Wolf Moon
The full moon cast harsh shadows on the ground, dipping Gimma into a bright but cold tint. Embry squinted and slowly made his way over to the hunting party already assembled on the main square. The dry snow crunched under his feet, and he felt the ice-cold air filling his lungs.
The air smelled fresh and clean but here, in the monastery, he could also smell the burning wood in some of the fireplaces and the animals in the stalls nearby. The faint yet sharp scent of thunder was also to be found, always wafting around the pages as they wandered around, fixing the last of the protective spells for the big hunt.
People murmured calmly, but the screeching sound of short swords getting a last test and knives slipping into sheathes, spears clacking and arrows tumbling around in their quivers meant the time for the nightly hunt was close.
Embry stared off into the darkness beyond the gates, thrumming with energy. After arriving in Gimma and finding a new home, he had bonded with another Page.
Berinn.
The Page had a sharp tongue and a cheeky grin and his spark was strong. But after the Mage had caved to Berinn’s endless stream of seductive offers and let the Page into his bed, everything had been askew.
Embry’s magic felt more off-balance than before and even if he could concentrate more and didn’t blow up… things… he knew it wasn’t supposed to be like this.
And he didn’t know what it was, but his magic kept tangling around traces of a lingering, unfamiliar spark smelling so strongly of thunder that it didn’t fade immediately. Sometimes the Mage could smell it out in the cloister, in the middle of the night, and it made him WANT.
It drove him up the wall. Because he had a bond but his magic was acting up and throwing a tantrum and he felt so out of control.
A strong hand clapped Embry’s shoulder, pushing him involuntarily forward. He staggered but caught himself.
The man behind him laughed.
“Damn, Em. Are you sure you want to hunt with us? We don’t want to end up having to save you when a boar or a mean weasel attacks you.”
Embry straightened up. “Very funny.” He looked the other Mage over. “Does the wolf coat serve any purpose or is it just to blend into a pack?”
Aik’s booming laugh echoed through the night. “It’s my good-luck charm. The first wolf I killed. And it keeps my back warm. Plus, the ladies and lads like it. Hopefully enough to keep me warm when we‘re back.” He waggled his eyebrows.
Embry sighed. After catching Aik in many different situations with different people in different positions, he gave up on questioning Aik‘s taste in partners. “If that’s your only concern. What will you hunt tonight?”
Aik shrugged and scratched his chin. “I am not part of the chase with the nets, and traps aren’t my thing, so whatever crosses my path and is big enough will be fair game. And you?”
They slowly trudged towards the gate where more and more people spilled out into the darkness surrounding the monastery. “I want meat. Boar or deer maybe?”
Aik nodded approvingly. “Sounds good. You know you have to present it to your Page?”
Embry groaned. “I know. He’s reminded me several times. Every single day. For weeks.”
“And no magic,” Aik reminded him.
“I know, I know.” It could interfere with spells and the magic of other Mages. Healing charms could be spoiled and protection tokens made futile.
They passed the main gate and got their torches handed over by peasants, who smiled and wished them good luck. The residents were thrilled by the hunt. A wandering pack of wolves had already killed three young cows and the farmers would be relieved to have the pack gone.
For most, the chance to eat game was also a welcome change in the sometimes bland diet of winter, and the feast that followed the hunt was always highly anticipated by everybody.
Aik cracked his knuckles. “Let‘s go. I am so ready for a good kill.”
They stomped towards the trees, little glittering flakes falling from branches here and there. The snow would be soiled and red in the morning. Embry thought about how he missed hunting with his family, his mother kissing him goodbye and wishing him luck. And his heart ached for them.
Aik bumped his shoulder. “Thinking about Ûwila?”
The younger Mage kicked some snow and smiled at his friend. “Yeah. Father would have liked this. We ate more fish and there wasn’t a lot of game to hunt. So every time we did hunt, it was a huge thing for everybody.” He sighed. “I really miss them. Everybody. Sometimes I see mundane things or hear a certain sound and it reminds me of home. Before everything burned.”
Aik clicked his tongue. “I am sorry it happened. But I’m glad you‘re here.”
Embry huffed. “Yeah, me too.“ He tilted his head and stared into the trees. “Am I allowed to use Sight?”
Aik laughed. “Nah, no cheating! Though you have to show me how that shit works.”
They trudged deeper into the forest, listening for the other hunters and the occasional hollering and howling.
The moonlight was bright enough for Embry to see the herd of deer. They calmly stood in a little clearing nibbling on branches and searching for acorns. The ears and heads went up here and there when they heard snow falling from the trees or little creaks and cracks. The other hunters were far away.
Embry tried hard to suppress Sight and concentrated on one doe he deemed perfect as an offering. He had been sitting for a while, his thundering heart slowly calming down enough to concentrate on the herd in front of him. He didn‘t dare get any closer and he had only one shot.
