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Six
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2024-11-26 01:53:49Entering the large clearing used for group training, Morrigan finds that she’s one of the first ones there, and the most awake. Everyone appears to be asleep on their feet, except for the Royal Guard, of course. They look less intimidating now without their uniforms, instead taking on casual t-shirts and pants. Morrigan notices the two guards she had listened to the day before standing side by side, clearly mind-linking each other.
The Summit Keepers don’t mind-link much since they’re all so close to each other. Oskar could have mind-linked Morrigan a reminder to make dinner the day before, but he didn’t actually care about dinner. The Alpha could mind-link all the warriors to make sure they’re on time for training, but Morrigan guesses that their punctuality is a test.
Looking around, she realizes that she doesn’t see Ander anywhere. Her brows furrowed together, but she doesn’t have much time to dwell on the absence of her brother before Amira appears at her side.
Her hair is still in the intricate braid Jasira had done, but the bags under her eyes give away the fact that is not all put together. Morrigan simply raises an eyebrow at her.
“Father didn’t wake me up, but he definitely made a point of being loud enough to wake me,” Amira says.
As more members start arriving, Morrigan and Amira get lost in conversation, until they’re called to attention by the same male guard Morrigan had listened to the day before. Morrigan quickly stands to attention like she sees the members of the Royal Guard do, and Amira follows her lead.
No one even noticed the female guard from the day before behind them until she started yelling at people to stand up straight. For being so quiet yesterday, she sure can be loud and intimidating.
“My name is Nicholas, and I am the head of the First Division of the Royal Guard,” the man announces. The woman makes her way to his side. “This is my second in command, Takota,” he introduces. “She and I will be observing and training you for the next few weeks. These weeks will be more intense than you’re used to, and when we leave, you will be stronger than you are now.”
Morrigan listens intently. If she hopes to leave with the Guard at the end of the month, she’ll have to give everything she has in order to prove herself.
“We will be doing warm ups for a few hours before we will have a break for breakfast, and then we will begin the real training,” Nicholas announces.
The Summit Keepers exchange nervous glances.
- - - - -
By six o’clock, Morrigan feels the familiar burn in her muscles and lungs from the warm ups. She’s shed her outer layers, now wearing leggings and a sports bra, as the bruises from last night had healed by the time she woke up. Her skin has a sheen of sweat as she harshly swallows the cold liquid from her water bottle.
They began with some basic stretches before moving into workouts. These included but were not limited to push ups, sit ups, and squats. They were tested on both their muscular strength and endurance. Then Nicholas led them on laps around the territory in both human and wolf form, which even put some of the Guard to the test with the rough terrain. It was only after multiple laps that he dismissed them for breakfast.
Amira all but collapses onto the grass near the commons. Those who had finished their laps quickly had already claimed the benches, and though Morrigan had been one of the first, she had decided to wait for her cousin before sitting down and eating.
Jasira comes up to the two girls and hands them plates of food, raising an eyebrow at her daughter, sprawled out on the ground. Next to her, Morrigan sits cross-legged and digs in.
“You seem to be taking this very well,” she comments.
Amira glares at her mother.
“Rigan makes it look so easy,” she complains.
Morrigan reaches a hand out towards Amira, which she takes, and Morrigan pulls her up into a sitting position. Amira grimaces.
“Everything hurts,” she groans, burying her head into her knees.
Jasira holds back a smile at her daughter's antics before looking at Morrigan. Her niece is undoubtedly one of the strongest female warriors in the pack, only below herself and the Luna. She gives Morrigan an encouraging nod before walking away.
Morrigan offers her cousin some supportive words and encourages her to start eating her food. She isn’t sure when Nicholas is going to start training again, and the longer the food has to settle in their stomachs, the better. Amira eventually dials down her dramatics and the two go quiet as they eat their breakfast. Having not had dinner the night before, Morrigan is starving.
The two girls suddenly raise their heads when another person takes a seat in front of them. Morrigan quickly recognizes the lead female guard, the woman from earlier in the morning and from the day before. There’s barely any sweat on her amber skin compared to the soaked bodies of Morrigan and Amira, and her hair hangs limp, coming to end right at her chin. She doesn’t have any food in her hands.
Morrigan’s jaw nearly falls to the ground at the sight of the woman sitting with her, and she stumbles over her words as she tries to think of the right way to address her.
“Second in command Takota,” Morrigan gets out, quickly rearranging herself into a kneel.
