The Scarred Ones

© 1998 Jo Gerrard
All rights reserved.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Revan asked. Karragha could hear concern in his voice, but simply nodded slightly as she slipped off the back of her horse. It still amused her to use a food animal as a beast of burden.

She stepped away from the snorting beast and stopped before the hovel, holding up one hand behind her back as a signal for Revan to wait. She was certain her quarry was inside, though she could never have explained her certainty to the slender warrior, and the knowledge gave her a fluttery feeling in her throat. She tugged on the scarves wrapped around her neck.

This was the task she had trained for all her life, since before her eyes were even opened, when she alone survived the vicious attacker who had slain her mother and her siblings. The elders had been afraid of her, she knew; afraid that his madness would be perpetuated in her.

So she had been rendered into the implement of justice for the People. She had been trained from her earliest years as a killer, one under the careful restraints of the elders, and who would kill only at their command. They had sent her on this quest to prove her training. Part of her knew they did not expect her to survive the encounter with this mad one again, and she did not care. She knew there was no place within the People for one such as her.

Revan stayed on his horse as she shook off the mist of her thoughts and took action, stepping forward and rapping solidly on the door with one gloved hand. The rotting wood cracked noisily under the solid blows, and Karragha jumped away from the building as the door collapsed backward into the hovel, raising a cloud of dust. She heard the restless shifting of Revan's horse at the loud noise, but did not respond to it, any more than she reacted to the sweat trickling down her back under her heavy clothing.

The person who appeared in the doorway as the dust was clearing was tall and beginning to thicken around the waist, his full brown hair going to gray in the front. He walked slowly but gracefully, with movements that marked him as an experienced fighter, and his amber eyes were bright and clear as he first looked at her, then glanced dismissively at Revan behind her, and turned back to her again.

He stood in front of her, relaxed but alert, and steadily met Karragha's eyes. She set her jaw and steadfastly refused to look away, though normal etiquette demanded she should. The silence stretched out uncomfortably long, and she could hear Revan's horse beginning to fidget again when the older man began to speak.

"What would you have here, pup? Do you have a 'request' for me? Or has this human done something that you wish me to eliminate him for you?" His voice was rough, gone rusty with the same kind of disuse that Karragha was accustomed to, and the disdain with which he spoke of her companion's race surprised her into a momentary silence.

Revan cleared his throat, and the old male barely glanced at him before he turned back to Karragha, amber eyes snapping. This time it was easier to meet and hold his gaze, and she waited a few moments to make that clear before she spoke.

"You have brought dishonor on the Pack," she said, calmly.

He raised one eyebrow, and she saw his body subtly loosen as he prepared for an attack.

"And you are here to restore that honor? You do think highly of yourself, pup."

She lifted her chin, still holding his gaze. "I passed the rite of adulthood one sun-turning ago. I was chosen for this task by the Elders of four Clans. As to my ability," she shrugged, knocking one of the scarves over her throat askew, "that remains to be seen. Your crimes, however, are in Song."

He bared his teeth at her, and she felt the small hairs on the back of her neck rising at his challenge before she realized he was mimicking the human expression of humor, though there was nothing of mirth in it.

"As you will, pup. And what crimes am I accused of, in Song? Allow me to judge the justice of this trial."

Karragha took a deep breath as Revan had taught her, steeling her nerves and gathering the thoughts scattered by his insult, before speaking.

"Honorless One, you are condemned for the murder of your bitch and her newborn pups. Worse was your deliberate attempt to blind the Pack Healer. But above all else you have dishonored the Pack by murdering humans and thus breaking the pact between the races."

He met her gaze emotionlessly.

"I will also let you know that should I fail," she continued, "that the human behind me has been sent by his people to see that you are finished. Your lack of honor has not yet completely destroyed the relationship, you see."

Again the old male flashed his feral smile.

"And what would you say, pup, if I told you that I was not alone in my actions against these weak humans? If I said that there were many who feel that we of the Pack should have no congress with those who are merely prey?"

Karragha stepped back involuntarily at the unexpected hate in his voice and heard Revan's breath catch as their enemy stepped to the side, toward him. She swallowed once, hard, and forced herself back to control.

"Your deeds are still against Pack Law," she responded, stepping in front of him again and challenging him with her eyes. "And these words do not explain or excuse your wanton attack on the members of your Clan."

