Y. E. Katerina
AERYN
Paw prints and footfalls intertwined paths in white blanket shrouding the valley. Aeryn wandered towards the woods, cradling a bouquet of dead roots and herbs, turned brown after the first snowfall. She found a field where dried grasses poked their cattail tips from the early snow-slush. Her bare skin pinpricked with goose bumps.
“Mayweed, mayweed, where is that damned mayweed?” Aeryn muttered aloud. She stopped. A cold wind brushed through her hair, kissed in autumn delight.
The valley became a work of watercolour. Trails of blood rolled down the crests of the hills. She quivered. Her leg buckled as a groan roared in her ears. A forest of rotten bodies arose from the soil of the valley. They were hive masses of eyes and teeth, gills and antlers, which bemoaned the lamentations of another world. Beasts with webbed hands and moist scales grew from the ground like weeds. Burned men with charcoal skin, who wore dragon horns atop their heads, dragged their bodies northward. Living corpses who dressed coats of matted fur followed the draconic monsters.
She shrunk. Her heart thudded. Aeryn took a step forward. The hive creatures created with violent brushstrokes did not look at her. Their eyes were marbled with spider veins, fixated upon the rising sun bleeding yellow into the monocoloured sky.
She followed their gaze northward. Aeryn noticed a golden-haired man, adorned in a long crimson cape, trimmed with lion fur. He was clothed with a black and gold surcoat. A magnificent crown mounted his head. The king locked glances with Aeryn. His gaze was blighted with a thousand years of solitude. He gave her a slight nod.
“Long live the phoenix! Long live the king!” The masses chanted. Aeryn shuddered. She covered her ears to smother their voices.
The chanting muted and the painting faded. Aeryn opened her eyes once more, finding the vision had dulled. Her bouquet of dried herbs was scattered on the ground. She scoffed and cursed at her gullibility as she gathered the plants she dropped.
A howl broke the evening stillness. Aeryn crouched, dropping the flora again. A she-wolf with copper fur padded from the open field, retracing her tracks. Her pelt dappled in flecks of dark chestnut. Aeryn sighed. The youngling trotted to her side.
“Sister. Orion hunters. Danger.” The tawny she-wolf curled her lip and let out a small growl.
“Junia needs these herbs. If we want the blessing of Mani to befall the labour, I need to prepare myself. Do not fear, Lupa. We’ll return home soon.”
She wandered farther from the sanctuary of pines. Lupa followed her sister. The wolf brushed her thick winter pelt against Aeryn’s side. The hills were endless, stretching far across the northern realm. Aeryn quickened her pace. The air’s chill filled her nimble body with vigour.
“Dacianna mad. Danger,” Lupa snorted. “Forest too distant.”
“When is Dacianna ever happy with me?”
She darted in long-legged strides towards the highest hill and ran ahead of her sister. She reached her arms outwards to feel the wind against her skin. Aeryn imagined she bore wings that could take her to the skylights. When the woman and the wolf reached the top of the ridge, they halted. Lupa panted. Her floppy tongue rested on her lower jaw.
Sheep nibbled on dried grasses and roots. The small flock had white curly coats to keep their fattened bodies warm. Aeryn sniffed the air. The scent of men did not linger on the sheep. Lupa’s mouth dripped with drool.
“Leave them. Faolan will bring preada tonight. We do not need to be greedy,” Aeryn said.
“Preada! Sheep-Preada! Bring home to pack!” Lupa bounced. Despite the groaning of her own stomach, Aeryn believed the balance of the tundra could not be upset with greed.
A shadow passed overhead. Ravens circled in the skies. The birds descended upon the flock. Aeryn squinted and noticed a lamb with a broken leg. The ravens hopped towards the weakened animal, leering with blank eyes. One bird pecked at the lamb’s injured leg, allowing the rest of the flock to attack.
“Come, sister. Let’s go home.” Her stomach churned at the sounds of the screaming lamb.
