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Leyline – Chapter 1

A strange dream

Chilled, foreboding winds wander over plains and through the foothills of a vast mountain range, no grass or young sapling to break from the fast grip of the endless winter, and yet it felt no better than the firm, damp encasing that while offering the promise of comforting warmth, the safety of the dark familiar void, and all the fleeting memories of lives long past, also maddeningly separated the vast vague vilification of space outside from desperate reach.

The urge to scratch and bite against the solid prison, to coil and turn and writhe about, it grew stronger there, one tap, then another, the slightest shudder of the walls as the sense of sound met her ears, crackling apart as a snout finally wedged open a gap, cold air suddenly rushing against fresh nerves and seeping into tremulous lungful breaths, strength flooding through sinew and rippling muscle to nudge and prod through the hole as the energy flows down into twitching legs and foreclaws. An encouraging thrum seemingly from all around, and the life now pulsing within rushing veins, and both paw and claw rent through the last of the abhorrent enclosure. Now it was time to behold the cold flaring radiance shuttering through lidded pupils.

A vast array of vibrant colors beset the eyes as they slowly divulged their nature in distinct shapes and figures, a wall of shifting crimson hue before, pale shafts of light filtering down from a vast expanse of hazy scattered blue above and through great pillars stretching between ground and spreading into intricately woven patterns over a crystalline sky, rebelling against the faint echoes of memory left from dream and fantasy. The warmth of blackened rock greeted newly stretched paws as they kicked out and extracted from tangled strings still clinging to delicate scales of their own scarlet color.

The odd thrumming returned again as the wall rippled and shifted again, eyes following up into a familiar, gracefully horned visage of lighter ruddy shades, tapering down to the curve of a muzzle as the first true words awakened her mind, and raised her spirit to soaring heights once more, “Vendiri, light of the flame, flame of the spirit, my first gift of life to you my precious hatchling, your name is Vendiri."

Another mountain of scales moved up beside her now, steel refracting with the blue tinge of the light as it silently regarded her, yet still she could sense the deep sense of pleasure, no pride emanating from him as her thoughts made sense of the powerful strength of emotions felt, “Yield not to the cold my daughter, WyrnRa might sap and strangle the very life from our bones through this ice and snow, but never our spirit, or the freedom it brings."

Turning back to the remains of the egg for a moment, the muscles in her neck convulsed as Vendiri instinctively spat on the sticky shell, a brief burst of flame catching hold in the oils and quickly enveloping the remnants to leave only ash behind. With a brush of her tail she scattered them as if nothing had happened and crawled over towards the heat and safety of her mother's scales, stretching and curling up beside with a yawn as the tide of events caught up with her. Above the gentle rumbles of both the scaled giants lulled her to an easy rest, vagrant meanings and words save the one which echoed with resonance through her being. Fire.

* * *

Aedan awoke with a start. Shielding his eyes from the sudden light with an arm for a moment, he fell back against the bedcover with a sigh to himself, yet another strange dream. He felt as if he had lived to see it, more than his memories which were hazy at their most coherent. Glancing under his arm out the window at the opposite end of the room, he could see the edges of the sun slipping over the mountain ridge along with the faint calls of birdsong echoing the dawn. Had he and his foster father chickens, there'd certainly be a crow or two among the pleasanter chirps, but these were lean times, even with the dense abundance of forest surrounding the farm, and the rocky crags to the east.

He set the puzzling thought and images aside for another early day, shifting from the white linens with a roll to his feet across the dark pine flooring. He splashed some cold water into his face from a stoneware basin to wash away the last vestiges of sleep, combing fingers tanned with labor through dark brown hair grown long to his neck over the fall season, and then walked out into the kitchen to grab a couple of red-orange honeycrisp apples from a basket on the table.

Aedan's namesake was the first king chosen by his people, a tradition borrowed from and enforced by the dragons after the devastation that had crippled the Old World under the hand of the sorcerer Rastaban, ensuring that none of his kind would ever lay claim to the throne of civilization again. Why Aedan had allotted that name was as much a mystery to him as his parentage, for he, born at year one of the Alliance Era, was an orphan, and though he suspected, his foster father Beldur had never revealed more than the odd expression when pressed for answers. They had been together since Aedan could remember except for the lucid memories plaguing his sleep, and he certainly was not a dragon.

Another hour passed before Beldur stepped out from the room opposite Aedan's with a yawn and, greeting him with his usual 'good morning', grabbed an apple as well and sat next to him at the table, the simple wooden barstool groaning with the weight as he brought it forward. Beldur himself was a great bear of a man, though lean and hardened by life in the high altitudes of the mountain range, and gentle and silent as the elk and deer that they occasionally hunted together. What life had led him here was another of the many enigmas surrounding Aedan's life, but of one thing he was entirely certain. Beldur was a master swordsman, and he had brought Aedan up with all the discipline and intense focus of the art since he could wield a blade.

Beldur crunched down on the apple in his hands with as much of a brooding glare as Aedan had fixed on his own, until the last nibbling remnant of fruit: “Dragons again I take it, what have they show you this time?"

Aedan sighed and nodded, tossing the core to a waste-barrel at the side: “Somehow I witnessed the hatching of a dragon in a deep winter. Her mother gave her the name, Vendiri. It felt as clear as ever, I was Vendiri."

