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Jade
Being a queen wasn't as bad as it seemed, and for the first couple of days all I did was talk to Kourne and Triugen about what exactly the vampires were going to do in this war. While I put in my thoughts as best as I could, my mind was distracted as I wished Sakir was back to give her insight and her support. I missed my best friend... and so did Jasper. Even in his fever induced haze all he could do was ask where she was or try to escape like a drunk person. And as expected, those endeavors never ended well.
Darius attended to Jasper almost every hour, and his fever was slowly going down, but much too slowly. Maybe it only seemed that way because I'm impatient...
Kourne and Triugen, "grand lords with grand sticks up their asses" as I like to call them, had given me their ideas on what to do about the war. Triugen wanted to gather more vamps... older, more experienced vamps, train them and beat the bloody hell out of everything werewolf for hundreds of miles. Kourne wanted to negotiate until the end of time with the werewolves and not take any drastic action.
I was stuck between these two supposed great rulers, the only head of reason. I secretly wondered how the vamps functioned under over reactionary swordsman, the grand diplomat, and crazy queen s**t pants.
I rubbed my temples vigorously during our current meeting as they reiterated what they had previously said. Triugen and Kourne were fighting quite vigorously over the issue.
Triugen nearly spat, "Well if we could bloody well just destroy them we wouldn't have to negotiate a damn thing!"
Kourne cut in, "But if we negotiated no blood would be spilled!"
Triugen rebutted, "Blood has already been spilled you idiot! If we nego--"
Kourne shouted, "NEGOTIATION IS KEY!"
Triugen, "THATS A LOAD OF---"
I had both of them by the throats and growled, "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! I see both of your points! Now for gods sakes sit down and shut up!"
She released them and they sat back down rubbing their necks. They both said somewhat snootily, "We cannot accept such conduct in future circumstances."
I resisted to roll my eyes and calmly spoke, "Do we know anything of the actual conflict.. the motive for the werewolves attack? Are all the werewolves fighting against us? I don't see the point in killing a bunch of people if they're not even our enemies. As for negotiation, it's a nice idea, but if it falls through, we cannot hope to attempt it again and again because our enemies will knock us down."
I let the ideas seep into their thick skulls and stood up, "I'm going for a walk alone, talk amongst yourselves."
I swept out of the tent and called for Darius who promptly answered, "Jade... I'll be there in a moment, Jasper is finally coming to coherency."
I was in the tent in a matter of seconds and next to Darius, looking down at Jasper, whose forehead was smooth of wrinkles and his face peaceful, but his eyes were open and a shocking blue. No doubt a bit of health over-dose on Darius' part. He sat up slowly and looked at Darius, "Thank you..."
His breath suddenly caught as I'm sure his fever hazed memories flooded back to him. He was up out of the bed before the flying sheet could settle on the ground, "Where's Sakir?"
He looked around wildly and then shook my shoulders, "Jade! Jade! Where did she go?! Surely you must know!"
He looked at me pleading, but I shook my head, "She ran off and I did not follow her."
I sat him on the bed again and looked at him sternly, "And if she comes back, she comes back. You CANNOT go looking for her.. got it?"
Jasper shook his head, "No Jade.. I have to go. I have to go!"
He knocked me aside with a force that I didn't think was possible and was out of the tent before I could rip his head off.
I seethed silently in the tent while Darius tried to comfort me. I cursed, "********. Jasper better not find her. She needs some time alone without him ruining her life."
Darius shook his head, "He doesn't mean to Jade."
I muttered, "Yeah right."
Sakir
The forest was difficult to navigate, but I had to get as far away from Darren’s village as possible. I didn’t want the weres who were tracking me to get any ideas that the village was keeping me safe. I could handle what was coming… or not coming. The air smelled faintly of wolf, but it didn’t seem to be anywhere close. I sat on my haunches and looked up at the sky, it was cloudy. It would rain soon, which would take care of a scent trail, but it would dissipate the thick fog hanging in the air; leaving me exposed. I rolled in some of the dirt and tried to grind it into my fur so I wouldn’t look so white.
Somehow I made my way back to camp, I could tell by the familiar foliage and the small and subtle clearing of low, dense plants. Animals in this forest have known vampires for a long time, and they stay clear when a presence is known. The forest was very quiet, only a few chattering birds.
