Wolf Moon Part 23
Heero leaned back in his saddle to gaze up the towering stone walls that framed the entrance to Hell Gate's Pass. "I don't like this." he announced above the whining wind.
Wufei craned his neck to study the sheer vertical configuration that rose steeply on either side of the narrow channel."We would be vulnerable in an attack." he finished the Tracker's line of thought then added his own observation, "It would be extremely difficult to turn the horses or mount a defense.
"Is this the only route to Deep World?" Heero wondered.
Trowa nodded affirmatively. "This is the only way." He tapped his horse's sides to move the equine forward. Without a word, yea or nag, Quatre guided his horse in line behind his lover.
"It's not too bad." Duo commented as he boldly followed the leader.
"Why am I not surprised you'd think that way?" Wufei replied to the Irishman's optimistic statement.
Duo titled his head at an inquiring angle. "Ya should be more positive."
"That's easy for you to say." Wufei snorted, "If trouble starts you can fly out of here."
"True but a swift four-legged beastie with fangs also makes a dangerous opponent."
*********
Half an hour and the sandy path became broader but still not wide enough for Heero or Wufei to be comfortable within the ravine's restricted confines.
Stubby bushes made up a hedgy border. Stalks of yellow-green fox grass was entwined with wild honeysuckle vines bedecked with thousands of ashen flowers that secreted a sickly sweet perfume.
Like skeletal sentries, gangly trees kept watch over the quinque. Stunted by shallow roots, deformed by the hot currents funneling through the pass and shrouded in wilted leaves, the saplings jutted from crevices etched in the wall's craggy surface.
Branches bowed and stretched out gnarled fingers as if to snatch the riders from their mounts. Boulders ranging from cantaloupe size to several tons perched precariously along the sides and in some places blocked the sun.
The bizarre combination of hot wind and nightmarish landscape left no doubt how Hell Gate's Pass had earned its name.
The mirage of light and shadows, the constant, howling wind befuddled the senses. Now it was not just the Tracker who felt "eyes on his back", his fellow warriors were also aware of the eerie elements that played tricks on the eyes and ears and mind.
Duo's used his enhanced falcon sight to scan the rocky rim for signs that they were being trailed by humans or stalked by something ethereal. Wufei employed his keen nose to sniff out unnatural odors. Quatre reached out empathetically and Trowa concentrated on any subtle vibrations emitted by the Staff of the Rose.
Whether there was real danger or an imaginary threat, the horses mirrored their riders' apprehension in their tense muscles and skittish behavior.
Heero patted the roan stallion's neck. "Easy boy." he whispered in a reassuring tone.
"How much longer?" Wufei asked the Priest of Twilight.
"A mile, maybe more."
Duo's head snapped up. His eyes darted, first at a large rock halfway up the right side then further upward almost to the top.
Heero copied the Irishman's line of sight. "What?"
"I thought I saw movement."
Quatre placed his hand on Duo's arm and closed his eyes so it was easier to see with his mind. "I don't sense anything."
Duo took a moment to focus then, without averting his eyes, added. "It might have been my imagination."
Wufei unsheathed his sword. "Imagination or not, I suggest we don't tarry."
Trowa concurred with the Beast's wise counsel. "No point in tempting the fates."
When the last horse rounded a bend and disappeared. When the wind erased the hoof prints and the gloom once again claimed the path, a blue-gray mist levitated, settled on a granite outcrop and fused together.
The Shadow Spy "sat" a few inches above the sand-pitted rock, its outline wavering in the wind. "It is frustrating that Khushrenada only bids me to follow but my Master has promised that once he takes the bastard's lives, I can have their souls."
As the last words were hissed into the wind, the Dark Lord's vaporous agent faded away like the sun swallowed up by the night.
*********
Heero was the first rider to materialize from Hell Gate's Pass. As his comrades emerged into the welcomed sunlight, each one breathed a sigh of relief.
Straight trees stood proudly and supple green leaves were feathered by a cool, fresh breeze. This time Duo did see movement but birds flittering and squirrels scampering were easily identified as friendly.
The road ahead was a ribbon that stretched over a series of small hills as it descended into the Valley of Visions.
No bloodthirsty beasts dwelled in the valley. No beautiful maidens who were really witches or seductive sirens that would lure humans to their deaths with spells or enchanting songs.
It was not what was in the valley but what you took in with you.
Memories were read in the forest. Sadness, fear, pity and pain were multiplied. Past remembrances that plagued the conscience or recollections that rent the heart were manifested in visions that appeared based in reality and designed to cause madness.
Trowa had warned his comrades of the valley's influence. Quatre had sworn an oath of intercession, to use his own ability to cloud his thoughts for the warrior's protection. But the Priest and the Manipulator's authority only extended to the mind and not the body.