Beldur leaned over the table resting his elbows on the flat surface with clasped hands as he glanced over to Aedan: “The dragons know the name of Vendiri as the first dragon to breath fire, and in their unrecorded history, it was she who led those that remained to oppose the ice dragons, attuning them all to the flame by her final sacrifice, a past we now accept through this new Alliance of man and dragons … though why your dreams should be of her is as much a mystery to me as the others. Even dragons may only take on the memories of their own ancestral lineage, and most humans are lucky to so much as remember the previous year, or day for that matter. The dwarves carve out their memories through the earth itself, and the elves take little interest in such recollection"

Thinking back to one of their earlier discussions, Aedan asked: “But I thought dreams were mental pictures of questions and wishes?"

Beldur nodded, shifting up to his feet with a stretch: “This is true, yet the answer to this query must be yours to find. Come; let us gather the day's harvest."

Aedan and Beldur fetched multiple buckets from the kitchen and a ladder standing in a corner by the door, then walked out among the thick growth of fruit trees lining the path leading from their home. Walking to the end of the column to begin working their way back toward the house, Aedan noticed fresh claw marks on the bark of several trunks again, like those he often saw after a full moon night, for Beldur had settled close to the woodlands of elves, guarded by those having chosen to take on the form of animals, the were-kin.

When the first human explorers wandered north roughly two thousand years ago, they had brought back tales of their encounters with these fearsome beasts, entire expeditions lost among the forbidding pines and the light of the blood moon as they came to call it. Under the assumption of imminent danger, the city-realms declared war on them, intent on the eradication of such savage creatures.

Such as it was with deadly weaponry against deadly claws and raw bestial power, the war lasted nearly three hundred years before these elves at last chose to show themselves and sought a to settle the hostilities through peaceful mediation between humankind and the were-kin. Further negotiations during the following years allowed everyone to pass through the woods so long as they did not carry the intention to hunt among their sacred forests or to bring harm to nature in any way, or else their lives would be forfeit to the will of the moon, to which the were-kin adhere most strictly, though there had yet to be any mention of such trespassing since the end of the war.

Though forbidden by the pact to enter the northern areas of the forest, Aedan and Beldur had needed to hunt to sustain themselves, as growing the usual crops proved largely difficult in this area, and the price for a single cow alone was well beyond their possible wealth. Though the exact borders of the elven territories remained somewhat vague, to Aedan's knowledge at least neither of them had ever had the misfortune of being caught, but now and then Aedan was sure he had seen the odd rustle of fur or felt watchful eyes studying him from the dense foliage.

After bringing in the apples to store, they picked from among some of the other fall-seasoned vegetables they had grown, carrots, beets, potatoes, garlic, onions, and all manner of greenery and berries to name a few of the varieties that flourished in the mountain foothills. Having carried the excess to a lower root cellar beneath the house, they proceeded to accomplish the morning sword practice as the sun was just climbing over the mountain peaks. Beldur was trained as a dragon slayer, yet he retired from active service since before the alliance had been enacted, and had mastered both sword and the double-ended spear. Beldur still believed in their use as an art in training both body and mind, but as he had made most clear to Aedan throughout their long years of training, a sword is made to kill, reflected across the breadth of his training in its simple efficiency.

When sparring in well-practiced maneuvers, and even more-so as they grew to combine the various techniques into dynamically changing patterns, Aedan gradually took on a tireless ferocity in every strike, slowly losing himself in the flow of battle until Beldur brought an end to the tide, still maintaining an advantage in experience by nimbly evading out of the way despite his size, or forcefully disarming Aedan if need be, and so Beldur and Aedan regularly took breaks and meditated further in the forest shade to regain their concentration: “You have learned well to control and master the techniques, but as ever your singular focus excludes all else save the will to fight. You must keep vigilant to ensure the rage of battle does not consume your senses as well, or the consequences may one day be more than you can endure." Beldur commented on it every time, “Dragons will not be so generous as to provide you with a fair fight, and blinding yourself with anger while fire is raining down from overhead will obviously do nothing to better your chances of escaping alive. It is imperative to keep focus on scale-less sections, but more importantly on yourself."

To Aedan however, it felt only natural. Like his dreams, he couldn't explain why it felt that way. In contrast to his fierceness of aggression however, he proved to be an exceptional archer, sharpened eyes able to perceive distant targets in an instant that eluded even Beldur's trained acuity.

In the coming season his skill with the bow would be needed as it had become every year. The recent harvests had been rather lacking and as such their continued sustenance would require additional hunting. Usually, Beldur would hunt, but as the full moon took its course he was belabored with some regular sickness which coincided most often with the lunar phase, and it was also during these periods at which Aedan often became aware of additional claw marks both within and around the house timbers, trailing out vagrantly into the forest.

Hunting in the moonlight

Aedan left well before dusk, his bow and two handfuls of arrows shouldered as well as a rucksack full of necessary provisions. The forest had lost none of its eerie presence at night despite his life under the evergreen pines, patches of moonlight filtering down through the needles and treetops to illuminate an infinite maze of viable paths to his stealth-concealed gait.

Though Beldur had told him they lived far enough from the territory claimed by the were-kin, Aedan was accustomed to their habit of long-ranging patrols during the night, and even more so with the serene glare of the full-moon this night, though it also aided well in tracking. The sudden hoo of an owl made him stop and wait patiently a moment, crouching down low to see the remnants of recent footfalls in the slight clearing in front of him. He stalked carefully around the edges, but felt to have only vaguely seen something move in the distance, clever tricks of shadow and light in the stark contrast of lunar radiance. Nevertheless he pulled the bow from his shoulders and nocked an arrow to the string until he could make certain.

As the surroundings became calmer and his eyes became adjusted to the half-light, Aedan walked on warily, glancing about periodically with fingers lightly held at the bowstring. Then he eyed a lonely deer, calmly at rest in a clearing just a couple hundred feet from his position. Slipping though shadows and the bushes as camouflage, he took aim at the stag's neck, shot, and instantly had another nocked in next, but the first missed as the stag lifted his head up. Panicked, the animal took flight and it was more difficult than Aedan would have wished to track it reliably without alerting the whole forest to the chase.

