Page 36 of Heart Shaped Wreckage
Our clothes lay on a fallen tree, and our naked bodies glistened with the dew. It was warm here.
“You two really are made for each other.” I turned to find a wolf sitting on her haunches as she licked her lips.
“You’re not going to…”
“Eat you? No. My taste for flesh only comes in times of war. You are safe, human, for now.” Her yellow eyes sparkled in the moonlight.
“That doesn’t exactly make me feel any better. Who are you?”
“It’s Morrigan, Queen of the Wolves and protector of the forests.” Heath groaned as he woke up. “You didn’t bring any coffee, did you?”
“Sorry.”
“No offense, but I am really getting tired of talking animals waking me up.” I pouted.
“Is this better?” She glowed and shifted in a matter of seconds. A young woman with flowing brown hair that covered her breasts stood before us. “This is my other form. But I do prefer to run on four legs with the wind in my hair.”
“Don’t we all?” Heath agreed.
“You find yourself in a bit of a predicament, old one.”
“We do. Is that why we’re here?”
She ran her hands through her long hair. “Why else? The sands of the hidden Sahara brought you to me.”
“Ireland?” He glanced around. “I was wondering if we were in the land of the fae.”
“In a way. This place is beyond any borders. It’s a part of the Eire, an ancient place that cannot be found unless it is needed,” she explained.
“Why are we here?” Heath set up and grabbed our clothes.
“The beginning of the end, I’m afraid – or happy. It depends on the choices you make.” She glanced between us.
“Is this our last stand?”
“No, there will be one more trial. But this is the one you fear the most, Magnus of the fallen. There are few beings as old as I who walk the Earth, and I’d hate to see your time come to an end. Have you worked out the next part of the stanza?”
“Does everyone know this prophecy?” I snorted.
“No witch boy. Not everyone. But I, who have long been a goddess of prophecy, know every one uttered in the pantheons of old. How do you think that our dear old Thoth knew where you’d be?”
“What is Moon Cat?” I blurted. “Does he know prophecy, too?”
She laughed. “That silly cat just knows everything. When you’re an interdimensional traveling cat, you hear things. He just likes to meddle. But if he hadn’t, where would you be?”
“I think he brought me to Heath… I remember a little. Being pulled away from my home, and darkness swallowing me.”
“You remember that?” Heath smiled.
“I think you two should get dressed. I’m afraid there is no running away this time. I would help, but I detest those self-serving assholes. They are why no one bleeds in my grotto anymore. Once, this place was an orgy of delight and death as they threw themselves into the flames for my love. Those were very good times.”
Heath handed me my clothes.
“My lady, do you see our success or…”
“Death? No one knows. It all depends on a drop sitting on the head of a needle, doesn’t it?”
“What does that mean?” I shrugged. Why were these talking animals so difficult to understand?
