It was a quiet night in the huge, lush forest, and only a solitary owl hooted;

only a few insects scuttled through the deep foliage.

A spider seemed to be having some sort of conference with a baby bird in a neighboring tree, but whatever argument they were going at, it seemed clear that wing was beating web, and the arachnid was furious. But soon even these two were asleep, and so were entirely oblivious of the crashing and talking that began to pierce through the quiet like sunbeam through heavy fog.

“Oh, shut up! You know I’d win, Mr. Donlec! Besides, what kind of name is Drake? Huh, I’d rather be called Mr. Stupid-face!”

“Really? Then I shall call you that, Miss Sela! What species of doofius idioticus names someone that?”

The laughing continued, and such a ruckus the old forest had not heard in many years.

“Hey, you’d better not insult the almighty Kayo! He’ll get even, and you of all people should know that.”

The voice that shouted this last taunt was definitely feminine. There was a tingle to her laugh, and yet a darkness in her voice as she said ‘Kayo’. It sounded much alike to the way one would utter a curse, and seemed like something she did not relish saying in the least.

“Master Lucient would certainly take care of you nicely if he knew about the things you say behind his back.”

This second voice was male, but it also had an odd undertone when it spoke of ‘Master Lucient’. One might wonder as to who earned the grudging fear of the two.

“Low blow, low blow! How dare you, nasty little rat!”

There was a loud smack, and a curse, followed by some not altogether kind language.

“We’re almost there, stupid. Speed up!” called the man’s voice, and then came more rustling, followed by a high pitched squeal.

“Ooh, you sounded way too much like Rick there. That is one person you do not want to model yourself after.”

“Hypocrite in the stands! Low blows come from every direction when you’re about!”

There was an almost silent tussle, and then the feminine voice, tinged with disappointed defeat, saw something up ahead.

“There it is! There it is! First there gets to check for olashmeis!” she shouted excitedly.

More loud rustles followed, and then a crash as they broke through the last of the underbrush, gasping for breath.

In their race to get there, neither heard or saw the shadow that followed them, nor the fanged smile that glinted through the trees.

*

“They are located, sir. Left wood, on the Anacren coast, sir. Are you going after them, sir?”

The boy who had spoken, perhaps in his early teens, cast a worried glance at the cloaked figure before him.

“That’s none of your business, stupid. Get back to work, and make sure you watch them very carefully. How many hundreds of idiots do I need to rid myself of to make these simple orders clear?”

The boy gulped visibly, shaking his head.

“N-no sir! I me- mean, yes sir… I-I shall keep b-both eyes on them, pr-providing th-they don’t… misplace themselves.”

He nodded emphatically, black hair falling into his grey-green eyes.

“Yes, that will do, Olpin. Oh, and contact Joysuhn. He’ll want to bring his little whore back to the Domain. Tell him to meet me in the Left woods, and be quick about it.”

Still nodding like a bobble-head, the boy went back to his work, watching from the corner of his eye as the green-cloaked figure swept out, a grim smile on it’s face.

“I certainly wouldn’t want to be Miss Locke or Master Donlec when he ‘re-acquires’ them.”

*

The small clearing the two young people had found was large, but buried deeply in the heart of the forest, making it quite easy for them to relax.

“Stop pulling my hair, Drake! Wait, don’t tell me. You hate… blonde… hair. Gosh, what the hell is wrong with it?”

She shook her head, but her blue-grey eyes twinkled mischievously.

“Well,” said Drake thoughtfully, “it’s rather… dirty, if you take my meaning. Just ‘cause it’s all… curly, doesn’t make it model-y. And you just… wear it wrong.”

He looked at the grassy floor mournfully, like he was grieving for a lost friend, and then turned to face Sela as she spoke.

“Then, how do I wear it, Sir Man Model?”

She smiled, her teeth glimmering oddly in the cold moonlight.

“Like this, missus ma’am.”

Drake strutted around, face flung up towards the starry sky, hips swaying, his shaggy, dark brown hair flying in every direction as he waved his head about.

“That should tire me out me out before I walk out the door in the morning, you egotistical fish.”

She laughed, a half-squeal, half-snort.

“What was that, and how can fishes be egotistical?”

Standing up, Sela stretched languidly, turning her pale face to look at the smiling man.

