by Natalie Erin
“Yes!!!” Kia jumped into the air and screamed her excitement to the world. Casiff and Vixen sat on the ground and laughed as Kia zoomed around the sky and came to rest in a small tree. “Thank you so much, Casiff,” she smiled happily as she stared down at them. “You don’t know how much this means to me. No offense, but thank the Creator I don’t have to marry you.”
“You are welcome Kiatana, and I take no offense whatsoever!” Casiff continued to laugh and he jumped into the air himself, looking even happier than she did.
“I told you she would be more excited than ever.” Lottie came trotting out from behind the same tree Casiff had been hiding behind, her tail held high.
“Lottie!” Kia shot out of the tree and snatched the young wolf off the ground. She flew through the air with Lottie hanging on for dear life. “Thank you!”
“Calm down, child,” Vixen laughed. “Vixen knows that you are excited, but you need to settle or your head will explode. Vixen knows these things,” she said very wisely. Casiff gave her a funny look, and then scooted away from her side.
“And put me down! I don’t want to fall,” Lottie demanded.
“Sorry Lottie, I’m just so excited!” Kia gently placed Lottie on the ground and landed next to her. “I have to tell Keota!” She ran off in the direction of the trees and came to the large oak they had been sitting in.
“Keota,” she called.
“What?” he asked, jumping off the tree and landing in front of her, concerned that she was hurt.
“Casiff is moving in with Vixen and he’s giving me all of his land!” she said. “And his father said that I’m free of the marriage contract! We can get married right now if we wanted!”
“Then let’s go for it. We should get married right now, tonight!” Keota’s voice grew louder as he said this.
“I think that’s a wonderful idea. We all need something happy to keep our minds off of those who have died.” Ionan came up behind them in the form of a rabbit, his task with the Mares and Terrors done. He shook his fur and said, “How about after sunset? It can be a midnight wedding!”
“A midnight wedding?” Casiff and Vixen came running in, following Kia when she tore out of the clearing. “Sounds like fun to me!”
“Vixen will perform the ceremony,” the fairy said, her eyes glowing.
“And me and the animals can get it all set up,” Casiff told them.
“You two won’t have to be concerned about anything,” Ionan hopped to Keota’s side. “It is a tradition where we come from, Kia, that the Changer arranges the wedding for his Accompany if he is to be married. Casiff and I will take care of all arrangements. After all, if there is one thing that my father ever taught me, it was how to throw a party!”
“It’s true. Ignus did know how to party,” Keota said nostalgically.
“Then tonight it is!” Kia embraced her fiancé and their three friends traveled into the forest to spread the news.
THE CLEARING they had set up was beautiful. The entrance of the grassy isle started at the forest, going forward until there were no more trees and the wide expanse of the plain began. A dusting of stars glowed overhead. The fireflies shined multiple different colors thanks to handmade paints and the seats were a series of logs that had been covered with flowers of all colors. Keota stood beneath an arch of roses, dressed in a white suit that the others had made for him. His black hair was neatly combed. Vixen stood in front of him in a long, elegant black dress that had red streaks running up the sides like flames, her hair fashioned aside her head in a low bun. Casiff was on the other side of Keota, dressed much fancier than the others in a deep blue, frilly dress shirt with matching pants and shoes. Dragonstar was in the left front row, his creamy coat shining while a long red robe trailed down over his back and rump. Ionan and the wolves were in the second front row. The wolves wore their battle gear and the dragon’s scales had been shined so much that they looked like emeralds upon his back.
