Mother of the Moon

Lunaya.

The sound of a wailing child filled the air around me, piercing the inner most corners of my ears. I couldn’t move, it was like my body was concreted to the ground. Everything hurt. The intense pain burned through my veins, paralysing me. I lay helpless on the ground, dying slowly. My eyes gazing, unblinking, at the retreating legs before me. I watched on powerlessly, until they were gone from my sight, vanishing between the snow-covered trees. Helplessness consumed me and I couldn’t fight it any longer. The faint cries slipped away, until only the sound of the wind was left. My heavy eyelids slowly blinked closed and the darkness fell over me.

I flew upright, panting heavily, I clutched my chest and looked around the dark space. My eyes slowly adjusted and the realisation gradually came back to me, it was just a dream. My tired eyes scanned around the dimly lit cave, the fire just barely alive with a few slow burning embers. Alyse was still asleep in her sleeping bag, curled up into a ball, close to the fire. The entrance of the cave was dark with only the pale glow of the moon light shining on the ground. I begrudgingly got up out of my sleeping bag and traipsed over to the opening of the cave. I looked out over the trees in front of me, scanning for any signs of life or danger. The ground was splattered with patches of white snow. We will need to find proper shelter soon or we will freeze to death in this cave. I shivered as an icy wind brushed against my cheeks, the weather is turning fast. I tiptoed back to the fire and placed two more logs over the embers. Stoking the fire with a stick, the flames started to engulf the new wood and my cold skin welcomed the heat.

I lay back down, tucking myself into my worn-out sleeping bag and rested my head on my arm. I stared blankly at the flames licking at the logs, as my mind begun to replay the dream again. Red stained snow covered the ground, littered with the bodies of my pack. The air was filled with the stench of blood and gun powder. The dying howl of my Alpha ripped into my already aching heart. Dead, all of them. My entire pack, slaughtered. And it was all my fault. A tear escaped my eye and I winced as I could again feel the pain that day had brought me. There was only one thing that the Goddess entrusted me with, and I failed the task. I failed her, I failed myself. Above all, I failed that sweet little girl. I wanted so much to die along with my pack, it was the least that I deserved. I would have gotten my wish if it weren’t for Alyse.

Ahh, Alyse, my only companion. We've been together now for near on seventeen years. I still don’t know if she saved me from death, or, subjected me to a lifetime of guilt and suffering at the hands of the never-ending replay of my torturous memories. Either way, I am still thankful to have her. She found my broken and bloodied body in the aftermath of the massacre and for some reason took pity on me, nursing me back to health. She says that if it weren’t for the snow slowing my heart, I would have bled to death before she found me. I still don’t know what compelled her to save my life, she may never tell me. I felt my body start to drift back off to sleep and I prayed to the Goddess to spare me the pain from my nightmares.

“Lunaya, wake up”.

I felt my body being rocked back and forth, shaking me awake.

“Come on, you need to get up now”.

I forced opened my eyes and found Alyse’s green eyes looking down at me. Her chocolate brown hair was tied in a messy bun on top of her head. Her skin was spotted with dirt and grime, and she had a smudge of ash from the fire across her cheek. Living the way we do, we go for long periods of time without luxuries like showers and mirrors. We have become accustomed to it over the years and have learned ways to live on the bare necessities.

I grumbled and pushed her hands off me, sitting up and rubbing my tired eyes.

“You couldn’t give me five more minutes?” I moaned.

“The sun has already been up for a while, you never sleep this late” she snapped back, she paused and looked over my face.

“Are you okay?” she asked her voice softening slightly.

“Yeh, just another sleepless night” I said stretching my arms out above my head.

“More nightmares?”

“Yep”

“The same one?”

“As always”

“Hmm” she hummed as she watched me crawl out of my sleeping bag and begin to roll it up.

“They’ve been coming more and more often these past few months” she said softly.

“Yeh, I know”

“Is there something bothering you?”

“Nothing new, come on we have to get moving” I said brushing of her question, I don’t want to talk about it. Simple as that. Alyse already covered up the fire and had her small, tattered backpack packed and ready to go. She turned her head over her shoulder slowly and huffed heavily.

“We don’t have to leave just yet you know, we still have a few more days until the snow settles” she said sheepishly, looking over at me. I groaned internally. we have already had this argument a bunch of times. I puffed out a frustrated breath,

“I’ve already told you, I don’t want to wait until the snow sticks. We have to find the Luna Eclipse pack before we freeze to death” I grumbled.

“Ugh whatever, how do you even know they’re out here” she groaned standing up and flinging her bag over her shoulder.

It’s true, I have only ever heard stories of Luna Eclipse, the only all-female pack in the entire world. But the legends have been told for generations. The stories of their triumphs over their enemies and their great battles and victories, they are known worldwide. Because of their female only law, they were seen as weak by many other packs. But those of them that tried to attack Luna Eclipse were wiped out. They may be all she-wolves, but they are highly skilled and trained warriors and could stand up against any male warrior. Throughout the centuries the stories of Luna Eclipse became just that, stories. Many forgot about them and they began to believe them to be nothing more than a myth, a scary story to tell your pups at night. But I knew better, as did my ancestors.

“Will you just trust me. Have I ever led you astray?” I huffed, placing my hands on my hips and glaring at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Weeellll...” she dragged out the word with a teasing tone. I threw my rolled up sleeping bag at her head and she caught it with a giggle.

“I trust you” she chuckled, tossing it back to me.

The weather turned in a blink of an eye, catching us unprepared in the middle of a snowstorm. We definitely picked a bad time of year to go hiking in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. It’s the middle of winter here and this part of the mountain takes a beating. I knew we wouldn’t cross paths with anybody, the tourist trails don’t go up this mountain. And besides, the storm would cover over any of our tracks anyway.

We huddled together and continued to stomp through the freezing snow. The storm has been raging for maybe an hour now, the snow was already knee deep and getting deeper the further we went up the mountain. My boots were soaked through, and I could feel the icy moisture in my socks. I hope we find them soon or else my toes may fall off. The wind howled past my ears, biting at my cheeks. The sound of Alyse’s teeth chattering together was almost louder than the wind.

“How f-f-far did you s-s-say" she stuttered,

“It should be here” I told her, squinting into the distance. I looked around at the trees poking out of the snow, searching for the marker. I forced my eyes to open in the cutting wind and tried hard to focus. I followed the old directions perfectly. We are near the top of the mountain, on the southern side. It has to be here. I zoned in on a peculiarly shaped tree ahead of us. After a few quick blinks I could see clearer. That's not a tree. That’s it, the stone marker, we’ve made it.

“There it...” I was cut off by the unmistakable sound a wolfs howl. I turned towards the sound but couldn’t see the source through the blizzard. Another howl came from behind us and then another and another, until we were surrounded. I saw movement come from behind the large stone, capturing my attention, a white wolf slowly came into view as it stalked towards us. The wolf bared its teeth and growled, closing the distance between us.