赤裸裸的滑稽故事

“Now is not the time for this!” Lian interrupted, pushing between the former lovers.

“She’s right,” Talis added. “Ashleigh has already been here a very long time.”

Ashleigh looked at Talis with a furrowed brow.

“It’s only been a few hours at most…” she said.

Talis shook her head.

“We told you, time works differently here,” she said. “Hours can be days.….”

“What?!” Ashleigh shouted, standing from her chair. “You mean I’ve been asleep for days?”

“Most likely,” Talis nodded.

“Caleb is not going to handle that well… I need to get back!”

“Yes, you do,” Lian agreed. “There was much more I needed to explain, but above all else, we must ask for your help.”

“With what?” Ashleigh asked.

“You read Cain’s journals. You know about the mounds that he found, the power?”

Ashleigh nodded.

“Those were direct connections to the ley lines. He was right to destroy the ones he could, but the others must also be destroyed.”

“You mean the ones in Spring and in Moonguard?” Ashleigh asked.

“Yes,” Lian nodded, “and two others. The way gate between Spring and Autumn, and the one between Summer and Winter.”

“The way gates? Like the stone rings in the sacred forest of the Blood Moon?” Ashleigh asked.

“Similar,” Lian replied. “The one you speak of had a connection to the other gates and could be used to travel, but it does not have a direct connection to the ley lines. Only the way gates between the great packs do.”

“So, you need me to get into the mounds, destroy them, and destroy the gates? That’s all?” Ashleigh asked.

“It won’t be as simple as it sounds,” Solana interjected. “The Moonguard mound will be protected. There was a reason my great-grandson did not return to it before he went to Loki’s fall. The pack realized he had disturbed the mound and took it upon themselves to guard it and treat it as a sacred space.”

“Why would they do that?” Ashleigh asked. “They couldn’t know about the werewolves' connection to the fae, so why would they care about it.”

“They don’t believe it to be a fae mound,” Lian replied. “They believe it is where the Goddess was born. Their ancestors witnessed the fall of our Queen at that same site. That mound is hers.”

Ashleigh’s eyes went wide. Then, unsure how to respond, she simply listened.

“It formed at the time of her death, opening the connection with the ley line,” Lian continued as she looked away. “We should have allowed the earth to swallow her body and carry it through the ley lines to be reborn.

“But, instead of doing as our Queen wished, we selfishly used the power to create this pocket between worlds. This place where we could continue to watch over the world and the ley lines together. Where we could preserve her forever, we didn’t expect the effect keeping her from rebirth would have on the wolves.”

Keeping her alive had unforeseen consequences and ripple effects. The powers of the Alpha and Luna and the strength passed down through the descendants of the original fae wolves. Those all stemmed from their connection to the Queen and the raw power of the ley lines.

She had warned them that the power was too tempting, that someday, even if it wasn’t the Dark Queen, someone would try to use it for evil. So she wanted the ley lines sealed. But, unfortunately, it was too late when the Priestesses understood that the threat the Queen had feared was real.

“We thought we were doing the right thing. But we had no idea what had happened inside the mound created by the Dark Queen.”

“What do you mean?” Ashleigh asked quietly.

“Even with a part of her inside Loki’s mind, the rest of her spirit remained strong within the mound. She was trapped, but her mind, her desires for domination, still lingered,” Lian said. “All those that we had imprisoned inside of that mound, they should have died and rejoined with the ley lines.”

“They didn’t?” Ashleigh asked.

Lian shook her head.

“The Dark Queen… even in death, she was formidable. She was able to whisper in their ears and get them to offer themselves as a sacrifice at the roots of her tree. Given enough time and enough blood, she would have been able to be reborn then and there with her already corrupted soul. But we sealed it up, thinking it would be enough to trap her far from anyone that might hear her call.”

“But it wasn’t?” Ashleigh asked.

Lian shook her head gently.

“As you know, we each had at least one child before we retreated from the world to hide our Queen and do our best to monitor the balance.”

Ashleigh nodded.

“Summer and Winter both have strong bloodlines, easily traced and very powerful,” she said. “But Autumn and Spring were not so lucky. Their bloodlines were lost in the growing numbers and the frequent and violent leadership changes.

“But that doesn’t mean the bloodlines stopped.”

Ashleigh furrowed her brows.

“You, your brother, and Caleb are the last of the pure bloodlines. You retain strength and power that comes from your connection to the ley lines. But both Talis and I do still have descendants. But the blood has been muddied again and again.

“Even still, some of our descendants are able to touch on certain abilities that came from us. For instance, my last two living descendants. They can heal others.”

“You mean they can use magic?” Ashleigh asked, thinking of the tapestry.

“Not exactly,” Lian said. “The ability is usually presented in a recurring thought, an interest. It’s passive.”

“How do you passively heal someone?” Ashleigh asked.

Lian gave a gentle smirk.

“By giving them your blood.”

Ashleigh gasped.

Lian nodded.

“The reason that your friend Bell and her mother had such unique blood, with the gift of healing, is because Bell, and now her son, hold the last remaining drops of my bloodline. So far removed from the power of the Alpha, this is the only ability she has gained from me.

“Much the same as the descendant of Spring, her bloodline was even further removed, almost extinct entirely. The very last drops were carried by Luna Irina, a younger brother she never knew, and her son.

“Luna Irina never had a son…” Ashleigh commented.

“No, Alpha Gorn never had a son,” Lily whispered under her breath.

Lian cleared her throat before continuing.

“Irina’s sensitivity to nature came from her blood, and in the end, drove her mad. The spring pack was blessed with an affinity for nature, for understanding how everything balances and fits together. People with these abilities could feel the forest's life in our time. They could listen to the soft thrum of energy that flowed through all living things.

“But Irina’s sensitivity was almost nonexistent, spending most of her life completely oblivious to the sound of nature. It wasn’t until she got closer and closer to the mountain that housed the Dark Queen’s mound that she began to hear it. Her connection very suddenly and intensely grew stronger. She heard the screams inside the mountain. She felt the pain that was housed within that mound.”