A Tale of Three

Chapter 20: Leader

Cyrene stood there. She wanted to be leader of Veilded, but not like this. Cyrene looked up at Lili's dead body. When she had killed her, it had been out of rage, not ambition. She hadn't killed her hoping to rule this glaring. Cyrene couldn't say she hated the thought.

"I don't want to be leader," Cyrene lied, her eyes still wide in shock.

"You really have changed," Fida commented tilting her head. Cyrene wondered what she meant. She knew her pelt had more tattoos than normal, and her eyes were gold, but that didn't have anything to do with this.

"You used to be brutally honest about your feelings, even if not your secrets. Cyrene, follow me," Fida told her. Her old friend's expression was unreadable. Cyrene followed her as she started heading to the dens at the back of the closet. As Cyrene followed her she noticed Fida had changed too. She was no longer so shy or egotistic. She seemed to be mellower.

Fida led her to Lili's old meeting den, her meeting den. Cyrene stepped inside, noticing that Lili's scent still filled it. Fida sat down on the fish scale rug, motioning Cyrene to do the same.

"Why did you bring me in here?" Cyrene asked, looking at the cavern that she hadn't seen for over two years.

"How long did you think you were gone?" Fida asked her.

"A little over two years," Cyrene answered, sure Fida knew.

"Cyrene, you've been gone for almost double that time. It's been four years."

Cyrene just stared. She had only seen two winters in Proleum. She opened her mouth to tell Fida, but she was interrupted.

"Thought you guys would be in here," Alba commented, sticking his head in the den.

"Alba!" Cyrene exclaimed, running over to the short tiger. She butted her head against his in greeting.

"Hi Cyrene," he smiled. "Good job being alive."

"Thanks," she laughed.

"Cyrene, come on. We need to figure this out." Fida flicked her tail against the ground.

"I'll join you guys," Alba went over to Fida and sat at her flank. Cyrene sat across from them.

"When I was in Proleum there were only two winters," Cyrene told Fida as she settled on the ground. Fida just shook her head in frustration. It slowly dawned on Cyrene. All those times Feluna had taught her to do powerful magic she had passed out. It must not have been only hours though that she had slept through. Cyrene's face darkened.

"Feluna," Cyrene growled.

"What?" Alba asked. "You met her?"

"Cyrene, you should probably start from the beginning," Fida said, looking at Alba.

"When I was first there I stayed in this den by the river. One night I was attacked by foam mouth canines, two wolves and a coyote." She saw their confusion. "It's this illness that makes animals go crazy. I took the shape of the one female there, who I guess was beautiful by wolf standards. For a year, I lived in the shape of a wolf. I learned how to hunt and scale the mountains. Eventually I ran into the alpha of the war pack."

Cyrene smiled at Fida and Alba's wide eyes. She missed telling stories.

"He took me into his pack, and eventually I became beta. I lived in the war pack for around a year; I never changed back in that time. One night the alpha and me went on a walk. He was going to ask me to be his mate when Feluna appeared. She killed him." Cyrene could still see the wolf's body in the pile of blood. "She took me in and trained me in magic. She wants me to do something, to do a ritual for her. As soon as I came here I knew I couldn't do it. I was supposed to let Lili bring me in."