Chapter 3

I struggled to find a name for the aeterni for a long time, but finally derived the name from some of the latin grammar I'd studied in high school.

Chapter Three

 

            Livi snapped upright, eyes coming open wide as she gasped awake in the cool darkness. The air smelled thickly of pine and decaying leaves, a strange scent to her sea-trained nose. Before her, in the small clearing where she sat, a small fire crackled, only a few little embers to throw faint light into the deep dimness of the forest. She gaped up at it in awe, the smoke curling from the fire to stretch a frail white hand up into the arms of the trees. They were enormous, bigger than anything she ever had dreamt of, their branches entangled into a thick canopy that shut out all but the most determined of the sun’s rays. Each of the trunks were at least the width of three men standing shoulder to shoulder, silent giants that neither swayed nor moaned. No wind could breech their walls of living wood.

            Liviana drew her legs in snuggly to her chest, looking over the clearing with blue eyes awake, alert, and somewhat nervous. At the far side of the clearing, drawn back against the shadows of the ancient wood and leaning against the trunk of one of the mighty oaks, the young lord kept his head bowed. She had not seen him without his cloak until now, but he did not move to acknowledge her. Asleep, maybe? She examined him thoroughly; the way his long black hair hung across his face and down his back like a smooth river of ink. His body was angular and lean, his shoulders very broad and his chest thickly hewn with muscle. Over his tall body were draped layers of finely sewn silks, made of the blackest black and the deepest of greens. The sleeves were long and hung past his hands, detailed with intricately stitched designs of green and silver thread. A length of dull silver cloth was wrapped around his waist snuggly, keeping his two-layered tunic loose about his neck and shoulders. It showed a generous amount of his muscled chest, making her blush and drop her eyes away. He was immensely beautiful to behold and looking down upon her own self, she felt awkwardly unfit. The legends were as the traveling merchants and refugees had said; the aeterni bore a beauty that could never be achieved by a commonman.

            She looked to him again, unable to find his face in the falling veil of black hair. The light hit his body in a way that made her tremble; it was as though he were some dark demon crouching away from the firelight’s touch. She gazed upon him and wondered. Why had he brought her here? What was his name? If he was an aeterni…then which element did he command?

            Her stomach growled in discontent and she slapped a hand over her midriff in futile attempt to silence it. His head rose slowly, turning eyes like green embers to her with an unrelenting scowl. It seemed to be the only expression he was capable of. Her stomach gurgled again, wanting for food of some kind and demanding it loudly. She blushed pink, turning her face away in embarrassment but he scarcely seemed to notice even though he stared right at her.

            Then in an instant he was upon her, his hand on her head mashing it down into the earth with his body crouched low atop hers. She flailed helplessly, struggling for air and getting only a mouthful of soil. A low growl started in his throat and he glared at the trees around him, listening to their soft whispers like feathers in his mind.

            “Stay here.” He commanded, releasing her to sit up and gasp at last for air. Her face was smudged with dirt and she glared at him with intent to kill, watching as he slunk in a low crouch to the edge of the clearing, green eyes sharp and muscles drawn taught. She heard the growl again, coming from his throat and it made her heartbeat quicken. Until then, she had never wondered at the aeterni nobles much, but now she dug through every shred of legend she had heard to find something that fit his description; there was nothing.

            A loud gasp came from beyond the clearing, coming somewhere out in the expanse of the tree trunks, and with it a loud groan. He lurched forward, as fast as a shadow in a candle’s light, and melted into the darkness beyond the tree line. Liviana sat, eyes wide with fear and ears strained to listen as she heard a rustling and grunting in the darkness there. The guards were still following them? It was possible. But ever since this strange lord had darkened her path nothing had been as expected. She reached below her where she sat, pulling out her black cloak that she had been laid upon and wrapping it about her shoulders again. Her hands brushed her sister’s box, relieved it was still where she had stashed it.

            “…May they all be damned!” a young man’s voice, oddly familiar to her, came from just beyond the fire’s light and she stiffened, rising slowly as the young lord reappeared into the clearing, hunched over and bearing the limp body of the enormous white wolf over his back. The wolf groaned and growled, several arrows protruding from his back and shoulders, his white fur stained red with blood that might have been his or the guards’.  Perhaps it was both. The young lord laid him down near to the fire’s light, the beast growling and snarling still as his breathing became fast and frantic.

