Abandoned Prison

A young wolf with a bandage over his eye greeted Tiberius as the young Arlyne tried to sit up from the stone floor. It was dark, musky, and strangely hot. Tiberius found himself panting almost as soon as he started breathing, and the incessant ringing in his ears just wouldn't let up. Every so often, the ground shook, and little splinters of rock whizzed past his face. His head hurt like the dickens, whoever they were. He could see that the bandaged pup was trying to say something to him, but Tiberius just couldn't hear what it was. It was obvious the other wolf was getting frustrated with him. Being able to hear his own voice was the only thing that assured Tiberius he wasn't deaf as he tried to ask where he was.

"The mines, bud. We are on the chain," Tiberius finally heard the other wolf say. As his eyes grew accustomed to the gloom, he could see that wolf was right. Up and down the a sheer rock wall to either direction, young wolves of all packs were bound to an iron chain that ran along parallel to it. The links were loose enough to allow for room to work, but certainly too tight to be comfortable. Every so often, a shout from somewhere high above was heard, and a boulder about the size of a wolf's head would crash down from the top of the cliff face, and smash onto the unyielding stone floor, shattering into fragments. These fragments were then picked through by the wolves on the chain, but Tiberius couldn't really tell what they were looking for. They were a sullen lot, none of them were talking, and even the spray of rock fragments didn't seem to phase them.

"I dunno wherer I am, whatsa goin' on? Where's Feathers? Who's chain is this? What'r we-" Tiberius slurred excitedly, before the other pup cut him off by shoving a fore paw to Tiberius' mouth. The bandaged wolf was looking warily down the chain, and when Tiberius matched his gaze he saw a much larger adult wolf making his way along the prisoner chain, obviously a taskmaster or something. The big wolf looked mean enough to be a bully, alright, carrying that leather whip in his mouth like he was.

"Look friend, the name's Keela. I dunno who Feathers is, but an hour ago they threw you down next to me like a sack of grain. You had an awful lump on the back of your head, which is usually how they get ya. They always match up the new slaves with us long timers. Now that your awake your gonna have to work if you don't wanna be whipped," the wolf Keela responded in a harsh whisper. At least, it sounded harsh because he had to do it loudly enough to be heard over the sounds of crashing rocks. Keela went on to explain that they were sorters, that as rocks came crashing down from the miners at the top of the cliff face, they were supposed to look through the shards for anything interesting. "They don't tell us what we are mining for, but only that we have to report anything we find that ain't granite. Your lucky, bud. Our job is way easier than the miners up above, or the hauler who have to come take all the scraps away. Just watch your head for fallin' rocks and may'haps you'll be able to go look for your friend at quit'n time."

Confused and alone, Tiberius for the life of him couldn't remember how he got here. All he could scarcely remember was an argument he had with Blossom over whether they should make a campfire in unknown territory, and nothing since them. Hopefully his feathered friend didn't get mixed up in this.

It wasn't a hard task he was forced to do. Menial, wearisome, dangerous, yes. But it really wasn't that hard. Tiberius soon got in the routine. The more benevolent miners would call out from above that a load was coming down, and all the sorters backed up. Of course, there anything to crouch behind, and the chain only let the sorters move so far away, so the Arlyne soon figured that the best way to not loose his sight to rock splinters was to take the shards on the tail. Turning back around, they had to scamper to sweep all the smaller bits of gravel down into a trough so that the haulers could come take away the bigger pieces, all the while on the lookout for something valuable. It seemed like such an inefficient way to search rocks, but it certainly kept a lot of slaves busy.

The young Arlyne could only thank his god when he was pulled off the chain and replaced with another slave who was fresher, the tuckered pup could hardly point to a spot on his body that wasn't sore. Being led away with the rest of those on his shift, Tiberius strained his neck and contored his body desperately to see the new shift coming in, desperate to see any sign of Blossom. He desperately wanted to call out for her, but he had already been whipped twice for chattering, and he didn't fancy the sting of the lash. No, he would have to be satisfied with the quick glance. There wasn't any sign of his one wing'd friend.

