The Wolf, The Doe and The Mage

My Sweet

I crept along the forest floor, my tail low - gently sweeping across the foliage - and my pads so light they barely made a sound in the snow. The darkening sky loomed above me, visible through the sparse foliage that shifted above me, providing protection from my prey's sensitive ears. I could smell the hare's mouthwatering scent and heard it nibbling the grass, it's back toward me and it's nose buried in the frost, searching for roots. My ears twitched in anticipation at the kill, my heart racing so hard and my mind whirling so fast that I forgot to pay attention to the ground.
Crack.
A twig snapped under my paw. The hare's ears pricked in alarm. I leaped, my paws outstretched, but the hare was quicker. It darted away and vanished behind a bush, leaving me crouched in a heap of untidy fur, boiling in my frustration. It had been two nights since the Pack cast me out, and all I had eaten was a holeful of small rabbits and a few shrew. I thought of the sheep or even elk that the pack would dig into every couple of sunsets; my mouth watered at the thought of ripping into a juicy deer...
But that only made me think of her, and my mind came back to the present. I was starving, frustrated and alone. I closed my eyes, and for a second I wished myself in a different life, far from here... with her...
I lifted my head and howled to the sky, all my anguish and loneliness and grief echoing around the empty grey sky. I howled for the deer, of my mother and my pack, of the life I thought o would live, and the destiny I thought was set up for me. I howled until my lungs were empty and my throat was dry, and there was no more grief left to howl; but once I lowered my head and shook my fur out, I realized that my howl would have scared off any prey nearby. I bowed my head in shame and loss, angry at myself more than I thought was ever possible.

My ears pricked; something in the distance rang clear and loud.
A song, I thought. I strained to here the words, for I was sure I could understand them. It was like a distant cry of pain and joy and hope, all at once. Before I knew it, my paws carried me through the forest and toward the sound. Through shrubs and grass, snow and leaves, my hunger forgotten and my concentration unbreaking. Soon, I found my paws scrabbling over grassy rock on an upward slope. The sound was nearing, and I could understand the words...
"Homecome my darling," the voice sang, the gentle harmony echoing around the trees.
I ran through the forest, dodging trees when a wooden structure came into view.
"Homecome my dear."
I stopped. Something stood in front of me, like a towering wooden stone stood in front of me.
House. The word jumped to my mind as I gazed that the building.
I shook my head and perked my ears, listening intently.
"If you stray too far,
I'll be right here." The song flowed form the walls.
How could I understand the words? Was there another wolf in there? But there can't be! There isn't another wolf pack this close to the mountains, surely!
"Deep in the forest,
High, near the clouds," the voice didn't sound like a wolf's. It sounded rougher, and yet clearer, like a high-pitched whine.
"I will remember,
Remember me now."
The strange wooden portal was slightly ajar.
Door, said a voice in my head.
I poked my head in slightly and gazed around; a million scents and sounds and feelings flooded back to be, like a half-forgotten dream. Words came to my head that I didn't know before; desk, chair, herbs, window, scroll...
But what drew my gaze the most was the little girl sitting on the chair, bent over the desk writing on the scroll in black ink. She seemed to be barely an adolescent, with soft, golden-brown hair and a pair of purple, gem-encrusted goggles draped over her head, too big for her. Her brown hide tunic had a furry collar and a big blue diamond embroidered on the front, and she wore furry boots that were far too big for her. Her face was round and childish, and her eyes were piercing green, like new spring buds. She hadn't noticed me, for she was still writing on the paper, her steady hand scratching the strange symbols into the parchment.
My eyes fixed upon the girl, her name was on the tip of my tongue. She stirred feelings in me, a strange sensation that was as if she had awakened a spirit in me that seemed to know things I never could.

Then, without warning, the girl opened her mouth and started singing again.
"Even through darkness,
Even through strife,
We'll be together,
All of our lives."
Her lips moved in a way that didn't seem to match with the words I heard, and yet her voice rang clear and elegant in my sensitive ears. I felt my eyelids drooping a bit as I listened to her.
"If all the shadows,
Eat up the light,
We'll find a way,
Out of the night."
I stole a glance at the sky; dusk was approaching fast. My stomach growled, but I felt myself getting drowsy. I curled up in the ferns near the front of the house and closed my eyes, letting the soft song fill me.
"As my feet touch
The winter snow,"
The girl's voice was joined by another now, their harmonies mixing perfectly in my mind.
"I'll find you darling,
Don't you know?"
As I drifted off to sleep, the faint buzz of the girl's song humming in my subconscious, I thought I saw someone coming towards me out of the darkness.
"And if we part, sweet,
Just hear this sound."
The new voice was alone now, and I could almost feel a woman curled up next to me, her big black eyes warm and comforting.
"I'll sing this song,
So remember me now."
A voice seemed to whisper in my ear, a soft, tender voice; a voice long forgotten, and yet so familiar.
Goodnight, my sweet... she said.