"Fianna, Wolves in Ireland, Part 8A" by Anne M. Leath

Mabh padded down the dark hallway staying on the balls of her feet, her heels never touching the floor. She looked over her shoulder and grasped the corner of the wall, sliding herself around it.  She knew that Conri was gone away to court, he’d been gone all day all ready and it had to be midnight by now.  She’d had another of her dreams, the kind that usually woke her up drenched in sweat, coverlets thrown off the bed and sometimes the curtains ripped down as well.  Beagan was always concerned when he came in the next day and found the room looking like “Belfast razed.”  He never asks though.  Just hangs everything back up. 

This particular night’s images were a little different however.

It began with the woods, the moon’s light cool on her back, that makes no sense, none of this does.  She was alone, the trees around her and leaves on the ground, making no sound.  A silent breeze rattled the twisted limbs and shook more of their covering done upon her, but still, she could only hear the sound of her own breathing. She stood and walked a winding path through the wood, looking for something.  She felt the rough bark underneath her fingertips, felt the cool air blow past, rustling the folds of her nightgown.  She walked further until the trees thinned, the leaf-covered earth becoming mossy and smooth, a small glade widening before her.  Just as she stepped through the trees she noted that there were four wolves stepping from opposite ends of the glade as well.  She stopped and regarded them similarly, eyes meeting eyes, head raised high, she could smell the crisp autumn in their coats…

This is the part where she shifts.  Mabh waited as the tall female stood on her hind legs, seamlessly changing into the woman she had seen so few years ago.  Isleen.  The woman walked forward, her eyes dark, as they had been in life..in life? Mabh found herself stepping backwards slowly, unsure of why she suddenly felt a trace of fear creeping into her being.  She looked at the woman again, closely.  The wolf woman reached out in front of her as if to touch the girl she was approaching with her extended forefinger, as if to mark me.  Mabh dropped her gaze to look again for the other three, they were gone.  She looked to either side, panic rising.  Still no sound, why can I not hear them in the brush?

Isleen spoke, her words carrying the only sound in the glade, “You have betrayed us.  You have brought death upon our kind.”

Mabh spun around, suddenly sure that the other three must be near.  She could hear her own breathing, faster now, coming in shortened gasps as she began to try to back further away from Isleen.  “I have meant you no harm..I have only tried to help you..I do not know of what you speak..”

“You know of what I speak.” 

This is where I run.  She felt as though she should turn, she should bolt away, she knew they would give chase, at her heels.  She could remember their hot breath on her neck when they finally had overtaken her before, had pinned her and shaken her by her throat.  But she did not move this time, she did not run.  She stood.

“I have killed you.”  She whispered this more to herself than to the wolf-woman now a few feet away. 

The woman ceased her approach and lowered her arm to her side. She nodded calmly and turned to walk away again.

Mabh heard the rustling of leaves behind her now, the snap of a branch, the stalking of two warm creatures around her legs and past her towards Isleen.  She beheld them now as creatures of her own dream-like self.  They seemed subdued, shoulders dropped and ears laid back, not the fierce predators at her back as before.  Isleen, herself, was fading slowly, the edges of her silhouette appearing blurred, softened in the moonlight. 

“Wait!” Mabh stumbled forward and reached out, “wait—I….”

“He will not stop girl.  He will take us all in her name.  It is SHE who is behind him, he is merely her hound.  The blood of Sceolan runs in his veins.  He will take us all, even you, if he is not stopped.”

Now, as she tried the door to his office she held her breath.  The knob, not surprisingly, did not turn.  The gleam of the keypad and scanner glinted off the brass of the hinges to her right.  I cannot disengage it here, he’ll know.

She glanced around the hallway, looking at the shadowy statues silent in their contemplation.  The French doors at the end of the hallway were shut, and she could not make out the fountains or hedges on the terrace.  It was a fairly starless night outside. Beagan, she soon realized, had not turned on the torch lights on the balcony.

She moved to the doors and quickly exited out onto the terrace shutting them silently behind herself.  Slinking along the walls she made her way around the walls of the house until she was at the outside window of Conri’s study. Holding her breath, she placed her hand over the magnetized lock on the seam between the two windows.  Please let the chip die and not signal the mainframe.  She heard a tiny –click- as the lock slipped free and one of the windows released, swinging open towards the interior of the room.

Mabh climbed through the window easily and without hesitation went to the bookshelf near the fireplace.  Where is it?  She traced her fingertips over the many ancient spines of texts she had never read, looking for one in particular.  There.  She pulled the heavy green leather volume from its slot, clutching it to her stomach as she lowered herself to the floor with the dusty tome.

She flipped through several pages discussing the rites to bring about various ancient creatures; to bind them, or part of them, to your service, “All theory.” These had been his words when we asked him so long ago.  She found the image she had been looking for.  Sceolan.  One of Fionn’s great hounds, the brother to Bran.  She read the words quietly, “Slightly smaller than the grey beast, small headed, having eyes of a dragon, the claws of a wolf, the vigour of a lion; and the venom of a serpent..”  Conri’s elegant handwriting in the margin noted as well—Venom retained in any aspect, curious. 

