Star Wars Character Cafe - Interrogated Sociopath Chapters 16

INTERROGATED SOCIOPATH

CHAPTER 16

Flik had hoped that by doing as Shiba’d suggested, and attempting to get some sleep, that the conundrum posed by the hieroglyphs on the Sith holocron would solve itself once he’d gained a fresh perspective on it, but all it kept doing was nagging at his mind. Thoughts whizzed around inside his head like contestants in a never-ending pod race. Thoughts that consisted of inadequacy at not having the knowledge to decipher them and guilt that he had been partly responsible for the monster that Azet had become.

He glanced across at Shiba, asleep and peaceful after their latest intimate encounter, but even that had failed to drive away the frustration of being helpless because of knowledge he didn’t possess, knowledge that he had refused to learn to save himself, but what seemed to condemn Kaitlin Ros. He wondered if he’d taken the wrong course of action by taking her away from her family.

Unwilling to disturb Shiba with his restlessness, Flik finally abandoned the fruitless quest for sleep and slipped quietly out of bed. Not knowing why, as only he and Shiba were on board the ship but feeling compelled to do anyway, he put on the pair of black trousers that laid in a discarded pile on the deck at the foot of their bed.

He then headed for the galley, intending to collect the Sith holocron and taking it up to the cockpit to see if Lobo could translate those Sith symbols. However, upon entering the galley, he sensed a visitor, if that was what you could call the ghostly form sat on the plush bench waiting for him.

“I see things don’t change much,” the ghost said, gesturing towards Shiba’s top draped on the galley table. His first impression was that his Master Naja had come, as the long-dead Jedi Master had done over the years, but as Flik moved deeper into the galley, he found that his initial attempt at identify his visitor had been incorrect. Flik didn’t know whether to smile or not as he recognised his visitor.

“Obi-Wan?” he asked, cautiously.

“You don’t hide your disappointment well, do you, Jedi Sivrak? About as well as your vices, I think.”

“Shiba’s my wife,” Flik said, in his defence. “Auoura died. Your failure saw to that.”

If Obi-Wan had come to debate Jedi lore with him, Flik was going to make it clear that it was not welcome. It was Palpatine’s manipulation, not Anakin’s love for Padme that had caused the fall of the Jedi.

Among the Jedi, there had been a faction that wanted the no-marriage statute to be rescinded for Knights and Masters. It was the reason why Flik himself had left the Order, though in his heart, he never stopped being a Jedi. Anakin, he was sure, would never have had gone down the path of darkness if he’d not had to keep his relationship with Padme a secret.

Deceiving the Order had been the bane of existence for his father, Raqak, too. Flik had come to the conclusion that what placed a Jedi on the path to the Darkside had little to do with the romantic relationship with a member of the opposite sex, or worry for any children produced, it was the deceit they had to employ to conceal their relationship and conflict with unnecessary values imposed upon them that turned a Jedi.

“That was uncalled for, wasn’t it?” Obi-Wan replied. “I’m here to deliver a message.”

“What message?” Flik asked. And why couldn’t Naja or my father have come instead, but he kept that part to himself.

“Naja and your father wanted to bring this message - ,” Obi-Wan’s words echoed Flik’s thoughts. “ – but eventually we all have to move on. Anakin was too embarrassed, and besides, he doubted you would believe him, and Yoda, having been involved in the galaxy’s events for 900 years, wanted to move on as soon as he could. So you’re left with me, I’m afraid.”

So I’m finally alone, he thought. He pushed that thought away to dwell on later.

“I take it your visit has something to do with this?” Flik observed, lifting the holocron with the Force and letting it float there, between them. Displays of arrogance had seemed to be Kenobi’s forte when he’d been Flik’s age, so because of that and his comments about Shiba, Flik decided to repay him by carrying out a little arrogant display of his own. He regretted it almost as soon as he carried out the gesture; arrogance might have been apart of Obi-Wan in the days of the Old Republic, but the destruction of the Jedi Order had mellowed him some what, and death even more so.

“Your learner is being held at an Imperial base here on Ord Mantell,” Obi-Wan replied. “It’s the only one here, so your ship’s AI should be able to pin point its location.”

