He and Katherine walked through a screen of bushes to find the other four members of the pack spaced out among a dense cluster of pine trees.
“Well, look who finally decided to join us,” Nicolas said with a harsh twist of sarcasm. He was leaning between two trees. One of his legs was propped up behind him.
William humored Nicolas with a poisoned look but turned away. He turned his full attention on the black and white werewolf that was sitting, almost casually in the rough center of the group.
Aceso paid no attention to the side comment. “Our first job is finished. But we have to stay prepared for what might come.” Aceso stood up and began to turn around. Her tail was arched high in the air in the posture that William came to recognize as the command posture. “Our survival depends on each other. Our pack must be strong individually but also as a whole. To that end we will begin our training and learn how to live, move, and fight with each other.” Aceso jerked her head away from the cavern wall. “We will go that way into the abandoned parts of the city.”
“I thought you said that we had to stay out here for three days,” Achelois said.
“No one ever said anything about not going back into the city, we just have to live together and sleep and eat out here in the forest,” Aceso answered.
“What will we be doing in the abandoned parts of the city?” Charles asked.
Aceso nodded at the question. “We will begin by learning how to move together. The first step for us to become a true pack is learning how each of us moves and being able to match and move with each other.” She looked at William. “There is nothing quite like seeing a full wolf pack run through the forest at night.”
That statement brought up memories of his wolf pack in his forest. He knew that Aceso did it on purpose. He could see his pack. The old grey and all the others flow over the land, cutting through the trees and over the river. They had moved like a wave of water, fluid and unrelenting, being broken apart by the landscape but always coming back together, a multicolored tide of fur, claws, and teeth that could overcome any adversary. He looked up at Aceso and nodded.
Aceso spoke to the whole pack. “We run.” Aceso bent over on all fours and darted off into the forest. William sprang from his place and followed. Charles was at his shoulder, while Achelois was just ahead of him on his right.
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He looked back around him to find where Nicolas was. The blonde werewolf was just hunching over and beginning a leisurely trot. He saw that Katherine was with him running in front of him but guiding him toward the rest of the pack. He decided to trust in Aceso and turn his attention away from the malcontent.
The brake in his concentration made him miss a step and Charles and Achelois were almost a full body length ahead of him. He bent his head down, dug in his claws and began throwing himself forward through the dense patch of forest. Aceso was seen darting into bushes and around trees. He copied her movements as best he could. Sometimes he didn’t see the path that she had taken, and he had to run around trees or leap over the dense underbrush.
He was in front of the entire pack now except for his alpha. He felt the still air move around him in created wind. It was nothing like the cool breeze off the ocean back in his forest, but then, what wind other than that could be as cool and clean?
Aceso kept increasing her speed. He felt like he had never run this fast before. He was now out in front of Charles with Achelois running at Charles’ shoulders. The trees swept by them and the ground was a blur, even to his wolf eyes and he was concerned that one of them could snap a bone clean off on some unseen root. They broke through the tree line and the City under the Mountain was visible. Its black profile sharply contrasted to the warm greens and browns of the forest. The harsh angles of the buildings were razor sharp, and had the look of pristine newness to them. He found himself wondering, not for the first time, how could beings of nature create something that was so geometrical?
Aceso turned to the left and the rest of them followed. William spared a moment to glance behind them and was surprised to see Nicolas and Katherine not too far behind, only a few body lengths. He knew that the two of them would have to be running with an exertion that was equal to theirs otherwise they would have been left far behind. He turned his attention back toward Aceso. They were running parallel to the outskirts of the city. The underground cavern’s ceiling crystals were mid-morning bright and he could almost imagine heat coming from them. The moderate length grass they were running through was soft and had good traction. Aceso increased her speed even more. William wondered if there was any true limit to how fast they could run.
He would have loved to ask the question but Aceso turned in toward the city. Without missing a step or slowing down the rest of her pack followed. William had to dig in and he kicked up a cloud of dirt and grass as he mimicked the maneuver. Aceso was out in front. She ran into the city and along one of the cold stone streets. William didn’t have time to notice much of the city race by them. All of the details were just a blurry splotch in his peripheral. Aceso glanced behind her and motioned with her head and ears to go forward.