Unknown World part 8
Chapter 14
The following day of my first sword lesson with Craterday had been similar to the first. We just went over sword basics and that was it. Today I was going to actually use the weapon. I was quite excited about that. Stem seemed nervous about it but I wouldn't know why. This was amazing! At the moment we were going to work with Coil and Stem so we were at the place where they had been training.
" Ok these are practice swords, or wooden ones. They can still hurt quite badly when used as a weapon but I shouldn't give you the same wounds as a real one." Coil explains to us and for some reason they carried these wooden ones. You held them the same way you do as the real ones but it still felt strange to be holding something in my paws.
"We'll start with how you would fight with these in your jaws." Craterday draws his sword and holds it in his jaws. Throwing it up he jumps, grabs it; still in his jaws; and jabs it into the ground. If there was a wolf below they would have been dead. "That move is a difficult one to learn but it's a handy one for if you're being attacked from from and back. Before you ask what I would do for the wolf behind, let's worry about the wolf in front of you." Stem looks even more nervous and like she didn't understand something. Me on the other paw couldn't wait to try it. No wolf, cat, fox, or other animals would get past me!
"I-I-I thought you said that it was difficult to learn, why would we start with it?" Stem started slowly then seemed to gain her voice and confidence as she spoke. I was thrilled that she was standing up for what she thought. But at the same time I wish she would have said nothing. I really wanted to try this and it seemed easy enough. The only hard thing would be to catch the sword handle and not the blade.
Coil shakes his head and looks at Stem. "It's difficult to learn but one of the easiest to start with. Some of them are easy to learn yes but when used in battle this one is the easiest. Part of the reason you are using wooden shaped swords is so after you get the move down you can fight us or one another." He sighs. Craterday looks over at him questionly and Coil shakes his head. Does something about training make him upset? Silent words seemed to pass past the two of them.
Craterday comes up to Stem and lays a reassuring tail rest on her shoulder before removing it. "It's not as hard as it looks. The only hard thing is catching the weapon. We'll start with just throwing the stick up and catching it. No jumping!" He eyes me hard. I don't know why, it's not like I would never not do as he said! " Now grab the stick," obviously he didn't think of the wooden sword as anything else or try to feed our imagination. "And toss it up. Use your jaws not your paws, Leaf." He gives me another look and Coil cracks a small laugh. " And catch the handle" Now he just sounded irritated.
Tossing it up which I must say is actually harder than it looks. I caught the blade of the wooden sword and like I thought earlier it was hard! Catching the blade seemed to be easy Stem was having no luck either, or so I thought. I looked over to see her catch the handle of the sword and she did it about two more times slowly getting faster and more sure of it. What? She didn't even want to do this and she's better! Come on Leaf you can do it iconor the fact that you want to show off to Craterday and that you are too excited to pay much attention!
After my thought of motivation I tossed the sword up and something just made me go blank. Nothing hit me on the head that I felt but my vision was black and I couldn't see a thing.
Chapter 15
Neako? Lert? That's new, they've never just entered our mind during mid-day. Everything was dark like I was knocked out. I had seen Leaf drop, then Coil, then I did. I'm not sure about Stem.
"Is anyone here?" I called in hope that one of my friends would call back but the only answer I got was a sort of evil laugh with a rasp in the voice. Ohh Craterday you are quite pathetic now that you've been with your friends and my brother counter cursed that curse. By now you would've clawed me or something. I turned around and saw Lert behind me. Again he does that evil laugh of his.
"What do you want?" I managed to growl out of anger. I may not have the curse on me but I wasn't light to anger. It still came fast and heavy. Do not speak to me with a growl in your voice, Craterday. Lert claws me across the eye. I was able to close it in time but it still stung quite a bit. "And you don't talk down to me." I had lunged at Lert and in seconds we were battling any claw and bite marks after the claw mark across my eye didn't leave a mark or an injury.
