We were able to travel back quite swiftly. None of our persecutors could keep up with our four legs, and after I put all of the hound and Isa inside my shadow, well… we were literally leaps ahead of them as I dashed from shadow to shadow. But even my st.u.r.dy self gets tired at some point, especially using my magic like this, and with the possibility of finding trouble in the near future makes me slow down to stop and rest, letting everybody out of my shadow as I go under a tree shade, this being the first moment where we were all able to talk without shouts chasing us out behind us.
"Who are they?" Isaac asks as he settles on the opposite side of me, looking wary at the hounds, presumably his lack of trust in magical creatures kicking in once more.
"It"s a long story." I simply say, not in the mood to explain. "But they are trustworthy, don"t worry. Well, most except those two." I say, pointing at the girls who were not paying attention to us, instead having their own quarrel.
We did not intend to stay still for long, our one secret place wasn"t that far, so no fire or accommodations were made as we simply sat down and take a breather.
"Never thought complete darkness like this for so long could be so tiresome…" The red female says, only for the wolfhound to say:
"Were you scared? Want me to comfort you?" She says, brus.h.i.+ng her furry body on the red side.
"Scram!" The other said, earning a laugh from the wolfhound.
…Why does this scene seems so familiar?
They were speaking in hound tongue, so for outsiders like Isaac it only sounded like barks and shuffles and an occasional strange barky laugh.
As I rest and the younger hounds play and the females fought; or flirted?; Isaac sat in complete silence and I knew not to disturb by merely taking a glance at the gloomy glint over his eyes, his mind somewhere else.
But still I curiously wondered…
Was he worried? If so, about what? For the life he left behind, or for the uncertainty that the future holds for him? Either way I had no intention of comforting him, even more because he wasn"t the type who would like such action, it would be like brus.h.i.+ng against his face his own flaws and weakness.
Pressing the weak spot I would say.
So I simply say nothing, enjoying my little break since I was, in the end, the only one really working and running here.
As I was enjoying a bit of morning sunlight pa.s.sing through the leaves and painting the floor with wavy shadows and forms, however, I hear paws approaching.
"King" The old hound calls me with a hoa.r.s.e voice from the side, making me look over my shoulder as he comes closer and sits down in front of me so we could have a smother talk.
"Thank you for this, young king." He says as his eyes quickly pa.s.s over the others. "How impolite of me, let me present myself. My name is Demonpaw and I will do my best to help you deal with these young bloods. They may be difficult to deal with sometimes, but they are good kids, I hope you have the heart to understand them. Come and introduce yourselves!" He says back to the other hounds, unaware that I already knew their names because of the pop up from before.
Well, no harm done in getting to know them a little better right?
"I"m Lightfang. "Says the red female while escaping from the grasp of the wolfhound by kicking her. "And those two are Von and Vok."
"Hm. I"m Palarran Thilgon Mìnaothon, but you can call me Thilgon."
"Hey, what about me?" We all ignore the wolfhound, Swiftpaw.
"Is that an elven name?" Aks the old hound as I nod. After that we chitchat for a while, talking about how I grow on the woods, and how they were raised by humans; except for the wolfhound that, without being asked, told that she felt in love with the red female so that"s why she ended up there, not serving any humans, but trying to help her escape, or rather, taking her away against her will.
With all said and done I thought to be a good opportunity to bring a subject to light.
"Well, since we are here already, how about we decide the abilities that you will receive uhm?" I say, crossing my low front legs and looking at them. "Might as well get that out of the way now than later."
They stay silent, as if thinking, but say nothing in the end, probably unable to decide since they could not tell my skills apart; and since I had no intention of reading my status out loud, I end up deciding for them.
I start with the easier ones. "Vok and Von." They look at me, two almost identical Dobermans that, if not for my status ability, could pa.s.s as mere dogs. Von, the one with the dropped ears, seemed to be the shyest of them, always hiding behind his brother, but since his brother hid as well they end up looking like a pile of fur.
