Due to the urgent matter of someone invading the laboratory along with the order from the 7 heads, Bonestringer traveled as fast as he could in order to reach the lab and figure out what happened.
Around the time that Akira and the others were meeting the werewolves, he had arrived in front of the self-created dungeon.
His footsteps stopped in puzzlement the death aura and the smell of lingering death that normally emanated from the hidden underground lab was gone.
The surrounding area was peaceful and only the smell that reached his nose was that of wet rotting plants.
Feeling a sense of dread he ran down the steep path into the underground lab.
“Gone..Gone…GONE!” muttered the frantic Bonestringer as he splashed through the empty rooms.
He reached the end of the underground lab and found that the door was wide open.
Running into the room he shot straight to the stone table where the special gem that was worth more than his life was hidden.
Empty!
“NOOOOO! How can this be! Where is the gem! Where are my experiments! How could it be that they have disappeared? The lizards are too weak to do anything about this place. So who destroyed MY research experiments and STOLE MY GEM!?” shouted Bonestringer in a black rage.
This was a major catastrophe! He dreaded having to go back to the 7 heads with this news but they were expecting him to be back before long and he could not waste any more time.
Looking at the ground he found many small and big footprints including a set that looked to be from one of the lizards.
“Just who had the courage to steal something belonging to the 7 heads? Even I dare not touch it without permission from them. I guess I’ll have to go pay the Lizards a visit and ask them what’s going on here,” said Bonestringer as he exited the room and splashed through the tunnels.
***
“Akira? Doesn’t that sound familiar?” asked one of the werewolves at the rear of the group.
“Now that you mention it, I do recall hearing that name some years ago!” said another werewolf.
“You’ve heard of his name before? ” Ask Redbeard.
“Yes, pack leader! I think someone in the Bluemoon clan had a son with the same name. I can’t truly say who it was or if I am remembering correctly since it was nearly 17 years ago when I heard it. I didn’t pay much attention to it since you know at that time the second great war was still raging on.”
“It’s fine, at least we have a place to start or search,” said Redbeard before turning to Akira.
“We’ll take you to the Bluemoon clan and see if anyone knows you. If they don’t then you won’t like what we do to liars and robbers. Even if you are a werewolf and have the ring of friendship.”
“I don’t know them so they might not know me and that is no reason to doubt us!” said Akira.
“No need to try and come up with excuses to back out of this. You’re coming with us whether you like it or not. Adal and Frang blindfold them. Since we don’t know who you are, we can’t take you there with your eyes wide open in case you were sent to spy on us for some hidden master,” said Redbeard.
Everyone in Akira’s group did not refuse and let the two werewolves place blindfolds over their eyes.
“I’ll be watching you closely so don’t think of doing anything funny. Even if you have a slight smell of a werewolf and the ring of friendship, the smell of humans on your body and your actions overpower it all. If you are an enemy to the Earth tribe I will personally kill you,” said Frang.
Akira grimaced as Frang tightened the knot of the blindfold at the back of his head with all his strength. It felt like he was trying to squeeze the juice out of his head like a freshly cut piece of Mororange fruit known for having the tastiest citric juice than any other type of similar fruit.
“I get the feeling that you have a very good relationship with your fellow werewolves,” said Chack.
Akira sighed ignoring Chack’s comment.
“I lie! They seem to not like you one bit. What did you do to them? Did you eat someone you were not supposed to?”
Akira attempt to ignore was thrown out the window and wanted to kick the lizard in the shin but he was now blind and wasn’t sure where he was, so he was forced to endure his jokes.
He had to calm down and get control of himself he was picking up to many bad habits from the nyantail girls, mainly Mileena.
“We are not enemies right now and will treat you with respect as long as you follow my orders. So don’t do anything stupid and we will all get to the Bluemoon clan in one piece soon enough,” said Redbeard.
Traveling with a blindfold on was a rather new experience to Akira and he could say without a doubt that it was not a pleasant or fun experience.
Eating, using the bathroom, washing his body, were all a bit troublesome to do with a blindfold blocking their vision.
The only light that he saw was a faint glow that came through the thick dark cloth covering his eyes. The only way he could tell what areas they were passing through was through the ground under his feet that constantly changed as they walked.
Akira was fairly confident in his skill of navigating new and unknown places but that was only when he could see! He didn’t know if he could find his way back with just the memory of his footsteps.
They traveled for over a week walking over 10 hours each day. The talk between them and the other werewolves was minimal only speaking when they needed something.
On the eighth day of walking the group stopped well before the usual lunchtime which had been around noon over the last seven days.
“Bluemoon clan! Redbeard of the Red moon clan has come to greet you!” shouted Redbeard.
“Ehhh?? So it was just you guys that were headed to the clan. You here to meet someone?” asked a voice coming from far above their heads.
“No, we’re not here to meet anyone. I’ve brought someone that your clan might like to see,” said Redbeard as he pushed Akira forward.
“We are trying to figure out if he is really part of Earth tribe and not some random offspring of one of the blasted condemned. He says that he doesn’t remember which clan he belongs to. We think he might belong to one of the families in your clan. Do you know of anyone that had a son named Akira?”
“Ehhh…Akira? I’m not sure. Are they criminals or something that you need to keep them blindfolded?
“No, no, just a precaution so that if they are not part of your clan they won’t know how to get back here,” said Redbeard waving his hand.
