Chapter 2

"Wisdom"

I must listen carefully because Alpha did not come away from the others to sit in my shadow often. He tread quietly through the night although there was no need to. I was no enemy and there was no prey to be had. The hunt had long since retired to the hills around the den and the lush grasses always hushed our movements no matter the tread. The pack, happy and full, lounged about the rocks and played with the young ones, re-familiarizing themselves with one another's scents, sounds, and temperaments.

It was a brief moment of rest. A quiet night under the stars. Few could find me at my place on the hill. The smooth black shine of my coat melted into the sky when I sat up against it. Not even the back of my ears betrayed me. They were black like my face and my paws and my back. But Alpha did not need to see me to find me. He needn't worry if I sat upwind for he always knew where I would be, especially on a night when the pack was lazy with success.

I was on the hill keeping watch.

Alpha sat down beside me, front legs as straight as the tail behind him. We were just far enough away from the others to keep our words in confidence, but still within calling distance should the need arise. He was bigger than me, just a little taller and heavier. Younger, but not naïve or stubborn. His mane was thick and well-groomed from the affectionate administrations of the others. It ran high up on his neck where it peaked at his forehead. Then, fell low towards his chest to cover more of his shoulders than most. The hairs slimmed and shortened around his head and face but lost none of their depth. He wore a face as black as the blessings of the Mighty Hena went. A face that resembled my own so many moons ago.

"Mother," he said. "I seek your wisdom."

I kept my eyes on the hills, looking out into the grasslands, so that I would not be distracted by what I might see in his features. I had to be careful to listen for the words spoken, but not spoken because the Mighty Hena were full of teeth and cared not for the tongues as they should have. It was why I kept mine closed up tight. Alpha stared out into the horizon much farther than me, searching for a place he had been earlier in the days during the hunt. A place we both knew, but could not see from our place on the hill.

"We found something strange in the grasses beyond the Yawning River," he said.

I remained very still as my eyes followed the star that drifted above the Yawning River during these months, finding the memory with him. It was hard not to speak and ask questions right away for strange things often meant change and knowing which way the wind was blowing could make the difference between life and death. To tease me, the wind gently brushed our coats and rustled the grasses. I quieted myself so that Alpha could make sense of the memory. Only he could be my eyes and ears and nose within it.

"It had iron teeth," he continued. "A mouth, but no voice. No body or blood. It was dead, but never had any life."

He waited for me to speak, but I must be careful. It was not a Mother's place to make decisions for the pack. Alpha knew this yet he still sought counsel. This strange thing worried him in ways he was not familiar with, which meant it had to do with the way of the Spirit and not the wild. Troubling indeed. I already felt the pangs of disturbance before he sat with me. In the quiet of the night, beyond the hills and between the stars where the night was at its darkest, I heard the thumping stomping rhythms of a dance in motion. A ritual steeped in the deepest parts of the night where bones and moans echoed vengefully across the grasslands. They made my soul shiver.

"I do not know this Iron Mouth," I told him, naming its curse. "But it is a bad omen."

I focused my spirit on the distant groanings rumbling toward us like far off thunder.

"Listen," I told him.

This time, Alpha followed my memory through the grasses to a place where the flowers were plucked, the earth was dry, and the dusty remains of the dead failed to rest in peace. Alpha's ears were strong and straight, but he needed to listen for the sound beyond the sound. I watched him from the corner of my eye and waited. Unable to find the sound, Alpha closed his eyes and released the tension in his stance. At the end of a breath, between heartbeats, when he was farthest from life, he heard it. Faintly, but with recognition. There was no mistaking the sounds of a graveyard as it crawled up from the depths of hell.

"The Bone Takers have returned," I said for him.

Like a good Alpha, he remembered the old ways and bristled at the name of them, pulling back his teeth in a snarl that made him sneeze. I glanced back behind us at the pack. The older ones had stopped what they were doing, perked and alert, even though they did not understand why. Scout glanced in our direction, finding us by scent instead of sight. Then, she saw the crest of stars crowning our shadows at the top of the hill and was quickly able to make out the rest of us.

I wagged my tail, disturbing the grass in a gentle wave to dispel her tension. Scout immediately returned to her business of inspecting the pups and the entire pack resumed its leisure. I returned my attention to the graveyard slowing revealing itself from the grasslands like rocks under water and wind. A dangerous speed easily overlooked by those closest to it. I kept my head straight even when Alpha turned to look at me. He had calmed. Confusion had stifled his anger.

"It has been many years since we last spoke of them," he said.

"And speak little of them we must," I heavily reminded him.

"But why now?"

"Why speak of Iron Mouths and strange things and old ways?" I parried, "Because the winds have changed."

He had said so himself. This Iron Mouth was no coincidence. Dark energy was swelling where it didn't belong. Alpha knew what these signs meant. What I had to do. As Mother, I had to leave the pack and restore balance.

"I will go with you," Alpha declared, standing up. "The pack will go with you."

"No," I softly, but firmly, replied. I did not want to disturb the pack again. "This is not something all can do."

Alpha lowered his ears because he understood this too. He was just a pup when talk of the Bone Takers was last spoken, but he remembered the graveyard they came from. He remembered Father and the way bones turned to dust under his paws so that they could soak up the blood that had been spilled upon the earth.

"Prima still nurses," I continued. "She will need the pack in my absence."

I lifted my chin into the breeze, felt the earth underneath my paws, and spread my energy out like the roots and rivers around us, feeling that which threatened to destroy us and keep us alive all at once.

