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start of week three.

Chapter 33. Fear Her

by Rea

"Stop squirming," Rea commanded, disregarding the indignant sniff Antonio gave her before masking his displeasure and sitting still. He might be the alpha, but Rea was his dreamsayer and when it came to the physical health of the pack, she had the authority. Surely he knew – Stop it. You're doing it again! she snarled inwardly at herself as she finished applying a poultice and bandage to a nasty cut on the stoat's leg. This is not your pack. They aren't wolves and they don't understand properly.

While she had spent very little time south of the Circle, the young wolf had come to appreciate how ignorant creatures could be. They knew nothing of Siren or customs so entrenched as to be instinct - leaving Dirano behind, for instance. Any proper alpha would have mounted a search and recovered their pack mate come Nightmares or Dreamscapes. And his last words…

Rea had no particular love for the lecherous cat, but she still had to force herself to blink to keep her eyes from watering. She shouldn't care so much about a creature she barely knew or liked. Tack and Jibe were the same. Why should she care? She had other responsibilities and her own problems enough without-

"Are you quite finished, Ms. Rea?" Antonio's curt question roused the dreamsayer from her brooding. The corner of his mouth twitched as he stared down at the jagged rip in his breaches that Rea had enlarged to care for his wound. Or he might have been staring at the muck covering both of them. He'd nearly lunged for her water skin when she'd started using it to clean only the one spot on his leg. She'd held it out of his reach and barked at him to sit down. He could suffer a few days of dirt in his fur if it meant Rea had water enough to drink.

"Yes. And don't play with that bandage," she added when she saw his paws snaking toward the not-quite-neat binding. And talking of snakes… "Are you hurt, Silisk?" the wolf enquired with all the cheeriness she could muster. Eloi would have sniggered at the painfully fake smile she directed at the grandiose serpent.

"My scales protected me from the worst of the foul brew," the snake replied with the unfathomable expression of a monster.

Not a monster. Just a snake. It had become Rea's mantra as of late while trying to force herself to like, or at least tolerate the creature who reminded her of Nightmares.

"However, a rock dared to strike my tail before I could find safety on that tree branch. You have permission to heal me."

Permission? The dreamsayer raised an eyebrow, but set to work, poking and prodding the small beast professionally to find the right spot, then made a compact and bound it to the snake's side. She finished and stood to tend to the others, feeling her shoulders relax with each pace she put between herself and the perfectly civil Evnaran native.

"It was an accident," Aras huffed as Rea approached the rocks where he and Sybil sat bristling at one another.

"Accident my tail," the marten snarled, cradling her arm and baring her teeth. "You jist wanted me even more helpless so that nutjob goes fer me next!"

"Um…" the dreamsayer tried.

"Oh, so I was supposed to just let you crash into that tree?" The wolverine's claws came up, but just as quickly, the fight went out of him and he let his paws drop to the side. "Fine. If you want to be an ungrateful…creature, be that way." He stalked off and Rea approached Sybil who shot Aras' back a hate-filled sneer. The marten jumped when she turned to see the wolf standing nearby.

"What d'you want?" the thief asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Making the rounds," Rea held up the medical pack she had specially requested from Thalliv before leaving Sarkleyet's mansion. "You're next."

"You ain't touchin' me!" The marten growled with such ferocity, the wolf recoiled.

"I'm only trying to help," the dreamsayer rejoined, then stepped forward resolutely and placed a paw on Sybil's good shoulder. "You just sit there and let me do my work."

"Git yer paws off," a sudden desperation had entered the marten's voice and she struggled so violently, Rea worried she might hurt herself more.

"Will you stop that?" Rea cried angrily, trying to arrest Sybil's movements. "Siren! You're worse than Aunt Adel's pups!"

If anything, the thief began to thrash more wildly. Well, if Sybil wanted to believe that she was the big bad wolf, then why not let her?

"You know," Rea put on her best Astrid's-Coming-to-Get-You! voice as she dug her claws into the marten's arm and bared her teeth in a leer, "these aren't just for show."

Sybil's eyes grew to saucers. "Somebeast help me!" she screamed, but Rea cut off further cries for help as she clamped a paw over the wriggling marten's maw.

"Sorry," the dreamsayer called over her shoulder with a winning smile that failed to assuage the concern on the faces of her companions. "She's being a pup about this shoulder."

