003 The Fire of Fate

"My Lord." A voice with caution hidden within broke Erebus's mind wandering.

"Themis." He took his gaze from afar back to the drink held in his hand, and answered without turning back.

"I... I want to... I know that... it must be upsetting to have your apanage taken away, I just want to say that..." Themis stuttered with her awkward comforting, but was with little effect.

Erebus waved his hand: "I'm more concerned about the fact that Perses chose this particular village when he was offered a lot of other better choices."

"Maybe he was just trying to come off as generous with this act. It's not like he really needs any more apanage." Themis gets nervous whenever she talks to Erebus, but analyzing and deducting calms her.

"Does Perses feels like the astute type to you?" Amusement crawled onto Erebus's face.

"I-I guess not. His action in the past had been nothing but selfless and reckless." Themis lowered her head.

Watching her "warm comforting" turning into a boring strategy meeting, Erebus's loyal knights -- who were also the ones that encouraged Themis to come and talk to Erebus -- sighed together:

Lost cause.

Erebus noticed their sighs so he changed the subject: "Don't worry yourself too much on this, kiddo. I'll take care of it."

"But my Lord, I worry about you!" Seeing Erebus leaving, Themis outburst with her thoughts out of haste and suddenly flush at the realization of her own words.

"I know--" Erebus said, but Themis already ran out of the bar.

Erebus: "..."

All Knights: "..."

"My Lord, I do think we need to look into this though." Pallas came up to fill the silence, "It didn't feel right how the King pampered Perses with such connivance. The King IS gentle and merciful, but never blind."

"Also the queen was suspicious, too." Metis added before Erebus could reply, "She has been taking a huge part in decisions of our King recently, and she was obviously on Perses's side this time."

"I know you are not fond of our new queen, but keep that thought close to yourself before our investigation show any results. It's for your own safety."

Knights: "Yes, my Lord."

"How are the other arrangements?" Erebus hinted on Pallas to answer. He was Erebus's most reliable knight, and he always had a good eye on the big picture.

"They will be leaving tomorrow, and get in position before nightfall..." Pallas stopped with hesitation.

"Hmm?" Erebus took a sip of his drink and waited on his pause.

"My Lord, I do worry about this plan. I'm not feeling comfortable with you using yourself as the bait..."

"Haha... What, you don't think I can take on Perses?" Erebus teased him.

"Of course I do!" Pallas answered in a haste. He was THAT easy to fell for Erebus teasing.

"I know you are a better alpha than Perses, but that's exactly why I worry! He won't care for his men's lives like you do!" Pallas kept up.

Erebus patted Pallas and put on his serious voice: "He won't make a move if you are all around me. I need him to think he has a chance at me to expose him true intention."

"I heard that he has been parading in the village a lot recently." Pallas sighed, knowing that he was not able to change his Lord's mind.

"Parading?" Erebus raised his eyebrow at that word.

While being worshipped after werewolves died down with their appearance among the human society, there was no way chance for any werewolf to survive if they show their true identity like that.

The Curia won't allow it.

"Well, you know. Celebration and all that. They had his name in myths and stories spread there for a while."

"Interesting." Erebus mumbled.

"The villagers are still holding your statue as their god though." Pallas quickly added, seeing the worry in his Lord's expression.

"If he has been preparing for a while, then he chooses that specific village for a reason, but what's more troubling is that..." Erebus looked Pallas in his eyes, waiting for him to come to the realization.

"That... that he KNEW he would be allowed to take a part from your apanage!" Pallas exclaimed when he figured out the rest of Erebus's sentence.

What Erebus had been worried for a while finally happened.

"I really have to ask you to reconsider your plan, my Lord. I will take your place as the bait." Pallas urged.

"I thought you said I'm an alpha who cares about his people. It's hard to back out of it now when you said such sweet words." Erebus squinted his eyes and started teasing Pallas.

This conversation actually lifted Erebus's mood a bit and now he'd got the energy to have fun.

The enemies were moving, while dangerous, it was also the best chance to make a break through on their scheme. He was more relived now than when he had been waiting for some horrible thing to happen with no clue.

"My Lord..." Pallas sighed.