"The wild gifted us a successful hunt. The best we have seen of the season. And now, I am expected to repay the favor with the gifts of the Mighty Hena. A High Spirit strong enough to face the challenge of the Bone Takers. I will leave tonight to face it."

Alpha sat down again.

"But then you hunt in the day," he said, pleading. "Rest and leave at last light tomorrow when the Hena do best, between both worlds."

"We receive strength from the pack, not the night," I reminded. "The moon is a friend, but the sun also casts deep shadows. You forget I was once Prima, and before Prima, Day Breaker. I will go and find them in the day when they are weakest and unsuspecting of the Mighty Hena."

"At least take a Blessed One with you. Runner or Maw Mouth or Scout."

None of which had what I needed to restore balance.

"The Blessed need rest from the hunt," I said. "The pack must rejoice in their success and the strength it brings."

"What of Mother? Has she no claim to success when it is her strength that lets the pack hunt to begin with?"

"It is Mother who rejoices most in the success of the pack," I explained, "and the return of the Bone Takers threatens that. Their dark rituals cannot be allowed to continue."

"But what of the Iron Mouth? If there is one, there may be others, and even the Spirit can be caught unawares by that which it does not know. You need another who has seen it to avoid it. A pack to protect you from this strangeness."

As expected of my brood, he was wise, knowing exactly where to step on the hearts of others without making a sound. It was good for him to sense these things and worry because these were the words spoken but not spoken.

"Alright. I will take another as the Takers pick up their bones," I said, "for even Mothers obey Alpha, especially in the absence of a Father."

Alpha turned and looked at me. His eyes glowed red with the blood of the pack running hot within him. Clear and bright like the rubies that tumbled out from the veins of the mountains. I lifted mine to his sparingly, as expected of a Hena to an Alpha, but he was not Alpha when under my shadow. He was Mato Shadow Foot, my hatchling of many years ago. Mato came closer and nudged my face with his snout, licking at my mouth to show me that he too remembered me as more than just Mother. I could not stop a smile from winking in my eye like the star light. I nuzzled him back and returned the gesture, licking over his head as I did when he was but a poochy pup covered in soft skin, healthy fat, and fluffy fur. But he was a pup no more.

"I will take another," I repeated for I had not yet finished, "but I will choose the Mighty Hena best for this purpose."

Mato raised his head as Alpha once again. He nodded and we turned to look at the rest of the pack. They played and watched and rolled in the grass with an ease of ignorance I did not want to break. They were too young to remember the days when the Bone Takers' songs haunted the night. Back then, the songs were not like the distant thumps I heard tonight. They were once filled with strong pounding beats that came up from the ground and into the paws. The songs that summoned monsters from deep and dark places. Monsters that threatened to overtake the grasslands and destroy the Mighty Hena.

I must teach the pack the dangers of these songs, and more importantly, how to silence them.

The voices of the Bone Takers were still soft like ghosts on the wind. I had to strike now before they materialized and became strong enough to attack the den. There were many Mighty Hena to choose from for this purpose. The pack was large and healthy. More than one Beta and Blessed had spread to other packs in other lands. Runner was fast and sure to keep up, but he worked hardest in the hunt and needed to replenish his strength. Maw Mouth was the strongest, but even teeth broke against bone and I could not risk crippling him. It would hurt the pack far more now than what the Bone Takers could achieve at present.

Keen Eye could see far into the skies and across the earth, but would do no good in the dark burrows the takers lived in. No, I needed something else. I glanced between the others again. The stars were bright which made it easy to name them. The wild knew what had to be done and did not want me wasting time on a decision. Stance and demeanor offered clues in the dark, but a Hena's coat was unique to them, and the silver light made their grey fur stand out against their markings much more readily. Including myself. It was easy to mistake my face for others with the years gone by, but I could always tell when another recognized me otherwise. Their eyes turned down to my legs where the black fur rode high up on my shoulders as if I stepped in a mud hole up to my chest. Most appeared much cleaner than me.

One set of markings in particular caught my eye. This Hena was mostly grey with black paws instead of black legs. His tuft of a mane was short and pale but the talon under his eye was heavy. It soaked his eyes, lining them in black so that a narrow mask connected them together over his muzzle. He was relatively small and kept his tail tucked and head low even on the best of terms with the others. This Hena was the last in line. The lowest of the pack. Not without his uses, but not a name called on readily.

Omega.

A stray only recently accepted into the pack because of his ability to obey so easily. He was different than the others. Slower, weaker, and without confidence, but currently full of strength from following behind the hunt rather than leading it. I saw other things to. Like the way his ears stood straight although he kept his head low and how his eyes drifted to the night beyond the den and beyond the hills into the cover of darkness when there was nothing to see. The drum of the Bone Takers beat low and deep and his ears twitched in rhythm although I could tell he heard nothing.

"I will take Omega," I decided.

Alpha cocked his head.

"But he is Omega," he doubted.

"He is not taxed from the hunt," I explained. "Old enough to keep up, but young enough to listen."

My eyes sparkled at Alpha again and he ignored it with another sneeze. He stood up and shook out his coat, resolute to let me have my way, but not without one last reservation.

"You trust him?"

"I trust the Spirit," I answered honestly, for I had spent little time with Omega these past few moons since his arrival. "And all of the pack belongs within it."

Alpha nodded. He then padded away down the hill to where Omega sat shyly off to the side and told him of his new purpose. I was not sure what to make of my decision either, but I needed to listen very carefully to the sounds within these strange happenings, and so far, Omega was the only one with hearing as good as mine.