(Un)wise (15 page)

My eyes scanned the forms as I looked for Luke’s coppery coat.  I found him in a sea of attackers—Luke had been the wolf who’d blocked the attacker’s jump.  They bit at Luke, tearing into his skin as he swirled, swiped, and savaged those around him.  None of the defenders encircling me moved to help Luke.  Without thought, I shuffled toward him.  My heart hammered and my palms grew cold and clammy as another line of blood marred Luke’s coat.

“No,” I whispered as another attacker sunk his teeth into Luke’s neck.  Luke still hadn’t recovered from the last bite he’d received.  Possessiveness swelled along with anger.

“I have run,” I croaked with an emotion-tight voice. I straightened and dropped the arm protecting my middle.  “I have bled.” I moved forward, determined.  “I have
remembered
.”  My voice rose and some of those on the outskirts of the fighting angled their heads to watch me.  “I am the Wisdom of the Judgements, and I will not fail again!” I screamed at them, flipping the knife in my hand, and throwing hard through the tangle of bodies.  The blade flew true, sinking into the eye socket of the one attached to Luke.  “Bite him again and I will rip your tongue from your mouth!” I promised.

Two turned from Luke and moved toward me.  I touched the hindquarter of the grey wolf in front of me.  “Pick me up,” I demanded not caring that he fought with several wolves.  He slashed wildly, spun toward me, shifting so his arms looked more human and capable of throwing, and lifted me.  “Throw me to him,” I said pointing at the screaming wolf clawing at the knife in his eye.  I saw the grey wolf’s hesitation to throw me into that mess and touched his face.  “Now!”

Catapulted into the air, I tucked into a ball and closed my eyes as I somersaulted toward Luke. 
Remember
. 
Remember.
I’d never done this myself.  Never my own body.  But another of my sisters had.  I opened my eyes as I felt the downward pull of gravity.  The wolf was just below me.  He wasn’t paying attention, but others around him were.  They moved to try to catch me.  Luke looked up, causing an opening for another injury.

I swore again, untucked myself, and twisted to land on the wolf with the knife in his eye, bringing us both to the ground.  The impact killed my stomach, ripping me further.  I grunted in pain but still managed to pull the knife from his eye.  It caught slightly on the bone of his socket.  The wolf screamed.  I silenced him with a swipe before I stood.  A wall of man-wolf bodies leaned in around me.  Luke growled and raged just beyond.

“Time to die,” I whispered with a slight smile.

Several pairs of eyes widened in surprise as I swiped out in a spinning turn and sliced open their soft under bellies barely covered with fur.  Yeah, I knew how bad that hurt.  Ignoring the grunts of pain, I dodged their attempts to grab at me.  I fell to my knees and swiped again, darting the blade behind their knees.  Three dropped to my level.  Three more crowded in.  The handle started to slip in my grip.  I swung out again.

A horn blared long and loud.  A few of the wolves around me looked up as a white wolf landed on the three new wolves thinking to have at me.  Another wolf with a brown coat landed behind me, his growl sent a shiver down my spine.  He didn’t attack anyone.  He partially transformed to lift me, his big hands gentle.  Something in his soft brown eyes stayed my knife.

He jumped and brought me back into the circle of six bodies that still surrounded the bike.  There he set me on my feet with a firm “stay” and leapt back into the dying fray.  Despite the odds, we were winning.  Four of the wolves fighting with us moved with such incredible speed and agility that they faced at least four opponents at once.

Bodies started flying through the air as the wolf who’d saved me started throwing the injured and dead away from the immediate area.  The attackers’ numbers halved.  And then, as one, they turned and fled.  No one gave chase.  As the road cleared of attackers, two cars sped past and turned the curve in the road that I knew led to the Compound.  Several of the wolves turned their heads to watch the vehicles pass, but no one made a move to stop or follow them.  In the window of one, I saw a little boy’s face.

I bent slightly, curving an arm around my stomach again and was surprised my guts weren’t leaking out, yet.  Then Luke was beside me, pushing me toward the bike.  He bled from several lacerations and no longer wore a shirt.  Tinker Bell covered his bottom half.  I smiled and sobbed at the same time.

