“I said let him go!” She snarled, but the man just laughed.
“I will count to ten. Give me the necklace, or I kill you and the pup,” he said.
Isabella growled, and then shifted back to a human. She took off her necklace and threw it to him. He laughed manically and then putting the pup on the floor, ran away.
Isabella limped forward, picking the pup up in her arms. She had already been limited time, but now she had even less. The silver would poison her blood, so despite the excruciating pain, Isabella made her way towards the battlefield.
She reached there to find the forest floor covered in bodies and blood. Both humans and wolves lay dead or injured. Yet, the battle still continued. Isabella forced her body to move and she started to climb one of the very tall trees, carrying the pup with her.
When she reached the top, she looked down. She knew she had to act fast, her body was already weakening. She mustered all her energy and howled loudly, attracting everyone’s attention. For a minute, silence reigned.
Isabella held up the pup and shouted, “I have the child!” The humans erupted, shouting in anger, and they turned to attack the wolves with renewed vigor.
Then the mayor shouted, “STOP! I ORDER YOU TO STOP!” The humans stopped, looking at their leader.
The mayor looked up at Isabella. “Please. That is my son. Give him back. We only came here to get him. Please, I beg you. Don’t hurt him,” he said.
Isabella climbed down, clutching the baby in her arms. She reached the ground and walked over to the mayor. “Here. We never met him harm. We found him in an old well, cold and starving. We took him in,” she said, handing the baby over to him.
“Aye. We sent you letters, telling you we found your pup.” Isabella heard Dominque say, and she almost collapsed with relief. He was alive! Heavily bleeding, but alive.
“Letters? We received no letters. We sent you hawks, waited for your response…” the mayor said.
“You are lying, you human!” Dominque growled. “You refuse our attempts to keep peace. We stuck to the treaty, we tried to return the child to you! All these people dead. All this carnage and tragedy. It’s all your fault.”
“Yes. We have had enough!” Taylor shouted and the wolves howled.
“Wait. Dominque, just wait. This is all a huge misunderstanding!” Isabella said.
“So much death… for a misunderstanding?” Dominque said, snarling.
“No. For a planned misunderstanding,” Isabella said.
Just then a manic laugh resounded, and the vicious looking man walked over. “The girl catches on fast. You are a foolish, foolish man, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for being such an amazing puppet,” the man said, laughing.
“Luther? Captain Luther?” the mayor said, gasping. “Why…?”
“For this,” he said, with a cruel smile, and held up the necklace. It was glowing the moon light. He slashed his palm with a knife and dropped a few drops on it. He then held it up to the sky and the necklace began to shine. His body began to glow with power, and he laughed and laughed. Isabella knew it was too late. Her body was now too weak to even move, and she felt herself black out.
Chapter 19
Dominque
Dominque saw Isabella fall and immediately jumped forward to grab her. Taylor took this opportunity to jump at Luther, who raised his hand and a beam burst out of it, pushing Taylor away. Taylor fell down, and Dominque found himself staring in shock, his best friend lying on floor, not moving, and his soul mate collapsed in his arms.
“Luther? Why? I don’t understand?” The mayor was stammering as Luther stood there laughing.
“You stupid man. How long have you held this necklace and failed to recognize the power it holds? You gave it away to the wolves in return for their location when you held this power in your hands all along! When I found out about it, I knew I had to get my hands on it,” Luther said, laughing manically.
“You...? Did all this?” the mayor said, frozen in place.
“I needed to get to the wolves to find the necklace, but I knew if I came here with less than an army, I would be slaughtered. I took the baby. I threw it in the well! It was so funny, watching you both stumble and blunder, sending each other hawks. All because your stupid treaty stated you aren’t allowed to approach each other without declaring open war. This plan of mine would have never worked otherwise. I intercepted your letters to each other. I convinced you to attack them in search of your baby. Now, I finally have the necklace,” Luther said, busting into a fit of laughter again.
Dominque growled, and Luther turned to look at him. “To think, all this could have been avoided if you had just learned to co-exist with each other.”
Dominque gently put Isabella down and stood up. He started walking towards Luther, who looked at him amused. “You still want to fight?” he asked.
A beam of light shot from Luther’s hands, but Dominque was expecting it, and he dodged it. Gaining speed, he ran straight towards him. Luther shot another beam, which Dominque dodged again. Luther’s reflexes were too slow for Dominque’s speed, and Dominque was also onto him, when Luther gave another blast.
