Chapter 1 The Battle

Miatta

I could still remember that day, the day I had lost my freedom. It was like any other day and I had woken up just like any other time. I had sat at my mother's feet, her hands roaming in my silky dark hair. We didn't have much to do being members of the royal household of the Black Fur Pack. My father, Alpha Vince was far away from home with his army on the field of battle. Our numbers ranked in mere hundreds when they left because of the constant attacks on our pack by the neighbouring enemy pack, the Red Bone Pack but each man was trained to tackle his fellow warrior. My brothers had gone with him too, leaving the security of the rest of the pack to a handful of foot soldiers.

"Mother, when do you think they will return? I have a bad feeling about this," I had confided in my mother, inhaling the woody scent of her hide skirt. She was a proud Luna but of late, she had been having sleepless nights. My mother was no ordinary wolf: she was a seer and she only revealed her visions to my father within earshot. She flattened her palm on her temple, looking forward in an eerie manner.

"Your father is fine, my dear and so are your brothers. As for the fate of our pack, we can only put our hope in the Moon Goddess. Military might has no say in this war."

She always spoke with a philosophical but annoying vocabulary and I barely understand half of what she said. Mostly, I assumed she was speaking to herself, not willing for any of us to understand.

"Tell me, mother, will we win this war?" I beckoned to her, looking up into her compelling grey eyes. It was almost as if she was blind, her pupils capable of remaining in one position for a long time.

"It is not for me to reveal, dearest; time will tell."

That was not the answer I sought and she knew this so she wasn't surprised when I pushed to my feet, leaving the grass floor. I wasn't weak or defenceless. My father had trained me alongside my brothers, preparing us all for the fight of our lives but at the last minute, my mother had prevailed upon him to let me remain within the safety of the pack. As usual, he listened to her advice and left me in her care. They had been gone for days and no one had returned to give us news of the ongoing lupine war.

The Red Bone Pack were not normal wolves; they were lycans, a special breed created by dark magic. The witches of East Coven had made the first one, a mindless beast whose sole purpose was to protect them from their enemies. When the beast had gone rogue, he had attacked a wolf pack and had been captured, its blood extracted to be experimented on. Their Alpha had tested its blood on several wolves, creating a new breed of demonic wolves. Although they looked like wolves, their transformation was incomplete, cursed creatures as they were. They stood like men, on two feet, their bodies covered in fur and their claws longer than normal. They wiped out the rest of the pack and overpopulated the village. Now they were my father's biggest problem seeing that they insisted on increasing their territory.

When night fell and most of us had gone to bed, they attacked. They ambushed us, slaughtering both women and children. A large number of men had joined the army and the ones left had been taken by surprise. I had tried my best to hold the fort, killing as much as I could. I was skilled with the bow and arrow and though my mother regretted my military inclination, it had come in handy. I heard the screams of my people being torn from limb to limb and I was helpless, unable to save them all. Remembering my mother, I ran back to the Hall of Alphas, hoping to protect her. Pushing aside the flap that served as her door, I ran in only to find an empty room. My mother was gone.

Shouting a battle cry at the top of my lungs, I charged out of the room, wielding my bow in the air. I saw red and was ready to maim anything and anyone in my way when I heard my mother call my name from behind me. Her calm voice sent a chill down my spine and I spun on the ball of my heels. My mother was held captive by two huge lycans, another swinging a big blade in one hand. She looked peaceful and unperturbed despite their rough treatment of her.

"Miatta. Is that her name? How sweet," the one in front mocked, probably their leader. He wasn't their Alpha, however. I had heard stories about the ruthless lycan and the man before me couldn't be him. That meant my father and his army had been lured out of their pack to a slaughtering ground. The rest of us were merely collateral damage.

"Let her go or you will be sorry!" I warned, hiding my apprehension behind a loud voice.

They burst into laughter instead and one pushed my mother to her knees, keeping her there with a big hand on her shoulder. She made no complaint, as silent as death. I was so angry with her. If she could foresee the future, why didn't she warn my father not to leave? Why did she let our people get ambushed? Many questions filled my mind while I sought a way to free her.

"Surrender your weapons, princess or we will hack her to pieces. You don't have to believe me but I'll do it," their spokesman threatened and the two goons howled in solidarity. I tried to meet my mother's eyes but she seemed to be looking elsewhere, her thoughts probably separated from her body. I just needed a word from her, a word of reassurance and I would take on the bastards.

"Do as you are told, dearest. Stand down," she whispered in my head instead, her lips unmoving. I was not shocked at her unwillingness to fight back- her gentility was legendary- but she couldn't ask me not to do anything.

"Mother!" I called, pretending not to have heard her instructions.

"Stand down, Miatta!" she shrieked this time around and my bow fell to the ground on its own accord. She was not one to raise her voice and on the few occasions that she had, her powers usually manifested in some way.

"Good. Now go get her, boys."

Two more lycans appeared from behind me, binding my arms behind me. I was tossed onto the lap of my mother who immediately received me into her bosom. She was warm and smelt of the forest, the pine cones and the blueberries she loved to eat. She was not as agitated as I was and I tried not to be afraid. I was safe with her and I knew it. The rest of their ambush team assembled with the wolves of our pack left held as hostages.

"Any message from the Alpha yet?" a lycan asked, impatient to be gone. Their leader quirked his long ears and listened, waiting for something neither of us could hear.

"The Alpha is on his way and with him are his captives. We are victorious!" he growled, shaking his fist in the air. Members of his pack howled in succession, waving their weapons in the air, their battle cries filling the atmosphere. My father was alive and well but he had lost the war. Black Fur Pack had fallen.