by The Maiden
Skarp reached over and took her hand, rubbing his thumb over the back. She sat stiffly, willing herself to ignore the sensations he aroused.
"You are beautiful, lady. I wonder that you have no male to care for you."
"Why do you think I have no man?"
He glanced around. "Do you have one?"
"No." She hadn’t meant to admit that. This man sent a skittering chill of fear down her spine. Oh, he was handsome and he seemed to be a gentleman by his manners and soft voice, but she sensed danger.
Yet still her heart beat faster. He excited her.
That realization frightened her even more.
She pulled her hand away from where it still rested in his and stood to hide her unease.
"I have to care for my grandmother. Please excuse me."
He smiled and tipped his head in acknowledgment, then went back to his supper.
She stepped quickly to the alcove where Amma slept and pulled the curtain closed behind her. Sitting at the foot of Amma’s cot, she wrapped her arms around herself, crushing the treachery of her hardened nipples.
What was happening to her that a stranger could evoke such feelings in her?
Were these the feelings of a woman who wanted to bed a man? Amma had told her of the doings between men and women. She’d said one day Kira would meet the man who would be her mate and would know him by the feelings he caused in her.
She reached over and pulled the curtain back a bit and studied her visitor. Was this Skarp that man? Did she want him? Did she want to join with him in the ways Amma had described?
Skarp stopped his spoon short of his mouth as she thought this. His feral eyes snapped toward her, catching her looking. Her breath caught in her throat and she had the horrific suspicion he had heard her thoughts. He smiled at her in her hiding place.
She let the curtain drop back into place, shielding herself from his too-knowing eyes.
Amma stirred. "Who is here?"
Kira leaned over and took her grandmother’s hand, stroking it, as much to calm herself as to reassure Amma. "Just a traveler, Amma. He lost his mount to the wolves and needed a place to rest and shelter from the storm."
Amma’s rheumy green eyes opened a fraction. "Who is he?"
"Just a traveler. Don’t fret, Amma. He is a gentleman and very courteous."
"Then why do you hide from him?"
Guilt shocked her. She hadn’t lied to Amma, not exactly. Skarp was a gentleman. He’d been courteous.
"I’m not hiding," Kira said, really lying this time. "I came to see to you. Can I get you anything?"
"No." When Kira made to take her hand away, Amma gripped it tighter and whispered, "You are certain he is a gentleman?"
"Yes. His clothing is fine and his speech is educated."
Amma snorted weakly. "Those are not the marks of a gentleman, girl. Be careful. Sleep in here with me tonight."
Kira smiled. They were both being silly. "And neither one of us will rest." She patted Amma’s hand. "Let me get your medicine and then you will sleep."
As Kira started to rise, Amma again clutched at her. "Remember what I’ve told you, Kira. Your body will tell you one thing, but you must also use your head and your heart."
Kira leaned over and kissed Amma’s cheek. "I will. Now, rest. You’re wearing yourself out. I’ll be right back with your tea."
She went out into the main room, carefully keeping her back to her visitor, and busied herself at the fire, mixing the extracts with some warm water.
"What ails your grandmother?"
Kira turned at the unexpected question. "She has lung fever."
He nodded. "I’m sorry. This weather must be difficult for her."
She didn’t respond but went about her business. She would follow Amma’s advice, for though her body might betray her, she vowed her head and her heart would not.
When Amma was settled and resting again, Kira banked the fire and intended to retire. She’d opened her mouth to invite Skarp to take a place by the fire when a second knock rattled the door.
Another traveler? This late?
Forcing a lightness she didn’t feel into her voice, she said, "My, we are busy tonight. Perhaps I should hang out a shingle and open a way-house for weary travelers."
Skarp smiled mirthlessly and his eyes narrowed. She suddenly found him a bit less charming than before.
"Perhaps, my lady Kira, you should be wary of strangers."
"Then you, sir, would still be shivering out in the snow," she reminded him, proud of herself for regaining a measure of control over herself and him.
She looked through the peephole, but darkness had fallen and she could not see. She opened the door a fraction and peered out into the blinding snow.
Another man stood there, taller, broader than Skarp. His head was uncovered, revealing a shimmering fall of silver hair. She was certain it was not the silver of age, for the man’s face was quite youthful and ... handsome.
"Might a traveler find refuge in your home, lady?" he asked.
Kira’s breath held in her breast as his pewter eyes burned into her soul and a half-smile curved the corners of his lips. The man’s voice reached deep inside, awakening some response she had never felt before--one deep and dangerous. Her instinct told her this man was more threatening to her existence than the other, darker, stranger who already sat by her fire.
Unable to find any words, she stood aside to let him in. Amazingly no snow clung to his cloak, nor did any melting flakes dampen his lustrous hair.
"Hang your cloak there, sir," she managed to whisper. "I have some simple stew for you if you hunger."
"Thank you, lady." He gently captured her hand as she made to pass him. Raising her hand, he pressed his lips to her suddenly too-warm flesh. "I am Valgard. Might I know your name?"
Why did she have the feeling he was asking for more than her name? Why did she feel a probing of her mind coming from the eyes of pewter? Strange eyes almost matching the man’s magnificent mane.
