Those Who Suffer, Those Who Survive

The Stolen Child

Noctis sprinted as fast as he could.

"It got one..."he cursed. "It got a child."

Forty eight hours after his arrival, Noctis had spent  most of the day surveying the possible hiding spots a wolf might have around these parts.
He hated to admit, but there were quite a few of them concealed in the seemingly barren lands. And the familiar musky odor he picked up confirmed the fact, that the wolf had several lairs dotted across the Barrens which surrounded Angora.

It seemed to be following some pattern of rotation between the hiding places. And from his findings(rotten flesh, chewed out bones and dry, almost black stains of blood) he knew what pattern it was following. It was moving in towards Angora, closer and closer with the closest hiding spot being in the deserted valley a mile from town. The leftovers there were no more than  two days old. Noctis could still hear in his mind the flies buzzing around the sordid sight.

Noct's mind had once more driven his attention to the one place he had sensed in the Angora forest. It  was probably the current lair of the wolf.

With those findings, Noctis went back to town, with a mind to await the arrival of night to begin his hunt in the forest. "That's when it would come out" he told himself.

But once he returned to town, he found out that he wasn't the only one busy exploring that day.

The Wolf had been out to play. It had stolen a child. Straight from the heart of town...right from the boy's own backyard.

Noctis was stunned. For a moment, his rational mind failed to give any explanation to how such a daring feat could've been pulled off leaving zero witnesses?

The only proof it had left of its visit was the paw marks in the ice. Foot prints, larger than any other wolf Noctis had seen. Foot prints that mocked him from their trail on the snow.

As the bereft mother's mournful cries reached his ears, Noctis grit his teeth. The wolf came out without the cover of night. It came out and stole the child from under everyone's noses...from under his watch. Like a taunt thrown secretly but solely at the Hunter who had come to hunt it.

The Delacorix don't take taunts too well. And the thought of being mocked by the Wolf didn't please Noctis at all. The Prince felt something snap in him..and then his mind was up in flames. He was angry. He was furious...he was enraged. But that didn't rob him of rationality. He remembered, all of the wolf's lairs...stinking with blood and gore. They all meant one thing, it only fed within the walls of its hiding spot.

"The child is alive yet." His mind spoke as he stared at the gaping hole before him. The wolf had taken the child and barreled right through the town's mammoth fencing, through the thick lumber walls skirting an isolated part of the town.

Without a word, the Prince threw himself through the hole left by his adversary. In some corner of his mind, from beyond its shackles the Demon in him snickered,"Let's hunt ourselves a mutt, shall we?"