by D D Mathews
Colin took the bow from Mandy and nocked an arrow. He imagined all of his emotions, wrapped them in a box and tied it up. He pulled the string back and released. Colin liked archery; it demanded patience, control, and focus. The arrow struck the 9 ring. Colin repeated the exercise scoring 9, 8, and 8. He needed an eight to tie and a nine or better to win. Ryan started coughing and shrieking to distract Colin. It failed and he scored a 10. The few Celts watching clapped politely.
Killian was in charge of the Ephemeris and ordered his two assistants to clean up the archery equipment. He was a beast of a werewolf with an incredible reputation. Alby had told Colin a story about him. When Colin was a child, a group of wolves from Europe invaded. The Celts lost several wolves. It would have been more had it not been for Killian.
The portly man led the group of Risen over to two tables with tafl sets on them. Killian said, “Since Colin won the archery contest, he will sit out first. This is double elimination, may the best young wolf win.” The pathetic crowd dwindled more, most headed to the boxing area. A plot of land was marked out about twice the size of a normal boxing ring. Some of the electric lights from the Hill of Tara had been moved down to help light the ring. A couple of lines from a dirty song floated over to them, undercutting the seriousness of tafl.
The game was simple; all pieces moved the same, like rooks in chess. To capture a piece, two game pieces had to be on opposite side of the opponent’s piece. For the defenders to win the king or centerpiece had to get to one of the four corners. The attackers win when they surround the king completely with four piece or three pieces and the edge.
Colleen was a talented player of tafl and easily beat Seth, who was timid in attacks and couldn’t think very far ahead. Colleen shook hands with Seth. In victory, she was kind to her opponent. Colin watched an evenly matched game between Ryan and Mandy, both were decent players. Through attrition, the defenders created space for the king, and Mandy came out on top.
For the second match, Colin played Mandy while Ryan and Colleen played each other. The girls who won the first rounds now had to play as attackers. Ryan played better, up to his competition but wasn’t a match for Colleen. After being eliminated a second time, he stomped off to the boxing area.
Mandy was more skilled than Colin. She set good traps as the attacker and caught Colin’s king up against the side with three attackers. After losing, Colin moved over to the other table to play Colleen and was certain he was about to be eliminated, just like Seth was about to be.
“Girls must be better at playing board games,” Colin thought. He was on defense again, this time he made some good moves and patiently kept his king in the center. Colleen made a mistake. She placed an attacker next to a defender, allowing Colin’s next move with his king to eliminate her piece and clear a path to the corner. Again, Colleen was graceful in defeat. She shook hands with him, stood up, and moved to play Mandy. Seth had been easily dispatched by Mandy. She was undefeated and both Colin and Colleen each had a loss. The two girls hadn’t played each other, so they played first. Seth stood with him while they watched the fascinating match. The winner wasn’t clear till nearly the end. Whenever Mandy got ahead, Colleen would come back. Whenever Colleen moved her king to escape, Mandy blocked her. The game came down to a slow trap, with Mandy’s attackers corralling the king. Mandy won, she beamed with pride at besting Colleen who shook hands politely and stood aside for Colin to sit down.
He sat down and started playing. He was on offense while Mandy defended. She was a stronger attacker, so his odds of winning the match were average. Colin distracted Mandy on the other side of the board and slid his king to safety. Colin thought the match should have been harder. Now both were even with a loss each. Mandy took over the attackers and Colin took his sad force of eight pieces and a king, against the hoard of twelve. Mandy was fierce and attacked quickly, trading pieces trying to deplete Colin’s defenders. Mandy was clearly winning when she made a mistake that Colin didn’t notice.
“Oops,” Mandy blurted.
Colin looked at the board again. A long slide across the board gave his king a way to either corner. Mandy moved a piece to protect the corner on her right. Colin moved to the other corner and won. He was stunned, he should have lost. Before the match, he was certain she was the better tafl player, but she made a mistake, and he had capitalized on it.
