Chapter Four: Missing Knight

Damien Black

The crunch of bones announced my arrival as I walked on a sea created by the bodies of my enemies and fallen comrades. Their glassy eyes focused on me, but I paid them no attention. The smell of their blood polluted the air, I took a deep breath and smiled, it smelled amazing to me, it smelt like glory.

Victory was sweet indeed. I had overthrown the Great Blackwater pack, the so-called 'unbeatable' pack, something that even my father could not do. He had spent years dreaming of the idea of burning this pack to the ground, but I managed to actually do it. He arrived here ten years ago, trying to persuade the Alpha to form an alliance that would give him an opening to weaken the pack till the Alpha had no choice, but to sign his power away to my father. It was the only way he could conquer Blackwater and truly expand his power. The land a pack lives on is bound to its Alpha and his family, nothing would prosper in the land unless the entire Alpha bloodline was wiped out or the Alpha signed away his power in blood. The latter was how my father conquered most of the other packs, but Blackwater was different, Alpha Edan and Head Warrior Commander Xavier were too strong, leaving my father no choice. Luckily, the Alpha’s son was nothing like his father, just like how I was nothing like mine. I had made sure to tear the Great Oak from the root, ensuring that it would never be able to build itself back to its former glory. I made sure that today I erased the Blackwater line, there should be no living survivor of Ryder’s line. This would be my legacy, I, Damien Black, had brought almost all the packs to their knees. I had either taken their land or forced their Alphas into submission where they could keep their status and their precious packs but had to give me their best warriors as well as pay me tribute every year, and it need not always be gold. Blackwater was just another chess piece that fell into my hands.

A small cough interrupted my thoughts, I turned to smile at the man who dared to interrupt me. My grin widened as he visibly started to shake at my expression.

"What do you want now?''

My grin faded, and my eyes narrowed to when I saw the lowered heads of his group. He belonged to my scouting team who should have returned with their heads raised...or not at all.

"Sir, no one can find the body of the Alpha's child."

That caused my body to stiffen, if the boy was still alive it meant that I could not be the true owner of the land I stood upon. I could not let all my hard work go to waste, I had some loose ties to attend to.

"Are the survivors rounded up?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Bring them to me."

I hummed as my men raced to carry out my orders. I walked up to the doors of the once magnificent stronghold that Ryder used to boast about. He bragged to many Alphas that nothing could breach it, that nothing could ever destroy it and yet, here it stands, barely being able to support its own weight.

Moving to the east of the house, I stopped at the entrance of Ryder’s study. It was the furthest from the main entrance to the house but was the closest to the Guard-stead. The fire had not been able to breach the thick wooden doors.

I turned to face my men who were now dragging a group of men towards me. They were covered in soot and blood, individual features almost indistinguishable. I met their glares with a smile before gesturing to the study.

“How about a cosier setting?”

My hands ran across the polished oak of Ryder’s desk, it had been ten years since a member of the Black Blood Pack had ever set foot in Blackwater. My father came here with a proposal only to be turned away and banned from crossing their borders, tarnishing our reputation with all the other packs causing them to refuse our attempts as diplomacy. I remember standing in this very room, watching as Edan and Xavier berated my father for his methods. They ran him out before exposing his methods to the other packs, driving us into ruin. Their defiance empowered our enslaved to rise up against us, the mighty pack my father built dwindled into a mere hundred of our most loyal. Never again will I allow that to happen, I will sink my claws into this very land even if I have to kill that child with my own hands.

I smirked as I saw this pack's so-called "best warriors" on their knees before me. The entire room was as silent as a grave with exception of the sound of their blood dripping onto the concrete floor.

"Where is the child?"

My voice was soft as I saw no reason to waste energy, they were going to give me the information I wanted, and they knew of the consequences should they be defiant. The smirk that was on my face twisted into a frown when I was met with nothing but silence, I tilted my head to my men and a scream as well as a crack bounced off the walls of this room. The echo of it still rang even after the scream stopped.

I got off my seat and walked to the man who was now clutching his broken hand. I waved my hand, two of my men stepped forward to force his palms onto the ground. He screamed as I placed my booted foot on his hand applying enough pressure for one to hear the soft splintering cracks. I grabbed his jaw and forced him to look me in the eye.

"I will only ask this one more time, where is the boy?"

My eyes closed as spit splattered my face.

“You dare sully this place with your presence. You are a coward coming after us at our weakest, you are even weaker than your father.”

I chuckled as I stroked the man’s hair, his eyes widening when he felt the pressure I applied on both sides of his jaw.

“If you knew your Alpha like I did, you would be doing anything but singing his praises… and since you were on the topic of my father, send him my regards when you see him.”

I rolled my eyes as blood splattered on my clothes, it was so hard to wash out. I kicked the man to the side and made my way to the rest of the captives who lowered their heads but when their eyes met mine, they were filled with defiance. This was starting to get quite irritating. Every moment they stalled allowed for the child to run further, he could either slip into another pack seeking asylum or disappear into the human settlement. I needed to make an example out of their strongest, once I broke him, the rest will be fighting against each other for the chance to sing for me.

"Where is your Head Warrior Commander?"

Again the silence. I motioned towards my men who pushed the captives forward and exposed their right arm. I gritted my teeth when I saw that none of them bore the Warrior's Mark, my men who were not holding the warriors began to slowly stepped back as they took in my expression. I brought my hand down onto the desk and a crack was heard as it splintered beneath my hands. Anger coursed through my veins as I drew a blade from my belt and flung it towards the bodies lined against the wall, I heard the wet thud of one of the bodies hitting the ground.

"Sir, this means ..."

"I know what it means! Now clean up this mess and get out of my sight!"

I punched the stone wall next to me and watched as some of its fragments disintegrated into powder to float through the air. There was only one reason that could explain why the Head of Blackwater’s defences was not here at this moment.

He was with the boy.

The most infuriating thing was that the Blackwater Pack's Head Commander and Warrior was a mystery. He was rarely seen at any inter-pack meetings and had no records of his past at all. The only thing that people knew was that he was the reason why previous attacks on this pack failed. That would give him the advantage to slip into another pack undetected. His tattoo might have been a dead giveaway, but if he was smart, he would have burnt it off and passed it off as an injury sustained during battle. Anger bubbled inside me as I now had to search for someone that was harder to trace than a ghost.