Dragon Falls (Indigo Apocalypse Book III)

Chapter Twenty-Two: Welcome To The Land Of Tooth And Claw

HOLLY:
    Luna gasped, realization dawning in her eyes. Mama leaned against mom, as if she needed her to hold her weight, as if all the energy was sapped out of her. Mama looked southward, as if she could see that teritory, that village. Silence reigned, and in the quietude, I realized that, for the first time, my mama, Kitana, was scared, was truly undilutedly afraid. I felt the fear, the fear that she tried to hard to hide. The fear of seeing her mother yet again. But then she looked toward me, and I saw a tear trail down her cheek. "Mama." I said, kneeling and wiping the tear away. She shook her head. "You don't understand pup." I frowned, but she faced Amala. "How fast can we move, if we used the portals?" Amala narrowed her eyes. "Each village is protected by symbols girl. Symbols that prevent indigo portals—"What of the portal of a god?" Asked Luna. Amala frowned. "Perhaps that outweighs the power of the symbols, however this village," she tapped Hiquanna's territory. "Is the largest and sprawls over several hundred miles, over hills and down near to the Forbidden Kingdom." I snickered despite myself. "Still can't get over that. Forbidden Kingdom." "Shut up pup." Kamala snapped. I snarled in response. "Enough Holly." Kitana said tonelessly. She rose, steadying herself. "The prophecy says more than I thought. She, Brook's prophecy, I believed it had to do with me, but it may not just be about me in this." She stared pointedly at Kamala. "It just may have to do with you both as much as me." Kamala sneered, but there was understanding in her eyes. "Hiquanna swore that I'd need her." Said Kitana. "Swore that one day, I'd need her, her armies, her force." Her eyes grew void and hollow as the memory lit in her gaze.
Sure enough, as we moved through werewolf, oops, sorry, lycanthrope lands, the message was sent all across the hills. We kept to the outskirts of every village, near to the inland oceans. So close that we could hear the lash of waves against the shores. "I could use the water," Leia suggested one night as we bedded down to rest. "Use the water and move a hell of a lot faster. Circumvent her village all together." "No," said Kitana. "The prophecy said we'd have to go there, there's no point in tempting the power of the Beings anymore than necessary." So, we just circled villages, moving in the dead of night, with the power of Audrey and Sarah to keep our army's mass hidden, but still, she caught wind of us. The scent of powerful wolves was what caught my attention first. As I walked along side my mom, I smelled pure wolf. I snapped my gaze to my mama first, then to Amala. She and my mama walked side by side, and both their heads snapped up, and they stared ahead, up the hill we were climbing.
"We're here." I heard Amala murmure. Kitana barely nodded. Kamala turned and delivered the word, and it passed down the lines. Audrey and Sarah made their way through the ranks, the other gods along side with them. I moved ahead, but turned back to my mom. Kendra eyed the gods moving forward, eyed Kitana who still walked, back straight, face hard and cold. She nodded, and said, "Make me proud." I bared my fangs, and moved to my mother's other side. Kitana eyed me, and gave me a smile, then her face went hard. I stared at the hill, stared, as we climbed over it, and stared down, down, at the trees that grew close, the trees, that were coated in wolf scent, the edge, very edge, of the territory, was just a few yards away. As one, we all stopped. The silent message went down the ranks, down the lines of warriors, of vampires, of renegade wolves. We were at the heart of the territory, far away from any real escape. "No way to fly out of there." A dracon female stared at the thick close growing trees, staring at them resentfully. Those treetops are too close, we'd rip our wings to shreds, even in this form. "Could burn them down." Said Wenzi. "Could." Said the female. "But they'd overrun us by then. Added to that, they'd probably bee expecting that." Amala nodded. "They have hundreds of thousands of wolves in there. Hundreds of thousands of warriors, of enforcers." "What's their count, of inhabitants?" Asked Luna. "Last I heard it was at least eight hundred thousand and some change." Said Daitengu tonelessly.
