Love And Betrayal | ✔️

54. Operation Trojan Horse (II)

A person should not be too honest.
Straight trees are cut first and honest people are screwed first.

—Chanakya

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"FIVE YEARS AGO, my twin was kidnapped and locked away in a castle. She was abused and starved until she complied to their will. They kept her alive because she was a Chosen Wolf—a gift from the Moon Goddess—and her blood is the key ingredient to immortality."

"Only, she wasn't alone. In the dungeons far below her, there were a hundred others, just like her. They had been kidnapped centuries ago and are living in captivity still. These wolves are born and bred in captivity and unfortunately die the same way too. Sunlight is a luxury, freedom is a dream. These are the last of the Maikohs."

"Impossible." Alpha Hunter says. "The Maikohs are—"

"—Are very much alive." I pause to take in the pin drop silence that has befallen the room.

"We are the descendants of Maikohs. However, what we didn't know until now is that these captive wolves are Maikohs too."

"Centuries before the earthquake, before Greyhound came to power, Tyrus Custos—his father, reigned as a king. He was a tyrant. When war broke between the four Guardians and Tyrus, he sent out his soldiers to capture innocent wolves in the dead of the night. He intended to use their lives as leverage. Alas, he was mistaken. These wolves were loyal to a fault."

"So, Tyrus did what a tyrant does. He had them tortured and slaughtered before their families. Chained in silver, forced to drink Wolfsbane and beaten until they were unconscious. Some died in the first week, others lasted a month after which were brought out and burned at sunrise."

"When the first war ended and Tyrus was murdered by his own son, these practices ceased. For a while, at least. Greyhound decided they were of more use to him alive than dead. He rounded up the last remaining wolves and locked them in the lowest dungeons, far away from the prying eyes of outsiders. There they remained until they were needed."

"Among them was born a werewolf named Ernouf. He showed signs of brilliance at an early age, and Greyhound knew the moment he laid eyes on him that this kid was different from the rest. So, he took him under his wing. He had tutors train him and teach him the old practices of magic and medicine. But, even with the limited freedom he had been granted, Ernouf Maikoh knew better than to be brainwashed by Greyhound's ideologies. He never forgot where he came from. He learned all there was to learn, worked for him, bidding his time until the perfect opportunity arose."

"And the opportunity finally presented itself yesterday." Tessa states on my behalf and the crowd's collective attention shifts towards her. "When we broke into the laboratory and found him."

She turns away from the audience and faces the elevated stage. In her hand is a tiny device. One click and—

The orb lights up. At first a single beam erupts which splits into two, four, sixteen beams. In a fraction of a second, the whole stage is lit up with blue coloured rays crisscrossing in all directions.

A hologram forms.

The Blood Hound prison takes shape.