As the Wolf Howls

by Michael Linford

  ‘We should ask the Great Mother then; she’ll provide us with an answer.’ Luna knew she could only calm any of their fears by using the customs to seek an answer.

  ‘Ask her for some handsome faery boys too,’ came a shout from Aira, as she came rushing out of the woods, knocking Luna’s food everywhere. Aira was the youngest of them all, naïve, playful and accident prone, which was a bad combination at times for all of the others, who were constantly clearing up her mess.

  ‘We need to group together if we are to ask the Great Mother — where is Tallulah?’ Ember tried to get everyone’s attention whilst Luna picked up her food, muttering to herself.

  Tallulah was the most inquisitive of the four, always asking questions and seeking answers. She was the most solitary of the group and could often be found sitting alone somewhere, trying to find her place in the world.

  ‘I’m here,’ she said, quietly wandering out of the woods towards the others. ‘What’s all the fuss about?’

  ‘Ember senses something is wrong in the world around us and thinks we might have visitors soon. So we need to perform an element ritual and see what our Mother tells us.’

  Luna took charge of the situation and gathered everything they needed to perform their ancient faery custom.

  First, Luna drew a faery circle in the ground, with mounds of earth to frame the area, before placing dry leaves and twigs within the circle. Then Ember rubbed two stones together, creating a spark that lit the fire they needed, setting the leaves alight as the sound of crackling filled the air. Next, Aira used a faery reed pipe to blow into the fire, causing the flames to grow and spread higher, before finally Tallulah filled a clay bowl from the lake and sat it in the middle of the fire.

  As the other three faeries sat round the fire, chanting in an ancient faery language, Ember closed her eyes and spoke.

  ‘Our dear, Great Mother, we offer you from all the elements and ask for your guidance. Please reveal the truth behind our fears and give us the courage to face what lies ahead. We, your children of nature, bless you and offer our love as a way of thanks.’ Then they all sat quietly and waited, staring at the steam slowly rising from the bowl of water.

  As they watched, the steam thickened and a vision appeared to them. It showed a beautiful, lush green forest, consumed by a black cloud that left nothing but burnt skeletal remains of gnarled branches and ashen tree stumps. Then the steam revealed four figures walking through the forest, healing the broken nature around them, and then the last vision showed a huge white building falling apart until all that remained was rubble. Eventually the steam cleared and the faeries sat together deep in thought.

  ‘You were right,’ Luna said to Ember, frowning with concern.

  ‘What are we going to do? Those visions looked terrible — the forest was destroyed. What does it all mean?’ As usual, Tallulah was affected most by what they had all seen. She wanted answers.

  Ember looked up solemnly from the fire and spoke quietly to them. ‘I think we’ll find out soon.’

  CHAPTER 24

  Black Wolf sat upright, shaken by his dream. Amelia was lying next to him and, stirred by his movement, she rolled over and looked at him.

  ‘What’s wrong, Black Wolf?’ she asked as she put her hand on his back to try to calm him.

  ‘It’s just the fire again, Princess, and visions from my childhood. I’m okay, but I need to speak to Grey Moon immediately.’ He took her hand and gently removed it from his damp skin before getting up and walking towards the cave.

  In the mouth of the cave, Lone Wolf was packing belongings into a sack and Grey Moon was sat quietly, apparently deep in thought.

  ‘Good morning, Black Wolf,’ he said without looking up. ‘Let’s go for a walk, shall we?’

  Together, the two of them walked away from the camp and sat side by side looking out over the mountains.

  ‘What troubles you, my child?’

  ‘I had a series of visions, Grey Moon. They were all short flashes but I need to make sense of them. Can I talk to you about them?’ Black Wolf was dazed by the vividness of what he’d seen and hoped his friend could help shed some light on what they meant.

  ‘I will do my best to help you, my child; however, this is your journey, so I’m not sure how much help I can be.’

