Three Moons

The First Moon

Lile slept terribly. Her arms, tied tightly above her head, pulled her chest tight and made breathing difficult. She had stayed like this the whole night, unable to turn over or adjust herself, and her back felt bruised from prolonged contact with the floor. The 'bed' was nothing more than animal skin and while it wasn't as hard as lying directly on the ground, it felt pretty close. She was also hungry. She had not eaten a proper meal since breakfast the day before and now her stomach was sore from want. Her discomfort was only made worse by her fear. 

The moon shone brightly through the hole in the tent ceiling, lighting the room up in its cool white glow. In the moonlight, Lile could see everything and whenever she turned her head to the left she saw the haunting face of a wolf. She was lying in the general's bed, tied down waiting for him to show up. She kept imagining him storming in, throwing himself on her, r****g her over and over while she could do nothing to stop him. But no one came. She wondered if it would hurt and whether he would let her live once he had finished with her. She had no doubt that he had taken women forcefully before. He was that sort of man. The kind who took men for war and woman for his bed-chamber. A brute. But for whatever reason, his relations with woman were never spoke of. Not even in whispers. 

Lile wondered what the general looked like and if he really did have the face of a wolf. She thought of Maeve and how adamant the wise woman had been that all the rumours about the wolf army were false. But Lile now knew they weren't. Not all of them at least. She had heard it clear as day, the growl of a wolf coming from a woman who had the strength and ferocity of a beast. Haizea, a Basamortan. She was no ordinary human, and if she was not then Lile believed that not one of them was, least the general and his prince. 

All night she was restless, waiting to face the beast. She just wanted it to all end. Still, no one came. 

"You should get some sleep," murmured Haizea a few hours after the sounds of the camp had completely died down as everyone retired for the evening. Haizea had stayed to guard Lile through the night.

"And what will happen to me?" Lile hissed.

"You will get rest. That is what sleep is." Haizea's words mocked her but there was no humour in her voice.

"Why am I in this tent?"

"Because this tent is available."

"Will he come?" 

"He has not been here for a long time. Go to sleep."

Haizea laid a hand on Lile's head and stroked it softly. Her captors followed cruelty with acts of tenderness and it embittered Lile. She thrashed around in her bed shaking her head violently. It could achieve nothing other than making a point, which it did. 

"Very well," Haizea said and she withdrew to apathetic silence once again, leaving Lile to wallow in self-pity and anxiety on her own. In the early hours of the morning, when the embers of the tent firee had completely burnt out, exhaustion got the better of her. Her mind drifted away and she fell asleep. 

..............................................................................................................................................................................

Lile awoke to the light of a new day streaming in through the ceiling above her. Everything was sore. Her shoulders and arms were stiff from being tied up, her back was bruised from the hard bed, her legs ached from yesterday's march and her feet were on fire. She groaned as consciousness found her. 

"Good morning." Haizea's voice sounded more hoarse than usual. "How are you feeling?" 

Lile pulled at her binds and groaned again. 

"That bad, huh?" Haizea leaned over her so that her head appeared in Lile's line of sight, hanging upside down. "Making a warrior out of the likes of you will either be the most vexing or most satisfying charge of my entire military career." The woman made no sense to Lile. She wished the Basamortans would realise her Basa was poor and just stop talking to her. 

Haizea untied Lile's wrists. The release was slow. Lile's arms protested as she pulled them to her chest. She groaned again. 

"Enough of that," Haizea said. "Let's get you some breakfast." She picked Lile up like a child and Lile remembered their encounter the night before and how inhuman Haizea was. She didn't know how this woman could be real. What magic had created her? 

As had happened the night before, Lile was placed on a large cushion so that she sat at the table. This time she stretched her legs out underneath it as sitting cross-legged was too uncomfortable. Haizea left her for a moment and spoke to someone outside the tent entrance. Lile had been guarded by more than one person last night. Breakfast arrived soon after, a platter of fruits, bread and, to Lile's great delight, honey. There was also hot tea, and it was nothing like the tea Maeve made. It was a rich golden colour and was sweet to taste. Lile trembled slightly as she drank. It tasted so good. 

