Hunter and the Hart

The Fury of the Forest

Clarissa

I had no idea what she was thinking. Elissa, little Elissa, the youngest of our generation, who had still not had her ascension ceremony, wanted to deal with the encroaching pack. She would be safe inside my barrier, so I decided to just let her try it. I looked at Donna, to grill her about why my cousin wasn't still in bed, and froze. Her wolf was the one in charge.

I started to reach for her when it felt like all of the air had been sucked from my lungs. My head snapped to Elissa, expecting to see her in pain once again, but she was standing with her arms lifting at her sides. The magic of the forest was flowing around her, physically manifesting in ribbons of gold and green light, wrapping and settling around her like a gown that trailed behind her as she stepped forward, crackles of magic like lightning sparking across the ground, flowers blooming in her wake.

She let her head fall back and the world shimmered around her, crowning her in a ring of stars. All of the wolves from my pack bowed to her as she whispered into the wind. The rush of magic became deafening, and I ended up doubled over on the ground holding my head. The previously silent forest broke out in a an absolute cacophony of screeching sounds, and I struggled to watch what unfolded. Hundreds of birds took to the skies, completely darkening the courtyard. They began repeatedly diving at the neighboring pack's wolves, and they responded by attempting to snap them out of the air. They failed, every time. The birds responding by diving in groups, drawing the wolves into snapping to give others a chance to attack from the other side.

The wolves of my pack had not moved since Elissa stepped off the porch, all of their eyes pitch black. Her magic had drawn the wolves to the front. This was completely unheard of. She raised her hands further and two adult black bears lumbered out of the forest, snarling loudly. The wolves flattened their ears in fear, snarling and snapping to try and dissuade the bears, the birds long forgotten. 

One of the bears lifted itself off the ground, waving it's feet in threat, and the encroaching wolves tucked their tails and bolted from the pack grounds, yelping and whining the whole way.

She lowered her hands then, turning to me with a triumphant smile, and I was in awe of what I saw. Her hair, which had before hung to the edge of her shoulder blades, now hung neatly around her waist. The light brown, with it's natural highlights of gold and red, was now completely gone, her hair flowing like pure moonlight on running water. Her eyes as she smiled at me glowed as golden as the sun rising behind her. 

Her shoulders slumped slightly as the pressure and screeching sound of magic disappeared all at once. I began gasping for breath now that my lungs didn't feel like someone was sitting on them, and I barely managed to meet Elissa's eyes as we both lost consciousness.