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The Seduction of Seleste

From the world of the mating season

The Old One

Chapter 70

"You! You mother_fucker_!" Keeno slurred. He struggled to his feet, and Kilyan cautioned him to lean against a tree. Even after Seleste's healing touch, the injury in Keeno's leg was causing him to limp badly.

Zee rose to his feet and slowly notched an arrow to his bow. Without a word, he aimed at the old wolf, right between his eyes.

The old wolf didn't move, just remained where he was, smiling to himself as he clutched his little basket. Keme was starting to wonder if he could move. He glanced at Nahimana. The red female's eyes were narrowed with concentration, and Keme realized for the first time that she was holding the old wolf there! She had forced him to reveal himself, and now her magic held him fast, a fly in a web.

"No - wait!" Seleste cried in confusion. She had been kneeling with the others but she shot to her feet, mane and jewelry bouncing. "Zee - he sent us into the cave so I could learn who I was - so I could help the foxes --"

Zee eyed Seleste and lowered his bow. But he looked at the old wolf again with clear disgust.

Nahimana took a step toward Seleste. "No," she said to her, "the Old One deceived you to gain your trust. You didn't see MeRorr in the crystal, Seleste."

Seleste's ears flattened and her mouth fell open. "W-Wha . . .! No!" Her eyes shone with sudden tears. "It was MeRorr! It was! I'd know him anywhere!" She began to cry, and coming up behind her, LiAnh took her in his arms. She whirled to him and wept against his chest.

Keme watched Seleste and LiAnh sadly. He looked at Nahimana. "What are you saying? He trapped us in that cave and meant for us to die!" He scowled.

According to Seleste's theory, the old wolf had trapped them in the cave with the intention that they would wind up meeting Nahimana. And after the kind hospitality Nahimana had shown them, they had believed Seleste. Avi had even hoped the mysterious wolf might appear to help them again.

Zee's chest heaved and he lifted his bow again. "I knew it!"

"Wait, Zee," Kilyan cautioned. He placed a paw on Zee's shoulder.

Behind him, the others were moving in. Inden grimly gathered his spear, Avi flexed her slender fingers into fists, and Mio pulled his knives. Keeno remained against the tree, chest heaving and eyes glaring.

Kilyan came forward, his paws out as he cautioned everyone to calm down. He looked at the old wolf and jerked his chin. "Who are you really? What do you want?"

The old wolf's eyes darted derisively to Kilyan, but he didn't seem able to answer.

"I can tell you that!" Nahimana growled, and with a cutting slash of her paw, the old wolf tumbled over.

They watched as the wolf struggled to sit up, and when he did, he was no longer the old gray hunchback that they knew. He was young, handsome, his fur a ruddy red and his ears jet black. He had many tails - about fifteen - and all of them were tipped in white. He was a fox. He smiled a nasty smile when Seleste looked at him angrily.

"You bastard!" Seleste cried from LiAnh's arms. "How did you do it! It --" Her lip trembled. "I _swear_it was him. . ."

"He let you see what you wanted to see, Seleste," Nahimana told her. "He probably hoped you would want to remain down there forever. He doesn't want you to help the foxes. He is the reason they die."

Kilyan's chest heaved and Avi scowled.

"What!" Avi cried. "Avi daughter lay dying because of him!" She started forward, and though he looked just as livid, Kilyan put a restraining paw on her shoulder.

Inden looked very angry as well. Lifting his spear, he took a step forward and was halted by Kilyan's arm.

"We don't know what power he has," Kilyan cautioned them.

"And I don't wanna find out," added Mio. He put away his knives and rubbed his head where Seleste had healed it. "That lion he sent was nasty. Let's let Nahimana handle him."

Mio's words seemed to bring the others back to their senses. Inden blinked and lowered his spear, Avi grudgingly folded her arms, and Zee lowered his bow. But they all looked just as outraged. LiAnh stood holding Seleste as she wept, and he looked past her mane at the fox, his face hard with anger.

"Who is he?" Keme asked Nahimana.

