FSE

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Snow awoke to the early morning light faintly glowing through the curtains. He snuggled closer to Tess, her roommate had decided to let them have the cabin to themselves for the night.

He lay there for a while with her in his arms, until the morning bell rung cheerfully through the air. He felt Tess stir next to him her ears twitched with each ring. She stretched and yawned, then twisted around to stare up at him with her mischievous green eyes.

"Morning handsome, let's go shower and go breakfast." She hugged him tight and then slid away before bouncing out the bed. Snow followed her into the alcove of absolutions and they helped each other wash playfully before heading out to face the day.

It was a clear day, not a cloud in the sky. Snow saw Chris and Grev coming and waved them over to join them for breakfast.

Only Chris came to join them, looking slightly tired.

"Didn't sleep well?" Tess asked, having noticed the same. Chris only grunted non-committally.

Breakfast was a quiet affair, Tess tucked up next to him and Chris staring at his plate like it held answers it was stubbornly refusing to give up.

"Finish up! Report to the eastern gate!" A voice cried above the conversations at the various tables.

Snow looked at Chris "Tag again, I'll get you today." He joked.

Chris only snorted derisively. Snow wasn't sure what was going on with his friend, but wasn't about to call him out on it before Tess. He'd talk to him tonight when they were alone.

They finished up and made their way with the crowd of younglings.

The game had quickly become more dangerous than before. Chris had come to him not long after it started. Startled that his friend broke the unspoken pact they'd made not to track and tag each other because of their inner sense of where the other was.

Chris had quickly told him that their training had taken an unexpected step up, how there were mages out in the forest lying in wait for the pack. Almost half of them had already been tagged and captured.

"I need you as bait, to lure them out. It's not like your any good at being quiet as it is. I'll be out slightly ahead of you and catch the mages as they come at you. They seem to know where everyone is and usually have them caught before they know they've been seen." Chris said.

"Remember how my brother can't see you? They must be sensing us with their magic and they can't sense you. We should see if we can find others to help us. Maybe with your help we can turn the tide on them." Snow had replied with a challenging gleam in his eye.

"No, it'll have to be the two of us. The others don't know about the mages out there, they'd tag us and then we'd be targets lit up and ripe for the picking." Chris said.

Snow nodded in assent.

Now Snow crashed through the brush, not caring that he made a sound. He felt Chris keeping pace with him further out, but couldn't hear a crack of twig or whisper of leaf that would belie his position. The kid really was like a little shadow as he'd been dubbed by everyone.

They'd already caught three mages unaware with their tactics and Chris had tagged one on his own. Chris had sniffed out another near here. Snow huffed as he ran. His fur was slicked with sweat. He felt a blast of air ruffling through his fur scant inches from his back. Right, now I've got his attention he thought to himself and started ducking and weaving between the trees. He felt Chris change direction chasing him. Not long now he thought as he ducked behind a tree feeling another blast of air miss him by only a little. He felt Chris stop. Another one down he mused as he came to a halt and spun around, seeing that the mage was indeed ringed with a circle of light.

He watched Chris Signal a direction and trotted that way. Chris quickly caught him up.

"I don't think there's many more." Chris said, hardly panting. Snow might be able to swing a weapon from sun up to sundown, but when it came to running it wasn't long before he was huffing.

"Here you hide there and I'll track the next one." Chris said, pushing at Snow's big form, guiding him down into a big bush with the sun streaming down from a gap in the leaves above.

"They'll see me here! It's right in the light" he hissed.

"They're more likely to see you in the shadows, just trust me ok." Chris whispered back. Mumbling Snow relented. He tried to keep his eyes on Chris as his lithe black coated friend slunk away, but it wasn't long that he seemed to melt into the scenery and shadows.

Snow waited. His tail twitched irritably, he hated waiting and the sweat on his skin was making him itch as his body cooled.

It felt like an eternity hunkered down in the brush. This is stupid he thought to himself_they'd sense me with magic anyway._ A sound caught his attention and he saw a Wolven slip out behind a tree and rush to the next. Snow held his breath, fearful that the sound of it might give him away. His tail twitched and the leaves crinkled angrily at being disturbed. He watched the Wolvens' ears perk as he look around. Snow was just getting ready to leap out and tag him, sure that as the Wolvens' eyes fell on him crouching in a puddle of light between the leaves of the brush he'd be seen. The Wolvens' glance passed over him and it slipped forward again, moving away.Bloody Hell he marvelled to himself. It wasn't long and he felt his friends' presence drawing near. He made out Chris's form only when he was almost on him.

