, he couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face. Attack it would be.

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Ari took another sip of her drink, her eyes staring into the glass. She didn’t much care for it now; in fact she was still frightened. It had nothing to do with Sean, but what Stephan had told her. She laughed lightly at the horse remark, maybe she would have to ride off to the mountains and collect a few of the horses that were up there solely for the Wolfpack. She made a mental note to ask Sean about it, her mind stumbling over what Indrani had asked her. Had Sean not told her that she had been taken in by him?
“Sean. He’s my instructor,” she muttered, keeping her attention to the contents in her glass. She looked curiously at the desert queen, cocking her head slightly as she told them they had to leave and she reluctantly nodded. Ari made to stand when something caught her eye. There was a flash of movement; several men had stood to their feet and Ari felt her body freeze as she saw they were entirely dressed in black.
Stephan knew where they were, knew their numbers inside the inn before Ari had even sat down. He honestly thought that they weren’t going to be stupid and launch an attack. He cursed himself for not immediately pulling her into a room and hiding her from their sights but then who knew that Kirsten was psychotic. These Night Hunters were taking a large risk. Stephan grabbed her hand, pulling her toward the door with a curse, somehow his dagger already drawn and clutched tightly in his hand. Some of the Wolves looked confused, that or just drunk and only a few of them reacted. His eyes widened as they fell to the ground, unable to move, their hands clamped over their ears as they screamed. Only two Hunters advanced forward, the other occupied with tormenting the others and it looked as though anyone who stepped near him was automatically incapacitated. He opened the door, flinching back as several black arrows buried their heads into the wood next to him. He stepped back, shutting the door and turned to look at Ari with an innocent smile.
“Of course they’ve got this whole place surrounded by fucking archers.”
He turned, stepping forward and his wrist flicked, the dagger in his hand now protruding from the Hunter’s chest. The hood dipped to look down at the weapon, his hand reaching up to nearly touch it before he crumpled to the floor. Several of the wolves were now also attacking and he turned as Ari stepped up behind him, her eyes burning silver as she stared at the man who was still tormenting the Wolves who were curled up on the floor. Her hand reached out, a moment later the man flinched, clutching his neck and swearing. They had lost sight of Indrani and Sean and Ari peered over heads to try and find them. Stephan grabbed her hand, pulling her toward the Bar, ducking behind it as the door opened and more Night Hunters swarmed into the place. Shelia ran past, ducking down for a moment and looking Stephan in the eye.
“Love, there’s a tunnel in the basement; it will lead you out into the sewer. I suggest you get her out as fast as possible,” she looked at Ari and smiled gently, “Stay safe, be strong for him.”
She ran off then leaving them a room to cross full of Night Hunters and Wolves. All locked in a battle to the death. Stephan took Ari’s hand gently, her eyes looking up at his as he counted to three.

Rain pelted the streets, the lights from the buildings flickering in the downpour. The cloaks were soaked from the rain and the silver arrows flashed as lightning cracked between the dark skies, lighting them for a moment before leaving the world in the dark once again. On top of the buildings, a small band stood, the rain dripping off the edges of their cloaks and passing in front of their eyes, all hidden beneath the masks of darkness and shadows. Some shifted forward, their bows hung down by their sides but arrows knocked and at the ready. Most were crouched; their legs bent as dark eyes narrowed at the sounds of the screaming inside the building below them. The predominate one was standing tall, the red cape drawn tight around his body and the water sliding off of the tip of his hood to splatter across the black boots he adorned. His dark eyes caught the brightness of the lightning, the flash lighting up his face giving him a sinister yet powerful look. His long black hair fell out of the hood, sticking to the red cloth like grass stained by blood. His normally soft face, the feminine look, was replaced by malice and hatred. Kirsten watched from the roof, his black eyes narrowing with distain as he saw that the Ari girl had not come running out the door like he had expected. Apparently she was thinking things through or had become an expert fighter. He snarled, deciding that he might have to go in himself; the fight was taking too damn long. He looked over at his archers. They too had the same wild, hungry look in their eyes and he could feel the tension in the air. They wanted a shot, they wanted blood on their hands and he felt for them, but as one of them leaned forward he raised his gloved hand, watching as they shrank back, reining themselves in. He would wait for a moment more, Erin was supposed to report soon anyways. Kirsten drew his dagger, tossing it between his fingers as his lips pulled back into a snarl. The thunder sounded in a deafening roar, crashing around him and his men yet none flinched, and he caught the dagger, turning his head toward the sky, blinking as the rain dug into his face like needles for a moment. He sighed and looked down at the Hunter who had walked up beside him, bowing his head in respect as Kirsten looked at him with contempt.
“This could have been ended,” he growled, his voice not nearly as low as the thunder that had added emphasis to his statement and Kirsten’s eyes narrowed. “If we shoot a fire arrow in through a window, the whole place will go up before they can do anything about it. So why haven’t we?”
Kirsten took a step closer to the man who had dared speak to him in such a tone, looking into the man’s eyes, and watching calmly as he dropped to his knees, holding onto the sides of his skull. Kirsten watched, his lips curling into a thin line before the man dropped to the ground panting. He let the man lay there, letting him recover from the mental attack before crouching down next to him. He forced the man to look up at him, snickering at his reaction slightly.
“Why? There’s rain you idiot, it would put out a rag in a matter of moments. That and we would,” he paused, noting that he had all the Hunters attention on him, “HATE, to kill so many innocent people.” He smiled as some of the men laughed, the sentence dripping with sarcasm and with a forceful push the man lie screaming on the roof, a deep cut running from temple to jaw. He stood suddenly, brandishing his dagger in the sudden flash of light and the grumble of thunder and looking at the men around him. “Any others who wish to challenge me?! Don’t be afraid, step forth.” He mocked, bowing at the waist and spreading his arms wide. He sneered as no one came forth, all their eyes averting from him and the man on the ground, back to the Inn where the Hunters were slowly being pushed out. They were all cowards, all except those in his innermost circle and even they had fears that Kirsten preyed upon. He sheathed the dagger, listening to the harsh click as the white blade with the red rose hit the top of the sheath. Kirsten turned, sensing someone was close to him. He smiled at Erin who looked slightly annoyed and now, apparently nervous. Kirsten snickered as Erin’s eyes flickered to the man who was being helped by two others.
“What news Erin,” he called walking briskly forward. He watched the boy, pulling his hood back, for a moment his charming self coming through.
“Well….some idiot wouldn’t stand down on orders and so we had to kill him,” Erin said softly, watching as Kirsten raised his eyebrow, a curious expression on his face. Erin saw he didn’t care and thought it irrelevant and so he continued, “We’ve had several of our best killed or wounded, Sesh is seriously wounded and is trapped in there, none of the Night Hunters are near enough to get him to safety. Alecto is in infirmary with bleeding, he overused his enlightenment again. Juma is still fighting. Makom is doing the best he can to reach Sesh but Wolves block his every movement. Lichen is turning the Wolves upon themselves as much as he can but he is wearing out fast. Catlin is doing everything he can but last I checked he was surrounded.” The second gently took Kirsten’s arm and steered him further away from the archers his voice dipping into a whisper, “We have to retreat. None of them have seen Ari, she must have gotten out through a tunnel or something.”
“That’s a possibility,” Kirsten mused, his brows knitting together in thought. “Well….. I guess we should start pulling back then. The Alpha knows what I want. If he’s smart…he’ll hand her over without a second thought, she is just a recruit anyways.” He turned snapping at the archers, barking out orders and his eyes flashing as his gaze locked onto several Night Hunters already retreating. “We’ve made a point, if they follow shoot.”
He turned, sharply as the archers readied themselves on the edges of the roofs, their sharp eyes piercing through the rain at the Hunters flowing out of the building, from doors and even windows. His mind momentarily flickered to Sesh, the poor boy if he was still alive would wish he was dead soon enough. The Wolves wouldn’t be kind enough to spare a young pup from their jaws, and he was fine with that. He leaped from roof to roof, sliding down toward the ground and landing lithely on his feet in a crouch. His head snapped up, his eyes flashing momentarily before walking off along the streets of Newhaven.
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Three. Stephan stood, leaping over the bar and kicking a Night Hunter in the chest, the crack of a rib audible over the sounds of steel clashing and people screaming. The man stumbled back into a group of Wolves, shouting as the pain slapped him across the face, a rude awakening into the battle. The cry was cut short, a blade protruding from the man’s neck as his eyes became dull and lifeless before he even hit the ground. Stephan did not like what he saw one bit. Knight Hunters were everywhere, tangled with the Wolves in heated combat, killer verses killer. It was a test of skill and Stephan ducked as a dagger shot across the room, embedding itself into wood instead of the flesh it had been seeking. His eyes narrowed and he flinched as more Wolves flooded down the stairs, crowding the already too small bar. Could Sean not handle this by himself? Stephan shook his head, his eyes snapping up to look upon the stairs where several Wolves had turned on each other. He focused on them, each one trying to tear each other apart. His eyes narrowed, some foul play was upon the Wolves and his eye turned sliver as he called forth his enlightenment.
What he found surprised him moderately. Instead of finding their thoughts, he found someone else’s and he skillfully worked his way into the subconscious without being noticed by the man who was controlling the Wolves. He found the memories of their graduation oaths, and drew them forth. His mind slammed against the other’s and he momentarily lost sight of the Wolf’s mind, snapping back to his own body as he sagged against the counter, just ever-so-slightly. He closed his eyes again, shoving himself forcefully back into the mind and pulling the memory of the oath to the forefront of the Wolf’s psyche. Everything changed. The wolf turned, now defending instead of attacking and Stephan found himself digging through the memories of the men that were still captured and freeing them all with their oath memory. He opened his eyes, what had seemed like an hour’s work was really only a couple of minutes. His green eyes narrowed as he realized he was under the bar and he shook his head, wondering how in the hell he had gotten there. He pulled himself out, rolling his shoulders as he remembered Ari and dove for the counter. Stephan turned, reaching over to help Ari up over the bar, finding that she was no longer there but engaged in a tough fight with another Wolf in swordplay. He couldn’t tell if she was exhausted or enraged, so bad were the tremors that wracked her body, but at that moment it didn’t matter. She was already being worn down, her movements slower than normal and it was becoming obvious that the Wolf was going to strike the final blow very soon. He reached for the sword at his hip, giving up on the notion that he wasn’t going to have to use it. He cursed, his hand closing on thin air when Ari cried. His head snapped up, his eyes widening.
Ari cradled her arm close to her chest, the Claymore sword abandoned on the floor of the Inn. She had leapt up over the bar right after Stephan had, ready to make a run for it when he had stopped. Ari knew the signs of his enlightenment and she watched with earnest as he had closed his eyes to focus better on his target. She stood by his side, watching the fight going on around her. She nearly missed the Wolf that had come at them, sword raised above his head, nearly but not quite. She had reached for the Claymore sword at Stephan’s hip, as she was unarmed, drawing the thing and shoving Stephan under the bar, barely having time to block the downward stroke aimed for her head. She had screamed at him, telling that she was a Wolf as well, but he was rabid. She had no choice but to fight with her weakest weapon, blocking but never striking. Now she was a goner. There was no noise, nothing as her vision tunneled, her face locked on to the Wolf’s. He struck forward, and she flinched stumbling back as the Wolf’s sword was knocked down and away. Stephan stood next to her; his eye flashing silver as the Wolf stumbled back shaking his head. The man stood finally still, nodding to them as if nothing had happened before jumping back into the fray.
“Thanks,” she stammered, looking up into the tiered eyes that stared back into hers.
“You have a lot to yet learn,” Stephan said gently, his face pulled into a mask as he took her hand and pulled her across the room, slipping between fights and dodging others. He only blocked the blows that were directed at him and Ari, slowly beginning to be surrounded by more and more Wolves. It was as if the Wolves had overrun the Hunters and now they were slowly being pushed out. Perhaps Sean was right to call down others, just maybe. He stopped at the stairs, trying to remember where the cellar was when he was shoved out of the way, roughly by feminine hands. Stephan’s green eyes widened as a bit of metal, no bigger than the palm of his hand and flat, buried one of its sharp, curved spikes into the wood where he had just been standing. Ari pulled at the star, ripping it from the wood and seeing the nearest Knight Hunter, threw it, watching as the object slowed almost to a complete stop as the Hunter stepped out of the way, the Wolf who he had been in combat with unknowingly stepping forward right as the star resumed it’s normal speed. She flinched as it hit the Wolves shoulder but before she could dwell on the subject she was pulled roughly forward by Stephan. He had remembered where it was; now all he needed was to get there. But before he could make it, Ari snatched onto his arm, not moving forward. He curiously looked over at her and saw how her eyes were wide, her lips curling into a snarl. She lunged forward and Stephan pulled her back against his chest.
“No,” she screamed, fighting against him, her eyes locked onto the figure on the floor. “Sean! Let me go!” She couldn’t see his face, but something told her that it was him. She needed to get there, help him but Stephan’s iron grip held her tight to his chest. She struggled as he turned her around, several Wolves already flocking around the body and several surging forward into the Hunters.
“Ari,” he cried, his voice darkening as he tried to get her attention. “Listen to me. He’ll be alright, but right now we need to get you out of here and to safety. He’d want that too.” His hands slowly stopped becoming restraints as her struggles ceased. She stopped moving, her eyes flashing dangerously but she let him lead her across the room.
Sesh lay on the ground, something small had caused him to lose his concentration and then something else had torn into his leg. He lay there panting, his hand clutched around his leg. He could hear Makom screaming his name, trying to reach him but Wolves were everywhere now. It was, difficult not to be fighting but perhaps it was for the best. Here on the ground he was able to use his enlightenment and he had already turned several Wolves on each other but the Wolves were able to fight back with their own….mental trickery. Someone was stopping his advancement and now his head hurt from all the minds he had toyed with. He winced, leaning heavily against the wall by the stairs. Even he had heard the order to retreat but there were just too many Wolves for him to drag himself across the room unnoticed. He pulled back his hood, exposing his face. He brushed his hand through his hair which looked white at the moment. His black eyes appeared stormy grey as he caught sight of two people bolting through the crowd, ducking fights and twisting out of the way. One of them looked like a Hunter and the other a frightened girl and his heart lightened as they got closer to him. He could hear their struggle, and he forced himself to move, moving away his hand that was stained red with sticky blood. He reached out, snatching a hold of the Hunters hand, looking up in surprise as he saw that it wasn’t a Hunter, nor was it a Wolf, the girl however that stood behind him he immediately recognized as his prey and a tiny snarl worked its way from his throat.
“Sesh,” came the man’s voice and his black eyes flickered to the hooded face, his eyes peering past the darkness and widening. The hand pulled him to his feet, his body lurching forward only to be caught in part by the girl. She held him up as Stephan, Sesh’s best friend, took the other side and together they carried him down into the cellar. “Sorry old friend,” Stephan whispered. There was a sharp blow and Sesh slumped, his body becoming much heavier.
“Let’s get him out of here with us. I won’t have a Wolf take his life,” Stephan said gently, looking towards Ari for approval. She nodded and together they slipped out into the tunnel, making their way toward her freedom.

{In the forest- Near the border}

There was a slight breeze from the north: cold, crisp and foreboding. The sun had already begun to rise: a soft pink glow deepening to a shade of red, closer to the color of blood than of that of the rose. The morning was still as death and green eyes stared forward, unmoving, unblinking. They caught the gradual lighting of the world around; illuminating what had been previously lost. The plants that had lain limp across their path now sucked greedily at the rays from the red sun, reviving themselves from death. Ari sat on top of a mound of boulders, their cold grey skin dragging the warmth from her unwilling body to feed their own life. Her emerald eyes were fixated on the sun, glistening wet with tears. The salty moisture fell, spattering across the hard rock before disappearing into the moss. Her lips were pulled thin, her brows knitted together as the day warmed and slowly the lifeless forest filled with the quiet stillness of the hidden animals. She took in a sharp breath, filling her nose with the scent of the morning, shrinking back as her animal instincts flared up inside of her. Something had happened, more blood had been spilt last night and everything about today gave her the shivers. She hadn’t felt like this since….since her father tried to rape her. She turned to look at the moon, hanging crystalline in front of the washed out red, bordering on the blue-orange that had begun to tint the sky above. Her lips pulled back into a snarl and she glared at the silver orb, taunting her with the inevitable.

Let it come then….Ari had handled the lust once before, she could very well do it again. She despised the moon and the stirrings it caused her, from the very first time the Change had overcome her, but she could curb it now. Perhaps this time… Sean….. Her eyes flashed and she raised a hand wiping the tears from her face with a quick swipe, refusing to think about the Alpha. There would be no tears, none at all, not even for the boy who now lay beside the man and the cat, sleeping soundly next to the ashes of the fire. It wasn’t her fault that he was bound to Kirsten in the Blood Oath; no…her anger should be directed at the backstabbing murder himself. Her chin lifted slightly in defiance, her eyes daring him to make the next move against her. Next time…next time she would be ready when he came. There would be no Wolves verses Hunters, just her and him. Her mind wandered to the clash of steal, the satisfaction as her dagger bit into his….Stephan appeared beside her, his sudden appearance causing her to jump forward and nearly fall off balance.

“Easy there Ari,” he whispered, placing a hand on her shoulder steadying her gently. His eyes, black in the light, flickered toward her face and then back towards the moon, a ghastly smile crossing his face and then vanishing. “It’s nearing again.”
Ari nodded, her blonde hair bobbing in the braid she had bound it into, already strands were falling loose around her face, giving her a wild look. Stephan smiled gently, placing an arm around her shoulder and pulling her body into his. She rested there, tolerating the contact for a moment before a large white head pushed its way between them. She smiled gently at the large snow cat, rubbing its massive head and scratching the black spots that covered the cat from nose to tail.

“Salji,” he growled, pushing the cat away with his knee, a little miffed that he had chosen now to wake. He watched Ari mess with the cat, a smile pricking at the corner of his lips before fading. He only now saw how worn she looked. Her hair didn’t shine the way it normally did, dark rings under her eyes, the slight wheeze in her breath all gave away how beaten down she really was. He growled, barking at the cat who hissed back before springing off into the dense shrubbery.

“Wha-“

“Ari,” Stephan interrupted, his eyes narrowing slightly, “How long….”

Her eyes stared at him, dull in the light and her face blanched, quickly becoming pale. He took her hand, pulling her from the rock and towards the tiny stream that he had discovered last night. With a mighty crash, his fist forced its way through the ice and into the cool depths of the water below. There the water awoke, swirling and tumbling like blood through veins only to rest in small pools along the side. He forced her to stare at her reflection and the corners of her mouth fell.

“Stephan… I haven’t Changed in awhile, not for that long,” she whispered, avoiding his gaze. The anger rolling off of him was palpable and she shrank back. He sat her down by the creek, giving her his water skin and watching closely as she took deep sips of it.

“Do you remember how we escaped?”

“It was only last night Stephan, of course I remember,” she saw how doubtful his face looked and so she began, “We exited the tunnel outside of the city and found no one there. We were both tiered from carrying Sesh, the boy, and you said we couldn’t stop for fear of being caught out in the open. I offered to change and did so, a big black horse if I remember rightly,” she smiled slightly, pleaded with herself. “You mounted up behind him, Sesh had passed out, and I carried us to the trees, through them until we reached Pack territory. There I was forced to stop, you may be an ex-wolf but Sesh isn’t so I brought us here, far enough away so that the Wolves wouldn’t think to look here but close enough so that the patrols wouldn’t stumble across you.”

“I knew I shouldn’t have let you shift into a horse to carry me and the boy,” Stephan muttered, his eyes lightning to a shade of green only slightly different than Ari’s. He was relieved that she had remembered the happenings of the previous night, which meant she hadn’t lost herself in her animal form and she had been alright, mentally at least. He watched as she smiled at him, a soft mocking smile that only she could perfect that well and he felt his anger rising again. “I cannot believe you were stupid enough to offer your body for transport…by the Twins! Ari! You could have been stuck as a horse forever. Then where would you be? Under Sean for the rest of your life, stuck with the mentality of a human, the intelligence of a human, in a horse’s body. What life would that be?”

He watched as her face fell, the smirk wiped clean off. Glad that he had gotten his point across he stood, leaving her sitting in the snow, her head hung low. Had she forgotten? All that time in the mountain he had spent teaching her, all wasted? Stephan shook his head and sighed, glancing at the girl from under his bangs. At least the Lust was approaching. He snickered before looking back at Ari.

“Don’t think I don’t know that you’ve been up all night as well. I’m going hunting, get some rest Ari.”

Ari watched Stephan walk away, already his body was beginning to crouch and his footsteps became just whispers on the wind.
“Sleep,” she muttered, “Who has time for that?”
With a sigh she stood, brushing the snow from her legs as her eyes wandered amongst the trees. It was entirely true what Stephan had said: that she had cut it dangerously close yesterday. She could hold certain animal forms longer than others and some were easier to shift into but the Horse was a little tricky to maintain. The bark of the Manawa tree did help make the Change less painful and it allowed her to stay in that form for a while longer, but she had lost the pendent somewhere in the brawl. Air groaned and placed her forehead against a tree. There was just too much that came with the Change, no one really understood how it worked, not even herself. She took a steadying breath, turning to face the boy who had shifted uncomfortably.
“You’re awake,” she said gently, her green eyes locking onto his black ones. “How much did you hear Hunter?”

