The Moonlit Hunt

Marketplace

Ember threw her head into the air and slowed her gallop to a trot, almost as if she expected everyone to admire her. Her coat glistened with sweat, even in the bitter cold of the night.

We had ridden straight through half the night to reach the distant market by dawn.

My face was contorted in a constant scowl as I delved deep into the thoughts swirling around my head, pondering upon the information I had received from Easton and his rag-tag pack of rouges. They lived in civilization with the humans, hiding in plain sight, as Easton would phrase it.

I gnawed my lower lip.

Humans hated us. Shifters. Their small minds didn't understand us, feared us. Humans kill what they misunderstand.

Most puzzling and almost intriguing to me, however, was that the newest generations of humans envisioned shifters to be half man-half animal creatures from old folk tales. They really couldn't be more wrong. Shifters turned into a larger version of the animal that blessed them with its spirit. It was as simple as that.

I sighed heavily, thinking back to the alliance shifters once held with the humans. It was an uneasy peace, one that only lasted a year until blood was shed once more as humans began enslaving shifters.

Idiots. All of them.

Easton had recently found posters of sorts littering their filthy streets, Lazio's and my face sketched onto them with charcoal paired with the words,

"Wanted, rewards will be given for any information,"

At least that's what Easton said. We were illiterate, having grown up as in a small pack of wolf and coyote shifters. In fact, most citizens were illiterate, only a handful of the highest citizens could read and write. It was a wonder that Easton knew how I had asked countless times and yet it seemed he wanted to keep that nugget of information to himself.

My eyes flicked to Lazio. He acted un-worried, simply complaining that they drew his "handsome" features wrong, though I could tell he was fretting inside. To be honest, as much as it stung my pride to admit it, I was too. Who was looking for and... And... why?

The question had eaten at me the whole damn trip, the answer eludes me, hence the scowl twisting my face.

"Better hope the wind doesn't change" Lazio taunted, breaking the silence that had fallen over us. I didn't take the time to glance over as Brandy sidled up beside Ember. Lazio had previously hung behind, trailing from a distance upon sensing my frustrated mood. It appeared he had grown bored. What else was new?

My eyes did a circuit of their sockets,

"Such a comedian" I drawled,

Lazio sniffed at my reaction as if offended, raising his head and gently nudging Brandy with his foot who in turn began raising his hoofs significantly higher in an odd kind of prance.

My eyes zeroed in. Curious.

"What on earth is he doing?" I inquired. Lazio smirked, meeting my eyes in a look of smug proudness. He raised his hand, blew on his nails, wiped them on his shirt.

"Just a trick me and Brandy have been working on" he answered proudly. My eyebrows dipped into a frown.

"Is it practical?"

Lazio seemed to deflate, coughing into his fist and dropping his gaze.

"I mean.... no... BUT it looks cool" He snapped defensively as Brandy dropped his ridiculous prance and fell back into a steady trot.

"Ah yes, of course, I'm sure that will help against our enemies" I muttered sarcastically, "We can distract them with Brandy's prancing"

Lazio was about to retort when I held up a hand, beckoning for silence. We had reached the marketplace. Gently tugging the reins, I brought Ember to a halt, reaching down and fumbling around in the saddlebags. With a grunt of success, I yanked out two pieces of washed out yellow fabric.