The sun shined brightly down on Wolf Manor as a new day dawned. Its rising was not missed by those in the entryway.
"It's a new day," Sunny commented, noticing the light coming in through one of the windows.
"Yes," Kira replied, giving the two females with him the mental image of him nodding.
"We'll be expected to go back to work helping with our Pack Mates," Luna answered sounding slightly depressed.
"You sound depressed," Kira commented.
"I wish you would come with us," Luna answered, "I mean, you don't have to remain in this form, do you?"
"No, but it is my choice," Kira answered, "I am still alive, just as you are..."
"But everyone seems to treat us like this like we're nothing more then inanimate objects," Sunny spoke, "do they even remember us?"
"Its a camouflage of perception," Kira answered, "They remember you as the glorious sun and moon goddesses you are."
"Flatterer," Luna chuckled, and then paused, "not that I don't like the flattery though."
"We must be getting back though..." Sunny began, "you are very handsome Kira... and I guess even if it means spending nine straight months as a statue I wouldn't mind being pregnant. But..." she sighed heavily, "...we still have our responsibilities to attend to. And Alpha Kaylee seems to know about you. So the camouflage probably won't work on her."
Kira again mentally nodded and expected the slight "ping" of Sunny and Luna separating from him. It never came. Instead he only heard the two females grunt.
"I can't go back!" Sunny exclaimed.
"Neither can I!" Luna added.
"Why?" they asked together. The fact that Kira had told them what would happen if they became pregnant was lost to them at the moment.
"I... I think you my be pregnant," Kira said slowly.
"Pregnant!!" Sunny and Luna gasped as Kira's earlier words hit them again.
++++++++++++++++++
1689
"That wasn't very nice, Mal'akh," Joella half scolded, "Lark means no harm."
"Of course "Lark" doesn't," Mal'akh answered, "Lark has no free will. Just a mindless tool for the witches to manipulate."
"My "mothers" are making everyone better, happy?" Joella answered, "why do you keep saying that what they're doing is wrong?"
"They KILLED BABIES! BABIES!" Mal'akh roared, tears flowing, "Alpha Rebbecca lost her pups to the magics the witches are throwing around. Never to be!"
"That's impossible," Lark spoke up, still hurt from Mal'akh's earlier outburst and confused by being referred to in third person, "children do not die before parents. Parents always die before children."
"And what fantasy world are you living in?!" Mal'akh answered, "two years ago Smallpox killed all of our neighbors children! Children do die before adults."
Joella didn't understand the comment. The children the witches looked after never seemed to get sick.
"I want my sister back," Mal'akh only said.
"I know," Joella said weakly, "I know..."
++++++++++
Joella and Lark made their way out of the home a few moments later.
"Why would you go to that mean girl?" Lark asked.
"She's scared for her sister," Joella sighed, "I can see that. She didn't mean it."
"But Aimiliona's happy! Happier then she'd be with that mean girl," Lark protested.
"She didn't mean it, Lark," Joella answered, "she is just afraid. All we have to do is show her that we mean no harm and that we're kind people too."
"Goldwyn, Gita, and Grissele could help," Lark volunteered.
"No, she's scared of them most of all for some reason," Joella answered, "this is to remain between just you and me."
"Friends don't keep secrets, and secrets don't keep friends," Lark spoke.
"Please, Lark," Joella spoke.
"Okay," Lark said slowly.
++++++++++
"That wasn't a very pleasant meeting," Cassandra commented.
"Remember that the true friendship between Mal'akh and Joella wouldn't come until after the witches were gone and their shadow over those they were supposed to be looking after was gone," Marie-Eliza answered, "it is then that Joella began to learn about how the world really worked and not through the heavily filtered fantasy world of the witches."
"But you said that she would believe that she thought her "mothers" died trying to make everyone happy, that she never accepted that they were evil," Maddex spoke.
"Indeed I did," Marie nodded, "Joella never believed that the horrors her "mothers" brought on Glendale were deliberately done... and perhaps on some level, one could say that Joella was right."
