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Raven Wolf - The Oracle - Chapter Eleven

It is the late into the night, everyone that lived within Raven Wolf already fast asleep save for a few warriors that patrolled the forest the village was hidden in, to make sure that everything was still as it should be.

Iuana and Yula are both sleeping in their room within the chieftain's hut, while Eve sleeps soundly in one of the huts in the village, the owners having been kind enough to let her stay there while she was staying with the tribe.

Kit sleeps curled up on a bed next to Eleven, her home the one he had been staying in since arriving at the village, the boy fidgeting in his sleep moving every once and a while to make himself comfortable again, Eleven on the other hand hardly moving at all as she slept.

Teddy is once again sleeping on the cot in Achak's hut, Tahki across the room from him and sleeping in her own bed. Achak though is not sleeping as everyone else, he instead talking to Shiya who was awake as well.

Shiya sits down in front of Achak, Achak as usual staring at several different identical jars of white powders as he tried to figure out which was which, Achak letting out a tired yawn as he speaks to Shiya."Of all the things that are happening right now that could cause you to lose sleep, an old vision Yula had when he was a child is the thing you choose to let keep you up."

Shiya stares down at the jars that Achak right now stares down at, of all the things that concerned him it was no surprise that this was one of the more important issues. "He foresaw my death."

Young Yula makes a grin as he begins to explain. "There were to wolves like us in it. They were twins, a brother and sister. You got hurt badly because of the sister, and the brother took your place."

Achak shakes his head, visions of the future always difficult. "He did not say that you actually died, he only said that you would be replaced, there are plenty of ways to replace you without having to wait for you to die first, perhaps he is speaking of something else. You can be replaced in many ways Shiya, there is so much that you do." He laughs for a moment. "If you're lucky perhaps he will take your place as the militaries target! Wouldn't that be nice for a change?"

Shiya shakes his head that hard to believe. "I highly doubt that."

Achak looks back to Teddy. "Perhaps he is Iuana's suitor, and he is the one that replaces you as Raven Wolf's leader."

Shiya looks over to Teddy, that just as hard to believe as Achak's first suggestion. "I don't believe he has any intention of staying here. Iuana and I have both sent him an invitation of welcome and he has yet to respond, and just look at him, he still wears the uniform of the military, not because he still sides with them but because he intends to live as a domestic, he is afraid of being seen as a wild more than he already is." Shiya slowly shakes his head, there no way that someone with that mentality could do what was needed to be done to become a suitor for Iuana, even less where the chances that someone that thought as Teddy did would ever step up as the tribe's leader.

Achak lets out a heavy sigh. "You are right, he is afraid to play the part of a wild, for now anyway. Just because a child has grown into an adult does not mean that they have finished growing. Right now Teddy is lost with nowhere to turn, until he first finds a home he will remain lost, and he will not grow into what it was he was meant to become."

Shiya looks back to Achak. "What about the part where I get hurt? If Teddy is indeed the one that was portrayed in Yula's dream then that means that his sister will wound me, and for a wound to become relevant in the vision of the future it would have to be one that is deep, that will be the end of me either by taking my life or ending my usefulness."

Achak nods his head Shiya having a point, that indeed a great concern. "You are right... be that as it may, no one can escape the end once it is given to them, not even you Shiya. It's best you find out if these two are indeed the ones that Yula saw within his dream. If they are indeed the ones then it is best you start to prepare for the worst case scenario, your inevitable end."

Shiya nods his head. "How long until he is well enough to travel?"

Achak returns his concentration to the jars before him. "I have taken care of his wounds, they should have healed over by now and should no longer hinder him. Why? You don't intend to take him with you do you?"

Shiya nods his head yes. "He needs to be shown that he is not without choice before he makes his final decision."

Achak picks up one of the jars in front of him, he now holding it out to Shiya for him to see. "It's this one!"

Shiya sighs as he stares at the jar. "That's salt."

Achak lets out a disappointed whimper. "Really...?"

Shiya nods his head yes. "Really."

Achak looks back to the jar rather annoyed with having chosen it. "If you know what everything is why don't you do my job?"

