by SJ Himes
The white sparks faded, and the water numbed the pain. It numbed everything. He was so cold. His fear left slowly, seeping away into the current, and he struggled to remember why he was fighting. He was tired, and he hurt, and he couldn’t fight the wave of black nothingness that flooded over his thoughts.
“BREATHE! DAMMIT, breathe! Gray Shadow, mo ghra, don’t stop breathing!” Caius knelt naked beside the great shaman’s side, a large hand pressed hard over the gaping hole in the wolf’s chest. The shotgun blast had ripped a hole the size of a closed fist deep into the shaman’s body, and Caius could smell the rich blood that flowed in his heart, telling him without any healing gifts of his own that Gray Shadow was wounded, and mortally.
“Sir? Two shamans from Black Pine are coming, they’ll be here soon.” Burke, his heir’s best friend and lieutenant, hovered at his shoulder, naked as well and streaked with blood over his face and shoulders. Caius barely spared him a glance, his mind focused on keeping Gray Shadow alive until his healers could get to the river.
Caius could feel, like the faintest of breezes, Gray Shadow’s mind within the mental link Caius refused to relinquish. He was afraid if he let the link drop, the shaman would slip away. “Tell them to hurry,” he growled under his breath, and he pushed harder on the wound, trying to keep his hand from slipping in the blood soaked fur.
Gray Shadow couldn’t die. Not like this. Caius wished, not for the first time in all his long years as Clan Leader, that his meager Voice worked on shamans. If he could, he would order the shaman to live until the healers could save him. His old friend and clan shaman was too dear to him, too important to his people and clan, to let die. All the cold places of his heart warmed when he was with Gray Shadow, and a life that almost counted as eternal would be forever lonely without him. All he could do now was fight to keep the connection between his mind and Gray Shadow’s open and strong, his thoughts feeding the shaman strength and a desire to live.
“Burke,” Caius whispered harshly, teeth clenched. He refused to feel grief yet, but he must know.
“Sir?”
“Who’s dead?” Caius had spent only a few heartbeats of time at the gates, all the humans either dead, injured, or after Gray Shadow and Luca by the time he and the clan alphas got to the ambush. It had taken Gray Shadow’s plight to pull him away, the humans hunting his wolves a target for his rage.
Burke knelt at his side, dark head lowered in grief. He was a big man, like most alphas, and he could barely achieve the submissive posture that etiquette required of a lesser alpha addressing Clan Leader. Caius snorted in exasperation, impatient to know. Burke exhaled roughly, and Caius could hear the sadness heavy in that sound.
“Three of Josiah’s litter are dead. Marla, his mate and your daughter, is dead as well. Josiah is alive, though silver-shot in the shoulder, leg and hip. Shamans are attending to him now. Of the 20 wolves assaulted at the gates, only those four are dead. None were taken, though it was near thing. It seems Shaman Gray Shadow interrupted a mass abduction attempt by the humans. Numerous injuries among the wolves, sir. The humans are all dead, most succumbing to severe burn injuries and shock. It looks like the humans used some form of silver-laced aerosol on the vans, as the shamans are reporting gas burns. Most of your kin are having trouble Changing, or are stuck in partial forms.” Burke shifted on his knees, his eyes locked on the barely breathing shaman laying on the rock between them. His head tilted as he listened to the multiple minds within the mental link. Caius had passed control of the link to Burke, to keep his focus solely on Gray Shadow, pouring his strength along the thin thread of thought to the mortally injured wolf.
Caius refused to give in to his grief. He swallowed back the howl of loss and despair that threatened to tear free from his throat, stamping down on it ruthlessly. His daughter was dead, some of her children dead as well. His grandchildren. Gray Shadow’s grandchildren. He would not let Gray Shadow pass too. He didn’t want to live without Gray Shadow. He would lead, but the hollow reaches that howled in his soul would never hear the echo of Gray Shadow’s magic if he died. Caius would die on the inside, one lonely day at a time.
