The Sigil Makers

Chapter 14

"Woe, wake up!" Woe was woken by Mammoth shaking her violently awake. 

"Ugh, calm down, I'm awake", she groaned. What could possibly be so important at this hour.

"Great! Come on, Mastodon wants to call a meeting", Mammoth was basically jumping up and down. Woe squinted her eyes. Why are you so excited about this? Scratch that, why are you excited at all? Your niece's funeral was held last night.

Woe groaned, "If it's so important", she rolled her eyes.

"Cheer up, Woe. I'm sure you'll find this just as exciting as everyone else does", Mammoth chirped and padded away, signaling Woe to follow him.

"Fine", Woe sighed and heaved herself up. Her paws felt heavy even though she had gotten at least a night's worth of sleep. It doesn't matter how much sleep you get, if your heart keeps beating faster every minute and you wake up with a cold sweat running down your cheek furs.

She made her way to the clearing, letting her head hang low. Her long cheek fur was messy and her pelt ungroomed. She sat down and quickly cleaned off the biggest tangles and pieces of fern and pine needles. Cypress sat beside her after a minute.

"How are you doing?" she asked, a gentle smile on her face. Woe inspected her face; the gray around her muzzle was very visible and her posture was sloppy. Woe fixed her own posture, standing almost as tall as her mother. 

"I'm fine..", Woe answered after a moment of silence. She tried her best to hide the consuming sorrow in her voice.

Cypress looked at her with sympathetic glister in her gaze, "Okay. I believe you", and turned away.

Woe flicked her ear and turned away aswell. Mastodon had arrived and was standing before the gathered smilodon. Woe looked around at her packmates. The camp felt so empty now that Bliss and Aureate were gone, like something more than a few felids were missing. She had never realised how much life their presences had brought in the camp. But now that was gone. Woe was surrounded by these old felids who might only have a few years left of their prime and Eyes even less. Of course, Aureate wasn't the freshest daisy either, but her personality made her seem like she were.

Woe was distracted from her thoughts by Mastodon clearing his throat.

"I have gathered all of you here—again—because I have an announcement to make", he raised his voice. Every felid waited impatiently, tails twitching and ears flicking. Woe dug her claws into the soil below. She was wishing with what little hope she had left that the pack wouldn't be leaving their rainy season home yet. She couldn't imagine leaving Bliss yet.

She tried to kill me, though. Why do I miss her so badly? Woe came to wonder. She felt like it had been awfully long since Bliss' death, although it happened only two days prior. 

"As most of you may—and should—know, Mammoth has been doing the second-in-command duties for a while now. Organizing hunting parties, making sure every felid is well-fed, keeping count of dangers around the camp and many other important responsibilites and of course, I couldn't ask for anyone to do a better job of that, but both of us are growing older and more frail and we figured it was prime time to name an official second-in-command for this pack", Mastodon explained, his eyes shining brightly at Woe. At that moment she knew exactly what this meeting was about. Bliss said: "Mastodon wants to make you his second-in-command", so this is it. She was telling the truth.

"And I know that there is no better smilodon to permanently fulfill this role than my daughter, Woe", he continued, looking meaningfully at the pale ginger smilodon. She forced her eyes to widen and to act surprised, "Woe, will you take this honor?"

Woe felt her heart starting to beat faster. If Bliss had succeeded in her mission and managed to kill her, she would be the one standing here right now, wondering what she should answer. But she hadn't succeeded, although for a moment Woe wished she had. "Y-yes, I'll take this honor with pride", she stuttered. She could hear someone give a small chuckle before Mastodon nodded approvingly and continued:

"Then you shall be the new second-in-command of The Sigil Makers", he finished and the other smilodons erupted in loud cheers and support for the new second-in-command of the pack. Woe licked her chest fur in embarassament.

...

"Don't think you're stuck here doing this by yourself. Your father and I will be there to help you", Mammoth sat beside Woe. Mastodon had asked Woe to organize a simple hunting party. She had still a lot to learn about how to lead the pack, but she had grown more confident now when she had her uncle by her side to help. 

"Yeah, I've got this", she spoke, looking down at the gathered smilodons. Well, at the two other smilodons who were still able to hunt; his father Mastodon and mother Cypress. "Well, erm, I suppose if Mastodon leads the party and Cypress and Mammoth can go with him?" 

"Aren't you coming?" Cypress asked with a sly grin on her face.

"Shush, Cypress. We don't question the second-in-command", Mastodon nudged Cypress gently. Cypress scoffed and rolled her eyes. For the first time in her life, Woe was able to see why they used to be mates. Mastodon's more gentle side complimented Cypress' usually spiky and bitter personality. I wonder why they broke up.

"I wanted to go out to reflect a little. That's not an issue, right?" Woe explained.

"Of course not! You're the second-in-command after all. Come on, let's head out now", Mastodon purred and signed at the other smilodons to follow him.

Woe waited until she couldn't hear the distaning paw steps anymore and slipped out of the camp, found the party's scent trail and headed to the opposite direction. She wandered around the moorlands mind running ten thousand miles per hour.

I wonder if Bliss would be so unsure of these decisions as I am. But then again, Mastodon wouldn't have made me the second-in-command if  he thought I wasn't able to do this. But what if he doesn't know? What if he thinks I'm like Bliss? All confident and brave and strong? What if-

Her flow of thought was interrupted by her realising that she had walked back to the border of the territory. She looked at the unexplored spaces between the trees and the shrubs that could hide so many secrets. She glanced around and carefully stepped over the scent border. She figured that exploring a little like an excited cub again would clear her thoughts. 

Woe timidly wandered deeper into the unknown woods, hoping to perhaps find some prey or something interesting.

Suddenly, she felt something thump against her flank and pin her down. She looked up, snarling violently and snapping her claws across her attacker's muzzle. Is it Bliss? What if she isn't dead after all? She pulled her hindlegs above her belly and kicked her attacker viciously. After she had heaved herself back up on her feet, she took a closer look at her attacker. They were another smilodon, a bright ginger one. They looked like Aureate, except they were slightly paler and weren't covered in scars just as badly. 

"You shouldn't be here", they hissed. Woe squinted her eyes, noticing the outsider's thin and messy yet broad cheek fur.

"These lands are near the territory of The Sigil Makers. I was tracking prey", she lied subtly. The attacker's eyes appeared to widen when he heard the name of the pack.

"My name is Amnesty. Tell Cypress to meet me at the tar-painted pines before dawn tomorrow", the outsider whispered hastily before whipping around and fleeing back into the shadows.

"Wait! How do you know Cypress?" Woe shouted after the outsider. She tried to press his name in her memory. Amnesty. Tar-painted pines.

Amnesty.