The Hidden Luna

Foreign Lands

The Mainland came into view along the horizon and I could see the relief wash over Arne's as I announced the land. The ride was rough coming here, a thunderous storm fought us almost the entire time and Arne had to patch the sails more than once. The only time Arne traveled with me was during trade season when the cool air calmed the seas so he hadn't seen a sea storm in close to a decade.

He sat down looking through his pocketbook. "If I counted correctly we should have enough to dock our boat at Port Talue and pay for a private carriage to Gunnar's castle. However, we may be able to save a few coins if we can catch a traveling cart heading in that direction." Arne then pursed his lips and shook his head. "No that won't do... We can't give the packs any more of a reason to look down on us. We are already a week late..."

I let out a chuckle as I began raising the sails. "I'm sure you counted our funds a thousand times before we left the island, but if you're worried about our gold, we can save a few coins by traveling by foot through the woods. I'm sure we could get to Alpha Gunnar's castle much faster than a carriage." I grabbed the wrong to tie the sails, catching Arne's glare. "Besides, we aren't here to change their opinion of us. That is something, not even the Moon Goddess' power could influence. We are simply here to calm the pack's on the Mainland. They want to know they can still control us. We are savages at their disposal to fight their wars when they don't wish to lose their own people." Once I finished tying the sails and tossed an oar to Arne. He sat solemnly, taking in my words while staring at the Mainland.

We rowed in silence to the port, knowing we were walking right into our enemy's hands. We lost far too many warriors to senseless wars these packs called on us to settle. All over simple disputes over land or mineral, we have given too much blood for packs who would never come to aid. I was determined to free my people from under this 'alliance', I just needed to secure a stronger bond with the north. My pack's freedom was finally within reach, but for now, Arne and I had to play these games.

As we approached the docks of Port Talue, the bustling and liveliness of the port folk died down into hushed whispers surrounding us. Children were pushed behind their mothers, wives hid behind their husbands, and men pushed their families off the docks and into any building close to their proximity. I felt the weight of their fears and hatred stifling the air around us, but Arne's hatred grew stronger. I could feel his aura darkening as he hung his head low, beginning to ready our supplies for land travel while I hopped out of the boat to begin tying it for docking.

"Maybe their fear of us will save us the docking fee." I tried to lighten Arne's mood, which worked for a moment.

A small chuckle came from him before he shook his head. "Not likely." He jerked his head in the direction behind me. I turned to see four rather large fishermen walking toward us. "Please, let me handle this." Arne pleaded with me, leaving the boat to join me on the dock.

I hesitated for a moment, contemplating my options. When it came to dealing with the Mainland people, my approach was far more aggressive than Arne's. I hopped back down into the boat, looking up at him from the corner of my eye. "Greetings, gentleman." I watched as Arne bowed deeply to the men before him as they reached our ship. They glanced between the two of us before settling on Arne. The way he bowed to them caused my stomach to drop, but I knew it helped the fishermen feel slightly more at ease. "We are here from an island about two days travel east with an invitation to Lord Gunnar's Estate. We were hoping to keep our boat docked here for only a few days to attend the future heir's ceremony." Arne was speaking of Alpha Gunnar in the human's tongue despite the men being wolves. I glanced over at the men, they glared at Arne with disgust as if he was beneath them.

"40 gold per night." The gruff man in the front spat at us.

Now I felt the rage seeping off Arne at the man's blatant disrespect towards us. "Now gentleman..." He began, his voice filled low and deadly, causing the three men behind the one who spoke to shift uncomfortably. "Last time we were here it was only 10 gold a night."

"Taxes are a b***h, arent they? You can give thanks to Lord Gunnar for the upcharge on docking here." The man grumbled, smirking as he looked down on Arne. "Now, you can pay up...or find yourself another port. I hear Port Lyka is cheaper."

I sighed and pulled myself up on the dock before Arne could speak. I stood towering over all four of the men, the three backup men take a step back while the man who was doing all of the talking cast his gaze down from mine. "We will pay 25 gold a night and I'll be sure to let Alpha Gunnar know his people here find his taxes quite greedy. He may even be so disappointed to hear his people are displeased that he may visit you himself."

The leader of the men grew nervous, I could hear his heart quickening as his followers glanced between the two of us. The man cleared his throat and huffed as if trying to make himself seem calmer than he was. I could smell his fishy sweat soaking his tattered clothing, making me peer at him in disgust. "There is no need to have our Lord come all this way from the comfort of his home. 25 gold will...suffice."

I nodded my head at Arne to grab the man's payment and ignored Arne's glare as he handed the man a large portion of our remaining gold. As soon as the man received his gold and very thoroughly counted it, he turned around in a huff and waved the three men off to finish docking our boat. "Enjoy the Mainland...Savages." The man's voice was filled with venom.

