Chapter 2: Attention Deficit Hazardously Disorderly

Like water, four years slip by.

From my view on top of the barn, I can actually see out over the tall and lengthy wooden wall shielding the entrance to our enormous cave we use as a den.

Within this cavern are four buildings, the large mansion with halls going deep into the cave, a store house with attached workshop, an armory with a lookout tower on the second floor, and this barn.

Down below I can hear the other pups laughing.

Grey, Red, and the wild one of our white furred, twin cousins, are racing in attempt to catch a stray chicken we let out of the pen.

Grey, as always, is taking the event way too serious. I’ll show him the consequences of trying to show off for the girls. They round the store house and are heading straight to the barn, Grey the clear leader.

As he circles the barn and comes back to the front, he finally manages to grab the feathered prey.

I jump down without a sound.

Grey only gets out, “Hey I caught WUAAAAH!”

I land right behind him and grab his tail to give him a good zap.

After catching the thrown airborne bird, I turn to grin with victory at the girls.

Wild White stops to laugh but Red charges forward with a hungry grin. I’m tackled to the ground with such a force that my breath is knocked away.

Looking up I see Red, cheerfully straddling my chest, chicken hanging limp by the neck in her mouth.

With tail wagging she raises the bird into the air, “Haha I win!”

“Hey sis, we weren’t going to kill it.”

She raises an eyebrow and cocks her head sideways, blood drips on her chin, “Then why chase it?”

Grey walks back over, “How was that remotely fair brother?”

I narrow my eyes at him, “It’s only as fair as how fast you can run.”

“Hey!” shouts a loud angry man, an adult…brown and black tail?

Ah, this must be Ptah the blacksmith. Mother always complains about how his hammering away in the smithy ruins her drinking time in the study.

After walking over he sighs at the scene, “It had to be you pups?…. Your mother is going to yell at me over this…”

He examines the chicken, “Hunting isn’t for sport, that’s a human thing. We of the beast race must be quick, sneaky, and strong all at once to bring down our prey as fast and efficiently as possible and only as much as we need for food. Now, all of you inside and clean up before dinner. Black one, you stay.”

The others laugh as they run in.

Ptah looks down at me with a stern face as if sizing me up. I straighten my back, but coming in at only waist high to him is kind of depressing.

Cutting him off as he opens his mouth, “Hey what tribe are you from? I haven’t seen any other black tails.”

Once more he sighs with slumped shoulders, “What your mother told my wife might just be true. I’m from a Jackal tribe, you should’ve seen my sister and nephew around somewhere in here by now. I just want to make sure you’re not hurt, I saw you jump from the barn roof.”

I pat some dirt from my tail, “Oh, I’m a bit dusty but I’m just fine.”

He raises an eyebrow, “How?”

What do you mean how? Ah, I suppose three floors is pretty high up, “I’m just light?”

He grabs the scruff of my jacket with one hand and lifts me up to eye level with him, “No, in fact you’re a bit big for your age.”

Slightly nervous, I accidentally send a shock to his hand, he drops me of course. My frizzy black tail turns fluffy like a black cloud and my fall is broken just before hitting the ground.

By the time I’m on my feet again my tail is back to normal.

He looks over my shoulder at it, “Can you do that at will?”

What’s with all the questions, “No, it just sort of happens.”

“Hmm, and the shock?”

I have no idea how that works, “Um, I can’t do it a lot, and I have to touch someone to do it.”

He nods his head, “Instinctual magic huh, given your parents I suppose it would be more surprising if you couldn’t do this much at least.”

Yup, he’s lost me.

Seeing the confused look on my face he laughs, “Don’t worry about it, keep practicing and I’m sure you’ll be a big hit at the academy in Yoden. Anyway, hurry up inside, I have a chicken to sneak to the kitchens.”

I nod and run back to the main hall. The large wooden doors are a pain to open alone.

My lonely struggle is interrupted by Mother shoving them open from the inside.

“Fuzzy, you smell like chicken blood too. Hurry up to the bath.”

I avoid looking at her as I abandon the door and take off up the stairs towards our family’s private hall.