He would need all his wits to handle the ramifications of this morning, and to keep his people safe. He couldn’t perform his duties as Alpha, Clan Leader of Black Pine, if he was overcome by grief. This act of aggression by the humans must be dealt with swiftly and wisely, to keep Black Pine from appearing weak and vulnerable in front of the other Clans.
“Kane?” His Heir had dived over the rocks into the river. He was alive, that much Caius could sense. He could not tell if his grandson Luca lived or not, and his heart hurt as if bruised at the thought the cub was already dead. He dared not devote any more of his attention on the younger alpha and his grandson, the energy required to seek Kane out over the distance between them all going to keeping Gray Shadow’s mind engaged in the mental link.
“I can hear him, Sir, he’s searching for your grandson Luca.”
“Great Mother help him find the cub.” It was all Caius could do….pray.
Caius heard the patter of many feet racing across the boulders, and spared a quick glance over his shoulder. The wolves milling silently along the shore parted, letting two of Black Pine’s shamans through. A medium sized cream colored wolf and a larger deep brown skittered to a halt at his side, transforming swiftly into a platinum blonde haired older man and a younger brunette, both of them shamans who learned their calling under Gray Shadow’s tutelage. The blonde, River, reached past Caius, and he let the shaman’s smaller hands take over, holding pressure on the wound. Caius could feel the power of the blonde’s spirit magic rise as he used his gifts, ignoring him and the other alpha completely. The young man, Michael, placed his hands on Gray Shadow’s side, head bowed, with his shoulders curving in as he too poured his magic into the grievously injured shaman.
“Alpha Caius, can you hear him?” River asked softly, his eyes shut tightly, face a mask of concentration.
“I hear the faintest of echoes, and I’m refusing to let his mind go.”
“Good. Keep him here. Do not free his mind, or he will die.” He shifted on his knees, mindless of the sharp edges tearing at his skin. “Let me in the link with you.”
Caius reached out without hesitation, aligning River’s thoughts into the delicate connection. He shined to Caius’ mental eye as a small yellow sun, the palest of golden flames, a welcome addition to Caius’ attempt at grounding Gray Shadow’s spirit and mind. He was able to step back the slightest amount as River used his link to Gray Shadow, calling wordlessly to the other shaman. The link glowed brighter, filling in, becoming a more tangible thread.
“The human used silver shot,” murmured Michael, head still bowed, his words laced with a faraway quality. “I cannot force out the silver.”
“If I can make Gray Shadow strong enough, he can heal himself. He’s the only one I know who can force silver out in such a large quantity,” River whispered, his voice hissing both in Caius’ head and in his ears.
“Do what you can.” Caius stepped away, letting the shamans work in peace. He tugged Burke to his feet, and led him to the wolves gathered near the tree line. They all sat submissively or backed away, eyes averted to the ground, as he and Burke stopped beside the remains of the humans responsible for the attack on his people.
Caius kept the mental connection to Gray Shadow, holding the shaman’s mind tightly, while letting that part of his mind settle to the background, freeing the majority of his focus for other matters. He would know instantly if Gray Shadow or the other two shamans did (died?).
Two of the humans were torn to pieces, Burke having finished them off once Kane disabled them, his heir more intent on getting to Gray Shadow and Luca than in killing the humans. Caius wished for a moment that he had gotten there sooner, to tear the ambushers apart himself. The remaining two were relatively intact, just their throats ripped open. The four were w
earing some sort of paramilitary gear, bullet proof vests and heavily woven fabrics designed to protect against knife blades. Caius yearned to know who sent them.
“Search the bodies. Here, and at the gates. Their vehicles, clothing, weapons—search it all,” Caius growled the order at his wolves, and Burke relayed his words through the pack links to the wolves at the park gates. With a murmur of rippling fur and muscles, several of his beta wolves Changed, their naked human forms crawling to the dead humans, fingers far more useful than claws and fangs at searching pockets. He supervised as they searched the bodies, pulling off weapons, emptying pockets, tearing apart clothing.
