Fifty Nine

"Riaz!" Venusa exclaimed when She saw Atlas approach with him. He rushed to them and gasped when she saw the state in which her son was.

"My love," she cried.

"Let's get him to lay somewhere," Atlas said and they both rushed inside the house. Atlas put him lying on the bed and Venusa sat beside him. She placed her palms on his chest and closed her eyes. She chanted some spiritual incantations and Riaz's wounds got healed.

"Baby. My love. Riaz, can you hear me?"

Riaz groaned as he opened his eyes. "Mummy?"

"Ah," Venusa breathed in relief, her eyes stained with tears. "Thank goodness you're okay." She said as she hugged him.

"What happened out there, baby?" She asked.

"Huh?"

"You came home unconscious with wounds all over your body. Did you get attacked?"

Riaz tilted his head sideways, thinking. "Did something happen to me, mummy?"

Atlas and Riaz exchanged confused gazes. "you can't remember?"

Riaz shook his head. "No, mummy. I went to the woods to feed the birdies I saved yesterday and... I can't remember anything after that."

Venusa turned to Atlas. "Do you know what happened to him?"

As Atlas was about to talk, Hank and Umbria came in to join them.

"Grandmama."

"I came running the moment I heard the news. What happened to you?" Umbria asked as she took a seat beside Venusa.

"He can't remember, mum."

"How is that possible?" Hank asked and Umbria faced Atlas.

"How did you know to go find him?"

"I always know whenever Riaz is in trouble. I just feel it whenever he's hurt so I rushed to him when I noticed he was in trouble. When I got there, I met him at the base of a rock, heavily injured. I did not find anyone or anything in sight."

"Did you find any unusual marks on his body?" Umbria asked and Venusa shook her head.

"Just wounds."

"I'll send some guards to go investigate the scene. Just make sure he has a nice rest." Hank said and Venusa nodded.

Hank stood up and walked to the door.

"Let me follow you, father," Atlas said as he joined Hank.

"Be careful, you two," Venusa said and Atlas nodded.

"I'll be back before you know it." He assured and Venusa smiled lightly.

"Come back soon, daddy," Riaz said and Atlas nodded.

"Be good."

Atlas and Hank left with the guards to investigate the scene. When they got to the forest, they split up to scrutinize different portions of the forest. Atlas went with Hank and the head warrior, Gerald to investigate the West wing.

Atlas sniffed the air for any suspicious scent. He got to a tree and found a stain of blood. He crutched down and took some into his hands. He brought it up his nose and sniffed it.

"Impossible,". He thought as he recognized the scent of his blood. It was that of Redmoon Pack, his rival pack. What could a member of the Redmoon Pack be doing here in Red Orleans?

"Did you find something?" Hank asked from a distance and Atlas quickly covered the blood stain with sand.

"No. I thought I saw a weapon but it was just a stick shaped like one." He said and Hank nodded.

"We couldn't find anything on our end too, Chief. Seems like the perpetrator cleaned up his tracks well." Gerald said.

"The sky is getting gloomy. Let's return for now, we'll come back later." One of the warriors said.

"But if rain falls, all tracks and pieces of evidence we could have found would be washed away. What's the point then?" Hank said.

"Let's keep looking," Atlas said. "After thirty minutes, if we still can't find anything, we'll return home."

The warriors obeyed their chief's order and continued to search for evidence. About twenty minutes later, rain began to fall. They had no choice but to turn back home. On the way back, Atlas sneaked away and went to see Roma.

"Who is it?" Roma asked sleepily as he heard a knock come at his door.

"Roma, it's me." Roma's eyes flew open at the sound of that voice. He quickly wore his pants and rushed to open the door.

"Look who it is? It's the friend who stopped coming to visit me the moment he bagged a wife."

"Don't be dramatic. We still met two weeks ago."

Roma rolled his eyes. "Same thing."

Atlas pushed him out of the way and went inside. Roma locked the door and went to pick a pair of pants from his heaps of clothes.

"Must be something urgent if you came here in this heavy rain." He said as he handed the pants to Atlas.

"It is."

Atlas changed his wet clothes to dry ones and sat on the bed.

"There's trouble, Roma."

"What do you mean?" He asked as he sat opposite him.

"Someone attacked Riaz today."

Roma's eyes widened. "Who dared to attack my  nephew?" He fired and Atlas knocked his head.

"Will you relax and let me talk?"

"Sorry. Go on."

"It was a werewolf, Roma."

"What?"

"Yes. Worst still, it was a wolf from Redmoon Pack."

"What... what could they be doing here? They can't know this place. Yok is probably not gonna be found on the map of the world so how?"

"That's what I don't know, Roma. What if more are coming? What if they invade Yok? I don't want anything to happen to the people. I don't want to lose my family, Roma."

"Then what are we gonna do? We don't possibly know when they'll show up again."

Atlas groaned in frustration. Why can't he just be happy with his family in peace? Why does he have to fight to find peace all the time?

"Don't think too much. You're the chief, my friend. You can order warriors to tighten the security around the clan. And Redmoon warriors? You once destroyed all of them when they dared to trespass our pack. They are no match for you."

Atlas's head fell. It's true. He once singlehandedly destroy all of their warriors back when he had nothing to protect. He didn't care if he died in their hands but now, he has a wife and a son he loves dearly. He has people that he wishes to protect. For the first time in his life, Atlas feared losing someone. He feared losing his life.

"Don't worry, Atlas. Don't be troubled. They wouldn't dare trespass after they'd seen you. Even if they do, I'll fight by your side. Nothing is gonna happen." Roma assured and Atlas smiled.

Right.

He should believe his best friend.

Nothing is going to happen.