Shadewylf

39 - Deserved

Getting into town was easy. Staying there was immensly difficult.

In the forest, where night's darkness could rule unchallenged, Toivo had felt relatively comfortable in his black Pelt. He'd almost been able to let himself forget its true meaning, and how its simple colour had swept into his life and changed it in a heartbeat. The dark was a friendly companion in the forest, content to hide him from view, calming the Shadow twisting within him. It provided safety, and he embraced it.

That safety had long since left him now.

Light pooled virtually everywhere, spilling from the seeming thousands of lanterns cramping the streets. A smart move on the town's part, whether they knew about the Shadewylf ability to blend with dark or not. It made Toivo's Pelt feel more like a blackened beaken, a clear smudge of life against the flickering light.

Concentrating hard, he felt for the ribbons of shadow, pulling them inwards until he felt himself vanish within them. He took another step forwards, and his claws glided in front of the light. His dark cloak fell away and he was visible again, leaving him to grit his teeth and duck hurriedly away from the glow of the lantern.

The others were doing a far better job. Apart from the occasional flash of black crossing a stretch of light, the three wolves he travelled with were doing fine. The only one visible enough to follow so that he didn't lose his way was Jaser, though Toivo was sure that the general was keeping himself fairly noticeable on purpose. He'd seen enough of Jaser to know that he wasn't one to even attempt to avoid a fight.

They slid beneath tree cover as they took a wide turn to round a corner, and Toivo could temporarily relax, becoming entirely invisible for the first time in several minutes. He hung back as the others continued, taking a moment to hold onto the shadows tightly, before moving off again and hoping they would remain.

The street before them led to the plaza. Even without the sun-like glare of the lamps, Toivo would have known that. He knew these streets better than anything. Far better than he'd ever known the cave.

His heart twinged.

There lay the second reason staying here was difficult, wrapped up in the one thought train he refused to follow. His paws itched to turn the other way, to avert his gaze from any of this crawling familiarity, and vanish back into the forest. His black fur seemed to pulse, brighter than all of the lanterns combined. It screamed to everyone who lay eyes on it that he didn't belong here, not in any form, and that he should return to the darkness he came from.

It hurt more that he agreed with that train of thought. In truth, if he would admit to himself, it was why he'd joined the Shadewylves in the first place. Other, more honourable reasons had come later, but it had been this place, this feeling, that drove his first impulsive decision.

For even without his Shadow, he had never really belonged here, and no Pelt would ever have changed that.

A beam of light cut through his veil of power yet again, forcing him to pull his concentration away from those uncomfortable thoughts and focus them into disappearing. At least they were growing close to their destination now. Crossing the plaza would not be easy, but once they reached the other side, there would be no more hiding.

Suddenly, Jaser halted, then slid soundlessly into the undergrowth beside the nearest house. Toivo stumbled, barely preventing himself from falling on his face, before righting himself and picking his way over to where Jaser and the others were already crouched. He winced at the crunch of leaves beneath his paws.

The questino of why they'd stopped built in the back of his jaw. He clamped down on it hurriedly as his eyes reached the same point as Jaser's gaze, and he sank lower into the house's shadow. Two shapes paced there, one with fur that glinted bronze in the swathes of light, the other a paler yellow.