"I could only scent out one more mage, I think he's just caught the last of the pack as well. You wouldn't guess who it is either." Chris said grinning madly.

"I don't know any mages, so of course I wouldn't know who it bloody is!" He snarled quietly, having to sit here for so long hadn't done much to put him in a good temperament.

"Yes you do!" Chris giggled at him quietly. "It's your brother. I could tag him without your help, but I thought you'd like to be in on it?"

A grin overcame Snow. "What's the plan?"

"Well, he can't see or sense me. So it'd be easy enough to slip up on him, but it's going to be much more difficult if we're to get you to be the one to tag him. I'm not sure it's going to work, but if you're up for it we can give it a try?" Chris answered excitedly.

"Well, what is your brilliant idea and I'll see if I'm up for it." Snow snorted irritated again.

Chris explained it quickly and Snow agreed.

Now Snow sat up in the tree, perching precariously on a branch that he wasn't entirely sure was going to carry his weight. His legs weren't all that happy about their prolonged uncomfortable position and were protesting painfully at the treatment. Snows ears were perked as he listened to the barking laughter not far in the distance. Suddenly the tree shuddered lightly and leaves danced into the air. He watched Chris slip past under him. Let's hope Skye doesn't look up he thought to himself.

Skye was furious. He blasted another scattering of air-hammers ahead of himself. He hadn't taken into account the fact that Chris would be here and that he wouldn't be able to see him. Now he had to rely on his hearing. It wouldn't have been such a troubling thing, since he'd learned to trust that sense in the world of darkness he'd grown up in. He could judge distance and direction exceptionally well just by sound alone, but it seemed the months since he'd been granted his gift of sight had also conspired to dull his judgement on his hearing.

Another bark of laughter greeted him invisibly and he flung out another spread of air-hammers. One of the two spells they had been allowed to use against the unsuspecting pack of younglings. Air-hammers to knock them down and a blanket bind to keep them down. Only six of them had been sent out and Skye was pretty sure that they had by now caught most of the pack. He'd become worried though when one by one the voices of his compatriots had cut off from the communication amulets that they'd been allowed to wear.

He was sure now that he knew why. None of them had known about Chris, except he himself and he hadn't even thought of him. They'd all laughingly thought that they had been sent out here to teach the wolf pack younglings a lesson about going up against magic. Now Skye wondered if the Grandmaster hadn't also wanted to teach the six top students with mastery of air a lesson in humility as well.

Skye saw bush parting and heard another laugh. He immediately flung out the prepared shaped spell of air-hammers at it hoping this time to catch his elusive prey.

Something was wrong though. Chris could easily have snuck up on him unawares and tagged him. The realisation came too late as his sight suddenly registered a form dropping down from above him. He'd been so focused and furious at Chris that he hadn't thought that he may well be being led into a trap he realised with horror.

Suddenly he saw the magic ring of light around himself, shocked to see Snow laughing behind him with his gloved paw on his shoulder.

He heard the laughter choke off in surprise as a light ring suddenly bloomed around his brother.

"Got you!" Chris's voice yipped disembodied into the air.

"What the hell?" Snow growled.

"Never focus on your kill to the exclusion of everything else" Chris laughed.

"Where are you going!?" Snow suddenly called out.

"Games not over! This time I'm going to catch Grev!" Chris's determined voice yelled back.

"But he doesn't play tag with us, he's our instructor?" Snow said confused, staring into the distance where Chris had most likely run Skye thought.

"Well come on Snow, we might as well make our way out of this dratted place. I've had enough of stubbing my toes and getting my robe caught on every accursed thing in here."

"You and me both," Snow muttered. "It's the first time I've lasted this long in a game of tag and I think it was all due to that scoundrel too. Kid can barely manage not to stab himself with a weapon, but out here he's like a ghost. We call him little shadow you know."

Snow and Skye made their way out of the forest to the waiting group of younglings and the chagrined mages.

"Well you lasted a long time!" Tess's voice called. "Did the little shadow leave you for last?"

"It was because of him that I lasted this long and that we got the mages. Then he turned and tagged me after helping catch my brother." Snow said laughing.

"This is your brother Skye?" Tess said before jumping forward impulsively and hugging the shocked mage. "Glad to meet you! Snows' told me all about you."

The other mages had made their way over by then.

"Did that ghost of a black Wolven catch you too? We didn't even sense him coming!" One of them said. It wasn't moments before they were all discussing how they had been caught out and who had caught who and how many before being tagged themselves.