"I left three of our villages unguarded on the edge of our territory. I'll stay in the middle. But he might take on the other two if he suspects it to be a trap." Erebus started with him plan already.

It was not like anyone could ever change his mind. He might be gentle, but he was still an alpha.

"Also," Erebus stopped Pallas when he was leaving to make the arrangements, "get Iapetus to look into the village Perses chose. Anything special about it, I need to know."

"Yes, my Lord." Pallas bowed to him before he left.

Colorful drinks and clinking of tumblers exchanging around the bar. Erebus turned to stand by the window alone again, except this time, what he was gazing into afar, is the light a war incoming.

What was there to fear? Around his were his loyal knights, who would all take his place in an instant if any danger was cast on to him.

Except when Erebus was thinking about this war, his "loyal knights" were all worrying on how to find their alpha a mate--

A werewolf only marks once.

It eant that he had never taste that sweet poison named love, ever. He had always been alone, and watching his Lord's figure in front of the window, they were all thinking one thing--

Where could this girl be?!

...

"Red clouds!" Emma, the youngest among the kids in a shabby cabin, yelled and clapped her tiny hands together, laughing. She was only three years old.

"Again with her nonsense. I do wonder what's it like in her little head sometimes." Tony smirked, as if the wisest man ever lived.

"You are merely four years older than her. Her 'nonsense' were not too far away from those that came out of your little mouth, remember?" Kitty patted him on the head and picked up Emma in her arms: "Cute cute Emma, what red cloud?"

"There!" The little girl replied, pointing at the sky outside the broken window.

There really was a splash of red right up in the sky, except it was not cloud, but bright light coloring the sky into blood.

"Fire!" Kitty exclaimed, putting Emma down in a hurry, "Sarah, you are in charge, I'll go check it out!"

"What?! Why can't I be in charge!" Tony yelled, pulling Kitty's sweater.

"Hey! My sweater is broken enough as it is! You can be in charge when you are older than Sarah." Though in a hurry, Kitty still found time to tease him.

"But that would take another seven years! That's ALL the time that I have lived!" Tony protested.

"Alright, you three! What are the rules?" Kitty gathered some stuff, and stood by the door to turn to look at the three little ones in the room.

Sarah glanced at Tony, who was pouting at the moment. She nudged him with her shoulder, waiting.

"Open the door for no one and stay quiet." Tony finally gave up and muttered.

"Very good. I'll be back right away." Kitty rushed out of the door.

It was a bit abnormal to see so huge a fire in this small village. Kitty had to go and make sure they were safe. After all, they had only her to look up to, even though she was only 17 herself, she was the oldest among them orphans.

It took her only a few streets to realize it was much worse than a huge fire, it was looting!

People were screaming and running on the streets in all directions. They were chased by a bunch of ferocious mobs with huge wolves running by their sides!

Kitty turned and ran towards home without a blink. She had to go back and take them to somewhere safe, anywhere was better than here at this moment!

"Where do you think you are going?" A man was standing right in front of her, staring at her with a vicious grin on his face.

It gave her the creeps when she realized he had been staring at her all this time when she was peeking out at the street from behind the wall!

She backed towards the street with small steps, staring at the men. Her instinct was yelling danger at her. He was smiling, but he had the feeling of death all around him.

"Boo!" The man suddenly shouted, jumping at her with a horrifying laughter.

Kitty turned and ran onto the street without even a yelp. Thanks to the mess on the street, the man failed to catch her before she disappeared in the crowd.

He chased her only for a few blocks and gave her up, laughing. She was only one of the many toys running around him, he had no reason to stick on chasing her.

He raised his sword and stabbed it into the body of a woman who was running pass him, and pulled the metal out without even looking.

The woman fell on the street slowly as he walked away. The swirl of panicking crowd then soon gobbled up her tiny body...

"Sarah! Tony! Sarah!!!" Kitty screamed at the top of her lungs as she ran towards their so-called home, only to find that no one was in there anymore.

"Wah--" A small cry burst out from the alley next to their cabin.

"Emma!" Kitty rushed into the next street, but Emma was not there, nor was Tony or Sarah, only a man.

It was the man who was chasing her a moment ago.