Codex Mortem

A different way

Raiden

It took longer than I expected, but I had to do it right. The tarians were strange people, but they were right: a change is much needed. I knew most of my alphas wouldn't support my choices, so I had to make sure that at least Alpha Darian would remain on my side. He was very young and inexperienced, but he was calculated. He could see the big picture and had a brilliant mind, and those qualities will take him far one day.

I didn't expect him to embrace my ideas of change so openly, but what stunned me was his unwavering support and loyalty, given the fact that I was the one who killed his sire some years ago. He understood my reasons; his father was one of the alphas that ambushed me and Rhys after the treaty with the nixians.
In the night i spent at his keep I thought I heard my little angel calling me, telling me to come back to her. But it was impossible. It was only my imagination.
Shaking my thoughts of her out of my mind, I stepped in my territory undetected and made my way to the old hall house, 'the King's seat'. I chuckled. It looked like a peasant's barn compared to the tarians' construction.
Once in the great hall, my steps carried me towards the solar. It is only then they noticed me, and that turned me angry. Anyone with a bit of skill could sneak unnoticed.
I slammed the door open with blood boiling in me. Rhys nearly jumped from my seat. If looks could kill, he would've been dead.
"What's wrong?" He asked at seeing my sourness, his smile disappearing under a concerned layer.
"What's wrong..." I repeated low, "Everything is wrong!" I shouted. "We were supposed to be the best guarded territory of all Dirae, we were supposed to be the most powerful, and no one, NOT EVEN ONE BLOODY TRACKER SAW ME COMING!"
Rhys lowered his head in a display of shame, a strange thing for him to do.
"There are things you must know, Raiden."
I closed my eyes and pictured her face. Imagined her scent. For no logical reason, I felt my anger dripping off me and a sense of calmness embraced my being. I needed her.
"Where is she?" He knew well whom I meant.
"She's safe, Raiden. I need you to listen."
I nodded my head and took a seat.
Rhys handed me a full cup and told me what happened while we were gone, but I had a feeling that he kept something away. With an icy stare, he waited for me to explode.
"Who do you suspect?" I asked with a deadly calmness, taking in what he just related. My hand went to the back of my neck and rubbed some of the tension out. I was tired. Not tired, but exhausted. With no rest in the last couple of days speeding up from Taria, all I needed was rest. And her.

"That's the problem. No one!" Rhys stated. "But I have a feeling, that whoever helped her escape will reveal himself soon. We just need to wait and pay attention."
"Someone must pay for this, Rhys. He threw a feast. A bloody feast, that's how stupid he is! He was in charge while I could've walked into a trap."
My second kept quiet for a few moments, thinking. "He needs a punishment he won't forget. A lesson." He glanced at me, the room slowly filling with heaviness. The heaviness of punishing our own kind.
"He's not the only one, and you know it. The cell's guard, Alar, is as guilty as him. And the trackers, you found them sleeping on duty." My voice was calm, but under the thin layer of control I was ready to spill blood. "When we'll find out who helped her, his fate will be worse than death. I will see personally to that!"

"All of them, Raiden. Some sleeping, others reeking or shiting. The wine was tainted. And the culprit- WE will make him dread the day he was born!"
I squeezed my mind, thinking and rethinking of everything. These were stormy waters, and I needed to do everything in my power to make sure that we won't drown. The stone's day was fast approaching. My First Aga was a foul and my warriors a shame. The tarians wanted a change, and the nixians were lurking in the shadows for the smallest show of weakness.
And on top of everything, the changes I was thinking to make could actually bring an internal war to my doorstep. Last time I did a 'change', I had to kill four packleaders.
"Gather them all in the morning." It was a command, not a request.
"What will you do?" The prince asked, narrowing his eyes in a concerned glare. I sipped quietly from my drink, failing to provide an answer.
After he mirrored my action, he broke the silence.
"So... what about your little trip?"
I gestured towards our cups and he brought up the flask to refill them.
After I told him everything, his concern grew.
"So what have you got in mind? You know how hard is for the packs to embrace anything new..."
"That's why I had to speak with alpha Darian, to make sure he is on our side in this."
"In what, Raiden?"
"From now on, I'm going to give the same chances to every prisoner, dawner or not. The whipping pebble will remain in the pouch for the draw, and we will accept payment for their lives. And from now on, that payment will be the only way we get slaves. No more taking as we please from the lowers, no more kidnappings."