“We leave the younger ones in the safety of the tunnels with your guard watching over them, and take this…I don’t even know what you call a thing like that.”
“He is demented in more ways than one,” Jacob claimed.
“It just gets deeper and deeper doesn’t it?”
“I believe you have lived through a great deal of the deepest part of our world. Any who have suffered at the hands of Yvette, knows all too well the ways of our world.”
“And should want to stop it from ever happening again,” I snapped, shooting a glare his way.
“One at a time,” he said, raising his chin at me.
I let out a small laugh and knew I had no reason to get upset with him. Jacob left through the tunnel to set things in motion with the men. The tunnels would be set up so that you could only open them from the inside, unless you had the combination that Jacob had mentioned. Once we were all in agreement, we started helping load the small boats with supplies to take to the ship. We were walking up to the gates, when the howling began. Jacob pushed me behind him and Cates stepped in front of Tammy while pulling his sword from his back. Brandon and Derek stepped out to one side of me, and Garvin and Sydney stepped out on the other side of Tammy.
“Looks like we have company,” Jacob said as he slid his blade out from the sheath that swung on his hip.
“The dogs? They’re here?” I asked frantically.
“It would be wise to refrain from using the word, dog. There are better known as wolves,” Cates interjected stepping back, making the circle tighter.
The howling got louder as the smell became stronger. I held the handle of my jeweled blade, but pointed my gun in the direction of the moving brush. In one smooth motion, three men stepped out. They were Indians. From the long black hair to the leather beaded pants and footwear they had on. I jumped back hitting Derek in the chest when several of their fur friends stepped out into the opening.
“Be calm, Renee. They will do nothing, here and now,” Jacob said looking at the man in the middle.
“Your master broke his word,” the man in the middle said, stepping up.
“My master did not know of your pack with the old one,” Jacob replied also stepping forward.
“Then it is true. He who made the pack is no longer.”
“It is, but a stronger master has taken his lead. We will honor the pack as it has always been, unless you and your people are ready for a new one.”
“You crossed into our territory and three of my people died. You have no pack with us.”
“They attacked us,” I yelled.
“Renee!” Jacob said never turning to see me come up beside him.
“You are speaking for him then?”
“She is not,” Jacob replied in a heavy voice.
“I’ll speak for myself, thank you kindly. Your people came after us, when all we were doing was trying to get home. So, if they couldn’t handle what they bit off that’s not our fault.”
The tall dark man started walking toward me and Cates and Jacob both stepped in front, blocking my view. “Move!” I yelled and pushed through them. I met him face to face. He growled, bringing chills up my spine, but I stood my ground.
“We could go to war right now.” I heard his words, but didn’t believe his threat. What I did believe was the two huge beasts coming up behind him. It was then that I felt Jacob and Cates getting closer to my back. He raised his hand and the beasts stopped moving. One snapped at the other as they swayed waiting for another order.
“Make the first move,” I said moving closer.
“You killed Chin?”
“I did. Why, you got a problem with that?”
“Why did you break his word?”
“You mean by crossing your land?” I asked as he nodded. “Our boat sank. What other choice did we have?”
“Chin would have expected us to swim.”
“I’m not Chin, you don’t bother us, we won’t bother you.”
“Words mean nothing coming from one with no name.”
“I didn’t hear you offer yours.”
“Hum,” he frowned. “I am Cochee of the Moon Tribe, and these are my people.”
“I’m Renee Lebrun, and these are mine. You need to call your dogs off.”
Jacob made a sound as soon as I said it. The two beasts stood on their hind legs and I screamed. They towered over Cates, and he was our giant. Cochee turned around and yelled something in his language and they twisted around and ran off on all fours. He and the other two men turned back around with pure hatred on their faces. I stepped back up with my head hanging a little lower, feeling ashamed of what I said.
“I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry.”
“You kill my men then you insult me to my face.”
“I said I was sorry. You didn’t have to bring your…your…whatever they are with you.”
“They are what we all are.” Then his body started to reshape.
“To the gates,” Jacob yelled.
I was running in a sideways fashion, watching Cochee’s skin pull apart and fur replacing it. His head flew back as a sound rumbled out, and none to human. Jacob pulled me in as Cochee’s face began to elongate. He grabbed his head as his body fell forward, then the gates slammed shut. People were running in every different direction inside our walls, and I couldn’t help but wonder what was going on outside of them. Jessie was ushering Tanda and Johnny into the tunnels in our area, as Tammy tried to get ahold of Shyanna.
“Jacob!” I yelled running up to him and Cates. “Can they get in here?”
“You should have held your tongue.”
“Just answer me!”
“It is possible, but I doubt they will try. What they will do is prevent our leaving.”
“The ship,” I paused thinking about our people. “What about the ship? We have people that are depending on us to keep them safe, Jacob.”
“That is what I too am worried about.”
