~ Broken Promises ~
LYKOS
"L-Lykos… stay wi-with me, please."
"I'm not going anywhere! I'm staying right here with you!" Lykos declares through his cries. His eyes sting painfully from the salty tears that stream down over his cheeks. The dying girl in his arms sniffles and weakly clutches at his wrist, reaching up with her other, trembling hand to cup his cheek.
"You're a g-good person, Lykos. You have a kind heart, full of co-courage and compassion," Katarina whispers with a quivering voice. "D-don't ever lose that. Re-remain as y-you are, because who you are is what everyone else should strive to be. Stay as you are, because one day, it will lead you to find happiness once more. You will find another to care for, who will care for you. When you do, I know that you will protect them."
"Katarina, I-" he loses his voice, his own body trembling with the horrific realization that he's about to lose the love of his life. It's as if every breath she takes, drawing nearer to her last, is another stab in the heart. A bloody, steel arrow lies broken in the grass nearby. Blood soaks around a wound in her waist.
"If I'd gotten there sooner, I could have-"
"Shhh. I-it's okay," her gentle voice interrupts. She manages a hint of a smile, gazing up at him with watering eyes. "It's n-not your fault. You didn't fail."
"But-"
A quivering finger on his lips silences him and she weakly shakes her head.
"S-shut up."
In all the days before, when she would tell him that, it was in good heart and light humor. Now, all it does is twist his heart even more painfully, knowing that this will be the last time she ever says that to him. Lykos shuts his eyes and cradles her to his chest, unable to let go of her warmth.
"I love you," he murmurs softly to her.
"And I love you," she whispers back. She must have summoned all her remaining strength for that final statement. She did not stammer and her voice did not falter. As those words leave her lips, so does her last breath of life. Her head slowly falls against him and her body becomes motionless in his arms.
As her life departs from her, so do the tears from his eyes, the agonizing, piercing pain that constricts his heart so greatly so, and he releases a scream to the skies that makes the woods fall silent.
Lykos has no idea how long he stayed there for, unmoving, unwilling to let her go. He roared at himself internally, that this was just a nightmare, that it wasn't real, that he would wake up and she would be completely alright. Yet, no matter the time that had passed, minutes, hours, he was forced closer and closer to the truth, that his love was gone forever.
"She did not deserve to die."
The familiar voice normally would have Lykos terrified, but right now, all he can feel is his nearly overwhelming grief. He looks up with the tears still stinging his eyes and sees the tall, lean figure of his leader, the King of the Wolves.
"W-what are you doing here?" he stammers, his voice trembling from his barely contained emotions.
"You loved her, and she loved you. Her people killed her for it, and they would have killed you as well," Lycaon says as he steps forward, coming closer and completely ignoring the question. "Do you see now, why we do what we do? Even though you were good to her and you had no wish to harm them, look what they did."
"That doesn't mean they're all bad! She wasn't bad! She was- she was…" Lykos can hardly even speak, before he glances up and frowns through his tears.
Lycaon shakes his head, stooping down to place a hand on Lykos' shoulder. The gesture is normally one of comfort, but it instead makes his skin crawl. "Look at her, boy. She is dead, murdered by her own village for loving you. Did she deserve that?"
"No!" Lykos cries, appalled by the mere suggestion.
"So, you know that those villagers should be punished then." The eldest of the wolves narrows his eyes and leans over him, closer to his ear. "They deserve it. They deserve to be torn apart, limb from limb, to have their blood spilled over the earth and stain it crimson. Take your revenge on them!"
For a moment, those words stick to him. It feels as if he's being handed a blade and given permission to use it as he wishes.
To kill.
But Katarina's last words to him, were to stay true to himself, to remain as he is. She loved him the way she knew him, but would she still love him if he did this?
"She wouldn't have wanted me to do that," Lykos murmurs, gently laying her body down on the grass and tracing his fingertips over her cheek.
"She wouldn't have wanted that?" Lycaon repeats, almost incredulously. "I think she would have wanted to live, don't you? I think, that she would have wanted to be able to love you."
Just like that, Lykos feels his inhibitions slipping away, and his leader seems to sense it as well.
"March on the village, my son. Tear them apart, all of them. Make them beg for mercy just as she did. Do this, and the Pack will be behind you. We'll avenge Katarina, together."
Lykos can feel his blood begin to burn, his vision going red and painting his world into a hellish image. He flexes his knuckles, crackling the bone and feeling his nails sharpen into claws. His fangs elongate, bared in a savage snarl as the sight of his beloved's body, blood-soaked and lifeless, lies before him. She didn't deserve this… she didn't deserve to die.
But they do. They all do!
Lykos lifts his gaze of ice-cold yellow and feels his growls rumble in his chest.
"I will kill them all…"
With a low groan, Lykos stirs awake to be set upon by a horrible throbbing in his head. His body is cursed with a horrible aching, and there seems to be a strange weight around his neck. Shaking his head to regain his senses, he attempts to sit up and look around himself. The smells… they're different. He's not in the ravine anymore, nor anywhere that he recognizes. Where is he?