Shiya picks up one of the bottles, this one being the one that Achak was looking for. "If you're really that soar about it I'll contemplate taking your job from you once my role as the tribe's chieftain comes to an end."

Achak takes the jar from him, though he knew that Shiya was joking he couldn't help but feel a little upset. "Please don't... where would that leave me?" He pushes the jars to the side, placing another row of identical leafy branches in front of them, he beginning to look through them while thinking as hard as he could.

Shiya laughs at the reaction. "Do not worry yourself, I could not replace you, though I know how to tell most things apart I don't know how to do anything else. I don't know how nor do I have the skills to make your recipes, if anything I would become your apprentice."

Shiya looks back to his friend as he continues to encouraging him. "Don't beat yourself up for not being able to do this. The domestic doctors can rarely tell the difference from one medicine to another without it being labelled."

Achak picks up one of the branches in front of him holding it out to Shiya, Shiya shaking his head no and pointing to the one that Achak wanted, Achak giving him an annoyed grumble. "I meant to pick that one up..." He now takes several bowls that held ingredients similar to the other.

Shiya sighs to himself as he looks up from the bowls of ingredients that had been lined up in front of them. "So then Achak, what do you think of my situation? Have I overstayed my welcome as Raven Wolf's leader?"

Achak shakes his head no. "I think you have not been our leader for long enough. What you hope to achieve takes time, the unfortunate situation that our tribe has fallen into is not something that will be fixed overnight. Nor is it something that will result in our favour if we indeed choose the path of war. Though not everyone in the tribe sees things as you do there are still those who do. Myself and Tahki included."

Achak shrugs his shoulders, what he had to say not meaning much. "But what does my opinion matter? I am just a crazy lunatic that can't tell the difference between salt and medicine."

He points down to one of the bowls, Shiya smiling as he looks back to him. "You're right."

Achak looks insulted with the comment. "I said nice things about you! You could at least do the same for me."

Shiya frowns at the comment that having not been what he was talking about. "I wasn't referring to that, I was referring to the ingredient that you picked out. It was the right one."

Achak stares at Shiya. "Oh?" He looks back to the bowl he pointed at, a rather pleased look now crossing his face. "Is it then?" He wags his tail happily as he picks the bowl up. "I knew I would have to get one right eventually." He seems very pleased with himself, he looking back to Shiya. "Perhaps I will grow into this roll my father gave to me after all."

*******

It is early within the morning once again, the small domestic town not far from the village of Raven Wolf starting to wake from its slumber, its visitors too awake.

Dolly is surprised to hear what Zack is telling her, she sitting up in the bed she had been resting in while they spoke, she now much better then she had been before. "You lied to General Mort?"

Zack nods his head yes. "If I were to tell him of the location so soon the village that your brother is in would have been swarmed, Raven Wolf's leader would no doubly have been caught as so their desire, and your brother and anyone else right now within the village would not have been spared."

He shakes his head the situation not good for him, it in fact dangerous for him to be hiding information like this. "I can't hide this information forever, I just wanted to give you one more chance to try and convince your brother to make the right decision and keep himself from being killed. As for Eleven... well I'll deal with Eleven."

Dolly frowns as she thinks the situation over, Zack would indeed face a lot of trouble if this deception of his was found out. The longer the two of them waited around the more frail the lie would become, eventually giving way to the truth. "Alright then, let's go back and try to talk to them, but how do you expect to speak with them?"

Zack begins to explain. "Raven Wolf's leader knows that we know where their location is, he'll have sent scouts to warn him and his village of attack. We just need to find one, subdue them and then explain to them that we wish only to speak to your brother and Eleven. Raven Wolf's leader right now pushes for peace against the domestics and his people, he will be very likely to hear us out."

Dolly lowers her gaze from Zack, this indeed something that she did not understand in concerns to this whole mess. "That is one thing I do not understand... if Raven Wolf is seeking so diligently for peace, then why does the domestic military trick and attack them as they do?"

Zack turns away from her unwilling to discuss it. "That's no business of yours."