Haizea joined her. She stared Lile down with intense eyes which, Lile saw for the first time, were not entirely brown, but amber. She was a severe-looking woman, with high cheekbones, narrow eyes, thin brows and a strong square jaw. Her hair, while braided tightly was clearly thick and still voluminous. Her relentless gaze made Lile far too uncomfortable to eat.

"What is your name?" she asked. The question surprised Lile. No one but Nahia had asked for her name and at the time Lile had been forbidden to give it. 

"Lile," she croaked, the morning catching in her throat.

Haizea nodded slowly as if communicating that Lile was correct regarding her own name. "And how old are you?"

"Twenty suns."

"Summers you mean? You are twently summers old?

Lile nodded, embarrased at her poor grasp of the language. They must think her simple. 

"You don't look twenty," Haizea said. 

"Sorry," Lile said, for the poor Basa, not for her age. Damn it. 

A small smile pulled at the corner of Haizea's mouth. "Eat," she said, bluntly.

Lile did as she was told gladly. Her hunger finally exceeded her anxiety and the food went down without trouble. The honey was beautiful and paired nicely with the bread. The fruits were foreign. She didn't recognise any of them. There was a purple stone fruit that she enjoyed, some large orange berries that were too sour, and some slices of white melon that, she thought, might grow on her if she lived long enough. She ate it all without complaint and as she did the pain in her stomach began to dissipate. 

She tried not to pay Haizea too much attention as she enjoyed her breakfast. Her companion ate slowly and kept her eyes on Lile as she did so. Perhaps she thought that Lile would try to run again, and Lile wanted to, she really did, but the adrenaline of last night had faded into exhaustion and right now she simply didn't have the energy. She had finished all of her food and her tea before Haizea had even touched her bread. She couldn't help but look enviously at the uneaten honeycomb, oozing golden goodness over Haizea's wooden platter. 

"You like honey," Haizea observed. 

Lile smiled sheepishly. 

"You can have mine."

"Oh, no. I ate."

"You should eat more and I should sleep. As soon as Sorne arrives I'll be going so you may as well eat mine. I ate yesterday. You did not." 

Lile couldn't stop her and soon both Haizea's honey and bread had been transferred to her platter. She had just started eating again when Sorne arrived carrying bandages and followed by another woman with a bucket of steaming water. Haizea got up quickly, muttered something in Sorne's ear and left without saying a word to Lile. 

"She's tired," Sorne said apologetically, as though it had been rude of Haizea not to say goodbye to their prisoner. Sometimes Lile thought that her captors understood the situation even less than she did. "Did you sleep well?" Sorne asked while waving away her attendee. 

"No," Lile said honestly. She took a bite of bread. It was flat like the bread she had eaten the day before, but it wasn't salty but sour. It paired well with the honey. 

"How are your shoulders?" Sorne asked. 

"Bad."

Sorne compressed her lips. "And your feet?" 

"More bad. More bad than my shoulders." Lile stuffed her mouth with more bread hoping to deter Sorne from speaking to her more.

"You speak Basa well," Sorne said. 

Through a mouthful of bread and honey, LIle let out a moan of disagreement. 

"No really. I know last night you were scared, but I think when you are not scared your Basa is very good." 

"I'm still scared," Lile objected. She didn't want Sorne thinking that she was starting to feel better about being kidn*pped. 

Sorne's smile was gentle but sad and she said nothing more on the subject. "Eat up, and then I'll redress your feet," she said. 

Lile was happy to oblige and savoured the remaining honey for as long as she could. Sorne was quiet as she removed the bandages from her feet and gently washed them in the water. Her feet felt worse than they had the day before, but as Sorne pointed out to her, there was no infection. The physician had done her job well and her feet would heal quickly if Lile didn't try to make any more escapes. Once her feet had been redressed, Sorne suggested that she get some more sleep. Lile could sleep unbound as long as she didn't try to escape again. Her wellbeing, in general, was contingent on her not escaping according to the Basamortan doctor. She made no argument. Eating and sleeping were better than being forced to work or pleasure a man. She would be sick and injured for as long as she could be to avoid what was coming to her. 

