FSE

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The air was cold and lifeless. Nothing could be heard through the thick silence. The only light that could be seen was from a small dying torch that was lying on the stone floor. Beside it, a dark figure was crouched down, staring into a deep pool of still water. The figure reached out its hand and gently disturbed the surface.

When it settled, the reflection was no longer visible. In its place, was an image of Verik and Gerrin standing alone in a forest. A raspy laugh escaped the creature's mouth as it stared maliciously at them. "Everything is in motion. Soon, my plan will be complete and I will take everything that I am owed." When the image disappeared, the figure grabbed the torch and disappeared into the darkness.

/. /. /.

The moon was somewhere above the horizon. Dark clouds covered all of the sky and rain began to fall. The singing of the birds was replaced was replaced by the gentle chirping of crickets and the screeching of bats.

The pack was all awake and sitting together in the center of camp. Everyone looked miserable with their fur absolutely soaked, except for Syla, who was dancing around silently, but happily. Watching her, Verik couldn't help but feel a little better. Her joyfulness almost seemed contagious.

Verik turned to Keil. "So, something seems to have changed with my powers. Now that more of my memories have returned and my abilities have become stronger. I no longer lose control in my sleep."

"That's a good thing." Keil chuckled. "How has your practice coming along?"

"I'm getting there, but I'm still a little slow. I don't know how you can do your...bird thing so quickly. Emptying my mind is such a difficult process."

"It definitely takes practice. It took me years to be able to master what I can do, but you have progressed much faster than I have. I have no doubt that you will master your abilities pretty soon." Keil looked off into the forest. "So, do you think your brother is coming anytime soon?"

Verik shrugged. "He said he'd be here this evening, but I don't know when, or if, he will actually arrive."

"Well, I think it is about time we go and get some food. Maybe he'll be here when we return. Are you up for a hunt?"

"I can be."

"How about everyone else?" Keil asked everyone sitting around him. They all nodded and started getting up onto their feet. "Tharren, you and Syla wait here for Gerrin, if he arrives. We should be back in about a few hours. Emmaline, would you like to accompany us?"

Emmaline smiled and said, "I'm not very experienced at all, but I guess I should learn sometime."

"Okay, then. Let's head out."

/. /. /.

The rain had died down a little bit. Now all that fell was a slight drizzle. Except the soft impact of small droplets of water on leaves and grass, the night was particularly quiet; so much so that if you paid attention, one could even hear the skittering of small bugs on the bark of trees. Unfortunately, that meant that the wolfen had to be especially careful to not alert their prey of their presence.

"So, where are we headed?" Emmaline asked softly.

"There is a large clearing in about a several minute walk to the east." Keil answered her. "We'll start there, since there are almost always a herd of kelderan grazing in the area. It's one of their favorite grazing areas. The plants are quite luscious."

"Once we get there, what's the plan?"

"That depends," he stroked his chin, "are you good at running?"

She thought about it for a few seconds and then shook her head. "Not really, well, not in this kind of area. I haven't spent much time in forests."

"Okay. I don't know if you are familiar with these kind of animals, but they will do almost anything to stay together. Your job will be to work with the others to separate one from the group and keep them away. Essentially, you will be forming a wall while I will lead the rest of us to chase it and bring it down.

"When we find the herd, we will stay out of sight and spread out and surround them, but remain out of sight. Then, once we are all in position, we all make small noises to get them nervous. We will all charge into the herd when they are frightened enough and that should be enough to run panicked. Just watch for me and follow close behind. Our goal is to isolate one of them from the rest. When that happens, whoever sees it will alert everyone and then we will work together to bring it down. Do you understand?" When she nodded her head, he looked over at Verik. "Do you want to join her and help her out?"

"Sure thing." He said and then moved to stand by her side. Keil had Lyan, and a couple others join himself and had the rest of them go with Emmaline and Verik. Once that was decided, everyone went silent as they got closer to the clearing.

The forest stayed just as silent as it was before. It unnerved Verik a little bit. Not enough to warn everyone else, but something gave him an uneasy feeling. Looking over at Emmaline, he could tell she had similar feelings. She looked more alert than normal, her purple eyes scanning the area ahead thoroughly and her ears and tail twitched at every noise..

He leaned in close and whispered in her ear. "What are you thinking?"

"I don't know. I feel something strange... This place has some kind of unpleasant aura. I can't tell if it is from the past, the present or the future."

"Have you felt something like this before?"

She nodded. "When something really terrible has happened, or in a few cases if something will happen, the area emits some kind of aura. It's hard to explain, but I sense it all the time when I'm in or near human cities. So much tragedy happens all the time with them. It's like a disease that follows them everywhere." She stepped up onto a large fallen log and quietly jumped back down to the grass.

Verik followed right behind her. "I feel something in this area, too. It's vague, but it isn't good."

Lyan walked over to them and whispered harshly, "We're getting near the clearing. Your chatting will give our position away."

Verik nodded and continued walking.

Leaning over, Emmaline quickly told him. "Stay watchful, just in case something is here." When Lyan scowled disapprovingly at her, she flattened her ears apologetically and remained silent for the rest of the walk.

A couple minutes later, Veirk could see a break in the trees ahead, followed by the soft sounds of hooves on grass. By the sound of it, there had to be at least fifty of them. He could even feel the ground rumble from their heavy footfalls.

Keil motioned for everyone to get into position then dropped down to the ground, the long grass concealing most of his body. Swiftly and silently, he crawled away on all fours out of sight. Everyone followed suit and spread out.

