Chapter 3

"Balance"

I am quiet, because to disturb the night would be to disturb the creatures within it, and I feared of alerting the Bone Takers of my coming. They were stronger during their nightly rituals, gifted with better sight and smell and hearing from their offerings. If they had a Shaman at their center, they may even sense my spirit from far away and prepare for our arrival with a surprise of their own. But Omega did not know these things. He only knew that he had been chosen for a very important task and Omega was never chosen to accompany a matriarch.

He was curious and cautions and eager to follow in my shadow. We were still many miles away from the precipice of danger, so I stilled my caution and taught him what I could about the Bone Takers when the day light was bright and it was safe to discuss such things. He listened intently and was ready to know more which made the days of travel pass quickly. He was not afraid to speak and ask for my wisdom, especially when he realized it was a Mother's duty to provide it. There was much knowledge to be shared and very little who appreciated it as much as him.

"How do you know where to find them?" Omega asked for he had neither seen nor smelled any indication of our prey thus far.

"We follow the beat of their bones like how the Hena follow a howl in the grasslands," I explained, leading the way through the grasses.

He contemplated this quietly and found reason in it, quickly moving onto the next question as if he were afraid the answer might slip from me if I did not speak it all so quickly.

"Will we be able to find them in time?"

The light was already beginning to break along the horizon and there were still many miles to go.

"We are not searching, but traveling," I explained. "The Takers will be in a place familiar to them. A place already filled with their spirit. A place I have been before."

Knowing where the Bone Takers were shortened the journey considerably, but Omega was right to worry. We needed to arrive before dusk while the Bone Takers were still asleep, but I needed to conserve and measure my strength so that I would not tire when it came time to do what needed to be done.

The sun was hanging heavy in the sky by the time our paws slowed to a stop. I crouched low to the ground, hiding myself deeper in the grasses. Omega crawled up beside me on his belly. He was quiet now that we had arrived at the edge of the graveyard. He could feel what I felt and pulled his ears back, glancing at me to understand what he should make of the strange sensations prickling his skin. I kept myself poised with stalking intent. Never taking my eyes off of the area in front of me. A few more steps and we would cross into the Bone Taker's reclaimed territory.

"Do not speak," I whispered to him. "And when we arrive at the mouth of the burrow, remain outside, hidden as best you can. Do not enter no matter what you hear or what you feel."

Omega huddled lower into himself. He stared at me with a hard swallow in his throat and nodded, rising up a little higher afterwards so that he could step within my step in ensured silence. The sun was beginning to touch the grasses at the horizon. It was time to start the true hunt.

"Do not disturb the bones," was my final caution.

Omega nodded again. I then carefully picked my way through the grass, gently pushing my nose through the blades so that I made no more of a rustle than the breeze. Every move was calculated. Every motion strictly controlled. We could take no chances as the first skull hidden within the green blades came into view. It was large and heavy like that of a rock giant. It sat bodiless on the ground. The second skull we passed had horns that bowed into a shallow basin at the head. It once belonged to one of the bulls that toured the grasslands. Bone Takers used the remains of other creatures to mark and defend their territory. It was nothing less than a grotesque show of power and thievery.

I pressed forward. One after another, we picked our way between the skulls. They lie in wait to warn of intruders. Their blank gazes kept a lookout, but their eyes were full of shadows and were thus blind to them. Omega and I passed through undetected. I felt him cringe from the touch of every soul we passed. The Bone Takers had bound the spirits of each of these creatures to the earth, refusing to let them rest in peace. I too used to tremble and shake between such relics until I learned I could sever that bond with my teeth and set the spirit free.

Omega stayed close, hiding his presence as much as he could. I was glad I chose him, not just because he could listen, but because he knew not to place himself in my way. He could hide in my wake undetected and I could press forward without worrying about him revealing us. He would be my shadow, quiet and silent, without distraction. I paused at the edge of a small space cleared of vegetation ahead of us. The grass was still strong around it. The Takers had to beat it back and rip it out to make a flat space big enough to hold their rituals.

It was a good sign.

