-1Disclaimer:
I don't own any of these characters, places or events.
A/N I still
would REALY like at least some form of review I would
really like
to know if I'm doing a good
job.
I
opened my eyes to stand in a field. 'I've never been here before.'
It
took me a moment to realize that it was a field of fur, not
grass.
Master. I blinked at the voice, I hadn't heard that voice
in over a
millennia.
"Lupa?" The question came out as
a breathless plea.
Yes Master, I am here. A huge grey/black wolf
emerged from the field
and stood before me. My first wolf, my very
first, stood to nearly my
chest and was, is, the strongest I had
come across since I had found
her.
"You're..."
My
body has long since gone but I have remained by your side in
spirit,
and here I shall remain until the deed has been done. You
once
told me that, could you, you would keep me by your side
through
eternity. Here I remain to lead the souls of those that
chose the
path I have.
I looked at the field, just noticing the
eyes of all those I had
helped. "Why would anyone choose this
limbo?"
Limbo, Heaven, Hell: Human word. All there is is
life, death and
rebirth. You taught me that, have you forgotten
already? Pack takes
care of its own and you ARE the pack. If not
for you we would never
have lived to learn that.
Knives. Lupa
cocked her head and gave a wolfish grin.
Your cub is calling. Take
this. She opened her mouth and a golden
staff appeared, held by
her jaws. This is our link to the physical
plane. The staff
dropped into my hand and I heard a cry rise among the
wolves, a
song of
happiness.
"Knives,
wake up," I felt myself being shaken, my eyes snapped open
in
response. "Stormy Skys!" Crow stumbled back away from my
coffin,
"Warn me next time! I hate when you do that."
"What?"
I got up to sit on the side of my coffin.
"Your eyes, they're
different when you're startled." I blinked at him
and cocked
my head in confusion, "Yeah, like that."
"Never
look at me with those eyes!" A booming voice said and I had
to
shake my head to keep the memory at bay. "I will pluck
them out if
you ever..."
The
voice finally quieted as the memory faded away.
"Knives? You
ok? Your eyes glowed red," he was giving me that
concerned
look again. "Have you fed today? You look paler than
normal."
I
smiled at the worry in his voice. My eyes glow according to my
mood.
If you ever come across me and my eyes go red, death will
soon
follow. "I've fed too much in the last few days. Haven't
I told you."
"I know, I know, you can go months, years
without. You get weaker
though, maybe you should go feed."
"Maybe
tomorrow. If you're finished, we should get going," I popped
the
cork on the bottle of wine from earlier and let the dry, crisp
liquid
slide down my throat. 'Too bad alcohol has no affect on me,
unless
my prey is drunk.' Crow gave me a worried look as I stuffed
the
cork back in the bottle and let it drop onto the soft lining of
my
coffin.
"Are you ok? You look lost."
"Nope,
just forgot something," I smiled and clamped my hands over his
ears.
"Ouch!" He laid his hands over his ears and found
them back to his
normal half point. "I thought you said it
was better to be normal."
"That is your normal," I
gave him a smile and mussed his hair.
"Besides, I'm taking
you somewhere you can learn your father's skill,
you'll be
accepted there."
"I'm doing fine on my own," I
could here the well hidden wine in his
voice and smiled.
"Sorry
Crow, but there are somethings that can't be self-taught."
A
thought sent my coffin back into the Between, the Either
between
dimensions, where it will be safe. "Time to move
on."
"Why is it that you always seem to say that?"
"I
pointed to the bag of clothes, "Because, that's all I seem to
do.
Get dressed, we'll leave when you're finished."
Remembering, I grabbed
my new shirt as he took the bag into the
bathroom. I changed my shirt
before he got out, leaving my ruined
one on the bed. Something
shimmered in the dying sunlight,
catching my attention.
I crouched down and found the object, a
gold straight pin. It was as
long as my finger and had the same
design on the end as the staff Lupa
had given me. "Knives?
What's that?" I felt Crow lay his chin on my
shoulder, trying
to se.
"A gift, from an old friend," I slid the pin into
my silk shirt, just
above my heart, and stood to my full height. I
pointed toward the red
tinged doorway in silence, Crow took my
hand and led me through it.
As I stepped through I felt myself
being pulled and held onto Crow as
we were dropped into the middle
of, a rather busy, street. I turned to
make sure he landed on me
and quickly thought of the safe sidewalk, we
appeared there just
as a car drove over the spot we had been at. "You
alright?"
I didn't bother trying to right him, just let him cling to
me.
"What
happened? You never dropped us like that before," Crow
finally
let me go and helped me to my feet.
"That happens
at least once a year. Two travellers try to jump at the
same time,
it switches our destinations," I glanced around. 'Wasn't I
just
here? Did we even jump or just move in the same demention?'
"How
many can travel like you?" Crow glanced around at the
now
staring people. "Ka?!"
"I don't think he
made the jump. I think we should dissapear," Crow
looked at
me, pure panic. I smiled and laid my hand on his shoulder.
"Anywhere
but here.' "More than there should be," I held onto Crow
as
he looked down at the ant sized cars, the thought had put us on
a
skyscraper, higher than any Human could see. "Now, I just
ned to find
out who and where they are."
"How hard
can that be? You said we switched landings, we should go to
where
we were headed in the first place."
I couldn't keep a proud
smile from emerging, too bad it wasn't that
easy. "The portal
is controlled by my thoughts. I was thinking of a
place that would
be safe for you to learn your spells, I didn't know
what demention
we would end up in."
Crow's jaw dropped, "You didn't
know where we were gong?! How could
you 'travel' and not know
where you're going?!"
I covered my ear, "No need to
shout. I only know a faction of the
dementions, there are billions
of different times and places. I
couldn't know them all, even if I
lived 'til the end of time!"
Crow dropped his head in defeat,
"Can you at least bring Ka here?"
"Ka.." it
came out as a crow's cah. A portal opened as he flew to
perch on
Crow's shoulder.
"You did something to him," Crow ran
his hand down Ka's back. "He,
feels, different," he
looked up at me, that preditory look he had
given me when I had
first found him. "May I have a piece of you?" I
blinked
in utter confusion. Before I could ask what, he quickly
plucked
out some of my hair, "This should do."
"Ouch,"
I rubbed the tender spot as Crow smiled and wove the hair
into a
band. "What was that for?"
"Revenge mostly, I only
needed one," he slid the band over Ka's head.
"Scout,"
to my surprise Ka flew away, through a portal. "You
can
understand him, open your senses and let him lead you."
"If
that was just a way for him to 'travel', we could've just
skirted
through portals until we found the right one," the
wind picked up and
I had to set Crow onto a flat, sheltered part
of the roof.
"It's not, it's so he can find you," he
smiled at me and held up one
of Ka's feathers, "And we can
find him."
"What's that mean then?" The feather had
a pale glow to it.
"He's found a magic source. Shall we?"
He carefully wove the feather
into his hair and took my
hand.
"Trust me?" I smiled down at him and he wrapped
his hand around my
wrist in response. I stepped off the side and
let him have a thrill
before I opened a portal to land in a small
wooded area. I looked
around, we were next to a small cave, and
felt that odd sensation,
"Crow, I hope you'll forgive
me."
"For what?" I quickly pulled him behind me as
we were surrounded by
dozens of men and women.
"Getting
you in the middle of this," I felt my cloak lengthen and
crawl
its way to Crow, it wanted to protect him as much as I
did.
Author's Note
Sorry it's so short. I don't
get much time to type but I have about
three chapters after this
already written so the future is set in
stone at the moment. You
only have yourselves to blame. You never
reviewed and I got sick
of waiting.