"I am called Kira."
He smiled, slowly, his eyes holding hers with that invisible snare, refusing to release her.
"My lady Kira. I am pleased to meet you, and I thank you for your hospitality."
Another shiver of some unnamable force ran through her to settle in her belly as a strange grasping yearning spun free from her soul.
Head awhirl with the unfamiliar sensations, Kira pulled her hand free. "Please sir, sit."
A low noise--a growl?--rumbled from her other guest, completely forgotten in the newcomer’s arrival.
She turned to see Skarp on his feet, his lips pressed tightly together. As she watched, one side of his lip lifted in what could only be described as a snarl.
She shot a look back to Valgard. He had stiffened and now turned his eyes slowly away from her and toward Skarp. It was a relief to be free of his gaze but the tension that suddenly filled the room was too strange to be ignored.
She gestured in Skarp’s direction. "This gentleman also sought refuge in my home but a few moments before you."
"You are a kind and generous hostess," Valgard said as he circled the far side of the table, taking off his cloak and hanging it by the fire. Then he moved to the chair opposite Skarp’s, never once taking his blazing stare from the darker man.
Skarp still stood, rigid and unmoving, as Valgard lowered himself into the seat. After a moment, he slowly did the same.
Kira sensed a battle of wills going on before her and she didn’t like it. Amma had told her men often fought over trifles, their pride forcing them to battle. Perhaps this was nothing more than having to share a table that made them behave so.
But somehow she didn’t believe that. Could it be that these men already knew each other?
She shook herself from her pointless musing and went about getting Valgard some supper. Once she’d served him, she sat on a short stool by the fire, poking it alive again for her new visitor’s comfort.
Again it struck her that he
was not wet from the snow as Skarp had been.
What did this mean?
And what meaning lay hidden in their manner toward each other?
Chapter Four
Neither spoke. Neither ate. Neither turned away from the other. And had Skarp actually growled at Valgard’s appearance? Yes, she knew he had. It had been the growl of an animal.
She shook herself. Amma’s stories of werewolves and her own unbalanced emotions were making her crazed. Men didn’t growl. Of course, not having been around many men in her life, she had no idea what sorts of sounds they did make, but growling couldn’t be among them.
Suddenly fatigue fell on her shoulders, weighing her down. She wanted nothing more than to crawl onto her own cot beneath the quilt Amma had made for her and fall into a deep sleep, where werewolves and strange men who caused her body to writhe inside could be replaced with more pleasant dreams.
"Sirs, I will retire now. Please make yourselves as comfortable as you can. You will find blankets in that chest yonder if you wish them."
Neither man responded.
Her patience thin, Kira huffed and climbed the ladder to her loft under the eaves and lay down.
Curiosity made her look one more time at the men below. Dancing firelight cast a glow on their features as they sat locked in their silent battle. It almost seemed that a white glow radiated from the one and shades of ominous darkness surrounded the other. She yawned. Fatigue was making her imagine things. She rolled over and closed her eyes.
* * * *
"Kira!"
The cry woke Kira from a sound sleep. She wondered if she’d dreamt it.
"Kira!" The cry was louder.
Amma! She leapt from her cot and jumped down the ladder to the main room. And froze.
The two men sat where she’d left them last night, still glaring into each other’s eyes. The fire had burned down to barely a cinder.
Idiot men. Neither could be bothered to put on more wood. She moved quickly to stir the cinders and put tinder on to light, then ran to Amma’s side and jerked the curtain back.
"Who is here?" Amma asked in a weak whisper.
"Another guest arrived last night after you went to sleep, Amma. Never fear. They are just sitting at the table, glaring at one another."
"They must leave. Now." She gripped Kira’s sleeve and pulled her close. "Now, Kira. Get them out of here and bar the door against them. Both of them."
She stared at her grandmother. "What are you talking about? They are guests, Amma. Hospitality requires--"
"No! Now." Amma made to rise from her bed. Kira tried to push her down, but Amma’s determination overcame her weakened body. "You!" She stabbed a bony finger at the men. "Be gone." She shoved Kira aside and stepped in front of her. "You will not have her."
Kira’s face burned. "I’m sorry, sirs. My grandmother is not well."
"Do not apologize for me, girl." Amma never took her eyes off the men. "Your kind are not welcome here. Get out!"
The men rose together.
Skarp finally broke his connection to Valgard and turned to Amma. "You can’t protect her for much longer, old woman. She must fulfill her destiny. Prepare her." He then retrieved his cloak and removed the bar from the door. "Shall we, Valgard?"
It was clear to Kira that Skarp would not leave without Valgard.
Certainly her suspicion from last night was accurate. These men knew each other. Their arrival on the same night could not have been a coincidence.
"Out, villains!" Amma reached for her cane. Kira was certain she was ready to drive them out if they hesitated any longer.
Valgard threw his cloak around his shoulders but stopped at the door and turned back to Amma.
"He’s right. She must be told."
"Who are you to tell me that?" Amma tried to swing her cane at him, but only upset herself. Kira just managed to catch her before she fell.