“It all works like this. One fish will swim up to another, and compliment him on his glittery scales, then-”

The woman was interrupted as two small children strolled into the clearing - both were little boys; one was probably four, the other eight.

“Hullo there! I’m glad someone else’s here - I’s beginnin’ to worry, bein’ with my little bro here. We lost our parents… you haven’t seen them, have ya?”

The older of the two smiled innocently at Sela and Drake.

If anyone had been watching carefully, they would’ve almost seen the aura of something other than childish innocence in them… there was something wrong with the way the kids smiled almost hungrily at the adults in the clearing. Yet they simply stood in the soft grass, both looking slightly intoxicated.

Sela smiled vaguely back, and then the smaller of the two children shook his head, saying, “But I dun’ buleeve we haff introdooc’d usselves, ma’am and sir! We beez Joyan and Lucirk. What be yewr names?” He smiled sweetly. So sweetly it seemed very familiar to Sela, but the worry that had begun to creep upon her features fled, chased away by something almost… unnameable.

“Well, uhm…” Sela turned to Drake questioningly, but he inclined his head, urging her on, and so she continued. “I’m Ann, and he,” she gestured towards the amused man, “is Tommy. We were taking a walk, and didn’t expect to see someone else here…”

She smiled sadly at the two boys, and then Drake cut in, fidgeting meaningfully towards Sela.

“But boys! Surely they only lost you for a second. Hmmm… do you know if they brought a cell phone?”

There was a pause; a cricket chirped in the distance but was soon silenced by an owl swooping down on it, a soft hoot floating through the thick foliage. The nearby stream babbled merrily, ignoring the odd meeting so close by.

Then Lucirk shook his red head, looking quite worried.

“No, sirz. They don’t likes them cells. Too ‘spensive.”

Drake frowned, annoyed by something that seemed to escape Sela.

“By the way, have either of you seen some odd… people around here?”

The same intoxicated look that had shrouded Sela’s face filled Drake’s, and he smiled drunkenly.

A twig snapped in the distance, and yet no one jumped or turned to see who might be lurking in the forest. Quiet reigned again as the two little boys frowned, trying to remember any odd sightings. Then the older boy, Lucirk, spoke up.

“Well, sir, I think I saw something sorta odd… What was it, Jo?”

He turned to the younger boy, frowning.

“Yuss… I buleeve it were… us?”

A less-than innocent smile slithered across Joyan’s face, and Lucirk began to growl.

Something began to happen to the older boy, something that filled both adults with fear. His eyes changed from green to an odd mix of red and black; or rather, red or black. Because they never stated stationary, as any respectable eyes would. They tinted and flashed, swirled and spun, fading slowly from a bloody red to an onyx black, and then brightening back into red.

He grew from four to six-and-a-half feet, and a black cloak fell onto his shoulders, wrapping around the read tunic that had replaced his jeans and t-shirt. His fingernails curved into long, bloody claws, and hair began to cover his entire body. Jet-black, blood-splattered fur. His face elongated, turning quite wolf-like. Teeth grew to fangs, and two pointed ears sprouted from the top of his head. He was a talking, walking wolf; and the kind you would be very blessed to never meet.

The younger boy had transformed into something quite different. He had fangs and claws, and two furry ears sprouted from his head, but he didn’t seem to shout, I’ll kill you slowly and painfully if you do not obey me to the letter. He had golden-white fur, and he wore a blue tunic, yet his was not blood-splattered, nor was his green cloak, or even his claws. He looked quite cultured and gentleman-like, if you didn’t notice his ear, pelt, and claws.

His eyes were much like the wolf’s, yet his flowed much slower, and the irises were emerald and sapphire. They twinkled pleasantly, and when you looked directly into them they calmed you, made you want to simply lean up against him and fall asleep. The only thing that seemed to warn away from the odd fox was Sela’s reaction to him. Her eyes narrowed slowly, and she drew back, shivering.

Lucirk snarled at Sela and Drake, who were smiling dazedly as though the two animals before them were still a couple of innocent children.

Joyan laughed softly, watching the two adult’s dazed looks with twinkling eyes.

“Pardon me, my dear Rick, but I believe you overdid it slightly. I’m supposing they don’t even remember us, let alone know what we’re doing here. Isn’t it always more fun when they’re acting consciously?”