He drew his bow, forcing the bowstring further backwards and praying the wood wouldn‘t make any noise when bent so much in the cold. The doe looked in his direction, still chewing, contemplating if the little rustling she heard was worth fleeing.
His magic hummed.
He shot.
The quarry was a warm weight on his shoulders when he made his way back to the monastery. He lumbered, mindful of his step so as to not slip or stumble. The doe was heavy, probably half Embry‘s weight, and he felt his footsteps growing heavier, sinking deeper into the snow when he left the woods.
He knew he should be tired but the thrumming of the magic kept pushing him forward, dragging him back towards Gimma. He saw other hunters dragging their prizes back to the monastery. Though only game or foxes. The wolf hunt would probably take all night, chasing them through the woods and into the nets. Wolf meat had a foul taste so they‘d likely do the grim part of the work in the woods anyway.
Embry wheezed, the cold air starting to hurt his lungs. The Mage changed the position of the doe on his shoulders when he passed the gate and people clapped, studying his catch approvingly.
Deer was something everybody liked to have on their plate and a big beautiful one like her was even better.
He slogged towards the fires burning in the middle of the main square where the Pages, some peasants and other hunters were checking the spoils. Women and men were happily presenting their prizes and praising the hunters.
Embry huffed, stopped and looked up at the moon. This tradition was tiring. He was nevertheless looking forward to the preening face of his chosen one and all the praise he was about to get. He made his way over to the group and felt the tug getting stronger.
Just when he was about to reach them, the tug wrenched him away, dragging him in another direction.
Sight crawled back into his vision, brightening the darkness and bringing out the details hidden by the nightly shadows. He saw Aik, blood-soaked but proud in the midst of the group, grinning at him broadly. There was also Benji and Eva, who inspected the beast with wild, predatory eyes herself, and he bet she wished to be the one hunting in the woods.
And there was Berinn, who watched him with a cheeky grin, wanting to step forward.
But this wasn’t for him.
The words stuck in his throat and Embry couldn’t get out the apology he was about to mumble as he passed his confused Page.
He heard Aro scolding Berinn, who was shouting, distressed by the public dismissal he had just received. Embry knew that would cost him later, but the magic tugged and dragged and hissed and urged him onwards. He passed the refectory and the great cellar. His knees started to give out and he had to lean against the cold wall. He wanted to get rid of the doe and just close his eyes for a bit. The weight on his shoulders felt heavier with every step.
He looked up at the moon, still fairly high, and wondered why he couldn’t offer the doe to his Page.
He dragged himself closer to the garden of the monastery, wondering who his magic had picked to be worth the offering.
“Yo, Em. Are you awake?”
Embry blinked and groaned, every bone in his body tired, hurting and just so heavy. He wanted to turn around but his shoulders hurt too much.
“No. Let me lie a bit longer and die peacefully.”
Aik laughed, leaning against the doorway to his room with folded arms. “Aro said you can stay in bed a bit longer.” He took a closer look. “Is that blood on your face and hands? Didn’t you wash up?”
Embry stared at his bloody hands, dried flakes falling off in patches. He lifted the cover and yes, still fully clothed. He groaned again. “Fuck, the matron will kill me. I have no idea how I got here.”
Aik walked over to his window and peered outside. “Figures. Where’s the beautiful doe you brought back from the hunt?”
The younger Mage dragged his hand over his face and tried to remember what had happened. “I don‘t know… Fuck, I have no idea who received it. Oh gods, I dumped an eighty pound doe at somebody’s feet and I have no idea who got the offering. What’s wrong with me? Shouldn’t it have been Berinn?”
Aik watched Embry slowly talk himself into the beginnings of a serious panic attack, then dragged him up, ignoring the howling and complaints. “You know… sooner or later it will pop up. Probably. And then we will know who got it. Until then we‘ll clean you up because, by gods, you smell, and then you get to deal with that angry Page of yours.”
“And then I saw the brown wolf and he growled at me and moved and–” Aik stopped in the middle of his epic, and quite unrealistic, tale of how he killed the wolf when a little clacking sound at the window interrupted him.
Embry was sitting chin deep in hot water and just turned his head to watch the older Mage opening the window swiftly before sticking his head outside, listening to the muffled voice of somebody standing under the window. The bathhouse was mostly empty at this time so nobody yelled at Aik for letting out the warm, moist air, but Embry wished his friend would hurry up. The chilly air crawling in wasn‘t pleasant.
“Aik… hurry up!”
Aik waved a hand at him, stuck out his head once more before he closed the window and turned around, grinning at him impishly.
“Matron told the kitchen maid, who told Mads who told… I forget… who told Benji that your doe was brought to the kitchens sometime ago by Eva, who didn’t want to say where or how she got it. She just told the staff it‘s yours and the presentee would like to gift the community with the offering.” He plopped down on the stone bench next to the tub. “Still no bells ringing in that pretty head of yours?”
