Chapter Twenty-Seven
As we ran, my thoughts were focused solely on my pack mates. Kallaheart: my big loving brother who was tough in a tight situation, but a cuddling teddy-bear when he was relaxed. His fun and playful nature made him that much easier to get along with. Nyvern was like the big brother that was calm and serious, flawless and commanding. The eldest in our small family is how I thought of him, along with the wisest. I knew I could always depend on his caring and loving nature.
As thoughts ran through my head faster than my four loping legs I considered how much humans wronged us for the beautiful creatures we truly were. They saw us as nothing more than vicious killers, always appearing on the dark side of the line. And what if we did? It was in our nature, but below all of that was a peace and beauty that most would never see.
As we ran in the cover of sweet darkness, I followed my two brothers under the boughs of the trees towards a destination they both seemed determined to reach. I ran after them, glad that I was finally able to stretch my long muscles and chase after my brothers, wondering what we were going to do first.
After about two hours of travelling through the woods we came to a shadowy clearing. The moon shone through the tree tops, but the stars in the night sky were veiled. I sniffed the air hesitantly, and noticed my brothers giving me a strange look.
"What's the matter Ayla?" Kallaheart asked me in a worried tone, sniffing the air with me. He obviously didn't smell anything strange as I did, for he still looked confused.
"Something about this place feels strange, and unnatural. I need to think about it for a moment." I told him, sitting down on my haunches in the soft grass under my paws.
Nyvern sat on his haunches at my side and whispered quietly to me "There's a reason we brought you here. This clearing has been known as a sacred ground to werewolves for centuries, and it allows them to delve inside of themselves and find the most powerful and natural part of their Dark Gift, the dark power that a werewolf possesses. If you concentrate, you may be able to find it within yourself and locate it. Focus Ayla." He patted my shoulder before standing up and taking a few steps back, watching me with those greenish-yellow eyes of his.
I began to breathe deeply, mentally counting to myself as I put my mind into a meditative pose. After a moment of concentration, a faint thought began to sliver through the air towards me, like a whisper on the wind.
There was the sound of an icy voice saying quietly to someone "Spread out; hide behind trees and bushes. Stop whoever is coming . . . or die." It was followed by the sound of much shuffling, and then it seemed that the wind howled around my furry form. I listened harder, and heard the sound of a man's fair voice crying in pain as he and his squealing horse were killed. It was quickly followed by the death of two more horses and another man. A cry of despair and some muttered curses in the fair voice of an elf maiden swiftly followed.
I listened harder, realizing that whatever I was hearing was happening now. There was a snapping sound like burning wood, and beneath that sound was that same icy voice, now held in triumph as it ordered "Get her".
I mentally froze. That voice… I recognized it, almost as though it were a part of me. I listened harder now, trying to pick up every small bit of sound I could from the wind. I listened to the sounds of heavy feet trudging towards something, and a soft whisper of frantic words from the elf maiden's fair voice. As she was whispering hurriedly, I heard the icy voice shout "Garjzla!" in a vain attempt. Too late; their was a ripple in the air and a yell of rage and fury was heard on the wind. The voice muttered dark curses in his own tongue, shooting nine bolts of power that made the air shimmer as they were casted and nine heavy bodies hit the forest floor. Dead bodies.
I heard the sound of a riding crop being smacked against flesh and the sound of hooves fleeing in the night as a familiar dark warhorse charged off with a rider on it's back, and probably a prisoner tied to its saddle. I listened for a moment longer before sighing and opening my eyes, letting my actual surroundings consume me again as I considered what I had heard.
Nyvern and Kallaheart were both holding a hand of mine in each of theirs, watching me with much concern. When I opened my eyes Kallaheart sighed in relief, but Nyvern kept a worried face.
"You were muttering something to yourself almost the entire time sister. Why is Durza so important to you?" he asked me quietly. When he saw the look of pain in my face he sighed and sat down on the forest floor beside me, pulling me into his arms and rocking me back and forth as one would for a small child. He held me for a while, allowing me to freely shed my tears into his furry shoulder as I silently cried for my loss.