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PAWN OR QUEEN Seven
Just as Amira begins to follow her cousin's lead, Takota holds up a hand to stop her.“When we aren’t training, please just call me Takota,” she says. “You can sit.”Morrigan slowly moves back into a seated position. She looks between Takota and Amira, still in shock. Amira raises an eyebrow at her cousin, which makes Morrigan realize her mouth is still open, so she closes it. “Nice to meet you, Takota. My name is Amira,” Amira greets. She motions to the person next to her. “This is Morrigan.”“It’s nice to meet you too, Amira and Morrigan,” Takota greets, a small smile on her face as she looks between the two girls. They don’t notice it, but her keen eyes are taking in every little detail. She takes a subtle inhale. “You are both ranked members?”“Yes,” Amira answers, not thinking Morrigan can answer in her current state. “My parents are the Gamma’s, Idris and Jasira, and my cousin here is the daughter of our former Beta.”“Beta and Gamma blood?” Takota questions.Morrigan swallows
Last Updated : 2024-11-30PAWN OR QUEEN Eight
Morrigan and Amira get through a few more ‘warm up rounds’ before Nicholas calls everyone's attention again. Amira is experiencing aches in places she has never ached before from falling on her behind so many times while Morrigan hasn’t broken a sweat. “As this is our first day together, we’d like to do a little tournament to see how each of you rank, so that on our last day, we can see how far you’ve come. Face your partner again, and whichever one of you is on the ground first will go take a seat at the edge of the clearing. Whoever wins will be paired with another winner, until there is only one,” he explains.Morrigan turns to her cousin, giving an apologetic look.“Don’t be sorry,” Amira says. “I’m perfectly content with sitting out and not being beaten around anymore.”And that is exactly what happens, as Morrigan takes Amira down yet again with ease. She feels a twinge of guilt. Amira is by no means a bad warrior–she’s one of the top female warriors in the pack. She could have
Last Updated : 2024-12-03PAWN OR QUEEN Nine
In less than two minutes, Morrigan stands tall, breathing heavily, while Kaya lays on her back on the ground, a look of confusion on her face. Morrigan enters her vision, holding her hand out for the older warrior. Kaya takes it, letting herself be pulled to her feet, and she looks down at the young woman in front of her with newfound respect. Morrigan looks around to see the crowd is silent, clearly not having expected her victory.They knew that she was a warrior and had Beta blood, but no one outside the Gamma family saw her train. Oskar has spent her entire life telling lies that she’s weak and unfit in little ways that slowly crept into people's subconscious perceptions of her. Today, she shattered that idea of her.Takota is the first to break the silence, clapping as she walks towards Morrigan. Hesitantly, the other warriors start clapping as well, and they’re quickly spurred on by the Gamma family. Morrigan searches for yellow eyes in the crowd, but she can’t find any. Even as
Last Updated : 2024-12-05PAWN OR QUEEN Ten
The one who had been kicking her backs up, and as Morrigan coughs out blood and focuses her vision, she sees her brother and uncle. Ander had been the one kicking her, and Oskar was the one to call him off.Oskar approaches her slowly, his figure blocking out the light from the room behind him, making him look like a shadow. He crouches down and grabs Morrigan’s hair. Before she can protest, he takes out the bonds holding her hair in place and roughly undoes the braids Jasira had taken such care to do. As her hair falls around her face and she realizes what her uncle just did, tears begin to prick her eyes. “What were you thinking, trying to upstage your brother in front of the entire pack? Have you forgotten your place?” Oskar asks, his voice deep and low, barely above a whisper. When Morrigan doesn’t respond, he grabs a fistful of her hair and grabs the back of her shirt with his other hand. He picks her up, Morrigan reaching for his hand pulling out her scalp, and throws her down
Last Updated : 2024-12-05PAWN OR QUEEN Eleven
Morrigan is awoken by her internal clock, meaning it should be around four o’clock in the morning, but still sitting in the dark stairwell, she has no way to confirm this. She could go back down the stairs to check her clock, but the moment she tries to move, her muscles cramp up. Her overall pain has greatly decreased since the night before–there’s almost definitely still a bruise on her cheek, though the swelling has gone down, there’s definitely still bruising around her ribs, considering they’re fractured, and her right arm still can’t hold any weight.Her heart pangs in her chest as she imagines Takota waiting for her in the clearing. She wants nothing more than to break the door down and run the entire way there, but she’s far from her full strength and the door is reinforced. If she wanted to break it down, she’d have to break it off its hinges. Tears sting her eyes and the feeling of powerlessness fills her entire being.The house is silent, so it can’t be any later than 5:30 A
Last Updated : 2024-12-06PAWN OR QUEEN Twelve