“Rangers are in route to the park, Sir. Sentries are reporting three park authority vehicles approaching the gates,” Burke whispered to him, his dark brown eyes vacant as he listened to the wolves placed along the roads to observe anyone leaving or coming to the park. They hadn’t been in place this morning as the clans were supposed to be departing, and Caius mentally kicked himself for this mistake. If they’d been on sentry duty, he would have known humans were approaching the park this morning before Gray Shadow and their family left.
A shiver of something dark, a hint of doubt, slithered through his thoughts, and his brow furrowed as he pondered the implications. What were the odds the humans would choose this morning to attack, the only morning out of the last couple of weeks that sentries weren’t on duty?
“Have an alpha from our clan, a shaman who can craft illusions, and a pack of betas hold the gates. Evacuate the injured and dead back to the cabins. Remove the ambushers’ bodies and vehicles to the park center as well. All wolves not here with us or securing the gates, or on sentry, are to return to their family packs and their clan leaders. Inform the Greater Clan Alphas that I will be returning once I’ve determined the park and our people are secure.” Caius relayed his orders to Burke, still glaring down at the dead humans, his people piling everything they found on the humans at his feet.
“Yes, Sir.” A pause, and Burke nodded to himself, the orders sent. Burke was an accomplished Speaker, his thoughts dancing easily from one mind to another as he spoke to the necessary wolves to execute Caius’ commands. When Kane’s time to lead came, he would do no better than to have Burke as his second in command, as true Speakers were as rare as alphas with the Voice in full measure.
Caius knelt, and he ran a finger through the small pile of items. He scented human sweat, the acrid aroma of overly processed foods, and the oils used to clean their weapons. He found no identification cards or papers. One of his female betas shuffled over, and held out a Kevlar vest to him, her slim finger pointing to a small spot along an inside hem.
He took the vest, and peered at the spot. His blood ran cold for a heartbeat, before an enraged snarl crawled free from behind his teeth. A small imprint of a property logo peeked out near a slit in the fabric where the plates were inserted, and he read the words ‘Remus Acquisitions and Technologies’. The betas nearest Changed back to wolves, and they all drifted back from him, eyeing him warily. He was not unduly violent with his people, but an alpha’s temper was wise to avoid no matter the personality.
“Sir?”
“Wolf hunters. Government sponsored, paramilitary wolf hunters.” Caius snarled again, and claws erupted from his fingertips, several popping through the Kevlar plates with a sharp sound.
“No one enters the park. No one leaves. Not even the park rangers. Only wolves under my direct orders may cross the borders. I need all sentries doubled up, no wolf is to be alone in the woods.” Caius shot to his feet, the assembled betas shrinking back. Burke stood calmly at his side, the younger alpha unafraid of his Clan Leader’s temper.
“Done, Sir. Reinforcements are being sent to all sentry positions.”
“Good,” Caius snarled softly, lips curled back from the incisors that grew to small fangs from his upper jaw. “All strangers are to be stopped, by any means necessary.”
Caius didn’t wait for Burke’s reply, spinning on his heels and striding back to Gray Shadow and the two shamans.
GRAY SHADOW floated in a warm, unrelenting darkness. A space so vast, so empty, that he could see or hear nothing. He was alone, and content, his awareness narrowed down to his inner most thoughts. He was essence, pure spirit, the confines of body and earth discarded.
He swirled through the darkness, changing direction on a whim, or resting in the quiet nothingness. There was somewhere he must be, but he felt no rush to get there.
*Gray Shadow.*
He felt the touch like a brush of air, cool and soft, twisting in the nothingness before fading away. There was a hint of familiarity, and Gray Shadow pondered idly why that was. He’d always been here, in this warm place of darkness, hadn’t he? So wouldn’t he know why something was familiar?
*Gray Shadow! Shaman!*
Shaman.
*Hear me, my teacher. Come back to us.*
Someone was calling him. Gray Shadow. His name.
Shaman.
