The Snowdrop Luna

Eirlys

“Ski-ru-sa!”

“Ski-ru-sa!”

“Ski-ru-sa!”

Every single pack member was cheering for Eirlys’s father, Skirusa, the mighty Alpha of the Vervain werewolf pack. The team of Hunters he led had just returned from another successful hunt, and this time they caught the biggest bison yet!

Like a big lump of thick brown fur, the giant bison lay motionless in the bed of the pickup truck, making its suspension sag with the great weight of it. Little Eirlys watched on as it was being hauled into the inner circle formed by the onlooking and chanting crowd.

Eirlys felt her chest swell at seeing her father standing proudly on top of the gargantuan carcass as it was being transported toward the butchering block. It is where Skirusa would be tearing big lumps of meat for each and every wolf in his pack. As she looked around her, everyone gathered there was already salivating in anticipation for the Feast.

This only happened once a month when a full Moon was out. Her mother, Eira, the Vervain pack’s Luna, had told Eirlys that when the big shining orb in the sky at night has reached a full circle, it not only illuminated things at night, making it better for them to see, but it also heightened their senses and lent the wolves under Her visage additional strength and speed.

This was why they were obligated to howl to the Moon whenever they wanted to thank Her for the assistance of Her powerful light. It was also why the Hunters from the pack chose this one night in a month to go hunting the mighty bison. It was not an easy task to take any one of them down, even the smallest bison, but obviously, there was no honor in that so the one that led and coordinated the hunt needed to be very skilled and have a good mind for strategy. It all very much depended on how well the rest of the hunting team listened to her father’s instructions, which was by itself a challenge as well.

Her big brother, who was a whole ten years older than her and had just turned eighteen the previous week, usually went on these hunts along with her father and was his second in command. Eirlys couldn’t help but envy him. She still had to wait another five years before she could start going out hunting with the pack. In her opinion, she was more than capable enough to take a bison on with them right now, but she was going to have to wait to make her father feel as proud of her as she felt looking at him right now.

The magnificent pitch-black wolf seemed to be smiling at the cheering crowd, very satisfied with their kill this night as well, and she saw that smile widen even more when he spotted her among them, standing on a boulder to get a better view of him. He gave her a wink before he returned his attention to his hungry pack.

The Feast only occurred this one special night each month, where every pack member changed into their wolf form for the duration of it. The bison meat was meant to be eaten raw and, according to tradition, the way the Spirits wanted them to enjoy it. Other days they cooked their meat over the fires and ate in their human forms.

Her mother had told her once that their werewolf traditions were in some ways related to that of the humans, as they were part human too, but their way of doing things and how they saw the physical and the spiritual world was unique and somewhat different from the many various beliefs and worldviews of the humans. The humans didn’t even know that werewolves really existed, so that was why they lived in a community where rarely any humans ventured.

Eirlys had seen two humans in her life before. They were tourists traveling the countryside of Minnesota and ended up venturing into an area they thought had restaurants, shops, and entertainment, as it was on the edge of a beautiful and picturesque forest and lake. When they heard that there was nothing like those things here, they left immediately. Suckers, her big brother had muttered as they drove away in their metallic red SUV.

This was why humans rarely came this way, her brother Kitka, who she lovingly called Kitty, had explained to her once that the humans wouldn’t bother them too much because there was nothing fun for them to do here. They clearly had no idea what fun really was, Eirlys had thought. In fact, she felt sorry for the humans that they didn’t have feasts like theirs, and that they couldn’t go running on all fours in the forest as the werewolves could.

Her brother always made fun of the humans, how they were always so easily fooled about the existence of werewolves. He told her that so many humans had actually seen them transform into wolves, and knowing what a werewolf was, due to their fairytale stories and folklore, they still couldn’t believe it. It was still too ‘unreal’ in their eyes that a person could transform into a big ass wolf.

Kitty always said that it was so easy to tell them that they had been dreaming, or drank something that made them hallucinate. They would be more inclined to believe those possibilities, instead of admitting that what they saw had been real. Even if they still wanted to go tell all the other humans about what they had seen, their own people would think they were crazy for ranting about something that was ‘impossible’.

Her father had said that she didn’t need to worry or be scared of humans when they came to their neighborhood, because all of them, if it so happened that they would wander into their little community, would simply think they were a small, closely-knit town. But if one human did perchance notice that they were werewolves, they would try and convince him otherwise or pay them to keep quiet.