He cursed himself for missing it and looked around warily before moving past the clearing, pausing now and then to crouch low and listen, knowing that these hybrids of sentient and animal were well attuned to their surroundings and could smell foreign intrusions precisely, yet only the rustling of leaves on the wind and the relentless stridulating chirrup of crickets reached his ears.

Following another small animal trail leading away from the clearing, he soon came across fresh wolf-like footprints the depth of which fit one of the beast-walkers rather than a quadruped. Nerves on edge already, Aedan had the compulsive feeling to slowly back away from that direction, keeping as low as possible beneath the swaying branches and heading towards a more familiar path toward the river instead. For a moment Aedan was certain he saw two glints of burning red coal next to each other in the darkness before they too turned and faded against the underbrush.

Aedan hardly took a breath until he was several hundred feet from the clearing, the gathering light bringing both aid and danger to his senses as he quickly picked out a dirt path which led several miles from their house down to the water. The occasional were-kin was not unheard of in the daylight hours, and Aedan had no wish to test such rumours after the night; doing his best to take a smooth even pace, he came within sight of their home just as the sunrays began streaking down from the mountain ridge, a brilliant contrast to the fleeting shadows of his journey as if it had been little more than a morning's daydream, a thought quickly perished in growing anxiety as he found yet more of the strange wolf-prints again, not only leading towards the cottage, but also away from it and at far greater strides as if it were running from, or to something.

Aedan hastened across the porch and through the front door, barely registering how off center it swung open, his eyes widening with further shock at the deep grooves now running across the paneled floor, furniture broken and tossed aside all without so much as a trace of blood or hint of a struggle.

Aedan dashed to the opposite end of the room, throwing the oddly unscarred door wide to find his foster father calmly asleep, safe and sound in his bed.

“Err… good morning, father." Aedan dumbly greeted him in bare astonishment as Beldur awoke, shielding his eyes from the light now streaming in, “Another poor hunt this morning, will have to go out another night, or farther perhaps, but what happened to our house? It's worse than when that wild boar found its way inside the cellar…"

Beldur got up reluctantly, shaking his head with a sigh as he saw the full extent of the destruction in the light now, and then nodded: “I wish it had been a dream; there was a stray were-kin who nosed inside this time. I'm not sure what it was after other than food as well perhaps, but the cellar has been locked since then and the stray scrambled away and fled once it heard my awakening. I'm afraid I fell back asleep afterwards thinking it nothing more than a just that, a dream. Looks like it'll take some time to fix everything, but I'll at least clean up the mess. You should take your own rest now though Aedan; if you intend to spend another night hunting, you should be alert."

Both relieved and exhausted after the abnormal proceedings of the night, Aedan nodded without further prodding and turned back into the common room, grabbing another apple on his way past the kitchen with some of the various collected herbs and vegetables, a welcome change from the dried meat and nuts they often relied on for temporary trail provisions. He then stepped back into the familiarity of his own room again, bright morning light dampened as he drew the covering panels closed behind it.

As much as he would've liked to sleep right now, the marred remainder of the house interior still stirred his mind restlessly to speculation: These are no longer just the occasional scratch marks, the regular pawprints, the coincidence with the moon phase; this can't be just some illness father has, he must be were-kin also. Aedan shook his head, but why would he not have told me?

Setting aside the remainder of food, he lay back with a puzzled sigh to catch at least a couple of hours of sleep, so it was with a start that he awoke in near pitch black darkness, until he became aware of the faint orange glow falling from the window cracks and the incessant drone of twilit insects. Taking his bow and walking back out into the dining room, it was no longer in disrepair, if a little barren without the chairs, though at least the table had somehow remained intact he noticed, and then he took up his pack again.

He found Beldur as he stepped outside; with each successful hit right in the middle, he stepped a few feet further back, until he missed the center of the charcoal painted circles at about six hundred yards with the last arrow, then turned to face Aedan, moving aside to offer him the field and target beside the house with a nod. It had become something of an afternoon ritual for them, and Aedan gave a gracious bow in return, glad not to have missed it in his lassitude, before taking aim from the doorway in one brisk motion and letting fly.

The previous arrow gave way with a sharp crunch as Aedan's split easily though the soft wood, and Beldur could only yield his deep rumbling laugh in appreciation as he walked back towards the house, “You would serve well among the finest archers of the queen's own court should the time come; they could certainly provide a weapon worthy of your strength. I hope this hunt will fare us better than the last, take care Aedan."

* * *

This time he went north instead of west, making sure not to follow the same tracks twice. Father had warned him to never hunt the forest north of their farm which lead up farther into the mountain heights, but with little else greeting his ears or falling before his careful vigilance this night, Aedan finally decided he would have to ignore his father's this once to be successful.

His new path led him in a broad arc gently inclining into a higher saddle between two of the great peaks, the source of an even greater waterfall which fed the river flowing by their home, and surely the best place to begin the hunt anew. And sure enough, he sighted the dirt-scrabbled prints of a large stag nought but a few feet from the rapids.

Fortunately he was also on the windward side of the mountain here, and with the dull roar of the waterfall masking his passage back into the underbrush, he soon sighted fresh marks leading over a rise of rock in the valley floor, looking as if squeezed out from the mountains themselves. A long stretch of the water flowed from around the left side of the outcropping, so Aedan left his boots and excess gear tucked away within one of the deeper crannies of the rock face and then quickly unslung the bow, hooking one end against his foot while pressing down on the other to string it, and nocked one of his better black fletched arrows.

