Her dream was like the embers of the small cave fire.
Antoinette stared down at it. The red was luminescent, like fire. She felt powerful in it.
She ran through the alleyways, feeling as if she might suffocate. She remembered as she stared up at the fire of her cell.
Terra wondered what the dream meant. She stared up at Winston a few hours later. At the precipice of the dark jagged peak, just before the smooth stone landing upon which Terra stood, was what appeared to be the giant mouth of an enormous beast. It was unencumbered by moss but the landing looked as calm as water, as if the cave were dipping its jaws into a pool to cool off before remaining frozen in place. No tree dared stand before the entrance nor inside the cave, only above it, wrapping the wide circle in a halo of light, as if entreating innocent snacks to wander inside.
***
"All we're doing is listening. That's it, no confrontations, in and out no problem. At least, you two are." Jake seemed to eye Robbin a little harder than he did Terra once they had woken.
"What are you looking at me for? I'm not going to intervene."
Jake raised his eyebrows. "Mr. 'I'm protector of the nomads and I'll do anything to make sure they stay safe?' Yeah, sure, you won't be a problem at all."
Robbin folded his arms. "I trust you to lead this operation. I'll cooperate in any way I can."
Even Terra raised her eyebrows. He was with them to get as much information as he could, and if that meant interacting with the wolves, he would do it, and she and Jake both knew that.
The climb had been harder than Terra thought it would be and had lasted two hours. Robbin had been there to catch her if she fell.
"Rowan really did get us pretty close to Winston. We're only about thirty minutes away now," Jake had informed them halfway up.
"Only?" Terra had huffed. Why did these rocks have to be so monstrous?
Jake laughed, undaunted by the jealousy he had bottled in the night before. "Don't worry. If you fall, Robbin will catch you."
She looked back at him. It was true, whether she was an asset or not.
Jake was remarkably accurate on time, though it was the longest thirty minutes of her life. She scrambled, heaved and stumbled over every moonlit obstacle in her path determined not to need Robbin's guiding hand, as the last part was the hardest. By the time they came to a stop she felt resentful toward him for not being as winded as her, and for having to help her on more than one occasion.
"We're here," Jake had said. She didn't know what was so special about Winston except a pile of rocks until she stepped up onto the rock porch which jutted out above them. The mountain still towered high above, blocking the white speckled sky.
***
Now, having arrived, she stared up at the giant cave, much bigger than the one they had slept in.
"Terra, get down!" Jake hissed, pulling her back amongst the uninteresting pile of rocks below.
He began talking nonsense about entrance plans, using rocks for blueprints and advising Robbin not to have any opinions. Terra just peered over the landing at the gigantic opening wondering if a wolf might venture out of it and then get eaten by the cave she was sure must secretly be alive.
"Chances are the wolves are well into discussion by now, but it's mating season so the quicker we get in and out, the better. We don't want to run into any wolves coming in or out to check on their honey."
Terra actually listened in for this part.
"How many will there be?" Robbin asked.
"Winston is only reserved for the alphas of the most prestigious packs, so maybe about thirty," Jake answered.
Thirty. That was a lot of leaders.
Terra peered back over the landing, disinterested again.
"Come on, Terra. Are you ready?" Robbin asked.
She nodded.
"You'll be riding on my back for this one." She clambered aboard peeking over his dark hair.
Jake wrenched a branch off a nearby pine and led the way.
As they approached across the landing, slippery as ice, Terra became irrationally fearful that they might not come back out of the stomach of the cave. Jake and Robbin did not share her fear, as soon they were being enveloped in blackness. They both took off at a run once inside and the only presence indicating they traveled deeper and deeper was Jake's branch of glowing pine needles bobbing up and down ahead.
They stopped twenty minutes later. Jake quickly herded her and Robbin behind a boulder too small for a wolf but just big enough for the three of them. Robbin motioned for her to be quiet before she could ask what was going on. The glowing pine needles reflected off the cave wall and the boulder turning them a translucent green until Robbin hurriedly pulled off Terra's coat to cover it, leaving them in a claustrophobic darkness.