  ‘I saw the same scene as before but from a different view. I remember saying a prayer to one of the fallen elders in my first vision back at the lowlands, but this time I heard myself saying it to someone nearby. Then I walked through a great fire and I was in the woods where you took me when we set out on our journey.’ Black Wolf stopped to take a breath as his friend shifted uncomfortably next to him.

  ‘What did you see in the woods, my child?’ Grey Moon asked.

  ‘I saw the tree stump and heard a baby crying. The baby was inside, wrapped in furs, and the stump had pawprints on it, possibly left by wolves. Then I was looking up and a stranger lifted me; all I remember seeing was the beautiful full moon behind him though. I know it was me as a child, but who was the stranger and what does it all mean?’ Black Wolf felt like the answer was just out of his grasp.

  ‘I don’t know what to say, my child. You must follow your own instinct and all will become clear. That part of the journey is very personal to you; stay calm and focused, and you will learn more. We need to get moving soon though. We have a long journey ahead.’ Grey Moon got up quickly and moved away without any eye contact, leaving Black Wolf even more confused. He didn’t want to join the group until his mind was calmer, so he decided to sit alone with the wind whistling around him on the mountainside.

  ‘Here you are, stranger. I was worried about you.’ Amelia’s voice roused Black Wolf from his daydream after he’d been sat there a little while.

  ‘Sorry, Princess. I just needed time to sit and think after my talk with Grey Moon. I’ve been trying to make sense of all this madness.’

  ‘Did he help you?’ Amelia asked, sitting down closely next to him.

  ‘He said he couldn’t, but I feel like he’s keeping something from me. I’m just so confused. I feel like I’m caught between a world I barely remember and the world we’re in now.’ Black Wolf looked tearful and hung his head low.

  ‘I cannot imagine how hard it must be for you, but I know how you feel with the confusion. I’m supposed to be the princess of Orgent, but when I’m with you I feel like Aalym. I can’t explain it but there are so many feelings for me to deal with.’ Amelia put her arm around Black Wolf, holding him close to her.

  ‘It must be hard for you too, Princess, coming from a sheltered life in the great walled city and thrown out into the wild with all the worry of what might be happening to your people. I wish there was something more I could do for you. I feel lost most of the time, apart from when you are close.’ He looked up at her and she could feel the passion burning deep within him. She pulled him even closer and they sat silently with so much left unsaid between them.

  At the cave, Grey Moon was ready to leave and had walked away, leaving Lone Wolf to himself. Having finished packing up the few belongings he needed, he sat looking at the place he had called home for so long now. Although sparse, the cave walls were littered with scripture he’d written in chalk and pictures he’d drawn from memories of his time with his tribe, when his parents were alive. With a heavy heart, he gently wiped the walls clean with a wet rag, knowing deep down that there was little chance of him ever returning. As he picked up his sack, he took one last look and said a prayer to his parents before following Grey Moon. Wherever he was headed, he felt sure that this was his destiny to go there; it was a chance to finally make peace with himself and avenge his parents’ deaths.

  On the mountain edge, Black Wolf turned to Amelia and said, ‘I guess we’d better get going.’ He stood and helped her to her feet. As he started to walk off to join the others, she reached for his arm, stopping him in his tracks.

  ‘Whatever you feel, follow it through, Black Wolf. I can see there’s something special
about you, but you always walk away and isolate yourself. Don’t keep punishing yourself for no reason; all we have is now.’ She longed for him to open up to her as they stood there together.

  Once more the silence hung between them as he fought against speaking his mind. ‘Then we’d better go, Princess; I won’t fail you again,’ he replied, gently pulling her after him, his heart so full that he felt like his chest would explode.

  Eventually they were all packed up. They began following the ghostly wolf back down the mountains. Grey Moon led the way quietly, the silence only broken by Lone Wolf’s single question: ‘So where and to whom are we headed now?’

  Grey Moon was as cryptic as ever as he walked ahead. ‘To the Charmed Woods, south-west of Orgent. We have three of the four, and now we need to find the fourth element — water.’