Dolly gets out of the bed she is laying in, she refusing to be kept in the dark about all this. "Look Magellan. You lied to your superior, do you know what kind of a situation that puts me in? If I don't tell them about your deceit then I'll be in just as much trouble as you'll be when they find out. If on the other hand I told them about what you did-"

Zack interrupts her, he right now holding a very angered tone in his voice. "What!? I'm doing this so you can try and help your brother out! You can't blackmail me like that!"

Dolly sighs to herself, though she wouldn't really play the role of a snitch she needed to push back against Zack if she intended to get any answers. "Zack, I just want to know what's going on. Why is the military after Raven Wolf's leader? What does Kit Milford have to do with the situation and why does the military want to kill him? Who is this woman that looks so much like you and why are you risking so much to be able to speak with her?"

Zack rubs the back of his neck, there very little he could say regarding this without pulling Dolly too deep into the situation with the military, regardless though if he wanted to save his neck he would have to give her answers. "The military has always been at odds with that tribe of wilds, that tribe is hostile, you're a wild so you must have heard the stories. Raven Wolf if the tribe cursed by the spirits with the task kill all the domestics upon this land. Though you are right about them seeking peace at this moment in time the military needs to still take caution when dealing with anyone from that group."

He continues on, though that's how things were originally over the years the situation had begun to drastically change. "I was brought into the project only recently, in fact the mock peace treaty was my first assignment. No one wanted the task so it was given to me, kill the kid so that the military gets the funding they need to increase their weapon and man power when it came to dealing with Raven Wolf. After that my objectives were never followed with reasons, capture Raven Wolf's leader, retrieve subject 1502, Teddy Conner and Eve Cadrey, and most recently correct my mistake and dispose of Kit Milford."

Dolly thinks over what Zack had said, from what he had admitted it was clear why the military wanted Kit dead, if word got out that he was indeed alive they would immediately lose the funding they had received to combat Raven Wolf, this funding something they needed considering how difficult the wild in question was to catch. Though it still did not explain why they wanted Raven Wolf's leader to begin with, and if Zack really was telling the truth, that he knew nothing more than she would have to get her answers concerning him somewhere else.

She looks back to Zack, there still one question that he had left unanswered. "What about the woman that looks like you? Who exactly is she? You said her name was Eleven... and that your name used to be Twenty Six... in all honesty what kind of names are those?"

Zack falls silent, that a question he did not want to answer at this time. "She's an old acquaintance of mine."

Dolly stares at him with her arms crossed, she wanting more of an answer than that, she just about to push him further on the subject when the loud sound of engines, as well of voices of confusion from the villagers begin to fill the air, Dolly taking her attention from Zack as she makes her way over to the window, moving the curtains to the side and looking out, the sight of several military vehicles quickly driving through the streets meeting her vision.

She looks back to Zack questioning him about this. "What's all this about?"

Zack walks up to the window also looking outside, a frown on his face as he watches them. "I don't know, but their presence is not going to make things easy for us." He begins making his way out of the room. "Come on, let's go see what they're doing here."

The two begin to make their way out of the building they are in, moving outside so they could see more of what was happening, the military looking to be surrounding one of the houses in the village, the many soldiers getting out of their vehicles and starting to swarm toward the house, the doors and windows broken by them as they make their way inside.

Zack approaches a solider near him questioning him on the situation. "What the heck is going on?"

The soldier looks back to Zack recognizing him. "Magellan." He looks back to the house bringing to explain. "Intelligence found a conversation in the communications network that had on it the leader of Raven Wolf's voice. The call was traced back and confirmed to have originated from this location."

Dolly looks back to the house that the soldiers right now surrounded, that would have to mean that at one point her brother and the wilds they were after had to have been in there.

Several soldiers come out of the house, they calling over to the man that was right now in charge of the situation. "There's nothing here, the house is completely empty."

"They must have figured out that we were onto them. Question the townsfolk, I want to know who lived there and where they have gone."

