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To Dream of Darkness

A story by DoggyStyle57

Chapter 1, Written December 2011

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Chapter 1 - Innocence and Discovery

I don't recall what the year was when I was born. It was so very long ago, that I can no longer remember. I'm not even certain I ever really knew it. I was so young when it all changed, that no one might have gotten around to informing me yet of such things as what year it was, in the reign of which monarch.

What I do remember was that my parents and I lived on a small farm, that I had no brothers or sisters, and that there was a small village nearby, surrounded by other farms much like our own, on the edges of a vast forest. My parents and I didn't mix much with the villagers, though they came to our farm from time to time, trading produce and other things for the aid they knew my parents would freely give them. Somewhere else, surely, there were larger towns, and great cities, and a king and queen that ruled over the land while seated on gilded thrones. But we never saw such marvels. We seldom saw anyone who lived further away than one could ride on horseback in a day or two's time.

I remember that my mother had fair, creamy white skin, and auburn hair that was almost red, and a slender, athletic figure. Everyone agreed that she was very pretty. Perhaps she was foreign to the area, as the local women looked nothing like her. Her brown eyes were slightly slanted, like the people far to the East were said to be. Father called her 'my wife', or 'my love', or other obvious nicknames. But if he ever spoke her given name, I never heard him do so. I just called her mommy. After all I was just a small child at the time.

My mother had a disconcerting habit of being able to come upon you so quietly and suddenly that it was as if she appeared from nowhere. One moment she would not be anywhere in sight, and then next moment, there she was, as if she had always been standing there. When she moved, if you managed to see her do so, it was like watching a feral animal dart from spot to spot. Graceful, and yet swift and sudden, eyes alert and bright, missing nothing of what happened around her. She always seemed to be slightly smiling, as if she knew some secret that she found to be very amusing.

My mother was a very wise woman. Some people from the village said that Gaia, the mother Goddess, had touched her with the gift of prophecy. She could interpret the dreams of others, and aid them in seeking the truths in those dreams. The people from the village, when they visited to seek her counsel, deferentially called her "Priestess", though all knew that she belonged to no formal church or religious order. They were respectful... but at the same time they seemed very much afraid of her. The Church took a dim view of those outside their control who seemed to dabble in affairs that they saw only to be the province of priests and priestesses in the divine orders. The villagers knew her, and saw that she harmed no one. Her counsel was always accurate, and her guidance sensible. So they treated her as if she was a member of some distant church, and did not question the source of her wisdom. After all, she never claimed to be able to do more than listen carefully, and offer her interpretation of the dreams and nightmares that the villagers spoke to her about.

Father had tanned skin, from working outdoors a lot. His eyes were green, and his hair and full beard were a sandy mix of browns and premature grey. He raised and trained animals, and he also healed them with herbs and simple medicines. When people of the village had an animal that was sick or giving birth, they often asked for his aid. He always seemed to know just what the animal needed, and his very presence had a calming effect on the animals. He would whisper quietly to them, and no matter what species they were, it was as if they understood that he wanted to help them. The farmers also asked for his guidance when they had trouble training an animal to work on the farm.

Daddy's specialty was raising and training farm dogs, to herd cattle, or to guard the remote farms. It was said that no farm protected by one of his dogs would ever be bothered by wolves or other feral creatures, even if they just got the dog as a fresh-weaned puppy. They also said that the dogs he had trained for two years would be steadfast guardians that would protect their new owners and their adopted family with their lives, against man or beast. The farmers in the area paid well for his dogs, and some came from very far away just to get even one of the puppies he had bred, knowing they would be intelligent and easy to train. Yet they treated him warily as well. It seemed unnatural to them, how well he got along with animals, and how well he understood them. Some of the more superstitious farmers made signs behind his back in his direction, as if to ward off evil spirits.

If they had seen what I had seen, at the farm when the villagers were not about, they would have been much more afraid of my parents, and of me.

When I was a child, I was called Sarah, and this is my story. It begins with one of my earliest memories, when I was only four years old.

===

It was a fine spring morning. The sun was shining, and the day was comfortably cool, with a light breeze.

Sarah wanted to go outside, and play with her father's dogs, and their puppies.

"Breakfast was really good, mommy! Can I go out now an' play with the doggies?" Sarah asked.

Her mother looked out the window, and said softly, "Not just yet, dear. Daddy has the dogs locked in their kennels, and he is busy with a patient."

"This early? I didn' hear the dogs bark, or any visitors talking, mommy. Did they get daddy in the night to go ta their farm?" Sarah asked, as she brushed aside a lock of her auburn hair that kept falling into her eyes.

"No... Daddy is here, behind the barn, in the edge of the woods. This is a special patient, and so the doggies have to stay quiet and remain in their kennels," Her mother replied.

"I wanna see!" Sarah said, and she slipped past her mother's grasp, and rushed out the door, still in her short nightshirt and barefoot.

Her mother sighed and walked after little Sarah. "Oh well. She'll have to find out eventually," she said to herself.

Sarah wondered why daddy would be in the woods with his patient. Why not in the barn, like he did when Mister Haskins brought his best mare over to have her twin foals? The curious four year old came around the back side of the barn, and started down the trail that she knew led to a small clearing, a dozen or so yards into the woods.

She stopped in her tracks when she saw her father. There was a large gray timber wolf sitting beside daddy, just as calmly as any of the trained farm dogs. And her daddy was delivering a litter of wolf puppies for a female timber wolf that was on the grass in front of him. The large wolf beside her father turned to stare at Sarah, and growled, but he didn't get up to attack the child.

