Insidious
Shadowwing stood beside Eret, not sure what he was looking at. Well, what he was looking at was obvious, but it was the circumstances behind what happened which were concerning.
Five dead sheep were piled on the ground outside the pastures. They all had sharp teeth marks, but none of the sheep had been eaten. They were just killed and dropped on the ground outside the pastures. It was wasteful, whatever happened.
"Annd you'rre ssurre nno onne ssaw the attackerr?"
"No one saw anything. Five sheep were gone when we counted, and I had Stormfly go find them. This is what she brought back."
"Grreat."
Eret slowly pushed over one of the dead sheep with his boot. Its neck was broken and bloodied.
"Does this look familiar at all?"
"Doess what?"
"The bite."
He looked more closely at the dead sheep and the bite-marks.
Hmm, not too large a mouth. The slant and depth of the teeth. Wait-
He froze in surprise as the obvious answer struck him. The bite mark was that of a Fury.
That changed matters. He was certain that none of his family or his brother's family would do anything like this. Luna's parents and Flies-Bravely didn't cause problems either.
Hidden-Hope had a history of being rebellious, but she had only eaten one chicken she was not supposed to. A thorough tail-slapping from her mother had ensured that never happened again. No, his daughter would not have randomly killed several sheep. Set them free, maybe, but not kill them.
"It doess. Like onne of the Furriess. Let me talk to everryonne annd finnd out if they knnow annythinng."
Eret nodded, "Alright, I'll have more guards watching the sheep and other animals. I'll let you know if we see anything. And we might as well have these prepared to not go to waste."
"Good poinnt. They cann be a ssmall feasst forr everryonne."
Shadowwing waited as most of the other Furies flew to meet him outside New Haven. Everyone was going to be present except for Flies-With-Sun, since she would remain with the egg. No one else was up on duty above at the moment.
Finally, Luna's parents arrived and settled beside her.
He barked to get everyone's attention, "My kin! Something bad happened in the shared-range! Some of the ground-kin's prey-animals were killed!"
Aurora shrugged, "We gathered to hear that?"
"What is important is not that they were killed! The prey-animals were killed by a Fury! The teeth marks can only be one of ours!"
He paused to let that news sink in. No one looked ashamed or guilty.
"So I wanted to gather all of us to ask if any of you killed the prey-animals. Hurting the prey-herd makes it more difficult for the ground-kin to live here. If you did, tell me why."
No one spoke up or admitted anything.
"If none of us did this, we all need to know. Do you know anything?"
They all denied being involved. He highly doubted any of them would be lying about this.
He sat down beside Luna and his brother, "Okay, none of us did anything. Hope, Paws, can you take Moon-Pinner, Night-Light, Flower-Eater, and Wind-Dancer for us?"
Luna's parents took the younger children away to keep them occupied.
He took a breath as everyone remaining closed in a circle, "The ground-kin say they did not see any sky-kin attack the prey. Are any of you thinking what I am?"
Was-Grounded growled and stomped with a paw, "Light Furies probably did this! They struck while faded!"
The children grumbled and growled.
He nodded, "Probably, but why? Anyone have ideas?"
Unsurprisingly, Rain-Eater spoke up first, "Only the four-legs were attacked, right? None of the ground-kin were hurt."
"Correct."
"Assume that the Light Furies did this. They are not trying to kill us or our ground-kin. They only attacked prey. Is this revenge for us… flaming at them in the beyond when we are looking for prey?"
That was an entirely plausible explanation, though they had been making their presence known for months and this was the first such incident. It was a long time for the Alpha to wait before acting.
"Possibly. Any other reasons?"
"Maybe they are trying to force the ground-kin out of the range by killing the flocks of prey-animals," Rain-Eater proposed.
Striking at the food source would make living here more difficult.
"Why now? That pack did not care about our ground-kin or have many problems with them before. Flies-Bravely, do you have any ideas?"
Flies-Bravely shrugged, "None. That pack does not care about ranges beyond its territory. Did that Alpha say anything about ground-kin when you were there?"
He and Was-Grounded glanced at each other, thinking back to their discussion with that corrupt Alpha. While peace had been arranged in the end, the Alpha had been worried about humans spreading throughout the hidden world. That was not happening, but it was possible the activity over the last couple months, bonded dragons carrying their riders and supplies back and forth between New Haven and the island up above, could have been seen as a provocation.
