She was already folding my thin blanket gently. She placed it in the bag I handed her. I turned to dig through my clean laundry for a few sweaters. It was just the end of winter, but that meant the nights would be cooler. I didn’t have a tent or anything extra to keep warm since I ran warm all the time, even while sleeping. Sweaters would have to do for my cooler companions.
It looked like the weather was going to cooperate with us, and the typical spring rain would hold off a bit longer. That was good news for us. I’d hate for Grace’s last day as a human to be filled with rain and storms. We would have a beautiful, clear afternoon and night and time to enjoy everything we could before she chose to change.
“Sera will be back soon,” I assured Grace as she looked to the door.
She bit her lip and nodded. My words didn’t comfort her at all. I looked at the door, too, and realized who she was looking for.
No matter what we were doing, I was pretty sure Nikkan wasn’t stopping by today or for a long time. He was mad enough to drag several wolves to our place to get Grace; I was more than confident he was staying away as long as he could. I only hoped eventually he’d let me explain it all, but that wouldn’t do Grace any good. She would be a wolf, and there would be no way for her to speak to him about it to confirm my story.
“It’s his loss,” I told her as I found the sweaters I was looking for and tucked them into my bag.
Grace bit her bottom lip and nodded as she chewed on it. I was coming to recognize that as her thinking face.
“He's a brat, but that’s nothing new. He’ll come back around,” I reassured her of what I was only hoping. He’d always come around in the past.
“Why couldn’t he just talk to us?” Grace asked. “Why did he have to such be a jerk?”
I smiled. She was getting as angry as Nikkan was over thinking there was more between us. There was much anger, but it was over nothing. Communication didn’t seem to be their strong point.
“He just cares too much about you,” I answered. “And he’s always acting on instinct. His wolf side wins more than not. You have to understand that.”
And that was the truth about Nikkan. Maybe that was why he and I got along for many winters. I could accept all the crazy he did because of his wolf. If he were an average human, I might have actually been the one mad at him, but he wasn’t. He was part wolf, and that was a part that controlled a lot of what he did.
He once explained it to me. He had two people inside his head, him and his wolf. Most of the time, he was thinking for the both of them, but there were times it was just easier to let the wolf take over. I had a feeling the wolf took over a lot more than he let on.
She nodded. “But sometimes I wish he was more a man than a wolf.”
I wasn’t sure I agreed with that. The combo Nikkan was of man and wolf made him Nikkan and not anyone else. I don’t know if he would be the same person more human-like. Though I would have to agree if he spoke more instead of getting mad, that would have saved us from all the drama between us.
I packed the last of my dried meat and my flint to start a fire since we’d be sleeping outside overnight. Grace took the food from me and packed it in our bags. I nodded as I grabbed a few of my hunting knives and my bow and arrows. I was tempted to take my gun too since the cursed wolves could be out, but Sera assured me we would be far enough away from all that to care.
After we had everything packed that we could think of, Grace and I waited for Sera outside of my hut. I was tempted to leave a note for Nikkan in case he came back or changed his mind early, but I didn’t. Mainly I didn’t want anyone else following us. I wanted Grace to have one last perfect day as a human and not one last day as a human being scolded by overprotective wolves that didn’t really have her interests at heart but, more so, in protecting themselves.
It didn’t take Sera long to run to the village and back. She returned with a pack of her own on her shoulder that was packed almost as full as our two bags combined. I held up my bag in an offer to switch, but she just shoed me away as she hurried over and pulled Grace to a stand.
“Is it easier to run as a wolf or a human?” Sera asked Grace, offering to take her bag.
“Wolf, but I want to enjoy as much as I can as a human,” Grace replied and slung her pack over both her shoulders.
Sera grinned, grabbed Grace’s hand, and then took off running without a second look back to see if I was following. Of course, I was. Even when she was nice, Sera was a pain to me. At least, she was friendly with Grace.