Then, he waited, letting blood slow to a steady pulse, leaning back against the rock and letting the sounds of water fade into the background along with the wind. Beldur's calming techniques always seemed to work better at night somehow, and with the pale glow of the full moon and the after the hard hike up into the valley, the moment was almost trance-like as he opened his eyes again.

He followed the water's route around, opposite now from where the tracks had lead, crouching closer to the falling edge of the rise. A bush rustled just ahead and he dropped lower, pressing flush against the stone. Out into the moonlight strode the most magnificent animal Aedan had yet seen, a lord of the forest with its pure white coat reflecting the moonlight in a cold glow, and starkly blackened crown of horned antlers.

Aedan could hardly believe his luck as the beast took no notice of him, hooves lightly clopping as it ascended the height just above him. Judging from the cast of its dark shadow that he was safely behind now, he took a last steady breath and exhalation and with practiced precision stepped out and turned and drew his line back, then released.

His aim struck true to the side, but the large beast gave a harsh bellow before it finally succumbed to the staggering pain with a heavy drop, and Aedan immediately heard a flock of birds fluttering away from their hideouts in the trees. Cursing under his breath, he crouched low, back into the shadows of the rock face as he strained to hear anything over the rushing water beside him, now a hindrance to his own senses.

Just as he had made up his mind to approach the spoils, there came a low growl from the bough-darkened side of the stream across from him. Through the shifting mists over the water's surface, the dark visage of a black wolf suddenly broke through as it leapt from rock to rock across the rapids to settle beside the carcass.

Suppressing any further surprise, Aedan grimly took aim at the wolf; he couldn't risk another fruitless hunt with how far he had already stepped into were-kin territory. Strangely though, the wolf gently merely nosed at the stag's head, then as Aedan drew back on the string, it let forth a howl of such mournful grief; it gave dreadful pause to his instincts. His arm trembled, an unearthly chill clouding his focus as it seemed to drag on forever in that instant, and with a shudder, his grip slackened, and the arrow whistled by well off to the side of the wolf, whose gaze was now grimly fixed on his own.

He hardly noticed the weight of the stag begin to shift as what must have been another wolf dragged at it just out of sight around the rock, and then the first snapped around and bounded back off into the mists.

Cursing himself again for an utter fool now as the feeling returned to his legs, Aedan quickly made a dash around the side of the outcropping only to find that his prey was nowhere to be found, along with the rest of his pack now missing, surely he hadn't missed an entire pack of wolves? He desperately scanned the forest for signs of his malefactors, and he barely caught the brush of a shadowy furred silhouette hastening madly off into the distance.

All stealth set aside, Aedan tore into the forest, twigs snapping and thorns scratching at his arms unheeded now in the blinding fury of the chase. His quarry was no straight-legged pup though, darting confusingly sideways here, then leaping over obstacles Aedan was forced to skirt around at another bend until he was felt he was being led in meaningless dizzying circles.

Even his relentless determination was growing thin, and as he began to tire and become aware of his surroundings, his intuition told him this wolf was intentionally leading him deeper into the forest, following by the track of crushed and matted leaves left by the body of the stag now and the ever tempting crack of branches in the distance. No longer able to separate the forest from the trees in front of him, the chase came to an abrupt end as Aedan unexpectedly tripped over a springing large twig.

He crashed headfirst over the awaiting edge of a depression. The momentum carried him a good dozen tumbling rolls down into a dry riverbed, until he came to rest with the breath thoroughly knocked from his lungs.

He managed to get his arms untangled and a coughing gasp before he felt a hard foot-paw shoving him back into the earth, and with a dazed glance another one kicking aside his bow. A heavy weight settled on the small of his back and two powerful arms drew his own sharply behind him, forcing Aedan to look up into the forbidding eyes of that wolf once again as it gave a menacing snarl . The wolf was nothing compared to the massive bulk resting beside it though.

The last of his fears were confirmed as thick claws stretched out and cut the vest from his shoulders, pulling out a long skinning knife before tossing it to the ground as well; and Aedan cursed himself for the third time for forgetting his sword as the were-kin in front of him pressed his head back against the ground again with a forepaw, a far deeper growl against his ear as he felt it lean in and rumble like the dark hand of fate, “You will answer for this transgression before our chief, poacher."

* * *

They marched him deeper and gradually higher among the pines for several hours, leashing him by the wrists to the wolf oddly enough, though Aedan had gathered his wits enough not to test the slack. As subtle pale light began to grow across the sky, Aedan had hoped his captors might be of a nocturnal breed; a lost delusion as they soon stopped in a small clearing and bound him to a tree while one grumbled something about breakfast before bounding off into the thickets again.

Its companions were both of a black-furred coloration as well; Aedan could hardly distinguish between the two at first, plainly naked as they were as he began to make out more than just shadowy silhouettes. He also found his bindings to be very firm indeed, much to the wolves' amusement while they crouched silently; he could slip neither an arm nor a leg free against the rough bark, so he settled for studying the pair further as they watched the rising dawn

After a few minutes the one Aedan eventually identified as having a darker stripe along it's back suddenly made a dash across to the other side of the clearing, returning moments later with a freshly maimed ferret.

The other stood with a nod to dark-stripe then walked over behind Aedan's tree, rummaging around with something just out of sight before tossing a few leather-wrapped pouches by his feet, which he instantly recognized as the last of his provisions from yesterday.

