A NEW KIND OF WAR

24 FEBRUARY, WEDNESDAY, DARKEST BEFORE DAWN

Had you ever wanted to go somewhere (e.g. battlefield), and someone sensible told you it was a bad idea (Owen), and you insisted and insisted till you got your way...and then you realized the moment you reached the scene of the crime, I mean the battlefield, that it wasn't anything like what you thought it would be?

That was probably what happened in a nutshell. Turned out that coming out here wasn't exactly a trip to Disneyland. More like hell.

I know my wolf was made for fighting, and I used to think war and fighting were the same thing. But I had never seen a war before.

This war wasn't anything to do with fighting, just destroying. Bell, I mean the one-armed death god, worked quickly for a wolf with only one arm. Even from far we could see the red blaze like a ridge across the forest.

Owen veered off at a cliff where we could watch the villages along the borderline of Cloud Forest's Packlands burn.

Owen was a good guide, not quite as fluent or expressive as Ki when presenting the Alpha House, but he was patient and had a keen sense for important details.

He pointed out from where we watched, how the ridge of flame as wide as the aurora borealis was formed.

"We dug trenches all down along the border and filled them with water to protect the treeline on our side." Owen explained, tracing his finger along the dark quiet edge on our side.

The other side of the fire was crazy, angry red with black plumes, devouring everything in a tsunami wave of heat. It was so hot I could see the air go wavey around the fire.

Meanwhile, explosions like little firecrackers kept going off.

"We also hid explosives around the villages during the first raid." Owen explained, "The fire would set them off and destroy the buildings."

"Now the wolves would be running for their lives to the safety of their own Packlands." Owen explained, "And their packs would be sending warriors out to rescue their wolves, put out the fire, and eliminate the threat."

"But once the warriors arrive, they would only run out to meet with the One-Armed Death God, and then Theo would use his wolf's wind power on the flames. The entire frontline is going to blow up in flames and the packs would have no choice but to set up blockades against the fire to stop it's spread into their Packlands." I couldn't see any of that from where we were, but Owen narrated each step while staring at the great wall of fire stretching out before us.

"What about the warriors and wolves still in the village?" I asked.

Owen shrugged, a shadow crossing his face, "They would be trapped there by the hands of their own pack wolves."

That's why war and fighting were totally different things. There was no honor in war.

I swallowed, "Why are we doing this?"

Owen smiled weakly, "It's Rebel's order. And for the wolves formerly from Cloud Forest, it's their moment of vengeance."

"When the Cloud Forest Pack was attacked by rogues, none of the three packs around them lifted a hand to help them. And the moment the Cloud Forest Alpha and Luna were killed, the three packs took the opportunity to extend their territories." Owen explained, "I've heard many of the Cloud Forest wolves at the underground say that they were conspired against by the other three packs who took advantage of Cloud Forest's misfortune. There is a long history of bitter rivary among the packs in this part of the Red Packlands."

I didn't answer, couldn't answer. We both watched the flames light up the night sky in silence.

The wolves howled in the distance. Not my wolves. Tortured anguished sounds, so it was good that it wasn't my wolves. It would be better if it wasn't any wolf.

"Tomorrow we will return to finish the job." Owen told me.

Surely they had done enough!

"How would you finish the job?" I tried to ask as neutrally as possible.

"If anything still stands, we would tear it down. If there are survivors, we will cut them down. If there are bodies, we tear them up and leave the carcasses behind for their pack to find them." Owen answered quietly, "These were our instructions. We are not to leave anything in one piece."

My teeth were clenched as I listened. I did not have to ask who gave those instructions. I looked carefully at Owen. Why was he telling me all this?

"What do you think?" I asked, "Is this the right thing to do?"

"It is always right for a wolf to obey his alpha." Owen told me, "We are all soldiers. We will obey your orders without question."

When I was at home, I wished they questioned me less. Right now, I couldn't help but wish they'd question me more. Or at least, questioned my Luna.

"So you're saying that this was is happening because I ordered it?" I asked again.

Owen paused a moment to consider my question, he was definitely a sensible wolf, "I know you didn't order it. Perhaps you aren't even aware of what your Luna does when he is here."

"So you decided to tell on my Luna? What do you expect me to do?" I asked.

"It's not my place to tell my alpha what to do." Owen answered, "I'm only reporting the present event to you!"

I searched Owen's face carefully, the firelight from the distance casting an orange glow on everything.

What did Owen expect me to do? It's not like I can withdraw my wolves at this point. It would leave my Luna in a lurch.

And honestly, I didn't have a faintest clue how to stop that fire. How did you stop hell from swallowing the world?

And its not like my Luna ever listened to me either. What could I do to stop him? Cut off his other arm?

I sighed as another round of explosions went off. That was probably the last village.

This was not going to go down well with the High Council.

"We're done here." Owen told me after receiving a mindlink, "Our warriors are returning to base."

