Luna of Rogues

Part 5 - Bad Ideas and Skydiving

The next day we were on a very, very routine patrol. In fact, it was so routine that we felt the need to spice things up a little bit. 

Who can do patrol blindfold? 

Certainly not me. 

Personally, I blamed whichever smartass it was who put Rhys, Fion and me on the same chore rota for everything that happened next. Because yeah — it was all totally their fault. 

So we were trying to navigate the woods by sense of smell alone, which is actually kinda impossible, especially as wolves don't have hands to protect themselves — you just have to tiptoe around and hope you don't face-plant a tree. 

All of a sudden, the stench of unwashed werewolves filled my nostrils. I thought it might be Rhodric or his lackeys. We really would have deserved to be caught by our guardian on that occasion, but the scents were unfamiliar. Which meant our fun had to come to an end.

The only problem was, when I scrammed at my blindfold, I discovered that Rhys had tied it a little too well. It was impossible to remove without opposable thumbs, and I daren't shift back and end up naked and vulnerable when the strange wolves put in an appearance. To make matters worse, we were standing at the top of a small cliff, although we didn't know at the time. 

I wasn't quite sure why I ever listened to Rhys's bright ideas.

Without any other options, I went still as a statue and tried to stifle my embarrassment. The enemy wolves edged so close that I could smell what they'd had for breakfast — rabbit. But they weren't attacking just yet; they were just ... laughing at us. And in hindsight, I don't really blame them. 

Then Rhys, our resident fountain of wisdom, had another brainwave — he growled at them. Sure enough, it made them stop laughing, but it also made them start attacking. We instinctively moved back-to-back, as Rhodric had trained us to do. Look after each other, he insisted, work as a team.  But there was a serious flaw in that plan on this occasion — I need my eyes to fight, and I was pretty sure Fion and Rhys did as well. 

I felt a faint trickle of air on my snout and ducked just in time to avoid a rogue's jaws ripping my throat out. Okay, maybe this wasn't so bad. 

Full of confidence, I thought I had a lock on my target and lunged for him, but my teeth bit empty air.  In that moment, I realised that we couldn't win, no matter what we did. We were fighting blind and they were just toying with us. I started backing up, until one of my back feet hit empty space. A faint smell in the air told that there was water far below. 

Oh, a cliff....perfect. 

No really, perfect. That was my ticket out of there. 

I reached into the mind-link with Rhys and Fion, and mentally shouted, "Turn, run and jump." 

Even I was impressed when I heard the faint scuffle of paws on earth. They must have really trusted me. I growled and snarled at the wolves long enough to cover my friends' escape, then also leapt into the empty space. 

There's something thrilling about free-falling off a cliff you don't know the height of while blindfolded.  For about three seconds, I could revel in the adrenaline. But unfortunately, I hadn't had much of a launch off the top, so while Rhys and Fion landed safely in a small lake, I hit the ground with bone-breaking force.

Literally, I felt my left hind leg snap.  This day was just not getting any better. 

I rolled around on the ground, scrabbling with my front paws at the strip of cloth tied around my eyes, until the world suddenly got a lot lighter. After a good deal of blinking, I identified Fion's soaked wolf a few paces away, also liberated from her blindfold. But my brother was nowhere to be seen.