Chapter 94 No Space For Goodbyes

• After we all ate, everyone eating in silence, the king then stood up to mention that they would all march out at night to the Valley of death where the war was being fought. The warriors had been told much earlier so the whole pack knew at that point. They were all even sadder, heads bowed. It was the saddest moment in my life with the room falling even more silent if that was possible. One of the head warriors had then stood up and said a prayer for the whole pack and all of them that would march out to the battlefield.
• The king sat down for a few more minutes, nothing said, just staring around at his people and somehow I could not read him but he was not okay, I could see that. He was never okay. My hand slipped on his thigh, giving it a brush then moved until I found his hand, taking it in mine and feeling his fingers lace through.
• I squeezed his hand a couple of times, reassuring him that things would be better. I knew better days were coming. My eyes went through all the warriors eating their food. In my head I was saying all their names one by one. The fact was that they would not all come back. They would not all be sitting with us when they came back from the battle, that was just facts and it was so painful just thinking of it. They tore through the food with no shame or care. It was probably their last proper meal before fully depending on their wolf to keep them feed through hunting and eating raw meat.