He left me standing with my mouth open, and started climbing up the wall. I watched until he went over the side. At first I thought he went over, until he looked back down. Cates saw him then took off to the other side and climbed up, leaving me to stand alone. I turned around and saw Garvin and Sydney running with a group of the normals and joined them. We ran them into the tunnels with the girls. I told them to stay with them, before I left to return to the others. The howling had started back up and I wanted to see the other side of our well-constructed wall, so I climbed up. The walkway was about a foot wide and there was little to hold on to. There were at least ten beasts in front of the gates, several looking up at us.
One threw its head back and howled for a long time. Four backed up, then ran right at the side of the gate, smashing their bodies into the wall hard, shaking it so much that I fell over. I landed right in the middle of them. I scooted back as fast as my arms and legs would move, until I was as close to the frame of our wall as I could get. The big black wolf that had howled, causing the others to use their bodies as battering rams, came up and stuck his snarling snout in my face. I turned my head, as he sniffed the side of it. I felt the slime drip on my shoulder from his mouth that was filled with razor sharp teeth.
“Cochee! That will be enough!” a gruff voice said from behind him.
Cochee snapped his jaws, causing me to let out a little scream and close my eyes extremely tight. I heard the gates open and the scrambling of many feet running out. I stayed with my head froze to the side until I felt the heat of Cochee’s wolf breath back away. Sydney dropped down on his knee and grabbed me under the arm. I screamed out and swung at him, hitting him square across the face. His head went back, and blood flew from his nose.
“Oh, Sydney, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine. I should have said something before I touched you,” he smiled through the blood that was running over his lips. “Come on, hurry.” Then he pulled me to my feet.
Cates held his sword like a bat, while all my other little o
nes took their fighting stance. Jessie, Tanda, and Tammy were included. I looked down at Tammy’s splinted leg, and just shook my head. An older dark skinned man came walking out of the underbrush with several men at his side. He wore a full set of leather hide clothes, with fringes hanging down both sleeve and down both pant legs. Cochee walked by not five feet in front of us, snapping his jaws in a quick motion at me. Cates came down with his hilt and hit him in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious.
“Be still,” the older Indian said raising his hand high in the air. “He brought it on his self.”
“Sontos, it is good to see you,” Jacob said walking away from our group.
“My son is learning to take my place. I think it will not go well for your kind when I am gone.”
“May we talk until that time?”
“I wish to speak with the one who took your maker,” he said walking a few steps closer.
It seemed every time I opened my mouth lately I got us into trouble, so I just stood there when Jacob turned around to look at me. He moved his fingers for me to come closer, but I shook my head. It was then that the older man named Sontos walked up to me. His hair was streaked with gray and hung well past his waist. His skin showed his age and the marks across his face showed him to be a fighter. I took a deep breath and let it out as he reached and took my hair in his hands.
“What tribe are your people from?”
“My mother’s people had a little Indian in them, but I don’t recall what they were called,” I replied licking my lips.
“We, the clan of the moon, never thought it would be one of our own that would take the great Chin, much less a woman.”
“I’m a breeder, not a…wolf.” I knew to not use the word dog ever again.
“It is not the question on which side that we live. What matters is the blood that we carry. You have the blood of our people. I can see it in your eyes.”
“Then you will forgive our misunderstanding?” I asked raising my eyes to his.
“I believe we can come to an understanding.”
I saw Jacob’s shoulders relax with Sontos’ words. Cates lowered his sword, and the others followed his action. Sontos waved his hand and two large beasts came in on their hind legs and dragged Cochee out by his reshaping arms. He was half man, half wolf by the time they reached the edge of the woods, and my eyes were glued on them the entire way. Jessie walked up beside me and took my hand.
“It was his brother that Chin had put down. I think he will not forgive that night.”
“I think you may be right.”
I could understand Cochee’s hatred for the loss of his brother, and had a feeling that our future held a love hate relationship. I loved my life and he hated it. If his father hadn’t stepped out, he would have taken my life with a snap of his massive jaws, well before my boys could have stopped him. Just like Enrique and Omar, I could see my death in his eyes, only this time I did nothing so bad that he would wish me dead. Tammy waited with Cates for me and Jessie to join them on the other side of the gates. We entered the great room, where Jacob and Sontos were taking a seat at the long table. I walked up and sat down on the far left seat and Cates took the right.
“Why does your son seem so angry at me, Sontos?”
“First, because you are a woman and one that holds a higher seat than he ever will. Second, you claimed his prize, something he will never forget.”
“His what?”
“What he’s trying to say, Renee, is that when you killed Chin, you took away Cochee’s chance at revenge forever. Now, he is angry with you,” Jacob explained leaning back in his chair.
“Well, ain’t that a bunch of horse shit,” I spouted out. “I have some crazy animal wanting to eat me because I did everyone a favor by taking out a bad guy?”
“You will have many enemies before you are finished,” Cates added with laughter.
“Keep that up and you’ll get one sooner than you think,” I sluggishly remarked glaring at him.
“I can control my son, can you control yourself?” Sontos asked, stopping mine and Cates’s conversation.
