Seeds of Autumn

by HB Lyne

  Chapter Eight

  The evening meal was a lively affair in the kitchen of the Blue Moon betting shop. Ariana sat sandwiched between Wind Talker and Shadow, Flames sat opposite them with piles of notes that he didn't lift his eyes from and yet still managed to join in with the general banter in the room. Fortune flash fried steaks and tossed them, still so rare they were bloody, onto a large platter in the middle of the table at regular intervals for people to tuck in to, making loud jokes and laughing heartily. Ariana liked Fortune very much, he was friendly and confident, he had warmth and just the right amount of rough edge, she couldn't help but grin in his presence.

  Stone entered having shut up shop, with two new faces in tow, a man and a woman who couldn't look more different from one another. The man was lean with a smart haircut and expensive-looking suit. He was handsome and in his early thirties, clean shaven and with a confident grace. The woman had long blonde hair just past her shoulders and mousey facial features, she wore glasses but her eyes pierced right through them. She wore loose clothing and lots of layers, with half a dozen necklaces hanging from her long, slender neck.

  Fortune gave the man a warm and masculine hug, patting him hard on the back and on releasing him stood with one arm slung over the man's shoulders. Ariana saw the pride in Fortune's eyes, this must be his new protégée.

  'Ariana, I'd like you to meet Fights-Eyes-Open.' The newcomer smiled graciously and Ariana returned the gesture. 'And this is Teri Melrose.' Fortune gestured towards the young woman, who seated herself next to Flames at the table and gave Ariana a friendly smile.

  'I wish I'd seen you sooner.' Teri spoke softly and with such poise that Ariana's focus went immediately to her.

  'I'm sorry. What do you mean?' she asked, leaning across the table.

  'Teri is our resident prophetess. She has visions.' Stone leaned across the table to help herself to some meat and Ariana glanced at her serious face before returning her gaze to Teri.

  'Wow. Cool.' Nothing that she was learning really surprised her, but Ariana found that each new layer of this world that she peeled back was infinitely more fascinating.

  'Sometimes.' Teri looked down at her hands, her fingers spread open on the table. Ariana noticed ink stains on her fingers from a well-used pen. 'I saw you changing, but only moments before it really happened. Though Fortune and the others sensed your blood strengthening long before. I'm still very new to this life myself, I don't fully understand my talent yet.'

  The conversation in the room had picked up around them, but Ariana only wanted to hear Teri talking, she was thirsty for more and found Teri's voice very appealing. It was as though she was born to plant images in other people's minds with her words.

  'So are you the most recently changed here? Apart from me?' Ariana asked, leaning right across the table.

  'Yes. I haven't found my true name yet, I only changed ten days ago. But Eyes only changed a few nights before me.' She grinned over her shoulder towards the man in the suit, who was deep in conversation with Fortune.

  'What is the deal with the names, anyway?' Ariana asked.

  'Artemis sends us our true name some time after we change. They are the names that truly reflect our souls, as opposed to the human names we are given at the whim of our parents.' Teri gave Ariana a playful wink.

  Beside Ariana, Wind Talker shifted in his seat and cleared his throat. The two women looked at him expectantly.

  'I changed two months ago, but I only arrived in Caerton a few weeks ago.' His voice was deep and authoritative. 'I was brought up in a shifter community and was sent here once I changed, a sort of cultural exchange. I don't think anyone saw the Blue Moon growing so rapidly, otherwise I might have ended up in another pack.'

  'Can a pack be too large then?' Ariana asked, looking at him quizzically.

  'Maybe,' he shrugged. Ariana looked back at Teri, who rolled her eyes and shook her head.

  'It is a gift from Luna,' Flames muttered, still poring over his notes. 'We have been sent new blood to strengthen us and renew what was becoming stale.' They all looked at him and Shadow chuckled.

  'That's one interpretation,' Shadow said, barely hiding his smile.

  'Luna?' Ariana raised an eyebrow and glanced between faces.

