The Protector's Child

The fire crackled. A pop echoed as the wood settled deeper into the glowing embers. The wind jostled free a dried and dying branch of the hasa plant. The long, orange, spidery frond drifted into the flame’s grasp. Fibrous blades sizzled as the last of its moisture turned to gas, releasing a deep musky smell. Sino’s grey-brown ears scanned the now restless forest around him. The cautious creatures stirred, seeking shelter. It made the wood eerily quiet with interruptions of quick shuffles and scurries.

Sino stood; his muscles coiled, ready. His hackles raised on edge as he surveyed the area for threats. He stewed as his contempt brewed. Xeri and Mala were late, again hence the fire. He didn’t like the attention the smoke drew. If asked, Sino would have taken yet another shift. Where others last no more than half a moon cycle, he could stay here indefinitely. The quiet soothed his restless thoughts. He understood why everyone else hated this duty station positioned at the furthest point from the pack, just by the western border. Elders taught pups about lone wolves this far away go crazy without an active pack-link or at least another wolf to stimulate one’s mind. Sino heard stories of pack members going rogue, never to be heard again.

Not Sino, the only wolf he knew who preferred the silence. He didn’t just favor alone; he felt confident about it. When solitary, he could determine his opinion on matters without the murmuring jumble from each pack member opining on his every action and thought. It’s not like he was truly part of this pack anyways. Sino worked hard to erase his background as a stray, but it persisted, known to all in the mindlink. Each time he reconnected, Sino felt its presence if he tried to befriend others. Wolves see him as a fluke- an abomination. He took these duties to prove his worth to the pack’s counsel. He bided his time, only staying this side of sane to ensure he would get his revenge.

For any other duty exchange and as a courtesy, the pack sent ahead a scout with an information-filled mindlink. Sino would have the exact moment and location of the pending duty swap to ensure off-going patrollers wouldn’t have to babysit the signal fire. As the fire embers shifted again, Sino held back a growl as he rescanned the forest. No scout.

Sino despised standing exposed in the light of the fire’s edge, instead preferred the shadow’s safety. He noticed today’s inclination to keep the fire to his back to prevent the light from skewing his vision. Meaning he failed to scrutinize a portion of the sector’s grid as often as the rest increasing the likelihood anyone could approach from that section to catch him unawares. He would give the incoming duty sentries until the embers cooled. If they didn’t show up, Sino would start his new patrol there.

Like a flash flood, a new sickly-sweet scent traveled on the wind stealing his attention. He crouched into the shadow of the nearest bush to try to minimize his vulnerable presence in the fire’s light while scanning the forest for the source. Another wave of the cloying aroma tumbled in the breeze sticking to the vegetation as if the wind itself warned him something approached.

The ancient creature awoke, known to Sino as his inner beast. It rumbled a growl to bring attention to its existence. Sino felt the monster’s stomping pace down his spine. Sino’s senses heightened. His sight flicked with pinpoint accuracy to identify any movement. His nose traced the scent’s path.

The forest fell silent. Not the uneasy silence of earlier, but frozen still of all sound. Sino adjusted his weight, hearing the change on the leaves. His soft breath, seemingly loud, front, and center, became a background rumble of thunder to his enhanced ears. Mentally he eliminated and scrubbed all audio leaving his attention focused on the one sound not from him that remained.

Sino heard a soft moaning cackle drifted in with the warmer wind. A puff of grey-blue smoke snaked from the north edge of the trees slithering caresses on the vegetation as it passed. Sino watched grey lines merge into one as it circled the fire. Its greyness deepened and sparkled with the embers’ pops and snaps before slicing a new path towards Sino’s position. The vapor’s sudden weight felt like slender fingers brushed through his thick neck fur. He let out a deep chesty warning stutter-growl from the unwanted touch.

The grey line retracted away to settle on a large rock a few running leaps distance away. A shimmering burst of silvery grey magick pulsed through the smoke’s trail, also landing on the rock. A pale purple-skinned female sat perfectly straight, holding something soft and beige in her arms.

Her odd beauty stumped Sino. Since being a pup, he saw many a bald fae in his many moons. However, her striking deep blue-green eyes contrasted the blushing pastel purple cheeks and deep violet voluptuous lips quivering as if ready for a kiss. Its ugly beautiful juxtaposition stirred his beast.

Lust. She oozed it, but there was also something else… a new underlying scent- something he couldn’t place. Sino shook his head as if it would clear his thoughts and growled again. His wolf instincts needed to assess all the possible threats. His mind should be quick and agile to deal with her, but he felt mushy. He pinned his ears back flat against his head. His hackles raised. He puffed out his chest, making his wolf look as big as he could. Sino blew the scent from his nose and shook his fur. The smoke cleared. The woman didn’t look at him; instead, her attention stayed with the object in her arms. Sino scared everyone. Her nonchalance disturbed him. It was as if she didn’t feel he was a threat. Him… the wolf currently growling at her.