"He did not want ground-kin going out into the rest of the hidden ranges, but I do not think we have done anything to make him worry about the ground-kin," he answered.
Rain-Eater spoke up again, "We do not know for certain that the Light Fury pack is doing anything. It could be other Light Furies."
He nodded, "Sure, we do not want to assume the worst. Still, to be safest we should always have a flight partner even in our range. We should also search the range for hidden Light Furies and keep watch on the prey-animals."
Rock-Climber growled with pleasure, "Like a game of hide and hunt! Maybe we will get to fight after all!"
Hidden-Hope raised a white paw, "Sire-father, I have an idea!"
"What is it?"
"One of us with fade should always be faded near the prey. The hunter will not know we are there. We could make a trap for it."
He purred in approval, "Good. You will do that first. How long can you hold your fade?"
"A short-nap of time."
He nodded and faced everyone else. Tails were swaying in anticipation. Everyone was likely eager to do something fun, though the stakes were high.
"We should fly in groups to search everywhere in our range. Use life-fire sight and sound-seeing to cover more ground. If there are Light Furies in our territory, we will find them!"
"And then what?" Rock-Climber asked.
"We shall see," Was-Grounded hissed.
Dawn-Singer flew beside Mist-Wings and Moon-Dancer. They were all spread out by several body-lengths and searching different areas. He and Mist-Wings focused on the thick trees below while Moon-Dancer checked the caves and ledges to their right.
Their kin were flying far to the left and doing similar searching. No one had yet seen any sign of unknown Light Furies. There were too many sky-kin scents in the air to tell if strange Light Furies were present. But there were plenty of places where a Fury-sized sky-kin could hide.
Flies-Bravely sat faded on top of a mushroom near the four-legs, all busy eating grass. Watching the prey-animals was boring, but that meant nothing bad had happened, so it was not too bad.
She thought it was unlikely her former pack would take action to hurt New-Haven-Pack. Attacking another pack's prey-animals and sending Far-Fliers or Fighters into another's territory was asking to break pack-peace. Anyone captured in the other's territory could rightly be killed as an intruder.
It was possible that a packless Light Fury, maybe one with a bad past and hate for ground-kin, could be attacking and killing the prey. Hopefully it was that instead of the other possibility.
Far more liver-warming and confusing to think about was her Rain-Eater... was Rain-Eater. He was not hers at all!
Grr, I am twisted.
He was warming to look at, grown and strong, sharp in his thinking, hard working for the pack, and kind to her and his kin, both sky-kin and ground-kin. All of those were very good, but there was only one problem.
He had not shown any wanting-signs beyond what would be practical. Covering her with a wing to share warmth as he had in the above was considerate, but that did not mean he wanted more. He said that it mattered a little that she was a female, but he did not act like it.
That was partly a relief, since the males in her former pack were very open to show interest. At least the Fighters were like that. They would return to the Fighter's caves and ledges after a fight beyond, they would command present Helpers to satisfy them, or would just go climb on present ones without even asking permission first. From the little she had learned of the various pack-roles, the males in the Hunter and Far-Flier groups were not as bad and forceful as the Fighters were. Was there a reason why the Fighters were so much worse? Maybe, but it did not concern her anymore!
Here in New-Haven-Pack with respectful males, it would be good if her desired one would show more wanting! If he would only-
She shook her head in confusion. Her desired one? Was her liver-thinking that clear?
Maybe he was just the first male who could be good to pair with. Claim him now before any other female could fly into his life-flight? But how to do that even if that was the goal? He was not as quick to embrace wanting, so going to him and presenting might actually scare him away or twist his thinking toward her.
Something else was needed. There had to be a way to show him how much he mattered. Was a long talk with liver-warming words enough to get him to understand that-
The prey-herd was braying in alarm, fleeing toward the ground-kin standing as guards.
She heard the rush of wings. A quick glance with life-fire-sight saw only a faint glow as something vanished out of vision in the sky.
Great lights!
A quick glance over the mushroom showed three more of the four-leg prey-animals dead below. She jumped down to scent the place and confirm what she suspected.
The air and grass around the dead prey-animals smelled like Light Fury.
