Chapter 2. Gone

The sun beat down fiercely on the procession of people. There were about twenty of them, all dressed in black and wearing solemn faces as they shuffled morosely in a single file.

At the front were four people who held a wooden carrier, two on either side, with Tekenna’s body lying on it. She was being cremated today by white wolf clan tradition and it was obvious everyone was taking it hard. Sniffling began in the front from one of the mourners, until it spread throughout the whole procession. Each of them had had a personal relationship with Tekenna, they had all been friends, and the same age grade, and they had all grown up together within the city of Rim. As was the tradition, no elders were in attendance, it was an anathema for elders or parents to bury their children or wards. In Tekenna’s case, she had only one parent alive – her father.

As was customary, the procession passed the main town so people could witness Tekenna’s body being carried away. It was a ritual of sorts. People stood in front of their respective shops. They had not opened them in order to pay their last respect to the dead. Most had their heads bowed in respect as the procession passed, while others looked on morosely. The men had their straw hats close to their chests instead of on their heads as a sign of respect for who Tekenna once was.

She had been one of their young fierce warriors, and she had fallen so soon.

The men carrying her body were dressed only in a white pair of loose satin trousers and their chests were laid bare. As they carried her body through the rocky pathway, sweat dripped down their chests, and their muscles rippled from the effort of the strain, but no one paid attention to this rare sight. Their minds were on their loss.

The white wolf clan had lost a daughter and a wolf, leaving an integral part of the town’s security breached. All this weighed on everyone’s mind as they continued trudging on. It was evident in the worry lines on some of their faces, for though they did not yet voice out their thoughts, they all had the same insinuations roaming free in their minds – who was next?

Keratin was one of the men carrying Tekenna’s body. Tears slid from his eyes but he refused to break down completely. He lost track of time and of how long they walked. Too soon, he found out the others had stopped forcing him to take a look at his surroundings. They were by the lake. It was a beautiful, peaceful place. At the not so far corner was a waterfall that cascaded in waves and fell into the basin of the lake from the jagged mountainous tops.

Keratin noticed a pyre had been lit right in front of the lake, and fire blazed wildly within it. It crackled as some twigs popped, sending a static of red and blue hues of heat fanning out in all directions. He felt weak, like he was going to faint. He did not have any more strength left inside of him. His mate and the other half of him was going away forever and he would never see her again in this lifetime. The mate bond was so strong, it seemed like he had died right alongside her.

Cobwebs filled his head and he shook it, willing to free himself from the cloud of doom surrounding him, but it was an effort in futility. Some of the mourners gave him pitying looks as understanding crashed through them. They knew what he was going through and a few of them telepathically reached out to give him succor, but it was an exercise in futility. It was a cross he would have to bear, ride out and hope for the best.

The four men lowered the wooden carrier onto the rocky ground away from the pyre. The whole of Tekenna’s body was wrapped with a white silky material, the only skin exposed was her face. A wreath of wild red roses had been placed on her head like a crown, and her face had been made up making her look like she was only asleep. Her silky long blonde hair fanned out on the wooden carrier around her body.

The mortician had embalmed her body with various herbs to preserve it from rot and decay as well as to ward off flies and insects that may want to feast on it. In preparation for her embalmment as well as part of the ritual of the white wolf clan, ample perfume had also been sprayed all over her, so when she got to the afterlife, she would smell nice and pleasing thereby granting her entrance. It was a tradition they stood by.

Keratin blinked severally as tears crowded his eyes. He felt his wolf struggling to break free. It wanted to run and howl, wanted to get away from the onlookers so it could mourn its other half in peace, but he swallowed the rising urge and willed it to remain calm, even though it was taking the whole of his strength to do so.

The five mages of the town of Rim stepped forward. They each wore long iridescent robes with long staffs in their hands. They stood around Tekenna’s body, and every other person slicked back respectfully. They were going to call on their ancestors in order to usher Tekenna’s soul with them to the moon goddess. As Keratin watched, the whole of his body itched him as his wolf got more and more restless to break loose. Lady Lucia looked up and gave him a warning glare. Even though she was not a wolf, her magical powers afforded her the opportunity of speaking telepathically with them.