Everyone is well into their warm ups by the time Morrigan makes it to the clearing, which luckily means that most of them are too focused on themselves to notice her sneak in with her tail tucked between her legs. Unfortunately, Takota and Nicholas are not warming up, and she can feel their burning gazes on her as she’s obviously the last one to arrive. She makes her way over to Amira, who looks her up and down with concerned eyes. Morrigan does her best to hold her head high, but she can’t hide the defeated look behind her eyes. Amira goes to open her mouth, but Morrigan shakes her head before she can. She doesn’t want to talk about it.Morrigan begins her warm ups, as everyone was given the same warm ups to complete but can do in their own time. She tries to stretch, but there’s not much she can do without agonizing pain from her ribs or arm. She pushes through the pain as she does a sit up and does her pushups with only her left arm. She does squats and lunges without much issue,
Last Updated : 2024-12-10PAWN OR QUEEN Thirteen
She swallows harshly. Her heart starts to race as she wonders what is going to happen, but she knows that there’s nothing she can do about it.“Yes, Commander,” she says softly.Without further prompting, she pulls off her t-shirt, folds it, and places it on the ground. Then, she reaches for her long-sleeve underneath. She keeps her eyes on the ground, avoiding the reactions of the two guards. Pulling the hem of the shirt up, the bruises littering her ribs are immediately visible. She continues, pulling the shirt above her head and wincing as she slides her right arm out of the sleeve. Again, she folds it and places it on the ground with her t-shirt before reaching for her leggings.Nicholas holds up a hand to stop her, causing her to look up. She feels sick at the sight of concern, or maybe pity, in the two guards' eyes.“What happened, Morrigan?” Nicholas asks.“I fell down the stairs, Commander,” Morrigan answers. She swallows harshly, trying to stop the bile rising up from her th
Last Updated : 2024-12-11PAWN OR QUEEN Fourteen
Morrigan is awake and out of bed by the time training is over for the day. She still has some pain, especially in her ribs since Takota had hit them again that morning, but she’s able to move around just fine. Jasira had fed her well when she woke up and she is feeling a lot better now. Amira and her older brother, Erwin, enter the cottage. At the sight of them, Morrigan puts her hand to her mouth and gasps.They are both absolutely caked in dried mud. “What’s going on?” Jasira asks, entering the main room from her bedroom. Her jaw drops as well when she sees her children. “What happened here?”Amira looks at her brother to explain.“They had us crawl through the mud,” he says, defeated.“Don’t look at us like that,” Amira chides at Morrigan. “You’ll have to do it too.”Morrigan shakes her head.“I have to head home,” she says, and the mood immediately drops.The Gamma Family exchange worried glances with each other. Though they can’t say it, and they don’t know the full extent beca
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PAWN OR QUEEN Twenty Three
It was difficult to leave her life behind, but Morrigan soon found herself too excited to spend much time thinking about her past. It was a two day journey on foot down the mountain, all the while members of the guard told her stories about their own parts of the world. Through their words, Morrigan found herself visiting deserts and jungles and islands in oceans she’s never seen before. When they camped at night, one Guard member told stories of the stars from their pack. When they reached cell service near the base of the mountain, they spent time teaching her how to use a phone. When they finally reached the base of the mountain, Morrigan saw her first ever car.She also proceeded to get carsick for the first time.After a few hours, Morrigan was able to fall asleep in the vehicle as it took her even farther away from her home and to the capital. Her dreams were fitful–as excited as she was, she was also nervous. She had to be, considering how sheltered her life had been up until j
PAWN OR QUEEN Twenty Two
As the sun rises over the treetops, Nicholas exits the pack house, gaining the attention of the two white wolves protecting the flag. He smiles and gives the two a small nod. Immediately, they raise their faces to the sky and let out a victorious howl. Quickly, the rest of the warriors join in, filling the mountaintop with their song.Soon, the rest of the young warriors and members of the Guard are back in the commons, the Summit Keepers quickly finding their clothes and shifting back into human form. Nicholas approaches Innik, in particular.“You did a great job,” Nicholas commended him. “I have to ask, though, when did you notice the second entrance? You never mentioned it in any of our meetings, making me think you never knew about it.”Innik takes the praise with a large smile, but at th
PAWN OR QUEEN Twenty One
The warriors were swift in their obedience, stripping from their clothes and immediately shifting into wolf form. Morrigan’s white wolf began leading the way, followed closely by her brother's nearly identical wolf and Innik’s black wolf. It’s only when Morrigan and Ander are side by the side that their differences become clear–Anders wolf is slightly larger, and he has two amber eyes, while Morrigan retains her heterochromia in wolf form. “It’s right up here,” Morrigan mind-links Innik as they near the cliff wall.“Alright, slow down and spread out,” Innik commands. The pack quickly comes to a trot, placing their paws carefully and spreading out through the trees. Morrigan leads Innik forward to the edge of the brush, motioning towards the crack in the wall. Innik’s eyes darted around, taking stock of the situation. They sniff and listen for a few moments, but can’t pick up anything.“The cliff would block out their scents and any sounds until they’re already inside,” Innik thinks
