Two
1401 Words
Lotus twisted the key in the lock and gave the handle a hard tug. The door rattled noisily but didn't budge. She took out the key, shoved it in her bag and started down the cracked cobbled path.
The sun was sinking below the horizon above the village. Splashing pink and orange rays across the rows of stalls closing up, stretching the shadows of stragglers and stone houses that lined the path.
Distant voices sounded around Lotus as she walked on. The noises of iron grating against iron, crates getting stacked, footfalls and faint chatter of a marketplace winding down.
A cold wind blew through the narrowing path, shaking the streamers hung from one end to the other.
It was the crescent festival tonight, that was why everyone closed up early. Lotus admired the bejeweled decorations of crescent moons and wolf cutouts hanging from windows, various doors and street lamps.
It wasn't until she was a few houses away from the cottage where she lived, that she felt like she was being followed.
When she turned around she found a few people, some in their wolf forms. Their large, fur covered bodies darkening with the sunset. No doubt they were headed home alone or with their mates.
Nothing out of the ordinary.
Only glitching shadows but that was because that witch had cracked her glasses.
Lotus shrugged off the feeling as paranoia that would never go away and continued on.
When she reached the cottage—a quaint, stone structure with creeping ivy and flowers—the door swung open without being touched and when she entered it swung shut.
Soft footfalls announced Prithia, the owner of the cottage and Lotus' roommate.
She was in her wolf form. Smooth, honey coloured fur shining under the candle chandelier, her lithe muscled body moving gracefully down the little stairs to the left. To the right was another set of little stairs leading to Lotus' room. In the center was the sitting room—with sparse furniture, and a blazing fireplace—connected to the kitchen further in by a long high counter.
"Lottie, there you are. Get ready quickly, I want to be at the square before the fire starts," Prithia said in her singsong voice. Being part witch and werewolf, Prithia's energy was all over the place. It was exhausting but that meant nobody noticed Lotus.
"I'm not feeling up to it," Lotus said, exaggerating a tired yawn.
She headed for the stairs to her room but a hulking frame of fur and emerald eyes blocked her path.
"No," Prithia stated with strong finality.
She bumped up her glasses. "Prith, I—"
"And I said no. You're not going to hide up there while everyone else have fun. I don't care how small and weak your wolf is." The honey coloured wolf's fangs flashed.
Lotus sighed. "I can't transform, I'll just be the odd one out in the festival."
"Whatever. I'm not hearing your excuses this time. Are you changing or do I have to drag you to the square in that." She sniffed distastefully at Lotus' gown.
The thought of standing in the open square, exposed, sent a spike of fear through Lotus. But it had been two years and with her disguise she was sure that no one from her past could recognize her. And Prithia would truly drag her kicking and screaming to the square.
Best not to anger the she wolf that allowed her pay half the rent.
"Let me go change. But I'm not staying long."
Prithia gladly stepped back, murmuring, "We'll see about that."
*
Lotus had worn one of Prithia's gowns, because all her clothes were "rags". It was velvet with a heart neckline that clung to her waist like a vise. Prithia had sworn on her life she looked breathtaking but Lotus felt awkward in the gown. She kept on pulling up the sleeves that slipped off her shoulder every two seconds. Her breathing coming in short bursts due to the dress squeezing her ribs.
How Prithia comfortably wore it was a wonder.
Try as she might Prithia couldn't convince her to let her hair down. It was muddy brown in colour and was in a braided bun at the top of her head.
A perk of having a part witch as a roommate was that she fixed Lotus' glasses with ease and without demanding answers.
Once they reached the square, Prithia bounded off to find her friends, leaving her at the edge of the square.
The square located at the center of the village was a wide, open area, packed with large, fur covered bodies. The lamps had been put off. The darkened sky above was dotted with stars and a single crescent moon hung low. It glowed dimly over the square, bathing the wolves in its dull glow, giving a light sheen to their dark, brown, honeyed and midnight blue furs.
The village head stalked to the branches of wood stacked high in the middle of the square. A powerful wolf much larger than everyone else's. His fur gleamed like a thousand sharp spikes set alight by the moon's glow.
"Welcome to the crescent festival. A day to mark the start of the new moon cycle and the hunting season. As we celebrate, may the goddess strengthen our borders and keep our enemies away."
As he finished, the stacked wood exploded in bright flames and deep, howling accompanied it, shaking Lotus' eardrums.
The thing within her stirred languidly, stretching cold tendrils as if it wanted to reach out of her and touch the flames and join the howling.
A cold sweat broke out on her forehead as she reined it in, coaxing it back into the black depths of her soul, where it slept.
She shivered and hugged herself.
Standing on the outside of the howling circle, Lotus watched the wolves beat the ground with their paws, drumming up a pleasant beat.
Longing filled her as she watched furs glide over each other in time to the beat, mates playing together, little pups jumping on each other. Her bottom lip quivered and she bit on it, bumping up her glasses. If she ever transformed, the peaceful life she had created would crumble.
They would recognize the chosen mate mark Alpha Vaheer burned on her, realize she's the one on the old wanted posters in the market. Worse still she would terrify them and they would attack... And the thing residing inside her took threats viciously. It would rip apart whomever. Leaving a trail of bloodshed and destruction in her wake. And she had sworn off that life, promised to never return no matter what.
In the midst of glistening furs and fangs, pleasant beats and playful air, a gap opened up. Giving her a clear view of the raging fire being burnt in honour of the goddess and a memory, unbidden, surfaced.
~•~•~
There was fire everywhere, blazing hot, licking every wood and grass, spitting out thick plumes of black smoke.
She was but a pup then. Running wildly to the safety of the trees, heart in her throat, the smell of singed fur tickling her snout.
She wasn't alone. But no one paid her any mind. There were agonizing screams and wounded howls of those still trapped somewhere in the fire. It was impossible to know where.
Some had gone back to try and save. Some had sped swiftly past the little pup, disappearing behind the inky darkness of the woods.
By the time she made it into the woods, she was limping, ragged and terrified. Other wolves that hadn't seen her had stomped on her and some had kicked her into the thorn bushes just to get past.
Making the mistake of turning back, the little pup watched in transfixed horror at the place she called home engulfed in an unforgiving fire.
It had spared no one.
People in their wolf and human forms that managed to get away from the fire, crawled a few feet away. Their anguished cries rattling her depths as the fire followed them and claimed their lives. Choking the air with the tantalizingly acrid smell of charred fur and flesh.
Where was her father?
Where was her brother?
She lifted her head and cried to the moon. But the smoke blotted the sky and the moon didn't show her face.
- Writer
