Chapter 5 Beyond moons

Just as he'd decided, when he wandered through The Gallery that long ago autumn, that he would one day be part of that space. Of course, at the time he had thought his paintings would hang there, but that was one item on his checklist that he'd been forced to delete rather than tick off when it was accomplished. He would never be an artist. But he had to be, needed to be, involved with and surrounded by art. But the hope of that was looking as dim as the stormy sky.

There was food and there was drink, and the whole of his family, save Dave, around the table. But it was not a meal like so many he remembered, with laughter and shouted argument, with joy or petty disagreements. Hunt studied their faces, the beauties, and their strengths as he told them what had happened.

"If there is to be a battle, l will come with you. Fight with you."

Hunt looked at his brother in law Daniel. His shoulders were broad, his fists ready.

"Where l go, you can't follow. You're not charged with this fight. lt's for you and Ethan to stay here, to protect with my father, the family, the people, the land. l would go with a heavier heart if l didn't know you and Ethan stand in my stead. You must wear these, at all times."

He took out the rings. "Each and every one of you, and all the children who come after. Day and night. This," he said and lifted one, "is Mayra's ring, forged by God's in magic fire. The vampyre wolves cannot turn any who wear it into it's kind. You must swear an oath, each and every one of you. This must be passed on to those who come after you, that you must wear this ring cross until death."

He rose, draping a ring over each fingers, waiting for the sworn oath before moving on.

Then he knelt by hid father. His father's hands were getting old, Hunt noted with a jolt. He was more a farmer than a warrior, and in a flash, he knew his father's death would come first. Just as he knew he would never again look in the eyes of the man who'd given him life.

His heart bled a little.

"l take my leave of you, father. l ask you blessing."

"May the God's of the land, be with you always. And never get to avenge you brother, and come back to us."

"l will, father." Hunt rose. "l must gather what l need."

He went up to the room he kept in the topmost tower, and there began to pack herbs and potions without any real sense what would be needed.

"Where is your ring?"

He looked toward the doorway where Mary stood, her dark hair hanging to her waist. She was young, about seven, he thought, and held the softest spot in his heart.

"She didn't make me one," he said. "l have another sort of shield, and there's no need for you to be worried."

"l won't cry when you go."

"Why would you? l've gone before, haven't l, and come back handily enough?"

"You'll come back. To the cottage."

He nestled bottles carefully in his case, then paused to study his sister. "Who will?"

"The woman with red hair. Not the goddess, but a mortal woman, one who wears the sign of the witch. l can't see Dave, and l can't see if you'll win. But l can see you, you're afraid, with the witch here."

"l ask you, should a man go into battle without fear? isn't fear something that helps keep him alive?"

"l wish l were a warrior or were a man. l know nothing about battles." Her mouth, so young, so smooth, went grim. "You wouldn't be stopping me from going with you the way you stopped Benjamin."

"How would l?" He closed his case, moved to her.

"l am afraid. Don't tell the others."

"l won't."

Lifting her finger which wore the ring, used his magic to scribe her name on the back in ogham script. "See, lt makes it only yours, yours alone." He told her.

"Mine, and the ones who'll have my name after me." Her eyes glimmered, but the tears didn't fall.

"You'll see me again."

"Of course, I will."

"When you do, the circle will be complete. l don't know how, or when."

"What else do you see, Mary?"

She only shook her head. "lt's dark. l can't see. I'll light a candle for you, every day, every night, until you return."

"I'll ride home by it's light." He bent down to embrace her. "I'll miss you, alot." He kissed her gently, then set her aside. "Be strong and always stay safe."

"I will have daughters," she called after him.

lt made him smile. He turned slightly, "Will you now?"

"lt is my lot," she told him with a resignation that made his lips twitch. "But they will not be weak. They will not sit and spin and bake all the damn day. They will be Alhpa's with strong heart, they will not knead."

He grinned fully, and knew this was a memory he would take with him happily. "Oh won't they? What then, young mother, will your daughters do?"

"They will be Luna's with great warriors heart. And the vampyre who fancies herself a queen will tremble before them."

She folded her hands, much as their mother was won't to do. "Go with the gods, brother."

"Stay in the light, sister."

They watched him go, three sisters, the men who loved them, their children. His parents, even the servants as well. He took one last long look at all of them, looked at the house his grandfather, and his father before, had built of stone in his glade. lt's stone was obsidian black, with juts and towers, peaks and battlements stacked and spread as if some very clever, very wicked child had placed them at his whim. Against that rain-slicked black, long, narrow windows, all glowed with gilded light, by this stream, in this land he loved with the whole of his heart.

ln farewell, he raised his hand, rode away from them and toward the Dance of the Gods.

The world was so still, so silent, he felt as though he rode through a painting. The gray of the sky, the green of the grass, the yellow flowers and the ancient circle of stones and art that had risen in it's dance since beyond time.

Hunt started to dismount when a shimmer of gold across the field caught his eye. There at the edge of it was a hind. The green of her eyes sparkled like the jeweled collar she wore. She walked toward him regally, and changed to the female form of the goddess.

"You are right on time, Hunt."

"lt was painful to bid my family farewell."

He slid off the horse, bowed. "My lady."

"Child. You have been ill."

"A fever, but it's gone now. Did you send the witch of a Luna to me?"

"There's no need to send what will come on it's own. You'll find her again."

"My brother."

"He is first. Here is the key to the portal as the light will go soon." She opened her hand and offered a small crystal wand. "Keep it with you." When he started to remount, she shook her head, took the reins. "No, you must go on foot. Your horse will find it's way back home safely."

Resigned to the whimsy of God's, he took his case, his bag. He strapped on his sword, together with his staff.

"How will I find him?"

"Through the portal, into the world yet to come. Into Dance, lift the key, say the words. Your destiny lies beyond. From this point forward, the density of the humankind, the werewolves hierarchies is in your hands. She repeated. "Into the world yet to come. lnto the Dance, lift the key, say the words."

He locked his fear inside him, as her voice followed him in, between the great stones. lf he'd been born for this, so be it. Life was long, he knew.

He lifted the stone. A single beam of light speared out of those thick clouds to strike it's tip. Power shot down his arm like an arrow.

"Worlds wait. Time flows. God's watch."

"Repeat," Mayra told him, and joined him so that the words became a chant.

"Worlds wait. Time flows. God's watch.".....×2

The air shook around him, came alive with wind, with light, with sound.

He heard his own voice come out in a roar, shouting the words now as if in challenge.

And so he flew. Through light and wind. Beyond moons and stars and across planets. Faster, until the light was blinding, the sounds deafening and the wind so fierce he wondered it didn't flay the skin from his body.

Then the light went dim, the wind died, and the world was silent.