“All if not most Ari Lupir,” he said in a hushed whisper. If he had been trying to make her nervous by knowing her name, it didn’t work. She knew that the Hunters were all linked through Kirsten; all could possibly know everything that Kirsten knew about her. She walked briskly forward, relighting the fire from the dying embers. Sesh watched her like a hawk, tracking her every movement, observing her. Ari felt his gaze where ever she walked, stopped, or sat down. It was, truthfully, a bit unnerving. She stood from her place across from Sesh, shivering as his quiet gaze seemed to dig within her soul. Annoyed and a little bit frightened she approached him, bending down at his leg and examining the round hole that marked where the projectile had entered his body. Her delicate fingers poked and prodded around the entry sight, learning everything about his wound. He stiffened and when Ari glanced at his face she saw that his lips were pulled tight and his brow was beaded with sweat. He was in pain. He really wasn’t old, in fact his face was still clean, not a trace of a beard anywhere.

“Tell me Sesh, exactly how old are you?”

“I’ll be seventeen in a moons cycle,” he panted, the stress in his voice further alerting her to how much pain he actually was in. Sixteen then. Kirsten was getting younger, bolder recruits. Ari felt a pang in her heart and she quickly grabbed Stephan’s bag from where it lay discarded. She rifled through it, coming across what looked like several daggers sewn together in some sort of claw. She pulled it out, ignoring the look on the Hunters face which was more akin to curiosity then she’d have liked to see. She extended one of the dagger-like claws, dragging the tip through the black fabric that served as the Hunters pants, cutting just above the wound line. When she had removed the cloth she drew back. The hole was bigger than she expected, bloody and messy looking. Her fingers trailed hopelessly across the skin. She wasn’t a healer. She couldn’t do this. Sesh was watching her closely, eyes narrowed into thin slits.
“You don’t know what you’re doing….do you?” he asked, voice dark with anger. Ari shook her head in response, her face lifting up to look him in the eye.

“Sorry,” she whispered. His eyes sparked for a moment and Ari felt a heavy presence forcing her consciousness back. Her body froze in fear as she was locked away. She began to fight, tearing away at her own memories that seemed to hold her captive when a voice came crashing though her head.

It’s alright Ari Lupir, I know some healing skills so let me teach you.

Before she could ask, or say anything her mind was flooded with images, memories, and pictures. In a matter of moments she learned how to sew a wound closed, remove an object without causing further damage, and different types of plants that could cure, help heal, or put someone to sleep. Her consciousness was released then and she found herself holding a bit of bark from a tree, Sesh staring at her expectantly.
“Now do exactly as you were shown,” he said lightly smiling at her.

“You…you took control of me? How?!” Ari demanded, her voice rising to a breathless squeak. She watched as the white-haired boy tilted his head back, roaring with laughter.

“Ari, the only reason why I let you have control of your body back was because I really don’t want to be awake when you’re digging around inside my leg to remove that stupid ball. So,” he paused, his face still pulled into a slight smile, “hop to it.”
Ari growled as she placed the stick under his nose, breaking it with a snap as Sesh inhaled. She observed, with amazement, as his eyes fluttered close and his body went limp. Her hands instinctively went to the claws again, but instead she changed her mind, scooping up a handful of the cleanest snow she could find and cleansing the wound. When she was satisfied that it was cleaner than it had been originally she took the claws, muttered a prayer to the Twins and dove.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Stephan hadn’t gone very far when he caught Salji springing gracefully after a small white rabbit. He let his body lean against a tree, watching with pride as the snow leopard caught the animal, crushing its body between his powerful jaws. The cat saw him, leaping forward to wipe his bloody chin and nose across Stephan’s black pants. The dead rabbit lay forgotten momentarily. Stephan smiled, bending slightly to run his hand across the cats head. He tolerated the contact, purring with joy before springing back to his kill. Stephan sighed, watching the cat with moderate disgust.

Ever since he had left the mountain he had been a leaf on the wind. His hunt had taken him to many different towns and villages. In them he had met many different people, all different shapes, sizes and skills. However, none of the people he had met were anything like Ari. She was something else, an entity in her own. She was pretty, but fierce. Young as well. She was naïve to the ways of the world. She saw too much good in people, sometimes there was no good. His thoughts drifted to Sean. That Wolf, he worried, had too much an influence on the girl. Just that moment, the second he had seen the way the two interacted in the Inn, showed him just how much an effect Sean had on Ari. He had heard of the change of power, how the young boy had taken over the pack, in fact he had felt the change of leadership in his heart, but he didn’t believe that the new Alpha had that much power still. He shook his head gently. Ahhh, to have that much pressure on your back and now have to deal with Ari. He loosed a throaty chuckle and smiled up at the lighting sky. Trouble, trouble, trouble with a capital T. That was what Ari was, at least what he had previously seen and Stephan quietly wondered if the Alpha knew what he was dealing with. He was pulled from his thoughts by a flutter of movement. His vision focused on a small bird, or what looked like a bird up in a tree. He ran forward, flying over the snow instead of sinking into it, eyes fixated on the creature in a tree. His hands curled around the branches of the trees, his leopard instincts kicking in. It quivered under his weight and the creature had taken flight. Its red body flew towards where Ari and the kid lay, a red stain against the virgin snow. His eyes looked around the land, catching sight of the Wolves creeping through the trees, to a small heard of deer, to the smoke rising from a careless fire. Stephan closed his eyes breathing in the scent of the day, a grin spreading across his face as the thought of home hit him. Soon, very soon he would find himself back into the warm enfoldments of the mountain. He and Salji would be safe at last. He heard the great cat bark, his blue eyes staring up at the man who was not where he should be and Stephan laughed at the snow cat’s face. If anything it was comical, confused and annoyed, but also determined. The coughing bark came again and Stephan could hear the cat’s dismay at having lost his leader. Salji had grown up and by no means was he a small putty-cat either. Soon, Stephan realized, he would wander in search of a mate just as Stephan should have been doing and was doing the night of the massacre. A low grow rumbled its way from his chest and the scrambling of the leopard ceased. Stephan shimmied down the tree, landing heavily on two feet and sinking in the snow. His lips pulled into a snarl as Salji nearly tackled him before backing away. He worked on keeping his weight spread out so that he wouldn’t leave large imprints in the snow when he walked. It wasn’t until he had managed it that he saw that Salji had perked his head toward the basic direction of where Ari was and furiously his nose was working the air. He ran forward batting Stephan with a white paw, his blue eyes frantic and his teeth bared. Stephan pushed back at the cat, giving him the signal. With a flurry of loose snow, the cat turned, leaping forward and running across the snow with a wave-like movement. Stephan ran after him, his feet crunching through the rotten snow and slowing him to an almost unbearable speed. When he hit the clearing he slid to a halt, his eyes widening.

Ari hadn’t heard the cat coming only felt the huge creature slamming into her back, pushing her away from Sesh and digging his thick claws into her back.
“Sal!” she cried, wiggling under the cat as it hissed and snapped at her hair. The blood had caught the cat’s attention and now the life force was all over her. Sesh’s wound she had managed to stitch together and dress but not before a lot of blood had been spilt. She opened her mouth to shout out another order when a giant paw pushed her face into the snow. She remained perfectly still until she heard the harsh, snapping growl of Stephan and with his help she was able to push the cat off. She stood, brushing off the snow and clearing her mouth, cursing the cat, Stephan and Sesh and all the Wolves and even the Twins themselves.

“Ari….I’m so sorry,” Stephan said apologetically, his eyes narrowing at the cat that now stood, licking its massive paw as if nothing had happened. She glared at Sesh who had now woken and was smiling gently at them. Stephan glanced between the two, his eyes taking in the amount of blood on the snow and way his Claws were stained with it. Apparently Ari had been doing some work. “Sesh,” he scolded, looking at the boy and then back at Ari, “A simple, ‘I might kill you’ should have done the trick. You didn’t have to take control of Salji.”

Sesh looked mildly taken aback and Stephan found himself glowing with sick pleasure as it hit him just how much the boy didn’t know. He may have been a Hunter…but that didn’t make his mind shielded from Stephan’s. He had dug through both Ari’s and Sesh’s memories, learning everything he could about them and replaying the ones that held special interest to him. Those were not rare in these two.

Ari sniffed and watched as Stephan picked up his Claws, sliding them over his fingers and hands before recklessly spinning to swipe across the nearest tree. Her jaw dropped. The once pristine bark, white as the snow around it, now had four deep gashes into it. The wood held the daggers blood. Splintered and cracked the tree began to ooze some of its sap, mingling with the blood that rested carelessly on the splinters. The…awesome power…the sheer destruction of such a weapon sent her heart pounding.
“Stephan,” she said her eyes wide and her voice breathless, “I wanna try. Please? Please, please, please, please, please?!”

Stephan looked at the girl, now bouncing with excitement next to him, her face lit with childish yearning. He nearly laughed, his lips quirking up for an instant before his tone became mocking.
“No, you’ll hurt yourself and we have prying eyes.”
Ari stopped then, turning to look towards Sesh who was, at the moment, laying back against the snow and enjoying the fires warmth while being stung by the chill of the snow upon his back. She pointed to him and when Stephan nodded her face almost fell. Instead she casually walked over to the Hunter, having given up already on using the Claws, and bending down to look him in the eyes as he sat up.
“What do you seek from me Ari,” he said, his eyes sparking with interest.

“Why me?”

Sesh gave a throaty chuckle, finding that he did like this girl’s wild spirit and could see why Kirsten longed for her. He rolled his eyes to look up at the sky, carefully thinking about what Kirsten would have him say. Sesh, Ari and Stephan’s prisoner, knew that he wasn’t going to be let go willingly by them or the Alpha. Sesh could only guess that he was alive and well because this….pet of the Alpha knew that he would want answers. That, and she would be in serious trouble with him as it was, having him as a trophy could help get her into better standings.
“Kirsten is not a fool, Ari. Far from it. Our…master, you could call him, wants revenge on a Wolf. It is no small matter either. Do not ask me what the Wolf did to him, I do not know,” Sesh told her truthfully, his voice darkening as he made it a little more personal towards Ari. “You, you were the first to wander into the trap and when you were foolish enough to seek us out…well it was no matter to enter your thoughts and put you to sleep. It wasn’t until after you had woken that we realized you were nobody in the system, a recruit, just taken in the night before.”

Ari shook her head, chewing on her lower lip in a habit that she had acquired. It was true, she was really nobody and the thought made her sadden, but then….Sean had come for her right? So she must have some value.
“Ari are you listening?” Sesh growled, suddenly annoyed that she seemed to be so far away. He waited until her eyes focused back on him, starting a little bit before sitting down next to him and nodding gently, “good. Now listen closely.
We thought you would be easy to break, you had no training, no loyalty yet but I guessed we misjudged you, huh? Well, even I could feel Kirsten’s surprise from Newhaven while you were in Blackpond. You escaped with help from Kirsten. As you could guess, our master was not happy to find that out and so, instead of going though the trouble of finding another Wolf, he has set his sights on you. Besides you know too much about him and what he wants. Easy pickings. That’s why Kirsten Hunts you now Ari, that’s why he will continue to do so until you lie dead and buried. He has no choice, no say in this. By keeping me here, you do realize that you’ve opened yourself to him. Why do you challenge him so?”

Ari remained silent, thinking quietly to herself as she heard Stephan and Salji moving around the camp behind her. Sesh had given her a lot to think about: what to do with him, how much danger she was in, and how to deal with this new threat. The threat was easy, Sean would teach her all she needed to know, the rest would come with time. The danger was minimal at the moment, the moon was coming quickly and the Blood Oath participants would keep Kirsten busy for awhile. Sesh, he was the part that caused her to stumble. By keeping him for Sean she was taking a very large risk. But if she let him go, that could be equally bad coming from Sean. She blinked, withdrawing from her thoughts and staring at the Hunter, realizing that he hadn’t taken his black eyes from her face. His eyes frightened her, there was no difference between the pupil and the iris, in fact it looked as if his entire eye was dilated, even though Ari knew that it wasn’t. She shivered, looking into the black holes before turning away again. Sesh didn’t push for an answer either. He let her brood over what he had said, watching silently as she stood, brushed her hands over her legs and backside before walking away. He twisted his hands, growling as he found them still tied tightly by the long strip of cloth that they had torn from the bottom of Ari’s dress. He had planted the seed though, the tiny inkling of letting him free, letting him live and that gave him hope. He tossed his white-blonde hair out of his eyes, honestly surprised that he had been able to Wake the cat. By taking over his mind he had saved Ari, which much was true, he didn’t mean for her to have a scratched up back. He turned to study his wound, glad that she had been able to listen to his memories and remove the object. Already his skin was healing, thanks to Makom’s healing that he had been trying to do at the Inn. With a huff he closed his eyes, letting his mind wander and working on focusing his hearing on different things, each one becoming clearer after a matter of moments. It wasn’t long until he had sharpened his hearing so well that he could now hear the hushed whispers of Ari and Stephan.

“I’m going to make a run back into camp,” Ari said lightly, still not able to hide the tremor in her voice.

“Will the Wolves let you back out?” Stephan asked gently, placing his hand onto her shoulder reassuring her to the best of his ability. “If not, you do know that I will let that boy go and then head into the Lair myself.”

Sesh heard Ari laugh and his stomach twisted. A way out had presented its self, all he needed was a Wolf to wander within range of his enlightenment and he would be free. His lips pulled into a hidden smirk, his eyes fluttering open to find that Ari had already vanished and Stephan stood on the other side of the flames, watching her go with concern on his face. Sesh couldn’t help but notice how the fire rolled up around the figure of the man, the smoke inky black as it rose into the sky above, choking everything that flew into its path. It was an omen, an omen of death.

The sky hadn’t even begun to lighten when Ari woke. Her eyes fluttered open and she blinked, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness that surrounded her. Her breath rose from her lips in small clouds and she watched the clouds rise and dissipate into the stale air around her. She frowned, not able to discern what had woken her but with the urgency that it had, she was unable to fall back into the warm enfoldments of sleep. Ari slid out of bed, letting her feet hit the cool floor, involuntarily shivering as a spike of cold drifted up her spine. She quickly dressed, pulling on her training pants and a loose shirt followed by her bow and quiver of arrows. Ari knew that she would be out for awhile and that possibly, she would never get another chance to change into something better. She moved quietly to the door, pulling it open and sneaking outside, glancing back at the rumpled sheets she left behind her. A smile crossed her lips and without a noise, she left. The sky above her shone with the stars, the moon casting an eerie glow around the ground. Shadows bowed, reaching their black fingers for the girl as she passed Sean’s cabin. She glided past the door, drifting past like the shadows around her. The woods greeted her with arms wide open, whispering of things unheard and unknown. Ari entered their embrace gratefully, wandering past the trees she had grown to know so well.

It was true that living amongst Wolves was tough work, harder to deal with. They had laws, unspoken and unwritten but as alive as the trees before her now. The stories she had been told of were horrifying, but not true in the slightest. They did not eat their young and drink blood from their victims, in fact they were just plain people. They were as easy to kill as the next person and just as vulnerable to their emotions. However, the strongest person that led them was their Alpha. He was ruthless, a killer and driven by his instincts to protect what belonged to him. He was above, untouchable, and was not afraid to taunt that aspect during their training. Sean was rough, he pushed her until she gave him her all and then he pushed her some more. Nothing she did ever pleased him, she realized with a smirk. Even if she had been lying on the ground, bloodied and begging he would still push her. It would only be through beating him through which she would gain release. It was true, it was tough for her but the thought of finally causing a nick on his arm or cheek, just a tiny scratch would give her the release she needed. That is how she would better herself. And Ari realized, with some taint of horror, that she was willing to do anything to just get a shot at him. Not out of spite, she assured herself. All in all he hadn’t been that harsh towards her considering what she had done. Getting yourself caught after one day of training and talking to a traitor really placed a black mark on your shoulders.

Ari giggled to herself. The whole Pack had challenged her right to be there, to be a pretty little thing that could fight, but with Sesh’s memories floating around in her head they had gotten more of a fight then they had bargained for. She had snuck to him several times during the course of his rapid healing and they had spent time sharing memories and indulging in each other’s company. Those days….were fun now that Stephan and Alex both came as well. She smiled up at the stars, he face going slack and her eyes going blank as a memory consumed her.

[Flashback-Forest: Week one]

“Easy there Sesh,” Ari called holding up her hands to show she was unarmed. The Hunter sat back down, his black eyes still piercing her own. She had found him wandering the woods two weeks ago; still healing even after Stephan had released him in order to search for her. She smiled at him and approached him carefully, smiling as she took a seat across from him on the root of the tree.

“I don’t know what you see in me Ari, you or the other two,” Sesh growled, using the small dagger she had given him to whittle away at a piece of bark. He was carving it into a wolf, something he was determined to give to her before he left. “You do realize that the moment I can walk or run we’ll be enemies once again?”

Ari laughed a light bell like sound before reaching forward to examine his leg. Her delicate fingers undid the bandage and she was again struck by the soft glow of the scar she was looking at. Her fingers trailed over the new skin, amazed by his rapid healing. He pulled away, rewrapping the bandage, leaving the carving lying on the cold ground beside him. It was only then, Ari realized, that he was perfectly capable of leaving, but he was staying for some other reason. They both were startled by the sudden cracking of branches and Ari stood, brandishing her dagger in her hands.

Ari she heard her mind whisper followed quickly by the heavy presence of Sesh’s conscious. If you’re caught here….
Get out of my head! she snarled, pushing against his mind until she felt him retreat. Sesh’s warning was true though. Another wolf blundered into their clearing and had caught sight of the girl then.

“Ari? What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at,” the wolf trailed off, his eyes locking onto the boy lying on the ground behind her. “Explain.” His voice changed, from the questioning semi-scolding to the voice that rumbled with anger. She opened her lips to explain then, finding nothing coming forth from her lips. The Wolf was just another kid like her, not much older than Alex or Stephan and she watched as he produced a dagger from thin air. The hell, she thought. It was something most Wolves could do but she still hadn’t figured out how. “Traitor!” he cried, his eyes narrowing as he stepped forward. From the corner of her eye she saw Sesh tap the side of his nose, almost as if he were itching something. Ari smiled ever so slightly, all she had to do was hold out.

“Listen, kid,” she said hurriedly, letting the dagger rest against her hip as he advanced. “I know this looks bad but he’s just a traveler who was injured when I found him…”

“Do you think I’m blind Ari,” he cut her off, “I see the black clothing; you and I both know this is no mere traveler.”

“Alright, you’ve got me there but…”

“You’re helping out the enemy! I knew you were not on our side the moment the Crimson attacks began, I told Sean but he was too blind to see it,” the man growled, advancing now with a look of purpose, “But now I have proof.”

He was getting dangerously close to her and Sesh and so she reacted. He legs pushed her body forward and she collided with the wall of flesh. She stumbled back as did he, the force of the impact knocking the wind from her lungs. Ari cursed, it was running into a brick wall. He was solidly built, muscled, tall and he wasn’t about to lose this fight. His dagger cut through the air and she barely missed it, having to arch her back to avoid the blow to her stomach. His next strike came at her shoulder and she had no choice but to dive out of the way, leaving Sesh exposed. The Wolf threw his dagger, piercing through her shirt and into the ground, pinning her down where she lay. Her own dagger was just out of reach. The Wolf now was advancing on Sesh and she squirmed as the heavy presence fell across her mind again. Her hand, as if on its own accord reached for the Wolf’s dagger, tugging on it with a strength she didn’t know she had and yanking it from the dirt. She pulled herself to her knees, or rather Sesh did and with a flick of her wrist the dagger went sailing through the tree cutting right past the Wolf’s head and burying itself into the tree.
Slowly the Wolf turned, his eyes darkening and his eyes clouding over. He charged like a bull, bellowing out his anger and drawing a broad sword. Ari cursed again and just managed to move out of the way while snatching up her dagger from the ground. Her body turned, her hand rising to block the heavy blow from the Wolf. The impact of the two objects jarred her arm and her knuckles were cut from his blade. He forced he back into a kneel, her arms quivering from pushing against his sword.
Dive now, came a commanding voice. Her strength broke and she dove, just as his sword hit the ground where she had been a moment before.
Turn and face, ready yourself. Here he comes again.
The Wolf turned, but instead of charging he began to circle her, trying to catch her off guard. She held her dagger in front of her, knees locked behind her.
Tell me that’s not your fighting stance. Here. Her body was forced to bend at the knees her lips pulled into a snarl. She quickly returned her face to a mask, wondering how this was happening. The stance felt more natural, like a panther ready to pounce. Suddenly she found that she could be much more agile in a position like this, quicker and stronger. Ari internally smiled, wait till Sean saw how much she had already grown.
Get your head out of the gutter, the voice snarled, he’s coming again.
This time Ari moved gracefully out of the way, using just the slightest of touches with her own dagger to veer the heavy sword away. She danced with him for a moment, always blocking his movements and found herself enjoying the motions.
Watch!
There was a stinging pain on her shoulder and she nimbly moved away, pausing to look at the thin line across her shoulder. She rolled it experimentally, deciding that she could use that arm to fight but it would be painful.
Stay in the fight Ari, don’t get cocky. He’s not playing games here. Now you attack.

She felt her body lurch forward, her hand raise to knock away the blow that came for her stomach. She slid under his defenses, raising her foot to kick him in the chest. Instead her foot changed courses and it struck the Wolf across the shoulder. The man took a stumbling step back, his eyes widening. She attacked again, this time using her dagger to force him to leave his side open. She slid under a wild swing again, punching him in the side and causing him to gasp. He was weaker on his left side, which she finally saw with a little help from the Voice. It was there she would attack. Ari leaped forward, flying around the Wolf with a flurry of speed, watching him cut and parry her strokes. He cut into her side, not deeply but enough to cause enough pain to where she had to retreat and take a couple of breaths.