Shadowwing stood in the Great Hall with Valka at his shoulder. She was delivering the bad news to the rest of the tribe. An unknown Light Fury or Light Furies were threatening the village by targeting the herds.
The response was as everyone had agreed to do in the event of any danger. The herds were to be sheltered in caves, the Great Hall, and even the homes of the people who were now above. Sheltering goats, sheep, cows, and other animals within homes during the winter was commonplace, so no one objected much to the inconvenience. Everyone was also to wear their scale armor for protection whenever they went outside.
He and Valka took questions from the rest of the tribe. Fortunately, there was no panic. Everyone here had been through far worse. Almost everyone present and of age had been a part of the battle at Haven, after all. But that battle was against enemies they could see. This was an entirely different type of threat, mostly since so much was still unknown.
Were they up against a lone Light Fury or a group of them? What did the Light Furies intend? Would the attackers move on to actually targeting people next?
"Get the buckets!" "Put it out!" "Get them out!"
Shadowwing groaned and shook himself awake from his nap. He had played with Flower-Eater and settled down for rest after Luna took their son away.
Ugh, what is going on?
Why was there so much shouting coming from all around?
He blinked wildly as he got to his paws, noticing the red and orange tint covering everything. Men and women in scale armor were running while carrying buckets of water and-
Oh gods, fire!
He dashed toward the fire and saw the cause of all the commotion. One of the homes being used to shelter livestock had caught fire. Flames were spilling from inside the roof and out the front door. People were tossing buckets of water at the fire, but that did not help much.
Gobber was standing nearby and bellowing orders, so he ran to him.
"What happenned?"
"Dunno! It just lit up! Form a line now! Get a move on!" Gobber roared.
He looked up at the skies and noticed a conspicuous lack of any other Furies nearby. Where had they gone?
"Gotta get the sheep out!" someone shouted.
That man ran into the burning building before anyone could say anything, which was an unacceptable risk.
He hopped to his paws and ran, ready to tear the building apart if there was need. At least he was truly fireproof on the outside! Scale armor was not impervious to heat.
His heart skipped a beat and his breath caught as the house cracked. The roof and walls buckled and caved in as it collapsed and sheep fled out the door.
"NNOO!"
He worked to tear away wooden beams and pull apart the collapsed structure as flames ate hungrily. More people arrived and tossed buckets of water on the fire to douse it, but small buckets of water changed little.
He saw scale armor of a leg and pulled the motionless man out from under the burning rubble. Several other tribesmen carried the man away from the ruins.
But it was too late. He knew the man was gone.
He stayed beside the corpse as it was doused in water to cool it. Then the helmet was removed. He looked away, trying to not think about the blistered, bubbled, and blackened skin he momentarily saw.
Gobber stood beside him and lay his good hand on his shoulder.
"Who wass it?" he groaned.
"Skulf. One o' tha fieldhands for the herds. Probably why he ran in ta try an' save 'em."
He nodded and glanced back at the burning house. The flames were under control, but this changed everything. There was no doubt that the house caught fire as part of an attack. While they might not have intended to kill, the unknown Light Furies had just crossed a line.
Motion caught his gaze as dark wings raced toward him. Moon-Dancer swooped down, landed by him, and wasted no time.
"Sire-father, follow me! There was fighting!"
Rain-Eater saw the flash of light out of the corner of his vision. A ball of fire flew from the open sky and struck one of the dens holding four-legs. He knew exactly where the attacking Light Fury had struck from.
He jumped from the ledge and flew as fast as he could while looking with life-fire sight. Sound-seeing would work from much further away, but that would let the faded Light Fury know he was searching.
A hidden life-fire appeared ahead, calmly flying away from the shared-nest. He angled his flight to intercept the Light Fury while also keeping a different elevation. That might trick the Light Fury into thinking he had not noticed it.
More calm flying followed, slowly coming closer to the faded Light Fury until its pace quickened. The hunt was on.
He raced forward as fast as he could, his life-organ beating very fast with excitement. Of all his nestmates, he was probably the fastest over short distances. It also seemed that Night Furies were generally faster and stronger than Light Furies. He was closing the distance.
There were more dark shapes approaching from other directions. Flies-Bravely was surely behind his tail as they had been watching together from nearby ledges. Another faded sky-kin, likely Moon-Dancer, was flying after the attacker from another angle.
