The Exiles (17 page)

‘Do you not care about
our
family?' Patt growled. He himself also no longer cared if this continued in front of his daughters. His voice and expression had changed to match the intimidation of his wife's. Behind him his tail began to flick around.

‘I care greatly about
my
family,' Sallice growled back, turning up her forceful emotional projection.

Sara became fearful, she had never been around such open hostility between mature wolves before, and coming from her parents it was even more intimidating. Across from Sara, Fera was also beginning to cringe as her father intensified his anger. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end, his ears pressed flat against his head. Sara's mind screamed for her to run, she had never been so scared in her life, the energy from her parents seemed like it could push her off her chair. If it wasn't coming equally from both directions she would have sworn she would have fallen over.

Sallice had had enough, she would not be told what to do in her own house. Leaning forward slightly, her nails dug into the table as her hands flexed.

Patt held out for a few seconds, but then gave in, he had made his point. Letting go of his emotional anger, he still did not submit fully.

‘Do what you must,' he said with a slight tremble in his voice, not from fear but from exhaustion. ‘I am leaving immediately.' With that said, he left the room, not stopping to look at anyone on his way out.

Sara stared at her father's back, though his ears were limp and he was shaking slightly he still had a proud posture, he had not submitted fully. Sara's mind was still too scared to react to the events. Later, she would wonder how her father had managed to withstand such a pressuring force of intimidation and not cave in to his wife straight away. There was obviously still a lot to learn about the power of emotional projection.

Sara blinked for a few seconds, across from her Fera was doing the same, also stunned. Sallice and Patt had argued often over the last few years and it had often become heated, nevertheless, this was the first time Sara and Fera had been in the middle of it.

As annoying as their parent's arguments were for the two girls to listen to, it was not uncommon for Anthro wolves. They were more passionate creatures by nature and expressive with their emotions. However, to use intimidation so directly was not a common event, or at least it was not socially acceptable, as wolf males were emotionally, and so on their world ultimately physically, the weaker sex for Anthro wolves. This was despite them normally being slightly physically larger then the females.

Sallice was still calming down, not used to having to turn her emotions up so high. She and Patt had only come to this extreme point once before in their relationship, and now, like then, she was somewhat ashamed of herself.

He had raised the stakes
, she told herself, and this was not a point she was going to compromise on, not when it concerned her family. Sallice had been told what to do with her family once too often, and it was time to take a stand.

Breathing in deeply, she looked at her two daughters. They sat back, looking with apprehension at their mother. Sallice became momentarily more ashamed, seeing the look of fear in her daughter's eyes. Focusing back onto the matter at hand, she directed her thoughts towards her family, streamlining her mind to give her strength.

‘I am not proud of what just happened,' Sallice said more calmly. ‘It should give you some idea of how complicated things are at the moment. So I would ask that you do what I say until I can find out more about the whole thing. There are many things about your grandfather that I don't know.'

You don't know the half of it
, Sara thought to herself. Sara felt an urge to tell her mother everything, but with so many things going through the young wolf's head, her mouth simply wouldn't open.

‘You girls had better go to bed, it's late,' Sallice said tiredly. ‘We have plenty of things to do tomorrow.'

Sara got up, replacing her chair before she and Fera made their way up to their bedrooms in silence. Walking past her parent's bedroom, Sara could hear her father grumble to himself as he packed. The young wolf would have most liked to have simply gone in and given her father a hug, but once again uncertainty stopped her. With a frown on her face, she rushed into her room, closing the door behind her.

Throwing herself on her bed the young female buried her head into her pillow.

‘What a mess,' she whined to herself out loud. She had said or thought those words often the last few days, and every time, things had somehow managed to get even worse then before. Though her world had turned completely topsy-turvy the last few days, the one thing that she had felt confident about was her family, even if she had been distant from them lately. Suddenly it was made clear exactly how important her parents were to her.

Sara's parents argued, but that was normal. What was not normal was what she had seen tonight, something that had shaken her belief in the stability of her family.

Had she been that distant lately that she hadn't noticed how bad it had become? Or had it always been this bad, and she had simply never seen it? With her mind full of thoughts and emotions, she irritably turned to lie on her back.

She clutched a pillow to her chest as she stared at the angled ceiling with a blank expression. In the dark and silence, her troubled mind was quickly overwhelmed. Confused, upset and angry, she simply gave in, allowing her overflow of emotions to come out as tears. Clutching her pillow for comfort, the young female cried quietly to herself in the still, dark room.

Exhausted from her emotional release, Sara's mind was empty as she lay on the brink of sleep.

Suddenly, she could hear movement from outside of her open window. Tired, she slowly got up, shuffling across to her window that overlooked the main compound. Down below she could see her father leading his travel-ready horse out of the barn. Pitch and Tatch had gotten down from their tree again to farewell the older grey wolf. Patting the two animals, her father was about to mount up when he stopped. Following where he was looking too, Sara could see her mother sitting on a fence railing that flanked the main path to the road. Hesitating for a second, Patt mounted up, moving off towards his wife.