Dolly watches at the soldiers continue about their business, as long as they were here there was no way that they would be able to attempt to reach Raven Wolf's village without being found out. She looks over to Zack, the annoyed frown on his face clearly telling her that he was right now thinking the same thing.

*******

Kit leaps onto Teddy's sleeping figure, landing on his stomach and knocking the wind out of him, effectively waking him up. Kit excitedly calls out to him as he shakes him to try and wake him up, even though Teddy had already woken. "Hurry get up, get up, get up!! Come on everyone's getting ready to go!! You don't want to be the last one done getting ready do you?!"

Teddy fumbles about for a moment before managing to push Kit away from him and get him to stop shaking him back and forth. "What are you talking about, where are we going?"

Kit jumps off of Teddy and back onto the ground when he sees that he is awake. "Shiya's taking me back home to the city!"

Teddy doesn't seem all that excited about that information. "What? But we practically just got here."

Kit nods his head aware of that. "I told him how everyone back home thinks that I'm dead, so he's going to take me back to mom and dad so that they don't think I'm dead anymore!" He looks back to Teddy before leaving. "Shiya said that he needs you to come too, because you know the city and where the military might be in it."

Teddy gets up, that indeed the truth. "Alright then, I'm coming..." He begins to follow Kit out. "I wouldn't be able to get something to eat before I go would I?"

Achak meets Teddy and Kit outside of the hut, he handing Teddy some food to eat before he left. "Here."

Teddy takes food looking it over. "You didn't make this did you?"

Achak frowns at the question. "Very funny." He turns away from him making his way to Hasson giving him some food to eat before he left as well.

Teddy begins to eat his small meal while looking over his surroundings, it was still very early in the morning, most of the inhabitants of the village still asleep. The only ones that seemed to be awake were the ones that would soon be leaving, those that were helping them prepare for the journey, and those that were seeing their loved ones off and wishing them safe travels.

An older female wolf that was a little bulkier and heavier in weight then the other members of Raven Wolf, and with the same reddish dapple coloured coat of fur as Kitchi stands by him as she continually brushes his clothes off and fixes his fur while worriedly speaking to him. "Be sure to listen to everything that Shiya says, be careful when you're out there and remember your training if you get into a fight, also-"

Kitchi interrupts her before she can say anything else. "Mom! I'm going to be just fine! Dad's coming with remember? Why don't you go and baby him?"

Kitchi's mother returns to lovingly fixing her son's fur. "Oh my little Kitchi, already taking your mission that will graduate you to a real warrior! I'm so proud of you honey!" She hugs him tightly. "You come back safely now Kitchi!"

"I'll be just fine mom!!"

Kitchi's mother turns to Hasson, she speaking to him in a stern voice. "Don't let our son get hurt! If he comes home with a single scratch on him you're going to pay!"

Hasson stares at his wife, clearly upset that he had not gotten the same treatment from her as their son had, Kitchi looking back at him and just shrugging his shoulders.

Achak gives the very large wolf a pat on the back. "She's not worried about you because she never has to be, you always come back safely. Little Kitchi has yet to prove himself though."

Kitchi looks annoys by the remark. "Don't call me little..."

Iuana is standing near her father as she helps him get ready to leave, she too concerned over the ordeal he would soon be enduring. "The domestic city is large and easy to become lost in, are you sure you will be alright?"

Shiya looks back to her, having already thought that problem over. "Teddy will be acting as my guide, I will be just fine."

Iuana still seems concerned. "What about the domestic military that's located there?"

Shiya looks back over to Kit. "We will try to avoid them at all costs, I'm well aware of how dangerous it's going to be, but Kit must be returned not only to clear the name of me and my people, but to lift the horror and sadness that must right now be upon the hearts of those that cherish him."

Iuana crosses her arms as she thinks over what her father had said, she had lived a very long time believing that Yula was dead, so she could understand how it would feel to be Kit's parents. Shiya possibly seeing things from their point of view even more than she did being Yula's father. "I know that this is the right thing to do, but just be careful alright? It is still a long time before I can replace you as our leader. So please come back safe."

