Alliances: Part Four by solargriffin |  |
FIVE DAYS HAD passed since the camp had been decimated, and not a glimpse
of the outlaws had been seen. At first, everyone had been on guard, expecting
a strike at any moment. Yet, as time when on and there was no activity from
the bandits, everyone became more relaxed, with the exception of Griffin. He
kept reminding us not to get too lax, as the merciless Lupes were just waiting
for us to make a mistake.
It was late in the afternoon, and the pack was
lying around rather bored. About and hour ago, Emerald discovered she was out
of some ingredient needed to prepare dinner, and explained nothing could be
done without it. Always willing to lend a helping paw, the pack's Peace Keeper,
a fire Lupe by the name of Twister, volunteered to run to town and pick some
of the stuff up. Unable to start the chores of preparing a meal, we all had
some spare time on our hands, so there we sat, at the fire pit, watching as
a Lupe by the name of Anzy told the pups a tale from his puppy days. The guy
had a knack for storytelling, and he used all different voices and a load of
gestures to set the mood. In no time he had the entire group captivated.
"So there I was," he narrated in a serious voice
accompanied with a flourish of his flamed paws, "with only my Sword of Domar
to protect me from three big Skeiths and their frost canons." He paused for
dramatic effect and everyone leaned forward. Smiling, he continued. "Suddenly,
I let out a cry, held my sword above my head, rushed forward, and-" The tension
was too much for the pups.
"Whad'ya do, Anzy?" one asked excitedly. "Did
ya cut 'em ta pieces?"
"Yeah!" another piped up. "Or did ya beat 'em
back with a faerie ability?" All off us looked at Anzy expectantly. He paused
and blinked, and suddenly his ears drooped and he gave a meek smile.
"Well no, actually," he said, twiddling his
thumbs. "You see, I tripped and landed on my snout a few feet in front of them."
There was a long pause as everyone stared at him. Then, we all broke into a
fit of hysterical laughter. After a moment, Anzy joined us.
"Graceful, Anzy! Well done!" Sin the starry
Lupess teased in between breaths.
"Yep, you sure showed them!" a blue Lupe by
the name of Sheriff gasped.
"Yeah well," Anzy replied once he had stopped
laughing, "if I ran into them now, things would be different."
"They sure would," Sheriff broke in. "Now maybe
you'd fall on them, instead of at their feet!" Another round of laughter followed
this remark, until Sin's brother Yin looked up.
"Hey! Twister's back," he pointed out happily.
I wiped a tear from my eye as I looked up. Sin was squinting at the horizon
as Lupe and rider galloped towards us.
"Yeah, he is," she said slowly. "I wonder why
he's in such a hurry?" She was right; Twister sped forward at full gallop, slumped
towards the front of his saddle.
"Maybe he's hungry and wants to get dinner started,"
Sheriff suggested. We all watched in silence as Twister thundered forward. When
he was a few yards off, his horse Gary slowed to a halt, and Twister fell from
the saddle, a large gash in his left shoulder. A cry went out from the pack
as everyone rushed to their fallen comrade. A Mystery Island Lupess named Niri
was the first at his side.
"Oh, Twister!" she cried. "What happened?" Soon,
everyone was gathered around him asking the very same question. But then Griffin's
voice rang out over the chaos, and we fell silent.
"Stand back, everyone; stand back! Give the
poor guy some air." Everyone backed off, except Niri, who remained kneeling
by Twister's side. As Griffin came forward, the injured Lupe began to speak
in a frantic voice.
"Griffin! Town- waiting- now!" he continued
to stammer until the alpha held up his paws.
"Shhhh, calm down, calm down," he said softly.
"Now, take a deep breath," he paused while Twister heeded his order, "and tell
me what happened."
"The outlaws are in the town! They are destroying
everything, and when I tried to stop them, they swarmed me. The only reason
they let me escape was because they wanted me to deliver a message to you!"
Here he paused to catch his breath, and I narrowed my eyes, wishing I had been
there help poor Twister fight off the outlaws. The thought of thirty-to-one
sickened me. The cowards, they would not even give him a fair fight. A moment
later, Twister continued. "They want all of us at Bristle Burrow for a final
showdown, and if we don't show up, they're gunna burn down the whole town!"
Griffin's eyes narrowed at the threat, and he stood up.
"We'll be there all right, and when this is
over, they'll be sorry they messed with us," he growled, before addressing the
pack. "All right, everyone get your weapons and saddle up."
"Okay," came a shocking reply from Twister as
he attempted to get to his feet. I had to admire the Lupe's bravery. Even wounded
and exhausted, he was still willing to fight with his pack.
"I think you're going to have to sit this one
out, hun," Sin replied as she gently pushed him down with a starred paw. Griffin
nodded.
