"Wake up. Come on, lazy bones, it's time for work," a feminine voice scolded.
"Five… five more minutes," Fenris groaned, turning away and covering his face in the sheets.
"That's what you've been saying for an hour," the feminine voice said, annoyed. "I didn't pick you up from the streets to have you sleep all day."
Fenris heard her approaching. He knew quite well what would happen if she reached him.
"Okay, I'm up!" Fenris said, rising.
He turned around, confused. She wasn't there. Where was the early morning smell of coal and steel and…
"Ugh," Fenris groaned, massaging his eyebrows. "Another memory." He hadn't thought about her in years. Why now?
"Wait," he said, looking around, confused. "Where am I?" He found himself in a spacious room, with not much in it. His bed was large and adorned with unnecessary decorations.
And the sheets—
He took a deep sniff. They smelled of the finest perfume.
"That must have triggered the memory. But it still doesn't explain where I am."
He already had unbearable headaches, and anytime he tried to reminisce, the headaches got louder.
He tried as hard as he could, but nothing came to mind.
"Is this what humans call a hangover?"
He froze.
"Wait," he said, frightened.
That single realization acted as some sort of opener to the floodgates, and the memories rushed over him.
Him meeting Buck at the tavern. Being poisoned by hunters. Crashing into kegs of alcohol, making him feel disoriented.
And then—nothing.
That's where the memories ended, leading him to only one possible conclusion.
"I must have been captured by them."
Quickly, he got up from the bed. He had to escape. He froze, observing what he was wearing.
Fine, silken clothes with puffed ends. An odd choice for a prisoner's outfit. Fenris saw a window. Looking through it, he found himself about ten feet in the air, with a few guards below.
He could make the jump and take on the guards below. If they were trained hunters, he could at least take them by surprise.
Climbing halfway, he froze. Not out of fear—something was wrong. Fenris, despite being fully clothed, felt… naked.
He felt himself. His eyes widened, realizing what was amiss.
"My necklace," he whispered, rattled. He patted himself everywhere, looking for it. It was gone.
That wasn't the only thing missing. Luna's map and her letter—they were gone too.
"Did the hunters take it?"
That seemed like the only possible explanation. At least the only one he could come up with.
"If that's the case, they may have stored it somewhere. My necklace and the letter—they're ordinary. But my map's enchanted. It wouldn't work for anyone else. But it still may have had some value to them."
His hypothesis was far-fetched. His captors could simply have dumped his items or sold them without thinking twice.
He could leave this place, maybe even escape. But his items—
Fenris looked to the window once more before letting out a deep sigh. Those items may as well be a part of him. He had to at least try to find them.
There was a door. He listened beyond it for enemies. There were none.
Moving through the prison with no sense of direction, he was prepared to fight any guards.
He was healed from the bane attack. Maybe his captors had miscalculated how long that would take.
He crouched and used his senses, ready to sneak up on enemies, but after moments passed, he hadn't detected any guards. In fact, this place seemed mostly empty. Its structure had no end of cracks and patches in the walls.
Fenris wasn't sure whether it seemed like a battle had happened here, or it was just incredibly old and not maintained.
Fenris travelled down a staircase and ended up at a door. Nothing special about it—only that it contained a human scent.
Not that Fenris was searching for humans, but more likely for what they kept behind the door.
Maybe his items. It was a long shot, but it was all he had. Closing his eyes and trying to listen to what was behind the door, he found he couldn't hear anything.
More accurately, he wasn't able to use his senses to listen in. His hearing was muffled anytime he attempted.
"It's enchanted. If that's the case, maybe my things could be there after all".
He slowly presses his hand on the other. It creaked open. Fenris raised an eyebrow. "It has a muffling enchantment and nothing else? Someone's a lousy mage. Not that I'm complaining".
"Entering inside, he found what looked to be a mage's workshop. A very messy workshop.
Papers and objects were scattered everywhere without a care.
"Luna was never this messy."
Fenris scrambled through the cabinets and shelves, trying to find his belongings. He would try sniffing for them if he could, but it was hard to sniff for items with your own scent.
