Stripes of Malice

A pilot chapter for a story I think I can finish without being too lazy. Before reading, lets see what this is about:

--"In the great tundras of Finlandia, there were three dominant forces amidst the great hierarchy of the known region of Tridra- Great dragons of the sky, deadly wolves of the snow, and dominant humans of the mountains. For years, a bitter rivalry between the great dragon tribes and the human tribes have escalated to the brink of war. The balance of nature begins to vanish as both tribes begin to tamper with their roles. A shortage of food and a rise of conflicts begins taking a toll on every living being. And as the imminent thought of war looms over Croitia, one is chosen to quell both sides from a tribe that had raised it behind the enemy lines."

Chapter one, The sons of Fate

Spoiler

The blistering cold land of mother Croitia..

Vast chains of mountains hugged by the white cascades of sparkling snow overlooked the almost darkening skies of the tundra. A few clusters of flaming lamps illuminated around one mountain in a delicate spiral, almost making it seem like the mountain was one flaming entity on it’s own. Roaring winds assaulted any being outside without mercy towards it’s inhabitants. Those who were heading back to their tribe merely people who ‘braved’ out the blizzard’s winds holding their own kin nearby with a strong grip against their thin frames. From a snowy hill above the walking group, a pack of white predators standing idly had their eyes glued to the group, hunger glazing their lavender eyes.

Their leader- standing a few inches ahead of the rest narrowed it’s eyes and lowered it’s head to conceal itself. Brilliant ivory fur shined from head to claw, following with a long flowing tail with a blue-coloured tip. Turning it’s head back at it’s group, the leader snarled and nodded.

“..There’s only six of them and four of us.” The leader flashed a stare at another male looking directly at the sky. He seemed to be taking in the cold air into his lungs. “If we assault the two bow-wielders, we may have an opportunity to take down the rest without any effort.”

Raising it’s head, the leader nodded at the male’s comment. “I think we’ll have a successful hunt this cycle.”

“Sininen, ” Another wolf called out to the leader- a female. ”I don’t like what I am smelling, sir. Our catch smells poisoned. There must be an ill one within the group.”

Sininen smiled angrily. ”We can leave the ill one to the black birds.”

Raising his head, Sininen gazed upon his group of four. Two females, bulky and with larger tails, and one male, long-legged and slim for speed. The others bowed their heads to the lead wolf, tapping their paws in anticipation. After a long moment of silence, the leader turned towards the group with a malicious smile. It was time to hunt. ”Positions. Ready yourselves.”

”Oi.” The group responded silently in unison. Sininen nodded and began trotting forward with an increasing pace, the others following with the same steady pace as their leader. Their eyes began glowing under the intense snowy shroud, suddenly spotting the group with a point-blank range. And as the began running through the snow, one of the archers bellow snap his bow up and fired what appeared to be an arrow covered with sharp streaks of ice mana.

”Disperse!” Sininen howled, then making a sharp turn to his right as his pack sharply turned to their left. A blur of ivory phased the arrow with a powerful effect of snow being kicked towards the archer’s direction. The human group suddenly huddled together while the other archer drew his arrow from his quiver without any fear showing through his white bone mask. The human group could hear the rapid steps of the wolves nearby, circling rapidly and closing in. The archer yelled out as he himself blurred out of view due to his immense speed. As if that yell was a direct command, the five unarmed humans began speeding off.


Sininen chuckled coldly as his large body appeared without warning in front of the first archer. His forelegs forcefully slammed the snowy floor in order to use the powerful timing to push his hind legs upward and letting his mana-consumed tail slam the archer’s Oakwood bow directly like a glowing blade. The man snapped back quickly upon the strike and quickly let go of the bow, then flipping backwards and kicking the wolf with an incredible hook to the jaw.

The two- both the wolf and the archer landed back slightly and snapped their positions back together. He reached for the bow without thinking, his instincts roaring. Whereas the wolf quickly tried his move again, this time, his tail only striking at the man’s neck. However, their efforts were for naught. Sininen’s opponent suddenly sat up and pointed the obsidian-tipped arrow at his forehead. Sininen stopped just inches before the man’s neck.

