Heavy the Head

Chapter 1

Luna Cardinal

The early morning light filtered through the trees, causing light streams to dapple the forest floor with brilliance. Ahead of me, auburn became like flames in the sunlight. We were heading towards where our dense forest grew into a more wide-open forest. This wide-open forest was the Wolfhymns' homelands, and their city should be built on the ground around the trees not far from the border.

I could hardly fathom living on the ground like them. My family had built our homes among the trees like sane Shunin would. Our tails allowed us to swing from branches, and these Shunin had decided to make their home on the ground. They were a crazy lot for sure.

As we approached the border, I saw a blur of darkness dart between the trees and the sun. The blur ran towards me and stopped before she could crash into me. Before me stood my only friend, Pandora. She was the granddaughter of the current head of our household, Ciar Cardinal. Even though she had no reason to be friends with a Shunin such as myself, who carried a defect that resulted in not having the horns and spikes of the other Cardinals, she was still friendly with me. I found it strange that she wanted to be friends with me when the other kids we had grown up beside called me a cursed Cardinal and even joked that I wasn't even one. They had joked more than once that I was nothing more than a Wolfhymn scoundrel or, even worse, a half-Cardinal. Half-Cardinals didn't belong among the family and were shunned for being half. They were banished to the no man's land far beyond the mountain ranges north of Throat Mountain and Sky Mountain.

I glanced towards Throat Mountain and Sky Mountain, looking up at their jagged peaks poking the clouds. Some Cardinals called it Sky Mountain and claimed that the Sky goddess, Ama Lani, resided among the cliffs. But that had to be preposterous hearsay. Surely the goddess of the sky couldn't live among mortals much less the winged and dangerous Grandeurs who deserved not a lick of respect or admiration. Pandora drew my attention as her spikes glided under my chin.

"Yes, Pandora?" I asked as I shooed away her tail.

"Want to race to the Wolfhymn lands with me? We can sneak around your father and my grandfather." She suggested with a mischievous look in her gaze.

I stared at her. She must have bees in her head to think that the idea of hers was a great one. We were about to fight the Wolfhymn. Racing to their border ahead of the group would only result in the loss of surprise against their enemy. I shook my head and sighed.

"Pandora, how do you think my father would react to us giving away our one advantage against them? We'd both be punished for sure regardless of you being the granddaughter of the head of the family." I reminded her.

Pandora huffed at that and rolled her eyes. In her hands was her quarterstaff. It was exquisite in every possible way. The wood came from a sacred tree, which was said to contain powerful nature magic due to the green swirling and shifting magic within its bark. The blades had been taken from Rocklins, who had no idea how valuable the sky stones were. The sky stones were from deep water wells that flowed between Throat Mountain and Sky Mountain. The deep water wells's water came from the heart of the mountains where they met, spilling out into the Craitismore Ocean down below. The quarterstaff had never been brought out to the lines of battle before, but neither had Pandora nor me.

This was our test. Our passage to claim the right to be Cardinals. Any who couldn't complete such a passage was left for dead, or if they managed to find the stones in their bellies to return home without completion, were sent to no man's land with more than a few scrapes and bruises.

"Oh, come on, Luna! You're no fun!" Pandora huffed.

I paused as I saw that the other Cardinals had stopped moving. We had approached the border of the Wolfhymn forest and our forest. Beyond here was Wolfhymn territory. We would have to be quiet and keep our eyes on the trees. Standing up front was my father, Fenton Cardinal. He was the War Chief of the Cardinals and he had decided to lead this fight today.