The Moon Goddess' Chosen

412 Vindictive enemies

Shrouded by deep shadows cast by the tall trees deep within the forest, an amber-eyed man walked at an even pace, his feet barely making a sound. His hands, ever so often, traced the concealed elaborate claw marks that were carved strategically into trees spread throughout the forest.

His hands balled into fists as he followed the winding marked trees through the woods. At first glance, the trees seemed to have been randomly marked and there was no real pattern to where they led.

Yet, in truth, the claw marks were more than mere random slashes. Each tree was distinctly marked differently in a coded directional language that could only be deciphered by those that were taught to.

Even after knowing how to read these marks, the path was meandering and disorienting to anyone that followed it, damaging someone’s sense of direction by merely following the directions. It was this same precaution that irked the amber-eyed hooded figure as he followed the markings.

After walking for a while, he came across a cabin that had been built through a thickened part of the trees.

Instead of building in a clearing, the cabin was instead built together with the forest. Carefully building around the large tree trunks and skilfully painting the cabin the colour of bark. For someone that didn’t know what they were looking at and hadn’t got instructions from the marked trees, this was very easy to miss.

The cabin was also further within trees that were closely packed together which made running into it even harder. The man reached the door and knocked at the door.

His hood helped him blend in with the shadows, so he was able to keep himself hidden on his way to the cabin... not like anyone was going to follow him this far into the woods.

After a moment, a series of clicking sounds could be heard from the other side of the door before it creaked open. The door swung open slowly, adding to the man’s already-paranoid suspicions.

.....

No one greeted him on the other side of the door. Only deep silent and ominous darkness... There wasn’t even a sign of a lamp inside the strange cabin in the woods. Sighing, the man entered the cabin and melted into the darkness within. A few steps into the cabin and the door slammed shut, adding to the depth of the shadows inside the cabin.

The man looked about the room, his eyes flashing a bright amber as he searched for any sign of life. His werewolf senses could detect beings with him within the cabin, but his eyes yielded no results. The inhabitants were experts at concealing themselves.

“What brings you here, Victor? Didn’t you hear the king’s orders?” a deep voice bounced off the sides of the room.

“Yes, I did. Nearly two years ago, I heard the king’s orders and I’ve been reminded of them every time I’ve tried reaching out to any of you. It’s like you’ve stopped moving... stopped fighting. What are you plotting? I want to help. My revenge, as promised, has not yet been granted,” Victor bellowed, turning in the direction he thought was the origin of the voice in an attempt to find its source.

The next voice that came was... much younger, one that he knew all too well, but it came from an entirely different direction, “Your petty revenge is nothing in light of the Rogue king’s will.” This voice came with a chilling growl that warned him to watch his words.

Victor shivered, feeling a new form of fear towards this voice. The boy sounded a little older than he remembered him, but that didn’t change the fact that this voice belonged to Benji, the most agile general of the Rogue king. If it was the boy’s intention to kill the werewolf, Victor was better off surrendering, for there was no amount of speed he could muster to escape Benji.

“Ah, yes, the rogue king. How is he? I haven’t heard from him for a while,” Victor dismissed the obvious warning he’d heard moments prior.

“Watch your tongue, Victor. You’re nothing more than an ant in his presence. An ant is all you are. Time has made you cocky,” the deep voice came again, but this time from a completely different direction.

“You all hide now... Hiding within the general population. Rumour has it that the rogue killer has completely disappeared and yet the rogues have never been more silent.

New hunters rise and increase their numbers. They are starting to bolster their forces while the rogues have no way of replenishing what they lost. The breeders cannot increase the numbers of the rogues and the Rogue King’s bite won’t help him increase numbers. Not to mention, the hunters are discovering those facilities with each passing day.

I’m not a fool. I know the rogues have never faced a darker time. I only want to help,” Victor was panting after his speech. He tried once more to survey the room, but his eyes still got nothing. Since this cabin had been built into the very foundation of the nature surrounding it, there were trees growing inside it.

The only thing that greatly separated the inside from the outside was the presence of a roof and man-made items.

After a short silence, the child’s voice rang clear, “We’ll allow you to speak of your plans for two minutes. If you do not say anything useful, we shall continue with the Rogue king’s original orders and end your pitiful life where you stand,” Benji’s voice had never been more threatening. He’d known the boy to be vicious, but he had never been on the receiving end of his rampages.

“Okay, hear me out. I have a plan... the Trials and the Royal games,” the man panicked.

“Those are the most heavily guarded events of the century...”

“No, not the Trials. The Trials allow the royals to prove that they can handle themselves out in the wilderness as they travel to the Great Arena,” the man tried explaining.

“Attacking the royals will only draw the hunters to ourselves. Don’t you know that the Chase family can sense the bloodlust of rogues that go on a rampage?” Samson’s deep voice rumbled.

“Yes, I know that and I do not ask that we attack them. We can merely cause... a few accidents,” the man smirked, “I was there when Drake left the palace. He was all on his own. The cocky prince feels he’s invincible and chose to carry out the Trials on his own.”

“Very well... We’ll give you this time to prove yourself. You can take two rogues on this mission. I’ll be surprised if you can even catch up to the prince. Perhaps this will teach you not to underestimate the royals,” Samson replied.

“What a waste of resources! Samson, are we really going to give him that many rogues to help him?” Benji yelled out, this time directing his voice to the other wolf that was surrounding Victor.

“Ugh, Benji... what part of scary and mysterious don’t you understand?” With the scraping sound of a match, the cabin was alight and bathed in the yellow light of a glorious flame on a match.

Samson lit a lantern and allowed his frightening facade to drop. The frightening aura in the room dropped significantly, causing the amber-eyed wolf to let out a breath he’d been holding in, “For a moment there, I thought the two of you actually planned to kill me.”

“Really! That would be counterproductive,” Benji exclaimed.

“Oh my, I didn’t know you valued my...”

“We’d be giving the location of such a wonderful meeting place out to the hunters. After what we did in that small town last year, we don’t want to be attracting any attention to us. That doesn’t mean we wouldn’t kill you though... we just wouldn’t do it here,” Samson shrugged.

“That’s... uh, good to hear,” Victor chuckled nervously.

“This plan of yours. What do you intend to do with the prince?” Samson asked.

“I thought you didn’t believe in my chances?” Victor smirked.

“Meh! you’re going to die. I can’t shake the feeling that the royal knew what he was doing when he set off,” the wolf replied, “So try not to get yourself killed.”

..........