Codex Mortem

Of men and beasts

My hand went over my mouth. The urge to throw pushed up inside me and, for a moment, I've lost my balance. The guard behind placed his arms around my wrist and helped me regain my foot.
"Hold on, beautiful," Saeban encouraged in a low voice, letting go of my body.
With a small pouch in his hand, the prince announced the prisoner.
"Lower Mairet, you crossed the river into our territory. You poached on our land and got caught with a hare trying to swim back. Today, the stones will choose your fate, according to the law!"
The prince shook the pouch on the table, revealing four small black stones and a white one. He explained to the witnesses their meaning, but his loud voice subsided in my head.
I looked to Raiden. He had the power to stop this. Why doesn't he?
"Please, he doesn't deserve this..." I cried to Astan.
The warrior glanced at me with sympathy. "Do not try to interfere, Dawn. That is a crime punishable by death." he warned.

The king's face was like stone, cold and distant. Under thick eyebrows, his eyes were unmoved.
The trance I was falling in was broken by a nudge, making me to step forward.
Saeban brought his mouth to my ear. "You must hold the pebble up for the people to see."
So I went.

.....

Raiden

I watched her unsure, shy steps carrying her at the table. As the human drew his punishment, my second flipped a coin in the air with nonchalance, a coin for the safe passage of the lower's soul.
I pushed down the urge to swap her in my arms and carry her away, far away from all these. I was struggling.
This man took a desperate risk to feed his family, and today he will pay with his life. His offsprings were too small to even be considered as a payment for his release, and he had no wealth.
It wasn't right, but then nothing is ever right. Is just the way it is.
After his execution, I'll make the announcement. My warriors were prepared. The scowl on my face deepened. If the alphas will not agree with the changes- we will fight and many lowers might die caught in the middle.
My eyes narrowed. She lifted the small stone with quaking fingers while her sad blue eyes held back a river of tears.
I rose on my feet and walked to the table, cringing my nose. The fear and desperation stunk in the air.
At my silent command, Dawn was backed up by a warrior into the line, with Saeban blocking her view. I didn't like his proximity to her, nor the way he looked at her. But this was not the time, nor the place.
Rhys stretched a crease of the human's ragged shirt, searching for a spot to place the coin that will ensure the passage of his soul in the afterlife.
"What is my name?" I whispered into the prisoner's ear.
He dare not to lift his eyes from the table, where the carved stone announced his hunt. The Hunt.
He reeked of dirt and piss. "Mercy, milord," is all he said.
Rhys handed me the old hourglass, and I placed it on the table.
Looking down at the shackled lower, I spoke loud for all to hear.
"When the last thread of sand falls down at the second turn, your hunt will begin. Reach the Dubh river, touch the water and you shall keep your life. Run!" I then lift my head up to name a wolf for the task. Any of my beasts were deadly, but I wanted a quick, clean death.
"Saeban!"
The young warrior stepped forward with a proud grin, honored to be chosen.
"May the Sun smile on you, lower Mairet. RUN!" I shouted as I turned the hourglass. A woman wailed. There was no sun. Only dark clouds.

.....

Dawn

I watched horrified how the poor man stumbled in the distance, falling on the muddy path and bolting up only to fall again. The woman's cry pierced my mind like rusted pins, and I covered my ears with my palms.
The proud smirk on Saeban's face was popping into my mind over and over again. 'You were right, mother. They are ruthless beasts. Killers. All of them.'

The last of the hourglass' sand fell. The woman's screeching voice dried off, casting a blanket of silence upon us.
Saeban's eyes darkened. He smelled the air like a predator, turning his head in one direction. With wide, determined strides, he followed that direction and disappeared from our eyes' range into the far line of trees.
I sat frozen, waiting like all the others. Praying that poor Mairet reached the water in time.
Suddenly, the wolves clenched their fists and start hitting their chests in a sickening rhythm. Tu-thum! Tu-thum!
Their pupils widened till their eyes became dark as a Tarr pit.
From the line of trees, something emerged. A small dot for the human's sight, a dot that grew bigger with its approach. The gathering shivered, muffled terror gasps filling the air.
My hand pushed by instinct the guard that was blocking my view and I stepped forward.
Saeban halted in front of the king and lowered his head. Then he walked to the stone and threw the prey's still body from over his shoulder. As the lower crumbled half on the stone and half in the dirt, his head rolled on a side to a strange angle, revealing a deep gash on a side of his neck. Red, foamy blood was dripping from it and gathered under his hollow cheek.
The woman came forward. Her red bulky eyes on her ashen face froze upon what was once her husband. She stood there like a statue for a few moments, then she turned and walked away, transfixed. Her toddler rushed with tiny steps to the corpse, but someone caught him in his run.
"P-pa-pa!" the child called.
My stomach turned upside down. I gagged. My head start spinning and my mind was falling into nothingness.
I felt my body being lifted into someone's arms, then cold water splashing on my face.
My eyelids fluttered open and the abyss I was falling into reversed back into consciousness.
Prince Rhys took me somewhere behind the line of royal guards and placed me carefully on the cold ground.
"You need to gather yourself, lass." He advised. "There are still three to go."
I brought my knees up to my chest and lay my head on top of them.
"Why, Prince? He only meant to feed his family..." I asked.
"And we need to feed the demon. He knew the risk."
Still shocked, my mind wanted to deny the reality of our world. But there was nowhere to hide from it.