I morphed and brushed my face off, peering between the trees. The camp was empty, swept clean. Only a dark mark was left in the sand, ashes from a fire. I wiped a bit onto my hand and sniffed it. It was old, they had left more than a few days ago. I looked around, wouldn’t Jade leave a note or a sign? I sighed, maybe she had finally gotten fed up with me running away all the time when I couldn’t face the ugliness of life. I didn’t blame her- my dealing methods were unorthodox. I closed my eyes and morphed again to get a better scent of the air. They had gone south, down towards the front lines. I growled lowly and ran after the scent. This needed to stop. The killing needed to stop.
Darren
After Sakir left, I told everyone to gather their tents and stash them high in the surrounding trees. Then the women and the children would stay up there as well and not make a noise. All of the men gathered, worry drawn deeply on some faces and anger in others.
Brent jabbed his meaty finger into my chest, “Why are we suddenly in so much danger Darren, huh? And where’s Sakir?”
I grabbed his wrist sternly and brought it away from my chest, “You need to trust me. Up into the trees. We will have a meeting in an hour.”
I watched them crawl up the trees and then morphed, sniffing the air carefully. I didn’t smell them, but made my way around a perimeter of ten miles. They had to have been amateurs… just looking for a fight, or part of the rogues. I was more scared of my own village’s reaction to what I was going to tell them at the meeting than the wolves at this point.
When I got back, everyone was starting to crawl down with his or her belongings. Brent looked at me coldly and then sat down on a stool, all the others started to do the same. I sat down on the ground in front of them, pretending like I was more powerful than the rest of them in matters like this was not only foolish but also unpractical. They needed to be able to tell me what they thought without hindrance. Brent spoke up first, “So tell us what the alarm was about.”
I looked at their faces, “A group of weres, I don’t know their identities, chased Sakir and I from the council’s encampment. Since she does not have a clan symbol visible and she refused to morph I can somewhat understand their intentions. Sakir, after stopping here briefly to get her clothes, rushed off so that they would not come to the village seeking vengeance for supposedly keeping her under our roof. As a precaution, I had an evacuation.”
George piped up, “Sounds like a good enough reason for me.”
I smiled at George, but Brent stood up, pointing his finger at me, “I know why they chased her Darren and you know too. Dammit just tell everyone what a freak she is.”
My mouth pursed and I stood up, “Sit down Brent. I will tell them.”
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes briefly, “Sakir is not a freak, she is a werewolf, just like every one of us is. However, she was not raised as a were should be. Her foster father tried to rape her, and when she would not consent, he beat her almost to death and then left her to die deep in the forest. Another soul overshadowed hers and brought her to life again. That soul was Queen Cecily.”
Shocked eyes met mine but I continued, “As you can imagine, bloodthirsty rages took over her at random, but it was Cecily that controlled her body. She has no memory of ever committing the acts. Our kind turned our back on her and she was condemned as insane. Sakir found a friend, more or less rescued this friend, a hybrid vampire.”
Brent all but yelled, “Stupid bloody vampire! She should have kept her ******** dignity as an insane werewolf than as a Heretic!”
Little whispers of heretic spread throughout the gathering and Marta stood up after several woman held their children close, muttering something about letting Sakir near their children, “Look, do not be foolish. If she wanted to hurt us, she would have, right? Do not hold your children tight as if they have been diseased, she saved their lives by running away from our village as she was being pursued for her life. It is hard for me to fathom her trust and love in the vampires, but what option did she have, when none of us accepted her?”
Marta sat down and I nodded to her, “What Marta has said rings true. Sakir has seen a side of the vampires we have never seen. So Brent, I know that I have condemned the vampires as equally as yourself, but I plead that you look past what war has forced both of our sides to become. The vampires train their fighters to be more than ruthless, just as we do. Are we naturally destructive? No. Sakir says that they are not either. That they make decisions as fast as they age.”
I shook my head in quiet disbelief, “Even the council saw her reasoning. The vampires have no quarrel with those who do not slaughter their race. They have no quarrel with the unified clans, only with the excessive and dangerous breeding of the rogues. I think even we have serious problems with their reasoning.”
Several in the crowd were nodding, someone spoke up, “They threaten to expose us every time they recklessly turn someone.”
I nodded and smiled as more of the group started to nod. Another person spoke up, “What should we do to preserve ourselves and show our peace to the vampires? I do not want to lose my family over a misunderstanding.”
I pointed north towards the main were headquarters, “We help spread the message, the council could use our help.”
Marta stood up again, “Who is going to help Sakir negotiate our lives?”
I looked east where she had disappeared, “We have to trust her ability. She is the most valuable asset to the vampires; they have to listen to her.”
 ThaliaSimon · Sat Jun 27, 2009 @ 05:10am · 1 Comments |
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