Eirlys’s mother had also told her how some humans even came and demanded that they also wanted to become werewolves, that they wanted them to be bitten so that they could also have the ability to transform into wolves. But that was not how things worked anymore. Eira told Eirlys that the Spirits had taken away the werewolves’ ability to cause the Change in humans when they got a bite or scratch from any of them.

No one knew why their special venom had faded from their teeth, but it was the will of the Spirits, so they had to accept it as it was. The Spirits had their reasons for everything that happened in the world, Eirlys’s mother used to always remind her. Reasons they, as beings in the world of the living, couldn’t begin to understand as they could not see the invisible chords intertwining with Destiny, so it simply wasn’t to be questioned.

But when she innocently asked for her mother’s opinion regarding them not being able to infect humans anymore, she obliged her persistent and curious daughter by describing how a human-turned-werewolf was more likely to be aggressive and unable to control their bloodlust for a while in the beginning. So a newly turned werewolf was very dangerous and presented problems for the species to keep their existence a secret as much as possible. So Eira had surmised that it was the Spirits’ way of protecting them.

On the other hand, Eirlys had also heard many stories about how in the old days, a rogue werewolf, a violent and packless wolf, would go around biting humans to grow their pack. They would then keep adding members until they outmatched another pack and attack others to steal their territories. It sounded to Eirlys like there were just too many fights and pack wars in the old days because of it, so she was glad that the Spirits had decided to take their venom away from them.

Eirlys knew from this that she was very lucky to be born a werewolf because being a human would have been very boring. She would have most likely been one of those humans that demanded to be Changed into a werewolf. But she also knew that she was even luckier than most of the other pack members, as her mother and father were both what were called ‘Pure-Bloods’. Her father had told her that this meant that his and her mother’s bloodlines had come from the First Wolves.

When she heard about this the very first time, she wanted to know how these original wolves of their kind looked and how they came to be exactly, and her mother answered that no one really knew this either, but that according to legend, they had three tails and were larger and stronger than the werewolves they knew today.

Her mother then continued to tell her how they were created by the Spirits at a time when the humans were fighting massive wars for freedom and justice against other humans. The oppressing side had too powerful armies and wanted to take everything from the other people.

When the good stood courageously against the bad, the Spirits saw the righteousness of the people fighting for the sacred right to liberty and granted them supernatural beings to aid them. These were the First Wolves, who had special powers that the humans needed on their side to win.

Her mother had said that the human world would have looked very different without the First Wolves’ help, but that they were ironically all but forgotten afterward. In a time of prosperity and abundance, the humans had basically blotted their true saviors out of their history books.

This had brought such confusion and sadness to Eirlys’s heart at hearing that. How could they have so easily forgotten about the wolves that helped them in their great wars? When she had asked her mother about this, her brother had answered her instead, saying that humans were arrogant and wanted all the credit for their victories themselves. She still remembered the hateful look in his dark eyes when he had said this.

Eira then told her how the First Wolves were wise and hadn’t desired to be acknowledged or praised for what they did, so they allowed the humans to shun them and forget about them over time. No one knew what happened to the First Wolves, but she had heard whispers that they still helped the humans in secret over the centuries.

Eirlys didn’t understand this. Why would they still help those that hadn’t even given them as much as a thank you for their help the first time around?

She was watching her father now, the massive black wolf, the people still chanting his name, Skirusa, as he bit into the bison. Ripping the first chunk of meat from the animal, he threw it into the crowd, not particularly aiming at anyone. Eirlys knew that her father was descended from these First Wolves, and he’d told her once that he was also descended from the American First Wolf Pack that were stationed here to help humanity in and around America.

He’d further informed her that most of these First Wolves were brave Native American men and women, that his bloodline was specifically linked to a Pawnee tribe at the time. Even many of the Mayans and Aztecs were called by the Spirits and were given the gift of the Shift from their human form to that of a mighty wolf, distinguished from normal wolves by their three tails. Eirlys always laughed when she heard this. How funny it must have looked to have three tails!

