Wolf Worshipper

[Perplexia]

Deep in the swamp lands of Louisiana way off the regular traveled paths stood a wood cabin with a wolf symbol carved in the door. Once there lived a family of four. First influenza took her mother and then the civil war took both her father and older brother, leaving Caitlynn to fend for herself at the young age of 18.

Before the war her father had talked of getting her married. But things changed quickly and that was since forgotten. Hunting and trapping had been a way of life for her family, as well as maintaining a small garden. She had always been treated as a boy, learning the ins and out of how to be a good furrier.

The law they lived by was never kill what you won't eat, and every bit of the animal was put to use. It was simply a way of life out in the boondocks. Unlike most families who believed in one true god. Her family had stuck with their beliefs that had been passed down to worship the wolf god Amarok Wolf of the Night, Forest, & Stealth . The sounds of the wolves at night scared most people. But she loved the baying to the moon and was careful not to interrupt their lives or territory when she hunted.

In a way she felt the wolves were her guardians, and held on to the belief that werewolves could be real. What a fierce sight that would be to behold, and what a gift if she could meet one.

Gathering up her furs she headed along the back trails to the nearest town to sell her wares and get supplies. Winter was coming early this year and she needed to be sure she was prepared if she was going to survive.

 

[kizkiz]

The Beast's Tale

They had warned him not to seek comfort in the Beast. That to find refuge in the soul of an animal was to become that animal. The animal knew grief, but dealt within it in song to the Mother Above and the Father Around. He had known they were wrong, and they had been. When he'd taken the form of the Beast and ran, Father had been there running besides him every step. There was peace in reckless speed. What cared he if branch broke or bush tore? He was rage let loose. And he had found peace in the snap of bone and salt of blood. There was no greater joy than the spurting heart of his prey. So he kept pace with the wind and trampled anything that crossed his path.

When his body collapsed from exhaustion, he slept without regard for his life. His dreams were the Beast's dreams. He ran through the night of his slumber. He stalked prey and ate their heart's blood. He drank in their power and grew. When he woke, he shook off earth and water, raised his head to the Mother and poured his heart out for Father to take up to Mother. She shone down beyond his reach, but her touch upon his brow was still the caress of a caring mother. Then Father wrapped him in a hug, and they took off through the wilds of the world.

His tribe had come first with words. The words of Man meant nothing to him. His pain was the only song he wished to sing. They had no words that held purpose for him. Then they had taken the Beast up and pursued him, but he was the Beast. His Father brought their scent to him and his Mother hid when it was time to do what needed to be done. He feasted upon their hearts and took of their power. He tasted their lives and knew their ways like his own. He walked their steps as they had but not with his body but with his dreams. First only one or two came to convince him with word or claw. More came. Their numbers grew, but too slow to stop what he had become.

His slaked his pain with their blood as the Beast did. He feasted upon their hearts and bones. When the Man within questioned this, the Beast was too far beyond understanding. He ate of other wild things that hid in the night. Great monsters that had plagued his tribe. Terrible, hungry things that thought he was their prey, but he wasn't a man of his tribe anymore. His tribe had ran from such vicious killing things. He ran after the dark things in the night. He found them and ate their hearts.

When all he hunted was weak and their hearts tasted of water, the Beast breathed a great sigh. He was far from the frozen lands of his youth. He was deep in the belly of the land where water wed with earth in swamp and bog. In that place, he crawled into the belly of the earth and slept a great sleep.

The little kin of the Beast learned of his pain as he slept. They walked his dreams and carried his song. The little ones lifted their muzzles into the night sky and howled at the moon as he had. They hunted and ate of their prey as he had. They understood the night as he had. They walked as a whisper across the face of the land just as he had.

 

[Perplexia]

The sun was beginning to set early as she made her way back through the woods. Her trip to town had been successful. So much so the load she carried was slowing down her pace. The cold air was setting in early this year. She would have to be sure to pickup the pace in getting things ready for the winters.

Eerily the trees sang as the wind began to pick up pushing through their branches. She loved the sounds the forest made. Especially in the fall when the leaves rustled over the cold grounds. She was in tune to the fluttering of birds and movement of animals.

