Albus' Fate

Albusclosed the door behind his family as they stepped inside from the cold. As his two children raced each other upstairs Eirwen, moved over to the hearth and lit it. Erwenstarted tiredly into the flames as the fire started slowly heating up the house. Seeing her glassy gaze Albus walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her as he placed his snout on her shoulder. Holding her tightly he softly said, 

"You doing alright?"

Eirwen put her arms ontop of his and leaned back onto him as she muttered, "its nothing."

They sat in silence for a moment. "you sure?" Albus asked softly, calling her bluff.

A small smerk spread across her face for only a moment as she let out a huff. "You got me. I guess...I guess I'm just stressed. With the event going on the kids and I hardly ever get to see you."

"Erwen, I-"

"I know, I know. You are in charge of everything and have to make sure nothing goes wrong." Erwen says in a rushed voice as she shakes her head. "Its just- hard."

Albus pulled back for a moment, turning Erwen around to face him. Although his smile was soft, exhaustion sat behind his eyes. "I'm sorry. But it's almost over, just another two days, and the town will be empty again, and everything will return back to normal." He closed his eyes and leaned in slightly, causing their black noses to touch. "It's just a little bit longer."

Eirwen closed her eyes as well and lightly stroked the side of Albus's face. "Right, just another two days." They sat there for a moment, slowly breathing together, the stress between them slowly lowering with each exhale.

"MOM! MOM! MOM!" A shout rang out excitedly from upstairs followed quickly by a rush of footfalls down the steps. "MOM! Its time to put out Drogo!" The two Lagopus adults open their eyes and look toward their youngest child. Douglasstood at the base of the steps, a goofy grin on his dark gray face as he held a small, crocheted toy above his head. 

Albus glanced at Erwen, his face now one of concern and disappointment.

"Oh, don't give me that look," Erwen said rolling her eyes at Albus as she walked over to her son. "It's a tradition." She leaned down and picked up her son, carrying him and the stuffed doll over to the nearby window. "My parents did it, and their parents before them, and their parents before them. Its all in good fun, the world won't end because of some gray morph tradition." She held Douglas up to the window ceil allowing him to set the crocheted, white Lagopus down on it.

Douglas grinned widely, "we need to put some sides in his feet for when his ghost passes by tonight." He glances up at his mother expectantly.

Erwen reflects her son's gaze to her husband. "You have any sides on you?" The two adults lock gazes for a moment before Albus gives in.

With a dramatic sigh, he walks over to the window ceil as he fishes a few sides from his pocket, a small, kind smirk on his face. 

"You have to put it in his feet." Douglas says, pointing to the doll.

Albus looks at Erwen as he gently grabs the doll and slides the sides into a small pocket in its feet with a playful smile. "Do you know why we put Drogo out tonight?" He asks Douglas.

The young Lagopus nods, "Cuse if we do we get candy!"

Albus sets the doll back on the window ceil as Erwen readjusts Douglas, explaining, "not quite." she points to the doll. "you see, tonight is the night that the ancient spirit of Drogo will wander past our doors. If you leave a few sides out for him, then he knows your an ally to him and will take your sides and leave you candy."

Albus holds his hands up as if ready to pounce. " but if you forget to leave some sides for him-" he suddenly steps forward and tickles Douglas, "he will get ya!"

Douglas lets out a happy shriek as he squirms around in Erwens arms from the attack.

"Now who is the one perpetuating bad myths?" Erwen says in a half-joking tone trying to hold onto her son.

"If he takes part in the tradition, he ought to know why he is doing it." Albus says matter of factly as Douglas starts to calm down.

Erwen sets her son down on the ground. "I suppose so." She concedes before patting Douglas on the back. "alright then, off to bed with you. You don't want to be up when Drogo arrives."

With only a chuckle in response, Douglas rushes back up the steps almost as quickly as he came down them. Reaching the top, and out of sight, he shouts down, "You guys need to come to bed to or Drogo will get you!"