Another sharp noise behind him and the pressure loosened around his limbs, falling to his knees rather shakily after the long night. The were-kin didn't talk much while they ate, if the occasional grunt or rumbled growl could be considered speech, but they clearly left his own food for him, so he ate after a careful glance. Still curious despite the imminent feeling of danger, he asked where the third went. They replied that their companion had run on to inform the chief of their arrival, and that Aedan had better get some rest before then.

Time went by quicker for Aedan than he might have wished as they pressed on well into the afternoon. With the dusk of sun and the moon rising in full shortly after, a great howling echoed with resounding clamour throughout the dense forest; his captors adding their solemn voices to the strange song in chorus and quickening to a bounding pace that left Aedan breathless to keep up, rapidly approaching the mountain ridgeline as they ascended.

Beneath the lunar radiance, many dark forms began to appear beside them, more were-kin than he could have imagined living in the forest now passing vaguely by as he was brought into a slight clearing densely surrounded with foliage. These were-kin were more akin to wolves than any form of man or elf, resembling their lupine nature entirely from the length of muzzle and tail to the weight of their paws and that loping gait, as well as the more noticeable characteristics he couldn't help but catch sight of now and then, of either gender.

A pair of greater wolves, at least shoulder height to the were-kin themselves and with a mirrored patchwork of stark black and brilliant white coats, greeted the patrol in the usual canine manner to either side at the front of a narrow crag of a passage that cut into the mountainside with jagged precision; the wolves looking with no more than a derisive glance at Aedan as they finally nodded to his two guides with some unintelligible growls and stepped aside.

His restrainers led him up a natural set of rocky steps, finally breaking out into a broad crater open to the bright moon-flooded sky, dazzling in it's reflection across the pale rocks and scattered pools of water as they brought him before a grand slab of white marble, and the grey-furred wolf-man seated atop the blackened seat behind it, little more than a broken slab of rock itself, though it seemed to gather the light around it. A headdress of bones clattered softly as the elder made to rise, the same pair of wolves from the entrance now standing beneath each paw as more were-kin rapidly filed in around and behind.

“A poacher." one of the restrainers said. “He was caught after killing one of the holy stags; the same poacher seen the day before."

The elder wolf lifted his head, the woven bones clacking together in the soft mountain breeze as he peered down that long muzzle at Aedan from head to foot, and then sniffed at him, “His scent is familiar, though that one has remained absent for several moons…" then stepping forward to stand directly before Aedan, a full foot taller as the were-kin towered over him, “I suppose the disrespect of humans never ceases to amaze me though, even here in the Verdneharde, your name boy?"

Aedan tried not to shiver as he stared back into bright golden irises. Could these be the same Were-kin that made Beldur one of them?, his thoughts jumped to before responding: “I am Aedan. And I know of the history of this land and the old pacts formed under these mountains. Yet I had to hunt this winter or face starvation, the seasons have been far less kind to our crops over the year." Then Aedan did all he could think of, kneeling down before the elder, “I ask your forgiveness for having trespassed"

The elder nodded, a few of the other wolves growling their dissent or barking out raucous howls of ridicule at that, before a bone-rattling paw waved to silence them, “Aedan then. I am known as Taalnarn, though you shall call me 'elder'. You not only trespassed with the intention to harm nature, you have taken the life of a Wereguilde, the moon-born stag which carries the light of Moon herself, and once lord of this forest. For such grief as you have wrought upon Her, our traditions demand that your blood be spilled this night in retribution"

Taalnarn paused in silence, regarding him a moment, then continued, “Some traditions may best be left in the past however, for bloodshed has taught you humans nothing but hate and fear, and you are barely more than a pup by our years, barely scratching at adulthood. I wonder how many winters have you experienced." Then he barked something to the other two werekin and nodded them off.

Arnjur and Lirgrim left the two but stood guard by the passageway, and Aedan relaxed a little at that, tense breath slowing as he responded, “I've met with twenty winters, elder, and I am glad the hearts of wolves are greater than that of men. Perhaps the scent you mentioned is that of Beldur?"

The eyes of the great beast turned to him now with renewed interest, with a slight rumble Aedan had begun to recognize as a chuckle, “Ah the human, yes he is known to us. I for one should be glad to see him on this mountain again, and on such a moonlit night. You are one of his pack then?"

Aedan blinked somewhat, nonplussed: “Beldur is my foster father, I never knew my true parents, though he never made mention of wolves either besides your obvious existence in this forest."

The elder gave a bone-clattering nod, “Nor would I expect him to, Beldur is one of the few humans who showed respect for our traditions, of nature and the world beyond the short-sightedness of his kind. In all the ways that mattered, he was already a good wolf when he found his way to this very rock, and he left us again with Moon's hallowing upon him.

The two piebald-mirrored wolves from before padded over to stand beside him now as the elder's muzzle pulled back into a broad ivory-filled grin, white patches giving off a faint light against the black in their coat as first one, and then the other glanced up at the elder before returning their unyielding gaze to Aedan again: “You must carry much of his strength and courage to have chased after one of my wolves."

Taalnarn knelt with an arm around each of the pair and bowed his head to their level as the wolves channeled some silent message between the three of them, and then he rose once again, “As the Moon is both dark in the day and light of the night, you may either be cast back into the darkness for your transgressions, or be reborn in the light of Her mercy as one of our pack, a life for the one you have taken. First however, be still…"

Aedan tried not to flinch as Taalnarn touched bare claws to his forehead, not in aggression, but with care, at least he told himself, and reluctantly closed his eyes and breathed deeply to calm his nerves. Through this touch, Aedan felt calming warmth wash over him even as shifting memories began to stir and flicker rapidly through his thoughts in rapid succession.