While the horses would be immune, Heero's hunter instincts would cease to speak to him. Wufei and Duo would not be able to transform. Each man would be stripped of his bodily alterations and their minds laid bare to the raw agony of guilt or regret.
Nevertheless, the Valley of Visions could not be avoided. It was yet another test of the warriors' physical grit, mental fortitude and their allegiance that might require them to give up their lives for the brotherhood.
*********
The overgrown road vanished into a densely packed forest of oaks and chestnuts and blue cedars. An abnormal chill surged from the tree line to wash over the Hunter, the Duel Spirit, the Cleric, the Manipulator and the Beast.
Dead leaves carpeted the ground in thick layers of damp black humus. Tubular mushrooms thrived in the moisture-laden soil. Mounds of cushion moss huddled between exposed roots. Scaly lichens clung to bark and cloaked stones. Thorny vines snaked around the trees and stretched across from branch to branch to seize anyone whose attention lapsed.
Overhead the treetops fused into a compact canopy that allowed only faint traces of sunlight and, unlike the continual wind in Hell Gate's Pass, there was not so much as a puff of air to ruffle the foliage.
Since Trowa and Quatre had made the trek before they took the point. Backs straight and shoulders squared, they rode confidently. Their posture conveyed knowledge of the forest but in no way gave the impression of someone totally at ease. Ever alert, their heads tilted often and their ears strained to decipher each sound and decided if it was in harmony or discord.
As the horses wove single-file through the wooded labyrinth, the equines' ears flattened and their nostrils snorted their discontentment. With equal irritation the riders' glares and scowls clearly showed their displeasure with the dim, dank environment.
Duo's waist length braid snagged on an oak's low hanging branch. He tugged it free and declared. "This is a damnable place...dark as a grave and cold as a whore's heart."
Wufei ducked under a cedar bough then flinched when his ebony ponytail also fell victim to a painful entanglement. He cursed in Chinese but didn't bother to translate the curt expletives, which was probably just as well.
"If its any consolation," Heero interjected in opinion, "these hostile surroundings will prove much more difficult for Lord Khushrenada and his bastardly troops and should sufficiently slow their progress."
*********
The quinque sat astride their mounts, five abreast, and gazed down from the hill crest into the Valley of Visions.
Blanched fog blanketed the valley floor. In some areas lifeless trees, pale as bleached bones, protruded from the swirling vapors. In other spots wispy whirlpools sucked the mist into hollow vortexes.
Outside the forest the same chilly currents that had greeted the travelers blew up the hill to buffet the Warriors of the Rose but now the tides were infused with the pungent odor of sulfur.
"We lead the horses from here." Trowa announced as his dismounted.
Further into the valley the quinque became acutely aware of the earth moving under their boots. It was as if the soil was alive, slithering like a colossal serpent or, perhaps, it was a thin crust that would give to the breaking point then split apart to devour both humans and horses.
"Whose mind is makin' the ground move?" Duo demanded without a hint of sarcasm.
Quatre glanced over his shoulder at his comrade. "It's always like this."
"That don't make it any easier to put up with."
Without turning around or slowing his pace, Trowa warned. "Don't believe anything you see or hear or feel. In this place your senses can not be trusted."
*********
Heero was alone; looking through a tunnel of fog that curled up then rolled under in a churning motion like waves wrenched by a riptide. Straight ahead he could clearly see a woman dressed in a pink satin kimono embroidered with blue and gold flowers.
The woman had a delicate figure. Her skin was as smooth as porcelain and her feet were bare. Shiny black hair was gathered at the nape of her neck and secured with a silver pick shaped like a katana.
Her face was partly hidden by a rice paper fan decorated with red peonies and white cranes that was held in her right hand. Her left hand rested on a tawny elkhound standing by her side.
Heero's eyes were unsure but his heart...
"Mother?"
The fan dropped away to disclose the woman's true aspect.
Black eyes bore into Heero's heart. "You failed to slay the demons."
"There were too many."
Heero heard the words in his head but he couldn't remember speaking.
"No!" The woman shook her head so fiercely the pick slipped from her hair and unleashed a heavy mane that hung beyond her waist. "You failed to set me free."
Again Heero's reply was not voiced but issued mentally. "I'm trying. I won't rest until..."
"YOU FAILED!" was wailed with such rage that the fog shrunk back from the fury to leave Heero totally exposed.
Heero staggered. His legs gave up their support. His knees struck the ground so hard it sent shock waves through his body. His heart hammered and a tightness wrapped so tightly around his chest he struggled to breathe.
"Please mother," he begged between gasps for air. "I would give up my life to save you." he swore an unconditional oath.
Keiko Yuy centered her dark sight on her son. Her next question was whispered hoarsely. "Would you join me in my madness?"