However, when Eirlys asked them why the Pure-Bloods didn’t have the two additional tails anymore, no one seemed to know. They also didn’t have the supernatural and magical abilities as the Three-Tails seemed to have, according to the old stories. To her, it sounded like they had been even faster and stronger than her father and mother too. She couldn’t even begin to imagine that, as she thought it was impossible for any wolf to be greater than Skirusa.

Eirlys’s favorite uncle, her father’s older brother, Eerit, who was also their pack’s Healer, was a Pure-Blood like the Alpha as well. He had told her that his name is a Pawnee word meaning ‘see’, as he had the special ability to see the truth of the world shown to him by the Spirits and could ‘see’ what medicine people needed when they were sick. Unlike her father, whose name was a play between ‘wolf’ and ‘horse’, as he was as big as a horse when he transformed. Looking at him now, she could see that. He was near twice the size of any of the other wolves gathered around him.

Looking into the crowd from atop the high boulder Eirlys stood on, she saw Uncle Eerit waiting for his piece of meat from the bison as well. She knew that he was also a big black wolf, but not nearly as large in size as her father, which was why Skirusa became the Alpha of the Vervain pack. Uncle Eerit always said that he was never the fighting or leading type. He much rather preferred his quiet hut and helping people than taking charge and being responsible for a whole pack.

Her mother had told her that she herself was descended from the Welsh First Wolves, which had been a pack of large white wolves, and that her name, Eira, meant ‘snow’ in Welsh, and Eirlys’s name meant ‘snowdrop’, a beautiful white flower that matched the color of her hair. She also had the same piercing ice-blue eyes as her mother.

It was clear to see from her appearance that the dominant bloodline came to her through her mother’s side, and Kitty’s came from that of their father by how he looked exactly like their father, with their jet black hair, dark eyes, and olive skin.

Eirlys had once looked at her mother and father standing next to each other, seeing for the first time how very different they looked, and had asked them how they fell in love if they were like complete opposites. They simply answered that it was the ‘Pull’ that brought them together and made them mutually fall head over heels in love from the moment they laid eyes on one another.

This had Eirlys instantly intrigued with the romanticism of it all, wanting to find out more about the Pull, wondering if she would too find her true love one day through this Will of the Spirits. Her mother told her that it was an invisible force that drew two True Mates together, that once she was to turn sixteen and her Mate was close enough to activate the Pull, that she would find another Pure-Blood to Bond and Mate with.

Eirlys would find herself daydreaming constantly about how her future Mate would look like, and how brave and strong he would be, but then she would also find herself saddened by the thought of her big brother. He was eighteen already and had never been able to find his Mate. The Pull had not been activated for him, and she felt sorry for him being so alone, but she knew that he would find one someday.

At the thought of Kitty, Eirlys looked around, searching for her big brother in the crowd or within the team of Hunters, but she couldn’t find him anywhere. She was about to call to her father above the noise of all the excited werewolves around him, wanting to find out where Kitka was, but before she could finish sucking in enough breath to do so, he was right next to the boulder by her feet, as though he knew she was searching for him.

“Eirlys,” he said, desperation evident in his dark eyes. “You need to hide. Quickly!”

Frozen in place and confused by his sudden and urgent appearance, she was unable to react fast enough, which led him to grab and pull her off from her perch with frightening force. Before she was able to ask what was going on, he was cradling her in his arms as he ran toward their home.

“Kitty?” Eirlys’s voice was uneven as she bobbed with every hasty step her brother took, and saw that he came to a stop by the entrance to the underground storm bunker. It was camouflaged so that the entrance was covered by dirt and leaves, but she knew it was there. “What’s going on?”

Not answering her right away, he put her down on the ground, and lowered himself onto his haunches, and grasped the latch with his strong hands. He pulled the bunker’s door up for it to open. She’d spent some time in there once before when a big forest fire had devastated their territory two years ago. Looking down into the gaping dark hole, only able to see the top steps going down, she listened to her brother’s strong guiding hand as he pushed her toward the steps.

“Eirlys,” he said, holding her tightly by the shoulders and looking imploringly into her eyes. “Hide and lock yourself in here, and don’t open for anyone. No matter what you hear, you only open this door for me, do you hear?”

Wide-eyed and more frightened than she’d ever felt before, she couldn’t find her voice.

“Eirlys, tell me that you understand!” Kitka shook her forcefully by the shoulders to get her to react, and it worked.

“Kitty, what is wrong?” she asked, starting to feel tears welling up in her eyes. “You’re scaring me.”