Everyone collected at the tafl tables walked over to the boxing ring where the entire clan waited. Round-faced Seth patted Colin on the back and said, “Congrats Colin. Good luck in the ring. I hope you win.” Colin didn’t think it was wise to praise someone before a boxing match. Seth Daly was a nice kid, ugly wolf, but a nice kid. Colin liked him. Seth was authentic. He was who he was, he wasn’t ashamed or proud. Colin looked at Mandy who had her head down. “She must be thinking about how she lost,” he thought. He didn’t interrupt her, not wanting to pour salt in the wound. Instead, he listened to Colleen. She was speaking to Mr. Daly about Sarah and clan politics.
“You should back the Council when traditions are being threatened, even by my grandmother or the King,” she said. Killian nodded at Colleen’s ideas. “Traditions are the most important thing to the clan, without them, we would just be big dogs with no purpose,” she added.
Colin listened, not understanding why she was doing what she was doing.
“I don’t mean to speak out of turn. It’s just the way I feel. It’s important to me. Thanks for listening to my silly little concerns. You are as kind as my grandmother said.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek. Colin smiled. He had witnessed a master manipulator get exactly what she wanted, whatever it might be. Colleen saw him staring at her and flipped him off.
Chapter 9
Joseph rested his head on the window of the bus. The glass was cool on his face. Outside a light rain fell obscuring the landscape. The weather fit his mood. He was sad about his grandfather, running away, and poor Samantha. The last dream, where he accepted the wolf cleared everything up. The wolf hadn’t killed those people, he had. He was a monster, a creature that killed innocent people in truly awful ways. He had never wanted to hurt anyone before, but now he wanted to lash out at everyone, especially himself. His rage kept him awake for over sixty miles. The moment his mind wandered away from the deaths he had caused, he instantly fell asleep.
He is the wolf running down an empty interstate highway. He dwarfs the road underneath him. On each side of him, farms blur by. He needs to get away. The wind feels good against his face. Above him, the sky is grey and threatening. This doesn’t matter. It’s unimportant. Only the running matters. Every muscle burns in his four calves and thighs. He opens his jaw and bites at the wind. His mouth dries out and feels clean. He misses clean. His brain doesn’t connect to the murders he caused, he wasn’t in control then. He playfully bites at nothing while pushing his body forward. The farms blur into colors. He doesn’t notice when another wolf joins him, running against traffic on the other side of the interstate. A white blur catches his eye, it’s another wolf. Where did it come from? Is it a monster like him? The new wolf is a third of his size and fast. The other wolf pulls ahead. Joseph pushes himself more. The divided interstate pulls away from each other and the white wolf disappears behind the trees in the median. Joseph can only see flashes of white through the trees. The running becomes a race. The median returns to a concrete barrier so the road is back together and he sees the white wolf is ahead of him by two body lengths. He doesn’t think he can run any faster. He chases harder but the white wolf starts pulling away. He can’t lose this connection. The distance between the racing wolves is now four body lengths. Catching this wolf is everything. Joseph wants it so badly. He imagines himself next to the mysterious creature and the dream reforms around him. He is now running next to the white wolf. He had reformed the world around himself. Here, he can control the surroundings, but he can’t control what happens next. The white wolf licks his cheek.
He woke up. The bus had stopped as had the rain. Sunshine sp
illed through the bus windows. The day was bright and clear. He turned away from the light. A woman with long blond hair and blue eyes now occupied the seat next to him. She wore black jeans and a dark tee shirt with another band logo that Joseph had never heard of. She had thin silver hoops in her ears and a diamond nose stud. She was older than Joseph by fifteen years or more. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and blurted out, “Are we in Cincinnati?“
She shook her head no.
“I…I’m just…” Her closeness and scent caused a physical reaction in his pants. She saw his reaction, smiled wickedly, and licked Joseph up his cheek. Before he could comprehend everything that meant, she stood and walked off the bus.
