Chapter 431: The Wolf & The Pup Part 2
The sun was beginning to set by the time Stryg began to recognize the familiar scarlet trees. They were close to the Blood Fang village. Yet, instead of taking him straight to the village, Lunae turned down a familiar worn path and brought him down to the Frost-Tongue River. The cold waters were empty at this time of the day.
Stryg looked around questioningly. “What are we doing here?”
“Take a bath, you stink,” Lunae said.
He sniffed his shirt and frowned, “No, I don’t.”
She shook her head and threw the little goblin off. He screamed in surprise and fell into the watery shore with a splash.
“Stay here. I’ll be back.” Lunae walked away without waiting for a response.
“I–I can’t swim…!” he choked out.
Fortunately, the shore was shallow. With flailing arms, Stryg managed to drag himself to the rocky riverbank.
“Not fair…! You know… I can’t swim!” he said between gasps, but the wolf goddess was already gone. He kicked the water in frustration and sat down with rosy puffed cheeks and crossed arms.
As dusk slowly crawled by, the sun disappeared over the horizon and the half-moon rose into the night sky.
After what seemed an eternity, Stryg heard the sounds of heavy footsteps behind him.
He turned around and jumped out of the water in excitement. “Lunae, you’re back—! What happened to your face?”
The wolf’s lips were dyed a dark red. She ignored the child’s words and waded into the river. The river water only reached up to her shoulders even at the deepest point. She dipped her head into the water and the scarlet blood was washed away downstream.
“What happened? Are you hurt?” Stryg asked worriedly.
She raised her head, water dripping from her fur, and looked at him thoughtfully. “I’m fine. It’s not my blood.”
“Whose is it?”
“Your First Mother’s.”
He blinked. “Did you eat her?”
“I took a bite out of her.”
“Did she die?”
“Yes.”
“Oh…”
Lunae drew her face closer. “Does that bother you?”
“Nope,” he said casually.
“Why? She was one of your caretakers, was she not?”
“Not really. The older Mothers don’t really talk with us, they only care about the older kids. Fifth and Sixth Mother are the ones who train us and make us do chores.”
“Still, she was still your tribe’s matriarch. You’ve known her your whole life. Do you not feel anything for her death?”
Stryg cocked his head to the side. “Should I?”
Lunae narrowed her silver eyes. “I see…” she muttered. “No, little one, you are free to feel whatever you like.”
Stryg touched the scratch on his cheek. “Um, so why did you kill her?”
“It had nothing to do with you, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“Oh. Okay.”
A white glimmer suddenly flickered in Lunae’s eyes. “Go back to the village. Fifth and Sixth are looking for you.”
“~Okay~” Stryg jumped onto her leg and wrapped himself around her. His short limbs did not reach even halfway over her leg but he hugged her as tightly as he could anyway. “Goodnight!”
“Yes, yes, goodnight, now let go of me, you little cretin.”
Stryg rubbed his face into her wet fur before finally letting go. He giggled and looked up at her with a wide grin. “See you tomorrow!”
“I refuse.”
Stryg wasn’t listening, he had already run off.
~~~
2 years later…
“Come ooooon, teach me, pleeeease?” Stryg whined.
“For the eighth time, no, and stop following me,” Lunae growled.
Stryg ignored her words and kept walking a few paces behind the giant wolf. He had been following her around ever since morning, hoping she might give in, to no avail.
“But all the other 8-year-olds were given their first bows already! Some of the hunters said they would give them archery lessons in the afternoon! They’re all probably shooting their bows right now!”
“Then why aren’t you with them?”
“W-Well, the Mothers didn’t let me have a bow.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, something about not listening to the rules. It’s not fair!” he huffed.
Lunae raised her eyebrow, “Then what’s that bow you’ve got strapped to your shoulder?”
“Huh? Ah, I stole it when the Mothers weren’t looking.”
“Uh-huh,” she said dryly.
“So can you teach me how to shoot a bow?”
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“Do I look like the goddess of archery to you?”
“Um—”
“No, the answer to both our questions is no.”
