Excerpt: Dreamcaster

Prologue: Unnamed
Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!
-The Crucible, Arthur Miller

The final steps toward his home had never seemed harder in his short life. With a low head, the young wolf threaded his way through the trees, the recent memories darkening his mood. He had meant to save them, meant to keep them from harm. Now they were too far away for him to reach. Even now he could hear them whimpering in his head, calling for him. He was their elder brother; he had always been there to fight off their demons. He was the one who had stirred from his own sleep many times to comfort his siblings with his presence. They would wake exclaiming that he had appeared in their dreams and fought away whatever monster threatened them. He would smile and nod. And, if he limped for the first hours of their day under the moon, they would just put it off to something else.

If had been his duty to rush off and save them, especially after they screamed across the link in their dreams, drawing him to them. They were the only siblings he had, the only ones to survive the first winter together. He remembered the nightmares and fears that ran across his parent’s heads when those had died in the first snows. He couldn’t cope with those that haunted them now. And now, there was no way to relieve their pain.

He topped the small rise that guarded their small clearing, surrounded by the moonlight that was filtered by the leaves of the trees. Blue eyes drifted around the wolf pack, picking out the alpha before straying to where his parents lay in the position of second in command. A small whimper tried to force its way out of his throat. There was no way to tell them that he had failed. They were all so confident about him. The alpha himself had pronounced him the greatest hunter and fighter in the pack, attributing it to the strain of Blue blood that ran through his veins. Others admired him for his voice, which always led the pack in song. But none of them knew about his nighttime visits to the land of dreams.

Musing done, he prepared to walk down to face his parents. Something caught the corner of his eye as he made to step forward. At the boundary of the faint moon marked clearing, he saw the female he was courting. For a single moment, he allowed himself some joy. Abeque had waited for him, as she promised. His tail began to wag, eyes tracing over the brown coat. The female’s head turned, like she was looking for someone. He was about to call to her when another wolf stepped from the shadows of the forest. He felt his heart slow as Abeque trotted over to meet the wolf, nuzzling him gently.

She hadn’t waited for him. He stumbled back a step, managing to remain unnoticed. Abeque had waited long enough for him to be out of sight before settling for a new male, and it hurt. A soundless snarl pulled his lips apart as he recognized the wolf that was now courting her. Viho, the alpha’s son. The memories came rushing in, ripping the veil that had stood before his eyes in two. Now all those looks toward him made sense. Abeque had tired of him long before he went to save his siblings, but was waiting for the news that proclaimed him dead. He had only been gone four months, four months out of the long year! From nowhere, the thought wriggled up to the surface, the unfaithful must be killed.

The snarl broke loose, startling those wolves closest to him. Yelps of panic rushed through the pack as the members turned to look at the snarling male standing on the small hill. The hair along his back rose with his aggravation, a strange blue-grey at the top of his neck until his withers. His own parents looked startled as they beheld their son. But he had no eyes for those who looked at him, only for Abeque and Viho.

The ground seemed to vibrate under their feet as he lifted up his head and began to howl. Unlike the songs of the wolves, this was just a series of notes, a style long forgotten by those present. Every wolf whimpered, curling up on themselves as the tune wound out. Some began to pant for air as they felt something of themselves leaving and drifting toward the singing wolf. And then, they were released from their holds, all except for one. Abeque was still held in thrall, the only one still looking the singing wolf in the eyes. Slowly, she began to move forward, her movements unsteady as she tottered toward him.

Abeque was brought to a stop at the base of the hill, her eyes the only outward sign of the terror she felt. He smiled at this. He could feel the strip that was her soul becoming thinner as he unwove it, sending it out into the world. He leaned forward, glaring at her as the final notes drew closer. He wanted her to remember the look on his face, the anger that he felt when he sent her to hell. He snapped his mouth shut, causing the notes to suddenly cut off. In that instant, Abeque fell to the ground, dead.

As the rest of his pack stared up at him, he stepped down from his perch, sides heaving with barely repressed anger. These wolves had no right to look at him like that! He had just risked his life for his siblings, only to lose them. He had come home, expecting for the wolf he was courting to be waiting for him, but found that she had long since strayed. This was his right as a wolf to kill, the idea thrilled through his bones as he walked, disdainfully stepping over Abeque.

It took a moment more before any order came from the alpha. The great black wolf leapt from his position on the ground with a rumbling growl. “Seize him!”

He growled in return as the wolves surrounded him, two leaping on top of his barely grown frame to pin him to the ground. He squirmed there as the alpha strode up, anger evident in the black hair that rose from his back. Behind the alpha, his parents lurked, treating him to the most confused looks he had every received in his short life. He snapped at the wolves that surrounded him.