It meant that the earth was not yet poisoned by their treacherous energy. But the Takers did not leave it unscathed. They had pounded and trampled the ground in the clearing so much that the rocks became like coarse sand and the dirt hard and compact. This helped the echo of their stomping and striking travel father across the land. Traces of a fire marked the center of the circle, but the space was empty. I did not dare walk across it. The energy they had beaten into it radiated up like a summer's heat. Omega felt it too and did not hesitate to avoid it. Mighty Hena were of darkness, but we were filled with good things.

This was of a violent and desolate nature.

The burrow was located on the other side of the ritual ground. The entrance was wide from the large clans of old, so I could not tell how many Bone Takers had worked on it. I sniffed the area marked by their footsteps and tried to distinguish the different scents, but dry burnt earth did not hold odor well, especially for those already dusted with history. I could not tell how many were inside. Either way, my suspicions were right. The Bone Takers had returned.

I backed up and scouted around the outside of the burrow, looking for any more clues as to what I might find inside. The grass was not trampled and there wasn't much debris around the area. They could not have been here long. The burrow itself consisted of a dark hole that led into the earth with no mounds to give it depth or presence from above. I knew from experience that there would be at least one large chamber and two smaller ones where the takers stored the bodies of their kills and performed cleaning rituals to prepare the bones. The entrance was carved open like a hungry mouth, always ready to devour. It reminded me of the Iron Mouth Alpha spoke of.

If the Bone Takers wanted to provide a mouth, I was only too willing to fill it with teeth.

I glanced back at Omega. He caught my eye and obeyed my command, stepping away to hide closer to the grasses. Should anything come our way or change our favor, he would alert me of it. Once he was settled, I looked back into the darkness of the mouth. From here on out, I would stalk alone. Lowering my ears and head, I quietly entered the burrow step by step. Alpha's footfalls came to mind and it gave me courage to head into the blindness. The burrow was dark with very little to see, but dens were deep and dark too. And it wasn't the dark that prickled the hairs on my skin.

The tunnels emitted a pressure heavy enough to suffocate the weak of heart. The rotting smell of death lingered in the air. No matter how bleached the bones of the Takers became, they still absorbed the dark energy put into them and it gave an unnatural life to the dead. The dirt reeked of twisted smells and mal-intent. The tunnel soon branched off. Only one of the chambers would be used for sleeping. I felt my way in the dark, letting the spirit guide me until my hair stood on end. It rose quick and stiff like my tail. I paused and waited, feeling and looking with scent and sound and spirit.

The Takers were close by. They breathed and shifted with palpable energy. It gave them shape in the dark. There were about five of them. Three were needed to form a clan and five meant they were a growing cult. Five at the start meant that they knew they would be challenged. They expected resistance so they sought strength in numbers. Their presence was a direct attack on the grasslands. Schemes were at play here, but luckily, I sensed no Shaman in the burrow. They were far more powerful than the others and only appeared when the spirit of the Bone Takers was strong and steady. The grasslands had yet to give them a foothold, but the Takers could be steps away from finding it.

There was no time to waste.

The Takers slept with their skulls off of their heads, but always kept them and their clubs in reach. This spread the five of them apart within the chamber, but they were not without company. Their small scaly bodies hugged their oversized skulls like teats of a barren mother. My entire mane went up at this. I forced it down again with bared teeth and great effort. Although I made no sound, the Takers were attuned to the Spirit in their own way and would sense the High Mighty Hena if I did not cloak myself from them and control my rage. Their slumber was my only shield from their spirit as well and it was a vile toxic beast.

I crept closer to the Taker at the front of the chamber. Bone Takers were smaller than Mighty Hena and their thick scaly bodies only came up to the chest and neck. They were defenseless without their clubs and skulls. The one closest to me did not cry in its sleep like the others. That made it older and more experienced. It no longer wept for its dead mother. As it shouldn't. After all, it was the Bone Takers own clubs that cracked the skulls of the mothers they held so dearly. It was how they offered sacrifice to their demons and gained the power they needed to conduct their rituals.

Now, I had a ritual to conduct of my own.

I inched closer, careful not to touch or breathe too heavily on the Taker's skin. A wet nose or soft fur would trigger a reaction. The sensations were just too unfamiliar for their rough dry hides. This Taker lay on his side, close to his skull. It was not a position easily overtaken without waking the others, so I crouched beside him and gently placed the rough pad of my paw on his stubby arm. I tipped him just enough so that the shift of weight naturally put him on his back. Mountain cats weren't the only ones capable of deceitful delicacy.

