Solstice

I

[infra dignitatem]

           

December 1995

            A blur of frosty fur darted behind an emerald bush, snagging the vision of the huntress in the tree-line. She watched the wolf with intent hazel eyes, pulling the taut bowstring back to her rosy cheek. It wouldn't escape her this time.

            Lycaon's minions had been hounding the Hunters of Artemis for the past week. The king of the wolves had issued his familiars to make life hell for the girls and the goddess that led them, and his plan had worked. However, the Hunters had had enough of the werewolves' games.

            The huntress released a single breath in concentration. It fogged up in the chilly alpine air, a cloud of clarity in what was the sharpest moment of her life. She could practically feel the wolf's intense gaze locked on hers across the snowy field. She pulled back the bowstring and—

            "SERA!" A voice rattled the ice-covered leaves of the forest, loud enough to make Sera Brennan misfire her arrow into a bush opposite that of the wolf's. The creature darted out from its hiding spot, sprinting away from the Huntress.

            Sera scowled and stood from where she knelt in the snow. She turned towards the voice, and found Eira, the Lieutenant of Artemis, stalking towards her. The slender girl approached with all the strength and all the intensity of a winter storm, and the sprays of snow billowing up in her wake only added to the image. For a girl born into an era where women were just beginning to emerge from society's 'prim and proper' expectations for them, Eira Constantine was everything but dainty.

            "Just what do you think you're doing?" Eira barked as she came to a stop. Each word was clipped like an icicle dropping to the ground.

            "I was about to skewer one of Lycaon's minions." Sera answered, an edge in her voice. "Isn't that what we're all tasked with doing?"

            "The rest of us are headed back to camp," Eira fixed Sera with a steely glare. "How long have you been tracking this wolf?"

            Sera shifted her weight. What had really happened was she'd ditched a different mission to go hunting the wolf, but there was no way on Earth that she was about to tell her Lieutenant that. "Not that long." She mumbled.

            "Don't lie," Eira commanded.

            Sera bit her lip, but met the girl's eyes. "A few hours."

            Eira's arctic irises widened. Suddenly, it felt like the snow had stopped its soft flurry in mid-air. The Lieutenant of Artemis' fists clenched at her side, and Sera marveled in equal parts awe and fear at the snowflakes that had frozen in mid-air. However, just as fast as Eira's rage had bested her, it melted away.

            "Come with me," Eira seethed. "Lady Artemis will decide what to do with you."

            Sera shut her eyes in a silent lament, but opened them again to trudge after Eira. She kept her head down, watching as she stepped where Eira stepped, before the elder girl used her power to sweep their footprints from existence.

--

            While Lady Artemis was generally a kind and sensible leader, Sera had only spoken with her enough times to count on one hand. Most of the time, Sera and the others listened to the goddess issue a command, or when Lady Artemis was away, to Eira's orders. In short, Sera never wanted to invoke Lady Artemis' wrath, for myth and experience had shown that she could be colder than the dark side of the moon.