Killing the Light Fury was not an ideal outcome. He did not want to strike to ground it. On the other paw, this Light Fury had just attacked the shared-range. Either this Light Fury was the one hurting his pack, or it knew something.
Taking this Light Fury alive was necessary.
He flamed at the Light Fury, striking its back and forcing it down in flight above a large stretch of water. It flamed at him, but he easily dodged the shot. He had a temporary buff to speed and agility, in addition to how Night Furies had very high starting stats in those areas!
Another shot struck the Light Fury's back and knocked it fully from the sky down into the water. The water instantly chilled the Light Fury's fade, revealing a male Light Fury swimming back onto the rocky shore.
The fight was basically over. All he had to do was pin this male until sire-father and Shadowwing arrived.
He landed before the male and flared his wings to threaten him and get ready to pounce. The male glared back at him, teeth bared. This male must be very brave to attack all alone and-
Why was Moon-Dancer still flying straight at him without slowing down? Was that faded sky-kin actually a-
He ducked and pulled in his wings right before he was struck and knocked over. He roared in pain as fire flared in his shoulder, rolling and tumbling on the smooth rocks until he came to rest on his back with a thud.
A life-fire jumped at him, so he held out his limbs to catch and kick away the faded attacker. A shot of fire revealed the shape of another Light Fury rearing back from him, paws held up to strike.
Kicking, clawing, striking, whipping aside his tail to protect his tailfins.
Fear and pain and danger and-
Another strike and a loud crack, knocking both him and the faded attacker aside together in a tumbling mass. More pain and howling as his cut shoulder struck rocks.
He rolled to a stop by the edge of the water while the Light Fury tumbled into the water, chilling away its fade. His gaze followed it, revealing that the Light Fury which attacked him had a broken neck and was not breathing.
It was dead.
He heavily struggled to his paws and, whimpering in pain, glanced at his shoulder. The attacker's claws had cut deep but narrow gashes in his shoulder, tearing away scales and meat all the way to bone. The hurt was dripping with life-water.
"Rain!" Flies-Bravely shouted.
"Flies-Bravely..." he gasped, struggling against the pain.
She had been following him after all. She had struck from hiding, killed his attacker, and probably saved his life. There was time to dwell on that later. There was another Light Fury nearby to stop from escaping but everything was spinning and swaying and hurting.
Dawn-Singer, Aurora, Was-Grounded, and Moon-Dancer were surrounding the living Light Fury and pinning it to the ground. Dam-mother was ignoring them as she was running to him with fear in her eyes.
"Rain-Eater, my little one! Let me see!" dam-mother commanded.
He winced and stayed still as dam-mother inspected the hurt which was burning with more pain. Motion in the water caught his gaze as Flies-Bravely splashed in the water to make herself immediately visible in her pure white color which was simple and... beautiful.
She climbed out of the water and, still dripping water, ran to him.
"How bad is it?" she asked, sounding very worried.
Dam-mother nuzzled his head, purring in comfort which helped the pain fade a little, "It will leave a big hurt-mark. Son, can you fly?"
While very painful, the hurt was not near the wings or wing-muscle.
"Probably. Why?" he whined.
"We need to get you to Kin-liver. She can help the hurt!" dam-mother said.
He vaguely recalled that Kin-liver knew about good mixes of hurt-helping plants. More pain-helping plants would be good as soon as possible.
Flies-Bravely growled, "I will help too!"
He purred in thanks to her, not being able to find any words that were enough.
Shadowwing arrived beside a large lake part of the way into the darker part of the chamber. Fear and concern drove him onward as his eldest son led him. Rain-Eater was apparently injured on his shoulder, though it wasn't grounding or life-threatening. Far more important was the captured Light Fury they could now interrogate and get answers from.
After what happened in New Haven and to Rain-Eater, he suspected his brother would be entirely willing to use very persuasive methods to get answers. He wouldn't object to a little torture either if it was needed.
He and Moon-Dancer landed on the shore and bounded to Was-Grounded, who was holding down the male Light Fury by its tailfins. Aurora and Dawn-Singer were standing nearby, claws out and ready to pounce. The Light Fury was calmly sitting, staring into the distance without otherwise reacting.
"Where is Rain-Eater?" he asked.
"Green-Wings and Flies-Bravely flew with him to find Kin-liver," Was-Grounded snarled.