"Don't come any closer, Sarah," her father said, without turning to look at her. "He hasn't been introduced to you yet, and he's very protective of his mate and babies." Then her father placed a blood-spattered hand on the wolf's shoulder, looked the creature in the eyes, and growled like a wolf!

Sarah shook her head in disbelief. As her father growled, she thought she also heard him say, "My daughter. She will not harm you."

The wolf looked back at Sarah's father, for all the world like an old friend that was having a conversation with him, and growled back, then looked at the female wolf again, and started licking his puppies clean.

Sarah could swear that she had heard, somewhere in the growls, the wolf saying, "She has your eyes, and your scent. We will know her."

"D-daddy? Did... did you just... talk to that wolf?" Sarah asked.

"It's all right, sweetheart," Sarah's mother said, as she appeared beside her daughter. "Those wolves are friends."

"It... I thought I heard the wolf talk to daddy? Is it a magic wolf? Like in the stories you tell me at bed time, mommy?" Sarah asked.

"You understood us?" Her father asked. He seemed both surprised and pleased. "What did you hear him say? Think carefully, my child."

"It... He... he said 'She has your eyes, and your scent. We will know her.' It was kinda mixed up with growling, but I really do think I heard him say that, daddy! I'm not makin' it up!" Sarah insisted.

"I believe you, dear. Daddy really does believe you. That's just what he said. But the wolf isn't magic. We are. Daddy can understand what they say, and can talk to them. And so, it appears, can you. It's all right, dear. But this is something that has to be a secret that only you, mommy and daddy know, all right? Do you understand?" her father asked.

"Remarkable. Such a young pup, and she knows our speech? She must be your pup all right." The wolf said, in a mix of growls and barks. "Pup? How are you called? Can you speak to me as well?"

Sarah's eyes went wide, and she said, "He can talk! Mommy! I can hear that wolf talk to me! Can you do that too?"

"Not... quite the same way, sweetheart," her mother said. "Not right now. But I believe you too. Mommy knows that daddy can talk to animals."

"Do what he asked, Sarah. Just... think about wanting him to understand you. And tell him something, like... oh, what you had for breakfast," her father said, encouragingly. Then he touched his daughter's hand, and his eyes seemed to sparkle in the sunlight.

Sarah had the strangest feeling wash over her. It was like the world rolled over and sat up again. And suddenly, something about what her father said just made sense. She replied to the wolf, and her voice came out as soft yips and barks, as she said, "I am Sarah. I'm four years old. I had eggs and bacon for breakfast, an' I think you're very pretty, mister wolf!"

"She needs practice, but that was very good for her first time," the wolf replied to her father. Then he bowed his head to Sarah, and replied. "You may call me Grey Shadow, and my mate you may call Moonlight. We owe much to your father. If ever you need our aid, you may consider the wolves of this forest area to be your friends."

"Mommy! Grey Shadow an' Moonlight wanna be my friends!" Sarah said excitedly. But she was still barking and yipping like a wolf. She shook her head and tried again, and it came out in Human speech.

"That is very good, dear. Now, let's give daddy some time to finish taking care of Moonlight and her puppies. It's time for mommy and daddy to have a long talk with you."

===

Back at the house, her mother said again, "Now Sarah, I want you to promise me that you won't tell anyone else about what just happened, or about what your father and I will start teaching you now. Do you understand, dear? No one in the village can know about this gift you have."

"But why, mommy? It's so wonderful! Can daddy talk to horsies an' cows an' other animals too? Will I be able to do that?" Sarah asked breathlessly.

"Your father has a gift for talking to all animals, just as I have a gift for seeing and understanding the dreams of others. We have other gifts as well, and as our child, it is natural that you may inherit some or all of our abilities," her mother replied. "It is a wonderful and amazing thing that you can do even this much, as young as you are. Your father was fourteen before he learned he could hear and speak to animals, and was nearly sixteen before he learned the full extent of his abilities. But sweetheart, the villagers must not know. They might think it was evil magic. Please, promise that you won't ever tell them about our special gifts!"

"All right, mommy. I promise. It's our secret," Sarah replied sullenly.

They cleaned up the kitchen while they waited for Sarah's father to return. After a while, his return was heralded by the baying and barking of the dogs in the kennels, as he set them free within the fenced inner yard around the house.

When he stepped inside he showed them the blood on his hands, and said, "Moonlight had six healthy pups. Four boys and two girls. I helped to carry them back to their den. Now pardon me. I need to get cleaned up."

He excused himself and went to the bedroom, to change his clothes and wash up. He returned several minutes later, wearing only a loose cloth robe.

"Daddy? Can I ever see their puppies?" Sarah asked, when her father got back.

"Perhaps," her father replied. "Interacting with Grey Shadow and his pack will be good practice in learning to use your gifts. Have you told her anything else yet, my love?" Sarah's father said, with the last directed to his wife.

"Not yet. I thought it best to wait until we were both present, in case she got frightened," Sarah's mother said. "I did tell her how important it was for her to keep this a secret, though."

"I'm not afraid, daddy! I think talking to that wolf was one of the most greatest things I've ever done! I won't tell anybody, I promise!" Sarah said.

"One of the greatest..., not 'most greatest', dear," her father corrected her. Then he said, "Sit down, Sarah. That's a good girl. You remember that promise, and don't ever tell the villagers."

"But why would they not like it that we can talk to the animals, daddy? Doesn't that make it easier to help them?" Sarah asked.

"It does, yes. But it is a gift they don't have, and they don't believe it is possible for any human to talk to animals, without the help of evil magic." Her father said.

"But why can we do it then, daddy?" Sarah asked. "We don' do any evil magic."

"Because... we're not entirely Human," her father replied, as he began to change...