Greywolf

Word Count: 2950



         The old druid’s hands touched the black body of the giant spider. The tips of his fingers glowed blue and white with arcane energy and life flowed from him. A dark leg, the length of a spear, twitched.

         “We need to leave quickly. When it wakes it will attack.”

         The younger druid, still in the form of a dire wolf, knelt to let him mount. The older druid buried his legs into the warmth of the beast’s fur and clenched  a fistful of coarse hair  with one hand and the long heavy shaft of his war spear with the other.

         “Lets go” he commanded.

         The beast leapt forward and pounded the newly fallen snow on the trail into hard tracks beneath its massive paws. Cold  bit the rider’s face. He bent low over the canine’s back and sheltered behind its massive head to escape the frigid whistling air.

         Master, came the younger druids voice in his mind, you should have let the foul creature die. You should not have sacrificed a portion of your lifeforce to save it.

         The frost covered tips of Greywolf’s  long eyebrows shot upwards towards the silver band, engraved with oak leaves, circling his head. ”Halt,” he said. 

         The black and white direwolf stopped within the afternoon shadow of a tall pine beside the windy aisle of the trail. Greywolf dismounted.

         “Change,” he said.

         The air about the creature shimmered blue and white and the dire wolf vanished, replaced by a young druid. The  slender youth rubbed his hands and shivered.

         Greywolf examined him. Was I ever so young?  “So, you believe the spider deserved death?”

         “Yes. I hate them. They’re an abomination.”

         Greywolf pulled at his chin. “And this is your first patrol?” 

         “Yes.”

        “Perhaps this is why the council placed you with me. Very well.I will attempt to instruct you. Listen. What do you hear?”

        “Wind. ”Tanner shivered. ”The cold and cursed wind.”

        A corner of Greywolf’s mouth curved downward. “Surely your teachers taught you how to listen better than that. Reach out with your mind. Feel the life about you. What do you hear?”

        “Wind moving through boughs?” he spoke sarcastically.

        “If you do not wish to patrol with me, another will be eager to take your place.”

        “But I’ve told you all I hear.”

        Greywolf was silent, his face unrelenting, demanding.

        Tanner closed his eyes and put his hands to his temples. His face relaxed and his breathing slowed.

        Greywolf drew back his hand and slapped him hard across the cheek.

        Tanners eyes flew open. “What are you doing? Then his eyes grew round and his mouth formed a circle.

        “What do you hear?” said Greywolf.

        “I, I hear the sap in the trees, the breath of the squirrel in the oak, the beating of the heart of the frog in the mud.”

        "And the spider?”

        Tanners face reddened. “It’s awake now, doing its business.”

        “And?”

        "I feel a seed, in its droppings, waiting for the spring.”

        Satisfaction showed on Greywolf’s face. It’s a start he thought.

        “You have had your first lesson in the balance. All creatures have a role to play. Remember it well, and it will guide your actions when the path is dark.”

        Bell like laughter floated down from the top of a towering pine.“Ha, ha, ha. I see you have a new student Greywolf.” A dryads head emerged from between green boughs sending needles spraying into the frigid wind. ”Though this one seems a little denser than the others.”

        Greywolf smiled. “Not dense Nara. Just young.”

        Tanner looked up at the nubile creature and whispered, “A dryad. The first I’ve seen.”

        “Indeed, it is rare that they wander outside the grove. And you need not whisper. She will not try to charm you. Why have you shown yourself Nara?”

        Perhaps not him, but I might try and charm you, Greywolf. Her tone had changed slightly, becoming seductive, more musical.

        “Enough Nara. Why are you here?”

        “I have a message from the Dryad Queen.”

        “And?”

        The dryad drew herself up and assumed a pose of authority. “Men enter the forest. They bring steel and fire. The treaty has fallen. The queen commands that you investigate.”

        Greywolf nodded to Tanner. The air shimmered  and the great dire wolf stood on the snow once more. Greywolf mounted, extended his hand, and pulled the dryad up to sit her in front of him.