"What about the wolves? Our wolves?" I asked. "Them and the vampires?" Amala looked back, back at the ranks of indigo monsters. At the different dilects of vampires, all created by human nightmares and dreams. "We let them decide." Said Amala calmly. Then, she aimed her gaze to Kitana. "After you." Kitana shifted, and allowed her mouth to open, her fangs to show. She stepped down the hill, and entered their territory. Howls went up, deep baying howls. Kitana stopped a few dozen yards in. We stopped with her. I let my own claws unsheath, let my eyes glint in the dark. A few people away, Briella shifted into her partial lioness form. And by her side, Kupoa and Lucy stood on either side of her, their glacier eyes cold as, well, glaciers. Wolves leapt out of the trees, huge wolves the size of bears. They continued to bay as they pawed the ground, tearing at it as they howled. "No wonder I don't have many dealings with wolves." Said Daitengu in a mildly irritated voice. "They act more like pups than anything else." Kamala shot him a look, but the word was heard, and the baying was silenced. At least now we could hear the baying continue further south, probably all the way down to wherever Hiquanna called home. Six wolves loped forward and shifted into six huge bulky males with long reddish brown hair, and eyes as dark as onyx. For a moment, they stared at Kitana, their eyes flicking over her, from crown to booted toe, where her claws could be seen. They eyed her face, the fangs displayed. I saw one step just a few feet forward, and seemed to try to bend his power over Kitana. But she continued to stare at him, stare into his eyes. "Wolves have a dominant power game." I remember Diana saying to Luna once. "The longer you make eye contact, the more you challenge their authority. The surest way to do it. Then there's the snarling, the sheer dominance in the noise will cow most. Once you display that, in body or scent, they pounce on it. It's very much like them on prey. If they see they're against someone equal, or more powerful, then it's tooth and claw." "Barbaric." "It's nature." Diana laughed.
Here, here and now, the power struggle was in play. Kitana kept her eyes on his, her body displaying arrogant dominance. Though she could've certainly cowed him with a lash of death. Though she could've whipped out a fan and cow him there, she just continued to stare into those onyx eyes. Finally, he snarled, a deep, powerful sound that even had me wanting to curl inside. Kitana didn't snarl back though, just stared into his eyes. "They'll use whatever means necessary to make their counter back down. Sometimes using the weak and meak to harm them, on the inside, if not the outside." "How?" "They'll attack a youngling if one is present, or the elder, if they can get to the youngling, they'll use it as a shield, or a tool." "Jesus." "In a word." Another deep snarl. The male stepped forward, a step that was designed to make Kitana step back. But instead, she stepped forward too. Coming out of Amala and Kamala's shadow. His countenance didn't flicker, nor did Kitana's. She lifted her chin ever so slightly, in challenge, an arrogant dare as luculent as flipping the middle finger. The male's ears flicked backward, a signal. Kitana gave a warning snarl, but it was too late. One of the other bulky males moved, fast, super fast. He spun, spun, toward, me. His arm lashed out, claws extended. Briella snarled, "HOLLY." There was the sound of Diana's bow being arrowed. But still not fast enough. Amala's own warning snarl wasn't fast enough. Joy's hands lit with red light, as Wenzi's whirled with flames. Cold wind churned the foliage far ahead as Sarah raised her hands, ice fans lashing into existence. Lashing with a vicious pop and snap of ice. Still, not, fast, enough. But I was.
As those claws snapped around my throat, I lashed out with my booted foot. The male bellowed in agony as my foot met his balls. It would've been small of me, so very small if I had my claws out, to spear straight through. He'd heal, oh sure he'd heal. But still, they were only bruised. He bellowed, in what could've been construed as a bitch's cry, grabbed his balls, and fell to his back. The other males came forward, their eyes hot with ire. I bared my gold fangs in a feral smile. Briella stepped to my side, but I gestured her back. "I got this." As the male struggled to his feet, he bared those fangs and snarled viciously. "You Bitch." I frowned. "Says the male who squealed like one in heat, no, like one who just had it for the first time." "Oh shit." Muttered Joy as the male's face hardened with deep insult. "You just had to go there." He lashed out with those claws. I ducked aside and snarled, more playful than dominating. "Childish BITCH." Another male roared before diving in. I spun away but his claws lashed around my throat, too fast for me to evade.
