Afore took his new position with glee, and would kill anyone who challenged him. Not much would change, but the tribe's workers would work ten times harder. Afore waltzed through the crowd with a newfound confidence, walking up to one of the previous Baron's guards. He was a thickly-coated, dark brown guardian dog, and he took a few steps backwards as a bloodied Afore approached him slowly with menace, like a lion getting ready to strike.

"You, there," Afore addressed him, and the guardian dog looked terrified, "What's your name?"

"Timber," he admitted, shyly.

"Timber. You're going to help me, aren't you?"

"Ye- Yes, sir." Timber's ears were small and folded on the top, but now, they pinned back against his head like a greyhound's.

"Good," Afore purred. "First, we will announce this tribe's change of leadership by dragging the poor late Baron's dead body up to the arena for all to see, and leaving him there to rot."

"Yes, sir," Timber gulped, trembling slightly as he walked past Afore and gripped The Baron's bloody scruff in his jaws, grunting as he dragged his heavy, stiff body away. Afore watched with a small upcurl of the corners of his mouth, amused and pleased. Afore followed Timber to the arena, which was not so far away, dragging Laika with him along the rope. She shook her feathery coat and glared at the back of Afore's fluffy head, wondering how in the world she was still tied to him like this, with this stupid rope. She also, deeper in her chest, felt afraid, and wondered heartily where Bellamy had gone, missing his kind presence. She trotted along a little ways behind Afore, long neck holding her head parallel with her curved spine, that heavy rope swinging between them all the same. It touched the ground with grit in a few lower swoops.

They approached the arena, a crowd of dogs following and standing around, observing in fear and awe.

As Timber's bear-like form pulled The Baron's body into the ring, Afore announced, "You can't tame a wolf," addressing the crowd, "You can only kill one." The crowd grew in size, some taking seats in the stand with a confused or concerned expression. Afore was amused to see it. The Baron's black body was dumped in the centre of the ring with a dull thud. Afore spoke again, loudly, "I am your new Baron, and anyone who disagrees will be slaughtered. I intend to make some positive changes around here, which I think you lot will like. We are going to begin forgery; we're going to bring a new era of innovation to Anertha, starting with Castimun Tribe. An age of stonework and iron work!" The crowd became increasingly interested, some standing up and moving closer to the ring, and others even cheering for Afore's new idea. He continued, "We will be the only tribe in all of Anertha with the power of both industrialisation and the primitive wolf! I shall be the only male in the tribe to uphold breeding rights, and all females will produce a litter sired by me. We will have hundreds of wolf pups to conquer lands for us! And I intend on devouring each and every tribe in Anertha until Castimun rules them all!"

The crowd roared with enthusiastic agreement and cheer, whooping and yipping and howling like  jumping coyotes. Laika was much less enthusiastic, holding her head lowered and standing against the rope as far as it would let her. Her skin felt hot and embarassed, and she kept her watery eyes focused on the yellow ground, her throat seeming to swell shut.

Afore began to implement his new ideas immediately and effectively. To the crowd, he called, "If you are strong and intelligent, bring yourself up here to me!" And once so, a few dozen dogs approached in a gaggle at the gates of the arena. Afore called them in one at a time. The first male was a thick, stocky grey bully.

"What do you think?" Afore asked, eyeing him, "Could you handle some heat if I were to allow you to work in forgery, to work with hard stones and steels to invent and create? Could you do it?"

Gruffly, "Yes, sir."

"Then you will. Stand by." The grey bully gave an excited grin, and then walked out and stood to the left of the ring patiently. Afore evaluated each and every dog which approached him. The second dog was a tan greyhound, muscular but lithe and much too petite. Afore shooed him away with a snap of his jaws, knowing that the greyhound was not what he was needing. Soon, he had a collection of strong and intelligent dogs gathered at his left, just outside of the wooden fencing. Afore scanned over the crowd, satisfied with his choices, but he also knew he would make adjustments to his crew once the work actually began. Next, Afore called up any and all females, with the exception of those already on stand by, which he'd chosen for his forgery work. In a crowded group, the females all filed into the arena one at a time for his judgement. The first which walked up kept her head low and her eyes wide. Her coat was a dark brown, and she appeared to be a labrador, with floppy ears and a short, shaggy pelt. Afore eyed her up and down. Laika could only stand by and watch in dismay as he did so, unsure of exactly what he was trying to do. She felt fearful. Timber also stood by, looking rather pitiful despite his mighty size.

Afore asked the females only one question, "Can you have puppies?" The Labrador said no with sorrow, admitting her infertility, and in a flash of fierce movement, Afore was upon her. He tackled her to the ground on her back and she cried out, and he snarled, a cloud of dust uplifting around them. Afore gripped one of her front paws in his teeth and crunched hard, hearing bones cracking; then, he gripped her other front paw and did the same with the strength of his jaws. The lab cried out in an agonising howl. She couldn't stand, rolling in the dirt.

Afore drug her by her tail with his teeth to near where the black dog's body rotted. There, he left her to writhe in pain in the dirt. He lifted his head, still crusted with blood, and announced, "Females who are infertile will be immobilised and left here for the tribe to do with whatever they wish! Infertile females do not help us progress our cause nor strengthen the tribe!" Several dogs cheered in response— all males— and a few pushed their way through the female's crowd and into the arena to investigate the chocolate lab. A plain, fluffy, dark-bodied male hovered near her, tail wagging excitedly, touching his nose to her body in whiffs of her scent. She snapped at him, and he jumped back, chuckling, and then approached again, gripping the edge of her skin along her back in his teeth. He pulled back, and she cried, snapping at him again; he released her, jumping back, giving an excited bow, and then leaping at her again with another snap. She cried out, snapping back again, unable to stand, rolling on her back this way and that to reach the taunting male, mangled paws close to her chest.

He gripped her tail and drug her from it; pulled her floppy ears, ripping them at the bases with blood spurting; and played tug of war with her body with another sleek, grey male that joined. The grey male then held the lab by her throat, feeling her heart pounding from its chest and the whites of her eyes shining. She remained completely still, terrified for her life. The other male pushed her on her back, and mounted her as the first kept her still. She choked out a few words, a few soft cries, but couldn't move.

Laika could only watch with an indescribable horror. Her stomach churned terribly, and her gaze turned to watch Afore as he examined more females, allowing them to live if they were fertile. This was not the wolf she had known, and she felt foolish, stupid, and hot in the body for thinking a wolf could be anything other than pure evil and malice. Now, Laika had to escape a new threat. In some ways, her heart ripped in two, and she couldn't stop the tears running down her face. She truly had cared for Afore, and he was breaking her heart with his viciousness. It suddenly made sense to her why he'd been acting so strange, why her doubts had never gone away.

She wondered if she could somehow reel him back in to her, bring him back to who he was whenever they first met. Maybe he could come back on his own. Maybe she should still give him some time to prove her wrong.

Laika was lost, afraid, and heartbroken.