“I’m sorry,” her brother said, not looking sorry but more fearful and sadder than she’d ever seen him before. “I made a terrible mistake--but I need you to hide here until I come and get you, alright?”

Feeling warm tears running down her cheeks, she nodded her head, nonetheless letting him know that she would do as he said.

“Good,” Kitka said consolingly, looking relieved but only for a moment before that frightening sorrow settled into his eyes again. “Remember, don’t open for anyone else, no matter what they tell you or what you hear. Wait for me.”

At that moment she did hear wolves growling loudly all of a sudden. When there was a loud whine, Kitka looked back over his shoulder. It sounded like there was a fight that had broken out, and Eirlys wanted to climb the steps out of the bunker to see what was going on, but her path was blocked by her brother’s hand holding her back as he descended a few steps as well.

“Don’t come out, Eirlys,” he said, looking up out of the bunker’s opening toward the chaos going on outside, when there was an ear-splitting explosion. He turned back to her, his expression even more serious and grave than before. “Lock once I close the latch, and don’t come out. Know that I love you, Eirlys, and know that I am so, so sorry…”

And with that he gave her one uncertain and infinitesimally sad look again before he closed the latch with one final thump, leaving her alone in the silent darkness.

Eirlys locked the door as her brother told her to, but kept her ear against it to listen to what was happening outside. She could still hear the loud chaos of wolves growling and the tearing of flesh. She felt so helpless, not knowing what was going on or what she should do about it. Kitka told her to wait, so that was what she was going to do. She trusted her brother completely and she knew that he and their father together had always been unbeatable against any other wolves before. Together, they would protect the pack from any harm.

Frightened for the lives of her family, Eirlys kept completely still. Listening. Hoping. Praying. And just when she thought that she couldn’t hold back a scream of her own anymore, there was silence. The quiet after the storm made her ears ring.

Thinking it was over, she waited a little while just to see if she could hear anything else, but Eirlys could only make out the distant murmuring of a low male voice. Thinking it was her father, and wanting to run to his side where she would feel safe again, she unlocked the door to exit the bunker.

Lifting the latch and climbing the steps to set her feet on the soil outside once more, Eirlys felt it was wet underneath her bare feet. She almost fell back down the stairs the moment she saw why it felt so moist where it didn’t before.

Her friend Maggie’s mother was staring blankly back at Eirlys as she was lying motionlessly on the ground with blood pooling around her. She was only able to let out a small yelp at the shock and horror of it, whereas she felt like she wanted to scream her lungs out.

“Skirusa!”

Eirlys heard her mother’s unmistakable voice calling for her father. After hearing the Alpha of the Vervain pack’s name being chanted in veneration and excitement for the coming Feast only a moment ago, it starkly contrasted how it sounded this time around.

The cry of sheer terror and unbelief sent Eirlys’s legs running toward the sound. She didn’t dare think what it might have meant as she ran, but she soon came to an abrupt halt as she saw her whole pack either dead on the ground or tied up and surrounded by strangers.

When she noticed where all of them were looking, her breath and heart stopped completely.

Her father’s body was lifeless and still in her mother’s grasp. She was holding him to her chest, rocking back and forth as she cried and kept on saying ‘no’ repeatedly as though she wasn’t willing to accept that there was a long silver dagger pierced right through his heart.

Eirlys hid behind a tree, holding her hand in front of her mouth, wanting to call out to her mother, but knew that they would find and capture her too.

“Too bad you never accepted me, Eira,” a tall man with light brown hair said to her mother. “The moment you chose Skirusa above me, you ruined your future. But thanks to your son, Kitka over here, I was able to come and claim you while you’re still young and beautiful. It’s not too late. We can still have Pure-Blooded children together, Eira.”

Eirlys saw how her mother was looking toward someone she couldn’t see from her current angle, but by the sorrow and love she could see in her mother’s face, she was most likely looking at her brother there.

What? Thanks to Kitka? What did that mean? Did her brother bring this upon them?

Eirlys’s mind was overflowing with many confusing questions as she quickly moved to hide behind another tree where she could get a better view.

