-Silhouettes-
-Part Two-
Saint Ninian's?
Why is this all so familiar? The vixen wondered silently, staring at the room around her, a faint feeling of dread washing over her. The church felt eerily familiar, far too familiar for her own liking, a faint sense of déjà vu haunting her, a feeling that this was a place that she shouldn't be and yet she felt as though she belonged. She felt herself in conflict as she glanced up at the mouse, his eyes shining brightly, a comforting grin gracing his aged features.
What is it? She knew there was something she was forgetting, something that se needed to remember, something of great importance. Shaking her head slowly the vixen tried to clear her head, tried to rid herself of the confusion.
"You're lucky that you got here when you did. You have a rather horrid bit of frostbite on your foot paws, lucky for you they're still numb from the cold." The mouse whispered softly to the vixen as she laid in the bed, covered with thick blankets, a look of confusion upon her face. She stared up at the mouse, a question on the tip of her tongue, but she had no words to ask it with. "Are you all right?"
"Yes, I think so." She muttered in response, glancing over towards the fire, the warm glow casting eerie shadows across the ceiling.
Why am I here? She wondered to herself silently, rubbing her skull slowly with one paw as she contemplated the question. She tried to remember, but there seemed to be blank spots in her memory, she knew there was a reason she was there. She remembered being with her mother in their cave with the rest of the clan, warmed by a small fire as the freezing winter winds whipped around them, her father had gone off to get more fire wood before the snows began and then she was here in his church talking to a mouse, there was nothing in between, as if a page had been torn from the middle of a story.
"Are you sure?" The mouse asked, concern obvious on his face.
"Just a bit cold is all." She whispered back, shivering slightly as she pulled the blankets around her body tightly, the feeling just beginning to come back in her foot paws, along with the pain.
"Don't worry, I have some tea for you, it'll be ready in just a moment." The mouse motioned to a small teapot hanging just above the flames, obviously put there recently. "I will be back in just a moment." With that the mouse disappeared out into a side room sticking off from the back of the church, returning a moment later with two pots of lightly boiling water.
"What's that for?" The vixen asked, slightly scared by the boiling water, she had burnt herself before while helping her mother and had guessed what the mouse had in mind.
"This would be for you're footpaws." The mouse explained, setting both pots down next the bed as the vixen stared down at the twin pots. "Believe me, the consequences of not doing this are much greater. It'll be over soon enough, don't worry." The mouse explained with a reassuring smile, offering a paw to the vixen.
"What if I don't do it?" She asked in a soft voice, glancing up at the mouse, a nervous look on her face as the pain in her foot paws began to come back slowly.
"You could possibly lose a footpaw to it." He replied, the vixen quickly taking his paw as he said those words, swinging her legs carefully over to his side of the bed. "Just try to stay still, this may take a while and it may hurt quite a bit." Kneeling down the mouse took the vixen's footpaws and slowly eased them into the water, which was now just barely boiling. At first the heat hurt, her footpaws throbbing painfully as the mouse rubbed the feeling back into them, but slowly it subsided, leaving a gentle numbness.
"Thank you . . .um . . ." The vixen paused for a moment, not remembering if she had asked the mouse his name.
"Father Samuel, and you?" The mouse answered with a smile, rising to his footpaws.
"Sana." The vixen replied, offering a paw to the mouse.
"Pleased to meet you, Sana." The Father said moments before a loud whistle cut through the air. "And it appears that the tea is just about done, just one moment, my child." With that the mouse took the steaming pot from off the fire, disappearing once again into the side room before reappearing moments later, two cups of tea in paw. Offering one to the vixen e sat down on the bed next to her.
"Thank you, Father." Sana nodded her thanks, staring at the tea for a moment before taking a small sip, it was quite bitter. "What is this?"
"It's to help with the pain." The mouse answered, pointing down at her frostbitten foot paws, before taking a sip of his own tea. "Should help you to get to sleep as well."
"Could do with a bit of rest . . ." Sana murmured airily, blinking slowly as her eyelids began to drop, taking a long sip se finished off her tea.
"You had best get some, tomorrow is another day." The mouse whispered, hopping off the bed, taking her cup as he went, the vixen slowly leaning down against the bed until her head hit the pillow, eyes closing as she faded into unconsciousness. "Sleep well, my child." With that the mouse disappeared up the stairs into the upper level of the church, blowing out the lamps as he went.
---
"So what are you doing out in this storm anyways, Ciel?" The otter asked the mouse maid as they walked into one of the upper rooms, most of them were empty save for a half dozen beasts that had nowhere else to go.
"The elders sent me ta ask the father for his blessings during these times. They've gone all superstitious I guess. Think that the storm's the end o' the world." Ciel muttered, rolling her eyes as she peeled off her outer cloaks, all of them soaked straight through, tossing them onto the floor she hopped onto the single bed in the room. "Wish that they could 'ave waited fer a break in the storm . . ."
"Aye, that would have been better then this." The otter replied, holding up one of the cloaks to punctuate his words. "So where did you find the vixen?"
"Out in snow, seemed like she was heading here. Wonder why though. Maybe she got 'erself in the same mess that I did." The mouse maid said with a shrug before falling back into the bed. "So how're thing 'ere, John?"
"Same as usual, had a few bandits hanging 'round lately. That was why I was hesitant to let you in, for all I knew they could be usin' you as a decoy or somethin'." The otter replied as he leaned against the wall by the door, toying with his stave idly, glancing out the door into the darkened hallway, lit sparingly by small oil lamps.
"Don't sound too good, what sort o' beasts are they?" Ciel asked, curious as she sat up on the bed, stretching her tired muscles.
