Chapter 2 Mayra's ring

Inside was warmth, and the rippple from the spells he'd cast before he'd gone to the cliffs. He barred the door, leaving his brother's blood on the wood.

He let his soaked cloak fall, let it lay in a sodden heap on the floor, and had to fight not to join it there. He would mix potions for healing, for strength. And would sit through the night, tending the fire.

He'd done all he could for his parents, his sisters and their families. He had to believe it was enough.

Dave was dead, and what had come back with his face and from had been destroyed. He could not harm them now, but the thing that had made him could.

He would fine something stronger to protect them. And he would fight the demon again. His life, he swore it now, would be dedicated to her destruction. His eyes, stormy black, were glazed with pain, the aches of his body, of his heart, as those demons played inside him.

He hadn't saved his brother. lnstead, he has damned and destroyed him, cast him out and away. He wondered how he had won that terrible victory? Dave had always been physically stronger to him. And what his brother had become was viciously powerful.

He remembered, how they played wenches and sport. Pain rippled up his ribs as he shucked off his tunic. Bruises were already spreading, creeping black over his skin the way grief and guilt crept black over his heart.

He fumbled considerably, cursed violently, in wrapping the bandage over his ribs. Two were broken, he knew, just as he knew the ride back home in the morning would be a study in sheer misery.

He took some potions, then limped to the fire. He added turf so the flames glowed red. Over them he brewed yeah. Then wrapped himself in a blanket to sit, to drink, to brood.

He remembered, how they'd done something foolish together. Once they'd turned the boy who'd pushed their younger sister in the mud into a braying, long eared ass.

He sat back, chilled to his bones despite the simmering turf. He could hear what was left of the storm blowing still, splattering on his roof, wailing through the forest that surrounded his cottage.

But he heard nothing else, not beast, not threat. So was left alone with his memories and regrets.

He should've gone with Dave into the village that evening. Dave would be alive. Surely the demon couldn't have overpowered both of them. Dave would never have gone with her had his brother been by his side. Surely his gift would have allowed him to sense what the creature was, despite her beauty. "What good do they do me? Damn to them all, gods and faeries. He was the light of us, and you've cast him into the dark."

Not in battle, not even with clean blade of magic, but through evil beyond imagination. He waved a hand towards the fire, and in the hearth flames leaped and roared.

Not once in all of his life had he turned from his purpose. Not once had he used his gift for I'll, or touched upon the black arts.

Perhaps now, he thought, he would find the answer in them, Fine his brother again. Fight the Luna, evil against evil.

Perhaps he slept, perhaps he dreamed. But when he came to, the storm had passed. Light seeped into room and grew, bold and bright and white, to sear his eyes. He blinked against it, hissing as his ribs protected when he tried to sit up.

He smelled earth, the smoke from the turf fire that was still shimmering in the hearth.

He could see the shape of her, female, and sensed a staggering beauty. This was no demon come for blood. He got to his knees. Though there was still grief and anger in his voice, he bowed his head.

"My lady."

"Child."

The light seemed to part for her. Her hair was the fiery red of a warrior princess and flowed over her shoulders in silky waves. She wore white robes trimmed in gold as was her right by rank. Her eyes were green as the moss in the forest. Though she was the goddess of moon, goddess of battle, goddess of all Luna in the entire Eire region and beyond.

She was called Mayra,

"You have fought well."

"I have lost. l have lost my brother."

"Have you?" She stepped forward, offered him a hand so he would rise. "You stayed true to your oath, though the temptation was great."

"l might have saved him."

"No." She touched Hunt's face, and he felt the heat of her. "You would have lost him, and yourself. l promise you. You would give your life for his, but you could not give your soul. You have a great gift."

"You could ask anything of me now, Last?"

"A great deal will be asked of you, and of others. There is a battle to be fought, the greatest ever waged. Good against evil. You must gather the forces."

"l am not able, l am not willing, l am tired. l must go see my mother. l must tell her l failed to save her son." He dropped his head in his hands.