Aeryn ambled to the safety of the trees. The air remained crisp as the chilling winds blew over the tundra. The frigid land prepared for the dark nights of Tomai. The soil stiffened. It clasped around short roots of small shrubs and grasses. Squirrels chirped. Rodents searched for holes to hide their hordes of food. Birds sung from the trees. The body of the forest awakened. Bark veins supped with underground water. Animals breathed in the delight of the sunlight. Aeryn’s face brightened. She enjoyed the thought of being a piece of something greater, as a single leave of a tree.
Lupa sniffed the scent trails with her snout buried in the snow. The she-wolf cantered ahead with her tail wagging.
They came to an open valley guarded by walls of trees. A grand oak stood in the centre of the clearing with branches outstretched to catch the sunlight. The tree sat on a rock. Its roots drilled through the rock weathered by the elements. The wolves made their dens within the natural caverns created by tangled tree-roots and stone.
A white wolf padded to the returning members of the pack. Her bony haunches cracked with each slow step. She stood tall as a horse, with specks of grey in her coat, and had long whiskers.
“Khari.” Aeryn brushed against the dire wolf’s side. She wrapped her arms around Khari’s neck. Lupa nuzzled between them and licked the nose of the old wolf.
Khari growled. Lupa rolled on her back and whimpered.
“Dacianna not pleased, omega. You upset the pack.” Khari straightened her tail.
Aeryn slouched her shoulders. “I am sorry. I do not belong in patrols, hunting parties, or scouting missions. I get in the way. Besides my place is to heal the sick and the injured, not lead this pack. I would just create chaos.”
“Tell that to pack.” The she-wolf licked her forehead.
“Forgive me, I-I must go. Junia will be waiting for me.” The wolfborn bowed. She hurried from the clearing towards the dens. A giant wolf dozed outside. Aeryn stopped a few paces before the massive white creature.
The beta wolf raised his head and his tail straightened. “I’m waiting.”
Lupa dropped to the ground in the presence of her superior. He flickered his orange eyes at Aeryn. Her knees shook.
“H-have you s-seen my brother and s-sister, Varg?” Aeryn asked.
“Orion cubs here. Danger to pack. Foolish. Foolish,” he growled. Aeryn sighed. She walked to the other dens.
She found two wolves outside Junia’s cave. A brown omega and a grey hunter lay on their stomachs, yipping and sniffing the ground. Their curiosity drew them to the entrance of the cavern. The wolves crawled closer to take a peek inside.
“Rollo. Nerida. Out. You know you are not supposed to be here. Mani and Sol will not be happy seeing Eyolf ignoring their laws.” Aeryn put her hand on her hip. The two wolves backed from the mouth of the den.
“Rollo. Bad omega. Lead me here. Blame omega.” Nerida snapped her jaw at the brown wolf.
“Not true! Not true! Curious. New pups. Good time,” the omega whimpered.
Aeryn sighed. She shook her head. “Junia has not given birth yet. Once they have been born you may see them. I promise.”
The wolves departed from the den, allowing Aeryn to enter. Lupa met with her barking kin. She wandered off with the other wolves and left her sister to work. Aeryn placed the herbs on the ground and turned to a sleeping she-wolf.
Aeryn lay next to the pregnant canine. She listened to her drumming heartbeat. The pups in her belly echoed their mother. The wolfborn pressed her hand against the she-wolf’s stomach and felt a kick. Footfalls shook the ground contrasting the beating of Junia’s heart.
“Aeryn.” A dark skinned woman stood at the mouth of the cavern, donning the familiar wrinkled scowl Aeryn correlated with her sister.
“If Mani wills it, she will give birth tonight.” Aeryn spoke in the language of the dire, through a marriage of verbal cues and chemicals. She stroked the neck of her she-wolf companion.
“Aeryn, you were supposed to go with us this morning,” Dacianna scolded. “We needed you on the scouting patrol.”
“Junia needed me more. I could not leave her, sister.” Aeryn grumbled. “If she started to give birth, she would have been alone.”
“Khari was here.”
“Dacianna, she’s too old. She would have slept through her cries.”
“Aeryn. You are a member of this pack, not a human cub,” Dacianna groaned. “You need to grow up and stop pretending to be a pup. We needs strong hunters.”