Nahimana hadn't yet taken her slanted eyes off the fox. She answered without looking at Keme, "He is Kitari, brother to the once-fox king, banished from Miras Eii for his plots and schemes. He wants to see the child of his brother suffer. He only had to wait for the boy to leave his mother's protection." Protection, protection, protection.

Still sitting on the dirt path, the fox smiled at Nahimana. He moved his mouth, but no sound came. Whatever he'd said, Nahimana alone seemed able to hear it. Her eyes widened and she shouted "Silence!" Her paw flew up in another slashing motion and the fox fell over on his back. He didn't get up.

Seleste broke from LiAnh's arms and came to Nahimana, peering up at her in earnest. "But . . . how did you know? Why did you come?" She smiled uncertainly.

Nahimana turned her yellow eyes on Seleste. "I went to investigate the crystal you found," she answered. "It required that I wake my fellow sorcerers for their aid. We went into the tunnel . . . and he was there." She glared at the fox, who still lay motionless on the ground. "He disappeared before we could reach him. After that, I understood what had happened, why you had come to me. You weren't supposed to survive those tunnels. I don't think he knew they led out to my tribe."

"All this just to make Sylas suffer?" Kilyan said angrily.

Nahimana looked at him apologetically. "Kitari's hatred for his brother goes back many centuries. They warred for the kingdom. At times, they even fought over the queen. Eventually, Dyzere was soft and he surrendered. Rather than kill his brother - as fox tradition decreed - he sent him forth into the world, banishing him from the kingdom."

"And now he's out for revenge and we're caught in the middle," Keme said. "Lovely."

"So we kill him!" Zee said at once. He looked around at the others, as if they'd be insane not to agree.

"No," Nahimana said at once and shook her head. Her floating mane twisted around her face from the gesture.

Zee's face hardened. "_Why?_He sent some magical mountain lion to kill us all! That's more than enough reason for me to put an arrow between his eyes!" Beside him, Inden nodded grimly.

Keme saw Avi quietly studying the sorceress, and her pretty eyes narrowed, as if she had realized something unfortunate.

Leaning against the tree behind Avi, Keeno's eyes went from her to Nahimana. "What is it, Avi?" he asked.

Avi's eyes didn't shift from Nahimana's face. "We need fox, don't we?"

Nahimana smiled at her. "We need him."

---

Frowning with concentration, Nahimana bound Kitari's paws with a glowing rope that had been specially prepared for the fox by her and her fellow sorcerers. She pulled the rope from a bag hanging at her hip, and they watched the sorceress and the fox glaring at each other as she bound him.

Seleste pressed Nahimana for answers, and she explained that she alone had insisted on hunting Kitari down. The other sorcerers had remained behind at the village. None of them wanted to risk becoming frost wolves again, and they mocked her for taking the risk for the sake of some frost wolf she had known all of one week. Nahimana didn't care: she left to help Seleste. In her absence, a sorcerer took up the role of authority while the rest went back to their chambers beneath the village, where they slept their indifferent sleep.

"The useless bastards," Nahimana sneered, and her pretty lip curled around her fang. "You think you know someone after a thousand years - I still can't believe none of them would help me!" Me, me, me!

Seleste gazed up at the sorceress sympathetically and rubbed her arm. "Well, I'm glad you came," she said happily. "Still, I don't want you to become a frost wolf again! You'll lose your magic and your form because of me--!"

"Seleste," Nahimana said softly and cupped her face to silence her. "It is my choice."

Keme watched as they peered for a long pause into each other's eyes, and it hit him that they were speaking into each other's minds! His chest heaved and he tried to quell his irritation as Seleste nodded and stepped away from the sorceress. After whatever little private discussion they'd had, Seleste didn't argue again.

Nahimana then turned to the fox, and with a wave of her paw, he was forced to his feet. He stood glaring at them all, a little smile on his lips, but he didn't say a word. Could he? His voice seemed to have been taken by Nahimana. He looked upon her with such loathing, Keme thought he might spit at her. As they set off again, he was forced to walk at her side upfront, and for good measure, Zee insisted on walking with his spear pointed at the fox's back.

