章 33: The attack - Part 2
"Andrew, shut up," I finally snapped as he was continuously yawning for hours, making a loud guttural voice every time he did so. We were in Alpha Harry's parlor, waiting for the rogues' attack to come. It was now past midnight, but there was no sign of intruders.
"Did they really come every night?" asked Andrew. His fingers have gotten itchy due to him wanting to quickly finish off the rogues, impatient to hit the bed.
Alpha Harry, who soon joined us after calming himself, replied, "That has been the case for the past few days, but I wonder why they are not coming today," he asked, but none of us knew the answer to his question.
Though it was good news that no attack happened, I couldn't help but be suspicious of their sudden change of plans. Did they perhaps achieve their goal already? Or were they planning something else up their sleeves? This kind of attack never fails to annoy me. It would be better if they straight out announced war and everything would be sorted out faster. The winner of this fight will immediately be known and we didn't have to waste our energy playing this game of tug of war. They attack, we defend, at the same time sacrificing countless souls, whether it be theirs or ours.
But from their point of view, I knew that their plan to attack us slowly would benefit them better, as they realized they wouldn't stand a chance when our force is bigger and stronger than theirs. So they were trying to weaken us bit by bit, ambushing us when we were not expecting them. The only thing we could do to withstand their attacks was to strengthen the warriors and civilians, making sure that we were stronger than they were until we found any clue to get closer to them.
"It seems that there won't be any attacks today. You should use this time to rest," I said to Alpha Harry. "I will be on guard."
"How can I sleep when people are being killed?" A frustrated sigh went out of his lips while he brought his palms to his forehead, grasping the roots of his hair.
"As I said, I will stay up and watch out for the rogues," I repeated, "Your body is not in the best condition when you are not well-rested. It will be a hassle to clean your corpse. You don't want that to happen, do you?"
He opened his mouth to retort but then closed it right back as he seemed to agree with what I'd just said. He too knew that every word I sprouted was true, especially when the rogues were stronger than the ones we were familiar with.
"What was your name again?" I inquired of Alpha Harry's third in command, who stood silently at the side of the room the entire time we were here.
"This is the problem with you. You never pay attention to someone when they are saying something. Even I, who was outside of the building when he introduced himself, knew that he's Rick," Andrew answered confidently, not knowing that he was embarrassing himself by giving out the wrong name.
"It's Flint," Flint coughed awkwardly, scratching the nape of his neck. Alpha Harry, who also heard this embarrassing exchange, tried to stifle his laughter, despite being blue just a minute ago.
Hearing this, Andrew shamelessly weaseled, "You must've changed your name," he laughed, trying to act innocent.
I ignored my Beta's shameful remark and ordered Flint, "You should rest too." He nodded his head, then bowed to me before leaving the room with Alpha Harry. As I was now left alone with Andrew, I jeered, "Rick, so he said."
Knowing that he would come up with another stupid remark, I quickly intervened, "I will do round, you be on guard." Saying that, I left the living room, leaving the dumbfounded Andrew behind. I couldn't believe I chose such a dimwitted Beta.
I stepped out of the house, unbothered by the strong wind. My eyes caught the beauty of the night sky, looking at the twinkling stars that painted the vast dark canvas up above. In every direction, there were stars, gently illuminating the darkness with their fiery lights. It was beautiful, but it would be even more so if my mate was here with me. What is she doing now, I wonder? I suppose she must be still asleep considering it was still dawn, and I know she is not an early bird. Rather, she always woke up late, which made it fun for me to stare at her cute sleeping face, pretty as an angel.
How nice would it be to have her in between my arms, sharing the natural warmth of our bodies on this cold night? I couldn't wait to go back to her, breathing in her heavenly scent that was as sweet as honey, intoxicating as it was. It was not even a day after we parted and I already missed her. Just what is it that you have done to me, Violet?
My feet casually led me to the outer part of the territory to look for some unusualities or something out of the ordinary. Owing to my werewolf eyes, the shortage of luminance in the midst of this dark night wouldn't be able to hinder my sight, so I easily walked through the domineering trees of the forest. I passed trees after trees, not finding anything strange until something under my feet made a different sound. Not the usual rustle of leaves, but a shattering sound.
I stopped walking, curious as to what I had just stepped on. I hunched my body, lowering it to the ground to see the object beneath my feet. It was a bottle, broken as I unknowingly stepped on it. The size of the bottle was unusually small, almost the size of my little finger. It was a corked conical bottle made out of glass. One thing that caught my eyes was the snake-like ornament that coiled the body of the bottle.
I looked around the surroundings to search for a similar bottle if there was any and found another one lying just a few meters away. I walked a little distance from the previous one and discovered a huge amount of the same exact bottle scattered everywhere on the ground. This must be from the rogues. I took a few bottles and placed them safely in my back pocket, then proceeded to head back to the house.
The wooden door made a loud creaking sound as I pushed it open, though it didn't affect Andrew, who seemed to be dead-asleep. I sighed and walked to the parlor, placing the glass bottle loudly on the table. Surprised, he jumped.
"What was that?!" he hastily looked around his surroundings, only to find me watching him unamusedly. "Oh, you are back. I didn't see you come in."
"It seems that you had a good sleep."
"Me? Sleep?" He pointed to himself, pretending to be confused. "You must've seen wrong. I was simply resting my eyes," he smiled without any sense of guilt.
"I think it's time to change Beta," I announced, returning his smile with another menacing one.
Hearing that, he stood up while holding his left hand over his right in a polite manner, "I'm sorry," immediately admitting his failure to follow my order to stay guarded. Though he seemed inept and lazy, I knew that he was capable of doing everything I ordered him to do. I decided to just let him off as there was a more important matter to attend to.
"Have you called for our men?" I inquired.
"Of course, I already sent someone to deliver your command," he glanced at the bottle and asked, "What is that?"
"I found it outside the border. It must be from the rogues."
He took the bottle in his hands, carefully examining its design. His face soon darkened, aware of what I was thinking, "Is this?"
"Witches," I nodded, "Seems like the rogues are working alongside them. They must be planning to come back to the world."
Snakes were very closely associated with witches, which was why they were mostly used for anything related to sorcery. The presence of a snake on the bottle clearly meant it belonged to the witches. The bottle must've contained something like a potion. It must be the source of the rogues' newly found strength. Consuming a potion to strengthen their bodies meant there was a time limit to their power. We just need to hold out until the potion wears out before attacking them.
But the news of witches trying to come back to the world was a real pain in the neck. They are mostly very cunning creatures, using their spells and tricks to control others. That was why they were hunted by all creatures, though not all of them were gone. While there were some who just wanted to live quietly, the ones who held the most power were the most annoying ones. They were frustratingly ambitious and just didn't know when to stop.
"Stupid witches," said Andrew.
-- 贈り物
が届きました 
-- 推薦
ランキング 
-- 推薦
チケット