War
Luz eyes suddenly opened in the middle of the night… it had to had been very late because it was almost pitch black in the cave. She moved slightly and her paws found a tiny figure still huddled next to her. She smiled as she looked down at the little red ball of fur…flapjack had become so clingy, that he hadn't let go of her once since she got back to the den. But she just kept assuring him and let him stay with her—secretly glad at how much he depended on her and wanted her to be safe.
She looked down at him, saw his fluffy tail thumping the ground and his tongue was lolling out while one of his ears was perked up. Fighting the urge to laugh she looked around her, wondering what had caused her to wake up… though that was answered almost at once when she suddenly felt the breeze of something cold on her sore back and realized that this was what had dragged her reluctantly from her sleep.
She then noticed that there was someone missing from their warm wolf pile. Curious, she decided to get up and went to go and check out what was going on. All of them curled up, mostly around Ava and her pups before they went to sleep that night, so it took her a long time before she was able to pull herself away from the tangled mass of legs, tails, and fur and left to go and find their fearless leader.
The storm had mostly stopped by now, but it was still snowing when she got outside. The world was covered in a blanket of white and against the darkness of the sky, made everything look like something out of a story book.
And there was amity sitting there with her back to her, staring out at the sleeping forest below them; the snow falling around her in a gentle flurry.
'Amity?' she asked her. She looked back to see her before she turned back to gaze at the forest. For a moment she didn't say anything.
'What?' She asked, and Luz could feel herself getting angry at how cold she was acting to her all of a sudden. She marched over to her and demanded, 'What?! That's all you can say? What is with you?'
'Dunno what you're talking about,' she said sourly.
'Why are you suddenly acting like this?' she demanded. 'You and I always got along fine up until now. So why are you acting so rude all of a sudden?'
Amity turned to look at her. 'Look, I don't need to explain to you what's going on if you can't even figure it out yourself. Get back inside where you belong.'
She glared at her and turned until she was now standing in front her, of course she turned her head away from her as if she didn't want to look at her. Finally, luz lost it, and pounced. Amity didn't see it coming and thus didn't have a chance to defend herself. She had jumped up on her and had her pinned beneath her faster than blinking.
Amity stared up at her as she stared back. 'What's your deal?!' she demanded, trying not to show her how upset she was. 'Why are you like this now? Just what happened with you?'
Amity glared back and suddenly she was on top of her and had her pinned this time. 'Nothing's wrong ok?' She snarled at her, hot teeth in her face. 'Now just get back in there alright? Just leave me alone!'
And just like that, she turned and left as if she wasn't worth her time. She just stared after amity —wondering what was going on with their leader… not understanding why she felt as if her heart was being torn in half.
__________
Luz glared at amity as she continued walking away from her.
'I'm going,' she growled back at her. 'And don't you dare follow me! Go back in the den where you belong!'
And without another word, she took off into the darkness. Luz was so angry that she wanted nothing more than to run after her and to rip out her throat. She looked around her furiously, now where was that idiot going? She wasn't going to let amity go without giving her a real answer here. She began walking in the same direction that she disappeared off to… all the while, going through her mind to what was happening here.
Amity woke up this morning, treating her no differently than normal, and even when they went out to hunt, she still was her usual self. Sure she was nice and cranky, but that's how she always was. But after she was ambushed by that wolf, mason … and then saved by ghost … she suddenly started treating her like she's the enemy!
Determined to get some real answers she picked up the pace, determined to find out what she was so angry about.
_________________
She could hear the howls of belos’s pack but they were a far way off—hopefully she wouldn't have to worry about them. Almost getting killed once by one of those wolves was enough for her for one day. She continued to run off alone into the night… scared, but determined nonetheless. Suddenly, the shadow of wings came flying over above, and she had turned her head to see that it had only been a owl soaring overhead, obviously trying to find a place to rest for the night.
But still no sign of that green wolf… there wasn't anything she could do but run. The storm was coming—she could feel it rather than see it through this darkness. But the temperature was quickly dropping and the sky clouded over, blocking out the stars. If she didn't find Amity soon, she would have to return without her. The last thing she wanted was to be stuck out here all night, in the middle of a blizzard, with no shelter.
