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[h3]Wings of Fury[/h3]

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There comes a time in one’s life where the catalyst of change marks a heavy toll. That was what he kept telling himself. What he was trying so desperately to believe in. To force that truth into his broken soul. If he was capable, he would have torn out his own heart just to brand it. Then he would have sown his flesh tight, beat his chest to the drums of battle and move on. But it was difficult. So difficult.

A scent caught on the breeze and he let out a low growl as an all too familiar presence came to a stop next to him in the fading twilight.

“What do you want?” His barely contained despair spilled out, lacing his words with anger but he did not care. 

“What do I want?” That preening voice had the gaw to sound offended. With a snap of his head he looked and saw Of Lapis Wings giving him a bestial smile. It was enough to send his blood into a rage and he burst forth at her. No words were exchanged as he took a swipe at her with his claws, only for her to dodge and strike him in his abdomen, a gleeful smile plastered on her face. He bit through the explosive pain and took another swing but she was faster and managed to trip him up. 

His body hit the earth and she was already on top of him. Her gleaming blue eyes ripe with triumph. She struck him across his face, once, twice, thrice and he tasted blood, before others were grabbing her off of him. She flared her massive gray wings in response, dipped with the sky’s color and his packmates backed off. 

She leered over him now, her muddy furs billowing in the winds. With a free hand she touched her chest, right over her heart. Her voice grated on his ears as she spoke, “Now is that anyway to greet someone who wishes to offer her condolences?”

He sputtered, turning his head to the side and spitting out a glob of blood. His snout ached and he flexed his jaw before saying, “You don’t care. Don’t pretend like you do. Now what do you want, mutt?”

The smile faded from her lips and her ears pressed down flat to her head. It was her turn to growl now, his words finding their mark. She flashed sharp teeth, her pupils dilating as her nose flared. If there was one thing Lapis hated, it was being reminded of the pale skin that marked her as different. The unblooded nature of her birth. The disgrace it brought her family. Her only saving grace was that she could fly.  

“Shall I teach you another lesson?” She asked in a low voice, “Maybe if I had your mate and pup would still be alive?”

He felt his own eyes widen and she saw it. When you played the game, you had to be good and he was not. “Do not speak of them!” he yelled, getting to his feet. 

Lapis’s expression turned back into one of glee as she took a step back. She thought she had won. “Ohhhh, is that a bit of a sore spot, Umbar?” She said in her sweetest mocking tone. She had won a battle but he wouldn’t let her have victory.

He took a step forward but Dusk Trekker and Howling at the Stars laid hands on his chest. He looked at them both and found Dusk shaking his head, yellow eyes full of mourning. 

“You aren’t the only one who lost loved ones today.” Lapis spat. “Or did you forget this is a pack and you aren’t a loner. Yet.” A smirk formed on her lips.

He snapped back, “You were supposed to give us warning! You were supposed to keep this from happening! What good are wings if the person they are attached to doesn’t care about anyone but herself!” Dusk and Howling winced at his words but said nothing. Umbar felt his blood boiling in return and more so when Lapis put her hands on her hips and inclined her head. 

“How convenient of you to put the blame on me. Maybe you forgot, Umbar, but I was fighting down there because you rushed ahead! You broke our ranks in pursuit of glory! So when Mountain Winds gave the command, I filled your hole with my own body. Maybe if you hadn’t left, the demons wouldn’t have snuck up and sacked the village!” She fumed, shaking with anger. She ran a hand through her raven black hair. Flakes of dried blood breaking off as she shook her hand free. 

“He wants to see you,” she hissed, “but I’ll spare you the trip. You’re banished Umbar Climber. For your disobedience. Be happy it isn’t death. Or maybe you’d prefer that?” She produced a pale white dagger and he stared at it in disbelief. 

“You wouldn’t dare.” he gasped. “I can’t be banished by you. You’re just some mutt with a vendetta!”

“Am I?” She asked. The question but a soft whisper on the wind. A moment of silence passed, he tried to wrench himself free but he was grasped firmly. 

He looked at the two, his brothers, eyes pleading. “Come on…” he began, “Surely you don’t think I am to blame?”

When Dusk looked away and Howling held his gaze with anger in his eyes, Umbar felt the dread slide into his heart. 