        “Show me” he said.


                                                                     ###


      The villagers in the meadow closed around Greywolf and Nara, encircling them like a bird of prey grasping a field-mouse in its black talons.

      Greywolf scanned the crowd and focused his eyes on the leader of the group. “Why have you broken the treaty? Why have you entered Calyn forest?”

      The strongly built man stepped forward. “Better to ask why you accursed druids have raised the undead against us. Where is the girl? Why have you taken her?”

      Greywolf’s forehead wrinkled  as his long white eyebrows formed into a v.  “Girl? Undead? I don’t understand.”

      The circle drew tighter. “My granddaughter,” said a squatly built old woman. “One of your cursed skeletons carried her away.”

      Lady, I can assure you no druid has summoned a skeleton to carry away your child. Such a thing is not done. It is against nature, against our sense of balance. And it takes great power, a great sacrifice of the druid’s own lifeforce.”

      “It was you druids right enough,” came a voice from the back of the crowd. “She wore a robe and had a gold crown of leaves.” Others in the crowd nodded.

      “The skeleton? A crown of leaves?” An image of a familiar face came unbidden into his mind.

      Nara drew herself up. “It doesn’t matter why. You’ve entered the forest and broken the treaty. You  all must die. Kill them Greywolf. Kill them all.”

      “Careful Nara,” said Greywolf. “This situation could tip out of control.

      Anger rippled through the crowd, then surged, and exploded like waves crashing against a sea cliff. The crowd moved towards Greywolf and Nara.

      Tanner. Have you friends arrived?

      Yes

      Then let them make their presence known.

      A single wolf howl came from the south, answered by a howl from the north. Then the east. Then the west. Soon the howls came from all directions. The crowd halted and grew quiet. The light of their torches reflected off many sets of glowing eyes staring from the forest at the edge of the meadow.

      A black and white streak flashed  over the ring of people and a great  direwolf landed between Greywolf and Nara. It raised its snout in the air and loosed a bloodcurdling howl, overpowering even the deafening bay from the forest.

      Greywolf raised his hammer to the night sky and incanted  words in the ancient tongue of the  druids.  Thunder sounded. Lightning struck the hammer and enveloped him in an electric glow. Wind and rain fell upon the villagers, rapidly coating them in ice and extinguishing their torches.

      The wind reverberated with Greywolf’s voice.

      “Hear me. I am Greywolf, druid of the ancient order. I am the instrument of natures balance. I keep the creatures of the forest from your homes. There are things within the forest that long for the taste of human flesh. Things which make the wolves around you seem as tame as the dog lying by your fire  or the cattle in your fields. Continue further and I will remove you from my protection.”

      “But my granddaughter,” screamed the old woman. She struggled to make her voice heard over the roaring wind.

      “Return to your village. I will find your kin. You have the word of Greywolf.”

      Thunder clapped.

      Greywolf let the storm dissipate. The villagers huddled close to each other, miserable and cold. Greywolf approached the old woman and gently said, “Do you have an article of your daughters clothing? Something she has touched?”

      The old woman looked up at Greywolf. Fear and hope mingled in her eyes. “No, all I have is this.” She held up a golden locket. “It fell in the snow when the skeleton carried her off.”

      Greywolf took the locket and put it in front of the great wolf’s nose.

        “Tanner, can you pick up the scent?”

      The direwolf sniffed the locket and then raised its snout in the air.

      Yes, I have it. But Greywolf. There is something odd. The girls scent is mixed with the smell of the rotting grave. But the grave smells like, well.

      Out with it.

      It smells a bit like you Greywolf.


                                                           ###

          The footprints led to the entrance of the barrow, a gaping black socket staring outward from the snow covered mound.

         Greywolf knelt and examined the track. The villagers had been right.Only a skeleton could make such a mark he thought, And, by the depth of the prints, it still carried the girl. Hopefully still alive.

