Blood of the Moon - Chapter 1

“Cepnir!”

Cepnir bolted upright, causing the books on the table in front of him to fall onto the floor. The momentum of his startled movement sent his chair and himself falling backwards to crash to the floor, the padded back cushioning his landing. Cepnir rolled off and stood back up, seeing Besric still standing by the wall mounted map, pinching the bridge of his nose. The map was unrolled flat and pinned to a wooden board, hanging by a pair of bronze hooks each bolted to the green and gold fleur-de-lis patterned wall of the palace study.

“You need to pay more attention. You are past twenty years and yet your determination to learn is still that of a pup.”

“That is because I still do not see the point in what you are trying to teach me” Cepnir replied as he righted his chair, spotting a brief flash of frustration pass over Besric’s face. Cepnir looked down at his shirt, trying to avoid Besric’s eye, noticing a slight tear where it had caught underneath the chair.

“A good king cannot rule with power alone. Even a tyrant will try to avoid the mistakes of the past.”

Cepnir let go of his shirt – even he understood that he needed to keep himself neat today – and looked back up. “A king also needs to be ready to fight for his people.”

“Not every war can be won by fighting,” Besric reminded Cepnir, closing the book he had been teaching from and placing it on the top of a small neat pile. “Sometimes the greatest tools of war are knowledge and diplomacy. I have said this to you before.”

Cepnir placed the last book that had fallen onto the floor back onto the table and tried to find the page that it had been open to.

“I would not bother; this lesson is almost finished anyway. Just remember that your father is still busy with the council as you leave.”

Cepnir nodded and opened the door to leave, feeling guilt when he briefly glanced back. Besric had already begun to file the books back onto the bookcase shelves around the room, it was his habits of organisation keeping the study neat when otherwise those few who used it left books scattered. Looking after the royal study was not even one of his official duties as Bookmaster – being officially tasked instead with looking after a larger collection.

Ipnac slowly stood up from where he had been sitting against the wall on the other side of the door, clearly having waited for his ward to leave his lesson. He brushed down the little dust that had gathered on his clothes and shifted his sword in its belt.

“Another early finish? Let me guess… fell asleep while studying our history,” commented Ipnac as Cepnir closed the door behind him and they headed down the gallery. Though he was less than a decade Cepnir’s elder, he had been handpicked to lead the Prince’s Guard by the King; and while their natures clashed at times, Cepnir could easily see why he had been chosen.

“Please do not tell me I need to learn what Besric is trying to teach me. He has already done that.”

“Sometimes a person needs to hear something again for it to sink in. But you… I’ve given up trying to tell you that you need to pay attention in your lessons, even if Besric and your father have not. At least Evol pays attention to her father – though I do not like the thought of having a mage queen that knows so much.”

Cepnir turned his head to him, ire starting to grow behind his eyes and hands beginning to clench.

“If you have a problem with Evol, just come out and say it.”

“I have no issue with Evol herself. Putting her ability as a mage aside, she would make a fine queen. I just do not trust magic or those who wield it.”

Cepnir’s anger subsided upon seeing the brief and small change in Ipnac’s features. Cepnir recognised the wistful expression from his own father and had seen it several times before on Ipnac but still knew not of its source.

“Anyway, I expect you would want to see her before we announce the newest of the Prince’s Guard,” Ipnac said as the moment passed and they reached the other end of the room. “I shall go see how our new recruit is doing with his training.”

Ipnac opened the door onto one of the two balconies that overlooked the courtyard where the rest of the Prince’s Guard and some of the King’s Guard were training with the palace soldiers. Ipnac changed into his lycan form, his clothes and equipment dissolving into the ether and quickly being replaced by additional bulk and brown and white fur. His jaws also extended into a muzzle, his teeth grew longer and sharper and his ears moved up the sides of his head and changed shape.

In his half-human-half-wolf lycan form, Ipnac clambered down the wall and into the courtyard to join the training while Cepnir continued along the balcony towards the tower. With the soldiers and guards training in the open, the guard tower was free and with persuasion from Cepnir, Evol was allowed to practise her magic with her mother. The tower windows were shuttered to prevent any distractions – for both the mages and the warriors.

A flash of light blinded Cepnir as he opened the door. He raised his hand reflexively to cover his eyes and stumbled backwards, losing his balance. A hand grabbed his wrist as he fell and eased him to the ground.

