The Beast Within

Congregatio Luporum: Chapter One

I had a new appreciation for the woods. 

As frightening as it could be, I regretted ever taking my home for granted. 

This is where I'm meant to be, I thought as the wolf ran aimlessly. Not in a castle or a pit or a field... 

The woods replied with a tickling breeze.

'Welcome back,' the wind seemed to say, 'I've missed you'.

As it traveled, the wolf began to mutter under its breath. Simple nothings at first, random words and rhymes, but as its confidence grew so did its speech, until I realized with no small wonder that the animal was composing a poem. The wolf had enjoyed Jedd's poetry readings, and thought it might be fun to create its own verses.

The result was humorous, for the wolf had limited interests and most of its thoughts were on things like bones, howling, the wind running through its fur, and biting into prey. This new passion amused us both and put us in a jovial spirit.

"I like the crack of rabbit bones,

and the crunch of little leafs.

And when I howl at the big white moon

I feel it in my...teeths?

Rocks and sticks are tricky bites,

but running fast is best.

I love the water in the stream

And eggs inside bird nests."

It went on at length about rolling in the mud and various other wolfish pursuits.

A few times the wolf asked for help with rhyming and it became a game between us. I imagine we made a rather silly sight, but as we giggled and played with words I was reminded of a time when I entertained you, Credence, with similar nonsense.

I missed you so much.

But you were better off without me. 

I thought of becoming a traveling wolf jester. I'd have to learn tricks and memorize songs, but the image of the wolf juggling and completing a somersault would no doubt please any audience—if they didn't flee in terror first. 

Perhaps I would write a few sad songs in dedication to those I'd lost.

The wolf and I were trying to find a rhyme for the word 'rabbit' when we came upon a tower. It was an ancient relic made of cracked and crumbling stones, with no gate or other structure beside it. As if someone had begun building a castle but grew bored and stopped. There wasn't even a door through which one could enter, but the wolf's keen eyes spotted an empty window several feet high in the tower's body. No light shone from within and the wolf could not hear any movement behind the stones, so it walked onward.

"Stay."

A woman's whisper, delicate and easy to mistake as the wind, gave the wolf pause.

"Climb."

The wolf searched for the owner of the voice.

"Climb and come inside. Stay."

The wolf looked back at the tower window. A woman in a yellow dress was sitting on the sill, her long, thin legs dangled over the edge. The wolf squinted to make out her face.

Bones looked back at us. It was not a woman, but a skeleton with its skull angled toward the ground.

"Climb to me."

The remains didn't move when the voice spoke.

Something sprouted from the skull, a twig or leaf, and the wolf watched it stretch past the bone feet and creep the long distance to the ground. The skeleton's "hair" grew into a thick vine that clung to the tower's outer wall.

Creating a green ladder to the window.

With a soft thud it touched the dirt. Flowers sprang from the vine's body.

"Climb."

An image came to both our minds, put there by a mysterious magic, of a room filled with gold and jewels and a beautiful princess waiting to greet her hero.

"Climb, please."

There's treasure up there, I thought. Might be worth a quick peek.

The wolf approached the vine and sniffed it. A spectrum of scents swirled into its nostrils.

Damp moss. Smoke. The light fragrance of roses.

And death.

The wolf shuddered and moved away from the vine.

I don't think I should go up there, it thought to me. 

I don't think you should either, I answered.

A younger Josiah would have leapt at the chance to see a princess surrounded by coins and gems. But I had been through enough to know that he probably wouldn't have lived long after. 

The wolf left the tower, and for some time the woman's voice continued to beckon us back until it finally dissolved into a faint echo.

"Climb and stay. Help me. Please..."