Slain

Say goodbye for now

Never seeing it again

All the stars at night

Won’t save my friends

Howling at the moon, Howling at the moon

-Howling at the Moon, Phantogram

I strain my ears over the sound of the rushing wind for any sign of the wolves. When I can no longer hear them, I don’t know if I should be relieved or worried. I have no idea where the centaurs are taking me and the longer we run, the more I second guess myself.

This was the right decision…right? I wouldn’t have made it away from the wolves if I didn’t accept their help. I’m sure I can handle whatever else they throw at me. As long as I get to Damon, there’s no harm done.

The centaur begins to slow down and I’m able to take in my surroundings. The trees are much sparser than they were around Damon’s pack. The grass is patchy and dying, mostly black dirt the farther we go. The only thing I know for certain is that they aren’t taking me to Damon’s pack.

By now they’ve slowed to a trot.

“Where are we?” I ask. Up ahead a group of small, rundown wooden shacks and platforms come into view.

“We just need to make a quick stop before taking you to your pack,” he replies smoothly, not a hint of fatigue in his voice even though he just sprinted for a good twenty minutes.

Cloaked figures mill around the shacks, dragging their feet on the worn and crumbling cobblestones. One cloaked figure leads a line of shackled people toward a sagging platform where a small crowd is beginning to form. I grow more and more nervous the closer we get to this strange place. I’ve never seen anything like it before, but I’ve heard stories. We’re in the dead lands.

They’re unruled and without law or morals. This is where you go for dark magic, human trafficking, and anything else that most Assiderra civilizations frown upon. I was better off with the wolves.

I need to come up with a plan and quick. It’s obvious I won’t outrun the centaurs, but maybe if I can get my hands on a weapon, I can injure them enough to get away. The only problem: I don’t have a weapon and none of the centaurs are armed. The farther into the dead lands I get, the harder it will be for me to escape, especially if people find out I’m a female slayer.

“What’s this stop we’re making?” Maybe he just needs to make a personal stop and it has nothing to do with me. Yeah right.

“I’ve got to drop off some materials.”

Materials? As far as I can tell, none of the centaurs are carrying any bags or materials. Then my stomach drops with sickening realization. He means me. I’m the materials. What exactly that means, I don’t know, and I don’t think I want to.

Deciding now is as good a time as any, I roll off his back and land on the hard-packed dirt, nearly getting stepped on by one of the other centaurs. He whips around but I’ve already ducked behind one centaur and am crawling under another before he can stop me. The glint of metal catches my eye and I dart towards it as he barks orders at his men. The ground shakes beneath my feet as they stampede after me. Diving for the axe leaned against a shack, I narrowly miss the grasping hands of a centaur.

As soon as the rough wood of the handle meets my palm, I swing the axe around, chopping into the upper leg of the nearest centaur. He yells out in pain and crashes to the ground, nearly landing on top of me. The other centaurs screech to a halt in a half circle, the shack to my back blocking me in. I hold the axe out in front of me as a warning.

“Put the axe down,” the leader says, sounding unconcerned.

“Let me go and no one else gets hurt,” I try, though I’m certain it won’t work.

“Lets just kill her, Keanu,” one of the centaurs says, edging closer to me. “She doesn’t need to be alive.”

“No,” Keanu drawls. “But the fresher, the better. We keep her alive, the Master will appreciate a fresh Leonae.”

The centaurs creep a bit closer and I swing my axe, daring them to step into my reach. “You’re going to have to find another Leonae,” I sneer. Behind the eight or so centaurs I can see a crow of curious on lookers beginning to form. One in particular catches my attention; it moves strangely, it’s movements so fluid it might as well be floating in water, not edging across a clearing.

“Enough of this,” a centaur suddenly growls, snapping my attention back to the threat before me. He charges and it’s all I can do to lunge out of the way. Stumbling to the side, I swing my axe haphazardly, missing the centaur completely. The others follow his lead and they’re on me in seconds. I wound only two before the axe is ripped from my hand and I’m thrown in the dirt, a hoof in my back.

“Bind her,” Keanu commands. I struggle, but I’m unable to get any leverage from the dirt beneath me. My hands are bound tightly behind my back and my feet together before the hoof is removed and I’m yanked to my feet. “Don’t give us anymore trouble,” Keanu barks as I’m tossed over his back like a sack of potatoes.

I hang there in defeat as they begin on again, only to be stopped by the sound of vicious snarls ripping through the heavy air. I lift my head, shocked by the sound. Fluffy?

Keanu turns to face the snarling wolves and I’m able to pick out who I think is Akira among the twenty or so wolves stalking from the trees. A large dark brown and black wolf leads the pack and I can only assume it’s Fluffy. His head hangs low, his teeth bared, and his hair stands on end.

“You had your chance to do with her what you wanted, now she’s ours,” Keanu says calmly. “Don’t cause any trouble.”

Fluffy snarls in response and continues stalking toward us. It’s in that moment that I’m glad I’m not his enemy. He’s truly terrifying.

Keanu huffs in annoyance before gesturing to his herd. I’m then drug from Keanu’s back and tossed rather roughly into the dirt by a collapsing building. The other centaurs arm themselves with random pieces of debris laying around as the wolves begin to charge.