Despite the healing efforts of both Seleste and Nahimana combined, everyone was too tired to carry on for very long - especially Seleste and Nahimana, who had used so much magic. They stopped on the path to make camp under a cluster of pine trees. The trees stood tall against the rocky face of the mountain, and Keme's stomach grumbled when he saw the frightened rabbits that darted away in the bush.

As the chill breeze of the mountain pass swept down on them, Inden struggled to build a fire, using his great wings to shield the budding flames. Avi set about with Mio to prepare supper, and Zee insisted on standing guard beside Kitari, his spear pressed at the smiling fox's throat.

Tired as she was, Nahimana attempted to heal Keeno's leg where Seleste had failed, but it seemed the gouging of the mountain lion's claws was too deep even for her. After several minutes of effort, she stopped and shook her head sorrowfully.

"Will he ever walk without a limp again?" Kilyan asked the sorceress miserably. He squatted beside Keeno where he sat on the ground. Nahimana knelt on Keeno's other side, her paws in her lap.

"More importantly," Keeno added, "will I ever fuck again?"

Kilyan made a face. "Keeno!"

"It's always gonna go in sideways now, I know it. Zalia is gonna be pissed," Keeno went on happily. "But it'll be an excuse to make her sit on me more --"

"Keeno!" Kilyan rubbed his eyes, and over by the fire, Avi laughed at her husband's exasperation. "I'm sorry," he said to Nahimana. "He isn't always like this, I swear."

Nahimana smiled. "Yes, he is," she said with a laugh. "As for the leg . . . I can not say. Perhaps one day . . . with the aid of a sorceress more powerful than I . . ." I, I, I . . .

"But there is no one more powerful than you!" Seleste said at once. She sat around the fire with Avi and Mio, watching with interest as they cooked supper. Hearing Nahimana's words, she lifted her face and beamed at the sorceress.

Keme tried not to scowl: Seleste believed this because she loved Nahimana, not because it was true. Her doting was starting to get really annoying. He caught LiAnh's eye and realized his brother was watching his bitter struggle in amusement. He flattened his ears and looked away. But he couldn't help it. How would LiAnh feel if someone he loved kept _gushing_over someone else in front of him?

Keme and LiAnh were collecting firewood from the nearby trees - well, Keme was collecting and LiAnh was carrying. Keme would reach up and snap small branches from the trees, then pass them to LiAnh. He was snapping another branch when Nahimana spoke again.

"No, Seleste," Nahimana said fondly, "there are many sorcerers far more powerful than I. The foxes, for instance. Kitari's power has always been in his voice. It is only because I took him by surprise that I was able to steal it. Were I to give it back to him, he would summon another beast to rend us all to shreds." Shreds, shreds, shreds. "Or perhaps he would finally do it himself. He was always such a lazy bastard."

Seleste laughed and nodded, but Keme could tell she still believed Nahimana was more powerful than anyone or anything. He rolled his eyes and went back to gathering firewood.

"He is older than I, older than any of you could possibly conceive," Nahimana went on, and her slanted eyes glared at Kitari from where she sat. "He is known as the Old One by the foxes. They whisper the name with disdain, for Dyzere - the younger brother -- was the brother they favored. Kitari was always hated. As soon as his brother died, he led a campaign for the throne and began the wars I told you of, Seleste. The fox queen feared him and did not return. He was cast out once more by the foxes. Many frost wolves were forced to participate in those wars; the blood on his paws is the blood of my brethren." Her lips tightened, and in that moment, Keme knew nothing would make Nahimana happier than to kill Kitari: she had once been a frost wolf, a slave to the foxes. Whatever they needed him for, it must've been crucial.

Kilyan and Keeno insisted that someone take watch that night, despite Nahimana's protests. Because LiAnh and Keme had suffered the least injuries from the mountain lion attack, they sat around the fire together while the others slept - even Zee.