Grace and Sera ran ahead of me through the woods as Sera led the way. I kept a watch out for any wolves that could be following us, but the woods were clear. We were alone on our adventure to make Grace’s last day one worth having.
They kept the pace light; probably Sera didn’t want to push Grace too hard. It made for a nice run. I had no idea where we were going, but that didn’t matter. I knew the woods of Elder like the back of my hand. I was at home. If I thought about it, I probably could guess where we were going, but I didn’t care. Grace had made plans with Sera, and I was sure the future Red of Elder was going to make Grace’s last day perfect.
Spring was finally here. The air was warmer, and some of the trees and early bushes had full leaves already on them. I could hear animals around us and ones coming out after their winter slumbers. The woods were alive and not in the same scary way the tree people talked about it. It was alive with life and new beginnings, which was ironic considering we were marking Grace ending her life.
“This is a short cut,” Sera explained as we neared one of the edges of the woods.
Grace halted as she looked out at the empty fields in front of her. Most, if not all, of the wolves spent their time north of my home. Very few ventured to the south or somewhat southeast as Sera was pulling us. It wasn’t like the border of Aboria was close, but it felt like we were leaving home and the evergreen forest behind us. The farm fields of Elder stretched as far as the eye could see. Grace stared with her mouth open.
Sera grinned as she stared at her new friend.
“Guess she never saw the other side of Elder before,” Sera commented to me as she bumped her arm into mine.
And that was the truth for most of the wolves. The northern half of the kingdom was covered by the evergreen woods that we called home, but the south end of the kingdom was all farm fields. There wasn’t a reason for a wolf to go south since they lived in the forest and hunted there. The fields of Elder had some animals but not the same hunting game as the north. The wolves couldn’t survive in the south unless in a tiny clan. And there was the problem of eating the farmers' animals, so they weren’t exactly welcome either.
“Won’t we get in trouble?” Grace asked as she continued to gawk at the fields that had yet to be tilled and planted with the new summer crop.
“You’re with me,” Sera replied. “You can’t get in trouble.” She gave Grace a grin as she took her hand and pulled her to a run again.
This time, we took off across an empty field that angled up a hill. I kept pace with them as we crested to the top, and Sera stopped again.
“You said you wanted to see the world,” Sera stated as Grace stared and started to spin in a circle.
From our hill, we could see so far into the distance; the horizon became a line.
“If you look that way, you can see the tips of the mountains in Aboria.” Sera pointed to the northeast. “And if we turn and look that way and our vision was better than our human vision, you might be able to see the deserts of Badalah or maybe the dragons in Draconis. Just a bit south of there, would be the walled city Urbis. No way we could see through those walls, but if our vision was better, I bet we could see the walls.”
Grace shut her eyes and took a deep breath of the cool spring air. The day was getting warmer, but it was still spring. It smelled fresh and full of life blooming around Elder.
“Over there where there’s a green glint,” Sera continued, “is the great kingdom of Oz. I’ve never actually been
there, but Red promised me that we would make it there sometime.”
Grace bit her lip as she stared out to the horizon. I wasn’t sure if she saw what Sera was describing or not, but she was trying.
“Just that way is Arcadia and their fairies. They have stone castles and don’t have to live in trees like the people of Elder.”
“Have you ever seen a fairy?” Grace asked.
Sera grinned. “More than one, but let me tell you, they can be quite deceptive. Not all fairies are nice.”
“Just like wolves,” Grace snickered, and Sera laughed with her.
Sera turned to Grace again.
“Over in that direction, are the islands that make up Skyla. Make sure to look up so you don’t miss the islands in the sky. If we had time or another life, we could go there to relax and enjoy life.”
I smiled at the thought. Grace seemed to be soaking it all in. Sera was good at this. I doubted I could make her last day as great as Sera had in just the past few moments. I had heard Grace say she was going to miss seeing the world, but this never occurred to me as a solution to that. I never gave her enough credit, but Sera was smart.
