Episode one
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Czar's pov
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As soon as I noticed the Roman army had moved into the clearing of the Black Forest, I raised my hand to signal to my father alerting him of their invasion into our home.
Hidden by the forest, our pack the mountain pride warriors waited. Each of us held a spear and from practice and training, we could hurl with accuracy from a great distance. The spear was so powerful that it could penetrate through any armor, to the dread of the Roman army.
I am the assistant Zeta of the mountain pride park, second in command to my father who was also the Alpha in our pack.
I brought down my hands when I saw that the moment was right and my father immediately howled the war cry.
It rose and spread across the horizon as the entire pack sang out against their shield to Artemis, our war god.
My good friend Caleb, leader of the Forest howlers pack and the unifier of all the wolf packs in the black forest, joined in, along with the rest of the 8 packs - about a hundred warriors. The horrifying and chaotic sound resounded across the valley below like a roar from the demon of hades.
Grinning, I watched as the Roman army lost their rhythm, and focus. This gave us an advantage over the army and we utilized it and flooded down the hillside for a quick attack.
Surprised and confused by the barbarous screams, the Romans could not hear their commander who had ordered them to form a Tortoise. The commander knew that if the men moved close together and turned their shields outward on their sides and above their heads it would make it difficult for the warriors to penetrate and that was their only true defense against the warrior wolves.
However, seeing a horde of fierce men armed with spears falling on their flanks, the legion broke rank just long enough to give us a badly needed advantage. Spears flew and the Romans began to drop.
My Father, Zain, headed the wedge formation, which began the charge. His helmet glittered as he led the young warriors from concealment in the thick spruce forest and they ran down the hillside. Most of the warriors were tall, A foreboding creature covered in the darkest fur that only the imaginations could conjure.
With blades, violently honed to perfect precision, the razor-sharp edges glimmered.
I screamed the war cry and threw my spear as I ran. It went through the throat of a Roman and sent the ensign crashing to the ground. Another Roman picked it up, but I reached him on quick strides and broke his back with one blow, ripping the spear from the dead man, I trust it through another soldier.
The members of our pack ran down the hillside and sat, shrieking and cheering for us. The element of surprise was to our advantage over our human invaders who had sophisticated weapons and well-trained personnel against our primitive weapons.
Over the last months, we have used tactics that worked best for us, striking quickly to retreat as soon as the battle began to turn.
My spear snapped as I rammed through the armor of a high-ranking member of the Roman army then slammed his shield into the head of an attacker, barely managing to parry the blows from two other Romans.
I saw my brother Varun fall and swung my sword amputating a Romans arm. When I tried to reach my brother, another officer came against him. Blocking thrust after thrust I tried to reach my brother using brute force against the officers as they came against me in groups.
"Watch your back Czar!" My father shouted. I ducked sharply and swung around, bringing the sword down and up swiftly, as I sliced upward through the groin and into the abdomen of my attacker.
Another officer came after me, I rolled and caught his leg, bringing him down. Jumping onto him, I gripped his head and made a hard jerk, breaking his neck. Grabbing the sword from the lifeless fingers, I charged at a Roman army who was unaware of my presence and slit the exposed side of his neck.
The Romans' initial panic was gone and they started regrouping showing organized structure. The other pack members retreated when the battle turned and we were left vulnerable. I knew discretion called for the mountain pride pack to fall back into the woods with others, but my blood was hot and rage grew, with that I charged into two Romans, screaming my war cry.
Warriors from my pack began to fall one by one, first was my uncle, when a Roman dart sliced through his chest. Then, my Cousin, Rolf tried to reach him and was cut down by an official. Roaring in fury I began to change into my wolf but arrogance made me suppress it, they were humans, after all, I felt I could defeat them in my human form. Roaring in fury, I hacked right and left, carving in the side of one of the Army's helmets and slicing through the arm of another. Too many of our pack warriors were falling, and finally, discretion won.
I shouted for the remaining of our warriors to head for the woods and we all melted into the forest leaving the Romans frustrated and ill-equipped to pursue.
Half a mile up the hill I found my sister Zainab on her knees cleaning her husband's shoulder wound. His brother lay unconscious beside them, his leg tied up to stop the bleeding.
"Your father," Ahmed said grimacing beneath Zainab's ministry, he raised his head slightly and pointed towards him.
I ran through the woods and came upon my mother, who held my father. His helmet was caved in and bloody, uttering a savage cry I went down on my knees.
A gaping wound on my father's abdomen had blood gushing out of it, my mother worked feverishly on it. Her face white and contorted, she wept as she pushed the intestines back inside and tried to close the wound. "Zain." My mother pleaded "Please, don't leave me."
I caught my mother's bloody wrists, it was of no use and we both knew that. "Let him be, mother."
"No."
"Mother!" My hands tightened as I jerked her once. "He is dead, there is nothing you can do for him anymore."
