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Howl of the Winter

Chapter 1

Rahk

His whole world had shrunk down to the path before him, paws punching through the hard snow crust as the trees whipped by.

Beside him, he could hear the rapid panting of his brother, keeping up with his ragged pace. The bitter cold dug into his skin, worming through his thick fur and burrowing deep into his bones, filling him with dread and spiking shivers throughout his body. Above the moon shone bright and cold, casting its baleful glare down upon the frozen lands, but the piercing wind gusting down from the high mountain peaks swirled the snow up into a frozen frenzy, gusting in horrible shrieking blasts that plastered the fur to his body and froze crimson icicles upon his face. The crust of blood on his face matted his fur down, fresh runnels of blood streaking down his face to splatter upon the blurred ground between his pounding paws, swallowed up quickly by the pure snow. Weeping red tears, the bloody gouge across his face was still oozing, leaking down over his nose and remaining eye to fill his senses with a horrid red, and in his ears he could still hear that horrid shrill, keening sound like the cries of a thousand damned souls. It resonated in his ears, in his head, until his entire body and the world around seemed to reverberate with its ghastly scream.

The forest grew in close to the path here; the gnarled ancient pines grew in twisted and tight to the overgrown path. Although he had passed this way a hundred times before, on this night they seemed to hold some malice; it was as though each tree saw them... And they hated. They hated the life, they hated the disturbance... And they hated them.

Blinking away the wind and the blood, he craned his head skywards. Up above in the vast, empty heavens the Fires danced across the sky, as bright and powerful as he had ever seen. The souls of a thousand thousand of those who had come before, he told himself, nothing but that... But in those fires were new faces too... Faces he had seen not a day ago, full of passion and life... And now their flames were extinguished, and they would spend the rest of eternity above.

Wrenching his head back down, he quelled his growing horror for just a bit longer and focussed once again on the path before them. Now was not the time nor the place for those thoughts.

Clearing his mind, he centered his gaze on the middle of the path again, trying to keep his raging mind at bay. Thoughts whirled into his mind all the same, images creeping in unbidden like the fell wind biting through his thick fur. A patch of blood... The holy grove smashed... And above all, a head, mounted upon a spike, face still contorted in its silent anguished scream... Bloody dripping down slowly, eyes wide with fear... And that damned keening wail, bearing over everything and blotting out all other sounds until the entire world seemed filled with its mournful scream.

Again it rose from behind them, fainter, but to him it seemed almost angry, furious that they had escaped. The faint sound echoed out across the valley, reverberating across the trees, and only then did Rahk stop for a moment, panting heavily, to gaze back across to where they had come from. A thick pall of smoke hung over the wooded valley, and even from miles away the stench of roasted flesh and fur hung thick and heavy in the twilit air. Plumes of sparks rose from the crackling fires, and with a shudder Rahk turned away, the gorge rising in his throat.

Panting heavily, he turned his shaggy face to his brother, a dark shadow against the pale luminescence of the virgin snow. His burnished golden eyes flashed with an angry inner light as he in turn gazed back, and it looked like he was about to spit fire from his slightly parted maw. However, with a soft whimper, his body posture changed in a fraction of a second, shoulders sagging, tail sagging, head sagging, everything speaking of the horror and misery they were subjected to. With a shudder, Rahk gently hugged him, then sat before him.

"What was that?" he asked, tilting his head slightly. Skyr lifted his head slightly, speaking softly but more clearly. 'Where are the others... If only I knew.' Rahk thought miserably to himself, mind full of black thoughts. Breathing heavily still, he gently nudged his brother's shivering body, nodding back down the path. "Come... We are almost there. Maybe, if the gods are good, the others will have escaped." Standing up again, Rahk felt a sudden twinge from his ruined eye and gently rubbed his face in the snow. The soothing cold felt wonderful on his torn and tattered flesh, but with a shudder he saw the bloody smear he left in the pure white surroundings. Trotting back to the path, he looked back to make sure that Skyr was following, then began to lope forwards unsteadily. The meeting grounds were near...

After several minutes, the ground began to slope upwards slightly, and with a roar a shower of rocks broke off of the mountain nearby. The trees began to thin, and all round strewn throughout the heavens the stars glowed brightly above. This high up their fitful twinkling seemed to fade away, and was replaced by a solid, steady glow. Red flashes flitted across the glistening snowpack, reflections of the frozen Fires above, and all around the snow whistled through the air.