Nahimana pulled more glowing rope from her bag, and Keme watched grimly as she tied the smirking fox to a tree. She then stood beside him the night through, mane and dress billowing about her as she silently dared him to make a move. Looking at her, it hit Keme that the sorceress didn't sleep. She didn't need to.

"You alright, Keme?" LiAnh asked after some time.

Keme was poking the fire with a stick and looked up. His brother was watching him, frowning with concern. He knew he must've looked miserable, worried, angry - all those together. Because the nearer they drew to the sea of ice, the closer they came to possibly losing Seleste.

Keme's ears pricked forward as a sudden thought occurred to him. "LiAnh . . . what are you going to do? I mean, if Seleste has to stay on this sea of ice thing, you won't have a chieftess. You'll have to remarry."

LiAnh shrugged miserably. "I guess I will. I'm more concerned about you, though. I'm not in love with Seleste, you are." He looked at Keme and frowned. "Don't go doing anything stupid when we get there."

Keme rolled his eyes.

"I mean it, Keme!" LiAnh snapped. "This is the first time in my life I --" He stammered himself silent when Keme looked across at him. "I've never had a brother I could . . ." he went on sheepishly. "I mean, Roan and Zane were always so much older than me . . . and I never really knew Roan the way I knew Zane. Roan moved off to the sun village before I was even born. We would visit him and everything, but it . . . it wasn't . . . And then Aviine is just a pup to me. Always will be." Thinking of their younger brother, he gave a half-smile.

"You never had a brother your age," Keme offered, as if to help LiAnh find the words. "Someone you could play with or really connect to."

"Yeah," LiAnh admitted and rubbed the back of his neck. "There was always Mio and Zee, but . . . we didn't grow up in the same house. I still always felt. . . ."

"Alone," Keme finished for him.

LiAnh smiled across the fire at Keme. "And I guess you'd understand, wouldn't you? Seleste told me you . . ."

"Grew up in the jungle with no one but my foster mother? Yes," Keme finished for him. "If the pygmies ever found us, they would have killed us. Aiyana was a traitor and I was . . . the shemale prince."

LiAnh laughed. "Shemale prince. There are two words that shouldn't be in the same sentence!"

They both laughed, and Keme grinned as he poked the fire again with his stick.

"I want you to know how sorry I am," LiAnh said after a pause.

"LiAnh . . ."

LiAnh scowled. "No, just listen to me --!"

"You're talking like we're about to go down to the Endless Plain and die!"

LiAnh's eyes peered into Keme's grimly. "Well, aren't we?" he said flatly. "We're about to walk into a world of magic foxes and crystals. We don't know what's there!"

"Yeah," Keme said darkly. "I guess you're right."

"So shut up and listen to me already!" LiAnh complained, and Keme laughed. "I was trying to say . . . I'm sorry I was so stupid before. It almost cost me . . . it almost cost me a _brother._If it wasn't for Seleste, I may never have known what it was like to have a brother like you. We're friends now - because of her!"

Keme smiled. "So is this the part where we kiss and hug and you tell me I look just like Grandfather when I sneeze?"

LiAnh made a scoffing noise. "Shut up, you ass. Oh, why did I bother?" he said with a laugh and regarded Keme in exasperation.

Keme smiled apologetically. "No, LiAnh, I appreciate what you're trying to say." He peered across the fire at his brother warmly as he said, "I love you too."

---

It took seven days to cross the mountain pass. On the way, more mountain lions attacked, but these were not magical beasts of incredible strength like the one Kitari had sent. These mountain lions were simple predators that leapt down from the cliffs upon them, snarling and roaring. Zee caught the first one between the eyes with his bow, and later when they were skinning it and hanging its hide to dry, Kilyan sang his praises. The second mountain lion had its neck heartily snapped by Keme, and the third tasted Inden's spear when he drove it through its face. After the third attack, the mountain lions seemed to give up and turned away in search of easier prey.