Lost in a most vivid daydream, he wasn't certain how much, if any, time had passed until Taalnarn roused him with a more gentle tone: “It is good to know another who speaks the truth; you have lived with Beldur, and your spirit is both worthy to be a warrior of his teaching, and yet something, more. We shall commune with Moon tonight."

* * *

Aedan felt like an animal held for entertainment, though he was not sure what they will do to him. It was deep in the night, probably an hour after midnight as the full moon stood high, though he began to feel as if the pale white orb was hanging in place above the gathering. He had lost track of time again, but as the bright moonlight sharpened to a blinding luminescence, Aedan felt more restless than ever as he stood with the elder beside the stone dais, to say nothing of the wolves and werekin themselves, cavorting about like pups again or dancing madly together with entrancing rhythm, howling their hearts out to the open sky.

The moon soon reached its zenith, apparent to all as the rays gathered and coalesced upon the mirror-smooth dais, radiating a shimmering milky white evanescence flowing in waterfalls of pure light from the edges. Their revelries came to a standstill as now a female werekin approached the dais to stand before Aedan.

This one's fur was of a dark grey save for her belly, where six vividly crimson teats made themselves apparent running downward against pale skin, though as she stepped up into the focused light, every bare patch seemed to catch and reflect the brilliance in a vibrant aura, and Aedan was forced to turn his guilty gaze aside. She turned and knelt before the moonstruck gathering, though not before casting a hint of a smirk to Aedan's further confusion, and the pair of great wolves padded their way up to lie at either paw.

Taalnarn then leapt into a crouch on top of the dais himself with a final bone-rattling echo, gripping the edge in his powerful claws and daring any to challenge his place with a blood-curdling growl so deep, Aedan felt his bones tremble with the rest as the sonorous evocation reverberated across the rock face.

Even the insects had dulled to a faint chatter as the were-leader rose above his wolves to speak: “This is our night of communion, and the light of Moon is as full and powerful as ever, as strong as that which cries to the heart of all wolves, and those of our hominid kin who are blessed to answer Her call to a paradise beyond this tainted world. Many have made the journey since last winter, and more have traveled on to seek new lands and find their own path, yet our seasoned packs have remained, and indeed grown as I greeted several new to this forest, may they find nothing but good wolves and better company here tonight."

A chorus of howls answered the short pause as Taalnarn continued, “Yet one has come among us out of more dire circumstances, and lest it tarnish the humor of our celebration, I bring Aedan before you now, for tonight shall be both a communion of spirit, and of flesh, to erase these darker matters from both."

Aedan had little time to wonder about those words as the elder turned back to face him with a slight nod, and as he approached the center slowly and climbed up beside the towering werekin, the white stag cadaver was lain down on the stone surface before them. And then Taalnarn rumbled out once again, addressing Aedan directly now as he gestured towards the forest with a paw: “You were found hunting into our woods. That alone is a transgression towards our pact. But the fact that you hunted within holy grounds and killed a Wereguilde stag of the Moon should bring your sentence to a swift death."

The howls intensified, causing Aedan to glance between the elder and his crowd with renewed anxiety before a dark paw stretched out to silence them: “Yet the Moon has decided to test this one, for both Noirn and Niern have found smoldering fire within his heart as well, just as they found within Zireda, now Moon's oracle these past several years; And as before so it is now, our steps are guided by the Moon. Does any wolf deny this?"

Scattered grumbles reached Aedan's ears, but most looked at him with newfound interest, and something more he couldn't quite place on their lupine visage as the elder turned to face him again, and the carcass was removed from the light as the two great wolves he now knew as Noirn and Niern howled their assent, “Let Moon decide your fate then Aedan, and you shall serve the forest hereafter as one of our own. I would ask if you are ready, but none are truly prepared for the future. Now, strip yourself of clothing and step into the light, on your fours as a true wolf."

An unforgettable orgy

Far from being a stranger to one of life's more natural instincts in his hunts though the forest, at least to the concept of it that is, Aedan could see little room to argue with a sea of naked werekin already surrounding him, whatever the outcome might be.

Eyes wide with more than a little trepidation at the thought of his first time being with a pack of wolves, he nonetheless took his place at the center of the gathering atop the smooth stone dais, and leaned over to start pulling off his linen shirt with as much boldness as he could muster before the furry throng; which was to say none at all as he felt more than a little color rising to his cheeks.

Pants and leather moccasins soon followed the shirt, finally standing bare before all as he paid heed to Taalnarn's instruction, crouching down to his hands and knees against the surprisingly warm surface, glancing somewhat apprehensively between his legs, only to find that the wereleader was no longer behind or beside him, having returned to his seat above, along with the wolf pair and that female, Zireda he remembered, standing beside him, and Aedan blushed further as he realized the throne was at the perfect height to put everything on display before him.

Other beasts he had seen came to Aedan's mind, along with the more intimidating thought as the elder eyed him with a lustful glint, this could prove messy…

A sentiment no doubt shared by all his fellow werekin as Taalnarn then raised his head and shouted, “Take him, take and mark this human as one of ours, shape him to our kin!"

* * *

Whether it was the moonlight or some kind of natural heating, the night felt far warmer to Aedan than it should have been for a late autumn night, and he couldn't help but feel more relaxed in the stunning glow even as the encircling wolves stirred in closer around him from all sides. More than a few shades of deeper red and lighter purple already poked out among the crowd, seeing little reason not to stare now and catch a glimpse of what he was up against, though Aedan began to wonder what they were waiting for until the first large pair of paws suddenly caught hold of his hips from behind. He dipped his head down again only to come face to tip with a truly massive piece of throbbing wolf flesh sitting between his legs.

