The Great Migration Part 1
When Ivan arrived to see Natasha, she hugged him very tightly again. Ivan was starting to get used to these hugs when facing danger. When they separated and were still close, Ivan did something without thinking, his hand touched her hair gently and he just stood there watching her face closely with affection. As he did this, Natasha noticed how different her friend was after this hunt, his body was much more robust than before, and she even believed that he had grown taller too. When she started to pay too much attention to the muscles of his exposed arms and shoulders, she turned red and moved away from him when she noticed the mood that was forming.
He then took the remains of the bat and gave it to her, when Natasha ate the creature, she was delighted with the increase in strength that this single meal gave her. Ivan then began to tell her everything he saw outside, telling details of the hunt, the animals he saw, the plants, the small lakes and rivers. He only left out the death of the Old Lycan and the issues with Derek. This was because he didn't want to talk about the dangers he faced nor praise the arrogant man. They stayed chatting together and talking about many other things like their first full moon and the migration that would begin soon until they fell asleep...
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Two days later, during sunset, a huge group of wagons and carriages pulled by many horses left the largest entrance to the cave systems, which for hundreds of years had been the home of the Aqua Tribe. The carriages formed a circular formation protecting the more fragile wagons and those who stayed in the center, there were a little over 300 inhabitants of the Aqua Tribe. Everyone was quite anxious as they walked in the center of this formation since only the elderly and children were in the carriages along with the supplies with only the adults walking in the open. Circling the carriages outside the circle, three dozen transformed lycans constantly patrolled the surroundings being the first line of defense of the Aqua Tribe, and so the first night of migration went without any problems.
When the night ended and the sun was about to rise, the lycans dug a huge cave in the ground for the adults to sleep and rest. A huge tent was set up for the horses to rest under its cover. While the wagons and carriages formed an even tighter formation surrounding the makeshift cave, creating a sort of metal shell around it. The lycans then used various vegetation they had collected during the night's walk to cover the carriages and prevent them from being seen by the sky. Only then did they also take turns to rest.
In this first month of travel, most of the dangers were known, the route they followed used the surroundings of the mountain ranges to the East, thus keeping as much distance as possible from the Deadly Swamp. The Lycans would also begin to take turns sending a group of 6-8 wolves to carry out hunts in the surroundings not too far from the main group. The goal was to continue strengthening the weaker wolves in the pack and providing more food sources for the humans. In a secluded corner of the cave, while Natasha slept next to her grandfather, Ivan used a piece of leather, a needle and thread to sew a kind of suit covered in yellow grass.
Natasha had come up with this idea after he told her why they couldn't hunt during the day in this area. The dangerous Kralgor Eagle was a predator that was impossible to avoid during the day. But if this suit could help someone hide in the tall grass, then there might be a chance. The two friends were very excited about the plan and even though they would only be in this region for a month, Ivan promised Natasha that he would let her try out more animals from this place.
Bringing powerful animals to the females was something the pack had never done before, there was no rule forbidding it. But it didn't make sense to strengthen the females who didn't participate in the hunts. On the contrary, it was even stated in the rules for the females of the pack that they couldn't join the males during the hunts. For Ivan, continuing to strengthen Natasha was a way to help her stay safe during this trip and who knows, maybe it would change her fate regarding her marriage to Derek...
While finishing the suit, Ivan finally thought about what happened in the forbidden area. After killing and also devouring the criminal responsible for devouring a human and possibly contaminating the Tribe's lakes, Ivan had become several times stronger than before. All that was left of Harald was his head, which Ivan planned to take to the Alpha and thus prove his worth by obtaining more merits from the pack and perhaps freeing Natasha from her engagement. But that was a foolish dream, and Harald made it very clear what happened to those who stood out too much in the pack...
Because of that, Ivan chose not to announce the man's death. At the same time, he hid his new strength that he gained by single-handedly devouring one of the strongest members of Borys' pack. Now Ivan's plans had completely changed, his near death during the hunt, his failure to save the Old Lycan, his crushing defeat at the hands of Derek and the fact that he was almost tricked by Harald, showed him the importance of having power in this dangerous world, and for the first time in his life, Ivan began to have ambitions.
When the sun set, the entire Aqua Tribe began preparing for another night of travel. In one of the sturdier carriages, through an open window, it was possible to see the High Priestess having dinner inside, next to her were two older women, the Great Elder and the priestess who was her assistant. Outside the window, Natasha observed a bright blue object in the shape of a heart that was in the middle of the only table inside, on top of a pedestal smaller than 30 centimeters. It seemed that Ivan was not the only one who had great ambitions...