“Only you would be foolish enough to open a door on a pair of mages training without knocking first.”

Cepnir’s vision gradually returned and revealed Evol crouched next to him with a grin on her face. Her mother, Tresca, came through the door and crouched next to her. She moved a raised index finger slowly across Cepnir’s field of vision and watched carefully as Cepnir’s eyes followed it. Apparently pleased, she moved back and held up a number of fingers.

“How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Six.”

Tresca then held up a different number.

“Three… One… Eight.”

“Seven. Thumbs do not count. Well, your vision will be fine but your common sense is the same as ever.”

Cepnir frowned as Evol helped him stand up.

“I doubt father is going to be pleased with you cutting another one of his lessons short. You really should listen to what he is trying to teach you.”

Cepnir brushed a loose strand of brown hair out of her face and behind one of her ears.

“When I have such a beautiful and intelligent wife-to-be to help me?”

“Flirt.”

“Ipnac wants you Cepnir,” Tresca interrupted.

Cepnir looked down into the courtyard and briefly caught the rise in activity as the warriors tried to pretend they had not been watching. Except two. Ipnac was standing with the new recruit for the Prince’s Guard. When he caught Cepnir looking at him, Ipnac tilted his head towards the wooden doors to the throne room as they slowly opened with the ending of the council meeting.

“How about we go hunting after this? Put the new recruit through his paces?”

Evol smiled and nodded and Cepnir kissed her lightly on the brow. He then turned around and shifted into his wolf form to run on all fours back along the balcony and through the gallery. When he reached the door to the throne room’s balcony, he stopped and changed back into his human form to enter.

The throne room was massive. Excluding the dungeons it was estimated to make up half of the entire palace and was rumoured that it could just about squeeze in every werewolf with allegiance to the throne. The throne itself – with its arms shaped like the legs of a wolf and howling wolf heads fixed at the shoulders – sat on a raised platform at the other end of the hall from the main doors. Unobscured, the back of the seat was engraved with a vague likeness of the first werewolves. Just in front of the platform, the werewolves’ crest was marked on the otherwise uniform floor. Cepnir had seen its secondary use on a few rare occasions.

A tall floor to ceiling clear glass window rose up behind the dais to let moonlight enter the chamber during the night. For the nights where there was no moon to be seen were torches that were attached to the pillars that went from floor to ceiling and supported the balconies that ran from one end of the hall to the other.

Werewolves were beginning to move into the hall to watch as Cepnir walked along the balcony to the stairs at the back of the hall. Upon reaching ground level, Cepnir proceeded towards his father who was sitting on the throne with the members of the King’s Guard in a loose semicircle behind him. Ghurad, the captain of the King’s Guard and the only one Cepnir remembered by name was at the King’s shoulder and bent down to tell of Cepnir’s arrival.

Cepnir took his seat in the less decorative throne that had been placed next to his father. It was normally reserved for the reigning monarch’s mate and Cepnir failed to suppress a slight shudder – still unused to sitting where his mother used to.

“Wounds to the soul take a long time to heal.” Cepnir turned towards his father whose eyes were looking towards the crowd as it filled the hall but seeing the past. “I remember how, when you were still a cub, your mother would hold you in her arms or sit you on her lap during the ceremonies and festivities, trying to keep you quiet.” He exhaled softly. “You have her spirit – neither of you liked staying still for long.”

Cepnir squirmed slightly in the seat, trying to make himself comfortable in body and mind.

“Can we please change subject? I am uneasy enough as it is.”

His father smiled briefly before turning his eyes to Cepnir. Cepnir noticed the hints of a frown beginning to creep into his features.

“I heard that you fell asleep in Besric’s lesson. Again.”

Cepnir turned his head back towards the hall, not needing to ask how he had found out so quickly. The current Prince’s Guard and the rest of the King’s Guard joined the loose arc behind the thrones with Ipnac taking his position at Cepnir’s shoulder. Evol and Tresca had joined Besric as they moved to a place by the dais. Cepnir noticed Evol turn her head slightly away when she caught him looking at her.

“You cannot rely on her to make all the decisions for you. It is as good as certain that she will not betray you, but there are many who would not like a mage making choices you should be making and may rebel. And what about when she is raising your child or about to give birth. Or if the wildlings…”

“How was the council meeting?” Cepnir quickly interrupted to change the subject.