Shiya smiles at her. "Take care of our people while I am gone, protect the village and your brother. I will be back as soon as I can." He looks back over to Tahki who was helping Achak ready him and his group to leave. "Tahki will know how to handle the warriors should she need to, and despite the fact that you two do not get along she will listen to your orders should you choose to give them."

Shiya looks from Iuana and over to Teddy when he sees that he has woken, he giving Iuana one more reassuring glace before making his way to Teddy. "Good to see you awake. Did Kit explain what's going on?"

Teddy nods his head. "Yeah, you're taking him back to his home, and you need my help to do it."

"Sorry for not bringing it up until now, you wouldn't mind going would you?"

Teddy shakes his head no, he not having a problem with it. "If it's to get Kit home safely then I would be more than happy to help."

Iuana looks over to Teddy now, a smile on her face. "Teddy, just as I told my father. Please come back safe."

Teddy looks back to her with a smile, though he had been someone fuming over her only the day before once he gave himself the time to think over the situation it was clear that what had happened between them wasn't really her fault. "I'll do that."

Iuana now looks toward Kitchi, who had finally managed to pull away from his mother, she walking up to him and patting him on the shoulder. "You come back safe too Kitchi, no doubt we'll never hear the end of it from your mother if you don't."

Kitchi smiles back at her, there not going to be a problem. "Once I come back from this mission I'll finally be labelled as a real warrior! Of course I'll be back! I wouldn't want to miss out on that!"

Shiya looks the group that would be traveling with him over, he now motioning for Teddy, Hasson, Kitchi and Kit to follow him so they could begin their journey. "Let's go, the sooner Kit is returned the better."

Shiya, Kitchi and Hasson all lower their warriors masks upon their faces, Kit looking up at them fondly. "Aww I wish I could wear a mask like that too! They're so cool!!"

Teddy just shakes his head, he thinking it silly to be wearing such a thing. The group of five begin to take their leave, starting their long journey back to the domestic's city that Kit's home was in.

Teddy makes his way over to the smaller of the two warriors that were with him, he beginning to question him as they began their journey. "So after this you're going to be one of Raven Wolf's warriors?"

Kitchi lifts his mask as he looks back to him answering his question. "Yeah, right now I'm only a trainee, but after this I'll be a full-fledged warrior just like my dad and older brother. So far I've only been taken along for observation, but this time I actually get to take part!" He makes a nervous grin. "Although... two of my observation missions actually turned into fighting... the one where you guys came to the village, and then the one that was supposed to be a peace treaty..."

Teddy stares at him. "You were there when Iuana was taken by the domestics?"

Kitchi nods his head yes. "Yeah... it was a mess, I ended up fighting even thought I wasn't supposed to be, we all tried really hard to get Iuana back... but she disappeared among the domestics before any of us could reach her. The chieftain was really upset after that battle, though it's not hard for anyone to see why. I was pretty upset too, I know it wasn't my fault but I felt like I really let Iuana down you know."

Kitchi quickly turns back to Teddy, stammering as he spoke. "I know what you must be thinking! Don't worry me and Iuana are just friends! I know we are around each other a lot, but I don't see her as anything more than a friend!! Besides, from what people in Raven Wolf are saying even if she doesn't look that much older than me she's actually a couple hundred years older."

Kitchi begins to laugh nervously at himself while Teddy stares at him quiet confused. "What are you talking about?"

Kitchi looks back to Teddy confused. "Don't you like Iuana? I mean, like as in... 'like?"

Teddy crosses his arms. "Now I'm not saying you're wrong, but I'm not saying you're right either, but what gave you that assumption?"

Kitchi is genuinely surprised as he begins to explain. "Well... ever since she came back to the village most of what she does is talk about you. So I guess I just assumed that you liked her as much as she liked you."

Teddy seems interested in this. "Really?"

Hasson walks up next to Kitchi, pushing down the mask he had moved and covering his face once again. "I know you dislike it but bare with it. Masks are meant to frighten our enemy into not attacking us, or causing them to hesitate if they do."

Kitchi grumbles to himself as he fixes his mask, it going to be a long journey if they were going to continue on like this. "Yes dad..."