Wolf Moon Reunion
Three Word Wednesday Deviate,Identify, Saturate
“Come in child.”
She staggered through the door. Simon closed it behind her.
“Put him on the bed.” There was a raccoon in the corner, standing on his back legs and hissing.
Simon picked him up and gently put him outside. “Away with you now, you’ll not want to be here when that wolf wakes up.”
He lit a couple of lamps and pulled a chair up near the bed so he could examine the wolf. Jae stood ramrod straight, arms at her sides, even though she was exhausted. Simon carefully looked at the wound and without looking up, told Jae to sit down.
Jae stood there for a moment and then wearily, pulled another chair up to the other side of the bed. “You don’t have to take care of me. Just see to him.” She laid her head on the bed next to the wolfs face and stroked his muzzle.
“I don’t need two patients. There is some bread over on the shelf. Get yourself some water and eat. I’ll to need your help and I don’t want you passing out.”
Jae’s face was burning. Even after all this time, he could make her feel like a guilty child, with a few words. She got up and walked to the shelf and broke off a hunk of bread. She then dipped water from a bucket into a cup and drank. Simon moved calmly around the room mixing herbs into pastes and doing whatever it was that he always did. He took a bowl of something over to the bed and a cloth and told her to soak the cloth in the liquid in the bowl and drip it into the wolves mouth.
“What is it?”
“Just something to keep him asleep while I take that bullet out.”
Jae took the cloth and did as Simon instructed. “Will Aedan be okay?”
“He’s lost a lot of blood, but he’s strong. You know I’ll do my best.” Simon worked pulled the lantern closer. He worked quietly and once he removed the bullet he looked at Jae. “If we can keep him quiet and keep the wound from getting infected, he will heal.”
A distant howl could be heard in the silence of the house. Jae stared at the blood that saturated the blanket and started to shake.
“Go on child – get out. He’ll be asleep for hours.”
Jae stroked Aedan’s fur and murmured something in his ear and stood. “Thank you.”
Simon nodded and waved her off. Jae turned and walked out to the porch. In a few moments there was nothing left on the porch but a pile of clothes. Jae changed and trotted away from the light of the house and then flew through the dark, her senses so acute, she could identify a rabbit that ran for its home and she smelled a deer, near by. She was hungry and she would bring meat to Aedan who would need to eat to heal. She chased the deer into the woods and circled around. She ran up an outcropping and hunkered down and froze, still and quiet. The rock bordered the trail on one side and on the other was thick undergrowth.
The deer was wary but stepped daintily along the path and when it was in the natural chute and couldn’t deviate from the direction it had chosen, Jae leapt and clamped her jaws on it’s throat. It was over in minutes and when she had eaten her fill, she tore off pieces of flesh and carried them back to the house. She ran up the steps and dropped the still warm meat on the porch, whining at the door.
Simon opened the door and light from the lanterns inside spilled out into the night. He couldn’t help smiling at her. “I’ll take it. I’ve bandaged him and he’ll sleep for awhile yet. He’s still breathing.”
Jae lowered her head once and then held it up proud, gazing up at him with golden eyes. Simon stepped back inside, closing the door to give her privacy while she changed back and dressed hurriedly. When she entered the house, Simon was sitting at the table, cutting the meat into bite sized pieces.
They would have to stay here for awhile.
I like the quiet tone to this, and the sense of nurturing. Even the blood and the hunting didn’t seem violent. It was part of nature and what had to be done. There’s a lot more going on here than meets the eye, and I like that.
thanks – Jae has a lot of issues but cruelty isn’t one of them.
Dee, I think you’re voice in these is getting stronger by the story. Really enjoyed this installment.
I enjoyed this, too — your characters are compelling, and there are levels within levels of meaning in the story you weave. My kind of tale!
This is going really well. A great series.
I never feel as though I know how to say thank you properly. But thank you and I’m all smiles!
Compelling tale, layered with kindness!
That was neatly written. Nice.
Intense with a sense of reality tangled into fantasy worlds and legends! Fascinating!
compelling read…fascinating indeed…
Can’t remember if I mentioned this last time, but your handling of the wolf resonates with Cormac McCarthy’s wolf in The Crossing. A sure touch here, Ms Dee. Full world.
Haven’t read that one but maybe it will need to go on my summer list. I’ve been burning up the kindle lately and thank you. To be listed in the same paragraph as Cormac McCarthy is heady stuff.
I agree with Ann (Bunnygirl). There’s a lot of story in this, and the deer hunt was told with a tone of necessity rather than becoming overly savage. I enjoyed the read!
Thanks Jay – That’s exactly how I wanted it. I didn’t want the focus to be on gore, but on the Jae and her story.