There were gasps of wonder as Snow Drop trailed out from the darkness of the woods, a silver bridle on her head with a long blanket trailing over her back made of the finest lace. Kiatana sat upon the mare, her wings shining as brightly as her lovely face. She wore a long sleeved gown the color of her pink eyes, finely laced at a corset in her middle and fanning out into a lovely round buttercup train. The veil was made of the same fragile lace on Snow Drop’s blanket and covered her face ever so gently. Kia got down from the mare and began walking up the isle with Casiff’s father. The gown’s train was held up by Scarlet and his family. Only Kia knew that the dress had once been her mother’s, worn for such a wedding, but her mother had married a man she never loved while Kia was here for the love of her life. A bouquet of bright red roses stood out brightly in Kia’s hands. She walked barefoot. Snow Drop went ahead of her, leading the way until the mare came to a halt next to Dragonstar.
Kia smiled lightly behind the veil when she saw Keota. He reached out and took her hand when she came to him. They stood looking into one another’s eyes, gold into pink, as the ceremony took place.
Vixen smiled at them. “So here it begins…forbidden lovers, friends and family, all working together towards a new life. May the Creator bless your new life together, and may you never leave the other one no matter what obstacles may come your way.”
Yes, Lottie thought, her heart pounding. Don’t ever let go of one another, whatever comes.
“Do you promise to give yourselves to the other fully and to never love another, to sacrifice yourselves in each and every way, until death do you part?” Vixen asked very seriously.
“Until death do us part,” both of them said in an almost trance like state. They never took their eyes off one another.
“Do you, Keota, take Kiatana to be your wife?”
“I do,” he replied as a tear fell down Kia’s cheek.
“And do you, Kiatana, take Keota to be your husband?” Vixen turned her head slightly.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Kia said softly.
“Do you have the ring?” Vixen asked. Keota turned to Ionan and the dragon lifted up his wing. There beneath it was the precious emerald band. Keota took it with a thankful look at his Changer and slipped it onto her hand.
“Then you may now kiss the bride,” Vixen finished. Keota flipped over the veil and Kia rose up onto her toes to kiss him. It was there, in front of the entire forest, when the forbidden marriage occurred and the couple shared their first kiss as husband and wife. It was there that life changed completely…for everyone.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
TALKING TOGETHER
I t was a month after the wedding. It was to be Lilja and Lottie’s last day together, and everyone knew that they most likely would not see each other until Kia’s baby was born. Vixen and Casiff were preparing to leave, Lottie with them. Lilja would stay with Kikan and his pack, close to Keota and Kiatana. Lilja wished Vixen and her unicorns weren’t so far away. He would really miss her.
“I want to make one last stop at the memorial before I leave,” Lottie said.
“It’s not good to enslave the memories of the lost,” said Ionan, flying above them as a hawk. “It’s not their wish for you to become shadows in the face of loss.”
“I know,” she sighed, “but it is good to keep their memories alive. And I won’t be here for a while.”
“So let’s go,” said Lilja.
The three went up to a high, rocky hill. It was steep, but they soon found the path that had been made from the multiple hikes up. They followed it, knowing that the residents of the forest called the path the Trail of Tears. Soon they had arrived and they gazed at the beautiful, sad sight before them.
There was a gorgeous waterfall that trickled slowly into a tiny pond below. Inscribed smooth stones lay around it in a circular path. In the front of the pond, a marble boulder held a poem.
The memories of those lost to sickness or battle,
Lie here in peaceful rest,
They whisper t
o our sorrow-tears,
It was all meant for the best.
We love you, they say, our cherished ones,
Now do not shed a tear,
We are in a greater place,
And are much happier here.
BELOW THE POEM WAS AN INSCRIPTION.
To all those who were lost, who thought they were lost, or lost someone dear. We will never forget.
LOTTIE LOOKED AROUND. Such destruction all because of the the madness of one man. She weaved her way among the stones silently, Lilja and Ionan following. It was a common rule noise louder than whispering was not allowed.
She passed the first stone that was a dark gray with the claws of a cat scratched on it. It read, Klaw. Lottie knew that his nephew had been there recently, for there were small paw prints in the dirt. He was placed first in the circle, for without him, they would have never discovered what was wrong with the forest. They passed his stone respectively. A great number of stones were passed before they came to the second name they were looking for. A full moon and a wolf paw were painted on it, one that the twin pups and Ionan did themselves. The name read Caini. The brother and sister touched their noses to it, trying to absorb the memory of her.
