Wolf Moon Part 7
Duo sat down in the cool grass. With a heavy sigh he leaned his back against a tree. Wufei sat cross-legged beside the enigmatic Irishman. Heero settled opposite Duo and waited patiently to hear his extraordinary story.
"My mother, my older brother, Solo, and I lived in the town of Fairfield in County Maxwell." Duo began the account of his life. "My father had gone to heaven six years earlier. Solo and I were woodworkers and made our living building furniture.
Three years ago, shortly after the Summer Solstice, a terrible sickness swept through the countryside. No family, including my own, was untouched.
Mother was stricken first. Her fever worsened until she no longer recognized Solo and me as we stayed steadfastly by her side doing what we could to save her but all our efforts were in vain."
Duo swallowed hard to stop the resurfacing emotions from choking off his words.
"Mercifully she departed this life before Solo collapsed for if the sickness hadn't taken her she would've surely died of a broken heart. Solo lingered four days more, growing weaker with each hour. He was," Duo paused to steady his voice, "laid to rest between my mother and father to dwell with them for eternity. Afterwards I went into seclusion and mourned alone."
Seeing Duo so forlorn broke Heero's heart. He laid a consoling hand on the Irishman's shoulder. "I'm very sorry."
Duo nodded. "Thank you." He let a long sigh flow over his quivering lips and continued. "I don't know why I didn't get sick but my survival did not go unnoticed by the superstitious townspeople who believed I'd cheated death because I was in league with the devil.
"The night of the full moon the parish priest, accompanied by the sheriff and two guards, came to arrest me for being a warlock. I took a beating but I fought them off, escaped into the forest and disappeared into the darkness. Battered and bleeding, I stood on a hillside and watched the ungodly bastards torch my house and destroy the last link I had with my clansmen."
Tears clung to Duo's long eyelashes. Hungry flames consuming his home, fireballs shooting into the sky as the roof gave way and the walls caved in, every image burned into his memories. "With nothing left I became a wanderer, a vagabond...a thief...using any means to keep from starving."
Suddenly Duo straightened his stooped shoulders. His fingers curled into enraged fists until his knuckles whitened. Fiery sparks replaced the tears glistening in his eyes.
"I never sold my body! NEVER! No matter how cold or hungry, no matter how lonely, I never traded my flesh for food or a bed." he declared through gritted teeth.
Wufei shifted beside his comrade. "You're a good man." he expressed his feelings with uncharacteristic warmth.
"You don't have to continue." Heero insisted, not wanting to reopen Duo's emotional wounds.
Duo wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, "I promised an explanation and I'll finish the story. I joined a carnival troupe and earned my way repairing the wagons, carving wooden crosses and charms and performing with the acrobats.
One evening we'd set up camp outside a village named Goshen. There was a decent crowd and a goodly amount of money was made. After the show a pair of local lads, their common sense dulled by too much liquor, tried to steal the cash box. Of course they were caught and received a thrashing for their attempted larceny.
Both boys were nobleman's spoiled brats. Later that night an angry mob stormed the camp and hauled everyone including the children off to jail. I protested the unlawful arrests and harsh treatment, started a fight with a guard and took a blow to the head.
When I woke up I was in a dungeon set aside for people who were mad. Instead of individual cells there was one dank room. A barred window, which let in the wind and rain, was set high in the wall. Moldy straw scattered on the cold, stone floor was my bed. Scraps of food unfit for swine were my meager portions and a wooden bucket was my chamber pot.
My right wrist was shackled. A short chain, attached to the wristband then to the wall, allowed me to sit up or lay down but not stand up without bowing my back.
Three other prisoners were also locked away in that horrid place. One man huddled in his corner, mumbling and cursing and scratching his arms and legs with broken shards of pottery.
Another man's hairless head was covered with thick scars. His nose was a knob of crusty flesh and his skin was creased like dry leather. He spent all day and most of the night talking to his wife and children who died in the same fire that had disfigured him. If anyone interrupted his conversations with his ghosts, he'd fly into a fierce rage. That was the only time it was good everyone was chained in place.