Iron bolts groaned as they were scraped along rusty hinges, as a few paces ahead an iron barred door was swung open, revealing a cell that was stone on three of its four sides. Presumably, they kept the large group together because they were easier to feed like that, and the lot was too tuckered or frightened to conspire about anything.

"Did you see your Feathers, bud?" Keela asked, seemingly in the mood for conversation despite his obvious weariness. When Tiberius shook his head, the other wolf continued. "Well, there be only two shifts of sorters, usn' them. If you didn't see her comin' in or here wif' us now, you can bless your lucky gods that she ain't in this prison. They only stick wolfs our age in the sorter group until we are stronger, there ain't no other place she could be if she ain't on either sorter line" Keela explained, obviously getting some satisfaction out of sharing a ray of hope with Tiberius.

Tiberius for his part was elated at the news that his friend could have in fact escaped the dreadful place. If what Keela said was true, it was only a matter of time before his resourceful friend sprung him from trouble like every time before. Sure this trouble was a bit thicker than they had ever encountered, but Blossom had been practicing those vine tricks. Take branch and jimmy the lock, and she would have him free. Them all free. Keela could come too. They could rid themselves of this awful mine forever.

Tiberius laid down in the corner, staring at the cell door, almost expecting his wild hopes to come true.

Blossom had laid there, hopeless and shattered. She had already known the cruelty life could deal out, but this was... this was harsher. It made her doubt everything she had tried to fix with her fantasy world where it had just been her and Tiberius, skipping around the forest trying to find something that could not be found. It was a harsh awakening.

"Move it!" A loud booming voice brought her from her dark thoughts, and the kicking to her side, made her get up. It was a male guard, and what looked like an old healer. The healer snapped, "It is this one. She is not injured, just anot abomination. She can still work in the mines."

The guard nodded and shoved Blossom toward the door. She moved along, a broken young wolf that moveday like that without hope. She didn't look up to take in her environment or even to attempt to escape. It was when she heard the loud clang of a door that she looked up. It seems she had been put into another cell with other wolves. She let out a sob once she thought of how they too would most likely meet the same fate as Lily.

Tiberius

In a feat that could only be contributed to extreme exhaustion, Tiberius had managed to fall soundly asleep and the rough stone floor that carpeted the cell. It was not a fevered sleep, nor a lively one, but simple a deep, dreamless state in which his young body attempted to recover from the sudden exertions of the day. It was going to be one stiff morning, that as for sure. He had gotten used to sleeping on the soft loam of the woodlands, this stone was certainly going to cause his bones to ache.

A sudden CLANG! ripped through the cell, and even in his practically unconscious state Tiberius was not immune loud sounds stirring him from sleep. A ripple of fear passed through his stomach, and he wondered if was already time for work again. No, it was too early...couldn't he just stay in bed? Nevertheless, he didn't fancy getting lashed for loafing, and with bleary eyes he looked up, expecting to see platoon of guards standing in the cell. While there was one guard, yes, Tiberius saw that he was just escorting a young wolf into the cell. A second CLANG! of the cell door closing relieved Tiberius, as he realized he didn't have to get up.

He was almost ready to rest his chin between his paws and try to snooze when a sob caused him to take a quick glance at the newcomer. A bolt of excitement followed by a surge of dread shot through Tiberius' heart. It was Blossom. She was alive! But she was trapped, just like him. "Feathers!" Tiberius cried out, the shout of joy rousing hardly a stir among the other wolves in the cell. He wasn't even sure he had seen them stir when the cell door had opened. How did they remain asleep through it?

The young Arlyne tried to scramble to his paws to run to his friend, but his legs were so stiff he ended up falling forward on his chin before fully standing up. "Wherv...where 'ave you been?" Tiberius gushed, a little quieter this time, as he trotted over towards Blossom.

