Chapter 49 FINK.

SAME DAY
Everyone who wore the red robed today we're considered the bravest and most loyal vampires and wolves. To fight in a battle so gruesome, death was assured to come to you, in the faith for the greater good.
I had waited patiently, bearing the pulsating pain in my chest and hoping for the best for all of us. For the best that we would all survive and be together one last time as a clan before I set off on my own path to find out for myself the answers to my life. But the odds of that were slim and the chances of only one of us surviving was great.
But I had hope. Hope on the fact that the adjudicators with the mind's-eye were to pair up with another fighter, either wolf or vampire. The one with mind manipulation would do their best to deceive the enemy into seeing mirages while the other defeats the opponent. But the wolves were no ordinary being, and the control they had over their minds was strong. It was left to a psychic battle between vampire and wolf.
Jhan, Jereum, Tia and I were in one team. Jhan was experienced in controlling his mind's-eye and could easily stay focused in a fight. We would fight side by side and hopefully none of us would die.
I heaved my chest painfully but to keep calm. Tia saw my struggle and she touched my face.
"Are you okay love?"
"Yeah, I'm good."
She eyed me carefully and I put on a small smile.
"Kaldar, there's something I want you to see first..." It was Jeruem.
I looked at him for a moment, wondering what might be so important he would want to show it to me now. I followed him nonetheless and we walked to the lower parts of the underground based building. We got to the part of the dungeons and I wondered what he could want to show me in such a place.
"Where is it?" I asked, getting impatient.
He was in front of me. These part of the higher court were almost completely dark except for the high up torches that were planted on the walls.
"It's just right—"
He jumped, planting a foot against the walls and pusing himself over my head. I was confused, too confused. I heard the sound of metal and in an instance Jereum had slapped on metal cuffs to my wrists.
"Whah?!"
He had locked my hands behind my back, securing them with huge metal cuffs. I tried to pet my hands free to break the cuffs but I was too weak. I hadn't recovered back my energy.
"Jereum!!!"
"I hope those will hold..." He said to himself.
"JERUEM!!!" My voice bounced off the adjacent walls.
"Oh." He said it like he had forgotten I was right in front of him.
"Jhan noticed your weakness and saw that you are too weak to fight. So he decided that you are not fit for this fight but he knew that you never argree to stay dormant. So he hired me to take care of you."
"What!!!?"
"Ugh. Kaldar you won't fight. You can't even break out of these cuffs and they are just cast iron."
He was right, I was actually that weak. But this was just petty, the whole cuffing me concept was just unnecessary. Although there was nothing anyone would tell me that would make me not join this battle.
"For what it's worth; I hope we come back in one piece to free you... Or not."
He pushed me into an open cell. It was dark, too dark and smelled of mould. I heard the metal against metal slamming of the bars. I looked into his dark eyes and he looked into my brown ones.
"Oh, yeah. And Tia said I should tell you not to hate her for this."
I was still looking at him with genuine anger, like as if he was the one who made this decision. It was Jhan I should have been angry at.
"Stay safe Kaldar." He walked away.
The anger in me only grew more hot.
I tried again, forcing my hands apart with all the strength I had in me. But nothing. I was still weak. Too weak. After several more tries and nothing I yelled in frustration. Falling to my knees as cold tears flowed down myt face.
I was left to my own solace. To my own darkness finked by my own clan. I had done enough though, I had saved the Lupine chief and helped us to prepare for this war. I had done great part for both vampire and wolf kind, so I should see this as an act of gratitude. But then why did I still feel like a traitor, like I hadn't done enough to support my kind. Felt like partaking in this war is what was the right thing to do.
There was nothing I could do anyway. I tried thinking about mother, the boost of strength she gave me would be enough to break through these chains, but nothing. No matter how many times I tried to flash the image of her face through my mind I received no additional strength.
I tried thinking about Dawn, the warm and alive feeling she gave me. But after meditating on that for a few minutes and no positive results except for the happiness reliving our memories brought to me, I gave up. There was no hope.
I heard the sound of metal boots against the stone floors and two adjudicators appeared from nowhere. They positioned themselves in front of my cell. Maybe I could reason them to free me.
"Hey!" I yelled. The one to the left turned slightly but immediately refocused in front of herself when the one to right cleared his throat.