“And lastly is our neighbor The Vale.” Sera turned Grace to face west. “You can fly on unicorns and live in perfect weather, never too cold or too hot. No more winters with snow and frozen fingers and toes.”
Grace took a deep breath and slowly spun in a circle. Her eyes searched the horizon in all the directions Sera had pointed her. She wasn’t going on an adventure to see the world, but Sera brought her pretty close, as close as Grace was ever going to get.
I stood beside my friends and stared out into the world also. Elder was my home, and the woods were my family, but there was much more out there. What would I have left in Elder when my friends were all wolves? Would I be needed when the cursed wolves were locked up, and I had no one left? Was it time I saw the world like Grace wanted so badly to do? Could I live her dream for the both of us?
“Thanks,” Grace said quietly as she turned back to Sera.
“We aren’t done yet,” Sera said as she grabbed her friend’s arm and led her off down the other side of the hill.
Sera turned slightly to run toward the deciduous forest off to the east of us. Grace grinned as the wind whipped past them, and they took off to somewhere new.
Again, they took to their conversation of giggles and laughs as they ran. Grace was happy. That’s all I wanted for my friend. One last perfect day, and somehow, Sera knew precisely how to give it to her. I never saw Sera as someone who would befriend a wolf, but right now, there seemed to be no difference between them. They were just humans having fun.
It wasn’t long before they slowed their pace. I wasn’t surprised when I saw where Sera was leading us. I didn’t wander often into this forest, but I knew all the lands of Elder, partly because I wanted to know and partly because of Red making sure I knew everything about the place I was raised.
Sera pulled Grace through the new woods. Grace looked worried for only a moment as they ran past the bare trees, then she fell into step with Sera and let all her worries fade away. Sera led her deeper into the woods and made sure that her approach would make Grace happy. I just smiled as I knew what we were doing. When Sera was sure we were at the right spot, she stopped and pointed for Grace to push past the bushes covering the view.
Grace gasped as she stood there in shock. A small waterfall, maybe three or four saplings tall, ran down into a pool of water that shimmered in the spring sun. The water wasn’t more than chest high, but it was deep enough she couldn’t see the bottom. I knew the water was clean and pure, but I just stood beside Grace as she took it all in. At the other end of the pool, the water continued to flow further down the river.
“This is where the Eldoris River flows into the Adder springs,” Sera explained to Grace. “It’s by far the best place to go swimming anywhere in Elder in the wintertime. The Adder Springs keep the water in the pool warm all winter long. It’s not quite like swimming in the waters at the edge of Elder but much warmer.”
Grace not only wanted to see the world and all the kingdoms around us, but she also wanted to go back to the ocean in the north of Elder. She had been there as a young child and hadn’t been back since. Nikkan’s younger siblings were already there. I shook my head to try not to think of him. It was his loss to not be with us and not our fault in the least.
Grace slowly walked over to the sparkling blue water. She reached down and touched it and then looked back at both of us in shock. She must not have believed Sera about the temperature.
“It’s like really warm,” she said in surprise.
That made me chuckle, and Sera smile. No one ever seemed to believe that the water would be the perfect temperature.
“Turn around.” Sera motioned to me. I sighed but did as she told me without complaining for Grace’s sake only.
The woods glowed in a mild green light as the sun peeked between the newly forming leaves. I didn’t mind looking around the quiet spring forest, but I didn’t have much time as I heard the splashes of the girls getting into the water.
I didn’t wait to be invited as I turned and pulled off my own shirt before diving into the water. Sera shrieked as my splash was artfully aimed at her face. I might have accidentally or purposely put my arms out to create a large splash of water intended for her. Grace giggled as she ducked back down under the warm water.
When we were all perfectly soaked and our skin wrinkled, I was the first to brave getting out of the water to get a fire going. It wasn’t near supper time, but with wet clothing, it wasn’t going to take long before we all got cold from the weather, not exactly being summer yet.
