WHY MY WOLVES ARE THE BEST

26 FEBRUARY, FRIDAY, CONTINUED

My wolves were the best because nobody gave up. Nobody even once suggested abandoning Ben in the dungeon.

My wolves were the best because everyone tried their best. Except for EJ who was unconscious the whole way, and Ben who was well, mostly chained to a wall and also unconscious, but everyone else gave it their all. No one whined or complained either.

Case in point, Torque: Even after getting his hands burnt, Torque was the MVP of rock smashing.

And it wasn't just Torque. Everyone used their abilities together to try to solve the problem.

And nobody gave any attitude, or dissed any idea. We gave everything a try with equal valour. Okay, it might have been better if someone had questioned the idea of heating up the chains with Ben still on it, but whatever we lacked in common sense, we made up for in courage and collective can-do attitude.

And I'd rather have courage than common sense.

But that's just me.

So I guess it shouldn't have surprised me that nobody criticized me at all for failing to bring up the dagger in the first place.

Some of them were a bit sceptical since my dagger was the size of a letter opener. But Ki had mummured, "I'm afraid using this treasure to cut such chains might ruin it."

And for some reason, since Ki didn't doubt the dagger's ability, the initial sceptism dissipated before it was even raised.

But wait, did that mean Ki knew full well that I had the dagger and answer to our problem the entire time?

"Ki, if it means getting Ben or any of you out safely, it'll be worth it even if it breaks." I said, because my betas were quick learners, and I needed Ki to know their lives were more important than treasures.

"Understood, goddess." Ki inclined his head and received the dagger.

For some reason, I had expected the knife to cut through the chains like cake, but that didn't happen. I guess even magic knives of unparalleled sharpness had to follow some laws of physics.

Ki went first, carefully applying the dagger to the closest link to Ben's cuff and started sawing. There was a screeching kind of sound as the blade moved against the metal chain.

"Someone hold the cuff." Ki instructed.

Cobra stepped up to help immobilize the cuff so it wouldn't keep chaffing on Ben's wrist. He had to squeeze himself between the wall and Torque to do this because Torque was currently supporting Ben's weight so he wouldn't be dangling from the cuffs and stretching his stomach wound.

I stepped to the other side of the cell with the humans to give the guys more room.

"Is it working, Keys?" Barry asked.

Ki lifted up the dagger to examine the chain, "A little."

There was a nice big scratch where Ki was sawing. This was an improvement from our previous attempts, but Ben was far from free.

"How long is it going to take?" Keanu fretted.

I didn't think Keanu expected a real answer to that. It was more like a rhetorical question to mean like it's going to take forever, but Ink answered, "345 minutes multiplied by 3.5, assuming that Beta Ki will be able to apply his full strength for the duration...."

"Of course that's not possible!" I snapped. What's the use of meaningless data?

"Then if we assume a linear degradation of Key's strength over time..." Ink began. Sometimes the Special Team called Ki, Keys. Maybe old habits die hard.

"I can't use my full strength on this link. It's too near the cuffs" Ki admitted.

"Then try cutting the chain further away from the cuff." I decided. It wouldn't hurt if Ben had to drag a few extra links along, right? He could wear them during Christmas and be the ghost of Christmas past. Hahaha.

Anyway, Ki moved the dagger a few links down the chain and started again.

"I know!" Barry exclaimed, "Keys, why don't we take turns?"

So my wolves all took turns to saw and hack at the chains. Hacking didn't work well though, since the dagger was rather small.

The fastest way was to hold it in one place and saw hard, and little by little, the initial etch in the chain link would grow deeper.

"This dagger..." Fluffy said when it was his turn. He turned it over to examine it in his hand, "Such a sharp treasure."

"It's going to be ruined for sure though." Barry said while taking his turn to support Ben's weight, "Fancy blades like that aren't made to saw metal chains in a dungeon."

Fluffy sighed a little at the dagger, "Such a pity."

Why? Did Fluffy recognize the dagger? Wait, when Heller did say it was a family treasure he meant one of his family's treasures right? Not like THE family treasure the way the Ring of Idonia was...right? Heller wouldn't just give me a serious heirloom piece as a first gift right? Right? I mean, who did that?

But if he did... Would Fluffy's bloodline be able to cut Ben free faster?

"Urm... Fluffy?" I hesistated.

"Yes, Pretty Alpha?" Fluffy asked me, his sunny smile shinning through the dirt smudged on his face. His platinum blond locks which he usually wore like an ad for super shine conditioner, was now looking like the "before" shot for the same super shine conditioner.

Ack! What would Heller say of he knew his precious son was in such a state?

"Ah... " I was distracted again. What was I going to say? Urm... I quickly slapped on a matching smile, just to buy time, "Oh, right. I was going to say, if you can free Ben right now, I'll give you this blade as a reward."

Fluffy blinked, "Me, Pretty Alpha?"

Yes. Because it was your blade to begin with.

"Are you sure Pretty Alpha is willing to part with this treasure?" Fluffy asked.

"Just try using it with your wolf power. If you can make it work, you can keep the dagger after that." I said quickly. Actually, I was feeling pretty stupid already. I had to be crazy, maybe it was the magic in the air messing with my head, maybe it was one too many Lycan legends...