Aedan could hear the male grumbling something, then took in a sharp breath himself as he felt a hot slick appendage lapping over his rump, the brush of soft-furred lips meeting it there a moment later as it curled inwards and slicked right up against his taut ring, then slipped its way inside. The deft intrusion was soon followed by a warm silky paw curling around his own bobbing length, catching his balls to with the size of it as the werekin gently squeezed in time with its tongue.

Panting slightly with heart racing at the strange, yet slowly filling sensation, Aedan reflexively tried to control his breathing as he did while training with Beldur, and it seemed to help, until a more relaxing rhythm suddenly let the werekin slide deeper in, loosened bum stretching out fully around the gradually thicker length in one smooth stroke followed by another around his shaft until Aedan felt himself on the edge already.

And then it stopped.

Aedan didn't realize he had been panting for breath until the sound finally rushed back to his ears. The silence surrounding them barely registered, before something far larger made itself known to his well raised backside, the heavy length sliding up with a warm soft squelch between his cheeks bringing a slight tremble down his legs, and again as it glided back down and over to catch the hot spurting tip at his loosened pucker.

Then he jumped slightly the soft embrace of fur wrapped over his back and that same tongue rolling along his neck, smooth pawpads clutched snug around his bare chest as the werekin hunched down over him; the surprise lasted long enough to let several inches of thick wolfmeat sink their way in with an audible sticky pop.

The feeling of that firm pulsing cock stretching his entrance wider than even the entire length of tongue brought him reflexively back to his lupine companion as his ass clenched tight and his eyes screwed shut even tighter. A deep growl rolled out over his head, and Aedan scarcely felt the prick of claws against skin as a sharp retaliatory thrust burrowed an even thicker swell of flesh through that desperately gripping ring.

He was thankful for a full moment's rest to feel the hot pulse of the werekin throbbing deep within against his own, shuddering breaths gradually subsiding while his own barely adequate shaft by comparison tensed hard against the cool air with every rippling grip as his insides realigned themselves to their new aggressor.

His next warning was only a slight grunt though when those furry hips made a short rolling thrust, smoothly developing into a larger rhythm that pulled him bodily up to the tips of his fingers clinging on the edge of the stone dais, then shoved him back down again until he felt the soft downy sheath tickling the tender rim of his flushed pucker, matching the growing burst of pre tenderizing his walls with hot wolf pre before spreading them further, and the weighty orbs slapping wetly against his own.

Most of all though, he couldn't help but notice the radiant tingle of pleasure tinging the fullness of every thrust with a sense of rapidly budding pleasure centering itself somewhere in deep at the root of his maleness. The sensation only tumbled higher when his muscles squeezed around the full length of flesh within, and before long he found himself clenching down hard every time that fur dug into his rump, bleary-eyed moans escaping him along with the quaking drools of pre leaking freely to lust-addled amazement from his own shaft.

It was a position that left him wholly unprepared as the bestial humping made a rapid crescendo, and then heaved his backside high over the table; with a final spearing plunge driving the breath from his lungs, Aedan became profoundly aware of something even more hot and swollen emerging just past the seal of his pucker and that heavily throbbing wolf-flesh; and the more he squeezed the more it seemed to bulge, and the more it bulged the more it ground in against that hungry bulge of pleasure within, until Aedan groaned in unrestrained protest as the pressure erupted in clear sticky bursts of cum from the achingly hardened tip of his own shaft, splashing shimmering streamers into the moonlight and forcing a final rending howl from the enveloping beast as hot ropes of wolf-seed flooded the unknown depths of his firmly stuffed rear.

His butt felt sore from the extreme widening, and he hoped his stomach wouldn't become sore as well. This was not how he imagined losing his virginity, but he couldn't deny the sticky mess coating the stone before his eyes, or the tender pulsing of his manhood as his hand slowly reached for it and firmly stroked along his length with another heavy spurt to assuage his disbelief.

Panting hotly after the ordeal and with his lungs catching hard at the overwhelming girth of that knot, Aedan soon found that he was no longer the only one being taken as the surrounding mass evolved into various groups of all numbers and sizes. He blushed slightly despite himself as another werekin now approached in front of him, intent as obvious as it brazenly laid the hefty length of its equally dripping cock over Aedan's nose. He barely had time to think before the one behind started pulling out, dragging a throaty moan from Aedan, and easily opening the way for a mouthful of wolf dick as the one in front tugged the tip down and then right past his lips.

He hardly noticed the next pair standing to either side of him already as he struggled just to breathe against the onslaught of heady wolf scent, and the fact that even his tastebuds were starting to grow accustomed to the thick taste.

Well it was my choice, and I may as well enjoy it, Aedan thought finally, earning a guttural snarl from his muzzle partner as he suckled with more conviction around the slippery length and reached up an experimental hand to gently cup the fuzzy orbs swinging below, not even reaching the knot before it tickled down the back of his throat. Then he let go of himself and curled his other hand around the base, a couple fingers slipping down into the sheath by accident now and then.

Real encouragement finally came though as he felt a second shaft tracing along his open cheeks, then nearly shoved the rest of the shaft down his throat as the newcomer plunged right into the heat of things leftover. Aedan made a mental note to take a bath the next morning, if he survived the night.

They gave him no pause between those taking him front and back as he choked down the length until it burst in thick torrents of seed down his throat, quickly replaced by another as the last werekin was shoved aside by its pack mate while the pounding through his rear quickened to a shuddering pace, stopping just short of the knot as he felt it bulge hard against his abused pucker before even more hot cum splashed free of the messy bond.