“The pack needs me here. You’re the natural leader. Faolan’s a good hunter. I am not a hunter. I am not an alpha. All the talent I have is in taking care of the sick. This is how I fit into the pack. I cannot change who I am.” Aeryn scowled. Junia quivered. The she-wolf panted as her flanks moved up and down. “Let me take care of my family. I’m sorry for running away, but this is my place. Not to hunt, but to heal.”
Dacianna huffed.
“I had another vision. I saw fields of blood, monsters of tooth and claw, of scale and gill and-and-”
“Enough, Aeryn. You know your visions are nothing more than dreams,” her sister said and shook her head. “If you wish to stay in a fantasy world, without responsibilities, or tasks, keep them to yourself.”
“But sister, I’m not lying! I saw what I saw!” Aeryn stood. “I-I think something is coming. Something bad. The air, it smelt like a storm, but I could also smell iron, an iron storm of fire and stars.”
Dacianna crossed her arms and let out a sigh, “if you think that in any way your clairvoyance is going to help the pack then why don’t you speak to the alpha? See what he has to say about your visions.”
Aeryn frowned. “I will. I’ll speak with Fenrir, and I’ll prove you wrong.” She stuck out her tongue.
“Now, this I must see. Besides, I need to report to the alpha about the patrol. Seems like Orion hunters are wandering into our woods again.” Her sister laughed.
Aeryn ambled into the evening light with her twin trailing behind her. Dacianna crossed her path. Aeryn inhaled a long breath, expelling nerve-moths from her stomach. A black youngling wolf padded to her sister’s side, with his brother, a white yearling. Romulus and Remus greeted Dacianna as their superior by licking her face.
“Where you going?” Romulus tilted his head.
“Aeryn wishes to speak with the alpha. She-”
“I had a vision. But this one seemed different from the rest. It was real, oh so real, and cold. I want to tell the alpha to warn him about what is coming. I want to do something.” Aeryn lowered her gaze.
“Danger. Danger. Not wise. Varg stronger wolf. Varg beta,” the white wolf barked. He raised his tail.
“But I must try, Remus. I cannot ignore the brewing storm,” Aeryn spoke. The twins parted from her brothers. The sisters padded towards the den of her alpha. They found a deep cavern on the opposite side of the clearing nestled in darkness. The beta rested at the mouth of the cavern.
Varg snorted as Dacianna and Aeryn approached. He stood to his feet, arched his back, and let out a low growl. Aeryn hid behind her sister. Dacianna pushed her forward.
“I-I must speak with the alpha,” Aeryn gulped.
“You are not welcome here.” The wolf raised his tail.
“It is urgent that I speak with him.” She stomped her foot on the ground. “I had a vision, about-about something bad.”
Varg bared his teeth. He growled.
“We don’t need to fight,” a voice spoke. Aeryn and Dacianna twisted around to see their human brother. Faolan squinted his eyes. He glared at the beta. “My sisters have a right to speak with the alpha. As does any member of the pack.”
Varg kept his tail high.
“Be quick.” The beta led them towards the den of the alpha.
“Let me come with you, sisters.” Faolan walked beside Aeryn. The cavern where their leader lay reeked of rotten flesh. Bones of enemy wolves and small animals littered the stone ground.
“What were you thinking, taking on Varg?” Her brother whispered.
“I-I had a vision. But this one wasn’t a dream. It was something more,” Aeryn shook her head, “I think it was a foretelling.”
“Well, you are quite brave to stand up to such a thick-headed beast,” Faolan chuckled. He kept his voice low.
“Dacianna didn’t believe me,” Aeryn whispered.
“Well, Dacianna has a mind of reason. She’s not blessed like you with a wonderful imagination. She grew up too fast.”
“Go. Walk. On your own,” Varg snorted. The beta wolf stopped at the entrance to the alpha’s sleeping quarters within the cave. The three humans walked into the darkness.
“Fenrir? Alpha?” Aeryn called.
“Do you think he’s fallen asleep?” Faolan whispered. He crept forward and kept his body low.
“Leave me. Leave us.” Orange eyes lit at the back of the cave. Aeryn took a cautious step into the dark.
“Alpha,” she began, “I am here, standing before you, to tell you that I’ve seen a vision, to warn you.”
“Leave me. Leave us,” Fenrir growled.