The third madhouse dweller was a gaunt old woman who claimed to be a witch. Every morning she'd put on her faded scarlet cape and chant to the sun. Every sunset she'd chant to the moon. Each night she'd draw holy symbols and pentagrams in the straw then point a gnarled finger at me and ask the same question."
"If I gave you the power to leave would you bring me a bit of bread?"
"At first I paid no heed to the crazy crone. But one moonless night when the wind was bitter and I shivered under my threadbare blanket and my stomach begged to be fed, I heard a ring of truth in her recurring question.
"You would grant my freedom for bread?" I asked for clarification.
"Yes."
I wrapped the blanket tighter around my bony body and leaned against the damp wall. "Once I gain my freedom are you so sure I'd return to you?"
The woman stroked her stringy gray hair and I swear sparks flickered along the dull strands. "I know your heart." she whispered so lowly I could barely hear her above the howling wind, "You would not betray me."
"Even if these chains were broken," I rattled the heavy links, "what would be my means of escape?"
A knotty-jointed finger pointed to the window. "There."
"Fool." I thought for listening to the daft witch. "No more." I hissed, "I'll not let you drive me insane."
A raspy chuckle vibrated in her throat. "Do you have so little faith?"
"It's not a matter of faith but sensible reasoning." I argued back, "Even if you did have the magic..." A piercing glare cut off my words.
"Pledge your return and I'll give you the power." she growled, "If not we can rot away together. Your choice but I won't offer again."
"Could I act on faith or was I indeed a fool? But what future did I have in that forsaken room with no hope of rescue? I swear I will return." I promised then made the sign of the cross to prove my sincerity.
The woman or witch or maker of fools, whether mad or sane, leaned forward and locked her bewitching eyes on me. "No matter what happens don't look away or cry out." she instructed.
"As my heart hammered in my chest and fear threatened to stop the hammering, I swallowed hard and shook my head yes.
She drew a symbol I'd never seen before in the straw dust then passed both hands over the mysterious markings. She began to chant in a language foreign to my ears. The words were ancient, the meter spellbinding. Her voice smoothed out like warm honey. Gone was the husky tenor of age and the hoarseness from breathing musty air.
First there was a tickle on my skin like fingertips brushing along my arms and legs. Then the phantom touch began to tingle and heat rushed over my body until it felt like I was on fire. I gritted my teeth against the pain to keep from screaming. I twisted up handfuls of the blanket as my body shivered not from the cold but from every muscle contorting at once."
*She's killing you!* bellowed inside my head.
"Sweat soaked my ratty clothing and turned icy on my skin. I couldn't catch my breath nor could I look away from eyes that glowed like hot embers.
I saw my reflection in those blazing orbs and panic gripped my soul as welts raised under my flesh then feathers burst forth and layered into a sleek cover. The shackle slid off a wing much smaller than my wrist. Talons flattened on the floor. I saw clearly in the darkness as if a torch had been lit and the slightest sounds were magnified in my ears.
Now I was man and a powerful bird of prey with both spirits alive inside my soul. I stretched my wings, a shrill screech echoed in the gloomy chamber. Now I had my promised freedom for I could fly through the bars and soar far above the earthly planes."
"Remember your pledge." the witch reminded, pointing to the window.
"With one flap I was airborne. A second beating of wings on air carried me up and away. Above, the midnight sky twinkled with a thousand stars. Below, smoke drafted in bluish wisps from the prison's chimney and watch fires glowed orange in the darkness.
Strangely I had the instincts of a human and a sky dweller. As I glided on the updrafts and swooped over the treetops I was fully aware of each sensation. I could see the stars, hear the wind whistling and smell the sweet, fresh air.
As tempted as I was to keep flying until all my misery was but a memory, I kept my pledge and snatched up as many discarded crusts of bread I could find in the waste dump behind the tavern.