Blossom was so distressed in her sobbing that she didn't hear or notice a friendly wolf fumble. She didn't stop to notice until Tiberius was before her that she stopped and wiped her face with the back of a paw and cry out, "Tiberius! It was terrible! Those wolves died an-and and..." She rushed forward and shoved her face into his shoulder. She began to cry anew as the realization that they were both stuck in this horrible place bled all hope from her fragile heart. They would probably die here, forgotten. An exit from life that went unnoticed. What a terrible thing.... everything was... against them...

Blossom sobbed, "What's going to happen now?! Whose gonna check the snares for rabbits!?" Her thoughts turned to the idea of her fantasy land, back at the camp where she had been lying ti Tiberius about finding tracks of other wolves, and how she knew of this place that other wolves like him gathered.... And like how I lied about eating that frog he caught... and other things!!!

The young wolf had no idea what to say to his friend. Here he had foolishly gotten his own hopes up that Blossom would come along to soothe his worries and stop his tears, but here she was in a worse state than he! Weeping here, in a cold and indifferent cage. Their cell mates had to have grown hardened to the sounds of sobs by now, otherwise Feather's cries would've probably awaken them. Any second of sleep they spend scolding wolves they would have to pay for in the morning. Or whatever time it was.

"We-uh, we are, Feathers. We'll check the traps ourselves. We-uh, we uh just gotta get outta here first," Tiberius said with a wearily, almost disgusted with how unconvincing he sounded. So much for brightening the mood. He would probably been in the same state as her had fatigue not been weighing so hard on him. He shifted his stance to better accommodate her weight, and laid what he hoped would be a comforting paw on her shoulder. It was trembling so much, but he couldn't guess if it shook more from his nerves or hers. How was he ever going to get back to sleep, now?

"Look, Feathers, we're tired, we outta get some sleep first, right? We'll dream up a good plan on what we need ta' do tomorrow. If there is a way in this place, there's gotta be a way out, huh? Mayhaps we'll even find a good rock wolf to break us all out, yeah? That's what this whole place is, just a giant cave. We just gotta find the right wolf to make us a way out," Tiberius whispered wishfully, timing his sentences to fit between her sniffles. Never mind there wasn't a Dimitrios to be seen in this cell, they had to be out there. They couldn't be mining so much ore without a rock wolf. They just had to get off the chain tomorrow and find him.

Assuming she would follow his lead, Tiberius would gravitate back to the spot he had been laying earlier slump down again, surprised to see how much heat had already been leeched back into the stone in just a few minutes. It was like he had never laid there. Making room so that she could share whatever meager warmth was left on the spot, he would lay his head back down on the granite.

Blossom

Blossom did not notice the way Tiberius shook, or even how his voice trembled a bit. Distraught and about to fall over, she followed Tiberius back to the spot where he had been laying. She did this without question. She had not really understood what he said about the traps and a rock wolf and perhaps it was a good thing her brain was not working right. The statistics of a rock wolf being here and being nice enough to help them escape were.... not in their favor. If anything that information alone would have made her more depressed.

As it is, she was tired mentally from the stress, fear aloneness adrenaline that had followed her awakening. And so, it did not bother her when her stomach twisted in hunger and made her curl up even tighter when she collapsed next to Tiberius. "I wish Drais was here."

She had mumbled the words under her breath and quickly after wrapping her wing over herself like a blanket, fell asleep. She began to snore softly.

If he had to guess, he would have said that it was mid-morning by now. They had to have been on the chain, what, three or four hours by now? Morning had come too early, of course. But morning always came to early. It's just here there was no sun to help wake the wolves up. Instead they used whips. Much quicker that way.

Tiberius was no better at the job today then he was had been yesterday, and now he had the added chore of teaching Blossom what they had to do. She had done well enough not to get hit so far, which was better than he had done his first day, but they still had a long way to go before lunch. He wondered what they were going to be served. "So occasionally the rocks they push over are hollow, or have big crack in 'em. That makes 'em split a whole lot more when they fall, so always make sure you face away when they fall. It looks cool seein' them explode the first few times, but by then you are totally covered in pebbles," Tiberius advised, trying to be helpful for his friend.

