THE FIRE WOLF CRIES

4 MARCH, THURSDAY, CONTINUED

"Had no one ever told you, Alpha Princess?" The fire wolf asked. He quoted in Lycan as he made his heavy-footed approach, his fire crackling furiously even while his voice was quiet and firm, "He who will hold another down in the mud must stay in the mud to keep him down."

Who stopped to quote Lycan in the middle of the fight? He was probably just buying time to swipe off the mud. Maybe his fire couldn't breathe under all that mud.

But since Wolfgang liked to school me so much, I guess I should return the favor. I half-shifted my arm and showed Wolfgang my claws, "Yes, but if one wolf holds another down in the mud, which wolf would win?"

(And yes, I was winging it... again.)

Wolfgang stopped his steps. His flames licked upwards and flickered like the way a bonfire might throw sparks in the wind.

(Flame-retardant gear, please don't fail me now.)

"Naturally, both wolves would lose." The Fire Wolf was confident.

"Wrong!" I made another sudden dash towards the burning wolf, "It's the wolf that doesn't mind getting dirty who'd win."

Slash, slash, ball! Wolfgang shot out the fire projectiles just as before.

I dodged perfectly thanks to the earlier practice he gave me and then I hurtled toward the fire wolf at full speed. When the fire got too hot, my blades shifted into the hard bomb-proof shell at the last minute, bowling Wolfgang into the muddy field under us.

Mud was very flame retardant.

My clawed hand shot out of my shell, the fur on my hand and arm, like my hair, took a metallic blade form. But because the fur was short, it looked like metallic fish scales. Perfectly good and fireproof armor really. Grabbing whatever I could grab in front of me (let's hope it's a respectable part of Wolfgang's outfit), I rolled him over the mud.

The faster I put out the fire, the less likely I'd be burned.

I guess it was too much to ask for him to obligingly lie there and let me roll him over like a piece of banana in chocolate fondue. He grabbed my wrist and flipped me.

He was very successful at it too. I mean, I was a teenage girly girl body, and he was a proud full-grown warrior wolf in his prime. I flipped like a pancake, but this was not my first time being flung in the air mid-fight. My wolf gracefully pulled myself together just like how Cobra would do it, and then curved and straightened and bent again to make a perfect landing with only the smallest splatter of mud.

Wolfgang used a hand to swipe the mud out of his face. He was growling now and his hand was dripping with blood. I looked down at my own claws. It was bloodied too - all the way down my forearm - only his blood though. Not mine. I guess my claws had caught more than just fabric earlier. Opps. And because the little metal scales were now sticking out where it was grabbed like tiny knives, I think Wolfgang's hand was hurting bad by now. I held my claw away from my body. Let's not accidentally scrap myself now, shall we?

Wolfgang wasn't going to let me have another run at him again though. He barged over. Sure the mud slowed him, but he was close enough to only need a few steps. Except that he wasn't a fire wolf anymore - more like a mud wolf.

I think he might have lost his sword somewhere in the last tackle too.

I made another charge at him. It felt a little like playing chicken with a train. Let's see who pulled back first.

Just at the collision point, his fist suddenly engulfed in flames and shot out towards my face like a fireball. He was so lucky I was quick enough to NOT slice off the threat with my hand. I was alarmed enough to, but at the last minute, I realized there was a hand in that fireball and dodged it instead, and then to avoid collateral damage from slamming bodies with the larger wolf, I dropped down low and slid so I slipped through under his open legs.

Grasping desperately at mud, grass roots, small stones, and dirt to stop myself and u-turn, I managed to land a nice hard kick on his mud-caked butt.

He fell face-first into the muddle. SPLAT!

"Chi-ka-boom! Chi-ka-boom!" My wolves screamed.

I stabbed a large blade of metallic dark blue hair into the mud just above Wolfgang's shoulder. It gleamed, like a piece of the night sky. My hair was the exact shade of the sky right now. Lying face down on a big muddle, Wolfgang's body tensed, before he turned his head slightly to see the blade for himself as if realizing. Then he made a short sigh and whispered to the mud next to his face, "It's my defeat."

"SCCCOORRREEEEEE!!!!" screamed EJ through the sound system.

Everyone stood up and hollered like we won the war. My poor wolf ears were pinging again. I felt quite sure that my eardrums were really going to quit on me now. But I won. OMO. I won. I can't believe it.

It's not that I thought I was going to die, I mean I didn't forget for a moment that this was a friendly fight, but this was the hardest fight I ever had. Like I seriously had to pull out all the stops to win this one. All my powers, all my previous fight experiences, like I must have used up all my cards. If Wolfgang had gotten up before my blade went down, I honestly don't know how I could have continued. My hair and claws retracted and I dropped back to sit in the muddle next to Wolfgang while the cheering went on. For some reason, my wolves were doing The Wave.

I just needed a moment to catch my breath. That was intense.

It was at this moment while sitting in the mud, legs spread in front of me and surrounded by the sound of wolves pretending to be a piece of ocean... when I heard quite distinctly, the mud beside me sobbing softly. My wolf ears twitched (because as usual, it wouldn't shift back properly.)