She used her paws to climb over the rougher parts of the boulders and rocks; and kept going up higher and higher—not sure to why she was putting herself through all this….that’s right it was love damn it! Finally, after the snow started to fall, and the wind was beginning to blow, she decided that if she couldn't find her in just five more minutes, she would go back and forget this whole thing. But no sooner had she thought that when she suddenly heard a terrible snarling sound ahead of her…
She stopped dead, listening with all her might. That was amity’s growl—she was sure of it—and judging from the tone, she sounded angry.
Concerned, she leapt down a small mound of rocks and cautiously walked forward. There was a large clearing passed a tower of stones. She hadn't been this far up before, and was growing scared that she wouldn't be able to get back on her own when she heard it again. Snarling, yelping, scratching, and howling… howls of pain.
She stepped forward and carefully looked past the pillar to see what was happening. What she saw made her freeze with terror. There was a large clearing, surrounded by all sides by stone walls… with the ground littered with bones.
Whole skeletons—picked clean—covered the ground. Mounds of them piled up around the clearing so that only the center was cleared… and standing there was another pack of wolves. At least 10 to 20 fully grown wolves… all different colors, with their eyes glowing an iridescent yellow and their pearl white fangs glittered maliciously. All of them the size of fully-grown German shepherds…
But what scared her the most was that amity was there as well. The green wolf with purple bangs was walking in a wide circle, with another wolf doing the same, their fangs barred, neither one taking their eyes off the other. Around them was circle of wolves there as well… she recognized some of them at once such as the pale kikimora , the untamed terra , and the demonic belos.
And it was belos that amity was pacing… it looked almost like a cage match with the fighters in the center, the crowd around them—hungry for blood.
This was crazy! What was she doing here? She could get killed!
____________________
'It was foolish to come here without someone to back you up,' belos purred darkly, his mouth open as he showed off his teeth. 'You must have gotten over-confident now that mason is dead. Well, in case you forgotten, that useless wolf was nothing more than a living stomach. He ate more than the rest of us combined. To be honest, we were thinking about sacrificing him if things got worse.'
'Oh, I know what I'm doing,' Amity snarled back. 'I just want to finish this on my own.'
The other wolves just howled at her , some of them taking little swipes at her. Belos chuckled. 'Really? If memory serves me correctly, you couldn't fight me without that human girl or the rest of your pack to back you up.'
'Yeah?' Amity asked. 'Well, if you're so confident that I can't take you on then why do you always have your pathetic flunkies there to do the dirty work?'
Luz nodded fiercely. 'You tell 'em, Amity !' she thought. The other wolves didn't think so however, and they all began growling furiously at her, some of them actually taking a few steps forward.
'Oh, why waste my energy?' Belos asked lightly. 'But why don't you and the rest of your weak pack get out of our territory? We had an agreement! You get that forest, while we claim these cliffs!'
'I told you!' Amity snarled. 'We have no choice! The humans are there ready to hunt because it’s your fault ! They already killed many of my pack!'
Luz flinched horribly at the memory of Lilith and flapjack’s parents.
'Well, that's too bad,' belos sneered. It’s the law of the wilderness
'Oh, don't play like that with me,' Amity growled back. 'You're pack is hardly innocent. I see you all sneaking down into our forest all the time hunting! If anything, you broke the agreement first!'
'You're point?' Belos grinned. 'But I have to say, you are either very brave, or very stupid for just coming right up into our den like this. Personally, I go with option number 2. Now, why are you here?'
The two of them continued to pace each other, and Luz felt that she was about to be sick with fear. Yes, why was Amity here?
'You know why I'm here,' she growled back. 'My pack has had to live in fear of you and had to fight for their lives with your…' she looked around at the surrounding wolves, 'Beasts for years! But I'm here to warn you… you keep away from the rest of my pack or I will kill each of you!'
Luz’s eyes widened. That was why she was here? To risk her life to try and protect them all?