“But Alpha-” Aeryn proclaimed. She tried to walk further, but her brother stopped her.
“We better leave him to rest,” Faolan suggested.
“I told you, Aeryn. Dreams stay dreams. Reality is reality,” Dacianna raised her head high, “I hope that you learned your lesson.” Aeryn gave her sister a sour look.
“Alpha! Listen to me!” She shouted.
“Morana. Morana. Morana.” Fenrir let out a low growl. Her brother pulled her from the den. Aeryn believed she found no help from her superior, or her family. Her foresight gave no consolidation.
“I want you to go hunting with Faolan and our brothers. Lupa will stay here and guard Junia,” Dacianna ordered.
“But-”
“But nothing. You deserted the patrol to pick flowers. As an omega of the pack, you need to be punished. Be glad that I am not telling Varg about what you did. He’d bite your ears off if he heard.” Dacianna crossed her arms.
“Don’t fear, Aeryn. We’ll be back before sundown. Junia won’t even notice you disappeared.” Faolan put his hand on his sister’s shoulder. He signalled for the wolfborn to follow.
The sun painted the horizon in bright orange hues. Its radiant light moved across the sky, creating a canvas for clouds. For a while, the hunting party found nothing but a few rabbits nibbling on dried grass. Remus and Romulus sniffed the air for signs of larger prey. Aeryn stumbled at the rear. Her gaze searched the ground for mayweed.
“Aeryn, stay behind me, and watch,” Faolan whispered.
Aeryn planted her rump in the snow while Faolan hid in the bramble with his brothers. They stalked a small group of sheep, abandoned on the moor.
Remus stood by his side. His mouth drooled in anticipation of the hunt. His bone blade glistened in the sunlight. He glanced back and forth, between the black and white dire wolves. Romulus and Remus leapt from the bushes. Each hunter raced around the flock to pick out a weak animal. They snapped and nipped at the legs of the sheep. Remus went after a smaller limping ram.
The two wolves separated their prey from its herd. Faolan lunged at the sheep and gripped it by the horns. The goat brayed, shaking its head. As he raised the knife, Remus leapt on its back and pushed Faolan away. The wolf clamped his jaw around the neck of the animal. He produced a vicious bite. He held the struggling creature until it went limp.
“Couldn’t wait, could you?” Faolan shook his head and smiled. He went to Remus and wrapped his arms around his big neck and rubbed his forehead.
Aeryn stood and ambled to her companions.
“Orion hunters slow. Preada fast.” Remus pounced on him, wrapping his jaw around his neck. Romulus walked over to the carcass of the ram.
“May the lights that shine from the stars grant this life passing. We thank the moon for its blessing, as night gathers, the pack lives on,” Faolan spoke. Romulus picked the carcass from the ground. “Let’s return home. It’s getting dark.”
The four hunters ambled to the security of the forest. Aeryn paused. She noticed a pathway of footprints making their way south. Orion hunters had marched into the southern borders of Winter Frith, but for what purpose, she did not understand. Aeryn cleared her thoughts and caught up with her companions.
They padded through the forest, dragging the carcass to their territory. They returned to the clearing to see many of the wolves huddled close to the caverns.
“What’s going on?” Faolan wondered.
“Pups. New pups.” Remus sniffed the air. Aeryn’s mouth dropped open. She scurried down the hill. Aeryn went to the den of the she-wolf and parted her way through the crowd of wolves, blocking the entrance of the cave.
The wolfborn wandered inside to find Lupa nestled next to the wolf. Five newborn pups suckled on their mother’s silky milk. Aeryn picked the small creatures from the side of their sleeping she-wolf. The corners of her eyes crinkled as she grinned.
Aeryn emerged from the den with five newborns in her arms. The cubs mewled, protesting against the cold air that brushed against their fur.
“They are beautiful.” Faolan took to his knees.
“The next strong hunters of our pack. May Sol grant them strength in hunting, and may Mani give them the wisdom of nature.” Dacianna patted a pup on the head. The bark-coloured cub whimpered.
“And now they must rest with their mother.” Aeryn smiled. She went into the den. The other wolves pressed against the cave opening. Their tails whipped back and forth.