    The male turned to stare at Kitana, his eyes boring into her's. Briella snarled, spreading her stance, ready to leap in. Kupoa and Lucy just stared at the other wolves in the area, and no doubt listening to those in the trees. The male who's claws were around my throat dragged me into the midst of the wolves. "You or her." The demand was so casual, so smooth. Wolves closed in around us, their jaws agape, eyes hungry for violence. The male's ears flicked backward. The male's claws dug into my throat, right where my life's blood pulsed smoothly, calmly, nonchalantly. The male sniffed my hair, my neck. His hand tightened, a sudden move, as if he realized something. The male, the one who was staring at my mother, spun to face him, a snarl in his throat. Kitana attacked. Spinning on her heel, she loosed a fan and popped it open. The male stiffened, as if expecting the blades to tear into his flesh. But telekinesis shoved him aside. As I moved, stomping hard on the male's foot and bashing my head into his chest. Something cracked, either my skull, or a few ribs. As he was the one screaming, I had to figure it was him not me. I shoved away and whipped around as he lashed out with his claws. I backed away and lashed out with a booted kick. Right into those broken ribs. He roared, and was send stumbling away.
    "ENOUGH." The order roared from deep within the trees. Wolves separated, and the male that came forward was huge and exuded power, exuded dominance, so much so I had to restrain myself from cowering right there. He stared around, and I saw several of the gods either looking away, or down as he made eye contact with them. Then, he eyed me, and everything fell from under my feet. Deep golden eyes stared into mine, harsh gold eyes. Harsh eyes that showed nothing in them what so ever. He looked away before I could crumble to my knees. Two wolves moved from the trees, one dark brown, the other, the other, oh, God, the other was a deep gold. He eyed Kitana, and I saw it. His ears flicked, his face tightened, as her's did. Amala stepped slightly closer, something dawning in her eyes too. Kamala smirked, though I could tell that smirk was forced. "Kitana Amala Hiquanna." "Kitana." Her face was hard, as hard and smooth as stone now. Audrey stepped forward. "Do we know you?" "She should." Said the male coolie. "Well we don't." Said Audrey. "My name is Krede. And you are here to finally come home, are you not?" Kitana said nothing, her face remained hard and smooth, but she never spoke. "We're here to pass through." Said Audrey. "Maybe pick up a couple of groceries too." Said Joy. "Maybe a couple of souvenirs." Said Luna. I realized what they were doing. They were giving Kitana the time to pull herself together, to evaluate and calculate.
    Kitana shifted slightly on her feet, and said, "We're here to see Hiquanna, but I'm not coming home." She looked behind her. "I have a home already." The male smirked slightly. "You'll have a change of heart, soon." He turned to the wolves and snarled. They instantly flew down the hill and into the trees. He eyed me again, and memories lashed through my mind. Memories from long long ago. But then he looked away, and they were gone.
He eyed Amala, and I saw her mouth part slightly, exposing her fangs. Kamala snarled in warning. "Holly." Said Kitana coolie. I pushed by the male. The two wolves snarled, advancing slightly, but I was already moving and stepped to stand by Kitana's side. The male had no reaction, instead, he continued to wage that dominating war with Amala. Her mouth parted more, more, more, until her fangs were completely bared. "Come." Said the male coolie, his voice an order. He turned, and started down the hill. But no one moved. He turned back, his dark eyes hard with ferocity. Amala turned to Kitana. She nodded, and turned to the indigo behind her, to Diana. When had she moved forward. "We move, now." Diana nodded and turned to relay the message. The male inclined his head ever so sightly in acknowledgement. Soon, we were marching through the major territory, straight through Hiquanna's homeland. I followed Kitana as she entered the trees. I looked up, looked at the branches high high high above. At the birds who were no more than tiny shadows in the near darkness. The only light cast down by the Northern Lights so far away, as distant as a moon, yet just as bright. Slight colors swirled in a never-ending dance over the forest floor. Birds chirped despondently, in their world, were they were just as much prey as we were. Wolves howled in the distance, miles away. Wolves snarled, barked, growled. All sounds meant to intimidate us. To coil fear and terror into us, to make us fraught with such terror that they held the advantage.