The two adults look at one another and share a small laugh. " You did a good job with that one." Albus says, planting a kiss on Erwen's forehead.

"Oh, I know." Erwen says, accepting the kiss. "he is right, though. Its been a long day, and we ought to go to bed so we can have energy for tomorrow."

Albus nods, "yes, yes, I'll be up in a bit. I have a little bit more work to do."

Erwen returns Albus's kiss, planting her own on his cheek, "Don't stay up to late." She turns around and starts up the steps before looking back at her husband. "oh, and don't forget to uh-" she glances up the steps, "well make sure Drogo leaves his gift."

Albus gave her a smirk in response. "Alright, but we will talk later about this."

"Good night Albus."

"Good night Erwen."

As Erwen disappeared up the steps Albus moved over to his desk. A number of pages lay scattered on its surface, he had ment to finish his brothers speech before he left for the morning, but Douglas and Snezhinka were to excited for the days events and had practically dragged him out of the house. Now that everyone was in bed he should be able to finish it up quickly. He picked up one of the pages and scanned it quickly. "this shouldn't take to long." he flipped the page over, "an hour at most."

Setting down the paper he felt a sudden chill in the air, the fur on the back of his neck standing up on end. Something wasn't right, something was off. Before he got a chance to turn around he felt a sharp blade stab into his back. The shock overrode the pain for a moment as the owner of the blade grabbed him and slowly lowered him to the ground, the stranger's paw around Albus's muzzle. 

"I'm just here for you mate, as long as you stay nice and quiet then there will be no need to go after your family, understand?" The stranger released his grip on Albus's mouth allowing him to gasp and sputter, red blood starting to stain his white fur.

"I don't, what are-" Albus tried to ask through bloody coughs. Although the top half of his body was screaming in pain, he couldn't feel a thing in any of his lower extremities.

The stranger was clothed head to toe in white, his golden eyes barely visible under a wrapping of scarves. He squatted down next to Albus and tilted his head as he watched the blood rush out of Albus's body. "Shhhhh, keep your voice down or you will wake the others." He paused for a moment before gripping the hilt of the blade still embedded in Albus's back and holding Albus's mouth closed once more. With one strong pull the dagger was released causing a muffled cry of pain from the now blood-stained Lagopus. The stranger released his grip on Albus's muzzle and stood up. "If it helps ya let go, I really did like ya. Ya seemed like the kind of Lagopus that was really going somewhere, you had a good head on your shoulders." The stranger walks over to the window where he picks up the small white doll, using it to clean the blood off his dagger. "It's just your brother really. We couldn't find any way to weaken him directly, to many guards, to tight of an inner circle." 

The stranger finished cleaning his blade and tossed the doll on the ground near Albus, its white threads now stained with blood. "But then we learned of you. Your brotheris good at all the social stuff when it comes to ruling over the Lagopus, but he relies on you to look ahead. You're the one with all the good ideas, the one that knows just what to say to make all the plans fall into place." The stranger leaned against the wall and put his dagger away as he watching Albus struggle. "You two were really an unstoppable team." he paused for a moment as Albus coughed some more, causing blood to spew all over the ground. "and thats why you had to go."

"This wont stop Cole. He is strong-" Albus dug his claws into the floor as if trying to cling onto the little life he had left. He tried to look up at the stranger, but all he could see was a fuzzy white blob. "-and powerful." Albus let out another cough.

"He is quite strong, but without his right hand Vulpus," The stranger pushed off the wall and looked down at Albus with narrowed eyes, "well he will be weakened and that's all we need to get in and dethrone him." Walking to the front door the stranger sighed, "Although it really is a shame, I did like you." 

Albus tried to say something in response as the stranger walked out the door, but all that came out were sputters and coughs. A few tears tainted with blood rolled down his face. This couldn't be the end, if he brother fell because of him...

Albus let out one final cough before his grip on the ground relaxed and his body gave up the fight.