6 July 2012
A great, grey wolf howled into the moonless sky as the rising sun lit the horizon ablaze. Her mournful song sent a chill into Joha's heart, he was sunken with regret, grief and tainted with relief.
He had been in the Princess' imprisonment for mere days, but the separation from Lunê had been unbearable. The grey she-wolf turned her violet eyes away from the sky for a moment, studying Joha's defeated features. Her chest filled again, releasing another howl into the dawn.
It had all been for nothing, the location of his brother, Mónne, and his Image, Ryu, was still unknown. He was no closer to freeing them. And his chance to kill the Princess had slipped through his fingers, slipped through Lunê's paws...
He looked at Lunê, envying how she could express her emotions so purely. He knew her howl as well as he knew his own voice. She sang out into the new morning, releasing their failures, preparing them for a new day.
He sat back to admire her beauty when the voice of another wolf made him jump. Lunê looked back at him in surprise, it was another wolf-image, not just a wolf.
The grey she-wolf began to pace as the dawn air filled with the other's song. It was deeper, rougher and yet cut through their sorrow with a summer breeze's freshness.
The howling stopped, Lunê couldn't help but throw her head up in reply. The stranger was closer the next time he howled to her, soon they would be upon them. Joha subconsciously gripped his sword as he turned to the sounds of the approaching wolf and human.
The woman that emerged from the trees had startling green eyes and short chestnut hair that bounced around her face. Her wolf-image prowled at her feet, his copper fur glistening in the fiery morning light.
"You should be more careful, Joha," The woman smiled, fingering the bow on her shoulder, "Your wolf will have the Guard upon us by noon if she carries on like that."
Joha's eyes narrowed, searching for a name that matched the familiar face, "Trixy?"
The woman grinned, "Thought I was dead, eh? Good, I don't need a fan club."
"Where have you been?! Our Mentor - he, he's -"
"Gone, I know," Trixy's moss-green eyes wandered away from his to look at the two wolves cautiously examining each other. Lunê stood taller than the other. She kept her grey hackles raised, while Copper dropped his head and slunk towards her to lick at her dark muzzle.
"But that doesn't matter at the moment," She said briskly, "We've come to help you."
The Image Realm | 4 • Opuss № I