by Natalie Erin
Her eyes flew open. “Who’s there!” Midnightstar jumped to her feet and looked from left to right. She was in a cave piled with all sorts of animal and fairy bones. They were everywhere, with one particular pile reaching to the ceiling. Her eyes widened. “By the stars, I’m going to be EATEN!”
“Calm down,” a voice said behind her. “I don’t eat wolves. I kill them.”
Midnightstar nearly fell over her own paws as she turned to stare at the horrifying sight behind her. It was the same creature that had tormented her when her visions had first begun, the one that had sung the horrible song and tossed all those bodies into the fire. She had a half-dog, half-reptile face with a twisted, curled body, walking around on crooked hind legs.
Midnightstar let out a scream so bloodcurdling it made the cave walls shake. The creature screamed back and shouted, “I only killed one wolf because I thought I was hungry, and that was ten years ago! I haven’t touched them since!”
“What are you?” Midnightstar whispered, backing up against the wall of bones and shivering. “Another vision?”
The creature clucked. “Unless I am going crazy, I think I am real. At least, I was the last time I checked.” The monster began poking her body experimentally with a curious look on her face, appearing to wonder if she was actually real.
“What are you talking about? I’m seeing you, aren’t I?” Midnightstar said, choking on fear.
The creature shrugged, stopped poking herself, and looked at Midnightstar again. “Okay, I’ve checked. I’m not a vision. I’m real, believe it or not. My name is Nagli.”
The name hit a chord in Midnightstar’s memory. “The old stories,” she said, pausing. “You…you helped my father on his travels, didn’t you?”
Nagli nodded. “Lilja and his friends took my crown, then never paid a visit back. Oh well. I can’t say that I blame them. Some people get tangled up in things. Busy, busy life you know.”
“You’re going to hurt me, aren’t you?” she said, crouching down to the ground.
Nagli tossed more bones into the pile, stacking higher and higher. “Of course not. I don’t hurt friends.”
“Friends?”
“Any daughter of Lilja’s is a friend of mine, Midnightstar.”
“How do you know my name?” Midnightstar demanded, stepping forward.
Nagli kept stacking the bones. “You were muttering it as you fell down into my house. Besides, rumors of a new skygazer have swept the Lands far and wide. They have even creeped into my tiny cave.” Nagli nudged a long spine to the side. “You really shouldn’t listen to the voices, my dear.”
“How do you know about those?” Midnightstar asked cautiously.
“My dear,” Nagli said in a patronizing tone. “I could hear your ramblings well outside my walls.” Nagli kept stacking the bones, and stacking, and stacking, higher and higher.
“What are you doing?” Midnightstar asked, tilting her head.
“Organizing. These bones make me quite insane. I think it is time for them to go,” Nagli said.
The task was something to do, and Midnightstar wanted a distraction. “May I help?”
“Certainly.”
Midnightstar picked up a spare bone with her teeth and threw it into the pile. She tried to not look at Nagli, for if she did, she would be scared again, and she wanted to be as polite as possible. “I want you to know that I didn’t want to give in and listen to the voices. Everything just…came crashing down at once.”
“Everyone has trouble with the voices, Midnightstar. Yet you are more susceptible than others. If you fall, so will many others.” Nagli picked up a giant rib and pitched it across the room. It made a smacking sound as it hit the floor of the cave.
“I know.” Midnightstar threw three more bones onto the pile. “I but have no idea how to make them go away.”
“You’ve got to find ways to make them go away, Midnightstar. It’s so very hard, but you must fight them. Tell them that you are good enough, that what they say isn’t true. Everything they say to you is a lie, and if you let them in, you’ll end up believing the lie. Doubt may creep in, but you must find ways to push it out.”
“How?” Midnightstar asked, but she realized that she already knew one way. Xiuh could make them vanish. His voice chased all the others out. His presence made the frightening images less real.
“Midnightstar, you have so many worries over so many things. Why can’t you stop worrying and believe?”