“What do you mean by that?”
“You have a wild spirit. I have seen you take the first step forward with my own eyes.”
“I think you just called me stubborn in a roundabout way,” I smiled shaking my head. “I never meant to offend anyone by saying the word dog. I have never even heard of what you are, Sontos. I’m just starting to figure out what we are.”
About that time Shyanna came bursting through the doors, screaming with two breeders on her tail. Sontos and his two guards jumped to their feet and started yelling in their tongue, and pointing at her. The two guards dropped down and put their heads on the floor, like they were praying. Sontos bowed his head. Shyanna flew right to me, and landed on the table, quickly wrapping her arms around my neck, yelling,
“No…no…no”
“It’s okay. Me’om’s got you.”
“She would not go in…” the boy servant was saying until he seen our guest.
“Go,” Jacob said. “She is fine with us.”
Sontos was speechless as his eyes fell over Shyanna’s amazing form. His mouth was slightly open, and his eyes were much wider as he stood watching her curl up in my lap. I looked up at him and saw the wonderment on his face. He was as shocked to see her as I was the first time, but he seemed to be familiar where I was not. He bent down and tapped the two men on the back and said something in their language. The two men never once looked up at us; they just backed out of the great room and took off running. Sontos showed no sign of fear being in a room with all of us and no one to guard his back.
“You have brought the prophecy. Change will truly come. She is a sign from the Gods,” Sontos said, reaching out then pulling his hand back.
“This is Shyanna. I call her, Shya.”
“She even carries the name of the Blackfoot. It has been said for many years that a winged creature that walks on two legs would come from the ocean and bring fear on her wings. Her flight would show a new change in the ways of our fathers. We would be slaves no more.”
My skin almost crawled off my body when he said those words. It was true, we were here to stop anyone who was mistreating the innocent and shut them down for good, but how could his people have known about our doings before they came to pass? Coincidence, maybe, but it was strange either way you looked at it. He said something in a soft whisper that I couldn’t understand, but Shyanna hopped up on the table and tilted her head at him. She took two steps then hopped once landing right in front of him. Sontos reached out and put his hand under her chin and she began to purr. I was the one that was now speechless. She never went to anyone that she didn’t know. He petted her head and she purred louder.
“Master Jacob, there is a crowd,” the same man came entered again, announcing with a shaky voice.
“It will be my people. They will be with good manners I assure you,” Santos said stepping around the table. “To ke una.” Was all he said and Shyanna took off out the door flying straight up through to open foyer. I was almost to the open door when I heard yells and screams from women and men alike on the other side of the closed gates.
“There has to be at least fifty on the other side,” Derek said, running over to us.
“I think they think Shya is some kind of higher power sent by their gods,” I explained walking with Cates and Jacob.
“You must use this to our advantage,” Jacob whispered as we approached the opening gates.
Every person or human looking beast on the other side was down on their hands and knees when we came out. Shyanna was perched on the top of the standing wall. I held my hand up and she flew down. Sontos walked out and his people started getting to their feet. He spoke to them in their language while we stood back and watched. A few minutes later they wondered back into the forest and disappeared. Sontos turned around and walked up to me.
“You will have no reason to worry about the moon people or
our land. It is time that we make our way to a better place, as the prophecy has told. The fear that comes on the wings of the prophecy is death, and she bares your name,” he said looking right at me.
“Take care to keep your eyes to your back and the wind at your face, many will know you come, but I think few shall live to tell the tale.”
Sontos slowly vanished just like the rest of them had, leaving us to ponder over what he had said, and if they were coming back. Shyanna leaped into the air and she too disappeared into the night sky. I called to her once but she didn’t respond. I looked back several times as we made our way back into the safety of our own domain. The gates closed and I let out the breath that felt like I’d been holding ever since I fell off the wall. I counted heads making sure we were all there. I started to rethink leaving the younger ones, and just getting on the ship and taking off. Jacob and I got the normals and the little ones down in the tunnels on my orders, because I had a bad feeling that Cochee wasn’t going to feel the same way that his father had, and being overly cautious was far better than not being cautious enough.
Jacob sat the seven guards who were normals that watched our daily rest, at the front entrance. The ones we had down with us were merely servants and had no skills to protect themselves. The wall circled the entire home, and had no other way to penetrate other than the opening of the tunnels that we would be going out if anything should happen throughout the day. After the doors were shut and Jacob had his men in place, I finally felt like we could talk.
“Do you think I’m crazy for being this concerned about them coming back?” I asked as I took a seat on the floor, looking back up at Jacob and Cates.
“I do not trust the son and those who will follow him,” Cates nodded, sitting down on the floor next to me.
“I agree. You have not only taken Chin from him, you have hurt his pride in front of those he will want to make amends with.”
“As in paying me back while they watch?”
“Exactly,” Jacob said, sliding down the wall opposite me and Cates.
“I wish Shya would come back before the sun comes up. Did you see the effect Sontos had on her?”
Bloodbreeders: Seeking Others Page 20
