Black Blood

Celeste

‘Thank you again Asa,’ says Novak as I grab the reins of my horse. I put myself right into the saddle and look at the two men. Asa pulls Novak into an embrace.

‘Anytime. You are always welcome you know that. Just be careful.’ Novak smiles at the Alpha and walks to his own horse.

‘When I come back, I expect puppies,’ Novak says as he climbs onto the horse. Asa starts to laugh. A small blush plays on his cheeks.

‘We’ll see,’ he replies, running a hand through his black hair. Novak looks at me with a grin played on his lips. I roll my eyes and turn my attention to Asa.

‘Thanks again Alpha.’ Asa smiles.

‘It is and always will be Asa to you, Maria,’ he repeats as he has done dozens of times over the past few weeks. I nod.

‘Thank you again Asa.’ He smiles approvingly until the smile is wiped from his face within a second. His blue eyes have a worried look in them.

‘What is it, Asa?’ Novak asks in a decidedly less cheerful tone. He swallows, the Adam’s apple in his whole moves. He straightens his blue blouse. The two blue eyes peg on the road ahead.

‘Franders is here.’ The breath seems to be knocked out of my lungs as if someone had hit my ribcage with a hammer. The panic that bubbles up in my body is indescribable. I want to run, scream and cry at the same time.

‘Where?’ Even in Novak’s tone, fear is audible. His breathing is hurried, his voice hoarse. My hands tremble, letting the reins move back and forth in small movements.

‘The gate. He wants to go inside to search the city.’ My heart seems to be tucked away in the ground. This is the end, this is my end. I am a rat in a trap that will soon be buried under a stream of water. The images of torture and execution flash past my eyes like a fury. If he catches me, I will be taken from life with anything but a gentle hand. Christiaan will make sure I lead until my last breath.

‘Can you refuse him?’ Novak asks as calmly as possible. Asa slowly shakes his head. Although Asa has no knowledge of my title, he seems just as distraught by Christiaan’s visit as I and Novak are. Novak’s eyes shoot over the still quiet streets. The wolves walk the streets as if nothing is wrong.

‘Asa I can’t explain to you why, but please don’t tell him we are or have been here. We need to get out of here and we need to get out now.’ As Novak asks, Asa doesn’t ask any questions, he just nods. His blue eyes had been focused on the road ahead since it was new. As soon as the two blue concerned eyes look in our direction I see just as much fear as in Novak’s.

‘You can’t get out of town, not now. Franders is at the gate with an army. Every way out is blocked.’ Being in the same city as Christiaan and his army is the last scenario I wanted to experience, but we have no choice. My head goes past every possible building we can hide in.

I know that Christiaan is not here to pay a social visit. He is here for me. He will comb every building to find any trace of my existence. I have spent enough time with him to understand his tactics.

‘Hide in the main building. I need to get to the gate now before he starts asking questions I can’t answer.’ Asa gives us a final encouraging, but concerned, look. Novak nods before Asa starts walking towards the gate. I look at Novak with the feeling of agony running through my entire body.

‘We need to get to the main building now.’ Novak wants to get his horse moving until I shake my head. Slowly my head goes back and forth as my brain works overtime.

‘That’s the first place he’s looking,’ I say slowly. My voice trembles. It’s so obvious that it couldn’t possibly be the right place.

‘Where then Celeste? We don’t have time to go through and discuss every option.’ Novak starts to panic. His voice gets louder and his posture tighter. Just as I’m about to throw in the towel something comes to mind.

‘The shop,’ I say softly. My eyes are fixed on the trembling reins in my hands.

‘What?’ Novak asks, not understanding. I lift my head and look straight into his two blue eyes.

‘The shop, we have to go there. Nelly told me a story yesterday about how she helped two fugitive wolves. She...she has a hatch, no a basement, where she hid the two wolves for months.’

‘Lead the way, now.’ I don’t want to be told these words twice. I grip my horse’s reins tighter and set the animal in motion at full gallop. The horse’s legs fly over the gravel paths.

Several wolves have to jump aside. One woman even drops the baskets of clothes she was holding in her hands on the street. Angrily she shouts after us, but there is not one moment that I feel guilty.

By now I can find the way to the shop. Within a minute, we have driven through four streets, rounded four bends, and arrived at the shop. This is our only gamble, we have no time for any other option. I jump off my horse. Novak stops next to me and jumps onto the street.

‘Go,’ he says to the horse before giving him a gentle slap on the buttock. The horse gets moving and runs further down the street. I follow Novak’s example, sending my horse into the street with all our belongings. Nothing must give away that we are here, nothing that can be noticed. A small mistake could mean my end.

I look at Novak for a second. His eyes speak how I feel, fear but with a glimmer of hope. Hope has kept me going for as long as I can remember, but it has also pulled me into the deepest of lows. Hope is dangerous, painful, but the most reassuring thing there is.

I just nod my head before rushing to the door of the shop. I open the door. The bells at the top of the door tinkle against the wood. To our luck, the room is empty.

‘Nelly,’ my voice echoes through the room. Behind me, the door falls back into its frame. Slowly the bells stop ringing, until nothing is left but empty silence.

For a moment, the fear creeps up on me that the old lady will not appear. To our luck, she steps out of the storage area into the shop. Her grey hair is in a neat bun, just as I said goodbye to her this morning. The dress and apron hang without creases or stains around her narrow curved body. In her hand she holds a jar full of dried green leaves. Her eyes look at me with amazement.

‘There is no time to explain but you must help us. We must hide.’ The old lady immediately seems to understand my meagre explanation. She asks no questions, not even about Novak’s appearance behind me.

‘Come,’ she says. She puts the glass jar on the counter and beckons us with her wrinkled hand. I put myself into a quick run. Behind me I hear Novak following.

The lady leads us behind the counter into the warehouse, a place I have not been before. Around us are wooden cupboards full of jars and bottles of things whose names I cannot pronounce. The room is darker than the shop. There is a musty smell.

An animal head on the wall catches my eye. The animal looks like a feline. It is not a lion, least of all a tiger. It bears the markings of a leopard but the animal looks smaller than that.

I don’t get much time to look at the unknown animal. Nelly walks to the right corner of the narrow room. Behind a cupboard, an animal skin lies on the floor. The black fur is barely visible in the poor lighting.

She pulls the skin from the floor. Under the skin, a small trade appears that you would hardly see unnoticed. It is a small brown ring that disappears perfectly under the skin.

She bends her knees, pulls the handle and makes a narrow passage appear. The hatch in the floor is not much wider than half a metre by half a metre. The space you look into is even darker than the space we are in. It is a void of blackness. It has no beginning or end.

‘Go, now,’ she urges us.

Quickly Novak and I make our way to the opening. Only then do I notice the small, narrow stairs that lead into the deep blackness. The end of the stairs is not visible.

Without thinking, I put my heels on the first step and start to make my way down. The blackness envelops me. The further down I go, the less I see. I am startled when my foot suddenly finds a hard surface.

Slowly I step down the stairs and take a few steps backwards, further into the dark. When I look up I see Novak coming down from the small opening.

The room I am in smells even more musty than the warehouse. The only light illuminating the darkness is the opening I just came through.

I barely see how Novak comes to stand on the floor next to me. Hold still until I open the hatch’. With those words, Nelly closes the opening and it becomes completely dark around me. I can’t see where I am, what’s around me or where Novak is.

I am startled when I feel a touch on my arm. I want to take a step back but I lose my balance. Novak is just able to grab me and hold me up. I want to thank him until I hear the distant bells of the front door ring.