"Let me free!" I bellowed. "I need to fight this fight."
They stood motionless as statues. It was annoying. I knew there was no use for command, I was asking them for a favour.
"Please..."
"I'm sorry," The female one to the left said.
"Just let me go... I won't tell anyone it was you. My family is out there and I need to be there with them... To fight or die by them."
They pretended not to hear me.
"Won't you fight by someone you care about? Or you'll rather cower here while your brothers and sisters and die to protect you?"
They continued on their statue like motion and I got more and more crestfallen by the moment. There was no hope for me. Maybe my clan were right, maybe I should be locked up here for my own good... For my own safety.
Time flew by and I knew that the battle would soon begin. I spent the time thinking. Thinking about Dawn and what she would be thinking at that exact moment. Thinking about my clan and Nicha. I knew not all of them would make it out alive. But I hoped they would at the very least.
It grew quieter around me. I sauntered to the deepest darkest part of my mind. Digging up some of the questions I was too scared to face, and answering them. I loved Dawn but yet I still found myself drifting towards Tia and then towards Nicha. None of the made me feel the same way I felt with Dawn but I knew I still felt a little flush of heat whenever I was around them.
I had had the idea and probable answer to Jereum's despice for me. Since I relived his memory I had the idea that I was the descendant of the vampire that impurified Jereum. I only made sense that that was the reason he bore so much hate for me from the very start.
I had not the courage to ask these questions or face them so I locked them up in the back of my mind and never dug them up until now. Now I was left to my own peace and I was free to face all the horrible truths I had been avoiding.
I sighed and closed my eyes. The loud shuddering sound of a door being slammed shut barged through the air and I was immediately put on high alert.
"They're here? The wolves. A small pack of them had diverted..."
"What? Are you—"
"Yes! They are searching the building. The higher court and all of the elites have already gone to the battle ground. It's down to us adjudicators."
'Leya' The thought of Leya floated into my mind and I knew it wouldn't be long before the wolves found the safe room.
'No no no no no!' I couldn't let anything happen to Leya. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself.
"HEY!!!" I screamed. "Let me go!"
I heard a heavy thudding sound against the metal doors that sealed this part of the building from the others. It won't be long before they hit down that door, waste these adjudicators and then kill me.
"LET ME GO!!!" I screamed even louder, trying to break the chains with all the strength I had. I heard a bolt in the cuffs snap but that was as far as I could go.
"FREE ME!!! I COULD SAVE YOU! HEY!" I screamed again.
The banging became louder and I became more terrified of the thought of such a death; torn apart whilst shackled and helpless. If I was free I knew I could kill them. Jhan had taught me evasive style of combat; basically you dodge your enemies attack and wait for them to sell our an open opportunity for you to strike.
These adjudicators would have probably been able to kill thses beats if the were not so petrified to the point they couldn't think straight. I slipped my arms from behind me, under my legs and to my front. I tried banging thee huge roster cuffs on ground but all unaccomplished was creating a large dent in the grey mortar.
"We are gonna die..." Said the female adjudicator, silver blades gripped tightly in both her hands and she trembled from every limb.
"ARE YOU DEAF? FREE ME! AT LEAST DON'T LET TO DIE SHACKLED LIKE THIS—"
The door collapsed, and I heard the terrible screams of the adjudicator that was trying to push back against it as a Lobo probably ate away his head. I saw the colour drain away from both faces as they watched in fear.
'No no no no—'
"NO!" I screamed aloud. I saw a blur of brown and in an instance the male adjudicator to the right was pouncd upon, his last screams filing the air around me.
"NO!!!" I screamed. "You can stop this! You can either free me and end this or die here with me."
Another wolf jumped at her, she literally broke through the rusted bars of my cell with a loud crack, did a full head over roll and sent her fist into the heavy shackles. The shackles broke off without any struggle and for a moment I was just staring into the light brown eyes of the petrified adjudicator that had freed me.
I saw the enraged face of the wolf as it appeared behind her, jaws wide open. I pushed her to the side, grabbing her weapon from her holster, turning around as I ducked under the beasts deadly jaws and slashed at its throat. I felt the warmth of its blood spill on me and the dying wolf thrashed its legs as it bled away on the ground.