He began to shake his head. “No… She’s lying. I was… I was…” The words caught up in his throat. Where had he gone in that fight? The rage and the anger, gods he had been so angry. He left the line, chased down and butchered those who fled. Then they surged and he fought and fought and fought. When it was done, he had almost killed Fields of Tallgrass. His knees buckled and he fell onto them. Both Dusk and Howling took a step away from him. 

“Now you see.” Lapis cooed. “Now you remember with that brute’s mind of yours. So what will it be?” She walked forward. The bone knife gripped with leisure in her hands. That bone knife whittled from a fallen Wildblood. One she had slain herself. 

Lapis crouched in front of him. “Banishment or a warrior’s death? I can give it to you. It’d be easy and quick. Come on… You’ll get to see them again.”

A lone wolf was a dead wolf, that was what he had always been taught. Between the demons and their terrible cousins, chances were slim. A prolonged existence when it could be ended without much fuss. Umbar had always envisioned himself dying to an ax or an arrow. What was the difference when it all ended in death? He had failed the people who thought he cared for them. Least he could do was apologize in the next life. He looked into those cold blue eyes and nodded his head. 

A terrible stillness came over them in that moment before action. 

Lapis lifted the knife with a slow nod of her own. 

And then the darkening world exploded into firelight as some great thing rushed past overhead. A great fireball raged in the heart of the village and the four of them looked with shocked expressions. Then another rush of wingbeats and Umbar looked to the sky. A dark blot sank low, just over the treeline and a great torrent of orange and yellow fire streamed down, bathing the world in agony. It was the screams that broke him from his trance, screams of those that he still cared for, even if all had given up on him. So Umbar sprang to his feet and ran. 

It was Lapis that ran beside him a moment later, her face lacking all sort of mocking glee from before. It was her village too, despite all it had put her through. Dusk and Howling followed, unsheathing their weapons. It was their sworn duty, as warriors, to protect their hearth and home. Death was but a simple asking price in exchange for the next generation. A generation he would have no stake in anymore. 

The great beast above, buffeted the flames, creating a whirlwind of fire as they approached. All were scattering from the burning village, from the terror in the skies. Women and pups, running past them now. 

Lapis barked, “Dusk, take Howling and make sure they reach safety! Get everyone you can out, don’t let them panic into the wilds!”

The two reared off without a word and Umbar glanced at Lapis, her expression wholly dark as her wings tucked in close to her body. She couldn’t fly, he realized, not with that thing up there. 

“Is it a demon?” she asked, as they entered the chaos of the village.

He shook his head, “I’ve never seen one breath fire.” Screams of the burned and dying wrang out despite the inferno sweeping the village. He cursed as they entered the square proper. A stoat band of fighters with bows had taken up behind a short wall, firing arrows up into the darkness. Whoever had told them to group up like that was a fool and Umbar paused in his step and waved his hands in the air.

But it was too late. Another bright burst lit up directly at that wall and the explosion of heat rippled over him. Umbar coughed and he growled. Lapis had run ahead, to the burning lodge that marked the chieftains home. She would walk her own path. He would…

A large mass descended in the smoke and fire before him and his first thought had been that he was weaponless, save for a knife. The next was the same sort of dread he had felt when witnessing the demons for the first time. How wholly unnatural such creatures were. His mind, he had to master the fear. He would do so now but this thing… a creature of the underworld. Black scaled and towering above collapsing rooftops, he saw two scarlet eyes looking down at him. Umbar tensed and then the thing unfurled its massive wings. Ten times the size of Lapis’ own and that it opened his mouth and he saw the furnace within. Umbar ran. 

Not backwards but towards it. The monster had to backstep as it unleashed a fire that singed the back of his clothes as he dove forward and underneath it. He plucked out his knife and slammed it down into the creature's foot and Umbar watched as the knife glanced off. The next thing he knew he was flying, flying straight into a burning building. The last thing he saw before the darkness took him was the monster and then he heard a very loud smack. 

[hider=Summary]
A fullblood wolf man named Umbar is upset his wife and pup died. Lapis, an elven halfblood mixed with thunderbird and wolf shows up to goad him. It works and they fight but she is faster than him. They argue some more after being separated and we find out that Umbar decided to abandon his post to fight ahead, thus causing their eyes and ears in the sky to come down and plug his hole, Lapis, which then caused a group of Demons to flank past them and attack their village. She basically says he is going to be exiled and might as well just be killed instead, you know, an honorable death. But before this can happen, the village is attacked again but not by demons. 
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