  CHAPTER 25

  In the Charmed Woods, the faeries were nervously awaiting their guests. Aira had spent most of the morning tidying their campsite up, then accidently knocking things over and having to start again, whilst Luna was gathering food for an evening feast and complaining that Aira was constantly getting under her feet.

  Further into the woods, Ember and Tallulah were talking and getting things ready for their guests to be able to find them.

  ‘We need to make an entrance for our visitors, otherwise they’ll never find us.’ Ember was instructing Tallulah and between them they were chopping a huge archway into one of the thickest thorn bushes that surrounded their home.

  ‘I can’t wait to meet them — I’ve been thinking about them a lot since last night.’ Tallulah finished shaping the archway and sat looking at Ember.

  ‘Why are you so interested? You’re the biggest loner amongst us,’ Ember asked, proudly looking at the new archway.

  ‘I don’t know, I’ve got a funny feeling these people will be important to me and I want to know more.’

  ‘No change there then, Tallulah. You’re always asking questions and wanting to know more.’ Ember smiled to herself; she loved how inquisitive Tallulah was with everything, but always worried about her as she never seemed completely happy.

  ‘I’m still not sure how they’ll find us though… I thought these woods could never be found by outsiders?’

  Ember smiled. ‘Follow me and I’ll show you.’ She bounced off with Tallulah following behind her.

  Back at their camp, Luna had got the campfire area ready and was waiting for the others to return. She’d managed to get Aira to settle down next to her but was struggling to contain her energy; she was glad to see the others return from the woods.

  ‘It’s all ready for our visitors. They have their doorway, and now all they need is a map,’ Ember called out to Luna as she and Tallulah came and joined them by the fire.

  Together, the four of them undertook the same kind of elemental ritual as before, only this time the mood was lighter and Ember asked for a different sort of help.

  ‘Our dear Great Mother, we offer you from all the elements and ask for your help. We have prepared the gateway for our visitors of magic; please guide them to us so we can receive them in peace and help them as they need. We, your children of nature, bless you and offer our love as a way of thanks.’

  When Ember had finished speaking, the four of them sat and waited for the fire to die out. Instead of offering any visions this time, the steam snaked its way through the air in the direction of the newly cut entrance, and then disappeared.

  ‘They will be here before nightfall,’ announced Tallulah.

  ‘How do you know?’ replied Ember.

  ‘This won’t make any sense, but I feel it. They are very close and they have a spirit guide.’ As soon as Tallulah uttered these words, they were all stopped in their tracks by the sound of a howling wolf in the distance.

  ***

  On the outskirts of the forest, Grey Moon was mumbling a prayer as he led the group towards the woodland.

  ‘I’ve heard myths of these Charmed Woods but thought them no more than stories for children. If they do exist then how do we ever hope to find them?’ asked Lone Wolf, walking just behind Grey Moon.

  ‘We won’t need to, my friend. They will find us — just wait and see.’

  The ghostly wolf figure stopped in the woods as if it was ready to attack something, and Grey Moon held up his hand to silence the others as they followed behind him, cracking branches and rustling leaves as they walked. All four of them stood still, watching as a strange mist floated in mid-air towards their spirit guide. As it got closer, the mist took the shape of a wolf itself and, as they watched, they briefly saw the two ghostly wolves standing nose-to-nose before the mist vanished. The remaining wolf howled loudly and then carried on walking deeper into the forest, only this time with more determination.

  ‘They sent us a guide so we could find them; now all we have to do is follow our friend.’ Grey Moon motioned to their ghostly guide and walked after him.

  Lone Wolf looked confused. ‘But, I don’t understand —’

  ‘This is Grey Moon’s way,’ Black Wolf said, patting him on the shoulder as he passed with Amelia. ‘You never understand — you just follow.’

  Shaking his head, Lone Wolf followed the others into the darkening forest.

  They didn’t have to walk far until they reached the archway in the thick thorn bush. It seemed so obvious, here in the middle of the forest and not hidden away at all, that Lone Wolf couldn’t quite believe it.

