In Thornwell, while sitting in a communal tent and holding a pint, I give my pack the good news about meeting my mate. I tell them a little about her, how I don’t think she is a wolf, and how she became scared by my claims of our mateship before running off. A few ask me how I will find her. I tell them I don’t know but that I will.
They roar and cheer and chink their pints against mine in congratulatory gestures. They’re relieved and happy they’ll finally have a Luna.
I yearn to have her beside me. If I could just hold her in my arms like I did when I found her by the river, it would make me the happiest man and wolf in all of Mysteria.
We head to Mystic Pride, passing through Moonstone River, east of the forest. We smell the stench of death before we see the bodies. Alpha Ezra’s head has been placed on a spike, and a crow pecks the flesh. I shoo the crow away, pull the spike out of the ground, and add it to the growing pile of heads and bodies my men and I have retrieved from the houses to burn. I light a torch, throw it onto the dead, and we walk away, bereft, and empty.
In Darkpaw, the scene is much the same, and we burn the dead and leave. We send any surviving she-wolves and pups we find hiding to Moon Crest Castle, where they have protection until the war is over.
Sitting in my tent in Thornwell, I mind-link Troy and Eric and then the pack army, and they’re devastated to hear just how many have been wiped out.
We will kill King Fenris and spike his head! Someone yells, and the rest roar and cheer at his words. More yells fill our connection. We will burn West Wallow to the ground! Someone else says. I round up my warriors, we leave Thornwell and set up camp at Thistle Well, a large village close to the forest border. It is the best location from which to defend Moon Crest Valley.
Arriving in Thistle Well, we can do nothing but freeze as the ground shakes and rumbles under our feet, and cracks appear in the dirt, felling nearby trees and grazing local huts. Not knowing how long it will last, my men and I hold onto trees.
‘What was that?’ Someone asks the rest of us.
‘That would be my mate,’ I say.
‘What do you mean?’ They ask.
‘Alpha King Damon has lost it. He thinks his mate is an earthquake!’ Someone says, and a roar of laughter breaks out among my army.
‘Ha-ha! Very funny. I’m going into the forest to look for my mate. In the meantime, keep training the recruits. Prepare for war. A group of you will escort me to the forest border, where you’ll keep post,’ I instruct, and the men scatter like mice, obeying my orders. I’m escorted to the forest border by ten warriors.
‘Set up a lookout, mind-link me if anything happens, and inform the army if you need back up,’ I tell them. They nod.
I proceed into the forest alone and look around at the breathtaking scenery in the forest in search of my beautiful sprite princess.
Maia
I’m tired after accidentally causing the earthquake, and my balance is off.
‘As fun as all that was, Ember, I’ve drained my energy. Let’s rest for the night,’ I tell him, and we snuggle up
together on my bed, we fall asleep, and I dream.
I’m standing in a field where thousands of wolves and humans are fighting. Bodies of the dead are scattered everywhere. Swords impale wolves, and wolves rip into human flesh.
It’s an awful, violent, bloody battle. A wolf is skewered on someone’s sword, and blood spurts all over me. I fall to my knees and stare at my bloody hands.
Soldiers hoist me up under my arms and drag me toward their army. I scuffle and try to shrug myself free to no avail. Finally, growling wolves pounce on them and rip their heads off.
They shift into their human form and drag me toward their base. I scuffle and try to shrug myself free of them, too. I summon the wind and force them backward, knocking them onto the ground. I run to the forest.
To calm myself, I sing. Two hands plant themselves on both of my shoulders. I spin around to see a tall, blonde, smiling man with blue eyes and a few small scars on his face, who is otherwise quite handsome.
He is wearing the same royal armour as the Wellmore Village soldiers and a red velvet cape clasped over his collarbone with a gold pin. A gold, red, rubied crown sits on his head, matching his cape.
Alpha King Damon appears in a different kind of uniform. He is dressed as a warrior and stands on my right-hand side. Seeing him, my heart races, and I’m instantly put on the spot and presented with two choices.
‘Come with me, my love. I will protect you and keep you safe from the wolves,’ the blonde-haired man says, reaching his hand out to me and smiling.
‘No!’ Alpha King Damon shouts, offering his hand to me.
‘You’re my mate. We’re destined to be together. Please take my hand,’ he says desperately. I rescind from them both.
‘I don’t understand. Who are you, and why do I have to choose? What if I don’t want to choose? What if I choose wrong?’ I ask.
Both men evaporate into thin air, and I wake up drenched in sweat. Ember is sitting on my chest, staring at me. Realising it was just a dream, I compose myself and shake it off. I decide to go to Vivian’s house, where I can ask her some questions and hopefully get the answers I need.