Flik’s ears flattened back against his skull, and he closed his eyes for a moment as he inclined his head towards the wraith. He found himself saying these next words, even though they’d hardly ever agreed on anything when they had been contemporaries. “Thank you, old friend.”

The sound of boots on metal came from the corridor, followed by; “Who are you talking to?”

Flik turned his head to find Shiba standing there in the doorway, dressed in black trousers and one of Flik’s t-shirts that was far too large for her, but seemed to fit her much better than it had ever fitted him.

“I was just talking to - ” Flik turned his head to the spot where Obi-Wan’s wraith had been sat a moment before but was now an empty space. “ – no one.”

Shiba giggled at his discomposure. “Want me to make you some hot chocolate? Then you can tell me all about it.”

Flik nodded. “I think we’ve just made a break through, Shiba,” he grinned. Then he thought at the shade of Obi-Wan, arrogant twit! No change there, I see. Vices indeed! Only jealousy for the fact that you never got the girl…

CHAPTER 17

Kaitlin let out a sigh of relief as Riv finally regained consciousness.

“I thought you’d never wake,” she said, running her fingers through the thick, coarse fur of Riv Shiel’s mane. All Shistavanens had them, but they were particularly thick on males, a defence mechanism against sharp fangs during fights for dominance, though that was from the time when their species had a hunter/gather culture. The wolfman blinked once or twice to clear the fog that misted his vision before revealing his fangs in a slight smile.

“That was rough. If I ever get that cowardly cur in a fair fight, he’ll be sorry,” Riv growled, his voice was hoarse because he’d not spoken for a long time, and his throat was as dry as the bones of the Krayt Dragon skeleton on Tattoine. He coughed to clear his throat, but the dryness still remained.

“Where do you hurt? You don’t have broken bones, I checked as soon as we were brought back here, but I guess that there’s still got to be a fair amount of bruising,” Kat replied. She was glad now of the instruction Shiba had given her in basic field medicine, even if she was far from being an expert in it.

“Almost everywhere,” Riv answered, wincing as he stretched out his stiff muscles, and wishing he hadn’t. “How long have I been out?”

“I don’t know for certain,” Kaitlin absent-mindedly stroked the softer, shorter fur of his head; Riv closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation. “The passage of time seems to have little meaning here, but if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say at least a day, three at the most.”

“Great,” Riv growled low in his throat, and then his stomach rumbled in answer. “I’m starving. Any chance of food, you think?”

“Nothing. No one’s been, not even with water, which is bad anyway, but with the way you’ve been treated, even more so, as you’ll need it more than I.”

Riv’s disappointment at the lack of food melted away as Kaitlin continued to stroke his head. After a while, he broke the silence. “What did they want, little lupa? All I remember was that mongrel - ”

“She wanted to know if my friend was here,” Kat cut him off. She didn’t want to be reminded of what’d been done to him.

“You didn’t tell her, did you?” Riv asked, a note of disproval in his voice.

“I had no choice, Riv. They would have killed you if I’d not told her Flik was here.”

“This is bad,” Riv’s ears pricked up to indicate aggression or anger.

“It could be worse. You could be dead,” Kat reminded him.

Riv smiled grimly, knowing that she was correct. “I wouldn’t want to leave you here alone, little lupa, if I can prevent it.”

A panel in the door near the bottom slid open and two meals were pushed through, complete with drinks. Riv Shiel eased himself up off the floor while Kat retrieved them. The meals were of different sizes and Kat gave him the larger one.

“I guess they haven’t forgotten us, after all,” Kat said.

“Looks that way,” Riv replied, pealing back the lid of his meal and sniffed at it. “Yuck, simulated protein. Haven’t these people heard of real food?”

“We’re prisoners, what do you think they’re going to give us?” Kat replied.

Hunger overcame disgust and Riv began to eat. He left the drink until last, and in spite of differences in size, they both finished the meal, if it could be called that, at the same time.

Smiling at her, Riv said, “You know, the first thing I’m gonna do when we get out of here is take you to have some real food.”