“Believe what?” She stopped her work, looking at Nagli.
“Believe that everything will turn out alright. Nothing will befall you that isn’t for good.”
“All this death, this dying, is for good?” Midnightstar spat, and she stopped stacking bones completely. “Everything that has happened to me lately has caused nothing but suffering!”
“This world is imperfect. None of us have all the answers,” Nagli said. “Be patient, Midnightstar. The time for you to save the Lands will come, and soon.”
Midnightstar pouted. It didn’t feel like it would be fixed soon. All solutions seemed impossible, out of reach. “Nagli, you don’t understand. It only gets worse. It doesn’t get better. There is no joy left in this life. Only pain.”
“Isn’t your pain worth it, if it’s for love?”
Midnightstar paused. “What do you mean? Nagli, don’t you see that I can’t do this all on my own? I’m…I’m tired! I expect myself to be able to fix it but I…just…can’t!”
“And there, Midnightstar, is your problem.” Nagli threw yet another bone into the pile. “You don’t ask for help. You must rely on the help of others.”
“I can’t rely on anyone,” Midnightstar said sadly.
“But didn’t you just say that you couldn’t do it by yourself?”
“Yes, but you’re not listening to me!”
“I am listening intently.”
“No! You…you act like you know what’s going on in my head! You act like you have all the answers, you act like you know what it’s like to be me!” Midnightstar collapsed, and she put her paws over her eyes.
Nagli put a paw on Midnightstar’s shoulder, and the wolf had to force herself not to shudder at the creature’s touch. “No one can know what it is like to be the last skygazer. Which is why you need your friends all the more.”
“But why me?” Midnightstar insisted, the question she had asked so many times flying off her tongue.
“We all have a purpose in this life. Everyone has their task, great being small, small being great. You are the only one who can accomplish the task set before you.”
Doubt surged through her body. She stood up warily, glancing at Nagli. “Now what? What must I do, if this is my destiny?”
Nagli threw the last bone on the pile, and looked up at it in satisfaction. “You know how the tale ends. You must bring the Second Despondent to a halt by stopping the unicorn war and the Ortusans, and you understand that only you can do it. Go in peace, Midnightstar, the last skygazer. You finally understand. Journey down the mountain now, and leave me be. Someone is waiting for you, and I think they will be able to help you with your impossible task.”
Midnightstar nodded. “Thank you, Nagli. I won’t forget how you helped me.”
She turned, trotting out of the cave and leaving Nagli to snicker behind her. Midnightstar looked down the mountain. There was a sandy unicorn standing at the bottom, waiting for the black she-wolf to join her.
Chapter Twelve
Wolves in Bloodlusters Clothing
Jade walked slowly through the jungle, keeping an eye out for her brother. The area was riddled with death, and bodies of creatures drained of blood were scattered frequently throughout her path, but she ignored them and kept going. As she caught a scent, she shoved her nose to the ground and growled.
“Shadowin was here,” she whispered to herself. “And there were Ortusans with him.”
Why her brother would be traveling with Ortusans, she had no idea.
A mot
ion in the jungle made her freeze. Ortusans in wolf form emerged from the brush, blood dripping from their muzzles.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” a female drawled, licking her chops as she spotted Jade hiding in the bushes.
“I’d say it looks like dessert,” a male replied, salivating.
“Where’s Shadowin?” Jade demanded, holding her ground. “You’ve done something to him.”
“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” the female cooed softly. “Do you know who that is, Baldur?”
“Never heard of him, Lynett,” Baldur responded. “How about you, Tomkin? Tomlin?”
Baldur looked to the two other wolves, who were brown in color, and obviously twins.
“I don’t know…” one twin began.
“...We might have eaten him,” the other said. They laughed in unison, and Jade shivered at the sound.
“He better be alive,” Jade snapped. “Or all four of you are going to pay.”
Lynett chuckled. “And how do you plan to make us pay, exactly?”
“There is only one of you…” Tomkin said.
