Ties that Bind

Athena

Lifting her head, Athena rose quickly when she saw who addressed her. Adrian loved few things more than sleep, and the expression he wore only concerned her all the more. In silence she followed him out of the den to a sheltered copse. Now out of earshot of the pack, Athena queried, ”Adrian. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

What could have unnerved him so? Adrian was usually so… aloof. Disinterested and arrogant. She hadn’t noticed it before but there were strange scents on him. Eyebrows creasing, a twinge of suspicion gripped the ebony alpha. Cocking her head Athena continued in a more demanding voice, ”What’s happened?”

Adrian

He offered her a bitter and short laugh when the alpha first addressed him, but restrained for answering for a few more seconds. This image of Grevus mangled body was stuck on his mind. Yes, he wanted the bastard dead, and badly, but now he was feeling guilty about it. Athena’s voice broke silence once again, and he took a deep breath to regain composure. ”I haven’t seen a ghost, but I wish I did.”

Adrian’s dark blue gaze met hers, and his voice came in such a sharp and honest tone it sounded strange even to him. ”Stallion is alive. The beast of the Red Pack lives, and I have seen it with my own eyes.” He made a pause, only now thinking that he couldn’t tell entirely the truth about how he had seen him. Well, he would make something up during their conversation. ”But he is unbound to Blutwald. Although I think it would be best if he was…” Or at least, being a mindless barbarian on his own. Why the Great One would ever bind Stallion to Hekate…

Athena

”Alive?” Her voice came in a growl. She didn’t miss Adrian’s hesitation, and her ears pinned back. This was terrible news indeed, if it were true. But how could it be? Stallion had vanished seasons ago without a trace… He had to be dead… Didn’t he? ”If he is not with Blutwald then what is his purpose? Why would he show his face?”

”No. I have a more important question, first.” Perhaps Adrian had hoped the sudden shock of it would divert her attention, but the she-wolf had learned time and time again to trust her instincts, and she suspected there was more to this than the sudden alarming announcement. Adrian was a son of Hedge after all, and she could not bring herself to trust him. Before she could even consider putting stock in this information, Athena needed to know exactly how Adrian had come by it. ”How do you know this? Spare me no details, nephew. And do not lie to me.”

Adrian

Adrian realized halfway through her questions that he had forgot he needed to come up with something to protect himself of his Aunt’s questioning. After all, he was involved in this deep to the neck and Athena would be extremely displeased if she knew how and why events came to happen this way.

But his face was unchanged. At least for a brief moment. Then he narrowed his eyes in irritation, as would be expected of him with her inquisitive tone on the last sentence. ”Of course Aunt, because I’ve been a dirty little liar lately haven’t I? Will you ever look at me and see Adrian instead of Hedge?” The male shook his head, before sending a last glance of blunt frustration to the blue she-wolf and releasing a deep sigh. Messing with Athena was a dangerous game. He needed to be sharp enough to be convincing, yet subtle to pass unharmed. ”I can answer all your questions at once anyways. In my wanderings I had the displeasure of getting acquainted to a rogue named Hekate. At first I thought she was just crazy, but later I got to conclude she is indeed insane. She belonged to a pack of assassins that was settled far away from here, and is actually the lone survivor of a rabies contagion that killed the entire pack. But she is an extremely skilled viper, so I never really made any attempt of breaking contact for the sake of my own safety. I’ve made a few enemies and she is definitely one I don’t want to add to the list. And no, she means no harm to Aryn because I make sure she believes I’m an ally. Anyways, she found me while I was sojourning to Adamant, and told me Stallion was alive. I doubted, and she showed me to prove her point. I do not know exactly what she expects of this, but I presume she will be trying to rebuild her pack using Stallion’s influence as tool. He is leashed to her, Athena. Doesn’t talk, doesn’t really seem to care about what’s going on. And when she commands him to do something, he does. Simple as that.” He explained, now without being interrupted by his breathing, but still using a rushed and disturbed tone. His eyes never left her, knowing that if he avoided her gaze she would get more suspicious of him - liars avoided staring in the eyes, and he needed to show enough confidence. Holding his gaze on hers would reassure his words. Adrian had more to say, but decided to open space for more of his Aunt’s questions instead. Thankfully he was back on his mind and ready to tiptoe if he needed to.

Athena

His accusation stung, but beyond a twitch of the eye Athena didn’t flinch. She made no reply. Was it possible her suspicion sprang only from the fact that Adrian looked too much like his vicious father? No. It was not blind prejudice which drove her! Athena had grown up under Hedge’s eye the same as Adrian. She knew the tells of Hedge, and Adrian’s were much the same. His attack was a useful distraction and perhaps he even did feel some indignance, but that didn’t change the fact that her nephew was hiding something.

Athena listened to Adrian’s tale intently and found it sound enough, although much of what he said left her deeply disturbed. ”What reason did this assassin have to share her secret with you?” For a flicker of a moment Athena wondered if Adrian had made the whole thing up, intending to set her on edge or make her look like a fool. But no… his fear was real and he what he did chose to share seemed to be in earnest. So then what was he hiding? And why? She wasn’t sure.  