A crack formed in the dark, a narrow sliver of light, piercing in its intensity. He flowed in the darkness, and the light seeped into the shadows, gathering around the edges of his current reality. He wasn’t afraid. The light pulled him together, compressing his spirit, and the light settled around him in an embrace full of confidence and control. It pulled him gently towards the crack in the warm nothingness, and through to the other side.
Gray Shadow snarled breathlessly in pain, eyes wide, the mid-morning sun rising overhead spearing straight through to his brain. His chest hurt, and the hands pressing hard on his wound didn’t help the sensation of broiling agony. He tried to move, anything to alleviate the pain, but his legs didn’t respond to his brain, and the hard rocks under his side were warmer than his whole body.
“He’s awake!” A slim pale shadow leaned over him, blocking out the worst of the light, and he blinked, focusing past the sun spots in his eyes.
“Gray Shadow, keep breathing. You’ve been shot with silver, and we need you to help us get it out. You need to force out the silver.” River. His River, an apprentice of his from many moons ago who was a shaman now, strong and calm, as immutable as the body of water he was named for.
*Silver….shot?* Gray Shadow tried to speak, but found his tongue didn’t work in his current shape. Wolf-shape. I Changed. What happened? Why am I at the river, and how did I get shot with silver?
“Yes. I’m sorry, I don’t have time to explain. We’re barely holding you together, I’ll explain after you get the silver out of your body. You need to hurry, we can’t hold you here for much longer,” River pleaded with him, his pale blue eyes and platinum blonde hair as brilliant as the sun above. Gray Shadow blinked, and saw the spirit of his former apprentice burning brightly to his Spiritsight, with a tenuous cord of light running from the center of River’s chest to his own, little pulses of light in time to the other shaman’s heart. River was literally sustaining him, restoring Gray Shadow’s strength until he could heal himself.
“Thank the Great Mother, he’s alive.” He knew that voice. The deep rumble was akin to gravel grinding together, tempered by an Old World accent that gave his Clan Alpha a distinguished mien despite his rough warrior exterior. Caius stood naked behind River, holding something black in his hands, his face torn by grief and anger. What happened?
River was pouring energy into him, faster and faster, and Gray Shadow accepted it, spindling the golden light inside his own spirit, reinforcing his heart. Gray Shadow turned his mental eye to his own body, and shuddered in dismay and a sick sense of inevitability. He could see the shards of silver glowing with a baleful light amongst his ribs and muscles, several pieces lodged in the exterior walls of his heart muscles. He was dying, regardless of River’s borrowed strength. He would be dead if he didn’t force out the silver, the metal keeping his body from healing the wounds caused by the shotgun blast.
Shotgun blast? He w
as shot? He remembered….running. The woods. Guns firing. The river. Anger. Grief. Fear. Luca.
Luca.
*LUCA!* He cried, trying to move, his wounded heart pounding as adrenaline coursed through his damaged body. His grandson. Taken over the rocks into the river, Kane following. *Where is Luca?*
“Shit! Gray Shadow! Calm down!” River tried to hold him still, but couldn’t remove his hands over the bullet wound. Another set of hands held him down, and a part of him dimly noticed the presence of another of his former students, the taciturn Michael. Both shamans tried to restrain him, but Gray Shadow had only the driving need to save his grandson, fear overriding his sense of self-preservation.
*Be still, Shaman.* Even with his natural immunity to the Voice, Gray Shadow still responded momentarily to the inherent authority in that mind voice. Caius. He stopped fighting, and his muscles complained bitterly at his attempt to get up. He didn’t have the strength for this.
*Luca went into the river.*
*Yes, I know. Kane is searching for him even now.*
*He hasn’t been found?*
He felt Caius’ hesitation to answer, and realized as he did that his Alpha was in his head along with River, and had been since his first desperate call when the ambush began at the gates. He felt Caius’ grief and anger, his pain. He got flashes of images, the most prevalent of them a young woman, blood pooled under her, dark red hair covering her face. Marla. Dead.
*Who…. Who is…gone?* He didn’t want to know, but he must. His daughter-in-law, his son’s soulmate, was dead. His heart ached more from the impending grief than the silver tearing at the struggling organ.