After his growl lingered in the air, she looked up. Her eyes shifted with swirls of greenish-blue magick, meeting Sino’s narrowed golden-amber eyes. When she spoke, her oddly mesmerizing two-tone voice unsettled in his ears. “I couldn’t resist. I do love wolves. Strong. Aggressive. Powerful. Intelligent. Possessive. Virile.” Her voice sounded youthful and seductive whilst simultaneously ancient and knowing. She cooed at the soft material in her arms. Keeping her voice childish, she continued. “Sometimes I wish I was a young she-wolf.” She sighed.

Sino growled in response, shifting his position to move from the opposite side of the fire, but staying far enough from her where he felt if he needed to run, he could. His eyes stayed connected with her green round orbs as they sparkled and spun. It made him dizzy, but he widened his stance, grounding the dirt to keep his position.

“Not to mention: Impatient. But you are a protector, aren’t you?” Her voice stayed scant above a whisper.

His beast growled again. He took a step forward, a move meant to unconsciously drive her to move away from a perceived threat- him. Sino intended to flush her out of the pack’s boundary, but then his eyes flicked toward her arms.

“You want to know what I have here, or do you want to attack me?” She cocked her head. “Choose quickly.”

Sino narrowed his eyes. He should flush the stranger outside their boundary if he determined she wasn’t a danger. However, if she was a threat, he should kill her or capture her and bring her to the council. His beast instincts sniffed at her again. She didn’t smell like a witch, druid, or vamp.

And what was…? Sweet? Citrus? His focus shifted to the lump of blanket. The woman bent in a slow, languid motion placing the bundle on the dying grass near the fire without a sound. The material moved; tiny, chubby, pale purple fingers poked out. Against his instincts or maybe because of his instincts, Sino walked towards the hand. The smell grew more assertive.

The woman chuckled. His inner wolf’s attention snapped to her. She stood a few steps further away than just a breath ago, and he didn’t hear or see it. His wolf positioned himself between the woman and the source of that smell. She snickered with a crooked violet smile, unfazed by his warnings.

In a sign of disrespect, she turned her back on him, sauntering towards the boundary line. Conflicted, his wolf pushed him to move closer to the moving cloth, but he also wanted to pin her down for more information. She hopped over a fallen tree and was now halfway to the edge of the forest. He should follow her to make sure the woman left the territory, but he found his muscles frozen in a coiled half-cocked stance. The only action he muddled through ended up as a half- capable whine-growl. Pathetic.

A muffled cry snapped his attention back to the pile. Sino’s wolf sniffed at the fingers. Bursts of sweet and tangy citrus filled his nose. He blew out the scent to clear his senses, receiving a squeal in return. He nudged the fabric open to reveal a tiny infant with magenta-violet eyes and black-purple hair. Pale pink lips smiled back at him as their hands tried to grab his snout. His wolf had no need of it but cleared his nose again, which received another squeal and wider open mouth smile from the child.

Pure joy filtered through the wind as if to break a silent spell, the forest noises tumbled to life. The sing-song calls of feathered beasts no bigger than a small leaf started the morning call for their mates. Prey scampered about from bush to bush without care. Sino shook his head to focus and scanned the forest line. He needed to watch for danger. The fire embers told him they didn’t have many moments until Sino would need to find shelter.

Who- what was that woman?

Who leaves an infant with a wolf… in the forest?

What is that smell?

His mind jumbled up various questions and scenarios as he scrutinized every bobbing branch and shifting bush until the embers barely emitted any heat. He curled around the blanket to keep the babe warm, all while keeping his head up, watching for his duty replacements. A calmness engulfed him. Then soft magickal emotions swirled around them like dancing leaves. He didn’t see it. He felt it like a breeze on his fur. Dutiful Sino would not get distracted from his sentry as his thoughts skipped randomly like a smooth rock over a still lake.

Does happiness have a color?

Can one strike fear with laughter?

What tastes like lust?

Can one hear sadness without sound?

Home smells of hasa plant.

The wind snuffed out the last of the embers as Sino’s trance deepened. These were not his thoughts. He would not notice the scent of two wolves approaching. His mind blocked the incoming mindlink that they pushed out frantically like an emergency beacon. Instead, Sino’s amber-gold eyes sparkled, watching little magenta sprites of emotions turn to magickal leaves swirling in the wind above the two of them.