At dusk on the seventh day, the mountain pass steeped down, opening upon what Keme could only assume was the Endless Plain - or as Keeno called it, the Big Nothing. Tall grass spread away to the purple horizon, bending in the chilly breeze that swept through their fur. Standing beside Seleste, Keme felt a sudden sadness washing over him. It seemed to come from the plain itself, as if the place were crying out in pain. Behind the façade of the Endless Plain, the sea of ice lurked, and Keme knew it was from this chilly place that the wind was coming.

"Boy, am I not happy to see this place again," Keeno said dryly. He stood slightly hunched: his limp kept him from standing straight.

"This is it, isn't it?" Mio whispered from the back of the group. "Why I do feel so _miserable_when I look at it?" He shivered.

"You feel the frost wolves," Nahimana answered him, "crying out in pain." Pain, pain, pain. She glared at Kitari. "Crying out for help!" Keme was shocked when Nahimana suddenly grabbed Kitari by the mane. He glared as she jerked him around and said through her fangs, "Do it."

Kitari grudgingly opened his mouth, and they all stiffened when he spoke. "The second I open the way," he said, "you know what will happen."

Hearing that voice for the first time, Keme almost shivered. He sounded nothing like the wheezy, rasping old wolf they'd met back in the northern forest. Kitari's real voice was sly, seething, hissing with contempt. It made Keme want to bathe.

"I do," Nahimana answered stolidly. Her pretty eyes narrowed. "Open it."

Kitari smiled. He looked to the Endless Plain again, then narrowed his eyes, and a long, beautiful whistle flowed from his perched lips. As the whistle danced away on the wind, the Endless Plain waivered and twisted, like a reflection distorted by a ripple in a pond. The twisting went on until the Endless Plain had disappeared entirely, and in its place . . . the sea of ice.

The sea spread away before them to the horizon, and the sky - once purple from the dusk - was now a blank gray. Snow and mist swirled across the frosty air, and the soft sound of ice plates clicking on the surface of the sea met their ears.

Keme heard Seleste gasp, and he couldn't blame her. It was almost like the enchantment that had been placed on the village of the plains wolves: a false place hiding another place. That an ocean had been hidden behind the Endless Plain . . . the thought made Keme's head swim. He glanced down and suddenly realized they were standing on snow.

"It's already happening," Kitari sneered. He laughed. "Look at you!"

Keme looked around and realized for the first time that Nahimana was trembling. She hunched over, then cried out and suddenly fell to her knees.

Seleste rushed forward. "Nahimana!"

"What's happening to her?" Kilyan cried.

Seleste started to answer, but the sorceress collapsed to the snow in a white spray. Seleste fell to her knees at her side and reached for her face. Nahimana snarled in a voice that was not her own: "Stay back!" Her eyes flashed red and blood flew from her mouth.

Seleste gasped and pulled her paws away. Keme grabbed her and pulled her to her feet. He dragged her back with him as the sorceress screamed again. Nahimana's voice was deep, gurgling, wet with blood - the voice of a beast.

"Keme!" Seleste sobbed angrily. "Let me go! She needs me!" She twisted to get away, but Keme held on.

"She's - changing!" LiAnh cried in horror.

"And once she changes," Keeno said apprehensively, ". . . will she kill us all in cold blood?" Seleste glared at him and he shrugged. "Just wanted to know my chances of becoming a Keeno sandwich."

"She's becoming a frost wolf!" Seleste snapped. She twisted again. "Keme - let me go!"

Keme ignored her.

Nahimana was curled up tight in a ball, snarling and drooling. Blood seeped from the corners of her eyes, blood seeped from her mouth. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and as if some unseen force had slapped her, she whipped over on her back and screamed again. They watched, stiff with fear, as the color faded from her red fur and mane. Her paws curled in the snow, dragging deep gouges in its pearly face as her nails lengthened. She opened her mouth and arched her back in a scream. They saw her eyes widen as her fangs elongated. White snaked over her fur, until her fur and mane were blank as the snow beneath her; her pupils narrowed and the yellow color sank away into the palest, coldest silver. Her mane stopped billowing, as did her red gown, and when it was over, she lay before them on the ground, breathless and staring and unable to move.

