The Wolves and the Vipers

Chapter 43 - How it Began

Good evening everyone :) If anyone would like to try their hand at interpreting vague prophetical visions, I have just the chapter for you! Go wild with it. Who knows, it might actually become relevant at some point

We'd buried Danny with all the other fighters. There would be no proper death rituals for him, but I'd asked for the body to be washed, and I'd asked for a wooden casket. He had died in wolf form, so he would have to be buried that way.

I was still saying Kaddish for my parents every morning, so nothing would change in that regard. I didn't feel I could do my first seven days of mourning properly - and I wasn't sure I would want to, isolated in this group of people who neither understood or shared my beliefs - but I did try to stay indoors, and I did light a candle for him.

And I would sit and watch that candle for hours on end. I hadn't had one for my parents. I'd been stranded in the woods, on the run, and I realised before long that I was using this shiva to grieve them alongside Danny. And perhaps even Angie as well.

Jace found me sitting like that on the fourth day and slumped down on the sofa opposite me. He was exhausted. The combination of so many deaths and my withdrawal from work was taking its toll. "You don't have to come with me, you know."

I shook my head. "I'm coming to the celebration, so I might as well come to this too."

And I was starting to feel stir crazy, shut up inside the house all day. My guards would wait outside when it was sunny and sit very quietly in the kitchen when it was raining, so as not to disturb me. Usually, there would be someone to share shiva with, but Kallie had barely left her room since the funeral. So much for us 'helping each other.'

"You don't have to come to the celebration either," Jace reminded me. I gave him a decidedly flat look. Those kinds of reassurances had been nice the first few times, but now I was starting to get tired of them. No, I didn't really want to go to this party. But I knew that the pack would expect to see me there. It was the anniversary of the pack's founding, and it was a big deal.

"I won't stay all night," I told him. "But I will show my face. Just give me a minute to get changed."

He stared at me for a moment, then nodded and made himself scarce without another word.

***

Jace drove me to the sanctuary. I was familiar with it from our Monday worships, but I had never seen it empty before. Without hundreds of pack members inside, it was a quiet, peaceful place. The gentle dripping of water from the roof was all I could hear.

We had seen a handful of priestesses tending to the herb gardens outside, but here there was no one to be seen. It took a few minutes of waiting before the derwydd appeared, from one of the private chambers at the back. He smelt of woodsmoke - I supposed it was the only source of heating in this old, stone building. It was off-grid, it had no running water, and there wasn't an inch of insulation, but he lived here all the same.

"Alpha," he said. "Luna. I'm pleased to see you both. Have you come to give thanks to the Goddess on this most auspicious day?"

I smiled at him. It was a fair question - we were both dressed for the celebrations, having decided returning home would be a waste of time. I was wearing a burgundy dress, and Jace was in a shirt and dinner jacket.

"We've come to talk to you," Jace corrected. "Although we will of course take a few moments to pray afterwards."

"Ah," the derwydd said. "I understand. You are in need of some spiritual guidance. Come and sit with me, and I will do my best to help."

No, not quite. We were here today because Alpha Vik had mentioned the derwydd specifically. He'd claimed this man had done something to upset Jace's father in the weeks leading up to his death. We both knew it wasn't likely to be relevant, but it was the only lead we had. The Beta wasn't talking. Danny's trip to the rogues had given us more questions than answers. Anything Darren might have known had died with him.