Lert hit my side from where the arrow had shot by when I was fighting Dito. Enough pressure was put to his kick and I fell over. Next thing I knew I was pinned with the blood stained claws on my throat. Lert could've killed me but didn't instead he backed up and allowed me to stand.
"Why did you let me up?" I said uneasy. I didn't trust Lert one bit, if he wanted something he'd find a way to get it. Simple as you know I could've just killed you but I spared you for a favor. It's a simple one really. You just have to kill one of your friends. Just to prove that you aren't a weakling. You used to be strong and willing to fight. Once you were willing to rise to power with us! You wanted to be more than what some wanted, you trained with many but only we feed your hunger for power. Join us once again, you only have to kill one in your group. His voice had started to fade but I never wanted power, unless I did I just don't remember ever wanting to. I jolted awake as did my friends. Stem to had fallen. I put my paw over the eye that Lert had clawed and there was blood around it and most likely it would leave a scar.
"Anyone else have a feeling something horrible will happen?" Stem asks once we all are up and checking to see if we have any wounds. Although my wound was there and blood was in my eye it didn't affect my sight one bit. Though it would be hard to tell for them considering that he clawed my red eye and not my black one.
"I certainly hope nothing bad will happen. The last time they did a full on attack was only six years ago." Leaf looks like Coil then to me.
"Wait so you're both over six years? Neither of you look over three." She claims in shock.
"Yes Craterday is seven years and eight moons. I'm eight years and two moons. Not too far apart but yes." Coil explained. "Now besides that what did you all get in your dream? Who did you see and what did they want?"
"I had Neako but nothing more than talking happened. He did say something about how they were trying to recruit animals to their side." Leaf tells them before shuddering. "I didn't like the fact that everything was completely black."
"Mine was black as well but I had a fox who said her name was Ciona or something like that. She said that the attack would be soon. The signs are all over the place and that we are fools not to have seen them." Stem too had the blackness but that wasn't the strange thing.
"Yes the blackness seemed to have been in mine as well. There was a wolf named Shina who had claimed that the end was near for us all." Coil turns to me as does the she wolves almost like they were surprised by something. " You've been rather quiet Craterday. You good?" He had cocked his head in question.
"Yes, yes, I'm fine. Nothing of importance happened." They continue to look at me like they were expecting me to say more. Rolling my eyes I ask, "what do you want to know?"
"Who you were with in that dream thing. What happened? And how'd you get that?" Leaf asks, pointing to my eye.
"Lert. He just tried to recruit me. This,'' I place my paw over the cut. "This is from a fight." I explain with more anger in my voice than what I wanted. Leaf had shrunk back, Stem had taken a step or two back, and Coil looked shocked.
I turn away from them and return back to camp. I could feel old anger and nonsense coming back as I returned to the camp. Why does it matter in the first place? They don't need to watch over me like I'm a pup. Lerts' tricking me into thinking I was on his side. I know I wasn't, I was fighting his pack the entire time. I know that much. Unless my memory was tampered with. No, it couldn't have been messed with, or maybe it did. I could feel my heart drop. When I was younger I did remember wanting to be noticed. Hardly anyone paid much attention to me. You could say not even my parents cared. My pack believed wolves with a red and black eye or any type of different colored eyes; one eye different from the other; was a sign of bad luck. Even when I had a point, I always was smart when it came to strategy. My mentor trusted me about that, when we did team battles I was the strategist in our group. My team would always win.
As I was walking I found my paws leading me back to the battle grounds. Something about it made me comfortable yet uncomfortable. That battle had changed me and many others. I must find pack members who can help me. Jitta, Bonky, and Zenza all lived around here last time I saw them, they may be still there if not I'll have to keep looking.
I went to where they had marked their territory and started to sniff around. They lived in common woods. There was a small stream that went through it and plenty of prey. The territory hadn't been marked for about the same amount of time we've been here. Going farther in a bit I was able to pick up a strong scent. I hadn't seen them for a while and I didn't realize the scent but it was tense. Almost like someone was going to jump me at any second. Whoever it was knew I was there and was unsure on what to do. If this was one of my friends they would have jumped by now. Unless this was one of their pups. Zenza and Bonky were mates. As I lifted my nose to smell I could identify that in fact the wolf who spotted me was much younger.
