Chapter Nine
When they arrived back at the betting shop Fortune and Fights-Eyes-Open were waiting for them, their faces full of concern. They had felt Teri's attack through the bond they shared and were ready for them. Eyes held the back door open as Shadow carried Teri through, and Ariana quickly shifted as she entered the kitchen.
'What happened?' Fortune asked as Shadow sat Teri down at the table.
'We were tracked as we entered Crossway,' Shadow said, as he cleaned Teri's wounded leg with a damp cloth. 'I'm sure it was just one of them, but she crossed our border and took Teri by surprise. Ariana got a better sense then me.' He glanced at her and Ariana's cheeks burned as Fortune's eyes fell upon her.
'Yes, it was just one shifter, a wolf. It happened so quickly though and I didn't smell them until it was too late.' She felt terrible, like she should have sensed it sooner or kept Teri closer. Fortune put his arm around her and gave her a warm hug.
'Don't worry. She's fine and there was really nothing you could have done.'
'I could have tracked it. I had the trail.' Her voice tailed off, she didn't want to sound as though she were ungrateful to Shadow or angry at him for preventing her from following the trail. She understood his concerns and in her right mind she knew how stupid it would have been to follow someone onto their territory alone, when she was so freshly changed and had so much to learn.
'There was no need to track her, Ariana,' Shadow spoke softly, nearly finished with Teri's wound.
'How do you know it was female?' she asked, suddenly curious.
'The smell for one thing, we can distinguish male from female with a little practice. But we know who borders our territory there and they are all female,' Fortune said, releasing Ariana and slumping down into a chair. He looked frustrated but his voice was level.
'Witches?' Ariana asked, recalling Shadow's thought. Fortune looked at her sharply.
'Yes,' he spat. 'They are the enemy. They're not like us, they're dangerous and evil.' His voice was so full of hatred that it took Ariana by surprise. There was a finality to his words and she didn't dare push the issue.
'Fortune,' Shadow's voice was soft but insistent. 'You know what this means. That Witch tasted Teri's blood, she can track her easily now.'
'I know.' Fortune hung his head. Teri sat up straight and scanned the room, her eyes full of worry.
'Am I endangering the pack by being here?' Ariana smiled sadly, it was so sweet of Teri to think of the pack's safety before her own. Ariana was just worried for her new friend. Fortune turned to her and placed a hand gently on her shoulder.
'No, not at all. You'll be healed within an hour and the pack has dealt with this kind of intrusion before.'
Ariana watched Shadow's face carefully, he was almost as stoic as ever, but there was a flicker of something there in his expression for an instant, and she knew she was the only one to notice it.
'I'll take Eyes over to Crossway now and we'll guard the border tonight. Make sure everyone else gets some rest.' Fortune said, his hand on Shadow's shoulder.
Fortune and Eyes set off through the back door. Shadow helped Teri up and the three of them trudged up the narrow staircase. They got Teri settled in a bed in one of the small rooms, then left her to rest.
Shadow headed to one of the other rooms. Ariana followed him closely, she had no intention of letting this lie, no matter what Fortune said. She slipped into the room behind Shadow and closed the door. He looked around, clearly not surprised to see that she had followed him.
'So,' he said quietly. 'You want to know what that was all about.' It wasn't a question. Ariana didn't respond, she just sat in a chair and waited for him to continue. 'I bit you before you changed, deliberately. We do that. It is easier for us to track someone whose blood we have tasted as it grants us a sort of empathy. I have no doubt that is exactly what happened tonight. A Witch bit Teri in order to be able to track her, presumably to track her here, to find out where our headquarters is. Yes, her being here does put the pack in danger but we wouldn't have it any other way. We won't hide her somewhere, she would be vulnerable on her own or with minimal protection. Some shifters learn the hard way that it is far more dangerous to be on ones own. The pack is what makes us strong, so we stick together, no matter what.'
'There's conflict with the pack to our northern border too. But it isn't like this thing with the Witches,' Ariana whispered, almost to herself.
'The Wrecking Crew are rivals, we compete for territory and have an uneasy truce at the moment. But we're all basically on the same side. The Witches are, well, there is a very long war waged between us, we're enemies. There are no shades of grey. We're just enemies, always have been and always will be.' He shrugged and sat down on the bed in the corner of the small room. 'There are some shifters who have different ideas about the way we should live and the Witches are among them. They have close ties to the feral shifters outside the city, the rural ones who don't have a clue about city life or what it takes to keep control. The Phoenix Guard and The Rutherford Estate are two elite packs who live just outside the city. They would love to be in a position to take Caerton and rule it. The Alpha of the Rutherford Estate is believed to be the heir to the throne of the city.'
Ariana nodded solemnly.
'You mentioned a royal bloodline to me earlier.'
'The Witches have likely noticed our pack double in size recently and assume that we are preparing for an offensive attack on them. Which we are not,' he added quickly. 'That's not it at all, we can't help it when three new shifters change on our territory. Perhaps Wind Talker could have found another pack, but he was here first and is one of us now. But I can see that the Witches might be paranoid.' He sighed and rubbed his face. 'This attack by the Witches is probably them reacting to our pack growing, but it could be part of something bigger.'
Ariana felt deeply troubled to learn of this war, she hadn't asked for this and to be dragged into it was a lot to take in. She wondered how likely it was that a battle might be approaching rapidly and began to feel scared that she was so unprepared.
'We have to get on with training.' She broke the silence, a slight tremble to her voice. 'Shadow, I have to be ready.'
He smiled, but it was tinged with sadness.
'Oh Ariana, we are never ready. This life brings us a new challenge every day and we are never ready for any of it. But,' he stood up suddenly, 'we can be as prepared as possible with what time and resources we have.' He strode to the door and held it open for her. Eagerly she dashed out into the hall, they moved quickly down to the basement to continue with her physical training.