She pondered this for some time. Could this explain his appearance as the wolf?  His aspect is certainly not one on the meta.  She shook her head.  She had never actually seen his aspect on the meta, curiously.  She had passed this off as her inexperience, her inability to sight a mage more powerful than herself in his true form. 

She turned the faded pages back searching for the rest.  Her thoughts were swarming in her head, making her dizzy.  She found the ink drawing of the wolf, its eyes golden yellow stared at her from the page.  It was a crouching animal, teeth bared and ready to leap on the human form cowering before it.  She read further “There has been no spell located in either Mac Tuall’s teachings or in others examined that will bind this creature.    It has been said that no wolf will tolerate a false master.  Mac Tuall recommends that the beast is best slain to prevent its unwanted uprising if it cannot be corralled to join The Hunt.” That’s nice. Slay something because it will not tolerate a falsehood. 

Mabh bit the corner of her lip in thought.  The Hunt.  She wondered again at the words. Is it referring to the Wild Hunt?  She had only read about The Hunt in the old legends.  The tales of a terrifying and relentless group of huntsmen and wild animals that would ceaselessly pursue their victim through any realm, Seelie or Unseelie, until they had brought it down.  She had never actually heard of The Hunt being called down, in these times or any recently passed.  Who would call it?  She shook her head, frustrated that she was letting herself be distracted by this passage. 

She shut the book with a dull thud and sat with it in her lap for some time.  Wrapping her fingers over its smooth edges, she leaned forward and shut her eyes in thought.  What IF Conri is one of the hounds…this creature, Sceolan…who is the“she” that has bound him to her service? The queen?  She shook her head and pushed herself up from the floor.  This is all too much to take in.   She slid the book back into its place on the shelf and stood silently staring at the rows of spines in front of her, guilt slowly creeping back into her mind.  She swallowed hard. She tried to focus her thoughts and concentrate on feeling the wolves again.  It was difficult these days, she had reminded herself.  They seemed, more spread out.  Fewer?  She could not feel one nearby within a few hundred kilometers or so, she tried to focus harder, grasping at the memory, the essence of them, and still the vision would not come.

Mabh felt her heart rate pick up, her breathing along with it in short tugs.  They are not here, I cannot find them!  A lump formed in the back of her throat, she felt the others, however.  The ones that passed, the ones she had brought down unknowingly.  Each pulled at her heart, leaving a mark, a trace of their being deep in her soul.  She knew each one perfectly, the flick of an ear, the glint from their eyes, the stride length as the circled, or the languid stretch before laying down.  She ached seeing each one again, knowing now that these were not her lost friends, but those that she had betrayed.  Those she had slaughtered.

Making a fist and pounding her sides in frustration she cursed Conri .“That bastard.” She whispered harshly. All these years…I cannot trust him anymore! This has all been a lie.  He used me! He used… Her thoughts drifted to Oisin, Gelgeis.  He’s used us all!    She shook her head, emotions rushing in-- confusion, frustration, and pain.  She thought again on Gelgeis, they had not seen her in almost three years.  Conri had not spoken of her departure except to say that she was foolish for leaving, that she had not valued her education, that she had abandoned them without a second thought.  How could we be so fragging naieve? Where is she really?  She rolled her eyes, unable to comprehend everything that was floating to the surface of her thoughts.

Panic setting in, she hurried back to the window.  I have to get out of here.  She tipped the glass pane outward again and climbed through quickly.  Once she was safe in the black night again, she sucked the air in through her teeth and felt herself moving at a fast pace along the wall of the house back to the French doors. Rote memory led her feet forward as she made her way back down the hall.   What do I do?  How is this happening?  Mabh stopped suddenly before her own bedroom door.  I have to warn Oisin, I have to tell him. 

She knocked quietly at his door, looking over her shoulder and cursing that he did not open it quickly.  “Oisin!” she hissed at the door, “Open the door, wake up!”

There was no response.  Damnit.  She knocked again, slightly harder.  When he still did not open the door, she turned the knob. Blissfully, it opened.  Mabh found herself practically falling into his room, stepping over sport shoes and discarded clothing in the floor as she shut the door as quietly as possible.

“Oisin!” She spoke quietly into the dark room, stumbling over more piles of clothing, trid chips, and various other accoutrements of the young man’s room.  Reaching his bed, she touched the sensor to his reading lamp above the headboard.  It flickered on illuminating his peaceful face, a veil of deep sleep surrounding him.  Soft red-brown curls of hair rested against his pillow and laid over his forehead.  She could hear his breathing, deep and even as he dreamt.