She turned back to Sybil and continued quietly. "Look here, if you can't sit still and be quiet, I'm going to knock you out and set your shoulder anyway. Your choice. Conscious or unconscious doesn't matter much to me with annoying patients."

The marten's glowering did nothing to alleviate the stress the wolf already felt at having to actually threaten a creature to make her compliant. Still, it was an empty threat, even if Sybil didn't know it.

After a moment's more consideration, Sybil stopped trying to escape and nodded. Rea released her muzzle, then drew her paw back quickly. "And no biting…because my teeth are bigger."

"Try anything an' I'll make sure I choke you on the way down," the marten warned.

Rea rolled her eyes, glad at least one argument was settled. "You know it was an accident. Aras, I mean," the wolf found herself saying as she examined the marten's dislocated shoulder. The wolverine really needed to watch his strength with such…fragile creatures. She'd been lucky herself not to suffer any adverse effects when he'd grabbed her tail and yanked her to safety before the mudslide could spear her on a tree or crack her skull on a rock. When Sybil remained mute, Rea continued. She needed to ask the question that had been burning in her mind for more than a day now. "I know that rat betrayed you. I saw it. Is that why you can't trust anybeast, not even ones trying to help you?"

An all-too-familiar scowl lit the thief's face. "Jist get your nose outta my business and back t'your job."

"I understand," Rea began, then shook her head, annoyance evident in her voice as she continued. "Well, no. I don't. Look, I've never done anything to cross you, really. What's your problem with me? Spit it out! Oh, and this is going to hurt," she added, grabbing the marten's wrist and pulling her arm out. "A lot."

"Aargh!" Sybil growled as the wolf shoved forward mercilessly on her shoulder, resetting it. "That was-was nothin'," she panted. "An' my problem with you? My problem is you're jist crazy an' outta your mind. You jist keep talkin' an' talkin' an' talkin' t'me."

"Ever stop to think it's because I'm interested in you?" Rea snorted, then groaned inwardly at the look on the marten's face. "And not to eat! Siren! I've seen it in your eyes since they threw me in that cell. I've never eaten anybeast in my life!"

"Yeah?" the marten sounded absolutely petulant. "Well, if you're gonna start, it would be me first."

The wolf raised an eyebrow. "No, actually. I find the thought of licking you, let alone eating you repugnant. All that fur…" she stuck out her tongue and wrinkled her snout to emphasize the point. "Ugh! You have a really disgusting mind!"

"Then what do you wolves eat? Tree bark?" The tone suggested a challenge, but Rea answered anyway.

"Tsk! I'm not a caribou, moron. We eat fish and gulls when we can catch them. There are berries and plants in the summer that we stock up on. My mama makes the best moss and tuber soup! Hah! Granny thinks hers is better, but she just doesn't get the herbs like Mama and..." she stopped rambling as she re-wrapped the thief's bandages. "I...sorry. I miss my family. Hah! Never thought I'd say that. You have any? Family, I mean?" She finished and looked up at the marten who glared down at her coldly.

"No." Sybil stood abruptly and began walking toward Antonio, Silisk and Thalliv. Like Aras, the servant had remained relatively unscathed didn't require a dreamsayer's attention.

"I'm sorry for you, then," Rea called to the marten's retreating form.

"Don't want your sympathy," she sneered without looking back.

"There's a difference between pity and sympathy," the wolf retorted. "You're not nice enough to sympathize with."

"Ms. Rea, Mr. Aras," Antonio called. He'd managed to get his clothing into the most acceptable state one could expect in such conditions. "If you are quite ready, we should move out, just in case this hillside is still unstable."

A low, persistent buzzing filled the wolf's ears. None of the others seemed bothered, though, so she tried to ignore it. No sense in complaining aloud when that would only give everybeast something else to carry on about. They'd suffered an hour-long lament about mud and its particularly annoying ways from Antonio since striking out from the base of the mudslide. He'd gone on to mention how much of a shame it was that somebeast didn't have a sewing kit, extra water, and a change of clothes close to paw. Even with his back turned to her, Rea could feel the aggravation directed partially at her.

Then Thalliv had rambled about how the Mayor had wanted to completely wipe out the forest to make room for expansion and wouldn't-that-make-this-ever-so-much-easier-if-there-were-proper-roads? before Aras told him to shut up. Now they trudged with only the buzzing as comfort.

Busy watching her own footpaws to make sure she didn't trip on a wayward vine or root, the wolf glanced up momentarily and gasped.