Under the continuous onslaught, he lost count of time and numbers, though at some point he was pulled off the dais and forced into various other positions against it, eventually waking through the milky haze of lust to find himself shoved down on all fours again, and this time with a thick tongue licking his face and another lapping the seeping fluids from his ass as the pair of wolves Noirn and Niern finally made their way up to him. He hadn't been able tell one from the other until he caught sight of their hardened shafts waiting to claim him, for one was black and dark as the night, and the other as bright and shining as Moon herself. The pair howled their greetings to Moon before mounting him front and back in unison and thrusting in hard as one fluid form.

Aedan didn't realize how easy he had it until now; nothing could compete with the raw ferocity of the two wolves as the first thrust of each sank down to the hilt, large furry orbs smacking against skin and lips before they drew back and sank in rapidly again. Before long he felt he was being shoved back and forth by sheer momentum, and then as the knots of both lodged into their respective holes, they really were tugging him back and forth in a vicious cycle. It rolled on and swelled in a rising tide of pain-tinged bliss as the thick length pummeled his prostate into submission, and Aedan clenched tight around weight of that knot as he sucked down all that he could around the other one stretching his jaw achingly wide while a weak spurt of fluid was forced from him, and then the wolves howled yet again in chorus as they released the soothing warmth of seed deep within.

Finally, both the elder and Zireda now sauntered over to him; she grinned and licked some of the remains from his stickily coated face as she spoke and the two wolves pulled messily free yet again: “And now for you final part in this ceremony."

Zireda stepped lightly around the thick pool of cum surrounding him and leaned her back against the altar, lifting paws overhead as she then laid herself out on display for all the pack now watching them with fixed gaze in varying states of lust. Taalnarn nodded and helped steady Aedan with a paw as he was guided before her, then shoved over into the werekin's fluffy embrace. Was he to take her? Aedan pondered though it soon became clear for him as a silky paw pad wrapped around his cum-slick member, aligning him to her slit with her own claws.

Eyes wide as he was about to sink in, he then felt Taalnarn's paws around his hips before a thick girth bucked inside him with full force, thrusting him deep within Zireda with a slightly pained gasp despite himself as none had yet been so forceful with him.

He had but a moment to get used to the massive canine length inside and to savor the first warm silky touch of a female around his member before the great wereleader began the ordeal in earnest, drawing his full wolfhood back before burying it in again with a messy schlick. Blinded with pain and pleasure as he was, Aedans hands grasped tight around the wolfess beneath him, catching hold of a plush breast in each hand with the tips of his fingers curling around a warm teat hardened to tempting stiffness by arousal as she shared in his predicament, legs wrapped tight around the both of her lovers.

A growl rumbled against him to the rather rough mating as Zireda licked at his face. He was hard pressed not to enjoy it himself as the thick length of the elder was soon pounding his prostate into submission, and Aedan clamped his teeth as he felt large swollen mass being tucked through his well stretched ring, the knot.

He felt warm paws wrapping around his shoulder, and a furry muzzle brushed against his lips before pulling him into a kiss as he dared open his eyes to meet Zireda's golden irises, though the pain swiftly mixed with the lustful ecstasy of her slick constricting walls. As he let himself relax into that tempting maw, a muffled cry hitched in his throat as he felt Taalnarn tear forth the rest of the way, sealing his fate as those plump fluffy orbs bounced against his own, the elder wolf yielding nothing now as those dark-furred hips pounded madly against backside, tugging that bulging knot harshly to ensure a secure fit while driving him back just as hard against Zireda's fluffy form.

Too hard he realized, as he began to clench down tightly around that massive knot, though he felt her warm paws only gripping around him tighter, and as her tight passage began to ripple rhythmically along his heavily throbbing length, he held on tight to her and shuddered, giving in to his final release just before he felt hot searing ropes of were-seed bursting through to his very core.

“Stay…" did Taalnarn whisper to him, and Aedan finally realized how tired he was, hardly able to stand, not that he could do anything about the firm girth still lodged beyond that tight ring as it still pulsed within. His vision blurred into dreary-eyed sleep, though more like a day dream as he rested contentedly against Zireda at the elder's oddly comforting words, though he remained well aware of his chaotic surroundings still – a vision perhaps?

The light darkened around the dais, or perhaps the moon beams intensified so that all else faded from his sight, and through barely cracked eyes a brilliant form began to coalesce from the very rays of moonlight before them, pale and evanescent. Strangely he felt a warmth building inside of him at the same, comforting in its radiance, as if to protect him against the cold light, and Aedan opened his eyes despite the blinding glow, clearly able to see now the towering white form of a wolf looking down upon him in silent regard, eyes as black as the night surrounding them.

It leaned down and brushed its snout against his nose, then down to Zireda, before it sat back its hinds and let out a chilling howl, the light around them now pulsing with life it seemed as it grew brighter still, swirling in mad eddies of luminescence to consume his vision. Wherever they touched, the tendrils of light caused the heat within to spread, shielding and sheathing him in a cascade of fiery warmth finally as it dissipated the light of the moon.

The wolf fell silent and fixated on Aedan for a long moment, then nodded to Zireda as if satisfied, and turned away, leaping back into the moonlit sky.

Zireda looked up to Taalnarn, yellow eyes wide in disbelief, “Elder, he is protected by a spirit of fire…"

Then they all groaned as the elder dislodged himself from Aedan, with a wet schlorp from all the pent up seed now drooling freely from his ass: “So be it then." then he turned back to his pack and cried: “By the will of Moon as you all have witnessed, Aedan is now of our pack, not of kin, but in soul. He will be free to roam our lands as he desires." The other Werekin howled through the night in approval.

Aedan stood up from Zireda, and she after him as he gathered his clothes. This vision confused him, and somehow, he felt warmer than before.