Luke sat on the bike, and someone lifted me behind him.  Everyone moved quickly. We all recognized the need to leave before another bout could begin.  I draped against him too hurt and tired to do more.  Finding a clean spot near his shoulder blade, I turned my head and gave him a kiss.

Somehow, we’d done it again.  Survived.  Tears trailed down my cheeks to drip onto his skin.

The wolves ran beside us as we sped to the Compound.  I shook and clung to Luke.  Blood covered his back, again.

Admittedly, I’d expected more from the Compound than what I saw when I lifted my head from Luke’s back.  A scattering of dilapidated buildings came into view.  Someone had put a lot of effort into in an attempt to make them look better.  The old wooden structures worried me.  I’d watched my family die in flames so many times.

Luke pulled the bike up to the porch, right next to one of the two cars that had sped past us.  Wolves surrounded us. Some had helped us during the fight, but a few new ones joined the group.  A short brunette woman stepped outside with a robe and tossed it to the white wolf who caught the material with its mouth.

“Come on,” Luke said, holding out an arm so I could dismount first.

My stomach cramped with pain as I tried to stand.  I hesitated to swing my leg off the bike.

“How badly were you hurt?” a woman asked from behind me.

An older woman with white hair wore the robe the white wolf had caught. The white wolf was gone.  I shouldn’t have been surprised.  Girls could fight, too.  I knew that.  Yet, I’d foolishly assumed they were all male back there.

“Just a nick,” I mumbled.  I wasn’t about to admit any weakness in front of the large group.  Who knew which of them might betray me?  The woman with the white hair moved to my side and helped me off the bike.  She was stronger than she looked.

“Let’s get you inside.”  Still holding my arm, she turned to glance at the brown wolf.  “Jim, Emmitt’s saying the boys are worried.”  She herded me toward the door while calling out instructions.  “You should go reassure them.  Grey and Sam can handle things out here.”  Everyone did as she said.  Since inside was safer than outside, I didn’t try to fight her.

A stack of pants waited just inside the door.  Made sense.

I shuffled a few more steps before Luke turned and scooped me up in his arms.

“About time,” the woman reprimanded.

“Who are you?” I asked, peering over Luke’s shoulder at her.

“Winifred Lewis.  You can call me Nana Wini,” she said with a kind smile.  “The woman behind me is Mary, and the man who will be following us shortly, the one who pulled you from that dog pile, is Jim.”  She looked at me expectantly.

“Oh, I’m Bethi.”

“Luke, bring her upstairs.  Second door on the right should be open,” she said as we neared a set of stairs.  “We’ll be right up with some bandages.”

Luke took the stairs two at a time and had me in a chair in short order.

As soon as he sat me down, he dropped to his knees in front of me and cupped my face between his hands.  After everything we’d just gone through, his gentle touch brought tears back to my eyes.

We’d made it.  But the place I’d thought would save me was a dump of tinderbox buildings out in the woods.  We’d be dead in hours.  I already felt dead inside.  And tired.  All that running.  The fighting.  Had there been any point to it?

The worry in his eyes tugged at my heart, and I felt a stab of guilt as I thought of everything he’d gone through to get me here.

“Go,” I said reaching up to squeeze one of his hands.  “Take a shower and put on your own pants.”

He snorted a laugh then smoothed a thumb over my cheek.

“I’d rather stay with you,” his eyes flicked to my very bloodstained shirt.

“There’s nothing for you to do right now,” I said, crossing an arm over my stomach.  I didn’t want him to look at it before I could.  “They’ll fix me up, I’m sure.”

Reluctantly, he stood.  I arched a brow and shooed him toward the door.  Watching him walk away, I couldn’t remember Tinker Bell ever looking so good.

When he closed the door behind him, I eased out of the shredded jacket and lifted the shirt.  I almost gagged.  Pulling it back down, I eyed the blood-soaked fabric.  The cut needed stitches.  A lot of them, really.  I did
not
want to be awake for that.  I’d had enough pain for...oh, ever.

The door opened behind me and an older man with merry grey eyes poked his head in.  When he saw me, he smiled and held up my bag.  Perfect.  I waved him in the room and accepted the bag.  He nodded and left without a word, but I caught his worried glance at my stomach.