Terra peered quietly past the rock which concealed them as another source of light came into view. It was a white wolf carrying between its jaws a glowing stick of its own and padding nonchalantly past them, panting like a house dog. Terra watched its complete ignorance to their presence. It was so relaxed in the absence of enemies, as if it might jump onto a couch and begin licking its owner's face. Its size gave it away, however.
Then it was gone leaving only the blanket of darkness.
Robbin returned her jacket to her, unveiling the pine branch, and the boys were back to running once more, Terra perched on Robbin's back.
When Jake stopped them before a small opening in the side of the cave wall, Terra shook her head.
"You don't think I'm going to wedge myself in that small space, do you?" she whispered angrily.
"I talked about it during the planning stage," Jake contradicted innocently.
When Terra eyed him, being completely unbeknownst to the fact, he sighed.
"It only lasts ten minutes, I promise. We're very close now and there's no other way to listen in without completely announcing ourselves." When she looked unconvinced he added, "I know my way around Winston very well, trust me."
Robbin went in first, ducking in sideways as the opening was too small to fit both his shoulders. Feeling reassured with his calm, she sidestepped through the crevice herself. When Jake didn't follow, she pursed her lips in confusion.
"Aren't you coming?"
His smiling head peered into the crevice at them. "Who's going to get the wolves to talk if I follow you two? You didn't think I was merely going to listen in as well, did you?"
Terra turned to Robbin. "Did you know his plan?"
"I figured he had some connections but I didn't know if he meant to use them here or not." He shrugged. "I thought this was merely recon."
Terra glanced back at the entrance but Jake's face had disappeared. "Jake?" When no answer came she shooed Robbin forward. "Hurry, hurry, I want to hear what's going on!"
***
It all boiled down to this. Jake hadn't really planned this far ahead.
It had been his idea to gain information from the wolves, so he had to deliver, right? Otherwise, the whole plan was for naught.
He thought it was slightly cute the way Terra seemed concerned for him. What else had she expected? He had told her he could use his connections to get them information, and he could. He certainly hadn't actually expected her and Robbin to come with him, (especially not Robbin) but why not have an audience?
He desperately wanted to give them what they needed: information on the impending nomad attack that he was sure would come. But could he really? The very crevice they were surely now wedged between, watching for him to announce himself, he had actually hidden in numerous times before to watch red eyes. He had only rarely entered the conversations with the wolves himself. But he could do it without Malicion, couldn't he?
He had to, because whether he could actually do it or not, he desperately sought to achieve the status Robbin and Terra had set him to. He wanted to be the good guy.
It was beyond his thought process that he might prove himself to be quite the opposite by pulling his stunt and having them listen. If he had realized it, he might have best hoped that they didn't listen too closely.
***
The long opening ended at a similar opening on the side of a completely different wall. They had been forced to crawl on hands and knees as the opening became smaller and now they lay on their stomachs and peered out.
Terra tried to keep her breathing even, for outside the small box-like opening, far below them, lay dozens of unsuspecting wolves. She hadn't realized she and Robbin had been following the small path at an incline, but surely they had as they were at least ten feet off the ground looking down.
The wolves didn't notice. They growled amongst themselves in a circular cave room, none of them appearing in the slightest bit human—that was, until Jake appeared from a large entryway.
Of course, he had meant to talk to the wolves himself, how could she not have realized? Terra berated herself.
He had said that they would be listening only, not staring down dumbly at wolves that surely had a method of communicating on their own. And that required a nomad to entice them to speak.
"Lord, what is he getting himself into?"
"I don't know," Robbin answered.
***
"I hope you haven't forgotten me already," Jake boldly announced into the crowd of staring wolves.
One of them transformed before him. "Well, if it isn't Jake, friend of the wolves... or so they say."
"Why is it you favor us to your nomad creatures?" Another transformed.
"Yeah, why don't you go home?" another mocked.
Jake swallowed.