He hadn't forgot about his plan from last night, as threadbare as it was. But he hadn't seen a Dimitrios all morning, and when he squinted to look up at the wolves tossing the rocks over the cliff face he couldn't make out their pack. He still had faith they could come out of this, he only hoped that Feather had the same attitude.

The world had been cold when she awoke from her restless sleep, and even colder in that she was forced to dig laboriously. She was supposed to be digging? Or something like that? She really didn't know.

All she did was copy whatever Tiberius did, not really knowing what these wolves wanted them for. All that she knew was that sometime the rocks from above would coming shooting down to hit the earth in a explosive manner.

Unlike Tiberius, when she had first seen the falling rocks explode, she felt sick. It was nothing awesome to her. In fact, such effects as the dust and small shrapnel that came from the rocks led her to using her wing as a shield. It was better then getting dust in her face. Well... at least it was until Blossom began to feel the effects of intense labor.

She began to pant and whine.

Her small body really was not meant for such hard work. Her paws were too small to even be intended for trekking through mountainous terrain while even her short and slim leg bones kept her from walking long distances. Not to mention that she was always working on her balance as one side of her body was heavier due to a pointless, feathered appendage. Even now, her wing was causing her problems. Her back muscles were aching from extending her wing for protection from flying debris.

Blossom was as her name implied, a small she-wolf with delicate features that demanded gentleness for fear of being crushed by any type of thoughtless action.

Her stomach growled loudly. The miserable feeling of being pushed to her physical limits made her ask, "I'm starving... Tiberius? When will they let us rest?" Her voice was low, not wishing to be caught for doing something wrong and endure the punishment.

"When will we get to eat?"

Whatever vague hopes Tiberius had had of being slightly better at his task today than yesterday were gone. There was no getting better at this. The boulders from above never came down in a straight line, for despite the many tons of rock that had traveled down the cliff side it was still not completely worn smooth. They always found areas to bounce and ricochet on their downward journey, leaving a wolf sized boulder to launch through the air and land in some unknown location. It was stressful. Almost as stressful as worrying about Blossom.

"I dunno, Feathers, I think I was out cold yesterday when they fed us out here. Hopefully soon." Tiberius responded with a wry smile. He had managed to sneak in a few thoughts about escape in between his stints of concentration to dodge boulders. The point he kept coming back to was that they would never be able to escape without first getting out of these chains, Dimitrios or not. The Arlyne wasn't completely sure how the cuffs worked, other than they came on and off. When they were slapped on there was no special process, but when they were taken off a guard had to stick a straight metal pin in a hole on the hinge. The hole was much to small for a wolf claw to fit in. Or any rock shard for that matter. He had already tried to jam several into the aperture, to no avail.

A bead of moisture on his snout struck him with inspiration. What if he forced some water down the lock? He wasn't that good at aquakinesis, but surely he could do something as simple as pushing it into the mechanism. No fancy looking shapes required. Just force. He would need more than a few tears, he figured. In an effort to lighten both of their mood, he quietly explained his plan to Blossom after a patrolling wolf had passed.

"I think I know how to get us out of these irons, if you let me have some of your water at lunch. I'll force it down the lock to break it open. Look for a good place for us to duck into, no use getting off the chain if there is nowhere to run."

Blossom paused to stretch her wing, giving her back muscles for a brief moment... before a rock fell and exploded, peppering her side with tiny rocks. She yelped and ducked back under her wing for protection. "I dunno, Feathers, I think I was out cold yesterday when they fed us out here. Hopefully soon."

Blossom moaned, "Uhhh, that's terrible." She was starved! How have the other wolves here endured this treatment for so long without... without breaking? The horrifying fact of how these wolves would mostly die, brought back the memory of that place where they would end up if they ever broke, just a little. I guess, they break no matter what... "I think I know how to get us out of these irons, if you let me have some of your water at lunch. I'll force it down the lock to break it open. Look for a good place for us to duck into, no use getting off the chain if there is nowhere to run."