Shaking her head, the Lady grimaced unpleasantly, ”If she is indeed mad, how can you be so certain of your alliance? Why do you trust Hekate to keep her word?” Athena had no confidence in Adrian’s assurance that Aryn was not at risk. If these assassins were at large near Aryn’s border, they were a very real threat which could not be ignored. And yet with war looming over her family’s head, provoking such a potentially powerful enemy was no sound strategy. Who knew the true extent of Hekate’s prowess, if she could bring a mighty creature like Stallion to heel?

Adrian

He watched as his aunt clearly noticed the real danger of this news. Adrian never took the Lady of Aryn as a fool, but he was unsure if she would taste the gravity of this information if it came from him. The vicar made no attempt to interrupt her, as he could see on her grey eyes that doubts were still swirling. Instead, he took this time to organize his own mind. Hekate was insane, yes, but this was delicate. He was confident in his capacity of playing her game, but now it involved Aryn, not only his own pelt. And judging by the amount he knew about Athena and few of his packmates, he was unsure how he should proceed. Keeping ties to Hekate was always his safeguard, but would Athena allow it, knowing what she was? Would he ever be able to convince her that actually befriending the assassin was the best course of action?

After her second question, Adrian couldn’t help but smirk. That was a question he would do to himself, actually. ”Hekate is mad, not stupid. It’s easy to claim power by ending those who oppose you, but true power resides on those who manage to bring others at their side, even superficially.” He answered at first, mostly by instinct. At least about this particular part, Adrian and the bloodred assassin were alike. ”And as far I know, her pack is not a random bunch of misfits enjoying bloodshed. They act like it’s a honorable task or something, worshipping gods or some insane bullshit like that. It’s a system with diplomacy involved, so it’s not an open threat.”

Adrian exhaled loudly, feeling his legs protest. He was not used to the exercise, and now that he was idle again, the muscles were burning. But he needed to focus on the message, and retire to his place at the Gorge. All of this was too much to take in one night. ”She probably wanted me to see it because she knows of our quarrel with Blutwald. Apparently both don’t have the pack in their best view. At least, he doesn’t seem to care if she dislikes it. What Hekate expects of me knowing it? I lack the madness to understand, I’m sorry. But I suppose it’s what put Aryn on her good side. She actually said she agrees with your decision, and as strange it sounds, it’s what I believe it’s best when dealing with her.” He concluded, sending Athena a glance of disapproval.

Congratulations, a psycho agrees with you Aunt! And I’m the asshead for not supporting this war to begin with...

But then he remembered he was on Hekate’s good side too, so he was not on the right to boast about anything.

Athena

At his smirk, Athena’s eyes narrowed with deepening suspicion. How could Adrian play at arrogance, at a time such as this? She listened to his spiel, studied his expressions, growing more rigid and irate with every sentence he spoke.

For a long, tense moment, Athena only stared at her nephew darkly. And has she brought you to her side as well, Nephew? The Lady wondered. Or are you really so foolish? But she did not ask aloud. The answer to such a question would not be found as simply as demanding it.

He was certain of both his alliance with Hekate and her unfathomable madness, two irreconcilable facts. And the way Adrian alternated between cocksure expertise and indifferent dubiety regarding the assassin’s motives did nothing to convince Athena that he actually knew how to match wits with Hekate.

“Is she seeking an alliance, then?” The Lady demanded bitterly. ”Does she truly believe we would demean ourselves by making ties with a pack who’s very gods demand they break our most sacred laws? What did she think that would impress you, Adrian?” It was a barbed question, nearly a threat.

How could he imply that she should treat with this Hekate? Or that Aryn itself should concern themselves with appeasing her? Especially after sharing all that the had, the suggestion sounded like an insult, or at the very least blatant stupidity. “You are mistaken if you think I would posture and pretend, simply to suit the twisted machinations of a madwolf and a viper. I would not - though the Deceiver himself stood beside her!”

Rising to her feet, she growled sharply, “Your father made deals with devils, Adrian. I would expect  you to know better.”

Adrian

Adrian returned his Aunt’s gaze emotionless during the heavy silence that fell on them. If anything, he just could show how tired he was - because he couldn’t hide it. And then the Lady of Aryn entered on a train of bitterness. The vicar remained in the exact same aloofness as she spat her threats, always too hot-headed to analyze or understand the way he did.

But then, she did it. She crossed the line. And it was not the growl.

The wolf could feel the boiling rage within his blood, rising of sudden with her words and heating his body immediately, as if set on fire. Even the energy between them shifted. It was at the very least a humiliating feeling of being exposed so easily, but she knew where to strike, apparently. It felt like exposing a wound he judged cured, piercing the layers of barriers he created to protect himself from it. His eyes narrowed into blue slits, and for a moment he merely stared back at her, tasting that horrible sensation in the tongue.

But before any stupid decision, a warm and calming embrace flooded him, cooling and calming every vein. The holy intervention of their Great Spirit, Adrian contemplated. He tried to think logically. Entering a spar with Athena right now was not going to help Aryn. Probably not even going to help him.

