Wolfriders - I. Chosen
Wolfriders I. Chosen
- * * The forest has many eyes. The eyes of wolves and darklings, even of trees and rocks. The forest has ears, too. This particular forest also had quite a lot of teeth and claws, ready for the hours of the hunt, but right now it was still early dusk and the ancient covenant would not be broken. Lore was hurrying through the underbrush while cussing to himself for being so late. He was a young lad of 18 summers and apprentice to the charcoal burner Hislar, who always sent him out on all kinds of errants for him that led him to all corners of the great forest. Today he had started early with four bags of coal for the town of Memsit, which was quite far away. It had taken him almost until noon to get there, but at least he had promptly found a buyer and sold all his coal at a satisfactory price. Since it was still early in the afternoon, he had decided to take a stroll around town. Apart from the usual shouts of the merchants and the general hubbub of the town folk there had been howls and barks that were quite unlike common dogs and he had followed them to their source in a less busy side road. He could see a couple of big round army tents here that were guarded by men wearing leather uniforms with the insignia of the crown and a large image depicting a howling wolf on their chests. Suddenly, to his great astonishment, a large wolf had padded out of a tent and sat down next to a guard. There seemed to be a kind of whispered conversation there, before suddenly the wolf had turned its head and stared right at Lore. The song of day birds was fading away and the crickets were chirping. The sky had changed to a color of deep red with fragments of clouds racing over it like torn cloth. The eyes were watching him, he knew it. It was only about half an hour until sunset now, then the rules of the night would mark him as prey. He tried to run at a steady pace, without exhausting himself too much, but also fast enough to have a chance of reaching home in time, or so he hoped. Those eyes had been like fire, captivating him and burning him at the same time. They were unlike the eyes of the night forest - stronger, fiercer, yet not hostile. He held the gaze of the creature for what seemed like hours, until the guard turned towards him as well and slowly approached him. He gave Lore an appraising look and had asked him where he came from. Still mesmerized by those eyes, Lore had answered this and many more questions that he did not remember now. All that he could clearly recall were those eyes, burning with a fascinating primeval fire. Lore could hear feet behind him in the underbrush and faint pants and growls in the distance. The sun had reached the edge of the horizon, any moment it would sink behind it. He was unsure if he was more afraid of the feral wolves or the darklings. Darklings did not have a habit of killing their prey on the spot and nobody really knew what they did with them, but the fact that nobody they had caught ever returned was enough to wrench some more speed from his tired muscles. Maybe sudden death at the maws of the ferals was to be preferred, he pondered, but he would still try to escape both fates. He had left town in a haze of memories. His progress had been rather good, but he somehow remembered that it was already well into the afternoon when he passed the city gates. It was impossible for him to gather what he had done in all those hours, but he felt good. Actually he felt better then he could ever remember having felt before. 'That wolf', he mused, 'she must have given me some of her strength.' He felt surprised at his sudden knowledge that the wolf was indeed female. He just knew. He felt his heart beat faster in his chest and the feeling of strength was briefly increased by one of exhilaration. But something else must have happened to him for he did not feel like really pondering the afternoon. He just knew what he had to do right now. * * * Kolar sat near a fire in the middle of the tent and was absent-mindedly poking at it with his spear. A dark shape padded over to him and sat down. He slowly turned his head to it and gave it a long questioning glance. "Yes I am", it said in a quiet female voice. He sighed and kept looking at it, his gaze only slightly changing. "I know that it's a risk, but we have to be sure." "What if he fails? He wouldn't live through it." Kolar gave the fire another heavy prod with his spear and transfixed the flames with a restless stare. The wolf next to him came closer and licked the side of his neck encouragingly: "You know he wanted it, you could see his face just like I did. He had the mark on his face and on his soul, he is destined to be one of us." "You know not all of them make it...", Kolar began, but he was silenced by her quiet, resolute look. "All we can do now is wait. They won't take him down unless he panics." * * * Lore ran faster, trying to ignore the pain in his side and chest. Behind him the feet moved faster, too, howls called for the hunt to begin. Sweat was pouring off his head and he felt like he was about to pass out when the clearing appeared in front of him. He could see the shape of his master's house and pushed himself a little harder, when his foot got caught under a root and he was propelled heavily to the ground. In a split second he felt he had to make a choice. The house was not far away, he might be able to reach it running. The pursuit was almost upon him now. In the dim light of evening he saw the brief reflection of something metallic in front of him. He grabbed it and noticed that it was a dagger. His fear turning to anger he cried out loudly and turned around for a last desperate stand. The forest was silent. Nothing was there. He felt his heartbeat slowly return to just above normal and a stinging pain in his foot made him flinch. Still breathing heavily he slowly limped to the house and felt great relief when he closed the door behind him. When he turned around his eyes met those of multiple darklings in the flickering light of a feeble fire. He tried to hold up his dagger, but he felt himself shaking with weakness. His vision blurred as he swayed and