Wild (An Inheritance Fanfiction)

Chapter 14: Blood Red

Sharrag watched as Angela disappeared into the forest. It had been nearly a month since he had returned and Angela had told him that she was planning on joining in the war effort in Surda. He was sad to see her go but happy at the same time. As good a friend she was, she wasn’t a natural part of this environment and always changed up the place a little every time she was around.

With a sigh he turned around and walked back inside the cave where his pack lived. It was a rather large cave, more then big enough for the five Shrrg and their pups, as well as the Urzhad, who he had come to call Mae. At that moment she was in the corner, lying near the stack of weapons that he had started collecting from the many soldiers that had been patrolling the area. In the middle of the cave burned an emerald green fire that sent warmth through the cave. Winter had come early, the first winter Sharrag had experienced and he found himself warming up the cave with the occasional fire. The Shrrg seemed to enjoy the warmth provided by it as well.

To one side two of the Shrrg, Siserl and Craves, were sparring with each other. It was a little strange to see the two wolves fight. They each held a sword in their mouths, pointing to the right. When they struck at each other they would run forward and swing their heads sideways, or rush forward and angle themselves so the blade would pass through the opponent. They never hurt each other badly, which Sharrag was thankful, for they knew how dangerous these weapons were.

The two sparring Shrrg clashed together and the sound of steel rang through the cave. Mae’s ears twitched at the sound and a low growl came from her throat. The wolves backed up from each other before charging again. Siserl leapt above Craves and landed on his back, her extra weight bringing the wolf to the ground. She placed the blade of the sword against his neck and he snorted.

‘Well done Siserl,’ said Sharrag with a nod of his head.

She nodded back, ‘Thanks you.’

 

It helped that they were beginning to add more words to their vocabulary. It was slow work but slowly and surely Sharrag was teaching them, even if he wasn’t the most fluent speaker himself.

Craves got to his feet and took a few couple of steps back and the two were back to sparring. Sharrag turned his attention away from the two and curled up near the fire. Two of the Shrrg were out at the moment, Talismen and Tay’el, while Seriah was getting over her recent pregnancy. She had birthed another four cubs with took the total of the pack up to ten and three, including the other pups.

Sharrag closed his eyes a fell to sleep with what he thought was the rather pleasant clanging of metal against metal.

* * *

After a few hours the green dragon woke again, to a strange scent. With a frown he got up, sending out his mind. He met up with Talismen who he was pleased to find was nearly back at the cave.

‘Do you smell that?’ he asked the Shrrg.

‘Yes, smell like you, but…’ the wolf paused, unsure of the word.

‘Different?’

 

‘Yes. Different.’