“Silence!” The deep voice boomed out, even startling him into quiet. The alpha regarded him with an even stare before shaking his head. “I expected more from you, I really did. You were one of the best in our pack. But now, you must go.”

“Go where?” He attempted to raise himself from the ground. “And what for? I have nothing wrong! She promised me…she was promised to me! It was only fair that I repay her faithlessness!”

“We do not live in the dark times anymore! We are not the play things of the gods!”

“I don’t care!” He shook the wolves off him, a crazed look entering his eyes. “It was my right to kill, she was mine! I loved her! And she threw that back in my face!”

“Silence!” The command rang out again, this time with a snap at the end of it. The alpha roughly shoved the rest of the pack out of the way as he picked up the young wolf by the scruff of his neck and proceeded to drag him out of the clearing. He twisted his head about in the grip of the black wolf, catching glimpses of his parents as they raced after their leader. At the edge of the shadows, he was dropped roughly to the ground and sent stumbling with another shove. The black alpha glared down his muzzle at him, a snarl still rumbling in his chest. “You are exiled from our lands. We will howl into the night your deeds so that you will find no other home with the packs of the forest. The humans will hunt you and kill you. And you shall die without a name.”

“No!” He tried to rush forward but was pushed backward again. The alpha snapped his teeth together right about his brown nose, the white enamel more threatening than it had ever been. The black wolf stepped back with a snort, turning to address the crowd behind him.

“This one here has no name; he shall not be accepted any longer. When any wolf asks about the offspring of Songaa and Urika, they all died when the humans stole them away. We will sing their names into the night in the death songs of the pack. This one is never to return here!”

The pack began to whimper, their tails hanging low. A few at the back of the pack raised their muzzles to the sky and began to howl. The song swept through the pack as more wolves wandered off, joining those already in song as they mourned those lost to them. He watched them all go, whimpers escaping from him. His mother and father looked sadly at him before walking away. Alone under the moon, he watched them go before making his own way back into the shadows. He walked, heedless of direction and distance until he came upon a scattering of boulders. Disheartened, he clambered atop one and lay down.

A wolf’s name was important to him; it gave him meaning within the pack. The way other wolves spoke his name showed relation, love and hatred. It was an important part of his life, and he had never grown up without it. His ears perked up as the howls from the pack continued, wafting over them in their sad journey. A lone bass echoed from the rest, sending out the message of one wolf’s exile. He raised his head to listen to his description, lacking all but his name.

Wind whipped up from nowhere, carrying the sounds of his home away. Startled, he scrambled to his feet, mouth open in shock. From a white cloud of mist, a hand appeared. He backed away, claws tapping on the rock. The hand beckoned him forward, an order he did not obey. The mist parted suddenly, revealing a host of glowing animals and people. The one in the lead smiled, his shape that of a man, and in a booming voice spoke. “Why do you not bow to us, nameless wolf? You must know who we are.”

“You were cast away!” He was shouting to be heard above the wind. “The Dreamcaster sent you all away!”

The gods laughed as one, a heartless sound. The speaker’s hand switched from a beckoning stance to a clawed one. “Yes, but he is dead. You, little Dreamcaster, have broken the rules of the land.”

“You do not rule here anymore!”

“We do. For killing without our judgment, we remove your voice and will return it when we see fit.”

He opened his mouth to scream, but nothing came out. The gods laughed again and disappeared, the wind going with them. He shivered, alone on his rock. His legs gave out beneath him, his body shaking with inaudible sobs. They had taken the only thing that remained precious to him. Now, he would surly die. He raised his head to look up into the clear night, glaring at the moon. They said that Kiche watched over all the wolves from the moon. Where had she been? He wouldn’t be surprised if she had been among those that stole the only thing left to him.

He sat up, his head titled back to the sky. He wanted to sing, he needed to sing. His siblings hadn’t been properly mourned. He had been in too much of a hurry to get home before he was missed by his parents. Now no wolf would mourn them because they would be grouped together, he and the dead pups. The song would drift out to the sky, the first liter of Songaa and Urika all gone to winter and humans. Their names forgotten to be used again.

He blinked mournfully, eyes drifting from star to star. He planned to survive, it wasn’t in him to lie down and die. It was not the wolves’ way to lay down calmly to fate. He would begin a new life on his own, other wolves had done that. He crafted a name, created from syllables that were easy to make in the body language he was forced to use. Faolán. Smirking to himself, he lifted his muzzle to the sky and began to howl, no sound coming from his throat.

In the dark night, highlighted by the moon, Faolán sang his song of sorrow, listing the names of the dead of his past pack and the names of his siblings. Some wolves stopped to listen, thinking they heard a strange sound or whispering that the trees were whispering the names of dead wolves by the order of a ghost.