Then the sounds stopped as she got deeper into the woods. There was a unnatural quiet. A quiet that only came with the presence of humans. Slowing her pace even more she walked with stealth toward her home. To ensure she was out of danger she just had to reach the outskirts of where she had laid traps and weave her way home.

Over the years several humans had fallen prey to their steal teeth ripping into their flesh as they tried to encroach upon her families land thinking they were easy prey in their their little cabin in the middle of no where.

"Caity, come play with us" came the deep throaty voice of Darrius McCloud. The McCloud brothers probably tracked her from town. They meant to have her as their own and make her their bride, all four of them.

Her heart began to race echoing in her ears as the adrenline began to race through her veins. Clutching her medallion tight to her chest she began to pick up pace weaving in and out of the trees like the wind.

A wooshing sound raced past her hitting a tree with a thud. They were using bolos to try to get her.

"Amarok Sálvame (save me)" she cried out as her legs tightened together by the crude roped balls and dropped her to the ground with a thud. One of them let out a holler letting the other brothers know he caught her.

She watched as the darkened figures began to close in on her as she frantically tried to untie the bolo from around her ankles.

 

[kizkiz]

The Beast Awakens

Symbols had power. Every child of his tribe had known that. A ritual held more power. There was great significance in deed and word, if done right.

Many had come for supplication. They fell to their knees near where he slept. They slaughtered and drew sigils in blood. They burned incense and fasted. Many more powerful and capable than the tender sprig of a girl on her back clutching her medallion in her dirty hands. There was no special power in the words she choose. There was nothing of importance in her gestures.

Many had done as she. Often they sought him out when they needed something, asking him to take pity on them for their petty concerns. He'd ripped the still beating hearts out of creatures of nightmare. He'd stalked the darkness and hunted the things that hid in its deepest depths. Yet man and wife came to beseech him to teach them how to slay their neighbors or smite a stray cougar. It was ridiculous. A proper rite was applause for deeds of epic importance. Perhaps the Mother or Father would take notice. To win a boon from a god was the stuff of legends.

The only thing that ever surprised him was how his name had escaped from his dreams to be whispered amongst the small folk of the lands where he slept. His dreams were behemoth things, so it wasn't uncommon for a wayward soul to stumble upon it and carry that knowledge into their waking days. It was how the little kin of the Beast knew him and honored him. They at least never sought anything from him other than to mourn with him and hunt as he had hunted.

No, the words and deeds of Caitlynn did as much good as shouting at the wind to change its course. He took no heed to such pitiful mewling just as he had ignored countless others before her. There was but one thing the little kin of the Beast sought. Only one task epic enough to rouse him. It was something impossible and yet inevitable according to the beliefs of his tribe.

Time had spun. The Lady Spider had woven her web and moved on each of the countless generations, snatching the wayward souls of the dead. She supped on the memories and experiences of those souls until they were nought by a husk, then she cast them off into the Great Depths to be born a new into the world.

The little kin of the Beast had found her. The reason for his great slumber was over. All great hunters knew patience was the most important trait for a successful kill. Too much energy wasted lead to starvation and death. If the hunter became distracted diving from one opportunity to the next, they could miss their meal as easily as if they hadn't done anything at all. So he had waited, knowing that one day she'd come to him.

--- --- ---

In a great cave that lead deep into the endless darkness that lived beneath the earth, one giant, golden eye broke the accumulated growth of stone to open and peer out upon the world. He had slept too long, and now he found that the earth had grown around him. Water had precipitated over the span of generations, depositing small droplets upon his pelt. Each drop was insignificance in its impact, but over the course of millions of drops a vast network of stalagmites now held him fast. It wouldn't be a great impediment, but he had not eaten in ages and his body was thin and weak. He needed fresh meat before he was going anywhere.

His nostrils flared, and he took in an endless breath deep into the chasm in his lungs. His mouth parted inches, exposing foot long teeth. And he howled with all the power of a hurricane. A cry of anger and frustration like the crash of thunder and the sound of a thousand hammers striking upon the earth. The ground quivered with the force of it.

The little kin of the Beast, the wolves of the forest heard the call of their king. They knew his wishes as if they were his own, for they had ever walked his dreams. The pack was up and bolted towards the cries of Caitlynn. They yipped and cried out in glee. They would kill and murder anything disturbing their king's mate. They would use tooth and claw until their dying breath if it meant she'd be safe.