Aeryn returned the pups to their mother. She lay on the ground, nestled between Lupa and the mother wolf. Aeryn rested her head against the pelt of the she-wolf. The familiar comfort of a mother gave her a sense of nostalgia. The overwhelming comfort reminded her of childhood, when she slept at the side of her wolf mother. She missed being tenderly consumed in soft fur, surrounded by suckling siblings.
The wolfborn understood the truth of her birth as a daughter of Orion. She remained caught in two realms, between man and wolf, the brothers of the winterlands. The elders told the siblings they came from a village. Aeryn dreaded imaging living amongst men. She preferred the story she crafted when she was a child, where the three birthed from the snow, like flowers in the spring, popping from the soil.
Aeryn closed her eyes. She allowed sleep to drag her into another unfamiliar world.
Her dreams became an oil painting. Thick brushstrokes created the warm landscape. Aeryn stood upon a field of dried wheat, their golden stalks depleted of colour. Their kernel heads bowed to the bristling gale. A cloaked man walked down the hill. He carried a shepherd’s staff in his right hand. His face was bandaged in linen and embalmed with nine herbs, mugwort, the oldest of flora, plantain, the mother of herbs, stoneroot, the driver of evil, wormwood, the venom-loather, chamomile, chicory, apple, chervil and fennel. He had one sapphire eye watching the realm. Two ravens sat on his shoulders and at his side were two wolves.
The fields of dried wheat set ablaze in auburn flames, chasing the one-eyed man into the valley. Wolves circled around her, barking and yipping. Their silhouettes danced in the shadows of the straw.
The ravens drew the clouds in a whirlwind. Their gliding patterns disturbed the canvas. They pulled the colours, griming their vibrancy with grey, and painted a storm. Rain droplets dappled her skin. The wolfborn reached her hand to the skies. Red paint trickled from the skies.
Aeryn became pale. The one-eyed wanderer vanished. He was replaced with a child, standing in the middle of a field of flames. The girl held extended her palm. She presented the heads of five pups to Aeryn. Their necks were bloodied. Nine eyes dotted their faces, marbling in size and shape, with their gaze centred on the wolfborn.
A bitter scent flooded into her nose, quelling her slumber. Her head drummed. Heavy footsteps hammered against the cave floor. A gummy liquid seeped upon the stone, thick and warm to her fingers. She opened her eyes. Aeryn stared at the severed head of Junia and shrieked. Her ears roared with blood. Shadows surrounded the wolfborn.
“Come ‘ere, little bitch,” the intruder said, “and I’ll show you what happens when you kill one of us.”
Aeryn twisted on her back, letting out a cry. She crawled from the man towards the entrance of the den. The human lunged at her with a dagger. Aeryn wormed from his reach.
The man caught her leg. Aeryn clawed at the dirt. A blur of reddish fur knocked him backwards. Lupa pinned the intruder to the ground and snapped his neck. The cracking of bone made Aeryn shudder.
“Lupa!” Aeryn shouted.
Lupa barked. Aeryn scurried from the cave. Men smoked the dens of her brothers and sisters with torches. Others fought the wolves upon the ridge, stopping them from returning home. Her brother and sister fought the invaders with Romulus and Remus.
The wolfborn glimpsed a poacher darting from the clearing into the gallery of trees. He held small bundles of fur. The man mounted a horse and rode into the woods. Aeryn balled her fists and chased after the human.
“We won’t let them get away with this.” Aeryn bared her teeth.
Lupa raced ahead. The two ran from the shade of the pines. Lupa lunged at the intruder carrying the newborn pups. She toppled his horse as Aeryn dashed to steal the younglings from the Orion hunter.
She put a hand to her mouth. The human held the pelts of rabbits. Aeryn backed, seeking shelter in the shadows.
“What have we here? A little she-wolf gone stray?” Another poacher stepped from the trees with a company of humans. He held the lifeless pups in his arms by their bleeding necks. Aeryn fell to her knees. Lupa pounced at the man. Before she could attack, a net draped over the she-wolf.
A hunter raised his club to strike her sister.
“Lupa!” A sharp pain collided with the back of her head. Her mind swelled in a thousand violent thoughts.