Once Verik and Emmaline reached their edge of the clearing, they looked out from behind their cover at the large herd of Kelderan. The large brown beasts moved around casually, grazing on the grass. The largest ones stood on all fours, taller than Verik and they didn't vary more than a foot in size. Several of them had antlers that were as long as his arms. He was glad that they weren't as intelligent as they were, otherwise they would be killed within seconds. Their strong bodies could easily kill one of them if they didn't know what they were doing.

Emmaline looked at them with an awed expression. Her fur bristled nervously as she scanned all of them. Verik grabbed her hand and nodded confidently.

Everyone waited in silence. He could smell that everyone was where they were supposed to be. They were all just waiting on Keil to make the first move. Several seconds later, there was a small bark from Keil's position. Instantly, the whole herd froze in place and the air was silent as they creatures scanned for any signs of a threat.

From another edge, one of the packmates raked their claws across a nearby tree trunk. A twig snapped from the opposite side. All the large creatures started huffing nervously and pacing around, fear starting to grow in their eyes.

They continued working them up for another minute or two before a medium-sized rock was launched from Keil's position toward the center of the herd. It hit one of the does' back with a loud thump. It let out a high-pitched squeal and took off running. In response, the rest started running in every direction, not sure where the threat was. In just a few seconds, the whole clearing was alive with the chaos.

Keil burst through his cover and rushed at the rushing stampede. As he ran, he lifted his head into the sky and let out a loud howl. All the pack joined in, the voices blending together into one beautiful sound and, at the same time, striking terror into the prey. Verik could practically smell the fear emanating from the creatures.

Looking over at Emmaline, he could see the excited look of anticipation on her face as she watched them run. "Let's go! Follow me!" He burst through the bushes he was behind and ran into the herd with Emmaline right behind him. Verik lunged at a buck nearby; bearing his teeth, raising the fur on his neck, and growling ferociously. In response, it swung its large pointed antlers at him. Verik quickly ducked out of the way just in time, but stumbled in the process, almost faling face-first into the ground, but Emmaline caught his arm first.

"Go after the smaller ones." Lyan called back haughtily. "The weaker they are, the more frightened they will get, the more likely they are to separate from the group."

"Thank you!" Verik sarcastically shouted back.

One of the other packmates on the far right side of the group yelled out to everyone, "I got one!"

Immediately, the rest of the pack rushed to his position. As Verik and Emmaline made it to the end of the group, he could see the wolfen running with a kelderan about twenty feet away from the stampeding herd. He was doing everything he could to keep it from rejoining the rest, but the stray kelderan was trying very aggressively. It was swinging it's head at the wolfen, trying to knock it away, but because it lacked antlers, it didn't do much good.

Immediately, Verik took his place with the other emerging wolfen to form a barrier. Keil, Lyan, and the rest of his group verged in on the chosen prey. They reached out and slashed their claws at the creature's massive legs. It squealed at the pain, but it ran even faster than before. Verik could tell by the vague look in its eyes that it was aware that its life was about to end.

It was slowly getting ahead of the pack, running out of the range of their claws. Lyan leapt into the air and grabbed onto its leg sinking his teeth into the flesh. The kelderan began jumping around, shaking Lyan violently.

Eventually, it succeeded in throwing Lyan from his grip, sending him rolling around on the floor, but he took with him a large chunk of meet from its leg. It stumbled a little bit, but managed to stay on it's feet, running with its remaining three usable legs. Its speed was decreased significantly and the pack caught up with within several seconds.

When Keil was parallel to its neck, he was about to make the final strike on the kelderan, but there was a quick blur of movement and the creature suddenly dropped to the ground and slid to a violent stop. The rest of the kelderan fled from the area, leaving the area in silence.

Confused, everyone stopped and gathered around the fallen kelderan. "What happened?" Emmaline asked as she looked at the lifeless corpse, blood flowing from its leg and head.

"I don't know." Keil said as he knelt down to examine to the fallen creature. "It just collapsed." He ran his fingers across the wound on its head. "There's something lodged in its skull." Grabbing it with both hands, he yanked the object out. It was a thin stone about as long as Keil's hand. At the end of it, there was a short piece of broken wood.

"It looks like the head of a spear." Verik said gravely and the fur on everyone's necks raised in anxious alertness.

"Verik! Behind you!" Emmaline screamed.

Instantly, Verik jumped to the side and turned around. Half a second later, a spear buried itself into the ground he was previously standing on. Everyone looked into the direction that it came from, claws bared and ready to fight. In one of the trees, two of the winged demons stood, sneering at them.

Before anyone could say anything, they called down in unison, "You wolfen are good hunters. We're impressed."

"You've lost your spears!" Keil growled at them. "Come down here and fight us!"

"We may have bad aim, but we are not stupid. We cannot kill you yet."

Verik stepped forward and lifted his arm into the air. Quickly concentrating, he created a bright flame surround his hand. "Then what do you want? Speak quickly, or I will kill you right here!"

The demons chuckled maniacally, "We come with a message from our leaders. We have been watching your camp for a few days now. We saw you leave on your hunt. We also saw you leave two of your family behind."

Verik's heart started racing and his body went cold. "What did you do?" He growled his question with growing anger and fear.

"Don't worry yourselves just yet. They are alive for now, but our leaders paid them a little visit soon after you left."

Verik snarled at them and through his arms out, sending the flames flying at them. The demons easily jumped to the side and flew into the air. "Go back to your home, foolish wolfen. Our leaders left you a gift!" The shrieked in laughter and flew out of sight.

"Shit!" Keil growled and immediately started running back towards their camp as fast as his legsx could carry him. Everyone followed close behind and Verik quickly passed them all. He needed to get back to camp as soon as possible. He needed to know if his sister was still alive or not. His whole body was shaking in fear at what he was going to find.

To Be Continued...