Victory's Price

Wolf - Phoenix (Part Fifty - Five)

A.N. As I think it's become obvious, I did not finish in time for the Wattys. It didn't really matter anyway as the wonderful person featured above would have kicked my arse anyway. If you're reading this far (and I love you for that XD) take the time to quickly read her work 'The Explorer's Apprentice' and give her your votes :) You won't be disappointed I promise. x

Chapter 55

He was dimly aware of stopping, of falling, of clutching at the damp ground. Wolf shuddered, staring blindly out to sea. He did not want to close his eyes, he did not want to face the new part of his mind.

How could he have desired this? To have longed for it, to have longed for loathing and hate.

The pressure on his chest refused to ease. It would have terrified him before, but he had become immune to threat. When it came to the Stars, there were no halves. If he was going to die, there was nothing he could do about it.

One breath in, one breath out. His eyes were stinging, his abdomen screaming.

He could disobey no longer.

He had expected to feel fire as he sank in, to feel the sting as he sold his soul. But this was like water, the ebb and flow of hatred, of desire, anger and pain.

They used no words. They needed no words. But he knew. He knew what held him, nestled and trapped. Without will, without choice.

The Stars.

There was no forward, only back. There was no surrender, only death.

He gasped but even his awareness of his own body was becoming lost in the expanse of this greater consciousness.

They called, they beckoned, they teased. Twelve magic men, a hundred players, too many minds. Too many minds in one body.

And yet, how could so many different perspectives demand just one thing?

He did not realise it but he stood.

Months and years of waiting, months and years of wanting. His bloated gaze saw nothing but silver and black, a dozen pinpricks in a sightless night. He made no sign of recognition as he stepped through the blackened spars of a ruined home. He would mourn only if he lived.

xXXx

The door slammed open. She was before even the point of full consciousness but she knew what she was doing.

The king startled. She should have cared.

"What do you want?" He groaned, rubbing a hand across his forehead.

Soft sunlight was just beginning to seep through the cracks in the curtains and she focused on this over her betrayal.

"I have to go." She said. "You have to let me go."

A sleepy female form disentangled itself from her king as he sat slowly up, focusing on Phoenix's dishevelled appearance. She should have cared.

But she did not.

"Where are you going?" He yawned.

Wolf needed her.

"The Stars." She said.

The king's mood darkened.

"No." He said, as blunt as she.

"Wolf will not survive alone."

"I have already sent a man."

Phoenix could have laughed.

"Your man was too afraid to go." She said. "And if he was not, then he is dead."