The Shadow Wolf - Part 3

Bearing his fangs, Tane was ready to fight to his death, refusing to let his father's sentinels get the best of him. Seeing a gap, he lunged between two sentinels and turned back to face them as they slipped on the ice. 

Gaining a slight advantage, he crouched and waited for them to regroup. Tane projected to Kaj, ‘We might not be able to win this, but we’re not going down without a fight.’

Before Kaj replied, he heard a grey wolf link with the other sentinels, 'Nip at his legs. If he can't run, we'll drag him down.'

Kaj mocked them, 'Thanks for the heads up. Did you forget that I belong to the pack?'

Ignoring their error and Kaj’s taunts, the sentinels formed another circle around Kaj. 

Trapped in a standoff, Kaj asked Tane, 'Even if we were to make it to the village, there’d only be others to bring us down. What kind of game is my father playing?'

Breaking the silence, a booming voice carried into the night, "Tane, stand down, or I'll shoot you dead."

Tilting his head in the direction of the voice, Tane took in his Alpha, and he stepped back. Linking with his father, Kaj asked, 'Father, what is going on?' Kaj hadn’t expected a warm welcome home, but he absolutely didn’t expect to be treated as an outcast or a trespasser on clan land. 

The steely look in his father's eyes told a thousand stories filled with hatred and envy. Regardless, Kaj wasn’t prepared for his father's words. 

"Kaju, I'm placing you under arrest for the murder of Zan on the day you departed our village."

Tane let out a low, rumbling growl, standing up to his father. 

'Stop, Tane! Stop! Are you trying to get us killed?'

Through a haze of anger, he replied, 'He's going to kill us anyways. I’d rather fight to my death than surrender to this bastard.'

'If it wasn't so bloody cold out, I'd change now and send you to the recesses of my mind.'

'Try it. I dare you,' Tane taunted as Kaj struggled to contain his anger. 

Somehow, Kaj pushed past Tane's defenses and linked with his father, asking, "What on earth are you talking about? Why would I harm Zan?"

While waiting for his father's reply, he felt like he was punched in the gut, knowing his father had trumped up charges against him or he was being framed by the real killer. Either way. He was screwed! 

Ignoring him, his father turned to the sentinels and ordered, "Take him down. I'll deal with him in the cells."

Without hesitation, Tane was about to pounce on his Alpha when Kaj screamed at him, 'No! Stop! He wants us to fight back!'

Pausing momentarily, Tane said, 'He'll be dead before we step foot in that village.'

Trying to calm his wolf down, he explained, 'You need to get yourself under control, fur ball. This is my life. You’re f...ing up!' 

Their internal conversation was the perfect distraction for the sentinels to take advantage of their inaction. 

Howling in excruciating pain, Tane’s mind was filled with black rage as fangs sunk into his hind leg. 

Gaining his composure, he started snapping his jaw at his attackers, trying to fend them off, when the largest of the nameless sentinels grabbed Tane by the neck and mercilessly started to drag him across the ice, leaving a trail of fur and blood as they unceremoniously made their way into the village. 

The storm's fierceness increased in intensity as the group approached the hidden village in the northernmost lands of Greenland. Snow swirls wrapped around them like cold winter blankets, blinding their path. A light flickered here and there in the distance from the upper rooms of the pack houses, but the majority of the living quarters were buried deep underground. 

By the time they arrived, Tane had lost a lot of blood and was too weak to put up a fight. They dragged him down below into the prison cells and threw him on the ground. In and out of consciousness, Tane felt the heavy weight of the iron collar as it was locked in place around his neck. 

Alone in the darkness, Kaj had a ridiculous thought flit through his befuddled mind. He should have taken advantage of the Arsarnerit, the northern lights. Perhaps he could have whistled to the lights, drawing the spirits near them. They would've taken down the sentinels for him, causing mischief along the way. If only the fables were true, he thought as he faded into oblivion. 

I hope that you are enjoying The Shadow Wolf. Stay tuned for Part 4!