Keme swallowed hard as Nahimana's dress suddenly disintegrated. She slowly stood up, trembling and weak, naked and uncertain. She looked so helpless and vulnerable . . . and so sad. She was completely white now, white as the snow. She lifted a paw to her face and stared at the long pink nails as her pale mane whipped about her in the wind. Keme thought that somehow, her silver eyes with their narrow pupils made her more beautiful than before.

After staring at her paw a long time, Nahimana waved it toward Kitari and tried to cast a spell. When nothing happened, Kitari laughed.

"Shut up!" Seleste snarled at him. She finally broke from Keme and rushed forward to hold Nahimana. Keme watched sympathetically as the white sorceress trembled in Seleste's arms: Nahimana was crying.

Seleste pulled back and blushed prettily. "Nah, you're - you're naked," she said uncomfortably. "I could give you a blanket --"

Holding her breasts in the wind, Nahimana laughed, and Keme got the feeling the cold didn't even bother her. She was holding herself more from humiliation than anything. He caught a glimpse of her pink nipple and suddenly wished she would accept Seleste's offer.

Seleste helped the sorceress to stand.

"No," Nahimana told Seleste gently and looked down at her with affection glowing bright in her silver eyes. The echoing had gone from her voice entirely. It was strange to hear her voice without it. "Those of the frost can not wear garments. They disintegrate as soon as they touch us."

"Oh," Seleste said miserably.

"But I thought frost wolves had power," Kilyan said and waved at Seleste to indicate.

"We do," Nahimana answered. "But the magic here . . . the fox queen has drained it away. Now that I am frost wolf again . . . I have none. But Seleste . . ." Nahimana lifted the small pouch that hung around Seleste's throat. "She is protected from what is happening here."

"You can't come with us!" Seleste cried when it dawned on her. "You'll sleep! You'll fall asleep!"

Nahimana smiled sadly. "Yes. I will."

Seleste scowled. "Then stay here --!"

"Seleste!" Nahimana shouted, and Keme saw Seleste's breasts heave angrily. She bit her lip and peered up at Nahimana, her brows pressed together sadly.

Nahimana shook her head. "We waste time standing here arguing. Avi and Kilyan need to help their daughter! I will cross the ice with you for as long as I am able."

"That why Kitari hasn't attacked?" Avi asked. "He is drained like you and Avi."

Nahimana nodded as Kitari stood behind her sneering. "Yes."

Kilyan looked at Avi and frowned. "What do you mean?"

Avi smiled at her husband. "Avi magic slipping away from her . . . strength going."

Looking over at his mother, Keme noticed for the first time that Avi did indeed look to be sagging. Her super strength was probably gone now. He frowned, wishing that Zaldon could have given her a talisman like his.

"Avi be fine," Avi said to their stares of concern. She smiled at Inden to reassure him when he put an anxious paw on her shoulder. She smoothed her paw over his and said, "Let's go."

"Wait," Seleste said at once. She looked at Nahimana. "You said the others wouldn't be able to survive the crossing --"

"Without the help of a fox," Nahimana finished for her.

Zee shook his head. "But how can he help us? You just said his magic was drained like all the other foxes."

"His presence is enough," Nahimana assured him. "You will need him close when you cross the ice. If he dies, you die."

"And after we cross the ice?" Zee said at once, and it was clear he wanted to put an arrow between Kitari's eyes. "Will we need him so _desperately_then?"

Nahimana smiled. "You won't."

"But Sylas was supposed to help us," Keme said. In fact, Sylas was supposed to meet them here, at the end of the mountain pass! They had decided as much the night Sylas entered Keme's dreams on the ship, but Keme hadn't heard from him since. All this time, he had hoped against hope that Sylas would be here, smiling and tired, but here. They had all hoped. What had happened to him?

Keme glanced at the others and saw they were just as worried. Kilyan and Avi exchanged miserable glances, and Inden's jaw stood out, as if he was swallowing his anxieties away.

Nahimana turned to Keme, and her brows pressed together sympathetically. "He can not come," she said gently. "It's up to you and Seleste now."