Believe - Chapter 21: Three kings

A long and refreshing sleep was all Imya needed to get back her energy. Before they started the day, she went on the hunt with Red and the fox showed her a few new tricks for tracking and hunting prey together. Imya had to make the prey run into the direction where Red was laying in the wait to snap the trap. They were rewarded with another bunny and a few mice. After they finished their meal and their stomachs were satisfied, they returned to the den to meet up with Liam. The stag already awaited them with growing impatience. "A thought you would leave me waiting the whole day." He complaint. "But it looks like you are ready to go." - "Sure, ya lead da way Liam!" Red called out to him and they continued their journey under the night sky following the big and bright star. The moon began his journey across the sky, ignored by the three travelers, and Imya listened to the discussion between Red and Liam. Most of the topics of them were about stuff she did not understand well but she still listened and slowly got used to the weird language of Liam just the way she had gotten used to the way Red talked.

"I thought you would not come anymore!" a voice let them all stop in their tracks and after a short pause Red ran towards a rock, just a few meters away, on the top of the small hill they just climbed up, and stopped right in front of it. "Odin, nice to meet ya. How long hatta been? Two years, no three, right? It sure was long, yo!" Liam also took a leap and was next to red and Imya fell into a light job to join them soon. On the rock was an animal she had seen once before, a polecat. Her mother had shown it to her and explained that they were fast and agile. "Oh, hello little one." The polecat greeted her friendly. "Hello." Imya said and observed the polecat from close. He had dark brown fur with a few lines of black in it. His paws also were black but his face was framed with white fur that ran under his muzzle and over both sides nearly up to the eyes. His black small eyes looked just as interested at Imya than her blue ones. "Say, what do two kings like you with a wolf pup in the middle of the mountains?" he asked and Imya looked back and forth between Liam, Red and the polecat that Red had called Odin. "I am Odin by the way." He explained to Imya and she looked back to him. "King of the polecats, nice to meet you." It took Imya a bit to realize that he asked for her name. She had gazed at him with an open muzzle. "Oh ... well, I am ... Imya." She stuttered when she noticed that she was staring at him. "What is a king and why did you call them kings?" The polecat giggled. "They did not tell you yet? Well they never liked being called that. A king is the leader of his species. You wolves call them 'Alpha' I think, right?" Imya thought about her father and nodded. "So Red and Liam are also leader of their packs?" she asked and looked at Red with interest. Odin began to laugh because Red made a face between annoyance and disgust. "He does not like it but yes, even the crazy Red is the leader of the foxes here. Even though they are more solitary. It is rare to see him walk around with someone else, let alone with a pup." He turned to Red. "Did all the vixen turn you down and you adopted a wolf pup?" she joked but Red was not in the mood for jokes. "No, I am not." He said a bit annoyed. "She was just alone and I help her to get back to her pack. As a matter of fact, she also was following da star. Ya are too, aren't ya?" - "A think you made him crabbit." Chuckled Liam. "Hey, I am just joking Red, don't you know how to laugh anymore?" Odin still giggled and Red just growled. "Was not funny man." He said but a smile already played around his muzzle. "Numpty as ever!" commented Liam the behavior of Odin. "You dae no have to listen to all he says." He not turned to Imya. "Odin likes to make his jokes but he is a good guy." Imya was a bit overwhelmed but still she was interested to get an answer for the question she asked. "So you and Red are kings ... leaders?"

Liam nodded and stopped to chuckle. "Aye, we and Odin have been called 'the three kings' for a long time in this part of the forest. We meet up with each other every now and then and if there is something important ..." - "... like da star ..." Red stopped to be grumpy and joined their discussion. "Aye, like the star." Liam repeated. "So, if there is something important, we meet and find out what it is about and what we need to do." "So you are following the star? Did you contact each other to meet here?" Imya asked. She had heard from Red already that he was following the star and as well Liam as Odin had acted like the planned it together even before they met. But she had no idea why they separated if they had planned it before. "Nae, we ken that the others would follow the star and so we all joined in." Liam explained. "We ken each other for a while now and know what the others think. Well, for most parts at least." Imya looked from one of them to the other. They all were so different from her father but they were alphas, or kings like Odin said.

"We should go. I waited the whole night for you to arrive and the night is coming to its end." Odin said and Imya looked up. The moon already was gone and she knew that this meant that they soon had to find a den. "We should not wait until the coat of Nott is lifted. This would not be good." "For once Imma agree with him, sure I do, yo!" Red said and they started to fall into a jog. Even of Odin was small he was fast and was running just as fast as they were. "Who is Nott?" asked Imya while she followed Red and Odin was running next to her. "She is a curious fella." The polecat said and showed a big grin. "I am not surprised that you do not know that. She is more known by the smaller animals. I would have expected you wolves to know though, because you are also active at night, but I think every animal has their own legends, right?" - "And who is Nott?" asked Imya again. "You are a persistent one. I like that. To say it short, she is a goddess that brings the night." He answered. Imya was not pleased with just this short story. Stories had always been her favorite thing and she loved to hear what polecats believed in. "Please tell me!" she asked him but Odin shook his head. "Hear pup ... Imya, right?" she nodded. "There are times for stories. I promise you that I will tell you the story tomorrow but I would not make it right for this story to rush it because the day is already coming and this is not a day story, do you understand?"

Imya looked to the sky and knew what he meant. The horizon already had a red color and prepared for the arrival of the sun. The red fire of the sun blinded their eyes when it broke over the horizon and they had to squinny them to see something. Just before the ball of fire left the edge of the horizon and started the walk over the sky they arrived at a den. Red checked for any habitants but it was empty. "We left ma realm." He just explained the reason why he had no den here and they had to take someone elses den. "But this is not used. We can stay here tonight." Imya was a bit disappointed that Odin did not want to tell her the story of Nott but at least he promised her to tell her the story at the next night. All that was left for her was to sleep and then there would be a story when she woke up. This day she was again the first to lay down and close her eyes while Red, Odin and Liam still talked a bit at the entrance of the den. Imya already slept deep when Red and Odin joined her and Liam went off to find a place to sleep for himself.