mountain quickly, but found himself bringing up the tail of their group the entire way. He was not as nimble as the wolves. They were constantly stopping to wait for him to catch up.
"Why do we need this useless weight," the scarred wolf complained angrily on one particular occasion when they had to wait for him longer than ever before.
"Just trust me Grey, he will help us a lot with the dwarves," Fang told him sternly. Grey grumbled beneath his breath some more before continuing on silently with the others. This process went on in a similar fashion for what seemed like forever until they arrived to a large pond surrounded by trees. Azin could see the sun just starting to come up. "Fan out and hide yourselves," Fang commanded, "Azin you come with me."
Hiding amongst some underbrush they waited. The sun rose lazily up higher into the sky casting its light across the mountainside. It wasn't long after light was reflecting off the pond that a large moose walked to the water's edge to take a drink merely ten feet away from him and Fang. Azin gripped his blade tightly. his heart pounded so loud he wondered if Fang could hear it.
"Patience," Fang muttered so quietly he could barely hear him. Azin watched as patiently as he could until across from them on the other side of the moose he saw Grey bolting forward with unreal stealth.
Azin prepared himself to dart forward trying to keep his nerves under control. He heard Fang saying, "Wait," but it was too late. Azin dashed forward and pulled out his blade. Underbrush rustled obnoxiously as he clumsily left his hiding place. The moose bolted in the opposite direction almost immediately. His path took him face to face with Grey who snarled and prepared to lunge. The moose reared backwards. It was all the time Azin needed. Before the moose even came back down on all four legs his blade entered straight into its neck severing its windpipe and coming out the other end. Death was immediate. Fountains of warm blood gushed over his hand. Instead of the sickening feeling Azin expected he found himself filled with the same strange thrill he'd encountered before when killing Pikam. Power coarsed through his fingers as he pulled his knife out with a quick hard tug and began to clean it off.
"That was brilliant Azin!" Fang exclaimed as he and the other wolves approached their prey.
Azin beamed happily, "Are we going after more? I feel like I could take an entire herd down right now." Had he known he would feel this surge of power he would have begged his father to let him join on the hunts long before.
"Great, let's move to the next location and find some more food," Fang said happily, "Paw and Black you carry the moose home while Grey, Azin, and I move onwards." The two wolves nodded their acceptance taking leave of them. Fang turned higher into the mountain leaving Grey and Azin to follow.
They'd only walked a couple of minutes when a shout off to their side came, "Wolves!" Azin looked to see three dwarves rising from their campfire. One of them pointed and said, "Is that an elf with them?" The dwarves began motioning back and forth, but they talked too quietly for him to hear what they said. Two of them began advancing towards them. Their weapons were at the ready. The third stood still as though deciding what he should do.
"We will not run. Azin this is where you prove to all my comrades your worth. We must kill these dwarves, they have oppressed us for far too long," declared Fang. The look in his eyes might have frightened him if he was not on Fang's side. Fang did not show emotion often, but he was clearly angry now.
Azin's mind raced wildly trying to think of what to do. He didn't want Fang and Grey to be hurt or killed, but he also didn't want to kill another humanoid. Hunting animals was one thing, but humanoids were something completely different. Deciding to try and settle things peacefully Azin morphed into his bird form. He flew towards the third dwarf desiring to talk with him, passing the other two as he went.
The third dwarf's hands began shaking when he saw Azin coming. He fumbled around for a weapon, but could not come up with one. Instead he reached into the fire for a long burning branch. He got a hold of it just as Azin reached him. "Get back demon, stay away from me," he yelled.
Azin dropped back barely dodging the fire. The sight of fire being employed as a weapon re-ignited the same anger that drove him to kill Pikam. All rational thinking was washed away by it. Suddenly he found himself diving straight at the dwarf yelling, "Monster!" the dwarf prepared to swing at him, but seemed to forget how as Azin morphed back to an elf in mid dive. Azin retrieved his hidden knife and aimed for the dwarf's neck. Still paralyzed with fear the dwarf made no move to escape as the knife plunged into his neck.
The dwarf's dead body broke Azin's fall. Azin's blood covered frame shivered from exhilaration. An incredible power coursed through him. He had never imagined such an empowering sensation could even exist.