“Thanks,” Kat said, feeling herself blush as she returned his smile. Not meeting his eyes, she asked him, “Where don’t you hurt?”

“Here,” he pointed to his lips.

“I know it’s too soon, but, - ” Kaitlin broke off and kissed him before she lost her nerve.

When she pulled away from him to regain her breath, Riv grinned at her. “We could die here,” he returned her kiss.

“They could be watching,” Kat protested.

“Who cares?” was Riv’s reply.

CHAPTER 18

“So this is the place?” Shiba asked, glancing to her right at the wolfman crouched beside her.

“These are the co-ordinates Lobo gave me,” Flik replied.

Shiba rested her elbows on the sandstone boulder they were sat behind and peered through the macro-binoculars at the imposing grey fortress-like building below them. With the Imperial facility located in an area where the topography consisted of windswept cliffs and steep valleys formed by ancient glaciers melted long ago, it had taken all afternoon getting up here, and now they waited for dusk to descend while the afternoon turned to evening. It gave them a welcome rest, as well as providing them with an opportunity to get a feel of the place.

“Look’s pretty quiet,” Shiba said, suspiciously as she turned her back to the boulder. “Are you sure that our blue ghostie was right?”

Flik shrugged his shoulders as he settled down beside her. “Obi-Wan might have been an arrogant twit for much of the time, but he was usually right,” Flik replied. The word unfortunately he added to himself.

“So you’re going to trust him, it, whatever, this time?”

Flik scratched his chin thoughtfully. “It’s the only lead we have, Shib, however tenuous it might be. Besides - ” he continued with a grim smile. “ - I prefer creepy-crawling an Imp facility to sitting around, staring at glyphs on a holocron I don’t understand. There can’t be that many people who can translate those glyphs who haven’t been corrupted themselves. Korriban was declared off-limits during the Old Republic, not just because it being a Sith world, but also because most people who went there, researchers, anthropologists and such like, just disappeared. If they were Jedi or Force-sensitive -”

“I get the picture. They become Sith,” Shiba cut him off.

“Not quite accurate, but they did become corrupted by the Darkside. That must have been what happened to Azet.”

“Scenario one: she went there to study the Force because there were no Jedi left to continue her training, and it was the only place that had artefacts to do with the Force because virtually all of those belonging to Jedi were seized or destroyed by the Empire?” Shiba hazarded a guess at what could have created a being like Azet.

“It’s a possibility,” Flik admitted, though there was a dark uncertainty in his voice that suggested he doubted such a scenario.

“Scenario two: but on the other hand, she could just as easily have gone there seeking a way to bring down Palpatine and in the process, getting the urge to conquer the known galaxy herself, cos that’s what Sith do.”

“I’m hoping it’s the first one,” Flik said.

“Why?” Shiba asked, though she already suspected what his answer would be.

Flik turned to look at her, his muzzle creased in a snarl, though it was more directed at himself than at her, at the thing that he was reluctant to do. “Cos if it’s the second, there’s no way I can help her other than bring her death.”

“I think it’s time we found out.”

Shiba started to rise to her feet, but a heavy hand on her shoulder brought her back down.

“For now our priority is to get Kat out of there,” Flik said, smoothing his fur backwards on his forehead, a gesture he had picked up by spending a lot of time among humans. “I have to be sure that there’s a way to help Azet before condemning her. I never gave that chance to Tek. I’m not going to make that judgement that quickly again.”

As he said that, images of Auoura lying dead on the floor, followed by the destruction caused by the rage that consumed him upon finding her that way flashed through his mind, and then his merciless cutting down of his own son with his lightsabre, his son’s dead body lying before him…

Was he any better than the Sith for what he’d done then and what he’d done after?

Shiba’s voice brought his awareness back to the present.

“There’s no telling how much damage she’s caused in over the twenty years she’s been active, Flik. Or how much she’ll do during the time it takes for you to make your decision on how to deal with her.”

“I know that,” he flashed his teeth at her in an irritated snarl.

“She also mentioned your sister, Lyet.”

Suppressing the impulse to snap at her again, Flik swallowed his anger and breathed in and out slowly several times before he answered.