***
Tamara explained, “We, the Amazons have a system of rites and rituals for different events. For example, The Test, which you successfully passed, is an initiation rite. Every clan has an initiation for the young werewolves. They vary a lot. We have rituals for death, trials, promotions, traveling, etcetera, etcetera.” Nuri listened to her aunt in the private office. Only the glass top desk separated the two women. Tamara leaned back in her chair with her feet on the desk while Nuri scribbled notes.
“Stop taking notes. This is important. I want you to think. Let me ask you a question. Why do we do this?“
Unsure how to answer, “Because Amazons have been doing them for hundreds of years,” Nuri said.
“Give me a break. That’s a fucking stupid reason to do anything. Think Nuri.“
Worried, she tried again, “Um… respect.“
“Interesting answer. Respect to whom?” asked Tamara.
“History, the Amazons before us.“
“That’s basically the same stupid reason. Let me ask it this way. Why should you, personally follow these rituals?“
Nuri paused for a moment and thought before speaking, “To belong.“
“That’s right. The new wolves need to buy in, belong. They also need to understand their place within the clan. What about me? As a Duchess, a ruler, why should I care about new wolves? Or more interestingly, what do I get out of following the rituals?“
Nuri placed her pad on the desk and answered carefully, “I guess it bonds the young wolf to the older wolves like a sorority thing. All this werewolf stuff has been hard to accept. Without you and Gretchen, Nox, and Justine I probably would have gone insane. The only thing I can guess is the Test gives leaders a way to judge the new wolves. Show what skills they have.“
“Nice. This is a little tougher. Let’s say Nox goes to Warsaw and gets in a fight with another Amazon. She flees back here and the Queen demands I turn her over. Why should I? Nox is an important part of my family. I love her. What do I get by sending her to an uncertain fate?“
Having no other knowledge about trials or Nox or the queen; Nuri balked, “I don’t…maybe.”
“Think it through.“
“Okay. Nox might be innocent so there would be no risk. But if she’s guilty or found guilty, that would be bad. You also wouldn’t want to piss off the Queen.“
“It’s simpler than that. Ignore the Queen part,” Tamara said.
“Reciprocity. If someone were to come here and hurt Gretchen, for example, you would want them to be under your justice.“
“Exactly. And let me tell you, I love punishing rule breakers. It’s a passion of mine.“
Nuri smiled, she felt like an equal. She was learning.
“As much as I love punishing people, I hate glad-handing and schmoozing. Why do I do it then?“
“It’s your responsibility.“
Tamara shook her head, “I’m the Duchess here. I make up the responsibilities. If I want to ignore them I could.“
“Then you must get something out of them. They help you somehow,” Nuri said. Her face squished up, worried, “I don’t mean to be rude Aunt Tamara, but since I found out I was a werewolf, you have been very different than when I was a girl. I’m not sure who the real you is. My guess is you are the hard-drinking cussing slutty woman I met after my Test. If that’s true, you, personally, use the glad-handing as a smokescreen to hide the real you from enemies and friends alike. It’s kind of a defense mechanism.”
Nuri looked directly at her aunt waiting for a stern lecture about how to properly treat her elders. Instead, “What would you do in my place? Why would you glad hand and schmooze?“
“Again with respect,” Nuri started.
“Fuck your respect. Give me your reason.” Tamara put her feet back on the ground.
“Respect.“
“I already said fuck your respect. If you say that word again,” she stood up getting angry.
Nuri interrupted her aunt, “That’s why I would do it. I want respect from my enemies and my friends so I have to show respect to them. For my friends because I like them. For my enemies, so I never underestimate them.“
Bluntly, Tamara said, “That’s a simplistic view of the world, friends, and enemies. Is there any room for anything else?“
“Sisters,” Nuri answered confidently.
***
Nuri had been excluded from the protocols for the first month. She was being treated like someone who didn’t know anything which was true. She still resented it.
Now she stood in a trashy field at the northwest corner of the city. She stood in a short line with Justine and Gretchen, while Tamara was standing center and ahead of them. Nox prowled the field ensuring everyone’s safety. To Nuri, the location seemed poor for this kind of meeting.
