Disclaimer: I do not own Wolves of the Beyond. Kathyrn Lasky is owner of all WotB books, terms, ranks, and locations. I claim no ownership over my original characters and express my full approval for you to use them in your own works if you wish.

OUTCLANNER IV:

Games

Fear scent clung to Moldwarp's pelt like the dried clumps of blood on all the Outclanners'. He kept his head low as he walked, unable to shake the image of a half-eaten wolf out of his head. This is disgusting, he thought. He glanced up at Aelis, who seemed to be the leader despite the other two never calling her anything. They rarely spoke, communicating only in sharp yaps and growls and confusing him with their constant nips and bites that seemed to mean something. All three enjoyed attacking him for no apparent reason, leaving his young and frail body twice as bloody and bruised as it had been before.

He yelped as Esewl kicked him from behind. "Hey!" he almost snapped back, but the look in her eyes stopped him. Why has she been tailing me this whole time? he wondered. Vern froze, inhaling a great volume of air as if he'd just caught the scent of prey. Knowing they had already eaten, Moldwarp regarded him curiously. The large wolf took a step away from the group and growled.

Aelis turned back toward Vern and followed his gaze. "Ah," she said, coming to a sort of agreement with him. Esewl shook herself and also stopped.

"What is it?" Moldwarp asked, frustrated. All he could smell in that direction were a few wolves and some deer.

The brown she-wolf shoved him aside roughly. She purposely aimed at his hindquarters, throwing Moldwarp onto his odd leg and silencing him with the distraction. He got up with a defeated huff. No use in seeking answers from the wolves who had just mauled, adopted, and basically imprisoned him. They started to trot ahead. Moldwarp followed, knowing Aelis, the most confusing one, would come back to drag him along with them.

Why Aelis? he wondered musingly as he hobbled after the rout. She acted desperate for violence, beating him when he asked questions and tearing up cannibalized corpses as if she despised the poor wolf she didn't even need to eat. But this was only one side, the larger side, of the Outclanner, and Moldwarp could tell. She had saved him from death (admittedly subjecting him to sights worse than it) and given him a name Esewl and Vern both admired. While Moldwarp didn't particularly like the sound of it, it was better than "wolf". Why had a wolf so hungry for blood even bothered? He felt the sting of her venomous stare still in his disabled leg, and a shiver passed through him. Could it be? But the question is the same...why would I be spared because of a leg?

Vern barked excitedly. Esewl looped around the group to Moldwarp as if to keep an eye on him. He looked around, feeling small and scared as more and more wolves came into view. About twenty Outclanners had gathered in a loose oval, every one of them yipping and snarling incoherently. He shrunk against Esewl instinctually and earned himself a missing clump of fur.

Far to his left he spotted a limping buck surrounded by a dense clump of canines. They growled and snapped at it when it moved, but none of them seemed to be trying to kill or even severely wound. Aelis leaped and danced with more of her endless energy. Her small, queer tail wagged as she moved back toward Moldwarp and Esewl. "Soon it will begin," Esewl hissed, and the bloodlust in her voice sent shivers down Moldwarp's spine.

Some wolves moved back, revealing a second deer. The wolves howled, except for Aelis, who barked. Moldwarp dreaded what was to come.

When the two deer were released toward each other, Aelis kept her eyes on Moldwarp. Esewl quickly became distracted and started yapping furiously, turning her complete attention to the craw. Typical. Aelis rolled her eyes. A craw was the closest thing Outclanners had to entertainment. Routs would gather under the unspoken agreement that a fight would not be started and thrust two animals together to watch them battle to the death. The practice was as sick and warped as Aelis's mind, serving no purpose other than cheap spectacle and some food for the ones who organized it.

She snickered as the new wolf's expression changed from one of confusion to terror. The two frightened prey animals tried to escape, charging the Outclanners at the inner edge of the ring. They all snapped back as one horrible monstrosity, a beast of the Dim World hiding under the illusion of many wolves, for hatred was much too small to describe what drove the craw. An inexplicable hunger for misery hung in the air of the Outermost. Here were wolves cast out by clans, lone wanderers trained to kill to survive, and souls born into a world where everything around them was this. Death. What else could they entertain themselves with?

And here was Aelis. Egging on their innocent prey. Barking, singing, for death.

"Wrong," a soft voice sobbed beside her. "Wrong, wrong, wrong..."

"Shut up, beslubbering fool!" Aelis smacked Moldwarp with her claws. In her disarray, a curse slipped out, a curse the he-wolf did not know. He did not seem to dwell on this strange, new vocabulary. Tears were forming in Moldwarp's moon-wide eyes.