Mabh leaned down and shook his shoulder gently at first, then a bit harder when he did not rouse.  “Wake up!”  She breathed out in frustration as he slowly began to come around from his somnolent state.

One brown eye opened slightly and then the other, as if he was trying to disbelieve that someone was actually waking him from whatever perfect dream he was having.  He grinned languidly and shut his eyes again, stretching his arm out to take her elbow into his grasp, “Mabh, you’ll never believe what Morpheus’ embrace brought me tonight in my dreams..or maybe you would, cause it certainly involved—“

“Oisin, you have to wake up and listen to me.” She pulled her arm back to help herself up and onto the bed beside him.  She sat sideways and gestured with both of her hands as she spoke quickly, “I’ve just been in Conri’s office, and I..he..I realized, I remembered…I had a dream—the same dream as always, but it was different this time, it was…I realized that he has been using me—US, to find them—the wolves, the stags, the swans..whatever—“

Oisin raised an eyebrow and pushed himself up on one elbow, using his other hand to brush back his stray lock and look at her quizzically, “Did you just say you were in Conri’s office?  He’s not here..he’s at court.”

“I KNOW that Oisin, that’s not what is important…didn’t you hear me?  All the wolves I’ve found, the ones I thought we were helping, to try to reunite them, to let them know where the different packs were, to ‘register’ them for their own safety—Gods I was so stupid!”  She slapped the mattress with the flat of her palm as more realizations became clear.  “He’s not registering them for their safety—he’s killing them—he’s killed them all!”

Oisin jumped slightly as she swatted at the bed coverings and sat up further, “Calm down Mabh, what are you talking about? Have you gone soft in the head? Killed? Wha—What..look, just calm down.”  He stroked her arm lightly and rested his grip around her wrist, “You’ve had a bad dream, you have them a lot you told me.  Its just a dream Mabh, that doesn’t mean it’s real, doesn’t mean anyone has DIED.”

Mabh’s eyes grew wide, “Look—I know this is a lot to take in, trust me, I do know that.  But its true Oisin, he’s lied to me, to all of us I bet—he can’t be trusted—“

“Sweetie, look—if ANYONE can’t be trusted around here, its that sonovabitch Rian.” Oisin yawned and let go of her arm, “Do you know I caught that wirey bastard trying to convince Conri to let him stay back here this trip—no doubt wanting to interrupt us again—“

“Oisin, you are not listening to me, I don’t give a frag about Rian, this is more important—he’s—Conri, Conri is trying to kill the wolves, don’t you see?!” She felt her cheeks flushing with color, “He’s one of the hounds, the Great Hounds—he can turn into a wolf, or a lion, or a serpent..all of them, any of them—have you ever seen him in the meta?”

Oisin opened his mouth to respond but was cut off before he could get a word out by her continued ranting, “No—you haven’t, I bet none of us have, he hides his aspect—he doesn’t want us to see it, doesn’t that strike you as odd?”

“No, it strikes me as normal.  He IS much older and more powerful than we are Mabh, you should know that you can’t sight an elder mage in the meta if he can cloak it from you.”

“Why would he hide it from us Oisin, why would he cloak himself around us unless he was hiding something?”

“I dunno, maybe his aspect is something else entirely.  Maybe he’s a pink monkey for all I know.  Mabh, this is silly. Why are you panicking over a dream?”

“It’s real Oisin, its real!” She felt tears sliding down her cheeks, saw them hitting the bed sheets and soaking into the blue fabric.

“Gods, ok. Ok. Look. I can see you are upset.” He wiped her cheek with a gentle swipe of his thumb and pushed back against the headboard, taking her hand again. “Look, what do you want to do—What do you want me to say? I don’t like seeing you this worked up over something.”

“I want to leave Oisin, I want us to leave.” She cried out of frustration and anger, unsure of anything else except that she wanted to get as much distance between themselves and Conri as possible.

Oisin took a deep breath and nodded finally, “Ok.  If that’s what you want—ok.”  He smoothed her hair with his palm against the side of her head and smiled gently, “When do you want to go?”

“We have to leave before he gets back, before Friday morning.  But we can’t go in the morning, Beagan will ask..he’ll want to know where we are off to and Conri always calls in the morning.  We have to go tomorrow night—we can just take one of the cars, you can drive the nav-system.  We can just leave it at the tram station in Kildare and we can buy several tickets..and then we can take a transport somewhere else and then somewhere else..it doesn’t matter!” Her expression was determined and she nodded, convincing herself that this plan would work. 

Oisin nodded again silently and pulled her gently to his chest in a hug.

Mabh pressed her cheek against the faded and soft tee shirt in which Oisin always seemed to sleep and breathed in slowly, relaxing slightly for the first time all night.  She pulled her legs up to her chest and leaned in further, closing her eyes.  She wanted everything to go away, to quietly fade and let her sleep.  It seemed to her that the panic was finally subsiding and she could rest for a moment in Oisin’s arms, and so she did.