***
The leaves were soft and damp beneath Alanki’s paws. Without making a sound, she wove in and out of the trees’ shadows, her head hung low in thought.
Alanki had tried to sleep, but sleep would not come to her mind. Instead, she had taken to wandering around in the dead of night to sort out her thoughts. The forest was eerie in the dark; the shadows settled over her like chilly water and at the edge of her vision Alanki could see darker silhouettes of bushes and shrubs contorting into strange shapes as she moved. Tonight, the forest was as silent as death but for the occasional cry of a screech owl. This unnerved her. Even as dense and frightening as it was, the forest was always teeming with sound even at night. Why was it so silent?
Trudging along in the shadows, Alanki had plenty to think about. When Eyebright had pronounced the dramatic fate of the deer a few days ago, convincing them that Alanki was the solution to their upcoming problems, Alanki had been shaken—just a bit. She had brushed aside the doe’s silly prophecy, however, not long after she had returned to her own forest. But just last night, Alanki had been troubled with another dream. A nightmare. The same haunting, vivid nightmare that did not fade in the light of day. She had dreamed of falling from a high cliff, only this time there was no river to carry her. She remembered she had lain in the grass, broken and bleeding and…burnt? And as she lay there, dying, the shadowy specters from Eyebright’s prophecy swooped down upon her with fanged mouths gaping wide. She had awoken with a cry, sweating and shuddering, the moment their icy white fangs had torn into her flesh.
She knew what her nightmares were telling her. Either it meant that there was some truth in the deer’s fanciful prophecy, or the description of Eyebright’s dream was going to her head. But what did Eyebright’s dream mean? At least, assuming the doe had not made everything up. But Alanki was good at detecting a liar—being a fluent liar herself—and the deer were, as a whole, terrible at acting deceptive; she was quite confident that the doe had been telling the truth. But she did not want to listen to that part of her. She wanted to believe that it was nothing more than the exaggerated fantasies of the typical deer and meant nothing to her of danger.
Bridge the gap between water and fire…
What could it mean? Alanki felt that somehow the answer was just before her, a fraction of an inch beyond her reach. And assuming that Eyebright was correct and Alanki was the water, then who could be the fire? Alanki had never seen another wolf in her life, not since she was a pup, at least. But she couldn’t remember anything from her puphood. She had grown among the fawns.
Maybe Eyebright’s dream had not been referring her at all—maybe it wasn’t meant to be interpreted so deeply. Maybe it was just a sign, indicating that danger was coming. Well, she knew that now. And whatever the danger was, she had promised Delphinium that she would do whatever she could to help. It didn’t take any promise for her to do that. She would do anything to protect those deer, prophecy or not. And there were always Delphinium’s tales, too. Alanki shivered. It seemed that everything the deer spoke was a prophecy. Fight alongside us once more, when the day comes.
She could feel it. Just like Delphinium had said, the sun was darkening every day—one did not have to be Eyebright to sense it. Storm clouds were gathering on the horizon, rumbling and pressing down upon the world, waiting, waiting to release their fury… Something was coming. Something bad.
Alanki sighed.
Now that she remembered, she had seen a wolf recently. It was strange, to see another creature of her own kind for the first time since she was a pup. This wolf was large and dark brown. He had been prowling around on the fields, and then had moved towards the forest. He had not even gone into the forest; he had only hovered around the edges, looking wary. He must have seen her, but he did not speak to her. After a few minutes, he had turned and left the way he had come
Alanki had wondered on this before, but only briefly. It was probably just another renegade, like herself. She would let him be, so long as he remained on the fields. She didn’t care who stayed on the fields; too many creatures lived there for her to claim it as her own, anyway. But if he put one toe into the forest… Alanki growled and scuffed the ground with her paw. The forest was hers, and she would guard it jealously. It would be the last thing he—
Crack.
Alanki jolted. She stood up stalk straight, her head raised and eyes scanning the dark forest around her. The tiny sound was magnified in the eerie silence of the forest. She had known there was something different about tonight. She hissed under her breath, her muscles tightening. The fur along her back began to bristle and her lips curled up in the beginnings of a snarl. Cold blood was coursing through her veins like ice, her hunting instincts roused.
Someone was there, someone who shouldn’t be.