Lies and Slander

When they returned hand-in-hand, Lara seemed relieved as though she had waited for them like the diligent canine she was.

"Is everything okay?" Myranda asked first before Metas could even breathe in to speak.

"Oh, well... We might have a slight problem with Silas. He's holding up progress" the white-haired beauty replied with raised eyes of suspicion as she looked towards the entrance to the tunnels.

"Did he get out?" Metas and Myranda asked at the same time with different levels of panic - hers far more high-pitched than his.

"No, actually - he wouldn't shut up talking disrespectfully about you, and your dragon friend is holding his mouth shut because it's pretty nasty things about Myranda. It's making the others talk about things. I think maybe you should introduce her as your wife, maybe make it a whole thing? He's influenced others regardless of the fact he is lying - and he is Silas. It's hard to trust a stranger. They at least know you, Metas." Lara relayed with concern.

"Shit." Metas spat with clenched hands.

"Then let me show them who I am. You don't need to say anything to them. Talk is cheap, right?" Myranda said and looked between the two of them as though she had proposed a plan rather than made a statement.

"She's right," Metas nodded, which was like a chain reaction to Lara's double-nod of delight and enthusiasm.

"You can work with me, Myranda. Having you detached from Metas' side to do things will show them you have authority - and you have lots of back-up. Do you really think Jyriah would let someone speak ill of you?" Lara asked as though to comfort her friend,and Luna.

"I'd rather not think of something so unpleasant. It would be a mess for everyone involved," Myranda replied with a scrunched nose like a bad smell had entered it.

"Well it's a good thing he is busy digging with the farmers. We can go and help the females with rounding up cloth and clothes. That's where Jess is, too." Lara offered with a happy look on her face.

"That is a great place to start, thanks Lara" Myranda replied as she approached her closest friend and linked one of her arms around one of Lara's.

Metas felt just slightly offended as his wife and his best friend walk away as though he weren't there at all.

"Okay - bye? Love you both?" He called after them with just a little too much worry in his tone.

The sound of their giggles and the motions of their hands waving him goodbye was all he got for a response as they left.

**********

Metas decided to confront Silas before he did anything else, and as soon as he parted from Myranda and Lara, he made a bee-line to where his nemesis was being held. It was a delightful scene to walk into, too.

Vincent had a scaled tail pressed against Silas' mouth, and practically curled around the prisoner as though he were precious treasure. His attention drew to Metas immediately when the large wolf entered the room, and did not change his form.

"You really want to be thorn in my side, yes? You have my undivided attention now. Let him speak, Vincent. Will you block the doorway?"

The smaller version of the dragon he knew slinked towards the opening and backed up into it until his entire body filled the tunnel that led to the small room.

"Now. What is so important that you need me to come here myself to have a little chat?" Metas asked and took a seat.

"You're leading these wolves to their deaths, you idiot. I wasn't lying when I said my father has massive weapons in there," Silas spoke as though he were going mad, like he had something to offer Metas in order to somehow free himself from this situation.

One last desperate attempt.

"You're cute. We know this already, want to try something else that is worthy of my time, other than you insulting my wife," Metas was clearly unimpressed as his tone came out flat and bored.

"I did that to get your attention," Silas lied.

"You're a bigger fool than I thought you were. You lie so badly. Try again," Metas spoke with a crooked smile.

"Metas. Just let me go. I'll leave you be. It will stop me from yelling anymore, too. Win-Win" Silas tried again desperately to get out of something he knew he was stuck in.

Both the black wolf, and his dragon friend let out amused laughs.

"I will let you go later tonight, Silas. It won't be what you're hoping for, but I will certainly untie you and then tear you to rags in front of out entire little clan here. If you can beat me, you can leave the hive and try to get back on your daddy's good graces."

"You're a real bastard, you know that? Using your birthright as the reason you belong as Alpha. You wouldn't be here if you were some nobody like Myranda."

"I wouldn't need to use my blood as a bargaining chip had you not somehow wormed your way into the ranks of which you don't belong," Metas argued as his anger rose.

"You shouldn't have needed it at all." Silas retorted with finality.

Vincent shook his head and instead of replying to the prisoner before him, he turned to his best friend and merely said, "this idiot has no idea how people work, does he?"

"Only how they breath, bleed, and die. Otherwise, no - he is massive fool."

"At least I can speak well." Silas so foolishly tossed out like it was some sort of well-thought insult.

"You can thank yourself for that, too. I learned to read and speak well through my own hard work. I miss words sometimes, yes. It doesn't make me any less of a male, or a King. It shows that giving up isn't on the menu. As a king, that is most important," Metas replied sternly. Truthfully, he hated to be made fun of when he missed a word here and there, but he didn't need Silas to know that.

"Your opponent is a massive idiot. Even if he were to try to take your place now, I could bring lots of our allies here to take it back. Does he know the Chimeras? Adelaide adores you. She'd come in an instant to eat that insignificant brat like the small fish he is," Vincent added to insult as he kept his purple eyes glued to his friend's gold ones.

Metas let out a delightful chuckle at his friend's words and nodded. "Adelaide would eat him whole. I'd rather like to see that....but then it would take away my fun. You and I are going to dance tonight in front of all of those you hurt and killed to get here, and you will trip and fall. Then, I will know you are sorry for all you have done."

"The only thing I will ever be sorry for, is not being able to kill Myranda that night I had the chance. If you need a female at your side to rule, you don't deserve to be King. Especially a rat like her. She will eventually drag you down, you know. You cannot turn tunnel trash into a gem."

"You would know, wouldn't you little boy? The difference is that you are, and have always been trash. Myranda was a gem thrown into a pile that was called garbage. Don't insult my pack because you happen to be of low quality," Metas relayed with darted eyes and ears that folded back against his head in agitation.

"Metas. Let me put a boulder here to keep him quiet until later," Vincent offered.

"No. Let him scream. Let him yell. His words will dissolve once Myranda and I prove with our actions that we are worthy of the title Alpha and Luna. Her heart is stronger than the lies he spouts."

"Always the valorous one..." Vincent seemed a bit upset to not be able to deny the scum before him an audience, but he trusted Metas more than most of the people in his life. If Metas was sure about this -- then Vincent was, too.

"Come, I could use your help expanding the play area for the pups. They've grown tired of not being able to run around. Jhinto brought some light crystals we can embed into the roots and earth - so they will have a safe place to be children. They've had enough robbed from them," Metas added the last part as his snout turned to Silas and he gave him a deep glare.

"I'd be delighted. Only monsters and fools do not care for their youngest," Vincent replied with the same sort of 'matter of fact' tone that Metas had used.

"You're all going to die- so sure, you may as well give those kids a good time before you fail them." Silas shot out one more time in hopes it would insult them and keep them both in the room with him for just a little bit longer.

It failed. As soon as the last few syllables left his mouth, they turned to leave - and his stomach turned with anxiety and fear as his attention had to draw back to the predicament he was in.