Tamara stood still, chest out waiting silently. She looked like a warrior statue defending her land while Gretchen explained, “This ritual traditionally has been performed on the side of the city the foreign wolves are coming from. This shows we protect everything under our control. The reason we’re out in this empty field is so no humans see us. Soon, the Requester will appear and she will bring three wolves with her. We wait for Tamara to speak and go through the rite with the leader of the traveling group of wolves. When Tamara hugs her Pillar, you, me and Justine do the same. Our three Pillars, along with Tamara’s Pillar makes four. This is an ancient symbol from Roman times when the Amazons first started influencing or being influenced by their powerful Roman neighbors. Ampelios, a second-century historian, believed the four Pillars were sacred to the worshippers of the Greek god…“
Tamara cut off the history lesson, “Quiet.” A group of women appeared from the west. Tamara held out her hands like the Virgin Mary and intoned the beginning of the rite. “I stand and wait for the weary to approach, and welcome those who wish me and mine no harm. Those who wish my sisters harm must bleed me dry, for my blood is my sister’s.“
Nuri felt a little shiver up her spine. It felt like she was watching something forbidden, something ancient. She held her breath. A group of eight women approached from the other side of the lot. The leader was older with dark hair and grey streaks at her temples. She pointed out three women and put them in a line with a gesture. The woman across from Nuri was the youngest of their four Pillars, but still ten or twelve years older than her. She looked at Nuri with mild interest; she had probably done this ritual dozens of times.
The leader of the Requesters said, “We have traveled many miles. We mean you and yours no harm. We wish to pass across your lands unaccosted and ask for your permission to stay no longer than four nights.” She put her arms out, mirroring Tamara and finished speaking, “Please bleed me now if you believe me and mine are here to harm you, embrace me if you grant us passage.”
Tamara strolled to the Requester and embraced her in a full bear hug. Nuri was a step behind Justine and Gretchen as they embraced their Pillars. Nuri hugged her opposite. The simple rite was over and Nuri felt she was bonded stronger to her sisters. She started to tear up. The woman she was hugging patted her back, “First rite?” she asked. Nuri nodded. “It’s alright. Lucky yours was a simple one, mine was a mating rite; a wedding. Couldn’t sit down for hours while it went on and on, had no clue what I was doing. You did great.”
These gentle words caused Nuri to start crying. She looked over and saw each pair shaking hands and chatting. Almost everyone knew each other already.
“My name is Fatima, what’s yours?”
Wiping her tears away, Nuri responded, “I’m Nuri.”
“Your Tamara’s niece?” she asked. Nuri nodded collecting herself. Fatima pulled away from the hug and looked directly at Nuri, “Your aunt is very proud of you. She thinks you could be Queen one day. From your aura, I see great things.”
Nuri let Fatima guide her over to Tamara and the Requester.
Fatima interrupted them, “Simone please allow me to introduce Nuri, Tamara’s niece. She has an impressive light inside her.”
Simone gave her a hug and held her by the shoulders. “I’m so glad to meet you, my sister. Tamara brags about you all the time.” Simone started imitating her aunt, “Nuri got an A in math. Yesterday she caught a fish. My Nuri’s going to Uni.” She switched back to her normal voice, “She’s talked incessantly about you for years. You’re already legend.” She winked at Nuri, “I’ve been friends with your aunt for too many years to believe everything she says, but if you’re half of what she says than Fatima’s inner sight might be correct.” Simone asked Tamara pulling her back into the conversation, “I know this is a faux pas, but Nuri, would you please change for us?“
Nuri wasn’t sure what was being asked. Tamara started waving her hands in protest, weakly. Nuri looked over to Gretchen whose face was concerned; she didn’t like what was being asked. Nuri took the cue and started to worry.
Tamara spoke, “This is very unusual Simone. You know she’s new. Anything could happen if she changes. And I’m not sure we all could handle her, she’s a big wolf.” She turned to her niece, “I know this is asking a lot, but you can do this. Just think about the beast inside. Visualize it. Remember how your paws looked after your first change. Just imagine you’re the werewolf that you are.”