“I know where this is going, but there’s no indication yet that she was behind Lyet’s death. I need to be sure about that. This isn’t like bounty hunting, Shib.”

“So what you’re saying is that a Jedi’s life, no matter what crime they’ve committed, has more value than a non-Jedi’s?”

“No, I’m not saying that at all, Shib. You seem to forget that the last time I dealt with a corrupted Jedi, I ended up killing my own son after he killed Auoura. If she is behind Lyet’s death, I have to make the decision on what to do with her without that affecting it, no matter how difficult it is not to act otherwise.”

Shiba had to concede the argument to him, this time, but she wasn’t going to admit that to him. “Well, we’re not going to be any good to Kat arguing Jedi ethics out there all night, are we?”

“Quite true,” Flik said. “But the right time’s not here yet. We have an hour before we can make our move.”

“Okay,” Shiba said.

The star that acted as Ord Mantell’s sun was well on its way to sinking beneath the western horizon, casting a deep red colour over that portion of the sky.

“If there’s one truth I’ve come to believe since leaving the Old Order, and that’s most people do the wrong thing for the right reason, and the right thing for the wrong reason. Sith are very good at manipulating people like that. In the last days of the Old Republic, Palpatine got the Jedi doing the right thing for the wrong reason, and the politicians doing the wrong thing for the right reason. He mixed everything up until no one knew the difference between the light and dark anymore, though it doesn’t necessarily always corrupt everyone, just causes confusion.

“What happened the day Tek died was I carried out the wrong action for the wrong reason, Shib, and I paid for it by losing the only child I ever had. Some would say that it served justice, as I’d abandoned the Order to be with him and his mother, but all what happened that day was that a Sith succeeded in manipulating a Jedi destroy a being he held dear so the Sith would have one less rival.”

“Flik, there’s no need for you to explain this to be, you should be telling this to Kat,” Shiba said, smiling at him.

“I know and I’m going to, when we get her back. I’m going to have to face her alone. For once, Shib, you won’t be able to come with me.”

Shiba nodded, understanding what he was getting at; if Shiba wasn’t there, Azet couldn’t use her against him.

They sat in silence for the rest of the hour, enjoying each other’s company as it might turn out to be the last they would ever spend together. Though they had faced it numerous times before, there seemed to be something more sinister about it this time, almost like the tension before the Battle at Endor, but darker. The feeling only seemed to grow as the sun sank below the western horizon and night descended like a blanket over the land. The stars offered the only light, but at that moment, they were more than just cosmic balls of fire and gas, they were pinpricks of hope that endured and shined brighter the darker the night became.

Flik took the macro-binoculars from her, turned on the night vision and looked upon a world of blurry green shadows. Though he had little need for them himself, it did allow him to see the world from Shiba’s perspective, when she placed the night vision goggles over her eyes, and they allowed him to zoom in and focus on distant objects far better than his natural eyes could.

He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Is it still clear?” Shiba asked.

“Yes,” Flik replied, putting the macro-binoculars down. His use of the monosyllable indicated that he was getting into predator mode, a demeanour she’d gotten used to over the years of working with him.

“You know this is way too easy, Flik.”

“Yeah, I know. Unsettling, isn’t it? She wants us in there.”

“A trap, you think?” Shiba asked, voicing her concern.

Flik’s fangs flashed light green in the verdant backdrop created by the night vision goggles. “What else could it be, Shib?” he replied, cockily. “Let’s go spring it.”

They rose to their feet. Flik, having a better sense of direction in the darkness, both due to his Force sensitivity and his better night vision, led the way. Moving quietly and carefully down the side of the valley, Flik guided her down with him, whispering soft warnings of rocks and uneven ground as they went. Shiba still bashed and scraped her limbs on rocks that seemed to do their best to block her way, and there was no doubt that without Flik’s presence at her side she would never have gotten down the valley side in the blackness without a twisted ankle at best, or a serious injury at worse. It seemed like an age to cover ground that would only have taken moments in daylight, and what made it worse was when at one point, she got her foot stuck between to large boulders. Flik’s calm presence put her at ease, and he managed to free her.