"Yeah, you're not going anywhere. Niri?" the
Lupess looked up. "You and Legacy stay and watch over Twister and the camp.
Everyone else, move out!" No one needed to be told twice. I ran over to my saddlebag,
got out my Cobrall dagger, and leapt onto my horse. By the time I gathered the
reins, Griffin was mounted and ready to ride. With a loud howl, he called us
to him, and sped away in a cloud of dust. I took off after him, and the rest
of the pack was not far behind. We rode in complete silence, giving all our
attention to the upcoming battle. All of us were determined to put an end to
the bandits' destruction once and for all.
At our rapid pace, we reached Bristle Burrow
in no time. As we galloped through the streets, we were met with a horrific
site. All the windowpanes were smashed, and the citizens were shrieking in terror
as the bandits looted the shops with savage greed. I pulled to a halt behind
Griffin when we reached the town square. There, the leader of the outlaws sat
on the mayor's speaking platform, idly fingering his sword.
"So," the stone alpha said, "you actually had
the courage to show up. I'm impressed, considering the beating you took from
us a few days ago."
"Hey!" Braver shouted angrily. "We were the
ones that sent your Lupes running!"
"Enough!" Griffin shouted. "Let's end this."
We swung off our horses and the outlaws rushed forward. Unsheathing our weapons,
we ran to meet them, and the battle began. The outlaws were fierce fighters,
but we had something they did not: camaraderie. When one of our Lupes stood
outnumbered and needed assistance, there was always someone there to fend off
the attackers; whereas the outlaws followed the "every man for himself" approach.
Thus, as the battle continued, we proved the stronger team. Looking up, I chanced
a glance around, to see how my friends were faring. To my left, Anzy was proving
himself to be a true fighter, as a band of outlaws fell before him; and to my
left, Sheriff stood surrounded by two skunk Lupes, waiting for their next move.
One of the Lupes lunged at his back, and Sheriff twisted to knock him with the
flat of his blade. Then, his other opponent leapt forward, snarling with rage,
and Sheriff brought the frying pan in his other paw down on the outlaw's head.
"Mwhahaha! Feel my wrath!" he cried as both
enemies fell unconscious, before leaping off to help Yin. Smiling I turned forward
just in time to spot an angry fire Lupe rushing me. I ducked his knife, caught
him on my shoulder, and flipped him over my back. Dusting my paws, I was feeling
pretty smug, until I turned to see the black Lupe, Blazer, towering over me,
sword ready to strike. When he saw the surprise in my eyes, he let out a gloating
laugh and lowered his weapon. I brace myself for the hit, but there was a sudden
thud. Blazer's eyes rolled back into his head, and he slumped to the ground
unconscious, revealing Aury standing behind him with a club. She smiled and
winked at me before bouncing off to claim her next victim.
As the sun began to set, the battle was drawing
to a close. Taking care of my final adversary, I wiped my starry brow and scanned
the field. Sheriff and Amaroq were winding up a large group of outlaws with
a rope as they sang an annoying victory chant, while Griffin and Braver were
finishing off the bandits that still had fight left in them. The rest of the
Canyoners
were securing the unconscious and wounded outlaws. In the growing vespers, I
took one last look around and a shadowy figure caught my eye. I snarled when
I saw it to be the stone alpha, abandoning his pack and slinking away. With
a growl, I dashed after him. He saw me coming and took off running, heading
out of town. I did not have to chase him very far, for Bristle Burrow was protected
on one side by a deep gorge that stretched for miles in either direction. He
skidded to a stop and the cliff's edge a peered down at the fatal drop. I halted
a few yards behind him, out of breath, but smiling nonetheless.
"This is it, pal. I'm afraid you've run out
of options." He lifted his eyes off the gorge and stared at me.
"Oh, but there is always an option, Alvator."
The statement took my by surprise, and was at a total loss for words. I stood
gaping for a good minute or two before finally managing,
"How do you-" but he cut me off.
"How do I know your name?" He gave a cruel laugh.
"That's easy. I recognised you the first minute I say you." He snarled and tapped
the scar on his cheek. "I never forgot you." I stood staring for a minute, still
getting over the shock, when an image came to me from five years back. I remembered
fighting a stone Lupe with my old friend Solar Gryph. I had wounded the thug,
but he still had enough energy to escape us and flee from the battle. The Lupe
laughed when he saw the recognition in my eyes.
"There, that wasn't so hard now, was it?" I
suddenly came to my senses and shook the memories, as well as the name from
my head.
"It doesn't matter if you know who I am. You're
finished, there is no way for you to escape this time!"
