Call of Wild Wolves

Not mine yet

*Brynn*

The hoarse sound of the stone rubbing against the stone reached Brynn's ears just a split second before he felt his legs begin to slip. He lashed out, waving his hands wildly to try and regain his balance as his body slid down the rock outcrop towards the ice-cold stream that was blabbing peacefully below.

He shouted, and even in the midst of his struggles, he was instantly annoyed at himself for it. It is better to stay still and suffer from scratches and cold water than to let out a silly feminine voice.

His arms were still swaying around him, he suddenly felt a huge hand grabbing his left armpit just like that, pulling him back and up.

"Be careful, son," said Cormac, his voice as loud as the pebbles he dropped. He did not let go until he placed his foot firmly under it.

"Thank you" he said, looking at her. His face was filled with age and strife, and the hair on his head as well as his face had been dull from its original brown color. Still, he was strong both in body and mind, and his gray eyes were extremely sharp when observing him.

"You can't be careless here" he said. “The Gap is a beautiful and deadly place. Look there." He pointed down a piece of rock and Brynn saw a dark cut across the path where he fell. Leaning over, he saw that it was wider than it had first been seen - a crack in the rock that was large enough that its body could easily escape. He wondered how deep it was.

“Such gaps mark the landscape throughout this area, and much more in the forest,” he continued. “There is a large cave system that stretches across the entire Dagrun Forest. Most of the entrances are visible on the side of the cliff face and others, but not all of them. You don't want to fall for a break like that. I don't know how deep it went. Or what might stay inside.”

Brynn nodded to show that he understood. He'll be more careful.

"Awas, now," Garan called out from a few meters behind where he pulled the small wooden wagon, a carefree smile in his words. "Your father will skin me alive if I come back without you."

Brynn looked at Cormac's eye scroll before he turned around, and he grimaced inwardly.

The older man must have thought of him and Maeve, who were currently scavenging for stones in front of them along with Trevor and Vesta, as nothing more than a ridiculous burden that he had to take care of for reasons that he thought were the most absurd and the most dangerous. . This hunting party is one part of an important mission, and its success or lack can mean safety or doom for the entire village of Ingram.

Their group is one of the few sent in all directions from Ingram with one goal: finding meat for the coming winter. The Ingram store was very low - even lower than their pessimistic estimate. One disease has damaged their livestock while several have damaged their crops.

Many believe that the Gods have abandoned Ingram altogether, but this effort is meant to get some more help in the form of wild play. All parties were meant to travel further than their normal range, crossing a set boundary, to discover anything the Gods might offer.

Brynn, of course, was not originally mentioned in this group. As a 20-year-old girl, still unmarried and a burden to her father and the larger village, she has not been named to any group despite her obvious skills as a hunter. Although he had never been allowed far beyond the limits of the village, he had hunted all the meadow lands and gentle hillsides around Ingram with great success.

Still, it was Garan who gave him a place with Maeve, his best friend, and hunting partner. Cormac, the party leader, was unhappy. But in the end, at Garan's insistence, the two girls were allowed to leave. And here he is, proving to Cormac that he is a stupid, clumsy, screaming person who needs him to lift him up in his actual armpits.

He's sighing. However, his frustration did not last long. How could? Here he stands in the real Egun Gap. Throughout his memories, he felt an invisible force pulling him here, into this mountain range and the mysterious Dagrun Forest behind it. Lately, the power was so real that he thought he would slip into the mountains in his sleep if he was not careful.

Something called him here, and while he knew the expected life he would lead was quickly catching up to him, this opportunity was too convenient to pass up.

Brynn observes the faces of steep cliffs filled with aggressive and persistent trees and bushes with intense hunger. Each new look felt like a reward, and the further through the Gap they went through, the harder his heart pounded in anticipation.

It took an entire day to clear the Gap, and it felt as if they were crossing an invisible line between the two worlds. The crack itself was a speckled stone ground with a few stubborn trees determined to stay alive no matter the circumstances. However, right outside, the ground was dominated by large green trees with creeping roots, all tightly clad with twisting branches. Brynn's anticipation grew with the sudden change.

The warmth spread through his stomach despite the cold mountain air. His blood felt like it was buzzing slowly, excited as well as comforted by his progress into the forest.

For two more days, they traveled deeper into the forest, not daring to go further than that.

