Wolves and Men

The remainder of the group stood quietly watching the three of them go. Derceto moved to the far wall with the pictograph of the man shifting into his werewolf form, and studied it closely.

The five of them watched and waiting for the Elder to speak. The mood in the room was reverent, almost like they were at a funeral. It made William nervous and a bit uncomfortable.

Derceto eventually turned around and faced them. She looked tired and…something else. It was a look that William had never seen on any wolf before. It was alien and a little frightening at first. He focused his mind to stop his leg from taking an involuntary step backwards.

“You five have done things that no other Shape shifters in this City has ever done. You,” She pointed a claw directly at William, “should be dead and buried, and yet you live and walk. Aceso, you accepted an oath from an uninitiated wilde Shape shifter, and yet you too are here walking, breathing, and Alpha of your pack. How some of you came to be here is a mystery to me and I may never understand the motivations of humans.” She said this staring pointedly at Charles.

“And yet here you five are, having survived your trials in this very tower, and even your first few excursions into the Whyte Plain. And it is for those reasons alone that I have agreed to meet with you here.” She gestured to the mural wall behind her. “Katherine, you would have discovered this on your own in time or you would have been approached by your teacher, Tyche at some point to tell you what I am about to relate to you.”

“As most of you know, the Shadows of the Whyte Plain are the remnants of werewolves and Shape shifters that have been corrupted by the evil there. What you don’t know, is that not only werewolves and Shape shifters dwell there. The influence of the Whyte Plain has grown and now it claims others, the young or the gifted that have, through some means, been pulled into, or travel there through dreams. Some of those shadows are the souls of children, infants and even animals and other people.”

“Jesus!” Nicolas breathed heavily into the sudden silence.

“So, our raids into the Whyte Plain and the Shadows that we kill are actually babies? Children?” Charles shook his head in disbelief.

“That’s what they once were, yes. But now they are as twisted as the souls of the parasitic vampires that we have always fought against.” Derceto replied.

“Why didn’t anyone tell us?!” Nicolas spat. “I don’t like a lot of people but I’m not a baby killer!”

“Oh please!” Derceto snapped. “Your feigned self-righteousness is a tired, wasted effort. I don’t give a damn how you feel about how we do things, or how you feel about what we believe suitable to tell you or not.

“So why tell us now?” William asked. “What is the point of telling us that over the last years we may have been killing children instead of twisted Shape shifters?”

“And I respond again, it doesn’t matter what you think, and moreover I don’t care,” Derceto was getting impatient and raw anger was rising in her voice. “The Whyte Plain and all those trapped within it are products of our past mistakes.”

“What ‘past mistakes’?” Charles asked into the sudden silence.

The Elder stood up to her full height, towering over the four humans. She looked pointedly at Katherine. “I say this to you all because just telling Katherine wouldn’t matter. I know that you five share a good deal between you and this knowledge is too valuable for us to keep hidden forever. With the recent successes of the past year, we Sages had contemplated not telling you at all. But now you bring this disturbing news to us and if it is true than the vampires have in fact rediscovered an old tool to use against us.”

“An old tool?” Katherine asked.

“Yes. When the City under the Clouds fell, our people started being harassed by vampires in a relentless effort to wipe us out completely. They used coercion, bribes, horror stories and propaganda to turn the humans against us.

“After what happened in the City under the Clouds this was understandable. We chose to start living in smaller pack groups and hunt separately from each other. Some have surmised that those practices only added to the hysteria surrounding our kind and gave rise to more wilde werewolves being reborn and wreaking havoc on the surrounding country sides.”

“Ok, so when are going to get around to telling us stuff that actually matters?” Nicolas said with a smirk.

Derceto narrowed her eyes at the Scout and continued her story, “As we moved away from the population centers of humans, we began to feel ourselves safe. We could live out in the jungles and forests of the surrounding countries and live peacefully.

Then we started seeing and hearing of wolves, sometimes whole packs, leading vampires and humans right to where our people had set up shelters and had been living for months and sometimes years. The news of these attacks spread slowly but soon our people had come to realize that the stories were true. Our own brethren and cousins had turned against us and had allied themselves with humans and vampires.”

“You’re talking about the first breed of dogs?” Charles asked.

“Please, young Tracker, wolves had chosen to live with and teach humans how to hunt and live long before this time. How do you think that we Shape shifters even came to be?” Derceto said in a sarcastic voice. “No, these were not dogs. They were wild wolves, and yet they hunted and returned to their masters as sure as if they bore a leash and collar. Vampires have claimed this ability since their inception. When they learned to control and influence wolves we don’t know. But we know that they used our kin for centuries to hunt us down. It was then that the Elders and the greatest of our kind came together to form another great City. Unlike the City under the Clouds, this City was to be hidden deep within the Earth to avoid all, the humans, the vampires, and our wolf brethren.”

“The City under the Sand?” asked Katherine.

“Very good Katherine,” Derceto acknowledged nodding to the younger Sage, she continued, “Yes, it was the City under the Sand. It was created and buried under present day Jordan. Our people could finally live in peace.”

“So, when do you get to the part about a weapon?” Nicolas asked.

Derceto snorted and growled, “The day I adhere to your wishes Scout, is the day I lie burned and only a pile of ashes will remain.” There was steel and fury in those words. Nicolas wouldn’t stand a chance in a fight against the infuriated Elder.