"Oh?" he said with an evil grin as his eyes
glanced over my shoulder. "I beg to differ!" With that, he lunged to my right
just as I heard Aury's voice say,
"Lone Star? What's going on?" Before I could
say another word, the stone Lupe leapt back to his position by the cliff, with
an arm around Aury's throat.
"So, what now, Alvator?" he sneered. "Me or
her?" Aury looked at me questioningly, obliviously confused by how the bandit
addressed me. I took no heed and put my paws up.
"Now hold on a second! Leave her out of this."
The outlaw laughed.
"Yeah, right. Now, what's it going to be?"
"Let's just talk about this!" I cried, unable
to control the panic in my voice.
"The time for talking is over," the stone Lupe
retorted, and he pushed Aury away and sped off in the opposite direction. I
was just about to dart after him when I heard a short yelp of distress. Turning
in time to see Aury teeter on the edge of the gorge, I watched horrified as
she fell into the gap. Forgetting my fleeing enemy, I leapt forward and grabbed
her paw. I paused for a moment, reaching over the cliff and clenching her paw,
while I allowed my heart to start beating again. Then, I let out a huge sigh,
and looked down at her.
"Don't worry, I got you," I reassured both her
and myself as I slowly pulled her back over the edge, were the two of us sat
panting. Just as we were getting to our feet, Amaroq ran up to us.
"Aury!" he cried, and she fell into his embrace.
"I was so worried." Taking little notice of them, I and stared off in the direction
the outlaw had disappeared. I was still numb from the encounter, so I hardly
noticed Aury trying to get my attention.
"Lone Star?" she asked for the third time. I
shook my head and looked down at white Lupess "Thank you," she said quietly.
I opened my mouth, but was at a loss for words. Finally, I snorted in acknowledgement
and walked back to the town.
When everyone had finally gathered in the square,
the moon was out and the stars twinkled overhead. The mayor and towns people
were in a state of ecstasy, and continued to thank us over and over. They officially
made all of us the "Heroes of Bristle Burrow" and had already begun setting
up a celebration party before the mayor had even given the order. However, Griffin
politely explained to the mayor that all of us were exhausted from the battle,
and that it would be much more beneficial to have the party tomorrow, after
we had rested. The mayor was extremely understanding, and immediately postponed
the celebration. I could not have been more grateful to Griffin for that. The
last thing I needed right now was to be forced to relive the fight, as the people
would surely want to hear the story over and over. So, we took our leave of
the town, and rode in silence back to camp. Everyone was far to tired to talk,
and as soon as we arrived, everyone made their way to their beds, many falling
asleep before their head touched the pillow. However, while everyone dreamed
on, I lied awake thinking. Confronting my past made me realise that I could
never stay with the Cougar Canyon; my heart would not allow it. I let out a
sigh and got up silently and went over to wake up my horse. He gave an angry
snort when I put on his saddle, obviously annoyed by being woken up in the middle
of the night for the second time in one week.
"Oh, get over it!" I told him. "You didn't have
to fight all day." It took a few more minutes to get everything packed. When
I finished, I grabbed the saddle and was ready to swing up when a voice stopped
me.
"You must really not like saying goodbye!" I
turned and came snout to snout with Griffin.
"Griffin, I-" but he held up a paw to stop me.
"There is no need to explain," he replied as
he held out a paw. "I wish you luck on your journey, and hope you find what
you are looking for." I took up his paw with a smile and shook it gladly. When
he released, I felt something odd in hand, and looked down. There in my palm,
a small firestone glittered in the moonlight.
"You are now an honorary member of the Cougar
Canyon Pack," Griffin told me. "No matter how far you travel, you will always
have a home here."
"Thank you, Griffin," I replied. "That means
a lot to me." He nodded and tipped his hat to me. Then, he turned and silently
walked off into the shadows. I watched him go and gave a sigh before swinging
up into the saddle.
I walked silently away from the camp, taking in everything along the way. Finally,
I came to the top of a rocky hill that boasted an impressive rock archway; the
end of the Cougar Canyon territory. Pulling my horse to a halt, I took a deep
breath and scanned the open desert ahead.
"Leaving us so early, Lone Star?" I looked around
and spotted Aury lounging on a boulder about a foot above my head. I shook my
head and laughed.
"I'm afraid so, little sister." Aury chuckled
at the new nickname, and gave me a sad smile.
"Will you ever come back?" she inquired.
"I plan to," I assured her.
"You better!" she threatened. "Otherwise I'll
hunt you down and drag you back myself." We both laughed and then Aury gave
me a serious look, and a question formed on her lips. However, she thought better
of it and sighed instead. "Well, see you around." I nodded, tipped my hat to
her, and cantered off into the night.
The End
A very special thank-you to Dragonshark173 and Rikitikitimbo, for the extreme
liberty they gave me with their Lupes |