He took a deep breath.

No. It’s not her fault. And this isn’t the hour.

”I believe, of all wolves, I am the most suitable to understand what kind of deals my father used to do, Aunt.” His muscles were tense, clear beneath the dark pelt, and he was blocked to show any signs of submission that he should, considering that he was speaking to his Alpha. Yet, he kept his voice low, almost a dark whisper, respectful nonetheless. ”But I trust that we have more important matters at hand than discussing it right now. I made a suggestion, my Lady. I apologize if I lack the understanding of your way of leading, but if you were expecting me to remain silent when I think there is another option, I would not be worthy of being called Vicar. I think of Aryn, not of your inability of pretending to bow to others, even if I admire it.”

Adrian released a deep sigh again, feeling his voice go hoarse as he spoke. Now he was really tired. Physically, mentally, and spiritually. When he started once more, the sharp edges of his tone were gone. ”Hekate does not make alliances. Vektren never made alliances. She is trying to destabilize us, and managing to do so it seems. Now, what you suggest we do? We can’t remain idle.”

Athena

She watched the turmoil wash over him, knowing she had hit a nerve. Good. Maybe it would be enough to shake the Vicar out of his own self-importance. Hedge had been a conceited fool right up to the moment Athena dethroned him, and even then he’d clung stubbornly to his selfish ways. He had been the worst kind of coward, willfully blind to his own hubris. Athena had never been a Saint, but at least she didn’t pretend to be.

”Your suggestion has been duly noted, Vicar.” She replied icily. ”But I, too, think of Aryn. My concern is entirely the wellbeing of this pack and the security of its future. To protect that, we must chose our allies carefully. Our friends even more so.” The line between a strategic politics and cowardly tolerance was very thin, but their end results were far opposite each other. One ensured Aryn’s survival as a strong, prosperous pack. The other doomed it to be consumed by fear, to forget its pride and its honour, and perhaps even its God.

She shook her head heavily as if that might clear it. Whatever other nonsense he’d spieled, Adrian was right that Aryn needed to remain united. This argument was not getting them anywhere. Perhaps… if she could speak to Adrian in light of their Eternal Father, he would understand her indignance.

”Appeasing evil is no safeguard, though indeed it might look to be at first.” If the Deceiver couldn’t corrupt the Great Spirits followers then he would seek to destroy them.There was no living in harmony with that darkness. ”Those who walk with serpents will die by one. Or as one.” It was a proverb Mother Miriam had told Athena a thousand times before, when the Lady was only a pup in Old Aryn. She hoped her nephew would understand what it meant.

Thoughtful, Athena finally gave a heavy sigh. ”No, you’re right. We must act. Stallion cannot be permitted to threaten the domain once more… especially not as a tool for some psychotic lunatic.”

But we cannot stop him alone.

Vale had sent its emissaries. At first, Athena had seen no leverage with which to secure an alliance. But unlike Aryn’s skirmish with Blutwald, Stallion’s appearance at the head of a bloodthirsty band of murderers was a danger to every living wolf from the great South plain to the Northern sea. Surely even Vale had heard tales of the Red Pack’s lost ruler, and if not… Athena would have to convince them of the reality of the threat.

”You will accompany me North, to treat with the wolves of Vale.” She said, thoughtful. ”We have no Grand Vicar; therefore, as our highest ranking member of the Faith, the duties traditionally associated with that task fall to you.” This was tradition, and not within Athena’s right to intervene. Besides, Adrian alone had seen the Fallen King with his own eyes. He should be present.

Rangers should be sent out to confirm first, of course… No. No it needed to be kept quiet. At least until they had more information. An assurance to go along with the news, either of their security or imminent danger. Athena didn’t want her packmates more on edge than they already were. Charaka knew the scent of the fallen king; if Adrian could take her to the spot where he’d made the discovery perhaps Char could inspect the site herself.

And if Adrian was telling the truth… every loner, every pack, from Chandor to Havir needed to know.

Adrian

Adrian sustained his eyes at his aunt as she spoke, listening every word carefully, but this time the piece of his mind who would try getting anything vicious out of it was shut down. He would remember them next morning, surely, but for now he was incapable of even thinking of a retort to them. All of this particular night managed to drain that kind of energy out of him. He didn’t take Athena as a fool, irresponsible or even incapable of leading Aryn, but the very mention of Hedge made anything that she tried to show him rather useless. At least by now.

Why am I even here.

But she was right. Stallion had lost ties to family, or anything morally interruptive. Hekate would exploit it to the core. And at the very mention of Vale, Adrian understood what the Lady was planning to do. His response was automatic and out of instinct, too numb to play any other games for today or to try stinging her. ”As you wish. Just say the word.”

He did not awaited to be dismissed, knowing this conversation was done. ”I shall take my leave and let you rest. You will need it.” But as he finally stood up, keeping his usual regal posture regardless of his physical condition, he offered her a last, emotionless glance. ”Let me just remind you, Aunt, that we see the world with the eyes we want to. If you keep looking for Hedge, it’s only him you will find.”