'You've never seen me use these, have you?' Ariana asked him, removing her dha from her back. 'You've followed me to and from the dojo, but never seen me teaching. Right?'
Shadow took a seat and nodded.
'You want to show me what you can do, which I understand. But you realise that I am not skilled with blades, I can't offer much expert opinion or tips for improvement.'
'I know, but I'm already one of the best in the country. I'm not looking for a teacher.' Ariana puffed up her chest and fixed Shadow with a firm stare. He let a small smirk form on his lips and cocked his head to one side.
'Okay then.' He stood up and approached her slowly.
Ariana kept her dha sheathed, but readied herself for an attack. The pair of them circled each other slowly. She wasn't accustomed to using her swords against an unarmed opponent and felt a little lost, she realised just how artificial the world of competition was, with its rules and traditions. It all meant nothing in a real fight.
Ariana was ready when Shadow made his move and she easily blocked his arm with the back of one of her blades, following it with a body strike with the other. Shadow blocked her and twisted free of the wood-sheathed weapons. Ariana moved gracefully, in her element. Each strike and parry was carefully placed and she landed a few hard hits.
Shadow was very quick, however. He slipped under her thrust and as he moved under
her she drove the butt of her sword down on his shoulder. He flinched but his arms found their way around her torso and he grappled her to the ground.
He let her up immediately and she didn't waste a second, springing an aggressive attack on him as he shook out his arms. One of her dha struck his back and she heard the distinct sound of a rib cracking. She stopped at once as he winced, and dashed to his side.
'Oh my gosh, I am so sorry,' she cried, trying to look for an impact mark, wanting to see if the rib was properly broken. But Shadow grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back, forcing her sword to go clattering to the floor.
Ariana felt a spasm shoot through her from her arm and swiftly swung the other sword back over her shoulder and struck Shadow hard on the top of his head. He cried out and reeled backwards, breaking his grapple. She spun to face him as he stumbled backwards clutching his head. She took a swift step towards him and pressed her dha threateningly to his throat, a roar on the tip of her tongue but just held in check.
'I yield,' he groaned. Ariana stepped back and let her arm drop to her side. She was panting, yet not from physical exertion, her stamina had barely been tested, but the adrenaline was real enough and she had felt the beast flare in anger for a moment. She struggled to subdue it.
'I had to get creative there. My old teacher and peers would be appalled.' She reached out a hand to help Shadow up, which he slowly took, still rubbing his head.
'Thank you,' he said, graciously. 'Now put them aside and show me what you can do without them.'
She did as she was told and laid her precious dha down on the bench before returning to face Shadow.
He was tough on her, he didn't hold back and at the end of the session she had real injuries, though they healed almost instantly. She barely landed a scratch on him, he was so fast and strong that she was truly outclassed for the first time in a very long time. It might have frustrated her in her former life, but she accepted that this was all new to her and it motivated her to practice and improve.
After several hours of hard training, Shadow showed her back to the room she had first woken up in and she nursed what felt like a cracked tibia, just below her left knee. The sky outside was tinged with pink, dawn was approaching.
'You can sleep here if you like, but there's a lounge upstairs in the attic and mostly we all sleep up there together.' Shadow moved towards the door. Ariana rubbed her eyes, her shin was already completely healed and she almost laughed with satisfaction. She knew that Teri must be fine too and wondered where she would be sleeping.
'I'll meet you upstairs in a minute. I just need a little processing time.'
Shadow nodded courteously and left her alone. Ariana found her bag under the bed and searched for her phone. She had two text messages from Rhys and she felt a stab of guilt for forgetting about him so completely.
15/11. 11.17pm: Hi. I hope you're OK.
16/11. 4.54 pm: Please can you let me know you're OK?
Ariana bit her lower lip and thought hard about how to respond. She hadn't contacted him in nearly two days and the last he knew, she was in bed with a horrific flu. Had it really only been two nights since she changed? So much had happened, so much had changed that she couldn't tell him. Eventually she settled on a reply.
Sorry, just got your messages. Phone died. I'm fine thanks. You?
It was 7am, he should be up and getting ready for work so she waited for a reply, though her eyes were growing heavy. Worry gnawed at her over whether she would be able to remain as close to Rhys, or any of her friends, as she had been. A few minutes later her phone buzzed in her hand.
I'm OK thanks. Let me know if you want to meet up soon.
She smiled wearily, she didn't feel she could reply to that right now. Though she would need to see him soon to see if he could sense the change in her or not. It seemed obvious to her already that shifters wouldn't find it easy to have friends who were human, they were too different, and there was an oddness to everyone she had met so far. She didn't think they would blend in too well among normal people.
She turned off her phone, plugged it in to charge and left the room in search of the others. A narrow staircase at the end of the hall led up into a wide open space. It had a thick carpet and two skylights at opposite ends of the room, there was a large sofa and a small space heater plugged into the wall. In front of the heater were several thick rugs and piles of cushions. Curled up on them was the oddest assembly of animals she had ever seen. She identified Shadow immediately, he was the only fox and his yellow eyes were fixed on her. The others she could vaguely identify by sense, Fortune was there, the only wolf among them, Wind Talker had the form of a badger, which seemed oddly fitting, and Stone perched on the back of the sofa, a beautiful tawny owl. Flames must be taking a shift on watch, Teri seemed to have stayed in bed and Eyes was missing.
She shifted into her fox form, and went and laid down next to Shadow. He put his muzzle down on his paws and gave her a warm rumble of a noise from his chest, almost a cat's purr. She smiled inside and rested her head on the soft rug, drifting easily into an exhausted sleep.