Danger

PRIESTESS MALIA’S POV
Danger was looming in the Southern Paw pack. I could feel it, I could sense it. Ever since the peace treaty was signed between werewolves and witches. Something had felt wrong, terribly wrong.
But last week the feeling was so strong, I could literally taste the bad omen in the air. It smelt of smoke and burning thatch.
I knew there was a fire outbreak down north before the news spread, before anyone was aware that anything was amiss. As high priestess, a part of me was fused with the pack, so I was usually privy to most of the activities going on in the pack, also delicate or sensitive information. Some things that should never be heard from anyone’s lips.
Most of the ministers would gladly pay to assassinate me because of the information they feared I had of them. They were right to fear because I was aware. But their doings weren’t mine to share unless I was directly instructed. Regardless, my execution was well above their ability. Even the alpha of the pack couldn’t directly execute a high priest or priestess. I was the voice of the goddess in the pack and therefore any punishment to me must be carried out by the goddess herself.
A situation that people tend to overlook but which was the most crucial part of our jobs. The goddess wasn’t a mortal wolf like the rest of the pack, her punishments were not measly like lashes of whip or labour or starvation or getting hanged or beheaded.
It was much worse, more dastardly.
I had always walked uprightly in my doings and never collected any form of bribery. I lived an upright life and tried my best to follow the laws of the land.
This wasn’t about me.
The treaty signing must have been a hoax, a way to shift the attention of the pack into thinking this was about peace but my sight did not fail me.
The fire that destroyed houses in the north was not a mistake. It wasn’t a leak. It was an attack and it wasn’t the first of its kind, and definitely not going to be the last.
The witches were making a statement. Setting fires, causing fights, robbing, breaking, beating. It was just a strategy. Something was coming. Something big, something scary. Something I couldn’t stop.
The rogues were unstable. No one knew this more than I. I had access to magic, I could tap from the core elements. I knew what they could do if care wasn’t taken.
A lot more damage would have been done if Prince Cillian hadn’t appeared at the time which he did. People were saved, women and children, young and old. Nobody was gravely hurt.
But that meant nothing. It could always happen again. And were the odds that an alpha would always swoop in and save everyone like that on a regular basis?
These visions had invaded my mind while I was meditating. I could sense someone watching the Prince as he rescued those villagers. I felt the anger seep from their body through the crust of the pack. But they had done nothing, just watched in anger.
Perhaps they couldn’t take on the Prince because he was too powerful? Or perhaps it was not time for that yet?
I couldn’t read their feelings, their magic was strong.
I had an ominous feeling. Estella had come to me to ask for help and I had flat out refused her. Whatever she wanted wasn’t for the good of the pack. I saw the flash in her eyes. I knew that looked all too well. It was only a matter of time before blood would be spilt.
A witch of that caliber didn’t just arise from the shadows after this many years for no reason. She had a purpose for this. For all of her tidings, it wasn’t for fun. She might be damaged but she wasn’t a fool. She was a strategist and that was why she could bring herself to come down here and ask for help.
She knew I would never agree but she came anyway. Maybe just to make sure I would stand my ground?
Maybe to see how I was doing after all this time? One never knew with her. Estella was problematic and had always been.
But I knew exactly what she was capable of. I could guess what she was planning but I couldn’t be sure, she knew how to hide things very well.
*****
Thirty years ago
“What did you do? You know blood magic is banned.” I asked, terrified that we were definitely going to get into big trouble for my friend’s carelessness.
“Relax Malia. You’re always so uptight, and besides nobody needs to know. It’s not like I killed anyone.” She smiled, twirling to show her hair changing colours from her magic.
A dead rat laid on the floor in front of us. She had slit its throat to practice illegal magic.
“Chill Malia.” Irene smiled without looking up. She was molding something with the wet sand she had gotten from the river. It looked like a castle.
“Yeah chill.”
“You really shouldn’t go around killing animals for no reason, Estella. That’s disgusting.” Irene said, raising a brow.
Estella frowned.
