Prologue 5 - Setting Out

Smiling, I turned back to the stand. Placis was already handing me another chunk of meat, turkey this time, which I passed along to Surry as we wandered away from the heat of the grill.

"I honestly don't think there will be any trouble" I told her after we'd both taken our first bites. "It isn't like Tando to remain so close to the camp after everything that happened. I expect he's moved them all at least a few miles beyond the river, probably where the forest is thickest and it meets the mountains. After the injuries I inflicted on him he may simply decide to establish his own Pack somewhere else. If that's the case I can't imagine he'll remain Alpha for long, once word gets out that he's quite possibly a eunuch now. No, I expect him to rile the males up further, keep their anger directed at us for chasing them off, and then be back to teach us a lesson. It terrifies me not to know when that will be, or how it will happen, but I don't expect him to remain so close to us while he twists them with his words."

Surry shrugged through a mouthful of turkey. "Meh-bee hiss still ahfraid affer wha you did d'im." She paused to swallow. "Maybe if you hurt him as bad as you say, he'll actually be too afraid to come back? At least for a while. Fear is another emotion he's surely capable of feeling, monster that he is."

"Oh, he'll be back" I sighed. "Even if the others won't join him. Even if he throws just a couple of brainwashed young men at our Pack and comes directly for me, alone, to get revenge for what I did to him." I shuddered involuntarily, not willing to even consider the outcome if he caught me alone, or by surprise. I had no illusions about what his massive form could do to mine in a fair fight. Luna give me strength if it came to that. "I haven't decided our next move on that front yet, Surry. If a battle is indeed inevitable, it would make more sense strategically for us to strike first. Our pack still has the greater strength as a whole."

A dull pain worked it's through through my temple, and I tried to massage it away. "And in that case, I realize it may be disastrous to let Tando move first. But I have to, Surry. Though it goes against my entire sense of my self-preservation, I have to. Just like I have to see what happened out there for myself."

My Beta just stared at me, hard, like she'd just seen a new side of me and was deciding what to do with it.

"It isn't that this is too dangerous" I continued. "If anything, I fear it isn't doing enough. Right now, information is the only weapon I'll allow myself. It has to be this way."

We continued walking, eating, as I began to plan my next move. In truth I wasn't sure what I was looking for, going back with Rufias, but I figured I would know it when I saw it. If I saw it.

Surry was quiet all the way while I finished my meal, wiping my hands and mouth on my sleeve. Once she too had finished she looked over at me inquisitively. "You're much cleverer than he is, you know that right? I'm scared too. But if it helps any, Rayla, I actually believe that we'll come out on top in all of this. I'm glad that you're Alpha."

Somehow my friend's honest compliment meant far more to me than I would have expected, maybe as it also came from my Beta, and I trusted her in that role completely. Surry had been one whom I came to depend on as things got worse and worse with Tando. I had once held her while she cried deeply over the old Alpha's cruelty, and after that, she did the same for me many times. I think I might've broken without her beside me.

Uncle Ruff, too. He had played a role in helping me build my courage, even if it was only from afar. I could never forget seeing that quiet rage in his eyes each time Tando hurt someone, hurt me. The knowledge that beneath that mask he, too, condemned the man had helped to validate my hurt, my anger. Rufias was no coward; but capable male or not, he could never have pried control of the pack away from Tando all by himself. Neither could I have. In fact, now that I thought of it I realized for the first time that it hadn't been just a few of us to stand up for the rest, doing what was right. Every member of my Pack had stood up to reject what was when the time came. I had merely been the catalyst.

And I was fine with that. Very glad, really.

~

We left the village behind and ran until we reached the trees. Rufias took the lead, followed by myself, with two males and two females just behind us, practically flanking me. All six of us were Shifted and ran like wind on four legs. As the forest began to thicken we slowed our pace somewhat, moving quickly and quietly beneath the boughs. We made scarcely any noise but for the rustle of leaves and the occasional crunch of a twig. To a human's eye we might appear just wolves; but of course, we were much, much more than that. No wolf could move as quietly through the woods as across a snowy plain, or run so fast for so long without breaking for breath. Our coats held sheen not from perspiration, but from the true nature of what we Were.

My own silver-white fur breathed through the air as I danced between branches, avoiding rocks and pinecones and other things that might tumble and crunch. Every so often one of the four packmembers would stop and sniff the air as the rest ran on, neither Rufias or myself ever slowing. They would then quickly catch up and maintain the pace until their turn came again.

However, as the boughs continued to fill and the sunlight dwindled, I called for a stop long enough to nuzzle my snout along Rufias's neck. *We're almost to the river. How much farther after that?*

*Not far* Rufias replied, nuzzling me back. His fur was of the purest silver, with darker grey filling in some places. As a wolf, he still looked years younger than he was. *About a mile from here until we reach the spot. What should I do when we arrive, Alpha?*

I raised my head to sniff the air; I could already taste the scent of running water on my tongue. *When we arrive we will conceal ourselves and sit and we will wait. When I am satisfied, you will lead me to the body. The others will fan out slowly to flank us, but only as much as they can while remaining hidden to the eye. They will not reveal themselves until I say otherwise. We will spend as little time in the open as possible. We will remain ready to leave at any moment.* Rufias huffed in agreement, relaying my instructions.

'The River', which we'd never bothered finding a name for or learning if it had one – as it was the only river so near to our village – was about fifteen yards across and of moderate depth. In a strong rain the current could threaten to pull under and drown a full-grown wolf, but was otherwise not much of a danger to anyone older than an adolescent. Occasionally bits of human trash could be seen floating by, and while that would never cease to bother me we had since learned that no one of them actually stayed near our community. At least not for very long.

It wasn't as though we actively rebuked the presence of humans, but with humans inevitably came trouble, from one side or another. Most humans were happy to be ignorant to the existence of Shifters like ourselves, and those that knew kept that knowledge hidden in the back of their minds, to be recalled only during their most vulnerable hours.

For humans, ours was an existence that infants cried out from in their sleep, over which parents sat up at night rocking their knees and wringing their hands and silently praying "it isn't real!"

Ours was an existence for which some humans guarded their homes each night… whether we be merely a whisper in the wind, or a rumble just outside their door.