5. SIBERIA

When Micah woke up it was freezing cold. He was naked in a pile of snow. His body was bruised and had cuts and scratches on it. He was so cold he could barely move. Somehow he found the strength to get up. He tried to run but his muscles were too stiff. He saw a building and went towards it. There was a sign but he couldn't understand the language it was written in:

Без перевода

Micah pushed past the door and walked in. It looked like an abandoned warehouse. He saw a set of stairs and went up them. "Hello?" He called out. "Is anyone here?" At the top of the stairs there was a loft with a pile of furs. He wrapped them around himself and tried to get warm. When the feeling finally returned to his fingers and toes he started to look around. It looked like an old factory for tanning animal hides. There was a rack with some clothes on it that he put on and he picked out the heaviest fur coat he could find and topped it off with a fur hat. Then he went out to brave the cold once more.

He walked until he found a town with people walking about. He tried to stop people to ask them where he was but they all spoke a language he had never heard before. Finally he thought he made out the word 'Russia' from one of them. Micah was so hungry but didn't have any money. He walked into a diner and had to use hand gestures to ask if he could work for food. The owner of the diner seemed to understand and had Micah do a bunch of dirty jobs and rewarded him with a beet soup that he called 'borsch'.

Micah knew that there were two days left to the full moon cycle. He wondered where James was and what had happened between them. Maybe I killed him, he thought to himself. The thought satisfied him. As the day came to a close, Micah went back to the warehouse. He didn't want to lose his clothes again and these ones would serve him well in such a cold environment. He found a leather bag and undressed, shoving all of the new fur clothes into it. Then he tied the leather bag too his leg as tightly and securely as he could. Hopefully they would stay with him. The sun set and Micah blacked out again.

This time when he awoke he was right next to a sign. The sign was in Russian but he made out the last word, Provideniya. It was the name of the town. Had he really traveled across Russia in one night? The leather bag was still attached to him so he pulled out the furs and dressed himself. He noticed more bruises and a large gash across his thigh.

"What was I doing last night?" Micah wondered aloud. Then fear crept in as he realized the very real possibility that James was still tracking him and that he had gotten into another altercation with him. "When is he going to leave me alone?" Micah was so frustrated. And why am I heading east running across Siberia? Why does the dumb beast keep taking me further away from Ashley?

Micah limped into the town and found another diner and made the same arrangements as before, odd jobs for food. He spent a long day working so when dinner finally came he was relieved. When he was through at the diner he decided to walk to the shore. The ocean was frozen over since it was winter. He wondered where he would wake up the next morning. He let his thoughts drift to Ashley and how much he missed her. He wondered if the wolves were still looking after her. Before he knew it the daylight was fading. He quickly undressed and shoved his clothes back into the leather bag and tied it to his leg once more. He was glad that this would be the last blackout for another month.

When Micah awoke once more he was happy to find that while it was still cold it was not nearly as cold as the previous mornings. Micah was on a shore once more but the waters here were not frozen at all. The waves raged high and fierce and winter winds blew them. Micah got dressed and saw that there were no new wounds. Then he realized something peculiar.

Shouldn't the sun be rising from the side that the ocean is on? It seemed as if the world had been flipped backwards. Why was the sun rising in the west? That didn't make any sense. And then he realized it. The sun was not rising in the west but he had somehow crossed the ocean and was now on the other side of it. The sun was rising in the east as it always had and now the ocean was to the west of him. Micah tried to wrap his head around it when suddenly he heard a fierce growl.

Micah turned around to see the biggest wolves he had ever seen in his life. They were more like the size of bears. Their lips were pulled back over their teeth and the low menacing growls continued.

Micah put out his hand and said "Stop. You will obey me." But the wolves did not respond. "Get back!" He ordered but again they ignored his commands. Why wouldn't these wolves obey him?

Just then, the wolf that stood in front of the rest of the pack began to shiver violently. Micah watched in horror as the wolf shrunk down in size and changed its shape into that of a man's. The man had golden brown skin and long, black hair. He was naked but did not seem to be bothered by that. He began speaking harsh words towards Micah but Micah could not understand. He put up his hands to show that he meant no harm.

After staring at this white stranger for a while, they motioned for Micah to follow them and so he did. After a while they came upon a village and brought Micah before an old man who shared the same dark features as the wolf-man he had just met. It seemed as if the old man was the leader of their tribe. He asked Micah a question but again Micah did not understand. Finally the old chief put his hand to his chest and said "Taha Aki." Then he motioned towards Micah, waiting for him to speak.

Micah understood that the chief's name was Taha Aki and was now waiting for him to tell them his name. Micah put his hand to his chest and said "Micah".

The old man nodded. Then he motioned for a woman to go forward. A beautiful dark skinned woman with long black hair went to Micah and placed a basket of food before him. The basket was filled with cooked fish and berries. Micah began eating immediately while the woman stood by. Taha Aki spoke again and motioned towards the woman; he held up three fingers and pointed to her again. Micah understood that she was referred to as 'third woman' or 'third wife'.

Taha Aki then motioned towards all the people standing around watching and to the enormous wolves that were also standing by. He called them "Quileutes." This must have been the name of their tribe. Micah was lucky that they treated him so well. They seemed like a peaceful people. Micah wanted to know more about them and how they could transform in and out of a wolf shape at will. If only he could master what they had.

Micah spent time living among them and learned more of their culture and language. He learned that only Taha Aki's sons could transform into wolves and that Taha Aki himself had once been a shape shifter as well. He stopped though because when they are active in their wolf forms they do not age and when he met third wife he loved her so much that he wanted to grow old with her.

Micah explained to them that he too could transform into a wolf-like shape but it was out of his control. He said that he would end up hurting people even though he did not want to. He asked Taha Aki for help and the great chief agreed. When the full moon cycle returned, Micah blacked out as his body transformed into a half man half wolf shape. He was much more frightening to behold than the Quileute wolves.

Micah's beast tried to attack the villagers but the wolf pack defended them and chased Micah into the woods. The wolves were careful not to hurt him because Taha Aki had requested it of them. They kept him isolated in the woods and surrounded him so that no damage could be done. They did this until the sun rose and Micah returned to normal.

He thanked the Quileutes for all of their help. He felt like he had found his band of brothers again. He felt like he belonged. Perhaps this is why the beast brought him here. The wolf in him was longing for a pack and the reason they did not obey him was because he was not their alpha male, instead, they were his equals. He began to realize that he should never go back to Ashley. He could never ensure her safety. This was the safest place for him to be, among the Quileute wolves. It was the place where he could be safely contained.

Many years went by and Micah watched the non-wolf members of the tribe grow old. He watched Third Wife give birth to many more sons and he saw how Taka Aki loved them. Again he thought of the life he should have had. The life he dreamt of with Ashley. She would be older than him by now. He hoped that she would have moved on with her life and been able to create a family with someone else. Other than these sad thoughts, Micah was fairly happy and he lived in peace among the Quileutes until one day, the Makah's came.