Almost, almost. You’re fighting with smugness now, keep your one goal in mind Ari, focus on that and you will succeed. She thought about winning, which was her goal when she felt a metal stab from the mind that was interlocked with hers. Not winning, defending. Never fight to win unless you absolutely must.
Ari watched the Wolf advance when he froze, his eyes widening with a blank expression. Without another sound he wiped the blood off of his sword and wandered back into the forest. Ari watched him leave dumbfounded.

“I think I did it,” she cheered and turned back to face Sesh who was pale. Blood dripped from his nose and he casually swiped it away, pulling his face into a tight smile. “I….didn’t do it did I?”

“Make him leave? No. That was me. You were tiring and I didn’t know how much longer I could keep instructing you so that you’d survive.”

“But….he’ll remember…and Sean,” Ari turned back to the way the Wolf went, her eyes burning gold as her body crouched.

“Ari, darling Ari!” Sesh said laughing; now standing beside her with his hand resting on her shoulder. “I swear to you that he will not remember. Your pal, Stephan is already modifying his memory as we speak.”

“How do-”

A moment later there was a shout and Alex came wandering out of the woods followed by Stephan. Both of them had a huge grin on their face, their eyes glowing with boyish expressions.

“Hey there Trouble,” Alex called which promptly ended with him hopping around clutching his shin. Ari smiled and Stephan’s laugh was joined by the throaty chuckle of Sesh. Her toe would hurt later but it was worth seeing the Wolf hopping around muttering curses directed at her. Stephan embraced the wild child, smiling as he did so and tossing a respectful nod towards Sesh who bowed his head in return.

“The Wolf-”

“Has been dealt with and is now headed in the opposite direction having no memory of this,” Stephan motioned to her and Sesh, “at all. Though if Alex keeps hollering like that…”

“HEY! She hit me in the shin where I have a bruise,” Alex muttered coming to stand beside them with a little limp. Ari laughed and his freckled face scowled at her. “You still can’t beat me.”
Stephan looked from Alex to Ari. She had drawn herself taller, her lips pulled taunt as her eyes flashed. She extended her hand out to him, beckoning with her fingers but not taking her eyes off of Alex’s face. Stephan glanced at Sesh who was grinning like a little boy before carefully drawing his sword and handing it to her. The metal glinted in the light, the simple handle molding to fit her hand beautifully. Her hand flexed around it, adjusting her grip ever so slightly and making sure it was balanced. Stephan watched as she lunged forward, sweeping the sword in a careful arc, it looked erratic but to his eyes he could see that she was very much in control. Alex barely had time to draw his sword, blocking the other blade with a sharp clang. With a flick of her wrist his sword was cast aside and she retreated a couple steps. Ari was never good with a blade and as far as Sesh knew, Sean hadn’t even begun to train her out for it yet. So how was it she was beating the man in front of her? His blade came down and hers rose gracefully to meet his, always knocking it away. She made him chase her, follow her around the clearing as she danced and twirled. Finally she hit his sword across the ground with a clang, watching with mild amusement as Alex scrambled to recompose himself. He made a step toward the shiny metal, Ari following quickly. Stephan saw what she was going to do and how Alex would react, a smile spreading across his face. As Ari turned and ran for her sword he lunged for her legs. Her body hit the ground, Stephan’s sword leaving her hand and sliding out of reach as Alex used his muscular body to pull her back under him.

Ari was thoroughly amused and so was Sesh who was silently directing her, showing the move he would make before he did and how to counteract it in a few heartbeats. Her actions were her own, the memories were his. She wasn’t expecting his surprise attack from behind her though; all she was focused on was getting that sword away from him. Hands closed around her ankles and tripped her, her face falling towards the ground. Her first instinct was to reach out with her hands to halt her fall but Sesh took control, pulling her arms up and instead, having her land on her arms. The sword bounded away and she was quickly yanked back under Alex. His large hand pushed her face into the snow as he straddled her back.

“Let me go,” she growled, wiggling under him with every inch he gave her. His legs closed tightly around her sides, pushing into her ribs and crushing the air from her body.

“Say ‘Alex is the best and I am a pup,’” he laughed pushing her face closer to the snow. Ari spat blood on the ground, having bitten her tongue and growled.
Sesh, she pleaded, help me outa here?

Fine, but you owe me double for this.

A memory flooded her consciousness; it was of two boys wrestling. The younger boy was trapped on the bottom and there was a bigger boy pinning him much like Alex held her now. The boy brought his legs up, slamming into the back of the older boy who was then pushed off balance. As the black haired boy fell forward, his hand slipped and the younger boy, which Ari assumed was Sesh, brought the back of his head up. There was a crack as the two boys collided and a moment later, blood was pouring from the nose of the black haired boy. There were numeral curses as the boy’s eyes watered and Sesh was able to throw him off with a simple roll technique. The memory faded and she quickly realized that she was free of Alex who now was swearing. Blood dripped off of his nose and down his face. Bright, red, warm, it sprang from his nose, from his lip as well, falling into the snow. His fingers were desperately trying to get a grip on the top of his nose and for a moment it stopped bleeding. Ari rushed over, already tearing at the white cloth of her shirt, watching as Stephan was packing snow into a ball. They combined the two and handed it to Alex who promptly placed it over his nose. His green eyes were watering profusely, narrowed and angry.

“The hell Ari,” he snarled, reaching out to grab his sword from Stephan.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, her mind horrified at what just happened. She turned her head to glare at Sesh who was smiling softly to himself by the tree. He was the only one who didn’t seem surprised or worried at that moment. Alex continued to swear, cursing her and the Twins as Stephan sheathed his sword once again. He gently looked at Ari, smiled an apologetic smile before hitting Alex on the back of his neck. Alex fell forward, Ari catching him before his face hit the ground again. Sesh was now staring at them intently, a surprised look on his own face. He didn’t say anything as they picked up the red haired, red faced, unconscious person. Ari was getting blood all over her shirt, making it look like she was injured as well. With each of them taking a shoulder and an arm around their shoulder they were able to drag him forward quite easily. Stephan nodded a respectful good bye as Ari took a moment to wave before disappearing into the woods. Sesh didn’t mind being alone, in fact he did enjoy not having to repel the Hunter instincts that were telling him to go for the girl’s throat. He would finish the wolf before leaving. It was all he could do. He, Stephan and Ari all realized that Alex had probably broken his nose but it was good to see her doing so well. He had almost missed the way Stephan had looked at him curiously; obviously he had protruded into Ari’s mind during the fight and had found him there. Sesh knew that his brother would be back to talk to him. Maybe, just maybe, working with Ari this way would better protect her from the things that were about to come, just maybe. He could only hope to the Twins that this would.

[Reality]

The learning telepathically was an interesting aspect; she could see how it was done, analyze every movement and with Alex’s help in their off hours sparring together she had become quite the defender. Alex was a swordsman, one of the best as far as she was concerned. He still teased her about breaking his nose and she smugly remembered heading to training like that, covered in blood. Sean’s face when she had appeared was something she would always remember.

[Flashback- Assassins Camp: Week One]

Ari bolted from the healer and Stephan, glad that they now had Alex under control and were resetting his nose as she went off to training. She had, however, lost track of the time and was already late. Her stomach roared in protest as she passed the food set out, smiling at a little boy who heard her hunger and saw her pause. He extended a dirty hand, offering his bread to her. He could be no older than five. She took it and scooped the kid up with it. She twirled the little urchin, his laughs raising through the crisp air and causing several of the Wolves to stop what they were doing and look at the girl who was now playing with the boy. She stopped and set the kid down, kissing him on the cheek and smiling as he ran off to get another roll. She swept a few of her blonde hairs from her face before standing up from her crouch and biting into the warm bread. Her eyes closed as the taste hit her and she realized that she hadn’t eaten anything for breakfast, much to her surprise. The kid was now explaining to his friends about the curious recruit, dramatizing his adventure by spinning around with his arms outstretched and squealing. They turned as he motioned towards her, before scattering like the changing leaves of fall. She had been staring at them and she worried that she had frightened them. Her heart raced in her chest, reminding her of more pressing matters. Her feet pounded against the earth as she ran, desperate to get there as soon as possible. She didn’t make any more stops, bolting towards Sean’s cabin. She bolted through the door, looking around the room expectantly. It was empty. She turned and ran again, heading towards the clearing where they normally trained. Before she could go far, Ari nearly ran into Sean as she hurried along, her eyes widening as he looked her over. Her shirt was still covered in Alex’s blood and she hadn’t the time to change it.

“Hi,” she said cheerfully, “I'm ready for my training.”

Sean had been pacing around the clearing counting the seconds and the minutes of his time that his recruit had wasted by being late for training. Of course it wasn't only a matter of him being kept waiting, but also a matter of discipline that needed to be dealt with. Time was precious, a split second could be enough to save or take a life, and assassins were required to do both depending on the situation; being late could be deadly. After about twenty five minutes of waiting Sean began to lose his patience, and decided to go see what was keeping Ari. A little past halfway back to camp, he spotted her at a distance as she almost collided with him. One look at her appearance and he could take a guess at what was the reason for the delay. He didn't let it show in his expression what he was thinking however, rather he raised an eyebrow and stated rather sarcastically. "Oh, you're ready, are you?" He smiled. "That's fine, I don't mind waiting for you to get ready. I have time to spare." With that said he began to walk back towards the clearing, strolling casually and in no hurry at all. "Tell me, if someone hired an assassination on a target that needs to be executed in a specific moment, say right before it enters or exits a meeting place, do you suppose sending an assassin who can't show up for her own training in time would be a wise decision on my part? Or do you suppose I could rely on said assassin on a rescue mission if one of our own is caught in a prison and we need to get in and out within a very small time frame in order to avoid detection?" Sean calmly waited for a reply, only turning to face his recruit as they reached the clearing, his eyes clearly registering the blood on her clothes; he crossed his arms over his chest and allowed a discrete smirk to spread across his features. "So, Kid, what kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into that you couldn't make it in time?" He asked.

After she had composed herself from her near run in with not only the Alpha but her instructor, and had smothered the anger for his sarcasm and complete lack of courtesy, she began to listen. He rambled, scolding her or what seemed like some sort of scolding but it was honestly just too light for her to feel really badly. He insulted her timekeeping and her ability to assassinate, or that’s how it came off but she remained in the light happy time from early that morning.

“Hey!” Ari shouted when they were out of camp, “That said assassin is right here, walking behind you with a very good shot at your back, be careful what you say Sean,” she teased, that little bit of guilt for being late fleeing. “And I could probably get in and out of a cell faster than one of your men can, do it and not be seen, until the last moment. That and I can transport that said person in the cell faster than you could run. It helps to have a horse at your beck and call whenever you need it. That AND I would be a trained killer in a different form.” Ari paused, wondering if she had gotten everything over with when she remembered something about assassinating a person at a meeting. Her heart raced in her chest and she began bouncing behind Sean, “A meeting assassination? Tell me you’re going to send me on one! My first mission?!”

She leapt gracefully over a root, excited to train once again with her adversary, now having something he didn’t have. She silently wished it was to be sword play when she ran into him. She looked up into his face, backing away and mentally reminding herself that the small critter that had made the tracks was not as important as watching the hulking figure of the man in front of her. The moon was strong upon her and it seemed to her that he had gotten bigger, stronger, and more powerful. He quirked a smile at her, or something akin to it and she blushed when she realized that he was waiting for an answer.

“Uhh….erm… ,” she stuttered, trying to think of something that didn’t involve the Hunter she was hiding right under the Pack’s nose. “Alex and I were sparring and I broke his nose and then Stephan and I took him to the healers,” she looked at the bloodied shirt, blushing as it struck her how stupid this would sound to Sean. Ari considered Alex a really good swordsman and she figured that Sean knew of this as well. It would make no sense that she had been able to beat him by giving him a broken nose when she had issues handling the metal blades in her hand. She frowned, already preparing to defend her story to the death if need be.

Sean stood staring his recruit in the eyes for a couple of minutes, absolutely sure that she was hiding something. He wasn't sure what bothered him most; the fact that she was hiding something or the fact that it was so painfully obvious. Finally he decided not to insist on what the lie was exactly, but rather use it as an instrument. "We definitely need to work on your deception skills." He stated simply, raising an eyebrow. "First of all: Identifying yourself as 'said assassin' on that hypothetical of mine was rather stupid since I pretty much stated that person to be unreliable, Ari." Sean chuckled. "Threatening to shoot me in the back doesn't exactly help your case either, but that's a different matter. Unless you're explicitly and officially accused of something, do not defend yourself. It doesn't matter if you did do it and you know the other person is aware. Rather you should have simply treated it as a hypothetical and let the subject move on without taking it personally, because questions like these are built to get a reaction out of you." He stated calmly, finding a small boulder and sitting casually on it as if training was the last thing on his mind at the moment.

"That was only the first stupid thing you said in that response." He continued, digging the tip of his boot onto the earth causally. "You also stated you 'probably' can get in and out of a cell faster than any one of 'my men'..." He paused as if re-examining those words. "Probably means shit to me when considering the fact that this hypothetical in question involved rescuing one of our own. Probably means there is a chance I end up with two assassins dead instead of one imprisoned; when you can say, truthfully without a hint of doubt 'I can definitely', then I'll consider seeing it for myself. I also would not send you on such a mission if you refer to people of this clan as anything less than family. It doesn't matter what qualities you have or how much you improve, until you see yourself as a Wolf, you are not allowed to kill as a Wolf." The last statement was spoken in a harsher, and nearly aggressive, tone, but it changed back to its former calm as he added. "That's the real challenge for you, is it not? Family?" He chuckled. "Maybe for now we should move on to something you can handle a little better."

As he spoke, Sean pulled something from behind the boulder he was sitting on, a bo staff that was just about the girl's height, and tossed it to her. "You'll be using this. I know you were expecting sword play, but there'll be time for that. Today, you gave me idle time so I prepared a little something." He let out a soft whistle and three figures stepped out of hiding and into the clearing. They were all dressed in seemingly equal black clothing from head to toe, and had their faces covered by equal dark masks, and armed with identical staffs. The only difference between the three masks was a colored circle at the center; one was red, one was yellow and one was blue. The three individuals stood before Ari side by side in a semi-circle, apparently waiting for Sean's command. "Two of these individuals are Wolves, one is an outsider. Your goal is not only to survive, but to find out which is the outsider." He then launched a throwing knife onto a nearby tree and smirked. "That... Is for when you find him. Be sure which one you pick."

After saying that Sean simply gave a wave of his hand and three figures spread, surrounding the recruit and attacked at the same time.

Ari dove out of the way, her mind racing. What the hell was he thinking! She wasn’t ready for this and now she had to kill someone. She blocked a swipe at her head, quickly adjusting her hands to the center of the staff, really just a giant stick, before thrusting it forward into the chest of one of her opponents. He staggered back and she yelped as a staff caught her hip with a loud pop. The blue fighter was moving in fast as the yellow recovered his breath, the red seemingly to have disappeared. She jumped as a swipe was aimed at her legs and she cracked the staff over the head of the blue, knocking the fighter momentarily to the ground. The yellow attacked then, leaving her just enough time to raise the stick in an effort to protect her face from the harsh blow. The wood cracked with a painful sound and his staff pushed against hers. She pushed back, her arm muscles straining to keep the wood away from her head. She screamed as a heavy blow connected with the back of her knees and her body dropped to the earth. She rolled, the staff hitting the ground right where her head had been a moment before. The red fighter towered over her, his staff pointed down as he aimed for her chest. Her eyes widened as her leg moved and connected with the fighter’s stomach. He stumbled back, colliding into another fighter who promptly pushed him out of the way. She began analyzing their movements, looking for traits that a Wolf would portray but they all attacked with the same aggressiveness. She took her time, running from them, making them chase her around, and sometimes luring them close to Sean to see if one hesitated. She thought she saw a stumble in the reds footing, a scent of tiring and she dove behind Sean as a staff hit the rock where she had just stood. She bolted between the fighters, getting in a good punch into the yellow fighters face. She turned then, and fought. The three converged on her and she helplessly looked toward Sean who looked as if he was enjoying himself. She blocked a blow to her stomach, returning the knock with one of her own as they took a step forward. She spun, her staff colliding with their shoulders and causing them to reel back. She gained nothing though as the blue fighter cracked his staff over her hand. Her fingers cracked and she dropped the staff.

Ari managed to move out of the way, backing out of the circle and using a hint of her enlightenment to move exceedingly fast. She would have laughed as the red’s staff collided with the yellows head, knocking him flat but she was too busy cradling her hand to her chest. She had to find something, something that was material on them that would reveal them as Wolves. The problem was, getting close enough to search them. The three were still trying to untangle themselves as she tuned to face Sean, her eyes widening with horror and anger.

“You’re insane!” she snarled at Sean, her eyes narrowing. Her eyes flickered over his body, memorising every detail about him that could give away what she was looking for.
That’s when it hit her. The ring. All Wolves had a ring, a graduation ring. Stephan wore his around his neck, had proudly told her that all Wolves received one and that’s what made a Wolf a Wolf. She smiled, but only for a moment before the ruthless beating began again. She didn’t know where her bo staff had gone, as far as she knew it was one of the ones hitting her now. She moved fast, ducking into the chest of the blue fighter and embracing him, pushing him back a couple of steps as the other two momentarily paused. She ducked under his arm, regretting it the moment her delicate nose passed his armpit. She reeled back, nearly laughing to herself. She could remember what Stephan’s ring smelled like: cold metallic, and sharp. However, the way they were fighting now she wouldn’t be able to smell anything for a year if she tried to find the ring that way. Fresh blood was staining her shirt and she tore off the bottom of it to wrap her hand, resetting the bones quickly. The fighters were advancing now and she realized that her staff was leaning against the rock Sean perched on. She had to get past three fighters to get there. The circles on their faces were the target; the knife resting on the tree just inches away from her while her staff would be risky. If she killed the wrong person, she didn’t want to know what Sean would do and so she went for the greater risk. She rushed forward, ducking her head as the blue fighter struck, her fingers trailing over the pockets on his pelvis and hips. Finding nothing she jumped a low blow from the red fighter, her foot clipping him under the chin. His head snapped wildly back, his body slumping forward as his face smashed into the ground. She spun round, her braid slapping her across the face and a moment later her jaw caught a light swipe from the yellow fighter. Her body veered off its course, her eyes watering as her jaw screamed in pain. Her bandaged hand gently cupped it as she began to work it back and forth. It hurt like hell but it had been a light blow and nothing was permanently damaged. She turned; catching the yellow fighter in his shoulder and knocking him back a step. Ari felt alive and she took a step forward, only to have the yellow fighter knock her off her feet. Her back hit the ground and with a groan she lay there. Her lungs burned for air and she greedily filled them, her spotty vision coming back. The red fighter was slowly getting to his feet; the blue and the yellow were slowly converging on her. She laid perfectly still, waiting for them to close in.
The yellow came too close and with an angry swipe she cast a handful of muddy snow into his hooded face. He bellowed, stumbling back and dropping his staff. She took the weapon and threw it at the blue fighter who was now running forward, watching as it struck him. He floated back, as she spun and caught the red fighter’s staff in her hand. It stung blocking a blow like that but it was better than receiving it to the head. She twisted on the staff, grimacing as her palm received several splinters. Ari pushed and with her last effort she was able to push the staff away. She bolted toward the rock, grabbing up her staff before settling into a protective stance. Her chest heaved and sweat mingled with blood. She could see that she was taking too long and that if she kept this up, the fighters would soon take her down. That’s when it really began.

She danced with them, flitting from person to person and running her hands across their moving bodies, dodging and blocking blows. She could have sworn she felt something small in the blue fighter’s chest pocket, something that didn’t quite fit as being natural and the same went for the red fighter. Rings, he mind whispered and she carefully selected her target. She split from the pack, throwing her staff at them with a frustrated scream that knocked them back giving her enough time to reach the tree where the hunting knife lie in wait. She jerked it from the tree, the blade flashing silver as it caught the sun. Her arm went back, her eyes pinpointing the center of the yellow circle. Her arm flashed forward, her wrist flicking and the knife left her hand. It spun through the air: handle, blade, handle, blade, handle, skin. The fighter dropped to the ground with a scream, his hand rising to grasp the end of the dagger that protruded from his chest. The other two fighters fell back, looking at Sean for further direction. Ari walked calmly forward; sure of her choice as she reached down to pull the knife from the flesh, her bright green eyes flickered to the red circle on his face.

Sean watched without a word, and without making a single move, only his eyes followed the movements of the fighters, a snicker or a smirk escaping him here and there; This was honestly going better than he hoped it would, but there were visible mistakes. As one of the masked fighters fell, with a knife to his chest, and the other two turned to him Sean finally stood up and walked absently to the fallen warrior. "Huh." He mumbled. "I honestly thought you'd hesitate..." He then turned to the blue fighter and nodded. "Okay, Ryan, we're done."

As Sean said that, Ryan nodded removing his mask, revealing a bright golden light coming from his eyes, partially hidden behind equally golden hair. As the light faded and the man's eye returned to their usual dark green, the other two 'fighters' disappeared, turning to dirt. He smiled at Ari with a rather playful expression on his face. "They're very realistic aren't they?" He asked, fetching his ring in his pocket and sliding onto his finger where it belonged, then digging around the dirt where the yellow fighter used to be and recovering another ring, which he tossed in Sean's direction, where the Alpha caught in the air, examining it for a moment, and carefully blowing any remaining dirt away before slipping it into a hidden pocket on the inside of his shirt; on the left side of his chest. Ryan simply bowed his head respectfully as he walked past Sean, turning to give Ari a playful wink behind the Alpha's back before leaving the clearing in the direction of the camp.