Just before reaching the prison a terrifying thought stole my breath away. Was I forever destined to be a falcon with my soul trapped within a mantle of plumes and spiky quills? Would I ever walk or talk or know the love of a woman?
*You know how to change.* echoed inside my head.
*How?* I questioned the inner voice.
*That knowledge has been inscribed on your soul since birth.* the voice declared, *You only have to learn how to use it.*
Duo paused and sucked a deep breath. He closed his eyes and envisioned buildings diminished from a falcon's lofty heights and people that looked like ants. Fleetingly he felt the breeze bolstering his wings and recalled the freedom of flying.
With a sigh mingled with sadness he opened his eyes and looked from Wufei to Heero then gazed at the horizon that was painted with the waning sun's red and orange hues.
"I soon mastered the transformation and the altering pains disappeared. Each night I took flight, returned with whatever morsels I could find and never begged for a bite.
A smile tugged at Duo's lips, "The witch and I hid our secret well. I would slip my wing through the shackle before changing and the guards never suspected. But even if the mumbling man and the man who talked to ghosts told the guards, no one would've believed them, after all each of us was mad in our particular way.
The adaptable Irishman glanced once more at the multicolored sunset and concluded his tale. "The moon traveled two full cycles. The leaves turned crimson and gold and the air was crisp with autumn's chill.
"A week before All Saints Eve I flew through the bars but instead of the witch's usual grateful greeting, she was curled up on the floor with her death-glazed eyes fixed on the window.
For the first time, I ate the scavenged meal. Afterwards, in my human form, I held a wake until dawn chased away the darkness. I kissed the witch's cold cheek, bade my fellow madmen farewell, transformed and never looked back.
"As I set my sights to the east, I realized I never learned the woman's name nor did she know mine but yet we had somehow become kindred spirits in the end.
"I flew until exhaustion forced me from the sky. The landing was difficult and I barely had enough strength to transform before I passed out."
Duo leaned closer to Asian swordsman and placed a hand on his arm. "Wufei found me lying by the road, delirious with a high fever borne from fatigue and malnutrition. He took me to his house and nursed me back to health. If it hadn't been for his kindness I would have died."
Throughout Duo's wondrous narrative, Heero had remained silent. Although he had seen the proof of Duo's physical modifications with his own eyes, the tale of transformation still spoke of legends and folklore.
But the Demon Tracker had no cause to speculate about the truth veiled in such mystical stories. From the beginning of time, when the devil took on the serpent's guise, every man and beast and winged creature has tempted the senses. And every idea of what is normal in nature has been skewed until each man's reality is merely a mirage.
"The duel spirit of earth and sky." Heero said aloud as the realization of Duo's true nature became clear. "You're part of the quinque." he whispered reverently.
"I am."
"The Priest of Twilight visited my dark dreams and promised his guidance." Heero stated with the same awe, "Please tell me is he the cleric who rules a tri-ringed rod?"
"He is."
"Are you my guides to Twilight?"
Wufei beheld the lone hunter wise to demonic ways with ebony eyes that were shrouded in mystery. "We are your guides to Twilight."
Heero reached into his shirt, pulled out the silver cross and let in dangle from the chain. "Sub Rosa." he proclaimed.
In turn, Wufei and Duo displayed crosses that were exact copies. "Lest the devil discover." they replied in unison.
Heero acknowledged his comrades then stated, "Two members of the quinque have yet to be named. The fair manipulator of seasons and the perpetual beast that fools the eye." he recalled, "When will they be revealed?"
"Each one in their own time." Duo declared.
There were so many questions and Heero was desperate for the answers. "Deep World, the Temple Keeper." he began breathlessly.
Wufei held up his hand, "Everything will be explained but until then we are charged with reaching Twilight in spite the Lord of Darkness attempts to stop us."
Duo motioned toward the rapidly graying horizon. "But first to Aragon, a hardy meal and a soft bed."
"To Aragon." Heero agreed.
TBC...
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