The game of blood continued. Participating wolves charged in and out, driving the two deer closer and closer. Finally, the addled creatures locked antlers. A great roar of approval rose from the crowd. They moved forward, trapping the deer in a smaller and smaller ring of teeth. Aelis sneered at Moldwarp's fear of the savagery. "Come on, Mold," she crooned, "Watch the game. It's called a craw." It was hard to explain why she said it as chillingly as she did. She knew, though, that if Moldwarp was to learn the way of the Outermost, he would have to dull himself to the everyday blood and, one day, enjoy it.

Aelis despised the feeling of it, but she truly wanted this malcadh beside her. Deep instincts even a life of murder could not destroy stirred within her. A ghost was reawakening.

The deer clashed desperately, hoof and antler flying. Fear shone wildly in their dark eyes. The same fear that shone in Moldwarp's as he muttered under his breath. Aelis's ears tilted toward him slightly, expecting a curse on these killers. Instead, she heard the softest of whimpers and most un-wolfish sobs, almost like a prayer.

The young buck seemed to be winning at first. Then the lame stag threw itself back in with a new burst of fire. He brandished his rack, swaying and breathing heavily with the immense effort of going on. The buck plowed toward him. They struck full antlers for the last time. A snapping sound like breaking bone broke the air. Ah, breaking bone. How familiar it still was to Aelis. She smiled. The buck stumbled backwards, stunned and dizzy. This would have won the fight in normal circumstances, but Outclanners moved in on the old buck from all sides. He had no choice. Rushing in again, he stabbed and kicked for his own life.

"Let it go," Moldwarp whispered. "Why can't you let it go?"

"Because that would be boring, wouldn't it?" Aelis grinned and slid her eyes over the battling prey.

Moldwarp looked surprised that she had answered him for once. "You speak," he murmured. "And it's not like them. You watch me and...a-and you don't - "

"Quiet or you're next in the craw!" Aelis slammed her rump down onto his back, crushing Moldwarp beneath her weight. He yelped and crumpled instantly. Fear pulsed through her. She refused to let him up easily, his statement echoing through her marrow. No! She wasn't different! She was an Outclanner, a murderer! There was no way he knew of her past, of the gnawing, of the humiliation...

"Sorry," Moldwarp gasped. He tucked his tail, sinking down and trying to avert his eyes from the craw. She looked over him once before returning to the craw. Why was she so sensitive to questions now? Aelis shook her head and decided she was returning to the "ask and get scarred" policy.

The younger deer now lay dying. His skin was torn open from the shoulder to the tail, his hind legs broken, and his sides heaving with his final breaths. The sight offered Aelis a distraction. The victor stood above the buck, shaking and barely able to stand. The wolves became silent as they watched it come to an end. There was no paying of respect to the prey, no thanks, just the licking of lips and hunkering down of wolves preparing for their meal. Once the deer had become completely still, it was the "winner's" turn to die.

Aelis pushed Moldwarp along with the other wolves. She felt him bracing forelegs and digging his dewclaws into the ground, refusing to partake in the barbaric sport even when she became annoyed and threatened him with increasingly horrible injuries. "No," he growled, kicking her chest with his usable hind leg and almost toppling over. "No, I won't kill something like this!"

Weak! She merely yanked his tail in response. Moldwarp was not budging. For someone so skinny and weak of heart, he was surprisingly good at resisting her. Fine, Aelis finally thought. Another kill will have to do, then. Ears flicking back with frustration, Aelis skirted around him and helped herself to the still-living deer. Too shocked to move, Moldwarp watched the scene in silence. The wolves of the craw didn't care whether or not either creature was still alive. Once the stag fell, they made sure he would never rise up again.

Soon old bones and scraps were left. The routs scattered in all directions, leaving only their band and a couple old loners Vern chased off shortly. Moldwarp stood rooted in the exact same spot, looking from wolf to wolf with not only fear but revulsion. He'll get used to it. Aelis sighed. She signaled the others with a sharp yelp. As they trotted back toward the temporary dens, Moldwarp's words continued to replay in her head. You speak. And it's not like them. You watch me.

What was this new feeling that devoured her inside? She could not still be a clan wolf in her heart, not after all that had happened...but did she want to be?

Early update because why the heck not? I finished this really fast because I got the idea right after typing up chapter 3. I'm probably going to rewrite it because I think the writing was sort of clunky & dragged in places, but it's done for now, so I decided I might as well let you read it...

Thanks to all the reviewers and readers!

Also...I am now a beta reader! Please let me know any stories you want beta read because I am so, so, so eager to start. I do this category and a few others (more may be added later). Look at my beta profile for more info on what I'm strong with.