Chapter 25

I felt odd in a way I could not place and tangled in a darkness I could not fully perceive. As I opened my eyes, I found myself once again within a dreamscape that was not my own. The one I shared with my ladies felt different than the one I currently found myself in. I stretched out with my senses, hoping that they would work here and what I found was peculiar. The environment was strange, with no form other than the dense forest and storm clouds above. It only seemed to stretch out for a kilometer in every direction, then it abruptly stopped. I looked around and could not see anything in the darkness that filled every corner of the area. I could sense that I was in a clearing of some kind, but the limited light made it hard to fully gauge.

Out of nowhere, a fire burst into life beside me and I turned to see two figures seated before it. They were not fully solid, allowing me to see the area behind them, giving them an ethereal look. They were dressed in clothes I had never seen before and seemed to be around my age. I slowly began to walk closer to the fire and was surprised when they did not look towards me. I continued to move slowly, unsure of what they might do, until I was next to the fire myself.

“Come, boy, sit,” said the one to my left. He had a deep and gravelly voice that had a resounding resonance to it.

He looked only a few years older than me, but there was a weariness in his features that one usually saw on the elders of our town. He was dressed oddly, but I could tell that he was a hunter. He had a crude knife on his belt that looked like a skinning knife. It looked to be made of flint, instead of the metal blades we currently use. The same was true of his spear; it was crude but well made.

His compatriot on my right was garbed in the same fashion, with the same tools. It was the features that were different. Where the man on the left had light brown hair, the man on the right had dark brown. The man on the left had angular features, while his companion at the fire was chubbier. He also looked a fair bit older by comparison.

The other side and muttered, “We do not have all night, boy, so sit your arse down and be quick about it.”

I slowly sat down and as I did so, the two finally turned their gaze towards me. I felt a chill run down my spine as their eyes locked with mine.

“You were brave to take us, boy,” stated the one on my left. “Most are driven mad with the raw power of the curse that emanates from us.”

“I do not know what made me do that,” I replied. “Something inside told me to take you both. That you are needed to end this once and for all.”

The one on the right grunted, “Your instincts were right, child. You do need us to end this curse, for as long as we exist, so do the Voguel.”

I cocked my head in confusion, “You do not exist, you are dead. How can you make the curse continue if you do not live?”

“The curse is bound not just to our core, but to our very body itself,” answered the one on my left. “Our cousin burned the rest of us to ash, but he made sure that our skulls remained intact. He has kept us as both reminders and trophies.”

“I still cannot believe that he killed me,” spat the other. “I never thought he would have it in him. He was always the quiet and reserved one of us and now he is the most bloodthirsty.”

“At least you had some time to live,” replied the left spirit. “Still, I am glad I did not have to live long through the torment of the curse.”

“So, because your skulls remain, the curse does as well?” I asked, hoping to make sense of what they were saying.

The one on the right nodded, “That is correct. You need to burn us and our cousin to ash. Once that is done, the goddess’ curse will be broken, and the blood moon will cease.”

“I regret that we killed her child, but we never knew it was hers. How were we supposed to know? We only thought that it was an older and meatier wolf. We did not expect a goddess to appear and punish us. If I could go back and stop it from ever happening, I would. I want nothing more than to remove all the death and pain that has lived on because of this curse.”

“Wah wah wah,” teased the other. “You always were the one to talk about feelings.” He shivered noticeably in revulsion. “The only thing I regret was getting killed. For one, I would have not taken as long to get the province under my heel. Secondly, I would not have hid behind a fool like Feror.”

“Well, you always were a right bastard who loved attention,” replied the first one. “I am glad you did not live to terrorize our home. I only wish our cousin had joined you, then our nightmare would have been over. Instead, we have been stuck here for millennia waiting for the end to come. This boy is the first to ever appear here, other than our cousin. He could be the means to end it and I hope he does.”

The other man shrugged and poked at the fire with a stick.

The first sighed and turned to me. “You must render all three of us to ash, in order to end this curse once and for all. Without the blood moon, those changed will become human again, for it is only the three of us that keeps the curse going. I warn you that he still visits us, and I do not know if my companion, here, will tell him of your visit or not. Make haste and destroy us, for once we are gone, all that is left is him.”

I came out of the dreamscape disoriented for a few minutes before I was able to get my bearings. I was in our room at the inn, with Janet on one side and Lillian on the other. I kissed their foreheads and made my way out of the bed. I looked back to see them embrace one another and I could not help but smile. The others were in various pairings, cuddling with one another while they slept. I was shocked that they did not have one of them up to keep watch, but I figured with the Voguel taken care of, the risk would have been minor.

I made my way out of the room and was surprised to see two guards seated at a small table next to our door. I guess Janet had worked out something with Eritor to deal with our security, allowing all of us who were on the mission to get some much-needed rest. I greeted them politely, to which they responded in kind. They were playing some kind of card game, though both were keeping an eye on the stairs. I went down and took care of my morning business and stopped by to see if we could get food brought up to our room.

Eteria was at the front desk when I passed, so I posed the question to her and she was happy to say it could be done. She took my order right there at the counter and then said she would have it up in the next hour or so. I thanked her and returned to the room to find all eight ladies in various stretches as they woke up.

“Good morning, my loves,” I announced with a smile. “I hope that you all slept well. I took the liberty to see if we could get food brought up here and our gracious innkeeper said yes. I placed an order for our morning meal, and it should be up soon. That gives you plenty of time to get your morning routines out of the way. There are things we need to go over, but that will wait until we sit down to eat and are alone.”

They all smiled and nodded, before giving me a kiss and heading out of the room. Lillian grudgingly returned to her wolf form before she left the room. They were all back by the time the food arrived, and they assisted in setting our food on the table and escorting the servers out. We locked the door and sat down at the table to eat. I could see that they were anxious to hear what I had to say, but I ignored it and I focused on loading food from the various platters onto my plate. The others figured out my meaning and were collecting their food as I waited. When everyone else was finished collecting their food, I began to tell them of the dream and what was said by the two that appeared in it.

The group was engrossed as I explained what I saw and heard. They barely touched their food until I had finished and even then, they wanted to discuss it. As they began to converse amongst themselves, I enjoyed my food. I would reply if asked something, but my interaction with their conversation was minimal at that point. They were arguing on the facts of what it could have meant. They could not decide if what I saw was an echo of their spirits being left on the skulls, or if their full awareness and being had been trapped there because of the curse.

I did not have a position on it either way, so I remained silent as they debated one another on the merits of what the dreamscape meant. Even after our meal was concluded, the discussion continued, and I sat waiting for it to die down. Lillian decided not to take part in the discussion, instead sitting next to me and placing her head in my lap. She groaned in pleasure as I stroked her head and scratched behind her ears. It was interesting to sense through the bond the pleasure that my attention gave her. I let my mind wander as I continued petting Lillian’s head.