She perked up, just a little bit happy to smile a tinsy bit. But then her joy at having Tiberius here to think up a way of escape, died just as her stomach grumbled loudly enough for some of the fellow prisoners to stop and stare her. The look on their faces telling her they were all hungry, and that it would be better if they weren't remembered of their own hunger by listening to someone else's stomach growl. She tucked her tail and dropped her ears, mouthing, "I'm sorry" and then going back to searching through the piles of shattered rocks.

That is when she got the idea. "Oh yeah, I think I have a berry-plant-seed in here somewhere." She stopped working to sit and dig her snout through the inside of her wing. She always carried seeds, and some healing plants underneath her wing, in the tight spots where her feathers could act as small pockets to hold things in place. The idea had come to her when she had to stop carrying what bits of food she had scavenged to stop and preen for her wing would get heavy and itchy when left neglected. It had been a glorious idea. "I think- I have-" She began spitting out several seeds, most of which, to a non-Aven wolf, looked like seeds of terrifying and mysterious origins. "A peach tree in here... as well."

And suddenly, out from her wings came an ivy plant. Blossom stared at the small ivy and for some reason, laughed, "You know, I forgot I had that in there."

"Hey! Get back to work!" A guard snarled at Blossom, walking down the line toward her. She yelped and using her wing, covered the pile of stuff that had fallen out from her wing. "Y-ye-yes, s-s-sir." She stuttered out the words and began to work more vigorously than before, fear making her shake.

Thankfully the Guard didn't do anymore then glare at her for awhile before moving on. She slumped a little, her poor beating so fast it scared her.

Tiberius was curious about Blossom's collection of seeds, however he wisely chose to avoid chortling about it until the guard had left again. Pushing a small pile of gravel into the sorting trough, he turned back to his friend to see her rather out of sorts. He had been watching all morning how the work was wearing away at her, with little that he could do about it. He wasn't in much better shape, but she had the added challenge of having a gentle personality in a not-so-gentle place.

"Yous alright, Feathers? Don't worry about this place, we won't have to see them much longer. Though a few of your plants would certainly liven up the atmosphere in here. Gray rock on black rock is kinda bland."

The young wolf smiled at his own joke, and his smile managed to get a little bit bigger when he saw a pair of slaves wheeling a large cauldron down the walkway the paralleled the working area. It was a great brass affair, and from the crusted on goop that stuck to the side of it, Tiberius could guess that it was rarely washed. The food that came out of it didn't look much better than the that old stuff. A mix of tannish-red slop that was ladled out into a depression on the ground. Or on other words, it was ladled out onto the floor. The little divot they put it in was only there to keep the slop from running onto the walkway and slipping up the guards.

As their station received food, Tiberius watched expectantly for water to come as well. None was forthcoming. He supposed they considered the slop to by moist enough for them to get by. He sniffed it. It didn't smell like food. You couldn't tell that from the way the other prisoners dug into it.

"Please tell me you can grow other food than this."

"Yous alright, Feathers? Don't worry about this place, we won't have to see them much longer. Though a few of your plants would certainly liven up the atmosphere in here. Gray rock on black rock is kinda bland." Blossom shook her head at Tiberius, thinking that none of her plants could survive here long. Without sunlight, without water. I guess my ivy plant will die soon... She had begun putting back the seeds in her wing,
ruefully thinking that if she a pair of wings, she'd be able to fly away. To fly away to find food. Speaking, no, thinking of food, she saw the large cauldron moving down the line by a few wolves.

She stopped working and sat, eagerly awaiting her portion.... that is, until she saw the food... she stared at the slop in front of her... then glanced at Tiberius. He doesn't like it either... but... Her stomach growled once more, and without even thinking or even wondering what the slop was made of, dug it. Just like the other prisoners. It didn't taste particularly good, but it filled her stomach and it did seem to keep her from starving. "Please tell me you can grow other food than this."