"Good. She will help him. One ground-kin died in the fire!"
Was-Grounded growled and tossed his head toward the water, "There is also a dead Light Fury. Flies-Bravely broke its neck."
He started in surprise that there was a slain Light Fury and that she had killed it. But now that he knew to look he saw a white shape sprawled and motionless by the shore.
"Good for her."
He faced the surviving Light Fury and growled, "What is your name?"
The Light Fury didn't answer or react.
"You attacked us! Tell us your name!"
There was no answer, so he faced Was-Grounded.
"Brother, how bad is it to lose a tailfin?"
Was-Grounded shrugged, "Bad. A grounded sky-kin is a dead sky-kin. I would not want my claws to slip."
"This one will not tell you anything!" the Light Fury whined, slightly trembling.
Shadowwing smirked, "But you just did. We now know what pack you are from. You do not even have a name for your own pack because you are taught to think it is the only pack that matters. At least tell us your name-sign, your pack-role, and we will not tear off your tailfins. Think about your pack. You losing your tailfins would hurt your pack and make you useless to your pack."
The Light Fury breathed heavily, looking away from him, "This one is Sixth-Fighter."
"Good. Tell us, Sixth-Fighter, why did you attack us? You killed one of our ground-kin, and your packmate attacked one of our kin. That sounds like breaking the pack-peace. What would your Alpha say to that?"
Sixth-Fighter hastily spoke, "This one did not mean to kill two-legs. Only to kill prey."
"Why?"
"To make the two-legs leave all the ranges. To make them go back where they belong."
He growled and took a deep breath to steady himself. He already knew the answer but wanted to hear confirmation.
"Who told you to attack us?"
Sixth-Fighter stared at him in defiance, but he looked away when a faint blue light began reflecting from his eyes.
"You may kill this one if you want. For the pack!"
For the pack. That simple and terrible phrase revealed everything.
The Alpha Light Fury who assaulted Mist-Wings and used fear, division, and ignorance to control his entire pack was indeed behind this attack. Perhaps he had grown tired of having his packmates warned away from the skies around New Haven.
He stalked to Was-Grounded who was snarling, his backfins pulsing faint blue.
"He has broken the pack-peace!" Was-Grounded fumed.
"I agree. We cannot ignore this attack. We should go and confront him as a pack this time for safety. Everyone together."
Was-Grounded nodded and walked forward to stand beside the captive, "What about Sixth-Fighter? We do not need him alive."
He faced the trapped Light Fury and was pleased to see fear in Sixth's eyes.
"No, we do not. But, giving him back to the Alpha might help us if we can get something for him in a trade."
Was-Grounded growled and swung a paw, striking Sixth-Fighter in the head and knocking him out. Sixth-Fighter collapsed limp on the ground, his tongue lolling out from his maw.
"Maybe so. We can always kill him later if we must. When are we leaving?"
He nodded at the unconscious Light Fury, "Was that necessary?"
Was-Grounded shrugged, "It was either that or I cut open his throat."
He growled and gestured down the shore to the dead Light Fury, "Fair enough. What about that dead one? What should we do about it?"
"It attacked us, and we killed it fairly in fighting. I know where we should put it."
"Where?"
"Where did we put the dead monsters from before?"
He shuddered as he remembered the cave they had the Hunter bones put inside before collapsing the cave's entrance. That was an entirely valid and appropriate option, except for how difficult it would be to reopen and then seal the collapsed cave. He never wanted to see any signs of those monsters again.
"We could do that, or we could drop it over the waterfall you went down to save Henryk."
Was-Grounded smirked, "Make it food for the water-kin and less work for us. Good idea."
He reached out with a paw and stopped Was-Grounded from leaving, "Wait, when we meet that Alpha, we do not want real fighting with him unless there is no other option, but he cannot know that. Remember!"
Was-Grounded clearly struggled with himself, probably torn between anger at the now two attacks on Mist-Wings and Rain-Eater, and at the obvious reality that blindly leaping at the Alpha to kill would result in tragedy.
Was-Grounded snorted, "If our packs must fight to the death, I will not start it."
"Good enough."
Was-Grounded led Cloudjumper as the large Stormcutter carried the dead Light Fury. It was easy to tell Cloudjumper what he wanted done, as the large sky-kin was one of the smarter ones, not to mention one of the biggest in all the shared-range.
