A wave of whispers reached my ears. The question seemed to be something ordinary, as evidenced by the 'this time', and yet the tension was thick enough to touch. Jay felt it as well. He was as pale as snow, and for a nice change, quiet. Though he wasn't still, the shaking seemed to get worse by the moment.
Morro answered like a soldier to a general. "He has kidnapped an outsider visiting a village. These two are our only proof of the crime."
The woman leaned back. Her expression was unreadable for a few seconds, before she turned around to silence the mumbling people behind her. She did it with a single stare, and turned her attention back to us. "Yang's audacity baffles me. He captures an innocent bystander a night before the full moon, and expects us to let it slide."
She spun around and pointed at a lean girl sitting next to the large rock. An assistant of sorts? She was wearing a short red dress and a dark blue fur vest over it. Just like the rest, her feet were bare. "Bansha, call everyone here. We have a serious issue to discuss."
The girl's face stretched into a wide grin. She stood up and, with a single stroke, brushed all her hair back. A flash of green light took her place, and now she was a wolf. Great, as if I had forgotten that I was surrounded by werewolves. Bansha jumped up on the largest rock and let out an ear-piercing howl. Jay and I covered our ears, but nobody else seemed to be bothered by it.
After that, it was quiet. Even Morro held his breath. But then, the replies hit our eardrums. It was as if the entire forest was populated by howling wolves, and considering the rest of the townsfolk, I wouldn't be surprised.
Just a few minutes of waiting later, the bushes around the rocky circle parted, and a wolf tip-toed its way towards an unoccupied stone. Over the next ten minutes, the rest joined in. Me and Jay felt out of place. Everyone had green eyes and black hair, or was a wolf. And there were about a hundred more of them than before.
The woman in front of us took her spot on the big rock and cleared her throat. "I have called all of you here because of information that I have recently acquired. Yang has stepped over the line. He has kidnapped a visitor of this town right before the full moon. It is now or never, that we settle this feud between our packs. We will strike tomorrow night. We will establish our pack's dominance under the full moon. I declare war against Yang and his followers!"
A roar of determination surged through the clearing. I covered my ears again, but Jay cheered with them. There was a spark of enthusiasm in his eyes. He was easy to convince.
The woman looked to the shouting crowd and a faint smile formed on her lips. "Tomorrow at sunset we will meet here, ready to take the forest!" She jumped off the stone, maintaining her elegant composure. She crossed the field as people parted, letting her through.
Now the leader was in front of Morro. The sound died down and she continued to speak. "Morro, I trust you to bring back the two of them back here as well. They might want to see their friend." Morro responded by nodding. "Understood." The woman smiled.
The next words out of his mouth were addressed to us. "You have somehow managed to get on the Preeminent's good side in less than half an hour. I should applaud you, but I'll just show you the way home instead." After a few more seconds, he was in wolf form, gesturing us to follow him.
And so we did follow him.
We managed to get back home without any complications. Morro told us he'll be stopping by an hour before sunset (whenever that will happen), and ran off. We stood there for a couple of seconds and decided it would be best to just go inside.
The evening was good. We drank some tea, Jay made some instant noodles from his stash. I just ate an apple. Zane had gotten us a whole bag of fruit as an apology for leaving on such a short notice.
We cleaned our teeth in the kitchen sink and went to bed. I stared at the ceiling, rethinking today's events, until Jay voiced them all out loud.
"Did we just initiate a war?"