William was brought out of his mental wanderings when he actually looked at the brown skinned woman standing next to them. He couldn’t help but be a bit stunned at the sight of her. She was wearing a deep green saree that covered her body from neck to foot. A long piece of cloth that hung off the saree was slung over her left arm. The pattern was of some leaved branches going down her front left side. The whole of the outfit was trimmed with crimson red. The texture of the pattern was intricate but simple as well. She was wearing earrings that hung maybe an inch and half to two inches down from her earlobes and they were made of rounded pieces of green stone, probably jade. Her long black hair was tied loosely behind her in a single braid that she had slung over her right shoulder. Her face was serene but her eyes were focused and intense. And it looked as if the heat didn’t touch her at all, she looked as cool as if they were all still in the cool underground of their City. Not for the first time, William couldn’t help but acknowledge just how beautiful the older woman was.
Huan Li spoke quietly into the gathered crowd which was silenced instantly by his softly spoken words, “My friends,” he began. Then looking down at the pavement said in an even softer voice, “My family.” Looking back up he continued, “We have recently been informed of a significant discovery made in the mountains by William.” Huan Li nodded in William’s direction as others turned their eyes on him.
“This discovery has opened more mysteries than answers, but in those mysteries may in-lie the answers to the riddle in which you have all been so diligently chasing these past few weeks.”
“What have we been looking for? Old wives tales and legends?” Aiman asked quietly. “We have known allies to call upon, Elder Huan. We don’t need the false hope of myths when we have flesh and blood ready to aid us.”
In his wolf form Ares couldn’t speak, but he bared his teeth silently at the younger man. The fallacies of youth and the cynicism of the human born. Have they learned nothing from the past few months? He knew what the fall of the Mountain really meant. It could have been, and may still be the beginning of the end of everything. We lost too many people. It will take decades, and maybe even a century or two, to completely rebuild what we lost in a single day. ‘Legends and Lore’ is how Huan Li spoke of it, and it may be their only hope.
Ansuya gently placed one calm hand softly on Ares head between his ears. The wolf calmed himself and regained his composure.
“Our friends from the City Under the Sand, and the City Under the Rock will aid us, Aiman,” Ansuya said. “But not even their aid, such that it is promised, will be enough to retake what we have lost. We can never again return to our mountain. It’s too dangerous there and the war that we must now wage against the vampires will be far more perilous than any of you yet know.”
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“Wait? What do you mean by that, Ansuya?” Keva asked with a sideways glance.
“What she means is that the vampires, a few at least, have rediscovered the technique of dominating wolves and bringing them under their complete control,” replied Charles calmly. “Aceso, William, Katherine, Nicolas, and I were engaged by a group of vampires several months before the attack and they had wolf allies with them that attacked us on sight. Not even Aceso could calm them, and as we all know, wolves cannot be trained.”
This caused a bit of a stir among the group.
“Why is this the first time we are hearing about this?” Billy asked suddenly.
The gunsmith was wearing his usual jeans and t-shirt. He had let his brown hair grow out a bit since the last time William really interacted with the man. His usual sense of humor, while strange, was always apparent and a smile came easily to the man’s lips. However, the serious man who asked the question was a stark contrast to the man who had startled William in the bathroom, sitting on the toilet in werewolf form so long ago.
“Because they didn’t feel it was necessary to tell us,” Keva spat.
The green eyed woman stood defiantly with her pale arms crossed beneath her breasts. Her red hair was tied behind her in a high pony tail. She was sweating just as much as the rest of them. Her stance reminded William very much of what she looked like just before she had shifted and attacked him. William found himself clenching his jaw. He was suddenly very sure that soon the courtyard would be filled with werewolves trying to tear each other apart. The following comments did nothing to alleviate his apprehension.
“I mean, it’s only something that at least the wolf born should know. But who are we? We’re only here to serve the Elders and die for them. We’re the ones who fucking bleed and they get to tell us what to do. It’s a great arrangement for them. Talk about social equality.”
“That is enough!” Acharya said suddenly and sternly.
The Alpha of his pack left no room for any rebuttal in his tone. The man’s stature was average at best, five foot ten, five foot eleven or so William guessed. But the man had a way of seeming to be much taller than that. His black eyes were once kind and always ready to smile. But just like with Billy, the man’s eyes had become hard, almost cold, since the attack. He wore a loose light shirt, very similar to what he had seen many men wear throughout the city. His slacks were well fitted. And, like Ansuya, his brown skin seemed to not be sweating, even in this oppressive heat.
Keva looked over at the man with raised eyebrows. A smile turned up the corners of her mouth, “Trying to get some brownie points there, Acharya?”
“The only one grandstanding here is you, Keva,” Mary Johansson said coldly.
The relatively tall black skinned woman was standing in a very uncharacteristic aggressive stance. Her hair was cut a lot shorter than he remembered it. It hung straight down well above her shoulders. William supposed that it was the heat that may have made her change her style. Then again, he hadn’t seen much of Acharya’s pack, she may have changed it months ago and he had just never noticed. The black woman was a Scout but she looked like she would have no problem attacking the shorter redheaded woman if she said another word.
“Enough, all of you!” Ansuya said in a curt voice that brought everyone’s attention to her immediately. “We don’t have time for this.” Her deep brown eyes burned as she stared down the red-haired woman, daring her to say anything.