She was also sure that at one point they’d waded through a knee-deep stream, for she heard the sound of rushing water and her boots squashed with every step she took.

The end came unexpectedly when a wall of concrete reared up at them in the darkness. “We’re here,” was Flik’s comment.

Shiba glanced around, looking for security holocams, but found none.

“We’re gonna have to scout around for a way in. This is a solid wall,” Shiba whispered.

“No need,” Flik’s voice rumbled softly in the dark. He activated his lightsabre.

“Sure using that’s a good idea?” Shiba whispered hoarsely.

“Beats stumbling around in the darkness, at least on this occasion,” was his clipped reply.

Before she could object further, Flik had buried the green blade up to its hilt in the wall and began cutting an opening. It took the better part of five minutes to get through, but at last, success. He ducked through the hole first, checked to see if the way was clear, and beckoned Shiba to follow him when it was.

It was soon clear for the reason why they’d met so little resistance, so far. Stormtroopers lay around the entire courtyard of the fortress. It was clear from their severed body parts that a lightsabre had been used to slaughter them.

“Still think your Sith is worth saving?” Shiba asked, curtly.

“At least she didn’t use Force-lightening; I would have sensed it if she had,” Flik replied, passing her Kat’s lightsabre. “Detention block’s off that way. You go look for Kat. If her Shistavanen friend is around, free him too. I’m going after our Vader wannabe.”

Shiba nodded – she’d studied the map Lobo had been able to hack, and knew which direction to head in. But as she parted from Flik, she couldn’t shake the hollow, dread feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something just wasn’t right here and she needed no Force-sensitivity to tell her that.

CHAPTER 19

“Someone’s coming – I hear their footsteps,” Kaitlin said, shyly. Though the tension had been broken between them now that each knew the other’s feelings were reciprocated, it was a new situation for her and she felt like she needed to back off for a while. That was difficult to do, considering that they were trapped in a cell together.

“Two. I scent them,” Riv replied.

Kat’s heart surged. “Human?” she asked, hoping instead that it would be Flik and Shiba, though she was sure if Flik was coming, she would have known by his presence. If company heading their way were human, then that would mean Azet wanted them again, and Kat didn’t think she’d be able to face that again so soon.

Riv’s lupine eyes appeared predatory in the darkness as he shook his furry head negatively. His canines flashed white in the darkness as he replied, “Our guard friends.”

Kat hung her head in disappointment. Riv sensed her flagging confidence turning to despair and knew he needed to restore it somehow.

“This may be our only chance to get out of here, little lupa,” Riv said, getting to his feet and taking up point by the door. “Be ready.”

Kaitlin shook off her initial disappointment as she too rose to her feet in the wolfman’s wake. How could she surrender herself to the void of helplessness when the wolfman was still willing to fight after all he’d lost recently? Now that neither of them were encumbered by the after effects of the sleeping gas, the Jedi-in-training and the wolfman just might be able to get themselves out of their predicament. She could tell that by the way Riv moved, however, that his injuries still caused him pain.

To date, Kat had never met anyone who displayed more resilience than Riv. Shistavanens, she surmised, were built to take a lot of punishment.

The footsteps stopped outside their cell door and as Kat glanced at Riv for one last second of reassurance, she noticed him visibly tense up, ready to pounce on his unsuspecting prey.

Waiting for the door to open seemed like an eternity for Riv, as he strained his senses, felt his heartbeat quicken, the residual pain was forgotten as adrenaline surged through his body, his breathing slow, deep and steady as he prepared for the coming fight.

Once the door slid open, Riv exploded out into the corridor like a loaded spring, tackling the first guard, who happened to be the one who’d mistreated Kat, to the floor. With his teeth clamping around the guard’s throat, Riv tore.

As the life’s blood spilled out of the guard, Riv’s growing hunger almost became unbearable as the scent of blood and meat filled his nostrils. He needed to feed, to replenish the damage done to his body and satisfying that need was the only thing in his mind for a split second.

Instinct could be a powerful master to override, and for a moment he not only looked like the savage beast the Empire most adamantly claimed his kind were, but he was on the verge of behaving like it.