“...And four of us.” Tomlin added. The Ortusans crept closer, readying themselves for the kill.
Jade glanced behind them. Her eyes widened in shock as she saw Shadowin hiding in the bushes behind them, nodding for her to make the first move.
“That won’t stop me!” Jade leapt into the air and landed squarely on Lynett’s back. The two of them went tumbling, both of them trying to sink their teeth in the other. Baldur and the twins watched the spectacle with interest, but didn’t try to help their friend. The second Jade got a bite in Lynett, she whipped around and sunk her teeth into Baldur before he could react. Both Ortusans crumpled to the earth, dead.
The twins circled around Jade, anger in their matching orange eyes. “You can take one...” Tomlin began.
“...But can you take two at once?” Tomkin asked, finishing the question.
“I can take you both easy.” Jade lashed out, snapping her jaws down on thin air as Tomkin flew backward. As the twin lunged away, Tomlin jumped towards Jade. She spun out of the way before Tomlin managed to get his claws in her.
“So do you two do everything together? Like a couple in love?” Jade teased, laughing loudly.
“We’re brothers if …” Tomlin growled.
“...You didn’t notice.” Tomkin completed.
“Oh, I noticed, but you finish each other’s sentences and everything,” Jade said, tormenting the twins. “Surely there has to be something going on between you.”
“Shut up you…”
“...Flea-bitten mutt!”
Jade knew she’d hit a nerve as both brothers bolted at her. She latched onto Tomlin’s front leg, sending the Ortusan into a fit of screams. Shadowin finally made his move, and leapt out from the bushes, cornering Tomkin.
“Say goodbye to your darling love,” Jade said before striking, delivering a poisonous blow. Tomkin didn’t put up a fight as he slunk to the ground on top of his brother’s already still body.
“That was a good fight. Wish I could see it again.”
Jade turned as her brother trotted next to her, his tail wagging, tongue lolling out of his mouth cheerfully.
“Shadowin!” Jade shouted, rising to her feet and shaking dust from her fur. “Thank the Creator I found you!”
“Actually, I found you,” Shadowin said with a happy bark. “It’s a shame you killed the twins. They were actually quite amusing.”
“Wait...what?” Jade stared. “They were going to kill you, and you found them amusing?”
“They thought I was one of them,” Shadowin explained quickly. “After I got away from the ones we found at the camp, they found me and asked me to join them. I was going to follow them to some big city they were talking about, but now, they’re all dead.”
“They actually believed you were an Ortusan?” Jade questioned.
“I was covered in Ortusan blood. Smelled just like them,” Shadowin explained. “They can’t tell what we are if they can’t smell us.”
“I can’t believe that works,” Jade said. “You’d have to be really stupid not to tell.”
“They aren’t as bright as they make themselves to be.” Shadowin chuckled. “We could all be Ortusans.”
Jade looked away. “That gives me an idea.” She slunk down to the ground, rubbing her head and shoulders against the earth until the Ortusan blood began to stain her fur.
“Uh...Jade? What are you doing?” Shadowin asked.
“We’re gonna smell like them, and get into this city they’re talking about,” Jade said. “If we can infiltrate it and begin killing Ortusans quietly, it’ll make this a lot easier.”
“Ugh. You reek,” Shadowin said, holding a paw up to his nose as his sister walked towards him.
“So do you,” Jade said, nearly gagging. The rank, deathly smell of Ortusans assaulted her nose, making it hard to breathe.
The two wolves left their patch in the jungle, abandoning the four Ortusans they’d slaughtered to the elements. After a half day or so of wandering, both wolves found themselves tired and weary.
“If we don’t find an Ortusan soon we should head back for the beach,” Shadowin suggested. “We’ve been out too long, and we both need rest.”
“We can’t just go back,” Jade argued. “We have to keep going and find these fakes!”
“We won’t be able to fight them if we’re starved and tired,” Shadowin said.
“But we don’t have to fight them right away,” Jade replied. “We can live among them until we’re strong again, and then we can take them down.”