"You have not failed. Because you resisted the dark, you are charged to bear this standard, to use the gift you've been given to face and to vanquish that which would destroy worlds."

His head rose at sharp tone, "Lady. l have killed my brother tonight. Even the gods must grieve."

"Your brother was killed by a beast. What fell from the cliff was not your Dave. You must know this. But he..... continues."

Hunt got shakily to his feet. "He lives."

"lt is not life. lt is without breath, without soul, without heart. lt has a name that is not spoken yet in his world. lt is vampyre. lt feeds on blood," she said, moving closer to him. "lt hunts the human, the wolf, take lives, much worse, turns that which it hunts and kills into itself. lt has no face, and must hide from the sun. lt is this you must fight, this and other demons that are gathering. You must meet his force in battle on the feast of Al Salim."

"And how will I fight them? How do I find them? lt was Dave who was the warrior."

"You must leave this place and go to another, and another still. One will come to you and the other you will seek. The warrior, the witch, and the scholar."

"Only four more? Five against an army of werewolves?"

"A circle of five, as strong and true as the arm of a god. When at circle is formed, the five will be my army, the five will make a ring. A month to gather, and one to learn, and one to know. You will teach, and you will learn, and will be greater than the sum of you. The battle comes at Al Salim. You child are my first."

"You would ask me to leave my family, that thing that took my brother may come back for them."

"The thing that took your brother leads the force."

"l wounded her. l gave her pain."

"Yes you did. And this is only another step towards this time and this battle. She bears your mark now, and in time, seek you out."

"Can I fight her now, destroy her now."

"You cannot. She is beyond you at this time, and you, my child, are not ready to face her. Between these times and worlds, her thirst will grow insatiable until only the destruction of all animal and humankind will satisfy it. You will have your revenge." She said as he got to his feet.

"And what of my mother? Of my father, my sisters, their families, everyone else? Without me to protect them, they may die first before this battle you speak of comes to pass."

"lt will come to pass. But they will be beyond it."

She tipped back her head, held her arms up, palms cupped. The ground shook lightly under his feet, and when Hunt looked up, he saw stars shooting through the night sky. Those points of light streamed toward her hands, and there burst into flame. Pain sliced over his palm. He watched the blood well in his, and in hers as the fire burned.

"And so it shall live for all time. Blessed be those who wear Mayra's ring."

The fire died, and in the goddess's hands were crosses of gleaming silver.

"These will protect them. They must wear the cross always, day and night. You will know they are safe when you leave them."

She smiled. "You have been chosen, Hunt. You will leave this place and gather those who are needed. You will prepare and you will learn and you will grow. lf you are victorious, the wolf's pack hierarchies and the worlds in general will balance and you will have all you wish to have."

"How do I fight a vampyre wolf?"

"l have to learn from one of her kind. One she made. One who was yours before she took him. You must first find your brother."

"My brother! Where?"

"Look into the fire, and see."

He was standing in front of the hearth. The flames spiked up, became towers. Became a great city. Thousands of people rushed along streets that were made of some kind of stone.

"What is this place?" He barely to say a word.

"lt is called London, and its time is nearly a thousand years from where we are. Evil still walks the world, as well as good. Your brother has walked the world a long time now."

"l don't understand. ls he a god now?"

"He is vampyre wolf. He must teach you, he must fight by your side. There is no victory without him."

Building of silver and stone taller than any cathedral, he thought. "Will the war be in this London?"

"You will be told when is time. Go to your family and give them this rings. You must leave them quickly, and go to the Dance of the Gods. You will their teach to pass through."

He woke by the fire, the blanket wrapped around him. But he saw it hadn't been a dream. Not with the blood drying on the palm of his hand, and the silver ring lying behind him.

lt was not yet dawn, but he packed his clothes and potions, oatcakes and honey. And the precious rings. He saddled his horse, and then, cast another protective circle around his cottage.

He would come back, he promised himself. As the sun cast its first light, he began the long ride to Norwich, his family home.