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To Dream of Darkness

A story by DoggyStyle57

Chapter 5, Written December 2011

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Chapter 5 - Forbidden knowledge - Fighting for rank

Dark Wind sat alone in the cave, reading the scrolls and books that she had recovered from her father's workshop. By the light of a tallow lamp, she read and sorted them, setting aside those writings that were of no immediate use to her, and seeking to better understand the spells she already knew, and how she might use them to keep herself safe, while striking back at her enemies.

Most of what she found useful was in the second chest, which contained the more advanced spells that her father had allowed her to learn. There were many things in these books and scrolls that he had not brought to her attention, and which she now attempted to learn for the first time. It was difficult, but she was a bright girl, and she had a level of raw talent that would have amazed most Human mages of her land.

Her father had told her that mages still studied and advanced their arts, despite the persecutions of the church and the superstitious fear of the peasants. Some mages, he said, were themselves priests, who secretly delved into areas that the church would not approve of. Others were herbalists, who went beyond the simple compounding of teas, salves and ointments, to produce potions and unguents that were far more effective. And some, like her father, made a living by healing sick people or animals. But all had one thing in common. They all had to be careful not to make a public display of capabilities too far beyond those of ordinary men and women, lest they be blamed with consorting with evil forces to gain unnatural abilities.

Dark Wind knew that evil spirits and demons did exist, though they were much more uncommon than the church or superstitious farmers would believe. Some of the books in the third chest included spells for the summoning of minor magical creatures, of various natures. Most were either good or neutral entities, such as dryads, who were spirits that lived in trees; or naiads, who lived in springs, fountains and wells. Some were more capricious and dangerous, such as the unpredictable fire elementals. She had seen her father summon a very minor fire elemental once, when he needed a flame hotter than his forge could produce, for the making of his ceremonial sword and dagger. She wished she could examine those texts, as they contained much more powerful magic spells. But the wards on the lock of the chest prevented it from opening for her.

The wards on the fourth chest were stronger still. Dark Wind was certain that those forbidden books and scrolls would include more destructive and combat-like spells. For some reason, her parents had never allowed her to learn any spells that would harm others, or even those that would protect from harm. Her mother had taught her the simple illusions and mental distractions to allow Dark wind to pass unnoticed among people that were not actively seeking her. But her mother had never taught her about the oneromancy spells that could cause physical harm. Yet somehow, Dark Wind had managed to cause a nightmare for that farm boy that had made him bleed.

She picked up one of several scrolls that she had found on oneromancy, intending to read it again, to see if there was something she had missed the first several times. But as she turned her wrist, she felt something shift ever so slightly in the balance of the scroll. She shook the scroll, and was rewarded with a sliding feeling, like something inside the rod that the scroll was wrapped around was sliding back and forth, a short distance.

She examined the rod carefully, and found that the end could be twisted free. The rod was hollow, and a second, smaller scroll was hidden within it! Eagerly she read that scroll, and found it contained changes and additions to some of the more basic oneromantic spells, that altered their results dramatically. Two of those altered spells indicated that if you could base a nightmare on a deep-seated fear that the person already had, you could make nightmares that were so intense that the body would react as if the damage inflicted in the dream was real. One example they gave was of a person with a deep fear of being whipped, and that a spell to cause that person to dream that they were being whipped could become intense enough to make their back open with cuts and scars, as if the whip had really cut their flesh!

"So that is what happened! That farm boy must have had a strong fear of being whipped, and that made my nightmare spell strong enough to make him bleed and die from the wounds? Then if I can find a way to learn the deepest fears that my enemies have, I can turn that against them, as my weapon!" Dark Wind said to herself.

She started examining the other scroll rods more closely, and found three more hidden scrolls, each of which added some forbidden or dangerous aspect to the spells in the main scroll. And one of those spells could be used to force access to the deeper memories of the victim. The scroll did mention some chance of harm to the mind of the victim, if they resisted the attack to strongly, but failed to defend against it. Dark Wind didn't care about that, since she was only likely to use that sort of spell on an enemy she had already decided to kill. What matter if the first attack drove them mad, as well?

===

For four years, Dark Wind lived among the wolves, keeping herself hidden from the eyes of man. The villagers and their priest grew complacent, while Dark Wind refrained from seeking her revenge, gathered information, and her magic grew stronger.

She learned that when shifting from animal form to Human, she did not have to limit herself to her original appearance. Just as she could choose as an animal form what breed of dog or wolf, or what color her fur and markings would be, in her Human form she could easily change the color of her hair, its length, and the color of her skin. With a little more effort, she could change the appearance of her face and body, and make herself look remarkably similar to any human she had seen long enough to remember clearly how they looked. She could even appear to be an adult, or a male, though she had not yet figured out how to actually change her gender.

She would slip into a home or church or shopkeeper's stall; appearing to be a stray animal, or a guest, or a customer; and study the faces and behaviors of the people, while listening for information. Once she even dared to impersonate the village priest, and got his assistant to let her into locked rooms in the church, to steal documents, and a small chest filled with gold, silver and copper coins.