The wolves meet the centaurs, lunging for them with teeth bared and claws extended. I watch as Fluffy dives under Keanu, nipping at the centaurs ankles. Three wolves race past the centaurs completely and head straight for me. Reaching me, two take up defensive positions, blocking my view of the fight, as the third stands over me. The wolf suddenly morphs into a man before me. A very naked man.

I quickly avert my eyes as he grabs the axe I had used earlier and cuts the ropes around my ankles and wrists. Within seconds of freeing me, he’s back in his wolf form. Now free, I scramble to my feet, grabbing the discarded axe with the intent of helping Fluffy, but the wolf that freed me blocks my path. I glance to where Fluffy and Keanu are fighting, making sure I have time to argue before I turn my attention back to the wolf before me.

“Let me help,” I demand, trying to step around him again. He growls in response. I assume Fluffy has something to do with this. “This is so stupid,” I complain, preparing to force my way through the wolves when I’m suddenly knocked to the ground by one of the wolves just as a centaur barrels past.

All three wolves lunge at the centaur, giving me the perfect opportunity to dart into the thick of the battle to find Fluffy. They aren’t hard to spot seeing as Keanu is reared up on his back legs to avoid getting his foot bitten off. I charge at his back, fully intending on lopping off his back leg, when my body freezes and I’m unable to move, no matter how hard I try.

“Cōnsistō,”a voice rasps in my ear. If my body were under my control I would have jumped out of my skin. It sounds as if it’s all around me, but as far as I can tell, there’s only the wolves and centaurs near me. “Tū,”the voice rasps again. And then I can move.

I glance around, gripping my axe tightly in anticipation, unsure where the voice came from. I notice the centaurs and wolves are all standing as motionless as statues, their eyes all turned to face the trees we came from.

“I’m here,” the voice mutters, drawing my attention around Fluffy and Keanu. A small figure cloaked in black stands just beyond the entanglement of wolves and centaurs. I can’t see the creatures face, it’s hood casts a deep shadow over it, but I’m certain it’s the same creature I saw before.

“What’s happening?” I ask, edging around Fluffy and Keanu to have a clearer view. They watch the creature with pinched eyebrows and careful eyes.

“I asked them to stop,” it says. I can’t tell by its voice or body whether it’s male or female and something tells me that gender doesn’t apply to this creature.

I pause beside Fluffy, unsure I want to get any closer. “And they all listened?”

“That’s unimportant,” it says. And then suddenly, it’s standing before me. Surprisingly it stands about a foot shorter than me, the top of its cloaked head just reaching my chin. “Give me your hands.”

“What? Why?” My questions go unanswered. The creature grabs my hands and forces them palm up before placing its greyish hands palm to palm with mine. There’s something in the middle of the creature’s palms that press against mine. When the bulge begins to move, I try jerking my hands away only to find that I’m again rendered immobile.

As the bulges in the creature’s hands move side to side against my palms, it tips its head back slowly as if to look at the sky. My eyes widen in horror when its head leans back far enough for me to see that it has no eyes. Where its eyes should be is smooth grey forehead.

The creature’s hands grow hot in mine until it feels that its flesh is searing into mine. A yelp of pain escapes me as the heat grows unbearable. Smoke drifts from our hands and then it suddenly releases me. I stumble backwards, holding my aching hands to my chest.

“What the hell was that?!” I shout, my fear coming out as anger.

The creature lowers its head again, casting the shadow back over its face. “I have seen your future.”

“You what?” I step closer, my anger forgotten.

“You cannot die today. You have too large of a role in the coming war.”

“War? What are you talking about?” I breath the words in confusion, but fear begins to build deep in my belly.

“You will either stop it or finish it.”

“Finish it? What does that mean? None of this is making any sense-”

“I can’t tell you anymore. Make wise choices, slayer. They will effect more than you’re prepared for.”

It turns its head toward the group of centaurs and wolves watching in horrified astonishment. “Frangō.”The wolves and centaurs slowly separate, the wolves come to stand behind the creature and I near the trees while the centaurs group together in front of us. The centaurs all kneel, bowing their human heads. I glance back to Fluffy in confusion to see that he and his wolves have taken a similar position. The creature beside me nods in acknowledgement before turning back to me.

“Good luck,” it says and then it’s gone.

The centaurs and wolves stand from their kneeling positions and I wait for the fighting to resume, but none make a move.

“Be on your way slayer,” Keanu says, breaking the silence.

If it weren’t for the wolves nudging me back toward the woods, I would have stood there all day with a dumbfounded expression on my face.

We trudge through the woods for a good ten minutes before Fluffy let’s out a sharp bark and his wolves disperse into the trees. I stop, assuming that’s what he wants by the look he throws at me before disappearing behind a tree himself. Seconds later he returns in his human form with a simple pair of cloth shorts on. I’m too preoccupied with my thoughts, trying to figure out what that thing told me, to notice the angry expression on his face before it’s too late.

“Do you not understand what no means?” He marches up to me, stopping an arms length away, the anger simmering in his umber eyes.

