The Secrets of The Soul Wanderer (In

Chapter 16

One year later,
My heart was racing, the forest was calm and damp. I was sitting on a high branch of an oak tree, I aimed my bow at a large wildboar that was wallowing in the mud a few metres away from my tree. Holding onto the arrow I found my aim, right in the boars eye. Time seemed to stop in the forest, the boar got up and stood still, I fired my arrow it stabbed the boars eye causing it to squeal and panic, it fled from my sight.

I flew low in silence, it collided into a aspen tree knocking it out, now I had to kill it for good. Landing near it I stabbed it with my retractable claw like nails, right into its jugular vein. I muttered a prayer for the Holy One to give thanks for this meat, and carried the boar to my family. During the chase the boar led me closer to the house, so it was only a short walk away.
When I arrived at the house, my mum and Reggie welcomed my hunting gift Reggie envied my hunt, only thing he got were three pheasents and a rabbit.

Tomorrow was the Knighthood celebration, a day where it was my official status from freak to Knight.
My mother spoke, interrupting my train of thought, "Claire thank you for this, have you been looking forward to tomorrow?"
I nodded and replied enthusiastically"of course Ma, I can't wait to be accepted into Knight kind. Does that mean I can go to where the Knights live?" I pointed upwards, it was common knowledge the Knights worked between Earth and space.
My mother remained silent, although she wasn't my biological mother I trusted her with my life. I learnt that her name was Morgana, she used to work as a zoo veternarian in Edinburgh. Apparantly she saved Marvin from bleeding to death, that's all I knew about her.

Over the past year I grew my wings that were eight feet in wingspan, the process of having bones growing out of the shoulderbades was beyond painful. I also noticed that my finger and toe nails thickened, looking like claws that just like a tiger I could retract inside my flesh. My bones lost their density meaning I was very lightweight, the drawback to being a Knight was the constant need of making a life.
I made crude looking humans out of clay around my room, Marvin had to give me something to calm the intense instinct.
The look of Reggie's face dragged me back to the present, I felt sorry for Reggie he had Knight blood in him but never could be one. He was a Squire, this was someone who had Knight blood but stayed human all their life.

"You alright Reg?" I asked with concern, Reggie looked annoyed and responded, "no I'm not ok, I wish I wasn't a Squire. I hunted down three lousy pheasents and a fucking rabbit. Just leave me alone ok." His voice felt dangerous, I walked inside the house up to my room. I left my bow on its wall display.
Sitting on the bed I heard the hustle and bustle of tge servants and chefs downstairs. I had a little bit of alone time before Marvin coming to paint my body later today for the ceremony tomorrow.
For some miracle I could still do my Soul Wandering, I thought it would fade but no it was stronger than ever. It way easy to let my soul release from my body with just a sigh if I was very still.

I rearranged my many clay humans on the windowsill, feeling eager to make people but my head had to take over. This instinct was so fucking strong at times, that I almost smashed my window one time.
I gently brushed the debris out of my wings, they were grey owl feathers hence my silent flight, they felt so silky and plush.

Somehow I managed to sleep for an hour, that was until Marvin came in with the paint.
He stripped me naked, an advantage to being a Knight was that my breasts receeded into my chest. Being painted by my spiritual half-brother should feel weird and embarrassing, but I didn't care for my dignity right now. Marvin mixed the paint in two seperate bowls, one was a yellow iridescent gold. The other bowl was a deep matte forest green, exactly like the pine and spruce trees in the forest.

I felt the cold paint on my skin, he painted my cheeks, neck, sternum going down to my toes. He got out a soft large painbrush, and told me to turn around to paint the tips of my wings. The painting took a long time, from my guess probably three hours. The sun was setting outside, it's glow lingering around until darkness came out again.
Marvin had paint on his hands, he looked exhausted he took his painting equipment outside. I was alone, looking down he had painted swirls and trees in the green paint. In addition he painted a golden eagle on my sternum, with gold flecks on my hands, feet and just above my groin.

Suddenly my mother entered the room, I gasped in surprise she gestured a 'quiet' to her mouth with her finger. I almost forgot it was forbidden to talk during the ceremonial paint, clothing and flight. My mother showed me my ceremonial clothing, they were black woolen trousers that were somehow stretchy. A feathered black and white sash to cover my chest, that I guess were from the local magpies. The last item of clothing was the mask it was carved like an owl. It was made out of filed down wood with wide enough eye and mouth holes for me.

My mother bowed to me and left me to get dressed, everything fit perfectly, the trousers were warm, the sash didn't interfere with my wings and the mask sat nicely on my face.
Now it was time to go on the flight, I didn't wear shoes my feet adapted to the sharp stones and wet mud. I walked outside the front door and wearing the mask, it had three elastic transparent bands to secure it to my face.
The moon was high in the sky, it was a full moon its moonlight drenched me. I took flight, my flight part of the successful ritual was to north to the northern most point of Scotland, to Shetland.

Over there Marvin was waiting, he did this ritual before, right? I flew above the whole of the sweeping Scottish Highlands and the Orkney islands. Below me was the North Sea, my biggest fear was the ocean, ever since I could fly open ocean scared the shit out of me.
I stuck to flying above the clouds, and trying not to look down until I panicked, I was falling from the sky until I saw a bright blue long bodied figure engulf me.
Thiinking I fell into a whales mouth, I noticed I sat on grass, what I saw made everything change. I was staring at the Holy One in the form of a sapphire blue dragon.