Chapter 5 The Day We Met
REVER
Barely eight hours later, I was standing in a grove of trees staring at an ancient oak tree that had three entwined triangles carved into its bark.
Just like I told Lasmay last night, I had left the castle at first light, sneaking down the hallways with my shoes in my hands, unwilling to attract attention to myself.
No one but Lasmay knew I wasn't in the castle and it would remain that way until I got back. Since I was rarely seen in the castle and even more rarely seen outside its walls, preferring to stay in my room with Lasmay acting as the liaison between me and the other wolves, no one would suspect that I wasn't really in the castle. I could stay away for as long as I wanted and no one would be none the wiser......except Lasmay of course.
And now here I was, at the base of the tree where I had buried my family's remains, just like they had wanted me to.
No one else knew this place existed, except Lasmay of course and even then we never talked about it. Preferring to pretend it never happened. Not even when I came to visit them every year on the anniversary of the day I laid them to rest here, we simply told ourselves I was going away and glossed over where I was going and why I was going there.
Taking a deep breath to steady my nerves, I ran a hand over the entwined triangles and closed my eyes remembering the day I had carved them with my tiny multi-purpose pen knife. The one I had gotten for my tenth birthday and wore clipped to my belt for years. The one I hadn't worn since that day. It now occupied a permanent place of honor on the shelf in my room back in the castle.
Taking another deep breath, I stepped back from the tree, took off my clothes and shifted into wolf form, curling up at the foot of the ancient oak. I tucked my head between my front legs and let my mind take me back to the good old days. The days when I knew what it meant to be happy. The days when I loved and was loved in return. The days before I became a monster.
SHARON
I ran as fast as I could until my legs gave out and I fell to the floor with a thud, thankfully the shrubs and leaves that littered the floor broke my fall. Getting on my hands and knees, I crawled forward until I got to the ancient elm that had become my favorite tree in the woods.
The woods were my favorite place in usirim, and this tree was my favorite thing in the world. Hell, it was my best friend.
Yes, a tree was my best friend. Don't be so shocked though, by now you should know I don't have a normal life (if there is such a thing as a normal life) so learning that I was best friends with a tree shouldn't be such a shock, it wasn't the strangest part of my life.
The woods were my private place, the only place where I could be alone, no one else ever came in here. And the elm was the only thing I could talk to. It might not reply but at least it listened and that was much more than anyone ever did.
In here, with my back to the elm was the only place I allowed myself to dream, that perhaps I didn't deserve all this after all and maybe, just maybe, one day my knight in shining armor would come riding up and save me from my family and my life.
Of course, I knew those were all pipe dreams, I was a cursed wolf and I was doomed to suffer for the disgrace I had caused my family by being born into their bloodline, then perhaps I would be able to make enough atonements to have the curse removed in my next life.
I knew all that, but there were times...like right now when I couldn't help but feel self-pity, even when I knew I didn't deserve pity from anyone, least of all myself.
Today was my nineteenth birthday and no one remembered.
Vienna had woken me up by throwing a bucket of freezing water on me this morning.
She promptly ordered me to air one of her dresses and mother's as well, before making breakfast. They were going to the Halfad homestead to visit their mother's family. Father had informed them during breakfast that he was going to spend the day at the rice fields, it was almost harvest time and he had a million and one things to do. ( For the uninitiated, this translated to " I'm going to spend an hour I'm the rice fields and the rest of the day at the golden slipper drinking ale and banging an array of women)
They had left me in the house with a long list of chores to complete before they got back.
I ran out of the house and into the woods as soon as the sounds of their carriage died down. I had just come of age and all my family did to celebrate was give me a long list of chores while they all went off to have fun.
Not that I was expecting anything else, but that didn't mean it hurt any less. Wrapping my hands around my legs I broke down in tears.
REVER
I was jolted out of my memories by a sound I hadn't heard in a long time...sobbing.
Who could it be? I wondered. In all the years I had been coming here, I had never encountered another wolf in the woods.
Slowly getting to my feet, I padded off in the direction I believed the sound was coming from.