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I scanned the horizon and warned the others to watch out for the Night Fangs. “They could be anywhere. They own this territory,” I said, sniffing the air, although I could not catch their scent. We shifted into lions, and I led them through the forest back to my village. I noticed their attention being caught by the small animals rushing around the forest, each of them scared at the sight of these lions sprinting through their world. When we reached the village, my heart sank. When I left, it was in the process of being torn apart, and now I was faced with the aftermath. The buildings had been broken and were crooked, while the shadows of blood still stained the wood and stone. The thing that got me the most was the silence that hung around the village, as though it was just an empty part of the world now, all hollowed out. In my mind, I could remember it being full of life, with the people gathering together for feasts. I looked up at the house where I had been with Stevie when the attack took hold, and then my gaze turned to my old home. I shifted back into my human form and walked into my room, placing my hands upon the walls. There were still old drawings of mine hanging on the walls, stupid things that Mom and Dad had thought were works of art.
“I lived here,” I said in a soft voice, choking on my emotion. “Part of me even thought they might have been waiting for me.”
“This was your home,” Axanar said. He and Volkan strode towards me.
I nodded. “I wanted them to be here.”
There were no bodies around in the house, but the table was broken. There was debris all around. It was like a war zone.
“We should find the Night Fangs before they can catch our scent on the wind. Surprise will be our greatest ally,” Axanar said. I nodded and pulled myself away from this place. I had to remind myself that, at the end of the day, it was just a building. I could take the memories with me and never let them go. As we left the village, I turned my gaze towards the horizon and wondered whether my parents were somewhere out there, whether perhaps they had followed my scent after the fight was over and found that it ended in a hidden shrine in the mountains, with seemingly no way out. The thought of being separated from them for the rest of my life was painful.
As it turned out, I would soon get the answer as to where they had ended up. I led everyone in the direction of the Night Fangs’ territory. I knew it well, for I had been warned away from it often enough. Once the Night Fangs had been proven to be a threat, we had all been directed to avoid certain areas in order to prevent ourselves from being at their mercy.
Night had fallen by the time we reached close to their camp. We stayed low and hidden, and the wind carried our scents away from the camp. I could see them prowling around, already in beast form, looking terrible. I had warned Axanar before he left that the Night Fangs were savage, and he shouldn’t assume that his warriors were going to win just because they were from Orestes. I hoped he took the lesson to heart.
The Night Fangs’ village was made up of strong buildings with a thick wall around it. Guards patrolled the outside, and torches had been lit, the flames burning wildly. I hated the thought that they got to live there peacefully when so many had died because of them. The plan had been for us to sneak up on the village and slowly circle around, surrounding the Night Fangs so that we were able to attack from every angle. But then I saw the worst thing I had ever seen. Around the perimeter of this wall were spiked pieces of wood, and upon these spikes there were the heads of their victims. As I looked upon these terrible faces, I saw people that I recognized, but worst of all, I saw my parents. My heart broke and sorrow crashed through my body. I let out a choking cry and something in me snapped. It was as though all the turmoil and rage exploded and surged through me in a desperate torrent, and I could do nothing to stop it.
My eyes flared and my hands clenched into fists. I couldn’t see anything other than a sea of rage in front of me and I lost all sense of the plan. I just wanted to hurt them. Not only had they killed my parents, but they displayed them as some kind of trophy. Well, they hadn’t killed me, not yet, and before they did I was going to make sure I spilled their blood. I screamed to high heaven and sprinted towards the village, not caring about anything other than getting my teeth into them.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Volkan
To walk upon this new world was a strange sensation. In some ways, it was so much like ours, and yet the air was not as sweet, the landscape not as vibrant with color. In a way, I felt sorry for those lions who had left the plains of Orestes generations ago to end up here. To walk upon a new world was a thing of privilege, but it did not always lead them to a better world. My heart broke when I saw Kara’s reaction as she stepped inside her old home. She did not return my feelings, but I did not resent her for it. As she said, she was dealing with a lot.
But then she snapped.
The plan was going perfectly at first, but then she saw something, and it made her scream out loud. Our cover was broken. There was no sense counting on stealth any longer. She rushed forward, shifting into her lion form. Axanar and I were close on her heels. We sprinted forward and caught up with her as the Night Fangs sounded the alarm. The guards came towards us. They were huge beasts, packed with muscles, but they were nothing compared to the lions of Orestes. Axanar and I took them out, while Kara burst through the gate. I’m not sure I had ever seen anyone possessed with such anger. Every movement she made was fueled by rage. She was among the Night Fangs, lashing out at them, and this served to make them wary of her, but I knew her rage would not last forever, and then their numbers would become decisive. I quickly shifted into my human form and reached for my bow. I shot a few arrows and they all landed on their mark. Night Fang after Night Fang fell, while Axanar went to fight alongside Kara. The rest of our lions surged forward, and the battle exploded. Our gold fur clashed with their dark hides and much blood was spilled. We were well versed in the ways of war, but none of us knew what it was like to fight with another pride of lions. We had only tested ourselves in hunts. Some were overwhelmed, while others rose to the challenge as though they had been born for it.
