"Goddess," I whisper tersely under my breath; an alien and insatiable fatigue inebriates me. My eyes are blurred and my mind betrays me, making promises that I will only close my eyes for second.

I feel so heavy pulling myself to my feet and I am wildly irrational; the exhaustion has borne desperate, despondent thoughts that I cannot cull from my psyche.

Kasha is gone.

"Kasha!" I scream, inciting an excruciating headache.

It's after noon and the heat is sweltering even in the shaded areas. I am forced to be practical; it would be futile to search for Kasha in this forest, if I were to find her captured again I would be no help to her and only hinder myself. Although I have not tried, I know my powers to be inaccessible under this physical strain.

I have doubts that this decision is true and cannot deter the overwhelming feelings of failure and probable cowardice. Heroes are not those who fight with the powers of the gods as their weapons. The heroes are the men and women who reach to the sky seeking supplication from the gods, the men and women who take up sticks and swords and face their enemies with nothing gracing their favor besides their skill.

It takes hours for me to reach the fortified stonewalls of my small village; my blows are weak and unsteady against the wooden gates.

I am not surprised to find Mother Shanti at the fore of my greeters, I only manage brief eye contact with Kasha's parents but their expressions are more than enough to tell me that she did not return to them. I collapse into Mother Shanti's arms and she buckles under my weight.

There seems to be no rest for me; I wake to the searing of my own skin. I claw for anything and resist the urge to flee; I doubt that the gods are able to hear Mother Shanti's prayers over my agonized screams.

I doubt the gods exist.

Mother Shanti dashes herbs mixed with fire dust onto the wounds in my shoulder and lowers fire to the concoction.

There is no message in my muffled screams; none other than the expression of my pain; I wonder if Kasha's parent can hear my pain. I wonder if they relish in my karma.

"Hush child," she says, touching my hair and pulling the blanket to cover me best without touching my wounds.

I wonder if my sobs in the wake of the procedure are for Kasha or myself.

It is long after nightfall when I wake and I can hear frenzied shouts and scurrying through the village. I emerge from the hut to pure pandemonium, the village is under attack, and the lycanthropes have somehow scaled the walls.

Goddess! There must be three-dozen of them!

I make my way through the crowd, still lax, and groggy; I close my eyes, and the wind begins to whip through my robe. My eyes are white when I open them and I am able to see the world as the gods do in all of its magnificent energy patterns. Lycanthropes have a very different energy signature from regular human beings and adjusting my perceptions helps me to fight them without hurting any villagers.

Both of my hands are raised to the sky, I furrow my eyebrows and intensify my connection to the elements, raising myself above the physical.

I remain stock still through my first few attacks and then I see her; Kasha, changed into an enemy, has fell her own father and her mother watches in bereaved horror. Her hair is short and spotted and most of her features remain true to what she was before yet she is part tiger part human and the tiger's hunger has taken a hold of her.

The muscles in my face twitch and I jump a little when the lightning spikes through Kasha. She does not yield easily while in the throes of my attack; she twitches insanely, wracking against my authority. She finally goes still and I can smell her hair burning.

My vision narrows, as if by instinct and I see Shari, the leader of the lycanthropes, in the distance observing the mayhem. Mother Shanti shakes me and I am forced to deal with her brood.

The fires still burn in the aftermath of the ambush and the men are too thinly stretched to put them out; I am further exhausted but unscathed physically.

Rain pours from the sky at my silent command.

I enter the tribunal hut; the elders have already convened, minus Shanti, whose tasks are healing.

"How dare you enter the tribunal while we are in Order!" Markus screams, approaching me.

Now is not the time to be demure.

"Watch your footing if you plan to battle me old man!"

He does not relent, but what strong leader would?

I parry and position myself beside him, his arm still extended and I deliver a measured jolt of lightning.

Wind begins to whip through the small hut and the cloth whips violently as my robe did earlier. Lightning flashes and dances caressing the outside of my skin; the sky above our village grows dark and the candles die.

There are no requests offered to these power hungry old fools who have controlled me for so long.

"At the end of this lunar cycle, when the moon is full again I will enter the forest and kill Shari and all of her brood and when I am finished I will not return to this village; forsaking you and it's denizens!"

I leave the hut without explanation; I can feel them watching me from its threshold.