Valgard snared Kira’s eye, tipping his head in a bow as he followed Skarp out the door.
The men disappeared into the storm.
Amma tottered over to the door and pushed it shut. "Come, girl, bar this door."
Only when that was done did Amma allow Kira to help her to her chair by the fire. Amma collapsed and her breath came heavily. A fit of coughing overtook her.
"What do you think you were doing?" Kira scolded. "You have exhausted yourself with your display."
"Quiet, child, quiet. Let me catch ... my breath." Amma wheezed and coughed. Slowly she calmed down. "One of those men was of the Darkness. The other, I could not tell."
"What Darkness?"
"The Darkness seeking to snare the whole of the world for the Evil One. Now the darkness has come ... for you."
Skarp’s words came back to her.
You can’t protect her for much longer, old woman. She must fulfill her destiny. Prepare her.
The words held a threat. Or was it a promise? She had never thought of herself as having a special destiny. She had always thought to live with Amma in the peace of the forest. Soon, Amma would be gone, though, and she would have to make her own life.
"Amma, what did he mean?"
Amma turned her eyes away and was quiet for a long time. Finally, she sighed. "I have told you your dam and sire died fighting the Darkness."
Kira nodded, suddenly not so certain Amma’s tales were nothing more than entertaining stories to pass the long winter evenings.
"I have also told you that you will take your place in the Army of the Light."
Again she nodded, a prickly expectation knotting her stomach.
"It is time to tell you everything."
Chapter Five
Amma made Kira sit on her stool while she gathered the strength to tell her tale. Kira waited patiently, her eagerness overcoming her foreboding of what she was about to hear.
"Your dam and sire entrusted you to me when they left for their final battle. Elena was my only child, my daughter, and dearer to my heart than my own life. Your sire, Zander, was a fine man, broad of shoulder and narrow of waist with shining hair the color of the leaves in autumn. One look was all your mother needed to know he was her intended mate." Amma smiled with memory. "Just as I knew when I saw my Justin for the first time. None other would do for me."
Her grandmother clutched the miniature she wore around her neck of her long-dead husband.
"The Darkness took Justin long, long before you were born. Elena was barely your age then." Amma ran her gnarled fingers through Kira’s hair. "Lovely you are. You get your coloring from your father. He was as brilliant as your dam was dark, but both were beautiful. How I loved to see them romp in the field on a warm spring evening."
Amma wiped a tear from her wrinkled cheek.
"When I lost them, I could not bear the thought of losing you, too. So, I did a wicked thing."
Kira sat back. Her grandmother was all that was good in her world. Wickedness was unthinkable. "No, Amma. What could you do that was wicked?"
The silence lingered, drawing out to long moments. "I gave you an herb to prevent your courses from coming. I mixed it in your food, but have not done so since I fell ill. The herb kept them from finding you."
"Kept who from finding me?"
"The wolves." Amma shook her head. "I meant only to protect you, Kira. You must believe that."
"I do, Amma." She moved closer and lay her hand on Amma’s knee.
"But I see now I have only delayed the inevitable. In days, perhaps only a few hours, your body will flower. You will spill your monthly blood and there will be no stopping what will happen then." Amma lay her hand over Kira’s. "The only thing I can do is prepare you for what will come."
Kira shivered. "How can a person bleed and not die?"
"It is only the blood which feeds the cub growing in its dam’s womb. If there is no cub, the blood flows out. It is nothing to fear. It is as natural as the trees shedding their leaves in the autumn. There are cloths in the chest yonder. I will show you how to use them. Unless you are
carrying a cub, every month until you are an old woman, you will shed the blood."
Amma spoke so easily of such a strange thing. Kira had many questions but could give voice to none.
"There is yet a more important thing for you to know. Once you have bled for the first time, you will yearn for a mate. Males will come to you and you must choose. But choose wisely, girl, for your mate will lead you to your path, either the Darkness or the Light."
Amma leaned back and rested her head against the back of the chair. "These two men, they came because you are near your time of flowering. One of them will likely be your mate."
"I choose to stay with you, Amma. I have no desire for a mate."
Amma chuckled. "That cannot be, child. The time is upon you and you will choose." Another coughing fit overtook her and she covered her mouth with a cloth. When she took it away, Kira saw the thick clots staining it. Amma saw them too. She sighed. "Yes, it is not long now and I shall rejoin my Justin and Elena and Zander. And you shall begin to build your own family. I do wish I could see your cubs. It would give me such joy, but..." She shrugged.
"Amma," Kira said, steeling herself to ask the question which had been troubling her, "why do you refer to us as animals? Why use the words dam and sire and cub?"
Amma stared into her eyes. "Because, child, you are both and neither."
No! Kira’s mind cried out. Even as she realized what Amma was saying, she refused to accept it.
"Reject the truth you might, but the truth will be revealed, Kira. Once you have mated, you will change. Your mate will show you the way to take the form of the wolf as your own."
Kira leapt from her stool and backed away from her grandmother, convinced the sickness wracking her body had also ruined her mind. "I am a woman. I am not an animal."
"You do not believe I speak the truth?"
"No. You are not well. The lung fever is affecting your mind."