I heard the brush around me move and I could tell that the pup had run away. It wasn't long before I was surrounded by wolves that I couldn't see. Instead of continuing to stand there I kept walking which must have been irritating for them because a couple of times I heard a growl of frustration.
I knew as long as no one was in front of me they couldn't tell that I had two different colored eyes. If they were from my old pack they may still believe the same thing. A grey wolf with lighter grey paws and ear tips. She had dark blue eyes and started to stare at me. Unblinking she just stared at me. I could tell that she was shocked and like she had never seen a dark wolf with eyes like this. Big shocker, not! The rest of the wolves move into places to surround me. Two were dark grey on with green eyes and the other with dark blue eyes. They were both on the left of me. I couldn't see the wolves behind me but the two on my right had golden eyes and a dark brown pelt. The one had a light brown tail tip.
"Come with us stranger. You will be killed if you try anything or if our leaders think your eyes are that of evil." The wolf in front of me growls. I returned her stare calmly. I didn't think I could see her even more shocked that I returned it calmly.
"Whatever," I tell her. "I'm just going to earn you this, if any of you think about getting to close I will claw your pelts off." We start to walk in the forest I could tell that they were uneasy and tense.
The trees started to thin out a bit and we came across a wolf made den. The vines were threaded together and there was a deer pelt draped across the entrance. There was about four other ones like it. All different sizes. I saw a mother wave her pups into a den and she sits outside it. That mother had golden eyes and a dark pelt like the one wolf who surrounded me. A couple of wolves come out of one of the dens and two come out of the largest one. The one den had no wolf exit it.
"We brought someone who decided to snoop around our territory, Zenza. His eyes I have never seen before and the tails we had as pups show that he may posses evil." The she-wolf who had spoke before explains to my old friend. Zenza had a pelt like Leafs but had brown eyes. Bonky had golden eyes and a brown pelt. Of course they still shared those stupid tails. I wouldn't be surprised if they said they didn't know who I was.
"If I possessed any evil I would have shredded you pelt long ago you pup." I growled at the she-wolf. My voice was sower and I didn't care either. She looked over to Zenza with a look that said 'see evil'.
"I learned long ago that those tails weren't always true. This is Craterday, Donza. He was a friend of mine." Her 'was' was not so sure that we were still friends. Donza looked down.
"Ohh, sorry mother." She sounded embarrassed. Not that I could blame her or anything.
" No worries, you never met him and you were told that wolves with two eye colors were bad but you were also told the stories of the battle and what happened afterwards." Bonky tells his daughter. Donza still looked down and embarrassed. He turns to me, "Craterday, it's been a long time. Do you need something? It's not like you to just enter this place without waiting for a while. And the pup said you seemed very much in thought."
" Yes it has been long. I need to ask you about something." I look around at the wolves in their pack. "In private, if you don't mind." Zenza nods and waves me to join them in their den. "Thank you."
"What do you need? You do seem like you really need something." Bonky asks once we get in the den. He seemed to have been studying my face and my actions to assume that I really needed help and I did.
"You remember Lert and Nea-" Zenza stopped me with a stare and a flick from her tail to silence me. "What?"
"We do not mention their names here." She tells me. I rolled my eyes if I knew anything it's that you can't hide from the past. It was there you had to acknowledge it or it could easily repeat itself and you wouldn't know how to handle it.
"Anyhow they came to me and my friends saying stuff like it's only a matter of time, join us and you will live, and you're fools not to have seen the signs. Lert," Zenza and Bonky both give me looks but know it was pointless to say anything. "Had told me that I was on his side. I-I-I help but think that perhaps I was but don't remember it. I was wondering if you knew if I was. I know it sounds crazy but I really need your help with this." They look at me then look down. Like they were in shame.
