Crimsonborn

Chapter 1 - The Little Bird

“You’re dead, Mohan! I’m going to kill you!” I shouted as I dashed through the trees, keeping my eyes locked on the young man in front of me. He disappeared behind another trunk, reappearing a moment later, his long brown hair flying everywhere after slipping out of its leather bind when I yanked him by it earlier.

Mohan, one of my two best friends and currently a dead man running, grinned over his shoulder, his face overflowing with that unjustified arrogance he knew always got under my skin. His smug expression was no doubt prompted by the fact that he had just thrown dirt in my damn face, making me lose a few precious seconds that could have secured me another win.

I really shouldn’t have been surprised. He always resorted to tricks when he was losing.

“You have to catch me first, Freya!” he cackled, ducking under a low branch. The wood shot back, almost hitting me in the face, but I slid underneath, sending clods and dry leaves flying into the air. Snaring, I got up and chased after him, annoyed I didn’t see that coming either.

‘On your right,’ Lyra’s bored voice spoke in my mind and I obeyed, eyes locking on a girl preparing to tackle me to the ground. I jumped just in time, one foot kicking against the trunk of a nearby tree and sending me soaring above my opponent’s head. She dug her heels into the forest floor, spinning swiftly, but by then I had snatched the blue piece of cloth hanging from her belt. She let out a filthy curse that made me grin wider.

“Thanks!” I winked before sprinting through the bushes where Mohan had disappeared a few moments ago. Following his scent, it didn’t take me long to spot his unruly dark hair and wide shoulders. The bastard had stopped to rest!

It had been an hour since old Rodyn separated us into two teams and gave us the last training exercise for the day. My muscles ached from all the running and jumping, but I’d be damned if I gave up when I was so close to victory.

The rules of the exercise were simple: twenty people in, ten in each group. Whichever team captured all the long, bright pieces of cloth attached to their opponents won. The steep hill, tall shrubbery, and the trees growing close in this part of the forest made the terrain hard to run in, but that was half the fun.

I brought my fingers to my lips, giving the signal that I had captured another one. This was the fourth one I tucked into my jerkin, and I had heard our whistle five more times already, which meant Mohan was the last member of his team. And so was I.

He knew he couldn’t win face-to-face, which was probably why he had started playing dirty. I honestly thought he was slower than me, but maybe he had been working on his speed without telling anyone. Maybe…

‘He is slower. You just keep falling for his traps,’ my wolf commented unhelpfully.

I wanted to roll my eyes, but that meant letting Mohan out of my sight for a second time, and I couldn’t afford that. Lyra just scoffed.

“Are you giving up?” my friend yelled as he ran off again, changing direction downward so I had to slow down or risk toppling over the slope. If either of us fell here, we could be rolling all the way down to the village. “Can I have your tag?”

“Over my dead body!” I barked through laughter before sucking in a deep breath and preparing for my own version of playing dirty. He shouted some nonsense about being too stubborn for a girl, but when I didn’t answer, he peered at me over his shoulder. His brown eyes widened in surprise as I winked at him.

As one of the few who knew of my father’s secret breathing technique that allowed us to tap deeper into our wolf’s power and had been trying to master it for years, he could easily recognize when it was being used. But because it was something he was sworn not to talk about with others, he couldn’t tell on me. Not to mention, since I wasn’t shifting into my wolf form, I wasn’t breaking the rules, either. Well, maybe just bending them a little.

“No, you wouldn’t…!” he shouted, defeat flooding his eyes.

I smirked. I was probably going to get scolded if he told my family, but that didn’t matter as long as I won. I’ll take my punishment gladly if it wiped that smirk off his face.

The muscles in my chest contracted, then promptly relaxed as I guided the air within me to move, using the breathing exercises my father had taught us for the past ten years. It had felt impossible to do at first and I could barely last more than a few seconds, but now, my body reacted on instinct, just like it did when I was shifting into my wolf.

Except, instead of my form changing, it was my insides that shifted. My body grew lighter, like a feather ready to be carried by the wind. My hearing sharpened and my sight expanded. I could feel the small vibrations through the earth from each heavy step Mohan took in an attempt to run away from me.

My wolf spirit turned to more than just a voice in my head but a presence both solid and incorporeal, a power that coursed through my veins even when I didn’t have claws and teeth that could tear through anything.

A loud whistle sounded in the air, making us perk up. How, by the moon, was another person captured? Unless I counted wrong, it should have been just me and Mohan left. It was probably one of his teammates trying to distract me. Cheaters, all of them!