She had no personal use for the money she stole from the church. She took it mostly to deprive the priest of its use in paying his mercenaries, and so that, when disguised as a villager, she could buy a tankard of weak wine or a meal, and sit unnoticed among the villagers as they gossiped.

She learned that the church paid and used several groups of mercenaries like the ones that attacked her home. These mercenary bands answered to no civil authority - not even the king. Their order answered only to the church. Anyone that the church suspected of heresy, or consorting with evil creatures, or any of a number of acts that the church disapproved of, might expect a 'visit' from these soldiers, to be brought in for questioning, or to be imprisoned, or to be killed. The mercenaries were not well liked by the villagers, but few dared speak out against them. And the church did keep them on a fairly tight leash, not allowing the soldiers to harass anyone the church had not targeted.

===

Shortly after her twelfth birthday, Dark Wind came into heat. Her youngest wolf brothers had already been accepted as young adults in the pack, and had fought for and won mates, and a place in the pack. Three young male wolves had been sniffing around her, biding their time and each trying to get her to mate with them. Dark Wind had no time for such things, and no interest in mating and having puppies.

"Stuff it in a knothole! You'll get a more friendly reception. No one mates with me, unless I say so, and I want no mate," she growled, as the three males circled her. The rest of the pack stood in a ring around them. By pack law, this was something she had to work out on her own. She could submit to one of the males, and then the other two might fight him for the right to have her. Or she could fight all three of them, and claim another mate, or no mate. If she beat them, she would outrank them in the pack.

Fighting and winning would bring complications of its own. With a higher rank in the pack, other wolves of higher rank might see her as a worthy mate, and seek their own chances with her. Again, she could submit, or fight for dominance. This circle would continue until she accepted a mate, or until no other male challenged for her.

"You would fight us, Dark Wind?" one male asked. "All three of us?"

"I will. One at a time, or all at once, I don't care. I take no mate this heat, unless you can defeat me. That is pack law," she replied, as her green eyes began to glow with a light of their own.

"Then fight!" growled one of the three males, as he lunged forward and made to bite at her foreleg.

Dark Wind growled and leaped over the first attacker, biting hard at the base of his tail. Her eyes flashed like fire, and the first wolf yelped as if his tail had been completely bitten off. It hadn't been, but he thought it had. He ran through the circle, yelping like a scared puppy. Dark Wind glared at the other two wolves. "Who is next?" she growled, and as she did so, her eyes glowed and she seemed to get several inches taller, and proportionately more massive.

The second wolf charged her, and tried to leap over her to attack from behind.

Dark wind's eyes flashed again, and as he passed over her, she snapped her jaws right between his hind legs.

The second wolf yelped as if she had castrated him, and fell in a heap beyond the circle of wolves, nervously licking himself and assuring himself that he was still intact.

Dark Wind looked at the remaining wolf. "Well? What are you waiting for?"

The third male wolf lay down and rolled over. "I submit. I will not attack you."

"Good. Is there anyone else?" Dark Wind asked.

No other wolves stepped forward to challenge her, and she bowed before Grey Shadow and Moonlight, saying, "I will stay in my cave until my heat is over, so I will not tempt further challenges. The two who faced me are not as badly harmed as they think, and they will recover."

"You did well. Few here would challenge you now, without good reason. Just don't reach too high, pup," the leader of the wolves said.

"I have no reason to challenge for a higher place in this pack. I am satisfied. Thank you, pack alpha," Dark Wind replied.

===

Dark Wind caught two rabbits on the way back to her cave. She happily devoured them, without even considering that she might have made a fire and cooked them. Cooked meals were for men, and she was a wolf now. She slaked her thirst in a stream, and washed the blood from her muzzle.

When she got to her cave, one of her brothers was waiting for her. His name was Bent Ear, because his left ear had a kink in the outer edge, where one of the other puppies had bit his ear, and it healed oddly.

"Can you teach me that trick?" he asked.

"You saw how I did it. Leap and go for the tail. Or duck low and go for the underbelly," she replied.

"No, I meant the bit with the glowing eyes. Your eyes glowed, and they thought they were hurt far worse than they were. Father's eyes glowed like that, sometimes. Can you teach me how to do it too?" he said.

"I wish I could, Bent Ear," Dark Wind replied. "But father told me that his four-legged children are incapable of magic. My mother was a Kitsune - a magical fox spirit. Our father was of the Feral Folk. The magic is tied somehow to being able to have a Human form. He told me that if he mated with someone that had a Human form, the child would too. But if the mother had no Human form, the magic would not pass to them."

"Pity. That would have been a good skill to know. Guess I'll just have to satisfy myself with making sure if I am in a fight, that you're on my side," he said. And then her brother lay down in front of her, and showed her his belly. "I accept you as alpha to me, sister."

She stepped forward and nosed at her brother's belly, and licked him gently. "I didn't expect that. But I'm glad I don't need to fight you."

"I don't think you'll ever have to fight any of father's pups, Dark Wind. They may or may not show their belly to you, but we all know you're more like father than any of us. You'll always have us at your back," he said. Then he kiss-licked her muzzle, and padded back to the rest or the pack, and to his mate.