a fortress of your heart

Vesper · 01-02-2012, 03:01 PM

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Harr we goooo. Only the last three or so paragraphs are non-filler. xD

SSWM Word Count → 826

After all that had happened, Vesper had not been sure she would come.

Her Aquila had spoken of the slave-owning pack during the last clan meeting, stressing neutrality as the goal. There seemed to be a kind of understanding between Salsola and Inferni, despite the misgivings of a few of the other members. To cause trouble in the dark pack would be to disobey orders, and she was no longer a silly little newcomer whose presence did not matter in the grand scheme of things. No, she was a Praetorian, and to do what she had thought of doing would be to tread more dangerous ground than ever—and not simply danger to herself. Should she be recognized, it could mean danger to the clan she swore to protect. Her responsibilities to Inferni nagged at her brain, at odds with the pledge she had given to the Sequoia Alliance and her own personal vows for justice.

It was because so many had managed to escape that justice that she had been spurred on that morning. She still suffered headaches from the blonde bitch that had been carving up Kiara, and it only reminded her that the party from Ichika no Ho-en yet to find the woman. But there was no way that Vesper could risk her life to save her non-luperci friend only for the threat of Salsola to linger nearby. She doubted Kiara would remain as trusting as before, but character did not always change so drastically, and there was always a possibility that she would run into trouble with the dark-minded group.

Perhaps she simply needed a fight, too. Vesper had barely been able to contain her restlessness the past few nights after returning to Inferni, hiding her new cut with a constantly turned head. A scrap against someone who deserved it would ease her sparking muscles and fretting mind.

It did not take her long to sprint from Inferni territory toward the meeting place just west of the river. She had walked this path once or twice but hadn’t been aware of how close she was to coming near Salsola. The thought made her bristle now, teeth bared against her enemies, heart leaping into her throat as if its hatred could be spewed like dragonfire from her narrow jaws. Such a small body was so full of wrath and vengeance that it almost trembled, but Ves told herself that it was from the cold wind cutting through her soaked pelt.

Mud marred much of her scrawny frame, darkening the cream-tawny color of her pelt and hiding some of her scars. Anyone who knew her could tell who she was from her cold blue eyes, and her shape couldn’t be changed no matter how many muddy brooks she waded through, but the fact of the matter was that she could not be named Vesper of Inferni by any Salsolans she met. Depending on who Noir had recruited and which of those wolves actually came, her identity might even be a mystery to all but the skunk-striped leader.

The silhouette of a rock grabbed her attention, and the she-yote braved the river to reach that side. Luckily, sections of ice held well enough that she was able to cross with minimal swimming, so she wasn’t absolutely exhausted by the time she padded toward where she could see the others mingling.

Quickly, her pale gaze sought out those who had gathered, her tail rising hopefully. She hadn’t been fond of those she’d met last time, but to see Noir and Zalen would give her some confidence. The dark male was not there, however, and she frowned as she looked questioningly to the leader—or at least the leader in Vesper’s mind, the one who had helped direct all this. The others were faces that she did not recognize—an emerald-eyed coyote hybrid, a wolf of different golden and beige hues, and then a dark hulking monster she recognized. Her body stiffened immediately when she saw him.

Columbine Lykoi. What the fuck was he doing here in place of the freedom-fighters she had met before? The dark male didn’t seem the type to give a damn about non-luperci forcibly transformed into two-legged slaves. The ridge of fur along her spine stiffened as eyes narrowed suspiciously, but she did not speak aloud to identify him as a clan mate. He might have been a loner she had a scrap with over a kill for all the others knew, and she would keep it that way.

Still, she was uneasy as she slunk toward the old pale woman, closer than the others were sitting, marking her detachment from the assorted strangers. Where were the ones who had pledged camaraderie that day near Halifax? Vesper wasn’t sure what to do anymore, other than sit quietly and listen and quietly nurse her own vows and prepare to carry them out.

There would be some nobility today to justify the blood spilled.

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