DoL Part One

chapter one

There's an opening to every story, a story told to get you ready to hear the one you are about to be told. Something that must be shared before anything else can be told to you... well, not this time. This time is different, this time you have to learn things on your own... that's what I was told before this story began, and I'm still learning. I'm still asking questions. I'm told that by the end of this story I'll know that tale that should have been at the beginning, I'll know how this was supposed to start, by the end I'll know the beginning... that's what I'm told.
However, I'm not so certain they're right, the ones who tell me these things. The ones who said my story would unfold before me and I would learn as they did, as I'm supposed to. I'm just an angered, teen abused and tossed about left in the world, born in the wrong place at the wrong time. An outcast in more then one way, unable to ever blend into society, no matter how hard I might try....

- - - From the Pages of the Diary of Life

The rain was a methodical, melodic, tune that beat it's rhythm out on the roof of the old stucco house. The wind howled its harmonies to the intricately woven song, and the trees and tall grasses bobbed and bent, and wove, in dance to the difficult beat. It was a beautiful sight, though dark. The land was lit only by the full moon whose pregnant belly pushed from behind the clouds to wash the world in gray silver light.

The air was fresh, washed clean of the scent of society. The rain and wind had removed all traces of automobiles and chemical wastes, rinsing away the stink of smoke and rotting garbage. Only for the evening, though, and for the next day. Cars would start up and the burning would continue, the world would wreak yet again and the rain would need to fall once more to wash it away.

A horse whinnies in the distance as lightning struck through the sky, spreading its wild electric fingers across those heavy black storm clouds that the earth wore as a crown this night]. The wind howled again masking the sound of the owl in his home hooting at the weather. Another horse neighs in answer to the first. The two dark forms illuminated on the horizon.

They rear up at each other from their respective perches on the hill. The grass tearing at their feet tickling their bellies. The lightning flashes again backlighting them so that they were simple black silhouettes on a hill. The rain poured harder, and thunder rolled hiding the sound of their hooves. Lightning burned the sky again as the two bodies crashed together in a violent, but oddly silent collision. Neither seemed to pay much attention to the weather, but then wild horses were used to this weather. They had lived here for so long out in this weather.

Why would they pay attention to it now? They wouldn't, so they didn't. At the bottom of the hill, barely visible in the shadows of a particularly large lightning bolt were four or five wild mares. They stood huddled, heads down trying to block the wild wind from the rest of their bodies by turning their tails to it. The wind blew seemingly from all directions and this approach was poorly executed.

A horse screams in pain and thunder booms even louder, shattering the ear drums of the animals. Electricity burned the air, filling their sensitive nostrils and the mares took flight as one of the stallions fell to the ground, the lightning that had struck retreating back into the sky. Even I jumped, in shock. The rain that fell into my eyes nearly blinding me had not blocked that image from my mind and the lightning had not ruined my perfect night vision.

I stood beneath a canopy of trees, belly to the ground watching the herd race towards me, their hoof beats no longer hidden from my sharply pricked ears. They were running at me. Their terror kept them from recognizing the extra danger they were plunging into and the wild stallion was too far behind them to stop them. I whine and the soft sound carried to my only companion.

He was a big burly brown wolf, formidable. He almost stood to these mares shoulders. He leaps in front of my own small black frame and snarls at the animals snapping his jaws at the lead mares neck, nearly wrapping his white teeth around her jugular. She rears up and swings around shoving the nearest mare out of her way, leading them all away from me. The stallion follows with a sideways glance at us, a look of gratitude.

The wolf turns to me glaring at me and I shrink closer to the ground, I was in big trouble. He already hated me, being my body guard was bad enough, he hated having to chase things away from me. I knew what he was thinking, and not because I was able to read minds, but because he always voiced it to others where I could hear. I saw it in his eyes, 'worthless, useless, ungrateful, trouble-making rat' he was thinking, 'she's gonna get me killed one of these days, if not herself first.'

I didn't like the cold hard gaze of his silver gold eyes, but I couldn't look away because to look away would be to give in to his dominance, and I was supposed to be dominant. I was supposed to be the princess, the Righ's daughter. His only pup because his mate had died. We only take one mate and I was the only pup who survived, the only one to be born before mother could loose the battle and die. My brother half born. She wouldn't have died had she conceived as a human, the pups would only have numbered two at most, being twins.

