"Aaaaaah! No! No, no, no, no, noooooo!" Rafe's ears perked up as he trotted down the mountainside towards the noise. A girl was sobbing as seemingly cruel laughter rang down the mountainside. As he neared to where the noise was coming from, he saw a man beating a naked girl. The bushes rustled and the scent of crushed berries, blood, and fear permeated the area. Rafe growled and without hesitation sprang towards the man, who was oblivious to his presence. All the girl saw was a blur the color of raw umber and the next moment, a wolf was drooling over her stepfather.
Rafe was about to close his jaws over the man's throat when the girl grabbed him by his haunches and pulled him back towards her. Shocked, Rafe looked back at her and did not see the rock that hit him in the side of the head. The man shoved the unconscious wolf off of him and dropped the rock on the ground. The girl began to cry harder. "Stepfather, please spare me!"
Her stepfather turned to glare at her. "Bleddyn, you disobeyed my orders. You know that you must obey your father." His eyes took on a glazed appearance. " Now put your clothes on and clean the scratch marks you left on my face. Remember to pick up any berries that you have dropped." All Bleddyn could do was sob. Her stepfather grabbed her by her long black hair and dragged her to the pile of clothes and dressed her, pinching her stomach and yanking her hair when she didn't go fast enough. "You stupid bitch, I should have just fed you to the wolf." He jeered at her.
When Bleddyn was finally dressed and all the scattered berries had been gathered again, they looked to where the wolf had lain. There was nothing there except for a small pool of blood in the grass and some prints heading up the mountain. Stepfather cursed and grabbed Bleddyn by the arm, his fingers like cold stone pressing into her pale flesh.
When her mother asked her what had caused the marks as Bleddyn took her bath, Bleddyn recited the excuse that her stepfather had carefully crafted. She saw her mother's eyes darken. "You lying whore, you pushed yourself on him didn't you?" "No mam, I didn't." Her mother grabbed her and shoved her under the water until her struggles weakened and Bleddyn's eyes started to close. Mother hauled her out of the water and hit her on the back until she vomited up soapy water and her eyes were red with misery. Mucus ran down her face and stuck her hair to her chin. "Mam, please." Bleddyn's small hands clutched at her mother's skirt. Her mother lifted her up, carrying her through the living room and out the door, tossed her outside. "Please mam, please do not!" Bleddyn screamed.
"If you were a boy, I wouldn't have to worry about this, you wouldn't tempt my love so!" Mother told her, her angry face red and eyes watery. Bleddyn could see Stepfather behind Mother, an ugly smile on his face as he contemplated her night spent outside in the cold without any clothes.
Bleddyn tried the doors of the barn, but they were locked. She drew her long dark hair around her, and walked up the mountain, ready to die. Better to die in the jaws of the wolf she had seen earlier than at the calloused hands of her mother. When she was almost to the spot where she had met the wolf earlier, a voice came out of the darkness. "Little girl, what do you do so late on this mountain. Don't you know that there are wolves about who would love to get a taste of your lovely flesh?" Bleddyn shivered and said bravely, "I would rather go to the wolves than my mother." The voice did not say anything and Bleddyn continued up the mountain, her small feet beginning to bruise and bleed.
"Little girl, why would you rather go to the wolves?" said the voice echoing out of the darkness again. Bleddyn stopped again and looked into the darkness. "My mam loves my stepfather dearly, but my stepfather does things to me that she does not like. She drinks the brew and she hits me. I love her, but I hurt her." As like before, the voice did not question this, and Bleddyn continued up the mountain. By this time her feet were beginning to turn numb and her footing was slippery. Bleddyn began to feel tired, so she laid down for a rest. In her dream, a man who was glowing and smelled like water and wheat carried her over rocks and gravel of the trail and through a sparse gathering of trees. He took her to a cave and spooned something into her mouth. It was warm and tasted creamy. Later he and another younger man stared down at her and the older man cut his wrist, holding it to her mouth and squeezing her nostrils until she convulsively swallowed.
Bleddyn awoke in the cave, on a bed of furs. The walls of the cave were flecked with shining stones and had carvings etched into them. The cave was lit with a steady white-blue light. She lifted up her hand and found that some of the glow was emanating from her in a light blue color. Beside her a wolf was laying on its side. It lifted its head up lazily and eyed her. She recognized the scar on the wolf's head and gave a small cry, moving over to the wolf's side. Before she could stroke his head, he moved away and started changing. A golden mist covered her sight and when it cleared, the young man from her dream stood before her. She stared at his waistline and he blushed, grabbing a fur to wind around his waist. His hair was the same umber color as his wolf coat, but threaded with a few strands of gold. His eyes were clear and a dark green in color. His nose was straight with slightly flaring nostrils to catch her scent.
"What is your name, wolf man?" Bleddyn was surprised at the sound of her own voice, for it came out slightly deep and more melodious than she was expecting. The wolf man crouched gracefully and picked up a mirror, showing Bleddyn herself. The image in the mirror was that of a young woman with long black hair covering her attributes. Bleddyn looked at herself closely, taking the mirror from the man. The face in the mirror was beautiful, with clear skin, dark blue eyes, a slightly turned up nose, and dark red lips. She blinked and her eyelashes were like ravens wings, languidly flying against the sky of her eyes. Bleddyn dropped the mirror onto the bed of furs. "What is your name, wolf man?" She repeated.
"My name is Rafe. Gwalchgwyn gave me the name when he found me in the woods with wolves. We live here with a few others. Not everyone is a wolf. Gwalchgwyn is a falcon, I begged him to save you. It was me, I tried to save you from that man." The man wolf Rafe rushed through the words and it seemed like he was not very used to talking. His voice was a low tenor and had a nice timbre to Bleddyn's ears.
"Why am I old?" Bleddyn asked. The older man walked into the cave then. His hair was white and he wore no clothing. Despite his white hair his appearance was youthful and his eyes were a light brown color. The color of his glow was a creamy white. "Good morning to you Bleddyn. My name is Gwalchgwyn. I carried you to this cave. Do you remember me? I also fed you my blood when you were going to die." His voice was deeper than Rafe's, but was also possessing of a pleasurable timbre. Bleddyn shrunk away from him. "What are you?"