With the Bone Taker's arms out beside him, I could see that he was older, probably the strongest of the cult given his position closest to the entrance. And because he did not weep like the others, he was accustomed to shifting in his sleep without clutching his skull and club. The strongest were located closest to the mouth of the burrow in order to protect the others. This strength had become their greatest weakness. I stood up and carefully stepped over his body to straddle him. I lowered my head and opened my jaws, hovering over his head until I found just the right placement. I teased my bite for certainty. Then, clamped down around his neck as hard as I could.

The vertebra crunched in my mouth. I laid on top of the Taker to smother any movement he might make and kept my jaws around his throat to make sure he made no sound. In a cave filled with so much death, the others did not notice an addition to it. Especially a death so swift and clean and quiet. Alpha was right to send another with me. I could feel Omega even when he did not stand beside me. I felt the pack channel their strength through him. Now, I truly understood why I chose Omega. His obedient will carried that of the others without interfering with my own. He was a medium between the power of the pack and whoever he was with.

The Spirit was strong within me. It knew what had to be done and filled me with all of the blessings of the Mighty Hena. Clear eyes. Strong teeth. Soft feet and sharp ears. I must work quickly. This strength and surprise would not last. I released the dead Bone Taker and moved to the next. The rest of them held tight to their skulls. They would not relinquish them like the first, so I nudged the next Taker more forcefully, waking it, but I needed no practice now. As the Taker opened its eyes, my teeth were already around its throat.

I lifted it up and stepped back so that its final flailing would not scuff the dirt or strike the others. But the absence of its hand caused the club it was near to lightly tap against the empty skull nearby. It rang in the tunnel like the summoning howls of the Hena. Hands already around their bones, the other three Takers woke up. It was impossible to attack all of them before they armored themselves with the protections of their dark rites. So I dropped the limp body of the Taker in my mouth and rushed the third, tackling him into the ground in front of the others. The rest jumped back as his skull flew from his hands. It clattered against the rocks, useless.

I pulled back and thrashed with the Taker between my jaws, shaking him violently back into his nightmares. Something cracked within him and I quickly let go, back peddling several feet into the protective darkness of the tunnel. The lifeless body thumped on the ground and I flattened into abrupt silence. The other Bone Takers immediately lost sight of me as I covered my grey fur with my black markings. They might have even doubted my existence entirely given how swift and sudden the attack had been. I did not waste their disorientation and sprang out of the darkness, plowing into the fourth Taker. He flew into the wall at the back of the chamber.

A club swung for my head. I ducked under it, leaping into the chest of the fifth and knocking him down to the ground. He kept hold of his club and pushed it up against my throat. I pulled back and bit into it, using it as a brace while my claws tore into the silvery scales on his chest. He shrieked an awful sound, like a hatchling in distress. A sound undeserving of a creature that killed its own mother. A club struck my back, but my thick mane and taller height weakened the blow. I kicked backwards and hit something fat and heavy. The other Bone Taker tottered away, wheezing for breath. I slung the one still holding the club into him. The two Takers collided, tangling their bones in the darkness.

I turned up my head and howled long and deep and smooth. The tunnels shook around us as the High Spirit of the Mighty Hena pushed out against them. It was too powerful to be contained by their workings. The Takers grabbed the sides of their heads, hoping to hide within their rattling skulls, but the pale white gleam of their bones gave them away. I bit one of the skulls around the empty snout where my teeth could take hold and yanked it forward. The Taker held onto it, shrieking as I dragged him closer. Having lost his club, he raised his arms to defend himself.

My jaws made quick work of them, crushing his arms limp after just a few bites. He could do nothing but cry as I grabbed his skull again and ripped it away. His naked reptilian head bumped against the ground. I took it in my mouth and gave him a new crown of bones to wear. The heavy thud of yet another lifeless body muffled the screams swirling about the tomb. The fifth Taker tried to break out of the burrow. He had managed to smash a hole in the top by throwing his club repeatedly against it. Fresh dirt fell to the floor and a beam of light, dim with the grey of twilight, fell through. He jumped back as it highlighted the slaughter with cold impassiveness.