Sean stood listening to the Wolf's footsteps until they were out of his hearing range. Ryan was a very unusual earth manipulator, he could create up to five exact clones of himself made of sand, dirt, mud or clay, and control them with his mind. They were so realistic that, even while fighting them it was difficult to tell they weren't real. While the official test was for Ari to find the 'outsider' unofficially Sean was looking to see if Ryan could fool Ari, and the man had proved to be successful. He would prove to be very useful.

"You did well." He spoke finally, walking over to the recruit and holding out his hand, motioning for her to give him the knife back. "I honestly thought you'd get your butt kicked before you even got to search them. Next time though, don't waste time calling me insane, alright?" He snickered. "To be honest, this was quite tame compared to what I had to put up with when I started. I didn't even tie you to a tree yet." He stated, his tone absolutely serious as he spoke. Finally he chuckled. "You didn't really think I'd let you kill a real person like this during training, did you? Well, only if you had picked the real Ryan, but... The odds were in his favour I think.”

Ari handed over the knife, wiping a bit of blood from her lip as she bent slightly to catch her breath. He was insane! What if she had actually hit a real person? The wrong person could have destroyed her, a murderer of a member of her own Family. Something struck her then, her eyes narrowing.

“You wouldn’t put a Wolf in danger if you knew they didn’t have the upper hand on me,” she spat, her boots creaking as the mud on them broke, the spell of her semi victory falling to bits before her eyes. Her body ached as she closed her eyes, unsure of the mild shock in Sean’s voice that she hadn’t hesitated. Isn’t that what he wanted? An assassin that could kill without hesitation? Her eyes narrowed as the man left, throwing her a wink before ambling off. She hissed, taking in a sharp breath as her side groaned in pain, her ribs popping and crackling. She wanted to shift, but she wasn’t sure if Sean was done with her for the day, though she wished so as her hand screamed in pain. She was sure she would be covered in bruises and she wasn’t about to let the camp see that she had been beaten again. She tossed the bo staff away, watching as it clattered to the ground as she righted herself again. Alex would have a laugh with this one though he seemed to be the only one in the entire camp who could even talk to her still. Revenge on Sean did cross her mind, it had several times and this moment was no exception. A simple praise was all he gave her, his expression remaining that same smug expression. She didn’t know how she felt about him, she hated his guts right now but the Blood Moon was screaming through her veins. She shook her head clearing all of her thoughts.

“You did well,” she mocked under her breath, kicking the toe of her boot into the ground until she had worked a small hole into it. “Still not the hardest fight you’ll ever have. If Cry’s showed up with a mark on you you’d be dead.” Ari mumbled, her voice low and mocking, not caring if Sean heard or not. “I trained harder. Well then bring it on.”
She growled her eyes focused on the ground, her lips curled into a snarl. Ari thought she had done extremely well. She had survived three fighters, defended herself and had lasted longer than expectations. She peered up at Sean from under her lashes, done throwing her tiny tantrum.

“Are we finished?” she asked tersely. “I have matters to attend to, appointments to keep.”

Sean stood crossing his arms over his chest and waiting patiently for Ari to be done mumbling and ask if they were done. He didn't want to laugh, but he couldn't help a little chuckle. "Are you finished?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "I did put Ryan in danger, kid. There was always the possibility that you'd pick him." He wasn't in one bit fazed by the clear rage in her expression. He knew that if she didn't hate him right now he wasn't doing his job. "But yes, we are finished. I'm sure you're very busy, unlike me." He chuckled. "Try not to be late next time, lest I get creative again." He stated, beginning to walk out of the clearing as he added. "After all, I'm pretty sure you'd rather have the opportunity to take me down, no?"
“Is that a challenge?” she called, the whisper in her head letting her know that Sesh was there, ready to guide her and he began gently soothing her anger. She heard him make some snotty remark about her looking like a puffed up kitten with her anger and she reined it in. This was the reaction he wanted and her mind drifted to the diplomatic science that Alex had been teaching her about. She stood calm and collected behind Sean, her hands uncurling themselves from the balls at her sides. “It’s the day I beat you that I’ve mastered myself, at least that is what Stephan has told me. Why not today? Today is a very good day to win, no? Or are you too cowardly to face me by yourself and instead will put little boys in harm’s way to take the shot for you, Alpha?”

Her voice rang sharp across the clearing, it was bold, possibly foolish to taunt this in front of a trained killers nose, but she couldn’t resist. She longed for his praise, caved it like a starving animal though he never showed any hint to even saying her name unless it was in scolding. He didn’t respect her and so she wouldn’t respect him, not like she respected Franklin. Yes, he was the Alpha, but she was here to prove herself to him, to show her worth and it felt like she never could. So she had challenged him. Now she stood, tall and proud, her chin held high and her eyes flashing. If he took her challenge, it would be interesting to watch, but if he calmly backed away, she would hold it over him. And so she waited.
Sean stopped in his tracks and stood for a moment, his back turned to the clearing as he listened. He let silence linger for a few moments, but after that time passed, he couldn't help but release the small fit of laughter he had been holding in. It lasted for a couple of minutes before he finally turned to face Ari again, still chuckling. "Would you consider yourself a challenge right now, kiddo? Attempting to attack my pride to get me to do what you want is a rather silly way of challenging someone, no?" He smirked. "I thought you had more important things on your busy schedule? You know, matters to attend to, appointments to keep..." He teased. "I would hate to keep you any longer. Besides... I don't want you whining about being tired or wounded after I beat you." He added, turning back again to leave. "Go get some rest and take care of those little scrapes you have. You don't have to do all at once, Ari. Today, you did well. You can master yourself another day." He stated beginning to walk away towards the encampment. "And as you so love to point out, I am the Alpha, and we're at war, so I don't have the time to properly smack you around right now."

Surely, Sean would've complied and given Ari a beating for her attitude alone, wasn't for the fact that he saw this as great improvement when compared to the kid who first walked in there and lowered her head at the first given scolding. He wouldn't deny he was actually little bit proud of her, but that wasn't something he was at all willing to show so soon.
Ari watched him go, stunned into silence. Her green eyes lingered on his back and a small smile actually escaped her lips. She never whined, it just wasn’t her style, and so she knew that Sean was trying to get under her skin but she didn’t challenge him, not again. Her green eyes lingered on his back, watching him intently. She waited until he was gone before picking up the bo staff and leaning it nicely against the boulders before pulling off her clothes and ripping into a large black wolf. She lay on the ground for a moment before standing up and shaking off the pain. She then howled, a low eerie noise that rose up into the cool crisp air before dying on her lips, her nose working the air before sprinting after Sean into camp. She would go check on Alex.

[Reality]

Her face leaned against the cool touch of the tree, her eyes blinking slightly as her night vision flickered before coming back. Sesh she had lost, she remembered returning to the clearing a couple days later and finding nothing but the carving of a wolf that had a strangely feminine look. It was the size of her hand, very detailed and absolutely a beauty to look at. The she-wolf had her head thrown back into a howl, her nose dipping over her shoulder as the chest was puffed out. One paw was raised off the ground and the tail dipped low before rising in a husky’s curl. There were strange wind like marking carved into the tail and the elbows and knees of the legs. There was a pattern, stained red with what could only be blood under the eyes and along the face to spread across the body in the wind like designs again. Today that wolf sat in her window and only Alex and Stephan knew where it had come from. She sighed and blew a kiss to the wind, sending a quick prayer to the Twins to keep the boy safe. Somehow though, she knew that he was alright because she dreamt of him. Through him she watched the different ways to win a sword fight, an archery competition, a fist fight. Her feet moved deeper into the woods, bringing her further away from the safety of the Pack. She was sure that soon she would be able to beat Sean. Her stamina had increased greatly, her swordsmen ship as well. She could defend from almost any attack without using her enlightenment. Sean had been very very adamant about her keeping her enlightenment a secret. That didn’t mean that she still didn’t practice with it, in fact she did every single day. Stephan had taken control of her private training. She and Salji fought as snow leopards every day and for the first few days she returned beaten, battered and bruised. Luckily her enlightenment hid any mark of when she had injury. She sighed as she remembered the rough day of training.

[Flashback- Assassins camp: Week one]

“Clear your mind Ari,” Stephan growled at her and she lowered her black ears flat against her skull, roaring at him. “You have to become the animal entirely to beat Salji, give in to your instincts.”

Her tail flicked back and forth with erratic twitches. The cat across from her was sitting on his haunches, licking a bloody paw, his eyes sparkling blue as he looked at her face. She curled her lips at him as he purred.

“Ari/ Changer,” the cat growled, “What my bond mate says/tells/ speaks is truth. You must clear/empty your mind/head/soul of human thoughts. Become cat.”

Ari flicked her ear in annoyance; all the animals she had ever communicated with had talked just like this. The annoying choppy voice she assumed came from her human side but perhaps not. It didn’t matter anyways because it made no sense. She had been holding this form almost for a whole day. This was supposed to be her rest day but it appeared that Stephan had different plans. She stood, shaking her pelt and walked past them, her claws digging into the snow under her. Salji stopped the cleaning of his paw and watched her intently.
Stephan watched the Ari-cat leave, watching with intent eyes. He could tell that she and Salji had communicated, her ability to fight him had become better but she still hesitated on the swipes, on every moment she could make. However, Ari had made huge progress. Slowly she was losing herself within the form. She was Becoming, melding her Ari self with her animal. He could tell by the way her ears flattened across her skull and her tail movements. At first she had continued to bark, to growl, to try and speak using her voice but now she was relying more on her body to convey messages and emotions. Stephan was proud of her, she could now hold her animal form for two days without help from any type of bark and he wondered if that could very much help the Wolves. They had no horses and Sean could get a lot more done more efficiently if he was able to ride with a Wolf whenever he needed. Stephan nearly laughed at the thought of the enemy finding itself faced with not only a skilled Rider but a horse that seemed to know how to fight and dodge attacks. War horse, he laughed. Ari turned to glare at him, the shout of his laugh echoing annoying across the snow. As if in scolding, she turned and ran towards him, her body slinking across the ground as her jaws opened. Her body sprang in the air at the same moment Salji saw what she was doing and leapt for her body. Her paws curled up under her as her body twisted out of the way, almost reversing her direction backwards as Salji missed her. Stephan observed the two as they circled each other, Ari batting at the snow in front of her. Both of them had their teeth bared, the white fangs shining like daggers inside the powerful jaws. Fur bristled, hisses and swipes were thrown back and forth, each cat watching the other. Salji pounced first and Ari rose to meet him in the air, standing on her hind legs as she swiped a paw across his face, he returned the swipe with a kick, the giant tails flailing to keep the cats balanced. Salji pushed her back towards the small cliff behind her, forcing her in that direction with vicious claws and teeth. Stephan watched as she fell, tumbling off the rock. He ran forward through the snow, Salji leaping off the small rock himself. He slid off the rock, landing on the ground. What he saw made him smile.

Salji was pressed up against the wall, Ari prowling in front of him, teeth exposed. She leaped forward as the other cat made an attempt to block her. Her jaws closed around his neck and like a small kitten he went limp. She released him a moment later and he stood. Ari had done it. Beaten her foe by giving in. As she had fallen her animal instincts had ripped their way through her humanity and she had landed on her feet instead of her back. After that it was only a matter of moments until she had Salji, a much bigger snow leopard, up against the wall and later in between her teeth. She felt good, proud, and still she was able to flow between forms. The large cat watched appreciatively as she moved back into leopard form.

“Ari/Changer,” he purred, his blue eyes sparking with admiration, “you did well. It is the same for all creatures/animals/ prey. Become/change/ be them and you will succeed/win/vanquish. Stephan/ brother is proud.”
Ari turned, her eyes bright green. Stephan was smiling at her nodding in approval. Her heart warmed, this was about as much praise she received from anyone in her training. Sean rarely gave it, Alex only smiled when she did well, but Stephan was the one who made her heart glow whenever she trained. Slowly her cat form bubbled and her skin seemed to turn inside out as she began to shift. It was a horrible thing to watch, the turn of fur to flesh and the whole time she whimpered and twitched. Stephan waited until she had finished, lying there upon the snow with her eyes closed. He gently removed his cloak, throwing it up into the air and letting the light fabric settle around her. He didn’t touch her just yet; he knew that she was extremely sensitive right now to any sort of contact as her skin was brand new. That explained why scars never really marred her permanently and why marks of trauma faded into oblivion. The only thing that never left her were the markings on her face; if anything they seemed to glow brighter when she changed. He watched as her shivering ceased bending down to touch her face gently when Salji leaped forward, snarling. Stephan stepped back, his lips curling into his own snarl as the cat stood protectively over the body, tail flicking back and forth. His black ears were pressed tight against his skull and the fur along his back rippled. The cat’s massive paws were close to her skin but not touching and Stephan blushed as he realized that her skin was still very sensitive to any stimulation still.

“Alright, alright!” he growled, sitting down in the snow next to Ari and in plain sight of the cat. “You’re so freaking protective of her and she’s not even your species,” he grumbled, scooping up a bit of snow and playing with it in his hands. Salji relaxed, flicking his tail as if in annoyance, before bending his head to blow a kiss of air across Ari’s face. Stephan thought he saw her lips pull into a smile, but when he blinked her face remained perfectly relaxed. He reached out carefully, his eyes focusing on Salji as the cat watched the approach of his hand with intensity. Stephan gently touched the girl’s shoulder, watching as the cat curled his lip, before leaping over the both of them. He padded off into the trees, his fur bristling as he went out on patrol.

“Ari,” Stephan whispered, shaking her shoulder gently, “Come on Ari; we’ve talked about this recovery thing. You need to have it go faster or you’ll never be able to use it on a mission.” He heard a mumble of something, her body slowly rising off of the ground and he quickly averted his eyes until she had pulled the cloak tight around her body. The silver in her eyes was fading, the little tendrils slithering back into her pupil until none of it remained. She blinked, shaking her head and stretching out her muscles with a popping noise. Stephan flinched; he could only imagine the pain she had to deal with though it bothered her less now than it did a while back. Now that the physical part of their training was complete, she could have the rest of her day off, even though Stephan knew she would continue practicing. However as he stood to leave her hand reached up to him and pulled him back to the snow, her eyes troubled.

“Stephan, there’s something I have to tell you,” she said before leaning in and whispering her darkest secret into his ear. His eyes widened with surprise, his lips pulling into a thin line as he realized how dangerous this information could be and making a mental note to bring it up to Sean.

“You’re telling me that this….” he trailed off as she shushed him, her eyes wide with terror.

“You can’t tell a soul,” she said sternly, her eyes locked onto his until he crossed his heart. She felt a little better, such a burden was not one she liked to bear on her own, and as Stephan had taken to her Enlightenment training, she felt like he needed to know. She had told Sean many things, but not this. It was something her enemies could use against her, the one thing she couldn’t heal from. As her mind wandered upon it, she absently stroked the pink scar on her arm.

[Flashback-Assassins Camp: Week Two]

Hooves struck the earth, kicking up puffs like tornados with the sound of thunder. A throaty cry split the air, her head tossing back the obnoxious hairs that had found their way in front of her eyes as the rider on her back kicked into her sides causing her to squeal. She bucked, throwing her hooves forward and nearly throwing her rider. His hands pulled hard on the reins and forced the bit back into her mouth, his whip slapping her flesh. Ari screamed and reared, his hand pushing down on her neck forcing her back down. Her hooves twisted, her body coming to a stop as she pranced in the snow. Her black body was foamed with sweat and her muscles trembled under her. Her nostrils flared and her eyes rolled, the beautiful silver tinged with green. Her rider smiled, reaching down to gently stroke her neck, his large hand offering what little comfort it could against the gash in her side and the bloody spittle that foamed from her lips. She groaned as he gently squeezed with his knees, forcing her to walk forward. The saddle squeezed her body and the unfamiliar weight of carrying someone frightened her. The bit forced her to move around, tugging her lip and pulling her head one-way. Her body obligingly moved. Her tail drooped, her head low as her nose brushed the ground, too exhausted to hold it up anymore. Stephan watched from the tree, having watched his rider try Ari. His eyes burned, and he snarled swinging down from his branch. This was the fifth rider he had tired, the first one to have not been thrown by Ari’s terror. He had no experiences with the horses that were wild except when eating them so he didn’t even bother trying to ride her. His rider turned to stare down at him, his black hair hanging in his face, loose from the pony tail. His face was calm and he rode the Ari-horse with unmatched confidence, his hand on his thigh.

“I told you any horse could be broken, even a mare like this one,” he called tapping Ari on her shoulder with a loud slap. She stopped, and snorted, her eyes narrowing. “I’ll take her now as my reward, just like you promised.” He jerked on the reins, forcing her head to move as he chomped on the bit. She tensed as be bent forward slightly to see her face. The reins went slack. She twisted her head, grabbing hold of the reins and jerking them from his hands. He gripped with his knees as she reared up; tangling his hands into her hair as she leaned even further back. She screamed a challenge, her hooves striking the air as her back hit the ground, her grounded rider now rolling out of the way. It took her a moment to pull herself up to her feet. Her head snaked out toward the man in royal clothes. Her teeth missed inches from his flesh as he bolted, instead grabbing a mouthful of his clothes and ripping them. She snorted with pride as he bolted before trotting back to Stephan. Ari was immensely proud of herself, her eyes shining bright as she rubbed her head against Stephan’s back.

“That’s the fifth guy you’ve thrown today,” he laughed, reaching up to rub the velvety feeling of her nose. “”I don’t think you’re ever going to be ridden well enough by those you don’t allow.”
She tossed her head, whinnying into the air as he gently took the reins that were dragging on the ground. Ari shook, casting off what remained of the riders that had taken her challenge. She knelt, giving Stephan an easy way up onto her back and he took it, gripping lightly with his knees as she stood. He was not like the other riders, treating her like an animal but rather as the person she was. She wouldn’t dream about throwing him as they rode into the Pack Camp. People froze in what they were doing staring up at the big black horse that had wandered so casually into camp with Stephan on top. He guided her toward his cabin, dismounting at the door with a flourish before entering.
Ari stood outside, shaking her head with the jingle of bells, slightly changing her appearance to make her fetlock longer, the feathers around her feet thicker and her hair longer. People were staring curiously at her, a couple kids wandering over to gently touch her muscled flanks. She once again saw the kid who had given her his role and she bent her head to gently bump his hand with her nose. However, before he could respond to the pushing of her nose, the cabin door opened Stephan exited. The kids fled, the Wolves returning to what they were doing in the first place. She tossed her head, taking a step back as Stephan gently took hold of her reins. She peered out from behind her fetlock, her eyes hidden beneath the black tangle of hair. She stood perfectly still as Stephan looked towards her, his thoughts unreadable.
Stephan was proud of the way she looked. She had filled herself out while he was inside, slightly alternating her appearance. She was much bigger than she had been, her sleek coat sliding over her thick muscles. Her coat shone with health and her hair fell down across her withers in neat waves. Her tail nearly dragged on the ground and was likewise wavy. Her huge feet were now hidden by white feathers and on her nose, there was a white mark that almost looked like a wolf’s head. Stephan ran his hand over her withers and flank, her head bowing slightly to look up at him from under her fetlock. He smiled as her body twitched, further showing how toned she was. Ari let out a low whicker, her velvet lips brushing over Stephan’s hand gently as if looking for a treat. Her head then tucked into her chest, her beautiful long neck arching as the light flickered across her coat. Stephan smiled and mounted back up riding her back out into the woods as fast as possible. He pulled her back through the trees, bringing her to a small deer path that wove between the tall trunks. He let her loose then, and she roared forward, running until she couldn’t go any faster. This was the joy of her enlightenment and Stephan had shown her that. There was nothing and no one that could stand in her way, not like this. She felt the power surging through her veins and she tossed her head, hearing the shout from Stephan as he clung to her mane. She didn’t stop. She was free.

[Reality]

Ari nearly giggled, her eyes settling back down to the emerald green shade they normally were. Training with Stephan was always a joy and now that she had grown up just a little, it was normal for her to train with Sean. She had stopped flirting with him, choosing now to remain silent unless spoken to, choosing to answer with a nod or a shake of her head. She had some wisdom now, that was no problem and she had proved herself to many Wolves the night the Crimson had attacked. Just a freaking recruit had turned the tide on a fight, saved two lives and had taken many, in fact it was a night just like tonight, cool, crisp and foreboding.

[Flashback- Forest: Week Two]

Ari woke in a cold sweat, her body twisted and wrapped in the sheet that lightly hid her body. She was alone and her eyes blinked as she adjusted them to the blackness that the Twins had cast across the skies. Something wasn’t quite right and she hurriedly got up out of bed. Earlier in training that morning, Sean had told her something about the Crimson attacking sporadically and a hunt was going out every night to cover the basic inlay of the camp and keep the sleeping Wolves safe. She crammed her feet down into her boots, pulling them up above the knee before securing them tightly around her calf. Her shirt quickly followed and as she hurried out the door, she had snatched up her bow and quiver. The door closed silently behind her and like a ghost she ran past the other cabins, rushing down a small deer path that she had found previously and into a clearing where she kept her greatest treasure. The horse wasn’t sleeping when she arrived, its big black neck curved in an arch as it galloped around inside the small arena she had build from fallen trees. Ari passed through the thicket, raising her hands as the horse came charging towards her, sliding to a stop a couple inches away from her.