"Okay." I nodded, "Let's go back too, Owen."

"Yes, Alpha." Owen immediately got back onto his bike and pulled down his mask. I climbed up on the back seat and held on the the handles.

We rode without a word into the darkness of the night. As we rode away from the blaze, I realised it not only got darker, it got cooler too.

So much for hoping nobody noticed. You probably could see the haze all the way from the Green Packlands.

All the way back to base, I worried about what I should say to my wolves when I saw them again. It's not like I could say, "Good job, guys."

I was supposed to give these wolves a second chance in life. But they ended up as the death god's minions.

Yes, I was upset! Who wouldn't be? But I was also acutely aware that throwing a tantrum would only make my Luna think, {So cute.} And nothing would come out from it.

Plus if I exposed what Owen told me, would he get in trouble?

I stared hard at Owen's back as he rode the motorbike home. Owen's back which cut a strong and reliable figure. He was only a little broader and taller than EJ and Fluffy. Maybe it was because his build was rather close to Harvey's. Yeah, maybe that's why I thought he looked reliable.

Owen, the only normal wolf among my ex-fightdogs. I wondered what his bloodline power was, because he definitely had a strong wolf. A very stable and calm kind of strong wolf.

Why did he tell me all this? Did he think a fifteen year old girl would know what to do about it? Perhaps he was desperate, and I was his last ditch effort to stop the madness.

So he took the opportunity to inform me. Like just drop it off casually while guiding me around the battlefield, "And this is what your Luna has been doing behind your back."

It's true though. Bell was a brilliant strategist. I wished he'd strategize less violent plans though.

Whenever Mum had tea with other ladies, and should the topic drift to the less fine qualities of their mates, the adage thrown about would be, "You can't change your mate. You can only change yourself and your own reactions."

But it's not like I can change and enjoy being evil with him, right?

And it's not like I can let him just do whatever he wanted either. I was the alpha. I should protect everyone's happiness. But I was also his mate. I should be protecting his happiness most of all.

Did starting wars make my Luna happy? Omo. He certainly had a panchent for it.

{Wolves grow fat on war.}

No. They grew fat by spending too much time in our Packhouse Kitchen with Mama Rosa. Ask anyone.

But I had a nagging feeling in my guts that wouldn't go away after that.

"Every generation of wolves would have to face their own war." This was the undisputed truth of our lives taught to us in no uncertain terms at Lycan Study Group. Sometimes a big war, other times a small one. Every now and then a great war, dragging everyone else down to the dregs, and then re-emerging stronger than ever.

Look at Silver Mountain. With every war, be it their own or others, they filled their coffers with gold.

My Dad's generation fought against the native rogues... It was really bad then. But Night Leaf successfully established it's territory and prospered.

My Grandpa Alpha fought the tail end of the great war. He mated my Grandma Luna and their packs merged to become the strongest (Grandpa Alpha's pack was known for its unmovable warriors) and the wealthiest (Grandma Luna's pack had what seemed to be a never-ending vault of treasures). After the war, they became number one in the White Packlands. No other pack could compare - not even while Night Forest continued to bleed red ink in its financial reports for years on end.

Every generation will fight its own war, and should they survive it, they emerged stronger. This was the way of the wolf from the beginning - survival of the fittest.

I wondered when I had stopped believing in it? Maybe I had been spending too much time with humans. Maybe I had lived too sheltered a life and never had to face the wild on my own.

Maybe it was the way Dad never seemed to bother with tradition. Or the way we were wolves who seeked the changes of what things could have been.

And just like this, I realized for the first time in my life, what I wanted to change. Dad left his pack to create a new one where any wolf could succeed if they had the ability and ambition to reach for it. A pack where an omega wolf could become a warrior, or a girl could become an alpha.

If I could change any one thing, I wanted to change the war. Don't get me wrong, I'd always love a good fight, and strong wolves were my favourite kind, but I hated picking on the weak, and war sort of was all about that. No pack ever said, "Oh, let's start a war with that really strong pack over there." No. They picked on the minor packs. Or they ganged up together with the other packs and took down the larger one.

No good war strategist would say, "Let's have a good clean fight with an equal number of wolves on each side. No tricks or cheats. No one gets left behind." No. They would dig the traps and set the baits. They would make calculated sacrifices to ensure their final win.

All this to set their pack above all the others. It's programmed in our DNA. We were wolves and hierarchy was the central ladder of survival.

Get to the top or die at the bottom.

And yes, that would be what I was going to change. I was going to start a war that nobody will die in. Not even the omegas.

Meanwhile, my beautiful Luna, my rose and my moon was starting wars left right and centre. I mean, just yesterday night, he released some weird curse in the Black Packlands. And now he started a forest fire in the Red Packlands.

I haven't even figured out what kind of war would result in a death toll of zero yet. Bell definitely had a head start here.

Somebody tell me, how can I take over the world without killing a single person?