Traversing Worlds

Arc One Ch. 7

From a distance the Stonemason Mountain stood tall against the sky showing off an intimating form that lorded over the Gloomy Forest below. A white mist covered much of the mountain as a darker gaseous form hovered over the gnarled and bent forms of the blackened and withered trees that made up the bulk of the forest. From a bird's eye view the land in between could be seen covered in dead foliage that looked to be going through spring as small dark buds littered the gnarled and dried up limbs of the trees and bushes.

Keeping to the shadows a dozen silent figures moved as one making almost no noise while they quickly navigated their way through this strange woodland. Coming upon a familiar marker the group came to a halt seeing the hand sign held by the leader. Each member moved in a fluid and uniformed manner as they began fanning out to reach their own posts.

One lone figure came to a rest behind two trees that were twined together making its trunk just wide enough to hide their unnaturally slender form from view. It also marked off where their quarry didn't bother to even patrol, ever over confident in their naturally made barrier between them and the rest of their surroundings. A section in between had been logged creating a clear view of where the many wolves were easily spotted during their patrolling hours throughout the day and night. Though strangely no a hair of one could be seen at this time making the hidden figure paranoid.

Two hours passed with various thoughts about why the usual four seen in this section hadn't yet been spotted. As time grew ever closer to the third hour where two or more patrols should have passed by caused a nervous energy to start building up in the hidden figure's chest making each breath a chore to make quietly. Sweat gathered on his palms as irrational thoughts that maybe their plans had long been seen through by their quarry and now they were being caught within an unseen net.

Those absurd thoughts quickly turned more real the moment a young man in dark furs came out in his perspective from an unusual direction. While another much older man in lighter furs came walking up towards the younger man near the area where he was currently hidden and scaring the youth half to death at the prospect of almost being spotted. He silently reassured himself that the stuff used to mask their scent was better than most methods and that the pair had no idea he was so near.

"Have you found anything yet?" The older man called out in an annoyed voice to the younger man.

The dark head of brown hair shook. "Nah haven't caught a whiff of her what about you?" He asked just loud enough that the figure trying not to panic close by could hear them easily.

Making an obvious noise of disgust the older man spat out. "Caught not a scent of her in the surrounding area wouldn't put it past those gloomy fuckers nearby to snatch up one of our own though. I've been saying for years that the alpha got a bit too soft on that flea bitten scourge of a pack. If it were his father things wouldn't be going so well for them around this time." He said in an unusual harsh and criticizing tone that the younger man had grown accustom only with older wolves who felt dissatisfied with the new direction their alpha started taking the pack.

Giving a curt nod he didn't speak up knowing that the tales spoken about the previous alpha during communal gatherings were something this old wolf had lived through. Only recently a newer view had been taken up about the vassal pack located around the Stonemason pack land by their current alpha.

Knowing that they needed to get back to searching the surroundings he went to turn and being searching his next area when his steps came to a halt. A strange scent that shouldn't have been there was carried over on a stiff breeze causing him to frown while turning to find the source.

The figure hidden in shadow froze feel something odd and out of place, a simple breeze, only it wasn't simple since the winds didn't have a habit of blowing in such a direction. Glancing up at the pair from his position he found himself feeling an urge to flee. His feet were already heading back in the direction the meet up point before he could even comprehend that his feet were now moving let alone running away.

With a snarl the older man had already taken on the form of a dusty grey and black wolf and began to give chase. The younger man stood there stiffly watching as the wolf moved in an effortless bounding gait catching up almost immediately with the intruder. Sounds of screams and snapping jaws filled the air as the wolf pinned the other against the ground.

Shifting back into human form the older man coldly barked out. "What in the fuck were ya waiting on? Hurry up and get ass over here and help me." He growled out in a tone that left no room for disobedience.

In that brief moment where he lost concentration on the man he was pinning a burst of pain bloomed in his abdomen. "Fucking hell ya little prick that stung." He complained while catching and forcing the hand that just stabbing him in the gut down hard onto the ground breaking the intruder's wrist in the process.

Smiling coldly at the sickly form underneath him he asked. "How's the pain? Hurts like a bitch don't it?"

Snapping from his daze the younger man tried breaking them up. "Are you insane? To go against the Alpha's orders on how we're to handle these kinds of situations?" Ren asked with a clear disbelief in his tone that had only gotten him a snort in retort from Kent.

"If you're so concerned about following the rules and this skulking gloomy wood bastard who just stabbed me come over here and take over watching his ass, I need to tend to this fucking wound in my gut." He complained while giving the darkly dressed youth a punch in his gut.

Timidly Ren took on the responsibility of keeping an eye on the captured intruder who had started crying out in pain.

Picking the small crudely made knife up is when he noticed a strong scent of poison coming from the blade of the weapon. Recognition flickered in his dark eyes as he identified it as an uncommon type used within the Gloomy Wood pack. So without thought he cut the wound open further in a single and precise movement that allowed black blood to start flowing out. While the ingredients to make it were considered rare to come by the herbs he pulled from the pouch at his side were much more common that could be used to stabilize him until they got back to the pack.

Not understanding what was going on Ren could only watch on while he held onto the captive as Kent took out a common variety of the herbs that were quickly chewed and spat out before being applied inside of the discolored wound.

"Stop staring and start moving your ass back towards the pack." Kent ordered though it came out more weakly than he would've liked it to be at this time.

Bumbling slightly Ren did as he was told and started walking the captive back while Kent was lagging slightly behind while holding onto his still bleeding gut. Silent curses were whirling in his mind but he kept it to himself while keeping the pair in sight all the way back.

On the way more than half a dozen other Gloomy Wood pack members had been found and captured by others who had been out searching for the missing girl. Such a sight hadn't been seen in many years and for most this was their first time witnessing so many intruders being found on pack lands and brought before the alpha.