Heero braced his hands on the ground that sagged under his weight. "I can't save you if I'm mad."
"Will you forsake me again?"
"The final battle will be fought. The Lord of Darkness will be defeated...I swear on my soul."
Keiko's fingers raked through the elkhound's scruffy coat. "I can not bear for you to leave me again."
The massive canine gazed up at his mistress then redirected his glowing eyes at the penitent son who was wheezing and weeping and clawing up handfuls of dirt.
A growl rumbled in the elkhound's throat but Heero didn't hear. Lips drew back, fangs dripped with frothy saliva but Heero didn't see. Muscles rippled as the devil dog started forward to stalk his prey before ripping flesh from bone and feasting on the blood.
Heero didn't care.
He had failed his mother, dishonored his family. He was not a Demon Tracker...no Warrior of the Rose...only a charade, a pretender who didn't have the guts to surrender his sanity for his mother's sake.
The elkhound froze in place, granting Heero one final moment to scream or beg or pray. Heero locked his tear-reddened eyes with the beast's fiery orbs and steeled himself for death.
*********
Duo stood on a cliff in County Maxwell with his back to the sea.
Waves crashed against the craggy shoreline that was awash with white foam then hissed as they were sucked out by the tide. Seagulls, their lonesome cries echoing over the rocky precipice, glided on updrafts and swooped through the salty spray.
As a steady breeze ruffled Duo's hair and caused his braid to sway, he shielded his eyes to better see a figure walking toward him with an odd stagger in its stride.
Another tentative step.
With a puzzled expression, Duo tilted his head. Slowly the sun retreated behind the clouds, the glare lessened and the phantasmic form's true features were revealed.
Duo's breath hitched in his chest and his heart skipped a beat. "Merciful saints."
Sallow skin hung loosely from an emaciated frame draped in ragged, mud-encrusted clothes. Stringy hair, matted with what appeared to be moss, straggled around the stranger's shoulders and stuck to his gaunt face.
But it was the man's eyes, sunk deep into their sockets, that held Duo in macabre fascination. The eyes were vacant, void of any spark of life.
The emotionless orbs locked on Duo with a sightless stare that sent chills clawing up his spine.
"Who...what...are you?" Duo stammered as the question shivered through his throat and turned icy on his tongue.
Thin lips pulled back in a yellow-toothed grin. "Don't you recognize me?"
Rendered speechless by the unexpected response, all Duo could do was shake his head negatively.
The man, if that what he was, leaned nearer with a shrill scraping of bone against bone that made Duo cringe. "Has it been so long that you've forgotten your brother?"
"You're not Solo." Duo whispered in disbelief, "You can't be." he stated, his voice a bit stronger.
"Why?"
"Because my brother died years ago."
"Are you so sure?"
Duo centered his violet eyes on the being that had surly been spawned by the devil. "I'll not listen to your lies." he growled.
He pulled the silver cross from under his shirt and held it up as far as the chain would allow. "Be gone, damned demon, back to the depths of hell."
Quicker than the eye could measure the motion, the creature sprang forward. A bony hand grabbed Duo's arm and yanked him closer.
With a shout of surprise Duo tried to jerk free.
Long, dirt-stained fingernails dug into Duo's skin. The claws scraped across his wrist leaving bloody lines in their wake and causing him to yelp from the pain.
Fetid breath, rancid as rotting meat, hissed in Duo's face. "You might have made a deal before but not this time."
Despite the overpowering stench that made Duo's stomach queasy and bile to rise in his throat, he choked out, "I don't...understand."
The unearthly assailant narrowed his eyes and Duo drew back in fear from the sparks flaring in their blank pupils. "A deal with death, a bargain to cheat the Claimer of Souls."
Suddenly Duo's mind was clear of confusion. His eyes saw beyond the hideous shell that once was his brother's body to gaze into a soul rent with the unbearable anguish of loneliness and despair.
Duo stopped fighting; his body went limp. His daily struggle with guilt had left no more strength to do battle with the dead. "Solo." he breathed out his brother's name.
Tears overflowed the floodgates and tracked down his cheeks. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you. I begged for your recovery. By all that's holy I prayed to be taken instead of you.
After you died I considered taking my life, you were gone, Mother was gone and it hurt to be alone. But I was afraid, not of dying but that suicide would damn my soul to hell and then we would be separated for eternity."
Duo sunk to his knees and looked up at Solo. For a fleeting moment youthful skin replaced decaying tissue, curly auburn hair shone in the sunlight and his brother's peaceful smile mirrored absolute contentment.
"Don't leave me again." Duo begged.
"I have to."
Duo closed his eyes and willingly allowed the calm of surrender to banish the guilt. "I want to go with you."
Solo knelt in front of his younger brother and took his hands. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure."