The day proceeded much like this. Lile rolled back into bed, free of b*****e and rested, partially through day dreams of Maeve, Gren and Cleow, until lunch was brought to her. At that point, Sorne left and Haizea returned and joined Lile for the meal. 

They ate meat. Lile couldn't believe it. A large, bald man that Haizea referred to as Gorka, arrived with a platter of venison and Lile had never felt so hungry in her life. They ate in silence and Haizea's heavy glare rarely left her.

Over lunch, Lile attempted to get answers regarding her friends. 

"Yesterday, there was a wolf with me. Is he-"

"He's fine," Haizea replied curtly to the question Lile hadn't finished asking. 

"Oh, and, Maeve?"

"The witch is fine too." 

"We're not witches," Lile mumbled sulkily, but she asked no more. There was really no point inquiring about Gren.

Once they had finished, Haizea removed a small pouch from her belt and poured out five wooden dice. She introduced Lile to a game that involved rolling sequences of numbers to gain points. The first to reach a thousand points would win. They spoke about nothing but the game and played for hours in what was clearly an attempt to keep Lile, or perhaps Haizea, occupied for a long day of otherwise doing nothing. Lile thought she might enjoy the game under different circumstances. 

At one point, after they had already played two rounds, Lile spied Jokin digging a hole with a wooden spade, in the clearing outside of her tent. It had been hard for her to get a sense of her surroundings the night before, and she hadn't left her tent since. From where she sat now she could see the burnt rubble and ash of the bonfire several metres away and the outline of more tents behind it. It was halfway between her tent and the fire that Jokin was digging. She was curious, but Haizea pulled her attention away for a third round of whatever dice game they were playing, and Jokin eventually left, hole already dug.

Haizea was beating her savagely, as she had in each previous round when Lile saw Jokin return to his hole carrying a post on his back. It was astonishing, but Lile reminded herself that Jokin was most likely a beast with inhuman strength as Haizea was. 

As they continued to play Jokin dropped the post into the hole and patted the earth around it firmly so that it stood erect on its own. Jokin left again and Lile and Haizea played a fourth and fifth round of dice with no new developments regarding the post. At one point Lile asked what the post was for but Haizea told her, with little gentility, to focus on the game. 

It was just shy of dusk when dinner was brought to her. It was too early. She had little appetite after sitting around all day doing nothing but eating, napping and playing with dice. It was meat again, lamb this time, beautifully tender and spiced. She'd never eaten anything quite like it. She asked Haizea if they kept animals somewhere but Haizea, whose mood was swiftly deteriorating instructed her to be quiet and eat. Lile did so sullenly. When her stomach was full and she claimed that she had had enough, Haizea ordered her to finish. The luxury of eating lamb was quickly ruined by the manner in which it was served and Lile finished her meal sullenly. 

When all the food from Lile's platter was gone Haizea looked at her long and hard. 

"It's time, " she said. 

"Time for-?" Lile was picked up by Haizea before she could demand a reason. It would be difficult to get used to this woman. She didn't seem real. Haizea carried her out into the clearing where people were lingering outside of their tents, waiting for something. While Haizea was in a bitter mood, the rest appeared quite cheerful. They chatted amongst themselves and smiled at Lile when she, with much embarassment, caught their eye.  Haizea set Lile down in front of the post and she immediately felt a chill run down her spine. This was not good. Her back was pressed up against the post, her hands were being tied behind it. 

"Stop," she gasped. "What's happening?"

Haizea didn't reply. The cords tightened around Lile's wrists and she was held fast. People were watching her. They were accumulating around the tents and the burnt ashes of the old fire, watching and waiting. She averted her gaze and looked at the grass ahead of her. She felt vulnerable, she was vulnerable and she couldn't stand to look at any of them. 

The clearing was getting darker. The last streaks of an orange sun were barely visible above the treeline. The space was large, full of twenty or more tents, some as big as Maeve's cabin. Ahead of Lile the way was clear and led to a small field before a wall of forest. 

Sorne appeared, looking wary and red in the eyes. She clasped Lile's face in both hands. 

"It will hurt but you won't be harmed."

"What?" Lile asked bewildered.

Sorne compressed her lips and stared Lile right in the eyes."I won't bother telling you to not be scared, but I promise that you'll be alright." 