         He fashioned  torches from the dead boughs of a nearby pine and the two druids entered the structure. Torchlight fought with shadows down a long  hallway of rough hewn granite flanked by crypts branching from either side.

         “Did you hear that?”  said Tanner

         Greywolf stood still and motioned for Tanner to be silent.

         Bones clicked, like the gnashing of a wolf’s teeth, in the nearest chamber.

         Tanner started forward.

         “Wait,” Greywolf whispered. “I’ll go first.”

         Greywolf readied his war hammer  and passed under the heavy lintel of the crypt.  A skeleton encased in rusted armor rose from a stone slab sending the jagged sound of protesting metal slicing into dark corners.

         “Why have you risen warrior?” asked Greywolf.

         The sockets of the warrior’s skull glowed red, then white, then red again.

         “They command it Greywolf.  She waits for you.”

         “Who? Who waits for me? The  village child?”

         “No. The one you lost. The one who loves you still.”

         His fingers closed tighter on the shaft of the hammer, a living branch through which the power of nature could be channeled. “What do you mean ? I’ve lost no one. A name warrior. Give me a name.”

         “Cythral. She awaits you beyond.” The skeleton pointed the bones of its arm to the center of the mound.

         Tanner’s face turned pale. “Cythral. The queen. Your…”

         “Silence!”  Greywolf’s voice reverberated throughout the chamber.

         “Cythral is gone these many years. I know for I buried her myself. How can she be here?”

         The skeleton shrugged. “It is Cythral that awaits. Her power animates my bones.” The skeleton clutched the rusty sword at its side. “And only the love that power feels for you stays my hand.”

         Greywolf focused his mind. Blue light came from the handle of his hammer and the skeleton clattered lifeless to join the debris on the floor.

         “Rest peaceful warrior. I am sorry that your rest was disturbed.”

         Tanner opened his mouth to speak, but Greywolf cut him short.

         “A moment Tanner.” He opened himself and probed the energies of the barrow. Yes. There she was. The familiar energy. Cythral. Yet not Cythral.

         “Tanner, when we enter the chamber do not attack. If Cythral chooses to fight you must heal me during the conflict. Understand?”

         Tanner nodded.

         They continued deeper into the hill, ignoring the clicking of bones and dry dusty moans from the crypts they passed.


                                                           ###


      Greywolf and Tanner crept down  rough stone steps into the central chamber of the barrow. The village girl lay unconscious on an ebon-black stone altar. Wavering torchlight forced cryptic hieroglyphs to crawl across its surface.

      Greywolf focused his eyes behind the altar. A small skeleton stood motionless. Tattered and decayed druid robes of cloth of gold clung to its bones. A golden headband, a near twin of Greywolf’s, rested on its skull, still restraining  wisps of knee-length silver hair.

      “Mother.” said Greywolf.

      Dull light grew in the empty sockets of the skull. Awareness entered the dead and fragile bones. The skeleton jerked, then moved its jaws silently. Delayed, as if coming from a great distance, came the voice.

      “Greywolf? Where, where am I?”

      “Mother, what’s happened? Why do you not await rebirth? Why have you taken this child from her nest? Why have you disturbed the balance?”

      “He compels me Greywolf. Ahhh, he is so strong. I can not resist him. Greywolf, quickly. The verse of banishment. Send me to the void. Quickly. Break his hold. Quickly. He is coming. Quickly.”

        “Mother I can not. You will never be reborn if I send you to the void. I will not sacrifice you.”

      “Then you condemn us all. You disappoint me Greywolf.”

      The chamber grew warmer. The walls glowed first a faint yellow, then orange, then  fiery red. Cracks appeared on the faces of the rock walls through which  green light escaped. The eyes  of the skull now gleamed a powerful and malevolent red.

      Greywolf reached out with his mind.  The familiar presence was still there but dwarfed now, by something else. A powerful presence unlike any he had felt before.