“Easy boy, easy,” she whispered stroking the stallion’s neck and rubbing his forehead. She slipped under his chin, wrapping her arms around the sweaty neck as the horse quivered against her. Sean didn’t know a thing about this, neither did Alex and Stephan was too busy readying himself for his trip back up to the mountains to spend much time with her anymore. He was her little secret, her treasure. “Sheggar,” she crooned, backing away from the horse she had trained when she was little. His black hooves struck the ground, his muscled body twitching at every noise as his ears swiveled and his nostrils flared. Something was definitely not right and she quickly snatched up the bridal from the hole in the tree. He took the bit willingly, opening his mouth to receive it and bending his head down so she could simply slide his ears under the leather. She walked over to the gate, Sheggar’s body staying in the center of the ring until she had walked back over. He knelt to the ground as she slid her leg up and over his bare back, her knees gripping his sides as her fingers wound into his mane and gripped the reins.

“Ha,” she hissed, giving him a little kick with her heels and he surged under her. His back body burst through the trees, stretching out as he galloped toward the danger. He was a war horse, her war horse and tears fell across her smiling lips as his hair lashed against her face. Rider and horse became one, moving and breathing together, finding the paths and trusting each other to lead the other to safety. They were a team and Ari felt her spirit soar as together they slowed to a walk. The warning hit her hard then and she dismounted, tying the horse to the tree before climbing up it. From the height she was at she could clearly see the forest floor, but nothing moved. She began springing from tree to tree until she saw a Wolf, perched, his head bent as his bow was drawn. She made it to him, and he started looking up into her face and the bow on her back.

“Two trees over, wait for the signal,” he growled and she obediently moved to do so. She made no sound, disturbing nothing as she used her Enlightenment slightly. She crouched against the oaks trunk, stringing her bow and knocking an arrow.
Ari’s green eyes watched sadly as the Crimson attackers moved silently beneath her tree, following the path on which she had, not only moments before, had been walking on. Her eyes flickered silver and her teeth sharpened, becoming more catlike. It wasn’t until the last Crimson had moved past her, that the signal was given. Her arm pulled back, the bow groaning softly as it stretched and bent before she loosed the arrow. It sang through the air, a soft hum before the scream split the silent air. Her arrow had dug its barbed head into the thick muscles of the man’s back. The party turned, several running back to check their fallen comrade, falling right back into the trap. People screamed as arrows fell down upon them in a rain, several of the Crimson breaking away to flee out of range, some trying to draw their bows and throw daggers up into the trees, only a few of the random shots hitting home as her own people’s screams joined the Crimson. She continued to shoot down into the swarming mass of people, her arrows flying straight and true as Ari made sure she was hitting her targets instead of the Wolves that had leapt from the bushes to join the fray. There was the harsh clash of steal against steal and the gurgle of people whose throats had been cut and their screams never reached their lips. She was quick, her arrows sliding through the air like ghosts, burying their heads into a Crimson who stood behind a Wolf his baked raised and ready to strike the woman down. She saw the sharp nod of thanks from the woman before she dove back in, her blades shining black in the night. Her arrows were able to save a few but still she gagged as a scream punctured the air. Her hand swayed as her eyes caught the horror of the skirmish and the silent glide of a Crimson as it fled into the woods. Cursing she released and arrow but it veered wide and vanished into the darkness of the night. A horse screamed as she sprang from tree to tree, her eyes burning the same bright silver of the nonexistent moon, their light beautiful and deadly. Her clothing ripped and she shifted on the fly, her black body slinking forward as her cat paws dug and gripped at the bark of the trees. Her bow was draped across her chest, between her paws and up along her stomach. Her quiver was tight against her back as well; the stretchy band that Stephan had created had shrunk to tightly hold her quiver in place. She followed silently until the Crimson had come to a stop. His head turned to look over his shoulder, his chest rising and falling as his eyes looked back over his shoulder toward the screaming of the skirmish. She growled and leapt from the tree, landing on top of the warrior and digging her claws into his shoulders. He roared as his body went down, her paws pushing free and back into the darkness of the trees. She completed a quick shift, something she had been privately working on and she drew a long shirt from her quiver, pulling it over her head as she stepped forth from the bushes, her bow resting by her side. He was standing, his sword drawn and ready in front of him.
They circled each other their eyes locking and their bodies trembling, only one was coming out alive. He darted forward and slashed upwards catching her off guard. Her bow had caught the brunt of the force, the blade clipping into the bow and causing a knock into the soft wood. His hand moved quickly, with inhuman speed as he jerked his sword free and raised it above his head. She barely had time to dive out of the way before the sword cut into the earth where she had stood only a moment before. He cut, dove and sliced his way around her. She dodged and dove, each time his sword coming closer to her. With a sudden outburst he charged at her arm before stopping and instead kicking her to the ground. She looked up along the shiny metal of the steel into the eyes of the man as he pressed the tip of his sword into her neck.

“What do we have here,” he taunted, kicking away the bow from her hand as he pressed his sword harder against her skin. “What are you,” he growled his eyes glimmering with mischief.

“I’d rather die than tell you,” she cried as his sword sliced a small line into her neck, her eyes widening with fear.

“You’re a Shifter Ari, a most rare and delicate gift indeed,” the blade of the sword moved up to her nose, flicking away a strand of hair from her face. “You know that no one knows you’re here right, that I could kill you quickly or personally deliver you to Dastan and Indrani and the Wolves wouldn’t know until your blood soaked the sand. Tell me Ari, do you fear me yet?” He smirked, the corners of his mouth twitching with the hint of a smile as moved away, carefully pulling his sword away from her but keeping it in hand. She sat up at his urging, her eyes locked on to him as he paced around her. Something in the way he walked was familiar, the way he moved and it was then that she noticed that his side was torn open and bleeding quickly. She watched until he stopped in front of her again, bending down and burying the tip of his sword into the dirt. He reached up and pulled his hood from his face, smiling wickedly down at her, her heart going cold. Hair fire red, eyes green as pine and skin as freckled as a baby deer’s back, Alex peered out at her from behind his wild hair.

“Like it?” he said spreading his arms and smiling. As she moved to hit him his arms moved, pushing her shoulders back and pinning her to the earth.

“Traitor,” she screamed, her body twisting under his.

“Enough Ari,” he growled, a sad smile crossing his lips, “You mistake me my love. Sean asked me to help guide them here, to bring them to the trap, I was kidding about bringing you to the Crimson, but you shouldn’t be out here. Not alone.” He waited until she had quieted under him, nodding her head before slowly letting her up. Ari settled, willing to believe him because her nose and instinct told her to. Besides, he was bleeding pretty badly and he needed medical attention. He stood with a groan, sheathing his sword and laying his hand across his side. “I need to get back to camp, as quickly as possible Ari, perhaps…”

Ari shook her head, she wasn’t about to shift for this, her pride was hurt and she pulled herself up. It wasn’t a moment later that a Crimson came running from the trees, her eyes flickering to Alex and then back to Ari.

“Alex…stop toying with her and get it over with,” she snarled, her blade dripping with blood. She saw the confused look on Ari’s face as Alex stood and walked over to her, placing his arm over her shoulder. She could hear them whispering, seemingly to argue when he turned back, drawing his dagger from his pocket. Ari pushed herself back, her eyes narrowing.

“Alex…”

“Tell me you didn’t give her the whole, ‘Sean sent me here’ speech. You did! And the wolf girl fell for it?” the girl smiled her eyes laughing lightly, “Oh sweetie, you really thought that he was on your side? Well it seems that Cry’s really can get to anyone huh, should have listened to Sean.”

Ari blanched, her heart breaking as her dagger left her hand and collided with the woman’s chest with a sickening crack as blood frothed from her lip as she collapsed to the earth. Alex turned away from the body and a moment later, his life was taken too. Ari turned; giving a sharp whistle as Sheggar came running from the brush. Her ‘War’ horse, reared up, pawing the air before walking close towards her and bowing his head as tears from her eyes fell upon his velvety nose.
She had killed one of her own, but even she knew that Alex had been missing for quite some time. He was her first friend, the best fighter she had known and now he was dead. She wasn’t sure that he would willingly go against his own family after doing so much for her and her training, and so she pulled Sheggar forward, forced him into the kneel that she had taught him and dragged Alex’s limp body onto the black horses back, the arrow that had killed him snapping in two. She pulled herself up behind the body, kicking her heels into Sheggar’s side and riding forward towards camp. On horseback it didn’t take long and she soon rode straight into the midst of the Wolves, all roused from their sleep by the sounds of fighting. Sean was up as well, looking none at all collected this morning. She dismounted, taking a cloak to gently drape over Alex’s dead body. She approached Sean, not bothering to hide her tears as her fingers clutched desperately at the bow in her hand and the reins in her other. Her quiver lay empty across her back, attesting to her joining in the battle but she didn’t care. So it was that she walked forward in the early morn, already her day seemed bleak.

"War always takes a toll." The most spoken phrase in the history of Valcrest it seemed, but never more true. The fighting had died down and now the Crimson that were left alive were retreating back to the desert, leaving their dead behind. Sean was torn between the honorable gesture of letting the mercenaries claim their dead or the gesture that truly expressed his current feelings, which would be using the corpses to feed the campfire, or the forest animals. If he spoke only for himself he'd choose the latter, but as he spoke for the clan he was bound to do the honorable thing and leave the enemy's fallen warriors by their border to be properly laid to rest.

At this point Sean was hearing accounts of injured and dead coming from several Wolves who simply passed him with a word or two of information. Workers had been ordered to aid in gathering bodies and aiding the injured. Those with medical knowledge or skills, were tending to wounds the best they could, since the Pack and the White Shadows were currently estranged. When it seemed everything was going to finally be quiet for a little bit, the ever increasing sounds of murmurs reached his ears and his head turned in the direction they were coming from. In the exact moment he caught sight of Ari and then the sight of the dead body she was bringing along with her, whispered words caught his ears. "Sean... It's Alex." Sean didn't turn to look at the person who gave him the information, but he recognized the voice as being Donovan's. At first glance one could assume that both Ari and Alex had a run-in with the Crimson and he ended up dead. One would assume that, but Sean could tell by just looking at the girl that it hadn't been as simple as that, so when two Wolves moved towards Alex, he waited for them to lay the man down near the fire and for one of them to check his pulse and make sure the man was really dead, but halted them before they took him to be prepared for burial. "Leave him for now." He stated simply. The men flinched slightly, but obeyed.

Sean heaved a weary sigh and walked past Ari, finding Franklin and whispering something to him before finally turning his attention to the recruit. Feeling now the stares of the Pack becoming more numerous and more intense, he simply put a firm grip on her shoulder and led her into the leaders cabin. Once the door closed he released her and moved to sit across the wooden table. "Alright, Kid... What happened? He asked, looking up at her.
Ari watched as Alex was taken away, hearing the mumbles from the Wolves. She didn’t take her eyes off of his body, not even as Sean took her by the shoulder and lead her away into
his cabin. Ari didn’t want him to see her cry and she slowly tried to pull it together sending an angry swipe across her face. The grime for the battle was smeared across her face and she looked at the Alpha sadly.

“I killed him,” she whispered, a horrified sound in her voice.

Sean sighed, a slightly bitter chuckle escaping him at the answer. "Yes, that much I could tell for myself." He went silent for a moment, watching her expression as if trying to read the story in her eyes. "Listen, Ari, You have lied to me a lot since you got here. There are times when I can overlook that, because assassins have secrets and that's just a given fact. No one who wanders in here comes from a happy place or is fond of sharing, so... I overlook things here and there when circumstances allow. This is different, however. You killed a Wolf, and an Active assassin of this clan. I know that, the people outside know that, and had Alex lived whatever he said happened would most likely be accepted as the truth. He can't speak for himself however, do I'm left to decide what the truth is, and your words are all you have to shield you now, so use them wisely. This is not a test; you know what the punishment is for traitors." Having said that he stood and wandered into his room, less than twenty seconds with a bowl of water and a clean cloth, which he sat on the table before sitting again. "Sit down, wipe your face clean, take a breath, and then tell me what happened."

Ari took a sharp breath, or more like several before she had the courage to sit down and reach out for the cloth and dip it into the bowl to wash the grossness from her face. It was only then she realized that she had a gash above her eye brow that was dripping blood down across her cheek and some into her eyes. She held the cloth to it, gritting her teeth at the pain that was there. She knew there would also be a direct knife line on her throat and it occurred to her that she just might be able to manage to pull it off with just that little bit of evidence. When she was sue that she could hold her voice steady she began to tell her side of the story, sticking straight to the details, no emotion in her voice.

“He...was with them, the Crimson and he claimed that you had asked him to lead the Crimson into the trap. I...I believed him and so I didn’t attack until a girl came out of the woods and she was obviously a Crimson. They went off, talking or arguing and I couldn’t hear them. He... came back and then attacked. I didn’t hesitate, I couldn’t they would have shredded me,” she cried, hysteria rising in her voice. She steadied herself again, seeing the look on Sean’s face. “I killed her first and a moment later my arrow pierced his chest. I panicked and shot, but he was already walking toward me. I didn’t stand a chance Sean. If you need me too I can take you back to the woman, show you exactly what happened and then you could see for yourself what happened. Or if that still concerns you then please, by all means send in a telepath to read my mind, I’ll willingly do it too. I would have run Sean, not come back here to face the punishment.”

Her eyes were pleading, her face a mask against the emotions threatening to boil up inside of her as she removed the red blood from the cloth with a quick rinse in the water in the bowl. She focused her attention there, doing the repetitive emotion to help calm her nerves. Every sound made her jump though and it took an amazing amount of energy to keep her from bursting into a cascade of tears.

“He was my friend,” she whispered, flinching as someone walked past the door.

Sean leaned against the table as he listened, unable to conceal just how tired he was, but his eyes were not losing track of Ari for a split second as she spoke. "He was your friend." He repeated, once she went silent. "Alright, well, I already have asked Franklin to read your mind... He says it works better if you don't expect it... And I don't find it at all hard to believe Alex would have done this. As you know, the clan is currently split, not even those on our side are entirely on our side or permanently on our side. It's just how it is." He stated simply. "Perhaps he was your friend up until that moment, Kid. Maybe he would still be your friend today and for a few more days if you hadn't been there. However, the moment he took a stand on the other side, he wasn't your friend anymore. If he was a traitor, then you did the right thing." He stood from his seat and walked to the door slowly. "You'll take Franklin with you to the woman you killed, he'll be just outside and I advise to not go anywhere without him for now." He told her, walking out of the cabin and closing the door after himself.

Heads turned and people stopped in their tracks as they saw the Alpha walk towards the body. Sean didn't give much explanation; all was very clear when he knelt down next to the fallen Wolf and removed the ring from his right hand. As he stood he simply muttered an order to one of the men who had laid Alex down by the fire. "Take him to be buried with the others." Alex was not formerly accused of treason, it couldn't be proven, and the man was unable to tell his side of things, therefore he would still be buried as a Wolf, but he wouldn't take his ring with him to the Afterlife.

Ari kept her eyes on her hands, looking up at Sean as he left and then she stood, placing the rag down on the table. She could have shifted, could have changed to heal the wounds in her neck and face but she would rather the wolves see it and decide that she was innocent. She stared out at the people, taking a steadying breath before stepping out the door and walking straight to Franklin, she didn’t want to have anything to do with Alex’s body but she couldn’t help but spare him a glance. Her lips parted in a silent prayer, a blessing, forgiveness.

[ Wolf Pack Camp]

Ari still didn’t know how Alex could betray them like that, how he could betray her. His death was meaningless and it stung like fire when she thought about it today, salt in a wound. He was just a boy for the love of Twins! Though Ari looked towards the sky, she knew that he was up there, laughing down upon the Wolves with hatred unmatched. That’s what she had seen in his dying breath, a look of triumph and of hatred.
Were her people really that hated? Did they even deserve the hatred directed at them? Ari thought not and she shook her head forcefully as her eyes caught sight of the deep rich brown coloring of a hawk. It made her think of Phantom and her hand reached up to gently touch the beautiful necklace that the strange sprite had given her. They had met in Newhaven on one of her training missions and Ari couldn’t help but to remember how much they were connected. Sisters almost. She stroked the stone, smiling as she remembered that day.

[Flashback-Newhaven: Week three]
“We have received your order, we will dispatch the birds this afternoon with the messages,” the man whispered in her ear. Ari was sitting at the tavern drinking her usual when her man came up out of nowhere to personally deliver the message. However, his appearance was extremely dangerous.

“It’s been too long,” she whispered as he took a seat next to her, raising his finger to alert the bartender to his needs. She took a long sip of her own drink as the bartender slid the man a large glass. The man didn’t pause to snatch his drink and he brought the brew to his lips.

“Delivering the message is my obligation,” he said into his drink before taking a sip. Ari snickered at the look on his face. Only the drink could ruin his day and confuse him. Even she couldn’t screw it up unless she started something here and now.

“Please give the plans to Stephan and me,” she said, finishing her drink quickly.

“I will send the message to Sean and you,” he growled, obviously not at all pleased with having another person involved in the transportation of the information. “It’s very dangerous to be dealing in this and laws are laws Ari. Your little scheme could cost the Pack.”

“You can’t leave a Wolf behind but I’m sure there have been plenty of Wolves that are now rotting in the ground where they shouldn’t be. I’ve left a wolf. I haven’t been arrested,” she muttered, now playing with the rim of her cup. “Besides, Sean is too busy with his own planning to worry much about me. I expect those birds soon.”
Ari stood, tossing some coins down onto the table before noting the small piece of pie she had ordered before she had been disrupted. Sprinkled with some sort of spice, Ari loved the pie. However, she left the thing lying on the table, pushing it towards the hooded figure next to her. With that, she left.
The dealings were done, Sean should receive a bird saying she had completed the task given to her but she would get something much grander. She and Franklin had been in the city for two days. The whole week however was spent in the cities and already she longed for the openness of the woods and the freedom they offered. Blackpond had been the main stay of their trip. It was there that she had learned of the many different hiding places, people she could trust and who to be aware of. It was one of the last places she wanted to return to though. Newhaven she had already explored on her own, and Franklin had let her roam loose, letting her arrange the mission in a tavern of her choosing and to her own devices. She had to contact the man she was looking for, set up the meeting and then make sure everything was in order and surprisingly, the Wolves that were supposed to be keeping an ear out to see how well she could do this hadn’t heard a thing otherwise they would have jumped her or her ‘informant’.

She pulled her brown hood tighter around her face, a smile spreading across her lips and she merged into the market crowd. It was done. She had won without a fight and she wanted to laugh with joy. Her shoulder collided with another and both turned a quick apology escaping lips at the same time. The two girls’ eyes locked and without another word, Ari was dragged willingly across the square and into a side alley. There was no fight to be had, both were just amazed to see each other here of all places.
Phantom had been hit while walking around, buying things for Kirsten and his minions, held on a short leash since she had been initiated to him. There wasn’t any hope for her, not now. Or at least that is what she thought until she had run into the green eyed girl. She snatched her hand, pulling her towards the alley and the girl followed willingly. Now here they stood, face to face, both of them smiling at each other.

“I dreamt about you,” Ari whispered, her smile radiant in the dark.

“I’ve been searching for you for moons now Green Eyes,” Phantom gushed, “Call me Phantom.”

The two studied each other, not understanding really what brought them together but Ari trusted in the Twins and she was willing to embrace their path for her. The two on silent agreement exited the alley, perfectly content to walk along in silence.

“What brings you here Green Eyes,” Phantom asked gently.

“I'm training to become a Wolf,” she answered simply, shrugging her shoulders. They walked the rest of the way in silence, both learning about each other from just the movements and the dreams they had of each other. There were no more spoken words, just a built understanding, and a friendship coming from nowhere. Phantom stopped before the road that led to the Night Hunters residence, tuning back to Green Eyes.

“I have a feeling that we’ll be in touch Green Eyes,” Phantom said with a smile watching as the girl nodded and then began to walk away, “Wait!”

Ari turned back, watching as the woman with silver hair set her basket down upon the ground reaching up to pull something around her neck to give it gently to her. Ari took it and watched the girl disappear before opening her hand to find a beautifully sculpted silver dragon, curling around a ball that at first looked blue but slowly became green in her hand. Ari tucked the trinket into her pocket before melding back into the crowd.

[Reality]

Ari still didn’t know what Sean thought when he had received the bird telling the whole thing. Things that Franklin had told she had been tested on were: set up, presentation, communication, meeting point, exit, and if any of the Wolves had heard about the meeting. She hadn’t so much gotten a good job and it occurred to her that she should approach Sean and ask him that. She smiled and decided it was time to head back when Stephan came bolting from the trees. She screamed but his hands covered her mouth before the sound could actually resonate and awake the sleeping Wolves.

“Ari! Ari, please be quiet,” he cried, eyes wide until she calmed in his gasp. “Come with me fast! We’re going on a trip just for you.”
His eyes were bright so Ari didn’t hesitate to send a sharp whistle to the sharpness of the night. She was answered with a low whicker and a moment later Sheggar came running from the trees. Together they both mounted up Ari’s bow resting across her lap as the rode off into the night. Sheggar loved the night rides and Ari just adored them. She had to be careful though; Sean didn’t exactly like the idea of a horse running around camp. She was uncomfortably aware of how close Stephan was behind her, his body pressed tightly against hers as he guided them toward the place where he was taking her.

It was a long ride and Ari was very happy to dismount. Sheggar was panting and Stephan turned to her, smiling happily at her.

“There’s and Archery game going on in a camp not too far from here. But unfortunately they don’t like Wolves very much which means you’re going to get in there as something else,” Stephan smiled as a grin spread across her face and she listened eagerly as they went over a plan to get her in past the guards. Then after a short time sleeping, the plan was set into action and Ari’s journey began.