“Ehhh… okay. You can take him to the interrogation room if you want and we’ll send over someone to ask them a few questions to see if they have any relatives here.”
With a push, the group of blindfolded people were herded towards a small building the only one in the surrounding area.
“Watch your step there are several steps in front of you. Wouldn’t want you to hurt yourselves,” said Frang behind Akira.
Stumbling up the stairs and into the building they led to a side room and were shoved into wooden seats.
“Wait here for now and don’t take off your blindfolds until you’re told to,” said Redbeard before exiting the room and standing guard near the door.
The whole building had a bad sweaty smell making Akira crinkle his nose.
“Eww… it smells like wet dog!” complained Mileena who couldn’t take it anymore after sitting in silence for several minutes.
“Don’t you werewolves not know about taking baths?” asked Maya equally unhappy with the smell.
“Hey don’t lump me in with them! I try to wash everyday so I can keep clean,” said Akira.
“Hmph! I’m sorry that you don’t like the smell. But it can’t be helped since this is also where the clan’s wolf dogs sleep at night,” said a young female’s voice near the entrance to the room.
“You can take off your blindfolds,” said Redbeard as he walked into the room after the young girl. He walked over to a corner of the room to make sure that Akira and the others did not cause trouble or try to escape.
Akira had trouble undoing the knot on his so after fumbling with it for over a minute he just ripped the cloth off his head.
His head began to pound as blood started to flow through the areas that had been compressed for over a week. With each heartbeat, his head throbbed with pain.
Slowly he opened his eyes to look around by was forced to squint from a bright light in front of them.
Several seconds of blinking passed before the severity of the bright light lessened and the blurry images became whole to show the source of the blinding light was a small candle burning on a wooden table in front of them.
Akira looked to both his left and right and saw everyone was still alive and doing well.
“Who are you?” asked Mileena.
“Why did they send a kid?” asked Maya.
Akira turned his gaze towards the person Maya was talking to.
On the other side of the table sat a young girl with chestnut brown hair that was tied into a cute side ponytail with a beautiful blue flower placed near the base of the ponytail. She had hardly any clothing on save for short shorts and a tube top and all of her clothing looked to be made out of animal hide.
“I’m not a kid. And my name is…Wait! I’m the interrogator it’s my job to ask you the questions! So be quiet unless I ask you a question!” said the young girl her two large ears twitched in agitation, while her bushy tail was standing up straight.
Akira was surprised to see that she was still in her human form but had her werewolf ears and tail out.
“Which one is supposed to be the person called Akira?” asked the young interrogator looking at Varbu.
“Me,” said Akira raising his hand.
The young girl stood up and walked over to him before she started to sniff the air around him. After a minute or two of sniffing she continued to stare intently at Akira as if to see through him.
“It seems like you have a special skill to attract all the young girls and steal their hearts. What’s going to happen next?” said Maya jokingly under her breath.
Akira watched as the young interrogator ears twitched at such a lewd comment.
Akira’s face turned red from embarrassment ‘Now is not the time to be making lewd jokes Maya!’
“You certainly have a familiar smell to you but I am not 100% sure so I’ll have to ask you a few questions. Answer them truthfully or Mr. Redbeard will help you remember correctly. I will get to the bottom of this and find out if your really are a member of this clan!”
***
Grand was walking back to his own home with the groceries he had just bought when he spotted someone from the Red moon tribe that he knew.
“Frang, what a surprise to meet you today. How is your father?”
“Ah! Grand Elder! This junior greets you. Father is doing well and still has many years of fighting in him. He always has many praises about Grand elders strength back in the last two wars!” said Frang respectfully bowing to Grand.
“Ah yes! I remember when your father was quite young almost your age when we fought in the second great war but he became a powerhouse himself in the third war over ten years ago. So what brings you here at this time of year?”
“Oh, it’s the weirdest thing but a group that has an orc, two Nyantails, a Griiq, and an unknown werewolf all showed up at the trading post asking to be brought to the werewolf clans. But the guy didn’t know what clan he belonged to. But Naz said he heard that someone in the bluemoon clan had a kid with his name. So we brought them here to see if he really is a clan member. Uncle Redbeard is watching them at the interrogation building right now.”
“Oh? What’s his name?”
“Uhh…Aki…Akira? I think.” said Frang.
Grand’s hand shot out and gripped onto Frang’s shoulder. Even though he was old, his grip was still as strong as it was in the last war so Frang’s shoulder began to hurt.
“Grand elder…?”
“Did you say Akira?”
Frang nodded his head furiously.
The bag of vegetables that Grand had been holding dropped to the ground as he ran towards the Interrogation building.
***
BAM!
The door to the interrogation room flew open startling everyone inside.
“Ah! It’s just you Grand elder, junior Redbeard greets you! Is there something wrong that has caused you to run here?” asked Redbeard respectfully.
Even though Redbeard who was a grown man with his own children still showed the greatest respect towards Grand who was the Grand elder of the Bluemoon clan.
The Grand elders of any clan were the most respected elders of the clan. Most being the former clan chiefs that had passed the role of controlling the clan to their sons. So there was no way anyone would show disrespect.
Grand ignored Redbeard and the young interrogator sitting at the table. His gaze fell on Akira and his body began to tremble from the emotions welling up inside.
“Akira is that you?”