The last Bone taker, too short and too slow to escape before I finished, huddled against the back of the tunnel out of the light. He clutched his club with shaking arms. Tears of fury stained the skull underneath his eyes. I stood at the edge of the light across from him, watching his little body shiver in an ire unbefitting such a small creature. I stepped forward into the pale beam as quiet as my Alpha. The blood on my muzzle once again dyed it a full and even black. It no longer shined silver in the light, but my eyes trapped the last light of day within them. The disappearing sun colored them with the promise that bound all Mighty Hena to the earth.

My red eyes burned like hot coals. Low and dark and deep, rippling silently in a self-sustaining heat. The last Bone Taker was not the strongest of the clan, but saw me for what I was which meant it had gained favor with its own malevolent spirit. He rasped curses at me. Muttering of prophecies and doom and vengeance. I cared not for the tongues of the wicked, so I ended his vile speech with a proclamation of my own. Another howl rushed through the tunnels. It burst from the opening above me like a geyser to the stars. It thinned as the echo spread out across the land. The quiet of the night slowly and softly returned. It drifted in like fire flies from the grasses. The last Bone Taker was dead by the time the wild sighed back into balance and the insects began to chip again. The creature frantically pacing above the burrow, however, was anything but relieved.

"Mother! Mother, are you alright?" it cried. "I heard curses and howls. Can you move? Are you hurt?"

It was Omega. His shadow flitted about the edge of the hole. He might be compelled to jump down into the burrow if I did not answer. My howls always stirred the pack into action, but it would do no good to have him fall into a pile of corpses.

"Return to the entrance," I told him, free to speak now that the threat of the Bone Takers was gone.

Grateful to hear my voice, Omega hurried back to the mouth of the burrow. I picked my way back through the bodies, careful not to touch them, and left the tunnels far quicker than I entered. The need for caution was gone, but the energy of the Bone Takers was still strong. After all, death was its strongest advocate. It cared not where it came from and it called to me, the harbinger of its own destruction, like a gnat I could not swat away from my face. It would do no good to stay here. I trotted out of the entrance into the waning twilight. It was almost spent, tired of watching so much bloodshed. Omega ran up to me, tail wagging and head low.

"Mother, the blood," he cried, moving to lick my face clean.

"No!" I snapped, bearing my teeth.

He flinched away, hurt for doing nothing but his duties.

"You must not taste this blood," I quickly explained and Omega looked again. The blood was not my own. He pulled back at the putrid odor in it and looked at me even more anxiously than before.

"You will clean me," I reassured him, "but not here. I must wash in the river first."

Only then could the curses of the Bone Takers be cleansed. The Takers were dead, but their energy lingered.

"We must leave before the sun falls completely," I said. "This place will bring nothing but ghosts."

Omega nodded and fell into step without question. My legs ached and my stomach churned with the taste of bad blood in my mouth. Bone Takers did not poison the body with venom like Vipers and Hooded Backs, but the energy they tore from the earth and forced into their clubs and skulls was polluted in the Spirit and I had taken in much of it. In my mouth, in my nose, and in the very air I touched while inside of the burrow. It had been a long time since I tasted such evil. My body was not used to it.

I stopped to vomit and rid myself of what I could, glad to have eaten little during the journey. Omega began to pace again. This time, around me. His frantic steps reminded me of how easy it was to fear. How a shadow could spook and how a stray could still worry over a Mother that did not raise him. Low as he was, Omega was still content with his place and understood his purpose in the pack. The pack that was with me even now because of him. Omega did not understand his importance. Neither did I until now.

"Take me to the river," I said, calming my stomach now that it was empty.

I knew where the waters were, how far we had come, and how far we needed to go, but it did well to have purpose and Omega took to it quickly. He ran ahead to check the way and, having been on hunts previously, quickly figured out which way to go. I trotted along at an even pace to give Omega a chance to keep the lead amidst all of his dashing back and forth to check the way and my progress.

Any creature watching us would be able to tell that he did not know how to lead, but all learned when under Mother's shadow. I used my own strong focus as a pillar for him to test his pace. Eventually, Omega fell into a trot beside me after he realized that I too knew the way. He did not need to lead to take me to the water, only keep watch on the wild around us. His adaptability impressed me. Was it because he was Omega or something else? I was beginning to question exactly what it was to be Omega.