Belos began to laugh. It was a loud howl, echoing off the tall, surrounding walls and by the others. It sounded almost like thunder to her as the laughing continued, the wind and snow blowing harder, wiping their fur around.
Amity didn't move from where she stood, continuing to glare. Finally, belos stopped and looked down at her. 'Now I see… you're here to beg us to leave your wolves alone is that right?'
'I'd never beg,' she growled back menacingly. 'I'm only here to give you all a warning. If you come anywhere near them then you won't live past the cold.'
The others slowly started to close the circle around them, all of them growling in a threatening way.Luz’s heart began to beat a little bit faster as she watched them. She wanted to scream for amity to stop being an idiot and run away. But she couldn't move if her life depended on it; she just kept watching and waiting, wondering how on earth that idiot would get herself out of this.
The two wolves were speaking again and she felt a shiver of fear going down her spine at what belos said. 'I have to say, I'm impressed with that new female of yours, Amity. She's more wild than any other wolf I've ever seen before. Surly even you must've noticed.'
'Yeah, so what?' She barked back.
Belos tilted his head. 'I see now why she has gotten your attention. To be honest, she's caught mine as well after she’s Oswald’s kid. A true born lupus wolf.'
Luz began to back up, not liking how he said that. Nor apparently did amity.
'You leave her alone! You hear me?!' She barked furiously.
Belos chuckled darkly. What he said next, she didn't catch for he spoke to softly for even her super hearing to pick up. But whatever he said caused Amity to lose it completely. She charged forward, aiming straight for belos’s throat.
'Sick'm,' he said.
And all at once, all the wolves attacked. Each one had grabbed a hold of Amity , —all of them snarling and biting. Unable to take it anymore, she charged forward and jumped in on the fray.
She landed on top of one of the smaller ones—a male Adrian Graye and bit down hard. He howled in pain, trying to throw her off, but his scream was what caused them all to look up.
'Luz!' Amity howled when she saw who it was. The other wolves turned to look at her, giving them, their only chance. With all of her strength, she reared back and shook them off. Knowing that they would both be killed if they stayed any longer, Luz let go and screamed at her , 'Run!'
Freeing herself, the two of them bolted, heading for the only way out. 'WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?' She screamed at her.
While her blood continued to pump adrenaline throughout her body, she was still able to tell her off. 'What do you think you idiot?' she yelled back at her. 'You were acting like a real jerk and I wanted to know what was going on with you! When I finally found you, you were being attacked! What was I supposed to do? And what were you thinking coming here all on your own?! At least take the rest of us if you were going to do something so stupid!'
She began to curse her out, but that was before several pairs of eye appeared in front of them. They both skidded to a stop to see the eyes surrounding them, blocking the path.
She saw the little wolf that she attacked came forward, his back was bleeding where she had bit him and felt a surge of smug pride going through her. Adrian Graye snarled. 'You stupid wench. You think you can out run us? Do you honestly think you can fight us off? This is our home territory!'
'Oh, shut it Adrian Graye!' Amity snarled back at her.
She then heard belos’s laughed heartily and was accompanied by mocking howls. While he was finishing off his fit of laughter the other eyes started moving and they then took shape as the rest of his pack appeared.
Luz wanted to faint right then and there but her body was stiff with fright. On his face sat a satisfied smirk that did it. Like Amity had done, she charged forward and attacked. Clearly not seeing it coming he didn't have time to react as she shot fire glyphs before biting into his throat. She was being tossed around as easily as mason had done to her earlier. She could hear him howling… whether it was from pain or fury she wasn't sure…
Suddenly she felt a familiar figure behind her and grabbed her by the back of her neck and pulled. Amity had pulled her off and the two of them bolted again. 'You really are insane!' She yelled at her as belos made the sounds of a screeching howl that hurt her ears.
'I couldn't help it!' she shouted back. No knowing where they were going, they continued to run—left, right, under, over… it went on and on until the angry howls faded away behind them.
piercing yelp split the air, making belos skid to a halt. “What was that?!”