"I might end up melting it." Fluffy warned.

Yes, but what if? What if the stuff that happens in Lycan legends were just everyday life on the Colored Mountains?

In that case, maybe Heller had thought it was a good idea to hand me his family's heirloom to trick fate into binding me to his son?

As far fetched as that sounded, it was the kind of crazy gamble that characters in my favourite Lycan legends would illogically take. Although I never questioned it as a plot line of the Lycan legend, I was quite aware that it was really ridiculously haphazard in real life. I never expected Heller to be the "if you really want it, you need to throw everything on the line to get it" type of dude.

But then again, I didn't expect him to be crazy enough to believe it was possible to manipulate some stupid prophecy to make his son the next Lycan king either.

"Just try it, Fluffy. If it starts to melt, you can stop." I promised.

Fluffy shrugged, "I will do as you say, pretty alpha."

The dagger turned red immediately, but otherwise, it remained rather solid.

And then Fluffy sliced open the chain like a cake, it even left a bit of molten red metal along the cut. I thought it looked a lot like cream, if you ignored the metallic smell or the way it glowed red and orange.

Ah.

That was overpowered.

"Can you cut him loose on the cuffs, Fluffy?" Ki asked.

Fluffy smiled, "I can try."

They did realize that if Fluffy's hand slipped even the slightest, they'd slit Ben's wrists didn't they?

But before I could protest, Ben's arm had dropped out of the opened cuff completely intact.

"Whoa... Easy does it." Torque grabbed Ben's hand before it hit Barry in the face.

"Thanks." Barry said while still holding on to Ben. (It was Barry's turn to support Ben's weight.)

"Pass him over here." Torque said. Barry did so and Fluffy took Barry's place and reached out his red jewelled dagger and slit open the second cuff like it was a piece of paper.

"Okay." Barry rested his hands on his hip, "Just need to cut the chains off at his feet and we'd be home free."

"If the Warlock doesn't show up first." Keanu muttered.

The warlock was really taking his time though, not that I was complaining.

Fluffy cut the cuffs off Ben's ankles. Poor Ben! Although Ki had healed him up, I could see the new scars around his ankles and wrists.

Actually, was it just me, or was Ki's glow starting to look fainter?

"Are you okay, Ki?" I asked.

"Don't worry, goddess." Ki smiled his killion dollar smile, "I know how to ration my powers."

I nodded, but I worried nevertheless.

"Okay, let's get out of here, find the warlock, return his stupid stone, and go home." I decided. The sooner the better.

Fluffy handed me the jewelled hilt of his blade. It wasn't red anymore. It was still jewelled and incredibly ornate, but now that I've seen it in its red form, it suddenly looked ordinary.

"Goddess, your blade." Fluffy proffered it closer to me.

"It's yours." I told him. Because it was.

"I'm just a dog, pretty alpha." Fluffy continued proffering the blade at me, "A treasure like this doesn't suit me."

Wth. I took out the matching jeweled sheath and threw it at his stupid beautiful face, "Well too bad, it's yours whether you want it or not."

Fluffy blinked, one hand still holding the blade, and the other one holding the matching scabbard.

"Take it!" I flared now. Stoopid Fluffy. Did you think a treasured magic item would activate with just any bloodline? Obviously it's yours!

"Understood, pretty alpha." Fluffy's practiced smile returned, "I will guard this treasure with my life on your behalf."

That was not what I said! Grrr... Sometimes I had the urge to punch my wolves. Whatever. I tossed my head, I was the Alpha, I can take this, or rather, I was just going to ignore it, "Let's go."

"YES, ALPHA!" My wolves stomped and yelled too loudly in the enclosed space. I don't know where they got their high morale from. Personally, I was tired, and hungry (yes, again), and I felt like I could become annoyed at any moment. My wolves on the other hand looked triumphant like they had struck lottery or escaped from prison - which, come to think of it, was what we were in the middle of.

"Shut up, guys! We're not out yet." I folded my arms.

"But it just feels good!" Barry grinned, "Since you took charge, Alpha, everything started working out!"

"Sssshhhh..." Cobra agreed.

"It's like the tables are finally turning." Torque added.

"So noisy." Ben grumbled. He groaned a little and tried to right himself. Torque set him back on his feet.

Ben looked around and then at his wrists, "I'm alive."

WTH!

I punched him in the shoulder, "If you didn't think you'd survive it, why did you make me do it? Did you know how traumatizing that was?"

Ben laughed it off, "As if a little thing like that would faze you."

I'm not sure what kind of steel Ben thought I was made of, but I was going to need a Critical Incident Stress Debrief after this.

"How was that a little thing?" I flared full on at him, "You could have died. D-I-E-D, died!"

Ben only smirked while rubbing his wrist, "I'm fine, Sam. You don't have to freak out. I even knocked out a few years off that old warlock."

Wth was he showing off about? Why did he have to act tough, but I suddenly remembered the rest of our audience, so I punched his shoulder again, just a little harder since the earlier one was totally ignored, "Since you're fine, let's get out of here."

Ben reached a hand to grab the shoulder I punched, but he was smirking, "Lead the way, alpha."