I quickly fell into a habit of only becoming worried when one of the wolves looked in the directions of the demon's howls or screams. I told them that we would rest in the morning, but we wouldn't stop moving at night. They seemed to agree, and that was the plan we carried out.
It was somewhat difficult to see them in the dark, as when they passed through some areas, they appeared to completely disappear. At first it frightened me, but eventually I knew they weren't going to leave. Cana stayed by my side, her shoulders only came up to my waist, so I was able to rest a hand on her head. It was more comforting than I had thought, because when she disappeared, I was still able to feel her warm fur. Ulric took the lead, Tunstall the rear, while Lupus was to my left, Conwenna my right. It was a nice formation, and I felt somewhat safe. Demons were still unpredictable, however.
Lupus tried offer light a few times, but I told him to leave the light orb things behind, as they would only attract attention. He stopped making them after that. Conwenna made me a knife, but I quietly explained that I've travelled longer distances with nothing, and having them around was more than enough.
The only incident that happened that night was when a demon must have gotten too close, and so Ulric cloned himself, and sent the clone into the woods. I was then startled by Tunstall's lightening as it zapped a couple trees, and I heard a demon screech from only a few feet away. The noises happened all at once, and ended up almost falling, but Cana surprisingly held my weight. She helped me calm down, before we began moving again.
When morning came, I let them all rest first for a long time, and eventually Ulric woke and ushered me to lie down, and from there they took turns keeping watch. We all rested for about half the day, and eventually we all began to wake up, and once again we began our travels. The rest of the day nothing happened, nor did the night. However, when it was my turn to rest when morning came, I faintly heard voices.
"...Must not know...his...don't...understand why?"
"...Should kill...free..."
"...Only a boy! How could you say such a thing!?"
"Hush! ...don't want...attention..."
"We can't...anyway...bound to...maybe...Mark...us free..."
I was straining to hear them, but eventually sleep took over, and I heard no more.
When I woke, I decided to let them hunt for extra food for all of them. I ordered Tunstall and Lupus to stay with me, while Ulric, Conwenna, and Cana go hunt. After a certain amount of time, Ulric and Conwenna would switch with Tunstall and Lupus, and Cana could continue to hunt if she wanted. I figured she would be the best because of her speed, and sure enough she brought back the most.
There was a ton of rabbits, a couple large birds, and a deer that the two girls dragged back. From the bite marks everywhere, I assumed Cana crippled it by biting its legs, and Conwenna helped finish it off. I felt like a steak, so I had Conwenna make me a knife, and I began cutting away at the deer. It took me a while to get a nice cut out, and I cut away some of the skin to have a mat to put it down on. The wolves began to eat the rabbits while I gathered some sticks to make a stand so I could cook the steak. I made a makeshift fireplace, and had Tunstall zap it so it caught fire. I set up the steak over the fire, and spun it around for a few hours. My arm was tired, but in the end, it was worth it. I didn't have anything to season it with, but it still tasted amazing. By the time I was done cooking, the wolves had gone through half the rabbits, and had finished off the deer. I had cut a piece too large for me to eat, so I wrapped it up in the skin that I had scraped and kept by the fire, and stuffed it in the outer pockets of my bag.
The wolves reached picked up as much as they could out of the uneaten kills, and carried it as we continued along. The night went by smoothly, there wasn't any more voices when morning came, and I finished off the rest of the steak while the wolves fed themselves. Eventually we made it to the next city, Kahlana. Kahlana wasn't as big as Yüblin, but was known for its fancy parties. I didn't plan on staying anywhere in Kahlana, as I wasn't interested in sleeping around drunk people, and I knew my wolves would attract a lot of attention. Vintsu was the next city, then Tsuahra, and then the capital, Sühama. I found a nice place in a alley between two large buildings to sleep, and that's where we rested for the night. In the morning we left again, and spent a few more days traveling to Vintsu. We stayed at an inn there, along with Tsuahra, and before long, the great walls of Sühama. It was going to be a few hours before we reached it, but I was a little excited. Sühama was known for their OM, Organization of the Mark. It was a place where people with Marks gathered to join the organization where they were deployed to different cities to protect the people there.
Not having a Mark of my own, I had no reason to join, but I was hoping to find someone there. I was told by someone that I had later found, who claimed to be from the same village as I, and knew my father. He had told me that one of my relatives lived in Sühama, and so here I was, hopefully going to be able to have a home and not be harassed by others. Where I can live the rest of my life as normal as it can get for a boy my age.
Cana seemed to feel my mix of excitement and nervousness, and she nudged my leg, licking my hand. I took a deep breath, and continued forward, the other four keeping their same tight circle around me. We passed by a ton of people, who looked at my wolves, and then my wrist, and their expression turned from curiosity to disgust. Cross breeding hounds was frowned down upon, but I was thankful for my newfound friends, and wouldn't give them up for anything. I could tell that Cana was affected by the looks the most, and I patted her head, comforting her as she did me.
Time passed as it always did, and soon enough I was in line to be checked into the city. It took a while, but at some point I was face to faee with one of the guards, who looked down at me, and glared at my wolves, "what is your business here?"
"I'm looking for Joshua Torrent? It's important."
The guard narrowed his eyes, "yeah? Tell me, how do you know that name?"
"Someone told me I needed to find him, I don't know who he is though. But it's important!" I didn't want to tell him I was related, seeing as the guard got really defensive about it. He continued to glare at me before turning and calling up, "oi! Someone here wants to see the boss."
There was some shuffling around from inside the walls, something that confused me as it seemed like something that I shouldn't be able to hear. Cana's tail wagged a little as I looked in the direction from where the noise came from, and I got a feeling she was up to something. Moments later, there was another man standing in front of me, looking very pissed. "Follow me," was all he said before leading me into the city.
The buildings were taller than any other, and the amount of lights was blinding. We weaved around the mass amounts of well-dressed people, as only the richest lived behind the city walls.
Suddenly I was thrown in a ditch, the man tackling me to the ground. My wolves began snarling at him, but he managed to spit at me, "where did you learn that name!?" Ulric and his shadow clone threw him off as the other four formed a half circle around me, growling threateningly.
"I can't tell you, but I need to see him!"
"But you've said you've never met him?"
"I haven't!" I cried out in defense, "but it's important!"
"How important?"
"I can't tell you."
He glared at me, standing while Ulric snarled again, "I'm his second in command, and I handle all outside manners because Master Torrent is a very busy person. Whatever it is you need to tell him, you can tell me."
"No, it relates to him and only him."
"Tell me why you need to see him."
"It relates to his family. I can't say anymore."
"His family is dead."
I paused for a moment before taking a deep breath, "he's my uncle."
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