by Jade White
Gerda nodded and sighed. “Alright you two get going. Stay safe,” she said as she gave Geri one last kiss on his wet muzzle.
The giant and the wolf strode out of the camp. Geri shook his head and looked up at the massive man and asked, “So what are we to do?”
“Well, you need to distract them long enough for me to get into camp and place this in their midst. When I say run, you need to run as fast and as far as you can. I’ll give you ten seconds, that’s as long as I can fight a horde of raptors on my own before I remove the cover.”
“So a count of ten to bolt as far away as I possibly can. I hope there’s no trees in the way,” Geri said.
“Don’t know, but if you’re not far enough away, the light will catch you. Maybe if you hide under a rock or something, you’ll escape, I don’t know,” Mamut said as they walked.
“You’ve never used this before?” Geri asked
“Nope. My ancestor did, but not me.” He replied.
“I see. So you have no idea how this thing really works?” Geri felt a bit perturbed at the thought that Mamut had this epic weapon and had no idea how it worked.
“Not really. Just that there’s a light that destroys shifters and not us.”
“That’s a lot of help.”
“I think the reason why it’s vague is to keep people from re-creating it. It really is powerful.” Mamut tried to soothe the irritated wolf.
“Alright, I’ll take your word for it.” Geri sighed as he loped along. “I’m going to scout on ahead,” he said as he jogged a bit faster.
Geri put his nose down to the dry, brown grass and sniffed, trying to pick up any kind of scent the Raptors might have left behind. He picked up a slight whiff of the sweet and musky odour the reptiles left behind and plodded back towards Mamut.
“They are traveling towards the southwest,” Geri said to the giant.
“Makes sense. Let’s start that way. We don’t know how far they are.”
“Well if they’re coming north, they should be somewhat close right?” Geri asked.
“The Raptors live very far south, I mean at least two moons cycles of travel from where you were originally camped,” Mamut explained. “We’ll probably run into them before that, as long as your keen nose guides us to where they are.”
“Do they use fire?”
“Not usually, no. They don’t have much burnable wood down in their part of the world, it’s all wet.”
“You sure know a lot about them.”
“Yes, we are the lore keepers of all the peoples of this land, that’s why. Tal is passing her knowledge on to me for when she finally passes on. I need to get back soon since the cycle of power is starting anew, from the looks of things,” Mamut said sadly.
“What do you mean?”
“Your shaman died, the bear shaman is dying, Sthiss might very well be dying, so Tal is going to pass on as well. It’s a cycle that happens. All the shamans pass away at around the same time, it helps renew this land.”
“I see,” Geri replied as they made their way through the thick boreal forest.
The sun was low on the horizon and the crows were cawing loudly in the bare branches. Winter was fast approaching and the first snows were probably falling on the northern mountain ranges as they travelled. The two camped and chatted that night as the sun set below the horizon. Since neither one had a torch, they needed to stop when the sun set so as not to hurt themselves in the darkness.
The next morning, Geri woke up and sniffed the air. The sweet, musky scent was getting closer – it was almost too close. “Mamut, wake up,” he whispered as he nudged the giant man with his muzzle.
“Mmm, what is it?” the giant replied sleepily as he turned over.
“Raptors are getting close, get up,” Geri said as he nudged him harder.
Mamut bolted up with the news. “How close?”
“I don’t know, about…” Geri sniffed. “A few leagues away if that, the wind is pretty strong today.”
“Well, let’s get going,” Mamut said as he stood and stretched. As he reached for the sky, his nine foot tall frame towered over the large wolf at his feet. “Was hoping for some breakfast, but we’ll eat on our way. Probably some deer in the forest.”
“Who knows?” Geri said. He wasn’t enthusiastic at taking down a deer on his own. He was hoping for a nice fat hare or raccoon but Mamut wouldn’t be satisfied with such a small animal. “If I smell one, I’ll let you know.”
“Alright.”
They broke camp and started heading towards the smell of the Raptor camp, despite Geri’s misgivings. He still had no idea how that artifact worked so he was operating on blind faith alone, and it set his teeth on edge.
