When he was ready, he opened his eyes and stood up. He bowed to the stone table and walked out of the cul-de-sac. He felt a little less troubled as he walked past the statues of Apollo, Dionysus, and all the other Greek gods. He walked past the white stone representation of Jesus and some of his disciples. He glanced over at the unidentifiable statue that he had forgotten was even here. He had no idea what it was supposed to be but it disturbed him a little and he hurried on. The cave was quiet and dim but it wasn’t the oppressive dimness of something that was abandoned, more like the quiet solemnity of a church or a cemetery.
He exited the cave under the globe held over the two gate keepers’ heads. The wolf and the goddess, why did that sound that a Disney movie to him? He smiled at his little joke and bowed again to the two statues, a gentle nod of his head in respect.
It took the rest of the morning for him to get back to the city square. He had forgotten to eat breakfast and after not missing a meal for a long time his stomach was not happy with him and growling its distaste loudly. Lucky for him the cafeteria was open and some people had already sat down for lunch. He walked up to the counter and got a tray full of food and sat down in a quiet corner in the back of the room.
When he was finished, the room had accepted a few more patrons and the noise level was steadily rising. He was glad to drop off his tray and get outside before the place really did fill up. Once outside he realized that he hadn’t seen the other members of his pack today. He would see them soon enough.
Not knowing exactly what time it was he hurried back to his room. Once there he stripped himself of his clothes and closed his eyes. Standing in the middle of the room he let the swirling darkness envelope him. He opened his eyes and looked at his hands, they were now claws and he had grown almost a foot. He took a second to look at his fur and study his werewolf body. He noticed that it too had taken on a leaner appearance than he remembered from his forest, consequences of all the training he had been subjected to over the past three weeks or so. He walked out the open entryway but stopped. He turned back around and poked his head back into his room. He raised his hand in a farewell salute to the place and walked down the ramp on the outside of the building.
He strode through the winding streets till he got to the city square. The monolithic tower was still just as oppressive in the middle of the day as it had been on his first glimpse of the thing. He couldn’t help but recall what had happened in there. His near fall that probably would have killed him, how tiring the whole ordeal had been only to be sentenced by Derceto right after he had escaped the four rooms leading up that confrontation with Ares. He rubbed at his side. His wounds had all healed long ago, but the memory of the pain was still as fresh as if he had suffered those hits yesterday.
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He was brought out of his memories by the approaching clicking sound of claws on stone. He turned toward the sounds to see Aceso walking toward him. All calm wolf pride, control, and dignity. Even in her werewolf form she was shorter than William by an inch or two. The white patch on her chest was a stark contrast to the rest of her all-black fur coat. William smiled at his alpha. Aceso walked up and stood calmly in front of her human male beta.
“Do you have any idea about what’s going on?”
Aceso shook her head and the soft rustle of her thick fur brought back more memories of his forest and what life had been like before she had brought him to this place.
William nodded in understanding. He turned upward to gaze at the black tower looming over him and his alpha. He lost himself in memories of what had happened there and before that. He let his mind shoot its way back through time. He remembered his forest, the green of the trees, the smell of cedar in the air. He remembered the liquid ice that was the river that cut through the valley. He remembered how tough that first winter was and how he had almost starved.
He stopped and looked over at Aceso. What had caused me to think of that all of a sudden? Aceso was looking out of the city square. Her arms hung at her sides. She was waiting and watching for the other members of her pack, he assumed. He turned and looked in the direction she was facing. The labyrinth of alleyways and streets was less dense here in the heart of the City under the Mountain but if you looked out you could see the sudden and sharp turns the various streets took away from the city square into the maze that made up the city proper.
William heard the footsteps before he saw who was coming. With his heightened werewolf hearing he identified the sounds of heavy footsteps and guessed it was either Nicolas or Charles. To his surprise it was Katherine who was stalking toward him and Aceso. She was very irritated at something. She was practically stamping her feet with every step. The cream-colored werewolf strode up and stopped hard in between William and Aceso and stared hard outward away from both of them. Nicolas walked around the corner and approached the group. Katherine stalked off a few more steps to keep distance between the two of them. This display was not lost on William or Aceso who emitted a low growl in the back of her throat.
Nicolas walked up and with an indifferent expression on his werewolf face as he greeted the three of them. “Hey, how you doin’ this afternoon?”
William looked back at Katherine and returned the look to Nicolas. Nicolas saw the question written on his face and he shrugged with a questioning look of his own. William glanced toward Aceso and the werewolf nodded her head a fraction of an inch. William took the cue and grabbed Nicolas’s arm and forced him away from the two females. Nicolas only protested slightly but he didn’t call out. When William had gotten the blonde far enough away to not be overheard, William released Nicolas and spun him around to face him. Nicolas didn’t seem in the slightest bit upset by being manhandled. In fact, he seemed to wrap his dignity around him in a cloak of invulnerability.