Pack and Pride

Chapter 6 Emylena

I hear the sound first. A low wine that spears across all lands. A sound that throws me into memories of the war. The sound that drew us to make the treaty. The holy grounds alarm. I shift and leap out of the tree, I know Ira will be informed and waste no time. I grab her second and my own and issue my command.

"Your third is now in charge. You must come with me to Ira. We are going to the holy lands," then to my second, "the flock will stay here. If anything come up, I will use mind link." With that we shift and begin our journey.

The alarm does not sound unless it is urgent. We have no time to figure it out and must be there before sunrise. I'll have to push our small party to its limits to get there, but we will make it. We have to make it.

I don't know what could cause the King Cobra to call for us, but so he summons we will follow. Ira's second leaps through trees in silence and my second and I follow from the sky. I keep an eye out for Ira but don't go out of my way to find her. She will make it.

I see the birds take flight from far ahead of me, they squawk their dissent at being awoken. That must be Ira. She sprints to the corner that houses the cobra. I push us faster. Catch her, don't be too late. My eagle rises to the occasion and we beat our wings at a breakneck pace. The bears and wolves will have heard it too, we will all meet for the first time since the treaty was signed. The meeting house comes into view on the horizon just as the moon sinks low into the sky and the beginnings of dawn emerge. Too slow. We are going too slow. The threat could already be there by now.

Again, I push myself even faster. Ira does the same, ditching the silent approach for a faster one. She begins to crash through trees and branches if it means she will make it on time. The rose sky begins to emerge. I see Ira's grey panther lunge through the door on her lands. And she leaps through, her fur begins to retract into skin and her limbs shorten. Battle shifting, the most useful skill Ira taught me.

Her second leaps through the door on her heels and shifts too. I bank into my territory and dive through my door with my second right behind me. I shift as I enter and roll to a halt. Immediately leaping to my feet and scanning the room for a threat.

It is exactly as I remember it. Large grey stone walls older than any feud. A rough, dark oak floor with eight chairs around a round table in the center. Two chairs for every shifter. The eagles and lions always brought their two leaders, generally the mated pair. Wolves tended to send their alpha and his second. In their lands, apparently, women are not as high as men. The bears mostly depended on their leader, or so my history teacher taught me when I was young. None of us have mates, however. So we will all bring our seconds. In the corner touching our lands, a chest sits filled with clothing and, in my flocks case, some weapons. I motion for my second to not grab any weapons. There is no threat now, but they will be in easy reach should I need them.

I pull out my mothers old clothing and quickly pull it on. Leathers that are light but serve as armor when needed. Three feathers cap off the shoulders on both sides. One plucked from my father, my brother, and myself. Of the three, I am the only one left alive. I swallow my emotion and ignore the rage burning in my stomach. My second unties clothing she put around her ankle, as to not disturb my fathers clothing. I give her a grateful look before turning away.

Ira pulls on clothing her mother had left here too, her rage not hidden like mine is. In the bottom of my chest is a crown of brittle glass shaped like feathers. I bite my lip as I stare at it. To place it on my head or to leave it? My second comes up next to me and reaches for it. She holds it gently in her hands and gives me a pointed look. I drop to one knee as she places it on my brow. The weight of the crown is faint, but the weight of what it means presses on my shoulders. I nod to her and take my seat.

Ira wears her crown as well. Her parents had identical ones made to show they are equals. A band of enchanted emeralds that look to have been melted down and forged into a singular band with blackened steel above and below it. Brutal and elegant. My fathers crown is slightly different than the one on my brow, a ring of iron at its base being the only difference. I didn't have the heart to look at that one. Not yet, anyway. Ira slides into her seat and glances up, I follow her gaze to where the ancient cobra is draped in the rafters. He has a pillow rather than a chair that resides on no ones territory. Some strange magic holds it suspended in the air.

The ceiling is made of glass and refracts the dawn light streaming in. An old place. A place of history and memories.

My second takes her place behind me and to the right, holding the seat of my father in reverence and refusing to seat herself in it. Ira's second holds a similar stance, positioned so that he can pouce to protect his queen should it come to that. Ira looks to me, her silent fire blazing in her eyes as she gives me a terse nod. No one speaks, the stillness and silence playing out. As if speaking would only serve to break that fragile peace. The cobra called us here and he will speak as to why on his time. I grit my teeth in slight annoyance, if he raised the alarm, what could be so urgent?

But he does not shift and he does not speak so we wait. We wait in the fragile peace silence offers for the storm to break over us.

Shorter, sorry... hope you like this chapter tho! Like, comment, share! Let me know what you think! I love hearing from you guys, seriously. It doesn't even have to be about this lol.