Geri heard a rustle from a nearby bush and was on high alert. He flattened his ears against his skull and sniffed cautiously around the area.
It smelled like death and he didn’t like it. That meant one thing though. “Astri show your flea bitten hide before I have to go in there and find you,” he called out.
“It’s that obvious?” Astri said as he slunk out of the bushes, His brown eyes were glazed over with a white haze and his fur was falling out in large patches. “Gerda told you?”
“Well, it’s obvious now, I was the one that stuck that silver blade in between your ribs when you tried to rape her,” Geri said with his teeth bared as he circled the undead wolf.
“That won’t work now,” Astri said. “I’m immune to silver. I’m stuck in this unrelenting hell of 'undeath', forced to obey the whims of a cruel mistress. I have no choice but to obey, she’s in my head. She’s been in my head since before I died. I hoped your blade would've released me from her torment but it didn’t!” Astri screamed as he lunged for Geri.
Geri danced out of the way of the charging undead wolf. “What do you mean? Whom are you talking about?” Geri asked.
“Sthiss. She’s in my head, she’s been there with her low hissing voice spewing madness into my head, and has been since I found that…”
“Found what?” Geri demanded.
“I found a shell. It wasn’t from our land. It was large and shaped like a snail, I mean it was the biggest snail shell I have ever seen and I knew it could be used for something valuable,” Astri said. “I picked it up and my mind has been plagued ever since.”
“Why didn’t you tell Holda?” Geri said as he charged at Astri.
“Because, I literally couldn’t. Whenever I went to open my mouth, it was like a pincer was on my tongue. I couldn’t say what I wanted to,” Astri said as he blocked Geri’s attack with his shoulder. “Please just kill me, get me out of this hell,” the undead wolf pleaded.
“If you’d just stay still I would!” Geri said as he lunged for Astri’s throat.
“I’m not in control!” Astri snapped. “Sthiss is controlling all of my movements using her scrying stone.” He said as he charged Geri.
The two wolves circled each other growling and snapping. Geri decided enough was enough and changed into his human form, grabbed his silver blade and waited. “Well, are you going to change or not?”
“I…can’t,” Astri growled. “I was forced to swear to the elder goddess when Sthiss brought me back from the dead.”
Geri dodged as Astri attempted to tackle him. One man against one wolf is easy, he thought as he grabbed the silver dagger from his belt. Astri might be immune to the silver’s properties, now but he wasn’t immune to a thrust to the heart. Geri didn’t want to risk burning his mouth again on one of Sthiss’ minions so he stayed as a person and held the knife as he crouched low.
“She knows where you are. I’m just a distraction. The raptors are moving in silently as you fight me. Run you fool!”
“I’m glad your loyalty is still with you, despite the circumstances,” Geri said as he changed to a wolf and fled back towards Mamut. “They’re coming!” he shouted as he coursed past the giant. “From what Astri said, it’s the whole lot of them!”
Mamut peered into the leafless
forest and saw green, red and blue shapes darting between trees. He knew he only had one shot at using the artifact and he needed to use it when Sthiss was in proximity.
“It’s not time yet,” Mamut said as he started running after Geri.
“What do you mean it’s not time yet? Use the thing!”
“No. Sthiss needs to be near it when it goes off or it’ll be for naught and we’ll have to redo this in a thousand years,” Mamut said as he fled.
“You said that the shamans were dying as a renewal process!” Geri said as they bolted through the forest.
“They are, but the power gets passed to a successor upon the last breath, her successor might be worse than she is! We can’t let that happen, that’s why she needs to die without anyone around.”
“I see,” Geri said as he slowed down. “I think I know exactly how to get in there without getting killed.”
“What do you plan on doing?” Mamut asked quizzically.
“Going to let Astri capture me. I’ll tell them I’m needed alive so Gerda can come back. When they drag me off, you follow at a discreet distance. That way, you’ll find the camp, free me and let off the device.”
“That sounds like an utterly mad, yet effective idea. I like it.”