Deadlock.

”Tell me human, are you good with that bow.” Sininen snorted.

”Not as good as Deskarta himself, but I am a pretty damn excellent 'surgeon' with this bow.”

The wolf gave out a vicious chuckle. ” My tail out-speeds any flying beast and flying arrow around. With my energy just itching to slice your throat, I have you right in my line of striking. So lets talk.”

He kept his bow stiffly pointed at the massive wolf. Both glaring at each other. The man simply spat out to the side in annoyance. He had to listen to what the wolf had to say. ”What is it that you want this time, Kapiir. You’ve been stalking my group for many cycles already…. And I am sick of it.”

”We haven’t devoured an inch of flesh since 12 cycles ago. If you do not mind, we want what you have. Anything. And if not...” Sininen’s voice trailed off. ”…My pack will have to suffice with your group. And you are not an exception.”

He took the news far too personal. His group...easily captured? The archer nodded and flicked his head to the side. ”Drop your tail, Kapiir. I will follow your conditions.”

“Good, now you drop your bow first. I am not a short-cutter.”

At the same time, they dropped what would've been their weapons of death. Sininen lowered his tail and tucked it to his sides whereas the archer simply held onto the bow but not aiming it to anything. Sininen chuckled under his breath at the result of a tie. Human vs. wolf. It was an age old struggle. These two beings have never really been enemies since the dawn of time, but lately they have been competing for survival. In the unforgiving tundra’s of this world, food drew boundaries between each sentient species.

“Sininen, we have ourselves the full group.” The other male of the pack called out, trotting besides a bundled up woman. She appeared about 32 years old. Behind the male were the other 5 who tried to escape the raid- three men, the woman with the bundle, one a younger archer, and one small boy held hidden by one of the men in a soft blanket. He appeared asleep, however. Sininen stared at the younger one of the human group and trotted down to observe him more carefully.

“Asleep.” He whispered, then snorted with a realization. “These humans must be….quite oblivious to everything at such a young age….”

“..Now that everyone is here, what is it that you want.” Sininen looked back at the archer upon his query. Curious. “What is it that you have?”

“N-Nothing much….only scraps of deer..scales….and some cloth..” The woman of the group responded. All of the pack glanced at Sininen until the other archer of the group stood forward. “It’s all we have…please….we don’t want to start anything, do we?”

“Sininen, he has a point. We are in no position to start something between our tribes.” The other male wolf commented. “Why don’t we just take some scraps and continue our hunting some other time?”

Sininen snarled and flashed his teeth in rage with the proposition. He was hungry, unfortunately. Nothing mattered to him if it involved a single morsel of food. He simply wanted to satisfy his stomach, and he was more than sure that his pack wanted to do the same. But Sininen lacked a great deal of care towards those who he chooses to raid. If he cared, he would’ve died of starvation years ago. The hungry leader looked at the dropped bags of items on the floor belonging to the humans. Swords, some metal rods, a few scraps of deer meat, and a couple of fur pelts. “..Hmph….I suppose….something is something..” He whispered, then turning at the male wolf of his group without warning. “Kettu, take the pelts. And Muratti,” Sininen shifted his attention to one of the females of his group. “ Take the boy….”

“The….the boy..? A….”

Sininen snarled. “The human boy, I said. To avoid them going back to their group and coming back with more, we must hit them where it hurts the most- their offspring.”

Muratti tilted her head slightly, trotting towards the human group and sniffing around. “But I…I smell another one besides the boy we see here.” With curiosity, Kettu walked over to Muratti and did the same. Both of them nodding in confirmation. “Check the woman, Sininen.”

“I don’t need to. You- human female.” He howled, “ Remove your pelt and show us the child.”

“…N-No…I…N-No…I don’t….I….”