  'The embodiment of the moon,' Teri explained. 'Artemis is the Greek goddess who gives us our abilities and Luna is literally the moon, according to the Romans anyway. As I understand it, different pantheons are all real.'

  Ariana nodded, masking her lack of full understanding.

  Shadow didn't give her chance to dwell on it though, he finished his steak and stood up, clearing his throat and gesturing for her to follow him. Ariana stood to follow and Teri looked at her with wide eyes.

  'Shadow, do you mind if I come with you?' Teri asked, full of eagerness.

  'Of course not, that would be fine.'

  Teri jumped up out of her chair, falling into step with Ariana as they followed him. He took them out through a door at the back of the kitchen and out into the back yard. There was a fire escape snaking up the back of the building. Its black railings and ladders were difficult to see against the pollution-blackened brickwork of the building, and it was almost dark. Ariana watched carefully as Shadow leapt up onto the first tier of the fire escape, then silently and smoothly climbed and twisted up the metal frame, ignoring the ladders, and disappeared onto the roof.

  She looked at Teri, her mouth open in awe and Teri gave her a flash of a grin before following him, almost as quickly and quietly.

  Muttering to herself in disbelief and doubt at her own ability to be so graceful and stealthy, Ariana stepped up and grabbed hold of the first railing. A little awkwardly she climbed up the ladders of the fire escape. At the top she clambered up onto the tiled roof. Shadow was looking out across St. Mark's and Teri had her eyes firmly on the stars above, though they were barely visible through the haze from the orange street lighting.

  'We can and do patrol our territory at ground level, but the rooftops afford us a good view of everything,' Shadow whispered, but Ariana easily heard every word. She looked out across the area. It wasn't the pretty view she had seen from the cliff top with Rhys; stretching out were rows and rows of brick terraces. In the distant north, just inside Redfield, the telecoms tower jutted up toward the sky, a red light blinked at its peak. Over to the north-west the terraces gave way to the factories of Northgate, and beyond them the river snaked through the city. In the dusk light all Ariana could really make out of the factories were the chimneys and the continuous smoke that issued from them. That part of the city never shut down. In the north-east Ariana knew her dojo was hidden among the rows of familiar streets and beyond it was Fenwick.

  'Almost everything that you can see is ours,' Shadow spoke softly. 'From the river, across Northgate and Redfield, here in St. Mark's, of course and over to Crossway in the east.' He swept his arm across the landscape, pointing to each area. 'It is a big territory, we will need all of you to take your turn in helping to patrol its borders and keep a careful eye out for unwanted visitors from across the veil. Tonight we will run the border. Teri, you've done this with Stone. Ariana, I'd like you to use your sense of smell to familiarise yourself with the scents around you. You should be able to smell each of us three, Fortune patrolled recently and his scent may linger, but no other shifters should be present.'

  Ariana felt the adrenaline beginning to race through her system and the moment Shadow set off she was right behind him. She felt Teri half a step behind and with a huge grin she ran nimbly across the rooftops.

  At the end of the terrace Shadow led them quickly down onto the street using a garage and a wall to find the ground safely. It was a dark side street and he shifted into his fox form, giving the two women a short bark. They both glanced at each other and with excited looks changed themselves.

  Teri shifted into a beautiful black cat. Ariana took the shape of a fox, like Shadow. She felt free in this form, her senses were at their peak and the
night wrapped around her. In an instant Shadow was gone and the two females set off after him, jogging briskly along the pavement, keeping close to the shadows and ducking into alleys away from the glaring headlights of passing cars. They would make for an odd grouping, two foxes and a cat.

  After a block or two Ariana felt the presence of Grins-Too-Widely, though she couldn't see him, she knew he was there, running with them. Night had fallen completely now but the city streets still buzzed with activity, so they had to be careful. Ariana could feel the influence of Grins-Too-Widely on their journey, guiding them safely down the quietest streets and steering them into the deepest shadows. She kept her senses sharp, sniffing the air for traces of anything out of place.