When I had regained some semblance of composure, I sat up straight between Kallaheart and Nyvern. I wiped away a tear and took a deep breath before choosing to answer his question.
"Durza is a Shade, an evil sorcerer. I met him when I was five, and spent the ten years afterwards researching about him and hoping he would return so I could learn more, for he unintentionally caused me pain. He saved my life from a fire and a terrible home life, and in return I freed him from one of the dark spirits residing within him, using my magic. He gave me some money and a good horse and sent me on my way before the remaining spirits took control of him again. I just learned that the spirits have full control again, for he has murdered." I told them, wiping away one of my tears with a furry elbow.
"How do you know that he has murdered? Did you use a dark gift?" Nyvern asked me quietly. I nodded.
"I couldn't see them, but when I concentrated I could hear the sounds of their movements and the words spoken being carried on the wind. Its much like reading a book: you can't see the movements and the faces, but you can imagine them and the sounds that coincide." I tried to explain. He nodded slowly, glancing at Kallaheart who looked worried.
My big brother Kallaheart moved forward and captured a tear I had missed on the end of his finger and wiped it in the grass, watching me with sorrowful eyes. "You love him don't you?" he asked me softly.
I sighed in despair, but nodded all the same. Kallaheart pulled me into a hug and whispered "It's going to be okay Sis, you'll see. Perhaps you'll soon be able to save him from another spirit again when you next see him, so that he can be freed." He suggested. I grinned a little and nodded.
Kallaheart took a deep breath and then stood up with a lurch, saying in a dramatic and mighty voice "Well, let us not be disheartened by these dark thoughts. This is supposed to be a happy occasion! Ayla's first night on the hunt, under the full moon. It doesn't get much better than that." He added, winking to me. I laughed and felt the pain and sorrow fade away quickly as Kallaheart helped me to my feet, bowing dramatically to me as a man would to a lady at a court function of some sort.
I pulled Nyvern up after me and we all howled into the night sky, running through the forest and leaving our dark thoughts back in that sacred clearing in the middle of the mountains. I let that chilled feeling I got from my Dark Gift fade away in my mind as I focused solely on our hunt.
As we were running, I picked up the scent of a human not too far from us. The human was alone in the center of the forest, and still healthy. I crept between the trees, following the intoxicating scent of blood and life. I was blending perfectly with the dark forest as I peered from behind a large set of pine trees, looking down at a clearing.
A young man was crouching down there, hunting a herd of deer that were bedded down in the clearing. His back was towards me, and he had a bow strung and ready to fire with two more arrows in his left hand. I stared down at him for a long moment before shaking my head back and forth slowly, feeling the energy building in the air like lighting. The deer couldn't sense it, but I could. It was magic.
The air rippled to my magical vision, and as the boy took his shot in the darkness a bright blue light flared up into the center of the clearing, sending the deer bounding away on quick legs. The boy swore and spun around, bow in hand. There was a smoking blue stone lying in the center of the clearing, and the blast it had created had ripped the trees bare of their pine needles in a perfect circle around it.
The young man hesitantly touched the stone with an arrow and then jumped back. When nothing happened, he picked it up and studied it with wonder. I watched him for another long moment before sniffing in disdain to myself once and turning away from the boy in the clearing, going to find someone else to hunt. I would not kill Eragon tonight.
Nyvern and Kallaheart had stood by silently, watching without making a sound. When they saw that I would not take the kill, they took me further down through the Spine until we found a suitable group of humans who were brave enough to camp out in the wilderness. We snuck up on their tent in the darkness, and killed the two adults and teenager sharing a tent without any remorse. I felt a little bad at first, but knew that it could have been any of the nearby dark creatures that had wanted to use them as their supper.
We returned home in the darkest hours of the night with happy thoughts and bellies, which were slowly digesting the human flesh we had devoured. Nyvern bade us both farewell as he returned to our mountain home of 'Carluo Dieun'. We crept back inside and lied down on the couch, falling asleep side by side as the moon disappeared behind the clouds that swept across the sky.