Author Topic: When the River Runs Red (Chapter 2)  (Read 2175 times)

Offline Loccora

  • Familiar Grounds Dweller
  • **
  • Posts: 93
  • Country: 00
  • Floof-O-Meter: 1
    • View Profile
When the River Runs Red (Chapter 2)
« on: April 18, 2020, 04:18:57 am »
Hello, Kae again with another chapter! I'm putting an announcement right here real quick for any returning readers that I am changing the name of the story. After this chapter, it will be continued as 'The Blood Wolf,' so keep an eye out for the following chapters under that name.

Anyways, let me know what you think about this chapter!

______________

Rage. Burning, blinding rage flickered like a flame beneath her skin as she paced along the edge of the camp. The smell of blood still burned her nose, but that had long been pushed to the back of her mind. The wound carved into her hind leg stung with each step she took, but the Dire was not about to give up. She would stand guard and wait all night if that’s what it came to. Whether fortunately or unfortunately, that time was cut short when another scent alerted her that there was someone else still in the camp.

    Aya whirled around with a snarl as a figure emerged from the trees, with yellow eyes just as wide and surprised as hers at first glance. “Eztli?”

    There, the head Guard of the Moors towered over her, looking just as horrified as the young dire had been when she had returned. His ears were flat as he took in the scene, but it wasn’t the sight of the massacre that seemed to have shocked him, but more the sight of Aya, standing there in the midst of it all.  Quickly realizing his fear and recovering from her relief, Aya stepped towards him, slowly. “Eztli, it isn’t what it looks like-”

    “What are you doing here?” He growled in a low voice.

    Aya knew something was off. The same feeling of dread was forming a knot in her stomach that she’d felt earlier. That smell…

    “I went against Matlalihuitl’s orders,” she confessed. “I wandered out to the City’s borders to see if I could track down Kieran for him. Nahul came to find me and-”

    “Nahul left the camp?” Eztli cursed under his breath, stepping through the mud towards Aya. Large black lips were pulled back to reveal his large fangs. They were lined with a deep crimson, and dread filled the smaller wolf.

    It was never the smell that was missing. The Ikrans….they were never behind this. The scent had been here the whole time. The large shapes of larger Dire’s emerged from the woods, eyes glowing and the silence filled with deep growls and gleaming teeth peaked through the darkness. Aya stumbled backward as Eztli continued forward with the same murderous glint in his eyes as the Ikran wolves had. “It was not my intention for you to return so soon. I would have thought that Colel and Haldwin were smart enough to take care of you,” he growled. There wasn’t any warning in his voice. Only that of pure disappointment and determination. “I thought for sure that Itzcali’s death would be enough to tie that damn Nahul to the camp.”

    “Itzcali was murdered,” Aya snarled, her mind racing. Were they trying to circle her? What had Eztli been planning? “Nahul killed him. He-” She’d been baited. All those months ago. Could it be true that Nahul hadn’t been a traitor? “I’m warning you, Eztli. I’ll tear your throat out.”

    How many Dires had sided with him? What was even going on? Aya couldn’t begin to process it. Eztli. Her father’s most trusted guard.

    “Come now, Princess,” he sneered. “Let’s end this quickly.”

    “Eztli!” Aya whirled around to see a smaller Dire bounding in from across the Moors, fur streaked with mud and blood. There was a scent sticking to him that she couldn’t quite figure out. It was musty and rotted. Almost like the smell of a corpse. “I come with news of the City. Colel and Haldwin are dead. Prince Kieran hasn’t returned yet. Last we saw of him, he was chasing another into the woods.”

    Eztli shot Aya a dark look. “Shit,” he growled, turning to look over his shoulder at the larger wolves behind him. “Fan out. Search for the Reaper. And I’ll bet a weeks worth of prey that the beloved prince is with her.” Eztli turned his attention back to Aya with a low snarl, and she flattened her ears. “As for you….”

    Aya whirled, tearing through the mud and grass of the Moorland. If she could just make it into the woods, maybe she could lose him. But the pain in her leg was making it nearly impossible for her to see straight. The edges of her vision were blurred and her trembling legs threatened to give out under her. Chances were that Eztli was still right behind her. Ending her life at the fangs of one she once trusted wasn’t entirely the way she wanted to go. Maybe if she’d been able to stand up for herself and fight; to get revenge for what her former packmate had done….but who was she kidding? Eztli was nearly the size of the Ikran Dires, there was no way that even Nahul could beat him, alone.

    If Nahul was facing off against two Ikrans, who’s to say she even made it out?

    Aya slowed to a panting, stumbling trot as the sound of Eztli’s footsteps faded, lost in the distance. She couldn’t stop for long, that much she knew. But the pain in her leg flared with each rapid beat of her heart.

    I cannot think like that. Nahul is alive. She’s coming back.

    Darkness loomed around her, trees towering over her and casting black shadows across the Earth under her paws. The clouds were beginning to open, the rain releasing and falling down, clinging to her pelt. This could buy her some time, and wash away her scent. But not quickly enough. Glancing down, she lifted her leg, paws dripping and matted with mud. She wouldn’t be able to hide, leaving those prints behind. Taking a moment to curse, she whirled her back towards the treeline, stalking farther into the woods. Ears perked, she weaved her way slowly through the roots and overgrown grass. Every rustle of leaves or snap of a twig had her bracing for a fight, fur standing on its end and teeth bared.

    Please, Nahul. Tell me you’re safe. Tell me Kieran got to you in time.

    Weight barreled into her side, latching onto her as they tumbled across the ground. Aya kicked up with her hind legs, knocking the figure off of her. He rolled, pouncing to his feet almost immediately with a snarl. She crouched before him, ears flat and fur raised. Everything about the Dire was prepared for attack. Narrowed eyes and even the smallest curl of his tail.