I narrowed my eyes at Mohan’s back just as he changed direction. His movements looked so slow when I was in this state. It was like he was taking a leisurely stroll while I was moving with the ease of the autumn breeze rustling through the branches of the birches above us. I did have to be careful with every step and twist of my body, though, because while the power inside me had increased, my muscles and bones remained the same. I wasn’t going to feel any pain or strain as long as I could hold my breath, but after…

Mohan disappeared behind the thick trunk of a tree, and I followed. A second later, I found him blocked by a tall holy bush, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he turned to face me. Sweat beaded over his brown skin, making it glisten under the sunlight peering through the branches above. His expression was tense, but the defeat was gone from his eyes and when he met my gaze, his full lips curved into a taunting smile.

The wind blew, catching on a few strands of hair that had escaped my braid, but I kept my attention focused on Mohan. I needed to make my move. I was running out of air, so I needed to grab that blue strip before that happened.

I lunged forward, keeping my right hand close to my own red tag. He wouldn’t be fast enough to evade me and grab it, not with me in this state, but it wouldn’t hurt to be careful. Besides, I only needed one…

‘Watch it!’ Lyra shouted just as Mohan threw himself aside. I staggered, trying to stop, but I slipped on the damp leaves and mud where he had been standing, my inertia carrying me forward. I threw myself into the air in an attempt to avoid crashing into the thorny bush, realizing all too late that this was another dirty trick.

The shrubbery appeared to be right at the edge of a slope, so as I flew over it, I knew there was no going back. I flayed my hands, trying to slow my flight so my landing would be less painful when I noticed them.

Riders. At least twenty of them, moving in a single line over the path right below me.

Everything after that happened too fast. One second I was flying, waiting to hit the ground. The next, I was crashing into one of the strangers and knocking him off his horse.

We fell heavily on the steep hill on the other side of the path, and I sucked in a startled breath as we started rolling down together. Dirt and sticks flew in the air around us, so I clamped my mouth shut despite the scream of pain that was trying to get out. When I realized I was clinging to the stranger’s vest, I let go, raising my arm to cover my head instead. His was already there, shielding me from most of the stones and roots that mercilessly slammed into us. A tug on the back of my jerkin had me pressed so tightly against him, I could barely move a muscle without his body pushing back in response.

When we finally slammed into one of the trees, his body took the brunt of the crash. Brown and yellow leaves showered us from above while several birds flew off with outraged cries. I groaned, blinking against the sunlight and specks of dust dancing around us while he lay frighteningly still beneath me. Panic gripped my throat when I thought he might have hit his head or worse, and I was just sliding my hand to his neck to check for pulse when he rolled us over. Straddling my waist, he pinned my hands against my chest with one of his.

He was a big man—almost as big as our best warriors—but while his shoulders were wide, his waist was leaner, coated with nothing but pure muscle. I tried to break his hold, but he held firm, thick muscles bulging underneath his wool shirt. Despite the growing aches in my body, I twisted my hips in an attempt to throw him off, but he tightened his core almost lazily, barely shifting his weight while I writhed beneath him.

The stranger c****d his head to the side, finally blocking the sun that had been shining in my eyes. My mouth ran dry as I took in his finer features. He was younger than I expected, probably in his late twenties or early thirties. His long hair, a cold shade of brown and‌ pulled in a knot on the back of his hair with several loose strands reaching just above his shoulders, rippled in the air, while eyes the color of silver bore into me like he was trying to see all the way down to my soul. His lips parted slightly while he studied me with the same keen attention I gave him until the smell of blood filled my nostrils, mixed with his scent of snow and metal. Something shifted in his gaze when a drop of red beaded on the edge of his mouth and he wiped it with his free thumb.

There was something unnerving about the gesture that, despite my very nature, made me want to expose my neck in quiet surrender. With the way he stood still and just stared, he looked like a stalking predator that was about to tackle me down and feast on my flesh.

‘s**t! I’m so, so dead!’ I thought as Lyra growled at the back of my mind. Goosebumps spread over my skin at the tension coming from her in powerful waves, and my body responded immediately, preparing for a fight. It wasn’t often that my wolf got such a strong reaction to another person, and when she did, it was never a good sign.

‘That man… he is…’ Lyra started, but when he spoke, her words morphed into a warning growl.

“Well, well, little bird,” he murmured in a voice that sounded more like a gentle purr than a threatening growl. “Where did you fly from?” He looked up to where we had rolled from, the sun gliding over his sharp cheekbones and strong, stubbled jaw. The light reflected on his tanned skin, revealing a trail of thin, pale marks that covered the exposed parts of his face and neck. I had seen my fair share of scars, got a few myself even, but his looked like… scratches and bite marks and not the types you get from fooling around with your friends.

A shout made me flinch and with horror, I realized that I had been so busy staring at him, I had forgotten about the others. With me pinned beneath him, I couldn’t see much, but I could hear people making their way down the slope. Toward us. Judging by the unfamiliar voices and scents, it had to be the other riders.