It was dark and the night had long since fallen when we arrived at the bank of the Yawning River. No longer clouded by the smoke of the Bone Takers' rituals, the stars shone brightly for us. They could've replaced the moon at its fullest. Omega stopped at the edge of the river, still too excited from the hunt to follow its example and slow down despite the long days behind us. Instead, he began sniffing for Iron Mouths while I walked straight into the cool waters of the river. They sloshed up onto my belly until I was deep enough to submerge my back when I laid down.

Then, I plunged my face into the river, lifted it out with a shake, and stood to reorient myself against the current. I lapped up water in my mouth, but only when it was clean did I drink of it. I laid down again, deeper this time, so that my entire body was submerged when I lowered my head again. The water rushed over me, rippling my coat and carrying away the stains of battle. A stronger current would purify me faster, but the Yawning River was not known for its swiftness. It would cleanse the dark energy from me just the same, but I had to adjust myself to its workings.

I had to be patient as the river. Calm like the waters. Quiet, but unwavering. I remembered these lessons as I repeatedly broke the surface at the end of each breath. The waters did well to replenish and refresh me, reminding me that it was the quiet that brought me here, the quiet that led to my victory, and the quiet that would take us home. A stronger current might exhaust me. Fill me with too much energy and cause me to lose track of the higher purpose of our hunt. I broke the surface one last time, stepped to shallower waters, and shook out my coat.

My mane flew out around me, suspending the last few droplets of water at the tip of each hair. They caused me to sparkle like the sky above. Omega wagged his tail when he saw me approach, and when I looked at him, he ducked his head and pulled back his ears, opening his jaws in a smile. He batted at the smooth rocks with his paw, wiggling like an overexcited pup. I did not understand his reaction at first. I thought it strange for him to be so excited.

Not all of the blood had washed from my coat. My appearance was very much the same and an expression of indifference was always present on a Mother's mouth. But if Omega could see more…If he could see the workings of the Spirit, he would have seen the ritual I performed in the river, the importance of our victory, and the beauty in balance. I would have liked to ask him what he saw when he looked at me, but there was no more time to think about it because we were no longer alone. The soft clacking of smooth stones announced the arrival of another visitor to the riverbank.

"When you went into the water," a smooth cool voice spoke out to me, "I thought I saw a ghost."

A dark creature stopped a few steps up the bank. Its black eyes settled on me although I was sure they had been on me for miles beforehand.

"Hello Mother."

Omega did not see or hear the Hena's arrival. Even as a Blessed, he might have missed it. Doom Seers were Hena of a different darkness. Where the Mighty Hena found strength in the life of the pack, the Doom Seers cherished the intimacy of blood kin. They called themselves "hounds" with names of an origin unique to their relationship with the darkness. Out of the Hena, they were the most solemn, living in single mate pairs all their life. Their pack consisted of their pups until death or until one was deemed worthy and allowed to grow into full form and find a mate of their own.

Taller and thinner than Mighty Hena, they did well in forests and groves where the tall slim trees easily hid their shapes like shadows. Omega had never seen one before and crouched low, all elation immediately dispelled by the intrusion. I remembered the first time I saw a Doom Seer. The high twisting horns, ribbed armor, and shackled feet resembled the ways of the Bone Takers. Omega was wise to make such a comparison. Sill dripping and standing in the water, I met the Doom Seer's gaze. His appearance was unexpected but not alarming because I recognized his horns. This one called himself Damon and I knew why he had come.

"It is taken care of," I said while sloshing out of the water.

Seeing my acceptance of the Seer, Omega met me at the bank. I stood still as he began to lick my face clean. Damon turned his head to watch. The way his black body blotted out the grass behind him to leave only his boney armor to glint in the starlight unnerved me, especially with the Bone Takers so fresh in my jaws. He was wise to keep his distance.

"I know," he answered, carefully examining the way Omega cleaned me. "I have seen the cave."

"Then you know it is done."

"When I heard the drums and followed the song, I expected to find Soul Stealers dancing around a summoning fire and found cold carcasses already buried underground instead," he said, using his own words for the Bone Takers.

His eyes then turned to me.

"It seems the wild has called us both, pulling the strings of fate to hasten our summons. I dare say, it is a little humiliating that you should strike first, but I cannot say I am surprised. If any creature on this earth could detect the presence of the Soul Stealers in the grasslands, it would be Mother of the Crescent Tribe. Only a chariot hound could dispose of the Soul Steals so…efficiently. As celebrators of life, you surely do know the best ways to take it."