    Power pulsed through every muscle in his body, eyes bright with genuine hate and ferocity. In a flash, he sprang at her, jaws wide open and teeth ready to tear into her flesh. Aya flinched, shrinking into the mud. A vicious bark pierced the air, instead, and she dared to look. Before her stood the largest wolf she’d ever seen. Twice the size of any Dire around, even more so than the Ikrans. Shining red fur glittered with the rain that clung to it, and below it’s massive black paws was her former packmate. Through the rain and mud, she couldn’t make out what was blood and what was mud. Still, he twisted and squirmed under the weight of the red wolf.

    “Rezi,” another voice commanded, and Aya twisted around to see another, roughly the same size as the female, charging towards them. “Let him go. He can run back to his pack of bastard traitors and tell them what he saw.” Yellow eyes flashed as he crouched in front of Eztli with a sneer pulling back at his lips. Eztli snapped his fangs at the male, who remained just out of reach.

    Rezi, presumably the red wolf, scowled, and lifted her large paw with a scoff, lashing her tail in reluctance. Eztli scrambled to stand, and for a fearful moment, Aya wondered if he was going to try and take on the larger wolf. One warning look from Rezi, and nothing but a disdainful growl came from his lips before he turned, retreating to the Moors in defeat.  Safe in the tall grass and shrouded in the dark, Aya hoped that by some chance they hadn’t seen her. But of course, that moment was short lived as the male turned to face her.

The look in his eyes was cold, disinterested as he surveyed the small female at his feet. It was like he’d never seen a wolf as small as her. Aya had never felt so small, before, and that was even after facing off against two Ikran Dires.

“Rezi,” he barked over his shoulder, and she turned. Her eyes shared the same bored and annoyed look that his did. “Follow Eztli back to his hideout, and report back to me. I have something far more interesting to take back with me.”

Eztli? Is he saying he knows him?

Rezi sighed, standing and shaking the rain from her pelt, flicking the mud from her paws in an effort to seem annoyed. “Sure thing, your highness,” she grumbled, before lumbering off into the darkness.

Aya watched in awe as she disappeared through the trees. What kind of wolves were these? And why did they bother saving her to begin with? Her gaze flicked over to the large male that circled her, slowly, as though he were eyeing her as prey.
Maybe the question she should be asking was how they knew Eztli.

“Can you stand?”

“What?” The she-wolf blinked, taken a bit by surprise when he spoke to her.

“The wound on your leg.” He nodded to it with an annoyed flick of the ear. “Can you walk on it?”

“Right,” she shook of her moment of confusion and awe as she stood on shaking legs. Not much weight could be put on her hind leg, but it was enough that she could limp on it. For how long, though, would be a different story. “Might I ask, who are you, anyways?”

“The name’s Nox,” he responded, and Aya wasn’t sure why she was surprised when he actually answered. He looked over her one last time before scanning the area around them, nose in the air. Almost instantly, his ears pulled back and eyes narrowed as he picked up on something. All Aya was greeted with was rain. “Get moving,” he commanded. “There’s two more Ikran-bastards lurking around.”

Aya followed behind Nox, head low and shoulder hunched slightly. Her body was almost twitching, urging her to run while she still had the chance. Though the pain and nauseating smell of blood reminded her of how she couldn’t. She’d likely bleed out trying to get away. Besides, it wasn’t like Nox would let her get away. Even if she managed to, with his size, she wouldn’t stand a chance.
“Where are you taking me?”

“The Tunnels of Neona,” he answered, his voice edging on the proud side, where Aya’s blood ran cold. “Or as the legends like to call them, the Labyrinth of the Damned.”

“Those are just fantasies,” the she-wolf reasoned, desperately. “Tales to keep the young inside their dens at night, and to keep those in training from straying too far beyond the borders. They-”

“And from what I can tell, the fantasies worked real well for you,” he growled, flicking his tail. “But I assure you, the tunnels are in fact real. They are no mere fantasy. Tell me, do I look damned to you?” Nox  grinned a sickly wide grin over his shoulder, showing off his teeth.

Nox’s face was unsettling in the dark, with his dark, matted fur clinging to his skin from the rain, eyes too yellow for a normal Dire and teeth too sharp. The scars visible to Aya were too deep and too fresh to look healed, but not enough that they were new. The horror on Aya’s face must not have been hidden well in the dark, because Nox only chuckled, facing forward again as they walked. “Maybe you do think so,” he mused, almost pleased. “And maybe I am. But they say only the damned can enter the Labyrinth. Or so the stories say. So tell me, Ayauhteotl, are you damned?”

Just some questions for anyone wanting to answer for fun:

1) Do you think Nox and Rezi know who Eztli is?
2) How do you think Nox knows Aya's real name?
3) What do you think the situation was surrounding Itzcali and Nahul?

Offline Dark_heart

  • Professional Razmirz's Cheese Stealer
  • Pack & Pride Representative
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,363
  • Country: 00
  • Floof-O-Meter: 83
  • -- Moving account --
    • View Profile
Re: When the River Runs Red (Chapter 2)
« Reply #1 on: April 18, 2020, 07:08:15 am »
1) Do you think Nox and Rezi know who Eztli is?
2) How do you think Nox knows Aya's real name?
3) What do you think the situation was surrounding Itzcali and Nahul?
1. They know who is Eztli.
2. Nox know it 'cause he met Aya when she was puppy. But she don't remember that.
3. I think Itzcali killer Nahul.

About story: it's amazing like all time c: I'm waiting for new chapter!
On new account Aiiokia