Essence didn’t budge when Tala awoke from slumber and quietly stepped over Ess, snout first peeking out the folds of the tent. If someone saw the scene, the wolf stood as if a statue, inching bit by bit until her head only peeked outside the tent, a constant breath cloud appearing from the end of her nose against the early morning chill. One paw pressed against the frosted ground and she paused, ears twitching on alert. The fire was still burning away, crackling through the pine which gave off a comforting aroma even Tala took the time to sniff at before she was fully revealed to the night. Something or someone was about that she was not familiar with, catching the scent her furry body huffed in a muffled bark before she sprinted away from the tent and over the bridge away from camp.

The wolf began her rounds on the outskirts of the camp, passing through a trial that was guarded by archers and such hiding in the trees. “..Look another wolf...” A male voice whispered from above.

“No....that’s Tala, you idiot...” A woman’s voice retorted.

Tala paused, not quite understanding what the voices had said, except she understood ‘wolf’ was another name for her. She sat momentarily on her haunches, tilting her head up at the trees as if she were going to speak to them. A minute of silence went by and when she looked back along the ground, the wolf picked up a curious trail along another set of paw prints in the bits of snow left amidst the traffic that trail received. Tala tilted her head back, blue sapphire eyes closing as she released a lonely, almost eerie howl into the night.
Stephan had mastered the mental training and he had, as she had slept, poured his wisdom into her own mind, teaching her how to calm herself and deal with the pressure that he had a feeling that Ari had made it. The guards hadn’t done a thing as she slipped past, the bow and the clothes she would need were tied nicely to her underbelly, the rope hidden in her fur. When she was sure she had just made it past she slid out of the contraption, letting it fall to the ground with a muffled click. An eerie howl sounded and she raised her black mussel to answer. It was a wolf, there was no doubt about that and Ari assured herself by sending her own call higher and higher until it hit a screaming note. There she cut the call, the sound lingering in her ears, haunting and dark. She nosed at the parcel, her black ears swiveling in the dark when another wolf howled again. Ari felt the longing of her animal instincts and so she ran forward through the trees, hoping that the sight of a wild wolf would make her brave, able to face down her fear. She ran out her eyes burning silver as her tongue lolled from her mouth, colliding with a white wolf. She tried to stop, her paws scrabbling against the ground as the sharp scent of humans overwhelmed her. The snow was hard like ice and she slid across it, yelping as the snow cut her paws.

“Watch out,” she barked, her shoulder connecting with the wolf’s own and knocking both of them to the ground.

Tala wagged her tail when the night cried out in response to her call, bolting forward at her maximum speed, enticed by the sound of kindred she soon tore through naked pricker bushes only to collide with another wolf. A startled yelp escaped her as she spun around in a circle, her claws curled, trying to stop herself, finally rolling to a halt on her side. Tala whined at the black wolf before getting to her feet, instantly her nose began grazing fur, picking up a curious scent causing her to sneeze suddenly. Tilting her head in a slight daze, Tala readied herself on all fours the hair along her back spiking up at attention as she barked furiously at the other wolf. It didn’t make sense to Tala why this creature looked like her but the smell was off...that and she was in ‘her’ territory. After a moment she paused to sniff in the wolf’s direction once again, as if she was second guessing her blue eyes.
Ari wrinkled her nose, her canines flashing in the moonlight as she got a whiff of the wolf in front of her. She smelled strongly like humans but yet there was no doubt that she was a full blooded wolf. Ari quickly came to the conclusion that this wolf belonged to someone at the camp and she slowly wagged her tail, lowering herself to her stomach and crawling forward to lick under the she-wolfs mussel. She whimpered an apology, before standing to her full height. It was with some great amusement, that she was much taller than the wolf that stood a few paces away and she couldn’t help the humanlike laugh that came from her lips. Her black nose slowly worked the air; her silver eyes flashing as she quickly figured out that she would have to remain on her best wolfish behavior if she was to survive this encounter. Oh Ari was sure she could take on the white wolf, erm grey now that she stood closer, but it was the humans that could be within earshot that worried her most. She gave a wolfish grin, not knowing what to say or do.

Aiden knew he should have gone to bed hours ago but he couldn’t get his mind to simmer down. Not being able to shake that feeling Luke left him with, he had taken to the Captain’s words and was keeping an eye on things, which meant watching Ess and Tala from a distance or up close. It was obvious most of the time when he was around, as he wasn’t one for spying and didn’t want to come off as a creep. Ess may not have been fond of it per say, but she didn’t say anything to Aiden about it, not even once.

Aiden had just reached his cabin, determined to fight his insomnia when a familiar howl erupted the darkness, sending a shiver through his spine accompanied by a solemn smile which he quickly shut as his dried lips cracked from the winter chill. At first he thought nothing of Tala’s song until it lingered longer than expected as if it were searching. He turned about, pulling his hood tighter around his neck as another strange howl answered back in a mournful cry. Without a word he shuffled through the snow in the direction of the wolves, a few moments later distant barks blended into a painful icy wind. He would cut across the tiny cliffs and cabins imbedded into the hills, crossing the bridge away from the center of camp.

Tala whined, her tail wagging on and off in spurts as she twitched her head not quite letting the other wolf touch her per say. After a moment, as if satisfied she yipped dripping her head and front legs into the snow, her tail end rocking back and forth happily, pouncing left to right of the her new friend. Prancing circles around the wolf she bounded off expecting chase, drifts of snow catching in the wind as she tossed it aside in her play.

Ari was thrilled. Here she was playing with a wolf, a domesticated one but a wolf none the less. Momentarily she forgot about the contest, finding herself full of energy that she had spent last night training with Stephan. She consoled herself with the knowledge that she was technically training and she leaped forward. She barked, running forward past the wolf, her body stretched out, a black streak against the snow. She tuned, bounding back, her paws slapping the snow. The two played, tangling with each other, spraying each other with snow and spinning and whirling with the snapping of teeth and the sharp barks that cut through the cold air, the ice crystals breaking under the weight and harsh tears that the Wolves dug into the snow.

Aiden followed the sounds towards the river, gushing and bubbling beneath the bridge, he came to a stop just as he crossed, leaning against a wooden pole tied to the rope railing. Carmel eyes sparkled listening to the wolves play in the distance, tiny figures appearing along the tree line as they broke through into a clearing. A sombre smile curled his lips as he stood for some time, basking in the comfort and tranquillity Tala was feeling at that moment. He would have never been able to understand how free she felt at that moment unless he could ‘hear her.’ Tala chose to stay with people for the most part, the profound love she had for her friend Ess was something Aiden may have been a bit jealous of, not every knowing what that felt like. But in that moment he understand how ‘guilt free’ so to speak, Tala felt for giving in to her instincts and focus only on the moment and not where Ess was that second.

Gradually Tala and her furry companion made their way closer to the river, Tala leaping clear over the larger wolf barking as if to command her to follow. The winds had changed and Tala could smell Aiden just at the bridge, her mind reaching out to his as she whined up at him, nuzzling his hand when she finally found her way at his side. Sitting on her haunches, panting heavily her tongue curled out of her mouth like a snake, misty breath clouds fogging in front of Aiden’s face as he squatted beside Tala to scratch between her ears. “Who’s your friend Tala?”
She turned her head barking at the black wolf behind her, showing her the human was not a threat.

Ari was confused. One moment they had been playing through the snow, snapping at each other’s paws and tail and ears, not a care in the world, and then the white wolf had left. Now she was alone. The moon smiled down at her, her black pelt shining in the soft bathe of its light. Her ears priced forward, her black paws shifting nervously on the crust beneath them, the crunch of the snowflakes ringing in her ears. The halo around the moon covered most of the sky, vanishing from time to time behind the light dusting of clouds that helped block the radiance of the stars. Wind ruffled her fur, its cold fingers working its way deep into her pelt and touching the skin with a shiver. The trees behind her lay dead and bare to the elements, having shed their colourful coats long ago. Their white bark was no match for the luminosity of the snow which cast the moonlight back up upon Ari. From afar it looked like she was shining, her silver eyes matching the bright radiance of the snow around her body. The wind whispered through the trees and for a moment Ari thought she caught sight of Salji running through the dark needles of the pines behind her. His bright blue eyes were locked on hers but in a flash of black spots he was gone, and Ari was never quite sure if she had actually seen the big snow leopard or had only wished that he was there. She leaped forward out of her trance as she heard what she thought was the twang of a bow, followed by a scream. Ari bolted after Tala, her much bigger body quickly overtaking the other wolf. The eeriness of the woods fled and was replaced with the pounding of her feet against the snow, the flap of her pink tongue as it lolled from her mouth and the whips of breath that formed little clouds but were ripped apart before they could truly come together. She slowed her mad dash as she carefully picked her way over the boulders and toward what looked like a bridge. She slowly followed Tala across, wondering if it was just another chase before she slid to a grinding halt. Ari smelled the human, her ears flatting against her skull, her lips curling into a snarl before seeing that obviously this wolf knew him. Her black nose worked the air, not relaxing as her body padded closely forward. Tala. So that was the wolf’s name. She shook her pelt and her eyes gleamed. Thank the twins, maybe this would be her ticket in. She extended her nose out to the man’s outstretched hand, shying away as his mind brushed against hers. Het long black tail tucked between her legs, and she whimpered. If the man had been standing, Ari’s head would have been almost level with his hips, but as of now he was below her. Her silver eyes peered into his own, never once blinking as she assessed him, before opening her mind up to him, flooding him with thoughts, sensations, and a sense of being trapped.
Aiden’s eyes widened at the unusually large wolf before him, his fingers not reaching further as he wanted her to come to him. He let her take in his scent, keeping perfectly still expect for his eyes and smile as he took in the strange wolf’s silver gaze catching the moonlight, the comforting orb sneaking peeks out from behind the cloud cover. “Hey there...I won’t hurt you....Tala would kill me.” He snickered, Tala yipping in agreement while she moved to sit behind her new friend, the obvious size difference was indeed quite comical. Aiden’s brows narrowed a bit perplexed as he tried to read the black wolf, getting mixed emotions that were not quite normal in comparison to Tala there. Something was voided from instinct, conflicting with the fear he most certainly saw and sensed. It was almost as if there were two...“What...are you?” Aiden whispered in awe, unable to understand the creature when he should of, just as easily as breathing came to him. Turning towards Tala they shared a brief moment, Aiden simply nodding; it wasn’t in satisfaction but more the passing of any tension that may have lingered inside him of a present threat. “Tala seems to like you....” His continued to whisper, his voice resonant and mellow in a similar tone he took with the children of the camp.

Ari took a step back before sitting on her haunches; she didn’t really know what to do. Communicating her predicament would be difficult and she didn’t want to end up with a dagger in her throat tonight, not while there was still life pumping strongly through her veins. Of course could this, man, attack an unarmed girl? She sniffed the air again, smelling fear and smirking. Yes, it was a wonder to have a Beastspeaker trying to read the mind of a half wolf half human. The expression on his face was priceless as he tried to ask her what she was, as if she could talk. She let him think about it for a moment, still conveying the thoughts that she choose before slamming her mind shut with the soft pine smell of a girl, that and a pair of bright green eyes. Ari smiled, her tail wagging. Yes he would do, strong, brave, curious, not to mention kind of cute. She moved forward again, extending her paw to touch his knee gently with it, almost in a handshake. She sat there for a moment, her silver eyes conveying the almost humanlike expressions on her face. She yawned, her eyes sparkling green for a moment as she reared up screaming. Her body curled inward as she leapt away from the man, her teeth snapping the air. Ari tore at her paw, and when the sharp thorn had been cast out her eyes settled back to silver, the green fading almost as fast as it had appeared. Her form stopped blurring and she settled back into a black wolf. She bowed her head, her hackles rising before seeing the tiny branch attached to the man’s pants. He hadn’t tried to attack her she realized, moving slowly out of her attack position. He probably had been walking through the most deadly thing to her ability and had picked it up along the way. She, being the wolf that she was, didn’t notice it until one of its poisonous thorns was lodged in her paw. She didn’t bother to try and pull it off, if he had been paying attention he would have momentarily seen her human form, but she wasn’t yet ready to shift until he asked her to reveal herself, that or she just got tired of trying to communicate this way. However, the poison was spreading through her body at a surprising rate and she couldn’t hold back as her body began to wither and convulse. Slowly her wolf scream became human. Her fur fell and bones popped and groaned as she shifted, muscle reforming with sickening crunches and flesh with a soft hiss. She lay there in the snow, the wind caressing her bare skin as the moon smiled mockingly down.

Aiden had lost his balance in his squatting position, falling backwards only to have Tala barking frantically before him. One moment the black wolf and him stared into eachother’s eyes, Aiden reading the immense intelligence behind them, a paw almost the size of his own hand resting on his leg; the next a piercing scream of shock and pain unraveled into the night, echoing a haunting array of human and animalistic vocals. One hand instantly rested the hilt of his blade at his side, his other outstretched palm flat, silently signaling the creature to stay back. He couldn’t read what the being was thinking, but he knew others would be stirring from their beds at the commotion. “Tala!...Back...Tala!” Aiden commanded, trying to get the wolf to settle a bit, his jaw dropping when he swore his vision was playing tricks on him. If that large creature attacked him, it would be a brutal fight, one he may not survive, yet she seemed to settle once she realized he was not going to make any sudden moves. “Tala?...Captain!” Aiden commanded in a gentler tone this time, his furry friend not hesitating as she spun about in her tracks, bolting further away from the river into the center of camp. He knew something was wrong...something was not right. Another curdling scream burned into his mind, his hands slapped over his ears wanting to block it out. He pushed himself to his full height, towering over the seizing creature, her body popping and splitting as it changed into the naked image of a young woman collapsed against the snow. At first Aiden stared, a strange smile planted on his lips as it started to make some sort of sense and when he hearted the shouts of others who had awoken and the mixed yips of Tala and what only could be Puppy, Aiden snapped out of it. Drawing his sword in one hand, he managed to wiggle out his jacket, gently draping it over the girl’s body for modesty’s sake, his smile shifting into an annoyed glower. Another stranger in the camp, someone who had quite a useful talent and was able to sneak by unnoticed; except for Tala of course. This would not go over well with the Captain.  Mageria had been inspecting the armory, such as it was, when the combined barking of both Tala and Puppy summoned her outside. Grabbing her sword in one hand and slinging her cloak about her with the other, she dashed outside to see what was going on. Tala was dancing in place, claws digging into the snow; once she saw Mageria, she jumped forward to gently tug on her cloak. Taking this as a request to follow, Mageria ran off after her. It was only a quick run over and around a couple cabins in order to get to the bridge by the river.

"Aiden? What. . . . what do we have here?" Mageria was somewhat unsurprised to find what had to be a naked young woman lying in the snow. She knelt down, Tala and Puppy on either side of her, to see what had wandered into camp this time; Aiden quickly reporting what had happened.

"Another lost wanderer? One who managed to get into the heart of our camp with almost no trouble. That's not something I like to hear." Her gaze darted over the girl; child almost. Some sort of wound on her hand, other than that she seemed to be ok beyond being unconscious. No, there was something lodged in the flesh of her hand. A thorn. Almost absently,
Mageria used the blade of her dagger to pry it out; glancing at it briefly before tossing it aside.
With an annoyed sigh, Mageria stood up, glaring downwards. Briefly, she considered letting the intruder just lie in the snow, but she couldn't talk herself into it. There was the slightest chance that she was simply the child of a nearby village that had been lost in wolf-form had come to them for help. So instead she ordered her taken to the medic's cabin and laid on one of the beds; bundled up in blankets, while she perched on the next one over and watched their latest stray carefully with Puppy at her feet and Aiden leaning on the wall nearby. Looking helpless didn't make one helpless and if this girl showed the slightest hint of a threat she would make sure that she was eliminated quickly and cleanly.  Ari felt her lungs burn, her body hurt and she couldn’t move. The moon’s light made her shirk away, every sound was like the sharp crack of a whip to her ears, every scent no matter how sweet burned, and her tongue felt dry and cracked inside her mouth. The cold air soothed her hot skin, the fire deep inside her slowly settling as her senses began to dull. She could feel the inside of her body still rearranging, her vocal cords slowly melting away only to be reformed. The transformation was harder to complete and she had to remain perfectly still as everything finalized or she could be stuck. She didn’t will her change faster; she couldn’t have if she wanted to. The poison was making everything so much slower as her body fought against it, trying to stall its progress and rid herself of it like it normally did with her scars. She shivered as she felt the soft fluttering of a cloak around her body, most likely from the man she had only known as a wolf. She knew he was doing it out of modesty but it still made her nerves scream.  She quaked as the bark of the dogs and wolf reached her and still having a bit of her wolf voice she whined, begging them to please be quiet and to her relief, they actually listened. Others were around her, she could feel their heat and their breath stroking across the air to her skin but there was one presence that demanded more respect than the rest and so it was there that she turned most of her attention. Her scenes focused there, regretting it almost immediately as the thorn that was hiding in her paw was dug from her hand, causing her to reflexively curl into herself, her hand clenching as her mind fled from the pain that was pressed upon her. She would have fought, would have screamed as the others came and picked up her body and carried her. But of course they didn’t know, didn’t know how much pain the slightest touch caused and Ari snarled when she thought of all the bruises she would have because of them. More blankets, she thought before she disappeared.
Her bright green eyes fluttered open to the warmth of what looked like the medic’s camp and she discreetly smiled to herself, she had made it, whilst shying away from the woman sitting on the cot next to her. She was glad to see that the man was still here, his golden eyes locked onto her, calculating and cold. The two canines were here as well, the wolf’s eyes not as judgemental as the dogs, but Ari knew she had the same smell to the wolf, and hopefully it would remember her as a playmate and not a threat. Her eyes flicked over to the woman, looking in great detail at her, slowly putting pieces together to mark her as Mageria and she silently thanked Franklin for his little bit of training. She knew that Wolves would most definitely not be welcome and she was gladdened that she was not yet marked as a Wolf, and no one could tell unless they really dug for it. The change had ended though there was still a dull ache and she brushed the hair out of her face, her wide eyes peering around the cabin and glancing fearfully at Mageria.

“Thank you, m’lady for rescuing me,” she whispered her voice cracking at the use and Ari blushed, “But, I’m afraid I’m very lost. Where am I?”
Tala at first had sat at the foot of the girl's bed, whining curiously, not sure what to make the change in her 'friend.' Aiden had managed to quiet the wolf, watching absently the strange wolf-girl with a narrowed gaze, yet the flicker of light in his eyes hinted to his curiousity. He kept quiet when the girl spoke, the dark circles beneath his lids giving the obvious clue to his lack of sleep that was piling up on him. Without taking his eyes off the Captain, Aiden whispered, “Captain....it will be light soon..and there is much to do for the archery contest...With your permission, may I by releaved to my cabin before I join the others with the preparations?” Aiden stretched from his position against the wall, “I could get Zane...or one of the others if you'd like?” Mageria tilted her head to the side, studying the young girl for a long moment before she spoke.

"Of course, go get some rest. Don't worry about waking anybody else up, I think it can handle it." She reached down and absently scratched Puppy between the ears, digging in her fingers as the wolfhound leaned into the caress. She watched as the man left, closing the door firmly behind him. Then she turned back, eyes shifting a bit from a dark blue towards a green.

"As to where you are, my dear. That's a bit of a difficult question to answer. You're about half an hour's ride north of Newhaven. There's a village or two within about a day's walk from here. Are you from one of them? We'd be glad to help you find your way back, if you simply wandered too far astray." Absently, she flicked the clasp on her cloak, swinging it off and to the bed beside her. This revealed the fact that she had one sword slung across her back and a short sword at her waist.

"Although, I'd like to hear how you found your way here. We thought we were quite well hidden and instead it seems as if there are signs hung in the trees."

A brief smile suddenly crossed her face. "Although, I will grant that you might want to get something to eat and perhaps something to wear before you tell me the extent of your travels. It is a bit disconcerting to defend yourself while completely unclothed and hungry, is it not?"

“M’lady, that would be kind indeed though it has no effect on my fighting skills,” Ari couldn’t help the glow of colour that momentarily flushed up around on her cheeks. She pulled the blankets closer around her body, a little unnerved at the sight of the two swords but Sean had trained her well and she was sure that she could handle this if it got out of hand. “Excuse me for being bold but, it is hard to fool a wolf. Nothing is hidden to us. I know the forest inside and out and when changes were whispered from the animals and the trees,” she shook her head, a little smile flickering across her features, “It was not difficult to hunt you and your kin down. But the reason I stray into your camp is not for gloating’s sake. My brother has a telepathic ability and there was some buzz about an archery competition, which I see he was not wrong about. Mageria, it would be an honour to test my skills against your archers.”
Her lips pulled up into a brisk smile, her eyes lightning as her hands briskly played with the edge of the blankets. She was studying the room as it were, noting how many people there were in the beds, of course most of them would be injured, but her eyes never left Mageria’s.

“I brought my bow and there’s a change of clothes out in the woods as well,” Ari cleared her throat noticing the almost questioning look on the Captains face, “I don’t travel without some supplies for when I’m human. I was taught better than that.”

Mageria tilted her head to the side, her eyes suddenly flashing from a sapphire to ice blue. There was a, tension to her body; a readiness to explode into sudden violent action. Both the warhound at her feet and the wolf at her side tensed as well, hackles raising and low growls rising from their throats.