Finally, half frozen, Rahk and Skyr stumbled up to a large clearing, ringed in by tall trees. Long dead, these ancient monoliths were tall, jagged blackened pillars of wood so hard it seemed stone; they had stood in this spot since before the End, withstanding all the ravishes which followed that. Fire marks clearly licked all across their ancient trunks, but even that could not bring them down. It had seemed a fitting location for a safe zone for the pack, that untouchable ring of primeval monuments seemingly standing guard over all whom entered. To the side a small creek meandered, to plunge off the steep cliff, and if one were so bold as to stand near the edge they could see for miles. The burning pyre across the valley was starkly illuminated against the black of the night sky, and the stench of burning flesh suffused the very air they breathed in.

As they entered the clearing, a few others seemed to melt into existence from between the trees, gliding silently upon the new snow. Rahk's face lit up with joy with every familiar face he saw... But the sorrow far outweighed this faint happiness with the spaces in between. He trotted slowly into the clearing, nodding somberly to some others he recognized...

...And suddenly he was on his back, side aching from where something had struck him hard. Flailing in the dark, he kicked at his assailant... Until a gentle voice spoke his name, quietly. He calmed instantly, and his heart leapt with joy. She had survived! Sansa, his whelping sister and Skyr's blood sister, slowly climbed off of him, tail wagging fitfully. The day's events were writ clearly upon her features; the down-turned eyes, slumped posture, everything about her spoke of horror and sorrow. But there was a dark glint in her eyes as well, a flash of her old anger still alive. Her expression softened, gazing down on his face, and with a sudden sharp intake of breath she noticed his wound. "Gods, you're hurt! Your eye... What happened?"

Gently shrugging her off, Rahk stood up briskly, blinking his remaining crystal blue eye as his ribs throbbed from her hard blow. "It doesn't matter. I still have one eye..." he said shortly, not in any mood for pity. "Are you okay?" He looked her over quickly; aside from soot smudges in her umber fur she appeared whole. "Thank the gods you are okay... But mother... Father..." He trailed off quietly. Nothing could be done for them, they were with the gods now.

Slowly Sansa hugged Skyr, then stood beside them, staring back across the valley. The chill wind flowed over her face, sweeping her fur back across her sleek face, throwing her misery into sharp perspective. In her deep, golden eyes the flames danced; the normal happy glow of her once cheerful eyes had been replaced by a dark, haunted look. Her long, elegant tail was for once hung low between her legs, and her muzzle was contorted in a fiercely sad expression.

For a few moments her throat writhed in silence, and then, almost inaudibly, she whispered "Why?" plaintively, voice harsh and broken. Rahk glanced at her, then looked back towards the remains of their home. He had an inkling of the reason... But he couldn't share it at this time; it was given to him in confidence. "I don't know," he muttered sullenly, brows furrowed as he stared icily across the valley. It shouldn't have happened... They had never... No one had ever said anything, and no one was ever hurt! They had never broken the Pact of Submission...

Again, unbidden, his boiling memories churned to the surface of his mind, replaying over and over endlessly. His father's head, strong and handsome, impaled upon the bloody spike, eyes glazed in shock and death. That one came up most... But the other sights assailed his mind as well, dragging him back through time...

His nose gave him the first indication that something was askew. There was a faint smell hovering in the air, something he had never smelled before... But it instantly filled him with an innate sense of fear, and his heartrate spiked upwards, spurred on by a shot of adrenaline. That smell, whatever it was, hung over the entire valley now... How could he have missed it? It smelled of rot, of corruption, and all things bad in the world.

Stopping in mid stride, he was abruptly shoved forwards as his brother ran into his rump, bouncing off and glaring at Rahk. At Skyr's questioning glance, he simply sniffed deeper, and Skyr imitated. "What do you think it is?" he asked, struggling to keep his voice level. The entire valley seemed infused with a dark miasma; it was as though there were some black effluvium spreading rapidly through the air. Skyr shrugged, but Rahk knew his brother well enough to tell he was uneasy as well.

A faint howl caught their attention; craning their heads they could tell the sound had come from the plateau where the pack made its home. Another joined it, and another... And then suddenly a loud crack knifed through the air, causing the two wolves to jump. Suddenly scared, the brothers pivoted around and began to run back towards the pack lands. They had been ranging out far, scouring for food, and knew that if something bad was happening to the others of their pack, they would be much too late to help. They had to try though!