“When winter finally arrives,” Cormac has warned with the unpleasant tone expected by the group from him, “winter will come down quickly and hard. The gap will be filled quickly by snow and ice, and if we are not careful, we will be sealed inside the forest until Spring.”

“Or until we freeze to death,” Trevor offers while shrugging.

"Or starving" added Vesta.

So they pressed vigorously for two days, but no more. Their base camp is a simple thing. They built fire rings out of stone piles and erected two large canvas tents on either side, one for men and one for women. Their food is hung on a tree in a small open nearby to avoid attracting bears or the like to their campgrounds.

But, to be honest, the idea of encountering predators is not as alarming as what they have not encountered so far on their journey.

On their second night in the camp, the group sat around their small fire. Trevor, Cormac's closest friend and second person, amuses them all by telling ghost stories.

“There she saw from the corner of her eyes, a fluttering silk evening dress, white as the moon, hovering among the trees. There was a soft chant blown by the wind,” he said dramatically, his eyes twinkling under the light of the fire. Maeve perches on the edge of a fallen log, leaning toward Trevor who is fully involved in the story.

"That's his dead wife, isn't it?" she said.

"Well, don't ruin the story" Trevor scolded in despair. "But, yes, it's his wife." The rest of the group chuckles as Trevor tries to return to the storyline.

Brynn let out a satisfied sigh and gazed up at the sky, bright spots visible behind branch murals and swaying pine needles. The moon, fat but not completely full, shines happily there among its stars.

When he looked back at the group, he found Garan was staring at him. He raised one of his eyebrows and nodded his head to the side towards the trees. He nodded back, and the two quietly stood up. He followed her out of the circle and into the forest.

After walking for a while, he stopped and turned towards her.

“You're made of the opposite; did you know that?" he asked faintly.

"I'm sorry?" he grins. He stepped forward, closing the small gap between them.

"Your hair is dark like midnight" he said. "But your skin is as pale and as bright as the moon."

"I don't consider you a poet" he said. He disregarded.

"You crave the wild, beg for adventure." He reached out and slipped a hair behind his ear, letting his fingers trace his neck. He felt his skin goosebumps small, a pleasant tingling. He smiled gently and continued, "But when I saw you, I just looked at the house."

He looked into her eyes. It was Ingram's signature gray color, he knew, but in the dim light offered that night, it looked dark and deep. Garan is a good man, and in times like these, he feels marrying her might not be so bad. He was quite handsome, of course, and his body was strong and alluring. The way he looked at it, his eyes drank it, making his heart flutter.

Still, something deeper within him refused. By all Ingram's standards, Garan is more than he would expect in a husband. But marriage in Ingram still feels like a trap.

"I don't think I'm grateful to you" he said. "Again, not enough."

“To let you come, you mean?” she asked, her thumb gently caressing the soft skin behind her ear. Brynn nodded.

“Don't think about that. This time together is as precious to me as it is to you. And it's not that hard. You may not be mine yet in the eyes of the Gods, but all Ingrams know about it. And I did what I thought fit into what was mine. His grip stiffened behind his neck, and suddenly the tenderness he felt for him evaporated from within him. However, she smiled sweetly at him.

“You are very strong his spirit,” he continued the previous revelation, “but so fragile.”

He pressed his body closer to his body and felt it straining against him.

“And tell me,” he said, eyes sparkling towards him in the moonlight, “when we get married and I really belong to you, in which pasture will you pasture me? If I belong to you, I want to at least have the sweetest grass of all livestock.” He pushed her away and turned around, stepping back towards the camp.

Enraged, he flew through the darkness towards the sound of Trevor's story, but something stopped him. He freezes. His senses suddenly sharpened, his body responding to the presence of something he could not see.

There was something in the dark with him. Something big. Something wild. Warmth bloomed on his stomach, spinning outward to reach his toes and fingertips. He turned slowly to the side, anticipation and fear that he had never known before gripped his throat.

As he gazed into the darkness, he slowed his breathing. There, several meters away, two huge shining eyes stared silently at him, the moon reflected brightly in it. Without a second thought, he took a step forward. And then another. The attraction he felt throughout his life was now pulling even harder than before.

A hand pulls his arm from behind.

“Are you two lovebirds done having fun in the woods?” maeve asked with a laugh. "Tell me everything." Maeve hooked the arm to Brynn's arm and guided him back to camp.

When Brynn looked back, his eyes were gone.