The Book of the Barghest

CHAPTER ONE

FOURTY-TWO YEARS LATER

“Why does no one ever listen?” The Oracle hissed, stomping an old grey paw as she shook her head. “I’ve been here longer than all of you and yet you doubt I know what I’m doing?!”

Whitewave looked to his side, where Gar stood, a look of unapologetic defiance on her face. Whitewave knew his mate held reservations about the Oracle and her superstitious ways, but he had always held tightly to her demands, not so much out of belief as it was out of duty. There were already so many who doubted him, so he followed every decree and rule, making sure to leave no room for error and criticism by those who wanted to see him fail.

But this rule … this one he had broken, and now the Oracle assured him that the consequences would be fatal. He couldn’t say it wouldn’t have happened if he’d been given another chance. He’d probably have done it all the same.

The Oracle continued muttering to herself, digging through decaying bushes for dried berries and other assorted useless things. “How in all of the Great Alphas’ territory could you think disobeying me would be a good idea?”

“At the time,” Whitewave jumped in, “It didn’t occur to us.” He tossed his nose to the area they stood in. “Look around you! This was her doing, all this death and decay. How could we not-“

“Because keeping her here was better than what’s to come now,” the Oracle snarled. Even as she said the words, she cast a glance around the once-beautiful clearing that Lake Pack called home. The lush gardens and sprouting wildflowers that had grown along the shore before soil met pebble were all withered, bending under the weight of some harsh, invisible force of

death. Even in the lake itself, the fish and turtles and other creatures that neared the edge closest to the settled pack were all bubbling up to the surface, floating atop the water with dead eyes and greyed skin and scales.

Surely even the Oracle could see the destruction caused by her edict. “Even still,” she grunted, reassuring herself, “I entrusted her to your care, and all of this was much better than the alternative, an alternative we now have to face thanks to you ungrateful-“

“She KILLED our PUPS!”

Both the Oracle and Whitewave looked up, their widened eyes falling on Gar. The usually serene and soft-spoken she-wolf held the look of unbridled rage in her glare, and her teeth were bared with all malicious intent towards the Oracle.

“My first litter,” she continued, her voice breaking with the arrival of tears. “My very first time being a mother, and I had to bury my children. ALL of them, because of her!” Whitewave pressed against Gar, supporting his wailing mate as she mourned her pups aloud. “You told us … you PROMISED us that nothing would happen so long as we kept her here as you asked.”

“I said nothing could happen so long as she couldn’t connect with the others,” the Oracle corrected coldly before she stopped herself and softened her tone. “I am so sorry about your children. I know the pain of losing a pup.” Somehow, even her comforting words seemed unapologetic. “But what you’ve done, the choice you’ve made … you’ve sealed the fates of

every wolf, mother, and child.”

~CL1