First Move
1302 Words
I didn't sleep that night.
I wasn't forced to remain in my room by Lucian, but I didn't leave it right away. I watched the dark horizon out there, outside his territory, for a long time.
The atmosphere was something different here. In some ways heavier, in others more safe than anything I knew in Shadowfang Pack for the past few days.
I heard the door open quietly behind me.
Lucian walked in.
“Come,” he said, “you should come.”
I turned to him.
“Where?” I asked.
He didn't respond in a straightforward manner.
Rather, he said, “Your first lesson.”
I had to tense my chest a little bit.
I don't want to be trained, I said.
Lucian's eyes never wavered.
“Yes, I agreed to the alliance,” he replied. “This is a part of it.”
I didn't immediately answer back.
I wanted to say no part of me.
Yet, there was a portion of me that was already aware of what was to come.
Slowly, I followed him.
We walked down a long corridor in the stronghold. There were guards on the walls and they all retreated when Lucian came.
No one asked him any questions.
No one stopped him.
Finally, we arrived at a high balcony, which looked down on a valley much beyond his reach.
I noticed activity down there.
Torches.
Soldiers.
A group of fighters taking silent training.
My stomach tightened.
“What is this?” I asked quietly.
Lucian came to a halt by my side.
“So, the first thing you do is…,” he said.
My eyes narrowed.
Before I could ask another question, I heard a horn in the distance.
After that, it all changed down there.
The soldiers moved.
Fast.
Organized.
As they had done this numerous times before.
I watched as Lucian's troops came to a smaller outpost at the edge of a border valley.
My breathing became a bit slower.
That outpost… I recognized it.
Shadowfang territory.
Small supply point.
Not heavily guarded.
But nevertheless, a part of Adrian's pack.
“You're going to attack them,” I whispered.
Lucian didn’t deny it.
“Yes.”
My chest tightened.
I quickly said, “They're not soldiers.” “It's a supply unit.”
“They back the pack,” replied Lucian, quietly.
“That doesn’t make them targets,” I snapped.
Finally, Lucian looked at me.
“That's what you provided me,” he stated.
I froze slightly.
When he spoke them into the world, the words sounded differently.
My information.
The patrol timing.
The entry point that was low.
The blind spot.
I had explained everything to him.
And now…
I saw it being used.
The strike below was quite rapid.
Lucian's men were highly maneuverable. They didn’t stop, they didn't slow. All the steps were well laid out as though they knew in advance where resistance would show up.
Because they did.
I knew they did.
My arms at my sides began to curl.
A guard attempted to fight back down there, but was quickly overpowered.
Another attempted to run.
He was severed right away.
It wasn’t chaotic.
It was controlled.
Efficient.
And terrifying.
The outpost was quickly taken.
No unnecessary destruction.
No random violence.
Just control.
I swallowed hard.
I whispered, “They're never going to make it.”
Lucian nodded slightly.
“That's what I'm saying.”
I glared at him.
“Yes, I used everything you said,” I said.
“Yes,” he replied.
My chest was tensing up again.
I didn’t say anything for a moment.
He wasn't far wrong.
I had given him all that I had.
I was aware of the consequences of my actions.
But witnessing it first hand was a different story.
It was a different way to do it when I was a spectator.
“This clean,” I said in a hushed tone, “I didn't think I'd see it this clean.”
Lucian glanced at me.
“It's never about destruction,” he said. “It's about taking control away.”
I didn’t respond.
His men were already rounding up prisoners and securing the area below.
It was very brief.
Too fast.
Too precise.
I had a little twist in my gut.
“This is only a small outpost”, I said.
Lucian nodded.
“Yes.”
I glanced at him marginally.
“And the rest?” I asked.
He didn’t hesitate.
“Well, it depends on you.”
We fell silent to each other.
Looking back up the valley.
It was settling in now.
All the information that I provided him.
It wasn’t just intelligence.
It was harming my own pack.
Even if I've not been there anymore.
Even if they had betrayed me.
I was feeling my chest getting weightier.
Lucian spoke again.
“Think too much,” he said, “Don't think, don't think.
“You have been thinking right, I said quietly.
He looked at me for a while.
Then He replied, “Good.”
That got me to pause and stare at him.
He wasn't giving me a hard pass.
He didn't comfort me either.
Just observing.
You did good,” said Lucian.
I frowned slightly.
I didn't want to hear that, I replied.
“Yes,” he said, “I know.”
His honesty made it worse somehow.
I started walking back to the valley.
Here below his troops were completing the operation.
There was some smoke rising from damaged buildings.
Not burning.
Just damaged.
Controlled.
Strategic.
It feels like I’m seeing my past disappear, I said quietly.
Lucian didn't respond immediately.
Then he said, “You are creating your future.”
I didn’t respond.
I didn't know which was worse to me.
Lucian withdrew after a few minutes.
“That will be sufficient for tonight,” he said.
I looked at him.
“Enough for what?” I asked.
If you want to know about impact, he said, "you have to do it yourself.
I stayed silent.
He started to go to the exit.
Then he stopped.
“One more thing,” he added.
I turned slightly.
He looked over his shoulder at me.
“You are more useful than you know.”
I didn’t know how to respond to that.
He beat me to it.
I lingered for a while longer on the balcony.
Below: Watching the aftermath.
Thinking.
Feeling.
And not feeling too much.
When the watchtower fell silent later that night, a guard came in to Lucian's hall with a prisoner.
The man was hurt, soiled and obviously scared.
He was from the Shadowfang guard.
He was dragged forward and compelled to get on his knees.
Always calm, Lucian was seated at his side.
I was a little further back, observing.
The guard’s eyes widened when he saw me.
“Luna Isabella?” he rasped hurriedly.
My body stiffened.
“Former,” I corrected automatically.
The guard shook his head rapidly.
“You’re alive,” he said.
Lucian tilted his head a bit.
“Speak,” he ordered.
The guard swallowed his saliva.
“Alpha Adrian…,” he began, gasping for breath. “He said that he issued a search order.”
My heart beat just a little.
What are you looking for? I asked.
The guard glared at me.
“You're a body,” he said, “so it's for your body.”
The room went silent.
My breath slowed.
Lucian's eyes turned a little to look at me.
The guard rushed on rapidly.
“You're presumed dead,” he said. “But Adrian said to them, 'You must get the body back no matter what you have to do.
Slowly my fingers curled.
Adrian…
He was searching for my body.
Not me.
My body.
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