My hand moved in a blur as I fired arrow after arrow. Watching the Night Fangs pour out of their village was like seeing a black sea flooding over the world. There were so many of them, each one more vicious than the next. When I was out of arrows, I shifted into a lion again and used my claws and teeth, wielding the weapons that we had been blessed with by the gods. The combat was furious and heated. The air was thick and soon I could scent blood in the air, and nothing else. I tried to keep focused on Kara and Axanar, but it was difficult when the tide of battle carried me away. I saw a cluster of allies being hounded by the Night Fangs and so I went to aid them. Kara had not been exaggerating when she spoke about the savagery of the Night Fangs, and I found myself glad that they had not found a way into our tower, for all they sought was destruction.
My muscles were strained, and my fur was coated in blood as I fought valiantly, but there did not seem an end to them. Everywhere I looked, there were more of them in a constant stream of death. All I could do was fight and strike and hope that we would emerge triumphant, but it seemed as though the outcome of this battle would be decided elsewhere. I only regretted that I would not be able to fight alongside Kara, not today, and if the Night Fangs had their way, then never again.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Axanar
There was nothing like the rush and the glory of battle. Even the great hunts could not compare with this, because those were solitary endeavors. To have my allies at my back, knowing we were all locked in this combat was something great, something wonderful, and something that was all too rare. It was intoxicating, and the feelings that swept through my blood were enough to push away the remnants of sickness in my body. I relished this war. To be on the front lines in the heat of battle was something I had always longed for, and with Kara by my side, it was something that could happen again and again. There would be other enemies to be conquered, other prides like the Night Fangs that needed to be punished and I could be the one to prove himself the strongest. I could be the one to put the world under my heel and make them all submit to my authority.
Although Kara was certainly making a case for her to be considered the strongest as well. To see her fight was to be witness to something majestic. She was graceful in her movements, and her strikes were savage beauty. Night Fangs fell to her claws, and she twisted and turned, eager for the next fight, never seeming to tire, never seeming to let fatigue take a hold of her. She was magnificent, and I found myself quite taken with her.
Not that I had much time to think about these things. It was a battle after all. The rush of blood ran through my mind, and I strained my muscles to fight. There was no end of Night Fangs, each one of them seemed bred for combat and eager for a fight. We gnashed teeth and clashed amid the darkness; all of our senses alive with a deep hunger for blood. I spilled more than my fair share that night. Kara and I broke through the force that had met us and drove deeper into the Night Fang village. Their buildings were squat and basic, but there were many of them. They had such a vast number that it was no surprise to imagine what they did with their time, but what we lacked in number we made up for in skill. We were a golden spear lancing through the heart of them, roaring in triumph and calling to each other, reassuring ourselves of the glory of Orestes. We were the original lions, the ones left behind, and I would not see us fall to this foe on this day.
Kara’s rage did not abate as we found ourselves moving into the center of the village. Blood sprayed into the air as I slashed out at the enemies. I felt their skin split open under my claws and teeth, and then I tasted their blood. For a time, it seemed as though it would never end, but gradually the bodies piled up and their numbers thinned, and soon enough there were more golden lions than the Night Fangs.
We had cornered them in one area of the village, just a cluster of them left. They looked at us with beady eyes and their teeth were bared, dripping with fetid saliva. I growled for my lions to cease their attack. Kara managed to restrain herself, although her face was still heavy with hatred.
“I am Axanar, Alpha of the pride of Orestes,” I declared. “I hereby declare that the terror of the Night Fangs is over. You declared war on other prides when you had no reason to, and now you have paid the price.”
“We had every reason,” a Night Fang said as he shifted into human form. His skin was lined with scars, his hair tousled, and he was missing a tooth.
“And what was your reason?”
He grinned at me. “Because they were weak,” he hissed. “They were weak, and we were strong. It was our duty to fight them and kill them because the strongest must survive. That is what our ancestors said. That is the way of things. There is no place in this world for peace. Death will come for us all, and being strong is the only way to prevent it from claiming us now.”
“They were innocent people!” Kara cried. “They didn’t want any harm. They came to you hoping to work together, to learn how to grow together as lions. They didn’t want to fight.”
“And that is why they died. They lost what it was that made them lions. They lost sight of what truly matters in this world, strength and victory,” he rasped and flashed Kara a goading smile. She let out an ungodly moan and went to stride forward towards him, but I pulled her back.