PAWN OR QUEEN Twenty
The final test was a tournament, similar to the one they had on their first day of training. This time, males and females would fight against each other, and there would be a tournament in both human and wolf form. Morrigan was a bit nervous at the thought of possibly fighting her future alpha or her brother, but she decided to deal with that when it came time.In wolf form, the first to draw blood wins. Morrigan was able to make it to the finals before she was faced with Innik, her future alpha. She caught him off guard with her speed and agility and was able to get her teeth into his scruff, winning her the round. If they had only needed to pin the other, though, she’s certain that Innik would have been able to use his larger size to defeat her. When they shifted back into human form, Morrigan bowed to the future alpha, showing that she meant no disrespect. To her surprise, Innik simply laugh
PAWN OR QUEEN Nineteen
“Tell everyone how you don’t allow Morrigan to eat the food that she cooks, and that this is started because she dared to speak up to you,” Ander says, standing between his uncle and his sister, talking loudly so that almost all the eyes in the street are on him.The Summit Keepers believe in survival of the fittest, but that does not mean they believe in abuse and beating others into submission. They believe in giving their young all of the resources they can so that they can survive, not withholding food or beating them. Sometimes putting someone pack in their place in the hierarchy requires fists to be thrown, but it is never against a defenseless opponent or for a stupid reason. Along with survival, they value fairness.Oskar looks around the street, taking in all of the eyes watching him, especially those of his nephew. He takes a s
PAWN OR QUEEN Eighteen
Once they reach the clearing, the two split and approach their respective groups. Amira, having seen them walk in together, raises an eyebrow at Morrigan. Her cousin simply shakes her head, and the two begin their warmups.Their routine is the same every morning, including today. They’re timed on how fast they can complete the required warm ups before they all shift and do laps around the territory. Whenever Nicholas decides that they’re done, they begin working on their hand-to-hand training. They haven’t truly sparred since that first day, going over instructed attacks and defensive moves. Recently, they’ve been introduced to other weapons, mostly knives. They practice with non-silver knives in order to not cause too much damage, but they’re all well aware that a real enemy would almost definitely be using silver weapons.S
PAWN OR QUEEN Seventeen
As per usual, Morrigan wakes to her internal alarm clock in the morning, the clock on her nightstand reading 4:00AM. Listening, she hears her brother and uncle asleep in their beds upstairs. Quietly, she changes into a sports bra and spandex shorts, slips her tennis shoes on, and sneaks up the stairs. She keeps to the sides of the steps and avoids the ones that she knows creak. At the top of the steps, she listens again, ensuring that Oskar and Ander are still asleep when she opens the door to the basement. From there, it’s easy to slip out the front door.She and Takota never really talked during their early morning training, but Morrigan finds herself missing her presence regardless. The street is silent, everyone still asleep in their homes as the sun peeks over the treetops. Morrigan makes her way towards the commons, then to the group training grounds, and further past that to the smaller cleari
PAWN OR QUEEN Sixteen
For the next two weeks, that became Morrigan’s schedule. She would wake up early to train with Takota before training with the other warriors for the rest of the day. Jasira redid Morrigan’s hair, and the warriors were allowed two days off each week, to which Amira took full advantage of. Morrigan was surprised when Takota asked her and her cousin to show her around the pack grounds. She had seen a lot of it on their runs, but she hadn’t been able to take much time to enjoy it. Amira quickly led them to the falls–a pool of water in between two waterfalls going down the mountain. Even in the warm sun, the water is near freezing. Takota joined Morrigan and her family for breakfast and dinner and continued to spend the nights on the floor of Morrigan’s room, essentially acting as a buffer between Morrigan and her uncle. At first, Morrigan could feel Oskar’s hatred whenever his eyes met hers, but Takota would simply stare back at him. After a few days, he finally began to back off, creat
PAWN OR QUEEN Fifteen
“Is it alright if I use your shower?” Takota asks.The two women were now in Morrigan’s bedroom in the basement. Takota was taking in every detail, making Morrigan a bit self conscious. She’s still bewildered as to why and how the taller woman came to be standing in her bedroom.“Of course,” Morrigan responds, but then she pauses. “Let me get the water ready for you.”Before Takota can protest, Morrigan heads into the bathroom. She kneels down to turn on the shower and slowly moves the handle into the red. Placing her hand under the faucet, to her relief and surprise, the water heats up. She stands up and lets out a sigh. Oskar must have quickly turned the hot water to the basement back on. She exits the bathroom, motioning for Takota that the water is ready. The taller woman looks at her quizzically but enters the bathroom, taking her bag with and closing the door behind her.Morrigan all but collapses onto the bed, her head spinning. What was Takota playing at? She knew Takota didn
