Collar the Wild

Chapter 9 - Tour

"Oof!" Cry the wolves as they hit the ground, cloth fluttering down around them.

"Where's the fire?" Cal whines, rubbing his elbow which took the brunt of his weight.

Ember scrambles to pick himself up and is about to keep running when he looks down at the felled wolf and the scattered sheets. Feeling a pang of guilt, which sobers his panic somewhat, he bends down to help Cal to his feet.

"I-I'm sorry, Voigt took me upstairs ... and ... I saw Hess ... and he ... he looked so ... messed up ... he didn't even look at me." He mutters in broken speech, inhaling every few words as his body tries its best to calm down, despite the terrible thoughts.

Cal, immediately deducing what's happened, takes ahold of the black wolf's arms and steers his face until their eyes lock.

"Hey, hey, it's alright dear, nothing bad happened to him." Cal sighs and silently looks up the stairs scornfully. "It wasn't a good idea that you saw that and Voigt's going to get a smack for letting it happen"

"What? Why, so I can be kept hidden from the truth some more?" The black wolf moans, frustrated and the warble of sadness attacking his words as they come out. He sniffs, scared for his safety, and also for Hess's.

"I'm sorry dear, that's not what I meant. Come here" Cal smiles as softly as he can and hugs the wolf to try and calm him down. "I promise you, nothing bad happened in that room. It's never a pretty sight when someone leaves the master's study after a session, and Hess is the worst example of it. It's self inflicted with him."

Ember slowly calms down from Cal's petting and manages to rejoin the words that went into his ears into the correct order.

"Self ... inflicted?" He pushes himself away to face the other wolf and rub his nose. Cal allows them to separate to give him some space and smiles, looking down at the strewn laundry.

"I like you, Ember. You're a sweet guy and I hate to see you so torn up like this. Help me with the bedding and I'll try my best to explain a little bit, ok?" He kneels and starts to pick it all up, trying to retain the neat folds they were once in.

"OK" Ember sniffs again and bends down to start helping.

Cal folds the last sheet up and puts it back into the basket. He stands up with it in his arms and walks to the foot of the stairs. "Come with me, I think it's about time I gave you a tour."

Ember puffs a laugh. "I still have the hedges to do" he flaps his arms against his sides and looks over at the dining room doors. Cal chuckles and starts walking up the stairs, knowing that he will be followed.

"You've seen the bathroom," he says reaching the top of the stairs "So I won't bother showing it you, but you're not allowed to use it when we have guests over. There is a toilet downstairs next to the wash room."

"Makes sense I guess" Ember wipes his nose again and Cal goes to a cupboard on the landing to hand him a tissue. "Thanks."

"You've seen the door to the master's study, make sure you're here on time."

"Yeah yeah, I know." Ember sweeps his hand to dismiss the warning, wanting to push any thoughts of that room out of his mind for now.

"Alright." Cal puts down the hamper and steps into the hallway. Walking down to the second door on the left. "We all have labels on our doors, here's Voigt's as you can see."

Ember nods, seeing a plaque on the door similar to the one on the master's bedroom with his name and various flowers and workman's tools carved into it; ones which he assumes are important to Voigt in some way. They step to the next door which has Hess's name on, and again some things imprinted onto the wood. Ember recognises a couple of video game characters from old advertisements, but nothing beyond that.