Blossom looked up at Tiberius, once she had licked up all of the food in her reach. "Sorry, I only got berries... and I know you don't like eating stuff from plants." She went back to licking the depression on the ground, not caring that all the food was gone and that all she was licking, was the ground. We didn't get water, but that ivy plant needs water.... It was while she was doing this, that she saw Tiberius... He seemed unable to take the heat of this place.

Suddenly jumping upwards, she pulling something out of her wing and dropped it in front of Tiberius. Then using her whole body as a weight, was able to shove Tiberius's head to the ground. Making it so that his muzzle was pointing directly at the plant... and there on his snout... a bead of sweat fell onto the ivy plant she had laid before Tiberius. Then, she let go of her friend and stared intently at the plant.... and... was rewarded with a small movement of the plant, another small lead budding just a little. "Hah!"

Blossom grinned, and gently moved the plant back into her wing. "I'm so glad you're a water wolf, Tiberius." She had always thought it weird that he sweated like crazy and on his face! Whereas, she an Aven, did not emit sweat on her muzzle, only her paws but then again didn't all wolves sweat just a little bit? But I guess, cause he's a water wolf... Water wolves are weird. She stopped thinking about it all quickly, since she was just a young wolf not interested in matters that did not concern her plants.

Seeing that no other food would be forthcoming, and that other wolves were beginning to look greedily at his own pile of mush, Tiberius reluctantly began to eat it. At least it would be a short break from the menial task of pushing rocks around. Lowering his head, he hesitantly opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue to get the smallest sample possible, when suddenly he was forced face-down into the mush. Thinking it was one of the guards having fun, Tiberius relented, until he realized it was Blossom that had shoved him down. Mrgh, well, she had done worse before.

Upon his release, he looked over at her little experiment, while nibbling on his food. He hadn't thought of using his own perspiration as a source of water. Perhaps because there always seemed to be another source around. Staring at his snout until he went cross-eyed, the Arlyne was disappointed to see no other obvious moisture beading up yet. Salt water was harder to manipulate, anyway. It was much heavier, and it always seemed to take double the effort to force it do anything. Working with spit was almost impossible, considering it was only like ten percent water.

Trying to lick the slop off his face, he decided to ask what was so important about her ivy. He knew she liked plants, but Blossom was acting like this was more important than a mere morale boost. "So how long we gotta wait now, Feathers? You going to grow a key with that thing, huh?" Tiberius joked, finally cleaning up the last of his rations. It tasted like deer that had been thrown off a cliff, stomped on by a bear, and left to rot in the mud for a month. Not good.

Blossom shook her wing out and yawned, "Ti-be-ri-us!" She nudged her friend with a bit of a forceful kick, "Mh, wake up..." She had just come back from a different shift in the work schedule, if you could call this work since they were slaves now... but she did have some hope now since she had made a friend here, other then Tiberius. And that friend, was just a bit weird like her. But she hadn't told Tiberius yet since she knew he'd assault her with questions that were too much for her and besides.... She was happy being Tiberius's only friend but sometimes...

Uhhh, these thoughts are terrible... but tonight, he'll be happy I made another friend... he'll see.... Blossom nudged him again, and wondered, How long have we here now? Days? Probably a fortnight? She shook her head and mumbled to Tiberius that he'd better wake up or the guard would beat him.... while... slowly.... falling asleep.

*****


Blossom trudged forward, her sleepy eyes not helping in the dreary darkness of the tunnel. She had been upset days earlier when Tiberius and her had their time together cut in half due to her being put on a different schedule. She was now mining while Tiberius slept, and vice versa. To make it worse, she was put nearly at the end of this line of workers, at the far end of the tunnel where the lights weren't very good. It made working difficult.

This had all been stressful, but it did have a perk to it. And it was in the form of her new friend. Who had cracked Blossom's shell of shyness that had so far kept her from talking to anyone beside Tiberius above and even below ground.

