The Cloak Of Moonlight

Ch. 4: With Pools Of Gold

…...Yes, Hemlock Grove, that’s where I must go, to the pack of my mother. Mazicane thought along her walk home. There was a soft breeze blowing tossing her curls behind her. It changed direction for a moment and she caught a scent that made her flesh crawl and pause mid stride. She turned to look behind her.

        “It’s time you paid for your intrusion with blood.” Cathwulf hissed as she changed forms, her bones cracking and jowls taking shape, long claws sprung from her fingertips and mud brown fur started covering her body. Her eyes turning from pale gray to black and mouth drooling with anticipation.

        Cathwulf swung a massive paw, claws that dug inches through her flesh like wax when it meets flame. Mazicane flew through the air and landed hard, she could hear bones cracking. She grabbed frantically at her calf strap for her dagger breaking the clasp and ripping it from its’ sheath.

        Cathwulf let out a low growl approaching slowly with direct eye contact, taunting her. This is it, this is how I die. After everything I’ve lived through, it’s this that will kill me. She thought tasting copper, one hand clasping the dagger hilt the other grasping the torn flesh from breast to hip. Cathwulf was looming over her now,  stretching her mouth readying it for the kill bite.

        Mazicane turned the dagger, positioning it so the dull side was against her arm, the hilt just under her index finger and the edge facing out. She took a deep breath and swallowed. “f**k you.” She managed through painful breaths.

        Cathwulf pounced and Maze instinctively swung defending her neck. She tore through her coat and the blade bit into her skin. Cathwulf yipped and jumped back instantly turning to human form to grasp her throat as her lifes’ blood drained out. Steps could be heard approaching on the road behind them. Cathwulf panicked and grabbed her cloths, stumbling off to the forest, not wanting to be seen.

        Maze tried to swallow but couldn’t. She barely found the strength to turn her head in the direction of the footsteps. Fighting unconsciousness her vision hazy, making it difficult to focus, she was fading in and out. She saw the golden eyes of years prior standing there. Without fog cloaking it’s identity she could see it somewhat clearly through her distorted vision.

        A massive 8 foot tall white wolf with a black diamond between its eyes just touching the curve of it’s nose peered at her. Mazicane was no longer scared as she looked into pools of gold. She felt peace and hope. She felt the sensation of familiarity. It walked slowly then sat a few yards away  c*****g its’ head to the side. You again she thought forcing a smile to her lips. I thought you were a dream. The darkness over took her lulling her to sleep.

 -----

        Ariam found her this way. With her head turned towards the manor and blood pooled around her body. A trickle ran down her mouth. It was a blood bath. He didn’t know how one small human could bleed so much. Her naturally olive skin had turned pasty white, her chest ripped open.

        He roared a loud echoing roar, making the ground shake and the pack members nearby come running. He tried to mind link Lovetta but she must have been to far away.

        “What Happend?” Someone said

        “Is she alive?” Said another.

        “Find Lovetta!” He screamed, falling to his knees by her side. The members ran off, howling an alarm and mind linking every wolf nearby. Ariam checked her pulse, it was there but faint. He took off his coat and shirt. He ripped his shirt in strips pulling her flesh together and binding it tight. She started choking, in response he turned her on her side.

        Lovetta finally arrived with a small group, among them were the Alpha and Luna. They were running so fast in wolf form they nearly tripped over them.

        “Okay, I need a blanket to keep her warm, she’s lost a lot of blood, and a cart to drag her on. Hey you go to my office and get them!” She barked at a Keppa watching.

        “Ariam, good work, I got it from here.”

        “You’ve lost your mind if you think I’m going anywhere!” He roared shaking the earth.

        “Hmm okay, I see. Then step away and let me do my job!”

        “Yes healer.” Ariam murmured stepping back, slightly embarrassed. He was usually so calm and collected. He couldn’t quite explain it just yet, the tightness in his chest and the fear gripping at his throat. while looking at her limp body lying in a pool or red, her head turned and blood trickling. It was at this point he began to realize, she was more then just his student, more then a friend. She was more then the moon and all the stars and the sky combined. She was his. She was his to protect and keep, and he failed her. He could hear Fenrir whimpering in his mind.

        Lovetta checked her pulse. Weak but there. She checked her wounds not scabbing, she can’t afford to lose any more blood. She pulled a leather pouch from under her top hanging around her neck by a string. This should help. Reaching under Ariams’ make shift bandage she rubbed a white powder into her wounds.

        “It has to be four inches wide!” She gasped. “How is this cub still alive?”

        The cart had arrived, they used the blanket to roll her up and lifted her gently. Ariam got between the handles pulling hard with Lovetta sitting in the back cradling Maze in her lap. They practically flew to her building behind the manor. Lovetta and Ariam gently moved her to one of the clinics' beds and Lovetta went to work.

        In this controlled environment with ample light she could access the injuries better. Mazicane had a broken collar bone and three broken ribs, one of which punctured her lung. That explains the rattled breathing. Along with four large gashes from her right shoulder to her hip with the top one being the deepest.

        Lovetta rushed around the office, throwing a dash of this, a pinch of that, a bit of those and a heaping of honey into a pot. She handed it to Ariam who was siting in the waiting room cradling his head, elbows on knees. “Mix this well until it’s a paste and suff it into this mesh bag. Knock on the door at once when you’re done” she called behind her as she ran into the office.

        Using a tube she drained the lung of blood, using sap from an Ever tree she glues the puncture closed. She cleans and packs the wounds, as quick and thoroughly as she can. It's at this time Ariam knocked a single tentative time on the door.

        “Is she going to make it?”

        She could swear she could see a tear forming. She didn’t have time to comfort him. She did the next best thing, she ignored him taking the pot and closing the door. She placed the bag under Mazicanes’ tongue and began the gruelling task of sowing her up. How is this cub still breathing? I’ve never seen an unshifted wolf live through anything half this intense. Hours had eclipsed, the sun was rising when she entered the waiting area.

        Ariam had resorted to his previous pose, clasping his head and rocking. Praying to the Goddess for her life, promising everything he had and everything he was in return. He shot up when Lovetta walked out. She was covered from head to toe in Mazicanes’ blood. Red streaks across her face had matted into her hair, circles under her eyes told the story of her trials.

        “Will she live?” He asked, his voice raspy with emotion.

        “I pray to the Goddess that she might. Mazicane has suffered immensely, without her wolf this will be hard. The elixir you mixed will help her recover her blood. She had a punctured lung, broken collar bone and multiple gashes. I have done all I can. It is by the grace of the Goddess she lives now, so it is by the grace of the Goddess that she might continue. Get some rest, I will mind link you if her condition changes.”

        Ariam curled up on the bench. He wasn’t leaving until her eyes opened. Lovetta rolled her eyes and returned to the room. It’s going to be a long day. She thought pulling up a chair to the bed and changing the bag under Mazicanes’ tongue. The nurses would arrive soon and only then she could afford to bathe and eat. Other then that, and until Maze was stable she wasn’t leaving either.