The Moonlit Curse

Ch 27: The First Village

The first day of travelling was uneventful. Boring, even. Kipper and another shire stallion pulled the sled laden down with supplies, August, and Kiya with seemingly no effort. The road between Silverkeep and the lycan villages deeper in the woods was narrow enough that only someone who knew where they were going could tell that it was there under all the snow and ice.

It was shortly into the second day when Kiya felt the change in the air. Less than an hour after they turned away from the lycan villages and started the ascent up the mountain, it got harder and harder to breathe. Then it got colder. It got so unbearably cold that the layers of cotton, fur, and leather did nothing to keep her from shivering.

It was a hostile cold. An unwelcoming cold.

Two weeks ago, she would have cast it off as her imagination. Then again, two weeks ago she hadn't believed in magic beyond what was used in runes. And, by the way that August seemed completely unaffected, it was blaringly obvious that she was the one unwelcome here.

Her shivering didn't go unnoticed by August, but there simply wasn't anything he could do except urge the pair of horses into a quicker pace. "We're almost there," he promised and reached under the canvas protecting their supplies for another blanket.

"Thank you," Kiya shuddered. "I bet Hadyn would be laughing his ass off if he knew how much I hate the cold."

"I doubt it will make him feel better about letting you on his ancestral grounds, but you're right. He would be amused by your temporary suffering."

"How did your talk with him go, by the way? You never told me."

"About as well as you can expect." A heavy cloud of steam vented through the scarf with August's sigh. "They were shocked. Then he realized how much Elora and I had told you. But once I asked to bring you out here, he got pissed. We yelled, bargained, and eventually came to an agreement."

"Which was?"

"He'll let you train and spend the full moon here. You need to survive your first transition without hurting anyone and without any of the other hunters finding out. After that, he would be willing to discuss letting you stay in Silverkeep."

"So generous," she rolled her eyes. "Though, I hate to admit that I will probably need to his connections to get out of patrol for the other three months."

"I take it your talk with them went about as well?"

"It went fine, I think. They didn't really believe me at first. Then they tested me by making me guess a bunch of dice rolls and random card draws. Then Quintin berated me for being a straight arrow and we could have figured all of this out if I ever joined him in his regular gambling rings. And then Elise got overexcited and asked a million questions that I don't have the answers to."

"How did Red take it? I noticed he didn't say much when we left."

Kiya shifted uncomfortably, and looked away so he couldn't see her eyes. "He knew there was something wrong," she said quietly. "He started putting the pieces together around my behaviour lately. I think he would have accepted the whole oracle thing if I hadn't..."

"If you hadn't what?"

"Mentioned you. Or told him the plan to come out here with you alone. We fought... again. It got bad. If it weren't for the rest of the team, I don't think he would have allowed me to go."

"Oh," August responded awkwardly. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. We're in the clear for the next full moon. That's all that matters right now."

The silence that fell between them was almost as cold as the air, and they could have cut the tension with a knife. Slowly, the trees began to thin, indicating that they were close to their final destination. And then, all at once with no warning, they broke free from the woods into a clearing.