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A rough draft of a fantasy work - new perspective on were-creatures and human relations |
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(Tuesday, November 2, 2009) The sinking of the sun over the western horizon cast the world in gray, painted on the edges with dusky oranges and reds, the silver light of the crescent moon and the first star twinkling overhead. The world was quiet - the songbirds had taken their nightly perches and the nocturnal creatures had yet to creep out of whatever hiding spots they had found for the daytime. A road, dusty and rutted and long forgotten - a trail, really, now - twisted its way through the ancient trees, tall and gnarled with naught but a few russet leaves clinging frailly to the branches. And on the side of this track, on the very edge, stood a hooded girl, her back to the wind and stationary under a thin, crooked tree. Her light eyes stared ahead of her as she listened to a creek make soft tinkling noises over the rocks in its bed and to the wind whisper its mournful way through the forest, disturbing the leaves on the ground and the trees ageless positions. A crimson leaf, torn from one of the trees, floated and spun on the breeze, drifting lazily past the girl’s face. Snaking out a hand slowly and deftly, she caged the leaf within her fingers and turned her hand palm up, examining the veins running through the once-green leaf. A maple leaf, she decided, just as the wind picked up and tugged her prize from her palm. She watched it drift away, her arm falling hesitantly and subconsciously to her side, her eyes the only other part of her body that was moving as they tracked the leaf’s meandering progress. The snapping of a fallen branch under someone’s foot jerked her from her entranced state, and she jumped slightly at the noise, turning her head with deliberation to scan the forest behind her - a man, taller than she, and very familiar. A small smile turned the corners of her delicate lips up and a twinkle brightened her eyes. “Hello, Rylan,” she spoke, her voice breaking the near-silence that surrounded them. He took her slender hand in his, lifted to his mouth, and caressed the back of it gently with his lips, making eye contact the entire time. “Good evening, my fair Vala.” “Ah, yes, a beautiful night, indeed. But, my dear, would it not be more beautiful if your companions would come out of the dark and stop being so shy? I won’t bite them.” She grinned at him, flashing very white, even teeth, and her canines were elongated like fangs, curved toward the back of her mouth like a wolf’s teeth and deadly in appearance. “How rude of them, indeed, my lady. Come now, friends. Come out here. You’re being impolite to Vala.” He winked at her and beckoned with a long, bony finger at the trees where the shadows had made it impossible to see. Two figures, moving in with a feline grace, slipped out of the darkness and stood behind Rylan, staring with wide green eyes at Vala. In appearance they were practically identical: round, green eyes; dark hair that fell around their faces and past their shoulders; wild expressions on their angular faces; their heads level with Rylan’s shoulder; slender; and young. Vala smiled kindly at them, softening the flirtatious lines that had become her face as she had exchanged greetings with Rylan, and spoke to them, “Well, darlings, please do tell me your names. I am Vala.” They shrank closer to Rylan, one on either side of him, peering intently at her as she waited, and Rylan pushed both forward gently. “Go on. Tell her your names.” The bolder of the two rose her voice first. “My name is Selda. I’m pleased to meet you, Lady Vala.” She curtsied and made eye contact with her, presumably, sister, who began her own introduction. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Vala. I am Storme.” She, too, curtsied, and stepped back into place by Rylan along with Selda. Rylan offered his arm to Vala, which she took, as he said, “Shall we walk, my dear?” Her acceptance of his arm was her answer to this question, and they strutted away into the growing darkness, her free hand gathering the black and green fabric of her dress, revealing her black boots constructed from black leather. They strolled through the forest with a relaxed, almost lazy, gait, and the sun's last rays vanished, plunging them into darkness. Vala's night vision reflected green in the pale silver moonlight, her eyes almost matching the young girls' eyes behind her, and within a few moments the forest thinned out and then ended completely with a handful of trees scattered here and there as it finally turned into a field, the wheat stalks brushing their thighs as they traipsed through it. A building sat on the edge of the field, a grassy lawn surrounding it, and a few apple trees grew in the yard. A dog barked as they approached and bounded up to them, quivering in excitement as it wagged its tail enthusiastically. “Good dog. Yes, hello, Ember,” laughed Rylan as he stroked the dog's head and scratched behind its ears, which were pinned back against its skull at the moment. The dog, long-legged and long-coated, wriggled its black, brown and white body, and as Rylan snapped the fingers of his left (and free) hand, the dog fell into place at his side, trotting along as they approached and entered the house. Inside the house, after the entrance way, was the kitchen, complete with a large hearth with the coals of a dying fire smoldering in the bottom. Rylan ushered the girls farther into the house, bidding them good night with a soft kiss on the top of each other their heads, before he stoked the fire, adding a few logs to it. He pulled out the chair on the end of the wooden table that faced the doorway, offering it to Vala, and as she sat down, smoothing the bottom of her dress by running her hands down the back of it, he pushed her seat in before gathering two mugs, which he filled with a liquid from a black kettle hanging in the hearth before sitting at the opposite end of the table. He sipped his steaming drink cautiously and made a sigh of contentment, and Vala followed suit, carefully taking a drink from her own ceramic glass. “It's been such a long time since I saw you last, darling,” he commented, peering with bright eyes over the rim of his mug, which was raised in front of his face though he was not drinking at the moment. “It has indeed, Rylan,” she said stonily. “But we both know exactly why that is. What we both don't know is why I am here now.” Her words were cold, laced with a hint of menace and of demand – it was clear that she expected information, not idle pleasantries. The grin faded from his face, replaced with a hard line, and their eyes locked, both recalling they way they had met and parted last. The silence trickled through first seconds, and then minutes, before Vala grew impatient. “Rylan, either tell me what my purpose is in being here, or I am leaving as soon as I finish my drink.” She raised her mug to her lips and drank deeply with no intentions of stopping until her mug was drained. He sighed. “Fine, Vala. Have it your way. You're here, because I need your help.” She smiled, insincerely, and retorted, “Of course you do, sweetheart. With what this time though? And see. It wasn't so hard to just answer a simple question.” He rolled his eyes, the words “get out” just on his lips, but he reshaped them into, “Vala, I know we did not part on the best of terms, and I will take responsibility and the blame for that occurrence. But put it in the past for now. You know what I am asking you to do is far more important than the grudge and argument between us.” She took another swig of her drink, swished it around in her mouth between her teeth, and swallowed it, letting its temperature scald the back of her throat a little bit, before answering. “I know this is true,” she responded quietly, “and I know that I must forgot our past for the time being.” His breath came in a loud exhale of relief. “Thank you, Vala. Let me tell you about them then. Selda and Storme, I mean, the sisters. They are the first of their kind in nearly one hundred years. We had thought them all but extinct, as you know, but their return brings about something of a much darker, much more serious nature.” Vala and Rylan locked eyes again, seriousness turning their faces into hard, dark expressions. One word rolled off of Vala's tongue and hung in the air like the humidity brought by a rainstorm. “Humans.” |
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