At the end of the hall is a sliding paper door framed by a wooden square archway painted red, a torii, mother calls it. The bath chamber is decorated in the style of mother’s homeland.

Just inside is a large, stone fox statue, the guardian of mother’s private hot spring. Vents to the outside keep the air breathable, adjusting them lets the steam build up. It feels so natural to me, like I could join the swirling clouds.

A giggle from my sister reaches me.

She is laying on a warm rock watching Grey try to hold his breath under water. The white twins are here too. The wild one counting on her fingers while the shy one admires Grey.

I sneak up and grab Wild’s shoulders, “Hey! What’s he at?”

She jumps a little from surprise, “You jerk!”

So she said but she is smiling at me.

“Ah I lost count!”

As she looks back at the pool I plop my chin on top of her head, “meh, the show off will get over it.”

The other twin mumbles, “He’s not a show off.”

Red cuts in, “Hey what is it called when you do a trick in front of others watching?”

My thoughts exactly, “I believe it’s called showing off.”

Wild giggles under me.

Grey pops up, taking a deep breath, “how long was it?!”

He frowns seeing my position.

Mother speaks up from somewhere behind me, “Too long, you’re not done washing yet?”

Red hops up, “We’re done!”

“Then get to dinner, and next time little miss, don’t kill any of my chickens”

“Yes mother!”

Red scurries out the door, the shy twin following behind.

Their personality is the only way to tell them apart but it is surprisingly easy.

The one under me reaches up and pats my head to signal she’s leaving. I try to hold back the wag in my tail.

The moment she is out the door, Grey declares, “Black, they’re mine!”

“Huh?”

“The twins, I saw them first.”

He’s staring me down, but no matter how serious he seems I really don’t get it.

“Brother, they’re not slices of meat or a new toy.”

Mother cuts in, “Exactly, now hurry and get dressed Grey. Really you’re too young for this argument. And I doubt your grandmother Hyndla will allow you both twins in the future anyway. She’s always thinking in terms of what’s best for the bloodlines.”

Grey angrily splashes his way out of the water and dries off to get dressed.

Before leaving he turns back to address mother who is trying to get the dirt and blood out of my hair, “Mother, what makes the best hunters?”

Her fingers stop scrubbing my head.

Really Grey, just go eat already, I was enjoying that.

She blows a strand of her red hair out of her face, “The silent predator of course, the prey never has the chance to flee or fight back. Hurry up, you’re going to make me late. I’m supposed to be the image of a perfect woman…never mind that nonsense. 200 years I’ve overseen this den and I can’t believe how unprepared I was for my own children.”

She returns to helping me get rid of the chicken blood smell while muttering to herself, “This is your fault Skoll, you should have knocked up your stupid, feather headed wife…”

I can’t hear anymore as she pours water over me. She’s careful to sit to my side in order to avoid the small sparks discharging from my tail in the water.

Grey is gone, I ask mother while the water runs down my bangs, “Will I be going to the Academy in Yoden?”

Mother sighs once more, “Go rinse off.”

As I hop in the warm pool she answers, “That sort of thing will be decided once you leave this place, which won’t be for a few more years at least. Worry about your first day of lessons tomorrow instead.”

“How much longer till I get a name?”

She takes a seat on the warm rocks alongside of the pool, I guess she’s given up making it to dinner on time. She lifts the bottom of her flowing red kimono and dips her pearl white legs into the pool.

“I’ve told you before, you forgetful pup, you’ll be named once you pass the den’s ritual for all noble born pups.”

Ah…I heard instructor Ragna whispering about this recently, ‘it’s easier to get over the ones that die if they don’t have a name.’

She looks up at me with a new intensity, “Don’t you dare fail my fuzzy little troublemaker, you’ll break your mother’s heart. Ragna has a big mouth.”

Dipped in the edge of the water are mother’s…tails?

Three reddish tails with glowing white tips are swishing the water’s surface, candle sized, white flames dancing above them. The flickers take the shape of small fish as they spread out over the pool. The slight shifts in the flame colors from white to blue and red give the fish the feeling of living things.

Trying to pick one up as it hovers along the surface near me, I cup up the water below it. The fish makes a small circle in my hands before fading away into the steam from the pool.