As if to make Jake's situation worse, another wolf appeared bearded and witty before him. "He is no friend of the wolves," the wolf asserted.
"You're wrong. I've been here before; I think I can be trusted." Jake tried to sound as ominous as possible, hoping Robbin didn't read too much into that.
"I might have said so myself a few weeks ago. That was, until my son caught you on the outskirts of our territory with a couple of nomads."
Wolves began to hiss and spit at him.
"I think you'll remember my son, Jesie," the wolf man continued.
Jake swallowed once more. What had red eyes always told him? 'Play to the wolves' pride. They'll believe anything you say, and tell you whatever you want.'
"Oh, those two nomads? They're dead now. Haven't you heard? The mighty Robbin, fleeting leader of the nomads, is dead! I left their bodies in the middle of the desert. I'm sure the maggots have gotten to them by now. Because that's all the nomads are: wolf leftovers!" Jake peered around nervously. He had done his best, as gruesome was not usually his specialty.
It worked, and he breathed a little easier.
Another wolf turned human and laughed, and others followed suit. "Perfect! The nomads without a leader?! Even better for the attack!"
"We'll beat them down before they ever know what hit them!"
"The nomads will never want to come out of their houses and go to that stupid witch cave again after we're through with them."
"Yeah, they'll be hiding out." More laughter.
"What do you mean they won't be going back to the cave? Surely that's where you're leading your attacks?" Jake earned irritated glances.
"Why would we attack there? We're attacking their quaint little city of log houses."
"What do they call it? Parantium."
"When?" Jake wondered if he was being too interrogative. He should have known he would blow his cover. After all, he always came with Malicion—always.
"You should know this already. Where's the friend you usually bring with you?"
"The one who brings strange gifts?"
Busted. Jake's heart began to race, not because of his fear of the wolves, but because of his irrational fear of being discovered for what he really was by Terra and Robbin: for being discovered as a traitor.
"My dealings are none of your business—" he tried, but another wolf interrupted him.
"He was here the other day, but you weren't with him."
They would give him away.
"Where's Malicion?" one of them asked.
His world came crashing down with each question. Jake glanced up at the box in the ceiling where he had last seen Terra's staring eyes alone. Now no eyes stared back at all.
All he could think was: what had they heard? Could he be forgiven?
He couldn't process the danger he was in, because he couldn't think the right questions. He didn't even think: but where—where had they gone?
***
"Robbin, did you hear that?" Terra peered around from where she still lay on her stomach, but he wasn't there. Her stomach filled with fright. "Robbin?" She peered down the empty passage. No.
***
Robbin stumbled out of the long cave hallway, from the previous safety of the bay where he hoped Terra had stayed, and into a room full of wolves (and Jake).
"You can't attack Parantium; there are people there: children. The people you want aren't there. They're in the nomad cave!" he bursted.
Jake stared at him mesmerized.
The least surprised of the wolves answered: "you stupid creature. What we want has nothing to do with the nomad cave. What we want is to kick the nomads while they're down. We want to hurt them so badly they can never return. And when there's nothing left of that city, then we'll attack the nomad cave."
They were in trouble.
***
Of course, she couldn't stay while they faced danger alone.
"Robbin!" Terra stumbled after him through unfamiliar passageways, following the sound of his fading footsteps. When she finally arrived at the foot of the bay, saw the wolf towering over him, saw Jake off to the side with nothing more to do, the power was easy.
"Get away from him!" The force came out of her hands strong enough to blow the wolf back to the far wall of the cave.
"That's them! Those are the nomads that disappeared! That's the necklace girl!" she heard a random wolf declare.
And then she heard Jake scream: "Run, Robbin, run!"
She was slammed against his chest, and then they were all three out of there as fast as they had entered leaving the mouth of Winston to gape without them once more.
a/n: I jump between perspectives a little bit and there's a small flashback at the beginning because I wanted to start off the chapter right at Winston. The beginning of the chapter is always the hardest for me, believe it or not.
Hope your as excited to read more as I am to write it! Your continued support is everything to me:)