  They ran quickly through Northgate, where the factories tirelessly worked and nothing of interest caught their attention. They circled east into Redfield, another industrial and commercial area. They ran north of the looming telecoms tower and up to the northern edge of Redfield Park, where Redfield met Runmead, a very rough area of Caerton.

  Ariana immediately smelled something odd, she knew it was a shifter but she didn't recognise the scent and she slowed down to track it. Shadow hung back and let her lead them. She remembered that they were at a boundary and her senses reinforced it very vividly. The scents changed abruptly, as though someone had deliberately marked this area. She knew to hang back and not cross over into Runmead. She looked into Shadow's eyes and picked up his loose and primal thoughts. This was the edge of their territory and beyond lay that claimed by a rival pack. She saw alarming flashes of some very violent clashes, but Shadow's deep eyes calmed her.

  Shadow took the lead again and set off south, back towards St. Mark's and Crossway, the nicer area that bordered Fenwick. Ariana could sense his caution as they entered Crossway. The streets were wider here, with avenues of trees standing tall in front of larger residential properties. There were no convenient alleyways for them to hide in here.

  Ariana caught a familiar scent, but very faint and not familiar enough to place, and a few blocks on it was gone. She pushed the thought into Shadow's mind and at once he replied with a mental image of their packmate, Fights-Eyes-Open. He lived in this neighbourhood with his family.

  They went on but Ariana began to feel uneasy. Teri was jogging along at the rear, but Ariana was totally focused on identifying the unsettling tugging sensation. Something felt very wrong and she slowed down, letting Teri overtake. She let out a small whimper and Shadow stopped, trotted back to her and caught her eyes with his. As she tried to form her thoughts for him a powerful and foreign scent assaulted her senses. Shadow caught it too and his head whipped around to identify the source. Both foxes became hyper-alert, something wasn't right. Where was Teri? Ariana looked for her pack mate and caught sight of her a little way ahead, she immediately set off after her, Shadow racing along at her side, but they were too far behind to prevent it. Ariana saw the intruding wolf dart out from the shadows and bite into Teri's flank.

  As fast as lightning it was gone again and Teri was left meowing in pain in the street, as she writhed her form shifted and she lay human and clutching her bleeding thigh. Shadow was in his human form by the time he reached Teri and he stooped to examine her as Ariana caught up.

  'She's fine, she will heal quickly but we should help her home.' He spoke calmly but his eyes didn't rest for a second, he was scanning the area. Ariana shuddered and her heart pounded an erratic rhythm. She sniffed the air, she could make out the intruder's scent clearly but could tell it was beginning to fade. She sensed that they were very close to the edge of the pack's territory but couldn't smell anything beyond their border, unlike in Redfield where the other pack's scent was all over the place, clearly marking the boundary.

  She took a few steps after Teri's attacker, who had retraced their own steps through a large garden, returning from the exact direction they had come. They had been tracking Ariana, Teri and Shadow, she was sure of it, they had been followed at a distance. This attack was probably pre-meditated, but she had no idea why. She looked back at Shadow, who was lifting Teri up into his arms and standing to leave. Ariana felt an overpowering instinct to track the attacker, she wanted to follow the trail and see where it led and she tried to push these thoughts to the front of her mind so that whatever small ability Shadow had in his human form to read her thoughts he would see. He looked right at her and sighed.

  'No, it's too dangerous for you to go alone. Come with me back to the shop.'

  Ariana growled in frustration. She knew that the trail would go cold; if someone was going to follow it, it had to be now.

  'I know who did this and where they are, roughly. Please just come with me and help make sure she's all right.'

  Ariana regarded him carefully, then bowed her head and set off with him.

  'Don't worry,' Teri moaned. 'I'm all right.'

  Ariana whimpered in sympathy, feeling the pain coursing through her friend's body.

  Shadow led them directly across St. Mark's, close to Ariana's dojo and through the streets of houses. All the way back to the shop Ariana was on edge, she could tell Shadow was too. He was difficult to read in his human form, but one word came through loud and clear: Witches.