They arrived at the waterfall where the water dropped down into a dark cave which narrowed and twisted, as he knew all too well.
Cloudjumper set the dead Light Fury on the ground by the edge of the drop and then flew away, his work done.
Nothing looked very special about this Light Fury, other than how its neck was broken. It had several old hurt-marks from claws and was strong, but it was not as big or strong as he was. Why had it attacked his peaceful mixed-pack? It did not matter what the Light Fury's reasons were. No reason could justify attacking a peaceful pack. Maybe it did not see his pack as peaceful, as they had been flaming away other Light Furies and competing for more food out there.
He growled and shoved the body over the edge, watching as the body crashed and tumbled on rocks, fell into the water, and was swept away. Satisfied, he stood on the edge of the drop and relieved himself, just to further spite the dead attacker.
Shadowwing and Was-Grounded flew together, leading Luna, Green-Wings, Dawn-Singer, Aurora, Mist-Wings, Rock-Climber, Moon-Dancer, Hidden-Hope, Cloudjumper, and two dozen of the other bonded dragons. Sixth-Fighter flew below everyone else where he could be watched in case he tried anything stupid.
Shadowwing kept taking deep breaths to calm himself in advance of this coming confrontation. Whatever else happened, Luna's parents, Rain-Eater, Flies-Bravely, and everyone younger were staying behind, safe in New Haven.
Valka, Thorvald-Snotlout, and Gobber had been told what had happened. They knew to keep everyone and the livestock inside and hidden until further notice. Valka was tending to Rain-Eater's injury while Flies-Bravely tenderly helped him by licking the injury and being there to provide Valka any other assistance. He had no doubt she truly cared for Rain-Eater by this point.
They had all left New Haven what had to be several hours ago, and they were approaching the final stretches before where the Light Furies were hidden. They had almost certainly been noticed as they approached, since Light Furies frequented these passages while keeping watch.
The plan was to meet a representative of the pack and demand an audience with the Alpha outside his territory. The pack's entrance was a strong chokepoint, which could make attack or escape difficult if not out in the open.
They arrived at the very large chamber with dark depths, mists, and massive spires. Time flew very quickly and slowly until the side-passage was just ahead, leading into a chamber filled with a lake and the hidden entrance to the Light Fury pack's territory.
Sure enough, there were three Light Furies perched on ledges around that passage.
Shadowwing growled and dove for the largest ledge. He and Was-Grounded landed together while everyone else touched down behind them or remained circling in the sky. Sixth-Fighter was forced to the ground and roughly held down by Dawn-Singer.
The pack Light Furies were visibly anxious and afraid, their tails twitching and gazes darting between the various dragons.
"Are you Far-Fliers or Fighters?" he asked.
"We are Far-Fliers watching for the Pack. What is this flight?" the largest male Light Fury asked.
"What did you do to Sixth-Fighter!" another shouted in dismay.
He growled, baring his teeth, "We fly from New-Haven-Pack. Tell your Alpha that we demand to speak to him out here! This concerns broken pack-peace!"
Two of the Light Furies swiftly flew off, so he returned to everyone else and faced them. His son, daughter, nephews, and nieces were sitting calmly and attentively.
"Remember, let us do the talking. Do not react to them or strike first, no matter what they say. We do not want this to become fighting unless there is no choice," he reminded them.
Rock-Climber looked a little disappointed, but everyone nodded or purred in agreement. Satisfied, he sat beside his brother and had an idea after a while of waiting. There was one specific custom this Light Fury pack followed which he could help strike at through this meeting while also setting a good example.
He glanced back at Luna and Green-Wings and beckoned them forward with a wave of his tail.
"What?" Luna asked, settling down beside him.
"You and Green-Wings should sit with us. We will talk first, but you should feel free to speak too. We are Alpha pairs, after all."
Luna and Green-Wings purred deeply at the suggestion. Luna also took the opportunity to nuzzle him.
"My Shadowwing, have I told you how liver-warming you are?" she whispered.
"Many times, but you may tell me again later," he chuckled.
"If we survive this," she added.
Was-Grounded growled, his eyes narrowed on the approaching flight of just over three tens of Light Furies. It looked like there were a couple of females in the group, but almost all of them were males, unsurprisingly.