"If know my name, then you know who and what I was. Which means that I'm forced to wonder just what makes you feel like wandering uninvited and unannounced into my camp. And if your brother is a telepath, then you cannot say that you didn't know who we are. Which means I really must wonder, what is it you seek here?" A slash of a smile crossed her face. "Please don't lie to me. You've told me once that you were lost and once that you hunted us down. The archery competition was thought up just a few hours ago, which means that you two must have been in the area to begin with, watching us. So. Are you insanely foolish or just insane?"

Ari wanted to laugh, really just throw her head back and let it out, joyous and loud and sweet. However, it would be foolish to do so in front of an extremely anxious ex Newhaven Black knight. Instead she chose to swallow her insane giggles as that question of insanity presented. Ari had never thought about her sanity and now that the question had been presented she really considered it. Crazy? Yes, there was no doubt but it wasn’t because she chose it, but rather because of the foolish mistakes, the reckless decisions she made.
“Aren’t we all a little crazy? I would not say I am insane, just foolish and not even that. Inexperienced.” She could see the Black Knight inside of the woman was restless and the tension was disturbing the animals quite a bit.
“I mean no harm against you or your people Mageria,” Ari tried to soothe, her voice low and almost pleading. “Sometimes it is better to approach with the false appearance of a hurt, lost, embarrassed little girl than to wander into someone’s camp seemingly knowing all that they are. It causes disturbances and that can lead to a knife in your belly before you can truly explain who you are and what you’re doing there. Excuse my actions if you disapprove of my methods but seeing that I have little experience in diplomacy or any human contact, I would say that I was doing pretty well. That is until I misjudged who you were. But that mistake has been cleared.” Ari paused, not letting Mageria in on who she thought she was and what she had been taken for. Her eyes flashed sliver and she sent a calming noise, to high for humans to hear at the two canines and they seemed to settle, if only for a little while. Ari continued, her eyes glowing green again, “As for my brother being a telepath; he was headed up toward the mountains and just happened to be passing by this general aria when the ‘shouts’ from the minds of the people engulfed him. That’s how he learned about the competition and he knows I can hit a squirrel in the eye when we hunt so he figured that I would enjoy being able to show off my skills. Is it a crime to want to come forth and test your skills against the best? A crime to have a dream?”
Ari smiled softly, warmth seemingly about her and she let out a tiny sigh. This was going to be difficult, that much was obvious.

"First lesson of dealing with extremely paranoid people. Don't contradict yourself within five minutes. We tend to pick up on things like that." Mageria didn't relax any, but she didn't seem to be as ready to kill at that moment. "It's no crime to want to prove yourself, but if you can't even keep your own lies straight then you're not going to survive for very long. You might get further in the door, but you'll end up dead all the same." She drew a deep breath, almost forcing herself to relax a bit. There had been some disturbing reports from Newhaven; that combined with a few other things had left her constantly on edge. And now this child had walked into their camp, seemingly for her own reasons, but who knew what they really were? She fixed the young girl with a ice cold glare, studying her reactions.

"Now, I'll give you this one last chance. You say you don't mean any harm to me or mine, but at the moment we have several guests. Given that we would respond to a threat against them the same as we would one of us, can you say that you mean them no harm as well?" “I come only for the games. I swear it, on my honour.” Ari nodded her head gently, bowing it for a moment with respect before her eyes met the cold stare of the woman’s. Mageria sighed. "Very well then. You may stay for the contest. Please stick to the common areas and guest quarters, I'm afraid I don't know you well enough to trust you in the restricted areas. Treat everyone with respect and we can talk again after this is all over." She went over to a cabinet and pulled out a set of cloths, leaving them on the foot of the bed. "Let somebody know when you leave for your gear, have them walk out with you. There's room for you to lay your bedroll in one of the guest cabins." She nodded and turned to leave. "And . . . good luck latter today."

Ari nodded and watched Mageria all the way to the door, shouting a quick thank you at her back before slipping out of the blankets and then sliding on the clothes that were at the bottom of the bed. She pulled them over her, shivering at the feeling. They were stiff and tough against her skin after being a wolf and she couldn’t help the small whimper that worked its way up to her throat. She turned to see that Mageria was still there and Ari huffed out a breath of relief. “Mageria,” she called, walking forward to stand even with the woman, “Would it be alright if we kept my appearance hidden from the others? I don’t want to be seen.”

Mageira raised one eyebrow curiously. "And how did you want to do that? We don't get many visitors as it is, so a new face tends to stand out." She let out a sigh, sending a plume of white upwards, pulling her cloak around her tighter. Things kept getting more and more tangled. "I can see you wanting to perhaps conceal your name or your gender, but there's no way that you're not going to be the subject of some curiosity." War. It was a deadly conflict that should have been avoided. A warning to the people, both good and evil, to the solider, the civilian, the martyr and the victim, it began with a lie and was now fought for the truth. No one didn’t feel its effects. Prophets, liars, honest folk, the leaders, the pariah, the victim and the messiah all suffered and Ari did too. It was not her fault, yet as a Wolf the Crimson saw her just as guilty of murder as those who had run into their camp and slaughtered their people ‘on orders of Sean’. Being the only Wolf within a couple miles around the aria, inside a camp where the Crimson could be as well, and Ari having met a couple before the war, made her incredibly vulnerable. She didn’t like that feeling at all. If they were here she didn’t want to run in and look just like the silly little girl they had met so long ago. An easy kill. No. She wanted to be who she was now but she dare not show her face, better to go as a man during the day as Stephan had suggested, just in case. The trouble was explaining this without being caught, tripping on her words and letting it loose that she was a Wolf. “I know. It’s just that I have made plenty of enemies and acquaintances who may not take kindly to my appearance here. That is if they happen to have wandered into your camp as well. I would just feel safer, with your permission of course, to walk hidden for now, dressed as a man.” Ari knew it probably sounded silly to the woman in front of the door but Ari didn’t know how else to put it and she was already working out an answer for the question that could be on its way, though she pleaded to the Twins that Mageria would be too tired to continue and she smiled at the woman.
Mageria suppressed a sigh and cracked her neck to the side, stretching the kinks out. "If you have enemies that are that angry at you, that might be here in camp, why in the Twins name did you decide to stop by? If winning means that much to you, you're in the wrong line of work." She slowly looked the girl up and down, arms crossed in front of her. "This is the best I can offer. I don't know what you've got going on, or with who. But so long as you don't cause harm to my people, this will be something of a neutral zone. What you all do away from here, that will be up to you. But it won't be happening here. So you can dress as a male if it will make you feel safer." She looked away over her camp, her people resting safely for the moment. "Just remember this. You give me reason to regret my offer, I'll nail you to a tree myself." Her gentle smile didn't touch her eyes, which instead showed a glimpse of the lengths that she was willing to go to in order to protect her people.

Ari nodded, watching the woman leave before slipping out of the bed and walking carefully out the door and back into the blistering cold, or what felt like blistering cold. She found the nearest awake person and walked up to them, putting on her most innocent face while calmly asking if they would escort her around for a little while. Of course they agreed, even bowing slightly, a twinkle in his eyes as he led her out across the bridge. After she had crossed it her feet struck the earth and she ran off. She didn’t stray from her path, didn’t waver until she collapsed into the snow and pulled out the precariously wrapped items. She didn’t quite understand why she needed the boy to follow her and it occurred to her that perhaps Mageria had misunderstood and thought the gear was all outside the camp borders. Oh she would have been even more furious to see that Ari had been able to sneak them inside the boundaries. She cradled the fur wrapped bow and the clothes that Stephan had lent to her before she left and she stood just as the boy rounded the corner and nearly collided with her.

“Hey,” she snapped, her eyes flashing as she felt her bow bend and twist with the collision. He muttered something about trying to flee and Ari laughed and apologised for her hasty reactions before he led her back towards the guest cabins. He showed her in and helped her get comfortable even helping her slice her hair off so it was cut boy short. She watched him leave before settling onto her sleeping pad. Tomorrow would bring whatever came her way; she could only ride the current now and rest her eyes for the Tournament.

Kirsten paced. His black boots shone against the light, the window’s shades tossed open to let the sun in as it caught the red color of his cape and the shimmer of his black eyes. His lips were pulled tight together, his brows knitted in concentration.

“How?! How does an entire army go missing just like that,” he snapped his fingers, his voice a low growl as he looked to the map above the mantle. Its old grey lines marked the boundaries of Newhaven and Blackpond, added in colorful paints were the healers and the boundaries of the Crimson and the edges of the Wolfpack territory. Basically anything that involved trees. His black eyes bored into the paper, his stare so hot it was amazing that the paper didn’t combust into a ball of flames. The door opened and Erin stepped into the room; dressed head to toe in black, his gloves groaned as he pulled down his face mask, taking in a small breath.

“Kirsten?”

“What?” he snapped; not taking his eyes from the map.

“It’s time.”

“I’ll be there in a moment.”

The door closed with a soft click and once again Kirsten was left to his thoughts as he slowly peeled his eyes off of the map. He pulled his gloves on gently, leaving his red cape leaning on the back of his chair. His sword he fastened to his side, the silver buckle flashing as it caught the light and quietly he turned. His dark brown hair he shook loose from its knot as he made his way like a ghost across the floor and out the door. The Night Hunters he passed in the hall stopped to salute, and from nowhere Alecto stepped out of a door, falling in step behind him, eyes locked forward.

“Kirsten.”

“Alecto,” he nodded, keeping his pace the same as he moved forward.

“Important news.”

“Save it for the meeting.”

“Kirsten!” Catlin called, running after them only to fall to the left side of Kirsten as they moved into a room.

“Yes?”

“I have some bad news.”

“No news is good news, Catlin. What is about?”

“It’s about someone you care about...”

“Save it for the meeting. Is everyone there?”

“Almost sir,” Erin said, appearing off to the left. Kirsten nodded and headed to the large double doors that would open into a long room. His hands closed around the handles pulling the doors open, the wood creaking open with a light groan. Already his inner circle was sitting around the oval table, with the few exceptions of those around him. The fire was crackling at the head of the table. It cast shadows on the faces of his men, all the black curtains closed as the men around the table fell quiet. Erin, Alecto, and Catlin made their way to their seats. Quietly Kirsten searched the eyes of those around him, a small smirk on his face as they averted their eyes. They were afraid…that was good.

“Seems as though those wolves have presented a challenge,” he mumbled, pulling off his gloves and sitting down in his dark chair. “News Catlin.”

“Kie is dead.”

Kirsten looked up from the table, his eyes narrowing as they pinned the sandy haired boy to his seat. His lips pulled into a snarl as his fingers dug into the table, his breath catching.

“What did you say?” he snarled. This was not what he was expecting and almost as his anger rose and his eyes started to glow he was suddenly washed over with a sense of compassion, understanding, and even grief. “Damn it Erin.”

His second said nothing but kept his eyes forward, a small smirk playing on his lips as Catlin stammered.

“Kie was shot down at the beginning of the attack, I’m sorry.”

“So be it,” Kirsten whispered, and then there was nothing but the crack of the fire as Kirsten nodded.

“Kirsten,” Alecto whispered as Kirsten watched as the youngest of them all slowly folded his hands in front of him, resting his elbows on the table as he let the science drag out for a moment. “As you all know we sent in a group of three behind the main attack to gather intelligence from the fight, if there was one. There was.”

“Get to the point Alecto. What did we learn?”

“Only one made it out.”

“Who?” Erin asked calmly.

“Lichen.”

With that two more Hunters burst into the room, the doors swinging as wide as they could, crashing against a cot that the two men were carrying. On the mat was a body, cut up and sliced up, blood dripping from bandages. There were audible gasps from around the table, followed by mutterings. Slowly Kirsten stood as Lichen was set down next to his empty chair, lifted into his seat and eased down as he groaned. This wasn’t too big of a shock to Kirsten, he had known that the man was in poor shape and had suffered and any information Lichen could bring now would be already known. Kirsten could tell that most of his men had not made it, but which ones was a better question. The entire connection given by the blood moon had disappeared from him to them, or became static. This is where Lichen’s information would be most helpful.

“Kirsten,” the bloody man spoke, his voice surprisingly strong, “They ambushed us. Like monsters, like wolves they chased us into clearings. There were hundreds of them. Some you couldn’t kill, your arrow passed through like a knife through butter and they’d pass right through. We couldn’t tell real from fake and then Phantom….”

“Phantom? What of her?”

“She got split off. I didn’t see her body as I ran,” again he paused, seeing the look on Kirsten’s face. Running was punishable by death.

“Go on,” Kirsten mused quietly.

“There was a wolf with them. A white wolf.”

“It was a fake.”

“It killed men. It bled, it was no apparition.”

“It wasn’t Ari!” Kirsten whirled, snapping his teeth at Erin whose ability was already slowly working its way over his body. “My spies tell me she’s in Newhaven castle.”

“Spies can be wrong, Kirsten,” Erin whispered.

“Even Chalen? He showed me her face,” Kirsten growled, “besides; Ari always takes form as a black wolf, not white.”

“So there is another then,” Juma nodded. In front of him was a dagger, floating almost at eye level as time slowed for the object, allowing him to gently change its trajectory before letting his enlightenment slip. The knife slammed into the statue in the middle of the table. It was of two wolves; one was black the other white and they were fighting. The knife stuck dangerously out of the black wolf. No one moved forward to pull its blade from the figure; instead they all thought quietly, eyes locked onto the wolves. Kirsten slowly sat down, folding his fingers in a peak in front of him.

“So, now what do we do?” he asked gently.

“Hunt down this lie and kill it,” the door boomed open and a finely figure slowly entered. Kirsten stood, his eyes narrowing.

“Who is this?! How did he get through?” Kirsten growled, readying his enlightenment as he readied himself for an attack.

“Easy Kirsten, he’s with me.”

“Sesh?”

The table turned, their eyes widening as they looked upon a familiar face. Shesh’s white blonde hair was ruffled and knotted, his black uniform covered in dirt and his bright blue eyes tiered. He moved to take his seat, several of the Hunters making room for the newcomer. Kirsten looked toward the man in the hood wonderingly. He had seen him somewhere, but he didn’t know exactly. He licked his lips, eyes faintly glowing as he longed to slip into this newcomers mind. What he hadn’t noticed quite yet was the shadow that slunk along behind the man, the twitch of whiskers and the brilliant white fur coat. In fact not a single one paid much attention to the snow leopard walking among them; their eyes were fixed on Sesh and his companion.

“Who are you?” Kirsten growled, watching as the hooded man sat down.

“Stephan, Stephan Kalir.”

Stephan smiled softly, reaching up to pull back his hood from his face. There were small mutterings as people took in his appearance. It was strange to be in the company of so many. At first, even the boy Sesh had seemed like too much ever since he had come across the shadow. The encounter had changed him, and not all for the best. His ivory shirt hung loose around his chest, the strings dangling to his navel and the top V open to the sharp lines of his chest. His pants had remained in good condition; the boots shone under the table, the black leather reflecting the fires flicker. His cloak was something he had left behind, the brown fur stitched down with the gold embroidery from his homeland; the tooth peeking out from behind the V on his neck. He smiled softly, his slick black hair ruffling around his eyes, the tiny steak of silver in his hair drawing the attention of everyone there.

“By the Twins,” someone muttered.

“Stephan,” Kirsten barked, drawing his attention back towards the front of the room, “What do you suggest we do then?”

“I told you. Kill that other. Even if it is Ari, you’ll get your prey.”

“And why give her up so willingly now?”

“Revenge,” he smiled, wickedly and for a moment even Kirsten shuddered.

“And if it isn’t her? If this white wolf is, say, someone else, what then?”

“Then you prevent the two from meeting. Ari doesn’t know how to handle her enlightenment to the point where she can hold a form for more than a few hours at a time. And there is no way she knows how to switch after being in one form for so long. If this is another of her kin, then she can learn. And we don’t want an Enlightened wolf at your doorstep or even among the Pack, do we?” The firelight caught his eyes and for a flicker of a moment they shone, a dark green ringed with red and black.

“No we do not,” Kirsten mused, hung up on the way the boy looked as if he was being consumed by an inner flame. His eyes flickered toward Sesh’s, watching as the white-haired boy spared him a glance and a small nod. They would talk later. Slowly Kirsten placed his daggers on the table, leaning forward in his chair ever so slightly, eyes bright.

“Tell me more.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Most people would have left alone an injured cat limping along a back alley in Newhaven, except for a few boys that Ari happened to run into on her way toward the inn. They took turns trying to hit her with stones and after awhile, fled like dogs with tails turned between their legs. She expected that the story of the cat-bear was going to be in all inns by the end of the night. She continued onward to the inn, fleeing to the shadows as her naked body made its way. Her bow and clothes were hidden away in the woods somewhere and she hadn’t the energy to go looking for them after her romp through the woods. Her shoulder ached where an arrow had struck her pelt, dammed hunters were everywhere this time of year and if it moved, they shot. She had managed to break the arrow shaft off of her back, but not the arrow and she couldn’t reach the dammed spot.

The back door swung open into the Inn that the Wolves had control of and it didn’t take long before a Wolf came around the back to check it out. Ari waved sheepishly and the Wolf shook his head before taking off his cloak to hand it to her.

“Mel, I had no idea you were out here,” she said quietly as she hid her body from view.

“And I knew you were going to be trouble,” he chuckled, leading her around the bar toward the stairs that would lead to the rooms. Mel had been one of her friends at her initiation into the Wolf Pack; he had been the one to finally get her into the water. He paused to have a word with Sheila before taking her hand and pulling her up the stairs.

“What did you do now? And how in the hell did you get out here?”

“Sean sent me to do some searching for gossip around town, kids talk. And it’s hunting season.”

Mel laughed, his laughter booming out from a narrow chest as he carefully sat her down in a room already alight with the blaze of a fire. His fingers carefully pulled his cape from her body, his fingers working against the wound that wouldn’t heal. Her eyes swam as his little finger dipped through the slit that the arrow had made, his lips letting out a low whistle.

“I thought you said you could heal instantly?”

“I can,” she gasped as he left her to stride across the room for the pitcher of water and supplies that were hidden under the floor boards, “But not when there’s something still in the wound when I shift.”

“Wait. You’re telling me you were in a different form when you got this?”

“Three actually. I was a wolf when I got this, then I went cat and then,” she stopped as his blue eyes locked onto hers, disapproving in every manner.

“You need to be more careful Ari,” he said disapprovingly and for a moment his eyes flashed cobalt blue. Ari opened her mouth to say something, but his knife was carefully cutting away a bit more skin so that he could pull the arrow from her flesh and all that came from her was a small protest.

“Quit complaining. This needs to get out, and now,” he murmured, continuously working as he hummed along. Ari couldn’t help grimacing as he worked; humming along as if it was all he’d want to do was pull the tip of the arrow from her shoulder. She sighed as he dropped it into her open palm, her eyes widening as she examined the dammed thing, her flesh caught in barbs. Her lips tightened over her teeth as he dangled string over her, eyes hinting to a bone needle. She stepped back, blood running down her skin as he raised an eyebrow.

“No stitches?”

“None.”

“Okay then,” he hummed; cleaning up the materials as he cautiously watched her body shift. The flesh seemed to ooze over her body slowly, fur sprouting from her as her jaw cracked and elongated out into a muzzle, her nose growing out as her eyes closed tightly in her skull. Bones snapped and he turned to watch fully with some awe as she whined through teeth that seemed to burst forth from her human ones, splintering and changing as he watched her muscles flow like water to adjust to their new form, and finally, her tail folded between her legs. She lay quivering on the ground, eyes closed as with each breath she whined.

“Stitches would have been less painful,” he said to her as he knelt by her side, running his fingers through her coat to her shoulder where she would have taken the arrow. He only left when he was sure there was nothing left of her injury; the flowing of her flesh must have healed it, he mused as he took his cloak from where it had pooled to the floor.

“There are clothes next to the fireplace behind that rock and I will arm you with a bow for your journeys back to Sean,” he called, closing the door behind him. Watching her go from human to dog was bad enough, he had a strange feeling that changing back would be even worse.

“Tell me a story.”

With a scratch and a hiss, a flicker of a flame sprung to life, illuminating the curve of a soft jaw, stubble casting shadows across the curve of a pair of lips. A smirk turned into a smile, a deep shadow cast over the face the light flickered on before fading out, casting the world back into oblivion. But only for a moment. Stephan watched as the match flew through the air, only to land in the fireplace. His steely eyes stared as the straw and dried grasses caught, curling and withering into themselves as red embers ate away at their energy, releasing it as light. But such little fuel wouldn’t sate the sickening hunger of fire and it quickly grew as it began to tear into the logs with snarls and growls. Darkness fled, terrified by the ferocity of the flames, and with it ran cold. Stephan carefully tugged up at his hood’s end, his eyes moving from the fire to the face of his victim. It was one of Sean’s petty She-Wolves and she blinked against the sudden light that filtered through the room.

Let her see, Stephan thought quietly to himself, looking around the furnished room with an almost bored expression on his face. It was no dungeon, hell, it wasn’t even a prison. It was Kirsten’s living room. Everything was red and gold; the carpet on the ground, the curtains drawn over the windows outside were satin red, much like a ladies dress as it flowed gently to the ground. He hated it. The only thing that really brought a splash of color was the pelt of a white wolf draped over the back of the couch his feet were resting on. His eyes scanned the heads on the wall. Bear, Wolf, even the full body of Kie was screaming downwards, talons outstretched and silver wings casting off a light glow. On the shelf below the bird was the statue of the black and white wolf fighting, the white one so cowardly looking, Stephan half expected the damn thing to come to life and hurl itself into the fire.

“Where am I?”