"Wanton? Oh, hardly that, pup. I intended to slay the Healer, not blind her, for she knew what I had resolved to do as well as which other Clans I was working with. And the bitch had it coming to her, although that had nothing to do with why I did it. I enjoyed killing her and the pups, though they were as little challenge as humans are. You have not lived, pup, until you have tasted the hot blood shed for the simple joy of it. As I shall thrill in tasting yours and that of the human you protect."

His body began the fluid Change to his lupine form, and she reacted as quickly as she could, Changing herself.

She shrugged out of the remainder of her human garb and shook once, surprised that he had not taken advantage of her vulnerability. She looked over at the honorless one. The old male regarded her as well, though neither of them met the other's eyes, yet. He was too busy looking over the old scars that showed up in her brown pelt as fine white streaks, even as she measured his. He had few stripes, mostly located over his flanks, telling her that he would be canny in a fight. But there was a stiffness in his joints that he could not conceal, and she had her youth and the extensive training of the Elders on her side. She breathed a prayer that it would be enough as the wind brought her the acrid fear scent from Revan and his horse.

The old male caught her eyes and held her gaze, and she was forced to struggle not to look away, not to expose her belly as his eyes demanded. She did not look away; there was something too strong awakening in her.

"So, it seems they did not send an unblooded pup to me after all. Tell me, little one, how horrible is it on your other body? Is the human traveling with you one of those who only appreciate the flawed body—the scarred ones who are so desperate they will take any lover, no matter how cruel?"

She snarled wordlessly, deep in her throat, but did not allow him to goad her into attacking. Most of the scars had been his birth-gift to her, granted before her eyes were open, but he had no need to know that. Let him think this would not be her first fight; it would make it more difficult for him to predict what she would do. She watched him in silence as she had been taught, and was prepared to block him when he began his rush.

They fought in a flurry of furry bodies, both grabbing for the soft tissue in the throat, of reaching for the vulnerable stomach. When they separated for a moment, panting, they both bled onto the ground. She had raked him deeply across his chest with her teeth, nearly scoring on his throat, and something burned in her blood as she watched him, a mad desire to see this creature torn open on the ground before her.

"You are very good, pup," he snarled, "easily good enough to join us. You need not continue to obey the weakling Elders; you are far stronger than they. Come, let us cease our fighting and tear that human from his horse together."

For a moment her blood sang so high that she felt herself crouching to leap toward Revan. The old male had already shifted, preparing to leap, and the sharp scent of the gelding's fear cut across the tang of blood, carrying with it Revan's scent.

She shook her head once, violently, and gathered her legs beneath her. When the old male leapt, she cut across his angle and knocked him to the ground before he could reach his target.

He rolled up and lunged for her. Karragha was surprised by his speed and only just got her head down to block his flashing teeth. The impact of their muzzles caused stars to dart before her eyes. He slashed upward even as she saw her opening, and she felt a great tearing pain in her face and one eye went dark as she sank her teeth deep into his throat. Despite the pain in her face she gripped tightly as he tried to shake her loose, until the bright arterial spray temporarily blinded her good eye.

She stumbled back away from him, shaking her head to clear her vision as he fell heavily to the earth. She Changed to human form and crept back to him, the pain of her wounds less than nothing next to the sudden ache in her heart. She sat down and cradled the dying wolf's head in her lap. Silence reigned in the yard.

The old wolf coughed once, and his breathing bubbled wetly in his throat as he looked up at her.

"You—who are you?" he asked, trying to focus on her face.

"I am Karragha," she replied softly.

"Ah, 'the justice of the Pack.' How appropriate," he said, unevenly, the amber eyes beginning to dim.

"Perhaps," she answered, settling the great head down to the ground again as the final rattling breath left his body.

Revan finally dismounted, and came over to set his hand on her shoulder, gently.

"I'm sorry."

She shook her head. "It means nothing."

He bent down and helped her lift the heavy, lifeless form onto the back of the horse, who for a wonder stood still. "What will you do now?"

"Return his body to the Pack, that I may be freed from my debt to them. I do not know what I will do after that."

"There are the other renegades he spoke of," Revan commented, quietly, his hands gently inspecting the wound that had been left on the side of her face.

"I do not know. I do not want to be my people's assassin any longer," she answered him, numbly, turning away from his gentle hands and stepping over to the horse and its burden. She rested her cheek on his cooling side.

"And yet I am my father's daughter," she told the lifeless corpse, and one tear slipped from her eye to lie gleaming in his pelt.

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