Servant of the Moon #1 - unedited draft
storms shall rage

Prophesy by Adrian von Ziegler

A pale young girl, almost the same age as the high oracle stood in the middle of a blizzard. Ice glazed and coated everything it touched, snow sticking to skin and fur, trees and buildings. A blinding whiteout which didn’t touch her. She carried a flame within that would burn in place of her soul for all of her life. In a silver censer hanging from four chains, was all she needed to paralyze to mythical packlink of these wolves. She held it in the palm of her hand. The incense inside the censer began to glow and burn, then she swung it back and forth, and began to chant. The smoke blended with the blowing snow. Cursing these wolves into silence, blocking their access to the Moon’s gifts.

Her thoughts whispered. Tonight would earn her coven a year’s worth of wealth and gain her mother’s enthralled Alpha the powerful mate he sought for his son. Her brother would bring the Sun’s return and she would burn the hearts of her mother and sister, and the Alpha’s pack. Together, she and her brother would burn this world at the pleasure of their fiery god.

Lifting her head, she looked at the one who watched her from beyond this world and smiled. Snow blew across her face and the image of her translucent skin, pale blonde hair, and colorless eyes faded into the mists of magic, obscuring her from she who watched, turning the vision elsewhere...

A wolf in a kilt held up a hand in greeting to one coming in from the storm of the century. His sister’s mate who was banished under a false accusation of being a traitor had come home to plead his case to the alpha. The wolf died, betrayed by his kin. His blood seeped into the snow, steaming, melting it. Tendrils of of life’s warmth ripped away by the bitter wind.

A wall of fire, embers blowing mixed with snow. A redheaded she-wolf laying against a log wall, her little sister dead in her arms. Both are frozen to the ground with their own blood while their protector sleep not far away. Fire all around them, ash and embers dancing with snowflakes in a weird choreography of death from opposing elements, rushing from the slaughter, across the frozen black waters...Burning and freezing, blinding her eyes.

The Delphi tossed and turned, then sat up suddenly gasping. Looking out the window, the sun was just below the horizon. She had been meditating before beginning her evening’s scrying. She ran from her meditation room, to replace Esther, who was making out with Del’s mate’s twin brother in Esther’s room. It freaked Del out a little catch her sister having sex. Esther was barely an ordinary oracle now, but soon she would be a wanderer, like their grandfather. Now that she was over 16, she could be romantically or carnally involved with anyone she wanted and until Louis had come here when they returned from the Moon’s Gate, she had been.

It was a luxury Del did not have. As the high oracle, Delilah and Luca had to do things very properly. They would be mated on the full moon of the summer solstice two years after they met. The courtship of the Delphi had to be certain to keep the unethical from taking advantage of being mated to such a prestigious position, as had happened with the last Delphi.

“You can do that later, Esther. I need you to walk the Tides with me now!” Delilah hissed, dragging her naked sister out of her lover’s embrace, and down the stairs to the Hidden Eye cavern under the temple.

“What the fu ck, Del?” Essie snapped, trying to resist following.

“New Wemyss is about to be attacked, I have to warn them!” Del practically shouted at her sister.

“Ohshitohfukohshitohfukoh...” Essie chanted profanities under her breath, as she ran naked after her sister.

After pulling on pants, Louis followed behind the two she-wolves, he felt his brother and the Elder Wanderer Eliazar hurrying toward them. He watched Esther rushing around to light candles on the edge of the pool, as Del explained to her what she saw while digging through a cabinet. The Delphi’s power amazed him.

Suddenly, Del cursed, then exclaimed, “Where in the Moon is all the incense?!” And she ran from the cavern, up the stairs.

Louis looked at Esther in a different way now. She was as vivacious as she was sexually needy, but she did not have her sister’s power. “Who are these wolves to the Delphi? I know of the Wemyss warriors but why must you warn them?”

Esther scowled. “In our generation, two were born to begin the monarchy in this land, and restore the worship of the Goddess to those who have fallen away, or been lead away by their Alphas and false oracles. Del and I have been having visions of them since we were 5.”

“False oracles? How can an oracle be false? Does not the Moon take their power?” Louis seemed confused.