Behind Azin, Fang and Grey were engaged with the other two dwarves. Fang darted in and out trying to get an opening on the dwarf. Fang feinted a bite at the dwarf's ankle and was rewarded with a heavy downwards swing from the dwarf. Fang jumped backwards. The dwarf split the air in two and stumbled. Seeing his chance Fang leaped forward, but the dwarf was too quick. Pain shot through his head violently as impact by the hilt of the dwarf's ax knocked him off his feet.
"No!" he heard Shine's cry. Sorrow filled his chest, knowing she was about to witness his death. The dwarf raised his ax to strike the killing blow when suddenly a large white mountain wolf sprang upon the dwarf, knocking him to the ground. Wasting no time the wolf ripped into the neck. The dwarf's body convulsed while blood spurted form its neck and went still. Moving his attention to his savior he saw that he had a peculiar orange 'v' of hair on top of his head. Turning towards him with a grin the wolf peered into his eyes. Fang recognized the wolf's dark orange eyes immediately, "Azin!" he cried in relief.
Fang rose quickly and the two of them went to the aid of Grey. The last dwarf seeing he was outnumbered ran in the opposite direction. Azin was chasing after him in a heartbeat. Summoning all the strength in his legs Azin leapt towards the dwarf. In response the dwarf stopped and brought his ax around straight for him, but the ax met only air. Azin had morphed into a bird the instant he was off the ground. He used the few seconds he had before reaching the dwarf to lift himself higher. Wasting no time he morphed back into his Elvin form. Azin's knife found itself buried into the dwarf's head while Azin glided over him. Every nerve in his body felt as if it was on fire. The feeling was like no other. His hair flared a dark orange as cruel laughter emitted from his mouth.
Fang joined in with his laughter saying, "You see Grey, I told you Azin would be a great asset to our cause."
At that moment Shine collided into her father, "I can't believe you're still alive," she cried happily nuzzling him. She raised herself up from him a moment later and turned to Azin, "You saved my father, for that I am indebted to you. Anything that you want just ask for it."
"Let's get these bodies back to the cavern," Azin said simply. He bent down and grabbed a hold of one. Dragging it forward he said, "Well aren't you guys going to help with the other two?"
"We are too few to carry these bodies down ourselves Azin," Fang said, "But I will call more of my brethren here to help. I have a favor to ask of you however."
"What?" Azin asked. He let body he'd been holding drop to the ground.
"I do not want any harm to come to Shine out here on this mountain. She would be safest if you were to escort her back down the mountain."
"Of course," Azin nodded.
"Good. Thank you. We shall see you at home," Fang said before he turned away to begin howling. Azin could hear several other howls echo Fang's progressively farther down the mountain. He suspected it wouldn't take long to get help there.
Azin turned to shine, "Shall we?" She silently nodded and they began their trek. No one spoke going back down. It gave Azin plenty of unwanted time to think. The image of Pikam's father came to his mind again, but it did not make him cringe as it had before. That almost scared him even more. When he thought of killing Pikam and the other dwarves his body tingled and his hea
rt raced faster as though he was about to receive a present on his birthday.
"Why does your hair keep changing color?" Shine asked rescuing him from his thoughts.
Azin did not answer right away. It was a natural occurrence in all of the Defra elves. One he had because so accustomed to he hardly even realized it happened anymore. "I was taught that as Defra Elves our magic is closely knitted within ourselves and because of that our hair is greatly influenced by it. The weaker our magic is the lighter the color and the stronger the magic the darker it becomes. Even which color our hair is, is governed by the type of magic we carry."
"So because you are a beast Defra, your hair is orange?" Shine asked.
"Yes," Azin nodded.
"Then your kind is either very brave or very unfortunate." Shine said.
"What do you mean?" Azin asked frowning.
"You show your strength plainly to all of your enemies. Anyone who saw your hair could decide whether you were weak enough for them to take advantage of or not. So either you are brave to let such a thing occur or very unfortunate to not have learned to hide it." Shine said.
Azin stared at her a moment and smiled, "it had never occurred to me that way before. Which do you think I am?" if a wolf could turn red he thought shine would have at that