“I knew you would. I’m going to find Astri.”
“You don’t need to.” Astri’s hollow voice came from the bushes. “I heard your plan, she didn’t though, so you’re safe from discovery.”
“Wait, how can you do that?” Geri asked.
“Wolf hearing remember?” Astri said. “We can hear in frequencies, they can’t. I just adjusted it that’s all. It’s amazing what you can do when your body is dead.”
“Alright, let’s get going,” Geri said as he padded behind the dead wolf.
Astri turned and looked at Mamut. “When you let that go, I want to be near it. I don’t want to stay like this any longer, do you understand. Now stay back and try not to get caught.”
Mamut nodded and moved away from the pair of wolves.
“Alright let’s go.” Astri said.
CHAPTER 13
Geri and Astri silently padded through the forest, listening for Mamut in case he alerted the raptors to their presence by accident. The sun was setting in the west as Astri found one of the male raptors.
“Tell Sthiss or Stha that I have returned with a captive,” Astri told him.
The bright blue reptile nodded and sped off towards the camp. “Now we wait. They come and get us, not the other way around.”
Geri sat down on the cold, hard ground and waited for a female raptor to show up. After what seemed like a nerve-wracking eternity, a tall, olive green raptor showed up. “So Astri, you have brought us a little present?” she hissed.
“Yes Stha. I found Geri, the current Alpha of the Wolf people. I have brought him as tribute.”
“Excellent work. I shall see that you shall be rewarded,” she said as she stalked around the large, black wolf man.
Geri didn’t like the vibe he was getting from Stha and he felt his hackles raise and a growl rise in his throat.
“Silence!” she barked as she smacked him with her thick, scaly tail, sending him reeling. “You will be used as a negotiation piece to bring your mate back for the sacrifice. Now move.”
Geri looked up and saw a large black raven perched in a barren tree. He hoped that was the one Gerda was using to watch, and he doubly hoped she caught the earlier conversation with Mamut.
He followed the large reptile through the forest to their camp. “You’re fortunate it was I who came to get you and not Sthiss, our leader. She is still incredibly angry at your mate escaping.”
“I’m glad she did,” Geri said softly. “Why can’t you just leave everyone in peace? First you took the bears, now you plan on taking us.”
“Our goddess demands universal compliance,” Stha explained. “No, not compliance, adoration. The more followers she has, the longer our Lady Sthiss will live. She has already lived through one renewal phase, she will live through this one as well.” Stha looked at the undead wolf. “Astri, go on ahead to the camp and prepare a cage for the captive.”
“Yes, Stha,” Astri said as he loped off.
Don’t be so sure about that, Geri thought. “Doesn’t she have a successor chosen?”
“Don’t be foolish. None of us are worthy of being the Voice Of the Goddess!” Geri noted a bitter expression on the Raptor’s scaly face.
“I take it you disagree with that?” he asked softly.
“Why of course I do. Everyone in the tribe knows I am worthy to succeed her,” Stha scoffed. “I might not be as old as she, but at least I can lead properly.”
“Would you try to extend your life?” Geri said.
“Oh no. I don’t have any malice towards warm bloods. I want my people to thrive and prosper, but I don’t want to destroy. I have my doubts on Sthiss’ interpretation of the goddess’ edict, that it’s just fear of her own mortality. Honestly, if I could get away with it, I would call this whole thing off.”
“Why don’t you? You’re obviously a second in command, they listen to you,” Geri asked.
“Because she has her sycophants. They would protect her at all costs. She has a harem of at least five males that would literally die for her at her command. Luckily, that old hag is barren.”
“Do you have a mate?” Geri asked.
“Not yet. I have yet to find a male that isn’t a spineless wimp. They all cower and simper under Sthiss’ rule. I had my eye on one, but he was killed after allowing your mate to escape,”She said sadly. “Of course, my status will increase if I am there when that senile and terrified old woman finally dies.”
“What if…you aren’t?” Geri said.
“Wait? How?”