“Remain calm, my boy, unless you want your soul to follow Tekenna to the great beyond.”

Keratin did not reply, he was far past that now. He struggled, still, but it was becoming an uphill task trying to keep his wolf at bay. Lady Lucia observed his struggles for a bit, distracted from the incantations the other four were saying. Under her breath, she said some incants, and suddenly Keratin felt a surge of power inflame his insides. He was awash with heat, but it was not the kind of heat that burnt. This heat was warm, it left a good feeling inside of him. After a few seconds, the warmth abated giving way to peace. In its wake, his mind went blank, all the memories of why he was there, were eroded.

It washed over him in waves and he almost slumped from the relief of how great it felt. That keening pressure had been lifted, clear, off his chest and his body as well. He watched the rest of the proceedings as if detached from his body. The mages finished with their incantations and stepped away from Tekenna’s body. She was put on the lake, and two of the shirtless men held the rope which they had tied to the carrier. Another incantation was said, and her body caught fire. The rope was released, and Keratin watched as the carrier rode away as the wind picked up in earnest.

The smaller it got, the more pressure began to build up inside him. That bubble that had initially wrapped him up, busted. Sorrow and despair took their turns on him. This time, there was no need for him to tarry, this time he didn’t stop it. With a loud roar, he transformed into his hulking wolf and took off, amidst gasps from the people surrounding him. He bounded away from the lake and surged past people who turned to look at him. Their mouths hung open as he wheezed past them.

He soon got to the outskirts of the woods and rushed in. He crashed into the underbrushes of trees, relishing the pain. He continued crashing mindlessly into trees, inflicting bruises on his head. Even as his hide broke open, the wounds immediately closed up, because all wolves had the innate ability to heal themselves, in so far as they were not mortally deep, like Tekenna’s was, which in that case, the mages were there to help heal them. Unfortunately for Tekenna, her wound had been too fatal to heal.

After Keratin ran in his wolf form for a long while, he busted into a clearing, realizing with a start he had never come this far into the woods before. He looked around, his eyes glittering, as he wondered where he had run to. He felt a sudden wave of fear take over him. He wasn’t supposed to get this far, especially since sightings of dead wolves around the perimeter of Rim had become the norm.

Even as he pondered on this, the woods became eerily quiet and he felt his hackles rise. He looked around, glaring into the shadows of the trees at the opposite end, but after a whole minute passed and the sounds of birds began chirping once again, he relaxed and transformed into his human form.

He slumped at the foot of a large tree, its branches so wide, ten people could not span their hands around its center. Its roots were long and traced the ground from one end to another far end, and disappeared into the ground. Exhaustion stole over his whole body and within seconds, he closed his eyes and succumbed to the blissful hands of sleep.

***

Keratin did not know how long he had slept. What he did know was as he woke, he felt groggy, as if he were submerged under water. It took him a while to open his eyes, but when he did, everywhere was dim, as if he was in a room with the curtains drawn. He tried to draw large breaths but found out that was almost impossible. As he did, something foul filtered into his nostrils and weakness engulfed him and he almost passed out. He tried to transform into his wolf but realized he was too weak. He even tried to move, but found it was physically impossible to do so.

That was when he realized his hands were shackled behind his back. He tried to shout, but he could only grunt. As awareness seeped into him, he realized something else – his mouth was muffled by a cloth tied around it as well as his nose. That was not all; he was moving, swaying wildly from side to side. Terror shot adrenaline into him, making him struggle against the shackles he was bound with.

Loud laughter assailed his ears, causing him to shrink into whatever contraption he had been placed inside. This was followed by a low guttural voice. “Stop fretting, wolf, the wolfsbane and my magic won’t allow it. Best quit while you can.”

And then all was silent once more. He struggled against his shackles just to ascertain if what the man had said was true, but after some seconds of no luck, he gave up. He was almost doubled up because he was stuffed inside a sack. He had worked it out already, he knew whoever had captured him was the same thing that killed Tekenna.

His heart sank in his chest.