"Since you two are so low level." And naïve. " I will give you my Fire Dash so you can run and escape faster if trouble comes, and… how about Fire Jump too?" A good run away with your tails tuck combo.
"Yeah!" "Cool!" Both say, eager to try, but I wish to end this quick so I already turn around and continue speaking.
"As for you two…" I look over the old hound and the red female, pa.s.sing my eyes over the wolfhound and smirking, as if making sure that she knew that I was not including her in because, well, she was not one of my servants.
She only raises her eyebrows, fidgeting amus.e.m.e.nt, sitting tall even though I won against her in mere seconds, her pride stronger than a little beating could teach otherwise.
Not complaining though, who am I to question after all…
"I think you should have the Dash as well, old hound, and together with that… that"s it, Fire s.h.i.+eld!" So you can keep those two out of trouble if need it be.
"Thank you young king���" He says, polite as always.
"As for you…" I look, standing and coming closer, staring her down and narrowing my eyes- but internally happy that I finally could look down on someone because, you know, I"m as big as a mountain in my true form, so why the h.e.l.l I was looking up all the time because there were so many tall guys around me oi?!
"I don"t want it!" She says, not once pull back by my stare, but I could hear her heart racing faster behind that strong facade.
"Hm… why is that?"
"I came here to become strong on my own. Wasn"t you who said that you wouldn"t protect us? I don"t want your powers, I want to grow with my own strength!" She says, firmly printing her paw on the floor.
"Oh, such n.o.ble words…" I say sarcastically.
I stay still in front of her, staring for a while, and smack her face with my paw with only enough strength that she falls flat on the ground.
Everybody is shocked, some even gasping as the wolfhound starts to growl, looking at the red female that was still paralyzed on the ground, too surprised to stand up as I say:
"And do you think that your enemies will give a d.a.m.n about where your power comes from? You wanted to learn the ways of the world young lady, so here is your first lesson; in a battle there are only two results, you win, you live, you lose, you die, no in between, and if one day you need the power I can give you but you don"t have it it will be too late for regrets. Your death to maintain your pride will achieve nothing, only prove your stupidity. If you have any chance to get stronger, don"t be naïve and pa.s.s the opportunity." I say, letting my word sink in, harsh and sore like the world she wanted to learn and live on, but after the blow was made I softer my voice to say:" But, in the end, using it or not is your own choice, but have it as trump card anyway in desperate situations. Now… Have I made myself clear?"
"Yes…" She says, clenching her teeth, not wanting to admit it, but even the wolfhound stopped to hear my words.
"…Good. Then I"ll give you…" I look over my abilities once more, but there was not a lot I could give her since I have always focused more on the shadow skills and the really good ones would use too much mana that she did not have; like the Fire Army; and some other have special requirements, like the Voice of the Night and such.
An attack would do her good, and it should be different from the others as well so they would complete each other in battle, but the second ability in special makes me ponder for a while.
"I"m going to give you the Lava Breath." Mostly just because you don"t have that one yet. " And… Humanoid Transformation!"
Once again she is shocked, but before she could even complain I hear a ding informing that the skills shared had been chosen and were being transferred at this moment.
They all crouch at the same moment, turning into a ball and grunting, and I quickly a.s.sert the situation with my third eye, and strangely enough my own magic was reaching out for them!
Like red and black veins mixed together they reach out like vines and warped around the hounds, finding ways to get in and mix with their own magic, but only the red was being absorbed as the black veins were left to simply wrap around their bodies.
I was a little worried that something was going wrong there and that I had just killed innocent hounds by mistake, but as I watch I do not let my worry show on my face, simply snorting when the process is over, playing it cool but sighing internally, relieved.
"What the h.e.l.l?!" Says Isaac after witnessing their struggle, especially without contest nor explanation, all just barks and grunts, and yet amongst all the weird things his eyes where fixed on something behind me, and only by looking behind me myself I understand why that place was the one that shocked him the most.
Uhm, let"s just say that… the skill-sharing worked pretty well, well, better than well I would say.