“We can’t risk staying there for too long. They’ll find us out and destroy us,” Shadowin told him.
“This will work. I know it will.” Jade was practically begging him now. “We can’t give up.”
“Hey, did you guys get lost?” a foreign voice behind them questioned. “I can help you find Sanctus Cruor, if that’s where you’re going.”
The siblings turned. Behind them was a reddish-orange she-wolf, who smelled worse than they did. Definitely an Ortusan.
“Sanctus Cruor?” Jade cocked her head to one side.
“You know. The city of Ortusans,” the fake wolf answered. “That is where you’re going, isn’t it? It’s where all of us are heading.”
Shadowin nodded. “That’s exactly where we were heading. But my sister seems to have led us in circles.” He nudged Jade.
The Ortusan giggled girlishly. “My name is Omaira. I can be your guide. I hate traveling alone. It’s so much more fun with others.”
“Wonderful. I’m Shadowin, and this is Jade.” Shadowin introduced them as they began to follow Omaira. They tried to keep a respectful distance, but it was hard resisting the urge to bite when you had an Ortusan right next to you.
“I’ve never seen you around before,” Omaira commented. “Are you new to our world?”
“Just new to the area,” Jade said. “We were fairies running from the humans before we were turned. Now they run from us.”
“Humans?” Omaira gaped. “I’ve heard they taste better than anything we’ve got out here. Is that true?”
“Not really. They have a very odd taste about them,” Shadowin replied offhandedly. “How far away are we from Sanctus Cruor?”
“Not too far. It’s out of the jungle,” Omaira said. She sniffed the air, made a face and added, “You guys smell like wolves.”
“Um...breakfast was wolves,” Shadowin said quickly. “We love them. Can’t get enough of them.”
“Really?” Omaira cocked her head. “I’ve never tried one, because I’m always trying to not get killed by them.”
“Oh. Well, they’re delicious,” Jade said.
“Maybe I’ll have to find one next time I go out hunting.” Omaira took a step to one side, closer to Shadowin. “Maybe you could help me.”
“That would be lovely.” Shadowin smiled, pulling his tail off to one side as
she tried to twine hers around it.
Omaira giggled. “How long have you been one of us?”
“Only a little while,” Shadowin replied. “We’re still getting used to it.”
“I love the young ones,” Omaira breathed. “They’re so much more fun.”
Shadowin gulped. “How so?”
“Because they aren’t serious,” Omaira explained, leaning against Shadowin’s side. “They know how to let loose and have a little fun every once in a while. You and I would have a lot of fun together. I can tell.”
Shadowin looked back at Jade, desperate for some sort of help. Jade chuckled softly, adding, “I’m sure we’ll have a lot of fun together, Omaira. Just you wait and see.”
Snapfoot peered at the large city in the distance, trying to judge how far away it was. If the Ortusans had a city, then they had to have a food source and food was exactly what his pack needed.
The city dominated the skyline. It couldn’t be more than a day’s journey if he progressed at a reasonable speed, and he was certain his pack could make it that far. But would he be able to find a safe place for them once they arrived? If his assumptions were correct, the area would be filled with Ortusans, after all.
He made the decision to scout the area first, alone. He ran back down the hill, searching for Lottie. He found her lying alone a short ways off from the rest of the pack, hiding herself in the long grasses of the plains. “Aunt Lottie? Can I ask you something?”
“What is it, Snapfoot?” she asked tiredly. She didn’t lift her head, nor look at him. Lottie seemed to be stuck in a permanent depression in which nothing could catch her interest or spur her attention. Snapfoot was worried about her.
“I think I may have found a place with food,” he told her. “But I’m not sure if it’s safe. I want to check it out first, and the pack seems to listen to you more than me. Can you keep them safe?”
“Good hunting grounds? Where?” she questioned. She raised her head.
“Not far, but it’s somewhere we’ve never been before,” Snapfoot replied. “Please watch them.”
Lottie sighed. “You had better return in two days time, Snapfoot.”
