Yellow Light (Dragonfly #5)

Attack on the Packs

I could honestly say I enjoyed being in the air again. It had been a while since I had done a cross-country flight like this. I definitely tell Feurige and Ipa were watching us carefully, silently picking up tips on our flying skills as they thundered along the hard packed earth.

It was the fire I was more worried about though. Ever since my first adventure brought on a long-missed deathly asthma attack, the kind of which I haven't experienced since I was seven, my lungs had never been the same. Would I be eligible to lead the Ice-claws if I was weakened by such a huge factor?

I shook these thoughts out my head. Who knows? By the time I'm twenty my asthma may have ceased again. It was hard to tell with such an unpredictable illness. Flying right into a fire probably wasn't the best idea either, but for the past half hour or so Lysander had commented on how it seemed to be letting up.

My stomach seemed to twist and writhe like a giant serpent when the six of us finally landed on the ground.

"This used to be the Aqua pack." Feurige whined.

I swallowed dryly. The fire had indeed died down to a few smoking wisps at the charred remains of dens and wold civilations. This had been the place Feurige was born and raised. This had been his home. the ground was scorched black and the poisonous smells of charred fur seemed to be everywhere. There were a few smoking and charred lumps in the soot I had a sick feeling used to be wolves.

"Tenebris is making a statement." Growled Lysander softly.

Feurige looked on the verge of another breakdown. Ipa leaned against him comfortingly.

"This place reeks of Darke Magyk." Kennon sniffed, muttering cleansing spells under his breath,

"Zach, if Tenebris is bringing innocents lives into this we have to find a way to finish this quicker." Seirra commented.

"I know, I know, just give me a second." I mumbled softly, staring out at this massacre and feeling my lungs seize up.

Feurige perked his ears up suddenly. "Wait a second, I smell another wolf."

Out of the remaining smoke a cream colored wolf came running at us.

"Madrona?" Feurige barked, confused.

Madrona tackled him with a bear hug. At first I surprised at how much affection she showed, the wolf had clearly known Feurige for a long time.

"For Lupa's sake Feurige! I thought you were dead!" She whimpered, rubbing up against his chin.

"Whoa, Maddy, calm down. What happened here?" he asked, glancing nervously at us as he peeled the dusty wolf off him.

"It was the Anguis pack, they have a new leader and he's attacking all the other wolf packs. It was so terrifying, we never saw it coming, and they brought fire with them. I've never seen a wolf carry fire like that." She sobbed.

Feurige rested his chin on her head as the female wolf started crying loudly.

"Where is the rest of the pack?" He asked.

"We surrendered and fled north to the Ignis pack, the agreed to shelter us until the new Anguis wolf is over thrown. It's so frustrating because they don't even care about us."

"Is that why you came back here?"

there was a long painful silence between her next statement.

"No, I'm here to do the Sepelis Mortuos, my father died." She said quietly.

"Oh Maddy, I'm so sorry." He sighed, gazing out on the land scape again.

Lysander tapped my shoulder. "I think we should go."

It was then I noticed everyone else had already started to leave, leaving the two wolves to morn for thier homeland, destroyed by the monster who seemed to have ripped a seem in everyones lives.

The day wore on and Feurige was still gone. I led a hunting expedition and we had  a late dinner.

Later, after filling in everyone else about what we had seen at the destroyed pack, Jay came up to me. I wonder if he was still angry about the short vision with Zara, I know I was. He had seemed so desperate to get back to her, I hadn't noticed it until recently, but he seemed very attached to my sister.

"I have a proposition for the stand-in chief." He proposed.

"Does it have to do with the prophecy?" I questioned, getting a little bit tired of this chief thing.

"Yes, the second chunk I believe is giving us hints to the other two chosen ones, and that the only way to defeat Tenebris' new power is to band together the other wolf packs. And the only way to do that is through Ignis. We need to figure out when the wolves started following Lupa. Something happened back then, and we need to figure it out."

"Lot's of 'we need's." I noticed dryly.

He grit his teeth at me bleakness. "Do you see my point or not? Traveling around will give us a better chance at finding Zara then sitting on our tails in this camp. We need to make a move to match Tenebris."

That's what I was waiting for.

"Let me sleep on it." I said, pushing him away.

I won't lie, I was exhausted. He left me with alone and I wanted to rest.

I knew I wouldn't sleep a wink tonight.