Mother is smiling brightly at me from the side, “You won’t learn that in the Academy my little darling.”

The next morning, in a room on the first floor.

“Everyone hurry and sit down already!” Pleads Ragna, her voice beginning to crack.

The room is large enough to fit all the other pups within a year of age from me. While the wall with the door is wood, the rest of the room seems carved into the mountain cave. The other pups are slowly finding a spot to plop down for our first day of group lessons.

Sister waves to me, an incredibly bright smile on her face, “Over sleep again brother?”

Wading through the crowd of tail chasing, idiots, I find Grey seated between the twins, with Red next to the shy one.

Another fine chance to mess with older brother!

I step very close to him, he barely dodges a face full of my sparky tail, and plop down on top of the wild twin once more. There’s a slight twitch of his lip but he remains silent. The girl under me flicks my ear and points at sister.

Red looks annoyed for some reason, ah, I suppose I kind of just ignored her greeting.

A stern woman’s voice, “Ragna, get these pups under control already.”

Oh, she is the twin’s mother… She is glaring right at me. Getting off her daughter might be a good idea.

My slow movement over to Red’s side while smiling at the white tail adult earns me a quiet laugh from Wild, success!

Once seated, I place my fuzzy tail in Red’s lap, “Good morning sister.”

She pouts but it fades as she absently strokes the black fur.

Ragna decides to just start before I can say any more to cheer up Red.

“Today is your first lesson of many as a group here in the den. While I’m sure all of you have questions, please quietly listen and ask your mothers later.”

Ahh, having my tail pet feels great, I wonder if regular wolves enjoy this.

“Ehrmm.”

Oops, the twin’s mother is glaring at me again. Ragna is nervously waiting for my attention before continuing.

“Anyway, before you learn anything else, you must learn who you are yes? Today I’ll cover the basics of who and what we are.”

Bored is what I am, Mother taught me this already.

Some war happened hundreds of years ago, we won. We being the beastmen race in simple terms; I don’t remember the fancy real name.

Mother says my father’s tribe, the northern white wolves of the wolfmen clan, led many other tribes from other clans to victory.

Now we control the center of all the known continents. East of us are humans, to the West are the demons. North are free lands for some reason, and South are more beastmen clans under my family’s rule.

“Arghmm!”

Ahh, they’re staring at me again. Why waste everyone else’s time just for me? Get on with it!

A red spark flits within my tail as if to dare Ragna to keep stopping.

While Red pats down my agitated tail fur, the instructor moves on.

“Right, so the important thing to take from this is that within our race, all of you are members of the Lycan Clan. While you come from various tribes, we are all part of the nobility of our great capital city Yoden, under the protection of our glorious leader, the Lord Alpha Fenrir.”

Which is why we are kept hidden in the den for safety till we’re old enough. I could almost see stars in her eyes when she talked about Yoden, it should be a great city. What makes father so glorious anyway?

Is she going to say anything new?

“That’s all for this first lesson!”

Guess not.

“Be sure to ask your mothers tonight about your tribal heritage.”

Ragna is smiling; perhaps she enjoys teaching boring things.

The twin’s mother stands, “Everyone is to meet in the center courtyard for the second part of today’s lesson. Go on, get your butts moving!”

Ragna looks apologetic that she forgot to give these instructions.

After a race of a few dozen children out the front door, all of us stand outside the big house facing Ptah. A couple of female guards standby with barrels, hopefully its food, lunch should be soon. I wonder if Ptah is really the only male in the den.

Ptah clears his throat, “Ahmm, alright pups welcome to the second part of your first lesson. After who you are comes where you are.”

He waves towards the large, black wood gate in the massive wall shielding our den from outside. As they slowly open, I get a better view of what I could barely glimpse at from the barn roof yesterday.

We see the massive black pine trees reaching far above the cave ceiling. Each one has a trunk larger than the guard tower; the needles look longer than I am tall.

“Behold the Great Black Wood, home to creatures so dangerous, no one would dare step within twenty miles of it. This is where our great capitol has chosen to hide and protect our future leaders.”

Leaders? The brown tail pup over there is trying to scratch his ears through his nose.