Finally, Lottie found the stone she had been looking for. Vixen had taken hours to specially make this. The purple unicorn on it stood bravely, the name swirling above it, Lavender.
“It’s because of you that I’m still here,” whispered Lottie, touching the stone with her nose. “It’s because of you that my name isn’t among these tombs.” Indeed, Lottie had often imagined herself appearing slightly before Lavender, her name inscribed on one of these silent stones. They were the only piece left of the loved ones that the few left behind had. “Your death was my life,” she hushed. She stood with the stone a little longer, then they left the site to its peaceful rest, the sunlight casting rays on all the stones and reflecting to make a rainbow over the fall. Everything laid in peace.
KEOTA WAS LEANING against a tree trunk, waiting for Ionan to show. The Changer came around the tree, and ruffled his black hair with his breath.
“I’ve been waiting for you. Where have you been?” he asked.
“Up at the memorial,” he rumbled in dragon form. “The wolves wanted to go and I had to tag along. It just felt right.”
Keota smiled. “That’s okay. If you knew what Kia and I were doing…”
“I know what you did. Spare me the details.” He whipped around as a sorrel horse and motioned for him to get on.
Keota swung himself up on his back and he cantered off. They came to a cliff side and Ionan jumped off, soaring into dragon-form. When they found a quiet spot near an old oak Keota climbed up the tree and Ionan changed into a hawk. He flew up on the highest branch where Keota rested and began preening his feathers. Keota swung his legs back and forth on the tree.
“Ionan,” he said, puzzled, “You knew Kia was pregnant before I did, didn’t you?”
“Yes. I was the first one to know.”
“Even Vixen?”
“Even before the Great One knew.”
“How?”
“The second you and Kia chose to mate was when I felt the young life stirring inside of her.”
“Were you hurt?”
He cocked his head. “I was. But I was even more upset you didn’t tell me what you two did. By the time we met Vixen, I had figured out that you were going to keep hiding it from me.”
“I thought you would be angry.”
“You should understand that Changers know everything their Accompanies do. We are too close to not feel what you feel, to think what you think.”
“Why did you act so shocked after Vixen had told, if you already knew?”
“I was in a bit of denial then. I didn’t want to think of the possibility. Kia having a baby meant that she was more important to you than I was. I felt that I was the only one who was fully concentrating on the mission while you were falling in love.”
Keota dropped down and sat against the tree trunk, while Ionan followed and sat on his shoulder.
“You’ve fallen in love too,” Keota murmured. “You know how that feels.”
“I do. I haven’t forgotten what it feels like,” he ruffled his feathers. “I was…so jealous of you two. I was too overbearing. For that I apologize.”
“You were a grump,” laughed Keota. “If it was any other girl than Kia, you would have scared her off.”
“Not her,” Ionan chortled, fluttering off and changing into a dragon once more. “She’s too bull-headed to be frightened off by a mere fire-breathing, dagger-toothed, dragon!”
They both laughed. “Ionan,” Keota asked, hoping he wasn’t taking things too far, “Do you ever miss her?”
Ionan reared on his back legs and said, “I do. I miss her laugh and the way she snuggled against me, I miss her touch and her scent. I miss everything about her. She was so perfect and all I ever wanted was to make her happier than anyone could.”
“She wasn’t right for you, Ionan.”
“It was more than that. Changers are so bound to their Accompanies…you have no idea what we sacrifice for you. Accompanies have so much freedom. We do not. We are so closely bound to you, it is almost like slavery.”
“Do you think I’ll make a good dad?” Keota asked, changing the subject.
“I think you’ll make excellent parents.”
“You’ll help me take care of my child?”
“Of course. I’ll watch over him as closely as I watch over Lottie and Lilja.”