            “It’s not…that bad.” The wolf panted, tongue splayed out over jagged, blood-stained fangs. Liviana felt herself shudder again to hear words coming from the mouth of a beast. Curiosity pulled her closer and she stepped timidly towards the fire, looking over the white wolf that must have been almost as big as a bear. The wolf flicked wild, savagely blue eyes up to her and grinned amidst his panting. She gasped, looking away quickly and back to where the darker young lord stooped over his fallen comrade.

            “You’re a fool.” The young lord concluded, examining the wounds and frowning deeply. His voice was deeper but still utterly cold, not at all like the tone that came from the wolf’s mouth.

            “Maybe so.” The wolf’s voice was fainter now, his eyes becoming slightly glazed as his breathing labored harder. He brushed away the dark lord’s comment as if it were nothing. Or rather, as if he were more than used to it.

            The wolf snarled suddenly, howling in pain as the dark lord touched the flesh around one of the arrows lodged in his shoulder. Livi trembled and withdrew a step, utterly horrified at the sight of so much blood. “Is he,” she swallowed, barely able to find her voice amidst tears that clogged her throat, “going to die?”

            The dark lord ignored her question, looking over the wounds and sighing as if it were more a hindrance than anything else. “Come here.” He commanded to her again, raising a large pale hand to beckon her near. She crept forward, eyes wide and body trembling beneath the cover of her black cape. The lord shook his head, black hair spilling over his face and shoulders like a rippling dark river that ran all the way down his back. “Stay with him.” He resolved at last, standing fluidly and storming away into the shadow of the wood again.

            Liviana watched him go, face torn and feeling utterly abandoned as she stood over the enormous beast. The wolf didn’t move, merely lay there on its side breathing helplessly and growling at the pain. Gathering sparse threads of her courage, she knelt beside the beast’s head, looking over him but not daring to touch. His fur glistened with flecks of silver that sparkled against the fire’s light, almost as if he were peppered in a light snow or ice. Despite her fear and better judgment, she found herself wanting to touch him, reaching a trembling hand and pausing abruptly as he flicked those wild blue eyes to her face.

            “It’s…all right.” He assured her, closing his mouth to hide his fangs and breathing instead out of his nose. His fur felt wondrous against her hands, cold as newly fallen snow on the surface, but the deeper her fingers delved, the colder he was. His wild hues closed as she stroked his head, fingers exploring the depths of his thick white fur and his soft, almost velveteen ears.

            “Who are you?” She breathed, more a question meant for only herself to hear but a strange wolf grin slid up his lips.

            “Albinus is my name.” He answered and she blushed deeply, realizing he had heard her. “My accommodating other half is Silvanus, though I’d warn you to call him Silvan if you remember to.” His voice became weaker as he spoke on, flinching at an attempt to take a deeper breath.

            “You’re an aeterni.” She concluded allowed, as if allowing  him to challenge her resolution should she be wrong, “An element spirit.” Her own soft blue eyes stared into his and he grinned again, a strange look on his wolf face. She arched a brow, wondering at what she had said to make him grin like that.

            “And what do you call yourself, little one?” He coughed, flinching and snarling at the pain that bore down heavily upon him. Her initial reaction of annoyance at being called little was lost at the sight of his pain.

            “Liviana.” She spoke gently, running fingers over his fur and scooting forward a bit to lift his head and lay it in her lap. He made no remark about that, but a strange look of hesitance and distrust came over his wolven eyes. Maybe he didn’t like humans. “Where did,” she paused, recalling the name and reciting it in her head before attempting to pronounce it, “Silvanus. Where did he go?”

            Albinus closed his eyes, his breathing becoming softer and fainter. “Who knows? If you can figure out the motives behind anything he does, I’ll be impressed,” he huffed, his voice catching and finally falling to silence. Her pale moon face drew into an expression of concern, cradling his head in her lap and looking forlornly over the wounds across his body; she felt helpless. Her mother had died before she had been able to teach either of her daughters the arts of medicines and healings. Before it hadn’t seemed like much of a loss not to learn such things. Now she wished the information hadn’t been denied her.

            An angry growl sounded from the edge of the clearing and Silvanus appeared, his usual leer upon his sharp features, with a bundle wrapped in a large flat leaf beneath his arm. He looked at her, then to Albinus, and seemed thoroughly annoyed. In spite of his obvious dissatisfaction he said nothing, trooping towards the large fallen wolf and seating himself gracefully on his knees. Unrolling the leaf, Liviana stared wide-eyed as he assembled a collection of berries, vines, and various herbs he had collected from the surrounding wood.

