Soulmates Across Borders

Chapter 4

"We must make our way to rendezvous with the villagers," Hake, the experienced Värian warrior, said as he adjusted Awai's position in his arms. The woman was surely getting very heavy.

"I can walk," Awai told him, so Hake begrudgingly let her down to the ground, where she limped up to her girls and held her hands out to them. Hake's white wolf Kanapa appeared in the clearing at that moment, a growl in the back of his throat. He obviously wanted to be on his way, too.

The twins, Anahera and Arohana, pulled away from Solí and stood up to help their mother stand. Solí got to her feet and gazed behind them at the smoke drifting through the gaps in the trees, her eyes stinging from more than just the smoke in the air.

Finally, she turned to follow the group away from the sun and in the general direction of the large village of Panui. It would take half a moon to walk there, if they couldn't find enough lilac to turn everyone to mist. What would they do for food?

But as she took up the rear of the solemn traveling party, she felt a tugging at her consciousness. She instinctively turned back in the direction of the sensation. It felt very similar to when Pango would call her to his side whenever they were separated by a short distance. As if her very soul was being drawn away in the direction of the village.

Perplexed, Solí left the group without a thought and started silently making her way in the direction in which she felt drawn. She walked straight through bushes rather than go around, and eventually started jogging. She must discover the source of this feeling. What called to her?

The alluring mental tugging on her brain led her back to the village of Itaone, to the moon's side of the village. She ducked behind some trees and foliage, but eventually the sensation tempted her to step out of hiding.

What could be causing this feeling? She felt like she had suddenly become aware of a bond with a wolf that she had never met before, even though they had been bonded together for their entire lives. What a preposterous idea, she thought. But still, she slunk her way toward the apex of the village, where she could see the bustle of a contingent of beastmen knocking down smoldering tents with their evil wind magic and using their mysterious water magic to put out fires that were spreading into the forest.

A few trees had caught on fire, and once a beastman had put out the flames, he knelt and used his plant magic to make the trees come back to life. Solí enviously watched the trees come back to life in the span of just a few breaths. What she wouldn't give to have plant powers like that. Then she could grow as much lilac as she needed to help her people mist walk to safety.

A group of the filthy scavengers searched the remains of the village for anything worth salvaging.

The back of Solí's throat ached with the rage and sadness she felt over what these horrid beastmen had done to her precious home. All her keepsake items had been lost in the fire. The dresses her mother had made for her before she died. The fancy shawl the wise woman Waiata had made for her and gifted to her on the eve of her summoning back when she had only been fourteen years old. Her sacred tambourine. The ritualistic items Solí had intended to pass down to her own future children, when the day came for them to summon their own wolves.

Solí, Pango called, his mental voice jarring her brain with the sudden intensity of his concern. What are you doing? The others have started to worry about you.

Tell them I will catch up with them. I just have something I need to do first.

What is the meaning of this?

I cannot explain right now, but I must go.

Stop this instant! Pango ordered her, but Solí left the safety of the forest cover and ventured up the slight hill to the open area on the outskirts of the village, where the beastmen had set up a makeshift encampment.

Suddenly, out of a tent, a beastman emerged. He had the decorated uniform of a high-ranking leader. His beastman appearance surpassed the simple ears and tail of the wolf, making his nose broaden and his facial hair appear more like fur. His teeth came to points in his slightly agape mouth, and his black eyes looked right at her. His black fingernails resembled claws on his hands. The long sleeves of his uniform covered his arms, but thick gray hair peeked out from the tops of his sleeves, and Solí imagined his whole body was covered in the ashy-colored fur.

The man waved his hand, and the evil imitation magic melted away, revealing a regular looking man, save for the gray wolf ears on his head. The man had black eyes that gazed deeply into her, a handsome face, and a long wolf tail that swayed uneasily. He had a broad chest and shoulders covered in a decorated cloak which he wore over a tan leather shirt and trousers. He wore sturdy boots that would allow him to run long distances, though he would be slower than Solí in her lightweight moccasins. His whole outfit was vastly different than Solí's tribal attire. She nearly felt naked in comparison to the amount of clothes this man wore, especially with the way his eyes devoured her body, his gaze smoldering.

He furrowed his brows in confusion. Could it be that he felt the same perplexing sensation that Solí felt? This man had the unmistakable feeling of a bonded wolf. Since Solí had a bonded wolf, she recognized the feeling immediately. It felt like half of her soul resided in her wolf. But now, she had met another person who held part of her soul. She realized how complete she felt with this man now at her side.

She felt an unignorable force drawing her closer. Her soul called out to this strange beastman, making her heart pound and her breath catch in her throat. She thrusted her chest out and reached for the strange man. Against her will, she took slow sure steps up to him, while the man walked haltingly toward her. This man's strange magic overpowered her senses. She shook her head to clear her mind, but it did no good. She couldn't shake this feeling that she knew this man and must go to him.

Beastmen appeared behind their leader, and when the other men spoke in their strange language, the leader waved them off with only a few indecipherable words and an impatient gesture.

The two finally closed the distance between them and embraced each other's arms. When they touched, the sensation doubled. Her soul stirred at the base of her spine with a shiver of cold and a rush of heat. Solí knew without a doubt that she somehow knew this person though she had never met him before. She looked up into the handsome face of the stranger she felt she should somehow remember and said, "Who are you?"

While the man shook his head to indicate he couldn't understand her, Solí glimpsed beastmen over his shoulders, who all stood and watched the two of them in a perplexed state of curiosity.

A flash of black appeared in Solí's peripheral vision. Pango tugged on Solí's deerhide belt with his strong jaws and pawed at her leg. The wolf's claws softly scraped her exposed skin. The contact broke whatever strange and mesmerizing spell this man had cast over her. She realized beastmen had gathered around her on two sides, and she immediately turned to run away.

The beastman leader called out to her, but she sprinted into the woods and hurried away, Pango hot on her heels.

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1322 Words; 5599 Total