William looked down at his handy work and then back towards where they had come from. “No, I guess you’re right.” He turned his attention back to Achelois. “Thank you for that. This does look like we tried to hide our traces, if we were inexperienced and didn’t really know what we were doing.” He glanced over his shoulder at Nicolas. “In some cases, that’s true.”
“Just what the hell do you mean by that?” Nicolas almost yelled.
William turned around and faced the shorter Scout. “I didn’t mean anything by it.” William took a step towards the blonde and in a controlled voice he said, “I only meant to say that those grey werewolves are still out there and they don’t know who we are or what our experience is.”
“Bullshit. You just insulted me because I haven’t been camping as much as you have.” Nicolas bent closer to William. He seemed to realize how much noise he was making but he still wanted to make his point. In a much lower volume he almost hissed, “Just because I’m not like you and I didn’t turn my back on my humanity and the people around me, doesn’t make you any better than me, you got that,”
William looked down at the shorter werewolf. Is that what this is all about? He thinks that I think that I am better than he is? William knew that he was better than Nicolas in many ways. He was a better fighter, better at survival in the wilderness. Looking down at the blonde he finally understood what Nicolas was so pissed off about. Unfortunately, William knew that nothing he said would sooth the hurt ego of this man either. “What are you talking about?”
Nicolas didn’t move and held William’s gaze as he said in exasperation. “Oh please William, everyone in the City under the Mountain knows about you and how and where Aceso found you.” He poked William’s chest with a single claw, hard. “You are the closest thing to a celebrity that this place has seen for a very long time. You are the human born who survived his rebirth on his own and lived on his own in the wild for over a year.”
William was a little confused. “What do you mean by that?”
Nicolas turned to the side and walked a few steps before turning around and facing him once again. “Did Ares teach you anything?” He shook his head and almost laughed. “We human born don’t survive rebirth on our own, as a general rule.” He flipped his claw into the air to emphasize his words.
William glanced behind him to see that Achelois had moved off to the edge of the clearing. Her body and all her senses were faced outward toward the quiet night and the forest that surround them. Her tail was arched up in a proud manner and William couldn’t help but think that this was her silent protest to the lesson that he had walked into from Nicolas.
“Most human born die if they aren’t brought here first.” Nicolas was saying. “But you,” he stuck a pointing claw at William’s chest, “not only did you survive your rebirth, you lived out in the middle of nowhere by yourself. What, you think that Aceso finding you out there was coincidence?” He shook his head as a chuckle shook his whole body. “They were looking for you for months before they found you. They even had me try to dream about you so I could locate where you were.”
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William scratched at his arm. “How would you dreaming about me help to find me and how did anybody know about me at all?”
Nicolas shook his head and sighed. “You don’t know anything do you?” He looked down at the ground at his feet. “I am a Scout, William. Do you have any idea what that means? No, of course you don’t. Well, let me explain it to you. I have the ability, or so they tell me, to see the future in my dreams.” He held up his hands in derision. “As if. I have no idea what they’re talking about. Sometimes in my dreams I see flashes of things that I have no idea what the hell they are, but I can’t make any sense of them.” He sat down on a nearby rock, “They tell me that that is normal and with practice I will be able to make some sense of it all but that bitch of a teacher of mine always told me that even the most powerful Scouts can’t make heads nor tails of most of their visions either. She told me not to be too hard on myself for not understanding anything.” Nicolas shook his head once more and jumped up from his place on the rock. “But we knew all about you and trying to find you took up most of my time here.” He took a step toward William. “I don’t like you, probably never will. Just keep your hands off me and I’ll keep my hands off you. If we have to be in same pack together fine, but don’t expect me to be happy about it.” Nicolas stalked off to join Achelois at the edge of the clearing.
William watched as the two stood there facing away from him. What Nicolas had said was a little disturbing. They had known where he was, and they had sent Aceso to retrieve him? Nobody acted any different towards him as far as he could tell. Nicolas had attacked him. Ares beat him to a pulp. He had been threatened with the very real possibility of his death if he couldn’t find a way to control himself. Oh, and he couldn’t forget that a group of grey werewolves had been sent out into the woods to kill him. He sure as hell didn’t feel special. On the other hand, he hadn’t noticed it at the time but a lot of people in the City under the Mountain did seem to know him. Billy knew who he was. Acharya and his pack knew about him too. He had assumed that what Ares had told him was true and that with so few new shape shifters coming into the city it would be normal that everybody would know who the ‘new guy’ was. If Nicolas was pissed off because he didn’t like his training, that was his own problem. William’s training hadn’t exactly been a walk in the park either.
He walked over to where Achelois and Nicolas were standing. The two had their eyes locked on the surrounding forest.
“We should get moving,” William said.
Achelois turned and looked at him. Nicolas kept staring out into the forest. “Wouldn’t it be better to stay in one place?” Achelois asked.
William looked around his surroundings. “We’ll cover more ground if we move.”
Nicolas said without turning around, “Yeah, but won’t that leave this area empty.” Nicolas turned and stared at William. “I thought we were supposed to sell the idea that this was our den. How do we do that if we’re not here to protect it?”
William couldn’t find any fault with that line of logic. He nodded to the other two werewolves. “Ok, we stay here but spread out. Keep each other in eyesight and don’t fall asleep.” William moved off to stand around the area where he had half buried the dear carcass.
“Just who the hell put you in charge?” Nicolas almost yelled.
William turned his head around to view Nicolas out of the corner of his eye. “Nobody. But if you have a better idea, please tell us.”