His father shrugged, seemingly glad that Cepnir stopped his loose tongue. “Almost all the usual: the mages want greater magical liberties – had to convince their representative again that the kingdom as a whole is not ready for anything beyond light or healing magic. Wildlings are also getting more active and attacking human villages and some of our more isolated werewolves. As for the new… we discussed choosing a new queen.”

“What?!”

Cepnir then noticed the silence that followed on from his outburst and looked out across the hall. Everyone was looking at them and some were fidgeting. Cepnir then looked down and blinked twice when he saw the new recruit kneeling in front of the dais – having not noticed him enter.

“We shall talk about this later – when there are not so many watching us.”

Cepnir sighed, putting the thought of his father marrying another woman out of his mind for the time. He stood up and moved a few paces towards the new recruit with Ipnac joining him at his side.

“Rucetir, as a werewolf with allegiance to the throne, do you vow before everyone gathered here that you shall join the Prince’s Guard and defend him from whatever dangers will arise.” Ipnac raised his voice to echo out over the hall.

Rucetir breathed in deeply to gather himself before reciting the oath he had been practicing.

“We live in clothe and fur, under tree and stone. We fight with blade and claw and bolt and fang. We run through the night and howl to the Moon. We build through the day and prosper under the Sun. As the blood of the Moon, I vow to the Prince that I shall guard him day and night, with metal and bone and life and death. This is my oath.”

Rucetir kept his eyes down and had a slight nervousness about him. This was not unusual, all of the other recruits that Ipnac had chosen had been nervous as well. However, as Cepnir looked at him, the Prince realised that this new recruit seemed less confident than the other five had been. Trusting Ipnac’s choice, Cepnir nodded.

“Then rise and join the Prince’s Guard,” Cepnir called out into the quiet.

As Rucetir rose, Ipnac collected a sword from the servant who carefully held it horizontal by the blade and presented the sword to the Prince in the same manner. Cepnir turned back towards Rucetir whose head was tilted slightly downwards by his nerves.

“If you are going to help protect me you are going to need a new sword.”

Cepnir’s comment helped break Rucetir’s nervousness and he had his eyes raised as Cepnir gave the sword to him. He admired the blade briefly before putting it into his sword belt.

With everything else done, everyone shifted into their lycan forms and let out a long howl that echoed out across the hall.



The crowd was dispersing and Rucetir was getting to know the rest of the Prince’s Guard. Cepnir and Ipnac were with them to see how well they were getting along.

“You do realise you cannot avoid talking to him forever?” Ipnac whispered into Cepnir’s ear.

Cepnir glanced towards his father who was talking with Ghurad and Besric.

“Watch me.”

Cepnir took his leave of his guard and turned to head to where Evol was talking with her mother and the mage representative of the council. Ipnac got Rucetir’s attention by putting his hand on his shoulder and told him to follow.

“Cepnir!”

Cepnir turned his head to look at his father who was gesturing for Cepnir to walk with him. Cepnir shook his head, declining the offer.

“Maybe some other time.”

Cepnir turned away from his downcast father and carried on heading towards Evol who finished her conversation with her mother and the mage representative and stepped towards Cepnir.

“What was that about?” she asked as she looked over Cepnir’s shoulder towards their fathers.

“It’s nothing. Now, about that offer…” Cepnir replied, eager for a reason to leave. Evol ignored his attempt.

“So it isn’t that you are annoyed that your father may end up with another wife”

Cepnir paused.

“How did you-”

“I was only just talking with someone who was at that meeting.” Cepnir tried to look away but Evol gripped the sides of his head and forced him to look at her. “Cepnir, it has been almost a decade. At least let him explain and then you can judge him however you will.”

Evol released him and Cepnir’s gaze fell downwards in thought.

“Come on, a run through the woods will be good for you” Evol continued before teasing him with a kiss on the cheek and dashing to the outside as a wolf. After a pause, Cepnir followed with Ipnac and Rucetir following in his wake.



Cepnir recalled the first time he had went hunting with his mother. How she had taught him to sneak up on prey as a wolf with the lighter footsteps. How to follow the scent of prey should it flee to save stamina for the kill. How to cripple it by attacking the legs and head initially. How to then end its struggles by striking at the neck. Which pieces of the corpse were the best morsels and should be eaten before those lower the hierarchy were allowed to eat.