fell. Darkness claimed his senses. In feaverish dreams he heard a canine voice call out to him, then he saw her eyes. He reached out for her, but he was caught. Around him a dancing ring of black shadowns rose and fell with the rhythm of a distant drum. There was a fire in the center of the ring, a very bright fire. It's flames moved with the rhythm and changed shape and color as the shadows rose and fell, rose and fell, always with the rhythm. Something crawled over the skin of his arm and then to his forehead, he realized that he was sitting in the middle of the fire. He tried to scream, but flames leapt from his mouth instead and danced around wildly. He sat up in his bed with a loud outcry. Next to him sat Hislar with genuine concern on his face. The old man worked him hard, but he was a good man deep down and almost like a second father to him. "Calm down, lad", he tried to soothe, "You were in really bad shape when you got here yesterday." Soon Lore was sipping at a cup of tea and nibbling some bread and vegetables for breakfast. He felt calm and refreshed. Somehow he knew that he had been close to madness last night, but something or somebody had intervened and driven away the demons of his fear. Finally he looked up and addressed his master: "There were darklings here yesterday, master." The old man tried to conceil his astonishment, then he slowly replied: "You were delirious, my boy. You must have seen things.", but he sounded weary. Finally he sighed and Lore knew that he had decided to tell him something of great importance, that nonetheless did cause him pain to narrate. He looked into the eyes of his master, who suddenly looked even alot older then he was. Hislar sat down next to Lore and began his story. * * * A young man was hurrying through the evening forest. He was clad like a nobleman and was quite handsome-looking. His horse had tripped over a fallen dead tree and broke its leg, so now he had quite a length of forest to cross and night would be coming soon. Night and the horrors it would bring. The last light faded and he could hear the padding of various feet and panting of maws. He was close to exhaustion when suddenly an arm grabbed him and pulled him into a den at the base of a large tree. His attempt of screaming was stiffled by a hand holding his mouth shut and the last bit of light faded as something heavy moved over the entrance. In the darkness of the den he could hear the other person shuffle about, outside the pursuit passed the den and was soon out of earshot. With a trembling voice he addressed his captor and savior: "Who.. who are you? What.. do you want from me?" A calm female voice answered. It was a surprisingly sweet and gentle voice, without any trace of trickery or malevolence: "You are in my den, traveler. Don't worry, you are safe here until the morning comes." The man slowly calmed down, her voice making him forget his fears quickly. He tried to lay down and sleep, but found that he could not, because it was so cold. He shivered and inched closer to the unseen woman, telling himself it was the prospect of warmth that made him. She encouraged him sweetly: "Oh it must be really cold for you - come here and warm yourself, there is furs you can wrap yourself in after getting rid of those soaked clothes." Somehow he did not feel abashed and peeled out of his sweaty clothes, then he carefully crept closer. His skin touched something very soft and fuzzy and he guessed that it was the furs and advanced further. More warm fur touched his skin as he wrapped his arms around it. Then he felt a body move next to him, a body that was covered in fur, and he guessed that his host must be wearing a fur coat. Now he felt her move her arms and wrap them around him as well and suddenly a great arousal struck him. Still closer she moved and he felt more and more of her. By the time he realized that it was not a coat around her but her very own fur, she had already moved her hand between his legs and massaged him to erection. The feel of her silky paw-like hands around his flesh was just too wonderful to think about stopping. He trailed his fingers over her side and then to her chest, sliding through soft fur until he felt beautifully-shaped breasts under his touch. She moaned very softly as his fingertips rubbed over her nipples and she began to move on top of him, still firmly, but gently holding his member in her paw. By now he knew what she was. He had been hunted by darklings and wolves outside and now he was in another darkling's cave and pretty close to mating her. Was it this Darklings would hunt men for? Had he gone into a well-prepared trap? He did not care at this moment, he had gone too far to stop now and he wouldn't have wanted to stop as he felt her slowly rub the head of his manhood to her netherlips. He could feel heat flowing from her and into his body as she tenderly lowered herself on him, engulfing his flesh in pure, tight bliss. For a few moments she lay still on top of him, quivering with excitement and breathing heavily, her sex pulsing slightly around him, then she began to move up and down slowly. Soon both of them were moaning heavily. She rubbed her breasts to his chest and he pushed up in time with her lowering her body onto him. The smell of sex filled the den and both grew more excited with every minute. He enjoyed her greatly as she began to near orgasm and when she came around him furiously, he was pushed over the edge higher then he ever had before in his life. She rolled onto her side and both were clinging to each other while shivering in the afterglow of their union. He felt exhausted and quickly drifted to sleep. When he awoke she was gone. He was still laying in the den on a small pile of rabbit furs. His clothes were hanging neat and clean from a bit of string near the low ceiling and there was a flask of water and some meat for him, readily packed in a little leather bag. He waited for many hours before he realized that he could not stay. Obviously she wanted him to leave and he had to be fast to avoid travelling by night. When he had left the den he glanced back one more time and then he marched away, never to return. She had