“Sometimes She does, sometimes She doesn’t. They seek visions for their own prestige instead of the purposes of the Goddess. They twist and manipulate those who come to them, even when they don’t have a vision, they still pretend and lie, to gain power over others. They want to be worshiped like the Goddess, it causes great harm.” Esther growled. She may not be able to have visions like she did before her near-death, but she would never lie to a petitioner just to get them to give her respect or wealth.

“Sots! (Fools!)” Louis shakes his head, “But how can they deceive these wolves if they have no visions?”

“Desperation breeds gullibility, grand frère (big brother),” Luca said as he entered.

Del rushed past him, dumping a censer of coals and a bowl of herbs and fragrant resins into a large stone basin. Incense smoke began to fill the cavern, drifting in ghostly tendrils over the dark stones and still water. The satin pullcords of a velvet bag dangled from her wrist. Their grandfather and two other wanderers entered, Esther and Delilah turned as one.

Eliazar was scowling. “A severe winter storm has cut off the entire area, we cannot reach them or their allies by telephone. Are you sure, Delphi?”

Esther made a scoffing sound in her throat, Delilah just leveled him with a withering look, and snapped, “Wolves who will fight for pay, who have no loyalty or honor, will attack them before dawn. Come Essie, I need you to anchor me. Everyone out!”

She handed her sister the Labradorite Tide stone. Essie looked terrified for a moment, then nodded.

Following Luca, Louis looked back over his shoulder. Delilah had stripped. She looked exactly like Esther. Mirror images of his desire knelt side by side, but somehow the Delphi seemed more desirable, almost glowing in the smoke and candlelight of the cavern. Her simple braided crown of dark silk, so different and elegant from her sister’s loose, sex-mused hair. He wondered what it would be like to have them both. He did not understand how his brother had restrained himself from just taking Del. How Luca could wait for over two years to be with his mate? Louis decided it was insanity to resist claiming such a prize.

Misunderstanding his intense look, Luca patted Louis’ arm, “Do not worry, Del won’t let anything happen to Essie.”

Louis just nodded, swallowing down his envy and lust, to follow his brother up the rough stone stairs.

Their grandfather stood watch. Eliazar knew that the sisters still fought, but they knew their duties to the Moon and the Monarchy pair. Together they chanted as one, the water rippled as their voices trailed off. He felt a familiar shiver, the same sensation he had felt since he was a small boy and his mother had waded into the Tides of the Moon seeking visions.

Del and Essie wandered side by side, the cavern faded as the Tides pulled them in. They were standing in front of a tall log wall half buried in snow. The wolves inside, lulled to a sense of false security by the ferocity of the storm. Holding hands, they could not feel the bitter cold but Essie still shuddered. She and Del shared a look. There was no one in the keep who could hear them.

A sickly yellow fog spread toward the keep, creeping against the wind and pushing Del and Essie away from the threatened wolves.

’What is this shit?′ Essie shouted, it hurt, it burned. She wanted to retch.

‘Witchcraft!’ Del shouted back over the painful sound of bees and static, ‘We have to replace Mamó‘. Goddess, guide us!’ Del implored.

She jerked her head as if she heard something and ran through the whiteout, towing her sister behind her. They stopped in front of a snow covered stone cliff, they were standing on a frozen stream. They passed through the cliff, inside was a cozy three room dwelling. A young blonde wolf was asleep on a cot in only a kilt.

‘Hello handsome,’ Essie whispered.

‘Oh for Goddess’ sakes, not now, Essie. Find Mamó. There are wolves coming.′ Del looked beyond the wall then leaned over and whispered into the sleeping young wolf’s ear.

Essie found the old she-wolf asleep and called her sister, Del came in and whispered to the old oracle. The old oracle sat up and stared where they stood, “’as et come?”

‘Yes Mamó, you must get her to safety, there is a witch using magic to lull the Keep. Send the warrior to replace her,’ Del’s voice whispered through the Tides to her. The ancient oracle nodded.

Mamó rose, speaking to the young wolf who stood by the door. She drew a symbol on his forehead in oil. He shifted and ran out into the storm. Del followed quickly as her wolf, but so fast she went without Essie in her haste to stay with the young warrior.