Kettu lowered his head and growled at the woman viciously, prompting her to immediately pull the pelt off from her and revealing what she had in her arms. A small human boy, covered up in a blanket of bear fur and sleeping comfortably in his mother’s arms. The baby’s black hair matched his mother’s hair perfectly and looked identical to the other boy just a few feet away. Both seemed to be at least under a year old. Sininen couldn’t really believe what he saw. He had never seen parents of such young offspring hauling them through the cruel cold. It was unheard of- for Humans and Kapiir alike. Without any time to spare, he turned his head and pointed to his back. “Place it here. I do not drop my catch.”

“No..please no…..PLEASE.” She pleaded. The main archer, however, stayed quiet and stared at the woman with sorrow in his eyes. She had no choice but to give up her boys to the pack. Carefully, she bundled up the baby with the blankets and placed him onto Sininen’s back, whereas the little boy was simply yanked out of the other man’s grip and placed onto the other female’s back- Kivi, was her name. All she did was nod at the man nonchalantly and walked over to Sininen’s side in silence.

“Very well. You may keep your scraps and rags. However, you shall not leave home with your offspring.” Grunted Sininen. “Let this be a warning to your kind- a reminder that we all need to survive. Therefore, it is best your kind stays away from this part of our territory.”

The main archer nodded and turned his back at the pack of Kapiirs. Soon enough, both groups went their separate ways.

One group walked away without their young ones.

And the other walked away with a shortlived victory.

 

Chapter Two, Blessed

Spoiler

As the pack of Kapiir marched across the snowy fields of their land, fortune didn’t quite smile upon their humble ‘family’ at this time. Kettu and Muratti sheepishly marched behind Kivi with a couple of pelts without any sound, and Sininen kept his attention fixed at a snowy forest ahead. Sininen thought to himself, asking why he took two children away from the humans. Surely enough he couldn’t stand being responsible for feeding the other three in his pack, and adding two more wouldn’t work out. Even if Muratti thought that Sininen picked them up for a late dinner, she somehow sensed that Sininen had other ideas in mind. He wasn’t a fool in nobody’s eyes.

Wondering and agitated from her lingering thoughts, Muratti trotted forward towards Sininen for answers. The leader turned his head slightly with a glance and acknowledged her request for a conversation. “What seems to trouble you, Muratti?”

“I….have to ask you this, Sininen….it’s…you know…the humans?” Sininen stopped for a moment, the rest of the pack pausing from their short odyssey. He growled at the question. “ Do you think I took them for dinner?”

“Uh…n-no sir…I…I know it’s not because of that.”

Pausing for a moment, his ear twitched. “Well?”

“I think she wants to know what are you planning to do with the human offspring you picked up.” Kivi whispered. “And I would like to know what you are planning too, Sininen. This does not fit under your normal- our normal behavior.”

Silence. The group stood there in the middle of the strengthening blizzard for quite some time before Sininen gained a slight idea on what to say. Darkness began to consume what little light was made to see. The chilling Croitian air began whistling against their furred forms, prompting Sininen to begin moving once more.

“It is not my intention to leave anyone bewildered.” He began, “However…I did not plan on introducing two new members to our pack today. That, my kin, was a wicked thought which consumed my very ability to make logical decisions back there.”

“…No…we are not taking responsibility for two defenseless children. Not in our situation.” Kettu muttered.

Sininen chuckled at this. “Who knows, maybe the humans will treat us better if we have humans of our own.”

“We barely eat and you expect us to feed two more. Honestly, I do not know if they can actually eat at all. I doubt humans have sharp teeth at that age.” Kivi commented as her lavender eyes gazed upon the baby on Sininen’s back. He gave one glance back at the child Kivi had on her back and nodded slowly. “Kivi…I do remember you saying you wanted another pup….am I right..?”

Kivi blinked. “…I….Sininen….”

“Think about it, Kivi…we lost our pup to those flying snow devils long ago…ever since then you’ve been babying around Kettu and Muratti as if they were your own.”

“How…how does this relate to what we are trying to prove to you..?” She looked down, nodding. Clear sorrow showed in her beautiful eyes. Her ears and tail lowering under a fairly painful reminder of what ruined her life years ago. Sininen then walked over to Kivi and nudged his nose against the side of her neck softly, as if he was encouraging her to hear him out on what he had to offer. “ We can try again with these two…we can try again.”