Embry scratched said pretty head. “Fuck. No. If Eva won’t tell, I‘ll never know.”
Aik leaned back and rubbed his cheek. The scar probably hurt from the cold. “Maybe they’ll come forward when the feast takes place. Wouldn’t be the first time. I haven’t seen someone in such a deep magic trance for a while. Like you were stupefied. Quite a sight to be honest, but I like you better when you know what you’re doing.”
Embry thought about all the times his magic had acted up and he felt the tug and want in the last couple of weeks. He started to have doubts. He didn’t want to, but the lingering feeling of missing a piece of the puzzle was stuck like a thorn he couldn’t reach.
“We‘ll see.” He didn’t want to share his apprehension yet. “Tell me more about the epic hunt of yours.”
The feast came, and with it, a very angry Page. The slap Embry received was a well deserved one and his cheek glowed for quite a while, stinging in the cold air. But no presentee showed up or made themselves known. And Embry had a feeling he‘d never know for sure.
He had a flickering memory of brown eyes watching him and soft fingers tracing his cheek, but it could have been a dream or just his imagination. And it hurt to be left in the dark even when the pull had been so strong, but he tried to distract himself.
“Don’t search for them. They might be married, be spoken for or just not interested.“
And brown eyes watched him from within the shadows.
With great interest.
Kuo was restless and couldn’t sleep the night of the full moon. People were loud outside, many preparing for the hunt while he was stuck inside folding fabric and repairing clothes for the Fledglings. Aro had told him to go to bed when he was done with the tunics, but the hours dragged on, leaving him with a sour mood.
He felt the magic within the walls of the monastery. He’d been drawn to it in the first place and now the walls around him hummed. Soaked for hundreds of years with Spark and Mage power.
He loved Gimma.
He just wished his spark had a Mage to thrive on. The spark grew on it’s own but it tasted the magic everywhere and was already growing greedy.
Yet Aro had held him back. So now he was stuck with basic spells and learning the embroidery, hands already itching to improve what he was given to work with.
Still deep in thought, he didn’t hear the creaking door right away. But the heavy footsteps and the magic sizzling through the air and crawling over his skin snapped him out of his thoughts. Kuo turned around and wasn’t quite sure what to make of the doe a bloodied Mage had just dumped, quite unceremoniously, right at his naked feet.
He was breathing heavily, eyes wide open with a clouded pupil, giving his disturbingly light blue eyes the impression of being blind. A Mage with Sight. Which didn’t explain the dead doe. In the sewing room.
The Mage watched him, sighed and went down on one knee, baring his neck and turning the hands, painted with blood and soil from the woods, upwards.
His voice sounded tired but proud when he proclaimed his offering of a dead animal to the befuddled looking young man. “Please accept my offering as a sign of devotion.”
Kuo’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline. “Um…”
He knew the hunters had brought back prizes from their hunt that night, but they were supposed to go to their loved ones and Pages, or the head of the monastery, or whoever caught their eye, but Kuo knew he had never spoken with this Mage. Ever. Aro had made sure to keep them apart. And Kuo still remembered why. His spark had wanted so much. Too much.
The Mage kept his strenuous pose and wheezed, nearly toppling over but trying hard not to give in.
Kuo crouched down in front of him to get a better look of the grey haired man.
He was young. Younger than Kuo had expected and quite beautiful. His skin was unmarred — by luck or because he hadn’t fought many battles yet. He looked Kuo straight in the eye and the desperate stare, waiting for approval, was heart wrenching.
Kuo reached out and patted his cheek awkwardly. “Thank you for your generous offering. I accept it.”
The Mage’s head dropped. He took a deep breath and, with some pain ridden moans, dragged himself back to his feet and slowly made his way out of the sewing rooms.
Kuo stared after him. “Thanks… good-bye. Um….” The door shut behind the Mage, who wordlessly left.
Kuo was puzzled. He looked down at the doe. Still at his feet. Possibly his own body weight. Dead weight. Too heavy to be dragged out of the building without anybody noticing.
And then he remembered how Berinn had bragged about his Mage.
“Embry here, Embry there, I have the strongest of them all, he’s so good, so good.”
It had been a never ending tirade of boasting. Kuo’s mood soured immediately just reliving those moments. But right now his spark rolled around contentedly like a cat who got to lick all the cream, bathing in the certainty that the Mage had brought his offering to Kuo — and not his Page.
And although the satisfaction and the possibility of humiliating the braggy bastard in the morning sounded good, he knew that Aro might see him unfit as a Page, and Kuo didn’t want to risk being Mage-less for another year.
“Fuck.”
He dragged the doe behind his table and covered it with clothes before dashing out of the building and making his way to the main square. People were still walking around - half the monastery was awake and bumbling around. He could easily slip from group to group without too much attention.
He just had to get to the Ouga. She would be able to help him. And she would keep her mouth shut. He didn’t want anybody to know.
Yet.