“Aw, come on, pleeeease—?” Stryg’s stomach grumbled loudly in protest.
“Eat your food and stop talking already.”
“I can’t…”
“What do you mean you can’t?”
“I was trying to sneak out with the bow and I sorta forgot to bring any food.”
Lunae shook her head, “Sometimes I forget how stupid babies are.”
“B-But! We can scavenge for some food instead, right? Or we can hunt some deer! I love deer meat!”
“Good luck finding any.”
She welcomed whatever could get the little blue annoyance away from her. If she was lucky he’d distract himself for the rest of the day.
“Hm, these don’t taste too bad,” Stryg said happily.
Lunae glanced back at him. The child was eating away at some purple berries hanging from a nearby bush.
“What are you doing!?” Lunae rushed over to him, “Spit those out, they’re poisonous!”
“Huh?” Stryg blinked, confused. He slowly stared at his purple-stained fingers and then at his stomach. His eyes widened in horror and he began to cry, “I don’t want to die! Waaagh!”
“Spit them out already!” She snapped.
“But, but,” he sniffed, “I already ate some!”
Lunae glanced around, countless thoughts running through her mind. “Dammit,” she cursed.
Her wolfen form blurred with silver light and dissipated away, transforming into a silver-skinned woman over twelve paces tall. Her white hair cascaded down her back in silky layers, the light of the sun glimmering off each strand.
Stryg stopped crying and stared at her divine beauty in stunned awe.
Lunae knelt down and placed her narrow fingers over his stomach. A cold feeling seeped into his belly and he grimaced, before vomiting over the grass.
“How do you feel now?” she asked after he finished heaving.
“I-I’m okay…” his voice trailed off.
She scowled, “Do I have something on my face? Stop staring.”
“I like your hair,” he smiled. “It’s like mine!”
Lunae held up a few of her white strands. “Yes, I suppose so.”
“Can I touch your hair?”
“No.” She stood up and walked away.
Stryg hurried after Lunae and fell in next to her. For every step she took, he took five.
“You’re really tall,” he admired.
“You’re just really small.”
Stryg’s stomach growled and he held his belly lamentingly. “Are there any berries around here I can eat?”
Lunae looked down at him and frowned. She sighed heavily, “Follow me.”
~~~
“Now, keep your feet apart. Left hand steady. Notch the arrow just like that and pull the bowstring. Stop shaking your fingers,” Lunae admonished.
“I’m trying, it’s hard,” Stryg winced with the effort. His tiny shoulders shook as he tried to pull the bow.
Down below the hill, drinking by the stream, was a doe. It was the third deer Lunae had tracked down for him. The first two had run away after he blundered his shots entirely.
Lunae hadn’t expected any other result from a complete novice, but the child insisted on trying. And though she wouldn’t admit it, she enjoyed watching him stubbornly try.
“This time for sure,” Stryg muttered to himself. He pulled the bowstring back and let loose.
The arrow flew sideways and bounced off a nearby tree. The doe’s head shot up at the noise and she dashed away.
“Well done, mighty hunter. You managed to scare away the vicious beast,” Lunae smirked.
Stryg dropped the bow and hung his head in defeat. His little shoulders shook, but it wasn’t from exhaustion. “First Mother was right.”
“Aurelia?”
Stryg nodded and covered his face with the crook of his arm. “She said I wasn’t ready for the bow yet.”
Lunae’s eyes widened in understanding. “The reason the Mothers didn’t give you a bow wasn’t because you disobeyed the rules, was it?”
“...They said I was the runt among the kids. I was too small to fire the bow. But, I thought if it was with you, then I could definitely do it.”
Lunae sighed and patted his head softly. “It doesn’t work that way, Stryg.”
“I know but,” he sniffed, “I’m tired of being the smallest… I wanna be big like you.”
Lunae smiled wryly, “One step at a time, little one. First, let’s get you something to eat.”