Sallice watched as Patt approached. She gazed up once more at the stars before her husband got closer. Patt tried to focus on the road, but his eyes were automatically drawn to his wife as he felt her remorse as he approached. The projected feelings from his wife flowed over him like a sorrowful autumn day, growing in strength the closer he got. Anger and intimidation were not the only emotions that wolves could project, deliberately or accidental. Trying to ignore her feelings, he urged the horse on, refocusing on the road. Even his horse could feel Sallice's regret and sadness. The animal faltered.

Sighing heavily to himself, Patt turned the animal around to face his wife. His mind struggled to keep his own emotions in check.

‘I have to go,' he said calmly, his expression concentrated, his voice business like.

‘I know,' said Sallice, her voice soft. ‘And I have to stay.'

Her tone was graceful but strong.

Patt could see that she had been crying, the moonlight caught the moist fur around her eyes. Sallice's voice was steady and she made no effort to hide her tears. Crying in itself was not considered a sign of weakness amongst wolves.

Jumping down from the high fence, she took a few steps towards her husband.

Patt wanted to be stubborn, he wanted to leave, comforting her would be a sign of submission, and he was still upset about before.

Having been brought up in the best schools, Patt was only too well aware of the power and manipulation of female wolf's emotions and how they projected it. He had stayed smart, had paid attention and knew how to play the game. He hated the manipulation, the power females had over males, but it was something that you could learn, something that you could use to your advantage, if you were smart. Sallice was different; she wasn't one of those rich manipulative heiresses. She was honest, smart and headstrong, sometime too headstrong. Patt had to occasionally remind himself that she didn't play
the game
, at least not deliberately.

Gritting his teeth, he allowed himself to be swayed, concluding that if he did it from his own volition he could still maintain some pride. Jumping down, he moved across towards his wife, enveloping her in a tender hug. Sallice rested her head on the physically larger male's shoulder, her relief being tangible to both wolves. Patt allowed himself to be enveloped and Sallice felt her affections returned.

‘Why did I have to marry such a headstrong wolf?' he asked softly.

‘I don't know. You're the romantic,' she replied.

After a moment Sallice broke the embrace, looking into her husband's eyes, her expression turned serious.

‘Be careful, and stay on your toes, this is not as simple as you think.'

Patt grimaced slightly, but then mellowed.

‘I'll try and find out what is going on,' he said, a hint of exasperation in his voice. ‘There won't be anything,' he reassured her.

Sallice gave him a meaningful look, and then gave him a kiss.

‘If something goes wrong don't hesitate to come home, we are safest here,' she said.

Patt shook his head, smiling to himself.

Back up in her room, a tiered Sara watched as her father remounted his horse then rode off into the night. Looking back, she could see her mother simply standing there.

Turning from the window, Sara fell back into her bed. At least that was one sign that things were not quite as bad as she thought. Too tired to contemplate anything else, the young wolf fell asleep. Her dreams would be troubled that night.

Sara awoke early the next day sprawled unceremoniously across her bed. Outside, the sky was just starting to get brighter. Not a real morning person, Sara stretched a few times before taking a deep breath. Her eyes were still closed, as if in denial of the new day. The noise coming from a wild colourful swarm of birds in a nearby tree had brought the young wolf out of a deep sleep.

Moving automatically, Sara walked downstairs and outside, her eyes still half closed. Only then did she realize that she had slept in her clothes. Taking the time to remove them, she had a quick morning wash-down from the large tank of water near the house. Not bothering to replace her bindings, she walked back upstairs, clothed only in her outer layer.

Memories of last night began to filter into her tired mind. They quickly multiplied to blow away the last of the cobwebs obscuring her thoughts.

‘The letters,' she whispered to herself, now fully awake. Running upstairs, she was about to enter her room when her mother opened her own bedroom door from across the hall.

‘Sara,' said Sallice.

Sara hesitated, cursing her luck.

‘After you do your morning chores, I need you to move the younger herd down to the lower fields.'

Sara grimaced, that would take her most of the morning to complete.

‘Get changed quickly, I will see you in the kitchen for breakfast,' Sharlee added as she moved off down the hall.

Entering her room, Sara quickly got out the letters that she had hidden behind her small desk. Looking through them quickly, she could hear her mother through the door, awakening her sister.

‘Come on you two, get a move on,' called her mother.

Faltering for a second, Sara held the letters in her hand. She then placed them back on her desk. Running to her closet she pulled out fresh undergarments and her sturdiest travelling clothes. The garment was a slightly longer skirt and top made of more durable materials, and containing more pockets. Dressing quickly, she finished by adjusting her chest straps slightly. Sara picked up the letters, stuffing them in one of the many pockets. Grabbing a large utility belt, she scampered out of her room just in time to run into her sister.

‘Ummmph.'

‘Hey! Watch it,' said Fera. She was also not a particular good morning person.