Whom - A story without a name

Waking Hours

Lanky woke up early again, still facing the forest. He lay complacently in the cold fog watching the tree line for signs of life besides the usual spooks treading the edges. There was something slinky, slick, and cat like creeping about up there, looking all around with white lantern eyes. Something about it wasn't intimidating. It seemed on edge, just as nervous as he and toad were when they walked the banks. There was a snap distantly in the timber and the feline creature whipped around with it's ears ramrod straight. There was silence, then a barky scream that sent the cat creature scraping up a tree. It paused and then crawled higher into the branches where it disappeared. After lying in the cold a while longer, Lanky sat up, the chill stiffening his bones. Toad grumbled as he crawled from beneath the cloak. He said,

"Seems like it gets colder every night,"

Lanky nodded in agreement. He stood up and straightened the cloak on his shoulders, looking at the forest. It was eerily quiet, dangerously quiet. Something was wrong. Even the crickets had fallen mute. They both stayed perfectly still, searching the woods with fearful eyes, terrified of what might approach them in those grey hours. But instead of seeing anything they heard it. There was a rythmic hiss, laced with words indecipherable. Something strangely soothing. Feeling something amiss in the air, Toad leapt into the water. But Lanky stood paralytically on the shore, looking into the trees with unseeing eyes as foggy as the morning. The hissing mumbles drew closer, murmuring and cooing words that Toad couldn't understand. Lanky was intoxicated by the soft sounds coming from the forest as a serpent slithered near. Toad looked up at him from the water. He was murmuring things back to the slipping voice, things spoken too lightly for Toad to catch.

Lanky stood still, his eyes out of focus, listening to the gentle voice intently.

"Come to me, child, and I will give you the thing you want most,"

"I want my memories," Lanky whispered in return.

"Come closer, child, and I will give you those," The voice cooed.

"Tell me my name," He breathed.

"Come to me," It sighed in response. Lanky took a step towards the forest.

"What are you doing?!" Toad asked, aghast, "Get in the river!" Lanky took another clumsy step towards the trees, the words acting like a drug or hypnosis. Toad jumped from the water and rushed at his ankles, trying to knock sense back into the man.

"Get in the water THIS INSTANT!"

Lanky ignored him entirely, his glazed over eyes trained on the trees. He took another step. Toad stood up and slammed into Lanky's knees, hoping to knock him back into the water. It didn't work.

"I'll be there soon," He said in a voice so small Toad could hardly hear it. Lanky took another stumbling step up the sand. Toad turned and looked up at the forest, wondering who Lanky was talking to. A huge grey snake dappled in smoky black lay coiled just on the forest's edge. It's mouth was moving and making all the intertwined hisses and murmurs from earlier, producing all the confused speech at once. Toad decided he would have to take a rather drastic chance. He ran up the bank until he was close enough to smell the snake's musty odor. He turned and sprinted back down, leaping just ahead of Lanky. He slammed into the man's chest, knocking the wind out of him and sending them both into the river. They sank into the shallows.

Lanky gasped back to reality, his mouth and nose filling with cold water as he broke through the surface. The voice was neither calm nor beckoning anymore. It was an ugly, shrieky thing now and the snake was weaving and writhing back and forth in a rage. Toad raced back and forth in the mud, yelling at the snake and flinging wet sand at it. The snake wailed when it was hit and as it turned to go back into the forest there was a low, soulful howl. Lanky got to his feet and rushed to the shore. He scooped up Toad and ran into the water until he was in up to his hips. The snake hissed and screamed on the shore.

"COME BACK, CHILD!" It shrieked, it's voice piercing and agonized as if it had been cheated from a deal. The snake twisted and wove back and forth on the water's edge.

"Get in my hood!" Lanky yelled to Toad over the keening snake. Toad climbed up his cloak into the hood and clung to his shoulders for support. He was scared of what Lanky might do.

"COME ON!" He yelled back at the snake, his whole body bristling in adrenaline and defiance. He scooped up handfuls of water and threw them at the snake. It screeched a pained cry and arced away, it's fangs splaying wide.

"How dare you do such a thing?" It bellowed, "I could've given you ANYTHING!"  Lanky ignored the snake's lies and threw more water at it. It screamed and thrashed about.

"YOU'LL REGRET THAT, CHILD!" It shrieked in torment as the water burnt it's face. "TODAY, YOU WILL DIE!"

It coiled up readying to spring, it's jaws set wide to expose the full length of the fangs. Fangs of blood red death. 

"COME ON THEN!" Lanky repeated in equal anger. The snake arched back with a primal cry of a predator soon to bring the slaughter, made more furious by Lanky's determination. As it flexed it's muscles to lunge, the white wolf sprang ghostly from the dark trees. The snake hissed and snapped at it, drawing back and flaring it's jaws. The noble wolf snarled and stalked about it, the metallic flecks in it's coat shining angelically in the grey dawn. They circled each other for many moments, each pair of eyes locked uncannily on the other. And then the wolf lunged. It caught the snake by the neck and twisted nard and fast. The snake wheezed and lashed about, it's thick tail slamming across across the white wolf's back. The wolf reared it's head back and bit the snake again, sinking it's dagger teeth back into it's neck.

It thrashed about in the wolf's jaws, trying to break free. It whipped it's scaly body around and swiped the wolf's legs out from under it. The noble wolf  lost it's grip on the snake and tumbled to the ground. The deep grey snake struck at the wolf, which ducked out of the way as the beast's jaws grazed over it's head. The wolf leapt to it's feet and cut back at the snake, it's sharp teeth lodging in the snake's neck again. Before the snake could coil back to it's full height, the wolf dug it's feet into the sand and pulled the beast back down, slamming it's head into the ground. The wolf shook it's head back and forth, back and forth, dragging the snake's face through the sand. The snake broke free and made to flee further down the beach to wait for it's quarry, but the wolf chased it back into the timber with a guttural snarl.

Lanky looked at the blood smeared through the blood smeared through the sand where the serpent had fled. The wolf stared back at him, it's golden eyes wild and wide. There was blood streaked and messy across it's white furred face. Toad peeked over Lanky's shoulder, his little hands clutching the hem of the hood.

"Don't be afraid," The wolf spoke. Her voice was soft, clashing with her outward warrior appearance. Lanky and Toad remained still in the river.

"I swear to you I'm not here to hurt you," She said, her golden eyes tinged with deep melancholy. "I swear," She repeated in that small voice. It tore Lanky apart to hear the same loneliness in her voice that he had felt for the eternity he'd been in the forest. She turned to go back in the woods just as Lanky began to wade up towards the beach.

"What are you doing?" Toad whispered sharply in his ear. She looked back at them, surprised to see Lanky walking up the bank.

"What's your name?" He asked, taking note of the expression on her face. It was a mix of surprise and elation, entirely because hardly anyone spoke to her; let alone ask her name.

"Starling," She answered.

"I'm Lanky," He said in return as he took the toad from his hood, "And this is Toad," 

Toad waved sheepishly and Starling smiled, her scars wrinkling up her muzzle.