The Doom Seers often spoke in prophesies and tales. Riddles with too many meanings to their words and I was tired. Their language was hard enough to learn even in the simplest of terms. Crescent Tribe was what Damon called our pack and Chariot Hounds the Mighty Hena. So much talk to say so little.

"Your words are long," I barked. "Speak what you mean."

Damon took this as an invitation to come closer. Omega stopped grooming and shrank away from the approaching Seer. They were the tallest Hena, wearing their horns like crowns. Many creatures trembled in their shadow. I stood within it, stepping ahead of Omega, red eyes held fast and unblinking. Now that my face was washed, the silvery grey of my muzzle glowed in the star light once more.

"You look old, Mother," he said.

"Speak," I commanded a final time.

Damon smiled. He always found amusement in the brashness of the Mighty Hena, a characteristic his own species recoiled from. In the past, more than one Seer had looked down upon me with insult and disgust because of it. I showed them my teeth in kind.

"I mean no disrespect, Mother," he began. "I've simply come to tell you that the Phantoms will be cleared. I will ensure that they are completely dispelled and return the bones in the graveyard to their proper burial grounds. There will be nothing left for the Soul Stealers to worship. I will ensure that the caves are destroyed."

The Bone Takers should have never been given the chance to return at all, but Damon Doom Seer was not to blame. The Seers understood the Bone Takers just as much as I did when it came to their dark rituals. They need not be reminded of the consequences of letting them gain power, but the matter was too important to play games of the tongue with a Seer.

"The winds have shifted," I said. "A strangeness has come upon the land. You must call a council. The others must know what has happened."

Damon's eyes pinched in another smile. My knowledge of these thing amused him just as much as my ferocity. It was probably why we could communicate like this. But, to use his words, I was no prophet. Where I could feel what was to come, the Seers understood it. They saw it in their own strange and unusual ways.

"You have done a great service to the land and have spared me much temptation," Damon continued.

For if I had not come, he would have faced the Bone Takers alone. And although the power of the Takers had not yet grown strong, their rituals appealed to the Doom Seers who were so close to the dark on this side of the light. Many Seers had crossed over to its ways, but that was not the true way of their Spirit. As the Bone Takers sought to steal power from death, the Doom Seers preserved and respected it. In order to ensure balance, they asked the Mighty Hena to help rid the land of such evils. It was the Doom Seers who first taught the Mighty Hena the dangers of clubs and skulls and bones because the Seers were the ones who first carried such relics on their backs.

"I will call a council and the three great tribes shall meet again," Damon replied. "It will be an honor to preside over such a gathering. We will meet under the Blue Moon in three months time when word has spread and preparations have been made."

Damon bowed his horned head, lowering it below mine, but when he raised it again, he looked down at me with black eyes. Solid, yet without end. Omega cowered a little deeper when that strange glittering toothless smile in them returned.

"Come," I ordered of him, turning away from Damon and the river.

There was no need to say goodbye. We would all met again at Castle Rock where the council would be held. Then, with the moon as witness, we would decipher this strangeness and secure our feet before the changing winds blew us away. Omega pulled up close to me, still honoring his duty to escort me although now we worked our way home. He glanced back where Damon was still watching. At this distance, the Seer seemed to have no face. No soul. Omega leaned his trot into mine so that we traveled shoulder to shoulder.

"Why does he look at you so?" he whispered.

I kept my head straight and low to avoid attention as we entered the grasses again. The strain of the hunt still weighed heavily on my shoulders, but they were used to such burdens. There was also no rest to be had when visited by a Doom Seer in the dark of night. Omega would not like my reply, but if he asked, he would receive the truth, as always.

"As Doom Seer, Damon looks to see when I will die," I told him. "How I will die and what it means."

Omega fell back a step. He never imagined a day when the pack would no longer have me as its Mother. He glanced back again at the river, but the Doom Seer was gone. The riverbank, empty. I continued on, forcing Omega out of the Seer's premonitions. Death met all of us in the end anyway. It hovered around us like a shadow. A shadow which the Mighty Hena carried strongly on our backs. We were not afraid of death because our jaws fulfilled its promise more often than not.

And that was clearer than any Doom Seer or Bone Taker prophecy.