As Eirlys was closer now to have a better view of her mother, she saw how a shadow passed over her eyes as she looked down at her still father again. His eyes were closed, and looked like he was merely taking a nap, but Eirlys knew he was never waking up again…

Wiping away silent tears, Eirlys knew what the darkness which had passed over her mother’s gaze earlier meant. She’d seen it many times before, right before she would slit one of their cattle or homebred deer’s necks for dinner the same night. She’d told her once that she didn’t like killing animals like that, but whenever she had to she would make herself not feel anything right before she did the deed.

She didn’t know what it meant now, but maybe she was trying not to feel at this moment. The sadness of losing her father was overwhelming to Eirlys, so she could only imagine how her mother must have felt…

She watched as her mother gave her father a soft and drawn-out kiss as though she was saying goodbye to him. Eirlys felt her heart ache painfully at seeing the grief on her mother’s beautiful face. It made her look ten years older than she was all of a sudden. Still holding her father, her mother gave Kitka, who she could see now was being held captive by sneering young males, one final look of farewell too.

“Know that this wasn’t your fault, son,” she said with tears rolling delicately down her white as ice skin, shimmering in the moonlight. “I love you.”

Her brother seemed to know what that look and her words meant. And by the way he started fighting his captors’ hold on him so violently, Eirlys knew that it wasn’t good.

“Mother, don’t. Please!”

Before Eirlys could also plead with her not to do whatever Kitka knew she was going to do, it was too late already. Within one fluid motion, her mother pulled the silver dagger from her father’s chest, turning the point of the sharp blade toward her own chest, and plunged it into her own heart, but not before she calmly looked up at the blond man and said, “Fuck you, Marcus.”

The man who she called Marcus made an attempt to stop her as well. “Eira, no!” But he was too late.

Not able to keep the loud wail from ripping through her own tight throat this time, she called out to her mother, which made every single person there look in her direction.

“Run, Eirlys!” Kitka called out to her, pulling against his captors again like a feral animal. This time he was strong enough to break free. She saw him get in a few brutal punches to the faces of the now gaping males, unable to believe that he was able to get loose from the silver cuffs she now saw laying in broken segments on the ground.

“Run!” he ordered her again as he grabbed one of the other male’s blades and swiped it over the chest of his attacker in one quick, but lethal movement. “Go, now!”

Eirlys only stayed long enough to see the wide gaping wound Kitka had given the other male, how it spilled over with more blood than she’d ever seen. Eyes wide and horrified, she finally listened to her brother and turned to run toward the forest.

“Go after her!” Eirlys heard the commanding voice of the man who killed her parents. She looked back over her shoulder as she ran and saw five or six werewolves giving chase, their savage eyes were set on her like Hunters mercilessly racing after a deer.

Looking back every now and again, hoping that she would see her brother running after her to fight her pursuers off, she only saw them closing in on her instead. They were getting closer and closer with every glance.

Running as fast as she could, jumping over streams and logs, she knew that she stood no chance in her human form. She decided to shift into her wolf form instead to make her escape, as she knew she was much faster as a wolf than most that had challenged her in races before. Even most of the adults couldn’t even keep pace with her.

Eirlys was fully aware that it was a long shot, that she’d never even attempted shifting while running before, but it was the only chance left to her. Looking back one last time to gauge how far her chasers were from her now, she felt how her foot got caught on a branch she’d failed to notice. She was instantly sent tumbling to the ground and she felt her forehead hitting a rock on the ground there.

Looking at the rock right by her face in dazed confusion, the pain shot through her head like crackling lightning by the time she was able to come to terms with what had just happened.

Suddenly there was a red shade to her sight and a wet warmth spreading from where she could feel was the source of the pain now. Feeling disoriented and weak, she simply turned herself over so she ended up lying flat on her back. She found it difficult to think.

She couldn’t think at all anymore, in fact. She couldn’t even remember why she needed to keep running and to get away as far as she could. Why was she even out here? Where was she?

Eirlys stared at the full moon in all Her luminescent glory but noticed that it was flickering in and out of focus, the same as her consciousness was busy doing.

She felt so unendingly tired… Why was she even so tired? Oh, and the pain! What could possibly be causing her head to hurt so much?

Eirlys heard heavy footfalls coming toward her, as though a stampede was heading her way, but she couldn’t bring herself to get out of the way.

Still unable to tear her eyes away from the intense light of the Moon either, she saw that it was fading. As if she could hold onto the light with her gaze, she kept it fixed there until everything went completely black…