LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 7: 7- beads
Chapter 59- getting closer to the alpha
That night, Saoirse thought about her experience that day. She felt conflicted about killing the vampire. Even if it had been by accident. The werewolves killed them excitedly and it was a culture that she was surprised she must be a part of? It didn't seem right.
It had earned her a point and they had happily braided a bead into her hair to represent that. Through the course of the rest of the day, she noticed that many wolves had beads braided into their hair.
Was she in an encampment to kill? Were vampires really so bad? That man had killed a werewolf, she was aware of that, and injured a few others. But it was self defense l.
The werewolves were also angry with the wolf who shamefully died, saying that perhaps now he would come back as a vampire and they had only traded the life of that vampire for the life of that wolf and just like in a real battle, his friends who failed to protect him were stripped of a few of their beads.
The general had said that with a promotion to the next level in the military she would have more privileges. If she gained a higher status, perhaps she could understand what was going on better and be able to get out of this place. Maybe she could search for the people that used to surround her in her life. The ones that gave her fond feelings.
Wherever they were, they weren't here.
She would have to earn a position here where she could transfer packs. Then, there was the issue that there were so many packs. She heard there used to be 50 before the war began. Now the majority were turned vampire. Their lands overrun. Now all she needed to do was search 10. Each pack had 500 or so people, and so that meant that in this war they were now severely outnumbered. Only 5,000 werewolves would remain in Midgard.
She had learned that Midgard was earth. That was good to know. She learned there were also 20,000 wolves in Asgard, who were an elite pack led by the moon God, who wasn't involved in the war. Those wolves didn't seem to be her kind of people, so she decided to search for her past here first.
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The next morning, she woke early and went to the leader of their training group. "How can I transfer to another pack?" She asked.
"Why would you want to do such a thing? You just came here yesterday?"
"I have searched amongst all of this pack, and I don't feel anyone is familiar. This must not have been my pack, I need to find out where I came from." She said determined.
"Well, you would have to make a request to the Alpha here. He won't meet with you if you are of such low rank." She said pointing to the single bead in Saoirse's hair. "I suggest you put more effort into training and when you are a high enough rank, you can meet with the Alpha yourself and ask him to help you find your original pack."
Saoirse felt like this would take forever. "How can I do that quickly?" Saoirse asked a little impatiently.
The woman narrowed her eyes. "You can have one bead for every vampire you kill.
You can have a bead for excelling in a hunt, or if you duel another werewolf and win, you can take a bead from them.
Another way is to get a job here in the pack and you can buy beads with money.
If you ever lead a battle and win, that will get you 5."
"Assuming I am doing this to meet with as many Alphas as I can, I don't necessarily want to have all that weight on me." Saoirse pointed out. She was a bit frustrated that this was the way to show her status.
"Well you are quite the rising warrior if you have to worry about that!" She said laughing.
"Winning a higher status is not a walk in the park! But I will tell you, that the more valuable the materials you can buy to craft your beads with, the more status you can show without having to wear as many."
Saoirse thanked her respectfully and decided to challenge another werewolf for a bead. That seemed like it would be the fastest way to go about it.
She walked up to a werewolf that only had one bead in his hair. He was eating alone and also reading a combat book. She pointed at him and said without hesitation, "You, I challenge you to a duel."
The boy set his book down and looked nervously at the girl in front of him. She only had one bead as well. It was possible he would win and could take it. He was often the bottom of everyone, so getting her bead would help him with that. However since he didn't know her, it could also go the other way and he would end up with none.
"Why do you want to challenge me?" He asked her.
"That bead," she said pointing at the single one in his hair, "it will get me closer to being able to meet with the Alpha."
He sighed, his large muscles betraying his persona, "well if I lose, I won't have one, so why don't you challenge someone who has more to give to you?" He asked. "I'm sorry, I can't afford to give it to you." Then he got up and gathered his things and walked away.
She was expecting this a bit, but she had only challenged him because he seemed easy to beat. "Fine. If that is how it is going to be, then I'll go challenge someone else." She said.
The boy watched as she headed straight for someone who had a lot more beads. "I challenge you to a duel." She said to a woman who was busy chatting with a group of friends. They sort of surrounded her and when Saoirse spoke to their friend, they all looked at her menacingly.
The girl smiled condescendingly at her. She had golden beads in her hair and Saoirse's was made of bone.
"Hello new girl. I heard you slayed the vampire yesterday. Does that make you brave then?"
Her friends snickered.
Saoirse didn't understand what they were laughing at, so she just turned into a wolf and growled at her.
The girl stopped smiling and waved her hand at her. "I don't duel commoners. If you want to challenge me, then prove yourself with Greyson over here."
The werewolf next to her was a blond haired boy. He nodded at her request and stood in front of her. He turned into a wolf as well. His blond hair spreading to cover his whole body and then becoming a bit more brownish.
This boy had several bone beads in his hair. Saoirse didn't mind. She really didn't know what material was better anyways. "Very well" she said.
The boy charged in first and tried to bite her in the face. She dodged him and spun around to bite his tail. She yanked at it and with a great force, she threw him a few feet off to the side. Then she jumped on him and pounced like she had done yesterday, only not intending to kill, just to harm him.
He tried to get up but she had him pinned very firmly, so he kicked her in the stomach with his hind legs. She was thrown off and the two began to circle each other. They barked and growled, daring the other to initiate the next move. Saoirse snapped her jaws at him and he did the same as they kept circling.
The boy ran in first again and the two clashed together, biting into the thick fur of each other. Saoirse tore some of his fur off and he yelped. She spat it out and it floated to the ground.
She ran in next and grabbed him by the neck and began thrusting her head side to side throwing him to the left and to the right. He was struggling to keep his balance and once again he fell down. She overpowered him with her claws and began scratching him in the face over and over again.
He stopped fighting back and surrendered.
"Saoirse wins." The lady that Saoirse had spoken with earlier about transferring packs said. She came over to them and Saoirse let go of him and got off. He laid there anyways, bowing to her a bit and she made sure to stand taller than he did.
"Give me a bead." Saoirse said to the wolf who now submitted to her.
"Yes ok." He said. He turned back into a human and unbraided his hair a bit to get the bead out. As soon as he untangled it from his hair, he handed it over. She put it on next to the one she had earned the day before and smiled at the girl who had a higher status.
"Now I challenge you."
The girl looked at Saoirse in fury. Her face turning red. "You would have to defeat all of my friends to get to me. I am higher status than them all."
She sent a second wolf after Saoirse who she battled just as easily. With the gnashing of teeth, she had beaten 5 wolves and her hair now showed the results.
The girl realized it was her turn now. "Fine she said, take it." She took a golden bead out of her hair and handed it to Saoirse. "I bought it with money." The girl confessed. "I don't want to fight you."
Saoirse took it and put it into her hair a bit surprised. But the rich girl in front of her didn't seem like she had a lot of muscles on her so maybe she wasn't a very good fighter afterall