To Cheat Death

Chapter Ten

I glanced at Zacc in confusion.
"What is so funny? I was not joking."

This made Zacc laugh harder.

Alecc's made a choking noise and turned away as if he was trying to hide his own laughter.

"It's not funny!" I protested.

He turned back with a blank face.
"It indeed is not. Don't mind him. He is just an illiterate savage." He deadpanned.

Zacc doubled over barely able to stay standing.

"Let's get to a safer location." Alecc grabbed my arm and guided me away leaving Zacc to follow as best he could.

He led me to one of the two story cabins and knocked on the door.

"Give me a second." Yelled a female voice.
A moment later the door opened to reveal a brown haired slender woman.
"Alecc come in. It's been a while since you've come for dinner. I'll put another plate on the table." She smiled and started to hurry away.

"Actually Aunt Amber, I didn't come for dinner. This is my friend Sky. She's staying with us for a while and her tent just exploited in a ball of flame. So I was wondering if she could stay here."

"Oh lovely, a ball of flame. Of course she can stay." She said happily, turning away.

"One more thing, do you know if my father left yet?"

"Alecc dear," she turned back.
"They left last night, along with my husband and most of the men. Didn't your father tell you?"

"I knew he was going...I just thought they were going after midsummer."

"Don't worry. They'll make it back with plenty of time for the celebration. Come in Sky...Sky what a strange name." She muttered.
"Gertrude! Siren! Come down for dinner!"

"Good-by." He said.

"This is a safer location?" I hissed.

He ginned.
"She's a good sort, if a little eccentric."

Arms grabbed me from behind.
"Oh my goodness what happened! I saw your tent! It was like the sun decided to visit and ran into an explosive!"

"Actually if the sun was that close to earth we would probably just sink into the gravity and disintegrate." I said.

"But its so small." She said looking up.

"Hi, Siren," Alecc said dryly.
"Try to keep your house from exploiting." He walked away.

Shrugging I said,
"Roommates?"

"Oh my goodness this is going to be so funn!!!!!"

One dinner cooked by a crazy lady and several chores later, we were in Siren's room, talking. Or rather me listening, her talking.

It was dusk and so she lit a candle. Explaining that generators were only allowed on a few times a day, on account of how much they annoyed everyone else and no she did not have one.

"Siren, I've been meaning to ask, why are there so many tents everywhere? Do they live here all the time? Couldn't you expand or build more houses?"

She was silent for a moment, her face shadowed.

"There are two answers to that question. The first is midsummer. The moon is the werewolves greatest strength and weakness.
Roughly once a month, there is no moonlight and the werewolves are at their weakest. Midsummer is on such a night and the yearly celebration is for all the moonless nights. People come from all around to go to the celebration and we are honor bound to give them what shelter we have." Her voice became excited.
"Oh what feasts and tales and dancing there will be."

Her voice became downcast again.
"The second is, well what did you do for the full moon?"

"The full moon? Nothing. Why would it matter?"

Siren's eyes widened in awe.
"You must have lived far in the woods, indeed if you escaped the terror of the full moon...Well, how much do you know about werewolves?"

"I know the light of the moon is their power and they are dependent on the full moon for restoration of their powers."

"It's kind of like that. The moon gives them a certain amount of power depending on what stage the luner cycle is in. Power to heal, shift, and unimaginable strength. If they remain human while under the light if the moon they can use their power while the moon is gone. Like in the day.
The moon looks full for three nights but it is really only completely full for a moment. The night before and after they are stronger than normal but the night the moon becomes full causes a type of magic we don't quite understand. The single moment of the full moon multiplies their powers ten times at least. The ones under the moon during that moment become nearly impossible to kill for the rest of the night. They are at their strongest which means we are at our weakest. We attack them on moonless nights, they attack us on full ones. It is the worst night of the month. No one sleeps."
She stopped, a deep brooding expression weighing down her features.

"But, the second reason?"

Her eyes snapped back to me.
"Yes, yes I was getting to that.
We didn't used to stay here year round but then the attacks started getting worse...You would never know by sight but a network of caves is just below the surface all around the camp. Every house has a trap door leading to the tunnels...On the full moon we all head down deep where the light of the moon does not reach. And we are safe...Garded by darkness and the labyrinth of caves. A lot of these people are here for midsummer but some stay year round, even different packs and clans. And even more people then usual come because of the new treatys. It is harder than you think to find safe places to hide on the full moon."
Her words trailed off lost in thought.

"Why do the werewolves hate us so much? And why do we hate them?"

"You have truly never been to midsummer before? You've never heard the tales? Amazing."
She looked at me calculatingly.
"Can you dance?"

"My father had a violin but I don't know any... official dances."

She looked delighted,
"If you don't know I'll teach you!... But tomorrow. As for tonight, I'll tell you the tale of beginnings."
Here she paused for dramatic purposes.
"It is not known exactly how the ancient grudges started but it is said, many eons ago, the werewolves stole something that was very precious to us. As to what the idem was that is lost to the ages. All these years we have been searching for it. And it is widely thought that once we find it we will become more powerful than the werewolves could even imagine."

At this she grabbed a tiny chain around her neck and showed me the pendent hanging from it. It was a cloudy pink glass stone, the shape and size of a coin.
"This was thought it to be the idem century's ago. They found it on the dead body of a wer alpha. But it never gave anyone extra power and so was declared a fraud. My ancestor kept it and it was pasted down. It has become a sort of family heirloom..."
She yawned,
"Well goodnight."
And promptly blew out the candle and curled up under the blankets on her small bed.

Smiling at her, I wondered what it was about her that put me at ease.

I arranged my blankets more comfortably on my cot, shivering as the sliver of moonlight shown through the window.