"I don't-"

Sorne left her. She walked off to Lile's right where she stood in front of the general's tent. Haizea stood with her and the two spoke to each other out of earshot. Occasionally their eyes glanced at Lile who was watching them, unsure of where else to look. They were the only people that she had, to some degree, gotten to know. Or at least, they were the only people who had, to some degree, gotten to know her. Each looked as uncomfortable as the other, but while Sorne appeared worried, Haizea looked angry. 

The night continued to grow darker. The orange of the setting sun had now been replaced by a deep purple. Above, the moon glowed, round and full, amongst a chorus of stars of varying levels of confidence. As it grew darker the stars grew bolder and soon the whole night would be awash with them. They too were joining in on the spectacle, watching the little Deargish girl below, vulnerable and scared and surrounded by enemies. The camp continued to gather and watch. They had fallen quiet. While some continued to murmer amongst themselves, most didn't speak. Lile wanted to call to Sorne and demand to know what was happening, but she was too afraid and embarrassed to ask. She doubted she would receive an answer anyway. Everyone had been so tight-lipped about their intentions until this point. 

Prince Asier arrived wearing nothing but trousers. He was a lean man, tall, muscular, but slender, bearing a smaller frame than many of his subordinates. He was imposing in manner and status but certainly not in stature. The mantle of King was a powerful one if it could make a legend out of such a man. 

From a distance, the prince looked down at Lile with dark eyes and an indecipherable expression. His gaze rested on her for some time. She was being stared at a lot today. What was it that they were all looking for? It unsettled her to see him there without a shirt. 

'It will hurt, but you won't be harmed.' Lile finally had the sense to think over Sorne's words. What could she mean? They were going to hurt her, but she wouldn't be harmed. What sort of pain wasn't harmful. Were they going to force her to exercise? Haizea had said something about making a warrior out of her. She had thought she had misunderstood. She still wondered if she had misunderstood. It made no sense. She was a woman. Women weren't warriors, though perhaps some of them were. Haizea certainly seemed warrior-like. But if she was to be forced to train, why was she tied up, why were they all watching her as though a show were about to start and why did the prince not have a shirt? Lile's thoughts were spinning around nonsensically. 

Prince Asier was now talking to the same old man that Lile had seen him with the night before. The man had a long beard that was twisted around his index finger and was almost entirely bald. He looked like a druid from Deargish fairytales, though darker in complection than Lile would have ever imagined. The old man gave the prince a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Prince Asier then left him and walked away from Lile and the rest to stant alone in the clearing, back to them all, staring at the moon. 

He removed his trousers. Lile gasped but she was the only one. He now stood in front of all of them completely naked. He turned his head back to look at Lile over his shoulder, his expression dark and haunted. Then he returned to looking at the moon. 

Lile's mind was going wild. What sort of sick ritual was going on? 'It will hurt, but you won't be harmed.' She turned cold thinking about it. Her worst fear, that she had been brought here for the pleasure of men, was about to be realised. She was going to be r***d. She didn't understand all the dramatics or the audience or why he was naked but she wasn't but- 

Lile stopped. Her thoughts, they just stopped. The prince, still staring at the moon, was shuddering. There were ripples flowing down the muscles along his spine like something living was moving under his skin. His back arched violently and he fell to his hands and knees. Lile shrieked with shock at the obsceneness of it. She futilely tried to back herself away, but the post stayed put and therefore so did she. The prince's body began to contort in ways that were not humanely possible. He seemed to simultaneously fold in on himself and grow bigger at the same time. Lile couldn't make sense of what she was seeing. His legs grew shorter, his arms longer, and from his behind, a growth appeared that grew and grew until it resembled a fleshy tail. He stood up on all four feet, his hind legs now matching the length of front legs that he didn't have moments ago. He turned, or rather it turned, to face Lile with the head of a demonic beast. A rabid, hairless dog that growled and whined and snapped its jaws. Its colour began to change from that of flesh to a dark mahogany brown as fur erupted from its skin, covering every inch of its body. And when its coat was complete the creature was revealed for what it was; a large, brown wolf. 

Lile screamed.