The Light Furies landed across from him and his kin, and settled down while displaying teeth and claws. He yawned widely, his teeth fully out, while flicking his claws. But he only truly had eyes for the Light Fury in front of the others.
Narrowed yellow eyes. Hurt-marks all over his hide. Strong but not likely as strong as him.
Leap at this Light Fury, pounce, bite, flame, and kill! Bite out his liver, tear apart his bones, snap his wings, break his tail, and spill his life-water!
Maybe later.
He subtly glanced back at Mist-Wings as she stood between Moon-Dancer and Aurora. Mist-Wings stared ahead without reacting, her green eyes narrowed.
Shadowwing barked, breaking the silence, "Greetings to the Alpha of this pack. You did not expect to see us here, did you? This must be a warming surprise."
Alpha stepped forward, "A very warming surprise. Seeing so many kin outside my pack's ranges could be seen as a threat."
"Because it is one!" Shadowwing growled.
He also snarled, letting his power-light show, "You attacked us, more than once, as you know!"
The other Light Furies from the pack stepped back in surprise. They might never have seen power-light display before.
Having so many angry and worried sky-kin close together probably contributed to his brief headache, though it quickly passed. Being concerned about open fighting and the safety of his kin was very stressful.
"Dawn-Singer! Show them!" he barked.
Dawn-Singer let Sixth-Fighter get up and forcefully shoved him forward. Alpha watched as the Light Fury was led forward so he was visible to everyone, though he was pinned in place by claws on his tailfins.
"What is this?" Alpha warily asked.
He snarled, "We know this light wing is one of your pack. Do not deny it. He and one other light wing attacked our range, killed four-leg prey, tried to kill one of my young, and killed one of our ground-kin!"
Shadowwing nodded, "You have broken the pack-peace. What do you say for yourself and your pack?"
Alpha kept staring at Sixth-Fighter, as if considering what to say or argue. Was he going to deny ordering the attack, or try to pretend that this Light Fury was not one of his?
The Alpha slowly spoke, "You say there was another light wing that attacked. Where is the other one?"
"Dead. We killed it," Shadowwing answered.
The Alpha slowly paced without looking away from him and Shadowwing, "You are correct, this light wing is one of my Fighters. But I did not order an attack on your pack."
He flicked out his claws and dragged them against the rock underpaw, as he would to sharpen them, "Why should we believe you?"
"What do I gain from attacking your range? Your range does not matter to me at all," Alpha protested.
Shadowwing growled, "We do not care about your twisted reasons. You did this."
Alpha growled but did not move from where he sat, "No, I did not command an attack on your pack. It would gain me nothing. I do not want the lost and corrupted Helper, as you know. Why are you here? What do you want, if not fighting to the death?"
The Light Furies behind him got to their paws, stretching their wings and rolling their jaws.
As pleasant as it would be to kill this terrible light wing, or to let Mist-Wings kill him, he knew their real reason for being here. Part of his liver roared at the need to get revenge, to kill this Alpha and all of his kin just to make a point, but it was more important to prevent any future attacks without probably getting a pawful of his own family killed.
He snarled, "We want assurance that this will not happen again."
"Fine! You have it! I will find out what happened and make sure it does not happen again."
Luna barked, "Not good enough! You must prove that you mean it!"
Alpha glared at her, "How could I possibly do that?"
"Not our problem. You figure it out!"
Several very tense wingbeats passed as the Alpha looked to him, Shadowwing, their kin, and all the other sky-kin behind them. Did the Alpha's eyes flash with fear and concern? Hopefully so.
"How about… I give you a gift?" the Alpha offered.
Luna snarled, "Fine. Free one of your pack's Helpers. Find one who wants to be free and give her to us as a gift. We might consider that an apology."
He walked over to Sixth-Fighter and put a paw on his head on the ground, "That is the trade. Free one of your pack's females, one who wants to leave, and we will return your Fighter. Refuse, and he dies."
Alpha scowled, trotted to his packmates, and spoke with one of them. The Light Furies looked very afraid, their tails and ears twitching as they glanced around. One of the Fighters flew away with one of the females.
"It will take time before my kin find one," Alpha said.
He huffed, gently pushing down on Sixth-Fighter's head, "We will wait, but not too long. It would be very bad for your status if you lost two of your Fighters!"
"As it would also be for the pack-peace," Alpha calmly answered.