Arriving on her doorstep, I knock and wait for her to answer. Vivian swings the door open, and I am greeted warmly. She wears a long-sleeved, floor-length green dress. She has been baking.
‘Maia! You’re back. How lovely to see you. Come in,
come in. You’re just in time for some bread,’ she says,
closing the door behind us.
‘The Forest Princess! The Forest Princess is here!’ The twins chorus together, hugging my arms and giving me a greeting fit for a queen.
‘Hello, Grace and Ella,’ I smile.
I sit down in my usual kitchen chair and drape my cloak over the back of it. Unfortunately, since washing up in the river, my dress and cloak are torn in places and look worse for wear. Vivian notices this and frowns.
‘Maia, do you only have one set of clothes?’ She asks, surprised.
‘Yes,’ I say, accepting the cup she hands me. ‘Thank you,’ I smile.
‘You need more than one set of clothes, darling. How do you manage?’ Vivian asks, concerned.
‘I manage just fine,’ I say, smiling.
‘How are you otherwise?’ She asks.
‘I’m good,’ I tell her about the dream I have just woken up from.
‘That’s not a very nice dream, is it?’ She asks.
‘Girls. Lunch,’ she says, breaking the loaf of bread into parts.
‘I want to know a few things,’ I say, readying myself to ask Vivian all sorts of questions.
‘Go on,’ she says, smiling.
‘What do men look like under their breeches?’ I ask
innocently, and Grace and Ella laugh and giggle animatedly.
Vivian wasn’t expecting my question.
‘Well, men are different to women. Women have breasts and lady gardens, and men have no breasts, and appendages – girls, if you’re finished with your food, run along and play in your room,’ Vivian says, not wanting them to hear what she says. Grace and Ella get down from their chairs and run into their bedroom.
‘As I was saying, men have appendages that we don’t have,’ she goes on.
‘What do they do with it?’ I ask, needing more details.
‘Well, there is a thing that exists between man and wife called sex. Have you heard of this before?’
‘No, I haven’t,’ I say, feeling rather foolish that I don’t know what an appendage is.
‘Sex is what man and wife do to create babies. It is what I did with my husband Derrick so that we could create Ella and Grace,’ she says, smiling. I feel myself frowning and pulling a very odd expression.
‘During sex, men’s appendages are pushed into our lady garden, releasing their seed inside.’
‘When do people have sex?’ I ask.
‘People have sex when they feel a desire towards one another,’ Vivian explains.
‘Desire?’ I ask, surprised.
‘Yes, it’s a sense of wanting to be close to someone, to
want to touch them and wanting them to touch you,’ Vivian explains.
‘Sex is lovely if you do it with someone who gives you butterflies,’ Vivian says, smiling.
‘Is it always lovely? Can it ever be dangerous or scary?’ I ask, not sure.
‘Between a man and a wife, or two people who love each other, it will mostly always be lovely. Have you got someone in mind, love?’ She asks.
‘No. I don’t,’ I say with blushing cheeks.
She smiles.
Vivian fills a large basket with two dresses, a shawl, a wool blanket, and a pillow stuffed with straw and hands the basket to me before I leave. I thank her and say goodbye.
Returning to the cave with the basket, I empty it. I put the straw-filled pillow and the wool blanket on my makeshift bed. The dresses and shawl are placed on a tree stump stool.
I go for a walk to think about Damon and everything Vivian said. I spot a fairy ring of tiny mushrooms, plant
my hands into the soil on either side of the fairy ring, and focus. They instantly grow to their full size.
‘Yay!’ I yell excitedly. I pluck them out of the soil and put
them in the wicker basket Vivian gave to me and decide
to pick some fruit if any has grown.
Coming across a plum tree, I place my hands on the tree trunk and stare up into the branches. Plums sprout and grow to their full size. I swipe the air, making the plums fall to the ground. I fill the basket with fallen plums and return to the cave and Ember. I tell Ember about my latest abilities.
I leave the fruit basket on the tree stump table, go back outside, sit on a rock, and daydream.
Suddenly I’m yanked back by grimy, rough hands that pull me onto the ground. The man they belong to hovers over me. It’s the soldier from last time who touched me in a way I didn’t like.
This man is suddenly knocked off me by a werewolf, who bites into the man’s throat and kills him instantly—blood splatters over me, the rock beside me, the grass, and forest detritus.
The wolf shifts. It’s Damon, who covers his anatomy with two hands, not being dressed.
