The Gift

Chapter Nine

Luc sniffed his way through the jungle in search of his sister. Maila's private detail was what they found first. All laying on the ground gasping for air, black thorns covering their bodies. The superior healing processes that their kind possessed seemed to be at a standstill.

He yapped in desperation. He shape shifted back to his human form.

" Yumi, you and your men go get help. The rest of you get the thorns out of them, carefully not to get pierced," he barked.

He kneeled down, "What happened?" He whispered to Zac; they had grown up together, been through their first change together, their combat training together, their travel year together.

"W-we w-were amb-ambushed," he struggled to enunciate.

"Who ambushed you?" Zac pressed on as he continued to pull the thorns out of his skin. With every thorn that was removed green poison oozed out of the wound. They would need a blood transfusion if they were going to make it.

"The crea-tures, u-undead, fou-l," he whispered his face twisted from the effort to get the words out through his pain.

"Yumi went to get help. Hang in there my friend," Luc said as he gently brushed his fingers through Zac's hair. "Was the Queen with you?"

Zac was trying hard to answer but the words wouldn't come out.

"Blink once for no and two for yes," he told him as he started in his blood shot eyes.

Zac's eyes blinked once and no more. A forceful howl filled with the angst that was inside his very core filled the spaces around them.

"Yana, leave two men behind to care for them until help gets here. The rest of you are coming with me. Let's go find our Queen," or what is left of her, he thought in his head. "Everyone, be on high alert. We don't know what's out there."

The now smaller search party started weaving its way through the jungle following Luc's command. He was one of the best trackers in their pack.

The scent of Maila started to fade, which made their job of finding her harder. Stinkhorn mushrooms odours were taking over his senses masking every other smell. The mushrooms covered an area of approximately fifty square meters they just had to get through this and then hopefully they would pick up her scent again.

A sharp howl made his head snap and he turned only to find that one of the men was down; thorns stuck in his throat, blood gargling. They were circled in by gruesome creatures, they had no visible weapons on them other than their twisting thorns. The wolves grouped together their hind legs touching one another, low snarls vibrated off the trees like a humming symphony.  Damn mushrooms, he thought and with a loud growl he commanded his soldiers to wait.

Luc knew that they weren't ready to face their opponents head on. He saw the destruction they reaped to the Queen's guard, the most prestigious order of the pack.

As the foul things closed in on them he saw his opportunity, he turned his back on them and with his hind legs he sprayed dirt in their eyes. The other wolves followed his lead and a mist of dust covered the undead from head to toe.

He glared at Yana, they had used this escape tactic once more. With a decisive leap Yana jumped over the heads of the undead towards their escape. It took only a few seconds for the remaining party to clear the jump. They ran, they ran without knowing where it would lead them with the undead close behind.

◇◇◇◇

Maila got up on her feet, the surge of newfound energy was unlike anything she experienced before. She rubbed the inside of her right palm where the Crown had moulded itself.

Great, now I will have three personalities as if me and the wolf weren't enough as it was, she thought as she combed her hair with her fingers. "At least I'm alive." She said with a sigh.

A forceful, violent cracking of her bones let her know that she was no longer in charge. The wolf was strong, stronger than her. The change had affected them all.

They started to trot back to the Kingdom. Maila was perplexed by the fact that she could not spot the bodies of her enemies so the wolf extended her snout to catch their scent.

A light west bound breeze carried their stench, but not only theirs. The others needed her help.

'So how do we kill those ghastly things?' Maila asked.

'Now you ask?'

'Can you help or not?'

'Be nice my Queen, we are bound together,' the Crown said flatly.

A low snarl of protest rose up from her wolf.

'Have I offended your Queen wolfie? Relax, I will give you the answer you seek.' The Crown said.

'Well, what is it?' Maila enquired impatiently.

'You need to let me take over your immortal body.'

'That is out of the question.' Maila stated.

'Well then, there is nothing I can do for you my sweet Maila. It saddens me that you are so dismissive because you would have made a glorious Queen.'

'May I remind you that I already am a Queen. Now, if you do not wish for me to unbind you and destroy you, tell me what I need to know' Maila demanded.

A burning darkness started to spread in their collective minds. Maila used her energy and fought the darkness encircling it in a small corner of their mind.

'Now, tell me what I need to know,' she ordered.

'Dismembering the undead does not work, you need to burn their bodies if you do not wish for them to rise again,' the Crown said defeated.

Maila sped up, her steps lighter than before. She quickly caught a glimpse of her brother and his search pack being chased down. She howled at them.

Luc turned his head as he was running and saw the great golden wolf that was calling for them. He had never met this wolf before but something in the howl sounded so familiar to him. The golden wolf howled once again. He could feel the nervousness of his soldiers pulsing through.

He glared at the direction of the stranger once more, it wasn't there. In it's place stood the Queen, his beloved sister. What the...

The undead had diverted their attention towards the Queen and were no longer following them. Maila raised her hand and started shooting fire, within two minutes she had eliminated all of them.

"Hi Luc," she greeted him.

Luc didn't respond, just glared.

Word Count: 1113