"As if you care about that."
Shadowwing and the Alpha paced back and forth across from each other, frequently glancing at each other. Their children whispered among themselves while the Light Fury Fighters did the same. Sixth-Fighter remained motionless under his paw, though the captive Light Fury whined softly out of fear. Distant sky-kin, flying on their own flights, called out and roared, their cries echoing in the endless depths, but none of them approached.
Finally, three Light Furies appeared in the passageway. One was a Fighter, another was the familiar female who was probably one of Alpha's mates, and the other, noticeably smaller one, was also obviously a female. The new female and the Fighter landed in the clearing and slowly loped to the Alpha.
The Fighter bent his head toward the Alpha before he stepped aside. The female went down on her belly and touched her chin to the ground.
Green-Wings and Luna softly growled at the submission-display.
Alpha dismissively spoke, "Helper, you are a gift to the dark wing Alphas. You will do whatever they want. Go."
"For the pack," she whispered.
She got to her paws and slowly started for them. Her pink eyes were narrowed in fear as she breathed heavily, almost trembling on her paws.
His children made a space for her. Aurora and Mist-Wings settled beside her and began speaking to her, surely to reassure her as to what this meant for her.
He and Dawn-Singer let Sixth-Fighter go free, and the male Light Fury darted over to his packmates, ending the trade.
Satisfied, he stepped forward and growled, getting the Alpha's attention, "We will kill any attackers next time with no warning. This is your last chance."
"As I said, I did not order an attack on your pack. I will find out what happened and make sure there are no more attacks from my packmates," Alpha answered.
"You had better, or else."
Alpha turned for the passageway, most of his Fighters and packmates going with him.
He and Shadowwing similarly roared in command to the other sky-kin and turned for their home-range, wanting to leave this place as soon as they could. Cloudjumper led the other sky-kin ahead, needing no instructions to return where they wanted to go.
Luna, Green-Wings, Mist-Wings, Aurora, and Hidden-Hope were flying closest to the unnamed female and were speaking with her. His present sons were keeping their distance. She already looked a little more eager and less fearful, though she had a lot to learn about her new life.
Shadowwing brushed his wing and glided a short distance away, so he followed him.
"What?"
Shadowwing grumbled and nodded behind them, "Thoughts?"
He snarled, "He was obviously lying about not ordering the attack."
"Probably. It is... possible that Sixth-Fighter and the other one flew on their own, but the Alpha is still responsible either way. Maybe his control is not as good as we thought, if Fighters act without orders. Who knows though."
While the Alpha was not dead, the Light Fury had backed down first. It was the Alpha who had needed to appease him and Shadowwing in front of many of his own packmates. That was a victory.
He nodded toward the rest of their kin, "What about the Helper?"
They looked ahead to the new Light Fury whom they knew nothing about.
Shadowwing shrugged, "I doubt she will have problems with us or ground-kin. Flies-Bravely did not. We will make her feel safe."
He snorted and laughed freely, touched in the liver by a detail he had not appreciated.
"What?" Shadowwing chuckled.
"We always bring back more sky-kin every time we fly somewhere!"
Shadowwing toothlessly grinned, "We are just that amazing! Race you!"
Together, they dashed back to their flock and continued on toward home.
Shadowwing sighed, relaxing in calm flight now that everything had been resolved again.
While there was good news to be able to share, the problem remained that several of the animals had been killed, not to mention the one villager. There were enough livestock that the herd could be restored with time, so the loss of sheep wasn't going to be too much of a problem. The Light Furies who attacked hadn't burned any of the fields and crops, possibly because they didn't recognize the food for what it was. There was no good way to kill potato plants, which were one of the main staple foods.
However, there was still a nagging suspicion bothering him. Was the Alpha Light Fury becoming unstable to have ordered such a pointless attack? Perhaps there wasn't a plan to actually kill anyone. The attacks had only been against the livestock, after all. It was possible that he ordered the attack just to make a point, as he did when he assaulted Mist-Wings. Perhaps he thought he had to order the attack for some other reason, like to assert more control over his own pack.
Regardless, having obtained a spoken promise from him in front of many members of his pack was likely to be effective. The Alpha understood there would be consequences from any further attacks. The odds were he would not risk it. He would not want a pack of Night Furies and other loyal dragons to truly lay siege to his territory.