"Hiya Blossom!" The cheery voice was loud, and it made Blossom trip, giving the guard in front of her to growl warningly at the one-winged wolf. Blossom flinched before quickly getting back up and moving to the pile where she was supposed to working. The Guard soon went back to move up and the line of slaves.

"That guard, why didn't you bite him for that?" The owner of the voice stepped forward into the light showing a small black and red cub. The girlish cub was adorable and for some reason, appeared to be a free wolf here. Yet it was strange since all the guards here acted as if they couldn't see the cub at all. "You should trip him next time he walks by."

Blossom shrugged, "I'm not a fighter. And if I do that he's going to kill me." The cub, blinked and her red eyes began to water, "I would never let him do that! I'd scream if you'd die. I don't like bullies either."

A small laugh escape from Blossom, she had never been around cubs before and it truly was strange to be talking to one. "Well, I don't think you have a choice. Remember, I'm a slave?"

The little cub's face scrunched up, "Stelmaria told me what that means... and she says it means you are someone that obeys someone all the time! Is that true?" The cub moved forward to sit on a pile of rocks.

"I guess that's what it can mean." Blossom sniffed, and pulled the cub out of the way of the flying rocks. "Do you have any more water for my plant?"

"Oh, yes! But Stelmaria only let me take a little." The cub handed a small vial of water to Blossom in a secretive manner.

"That's okay, just a little is fine.... it'll keep my plant alive at least." Blossom dug out a plant from her under her wing gently lying it on the ground. It was the ivy plant from before, but now it was bigger, with some small vines growing from its epicenter. She dropped the water on it before putting back under her feathers inside her wing. "Thank you."

The cub smiled, "I don't get to see a lot of those down here."

Blossom nodded, and sadly went back to digging and sifting through the piles of rock and dirt. She had to wonder who this cub really was and why she was down here, but... there was a certain aura emanating from this cub that kept her from asking questions. "That is sad."

The cub's ears perked up, "What do you mean by that?"

Blossom stopped digging and tried not to cry, "There aren't plants down here, but back where Tiberius and I lived, there are plants everywhere! As well these big tall ones that are called trees! And, a-an-and I miss it!" She started crying.

Oh, I shouldn't have started talking about home! Blossom wiped her tears on her wing and miserably went back to work. "Y-You miss your... home?" The cub asked innocently, and went to stand behind Blossom.... "What if I could get out of here? Would you go back?"

The question made Blossom freeze completely. "Oh.... can you?!" She turned to look at the cub with wide eyes that were full of hope.

"Yeah. Mmmmm, but I'll have to make Stelmaria do it since I'm not allowed to go up there." The cub smiled, "I just miss my friend. Her name's Blue, can you find her and tell her I miss her?"

Blossom began to smile like a fool, "Yes, I'll do it but my friend Tiberius, can you let me bring him with me?" The cub nodded.

"I'll tell Stelmaria to get you tonight, don't forget." And with that, the strange cub walked into the dark shadows and disappeared.

Blossom slept, but it appeared that rest was not easily found, for her dreams were full of monstrous shadow wolves and flowers that changed colors before dying, and draining all the land of life. It scared her a lot, but not enough to rouse her from her nightmares that held her so tightly in its grip. It wasn't until Tiberius came back that she was roused just enough to awaken. How long had she slept? What did that friend of hers tell her again? Wasn't she supposed to escape with Tiberius today, er, tonight?

Blossom yawned, getting up to stretch out of her front claws as far as she could reach and... Pop! Crack! She let out sleepy moan at those sounds of her bones, the result of having only slept in one position the whole night. Finally, she looked up at Tiberius, not before peering around the whole cell to see if the other wolves were listening in. Then, what could only be described as a sneaky look on her face, Blossom limped forward to grab Tiberius and using her wing as a curtain enfolded both their heads within it.

"Tiberius!" She couldn't contain her excitement and let out the happy shout before remembering that this talk with him was supposed to be secret. As quickly as it appeared, the happy and excited look on her face was quickly replaced with one that was hilariously serious for the one-winged pup. "Oh. Uh, Tonight..." How do I tell him? He'll probably think I'm lying.