I tipped the bag onto the floor and found my bottle of pills.  I still had two sleeping pills mixed in with the other ones I’d tried.

I swallowed them dry and leaned back into the chair.

“That bad?” Luke asked startling me.

“What do you mean?”

“Pain pills?” he asked coming over to take the bottle from me.  His shirt showed dark patches from putting it on wet and clung to his skin. His hair was still damp too.  He couldn’t have been gone for more than a few minutes.

A frown settled on his face when he studied the prescription label and the unknown name on it.  “How many did you take?”

“Relax.  It’s just a bottle.  I keep other stuff in there.  I took two sleeping pills.”

His eyes flicked to my blood-soaked shirt.  He squatted down near me, balancing on his heels, and lifted the hem of my shirt.  His shocked gaze flew to mine.

“I know.  It’ll need stiches.  No hospital though, okay?”  I grabbed his hand and begged with my eyes until he nodded.  “The dreams will knock me out, and the pills will keep me under.”  I did a slow blink without trying.  Already they called to me.

“Luke,” I whispered.  “They’re not done trying.  Tell the others to soak the buildings.  I’ve died by fire before, and it’s not fun.”

*    *    *    *

I suffered the same dream duality as I had before, but more.  My present self, my past self, and the past selves of four of my sisters.  The multiple views disoriented me, and I fought to focus on just one.

Heat flickered over my stomach like tiny flames dancing on my skin.  I wanted to look down, but my eyes remained focused on the horde before me.

My fingers gently squeezed the hand wrapped within mine before I looked to my sister.

Through her eyes, I looked back at me. Again, my present-self suffered a wave of vertigo.  My stomach twisted with pain, but I couldn’t tell from which of us it stemmed.

“All will be well,” I promised my sister.

I pushed away the discomfort and tried to focus.  My sister squeezed back as her eyes closed.

“What do you see?” I asked.

Concentrating on my sister, I jumped perspectives.

A swarm of glowing lights filled my mind.  Blue-green, blue-grey, yellow-green, and then us.  The humans were far from us.  We’d agreed to leave them out of our fight.  The blue-grey almost outnumbered blue-green.

“They will not win.  They do not have Courage.  Her spark no longer exists,” I said on a sob.  Knowing they would not win did not sooth the loss of our sister.

“Be strong.  They may not win the Judgement, but they may win this fight.”

A hand closed over my shoulder and peace flowed through me, taking away fear, hate, worry, even the odd outside feeling of pain in my stomach.  I breathed deeply and struggled not to smile.  I fought to hold onto my worry.

“Stop, sister.  Save yourself for them.  We will need you,” I begged.

Changing perspective again, I surged into a mind filled with so much fear, hate, worry, pain, and doubt.

I struggled to breathe.  My skin felt too tight as if all the emotion inside of me fought to burst out.  Fists clenched, teeth gritted, I growled, “And we need you focused.  They will learn to fear me.”

“Sisters, join hands,” another of us spoke drawing our attention.

Turning, we clasped hands.  Five of us: Strength, Hope, Prosperity, Wisdom, Peace.

“Courage will always be with us,” Strength spoke with confidence as a surge of power flowed through us.

My present-self struggled as what each of the past selves experienced in that moment flooded me.

The sparks in my mind ignited, glowing brightly...

Emotions surged within me as I had the capacity to drain even more from those around us...

Glimpses of the battle to come floated around in the white infinity of my mind...

Flashes of the past rekindled my purpose.

Our purpose.

“The Urbat have grown too strong.  We must reduce their numbers or face worse the next cycle,” I, Wisdom, predicted.

“I have no claws, but give me a knife and I will do my part,” I, Peace, intoned.  Seething rage boiled within me.  I itched to pace the field.

“I can only see our fates in this life, not the next.  We will stay back and do what we can.  Be well and be loved in your next lives,” I, Prosperity, said softly, pulling Strength and Hope from the circle.

I looked at my sister, Peace.  “I remember how to fight thanks to your past lives, but I don’t have the skills you have from this life.”