The wolf sighed, looking like a child whose mother had just ruined his fun, and then lazily waved his paw in the air, muttering something inaudibly. Sela and Drake stopped smiling as though they were intoxicated, and the woman stumbled even further back, expression not unlike a trapped animal’s. She whispered something to Drake, but he shook his head, turning back to the two formerly-children.

Raising his eyebrows slowly, the dark-haired man didn’t seem worried at all that the bloody wolf standing before them looked like he would love to kill both he and Sela at that very moment.

“Hello, master Rick. I didn’t know this was your favorite place to walk, too! Then again, wolves have the oddest habits, and seem to change them quite erratically.”

He chuckled, watching amusedly as the wolf’s eyes burned menacingly.

Sela paused for a moment, the spoke.

“Drake, you might have hit on something there. One day he throws you out the window, and the next he’s all: ‘If you kidnap so-and-so I won’t rake my claws down your back until you bleed to death.’ See the difference there?”

She smiled, but there was ill-concealed fear in her eyes.

If either of the two animals were annoyed by this, they didn’t show it. Joyan glanced idly at his right paw, flexing his claws.

“I see no reason for anyone to insult anyone else. As long as you come with us, there won’t have to be any unpleasant… quarrels.” He dropped the inspected paw, staring pointedly at Sela.

“And yet you look worried. Say, am I allowed to call you Kayo now? I’m really sick of having to say Arye Joysuhn all the time… Oh, and Rick?” she turned to the other animal, malice filling her eyes. “We can go outside if we want to. As any sensible person knows, you simply can’t keep us cooped up forever.”

The wolf’s eyes glittered, and he smiled, fangs glinting unnaturally in the pale moonlight.

“Oh, but we can, little fish. At least, we can keep you apart. You see, there have been some odd rumors going around…”

Sela cursed, moving closer to Drake. “Eitrichno klisme! It must’ve been…”

She trailed off, not intending to say more.

Lucirk snarled, “Tell us now or suffer later, Ishnek. Names are not so important, are they?”

Sela snorted, her eyes filled with hatred.

“You would know, wouldn’t you? All you care about is seeing others in pain and causing it as much as you can. You’re hardly better than a normal animal.”

Another pause filled the clearing with a tense mist, and a mouse squealed to Sela’s right, lost in the dense underbrush.

Joyan turned to Rick, still nonchalant. “You know, I doubt this environment is a good place for questioning, but we can’t bring them back all by ourselves, can we?”

He nearly shouted the last few words, and more twigs snapped, a rustling nearing the clearing.

Suddenly, ten or fifteen assorted foxes and wolves moved from the underbrush on all fours, panting loudly.

“Ah, just what we needed. Olgren!”

A point of bright red light shot through the dense wood, coming from one of Rick’s claws, and a brown-pelted wolf slid out of the trees at the signal, an odd-looking brand behind his left ear.

Drake tensed as he caught sight of the wolf, and he looked as if he would quite like to strangle the animal. He began to speak quickly in an unfamiliar language. “Oswey okrani siklet, jisolp. Efrenst oltrint?”

The wolf laughed coarsely, his eyes laden with a similar hate.

“Eshten polfin. Cntiri Dikisteli phetyic.”

Olgren watched passively as the other animals began to trot towards the hapless teens, their tongues lolling out hungrily.

“They will tear you apart if you don’t come quietly, children.” Rick looked Drake and Sela over, advancing slowly. “Little fish, we haven’t been able to enjoy each other’s company in so long.”

Suddenly, he gripped Sela’s shoulder, dragging his claws down her arm. A cruel smile played across his face, watching happily as the blood began to roll down her pale skin.

“Of… that… Lucient… I am quite… grateful!” she tried to pull away, but he had reached her hand, and his paw wrapped around her slim wrist, holding firm.

“Joysuhn, come. We have things to do, and neither of us have any time to waste.”

He shoved Sela into Kayo’s arms, and then kicked Drake to the ground, setting a boot firmly on his victim’s back. The fox disappeared with a burst of emerald light, leaving a faint scent of salty sea air.

Rick rapped out an order in the odd, ancient language, and then he too vanished with his captive, the explosion of red light he left behind smelling of blood.

The wolves and foxes that had gathered wandered glumly into the forest again, and Olgren settled himself in the clearing. He shook his brown head, grey eyes slowly losing their fiery glow.

“Enn zere zey goez agen.”

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I wrote this a few months ago, and decided to see what people thought. Please review! Criticism graciously accepted. ^^