Shadewylf

29 - Mercy

The prisons hadn't gotten any more inviting in Angel's absence.

At least she knew now how the Shadewylves had got her in there. The Glitterwylf had followed them down here, her magic carving away the bars with a crash that felt unnecessarily deafening. Montasir might have called her Faye, but in Angel's crushed, fearful state, her ears had lost the ability to focus, and so it could easily have been something entirely different.

Then, with a single flick of her pink tail, the bars had risen to seal them all in once more. Thea had always performed plenty of Glitter magic for all the Twilytra to see, but the ease at which this Faye shifted the rock held a certain fascinating quality.

Not that Angel cared; not then, and certainly not now. Now, she was watching the sun creep ever further across her fur, revealing another beautifully bright and clear summer's day. Another day she was missing, trapped far below the earth's surface.

It was midday now, perhaps even tipping into the afternoon. Aside from a depressingly short conversation through the wall with Fiammetta, she hadn't moved from her current position. The cold of the stone was beginning to numb her flank.

There was no magic rock-carving tool in here anymore. No Toivo coming to save her. Only endless rock and dust, the march of the bulky guard outside, and the single lantern, relit and glowing persistently in the corner.

Her mind began to drift. From her mind's recesses, hidden for days underneath fear and hatred, emerged the blue-green shimmer of Morgan's coat. She recalled him running, vanishing into the forest as she was pulled away by dark and fangs. With all her heart, she hoped that he had managed to escape, and that he was safe now. He had to be safe now.

She didn't know why, but a part of her cared more for his survival than her own.

Dawn, too. Was she safe? Angel was sure she was - if anything, she was good at staying hidden. She'd managed it longer than any of the other Twilytra, and had kept every one of them concealed as she discovered them. Hopefully she'd managed to keep Morgan safe.

And Alvis, too, her mind hissed, and she was suddenly flooded with guilt for her lack of care for the Thunderwylf Twilytra. He was so easy to forget. She suspected he liked it that way, since he always seemed to keep to himself, but it didn't make her feel any less bad. She prayed for his safety, too. She prayed that at least some of the Twilytra would survive this.

While she waited to die, prayer seemed like a productive activity.

After a long, dragging morning of heavy silence, the tap of pawsteps shot her head up so fast it made her vision sway. Allowing a few seconds of recovery, she paused, before rising fully and drifting to the bars as the steps grew louder.

Everything echoed in here. It made it difficult to pinpoint exactly where the sounds came from, but when she tilted her head to the left, she could just about catch a glimpse of two dark shapes emerging from the tunnel. Forcing herself forward, she strained to see through the bars, anxious for an identification.

Then she recognised them both, and her breath caught in her throat.

Grey eyes. They were the first thing she saw, for they drew all attention to them like magnets, and then instantly made her wish that she could look away.

Yet she couldn't help but stare. The prisons seemed an odd place for the wolf in charge to visit.

But it wasn't his appearance that made her gasp, staggering backwards. It was the wolf beside him, and the colour of his eyes, glinting in the pooling lamplight.

Blue.

Angel had never seen a wolf with blue eyes, not before him. They always shone with hope and fierce determination. She had thought that she would never see them again, that the light had been sliced from them, but now they shone clearly before her. Right beside the wolf she expected should be killing him.