The accusation in his tone sets off my anger. “I’m aware of its meaning, yes,” I snap back.

“And yet you still decided running off on your own was a good idea?”

“I never said I’d stay behind. You told me I was going to, but last I checked, you weren’t my boss.”

“I told you going after Damon was a bad idea, it’s exactly what he wants you to do! But you don’t listen to me!” He tries to keep his voice calm and reasonable, but it shakes from the strain.

“You don’t listen to me!” I argue back.

“So, to spite me you put my pack members, Slates pack members and yourself in danger?”

“It had nothing to do with you!” I shout, throwing my hands out. He makes me so angry I just want to strangle him. “I told you I wanted to deal with Damon and that’s what I intend on doing.”

“You knew we would go after you and still you acted like a child and ran away. You trusted a herd of centaurs to get you there. Do you even know where they took you? Do you know what they were going to use you for?”

“I’m not stupid,” I spit, covering up the stab of embarrassment that shoots through me at his words. He’s right, I did act like a child.

“And what’s worse, now everyone in the dead lands knows about you. Slate’s wolves know about you. Now we have to meet with the alphas, though we may not make it that long because it’s now been broadcasted that you’re a female slayer.” He shoves his hand into his hair and turns away from me as the severity of our situation settles in.

“I don’t even get what’s so special about a female slayer,” I mutter, hoping that he’s overreacting.

He turns back to me incredulously. “You’re a slayer and you don’t even know your history?”

I bristle at the question. “I told you the women don’t go to school.”

“Long story short, the slayers were granted their shifting abilities to keep the wolves from growing too large. In the war where the slayers were defeated by the wolves and the curse was placed on them-”

“Curse?”

“You’re kidding,” he grumbles, dragging a hand down his face. “You know the slayer mark? The one that marks you as a slayer? That’s the symbol of the curse. That’s what suppresses your lion.”

“How did I not know this?” I mutter to myself, embarrassed at my lack of knowledge about my own people.

“After the war, to make peace with the slayers and to avoid mass genocide,” he continues. “the wolves and leonae came to an agreement. The female slayers wouldn’t be allowed to live in exchange for the lives of the rest of the leonae race.”

“But why?” I ask. What makes us so different from the male leonae?

“The females started the war between leonae and wolves. There are only thirteen packs now, but before the war there were thirtysix. They say that the female leonae were vicious, a force to be reckoned with. Many believe that the females could have wiped the entirety of the werewolf race out without any help from the male leonae. For whatever reason, they were stronger, faster, more ruthless, but they were also prone to savagery. The females had to be kept in check by the males constantly.”

“So, the wolves are afraid of me.”

“Basically. You’re unpredictable, and so far, you’re proving them right. You’re impulsive and erratic. If you can’t keep yourself under control, the alphas are going to kill you. They probably will anyways.”

“Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?!” I ask, beginning to feel panicked. Once the alphas know about me, there’s no where I can hide from them. They’ll hunt me down and kill me.

“Would it have changed your actions?” He asks and I look away, knowing the answer. No, I still would have behaved the same.

“So what now?” I ask in defeat.

“We get Damon and bring him back to stand trial and try to figure out a way to get around this issue with the alphas.”

“You said mates are sacred though. If I’m your mate then they can’t hurt me.”

“But we have no proof without completing the bonding ceremony.”

“What is that?”

He lets out a heavy breath. “It’s a ceremony only true mates can complete. Most couples do the ceremony privately, but I doubt the alphas will allow us that option.”

I let his vague answer go, not sure I’m ready for the details quite yet. I’m still not even sure about this whole mate thing.

“Come on,” Fluffy mutters. “Let’s go get Damon.”

“You’re not sending me back?” I ask in shock.

“It obviously won’t do any good.” He continues on into the woods, letting out a sharp whistle. Within seconds, wolves are melting out of the trees and taking their positions around us.

As we walk, I clench my fists, my palms itching. I hold them out to inspect the damage that thing did. My palms are a bright red, enflamed from the heat of that creatures hands. And in the center of my palms, where the bulges on the creatures hands pressed into my flesh, is a blackening swirl. I clench my hands tight at my sides.

“What was that thing?”

“Videō Ācriter.” He doesn’t look at me when he answers. “A seer.”

“Why did everyone bow to it?” I feel stupid having to ask so many questions, first about my own race and then about this, but I have to know.

“Seers are…high beings. They’re even above the Fae and Elves. A long time ago the seers lived among us, but when the war began, they retreated into the wastelands. That was the first sighting of a seer in centuries, at least that I know of.”

The wastelands. As far as I know, no one has entered the wastelands and lived to tell about it. It seems fitting that a creature like that could live in such uninhabitable territory. “Why would it come all this way for me?”

“I don’t know. It said you’ll be important in the coming war.” He finally looks down at me. “Seers don’t just seek people out and warn them about their future. You must be very important.”

His words are like ice water down my back. I don’t want that kind of responsibility, I’m a wreck. Just look at the trouble I got myself in today. I swallow the lump in my throat and look down at my feet. This means I need to start thinking before I do things, I need to stop letting my stupid emotions get the better of me. Otherwise, we’re all doomed.