"Once we go there's no turning back."
"I know."
Solo pulled Duo into a reassuring embrace. Sand sucked around Duo and Solo's knees, rose up their thighs, their hips, chest high. Duo held on as the sun disappeared and the roar of the waves was reduced to faint swishes.
*********
The full moon painted the forest with its radiance. Dewy leaves glistened and crickets chirped in perfect time as an owl hooted its haunting song.
Wufei paused to gaze up at the magnificent "Eye of Heaven". There were four stars inside the bright aura that haloed the moon. Four angels keeping watch from the circle of light.
A fresh breeze feathered the leaves but it also carried an ancient essence that stirred Wufei's memories, past remembrances of his pack, his family and of Meilan, a noble shewolf that had once been his mate.
Pangs of sorrow touched his heart but he could not weep, for his tears had long ago been cried out. He had mourned his mate, burned incense at her grave and offered prayers for her reunion with her ancestors then he'd focused his grief on revenge.
It had been a year since Wufei metered out his retribution. One by one the hunters who killed the four pack-members became his prey. Each man had been stalked and teased with brief sightings of a black wolf with glowing eyes that was rumored to be both beast and human.
Each man was given one week to think about his death, to realize that he could do nothing to stop his demise and no mercy had been shown when the payment of their lives was required.
Meilan still visited Wufei's dreams. Every night he and Meilan would run through the forest, lay together in the meadow and watch the stars twinkle against heaven's ebony backdrop.
And each month when the full moon bathed the land, the Lone Wolf would stand on the highest hill and howl and in his heart Meilan would answer his wails of loneliness.
This night was different.
The owl took flight and the crickets suddenly became silent. In the moon's halo, the four stars linked together to emit a bright pulse of pure white light.
There was not merely a sensation but a strong presence. Wufei sniffed the air...wild roses mingled with Meilan's scent.
"Wufei." His name carried softly on the breeze.
Meilan stood in the meadow silhouetted by moon glow. However, the shadow cast by the silvery light didn't copy her human outline but projected the profile of her true nature.
Wufei held his breath. He was afraid that his mate was only a light-reflected likeness and that the slightest stirring of air might scatter her image beyond reclaiming or perhaps she was dream and he would wake up to find himself alone.
Meilan held out her hand. "Come." she beckoned.
Before Wufei's mind could comprehend, his body obeyed. He reached out; sparks arced between his and Meilan's hands. A tentative touch then fingers intertwined.
With her free hand Meilan caressed her mate's cheek. "Stay with me."
"How? I dwell with the living and you dwell with the dead."
"Dear husband, love is our bridge."
"Then we will never be parted again." Wufei promised then sealed his vow with a kiss.
Blue light enveloped the embracing lovers. Bodies shimmered, became translucent and began to blend with the moonlight.
*********
Heero, Duo and Wufei lay on their backs, eyes transfixed by their visions. Their respirations were shallow and their heartbeats had slowed to dangerous levels.
The Hunter, the Duel Spirit and the Breast were slipping away and their passage into the land of illusions was quickly reaching the point of no return.
Trowa and Quatre knelt by their comatose comrades.
Trowa angled the Staff of the Rose across the warriors in an attempt to stave off the valley's influence.
Quatre collected handfuls of fog, spun the mist into three balls and set a ball to hover over Heero, Duo and Wufei's chests. He closed his eyes, clutched his pouch of wolfsbane and, as he rocked back and forth, whispered an exchange incantation.
When the balls had expanded to three times their size, Quatre poised his lips and blew gently. Thistledown swirled on the artificial currents and fell like snow to cover the prone bodies.
"Will the spell work." Trowa asked apprehensively.
Quatre looked up at his lover with anxious eyes. "It has too."
Moments passed like years. Quatre blew again, more flurries descended on the motionless forms.
Duo was the first to suck in a lungful of air. Wufei and Heero's reawakening followed a few seconds behind. In unison the trance-ensnared trio opened their eyes and gazed up at their liberators.
Trowa sat back and arranged the staff lengthwise across his knees. "Welcome back."
Heero pushed to sit up but his arms wouldn't cooperate. Cursing under his breath, he tried again with the same results.
Quatre placed his hand on the Tracker's shoulder and applied sufficient pressure to emphasize his order. "Lay still."
With some effort, Duo managed to roll on his side to face Heero. "What happened?"
"What do you remember?" Quatre asked.
"Nothing. Just traces of feelings."
Wufei was a bit more successful. He braced his hands then scooted on his trim rear end until his back settled against a tree trunk. He stared up through the fog that all but obscured the overhead branches. "The Valley." he stated then frowned as he brushed fluffs of white from his ebony hair.
"Rest awhile," Trowa urged, "then we'll leave this accursted place. There will be no more visions."
TBC...
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