Essie tried to catch her twin. Mist and smoke swirl around Esther and she found herself back in the Hidden Eye cavern. She was so exhausted she couldn’t sit up anymore and she collapsed on her side, turning her head she saw Del was still on the Tides.

Her grandfather leaned over her. “Is it true? The Wemyss warriors are under attack by a witch.” He was eavesdropping through their family link, something only the Naphtal wolves could do.

Essie could barely nod as weakness claimed her. The Tide stone slid from fingers, she could see the blueish green flickering with a strange angry purple. She had to get her strength back quickly, her sister needed her. “Goddess, please...”

Del’s wolf followed the golden wolf down the icy path, suddenly he vanished from sight as if he fell through the ground. Looking around, she realized they are not on a path, they are on a lake or river. She could see his wolf beneath the ice struggling to replace his way out. Her Tidal form could not touch the real world. She lifted her head and howled a distress call to the Moon. For a moment the wind and clouds drew back and the partial moon shone down. He burst through the hole in the ice and crawled onto the surface. His skin was so cold he didn’t even shiver. She watched him laying in the snow staring at the Moon, her wolf whined and nudged him.

‘Get up, Comhnyall. Get up and run, Moire needs you.’ Del whispered to him.

He rolled over and pushed up on his hands and knees. It was painful to watch him struggle to shift. The wind blew toward them again and he growled and stalked toward the witch.

Del couldn’t follow him because of the witch’s spell blocking the blessings of the Moon. So she turned and followed the scent of moonlight and incense, seeking to be of aid elsewhere. Snow swirled about her and Del found herself staring in a window at a room of witches, all chanting in unison. She howled a battle cry and ghostly wolves leapt from the moonlight and incense smoke. The Hounds of the Moon attacked the witches’ spirit familiars and scattering them, then clawed the ethereal threads that connected the coven to the other witch. The moonlight washed over her like a wave and pulled her toward another place.

She sensed another wolf oracle in the Tides. The Oracle was watching the destruction of New Wemyss through a black granite bowl. Del’s tidal form wolf looked up at her through the sacred waters, seeing the images from the Tides. She and the Oracle watched the young blonde warrior holding his dying friend, fighting through the swirling smoke and snow, trying to get to the redheaded she-wolf who was his mate.

‘Come on... kill him... replace her!’ the oracle hissed.

It enraged Del that any oracle would be party to the massacre. The young blonde wolf looked so much like the Wemyss Master-at-Arms who was her grandfather’s friend. She looked around the images around her, so many dead wolves, she-wolves and pups, thrown into burning buildings, or frozen in death. A few were still fighting, but it was obvious the enemy has come to erase this pack. Her wolf howled in misery as her soul felt their deaths, just like the night of the tornado when her own pack perished. She saw the golden warrior had found the redheaded shewolf and the she-pup, both were hurt but alive. The Alpha and the young warrior were about to thwart those who threatened them.

She heard the oracle growl and Del felt the Moon’s rage at this oracle. The water from the bowl dripped onto Del’s cheek. She shifted to her skin and reached upward to touch the bottom of the bowl. The water rushed down her arm, soaking her, and swirled around her feet. The image in the bowl above faded as the last of the water trickled down Del’s flesh. The bowl left dry, never to hold a vision from the tides again. She turned to see the golden warform carrying the two survivors away through the white-out.

She felt the Tides pulling at her so she shouted, ‘Mamó! They’re coming! Help them!’

Praying to the Goddess that the old shewolf could hear her as the she was sucked into the churning vortex of the Tides.

Essie woke up laying on a mat next to the Hidden Eye pool. Her grandfather was kneeling silently nearby. Delilah was still on the Tides but she was so, so far away, caught on the other side. The will of the Moon had been thwarted and there was a violent storm rampaging through the sacred waters. The Goddess felt angry in a way Esther never wanted to sense again. Even Tide-blind and Tide-deaf, the feeling was overwhelming and her sister was caught in the middle of it. .

“I need all the oracles and acolytes down here NOW! And Luca,” Essie shouted as she reached for her sister with everything in her soul. ′Hold on Del, just hold on!′

Four oracles and 10 acolytes rushed in, they looked fearful. Everyone of them could feel their Goddess’ wrath. Essie ordered them, “Focus all your prayers and power on the Delphi, she is caught on the Tides in this storm.”