"A lot of the philosophy behind such a statement wouldn't really fly," Lawrence commented, "few would ever see them as misguided."
"Mostly a result of the depths of insanity that they fell into," Marie nodded, "at first they were merely misguided, and being urged on by "Princess" and with Balthilde dead, they began using their powers in ways that their grandmother never would have approved of. And this only insured their fall and descent into madness, and once they destroyed their own sanity, the dark times began. I am not making excuses for them. What they did was wrong. Just as what Kurse did was wrong. I am merely trying to point out the viewpoints that could be taken."
The others slowly nodded.
+++++++++++++
Meanwhile, as the rest of July 1689 passed on, Marie and their comrades continued to heal and plan for the coming final battle that they all knew was coming. The praying town was far enough away from Glendale (at this time) that the witches spells hadn't reached them, but as the month wore on, the elderly Running-Bear saw that they were not immune to the witches influence.
A couple of his neighbors went into Glendale to buy some supplies that they needed. They never returned. Running-Bear then journeyed to find out what happened to them. He found two native children, running naked through the streets of Glendale with barely anyone batting an eyelash at them. They refused to return to their homes and families with him.
He quietly watched Linus instructing Marie on the manufacture of some sort of "grenade-like" object involving some black powder and a simple fuse.
++++++++++
"Grenade like?" Betty asked.
"Grenades were not NEW weapons in twentieth century," Mare-Eliza sighed, "the technology of the time made their use on the battlefield more effective then before, but this did not make them unknown. In fact, the term "Grenadier" among military units comes from units that carried the primitive versions of the hand grenade. And if that term is unacceptable, think of it more as an improvised explosive. Linus with his military experience knew the dangers of black powder. Under pressure, it would explode. The containers that Linus had purchased, in Boston, actually would provide the pressure, and the wick fuse would provide the means to ignite the black powder and essentially destroy the "boxing" trees."
"More like a Molotov Cocktail, then," Lawrence commented.
Marie nodded.
++++++++++
Tired as the sun went down, he went upstairs to bed. But his sleep was not easy. All through the night he heard the voices of his foster daughters echo through his mind.
"YOUR WORLD FREE OF LAWS AND RULES IS RESTORED! RETURN TO GLENDALE AND JOIN THOSE WHO STAND FOR FREEDOM AGAINST THE LAWMEN! JOIN US IN CRUSHING THE DOG AND HER SLAVERS! JOIN US AND BE FREE!"
This message repeated through the night and Running-Bear tossed and turned heavily, doing his best to try and ignore it.
He awoke fairly early and made his way downstairs for breakfast, nervously worried about what was going on. He found Linus and Marie slumped asleep in the chairs where they had been. The candles that Linus had meticulously placed as far away from where they were working as possible had long since gone out for lack of fuel and several glass bottles, filled with black powder and covered with cork and a wick fuse sat on a table.
"Good morning, sir," came Katherine's voice from the kitchen area.
"If one can call it that," Running-Bear commented as he entered the kitchen, "they are up to something. I can feel it."
"Draco and I are nearly ready to make the second and hopefully final fight with the witches," Katherine commented, "they will be stopped."
"I applaud your optimism," Running-Bear sighed, "but I fear that what they are doing will start before you are ready."
"What happened?" Katherine asked.
Running-Bear explained the dream. Katherine only looked on in a concerned manner.
"Draco and I saw several of your people heading out toward Glendale earlier," Katherine spoke, "Draco's gone to talk with them to find out..."
At that moment, Draco returned. He looked puzzled and nervous.
"What is it?" Katherine asked.
"It's like they're minds are gone," Draco said slowly, "I ask them where they are going. They reply with "Glendale". I ask them why and they answer with "we must go... we need to go". I give them half a dozen reasons why it would be safer for them here, and most of them repeat "we must go... we need to go". Those that I did manage to persuade were too old to even walk that far."
"This is a nightmare," Running-Bear sighed, "a complete and total nightmare."