I would have been one and she'd have been able to birth another pup, later. However, she died because she conceived while a wolf and thus carried a litter. It killed her to carry those pups and birth them. I survived, my father hated me for it, because he lost his true love, his soul mate. Finally the brown wolf in front of me turned away and started to head back towards the pack. He would have shifted back, allowing me to shift back to my own human form, if we hadn't been so close to the borders of an enemy pack and had he not been so attracted to my human half.

Unfortunately few clothes, if any, survived the shift and neither of us fancied risking a shift right now. I followed like a good little pup head low, tail down, ignoring the rain, the mud and the puddles. It wasn't going to lighten up on us, not for a few days. It was how we lived, where we lived. Good old Oklahoma. Red dirt country, music to my ears. A snarl burns my ears and I freeze, that voice was not of my pack, and my companion knew that before I did.

A twig snapped and three sandy brown wolves stepped into view, teeth bared in snarls. My own lip curled as I stood one paw still raised to take a step forward, a step that I hadn't been able to complete. A fourth wolf steps forward, but not a wolf. This was a human, he hadn't bothered shifting. I stare at him silently, my attention on him alone because he was the prionssa, or prince, of his own pack. My enemy. In the presence of a rivaling royal you're forced into the form they are currently holding if your will is weaker then theirs, mine wasn't and I saw them struggling with the battle of forms.

I don't fancy watching that war, so I shift, ignoring my brown companions snarl of rage. I place a hand on his shoulder and the prince in front of me stares at me, a bit confused. "Compassion? Kindness? From my enemy?"

"This is neutral territory, no wars may be born on this land, we both know our strengths. We are even, prionssa Samuel, prince of the Pack of Light. We both know what will happen if we wait for the others will to shatter, death for both of us." I said calmly. His voice was strong and crisp, it rang like Sunday bells and carried through the rain crystal clear. My own voice was colder and a little bit harder. It carried just fine, I know that much, it held the tones of autumn and winter at the same time. Nothing fancy, rather plain actually. He smiles at my words.

"Well spoken, ban-prionssa Azraella, princess and inheritor of the pack of death and souls." He bows to me and I stare at him, I hadn't been that formal with him. He was showing me up, proving that he was better then I was. My companion snarls and snaps his jaws. My attention rips from Samuel to the sandy coated wolf who had tried to slink closer. My gaze was stronger, and colder, then my silver gold eyed companions. Where the wolf did not flinch under my companions gaze, it cringed and shrank back under my own.

Amethyst and Ruby eyes tend to do that to subordinates. I turned back to Samuel to see him frowning at his own companion. Ooooo, some one's gonna get a lecture later, I had a feeling that particular lecture would include lots of pain and blood. That's the impression I got off the prince's gaze anyway. He cleared his face and looked back at me with a smile. He walks towards me until my companion snarls, letting Samuel know he was as close as he was going to get to me.

"What is it that brings you to these lands on a night such as this?" He asks me in that crisp clear voice of his. His eyes focused on my own odd eyes. His were pitch black with red rings, eyes of his pack. Mine didn't mark my pack's lineage, I should have had darker eyes of the same color as my companion but I didn't. We don't know where I got my eyes from, my mother never shared her history and no one would tell me if she had been part of the pack originally or joined them.
"Not what brought you out here." I answer calmly. The wind decided to remind us of its presence then and lifted the hem of my torn blouse. The water soaked black silk clung to my body under the black leather corset with its red and amethyst embroidery. The black leather pants with the matching red and amethyst embroidery held no damage.

"How do you get silk to survive?" He asks gently brushing his own silk shirt that hung open on his pale white flesh.

"The corset, leather doesn't seem to take damage and the corset seems to protect the silk." I say calmly. A snort reached my ears from my companion as he circled around me reminding the three wolves who and what he was by moving and showing off his lean frame. I touch his shoulder self consciously and he leans against the touch as though to tell me I was safe in his hands.

"Interesting... but that still leaves my original question unanswered. What brought you out here, and why only one guard?"

"I have faith in my guard. If I did not, I would bring three, like you. If I lacked faith in the abilities of my protectors, then they would loose faith in their own abilities. That is why I have only one. I only need the one." Liar, he followed you. You would have been alone in this confrontation had he not tagged you the way he had earlier! I thought without ruffling the feathers of my perfect mask. "I was here because of the battle, did you know the herds had a fight tonight?"