In the end, it was Kat’s presence that stopped him; she didn’t need to see that part of him. Almost reluctantly, but relived that he had overcome his basic nature, he pulled himself up and away from the guard, feeling slightly light-headed and detached as he did so.

He closed his eyes for a moment.

“Are you alright?”

Riv swallowed, the taste of blood in his mouth almost making him gag. He wiped the blood away from his mouth with a forearm. Riv opened his eyes and focused his gaze upon her. He felt his stomach give a load lurch of protest at not being satisfied.

“I will be,” Riv said, hoping that his words were true.

So much had happened in the past few days, the loss of his family, his incarceration, meeting Kaitlin. Was it inevitable that he would become slightly unhinged? Still, it was no excuse to almost giving into that predatory urge, not on a “fellow” sentient being, no matter how scummy he happened to be. To win the fight against bigots like that, you had to prove to them and yourself that you were morally superior, but not becoming elitist like them in the process.

After gaining control, he noticed that while he’d been otherwise occupied, that Kaitlin had dealt with the other guard, who lay dead at the hand of his own blaster that Kat had somehow managed to liberate from him, and he’d been so absorbed that he’d not even noticed. Glancing back at his handy work, bile rose in his throat, the ravenous hunger at least for the moment, had been chased away. Returning his gaze to Kaitlin, he reached across to her and encircled her arm with his clawed hand.

“It’s time we left this place, little lupa.”

“What about that?” Kat asked, pointing to the bodies.

Riv didn’t look at them again, didn’t want to. “We don’t have the time. Besides, how are we going to hide all this blood? Speed is our only ally now.”

That’s the price you pay, Riv mused ironically, when you let instinct take over your better sense.

“Point taken,” Kat said, looking up and down the corridor. “Which way do you think?”

“That way,” he indicated the direction opposite to where the guards came from, which was down the corridor. “I assume, will take us deeper inside. We went that way to the interrogation room, remember?”

Kat nodded, but was cut off from making a reply, as at that moment, Azet’s Shistavanen minion came into view, from the direction Riv’d deduced they should go to get out.

“Interrogation way?” Kat asked.

Riv nodded. “Go, little lupa. I’ll hold him here.”

Kaitlin, refusing to look back, sped off in the direction that led towards the interrogation room. After she disappeared from sight, Riv turned to face the other Shistavanen.

Recognition crossed Riv’s face and his ears shot up, his muzzle creased up to reveal his canines as he got a good look at him. A low, warning growl issued from his throat. He’d seen the other wolfman over a dozen times in holos shown to him by is mother, after the deaths of his father and older brother. The Shistavanen that stood before him was the Archetype responsible for killing them, and the reason Riv had not been able to identify him before was because of the fact he’d never met him in the flesh, so his scent would not be known to him, and he’d hardly been in a position to know him in the interrogation room.

Everything clicked into place in an instant; the Shistavanen before him had been behind the death of his family, by misleading the Imperials into thinking he was Lak Sivrak and had a connection with the Rebels.

The two Shistavanens stared at each other intently, the calm before the thunder.

CHAPTER 20

The Shistavanens circled each other, assessing the other’s strengths and weaknesses like any rival male wild animals would do when coming upon each other in a contested territory, only there was more at stake here than that. As Riv looked upon his enemy, an anger like he’d never known before rouse up inside him and his muscles tensed up, ready to spring upon the other, but he held back, waiting to see what he would do. He felt his hackles rise with his anger and he bared his fangs in aggression.

In contrast, Riv’s opponent seemed to be in control of his emotions, as though this confrontation was of little consequence to him other than to remove another rival. A cruelty gleamed in his eyes, however, which indicated that although he seemed in control, that he would take pleasure in tearing the other Shistavanen to pieces. Only love for Riv’s lost family reflected in his eyes, though, and that was the difference between them.

Riv finally broke the tension in the air, and growled his hated enemy’s name, “Fenrir.”