I had no idea who they were, but very few outsiders came this way, and even fewer chose this treacherous path. There was another, safer one, on the west side of the hill where all travelers appeared from, so if they were moving through here, it might not be for a friendly visit. It had been a while since we got attacked by another pack, but…

‘Crap.’

I had to get away. I had to warn my father in case they weren’t expected. I had to protect my pack!

“What’s your name?”

When I didn’t reply, his gaze flickered to my lips while his hand tightened over my wrists like he expected me to start fighting again. And I would have, especially when those piercing eyes made me feel like a helpless pup cornered by a much larger predator, but fighting against his strength hadn’t worked before and I had no time to waste. The sounds of the others were almost upon us, and somehow I doubted they’d stop him from doing whatever prompted the amused smile over his lips.

‘Use it. Take another breath, bite and kick,’ Lyra snarled. The urgency in her voice sent a shot of adrenaline through my body, making all my muscles tense in preparation. It was risky, but he didn’t know who I was, what I was. It could work. It had to work.

“Little bird, I have things to do, so I suggest you answer me.” He grabbed my chin with his free hand, leaning close enough for me to feel his breath on my face. “I don’t take it well when I’m attacked unprovoked. So…” He shifted his weight, his massive body pressing harder against mine and making it harder to breathe. His eyes never left mine, as if he didn’t want to miss any reaction that could reveal my next move. “You can tell me your name, and we can have a civil conversation or…” He looked downhill, his eyes staring in the direction of my village before he returned his attention to me. “...I’m going to be less civil when we reach them.”

The threat in his voice was more than clear, but that wasn’t what got my blood boiling.

It was one thing to threaten me, but my pack? Nobody threatens my pack.

“I’m not little, nor a bird,” I snarled, taking a deep breath and holding it. That frustrating smirk widened, turning almost wolfish, but I ignored it, focusing on my breathing, on becoming one with the earth and the trees, with the soft wind and the dead leaves around us. Once I felt the weightlessness spread, I smirked back.

Confusion filled his gaze, his eyes narrowing warily, as if he could sense the shift in me, but he barely had time to react before I sank my teeth into his hand. His warm blood dripped into my mouth, strong and sweet, until he hissed in surprise and his grip loosened enough for me to yank my wrists free.

I thrust my hips up, and with the extra power coursing through me, this time, I dislodged him. He caught himself on his hands beside my head to avoid crushing me underneath him, so I used the newly gained space between us to bring my legs up and kick him. I almost exhaled from the effort, but I bit my lips, trying another breathing technique to keep the air in even as my own blood filled my mouth, mixing with his.

He flew off me and slammed into a tree so hard, I heard something c***k. When he slipped to the ground with his eyes closed, I hurried to my feet. I didn’t want to fight him, not with his men almost upon us, so my best bet was to run. I needed to get to the village before them.

“Not so fast!”

I jumped in surprise at how silently he moved, so I didn’t even notice him until his hands swung to grab me. I ducked under them in the last possible second, kicking at the inside of his thigh to disrupt his balance again. A frustrated snarl tore from his lips as he staggered, and I used the chance to bolt in the opposite direction of the voices.

Judging by the sounds of rustling leaves, he gave chase, but it was obvious he wasn’t used to the terrain because I heard him slip and curse several times while I increased the distance between us. My head spun from the effort to hold my breath, but I kept my focus on my target and ran with everything I had.

I needed to hide and calm down or I wasn’t going to last another minute, and if I started breathing again, he’d be able to track my scent. The best part about Father’s technique was that it could make one invisible to a predator’s most developed perception—their sense of smell.

When I finally lost him for a few seconds, I changed direction and kept running until I reached a small hollow beneath the meandering path, one that no one but the people living in these parts knew about. We often used it in our games or while hunting, but they were strangers. They didn’t know the land.

I snuck into the hollow and flattened myself against the ground. The space was damp and moldy, but that only worked in my favor because it might hide me, even if I did release my breath. I was going to do just that when I heard quiet steps on top of the hollow. The forest was full of the sound of people and horses, but all I could focus on was the shallow breathing and a loud, racing heart above me.

I pressed my hand to my mouth, praying to the Moon Goddess to give me the strength to hold out for a few more seconds. I could usually last much longer, but with the fighting and the running, my body was using up that air too quickly.

Guiding my chest to expand and then slowly lower, I focused on its movements while I finally found my calm. A second pair of steps joined the ones above and I heard them talking, but the words were hard to distinguish with the vicious pounding in my ears. So I waited and waited until they finally left.

Then I took a long, reverent breath.

I needed to get back to my village and warn my father. Whoever these people were, they were dangerous, and I’d be damned if I let them hurt my pack.