  ‘Forgive me, Grey Moon, but I thought this place was so hidden that no one could ever find it, yet here it is, barely even concealed?’

  Grey Moon smiled slightly. ‘I understand your doubt, Lone Wolf. Today it is here but tomorrow it may not be. The only reason we have found it with such ease is because those who live here wanted us to. They are a charming group and blessed with much magic, but their charm is by far the biggest weapon they have. Normal people believe what these folk want them to believe, but they have chosen to invite us here. Come now, my friends, let’s not keep them waiting.’ He stepped over the threshold and out of sight, slowly followed by the others.

  Stepping out onto the mossy land beyond the gateway, it was like day had become night. The woods were suddenly very dark, but there were thousands of twinkling lights lining a path for them to follow. The magical glow led all the way into a clearing where the land was flatter and more open, and as they walked along they could hear beautiful singing in the distance.

  The two groups noticed each other at almost exactly the same time, the faeries looking up from their fire and the travellers looking down from the fallen tree stump they were facing, slightly higher in the woods.

  ‘Greetings, ladies, and thank you for guiding us here,’ Grey Moon said. ‘I am Grey Moon and these are my companions, Lone Wolf, Black Wolf and Amelia, a princess from the great walled city. We come seeking help.’

  ‘Who are these people?’ Amelia whispered to Black Wolf, who shrugged at her, looking as confused as she was.

  ‘These are the faery folk, Princess,’ Lone Wolf replied, ‘but be careful because they are far more powerful than they look, and twice as mischievous.’

  ‘You are all most welcome. Come sit by the fire and rest your aching bodies. We would be honoured to host you tonight and assist if we can. I am Luna and these are my relatives, Ember, Aira and Tallulah.’

  Amelia couldn’t help but stare at their beautiful outfits, all made from natural materials of the oddest variety; even things like dry leaves and moss had been used. They were dressed in different shades of green and blended in with their surroundings perfectly.

  As the group sat down around the fire, leaning their backs against the fallen tree stump, they all greeted each other and exchanged pleasantries. Aira squealed with excitement, hugging everyone, whilst Luna handed out forest-made drinks in carved wooden cups. Ember quietly tried to observe these strangers while Tallulah, as usual, sat silently in the shadows, keeping herself to herself.

  ‘We can have a feast tonight and cel
ebrate the company of others — something we never do. Then you can tell us all why you are here and what we can do to help you,’ Ember announced.

  ‘That sounds wonderful, child. We’ve had a long trek with no rest today. There is lots to discuss, too,’ replied Grey Moon.

  Ember was satisfied that the visitors were harmless and wanted to make them feel comfortable. ‘If any of you need to freshen up, there is a stream a bit farther on, which feeds the Lake of Essence. Feel free to use the running water from the waterfall, if you wish.’

  ‘I’d like to. Could show me where to go, please?’ Black Wolf said, standing up, desperate to clean the dirt and dust from his face.

  ‘Certainly, Black Wolf, Tallulah will show you.’ Ember smiled as Tallulah got up and led him away from the group.

  Reaching the flowing water, Black Wolf cupped his hands and started to splash his face clean. His guide had been so quiet the whole time that it made him feel nervous, so he tried to make conversation.

  ‘You have a beautiful home here. I hope we haven’t upset you all by disturbing your peace?’ he said, trying to shake himself dry.

  ‘Here, use this,’ said Tallulah, handing him some sort of handmade cloth. As their hands touched briefly, Black Wolf felt his heart beat wildly in his chest as visions of Esmee flew into his mind.

  ‘I must go,’ Tallulah stammered and ran back to the others, leaving Black Wolf kneeling alone at the stream, trying to hold back the tears that wanted to pour out of him.

  He tried to speak but couldn’t; he was powerless to do anything but watch her disappear into the woods.

  CHAPTER 26

  The people of Orgent were cowering under the control of their captor as the night seemed to grow colder and darker around them. They had witnessed death and invasion, and now they were powerless to do anything as Elspeth was brutally degraded before their eyes.