 

[Perplexia]

At first there was nothing other then the sound of the men moving toward her as she frantically tried to untie the bolo. Finally she was making way with it. Then the cries of the wolves could be heard echoing through the forest. It stopped her would be assailants in their tracks as the looked around trying to see in the now darkness of the woods.

Caitlyn struggled setting her legs finally free as the growls became closer. There was a crashing in the bush a yelp and the scream of one of the McCloud brothers. The tearing of his flesh could be heard through the silent of the night.

"She's a witch" one of them cried now moving toward her. She could see his figure moving toward her then he was down with a growling thump and began dragged away as a fresh kill. She was paralyzed for a moment as the scent of blood and screams filled the air. Getting to her feet she grabbed her bag and began to move again toward her home.

She stopped as the glowing eyes stood before her growling and frothing at the mouth. He leapt and she covered her face with her arms thinking this was it she was dead. The sound of a heavy fallen man behind her made her turn to see the wolf on the third of the McCloud brothers who had been right on her tail. Placing her hand over her mouth she stifled her cry as she watched him being shredded.

Taking off once again she darted between the trees until she hit the rocks that was her sign as the beginning of the trap mine field. Taking a deep breath she focused and began to step carefully through her perimeter. She heard the steal jaws snap and the last McCloud cried out. "Witch you're mine" Then followed the sounds of his begging for his life as the growls surrounded him.

She continued moving with out looking back hearing the flesh being ripped as he screamed in agonizing pain. Her cabin was ahead and she moved now with confidence and focus. Until she reached the edge of the traps where she fell to the ground shaking and trembling over the violence that had occurred.

Nothing in her life had prepared her for the massacre the wolves had just performed on her behalf. Getting to her knees and clutching her pendent she praised Amaroks name in thanks for the generosity in sparing her life and keeping her safe.

Rising she made her way inside the cabin and blocked the door with a heavy piece of oak. Moving to the fireplace she started its flame and then the oil lamps as she put the contents of her bag away. She couldn't believe or comprehend all that had just happened. It was a miracle and she had been blessed.

 

[kizkiz]

Mary-Claire's feud and Ahnan Kappiataitok's form

Perhaps Caitlyn would have been better off if the wolves hadn't come. They slaughtered the men that would have defiled her body, sure, but they did not hide their victory either. The alphas tore the vital parts of the bodies free and feasted on the soft treasures within. Their kin, the two unpaired daughters and five juveniles, snapped bone and tore fleshy parts with reckless abandon. Winter was coming. Every beast and fowl knew food would be scarce when the white fell from the sky. They ate their fill. 20 to 30 pounds a piece and dragged off seconds for the next day to the various hidden places they denned. Three unmated males, not as large as the alphas, but growing fast took their portion when the family had left. Coyotes and ravens picked over the remains. The majority of what had made the McCloud men no longer existed. All manner of insects took root in the corpses. But by and large, bone and gristle remained to mark the slaughter. Worse, the gris-gris the men had worn were still around their necks. The gris-gris pouches were a web of their own, much like the various webs of the Lady Spider.

The McCloud's were salt of the earth folk. Their clan was a tapestry tree of interwoven branches and knotted foliage, but it was a big tree. They were creole, taking no prejudice against who was impregnated with the seed of their family, so long as the kin born stuck to the clan. The McCloud boys hadn't stalked Caitlyn without permission. All of the clans knew of the ripe female with powerful mojo in her family; a female without a clan of her own. Four made better odds than one, so four had been sent to bring Caitlyn into the clan either by deed or seed, it didn't matter much to the elders.

Mary-Claire was rocking on her chair, rubbing at the arthritis in her bones. All the mojo in her tired body couldn't hold back the tide of decay. So she bent her mojo on things that helped distract her from the pain. Things like inflicting pain on others and coordinating the many feuds her clan participated in. The Loa Sogbo and Bade had been clear when she'd called them into her body. The lost girl Caitlyn was the coming winter. To tame her and claim her was to control the coming storm.

She stopped walking and her dark thoughts moved to the raven perched on the banister of her porch. It turned its large black head in a circle and dropped the remains of a human eyeball at her feet. She hissed, picking up the jellylike remains. "Not the wee ones." Fat tears welled at her eyes and ran along the many wrinkles criss-crossing her face.