“I didn’t just do this for fun. I’m going to fix this.” She said and took off the glasses she had on.
This revealed the true colour of her eyes. Blue and brown. She had a genetic mutation from birth that caused different colouration of the eyes. Her left eye was hazel brown and the right was an icy, sky blue. Individually they were beautiful but together, people thought she was a freak.
“What do you mean?” Irene and I asked simultaneously.
Estella reached out and brought out a black bottle. Filled with some liquid.
“I can make my eyes normal.” She said, holding up the bottle.
“This is too dangerous, don’t you dare pour that in your eyes. It is unstable, there will be side effects. This is blood magic, it’s never safe.”
“Who said anything about pouring?” She had a dark expression on her face. We had seen this before. She opened the bottle. Nothing would stop her.
“Esy…” Irene called. Rising slowly, don’t do that.
“Oh for fuck’s sake I put an antidote in your bag just in case. I’m not a dummy. And nobody will ever make fun of me again.” She hissed and gulped the contents of the bottle.
We watched in horror.
She swallowed the contents and dropped the bottle.
“Ugh, that was incredibly bitter. But not too..” She choked midway through her sentence holding her neck and then her head.
“Ahhhhhh!” She shrieked in agony, dropping to the ground.
“Esy, no!”
“Irene, the antidote, now!” I screamed and she started scrambling for it.
Estella had begun to levitate. The magic from that concoction was far too powerful to do something like this. This was more than just the blood of one rat. What was she thinking?
“I found it!” Yelped Irene as she lifted a tiny yellow bottle from her bag.
Why the hell was the antidote so small?
“Agggghhhhhh!” Estella’s screams sent chills down my spine.
She was floating in a horizontal position, her eyes were like burning torches. Her screams were as though her whole body was on fire.
Irene threw the bottle to me and I caught it and tried to pull Estella down. As soon as my palm made contact with her body, it was as though I had been thrown into a burning furnace. I flung my hand away from her, crying in pain.
The way she screamed didn’t tell the full story of what she was going through. She was holding back. She was in agonizing pain and she was holding back to see if her plan would work.
She stopped screaming and landed on the ground before I could administer the antidote.
We both ran to her. I touched her skin again expecting what I had experienced earlier but I felt the exact opposite. Her body was ice cold.
Like she was dead. But I could sense her heartbeat. Thank the goddess.
She still had the glasses on as she lay motionless. I took them off. There was steam coming out from her eyelids. Irene was speechless.
I opened the little yellow bottle and emptied its contents into her mouth.
This seemed to warm her body instantly. Nothing happened for a few minutes.
Irene was sniffing silently now. I watched my careless friend’s body looking lifeless except for a heartbeat. What was she thinking?
Then her fingers moved and her eyelids twitched.
She was shivering violently now. I covered her with my cloak to keep her warm and gave her some water. She gulped in quickly with her eyes closed.
I prayed to the goddess that she hadn’t gone blind because of this.
Estella opened her eyes and we held our breaths at what we saw.
She no longer looked like a cat. Both eyes were a perfect icy blue now, just like Irene’s.
Estella looked at both of us and she knew that her plan had worked. Regardless of the fact that she had risked her life in the process.
“No one will ever call me a freak again.”
.*****
ROSALIND’S POV
I looked around, wondering how I got into this forest. I had never been here before. It was filled with bushes and broken branches and weeds. I used my claws to make a way for myself as I looked for an exit. Soon I was in a narrow path that led to a cave. I followed the path because of the light that was reflecting from inside the cave. Someone was obviously there. Maybe they could tell me where I was
Again I tried to remember how I had gotten here but I couldn’t.
I entered the cave and saw the lantern that lit it up but there were no signs of anyone around.
“Hello?”
I heard a ruffle of leaves behind. I turned around quickly but saw nobody. Nobody but a little bird, a crow.
It was faced backwards. I watched it as it turned slowly towards me and I started getting a bad feeling.
I screamed when it looked at me. Its eyes were different colours. One brown and one blue
My pillow was drenched in sweat when I opened my eyes.
It was a dream.