I watched her pull another knife from the leather belt at her waist.  She handed it to me hilt first.  “Grip it firmly and don’t let go.  Swing it around like a wild woman until it feels like your arm will fall off.  Then keep swinging.  Make them bleed.  Make them sorry.  Make them see their fate.”

An eerie howl rent the air, and it began.  The werewolves around us surged forward, meeting the Urbat in the middle of the field.  Hand in hand, we ran.

The dream shifted, but not much.

I stood in the center of the red field, the center of the storm, surrounded by a moment of stillness.  Bodies lay about me, all reverted to human form.  My friends.  My adopted family.  My protectors.  I looked down at the vacant vibrant blue eyes of my sister.  She’d fought well with just memories.

A small distance away, the battle continued.  Here, I looked around in misery.  We’d hoped to decimate their numbers.  Instead, they’d succeeded in decimating ours, almost exterminating the Elders, the keepers of knowledge for the werewolves.  I glanced around at the Urbat fighters.  They didn’t believe in Elders.  They didn’t want any group to hold such power over them.  Leaders led.  If they were not strong enough to do so, they were challenged and replaced with ones who were stronger.

Their emotions drenched the field.  I inhaled slowly and deeply, pulling the stagnant mass toward me.  For those closest to me, I siphoned their consuming hate, leaving only traces of fanaticism.  Several fell to their opponents during their confusion.  I felt bloated and tight.  Still I inhaled again, pulling more from them, expanding my reach to pull from every Urbat on the field.  Something trickled from my nose, eyes, and ears.  I kept breathing in, impossibly filling my lungs, and myself, with everything I could.

Something inside me popped, and a flaring pain seared through my stomach.  I knew I needed to let go.  I gathered everything I held, everything that made me boil and shake with rage, and released it all at once killing the still staggering Urbat where they stood.  The few friends who remained staggered as well.  Blood ran from their ears as they toppled to the ground.  I fell to my knees as they fell.  The world surrendered to darkness.  The time for Judgement faded.

The dream repeated countless times.  I absorbed every sight, thought, and feeling from each prospective before I finally floated to the surface.  I now understood the war that had raged, since the beginning of time, between the Urbat and Werewolves.

“Bethi,” Luke demanded near my ear.  Then, not so loud, he asked, “Why isn’t she waking up?”

“Go.  Away.” My lips didn’t want to move.  My mouth tasted like I’d kissed a skunk’s butt, and my stomach hurt.  Bad.  Still reeling from the graphic dream of death, hate, and pain, I wanted to be left alone.  For a long time.

Someone gently touched my head, smoothing a hand over my hair.  The touch disappeared a moment before a door opened and closed.

In the silence, I recapped my current life, compared it to past lives, and didn’t like the similarities leading up to the finale.  I tried licking my lips and instead moaned.

“Do you need a drink?” a new voice asked.

Opening my eyes, I looked at an unfamiliar face.  Wait, no.  I blinked at her and remembered.  I almost smiled at myself.  As if I could forget anything.  Winifred.  Nana Wini.  But I stopped the smile because I didn’t want her to think I was smiling at her.  More than ever, I didn’t know who to trust.  I needed Hope.  I needed to know which of the wolves around me were Urbat and which were Werewolves.  Only Hope could tell me that.  Knowing the difference between the two wouldn’t determine my trust, but it was a start.

I nodded, and she handed me a glass of water.  I drank slowly and grimaced.  “Can you help me up?  I need a toothbrush.”

She nodded.

Setting the glass aside, I gripped her hand and slowly stood.  The gash on my stomach felt hot and tight.  It pulled a little.  I lifted my shirt and looked at it.  Neat little stitches ran along my skin where the cut had been.

“I did the best I could.  Luke insisted you did not want to go to the hospital.”

“Too dangerous,” I agreed, moving to my bag and grabbing my toothbrush.  The longer I stood, the more I could straighten up.  Still, I brushed my teeth, with a slight bend.  She stood near watching me closely.

“You really need to change into something clean.”

I spit, rinsed, and turned to face her. Her steady gaze met mine.  She seemed kind enough, but I couldn’t trust anyone. “Where’d Luke go?”  I doubted he’d actually listened to my muttered “go away.”