We made our way off the docks and towards the road, Arne was silent the entire way. We were stared down by anyone we passed as they tightened their grips on their coin purses and muttered profanities towards us; I knew Arne struggled with the discrimination we faced on the Mainland, as most of my people did when we use to travel here more often. My father stopped bringing large parties off the island when I was just a young boy, maybe 3 or 4 years of age. I didn't remember much, but my father told me the hatred for us grew as the Mainland developed more, and once Alpha Gunnar gained control of the Crimson Blade, there was no hope for the humans or neighboring packs to view us as equals. Alpha Gunnar believed heavily in the caste system and despite my father being Alpha at the time, our pack did not have the means to advance in the ways of the Mainland, so we were put in the lowest rank in everyone's eyes.

I knew we didn't have nearly enough to pay for a carriage and even if we did, no one would be willing to travel with us. We'd be lucky if even a servant's wagon would allow us the space and I knew Arne was furious over this.

Once we reached the outskirts of the Port's town, I made my way a few feet into the dense forest and begin putting our bags down and undressing. "I can't believe we have to resort to this. I should have let Ulrich come instead of me, seeing our pack treated like this is asinine. Simply because we don't use oil lamps, and spend fortunes on an expensive cloth to wear! Did you see how that fisherman treated us? His clothes were more tattered and ripped than our boar skins! He reeked of p**s and s**t! We aren't the freshest smelling due to our travels, but no one in our pack has ever been that foul-smelling!"

Arne began his rant as we went about retying all of our belongings into bags we could carry while running. "Honestly, it's as if they had no idea who you were! If any other Alpha docked there they would have been given space for free! Using the excuse of raising taxes to raise our price by 30 gold! No port would ever charge 40 gold a night!"

"I would expect nothing less of Alpha Gunnar to raise taxes to an absurd amount to keep his lavish lifestyle. Besides, we will only need to play nice for a couple more trade seasons." I glanced at Arne, his head turned away from me. Without a response from him, I changed the topic. "Let's hurry towards the castle, we want to try and make it there before nightfall."

---

We had been running for nearly 10 hours straight, I could tell Arne's wolf was beginning to grow weak; he was having trouble keeping up with us. I had underestimated the distance between Port Talue and the Crimson Blade's castle as night had already closed around us long ago. We were on the territory though, as the faint scent of other wolves filled my nose. I was surprised we hadn't run into a border guard yet, but at least we didn't have to deal with that yet. I began to slow my pace, knowing we'd have to make our way toward the road. We already made it too far into Alpha Gunnar's land as wolves, the last thing we wanted was a misunderstanding and be mistaken for Rogues attacking.

I was just about to turn back into my human form, before suddenly hearing twigs and sticks breaking in the distance to our left. Arne turned toward me, his wolf c*****g his head waiting for my response.

Figuring it was just a guard returning towards his post I had figured it would be best to turn back into a human to show we meant no threat and explain why we were here. Arne followed my lead and once we turned back, he worked quickly to fish out some clothing to cover ourselves. The sounds became louder and before we could finish tying our belts a large black wolf came bursting through the treeline in front of us immediately halting at the sight of us.

The confusion and shock in the wolf's eyes matched my own. I had not expected Alpha Gunnar to be this far out of his home. I then saw flashes of anger and panic appear as he looked around us. I slowly bowed my head, Arne following to show respect. "Alpha Gunnar, I did not expect to find you this far from your castle. I apologize for our ill-mannered behavior. We were unable to procure a carriage to bring us to your home for your son's ceremony and I did not wish to disrespect you further by missing such an event so I thought traveling the woods would be the safest and fastest option, but it appears your land reaches further than we anticipated and we were just making our way toward the road so we may arrive more respectably as not to raise any alarms." I could see Arne staring intensely at the ground, as he pushed a bag near me.

I grabbed it and fetched an animal hide from it to offer Alpha Gunnar, but knew he would decline. As I took a step toward him I heard a low growl from him just before I was hit with the scent of blood, but it was as if the blood was mixed with starfruit and lilies. I stopped in my tracks and studied Alpha Gunnar looking for the source of blood, but his fur was immaculate. That's when I noticed he wore a pouch around his neck. It was wrapped around his wolf's neck tightly as if he wanted his fur to hide it. I glanced at the dense forest behind him, and back at the Alpha wolf before me. His eyes glared at me, full of anger and disbelief, still not turning into his human form.

I took a step back, giving Arne the animal hide. "I see I have overstepped myself. My Beta and I will head east toward the road and meet you at your home."

Alpha Gunnar's ears twitched slightly before he gruffed and walked a few feet ahead of us. Only once he had made some distance between us did he shift into his human form. He kept his back toward us and barely looked over his shoulder as he spoke. "Nonsense... What kind of host would I be if I made my guests walk barefoot when we can run together." He paused and began walking forward. "Just keep your distance, I'm not the type to enjoy sharing my space."

With that, he rushed forward toward his home. I looked back at Arne, who shot me a worried look. "I suppose we should start moving again." Before we followed Alpha Gunnar's trail I took moment to let my eyes linger in the direction where he had come from and I couldn't help but feel uneasy.