“Here you will learn how to defend yourself from would be assassins, large animal attacks, and politicians.”

The last one sounds especially dangerous, is it like a poisonous rat?

From behind us I hear mother, “Ptah, stay on track please.”

When did she come out?

Ptah rushes to continue, “You must also learn to hunt, and harness your own talents. Weakness is absolutely not tolerated as a noble of the Yoden beasts.”

This time he signals to the grey tailed, guard women with barrels. They begin handing out sticks to everyone, each one is carved flat and about an arm’s length.

“Almost anywhere you go in our Terra, swords will be the most common weapon, whether you’re looking to buy a weapon or needing to defend yourself from an attacker. The best way to familiarize yourself with a weapon it to first, give it a try yourself. We will be focusing on this for the next month.”

Bla bla bla, only two things matter. First, I have a stick. Second, I have a grouchy older brother.

While Ptah begins to lecture on the names of the parts of a sword, I lightly jab Grey’s leg.

He looks at me with a raised eyebrow. Please, like you didn’t see this coming.

This time I poke a little softer at his elbow.

He completely ignores me, this is new…. Ah!

I whisper, “Hey, are you practicing to be an expert silent hunter like they mentioned yesterday?”

He doesn’t face me but nods, intent on hearing the lesson.

“Then allow me to help dear older brother.”

Now I poke somewhat hard, directly at his side below his ribs.

Grey turns and glares, I know he’s at his limit.

While staring him in the eye with a smile I slowly raise the stick and bit, by bit, move it towards his face. I stop just before contact; he looks like he doesn’t believe I’ll actually do it. Really, do you not know your own brother?

I sharply jab it right at his nose.

“Enough!”

He flicks my strike away with his own wooden sword and swings to crack my head open.

The first strike seems slow so I step to the side and try to smack his chest with the flat side of the wood.

However Grey dodges so fast I can’t even come close.

I follow up with a series of wild swings with the sword in one hand, each time he either blocks like he’s been training for a year already or side steps it.

The other pups moved out of the way and are cheering us on, Ptah is simply watching alongside Mother.

I make the hardest swing I can at Grey.

He grins, “Too slow little brother.”

My Attack is harmlessly glanced away with the side of his stick and he counter swings for my face.

Every strand of fur on my tail tells me I can’t dodge this hit.

The edge comes down; I keep my eyes open, refusing to flinch.

But the wooden blade simply passes through a black cloud where I once stood. I reform on the ground behind him in time to watch him stumble and nearly fall.

Grey looks back at me furious, “Not fair.”

With a shrug I look over at Mother and Ptah. He is looking like he expected this, must be what he said yesterday about insticktive magic or whatever. Mother is smiling and gestures at me to get up.

I hop to my feet and renew my charge at brother. This time before he dodges I send as much energy into the blade as I can, it feels like it doesn’t want to let me however.

Despite my excited, sparking swing, Grey still grins and dodges so fast it almost seems a blur.

He comes at me from the sides and behind. While blocking as best I can, nothing can hit him. Abandoning defense and trusting my black clouds, I make an all-out attack.

I focus on feeling his movement more than seeing it, he’s easy to guess.

After another of his swings passes harmlessly through clouds, I reform where he dashed to for his next strike catching him off guard.

I take a stance directly in front of him and use both hands to upswing for his chin with all my strength.

This time he doesn’t manage to dodge but still blocked the attack.

That’s all the chance I need! I deliver a kick square in his chest sending him stumbling back.

Still he doesn’t fall.

Both of us are breathing heavy … really, is it lunch yet? Grey also looks tired and ready to be done, walks towards me.

Ptah calls out, “Not bad you two, but”

Red interrupts, “I wanna play too!”

To my horror she is running full speed ahead at us, sword raised, fully ablaze with red fire!

She takes a fast, crouching stance upon reaching us and makes a noisy sideways swing.

The flames come fast at our heads, Grey and I both block only to be thrown off our feet and onto the ground.

I quickly brush off the burning wood coals from my chest.

Red looks at the charcoal remains of her sword, barely enough to hold in her hand.

She cries, “Mister Blacksmith it broke!”