"Antonio, stop!" she cried.

"What?" The stoat whirled, drawing his hatchet and tensing even as the others prepared for battle.

"Siren! What are you doing?" Rea demanded. "You were about to walk straight through!" She pointed past the mustelid who led the way with Silisk directing from his shoulders. There, not five paces on was a swarm of buzzing insects the like of which belonged in the Forest of Nightmares itself.

Antonio turned to look in the direction she indicated, looked back to gauge the line of her paw once more, and stared off blankly into the swarm. "Is there something wrong this way?" he wondered, raising an eyebrow.

"Are you blind and deaf?" the dreamsayer scoffed incredulously.

"I assure you my senses are all quite intact, Ms. Rea," the accountant replied crisply. "What is it that worries you so?"

"Those creatures that I'm pointing at right there!" Rea marched to the front of the line next to Antonio and motioned. "They're…they're these small, hard things."

"Small an' hard? Now you're talkin' about Sarkleyet." Sybil chuckled at her own crude joke.

"And how would you know about something like that unless you've seen it properly yourself?" Thalliv smirked suggestively. The marteness scowled at him.

Aras scratched at his muzzle pensively. "Small and hard? I don't remember anything like that when I went to visit him."

For the love of snow! "No!" Rea placed a paw on her forehead, fighting the urge to just let the howling morons walk on and get what was coming to them. "The things are buzzing and they look like-like they have some sort of thorn attached."

Another prolonged stare at the swarm. "Ms. Rea…" Antonio began in a patronizing tone. "I think, perhaps, the heat is getting to you." He moved to pat her upper arm, but the moment the mustelid's paw made contact, Rea's demeanor shifted. Her features narrowed, becoming cold and calculated as she glared down at the smaller beast.

They ran as terror dogged their pawsteps. Already weary from the stress of the day before, she could not fathom how so much could go so wrong so quickly. The snake around her neck directed her frantically as best she could and... There, ahead! That noise, that infernal buzzing that warned a sane beast off. That was it! But would she have the time to set her plan in motion? Yes. Of course, so long as they listened to her promptly, as they should. A leader had to inspire her followers to listen.

"Harken to me, Antonio Calceterre," the dreamsayer growled, reaching out and grabbing the stoat's shoulder in a painfully tight grip and pulling him toward her so their muzzles almost touched. Instinctively, the stoat brought the hatchet in his paw up, but Rea caught his wrist easily with her longer reach and held him still without the slightest sign of exertion. She showed none of her previous trepidation and the pitch of her voice dropped subtly.

"Thou art clever, but thy brains be'st poison oft as remedy. Such is the fate of a fallen prince. Thou wouldst be most clever now to heed my counsel, for in time thou wilt find the creatures of which I speak are friend to thee and foe to the one whose blood runs to powder in his veins. Remember whence they came, Antonio Calceterre."

A beat, then Rea continued, features softening once more. "It's not the heat, Antonio," she sneered. "It's - why am I holding you? And why are you so close? And why are you aiming your weapon at me?" She let go, stepping back quickly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to… But I'm telling you they're – Wait! Where have they gone?"

It took a moment for her confused mind to register that the insect swarm had vanished, and another to realize that the entire group was staring at her as if a pine tree had suddenly sprouted from her head. "They were there, I swear. I don't know where they've…got…to…" It felt rather like when she'd had her outburst with Brull and Sybil, only much worse because six beasts certainly constituted a full-blown audience.

Oh, Siren... That was a dream. A howling dream and I couldn't even tell! the wolf raged silently at herself. But why buzzy things? What in Siren's name had they to do with anything? I wasn't even touching anybeast when I heard them, Rea realized with a start, the first feelings of fear beginning to settle into her stomach. She'd always had to have contact with a creature for the dreams to come.

"Pardon me, milady, but are you…feeling well?" Silisk hissed cautiously.

"Yes," the wolf replied automatically. "No," she amended. "I mean, I'm sorry. I just had a dream of those buzzy things. Only they've gone now and I'm not certain why."

"A dream?" Thalliv's brows knit together in confusion. "But you were awake. And all those things you said to Mr. Calceterre!"

"What did I say to him?" The dreamsayer blinked. "I know I was on about that swarm a bit, but it wasn't anything really terrible."

"Rea," Aras' voice sounded uncertain, "you spoke the Old Speech. I've only ever heard that once when…" he paused, in thought, "well, sometime."

