Wolf at Heart

Chapter Sixty Eight: Final Oblivion

Two weeks later, we stumbled upon the first ruins.

Dotted across the treacherous hillside were burnt-out shells of buildings and huts. The ground was a nauseous shade of green-black and the few trees that remained were lifeless. Ash became silent and stone-faced, absorbing the damage without emotion.

"Stars," Sora whispered. "I never imagined..."

Alastar reined his horse in, stopping us before we reached the main town. "This -- " He waved to the mass destruction all around us. "-- Should serve as a reminder of what should happen if you fail. This is what will continue to happen if we do not hurry to seal the Predators back into their shackles."

There was an unspoken question that lingered in the air. We don't know how to do that.

For all his teachings and all the knowledge we had gained, Alastar had yet to touch on the subject of the actual final battle. Every time we asked, he would either change the subject or simply say we weren't ready for that lesson yet.

He spurred his horse and directed us to the main square. The entire tribe was built upon a series of plateaus stepping down the cliffside. Dusty yellow rocks tumbled in various landslides, covering some mud-brick houses and demolishing others. Wells that had been drawn to irrigate crops were now cracked and dry, standing solitarily like soldiers. Dead vines hung off of stone walls. Piles of dust had been blown away by the crying wind, leaving only imprints of the activities that used to take place in this desolate place.

It was like the life had been drained out of this place. Which was honestly an accurate description of what had happened.

We tethered the horses at the gate and stepped inside. Black grass withered into ash as we tread quietly through the streets.

"What did you see in your vision?" I whispered to Ash. It felt like a crime to raise my voice here.

Ash fidgeted with his bow, checking the feathers on the ends of his arrows. "I only saw the cliffside where they teach -- used to teach Avians how to read the wind currents," he corrected himself quickly. "They said something of importance would happen there."

Alastar squinted, a spell floating on the corner of his eye. He seemed nervous. "Then lead the way."

Sora clenched the handle of her whip as we cautiously made our way around the broken buildings. "It's like you can feel the spirits, their lives, in the corners." This place unsettled her. It unsettled us all. The very land itself felt wrong.

Ash gestured ahead and we saw what he'd described in his vision. It was plain, just a clearing in the houses, an open space used for teaching. The ground here dipped lower than that which the houses stood on and small steps were placed opposite of the cliff.

"We'd sit on the ground here," Ash said faintly. "The teacher would always have the hardest time getting us to pay attention to him. At the end of the session, we'd have a flying contest, seeing who was the fastest, most acrobatic, whatever we could come up with." He traced the wall and dust came off on his fingers.

"Where did they all go?" Sora asked, looking around at the abandoned camp.

"Most died. The rest left. They said they'd travel to the Ursidae camp to find strength in numbers. I think my parents went with them."

Isn't that nice?

Alastar whirled around and raised his hands, instantly preparing a spell.

Is that how you treat an 'old friend,' trickster?

The voice reverberated around the clearing. I couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from and drew my daggers from their sheaths. Who was that and what were they to Alastar?