Chapter Text
The blisters in your hands burn like you had held a fisful of embers. The axe however was unperturbed by your crueling work of making the firewood. In the middle of the ass end of nowhere leaving something like that to a chance could come back at you in unexpected ways. The summer was fading and turning into autumn when weather got colder and life in general got more difficult. Having firewood was essential during those times so you wanted to be sure.
You exit the woodshed sneezing and cursing your aching body. Chopping firewood and the rough life in general had kept you in good shape, strenght was no issue and you could easily carry a gutted deer home if needed. The idea of cured deer got your mouth water but you had to conserve your rations. You had additional furs you could trade for food and supplies but the nearest village was roughly 20 miles away through the thick wilderness and from there it was another ten to an actual town. Hence you never left the only home you knew unless you really needed to. Living among other people had given you nothing but regrets. Maybe due to a social fobia or just plain distaste towards people in general. You had had friends, mostly fellow hunters and woodsmen but they had stopped showing any signs of themselves long time ago. Maybe the prey had moved elsewhere, albeit your larder still held all the essential for the winter months, it was possible. Maybe the woods had swallowed them or they simply moved to the town to live easier life as they got older. You didn't give a shit.
As you step on the porch and wipe your sweat, you pick up an armful of firewood and make a fire to the fireplace. The smell of smoke reminds you of the winter nights when you wolfed down smoked meat and washed your mouth with moonshine. Those two made sure the coldness of the night didn't bother you a single bit. It was a luxury nonetheless. Making moonshine wasn't difficult when you knew the basics but occasionally you made the trip to the village to trade furs and some food for the products of professional distillers. That way you at least didn't need to fear going blind.
The fire catches and the warmth emanates from the crackling wood. Your senses are smitten with stench of dirty and sweaty clothes, breaking the soothing moment of silence and comfort. You would take a dip to the lake tomorrow, finish the firewood and wash your clothes. You were wearing your last pair of clothes so you should have taken care of the laundry first. That or just wave your axe naked. You didn't laugh at the idea. You wait till embers remain, whilst lost in your thoughts, so you wouldn't risk an unnecessary fire hazard. When you considered it was safe, you dropped down to your bed fully clothed and let the sleep take you from the world of ache and pain.
The rain battered the roof outside. The ceiling was humming under the rain, the walls were humming and windows were tapping. Wait a minute... the window was tapping. It came from the one single window, from where you had a barrel for a makeshift table next to it. There were no branches outside of the said window and for a rain, it was too solid and too frequent. You were almost to turn a side and ignore it but your curiosity got the best of you. You mumle and get up of your warm and comfy confines. You scratch a matchstick and light the candle resting in the barrel and peer outside where there is no light. You move the candle closer and see something outside, a shape, a shadow. It stepped closed and leaned on the glass. You jump and let out a scream.
The palm feeling the glass had human shape of a hand, yet still it had claws and features of an animal. The familiar and alien in one. That wasn't the most alarming part. The eyes... what eyes! Two silver orbs glowing in the candle's light right above the most fiendish and bestial set of teeth you've ever seen. It was not a normal beast, it was standing upright with two legs at least of what you could tell. It was wearing simple rags and from the shape of it, you could tell it was slim, thin and very... feminine?
"Well, hello there." It was a fucking female! "Shying away, are we?" It kept talking through the thin glass.
You had heard stories of strange creatures luring people deeper in the woods only to never be seen again. Ghosts and malevolent spirits living only in the most unknown and darkest cornerst of the forest. Your flintlock wasn't loaded and the axe was at the woodshed. The rifle took way too long to reload and you would be distracted for a way too long of a time.
"Someone like you, afraid of me. How cute. I've seen you carry home large prey and the way you wield the axe, you could overpower me with ease. Aren't you going to let me in. It's wet out here." The monster's plea seemed too innocent yet the white rows formed a smile which was all animal yet resembled something like a conciousness behind it.