Slowly Stephan pulled his eyes from the fire, pulling his boots off of the couch and to the floor, moving slowly and deliberately to stand just above the Wolf. She’d had her fill of the room, and he let his own presence sink in as, for a brief moment, she struggled and fought against her bonds. It was really of no use and he tried to hold back a smirk as her struggle caused her wounds to reopen. Blood dripped and spread across her shirt, and pants, flowing over the blood that had crusted over the table and now threatened to drip onto Kirsten’s floor. With a sigh he placed his hand on the center of her forehead, watching as her struggles suddenly ceased, her eyes going blank.

“You’re safe for now,” he purred, pulling a chair closer to her face as he put a foot up onto it. “You only have to do one thing. Tell me a story.”

As he spoke he ran though her mind, nudging softly at memories as her time as a Wolf. Even as he did so he bumped into a different consciousness, his eyes narrowing until it identified itself as Sesh. He wasn’t a telepath, but Coercion certainly had its perks. He rummaged around in her head, looking though her memories and thoughts, pulling forward a memory of something silver, a dancing face, and strange whispers in the night. Suddenly her eyes opened wide, round orbs growing to the size of the moon before her lips began to move.

“Get out of my head, bastard!”

Stephan retreated with a small hiss, his eyes narrowing as the sudden flurry of thoughts in her head had him feeling nauseous. She’d been playing this game all week. His hand rose up and her jaw clenched, waiting for him to strike when his hand stopped.

“Is this how we treat our guests?”

A shadowed figure moved forth from the shadows, pink lips pulled back to reveal teeth bared in a familiar smile. Black eyes were slightly obstructed from the unconcealed windswept hair beneath the blood red hood. Even so his eyes still held a sense of cunning and wit as for a moment they burned red. Stephan lowered his hand, the metal claws coming from between his fingers curling and rolling to prick his palm as he stepped away. Kirsten nodded encouragingly and then tossed a meaningful glance towards the door. Stephan frowned, wanting to protest. However, he was bound by the blood moon to obey and that’s just what he did.

Kirsten took a seat in the chair, his arms gently resting along the top of the back rest as he placed his chin on the back of his folded hands.

“You poor thing. Stephan can be a bit harsh,” his hand moved to gently touch her bloodied cheek. There was no doubt she would scar from this; Stephan was a bit too fond of his claws. Scabs had formed over the three parallel slashes and as he pulled his hand away, some of the dried blood stuck to his fingers. Carefully he brushed it off as he sighed. “You know what we want, I’m very sure that you have a general idea. Won’t you tell us?”

“You’re all monsters!” she whispered with a small shudder, the clenching of her jaw causing the scabs to crack slightly.

“Monsters?! My dear little Wolf, we are only trying to find my friend. Won’t you help me find her?”

“Your friend?”

“Her name is Phantom and she has the most beautiful hair, like starlight. Surely you’ve seen her around camp.”

“No, but I’ve heard of her,” she paused, thinking for a moment before shaking her head, “I don’t think anybody has seen her except Sean and a few others.”

“So, she’s being locked away then?” Kirsten frowned, thinking about the torture she was probably facing. If he could feel her connection thought the pack boundaries then maybe he could soothe her pain, lessen it with his presence, if only slightly. His eyes flickered back toward the girl, her eyes riveted away from him toward the door. Stephan stood in the entryway, his eyes blank and empty as he carefully brought in a bucket sloshing with cool water.
“He won’t hurt you anymore. A beautiful thing like you shouldn’t have to face such treatment. Let him help you,” Kirsten nodded, watching carefully as Stephan placed the bucket on the side of the table, coming towards her flesh with a damp cloth. At first she flinched as Stephan did his best not to rip open any scabs as he tried to clear away the spatters of blood that offended Kirsten so, but slowly her body relaxed and Kirsten smiled, “See, not so bad is he?”

“I guess not,” she bit her lip, the thought also crossing her mind that Phantom, this mystery girl, was perhaps being tortured. She hadn’t been in camp since the girl had first been brought in, but she wasn’t one to put pain past Sean. “She’s a friend you claim.”

Kirsten nodded.

“And if I help you you’ll let me go?”

Again he nodded.

Quietly she let out a sigh, blowing back a strand of black hair that had fallen over her forehead, “I’ll help you. I’ll even escort you to where she’s most likely being held.”

“You would do that? For me?” Kirsten sounded aghast, his eyes blinking, threatening to smile, “Thank you! So very much!” he did his best to look over-joyed, something that he rarely was. Tears glimmered in the corner of his eyes and Stephan paused in his work. Kirsten’s eyes flashed, warning him to look away and he did, continuing to cleanse her skin.

“Please, tell me more about my dear friend Phantom.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cold, the freezing air caressing blue skin, shaking so violently it was no wonder that her body didn’t rip apart from her muscles contracting. Her torn clothes were loose around her boney frame, her teeth chattering as her stands of hair hung limp across her cheek. Phantom lay inside the cave, her eyes closed, violently shaking. She’d escaped, she’d survived, she’d fled. And now, she was dying. Not like it mattered; not anymore.

Her breath rose in a thick swirl above her head, body trembling. Curse Kirsten. What had he done to her? She flinched, her breath catching right before her lung released the oxygen with an explosion of air. With it came blood, and lots of it. Like a fountain it sprayed from her lips, projected further by the air and spit behind it. Like a painting it coated the wall, raindrops on the ground, spattering randomly across the snow. Phantom stared at it. How curious, she thought as her fingers tried to reach the nearest spatter of her own blood, that such a thing could bring such warm color to an inhospitable world. The sight of her own blood gave her comfort rather than fear. She blinked, frosted eyelashes closing quickly once as the spots of her own blood remained in her vision, and when she opened her eyes, everything she had was now gone. The snow, the cold, the blood dripping from her mouth and oozing from the various pores of her body like black tar—all of it had vanished. She sat up and gasped.


Flashback

“Phantom, come here child.”

She stood, her little silver braids on either side of her head bouncing as she ran towards her mother. She fell into the arms of the woman, her eyes closed as arms wrapped around her body and pulled her close against her bosom. Her mother smelled of flax and lavender, her soft brown hair running all the way down to her lower back. Her eyes, bright blue shimmered with happiness as she stroked Phantom’s silver hair. She was wearing a grey dress and a white apron, her brown hair pulled back into its typical braid as her lined face smiled.

“What have you been up to, trouble maker?”

“Mamma! I’ve just been playing!”

“Oh? With who?”

“Jeremy and Sasha,” Phantom declared proudly, “I beat them at tree climbing!”

“You did? Well aren’t you a little squirrel,” she smiled again, looking up as, for a moment, Phantom’s father stopped raking the earth and came to stand beside them.

“Squirrel, eh?”

“Yes Papa!”

“Do you know what we hawks do with squirrels?” he waited till she had shook her head before turning his hands into talons, “We eat them!”

He lunged forward, grabbing hold of her as she squealed. Mother laughed too, watching as Father swung her around, pulling up Phantom’s shirt and blowing his breath across her belly as she screamed. Mother was upright, laughing as her dirty hands pressed against her hips, her body bouncing with the force of laughter. Finally Papa stopped trying to eat her and instead let her fly, running around the field with her body ridged in his arms and her arms out to the side.

“Easy now Eler, Phantom! Don’t you go hurting your back. There’s still seeds to be planted,” Mother called and her flight ended, Father putting her back gently onto the ground. He smiled and ruffled her hair as she thanked him, bouncing off to dash back to Mother. Phantom took the seeds and began, one by one, placing them into the earth that had been opened up to receive them.

“It’s me?” she thought suddenly, pinching her arm to make sure that she hadn’t been dreaming. When she opened her eyes the vision before her hadn’t changed, and her eyes brightened.

“Mom! Dad!”

She began to run, arms reaching forward and out, unable to contain her excitement as both of her parents rose from their hard work and looked directly at her. Arms outstretched she went to fall into their own open arms, only to fall face first into a pond. She rose, sputtering and shaking as her arms fell around herself.

“What the—” she thought sadly, slowly pulling herself up out of the water. The breeches and shirt she wore was soaked through, her body showing through the lightness of her shirt. She stumbled forward a couple of steps, dragging herself from the water when she saw it. Two children next to what appeared to be a massive horse.

“Have I gone mad?”


“Easy on his back side there, don’t jab your heels in.”

Phantom nodded curtly, her head bobbing as under her the horse whickered. He was black as night, his coat shimmering with the reflectiveness of a raven’s wings. Shadow’s eyes blinked as the bridal jingled, colored like chocolate and deeper than the lake nearby. The horse blinked and his tail swished. Below her a boy kept his hands on the chest of the horse, brown eyes looking upwards toward her own.

“Are you ready?”

Again she gave a little nod and the boy stepped back, giving the horse room to walk as Phantom’s legs dangled across the back, gripping with her knees—not her heels.

“Alright Shadow. Walk on.”

The horse jumped forward, leaping off of his two back legs as soon as she had finished her words, galloping forward with such a spurt of energy that she had remained exactly where she was, hovering for just a moment before crashing onto the ground.

“Phantom!! Are you alright?!” the boy called, running forward to land beside her. She gently touched her breast, massaging the tissues before giving a little nod.

“I told you to sell that horse back!”

“NO!” she cried suddenly, watching as the beast turned back and came round to gently whiff the grass beside her, “Shadow is my horse.”

“He’s too dangerous Phantom!”

“You promised to help me learn,” she cried with such a defiant voice that the boy’s angered expression grew soft. For a moment he stared at the horse whose nose was now clutched tightly between Phantom’s arms, unmoving besides the small twitch of his tail and the surprised flick of his ears. He suddenly smiled and gave a small nod.

“If that’s what you want,” he stood, holding out his hand to the eighteen year-old girl, watching as she let go of her horses face to pull herself back up. She brushed the dirt and clumps of grass from her skirt; pigtails bobbing along her skin as behind her the trees rustled.

“Are you sure you want to try again?”

“Gimme a boost,” Phantom said quickly, watching as he linked his fingers together to provide a platform for her bare foot to step on. With that she hoisted herself back up onto the horses back.

She remembered now. This was the day before the riders came. She was learning how to ride Shadow, her beloved war horse. Back then, nothing could have stopped her. She’d found a home with the boy teaching her how to ride, who gave her all the help she could ever ask for and the pendant around her neck. Her fingers wrapped around the small wood carving of the horse and as she did so, a smile carved her face. It was a reminiscing smile, one far and lost upon the face, often going unnoticed by the person who wears it. Phantom could feel it, growing faster as her heart beat in her chest. Were these just memories?


Shadow slowly walked forward, the boy at his shoulder holding the leg of the girl. Phantom was beaming and it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen before. Her different colored eyes met his grey ones and he smiled, her cheeks flushing for an instant at the touch of his fingers on her thigh.

“Go Shadow,” she whispered and clung tighter to his body as his muscles bunched and he leaped off back in the direction of the inn. She spared a glance over her shoulder and saw the boy there, standing still with a look of disappointment. She had hurt him galloping away like that, but how could she allow him to see her face. A face that was a red as a sun. Her eyes snapped forward and a moment later she was galloping away on the back of the wind.

She’d never told him. Never had got the chance to tell him exactly how she felt before he’d died the next day. With a face of determination Phantom removed herself from the trees, turning in his direction as her eyes glimmered and her cheeks became flushed.

“Estel!” she cried, walking towards the boy who suddenly turned to look at her. He looked older. Estel, the boy, had become a man in a turn. His hair had been braided and pulled back along his scalp, coming together to form a short ponytail near the top of his head. He was dressed like the inn keeper’s son; simple brown breeches and an open V shit that fluttered softly in the breeze that was stirring from the lake behind her.

“Phantom?” he responded, cocking his head as he took a couple of steps forward. She beamed, suddenly. Maybe this wasn’t a memory after all. He ran. Arms outstretched she also reached for him, her breath quick as tears began to cloud her vision and stream down each of her cheeks. If this was death may the Twins never take this away, this happiness that suddenly filled her heart and left her feet light across the ground. He grabbed her and with a twirl set her down once again.

“Jesus woman. Wake up!”

Her eyes opened and around her the world burned. Estel held her arms, his eyes panicked as he tried to lead them away. The wood crackled with flames, hot and angry they licked at her night clothes and his own. The door had been bashed down, knocked away from the hinges by the man who did not yet know his fate. What was happening? She blinked, body trembling as a moment later he was shaking her.

“Come on! Out the window!” he was pulling her towards it, eyes shimmering and flashing with the flames that swallowed up her bed, pushing everything insight to its hungry maw. With a thrust, Phantom had pushed out the glass to her window, her body franticly clawing out onto the straw patched roof. Below her the stables burned, sparks flying like light bugs through the air, smoke burning down her nose and throat, choking her body and vision. She was coughing, the heat was searing at her flesh, Estel’s hand so tight it was like a vise as his masked hand fell over her nose and mouth. For a moment she could breathe. The air was split with the sounds of people screaming, burnt to death in their tombs as beams fell and crumpled outside their doors, locking them to their deaths. Even the horses had not been spared such a fate, their straw stoking the fire until it rose far above their terrified heads before crashing down upon their backs. Mane burnt, fur was singed away in the blink of an eye, and flesh was left beyond the harsh blisters that rose like warts before bursting—it was burned and charred to darkness and death.

Phantom could have handled the smell—she’d singed her own hair and skin once before so she was no stranger to the putrid order that now seeped into her pores and wafted to fill the forefront of her skull. It was the sounds that got her to her knees. Lichen fell beside her, holding her shoulder and trying to urge her on. Nearby the sounds of animals kicking desperately at stall doors, crashing and smashing their bodies against the wood and beating their noses and chests bloody, filled the air. Pure terror rang in her skull like the shriek of an unplayed flute. However that was not the worst of it. Terror turned to pain, blistering and blackening as the fire leapt from one horse to the next, exhausting the mount to bones and cracked meat.

People were rushing to the stables, those that had managed to escape the fires, but were beaten back from the explosive heat.

“Shadow!” she screamed, Estel holding tight to her shoulder as around them the roof threatened to fall.

“We have to jump!”

“Jump?”

“Jump!” and with that Estel shoved her from the top of the roof and onto the ground below. Her arms flailed, legs kicking and wiggling as her eyes closed and her body landed with a sickening crunch.

Darkness now. Yet everything in her body ached like she had jumped from the height of a cliff. Tears ran down her cheeks. So they were memories. Nothing but the horrible memories of her life all collected into one terrifying moment. She didn’t want to remember. Life went by quick enough and she had thought she had suffered enough. Did the Twins not think so?

Her eyes fluttered as a cool breath of air touched her body. She could see herself lying there—broken and crippled off in the trees. Estel had long since gone and as she watched, she couldn’t believe her eyes.

Phantom was buried. She was deep inside the safety of the forest, surrounded by the coolness of the breeze and the greens that made up the pines and the leaved trees. Her eyes were closed, her breath shallow and ragged—hair singed and face so coated in mud. Her nose wrinkled and her body coughed softly as her eyes opened. She was surprised to find that her mouth and nose had been covered in a damp cloth, and even more surprised to find that she couldn’t move to pull the cloth from her face. She began to struggle, her eyes widening as she looked down. Her entire body, minus her head, had been buried under the earth.

“Help!” she screamed, feeling the weight of the earth sink against her lungs and crush the air from around her limp limbs. Phantom did not have to wait long. Almost as soon as her voice had stopped echoing around the air she could hear, and feel, the drumming of hooves against the ground. Closer it came till she could hear only the snort of the horse and the light tinkling of bells. Before she could get out a nervous hello she was quickly face to face with the most wild and uncivilized girl she had ever met. Perhaps only just fourteen, the girl’s brilliant green eyes stared unafraid into Phantom’s own. The girl cocked her head, hair so long that it created a curtain for both of their faces and so matted, Phantom wondered if instead of hair they were actually pieces of rope.

“Erm…can you help?” Phantom asked as the wild-girl cocked her head. Then without warning she began to pull the earth up with her fingers and nails. She moved like a dog, pulling the freshly dug earth off of her body little by little. Finally the wild-girl was able to free an arm and as time passed Phantom began to help unbury herself.

“Ari,” the wild-girl said suddenly, her eyes meeting back to Phantoms with such a rich shade of blue that Phantom, at first, thought that she had imagined that the girl had green eyes. No, not a girl-Ari. That was her name. Phantom smiled and pointed to herself.

“Phantom,” she said and a moment later the horse that Ari had been riding was pushing its muddy face into her own. She gasped and nearly fell over—the horse was stepping on her still unburied legs and Ari was quick to react as she began to whicker and make the same noise as the horse. Phantom stared. So she was crazy. That was nice.

Phantom was just about to start screaming when, even more to her amazement, the horse moved. She stared at Ari, her eyes wide as she blinked.

“You can talk to animals?”

“His name is Shadow. He says that he knows you.”

“Shadow?” she watched as the horse swiveled his ears forward at the sound of his name. So it was him. Just coated in mud. She looked at Ari, the girl who was clearly enlightened and could speak to animals.

“For the burns,” she said suddenly, picking up the earth and rubbing it on her arm. Phantom stared. So this girl had managed to save her horse and her all in the same go? Before she could say anything Ari rose, spoke a few words the horse and stood. Without another word the girl made her way back into the trees. She didn’t come back either.

End Flashbacks


Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Ice. The elements had touched her all, claiming her back into the circle of energy. One thing becoming the next and Phantom was sucked deeper into the frozen wasteland. Her eyes had once again opened to the icy caves, shimmering blue and green from her breath as beside her head a small pool had formed from the heat of her lips. Around her she could see the shoes and bare feet of those surrounding her. Her eyes flickered up, wisps of steam circling above her head. Water crystalized as it left her breath, fluttering back around her as snowflakes that fell onto her flushed skin. Her hands were clutched to her chest and the first pair of eyes she met were Kirsten’s. He looked at her sadly, his dark red eyes filled with a lovers longing.

“You poor dear,” he said, watching as she quivered on the ground.

“Go away!” she snapped, “Let me die in piece, free from you and your evil!”

“Relax,” he purred, taking off his cloak. As it fluttered over her shoulders, Phantom realized that it had become transparent. It settled lightly over her shoulders and soon she found she was able to stand once again, without pain. The icy world around her had vanished and she was sitting upright in a field. All around her was the stagnant air of this word, decorated with the red colored poppies that dominated the majority of the landscape. Her eyes flashed, and Kirsten smiled, warmer now, his cheeks were flushed with color and those red-red eyes were slowly changing to brown.

“What are you?” she asked, nervously watching as his pity rose into that of a small smirk. Beside him, she finally noticed a woman with green eyes. She was holding his hand and smiling gently, holding the reins to a horse. “Ari?”

The woman nodded with a small sad smile, reaching her hand for Phantom’s. So Kirsten had completed the hunt. Ari would be dead…Phantom suddenly shook her head. Were these just memories as well? Were the Twins teasing her?

“No Phantom,” Ari said with a small sad smile that could have torn the heartstrings of any man, “You are in the Red Meadow.”

“Red Meadow?”

“It is the true crossing between the worlds. Come with us.”

“Who are you?”

“We are the dead,” Kirsten said with a wicked grin, “We are the forms of your memories.”

“Memories?” Phantom asked. Ari gave a small nod, her fingers twitching softly in a beckoning moment. She waited till Phantom took it, pulling her up from the sitting position on the ground. With the touch and a breath of air Phantom could suddenly see. The haze that had blurred the vision of the meadow had vanished and every flower was now defined in perfect detail. The stagnant dead air had been misplaced and a cool breeze stroked along her face and ruffled the strands of her silver hair. The three ahead of her no longer appeared like ghostly apparitions, white with read soulless eyes. They had regained their color. Ari’s blonde hair as gold as honey and Kirsten’s eyes so light they were a ruddy brown. Their lips were flushed and cheeks pink with life and blood. Phantom was so taken back by the sudden change and beauty that surrounded her that it took all of her strength not to cry.

“Does that mean I am dead?” Phantom asked nervously.

“You are in the Meadow. The in-between. If you want you may pass on, or you can remain here longer,” Ari explained gently, “All you have to cross over into the trees.”

“What’s behind the trees? Are the Twins waiting for me? Do they really exist? What about the old stories?”

“Hush!” Kirsten snapped, “None of the living may know what lies beyond.”

Phantom could feel him withdrawing, his eyes flashing dangerously as he looked around almost nervously. Ari had also grown a fearful expression on her face, but she stood her ground heroically. Phantom frowned slightly, her brows knitting together in confusion. Was now her time? Did she really have a choice? Her eyes turned behind her, looking back towards the grey light where she knew the ice lay in wait. Around her it became warmer; she could move her fingers and nervously she reached out to Shadow, running her finger along his jaw and nose. Could she really leave this?

That’s when she saw them.

Phantom didn’t have to say anything, both Ari and Kirsten split apart and soon she was wrapped in the warm embrace of her parents.

“Mother! Father!”

They held her tightly, smoothing over her hair and holding her tightly as she finally broke into joyful tears. Behind, Kirsten and Ari stood watching, their eyes smiling as they watched their embrace.

“Is he here too?” she asked excitedly, turning with her parents toward the trees. There she saw a face. Green eyes were laughing at her, a flash of white-blonde hair. She didn’t look back. Phantom went running towards the trees, tears running down her face and her mouth calling his name as she neared the trees. As she leapt over the bridge between grass and trees a hand clasped hers and both Estel and Phantom vanished.

Outside the wind began to die down, releasing from the confines of the cave a small giggle and a sigh. The snow ceased to pelt the skin and from the top of all the tallest points came the giggles of the unknown, celebrating the end of the snowstorm.