"Looked like they were weasels or something like that. Were pretty big, but we didn't see 'em too much, mostly heard 'bout them from some of our other guests. Could 'ave been otters for all I know." The otter said with a look that plainly said 'fat chance', grinning at the mouse maid before glancing out into the hall to see Father Samuel approaching quickly. "Father Samuel's coming, should have news of yer friend." John muttered, moving to Ciel's bedside before moments later the old mouse entered the room, his ever present smile showing brightly.
"How is she, Father?" Ciel asked immediately, concern clearly written on her features.
"Sana's a lot better then she could have been if you hadn't found her, my child. Only had a touch of frostnip, should be better by morning. It's a miracle you found her in this storm." He answered, glancing out the window at the snowscape below, the rapidly descending sun hiding much of the landscape as night drew near. "Don't think there's anything more we can do till the morning, she's sleeping for the moment."
"Did she say why she was out there?" John asked, glancing out the frosted window at the foreboding landscape, wondering why any sane creature would be out in such a mess.
"No, but she seemed like she was rather confused. Not sure if she would even know if I asked her." Father Samuel replied with a light sigh. "So, Ciel. What are you doing here during such a storm?"
"Elders sent me for yer blessin'. Figured I wasn't doin' nothin' I guess." The mouse maid said with an annoyed sort of grin. "But I think that can wait fer tomorrow. Yeh seem tired."
"Aye. That I am. I think we all best get a bit of shuteye. Would do us good." The old mouse sighed, looking more aged then usual as he walked towards. "Good night you two."
"G'night Father." The two said in unison as the mouse disappeared into the hallway before they parted company from one another, bound for the land of dreams.---
As she slept, the vixen tossed and turned in her sleep, demons pursuing her through her subconscious, nightmares and dreams merging into one as she found herself in a very familiar place.
Home . . . She whispered in her mind, finding herself just outside the tent her family lived in, a newly caught dove hanging over a gently burning fire, cooking slowly.
"Mom?" She whispered softly as she hurried to the tent, poking her head inside to find it empty, the cots where they slept empty and unkempt. Glancing up, Sana checked the sun; it had to have been late noon at least. It was odd that the beds should remain unmade; her mother was normally a stickler about such things.
Weird . . . She thought silently, withdrawing from the tent, glancing around at her surroundings to find them empty, completely devoid of life. The birds, the wind, the entire world sat eerily silent, holding its breath for some unseen event.
"Mom?" She called out, hopeful for some sign of life, some sign of her family. Her mother, her father, even her little brother, anybeast would be fine. "Dad? Teague? Anybeast out there?" She called out, a slow wave of fear washing over her, a panic slowly beginning to build within her as she walked away from the camp, following an old set of paw prints that led to a small pond.
C'mon, somebeast be here . . . She wished, closing her eyes for a moment before she suddenly felt something beneath her footpaws, something warm and sticky. Refusing to open her eyes for a moment she tried to calm her racing heart before to looked down to find herself ankle deep in a crimson puddle. Her brother lying half covered by leaves and flies. No, not this again. Not this. Not this . . . She chanted over and over in her mind, refusing to believe what she saw there.
"Teague?" She whispered in a choked voice, falling to her knees as she stared at the corpse. It had been completely mutilated, the head torn half off from the body, limbs pulled from their sockets, pieces of his body littering the ground, blood splattered everywhere. "Why?" Sana cried softly, staring into the corpses eyes, clouded over in death, frozen in a look of anger.
"Sana . . ." A voice echoed softly, something from her right, seemingly distant, but eerily familiar. It was a beast she knew well. Glancing up from her brother's corpse, she looked in the direction of the voice to find somebeast standing just up the path, its features hidden, merely a silhouette of a creature. "Come, Sana."
"Who are you?" Sana demanded, rising to her foot paws, eyes burning with anger. She wanted answers, she waned a reason for the carnage she witnessed, there had to be something for her to find, somebeast to pay for their crimes.
"Come, Sana." The silhouette repeated, a cloaked paw beckoning her further as it moved further down the path, growling slightly the vixen gave chase to the shadow, tearing down the path, but never seeming to get any closer.
"What is this?' She yelled out, heart racing as she pounded down path and finally found herself in the small clearing right next to the river and she found what remained of her family.
Not again . . .
Damn it, why?
Why all of this? She demanded silently as she stood still in the middle of the clearing, her parent's lifeless corpses bound to twin stakes, their blood pouring into the river. Sacrifices for some unknown cause, their bodies cut all over, barely recognizable, but Sana knew, she felt them, she felt the emptiness that came with being alone, only a silhouette to keep her company. A representation of what she felt, nothing, but an empty shell. Devoid of life and caring, devoid of what makes a beast a beast, just shadows and darkness left.
"Welcome to your truth, Sana." The silhouette whispered and finally the vixen recognized it, it was the mouse that she had found before, the dead corpse. Suddenly the shadows cleared and there he stood, blood dripping from his animated corpse as he smiled at her. "Welcome to your transition, it shall soon be complete."
"Transition?" Sana whispered softly, voice choked by tears. "What is this?" She demanded, wanting to rip the mouse to pieces as her brother had been, she wanted vengeance, she wanted closure, she felt the anger rising and she basked in its comforting glow. She wanted to feel it. She needed to.
"Do not worry, it shall soon be complete. The nothingness is, but temporary. You shall soon understand all of this." The mouse whispered, body slowly disintegrating before her eyes, skin, muscle and sinew meshing into one before twisting away in an unfelt breeze, the world following suit. Before she knew it she found herself alone in the darkness, her only friend.