Sighing Zenza comes over to me and sits in front of me. "Craterday I'm sorry but we wiped your memory. Not necessarily us but the whole group agreed not to have it done." There was calmness and a tiny frightfulness within her voice.
"What do you mean you wiped it? Why in the bloody White Gost would you do that? What gave you the reason to do that? I thought you all would have gotten over the fact that I was 'deemed evil' for the dark pelt and two different colored eyes. Or is that not the problem and it's because of that stupid curse? " I turned tail and left the den. Donza came up completely unsure of what had happened in that den.
"Do you need anything? Want some prey before you go?" She asks trying to make up from earlier but my anger with her parents came out instead.
"I'm fine, now how about you go and run around with your tail between your legs and stay out of my way!" I growled at her. I left the camp and went to our camp. I didn't want to go back but I didn't want to leave them, again.
By time I had gotten back it was dark Leaf, Coil, and Stem were all asleep. I managed to curl up by Leaf without waking her.
What had happened the night before became a blur. My head was hurting and I felt horrible. The last thing I remember was yelling at Donza for getting in my way when I was leaving her pack. The sun had started to climb. I could see the sunrise colors in the sky. Coil and Stem were out and Leaf was fixing their bedding.
"You must have gotten back late. I hadn't even realized that you had gotten back." Leaf said as she came past me to fix our bedding now that I was up and had moved out of the way. "Coil and Stem went hunting. They'll be back soon."
I nodded and left the camping place. Staring out into the woods around us I sat down and listened to the nature around. I could hear the birds chirping and the squirrels climbing the trees. Stupid, you should've stayed and seen what they said to your questions. Donza didn't deserve that anger towards her. The disappointment and sadness that had crossed her body and eyes is all you think about. White Ghost why did they do it? Why do I have huge anger issues and not realize it till after it happened? These thoughts just kept coming in a series. They wouldn't leave my head and I also couldn't help but think that though the curse was gone could it have become part of me?
"Craterday, your up great. Me and Stem were talking about having another training session sense yesterday had a small you know. You down for it?" Coil asks as he and Stem come up with two squirrels and a rabbit.
"Ohh umm yeah, yeah we should be able to yes." I said only half listening to what he said. As they went in the camp area I followed and Leaf had done a great job with the bedding situation. She seemed to be ready to jump out of her fur.
"Sorry but I couldn't help but overhear, what are we going to work on now? Are me and Stem going to attack each other?" Leaf starts to almost yell with glee.
"I hope not! When Craterday left we only improved the throwing up and catching the wooden sword. I may not know swords but I do know it would be incredibly dumb to do any sort of fight now." As Stem says this Leaf excitement fades from her eyes.
"Look how about we eat then find out what we're going to do." Coil looks at me. "What do you say Craterday?"
"Yeah that'll work. I just have to do something. When I get back we can start. And before you ask no I'm not hungry." Believe it or not but though I only ate yesterday at dawn I still wasn't anywhere close to hungry. I had too much on my mind. It was keeping me from feeling much else.
"Yeah, no. You're not going anywhere without us again. Even if you're not hungry or whatever, we'll all go wherever it is that you want to go. Sometimes I think you're more of a rogue than I was and am." At this point I knew there was no point in arguing. Coil wouldn't stop till I waited and I really didn't feel like getting my pelt shredded. Leaf and Stem were looking at me almost like they expected me to say something but then joy lit Leafs gaze. I think she just forgot what happened.
"So, we get to go somewhere new? Meet new wolves and make some friends!" We all look at her and she seems confused. She does realize that it sounded like we aren't her friends and like she'd like to make some. "What?" I shake my head and sit down.
During the time Leaf was thinking the rest of them finished eating. Coil was standing and Stem was cleaning herself. Leaf and finished hers about the same time that Stem had stood up. I was eager to get back to Zenzas pack again and say something to Donza but I knew I couldn't go now and that I had to wait for them. I didn't really feel like having Coil shred my pelt as I thought earlier.
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