--- --- ---

After they had their fill, the pack of the little kin approached Amarok's cave. The wolves might be enormous by normal means but they were tiny things compared to Amarok's behemoth size. They all dropped to their belly's and crawled the final feet to their King's lair. Their muzzles were coated in blood, and their bellies' pregnant with choice McCloud pieces. The alpha female had eaten all four of the McCloud boy's hearts. It was she who entered. The rest of the pack lingered behind at the lip of the cave.

The alpha female of her pack rolled over onto her back and urinated over herself. She whined low and wriggled. Then she rolled to her side and yipped. The female crawled forward until her's tiny head was beneath Amarok's, and the alpha licked at her King's lips.

"No," Amarok said, his voice a great rumble in the earth. "I will not feast upon you." It hurt to move his lungs. The one eye that could open peered unblinking at the alpha wolf. "You have done me a great service."

He took a great breath and howled again like the thunder of a summer storm. The wolves joined in, rising up in chorus to the full moon floating high in the sky. A great cold wind tore through the woods and brought the first flake of snow, which landed on the female alphas nose.

"Little sister," Amarok said at last, "My Mother has given you her bless. My Father has marked you as kin. You have done well in their eyes. I name you Ahnah Kappiataitok, the brave wise women of your tribe. May you take power from your name and walk as you must both as Beast and Man in your heart and soul. Teach Caitlyn, my mate, our ways and bring her to me when she is ready. I shall watch over her in the Dreaming, and you must watch over in the Waking until we are united."

Ahnah Kappiataitok rose up and twisted her body. Like she was turning a pillow case inside out, her body veered from that of a black wolf into a raven haired women. She was mature with skin that was blacker than night and golden eyes. Her teeth were bone white and like a wolves. The hair on her head was more like a lion's mane and ran down past her shoulders. Her nails were long and hooked like a wolves. Her ears were long and pointed and she still had a bushy tail. The unenlightened might call her a werewolf, but the more appropriate term would be werehuman. She was over six feet tall and lean with a hunter's grace to her movements.

"King, King." Ahnah said, kneeling before the jutting snout and lone golden eye. The rest of Amarok was encased in the stalagmites, only bits and pieces of his body peaked out from the vast network of living stone that imprisoned him.

"Teach Caitlyn the names of the Mother, the sounds of the Father, and way of the Beast. Then bring her to me."

"King, King." Ahnah turned and leapt into the night as the first flakes of winter's snow descended.

The rest of the pack lingered, hunting and foraging for their King. Amarok closed his lone eye and slept again, hunting once more in his dreams for the mate he'd lost so long ago.

 

[Perplexia]

Although exhausted from the day it took her some time to fall asleep. The screams of the men seemed to waken her at each turn. Stroking the medallion upon her chest and hearing the wolves howl in the distance finally allowed her to slumber. Her dreams took her deep into the forest at a foot of a mighty den where she fell upon her knees and bowed down to praise the god of the wolves.

It was an overwhelming sense of belonging and home that over took her. It was where she was meant to be. Venturing in a light glowed brightly around the dark figure. She couldn't see many details of his face or body just a shadowy image of a mighty glorious beast.

Moving what she would assume was his paw or hand he showed her images of Ahnah approaching her cabin. She was to welcome her and let her in. Ahanh was sent to protect and teach her the ways of the people. Ahanh was sent to bring her home to him.

Caitlyn had many questions that were silenced by the pure bliss of being in his presence. Of course she was willing to do as he asked. One would be a fool to deny his wishes. But why would he want to bring her to him. Perhaps Ahnah would be willing to answer it.

As the rooster crowed and Caitlyn was torn from her deep rest a knock came upon her wooden door. Moving the latch to peer out the hole stood the woman from her dreams.

"Ahnah" she said opening the door in disbelief that her dream was more then a fantasy play on her mind. "Tell me how it is that i dreamed of you and you are here." Ushering her in to the warm cabin she shut the door to keep out the howling cold winds and placed the wood latch back in its place.

It was then her eyes took in the tall wolfish werehuman in her entirity. She was mighty intimidating in sight. "Are you hungry? or thirsty?"

 

[kizkiz]

Amarok's greatest enemy is also Ahnah's only hope.