They had reached the foot of the high mountain when the first long cry of that damnable horn rang out, and Rahk had felt a sudden chill, a sense of helplessness made all the worse by the sudden weakness he felt in his legs. Stumbling slightly, he managed to keep his paws, staring directly ahead of himself at Skyr's speeding dark form.

Against the darkling sky, the sudden flash of brilliance seemed to light the world, and within a fraction of a second the shock wave and sound washed over them as one, rattling their world and shaking snow from the branches. Skyr stumbled, but Rahk merely slowed and grabbed him gently by the scruff, hauling him back up to his paws. "Come on..." he growled, panting heavily.

The screams began with that horrible flash of light, and they lasted much longer than the light had. Howls of pain, intermingled with screams of the purest agony, rang out through the wooded dale to echo off the vast stony cliffs surrounding them, and with a growing sense of horror Rahk realized he recognized some of the voices. There was Miza, one of his friends... And oh gods, there was his mother... Shuddering, he put on an extra burst of speed, ascending the hill faster than he had ever before. The path was treacherous, but he knew every step by memory and took them as fast as he dared, heedless of the many pitfalls along the way.

Finally, the ground levelled out, and with a quick sigh he realized the worst was behind him. Slowing now, he felt a sudden heat on his face, and to his horror he saw a massive fire surrounding the pack lands, ringing in the entire plateau. All the trees still standing of the grove had become towering infernos, blazing tongues of fire reaching up desperately to the sky... And through this wall of fire he could see nothing of what happened beyond.

_Circling around, he hoped to find some way into the clearing, but it was no use...The fire completely encircled the entire dell. Howling in frustration, he could still hear the screaming from behind the blazing inferno... But it seemed to him to be getting quieter. _

Finally, summoning up his courage he bunched his hips and sprang through the wall of fire. Closing his eyes, he bayed out in pain, feeling his fur singing... But he was through. He opened his eyes...

Suddenly, he felt a sudden chill upon his face, wrenching his mind back to the present, and with a gasp he saw... Something. A tiny point of light had formed in the midst of the fires... But a light so black it sucked in all other light around while illuminating with its own unearthly fire. A faint sound filled their ears, a horrible scream, and a colossal rumble... And then, as they watched, this black dot suddenly exploded outwards, becoming a vast, ghastly sphere of unimaginable size, encompassing the entirety of the old pack lands. The surface writhed and contorted as though alive, flickers of bright colours shining through the black. In an instant, the shrill keening sound dropped away and the sounds of a hundred screams filled the air... And then with a sudden pop, the sphere imploded, sucking in everything which it had encompassed with it. The pop was quiet relatively, but the silence afterwards was deafening.

"What..." Sansa whispered faintly, eyes bugged out. The entire display had lasted only a fraction of a second, but the image seemed burned on the back of their eyes. Somehow, Rahk didn't think he would ever forget that sight. The hillside across the valley was barren, devoid of all life. Animals, trees, even the grass had been swept neatly from the land as though they never existed. At the heart of the devastation an unearthly glow filled the air as though the very air itself was on fire... But as they watched it faded, leaving barren black earth staring up at the bright stars above.

Turning away, Rahk turned his eyes down, consumed with guilt. He knew exactly what that was... Who that was... And he could no more tell them than bring his friends back to life. Worse yet, as that... Thing... Had formed, he had felt a sudden tingle, in the back of his head, and he knew exactly what that was. He had to tell someone... But he couldn't bring himself to. The consequences... "Consequences be damned," he muttered angrily. They had done nothing wrong, and neither had he... But after this, something needed doing. His anger swept through his mind again, and this time he let it rage, boiling through his body... And suddenly he felt a sudden flood of energy flow through his mind.

With a despairing snarl, he sprung away, tearing away from the rest of the pack. He couldn't stay with them now... Not like this. He would not bring that down upon them twice.

Skyr and Sansa whipped around at his snarl, but caught no more than a glimpse of him before he fled. Sansa called after him, but then turned back to the fires, figuring he would be back. But Skyr followed Rahk's fleeing form for as long as he could see it, thinking. He knew what he had seen... And Rahk's eye had been red.