The cloaked man who had been teaching Luna her lessons was not a cat as she had expected, but a black wolf. And he was very cute. He had medium length dark grey hair and black eyes. He wore all black, with the exceptions of chain mail under his open jacket, a white collar around his heck, and a shackle with a broken chain cuffed to his right wrist. His jacket's sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. In both of his ears he wore a small silver hoop. Judging from his appearance, he was about eighteen years old.
“Alright, you got me,” he admitted. “My name is Volk, and obviously, I’m a black wolf. Now, if you don’t mind, I'll be going now, and you should do the same.” He walked over to the cracked window and closed it. Luna couldn’t keep her eyes off of him as he moved.
“And to think, this was who I was sparring with!” She thought. Then she remembered how he had taken her hand in his and blushed. Volk began to disappear into the shadows from where he first came.
“Wait!” Luna reached out toward him, and he stopped in his tracks. “I..I have a few questions for you.” Volk looked over his shoulder and turned around to face her. “Whats with the shackle? Are you a prisoner? Because your actions don’t match your looks. And what about the collar? Why would you wear a dog collar if you're a dog? Who exactly are you?”
“Those are a bit more questions than just a 'few',” Volk replied, dodging the question.
“Just answer them,” Luna commanded. Volk took a moment to think before answering, not sure if he should tell her.
“I’m not a prisoner,” he responded sincerely. “I serve the cat queen, my queen. Now if that’s all then-”
“Okay,” Luna persisted, cutting him short,” but that still doesn’t explain the collar. And you must be lying, because no wolf wants to serve a cat.” At this Volk sighed.
“If I tell you my story will you stop asking questions?” He asked. Luna crossed her arms in a gesture to show that she would hear him out. “You see,” Volk began,” it all started one day in Crescent Moon-my clans village. One of our watchers spotted a group of cats approaching, and alerted the village. Our elder said that someone had to go and lead them away from the village.”
Luna nodded in understanding. She had been told much about the black wolves; how they were the most secretive of all the nagual and wanted no one but their own kin to know their whereabouts. She had been told how that if a black wolves' village was going to be found out by anyone else, they would relocated to somewhere far away from their old village. Some of the grey and white wolves believe that the black wolves are the smartest out of all wolves. For their villages have never been found out, and they always manage to avoid conflict with the cats.
“When this happens, a young warrior is chosen from our clan to divert the cats away from our village long enough so that the rest of our clan can relocate. Its a bit of a sacrifice, but most of the time, the warrior escapes from the cats and is able to get back to their village.
I was the one chosen to lead the group of cats away from Crescent Moon, so I went out of the village and headed for them. I found out that they were guards from the cat queen's castle, out on patrol. They spotted me and started to pursue me, and I ran as far away from Crescent as I possibly could. However, I stopped to take a short rest when I had thought they lost me.
Unfortunately, I was wrong, and they sneaked up behind me and surrounded me, taking me by surprise. I had my sword with me at the time, and so I tried to fight back, but there were too many of them, and they were too skilled for me to win. So they tied me up and brought me to Nahai, where I was brought in front of the queen. She was going to have me sentenced to death, when one of her guards who helped catch me told her how good of a fighter I was. The queen mulled that over, and locked me up in a prison cell. They placed a handcuff on my wrist that was attached my a chain to the ground of the cell so that I wouldn’t escape.”
“Couldn’t you have just broken the chain and ran free?” Luna interrupted. Volk shook his head in response.
“They didn’t let me have my sword in the cell. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway, because the chain was too strong for a sword to break,” he answered and then continued with his story. “When the queen finally figured out what to do with me, she released me from the cell. The guards came and instead of using a key to unlock the handcuff like they were supposed to, they severed the chain using one of their axes. The lazy cats....” Volk looked down at his wrist where the shackle sat, a memory of that time. “That’s how this shackle managed to remain a part of me, and without the key, I can never remove it.” He looked back up, into Luna's eyes.
“When I met with the queen, she told me that she wanted me in her royal guard, but she couldn’t fully trust me since I was a wolf. The problem was solved when a guard came up with a smart ass idea and brought a shock collar to her. So she put the shock collar around my neck in the case that I did something unwanted, she would shock me.”
“Can't you just take it off?” Luna questioned.
“The collar lets off an electrostatic shock when touched. The queen uses a wireless remote device to shock me, which I’m also sure can be used to remove it. I don’t ever dare think of stealing it or asking about it, she'd probably sentence me to death if I did.”
“Well if you came to the white wolves' village I’m sure we can figure out a way to-” Luna began to argue.
“No. You see, the queen thought of something like that, and so she put in an extra precautionary measure. The collar has a tracking device embedded in it. Using the device I’ve told you about, she can also track me wherever I go. I’m also supposed to be under high supervision by the cat guards at all times, but sometimes, like tonight, I sneak out on my own without being under their watch. So you see, if I go or do anything, without the queen's permission...” Volk began to say, and put his hand near the collar, “she'll kill me.”
“Damn...so..you really are a prisoner then..” Luna said in disappointment.
“Technically, I’m a knight. But in retrospect...yes...I’m a prisoner,” he replied solemnly.
Suddenly a light turned on inside the castle, then another, and another, until almost the whole castle was lit. Noises and frantic shuffling could be heard from within.
“They must've heard us talking out here,” Volk whispered. “You better get going now, unless you want to end up like me.” He gave Luna a push in the direction that led to the back of the castle. She looked behind her to say goodbye, but he was already gone. Luna walked behind the castle and took the back route back to Soule. Once she got there she entered the quarters, got back into her bed, and began to fall asleep, dreaming of the days previous events.
