Herizonstar Chapter 2
by Andrew Uys
Chapter Two:
The north wind, laden with snow, howled between the suburban homes. The night was undisturbed but for two animals circling. In front of Star’s home, a perfect circle was being created as the coyote and fox each finished the others path. Naturally enemies, they did not fight, but driven by a deeper desire to complete their ritual they went round and round digging through the snow, till the frozen earth below could be seen. As the wind died, and the sky lightened, they stopped and looked at one another. For three breaths neither moved, when, as the stars flickered in the sky, dimming before the dawn light, they looked upward and called to the fading moon.
Star tossed in bed, a howling echoing through her dreams again. This sound was not a monster bellowing, but a harkening, a summoning. Without opening her eyes, Star lay still, no longer sleeping, and listened intently for it to come again. Time slipped by, but there was nothing. Getting out of bed, Star shivered in the cold. As she crossed to her window, she was startled to find it cracked open, the night air seeping in. Pushing it closed, her hands brushed the curtains aside, and she saw the ground, covered with snow, but for a large circle, exposing the earth. Stepping back, Star’s mind swam; fragments from her recent confusing dreams rushed back. Puzzled Star threw on her morning clothes, and in doing so, mentally stepped back into her routine. She had more important things to think about – Kai – than weird circles in the snow.
The school day dragged. Star avoided Kai, as she didn’t have an answer for him. Instead, she cloistered herself for the lunch hour in the quiet of the library, trying to conjure images from her dreams. The weather worsened outside and the trek home was freezing and wet, as the wind blew spat wet snow against her face. Dinner was already cooking as Star stamped the snow from her boots. After changing into dry clothes, Star helped set the table, while chatting about the coming Christmas holidays. Carefully setting up the conversation, Star only waited until both her parents were eating, to broach the topic of traveling to Phox’s cottage. Delicately, Star threaded her way through the tricky but predictable questions – how did her coach feel about so many missed practices; would boys be there; would there be drinking; how would she getting to the cottage. Her mother surprisingly, favoured the idea, but her father hesitated, trying to nail down, even further, who would be going. Star did not want to lie, but cognizant that her parents would not sanction it if boys were there too, she pleaded,
“Please, it’ll only be us girls. And mom, you keep saying that I need to make more friends. I go, and I’m totally set with Phox and hers. Please. There will be no guys there. None. Total negative on male attendance. A full zero…”
Before her father had a chance to respond, Star employed her oldest and most effective form of coercion; wide eyed with tears threatening; cheeks flushed; slightly pouting, she looked imploringly at her father. Momentarily silent, her father muttered a low agreement cautioning that talk about the details would still need to happen, and so with a reprimanding look from her mother, dinner continued. Triumphantly Star sat quietly, letting her father’s vent about the drive home, wash over her. Tomorrow she would see Kai. Tomorrow she would share her news.
She fell asleep smiling. Soon the last lights in the houses were turned off, and the only sound was the wailing wind outside. Again the neighborhood was blanketed with thick snow. Again two creatures made their way to Star’s home and front yard.
Pausing to shake the wet powder from its fur, the coyote turned and looked at its companion, a small fox.
“By Takir, this weather isn’t natural, even for this time of year.” The coyote growled, his voice deep and gruff.
“Careful friend. If you are right, this is the work of our enemy, who is watching our young charge as closely as us.” The fox’s voice was soft, and quiet. “Worse still, if the enemy discerns our true forms, its suspicions will be confirmed, and the girl’s life will be in even greater danger.”
Cocking its head upwards, the coyote gazed into the sky, and then back at the fox beside him.
“Will Mother Moon even hear our call tonight? The ritual will have no power without her blessing.” The coyote whined, and then with a chuckling growl, he continued, “and those are some big words coming from you – “discern”, “suspicions” – I have grown used to your “like this”, and “No Way”…”
“Do not be fooled by any form that I wear, for while you might be the tricky one out west, this is my territory, and I have tended it well.” The fox’s voice took on an aggressive edge as she stared down the coyote.
“Well, well, now that does sound more primal. I am never fooled by the pretty skins that you hide in, but I do fear, that you forget who we really are. You seem too caught up in all their ways, both that of man and beast.” The coyote growled back, not breaking their stare.
“Now is not the time for this…” The fox looked away, scanning the empty streets.
“Fair enough, but you and I aren’t finished yet.” The coyote began to move through the snow again, and the fox followed quickly.
The next two weeks passed quickly for Star. After telling Kai that she would come to the cottage, Star settled into a strenuous regime of studying and skating practices, not giving her parents any excuse to renege on their promise. The exam period blew past, a flurry of tension, relief, and then more tension, and Star barely had a chance to speak to Kai. Their only conversation was to plan how Star would be picked up for the drive north, so as not to alert her parents to the presence of boys on the trip. During the nights, as the snow storm that had beset the city worsened, Star would toss and turn, her dreams filled with a horrific howling, and the need to escape the beast pursuing her.
The pressures of each day left no time for idle thoughts of what created or caused the circles carved into the snow on her front lawn. Christmas day itself paled in comparison to the excitement Star felt about the next day, when she would leave for Phox’s cottage. Thanking her parents for their gifts – new skates, a set of DVDs, and a new set of earrings; she quickly cleaned her room, and packed for the trip. Star’s mind was in a tumult over how to act, and what to expect up north – especially in regards to Kai – and she moved about in a daze as her parents jokingly berated her for missing the extended family gathering that would take place on New Year’s Eve, though even they realized her mind was elsewhere when she made no response to their tease of not ‘getting’ any presents from the rest of the family.
With a contented sigh, Star drifted to sleep, mentally counting the hours till she would be cuddling with Kai by a roaring fire, the other girls on the trip not even registering in her fantasy.
The coyote and the fox lay on the ground under a decorated pine tree, taking shelter from the roaring wind, and the thick snow that it carried.
“R-Really, I think there is no point going to the girl’s h-h-home tonight – the storm w-w-worsens with every step with take forward.” The fox’s voice was low and soft, teeth chattering as she spoke.
“Fair enough, we have done everything we can here. Are they ready to meet us?” The coyote shook the snow from his fur as he spoke.
“Yes, they will be gathered at the circle when we arrive. The ceremony will commence six nights from now, but the assembly wanted to meet with you first and see if you have the right stuff for what must come next.” The fox lent up as she finished speaking, and snapped a line of green tinsel with her mouth, slowly unraveling it from the tree.
“Good. We must protect the girl from the enemy till then, but…” The coyote’s voice trailed off.
“But?” queried the fox.
“But... If it gets to the girl before the ceremony is ready, we must not let the enemy capture her. No matter, the cost.” The coyote looked away from the fox.
“She will do us no good if she is dead, and then we will be worse off than we are now.” The fox spun the tinsel round in the air, until it settled about her neck, sparkling in the light from the street lamps.
“True, but if the enemy turns her against us, our defeat will follow shortly. In time she will be even more powerful than the enemy. That is why both sides have been seeking her for so long. Do you understand?” The coyote turned his head, and stared at the fox intently.
“Yes. If she will not join us, the girl will die.” The fox’s voice was flat and harsh, icier than the howling winter winds in the night.
To Be Continued…