They had gone hunting frequently - always defended by the Queen's Guard. Most often when Cepnir grew restless from having to sit through council meetings. This had helped him grow strong and swift from an early age – long before he could safely wield a sword or crossbow.

That night had seemed so much like any other… until the first howls were raised and the first bolts fired.



A twig cracking brought Cepnir out of his memories and caused the four of them to snap their heads around to the bushes where the sound came from. After a brief moment where nothing else happened, Rucetir moved to the bushes, nose down to the ground as he tried to pick up a scent.

After another few seconds, Rucetir brought his head back up and padded back to the group with his tail between his legs. He had been unable to pick up a scent.

They continued on, finding multiple trails of prey still marking the forest floor and flora but with faint scents that indicated that they were long gone. After failing to pick up a scent at another set of tracks, Ipnac called a stop by shifting into his human form, waiting for the other three to change before speaking.

“We are not going to find anything out here tonight: it seems they were spooked by something and ran. Apart from those of wolves, none of the tracks we have found belong to anything that could have spooked them this badly. And all of the werewolves allowed to hunt here know better than to scare them away.”

Cepnir found his gaze going up to the trees. “What about a bird? Or a bat?”

Evol followed his line of sight. “It would have to be a very big bird. Or bat.”

Ipnac shook his head in agreement. “A bird – or bat – big enough to cause spooking like this and not being spotted is too improbable. I think it would be more likely that it was a mage practising magic away from prying eyes.”

A quick glance told Cepnir that he was not hinting at Evol practicing magic in secret.

“The only magic that comes to mind that could have spooked them like this would have been noticed by someone,” countered Evol as she looked back towards the palace. “So that is just as unlikely”

A sudden thought crossed Cepnir’s mind, but before he could say it out loud…

“What about poachers?” Rucetir unwittingly interrupted.

“Maybe. They would be less well trained than our hunters and could easily have scared off their prey. And if they are werewolves their scents would be just indistinguishable enough from those allowed to hunt here…” Ipnac pondered before shrugging his shoulders. “Either way, Rucetir and I shall report this and it will probably result in scouts being sent to investigate and try to bring our game back. But before we head back… Cepnir, did you have something to add?”

Cepnir noticed Rucetir freeze as he realised that he had accidentally prevented Cepnir from speaking. Although he did not hold Rucetir’s interruption against him, Cepnir thought that it would take a while for him to finally become at ease being part of the Prince’s Guard. Cepnir exhaled before speaking.

“Wildlings?”

To Cepnir, it felt as though every living thing in the forest had paused as they all let that one word work its way through their minds. He could also see the sympathy in Evol and Ipnac who knew where Cepnir’s mind would be. It was Ipnac who finally broke the silence.

“It would explain our prey disappearing better, but if there were any near here we would have gotten at least some reports. No, poachers seem to be the best explanation. Still, we should start heading back now anyway.”

Cepnir was almost unaware of the trip back to the palace, his mind resting on the border between past and present. His subconscious had him moving with Ipnac, Evol and Rucetir while his wandering mind had him hunting with his mother and her guards…

“Cepnir?”

Cepnir’s mind was thrown back to the present where he found himself outside his room, still in his wolf form. Ipnac and Rucetir were in their human forms and were clearly waiting for Cepnir to change.

“Sorry, my mind was somewhere else. You were saying?”

“I was telling Rucetir to get the cooks to prepare a meal to be brought up to you and Evol while I give my report.”

Cepnir nodded and watched Ipnac and Rucetir leave before opening the door to his room. It was only when he turned around to close the door from the inside that he realised Evol had been behind him and he quickly changed his movement into a gesture to invite her inside.

Evol blushed slightly as she entered and Cepnir closed the door behind her. Leaving her standing in the middle of the room looking around the four walls, Cepnir went over to a waist high cupboard to grab a bottle of wine and two glasses.

“Evol.”

Evol turned to him and he threw her an apple from the bowl atop the cupboard. She caught it one handed and Cepnir held onto a bunch of grapes with the stem between his teeth as he picked up the bottle and glasses in his hands and gently kicked the cupboard closed.

“Those are not your books, are they?”

Cepnir put the glasses upright on the floor with the bottle of wine and swapped the grapes to his hands before following Evol’s gaze to the bookcase that rested in one corner of the room.

“They were my father’s when he slept in this room. He had left them here hoping that I would read them in my free time,” Cepnir revealed, slightly embarrassed as he placed the grapes on the floor.