Amarok wanted to rip the molten heart from the earth. He wanted to rend the world to pieces. Now that he was aware of his imprisonment, he could not even move in his dreams. He was bound in the Dreaming as he was in the Waking. He was the Beast, and yet the Earth Mother had her ensnared as easily as the Lady Spider caught the souls of the dead. His Mother was the pale eyed wolf of the night! His Father was the ever changing wind of the north. There should be nothing in the Dreaming nor the Waking that could ever chain him when he wished otherwise. He wanted to look upon his mate. To pin her down and take her in the way of the Beast. To claim her as his. To feel her let him claim her as his. To have a litter of pups again.

Amarok lay bound on the floor of the cave buried beneath centuries of accumulated stone. It was, he realized, a prison of his own making. Of course only one entity in all the places that were could contain him. He'd done it to himself. When rage had been insufficient to sate his pain, sleep had been his final refuge. He had waited, and in waiting bound himself to two outcomes. He would die here or he would live with her. It was up to his mate to decide.

He relaxed and found a small spark of joy as he felt her near him. Just the proximity of her smell warmed the coldness in his bones and filled the hollow in his heart. It was torture that she was so close, and he could not see her. Why couldn't he feel her touch upon his coat? Why was he denied the taste of her on his tongue? Was it his own mind that rebelled against an end of his misery? He'd slain all manner of creature from tiniest sparrow to mightiest Titan, and yet could it really be that his greatest enemy was always himself?

Then he felt it. An explosion of bliss along his paw...or was it something else? Something that wasn't a paw. He had long forgotten what he had been when not the Beast. Was she touching what he had been back when they had still lain together as mates? The touch disgorged a portion of his mind to her. He almost gave her too much and popped her head like an overripe tomato. He caught himself. She was gone. He dwelt in the darkness with the cold earth wrapped around himself. He waited.

--- --- ---

"Are you hungry? Or thirsty?

Ahnah had never thought of such wondrous thoughts. There was no 'are you hungry' as a wolf, just eating. She was never 'thirsty', she drank the blood of her kill or the dark waters of the swamp. She just did these things. She never asked herself, 'Are you hungry?' She had no idea how to answer such a question. Veering had taken much from her, but still she had pounds of flesh in her belly.

Was she thirsty? What did that mean? Thirst? She drank when there was too much meat, and it needed to settle. The meat was thirsty in her belly. Was she ever thirsty? The warm, salty blood coated her mouth and throat was pleasurable like letting her mate mount her. Yes there was a thirst there, but was >she< thirsty?

She had no idea. She swiped at a nearby chair. How did she know it was a chair? Her fingers shattered it like brittle bones. Her almond eyes flickered to the King's mate. No this was not the way. She needed to debase herself not vy for alpha. The King's mate was all that mattered.

Ahnah fell to the floor, rolling over onto her back. She wagged her tail against the dirt floor of the den. She whined high like a pup over and over, so the King's mate would know she had acted like a pup and should be punished like one. She did not mean to injure the den. She did not mean to threaten the King's mate's place in the pack. The Man in her was confusing. It had arcane knowledge that a Beast should never hold. She started panting and whining. This was too much

 

[Perplexia]

Caitlyn found herself jumping back as the wolf woman swiped and shatter the chair. Something in her must have associated that with being bad as she got on her back and whined like a submissive pup. Something in Caitlyn came from deep within her causing her to emit a deep growl and bare her teeth at the woman.

"Very bad Ahnah" she proceeded to scold her with a very disapproved look upon her face. "That is not how one behaves as a guest." she continued to chastise.
She turned and looked at the shattered chair that was beyond any simple repair she could have done.

"Get up and pick up your mess, you can toss the wood into the fire." She watched as the woman bowed her head in shame and proceeded to do as she asked. It was clear that she understood english. But she wasn't sure if she could speak it. "Come and sit down on the chair" she requested watching Ahnah look at the chair and finally complying. "Ok, it's clear that you understand what i'm saying, but can you find your human voice and reply?"

She watched Ahnah's facial expressions change as she tried to use the voice that had been installed with in her. Finally she spoke the simple word "yes". "Well that's a start." Rising from the table she grabbed a fur blanket and wrapped it around her. "We'll have to make you some clothes, nothing of mine will fit you. The winter is coming in fierce this year."