Riv expected Fenrir to gloat as he revealed to his enemy that he knew who he was, what he had done to his family, but Fenrir didn’t speak a word. Instead, as if he’d been waiting for Riv’s acknowledgement of him to be his cue, without warning, Fenrir attacked, a ball of savage fury and snapping jaws. Riv had been ready for Fenrir’s onslaught, but even he was taken aback by Fenrir’s sudden and undisciplined attack.

All pretence of civilisation vanished in an instant as each fought as wild, primitive animals, rather than the sentient beings they were. Riv tasted his own blood as Fenrir’s teeth clamped on to his muzzle. Growling deep in his throat, Riv thrashed in his grip, trying to shake his opponent off as a beast in a similar situation would have done, but then he remembered his arms and pushed Fenrir away. More pain raked along his muzzle as Fenrir’s grip was forced free but this pain only served to spur Riv on rather than deter him as he used his weight to gain the advantage.

Riv went for Fenrir’s throat as he had done with the humans as instinct compelled him to do, but all he got for his trouble was a mouth full of thick, coarse fur. Riv pulled his jaws away and coughed and spat trying to rid himself of the fur ball in his mouth before he choked on it.

Fenrir took advantage of the distraction and twisted out of Riv’s grip. Riv only recovered enough to catch Fenrir’s ear in his jaws and was rewarded with the taste of his opponent’s blood mixed with his own, it was not enough to hold him, though. Fenrir yelped as his own momentum tore his own ear to shreds.

Both now bloodied, the two Shistavanens broke apart to begin the circling ritual again as they panted from stress and to catch their breath.

As before, it was Fenrir who attacked first. He’d used the interlude to retrieve a vibroblade from a scabbard at his hip and slashed Riv across the chest. Riv had the strength to batter the blade away before it did any more harm and he heard the metal blade shatter as it crashed into the wall of the corridor, but it was at that moment that Riv felt like he could not win this fight. Beaten already, he knew and felt his body weakening from the toll of the recent stress put upon it. Blood gushed from the wound and matted his fur.

As he faced Fenrir, he only hoped that he had distracted Fenrir long enough for Kaitlin, Kat, to get away, and after the loss of his mate and daughter, Riv almost welcomed the peace that the oblivion of death bring. As he recalled their loss, he was ready to join them, the image of their broken bodies the only thing he saw as Fenrir’s savage jaws slashed into his shoulder. But then, like a beacon of light, the memory of Kat coming to his aid pushed aside that impulse to give into the embrace of death, and he knew he wanted to see her one last time. That desire and nothing else gave him the strength to fight back, but he wondered if he’d left it too late.

Fenrir, Riv realised, wasn’t interested in making this just a quick, clean kill. His appetite for cruelty, for wanting to make Riv suffer, guided his actions and that coupled with the fact he had no justified reason to fight Riv, was his gravest mistake and one that would cost him his life.

Riv noticed as Fenrir drew back to snap at him again, that his earlier attack had not been so futile after all. Fenrir’s neck was exposed now, lacking its protective covering of thick, coarse fur, exposed enough for Riv to rip it out. Riv waited pressed against the wall, unmoving, as Fenrir’s teeth slashed him again, waiting for the moment when he could make his move.

When Fenrir pulled away to strike at him again, Riv struck first. Fenrir’s face, thinking Riv had given up the fight, took on a look of surprise as he felt Riv’s fangs sever his jugular vein. Riv tore and stepped to the side as Fenrir’s knees gave way and collapsed under him. Riv watched as Fenrir’s life drained into an ever-increasing pool on the floor of the corridor.

Though he felt weak, Riv ignored his own blood loss, from new wounds caused by Fenrir’s teeth and reopened ones from the interrogation. He tasted both his own blood, as his muzzle wound still streamed, and that of Fenrir, but he cared for neither of them. As he watched, Fenrir expired for one last time and drew breath no longer.

Fenrir’s life was no more and for an instant, Riv forgot that he had no pack to howl his triumph to as he held his head back and sang his victory to the stars. It was only when his call ceased and he heard no answering cry from his parents, brother, mate and daughter he recalled that he was alone.

Fenrir’s destruction was nothing but a hollow victory, he realised, without them at his side.

It was that knowledge that stole the last of his strength.