"Come on. Come on, where is it?" Fenris said, frustrated.
A creaking noise echoed through the entire workshop.
"The mage who owns this workshop—they're back." Fenris's eyes darted, looking for somewhere to hide.
A brunette with long, shaggy hair, baggy eyes, and messy robes walked in through the door. She let out a yawn before taking a look at her room.
"Who came here and messed up my things?" she said, frustrated. "I leave everything in perfect order. This is going to take a while to put back together."
The mage felt something grab her neck from behind before she could even react.
"Try anything, and you're dead," Fenris whispered. He had hidden behind the open door and struck as soon as he saw the opportunity.
"Answer my questions. Firstly, what is this place and where are my items?"
The mage choked. She was barely able to let out an incantation, but she managed.
Fenris crashed into a wall. His body was stunned and burned continuously. Forcing his eyes open, he found that he was no longer in the workshop. The doors were flung open, and the mage slowly approached him, holding her bruised neck.
'I was hoping to get through this without fighting, but that may have been naive,' Fenris thought. He stood, preparing for battle.
The sound of him crashing into a wall was loud. More would come to his location. His fangs and claws were out, ready to attack the mage.
"Fenris?"
A voice stopped him, but it didn't calm him exactly.
He turned to find Buck. Perfectly fine. Not chained or bound in any way. Also accompanied by two red-headed wolves, looking to be in their mid-teens.
"What's going on here?" Buck asked.
"I'll tell you what's going on!" the mage exclaimed, walking furiously toward them. "Your psychotic friend almost choked me to death. And after I healed him, this is how he thanks me!?"
"Healed?" Fenris asked, confused.
"Yes, healed," the mage said. "You were basically at death's door when Buck brought you here."
Fenris eased himself, but not completely. With all the new information, it was clear to him this wasn't a prison.
He turned to Buck with an annoyed expression.
"I'm guessing this is the pack you were talking about."
"Yep!" Buck said, proudly. "What do you think? Those other packs we joined, they never had a castle. Pretty impressive, don't you think?"
It was impressive. Most packs—at least the ones Fenris had joined when he was younger and more naive—stayed in abandoned towns, nature, or migrated from place to place, evading hunters.
"It doesn't matter," Fenris said, uncaringly. "The hunters will find us. They always do. Especially when there's more than one of us."
"Not this time. See—"
"Enough!" Fenris interrupted Buck. He extended his hand. "My items. Give them to me. You're the only one who could have taken them.".
"You're not wrong," Buck said. "I figured you'd run the moment you woke up. Looks like I was right."
Fenris growled at Buck's confirmation.
"Buck, I'm not playing, and I'm in no mood for one of your pranks. Give them to me."
"No!" Buck said, flatly. "After all the trouble I went through. Try to be a little considerate. Tracking you down, saving you from the hunters, giving you some wolfsbane to make sure you don't wake up…"
"YOU DID WHAT!" Fenris roared.
"Oh… right," Buck said, embarrassed. "I may have given you some more wolfsbane just to keep you asleep for a few days."
Fenris rushed at Buck, grabbing him by the collar and pinning him to the wall.
"You could have killed me, you imbecile!"
"No, I wouldn't have—probably not," Buck said. "Well, I guess it's a good thing Gwen was there to heal you, or who knows what might have happened."
Fenris's grip on Buck's collar tightened. He was close to tearing Buck apart.
"Look, Fenris, I'm sorry, but I had to," Buck said.
"You had to!" Fenris asked. "You had to almost kill me?"
"I saved you, you ungrateful prick!" Buck exclaimed. "And I only needed you asleep until Lycan came back. When he's here—"
"I'm done talking," Fenris interrupted. He extended his right claws toward the side, threateningly. "Tell me where my items are—Now!"
Buck didn't answer. Nor did he seem afraid.
Fenris struck.
"ENOUGH!" A commanding voice stopped Fenris. He felt like he had to comply.
'That's a first,' he thought, annoyed. He turned to see where the voice had come from.