All nodded as they watched in horror, bruises blooming on the Delphi’s skin while she moaned and convulsed. Luca looked more terrified than any of them. He was a warrior, used to enemies he could see, could fight. To watch his mate’s body being destroyed by invisible forces was almost too much for his mind to accept. He wondered how could he protect her from something like this.

“Luca... LUCA!” Essie grabbed his jaw. “Listen to me for fu ck’s sake! Mark her when I tell you to, your wolf will take you to her, get her to shore and we’ll pull you back.”

He could only nod, he had never felt fear like he did at this moment. He did not want to mark her without her consent, not like this. But he would do anything to keep her with him, even if it meant condemning his own soul for breaking the Moon’s command against forced markings.

Esther turned, tightly clutching the Tide stone, and as one the Oracles and Acolytes began chanting the prayer to assuage the Moon’s anger. Then they chanted the prayer for aiding a lost soul, and then the prayer for safe passage to and from the Tides.

“Now, Luca.” Essie’s voice was toneless and distant.

“Déesse me pardonne! (Goddess forgive me),” he cried out, then he bit into Del’s shoulder, shuddering at the force of the storm he entered and the pain his mate was enduring.

Everything was in flux as a hurricane combined with a tsunami seemed to crash around Delilah. The Sacred Waters of the Moon’s Tides thrashed as the arrogance and willfulness of wolves attempted to destroy the paths She had placed for them. Struggling against the turbulent seas, Del fought to keep her head as the waters themselves beat her body. Far away she heard her sister and the oracles of the Eye. She could hear their singing chants praying for her. Above her head, the Moon burned with bloody fire turning to shadow.

She reached out for her twin and her sister Oracles, as her weak hands clung to a rocky outcropping on a shoal. While the waves and winds pounded her, Del cried out to the Goddess for mercy. Suddenly fire and ice shot through her shoulder and she shrieked as blood ran down her body.

She fell, sinking into the black seas as a tan and brown wolf dove into the waters after her. She held to him with her little remaining strength, as he fought to get them past the breakers and to land. The waves spat them up on a green shore, she laid in the grass. Gasping for breath, she could feel her body was bruised from head to toe. Her arms around his two-toned wolf’s neck, she sobbed out one word before darkness claimed her.

“Luca...”

He found her instantly. She clung to him as his wolf fought to bring them ashore through the storm-tossed sea illuminated with purple lightning. The waves rolled them one last time before casting them onto a grassy shore. Her blacked eyes were swollen as she looked on him in love for what he feared was the last time, she whisper-sobbed his name. Then they were falling through stars and water and nothing toward the sound of singing. He felt like he collided with his body, when he ‘woke’.

Carefully, he lifted his teeth from his mate’s battered flesh, fearful of marring it further. He clutched her to him, unable to let her go. His senses completely muddled. He could still hear the roar of the waves and the storm. Louis was holding his face, shouting at him to let go of the Delphi. Several of the other oracles and acolytes were passed out with Servants kneeling over them. Others were dazed. Finally, Eliazar was able to get Delilah from his arms and they rushed her to the healers’ rooms.

Louis helped him to stand and they staggered up the stairs, “Qu’est-ce qui vous est arrivé? Qu’as-tu vu? (What happened to you? What did you see?)”

Luca just shook his head, he could not explain it, or even begin to describe it to his twin. He only knew he would never fear battle again. He did not know how oracles had the courage to go to that place night after night. Perhaps it was as his grandfather had taught them. “A male’s courage is in his strength, but a female’s courage is in her heart. A male can be weakened or neutered and made to surrender, but a female has to be killed or have her heart destroyed before she will surrender.”

Luca knew Delilah’s heart was strong. With each step of his bruised and aching body, he prayed it was strong enough to survive this night. As he limped into the healers’ rooms, Margo and a wolf he did not know waved him over. He collapsed into a chair, with a grateful glance at his brother before wrapping his bruised hands around Del’s pale one. She looked like she had been beaten nearly to death. He pressed his bruised lips to her fingers, as he laid his head on her bed and let sleep take him.