"What? No I didn't." She blinked again for good measure, trying to recall the exchange. There was that moment when she had been describing the creatures to the stoat and then suddenly found herself with a vice grip on his body, and not a hairsbreadth away. "When did I…? What-what did I say?"

She turned to look at the stoat in question. He met her eyes and Rea thought she saw a flicker of suspicion cross before his face before he replied. Her ears might have deceived her, but he sounded hesitant. "You spoke rather…cryptically, though I gathered that I am to take note of some creatures we shall encounter in the future."

"Lotta nonsense brought on by heat," Sybil's voice shook ever so slightly as she interjected and the dreamsayer noticed her tensed shoulders and prickling fur. Wonderful. She'd already worried the marten with one outburst and threats, now she'd moved on to outright fear.

"Look, I'm sorry," the wolf apologized. "I sometimes have these moments and I can't quite remember what's happened. I – Granny said – but it's not really that important if – I mean, they're not even real and…" she trailed off before she could make more of a rambling fool of herself.

Get your thoughts in order first!

"I'm a dreamsayer, like I've said," she explained. "There's a lot of mystical nonsense surrounding them in the Circle. I don't believe any of it," she added hastily, although, it was becoming increasingly more difficult to hold onto her disbelief. "But my Granny said that I have the talent for it and I can sometimes…see things that have happened to other beasts…or will happen.

Rea closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them and shrugged. "I think you should ignore whatever I said." The only alternative was to accept that the dreams were all real, and that they were growing stronger. She wouldn't, couldn't do that. It would mean she had been the fool all these seasons with Granny quietly laughing behind her back. That wouldn't do at all! "You're right. It's the heat making me delirious. Wretched thing this heat, eh, Aras? Give me a fine winter blizzard any day!" She tried to laugh as she backed away to the end of the line, but her tail curling itself none-too-subtly between her legs ruined the effect.

"Yes. Well." Antonio cleared his throat and sheathed his hatchet before straightening out his dirty shirt as best he could. "I think it is time we move out. Be sure to keep yourself hydrated, Ms. Rea, and the…heat should not unduly trouble you."

"Right…" the dreamsayer mumbled, trying to look everywhere but the wary eyes of her companions.

"Do you hear something?" Everybeast looked around apprehensively at Aras. How could such a common phrase become so insidious? They had been marching for nigh on three hours with their only respite from the elements a brief puff of salty air braving the underside of the canopy.

"Don't tell me yer goin' mad, too," Sybil slogged ahead, distancing herself as best she could in the line.

"It's buzzing," Aras deadpanned.

"Buzzing?" the wolf's ears flicked around trying to catch the sound and…there!

"Yes." The wolverine shot her such a pointed glare that she couldn't help flinching.

"Let us investigate, then," Antonio suggested, already striking out in the direction from which the noise emanated.

"Why you wanna go lookin' fer it?" Sybil demanded. "Seems t'me, O Wise One, we shouldn't go runnin' off after ghosts when we got a job t'do."

"Where is your sense of curiosity, Ms. Sybil?" Antonio queried.

In the gutter with her mind, Rea had to resist the urge to answer.

"One may set aside a task shortly to satisfy that ever persistent voice in the back of one's mind that demands knowledge," the stoat finished.

"You hear voices?" The marteness sputtered. "Am I the only sane one here?"

"I'm sane." Thalliv raised a paw.

"Sir Antonio was being rhetorical," Silisk hissed, defying gravity as she raised her body up without paws to support her. "All creatures burn with a desire to know the unknown."

"Intelligent creatures, anyway," Thalliv interjected with a chuckle, but immediately sobered with a yelp when Sybil cuffed him.

"Ah! That's them! The buzzy things!" Rea cried, cutting off further conversation as they approached a large tree with a curious mud-like structure dangling from one of the lower branches.

"Wasps. They are called wasps, Ms. Rea," Antonio supplied helpfully. The wolf grinned and turned to thank him, but the words caught in her throat when she saw the grave expression on the stoat's face. "A hive that large is very dangerous. I should not like to disturb them, so let us be on our way."

"What was the point o' this little venture?" Sybil grumbled. "Lotta fuss fer some bugs."

"I know where they are now and can avoid them later," the accountant replied, glancing momentarily at Rea with that same suspicion.

"What?" The wolf's hackles rose defensively. I wasn't even the one who asked!

"Nothing, Ms. Rea. Nothing, at all."