      “Who are you? And by what right and dark arts have you possessed the bones of my kin?”

      The skeleton threw back its head and clicked its jaws together rapidly. Macabre laughter came from all directions of the chamber. 

        “Why by the laws of your precious natural order Greywolf. By the law of force. I’ve watched you for a long time Greywolf, waiting for you to mature, to become strong enough.”

      Strong enough for what?

      Why to bind your mother’s spirit into a mortal form that I can bend to my will of course.

      “Release her.”

    “Oh she will be released all right. You shall do it yourself. Put her into this girl Greywolf. Recite the chant of binding and I shall reward you beyond any mortal’s dream.”

      “I will force you from her.”

      Greywolf summoned the image of a direwolf into his mind, held it for a moment, and released his will. The air shimmered blue and white. Greywolf disappeared, and a snarling  grey wolf stood in his place.

      The wolf lunged at the skeleton and clamped its powerful jaws about the creature’s forearm. He applied pressure. Bone snapped.

      The skeleton formed its remaining hand into an open claw, as if grasping a skull, and a sphere of living flame appeared. The skeleton struck at Greywolf with the ball.

      Greywolf howled. Green flames erupted from his hide and the sickening stench of burning fur filled the chamber.

      Tanner Reached behind his back and drew his war hammer from its leather scabbard. He  raised the oak handled weapon in front of him and charged.

      Tanner, no. She’s too strong for you.

      The skeleton raised its remaining arm and dismissively pointed a bone index finger at the charging druid. A focused ray of red light shot towards Tanner and struck his head. He collapsed to the floor, blood streaming from a small red hole in his forehead. “Greywolf, Oh Greywolf. The pain.”

      The air shimmered and Greywolf the man stood once more in the chamber, holding his right side. He limped to Tanners side, placed his hand on Tanners head and willed life-force into the bleeding youth.

      The girl on the altar moaned and opened her eyes. The skeleton leaned over her and fixed her youthful face in its baleful gaze. It grasped her face in its bony hand and looked at Greywolf.

      Greywolf looked at the girl, trembling under the skeleton’s grasp, her eyes as round and white as the winter moon. He looked at the stream of blood exiting Tanner’s head, pooling into a crimson lake on the grey stone floor. He hung his head. His grey locks spilled forward and covered his face.

      “Very well” he said “I shall do as you ask.”

      The room swelled with heat and grew brighter. The skeleton cackled a hideous laugh and looked at the child, its red eyes glowing fiercely. “Soon we will be one my pretty. I shall walk the earth in mortal form and rule as queen.”

      With his head still drooped towards the floor Greywolf began to chant. A barely audible whisper at first, but growing louder and more powerful with every syllable uttered.

        The skeleton turned from the girl and looked at Greywolf. “What are you doing? That is not the chant of binding. That is the verse of banishment. No.No.”

      Greywolf lifted his head and rose from the floor. “Mother, forgive me.”

      A ghostly image of a white silver owl formed momentarily above the skeleton, inclined its head towards Greywolf, and faded. The skeleton clattered into a pile of lifeless bones upon the floor. The rocks of the chamber grew bright white  and began to tremble and shake.

      Greywolf gathered Tanner into his arms, willed his aching muscles to respond, and rose shakily. He shouted to the girl, fighting to be heard over the rumble of vibrating stone. “Run.”

      The two ran through the shaking hallways of the barrow. Shards of stone exploded from the white glowing granite and ricocheted about them. Snow covered ground and evergreens beckoned through the barrow exit.

      The two burst forth into the cold winter air.

      When he could go no further, Greywolf stopped and stood panting in the snow, his body doubled over in pain.

      A great roar came from the barrow as it exploded in a blinding white flash. When the smoke and dust cleared the land was flat, as if smoothed by a giant hand.

      “This is not over,” said Greywolf. “I shall not rest until Cythral is  free of the void  and balance is restored.”

Word Count: 2950