“So how long have you known him?” Sera was asking Grace as I came back with my second bundle of wood for the fire that was now going good enough to keep both girls warm as they dried off.
Grace looked up at me and shrugged.
“I don’t actually remember when we met. It was many winters ago.”
I smiled and nodded.
“Don’t worry, Sera, you’ve known me longer,” I told her, knowing exactly where her thoughts were going.
Everything with Sera was a competition. It was hard growing up and being around her because I was probably just as competitive as she was, but I’d never admit that to her. It made for quite a few fights over the winters that didn’t seem to get better as we got older, a fact Red frequently pointed out to us. Red seemed to think one day, we’d give up competing and just be friends, but neither of us was anywhere close to that yet.
Sera stuck her tongue out at me.
“I wasn’t asking to see if I knew you longer. I was just wondering if she remembered your phase where you wanted your hair to look like a squirrel tail.”
I closed my eyes and shook my head. Yes, of course, Sera wanted to bring that up. If she wasn’t competing with me, she was teasing me, and my choice of hairstyles always was a favorite of hers.
“I completely do,” Grace replied with a giggle. “But I liked his skunk phase where he had that white streak down the middle of his hair.”
Sera reached over and tousled my hair like I was her kid brother. I grunted at her as I pulled back and left the stack of wood at her feet before I stormed off back into the woods to find more to keep us warm through the night.
I wasn’t really mad. In fact, it was kind of nice to hear them talking and laughing. There was no worrying about the future or what life would be like for Grace. They were just two girls having fun camping out in the woods.
It didn’t take me long to find what we needed to get through the night, but I took my time going back. Grace needed her perfect last day, and my thoughts were making me more than a little gloomy. It was just too sudden and hard to take. And the notion that Nikkan would soon be joining her and I’d be left alone was harder to take. Grace didn’t deserve my sadness. She had enough to deal with.
By the time I made it back to our camp, the sun was setting, and the girls we
re already making, or rather pulling out supper for us. It seemed that Sera had grabbed every dessert she had been telling Grace about, and my dried meat was the only non-sweet thing we had to eat. I didn’t take any of the sweets the girls offered me but instead sat across the fire and just watched them, lost in my own thoughts.
I knew Red wouldn’t lie to me. If she knew how to break the curse, she would. But I had to think back through all she had ever taught me. There had to be an answer to fixing the wolves. It was broken once and would be again.
Sera noticed my absence and raised an eyebrow in question, but I waved her off with a smile. Lucky for me, she was focusing on Grace and making her last day perfect, but I was pretty sure the run home would be an interrogation by Sera.
As night arrived and the girls put on the extra sweaters I brought, I could tell by Grace’s satisfied smile that she’d had the day she wanted, mostly thanks to Sera. That was beyond surprising to me. Sera and I had never really seen eye to eye much, but today showed me a completely different side of her. As Grace fell asleep lying against Sera, it was the perfect end to her day and life as a human.
Sera watched the fire, and I had a chance to truly look at her. It had been winters since we had been together this long and not fought. In fact, I don’t think I could actually recall a time we didn’t fight.
Her hair had dried back off her face from the swim, and I could look at her, no longer hiding behind the mane of hair that was usually swinging around her as she moved about. Maybe that was it. Sera never stopped moving, but right now, she sat perfectly still as Grace fell asleep. Grace was now sprawled on Sera’s lap.
My nighttime eyesight was perfect and allowed me to see every last detail. I could make out the small smattering of freckles across her nose that had been there as long as I could remember. I tried not to see it, but I couldn’t help but notice that Sera wasn’t just a girl anymore. She had grown and changed probably as much as I had the past few winters that I had been out of Red’s house. It felt like just yesterday that I left, but it had been three winters. I couldn’t put my finger on one thing, but something about her was changed. She wasn’t the girl I remembered growing up with.
Heir of the Curse Page 7