Keota knew that this was the best promise Ionan could ever make. The Accompany threw his arms around the Changer’s head, giving him a hug.
“Let’s get back. The others will be waiting for us. From now on I promise to love both you and Kiatana. No more favoring.”
“And I’ll try to control my jealousy,” Ionan said. “For the rest of my life, I don’t want anything separating you and me.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
THE RISE OF TWO LEADERS
K ia stood in front of her small cabin and watched Ionan and Keota come up over the horizon. One hand was cupped over her eyes to block out the harsh sun. In the other she held a small shovel. Her simple clothes were covered in dirt and her face was smeared with the rich earth. Her green hair was put up in a messy bun and most of it was flung about in random directions. She raised the shovel into the air and waved. “Hello boys!” she called into the sky.
“Hey Kia,” Keota waved back to her. Ionan did a loop in the sky and then landed in front of the fairy. Keota jumped off and wrapped Kia in his arms. He kissed her gently and she smeared dirt on the back of his clean, white shirt.
“You’re a mess,” Keota smiled at his wife.
“I happen to like being covered in dirt,” she said. “It makes me feel somewhat useful around here.”
Keota laughed. “When are we planting the roses at the memorial?”
“How about right now? I have all the roses packed and ready to go, if I can borrow you and Mr. Big Scary Dragon over there,” she gestured toward Ionan and both of them smiled.
“Why not? We need to get those roses planted somewhere before they die on us,” Ionan told them cheerfully.
Kia gathered up the flowers and the three of them hiked up to the memorial, finally reaching the wondrous place and planting the flowers next to the waterfall. Each rose were planted in memory of all those lost. As Keota was busy planting roses on the other side of the waterfall, Kia turned to his Changer.
“Ionan,” she said, and the dragon looked at her. “Are we friends?”
The Changer blinked at her. Then he bent down to touch his nose to her growing stomach, humming. “Yes, Miss Kia. We are friends.”
Kia was now eight months pregnant and the bulge of her stomach was obvious. During the last few months the forest had remained calm. She, Keota, and Ionan worked hard to keep the memorial beautiful and clean. Nothing seemed to be going wrong in their simple, yet pleasant, world.
/> LILJA WAS NOW the size of a full grown wolf and, quite honestly, he enjoyed being large. The younger wolves in the pack all respected him because he had proved himself stronger than all of them even though he was only two years old. In his age he had turned into a strong, fierce young wolf. His fur had lost its childish softness and was now a gorgeous shade of midnight black. He wore scars from many battles but none of them had come close to being fatal.
Lilja steadied himself. Today was going to be his day. He was going to prove himself stronger than all the others. Today, he would take down Kikan. He would be the leader of the pack.
He walked in large strides through the forest. His plans were simple. A few feet ahead, Kikan hunted in a large clearing. Lilja crouched down in the bushes and waited, savoring the moment. Kikan walked towards Lilja’s hiding spot. As he reached the bush Lilja launched himself out at the older male. Kikan was unprepared and fell beneath his competitor. The two wolves snarled and snapped at each other, biting and clawing for the upper hand. Kikan was stronger than Lilja, so he quickly pinned Lilja beneath him. Lilja lay on his stomach and couldn’t escape the older wolf’s hold. It looked like he was going to lose.
Then he remembered his sister. He remembered her beating him long ago because of one moment. He had been too confident and she had been able to use that against him. He only needed Kikan to think that he had won the battle.
Lilja rolled over onto his back so his stomach touched that of the current leader. His plan worked. Kikan stepped back, believing that he had won. In the moment that Kikan let his guard down, Lilja gained the advantage. He shot at the older wolf and pinned him against a tree. He bared his teeth but instead of delivering a killing bite to the neck he bit Kikan’s shoulder. Blood gushed from the wound, but it would heal quickly. All Lilja needed to do was prove he could defeat the older wolf.
“I have been beaten.” Kikan said softly as Lilja unpinned him. “You have proved you can lead a pack better than I.”