She made no sound, a hand still running over Albinus’s head, fondling at one of his velveteen white ears. The wolf didn’t move, laying there and breathing faintly as Silvanus again looked over the arrows that protruded from his flesh, four in all. Silvan’s features darkened again and he lifted sharp green eyes to Liviana, reaching a hand to show her how to hold the wolf’s jaws shut firmly,

“Hold him still,” He commanded, his tone as cold and dry as autumn leaves, “Like this. Keep your grip firm. He won’t bite you.”

Livi sat with one arm wrapped around the wolf’s neck, keeping Albinus’s head still with her bodyweight and holding his jaws shut with her hands. Oddly enough, he didn’t struggle against her. His breathing was fast and he looked to Silvanus with eyes that were wide and alarmed. She felt his body tense beneath her, muscles hardening to what could have been stone. He was strong and it made her body tremble to feel such power beneath her arms. A growl started deep within the wolf’s throat as Silvan took hold of one of the arrows, testing how deep it was into his flesh and preparing to pull it out.

“Hold him.” Silvan warned again, a lethal glare coming her way from those cruel green hues.

            Livi nodded, shutting her own eyes in preparation. It would hurt. Not just once, but with each time an arrow came free. Albinus howled suddenly, a deafening roar from his mouth and he flailed and bucked against her grip. Silvan sat back with one of the arrows, studying it as it dripped with thick crimson blood and bits of muscle tissue. His frown deepened and Livi felt her stomach lurch threateningly as he leaned to taste the tip, licking some of the blood and studying the metal tip again.

            “Poison,” he concluded very decidedly, laying the arrow aside and reaching for a second one. “Probably thornbranche. Hold him.”

            He gave little more warning, ripping another arrow free and sending Albinus into a second spasm of pain and yelping. Her eyes stung with tears as she held him fast, leaning her head down to bury into the soft fur of his cheek.

“It’s almost over, be still please…” She whispered against the soft white velvet ears, doubting he even heard her tearful pleas. His breathing was frantic and she found it took every bit of her strength to keep his jaws shut tight. But as she whispered to him, she felt his body ease a little, muscles relaxing slightly and his eyes flicked back to focus on hers. She lifted her face from his fur, staring into the vast icy blue depths of his eyes and locking gazes with him. He never looked away as Silvan tore the last two arrows from his hide, barely flinching and only howling softly from behind clamped jaws. Then it was over. She released his mouth and the wolf coughed, blood running past his jagged fangs to ooze onto her hands. Her face filled with horror and she turned an accusing glare to Silvanus who sat, casually arranging the arrows and preparing the herbs.

            “The poison will keep him from changing back into his human form.” Silvanus explained, as if he felt the burn of her glare on his porcelain skin, “It is made by the Men of WestSea to prevent us from hiding amongst mortals once we have exposed ourselves. Let alone, we would drain ourselves of energy and eventually die a slow and very grueling death.”

            Livi glared harder, blue eyes lethal as she stroked Albinus’s head, attempting to soothe him. “Is there an antidote? Can you stop it?” She probed, unwilling to hear anything that sealed the fate of the wolf.

            He turned his head up to her then, looking at her, face to face, in a way that made her heart throb and her stomach twist into nervous knots. There was something very cunning in the way he smiled; it wasn’t a smile at all. It was too calculating, too filled with unsaid intentions and obligations that froze her to the marrow. “Come here.”

            In her mind, she screamed in refusal, but her body obeyed out of sheer fear of what rebellion would conjure out of that heartless smile. Gently, she placed his head down upon the earth, scooting herself around to sit beside where Silvanus crouched on his knees. The wounds bled horribly, open and laced with a thick black ooze that looked like ink. Her stomach quavered to see it and she swallowed back the urge to vomit.

            “Your hand.” He demanded, holding out one of his, “Sit closer, like this.” He grabbed her by the arm and began dragging her across the earth until she sat hip to hip with him, holding one of her hands in a firm grip that mashed her knuckles and rolled her tendons. She whimpered but he didn’t notice, his eyes fixed upon the wounds and his other pale, strong hand coming to rest over one of them. “Don’t let go.” He warned, his tone slightly softened, “You’re going to feel lightheaded. If you feel yourself falling, just fall.”

            “W-why?” She managed to stammer, already feeling the heat in his palms growing as if her hand was laid across a cooking iron.

            “If you resist,” His voice was a soft whisper, his eyes falling shut and his palm pressed against one of the wounds as he furrowed his brow very deeply in concentration, “you will kill me.”

Author's Note

Content not edited.

Reviews

[SamBug]

So I've spent a while reading through all of the chapters. Just one suggestion. Watch the spelling. Other than that, all of them were good. I can't wait to read more!!!!