She crept closer to the body in the dim candlelight, inch by inch, closer and closer… She could hear the click of her canine claws upon the floorboards as she neared, and the great white wolf paused for a moment, casting a wary eye back over her shoulder. The door to Maili’s chamber was barred fast, a sturdy barrier between her and the rest of the family. She had taken a chance, slipping into this room in her lupine body, but she had so many questions…

The flickering candlelight played tricks upon her blue eyes, causing the shadows to dance and gambol like things yet alive. The warmth of the light also seemed to lend some of itself into the deathly white pallor of Kerr’s bloodless body. Had she not known better, she could have easily thought the man sleeping soundly.

But he was not sleeping…

He was broken and bloodied upon the floor, crimson blood blackening as it dried in accusatory puddles on the ground.

Click…click. Click…click…

Had they heard her? Her claws struck soundly on the stone.

Click…click. Click…click.

Did they not hear?

No scent other than that of spilled blood and Kerr’s lifeless body came to her as she scented the air. No, there would be none come to intrude here… She stood mutely over Kerr’s form, bowing her head low before him, blue eyes closed.

Why?

Why strike at my sister, Kerr?

What harm could she have possibly done to you?

The scene before her was even more surreal than she had remembered earlier in the evening, and for a moment, she found herself wondering why Kerr had been left lay. Should her mother not have sent servants up to collect the man’s body? It seemed a grave transgression against the deceased’s dignity to simply allow him to lie, like a slaughtered cow.

I am sorry, Kerr. I am sorry that you must be left like this, and there is naught that I can do for you… Around her, the shadows continued to dance wildly. Even her own shadow seemed to leap away from her milky white paws.

Tempest…

At the sound of her name, the great wolf started, her blue eyes going wide as she tried to seek out the speaker. But there was no one there, save for her. And Kerr…

Tempest…

Again her name, louder, more insistent this time. Bewildered, she at last looked to the man before her, a startled yelp dying in her throat.

His eyes were focused on her! Could he possibly be alive?

“Kerr? You live?” Her voice was guttural, coarse with the sounds of the wolves. “You are alive?”

No. I do not live, not any longer…

“Then what…”

A reprieve, a momentary reprieve, StormWolf…

“StormWolf? What do you mean?”

I have seen you, Tempest. What you will become… StormWolf… But, that is not for me to reveal to you, youngest daughter of House Moonsinger. You must find your own way to your destiny.

“Destiny?”

Aye, a great and grand one, I have seen. But I have seen other things as well, StormWolf…

“What things?”

Your elder sister, she plots against you…

“Maili would never!”

It is too late, StormWolf. For many long years has she been whispering her poisonous words into Eshalla’s ear, hardening her heart against you, young Moonsinger… Maili seeks your death, great StormWolf…

“I dare not believe it!” Tempest cried out. But it did make so much of Eshalla’s behavior make sense… “I cannot!”

This home is your home no longer, it is not a safe have for you. If you wish to survive, then you must leave, the sooner the better…

“Where would I go? No, this place is my home. I will stay with my family, Kerr.”

Ah, there is so much yet that you must learn, proud white wolf… But, alas, my time grows short, so very short, StormWolf. Flee this house, young one! Flee before your blood stains these stones as well…

“What?”

And when you do become the StormWolf, child, I can only hope that you remember who it was that first called you by name…

“I don’t understand!”

One day you will, young goddess… Cold hands fastened around her front paws, clawing and bony. The hold was vice-like, and yelping in surprise, Tempest tried to spring away from the grasp. Horrified, she looked to her front legs, only to realize that Kerr’s cold, dead, hands had grabbed her and held her fast. All around her, she could suddenly hear the murmur of voices, a ghostly audience. Her heart leapt into her throat, and the young werewolf began to panic, leaping and growling, her fangs snapping together in her slavering jaws. Yet she could not free herself from the dead man’s clutches. She made one last frantic attempt to break free, springing backward with every ounce of strength in her body, but the hands did not relinquish their hold upon her, and she went down heavily on her side. There was a crunch as her ribs shattered upon the unyielding stone, and she cried out in pain as she felt them digging through her body, piercing both lungs and heart as they drove inward.

“Why have you attacked me?” Tempest choked out, strength ebbing from her. Her vision began to grow hazy, and she was dimly aware that the voices around her had grown silent, eagerly anticipating her end. She houghed loudly, blood splattering the shadows beneath her.

A lesson, young one, a lesson you must learn now or never…

“What…lesson…is that…? Quickly now…ere I die…”

Fight alone, StormWolf, and you fight in vain. Stand fast with your brethren, and nothing shall be able to stand before you…

“Brethren?” As the last of her life began to fade, Tempest became aware of wolves all around her. What had been dancing shadows a mere breath before had resolved itself to be wolf-shaped shadows. First one, then three, and then a full score separated themselves from the dark mass around her. And then, her own shadow seemed to ripple for a moment, breaking free from her body. Howls…I hear faint howls… What had been unintelligible murmurs became the voices of the wolves, of her shadow-kin.

Call to your brothers and sisters, StormWolf. Call for their aid, and they shall come to you…

For several long seconds did Tempest stare, not understanding, at the shadow wolf beside her. But it was not for long, for suddenly, her wolf’s instincts surged up inside her. The pack was here, and they were singing… She raised her head marginally, and ears clamped back against her body, she howled, long and low.

All around her, the wolves took up the cry, the wolf song resounding off the stone walls. And then they surged around her, and past, sharp fangs driving the dead man’s hands from her paws.