Among The Wolves

Double Agent

My head felt so much better and so did my nose. With a delicate touch I probed my face and found that while it was certainly tender, it was not very painful. Carefully, I wiggled my nostrils and it only felt a tad sore. It seemed impossible. I was certain that the Beta broke it. A thought came to me. Wolfbloods tended to heal faster than humans... Was it the werewolf genome that made my nose heal so quickly or perhaps I was mistaken and my nose never broke to begin with?

I sat up a little, my eyes were already accustomed to the dim light. This cell was not made entirely of concrete like my other one was. Instead, for the walls, there were metal rods. I could see that there were three empty cells to my left.

"I thought for sure you were dead."

I turned and saw a teen sitting against the back wall in the cell next to mine. His hair was so grimy I couldn't even tell what its natural color was. Dirt, grease, and dried blood covered every bit of exposed skin so that his skin color was a mystery as well. His left arm hung limp on his side. His right arm rested atop his knees.

So this is the kid I am supposed to get information out of? What do I even do? I stared at the kid for a few seconds as I contemplated my next action. I guess I should act as if I was just made prisoner. I could pretend he was Bratir... but how would I act if Bratir was sitting in the stall next to me and I was on a water diet? I sniffled and wiped my bloody face. Loose hair stuck to my sticky cheeks.

"Where are we?" was the best I could come up with.

The kid scratched his brow with his good hand. "Somewhere in Wos'Theon."

I faced him but sat farther. Thinking about how I could be as realistic as possible. "How do I know that you are not one of them?"

The boy tried to laugh but a rough hack came out instead. I noticed some bloody saliva dribble from his lips. "I'm too beat-up to be one of them."

"Are- are we going to die?" I did my best scared voice.

The boy leaned his head back against the wall and sighed. "You probably won't, I am heading that way."

Seeing this young man all battered was striking an empathic chord in me. I leaned forward a little. "What's your name?" The question was genuine.

He looked at me sideways. "Aborigento... you?"

I did not think I should give my name. Who knows if I am infamous in Vakusi right now for crossing the border. I settled for my mother's name. "Tanaquil... Nice to meet you, Aborigento."

I hugged my knees to my chest and kept silent. I did not want to hound the Vakusian with a bunch of questions off the bat. I would wait for him to break the next ice.

We sat quietly for about thirty minutes. "Hey."

I looked up and found Aborigento looking at me. He gestured with his hand. "Come here."

I glanced around but, of course, there were only metal prison bars to see. Uncertain, I stood up and sat next to the bars that separated us. "Yeah?"

"Do you think your hands will fit between these bars?"

"Probably, why?"

"I need you to kill me. Strangle me or something." Desperation laced his voice.

I sat back in horror. "No way!"

"Shhhh!" Aborigento looked around frantically before whispering firmly. "Listen to me, okay? I don't know how much longer I can hold out before I give in. I wasn't supposed to get caught, you know? I can't let them get to me. I know too much."