Azgen Tribe

Moons later, the tribe had split on orders of the queen, so she could travel south with a large company of warriors and hunters to find a new territory to expand upon. The tribe was simply too large to sustain itself in the area it had been before. Yet one of the members wasn't sure if that was the only reason for the journey. Ronin had long distanced himself from the queen, but she still tried to manipulate him from time to time when she felt like it. She even assumed he had something to do with the albino escaping the camp, but she couldn't prove it. Despite all that had happened, Ronin was still something like blue blood and while not untouchable, it wasn't smart to put him down in front of others all the time. Though recently, that strange silver Kumba had been living with the group, who had completely taken up all the jills attentions, so she had finally left the brown hob alone, but that didn't last for too long.

The Kumba had escaped, taken up on Ronins advice to leave, Scald was dead and Ontari has yet to make an announcement to the pack. She stood in the middle of the clearing where they had camped to take care of the wounded from the wolf attack, the dead bodies lined up next to each other, a large hole dug into the cold ground.

«The casualties that have befallen us were a test of our courage and strength. The ones that have fallen defending us from the wolves have sacrificed themselves for us and deserve our gratitude. Scald on the other hand...»

She looked at the blue body in front of her, disgust in her face and she spit at him.

«Scald has died while committing treason, trying to kill me. His whelp, while already being gone from our tribe, is now considered the criminals offspring and deserves death if caught. Any trace of the blind albino is to immediately report to me. The Kumba on the other side has helped me kill the traitor and escaped afterwards. We won't waste time hunting him down though, he's gonna be too fast and we need to keep on track. Now, we'd be better off to move on, this place is no good for rest. Bury the warriors and we'll move on, everyone else be ready by then. But leave Scald out for the scavengers. They shall devour him.»

Ontari walked over to Ronin and stopped in front of him, looking him in his brown eyes, but not saying a word. She knew he was the one who had let Yonah escape and now she hated that bright jill even more, which put a target on the blood hob. The mintgreen jill growled and murmured towards him before leaving right away once more.

«I'm gonna need you temporary as my assistant and personal guard.»

This was not what Ronin had expected or hoped for, but it was quite the welcome change still. He had been assigned the job of a hunter for a long time now, which he hated, but it was one way Ontari could demean and punish him. Now that her guard was dead though, she needed him and that gave him an opportunity.

Soon enough he met up with her again and she introduced him to her plan.

«Alright, after all that has happened, you never openly disobeyed me or tried to tell others what had happened with mother, so I trust you'll keep this to yourself too. I'm going to go and take the territory of another tribe, so we have good hunting grounds, dens and defenses.»

«What? My queen, do you plan on killing everyone in that other tribe or do you just want to scare them away?»

«Well it's less of a mess when there's no one left to deal with.»

Ronin kept himself from telling the jill again that this was despicable, as he knew she wouldn't change her mind, just like in the past. He sighed and nodded slowly.

«Alright, what do you need, your grace?»

«Good, that's what I like to hear. So, the scouts are up ahead, looking for where to go and our group will follow and take over as soon as possible. You are in charge of the strategic plans now and you will make sure nothing and no one ever harms me. I will make sure they follow whatever you tell them, but if you betray my

trust and use it against me, you'll regret it.»

«I understand, your majesty.»

That was the moment he had been waiting for. Now that he was in command and she trusted him enough to let him be responsible of her safety, he'd be able to not only foil her plan but also take back his tribe and bring everyone back home. Question was how he'd get to be the leader. Killing Ontari was not an option for him, but it also wouldn't be easy to make her leave the tribe and as long as she was part of it, her loyal followers would support her claim to the throne.

But first of all, he needed more time to keep the pack from moving in closer to the tribe they'd assault.

While Ontari checked in with the healer and talked about the situation and whether the group would be ready to move, Ronin caught up and sat down next to Ontari.

«You see, your majesty, almost all of our warriors are at least partly wounded and could need a rest or they might get exhausted fast. I'm not sure if we'd get through another attack like that so easily. If I may, I'd advise you to –»

«YOU want to give advice to ME? Who do you think you are.»

Now the brown hob decided to use this opportunity to speak up.

«Ontari...your grace, when we reach that tribe you're headed for we need to be at max strength. This journey might kill even more of our clanmates, we cannot risk that if you want to win.»

«Oh, I will.»

«Of course, but at what cost? What kinda tribe are you planning on leading in this new territory if all our warriors are dead or badly injured?»

The jill gave him a venomous look, she didn't like him questioning her decisions. But finally he found something that would work to convince her.

«Especially now that Scald as our commander of the warriors is gone, we need the time to regroup.»

«Well the title is upon you now. If you can't handle it you might have been a bad decision to be put in charge.»

«This is a delicate matter, your majesty. We need more time.»

«So we run out of food? Is this your plan?!»

«We aren't far from our old camp. We can just go back, restore and continue in a few days. By then the scouts can try to see if there are any more wolves around and we can restock our food supply.»

She thought about it for a moment, then growled and hissed angrily at him.

«Fine. But we're gonna move out in three days. I don't have time to lose.»

After another short announcement the pack gathered up and started the journey back to the cave where they had been for a couple moons. Most seemed relieved to be back and only a few, stern looking guards and warriors that Ontari was in full control over seemed to be unhappy about not being able to raid the other tribe.

It didn't take long for everyone to get back into the routine and the queen retreated into her room, forcing Ronin as her personal guard to follow her, even though he would've preferred gathering information from his tribemates. Because he was never allowed to leave her side, he also didn't have the opportunity to prepare or plan anything in her absence, which made everything more complicated. Assuming this was all a plan of the mint jill to keep an eye on him, he had to accept his fate though and hope the sparkling idea would come to him in his sleep. Ontari had different plans though.

«I'm really glad we can finally focus on us more now. I would've waited until we reach our new territory and settle in, but I guess we got some time to waste on our paws now.»

She brushed against him with her fur and nuzzled him like she did before Zima died. She acted like everything was alright, like nothing ever happened, but even though Ronin couldn't pretend like that, he was trying his best to play along anyway. As long as he stayed on her good side, she'd leave him alone.

And so, he returned the gesture, thinking of her the way she used to be. The memories helped him get over the pain of reality, the knowledge that his partner had turned into a monster.

Ontari didn't let him go for the whole night, using him for fun and a good time. By now, Ronin had almost convinced himself that being with her might be better than against her. That he should just let her do as she wanted, since there was hardly a way to stop her on his own anyway and somehow, he was still happy with her. He admired her strength and ferocity, the way she never backed down and wasn't scared to take command and do whatever she wanted. After all, she was right. The tribe had been growing more and more since she was the leader. Maybe it was all for the best. For the next few days, the blood hob enjoyed his time with the jill, falling in love all over again and overlooking all the harsh words and horrible acts, dazzled by her might. On the third day, long before everyone else awoke to continue the journey of the raid, Ronin got up and, with one last glance at the sleeping queen, left the tribe without looking back again. This was not his place, he knew that now. And he was hoping he'd never see her again, scared he might regret his decision and accept his fate as a part of this terrifying scheme.

His first mission was finding Yonah and making sure she was fine in case she needed someone to take care of her. Walking south, Ronin left the icy north and his partner behind, entering the mixed forest and merging with his surroundings. He knew he should've been happy. He was finally where he had always hoped to be, but he never wanted to be alone. But he swore himself, he'd never waver in his ways again. That the path of the loner was better for him. And that he'd never have to see someone hurt or die because of him ever again. And maybe someday, he'd be able to stop the ice queen for good.