Chapter 104: Fight Or Flee
At first, when Astrid heard the noise, he had dismissed it as the celebration noise getting louder until he heard more screams, not laughter, not shouting, but a distinct sound of steel on steel.
Astrid moved to the small window and looked out. The view of the courtyard below was partially obscured, but it was enough.
He saw fire. He saw people running. He saw armored figures killing anyone in their way. He saw unfamiliar creatures cutting down people he had known for his entire life. Then he saw a cloaked man on a horse shouting orders.
"Take the young ones alive! Kill anyone who resists!"
Astrid’s chest tightened. His people were dying. His pack was lying in ruins. Every instinct told him to shift, to run down the hill and fight. His muscles trembled with the urge. He saw a group of young wolves who had been sworn into brotherhood tonight, fighting bravely for a moment before being overwhelmed. The intruders didn’t kill them but beat them into submission. They clubbed them to their knees and bound their hands.
His hands shook. He thought of his family. Of Dorianne. He thought of how everything in his life had already fallen apart. He knew what would happen if he went out there. To fight meant to be captured. To be taken by these monstrous beings. His resistance wouldn’t change anything.
A voice inside him screamed at him to go and help regardless. To be with his people. To die with his people. Another voice told him to survive.
And the desire to survive overrides his loyalty towards his pack. He could not win. He would only be added to the chain of prisoners.
Astrid stepped back from the window. His heart was beating so fast. He stripped his clothes quickly, his fingers fumbling. He focused on the shift. The pain of the transformation was a familiar burn, but now it was fueled by terror. Bones cracked, fur sprouted, his form shrinking and contorting into a grey wolf.
His wolf canines grabbed his clothes, pushed open the farmhouse door with his head, and slipped into the night. Instead of heading down towards the chaos, he circles the back of the farmhouse, keeping to the deep shadows. He could smell the rot and blood in the wind. He pressed his belly low to the ground, moving with a predator’s silence away from the light and noise. When he reached the tree line of the forest, he paused and looked back one last time.
Emberspire was an image of hell. The smoke from the fire was thick in the air. The light was flickering orange and black.
Astrid turned. He ran. He did not look back again. The forest swallowed him, the sounds of his pack’s destruction fading behind him into the rustle of leaves and the pounding of his own paws on the earth.
The attack did not last long. Fire had spread to more buildings. Figured lay still on the ground. Wanderers looted bodies and fought over treasures. Any adult who showed signs of life was killed with a quick blade. Faelan was still swinging his axe to fight when three wanderers surrounded him. They clawed at his sides, and he fell and did not get up.
The commander dismounted from his horse and walked through the center of the courtyard. He nodded in satisfaction as he crouched in front of Faelan.
"Alpha Faelan!" He said, a smug look spreading across his face. The purpose had been two-fold: to grab supplies to support Drakwyne and bring back young wolves to build more armies. They had achieved both. "Where is your Luna? I heard she grants favors to men in her bed." He laughed. "Find me the Luna!" He barked out.
Three soldiers rushed into the pack-house and soon came out dragging a naked Isoldea and the tall and muscular man from earlier, who had his hands covering his manhood.
"We found them hiding in one of the rooms." One of the soldiers said.
The commander clapped. "Look what we have here...your Luna was busy looking upon another man with Grace while her pack lies in ruins." The wanders laughed at his poetic words.
He walked towards Isoldea, his thumb trailing her lips while his other hand fondled one of her nipples. "How do you feel about having me touch you like this?"
Isoldea closed her eyes, tears falling down her cheeks. The commander pulled her closer, his lips close to her ears. "I could save your life right now."
Her eyes found Faelan lying on the ground, and she cried even more.
"I could take you in and give you a good life." He stepped away, grabbed a knife trapped in his thighs, and slit the throat of the man next to Isoldea. She screamed when his blood splashed her face.
"Help him up." He gestured to two soldiers to help Faelan sit up, and they did. "Accept my apologies, Faelan. But I have a duty to fulfill to my kind. So what do you say? Join my army and become one of us, or I take your life and inherit your wife?"
Faelan looked around. There was nothing left to save tonight. The people were dead. The young wolves were already in captivity.
With a heavy heart, he spoke. "You monsters! I’d rather die and be with the Goddess than join the dark force! You forsaken wolves! I curse you!" He spat.
"Be with the Goddess?! Who the hell is the Goddess?!" He mocked. "Where is your Goddess tonight to save your people?!"
The wanderers laughed harder. The commander moved towards Faelan and grabbed his neck.
"No, please!" Isoldea cried out as she fell to the ground. "Please don’t kill him. Spare our lives. We will join the dark force." She begged.
Faelan gritted even as the commander’s hold tightened around his neck. "Kill me! Kill me! Kill me!"
"Well, I’ll help you be with your sleepy head, Goddess!"
Faelan’s bone snapped, his head turned facing his back, and his body hit the ground. Isoldea let out a piercing scream, the pain of losing her mate filled her entire body immediately. She tried to crawl towards Faelan’s, but two soldiers held her down.
The commander ordered them to tie Isoldea together with the young wolves in a straight line.
"Kill the rest. And burn what’s left." He strode back to his horse and mounted it.
The soldiers killed the elders who were left and set more fire. The group moved out, leaving the burning ruins of the Emberspire pack behind.
The once-functioning wolf community was gone.
