Safe With You | Yoonmin

Chapter 31: The Attack - Part I

| Yoongi |

TWIGS AND LEAVES RUSTLED underfoot as Yoongi and Jungkook prowled through the dark forest, drawing closer to the village. Far up ahead and out of sight, they could hear the howls, the screams, and the clash of weapons. The sounds of dozens of shifters locked in deadly combat.

Jungkook led the way, with his sword drawn, and Yoongi was right on his heels. Mentally the elder alpha kicked himself. If only he hadn't run out into the woods like an absolute idiot, with no preparation and no weapons. Although, to be fair, his plan had been to shift - to let his wolf do the fighting -- and he had been in search of only one target. He never could have anticipated this.

Finally, the west corner of the village wall came into view through the branches, the great stone wall looking even more imposing in the stark moonlight. And now both Yoongi and Jungkook could make out multiple pillars of smoke rising from both inside and outside the village walls, the ashy billows glowed orange against the sky, reflecting the many angry fires burning below. The largest concentration of smoke - and noise - was coming from the direction of the village's main gate, where the bulk of the attackers must be trying to break through.

Shouts and howls could be heard echoing out from within the village now too, reaching louder and louder pitch as more of the pack was startled from sleep, realizing the threat at hand.

Just as the two alphas were about to break through the treeline and into the moonlight, Jungkook came to an abrupt halt, every muscle in his body tense, for up ahead of them was a band of three foreign wolves -- rogues, Yoongi realized as he took in their tattered, mismatched attire and sickly scents -- gathered around the bodies of two dead sentries. The trio bickered and pushed at one another as they rifled through the dead men's clothes, looking for any jewelry or weapons worth taking.

Now there was no doubt in Yoongi's mind that this was the same rogue horde which had decimated his pack nearly a year ago. The tactics were all the same. The enemy was attacking at night, under cover of darkness. These rogues had even waited until the wind was in their favor, further concealing their scents as they approached from up the mountainside. Now they were using the fires as a diversion. The Black Mountain Pack would be torn between the need to fight the flames or fend off the attackers at the gate. Meanwhile the rogues would take full advantage of the chaos, pillaging wherever they could, taking livestock and food and whatever goods they could carry. Robbing this pack of everything they desperately needed to survive the cold winter.

He wondered, briefly, if the rogues had known about the stone wall, or if it had been an unpleasant surprise. Had they somehow managed to scout the region without alerting the guards stationed along the east border? Or had they simply charged in with minimal knowledge of the pack they faced, hoping that the element of surprise and the strength of their horde would be enough?

Yoongi and Jungkook waited in grim silence, watching from just behind the treeline as the small group of raiders continued stripping the bodies of the dead sentries. It was when two of the thieves began wrestling over a pair of boots that the tallest of the three - perhaps the leader of this little group - stepped in, and began shoving his comrades away from the bodies, urging them back toward the direction of the main fight. The one who had lost the boots hissed, and tried to take a swing at the beta's head. But the leader easily dodged the blow and delivered a quick backhand of his own, sending his underling stumbling away. The third man grumbled unhappily but followed along, clutching the boots to his chest, and soon the group had disappeared into the darkness.

When Yoongi was sure the trio was far enough away, he rushed forward. Kneeling on the ground beside the closest of the fallen sentries. Now he could see the arrow wounds that had killed the two men. One had been felled by a bolt directly through his eye socket, the other by an arrow to the throat.