“You know, how about this.” Geri evaded the direct question. "You take Sthiss off somewhere and I draw her cronies away. Can your goddess’ power transfer if you kill her?”
“Yes, as long as I am there to take it,” Stha replied.
“Alright, I will distract Sthiss’ cronies as long as you do your part in neutralizing her,” Geri said.
Greed shone in Stha’s owl-like eyes “You can count on it. We’re a cold blooded race, but she’s the worst. Her long life has robbed her of any compassion for anybody and she needs to be stopped. She’s leading our race to their destruction.”
The group approached the edge of camp and Geri nearly gagged at the Raptor’s overwhelming scent. “What do you…?”
“It is near mating season,” Stha explained. "The receptive females emit a musk and the males pick up on it and dance for our pleasure. We pick the one that suits us and that is who we mate with for life. The male gets a name and the family unit is created. The male broods the egg and looks after the hatchling while we go and hunt.”
“Ah,” Geri said understanding.
“Be silent and act subservient. You’re my captive remember?” Stha chided him. She then walked up to a wooden cage, and opened the door. “Get in.”
Geri crawled into the cage and lay down on his belly. It was the same cage Gerda had been kept in, her smell was thick in it and his heart began to quicken. “Thank you for not changing the rushes,” he said.
“A male will be around shortly to let you out. That’s when you bolt towards the tents to the east of your cage. Sthiss’ cronies are there. You will see me walk in front of your cage with Sthiss to lead her to where you supposedly told me your mate was hiding. That is when I’ll kill her.”
Geri nodded and curled up in the rushes. He looked at a nearby tree and saw the black raven once more. He smiled to himself knowing Gerda was watching the whole thing from a distance. She flew off, probably to track Mamut.
He inhaled Gerda’s scent as he curled up in the reeds that lined the cage hoping that his moment would come soon. After what seemed like an eternity, a raptor with bright red feathers and scales showed up and undid the knot that kept Geri captive.
“Stha sent me,” he
said as they both watched Stha and Sthiss walk away from the camp. “Apparently, the council of elders wishes to speak with you.”
Yes, that was his chance.
Geri climbed out of the cage and followed the brilliant raptor. “Why don’t you use your human form?”
“It is forbidden. We are told to stay in the shape of the goddess at all times except when we males are to set up camp, or to couple.”
“One of Sthiss’ prohibitions no doubt,” Geri said.
The male raptor didn’t reply. “Here is the tent, I shall go busy myself elsewhere.”
Geri decided to stay in his wolf shape for now, so he could run faster when Mamut came and dropped the artifact into the camp. He looked towards the tree line and saw the red-headed giant ready to run in. Geri nodded and entered the tent.
“So you’re the Alpha,” a wizened old voice hissed from a grey scaled raptor. He was in a dark red tent surrounded by at least five elderly female raptors, their colors ranged from dark grey to steel blue.
“It’s offensive to have a male as an Alpha, isn’t it?” another voice hissed from a dark green reptile.
“Very. We should bite his balls off. He isn’t worthy of having them,” the grey scaled female said.
“Are you just going to sit there and taunt me or are we going to negotiate?” Geri snapped.
“Unless you provide your mate for our ritual, there are no negotiations,” the dark green raptor replied.
Geri took a deep breath, let out a long howl and backed towards the door.
“What was that for?” The grey elder asked as she was shaking her head to rid herself of the ringing.
“I do that when I’m angry and can’t fight back,” Geri lied as the crimson tent wall was ripped down by the giant Mamut. “Anyway, I shall be going now. Please have a good day,” Geri said as he spied a crack in the red fabric, slipped through it and ran off. Behind him, he felt a warm glow start on his hind quarters. As he ran, he saw a grey streak running directly into the glow.
“Sweet release!” he heard Astri’s voice cry as the wave of light energy washed over him.
He felt his fur singe as he ran as fast as he could away from the camp site towards where Sthiss and Stha were supposedly battling for their lives. The heat grew more intense and he felt painful blisters form on his hindquarters as he tried to run from the weapon that was rendering the raptors nearby to ashes.