Rising from the table she put on her coat and boots and grabbed the basket for the eggs. "I'll be right back i have to feed the livestock and get the eggs. Stay here and get warm. I'll make breakfast when i get back."

Caitlyn made her way outside into the cold winds and went about her morning chores. The food she had stored was more then adequate for one person but if Ahnah was going to stay they would need to do some extra hunting and foraging before they no longer had the choice.

When she got back inside she went about making breakfast for the two of them. At first Ahnah tried to stick her face in the plate and Caitlyn corrected her showing her how to use the fork. In a lot of ways she decided despite her enormous size Ahnah was like a child that had to be taught the basics of etiquette and human behavior.

Her next task was to make shift the girl some clothes and shoes. This took a few hours of time.

 

[kizkiz]

The torture of Ahnah and hunger of their enemies.

"Very bad Ahnah," her queen said.

Ahnah shivered. She accepted her punishment like a good pup. She was surprised at both realizing she was surprised and only having her queen look at her in a dominance glare. Her queen didn't even growl or bite her throat. There were more words that expressed disapproval in the way a bitch taught her brood, but Ahnah felt like she got off easy. The alpha in her saw it as much too easy.

"Get up and pick up your mess, you can toss the wood into the fire," her queen said

Ahnah moved to pick up the splintered chair pieces and then understood how cruel the queen could be. There it was, the great demon Fire. It seethed with orange fury, eager for the opportunity to burn and destroy. And the queen wanted her to approach it, to feed it and make an offering? Ahnah knew then that if she displeased the queen, the queen would feed her to the fire. It was the power of man after all. Their greatest power. How could she have forgotten? Ahnah was glad she hadn't let her alpha win and try to tear the throat out of the queen.

Ahnah groveled through the dirt floor, sweeping up the chair pieces as she went. She stayed as far as possible from the great demon Fire. She didn't understand "fingers". As a Beast, she had mighty claws but lacked the sorcery of dexterity that Man wielded with such causal grace. Again, Ahnah was reminded of how stupid it would have been to defy the queen, who commanded such great powers.

"Come and sit down on the chair," her queen commanded.

Ahnah scrambled towards the other chair in the house. It was a small and pitiful thing. Why would she contort her body, when she could kneel upon the earth? The ways of Man made no sense. It looked painful and stupid. Yet her queen commanded her, and Ahnah was sure this too was part of her punishment. Ahnah had destroyed one of the queens torture devices, and so Ahnah would be tortured with the remaining one. It was the way of Man to seek grievous and cruel methods of revenge.

The queen next commanded her to speak. Not with the song of her pack, but in the confusing arcane thought-speech of Man. Each word formed and uttered burned her throat and wedged splinters in her mind. Ahnah was learning that the queen's power was vast and terrible. She showed this as proof to her alpha nature, and the alpha within her subsided and backed away.

Ahnah was not a fan of eating old skin. The pack left such stuff for the vermin like coyotes and birds. Now the queen laid shame upon her shoulders and commanded her to wear the skin of the long dead. Ahnah felt like she could cry or urinate herself. She realized the queen considered her less than a bird! Why had she been so stupid as to break one of the queen's torture devices? She slammed her fist into her head a couple times but that didn't help either. So she stopped and just shivered, whining low to express her humiliation and stress.

The queen didn't care. The queen told her that Ahnah would be forced to live in such dead skins the entire winter! Now the full depths of the queen's endless pit of rage fell upon Ahnah. No wonder the king wanted to mate the queen. Only the queen could match king's unending fury and rage. The queen did so with such calm power as humiliation and indignity was heaped upon Ahnah. Ahnah realized her place as the queen's tutor was alsoat the queen's feet. At least the queen hadn't shunned her from the pack.

The queen would feed her. Ahnah wanted to fall to the floor and curl up away from the great demon Fire, but she knew that the queen had left to test her. So Ahnah waited without moving.

When the queen returned and put food before Ahnah, it wasn't blood or bone. It was some sort of weird smelling plant thing and a few bird embryos. Ahnah didn't mind eating unborn chicks. At least it was proper food, but the queen denied her the joys of sweet yolk and sticky fluid. What was put down was fluffy and gold like a flower. Ahnah sniffed at it. It smelled horrible. It wasted worse. Ahnah wasn't even allowed to eat with her mouth and tongue as was proper. Instead, the queen put weapons in her hands and bade her to try to eat without killing herself.