"No, I hadn't heard. Why should I care about them, anyway. Pathetic shifters." He says calmly. A loud ringing snort from behind me caused Samuel to jump startled. He looks over my shoulder into the shadows where I knew the black stallion who ruled the largest herd in the states stood. He was my friend, my companion. Hoof beats disturbed the rain filled forest floor behind me and the black beast dropped his head over my shoulder.

"Hello there, King Ramses." I say calmly without looking away from Samuel.
"That's why you only had one. You had him guarding your back."

"No, he owns these lands we call neutral, Prince Samuel. He guards his herd well and investigates everything. King Ramses was passing through to see the battle just the same as I was, your presence and mine in the same spot probably only sparked his curiosity." True, I had an alliance with the stallion, he had saved my life multiple times and offered me refuge and home in his lands. He had practically raised me. To be honest, I knew his lands much better then I knew the ones I was to inherit.

Ramses snorts and stamps, narrowly missing my heel in the process. Ten lean young stallions step from the shadows to circle us. "I suppose this is our queue to go to our respective homes without bloodshed." I interpret the meaning of the orders of the King. Samuel sighs. "I suppose this conversation shall have to wait after all." Lightning rips the sky apart and illuminates the area. Everyone was black for a moment, then the light faded and things were normal. Thunder rolled and I waited until it had quieted to the simple pour of the rain before speaking again.

"I suppose so, unless this conversation is over. It appears you have more to say... I will meet you tomorrow on Hammock Hill. Bring what guards you want, but should I see more then I find comfortable or healthy, I'll leave without explanation." I ignore the snarl of complaint from my companion and turn to walk away, towards my own home. Ramses followed me as well as four of his colts, the other six escorted the four wolves of the Pack of Light back to their own borders.

Might I ask what that was all about, Azrealla, or shall I be left in the dark? Ramses' mind voice whispered over my thoughts, rippling the surface of the lake that was my mind. I smile at the warm, fatherly tone. The utter acceptance of my existence, and love and pity in his voice.
I am as in the dark as you are, Ramses. Carlisle and I were on our way home when Samuel interrupted our travel. He wanted to know why I was out here... I don't know why I was, other then this is my home. My gaze drops to Carlisle, the brown wolf, with my words of response to Ramses. He snorts and shakes his mane violently.

He is up to no good, Azrealla. We both know it, and I can feel it in my old bones. You have always been a daughter to me, Azrealla; I do not intend to loose you because of his foolishness. I will bring my herd to Hammock Hill, tonight, after seeing that you are safely home. We will rest there as though we have always been there. I will be your guard, along with Carlisle. I smile and turn to Ramses hugging him.  He gives a curt snort nudging me away from him with a flick of one ear to his colts.

Ramses, thank you. I love you, so much, Ramses. You are the only one to ever accept me and love me. I appreciate every thing you have ever done for me. Has your son been born? I will arrive early to see him if he has. I dream of seeing him. Will he look like you? Will he look like his mother? I can't wait! I didn't literally mean 'born' no. I meant, 'had he gained his ability? Can he shift yet?' Shifters were not born able to change, they had to gain it from whatever shape they were born into. So far, he had only ever been a chestnut stallion. In fact he was walking behind us now. Ramses snorts a chuckle.

Oh he has, Azrealla, I am proud of my son. He has gained his birth. He is my heir... you will have to see for yourself how he looks. He tells me he has been waiting this. To be able to speak with you as you speak to humans. Waiting to join society... I worry about him in society. I wish he were still a gangly-legged colt that I could protect. Ramses stops and nudges me gently as we reached the borders to my pack. The eyes of my pack's border patrol illuminated the shadows. They watched us waiting to envelope Carlisle and myself in their protective ring and give my brown companion a break.

Ramses, I am glad to hear your pride in him. I will help him through society, I promise. I will be there at dawn, to speak with you and he. Good evening, great King. I turn to Ramses' son. "Good evening, Prince Rheese. It has been a pleasure traveling in your's and your fathers presence." I bow politely to the shocked chestnut and his bemused black father before turning to join an irritated Carlisle and restless border patrol in my own lands.