A Luna's Flame

Chapter Sixteen

I sat perched on a low-hanging limb of a black walnut tree, crushing a walnut in my palm. The tree was near the pack's border, several miles separating me from freedom. I could faintly hear the rehearsed marching of the distant patrols, ignorant of dangers lurking nearby. From my left, the hardly masked panting of a wild man danced in my ear. The uneven footfalls, erratic heartbeat, and short spurts of irregular growling identified him before the smell of insanity could even reach my nose. The man stumbled into my eyesight as I casually glanced over at him. He looked maybe a couple of years older than me, his cadmium eyes giving him away. He was unkempt with disheveled matted brown hair. He wore bloody, ripped pants with nothing else, showing the large cloud-shaped birthmark on his chest. He was looking around, jittery.

"How do you know me?" I asked as I crunched on a walnut leisurely.

He looked around hastily, clearly startled. I threw a nut at his forehead. He looked up at me, growling.

"How do you know me, wolf?" I demanded.

He stalked forward as I draped my legs over one side of the limb, watching him closely.

"Who doesn't know of the Rogue slayer?" he asked with an uneven, guttural tone.

"That's a terrible name. You've had years to come up with something, and that's what I get," I said in disappointment as I rubbed my forehead.

He began muttering to himself, and I looked over. The yellow of his eyes were swirling with blue, each fighting for dominance. He began pulling at his hair, taking from the root, as his muttering grew in volume. He growled as he fell to his knees, blood tendrils rolling from his scalp.

"Kill me. Kill me. Kill me," the man chanted in a changing voice as his teeth chattered.

I dropped from the tree, my boots barely making noise on impact. I carefully walked over to the man as I pulled my freshly wrapped blade from my boot, concealing it against my forearm—the bare blade sizzling slightly against my fresh skin. Enyo growled in annoyance. As quick as a falcon dives at its prey, I moved behind him and sunk my blade into his shoulder. I roughly covered his mouth as a scream tore through his throat, the silver burning in his veins. I pulled his head back by his hair, watching as his eyes slowly turned blue. I pulled out the dagger and pushed him forward, his face falling first to the unforgiving ground. He clawed at the dirt as he curled up, taking ragged breaths.

"You don't have much time," I grimly stated.

He coughed for a moment before looking over at me, struggling to kneel before me.

"Why have you come to me?" I asked.

"I—I heard your questions—s in the madness. I—I heard—d your frustration—n in the chaos," the man stuttered between pants.

I scrutinized him.

"And what of them?"

He coughed a bit more ragged as his body shook in tremors.

"I am from—m the m—mountains, I heard the cries—s of women—n and the laugh—laughter of m—men," he struggled as he looked over at me with tear-filled eyes.

I sighed heavily as I took in the broken wolf before me.

"What has been taken from you?"

"M—My soul. T—they have to burn," he said with shaken venom, foam bubbling at the corners of his mouth.

"Who has to burn?"

"T—they have to p—pay. Our en—enemies in—n the moun—mountains," he said as his irises shook.

"Your enemies are not mine."

"T—they are on—one in the s—same," he said as he gritted his teeth.

"The Ly—Lykos must burn—n," he whispered under his breath as his jaw whined under the force.

"What did you say?" I asked as I stepped forward.

"Ki—Kill me. Re—Return my body to—to the Goddess so—so she can—n see what—what they—they have done. Burn—n the moun—mountains so—so that I can—n see them—them from the moon—moon," he stuttered as his eyes began to swirl with yellow.

"What was her name, wolf?" I inquired.

"Calliope," he said clearly as his blue irises washed away into chaos.

Before he could move, I pounced on him, caging his neck in my arms. He scratched out at me while he growled out in a fury.

"May the Goddess reunite your soul with Calliope. Pure mates never part. Create you anew and wash away the touch of taint. I pray that she grants you the forgiveness alien to this world of darkness. May the old Gods and new understand my sacrifice and grant you peace from this chaos. To Selene, we are owed," I prayed as blood ran down my forearms as he viciously fought for freedom.

I slid my dagger gracefully across his neck, slicing the skin as if it was never meant to be whole. Then, I let him go as he clutched at his wound and walked in front of him. As the blood painted the grass red, the cadmium yellow faded to blue for the last time. He fell to his back, looking up to the half-moon that shone through the treetops.

"She waits for you, wolf. Insanity free from your gaze so that you may see her when you arrive. I'm sorry for what they did to you," I said as I kneeled beside him.

He smiled softly, looking over at me one last time, the blue rapidly darkening.

"Ca—lis—ta," he gurgled with his dying breath, taking mine with his.