Ahnah remained on her torture device as her queen went about sewing a mantle of shame and humiliation. Ahnah wondered if she had angered her king somehow.

--- --- ---

The gris-gris held the McCloud boy's souls. That night, the old matron, Mary-Claire wove her voodoo. She held a great moot where all the clan came from across the swamps. They brought alligator and tribute, arriving in boats with what weapons they had. Mary-Claire called upon the loa and bid them to enter her body and those daughters and granddaughters that the loa found pleasing. They danced long into the night with the spirits. Their bodies were suffused with spiritual energy. When they sacrificed the giant alligator upon the flames, the dead McCloud boys near Caitlyn's house shuddered.

Not all of the soul had been captured, but the important bits still remained. Hate and hunger seethed within the bodies. Sufficient rage to stir bone and sinew to movement. The zombies were slow in taking their feet and shambling towards the cottage. They picked up speed as what remained of their souls simplified from the complexities of human life to a weapon of hunger and revenge.

 

[Perplexia]

Caitlyn went about making the makeshift clothing for Ahnah. "Here try this on" she told Ahnah placing the clothes in front of her on the old wood table. "Do you need help putting them on?" she asked looking at the confussion and reluctance on her face. "You have to wear clothes to keep the cold off of you. You will freeze in the cold. Come and stand up so i can put them on you."

Ahnah reluctantly stood and Caitlyn went about putting the clothes on her. "Come we must hunt and forage for more food if you are planning on staying here." Caitlyn watch as Ahnah shook her feet with the shoes on.

They exited the cabin and Caitlyn took her through the path to avoid the traps. She was armed with a shot gun, a knife, and her bow and arrows. She had Ahnah carry the basket for the forage they might find along the way.

It wasn't long before she saw them. The McCloud brothers Zombiefied hissing and growling as they approached. Caitlyn was aware of voodoo and that reanimated dead were a result of a lot of power. It must be their mother she was the head of their tribe and a spiteful horror of a woman. But why would she send them after her in the first place. She stayed out of their path, and off their lands.

Ahnah dropped the basket and let out howl followed by a deep gutted growl. Caitlyn lifted her rifle and aimed for one their heads. The forest echoed the howl and was reciprocated with in seconds they were surrounded by the wolves of the forest and pack of the great Amarok.

Caitlyn lowered her head for a moment then raised it with her piercing eyes. A deep growl enimated from some place deep with in setting her back for a moment. Something inside her was growing. Taking one hand off the gun she raised it and pointed to the zombies "Kill" came from her lips in a demanding tone.

 

[kizkiz]

The name of the Mother.

Ahnah didn't understand why the queen choose to use her artifacts, when tooth and claw were good enough. Worse, she was forced to carry a basket of dead plants. Plants?! It was humiliating. Her feet were encased in dead animal skin. Ahnah realized that she needed to teach the queen how to take the form of the Beast. Ahnah's nose picked up the scent of death, but wearing so much herself made it difficult to pick out the corpses walking towards them. It was confusing to her that the dead should walk again.

The zombies came! The dead walked.

Caitlyn growled, and Ahnah raised her maw to the sky and howled. Then she twisted, veering back into the Beast. She was whole again. Her body thick and sturdy, warm and fierce. Her pack was coming, but she needed to buy them time. The pack was with their king, but somehow they were there! Ahnah leapt toward one of the corpses tearing its throat out.

The zombie hugged her as her teeth ripped leathered hide and desiccated flesh. It was tough, thick, and congealed. It did't tear like it should have. She'd eaten plenty of carrion during the long winters, but this was different. And the zombie was strong. It hurled her off of it. Her body crashed into a tree. She was slow to roll to her feet, feeling bones broken and pain flushing her body.

She looked around, her daughters had a zombie surrounded and where picking at it, but the best they were able to do was distract it. Even so, a few of her daughters were bleeding or had broken bones. A few of the juveniles were down. One of the zombies was eating on the flesh of the youngest boy. Her mate was wrestling with another, but one of his fore paws was bent at an odd angle.