She opened her hand and an ice flower formed in her palm. It grew and stretched into a 3-meter crystalline spear. She pulled her arm back, stepped forward, and hurled the spear in one fluid motion. The wind whistled as the spear sliced past, tearing through the trees, and finding its target. The spearhead pierced the runaway doe’s neck and blew it off through sheer force. The decapitated doe trotted a shaky step or two and collapsed. There was no blood, the frost spear had frozen the open wound on contact.
Stryg saw nothing, he only heard the sound of the crashing trees and a sudden boom. He looked up at Lunae in surprise, “What was that?”
“Did the Mothers teach you how to start a fire?”
“Yeah, of course,” he nodded proudly.
“Show me, little hunter.”
Stryg grinned.
~~~
As the evening came smoke rose from the campfire Stryg had made. The body of the doe stood on a spit over the flames, its flesh cooking to a tender consistency as the fat melted off the meat.
Lunae sat next to a tree, her back resting on its bark. Stryg sat on her lap, a slice of meat in his grease-covered hands. He yawned, his belly full of venison.
“Can you tell me a story, please?” Stryg asked earnestly.
“A story, hm?” she said knowingly.
Usually, he would fall asleep mid-way through a tale and she would end up carrying him back to the village where Aurelia would meet them at the treeline. Aurelia would always apologize profusely for her son’s bothersome antics, not that it made any difference in the end; the boy would no doubt be back in the forest the next morning.
Lune couldn’t help but smile wryly at the thought.
“Hm, okay. A story it is.” She pointed at the night sky, “Long ago, when the chromatic races were young and there were no Great Cities in the Ebon Realm, there existed a small village far to the east, on the shores of the Ebon Sea.”
“The village’s inhabitants were— different from others. They preferred to keep to themselves and they never involved themselves with the affairs of the realm. They were all content to spend their days in their sea paradise. Until one day, a woman in the village gave birth to two wolf cubs. The twin cubs were loved by their parents and were welcomed by all the villagers, for they were special, born with powers greater than any in the village, even the elders.”
“The cubs had everything they could want. Family, friendship, and a wonderful home. But still, they grew restless. The brother and sister wanted more, they wanted to know what lay beyond their village and the Ebon Sea. So on the dusk of their tenth birthday, they sneaked out from their home, and left the village.”
“Now their parents had told them of the dangers that lay beyond their village and warned them to never travel alone, no matter how powerful they grew. So, before the twins left, the brother cut his palm with his foreclaw and offered to make a bloodpact with his sister. He promised that he would never abandon her and no matter what dangers lurked in the dark corners of the world, he would always stay by her side. In turn, the sister cut her own palm and promised to do the same. That night, they held hands and their blood mingled together, forming the Sigte bloodpact, ‘One Life Above All Others.’”
“Now, the village was well guarded and no one could enter or leave without the elders finding out. So the twin cubs came up with a plan. They entered the sea, and the sister used her powers to guide them through the waters around the village, until they found a river and went upstream.”
“Soon enough, they found themselves in vibrant green marshlands, tall grass growing all around them. For ten days, the twins played in the marshes and ran through the grass, eating the fish in the stream and the wild flowers that grew nearby.”
“Then on the eleventh day, they found a cave, buried deep in the marshlands. The brother pleaded for caution, but the sister, never one to fear danger, rushed inside. The brother reluctantly followed, yet as the twins walked deeper into the cave they forgot all about any potential dangers and instead marveled at the treasures they found within. The cave’s floor, walls, and ceiling were covered in brilliant blue sapphires.”
“And as the twins gawked at the sapphires, neither noticed the beast sneaking up on them. You see, it was the beast’s lair they had so carelessly wandered into… Stryg?”
“Huh…?” Stryg yawned and opened his bleary eyes. “I’m awake, I’m awake,” he mumbled. “Sapphires and cubs…” his voice trailed off.
Lunae smiled and stroked his hair. “Sleep, little one. We’ll finish the story later.”
“Mm…” He nestled closer into her arms sleepily. “G’night, Mom…”
Lunae stared at him in silence and pulled his cloak snuggly around him. “Goodnight, little one.”