Just as suddenly, Belos saw something horrifying: the severed head of a wolf flying through the air. It bounced between Belos and Adrian Graye,.
“What on Earth…?!” Terra gasped.
A clamor of barking followed. “It’s Oswald and his tribe!!” one of the white wolf guards , shouted as he and his group dashed towards the pit.
“What?!” Belos yelped in fear.
The next sound was the splitting wolf howl and then several more.
Moments later.
Maybe they had lost them, but luz suspected that it was because of the weather. The wind was now blowing so hard that she couldn't see more than a foot in front of her as the heavy snow and hail came tumbling down. Her paws ached as the ice and snow dug into her sensitive paws, and her lungs burned with the effort of breathing.
Amity grabbed her by the neck again and told her, 'We have to get out of this storm! There's a cave not far from here! We can rest there until it stops.'
Luz didn't answer—merely closing her eyes to keep them from freezing as she allowed her to steer her to the far left, wondering how long it would take, and wishing that she was at home taking a hot bath before getting into a warm bed as she listened to her family getting ready for bed. All at once, the storm stopped and she opened her eyes to see that they were in a very narrow cave with a low ceiling.
'Right,' Amity grunted as she let go of her fur, 'Well, this should do until the storm's over and…' she didn't finish for luz saw that she was bleeding and she stumbled.
'Oh, Sorry amity ,' she gasped. She ran forward and supported her weight until she was able to lie down. 'You're hurt,' she whispered. She looked all over her body to see her beautiful green fur was streaked with red blood.
Panicking, she began to heal the injuries, with a healing glyph like she had done with hunter the day they met. She winced, but didn't complain as she also began to lick to a bad bite on her front leg.
'What were you thinking?' Amity demanded her. 'Following me like that? You were lucky you weren't killed!'
'Well, excuse me for being worried!' she told her darkly. She lay down next to her trying to share her body warmth. The cave was so small, that it only went a few feet in so she was able to sit comfortably against the back wall with her lying in front of her —shielding amity from the storm at the entrance. They both looked at the opening and saw that the storm outside was fierce—so wild that they were unable to see out.
'Looks like we may be here for awhile,' she sighed, nuzzling her head against her side. Through the noise, she could hear the howling from belos’s pack and she shifted closer to amity. She nudged her head and said, 'It's alright. Not even belos and his idiots would bother to track us through all this.'
Snarls, growls, and barks started echoing around them, but she knew that they weren't near them. She turned to amity and asked, 'So… just what were you up to earlier?'
Amity froze as she looked at her. 'I was just angry,' she confessed.
'Well, yeah,' Luz barked. 'And sure, I've been angry before, but never did I think about going out and risking my life like that! What were you thinking going to see belos all by yourself like that? You would've been killed by now if they had their way!'
she grunted, looking away from her. 'I would've found my way out of it sooner or later.'
Luz started growing angry again. 'You jerk! You scared me half to death! You were outnumbered! Not even you could've gotten out of that mess on your own!'
'I could've if you didn't jump in!' She barked back. If luz still had human hands, she would punched her lights out for saying something like that. Instead she settled for swatting her paw at her head. 'Don't ever scare me like that again!' she yelled at amity, furious at how miserable she was suddenly feeling.
That was something she only just noticed as well.
'What are you blubbering for?' She demanded. 'I'm alive aren't I?'
'That's not the point!' she yelled.
'Ok, then what is?!' She barked back at her and Luz buried her face in her side, surprising them both.
'I was scared…' she muttered softly, not knowing if she was talking to amity or herself. 'I thought that you were going to die… you have to promise me that you won't do something like that again.'
The two of them stayed quiet for a long time, just listening to the sound of the howling wind outside, just trying to huddle as close as possible for warmth. Finally, Amity lowered her head and nuzzled hers with her long snout. 'I won't…' she said so softly, that she almost didn't recognize her voice.
'You promise?' she asked, suddenly feeling warm again as her eyelids began to close.
'I promise…'
And with those words, the two of them were fast asleep.