She narrowed her eyes and was quietly muttering things under her breath.

Suddenly she retreated without telling him a thing. "Uh, I just remembered. I found this better spot way ovvvveeeerrrrrr here." She moved clumsily to the far back of the cell, where it was darkest and motioned for him to join her. It's better if I just show him. Besides, I don't wanna answer all his questions.

It then while she was motioning for Tiberius, that out of the darkness behind her, a darkness that she had thought was a just wall, came a voice... "I assume your are Blossom?"

The voice was cool, female... and terrifying. A small squeak of fear erupted from Blossom, but she quickly smoothed out of her ruffled feathers before looking at now seemingly endless darkness, where the voice had come from. In it, she saw pale gray eyes looking back at her, practically glowing in the darkness. That was all she saw. The pair of eyes that towered above her, and yet, appeared to have no body attached it. The eyes revealed no emotion, but paired with the voice, it gave off the air of being uninterested. "Yes, I'm Blossom... Are you S-St-Stelmaria?"

Blossom couldn't help stuttering out the name as her fear was barely being held in check. There was a quick blink and the free-floating eyes lowered for brief second then resumed their normal height. Blossom took it to mean that the mystifying wolf had nodded. So, Blossom turned around and quickly beckoned for Tiberius to follow. Only letting out a barely audible whisper of: "Hurry!" before turning to bravely follow the gray eyes into the darkness.



Stelmaria watched the petite green she-wolf beckon for her friend to follow, and soundlessly backed away, waiting for the other wolf to join them in the shadow of her portal-like darkness.

Behind her, unknown to Blossom and Tiberius, a female wolf hidden under multiple layers of shadows was creating an opening with the use of geokinesis while Stelmaria was using her darkness to hide it from prying eyes.

It was all very drab in Stelmaria's eyes, indeed, she had known this was gonna happen sooner or later. What with the way Riko often snuck away while pretending to play hide-and-find with the triplets. And it didn't help that Riko was now a feared entity to the lax guards down here.

All in all? Stelmaria could care less about these young wolves she was supposed to be freeing, but Riko, the adorably demonic wolf cub had commanded her to do so. And like the rest of her fellow brethren and sistren that were below sane, she could not refuse.

Tiberius had listened intently to his friend's words, despite the fact that he had thought he would be the one with news to share. Well, hers had been all the more interesting, apparently. It came with a pair of ghoulish eyes!

"Whaa...!" Tiberius trailed off in a yelp.

Prudence forced Tiberius to bite off his shock. As it were, he merely stared with mouth agape at the apparition. His friend's stutter had done little to improve his confidence. What in the wide world of wolves was going on? Was this some kind of Kamarian? He didn't think that Kamarians could go invisible. Perhaps this wolf wasn't a wolf. And how did Feathers already know her name? Was this demon her guardian angel? Or, erm, devil? Gee whiz, the coolest thing his imaginary friend ever did was run an imaginary race with him, not give him a portal out of jail. Some wolves got all the breaks.

Seeing that his feathered friend was willing to take a hesitant walk into the darkness, Tiberius felt obligated to swallow his fears and follow into the shade. The water wolf took a moment to rip his gaze away from the scene and look back across the overfilled cell. Wolves of all temperaments were sprawled across the floor, some talking in low whispers, but most of them sleeping or pretending to. And yet, none of them seemed to be interested on what was going on over here in the corner of the cell. The meek Jivanta, the same shewolf who had pointed out his discovery earlier, looked directly at the spot he was standing, and yet there was hardly a stir across her features. It was like they were invisible.

His hopes of escape began to rise despite his fears. What if this really was a way out? Had Blossom convinced a wolf to steal them out of this place? There was only one way to answer those questions. Before his friend's tail completely disappeared into the shade, Tiberius gently nipped at it, holding onto the fluffy appendage with his teeth so that they would not be separated in this gloom. He wasn't about to be parted from her again.