“Well… the cooks are going to be a while preparing a meal for us. We could… talk, or something, to pass the time” Evol mentioned as she took a cushion from the bed and sat on it before taking a bite from the apple.

“I have a draughts set lying around her somewhere. If you would prefer,” Cepnir pushed as he poured the crimson wine carefully into the two glasses.

Evol looked at him with surprise as she finished her mouthful. “I never realised you played any board games”

“Rarely now. And I only play draughts really; far easier to learn than chess.” Cepnir winced as he suddenly realised that he had only ever played with his mother.

Evol did not notice his wince as she took a sip of wine and thought over Cepnir’s offer. “Yes, I would like that. So… where is it?”

Cepnir took a quick glance around the room, spotting the board and pouch of pieces hidden amongst the books. To his surprise, Evol had already finished her first glass of wine when he turned back and was pouring herself another.

“If you continue at that rate we are going to need another bottle brought up.”

Evol smiled and avoided having to say anything in response by taking another bite from her apple.

Cepnir carefully moved the wine bottle and glasses to one side as he placed the ten by ten board into the space between him and Evol. After pouring the red and black pieces out of the pouch, they arranged the forty pieces to cover the twenty dark pieces at either end, Evol ending up playing black and Cepnir playing red.

By the time their dinner had arrived, Evol had won their first game and appeared to be winning the second. The apple had also been finished, half the grapes were gone and Cepnir would need to get a new bottle of wine sent up by the end of the evening.

After they had let their stomachs settle, Cepnir placed the dishes, bones and cutlery out of the way and put the half finished game of draughts back between them… only for Evol to push it roughly to the side.

“How about we do something else instead?”

Cepnir looked up to find her flushed face close to his own as she leaned forward over the space between them. Cepnir frowned when he noticed the near-empty bottle next to her.

“How much wine-”

Cepnir was cut short when he suddenly found himself on his back with Evol’s hands pinning his shoulders down and her lower legs straddling his. Her reddened eyes were staring down from above his and her amulet – that had fallen out during the movement – was dangling above his neck.

“What are you-”

Evol silenced him by putting a finger across his lips and bent down to whisper into his ear, the tone of her voice sending shivers down Cepnir’s spine. Though she dressed modestly and was currently flushed from the wine, Cepnir found it did little to detract from the beauty he saw in her.

Cepnir blinked at his own reaction to the situation he was in, and pushed the starts of his lust down deep.

“You are the only heir to the throne and I am just a novice mage – you should be telling me what you want me to do.” Evol paused briefly to let her words sink in. “We are both several years into adulthood; I could give you a child to be your own heir. Or maybe this should just be for pleasure – to keep us thinking of each other while we are apart. And how do you want to go about it? Slow and gently as lovers or should we let our wild sides be free for a night?”

Evol pulled back and looked into Cepnir’s frozen-with-shock face, waiting for an answer. Eventually she tired of waiting and leant back down.

“Maybe this will help you make a decision.”

Evol closed her eyes and kissed him on the lips. After a while, Cepnir gave up trying to suppress his feelings and returned the gesture, thinking to himself how easy it would be to just let-

Cepnir snapped open his eyes and pushed Evol back by her shoulders.

“Evol stop. You are intoxicated. This is not you. We may both be adults but we have yet to get married. I am sorry but this is too soon.”

Evol looked at him for a while, the former desire now gone, before moving back onto the cushion, downcast as she stared at the floor.

“Is that really the reason why?”

Cepnir moved forward to kneel in front of her and tilted her head up between his hands to get her to look straight at him.

“Yes, it is. I love you and I honestly do not know what I would do with my life if you were not in it. Many of my father’s subjects are already against you marrying me, but if we add on pre-marital intercourse…” Cepnir shook his head when he could not finish the sentence. “Control is the only thing that stops us from being fancily dressed wildlings. For the best of us, we need to wait until we are married – just a little longer. But when we finally are…”

They kissed again, both expressing their love and promises to each other but keeping control over their actions.

“Come, it is past time we were asleep” Cepnir said after they finally broke contact. Carefully and gently, he lifted Evol into his arms and put her onto the bed before extinguishing the candles and getting in himself.

Evol rolled slightly to leave her head on his shoulder and an arm draped over his chest. Cepnir kissed her lightly on the brow and gently stroked her flank as they both fell asleep in the darkness.