As his vision clears and his thoughts stop spinning, he finally focuses enough to take note of his situation. He's in an unfamiliar place, with hard, rocky ground beneath his paws. The trees here are completely ridden with frost, and when he moves, he hears the sound of metal dragging across stone. A tug on his neck accompanies the sound and he looks down to see a large, heavy bronze chain. The chain is bolted to the side of a massive boulder that looks to be embedded deep within the ground. The other end of the chain leads up to a shackle… a shackle that's around his neck.
Lykos' eyes widen at the realization that he's chained and immediately thrashes and strains against the chain until the shackle nearly strangles him. He releases a furious, half-choked growl and rears up on his hind-legs, trying to use his own weight to pull free, but to no avail.
Where is he? What are his captors planning to do with him? Where is Saphira?!
"No! Bad wolf!"
The deep, bellowing voice startles him into ceasing his struggles and instead has him whirling about to find who had bellowed at him. Heavy footsteps are thudding against the snow and a fat hyperborean giant wearing only a loincloth emerges from around the boulders. Its blue, babyish face glares at him and points a pudgy finger his way.
"Bad wolf! You stay!" it scolds him, liking it would scold a dog.
The thought of it doing so does not sit well with Lykos, so he lunges at the giant with a snap of his fangs. The hyperborean squeals and recoils its finger before glaring at him.
"Stupid wolf, mean…" it mumbles.
Lykos wishes he still remembered how to speak at least in this form. It's supposed to be a form of telepathy, which is just thinking, so why can't he do it? He wants to demand that this beast tell him where he is, and what is happening. It is no way smart enough to be able to comprehend him the way Saphira does, so using alternative methods of communication is definitely out.
Suddenly, a war horn echoes through the forest, perking the interest of his ears. The hyperborean hears it as well, and grins stupidly at him.
"Dumb arrow girls being attacked now!" it cries with glee. "They will die! All will die!"
Arrow girls… attacked. Lykos' widens his eyes at the realization. The hunters are being attacked! He begins to thrash and struggle against the chain again, desperate now to break free, but it's no use.
"Stop, wolf! You try escape, have to make you cold!" the hyperborean bellows at him again.
Lykos interprets that as the giant threatening to freeze him with its icy breath if he keeps struggling. He can't believe this. The Pack captured him and left him guarded by this big blue idiot. They knew he would have heard them going to attack and that he would have tried to warn the Hunt. He has to get away from here somehow and try to make it to the camp to save Saphira, but how in Hades does he break free?
He looks back at the hyperborean with a glare for its threat. Freeze him… the day that Lykos ever gets taken out by one of these lumbering morons-
Freeze.
Lykos pauses and stares as the giant turns away and plops down on the snow. Its icy breath is known to be able to freeze anything instantly…
Suddenly, he has an idea on how to escape, and this giant is going to help him, albeit unwittingly. Once again, he starts wriggling and bucking around against the chain, this time though, making a real show of it. He squirms, bucks, and rolls over the ground, even going so far as to bite at his chain and make a massive racket. Just as he hoped, the hyperborean reacts, craning around to give him an annoyed frown.
"No! No escaping! Make you cold!" it yells at him.
Lykos makes sure that the giant sees him roll his eyes and mock him with a series of low, groaning barks, as if to mimic the hyperborean's own voice. The hyperborean seems to take great offense. Perhaps it's not as dense as he thought.
"Mock me! Will make cold for mocking me!" it roars, hauling itself to its feet and stomping towards him. Lykos narrows his eyes and tenses his body, preparing himself to move quick. The giant inhales a deep breath, puffing out its cheeks and its chest. Then, it releases its breath as a great cloud of wind and frost, but before the breath can reach him, Lykos dives out of the way and lands with a pivot to extend his chain as much as he can. The hyperborean's ice-making breath billows over the chain and the steel rapidly freezes over, with the icicles swiftly snaking up to the shackle around his neck. That's when Lykos whips his body around one last time, shattering the shackle and the chain.
He is free!
The hyperborean's eyes become the size of dinner plates as it realizes it's mistake.
"Uh oh!"
Lykos wastes no time, charging the hyperborean with a battle snarl. The giant attempts to counterattack, lifting its foot to try to stomp down on him, but Lykos is much faster. He banks left and around the stomp, skirting around to slash the back of the ankle wide open. The hyperborean wails in pain and stumbles about on its injured ankle, arms flailing wildly. Lykos spots the giant sculpture of ice that had formed from its breath, taking note of the jagged, razor-sharp icicles that jut out like spears and a new idea enters his mind.
Moving like a shadowy blur over the snow, Lykos hurtles toward the stumbling giant, waiting until its back is turned to pounce. He launches himself just high enough to clamp his jaws shut on the hyperborean's ear, using himself as a deadweight to haul the giant off balance…
Right towards the waiting icicles.
Lykos releases just before the wailing hyperborean crashes down onto the icy spears with a sickening wet crunch. The icicles drive right through the impaled beast, protruding from his back as he freezes over and shatters into a million shards of ice. There's no time to celebrate his victory. Without wasting a second, Lykos turns tail and takes off into the woods. He has no idea how long ago the hunters were attacked, or if the battle is even still going. Images of Katarina's bloodied body flash through his mind, driving him to go faster. He can't let this happen again. He refuses to lose another person dear to him, even if it means breaking his promise to Saphira that he would run away.
He just hopes he can make it in time.