The Mother's ways were the silver paths through the forest that lead to the final clearing. Perhaps one of her names could help. Ahnah looked up to the sky but was their time? Ahnah veered back into her hybrid form. "Call the Mother's name!" It hurt to speak. She wanted to defend her boys or aid her mate. "Call the Mother!" She pleaded to her queen. Ahnah had but a small voice; she could not make the Mother listen.

 

[Perplexia]

Ahnah had said something, at first her words didn't reach Caitlyns ears proper. Then she said it again. She begged her to call upon the Mother of Wolves. Caitlyns brain scrambled with urgency to find the name in all of the tales of the Mother.

The warrior Morrighan's name came to her mind. Falling to her knees she called loudly begging for her to preserve her and the children of Amarok. Begging for her to wipe these ungodly creatures from the forest floor and make them no more.

"I beseech thee Oh Mother of Wolves to spare your children and this humble worshiper of your son Amarok. Please spare us so we may continue to serve and worship him in your name." Caitylins fingers dug deep into the earth willing the roots of the trees to grasp and pull these fowl creatures beneath stretching and ripping them till no shred of them existed.

She willed the mothers powers to surge through her veins with no thought of if she would survive such a feet but only that she must save the wolves from the fate of these wretched beasts that were brought forth from the bowls of hell to avenge the deaths of the McClouds.

 

[kizkiz]

Unanswered Prayers

The earth did not respond to Caitlyn's pitiful pleas. The earth was always the jealous sister. As her attention was called to the scene, Caitlyn found the exact opposite was happening! A branch twisted to trip one of the young boys. It found itself tangled in roots. The wolfs howled and growled at the ground, even as they tried to hold off the zombies.

"Earth is not mother!" Ahnah raised her head and howled to the moon. "One-eyed mother." Ahnah's eyes were wild. One of the young males had been too slow, and the zombie had ripped its forepaw off like it was a twig from a dead tree. The zombie stuck the forepaw into its mouth and chewed on it. Another of the young boys tore at the zombie's knee, but the zombie took no notice. It swatted at the wolf's face, cracking his snout.

Elsewhere, the alpha male of the pack, Ahnah's second husband, was being worn down. The zombie it was wrestling with had finally gotten it into a bear hug. Although the wolf was bigger, the zombie's strength was inhuman. It lowered its broken teeth and started sawing through the alpha's neck.

Ahnah's daughters had drawn the other two zombies into the forest. From the whines and howls they might be holding their own, except for the occasional bellow of pain.

"Name her!" Ahnah dropped to her knees befor her queen. "Claim her!"

 

[kizkiz]

The never ending story...

"She doesn't understand that she has the power to stop it." Ahnah's head dropped to the ground. "She simply can't imagine that one little girl could be that important." Ahnah heaved a deep sigh. The words of Man were coming to here now, but she wished they wouldn't. The words hid ideas behind them. Those ideas were too painful for her simple mind to bear.

Ahnah looked up slow, watching the queen struggle with the truth. The queen no doubt wondered if it was really her who had the power to stop the slaughter. How could it really be? These were the sorts of doubts that plagued Man like a monkey clinging to their back.

Maybe her queen just didn't know what she had to do. Maybe Ahnah had failed to explain it in the right way. The words of Man were still new. Had the wrong words been used?

Her queen just had to give the Mother a new name. It was so simple. How could her queen not get that? Ahnah knew her queen had already chosen it. Her queen had been born with the new name of the Mother, otherwise the girl would not be Ahnah's queen. She just had to call it out. Why wouldn't she call it out?

Ahnah heard the death squeal of another one of her cubs. Another of her latest litter claimed by the zombies.

Did her queen think this was a game? Perhaps she thought it was some tale told by Man to amuse themselves. Perhaps her queen believed herself to be dreaming, and this but a moment to be forgotten upon waking?

A cold wind tore through the the branches of the trees, bending the bows, snapping a few of the weaker ones. The sonic boom of thunder detonated in an otherwise clear night. No blanket or dead animal carcass could save them. Although a new part of Ahnah longed to snuggle beneath one.

"Queen! Why don't you do what you dream?" Ahnah's voice broke. She lifted her snout to the sky and howled a sad, keening sound. "Call her name! Queen, please!" Wet, fat tears poured from her eyes. "Save us."