“Sininen, NO!” She snarled and snapped her jaws at Sininen. Somehow the thought of that was too much to handle. “ What makes you think I can raise two humans at once! What makes you believe I am a good mother despite the fact I let our only son die!”

“We will manage…..we will surely manage….All I want to accomplish in my life is to regain normality within our world…our world…just the two of us. I only want to see you happy, Kivi..” He reassured. Kivi slowly began walking off without the group without commenting on Sininen’s proposal. The other two of the pack slowly gazed at Kivi as her ivory form soon blended into the snow’s wrath, surprised at how Kivi vented out her grief. Moving forward, Kettu lowered his tail and howled in order to get Sininen and Muratti to follow. And so they did.


Entering the forest in which dominated the artic winds with it’s towering trees, the ambiance was quite calm and idle. Snow covered a fraction of the dirt ever so slightly as the group stepped lightly through the almost snow-paved trail of the forest. Keidas forest was it’s name. A vast area known to the Kapiir kind as a forest haven away from the painful grinding between the humans or the other dominant force of their world. Many packs of Kapiir settle here during the darkest days of the year, usually using the towering trees around them as homes and protection. These trees were quite special. They scraped the sky so high that any avian beast daring to enter this forest would find it nearly impossible. As for living means, a special kind of artic bird called a Maarmo would usually carve out a fairly wide hole near the base of the tree. Despite that, the forest’s trees withstood the test of time and conflict flawlessly. Kivi glanced around the forest without any means to communicate with fellow Kapiir’s around her as they stared. Elders, pups, grown Kapiir alike gazed upon the spectacle in which Kivi had laid on her back. A human! They would snicker. Instead of bringing a kill, she brought a human. Of course, Kivi had no say about the awkward stares she received.

Once arriving to a massive tree-stump allocated in the center of a tree clearing, she quickly crawled into an opening in the tree. Sininen and the rest of his pack swiftly followed her until hitting what would be their pack’s bunker home.

“Where…should I put them.” She grunted. Sininen carefully walked over to a nest-like settlement located in the farthest right corner of the underground bunker and simply sat down, tilting slightly to let the baby slide down. “In our bed of leaves, of course..”

“Look at him….he is as small as our little pup when he was born..”

Kivi walked over to Sininen and placed the other child next to the baby. Both looked very calm in their slumber. “Yes….quite small…this young boy is small too, but….not as small as this little one..”

“Especially the one I had on my back…such a small trooper….he doesn’t wake up despite our trip back here, Sininen.”

Kettu looked over at the young baby who looked like a one year old, perhaps two. Sighing over the child’s long black hair and slightly pale face, the young male nodded with disbelief that this child was harder to wake up than anyone in the Kapiir tribe all together. Smirking, Kettu sat down besides the child and gave a glance at Kivi. “This boy’s got a soul made of stone like you, Kivi- outlasting the very normal bumps of life.”

“We do not know if this boy is as strong as stone. However….that does give me an idea on what to name this boy…” Kivi whispered, glancing at Sininen’s smirking face. “Yes…go ahead and say it, Sininen…you won as always.”

“Hmph, I wont say it…but I am glad you are fitting into the idea of raising this young one.”

Sininen then nudged the infant near him, gazing upon his frail form carefully. The baby’s much shorter black hair gave him a chill down his very spine. It was a feeling he couldn’t describe. Once again having a true family of his own gave him a light of hope. Unexpected, new, complete feelings of fatherhood.

As Kivi nudged Sininen out of his deep thinking, the two Kapiir looked down at the brothers and finally agreed with their names.

“The older one will be known to our pack as Vuori, strong as the mountains in which his kin have thrived on.”

“And this young infant,” Sininen looked up, then looking back down at the infant boy. “Shall be known to our pack as Valkoinen, like the name our very own pup used to carry with honor..”

Kettu and the rest of the pack then got closer to the two brothers, proudly howling as the night completely consumed the outside world they knew.

“And may they be blessed with the Susi name.”​