You're having a bad dream. Something behind you has been chasing you for what seems like an eternity. Never ceasing, this monster does not speed up, nor does it slow down. It is content to follow forever at your heels, waiting for you to tire. Your heart pounds in your chest, you heave as you try to draw your next breath. A horrible stitch has started in your side. Your legs feel as though they are made of lead.

You know that the monster will get you. It's not if, only when.

God, grant you wings.

Chapter 13- Dragon Wings

Christian had what he wanted. It hadn't been easy, and he hadn't gotten everything he had been looking for. But now he had an address. He knew where the pack lived. It had taken effort, however. Far more than he had wanted to use. The wolf that he had captured was useless; thoroughly broken. If it had been up to him, the wolf would have been given the best medicine available, a bullet through the head. Unfortunately, the Powers that Be had different plans for the wolf, and had ordered him shipped back to the capital.

The capital. A stunning city built high on a hill. The gem that lit the entire world. The propaganda was well known to Christian, he had helped to write it. It wasn't the truth anymore, though. The world was run by the petty nobles, mere shadows of the greatness that had been the King himself. They bowed and groveled before him, then plotted against him behind his back. The once great city of more than a million wealthy princes was almost entirely vacant now. Still as beautiful as the day it was completed, only the magic of the Great King held the city from crumbling into ruin. Even those spells were beginning to weaken. The crusade against the wolves had taken its toll.

Those thoughts were treasonous. For the time being, Christian would obey his orders, and return the wolf to the capital. First, however, he would leave a nice calling card back at the wolves' lair.

By the time Kit and Toboe returned to the apartment, Christian had already come and gone. The apartment had been completely trashed. Tables had been overturned. Couches had been torn to shreds and chairs tossed about the room. Everything was in total disarray. Toboe took one look at the devastation, and reached a very simple conclusion.

"This wasn't a robbery." He said. Kit nodded.

"They were sending us a message. Who do you think it was?"

"There's no question who it was." Out of one of the back rooms came Kiba, followed by Hige and the girls. "The question is, how did they know where we were?" The question was not directed at Toboe. Kiba's cold eyes were focused intently on Kit, suspicion clear. "So, Kit, tell me where you've been lately."

Toboe let a slow growl slip out. "It wasn't him!" he exclaimed angrily. "He was with me the entire time. You think that every time something goes wrong, there's a human to blame. Well, it probably was a human, but it wasn't Kit. If you had an ounce of sense in you, you'd have realized that by now. The humans don't even want him."

Kiba turned toward Toboe slowly. "Is that a challenge, little one?"

The atmosphere in the room was tense enough to be cut with a knife. Suddenly, Hige drew in a long breath.

"Where's Tsume?"

And that of course was the question. No one had seen him the entire day. Only the pack and Kit knew the location of the hideout, and Tsume was the only one missing.

"You don't think... you can't possibly believe that he would betray us?" said Blue softly. Kiba shook his head.

"No. Far more likely, he was caught off guard and captured. That would explain how they knew the location of the apartment. They say the Imperial Guard has ways of getting even the hardest prisoner to talk."

"If that's the case…" said Hige carefully, "and I don't say that it is, Kiba, you know what they're next course of action is."

"Naturally. The first captured wolf in more than five hundred years? They'll take him to the City, and the King."

Cheza suddenly gave a shudder. "This place, these rooms are no longer safe." She said sadly. "This one thinks it best to flee." Blue nodded her head.

"I don't like the idea of leaving our home, but I think Cheza's right. Now that they know where we live, it would be suicidal for us to stay here. We should try to get as far away from this city as we possibly can."

Kiba thought about the idea long and hard. It was difficult for him to accept the idea of running away. It seemed to him that it would be better to die in open battle than to flee. On the other hand, sometimes perhaps it was best to cut one's losses and make the best you could with a situation. Besides, there was one person who needed desperately to know about this development. It would be a shame, though, to leave behind all that they had known and held dear for so long a time.

"Very well. We'll leave. Take only what you need to survive. Cheza, make sure you don't forget about the paintings, and remember to grab our copy of the book. Hige, you're in charge of making sure that we have a sufficient supply of food. Blue, you take care of clothes. Everything else needs to be left behind. We have need for great haste. We'll let the moon give us the wings of a dragon, and we'll outrun our pursuers yet."

Toboe looked confused for a moment. "What about Kit?" he asked hesitantly.

"He comes with us. I don't trust him, and as the old saying says, a wolf keeps his pack close, but the scavengers closer. I don't want him running off to the nobles the moment we leave. Besides, where we're going, we may get some good advice about what to do with him."

"Where are we going?" asked Hige.

