It had been a tough winter so far, and likely to get only tougher. Finn Fidh’s fur clung to her ribs, outlining each stark bone quite clearly. The prey had been scarce on her journey east, and the longer she went without food, the more she scrutinized her companion Alastair with slavering jaws and eyes delineating the more juicy portions of his haunches. Alastair, being a deer and thus finely tuned towards his surroundings and the intents of those around him, had wisely kept clear, following the wolf from a hundred yards away and sleeping with one eye open. Not that Finn could actually go through with killing him. She had grown somewhat fond of the shaggy pelted creature, as evidenced by the fact that she had not only named him, but named him after a favoured uncle. Truth be told, they did resemble each other. Old uncle Ali had the same bemused expression and goofy, loping gate.
Finn pushed through yet another drift of snow, the combination of cold and resistance slowly but surely sapping the strength from her limbs. She was tired, she wanted to lay down and rest, but deep within her soul she knew that if she succumbed to sleep now she would never wake up. Alastair, though useful enough to relieve boredom by talking, arguing and yelling at, would probably not try to save her. Even prey had to have some kind of pride in itself. So, with this in mind, Finn trudged onward, distracting herself from the distressing lack of feeling in her remaining toes by telling a story.
“Once upon a time, there was Eagle, who hated all the other animals so much that he hid away the stars, the sun and the moon.” Finn began, her voice rolling out into the empty forest with an almost sing-song cadence. Though her normal tone was as harsh as the bark of a seal, brought about by the scars on her throat, when a story came to her tongue and a smile to her lips, all that worried her dropped away, and her voice was that of a younger wolf, untroubled and clear. “Now, Eagle had a beautiful daughter, and it was she that Raven fell in love with. At this time, Raven was not the bird you see today, his feathers were white as all this goddamn snow, and very handsome. The eagle’s daughter fell in love with Raven too, and she invited him into her father’s longhouse.”
Finn paused here, singular ear flicking like a moth’s antenna. What was a longhouse, anyway? Finn only knew the word from her grandmother, Morrigan, but even the aged wolf had not possessed its definition. If someone could be invited inside a longhouse, it must be like a den, but long, perhaps? The wolf shook her head, a long den would be very drafty and hard to defend. Figures a silly bird like an eagle would live in such a silly place. Finn had no patience for the creatures, she thought eagles rather pompous and stupid, and raven’s not much better. Alas, she was not the story-maker, only the tongue that gave it voice. She cleared her throat and began again.
“When Raven saw the sun, moon and stars sitting in the lodge, he knew that he must steal them, and bring them back to the world outside, which languished in the darkness. So, when no one was looking, he grabbed them all, along with a skin of water and a brand of fire, and fled from the longhouse. Fearing pursuit, Raven tossed the sun up into the sky, where it stuck and began shining so brightly that Eagle was blinded and dived back down to earth. Flying onward, Raven found a place for the moon, fastening it more gently in the sky so it shone like a mirror, reflecting the sun.”
Again Finn stopped, wheeling drunkenly about to see if Alastair was following. He was, but from a great distance, regarding her with wide eyes, as if questioning her sanity. “Oh stop that,” Finn muttered, “Just because you can’t talk doesn’t mean I’m talking to myself.” She took another step and another, but it was getting harder and harder to move, and the cold air snapped and rattled in her chest. Perhaps she should lie down, just for a little while…
“Dancing through the sky in celebration of his own success, Raven scattered the stars hither thither, so that they twinkled like diamonds in the velvety night. As he flew, the smoke from the brand caught in his wings and feathers, turning them sooty and black. When the brand grew too short and burned his beak, Raven dropped that too. Where it landed, the earth caught fire, and soon began to blaze.” Fire sure would be nice right now. Finn had only seen it from a distance, circled by the eerie, shadowed, bipedal forms of luperci, and that was what had kept her from straying closer. But even from afar she could see its light, feel its warmth, like sunlight bound to earth. It often flickered through her dreams.
“Panicked, Raven threw the water to the ground. It put out the fires and became all the lakes and rivers that run through this land. So that’s why eagles and ravens don’t get along. Raven was a punk who tried to get with Eagle’s daughter, and ended up robbing him blind and almost setting the entire world on fire.” Her foot snagged on some unseen root, and Finn pitched forward into the snow. The scent of a pack’s territory filled her nostrils, it was strong, but not too strong. She was at the very border. Finn rasped out another breath and settled more deeply into the powder. Maybe dying wouldn’t be as bad as she though it was. This… this was like going slowly numb, so far removed from the red rush of battle. The wolf closed her eyes, spiraling down into the enfolding darkness as the russet deer looked on from the woods. “The end.”