I don’t think I have ever run so fast or so far in my life! I could feel the ice and the rocks cut at my paws but the pain did not register. Even the cuts on my face went unnoticed though they were exposed to the harsh cold. Moteuh had been attacked. Her blood stained the earth and her body had been pounded into the ground. I had witness the King of Iromar beat a puppy to her death.

I froze for a second.

I watched him beat my cousin.

Anger and rage boiled through my blood. The blood that I had shared with Moteuh. She had done nothing to deserve what he had done to her and he had slaughtered her without a thought. My gritted teeth turned into a snarl as I continued my race back to Taviora. It was a crime that would not go unpunished, at least not if I had anything to do with it. Angels and Aztecs had their reputations to uphold. When blood met fire something always would get burned.

I did not stop at the tree line. Nor did I howl my rage to the world around me. Everyone needed to know, but it was not to be a song spread loudly, lest the man come directly for me. He needed to believe that he had commanded my silence. Though I don’t know how anyone would have believed that possible. For a second I stumbled at a crossroads in the path. One led to Zelda, the Alphess while Hyrule was off doing things, the other to Zeltzin. I raced down the path that led to the healer, one I considered a matriarch of our pack, the mother of the slain pup. Manners irrelevant and a waste of time, I flew into her den, tense and angry, my body quivering with pent-up emotion. Zeltzin… It’s Moteuh… That bastard in Iromar… I watched… My voice failed me, turning instead into a snarl that tore from my throat. My chords couldn’t let me say it. My heart and soul did not want to believe it. He killed Moteuh.