I looked at Mud Man still lying prone in his muddle. Warriors weren't supposed to cry, right? It was just a friendly. Maybe his hand hurt. I tapped him on the shoulder and leaned closer, "Are you okay?"

When he didn't answer me immediately, I shifted to kneel over him, "Hey, are you hurting bad? Is it your hand? Do you need a healer?"

It was dark now that Wolfgang's fire was out. I barely saw his head move.

I think Wolfgang shook his head, but he stopped crying so I guess it's alright? I wasn't sure. I gave his back an awkward pat, "Good game."

I was trying to go for Link's big brotherly nice guy vibe, but now that I remembered it, I think I looked more like a muddy pup trying to get another muddy pup to stop crying and get up before an adult found us and we got into trouble. At least I kind of felt like that.

When Beta Glenn came over to check, I got seriously worried, "I think something's wrong with Wolfgang."

"Can you get up?" Beta Glenn knelt on one knee to check on the muddy fire wolf.

Wolfgang pushed himself up a bit.

"His hand!" I exclaimed. He really shouldn't be putting weight on it... or dipping it in mud either. That was a lot of bacteria to introduce into your bloodstream. Wolves had lost limbs like that.

Ki came over with a robe. He draped it over my shoulder and then offered genially, "May I help?"

But by now, Lady Adele, the snow moon healer had come over. Alpha Gunter too, so naturally, Dad and his betas, Bell and all my betas had to come see what had happened too.

"Clothes..." Wolfgang croaked.

Beta Glenn was the first to realize, he started working the metal buttons on his jacket to get it off - but it was a short jacket. If Wolfgang needed clothes... I remembered how Fluffy's clothes would burn off when he was triggered too.

"Oh!" I shrugged off my long robe and dropped it over the poor fire wolf, "You can use this."

"No!" More than one wolf yelled at me, but I had already dropped my robe over the fire wolf.

And then Wolfgang started crying like someone had died.

Harvey stepped aside to mindlink and suddenly Fluffy's voice announced, "And we've come to the conclusion of Night Leaf's first friendly tournament with Snow Moon. Let's show our friends our appreciation!"

Our wolves were quick to oblige, "Snow wolf! Snow wolf! Whoot whoot!"

"Hoi, hoi! Stay around everyone, we're gonna party ALL NIGHT LOOOONNNGGG!" EJ promised.

And out of nowhere the music blasted, "I got a feeling... that tonight's gonna be a good night."

Me too... at least I did, but now that Wolfgang was crying and all the adults around me were mindlinking with varying levels of grim expressions, my feelings about tonight was quickly changing it's initial forecast.

"Let's get the young warrior into the packhouse. We have a medical center in the basement." Dad offered.

"Thank you." Alpha Gunter answered, his mouth was pressed firmly downwards, but his manner was gentle as usual, "Lady Adele might need a moment to stabilize his vitals before we move him. We can discuss the other things later."

"The other things?" Dad asked.

Alpha Gunter nodded grimly, "Although, I'm sure it was not intentional on either side, our Fire Wolf says his flame had been extinguished."

Oh.

Was that bad? It sounded bad.

"And there is also another matter..." Alpha Gunter reluctantly admitted.

But before Alpha Gunter could say, Wolfgang spluttered and coughed out blood, even through his tears. A few painful heaves and then he fell back into the mud.

"What happened?" Beta Glenn bent over to lift Wolfgang up a bit by the shoulders. We all turned to Adele who had been holding Wolfgang's wrist. Her hand was muddy. Her large skirt was dipped in mud too.

"He's dead." Adele paled, "I'm sorry, I... I don't know why he suddenly..."

"BELL!" I spun round to face my smirking mate. WTH! I pointed an accusing and muddy finger at my luna, "Why did you do that?"

"You're mine." Bell growled back with a low ferocity I didn't quite expect. I blinked somewhat stunned.

"So you do know about that..." Alpha Gunter concluded.

No. Wth. Nobody knows anything!

Dad cleared his throat, "Let's talk inside."

Beta Glenn had to pick up Wolfgang muddy dead body still wrapped in my robe, and we all followed Dad into the packhouse - the long way around from the front entrance since our side porch had burnt down.

Behind us, the spontaneous live band was tuning up. This was the fun part. Dancing (if you can dance), taking your turn on the stage (if you can play) or just sampling the potluck and hanging out with your friends over fruit punch.

Fluffy had the discretion of not announcing the Alphas' departure.

{Should we recall our warriors, Alpha?} Beta Glenn asked.

{It's alright. Let the young ones enjoy the night.} Alpha Gunter replied, {Do not worry. Although this is truly a predicament, I trust our Night Leaf friends. Alpha Kingsley is an honorable alpha. I believe we should be able to negotiate an equitable outcome.}

Yes, here I was, wet and cold. The mud was plastered in my hair. But my "gift of insight" was apparently quite unaffected by my pathetic state.

I was also barefoot and the ground felt gritty underfoot. Who knew what I was picking up on my muddy feet?

I stopped short at our front porch, "Dad? I'm gonna go home to shower off first."

Dad turned from the porch and took a second look. It was as if he only just noticed the mud, and then he nodded reluctantly, "We'll be in the basement."