"North, to the valley, and our king."

"A good leader knows when a battle is no longer worth the fight. Any fool can stay and allow his troops to be slaughtered, but the great and noble general knows when the best course of action is to flee. It is then that he chooses to allow his men to choose for themselves. After all, what good is a general who manages every detail of every soldier's life. That general loses sight of the battle, and his defenses are quickly overrun. But the general who has faith in his troops' ability to see the danger for themselves and act accordingly has already won a great victory."

-Excerpt from War: A History, by Axel the Great.

The capital city. It still looked the way it had on its completion, a day of celebration across the entire world. It had been a day for the world to marvel at its own beauty and magnificence, and the magnificence of their ruler. Alas, thought the Grand Duke, that I should live to see that magnificence brought to this ruin. The Grand Duke Arsan was a powerful man. All the Great King's empire had been entrusted to his care, as the King slowly descended to the very pit of a madness; an obsession that so consumed him that he had no time for anything else. He thought that he was doing the world a tremendous favor. That by ridding the world of the curse which he himself first brought upon them he could cleanse his heart of the guilt. And now… now he has neglected his empire to the point of its death. Everything that he has worked for, in a hundred years, will it still exist? His magic is strong, but not strong enough to stop this course. He smiled slightly to himself as he remembered something that the King had said to him when they had both still been merely children, playing together. You know, the young Prince had said. I think that the worst way to die would be to drown in a raging river. You'd have no control, you'd be at the mercy of an element far stronger than you, and there'd be nothing that you could do.

The Duke let a long, hard sigh. Alas, my friend, it would seem that after three thousand years, we may both be carried off by that river.

The Duke walked along the grand gallery of the palace that night, after the parties and revelries held in celebration of spring had long since faded into the night. The disturbing trend in the lands that he governed over had not failed to escape his attention. The nobles, curse them with the words of darkness, had long been vying for the throne. Even now, there were those among them who believed that the king was dead. It would be hard, now, to get them back into line. So many petty ambitions, desires that could not be quenched, no matter how much power had been accumulated.

They are not rulers. He thought to himself. A true ruler does not desire power. A ruler does not know whether he is ready for power. In the old days, that's how his highness was. Arsan could remember how the Crown Prince had hated the idea of being King, how he had feared the responsibility. But now, he is sure in his power. A King reigns for a lifetime, and his son bears the responsibility after he's gone. But what happens when a King lives for three thousand years, uncontested, never needing to prove his right. And what if he has no heir, only an old friend who he grants immortality at his side? And now all I am is an old, weak, frail man who does not have the heart for it.

The banners of the King waved pleasantly in the night air all around the palace.

Note from the Author: I'd like to finish this chapter of the story with a rather long excerpt from a book that I just recently came across during my long search for the truth of this story. If history does not interest you, continue on to the bottom of the page for the author's notes and responses, though pitifully few. Otherwise, keep on, and enjoy.

"It is an old saying among the wolves, for those who are engaged in desperate flight to ask the moon, their mother, for the wings of a dragon that they may outrace the pursuit. Many is the young pup that has asked the elderly wolf the source of this strange saying, so it is with that in mind that I did a little research. The story dates back to the very first years of the Great King's reign. In those days, the magic in the world was still strong, and through the earth there roamed a host of creatures that over time died out or were hunted to extinction. Not least among these amazing creatures was the dragon. These dragons were not the wise, tame dragons of fairy tales. They were fierce, intensely territorial, and know to posses a great memory for injustices done to them or their kind. In those days, the Great King made up his mind that he would ride the back of a dragon in the sky as though it were a mighty horse. The arrangements were made. A dragon was captured, through great loss of life, and the Kind had it harnessed and prepared for his ride. Once down, the ordered the dragon released back to the wild with his thanks. Since then, it has been a well documented fact that dragons will come to the aide of any who count the King as their enemy. And who in all the world can declare more right to that assistance than the wolves. In this same way, it is said that the day will come when the One is desperate need of assistance while fighting a losing battle. Popular belief is that if there are any dragons remaining when this need is at it's greatest, the dragons will come, in far greater number than before. Therefore, when a wolf requests the wings of the dragon, he may simply be reminding the dragons, wherever they are, of the pact between ground and sky, which to this day may still be honored."

-Excerpt from Legends, by Welch II

Because of the extremely dumb and most assuredly hateful decision made by the host server, I am not allowed to put reviewer responses in the actual story anymore. That being said, I have opened a forum specifically designed for Blood Brothers, with a post for each chapter's reviewer comments. Go and check it out.

Also, a few errors made in the submission section have completely screwed up the format of this chapter. Things may have been a little bit squished, for which I apologize.

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