been laying in the underbrush, waiting for him to leave. She had awoken earlier then him and was shocked to see him still in human shape. Usually men would become darklings themselves after mating with a darkling female, this was how her species acquired males at all, them only bearing female children. She had not lured him into a trap, but really saved him in the night. The others would have given him more then just a rough time, they would have turned him into slave and done everything to break him. Now at least he was free. A tear slowly trailed down her cheek. Nine months later she had given birth. Again she was surprised to find that the child was not only male, but also human. She knew that it would be impossible to raise a human child in the forest, where he would become a slave and suffer all kinds of hardships. She kept his existence secret from the others until he could eat solid food. She had taken months to explore the closeby villages and would peak into their windows when they were not looking to find out more about them. Finally she chose a couple of poor peasants that lived in a clearing close enough to her den and placed her child on their doorstep just before sunrise. Leaving him there was the hardest decision of all her life. The couple found the baby and raised him as their own child. All the time his darkling mother would come and look through his window at night while he grew older. Her heart was full of sadness for being excluded from his life, but also full of joy to see him thrive so well. When he was 12 summers old he was sent to become the apprentice of a coal burner who lived alot further away from her den then the peasants. Now she could only see him once every while and she took the risk of leaving her den behind and moving to a small cave directly near the clearing, where the coal burner lived. Time passed and the boy was 15 summers old. Never anybody had discovered his hidden guardian until one night when the coal burner had been hit by a falling branch and was laying helplessly among the trees while night approached. She had brought him back to his home as quietly as she could, but he had woken up and seen her. After the intial shock he had realized that she was not hostile and she had told him the whole story, begging him not to tell her son about his origin at least until he would be 18 summers old. * * * The old man finished his tale. It had been alot less detailed then what really happened, but it left Lore with his mouth open and a dumbfounded expression on his face. From early childhood on he had been taught that darklings were vile and evil creatures. There was what they called "the dark covenant" between the local humans and darklings that kept the darklings from entering human dwellings and the humans from disturbing darklings in their dens at daytime, but that didn't mean they liked each other at all. Many times he had dreamt and seen a darkling face in front of him, a face that was neither vile nor evil, but full of love. Now he finally knew its meaning - it was the face of his mother, his real mother. Hislar sat quietly, giving the boy time to order his thoughts. He would have so many questions, that was certain. Finally Lore faced his master: "Who were those darklings in the house yesterday? I thought they weren't allowed to enter.. (he wanted to say 'our' but felt like changing it) human dwellings?" His master, who had expected the question, but not so soon, wrinkled his forehead: "They knocked on the door and entered under covenant just a few minutes before you. It came as abit of a shock to me, too, but it's part of the arrangement we have with them, so I let them in. They just stood there and waited, looking at the door until you arrived. After you had stumbled in and collapsed they whispered something to each other and then began some kind of ominous chant and danced around you in circles. It was really strange, but I could feel that whatever they were doing was good for you. I just knew.", the old man nodded with a fareaway expression on his face, "When they were done dancing one of them stepped forward and put some kind of ointment on your forehead and each of the others stepped forward and touched it too, one after the other. I think it was a kind of blessing." Humans did not know much about darkling society. They only knew the covenant and the rules of the hunt. If you were caught outside your dwellings at nighttime then you would never return. They didn't know about the darkling matriarchy or the transformation. If Hislar had known the rules and the rites he would have been even more surprised and fascinated about the happenings of the night. The darklings had anointed Lore as a full member of their society - a male, a human. And then there were those bright eyes Lore could not stop thinking about. The two beings on his mind were his darkling mother and the wolf he had met in Memsit the day before. He knew that his life would never be the same again. * * *
Author comments: I hope you liked the first chapter of my new story series. I chose to leave "The Kiroth Wars" alone for now - I intend to rewrite that series and publish it again later. The wolfriders scenario has been on my mind for a great length of time and I just didn't know how I really wanted to write it. Now I chose to add darklings, who are a kind of nocturnal canine anthros with pitch black fur and usually a red eye color. While they are nocturnal they can bear daylight, but it weakens and disorients them abit. Please comment on the story, point out its weaknesses and tell me how to improve - since this is the first chapter I can still change alot. If you have ideas feel free to post them as comments or email them to me - I'll definitely give them due consideration. Chapter preview: In the next chapter Lore returns to Memsit to meet the wolf again. He also learns more about his destiny, but in a way he would not have expected. Appendix: New characters Lore - The hero of our story. A boy with darkling blood in him. Hislar - A coal burner and lore's master. A kind old man who knows of the boy's heritage. Various other characters who may or may not be introduced by name