Eyes of the Serpent

A great heaviness entered Remmy\'s heart as his paws carried him along the ridge lining the free lands otherwise known as "human land". His eyes and muzzle were low, searching for the scent that wasn\'t going to be there. He\'d been wandering for days, and her trail was as cold as it was the moment he left. He\'d had no leads, no reason to go any particular direction, and no one to ask. His eyes dimmed as he glanced down the ridge at the crisp green grasses of the plains before him. The chances of finding her now were as simple as if he trod down there and licked up the crystalline dew upon it, and it were poison to kill off the suffering his heart felt. It was his fault she went missing; he should never have brought her with him. If he had forced her to stay instead of come, she would be with him right now. If only he had--



His thoughts were interrupted by the faint sound of a whiz as something flew past his ear and disturbed the hair upon it. His head lifted quickly and his eyes snapped to the fleeting figure of a solitary arrow. He frowned inwardly as a voice drifted over to him.



"Take one more step wolf boy, and I will not miss next time." The voice belonged to a female, and the scent that greeted his nose was one of a deeper female scent, one of strength and power; she was not simply a human, this one. The mere confrontation of an arrow meant one thing; she was a Rebel. He lowered his head and slowly turned his head towards her, careful not to look threatening, or hostile. In any other situation, he could just turn and run; but to one side was a cliff, and to the other, the Rebel hunter.



"Am I so close to your land that I pose a threat?" he spoke, knowing full well he was flanking the lands by about 100 yards. "Can\'t a lone male walk along a cliff without getting shot in the head? There IS that path up there looping down and away, isn\'t there?" he spoke, glancing over her. She wore a loose hooded black cloak over top of more black clothing which he couldn\'t see. She had perfect looking ebony skin, and had the concentration of a falcon. Her hair was held back in a bundle of tight little braids, which reached down to her mid back. A disadvantage, if anyone ever managed to get close enough to grab it.



"Do I look stupid to you, wolf boy? I know full well your kind is hangin\' around here for a meetin\' and you\'re one of the big guys in there. That\'s why your fur is so perfect. We know stuff. I also know that you\'ve got no real reason to be down in that field because that path splits and leads our way as well as into a human farmer\'s field and there isn\'t gonna be no easy pickin\'s down there tonight. So how \'bout you try again, and tell me why you\'re really out here?"



Remmy sighed. There was no sense lying; she would just shoot him in the head if he did. They knew about lying, for some reason. They picked up on it every time.



"I\'m looking for a scent. A female. MY female. She is missing, and not in a very healthy state right now.



"Your female. That\'s more like it, wolf boy. Well we ain\'t seen any other wolves \'round here for months. So get the hell outta-"



"She\'s not a wolf. At least, she wouldn\'t be now. She doesn\'t know how to control it yet. She is still weak from the transformation. She doesn\'t even know what to expect or how to control her initial emotions. I need to find her before she becomes a danger to everyone. She left almost dead, and with another wolf who abandoned her. She\'s no longer there, and she wouldn\'t\'ve gotten far, so someone has her. I was praying it was the rebels, that I would catch a scent here, and know she wasn\'t with heartless murderers."



"We ain\'t got no sick girl with us, human, wolf, or otherwise. I guess I should be touched if you prefer your dying wolf newbie with us over them. I\'m sure you know she wouldn\'t be around long the moment they learned she was a werewolf. I guess that\'s more promise than them. Go on; I won\'t tell \'em you were here. Go find your girl."



"Thank you - but if she is not with you, she is with the vampires, and she is as good as dead. You might as well kill me and take my head as your prize. I have nothing left anymore."



After a long pause, the rebel shook her head.

"She ain\'t dead. I just know. She ain\'t. Dunno why or for how long, so get on her. She isn\'t running away, but she isn\'t dead."



"If you find out anything, will you tell me?" he asked, more out of a verbal thought than a real question.



"And how am I supposed to do that? I\'m not about to traipse on in to no werewolf den and ask for some random boy off the cliff here."



"There is a little old lady named Joan back in Half-plate. Just ask for her and you\'ll find her. Tell her anything you get and I will get the information. Tell her it is for Remmy."



Without a word of a thank-you or a hint of recluse, Remmy took off in a beeline back the way he came, making a beeline for the Vampire border.