"Like fuck I will", you whisper appalled. It didn't look too strong but how the fuck you would know? You had never seen wolfheaded women before and staring into those endless eyes made your blood freeze.
"Not liking the idea? I understand. Maybe I should warm you up a little, just a little something to show for my intentions. I can wait."
You can't form a single word. It had been years since you had any social interaction and now you are listening in the heart of the stormy night to a monster. What did it want? What was it? Why did it show itself now if it had seen you carrying all that venison... months ago. How long had it been observing you? Weeks, months... years even?
"Sleep well, handsome. You'll be happy upon waking up, I promise", the monster snickered and vanished in the murky darkness smiling that horrendous beartrap smile of hers.
Then there was only the rain pouring against the window. You heart was pounding like never before.
She sun shone to your eyes and you pressed the piece of firewood against your chest with both arms. A pathetic excuse for a club but it calmed you down enough to be able to close your eyes. You sit up and rub your face. The hell happened last night. The candle was out and all melted to a puddle. Aside from being scared shitless you were still happy the house didn't burn down. You man up and remember who you are. You are a man. You load your flintlock with a shot and push the door open with the barrel. Nothing but the familiar clearing nex to the lake. Woodshed next to the treeline and sauna next to the shore. You make your way to the outside of the window which played such a harrowing part in the last nights wake up. The ground was moist due the rain so there should be... prints or depressions in the mud. None of the mentioned was present.
"Phew", you exhale deep. It was a dream and that's it. You were tired and exhausted, it's not unheard of to dream while awake. Especially out there in prolonged isolation it's more than normal to have such hallucinations. You place your rifle on the porch leaning on the front wall. Then you glench your fists, feeling the burn in your joints and tendons. At least the axework was done. Now you would just have to pile up the precious wood under the pentice outside. Maybe lunch after that. You ponder if your habit of conserving your rations has gone to the point where it has started to play tricks on you.
"Monsters, bah!"
You step in and start to look for chopped logs. As your eyes adjust to the dim light of the shed, you notice something is very off. You remember waist tall pile of chopped wood and now there were only intact logs. The axe was untouched. Did someone stole your firewood? No one lived within miles in those parts, they said it's cursed or some shit or just didn't wan't to get too far from the settlements. The closest thief would have to come from the village which was... no one would come that far for a firewood. You step out and cover your eyes from the sun. You scan the clearing, nothing out of the ordinary. You circle the woodshed and take a look under the pentice finding the answer to the current conundrum. The piles of new billets give out a nice aroma, the barks were pointing downwards so someone knew what he was doing, carrying out the task like being paid for it.
"I didn't do this yesterday", you mumble while scratching your head. "Of couse you did, who else then? Fairies?"
Whatever the fuck that nocturnal visitor was, it sure as hell was no fairy. So the laundry it is. You make your way towards the shimmering blue lake and your most sacred construction: the sauna. It was the heart of every home, place to get clean, place to relax and wash off all the burdens to the oblivion. The veranda was warming up in the sunlight, the dressed planks would need some oil soon before the weather gets really cold but that would requite at least three warm and dry days before that. You eye for the basket you usually kept under the roof that covered part of the veranda. You found your clothing and the basket. The latter was leaning on the log wall. The contents were folded, clean and dry right next to it on a bench.
"What did that beast yesterday say?" you whisper shuddering. "Sleep well, handsome. You'll be happy upon waking up, I promise", you repeat from the memory. You couldn't really say she had kept her promise.
"I'm not really alone here..."
_____________
The upcoming day despite the nice weather and warm sun was chilly at best. You left your rifle inside but you werent gullible enough to go around unarmed. The trusty axe was dangling on your hip as you took your fresh clothes to safety of your cabin. You took the axe and lowered it on the table next to your favorite chair, sat down on a leathery throne: a treasure you would take with you to the grave. As you stare at the cold and lifeless ashes your mind was racing. That creature had helped you greatly sparing you almost a whole day for less trivial tasks. Living alone usually left you with everything and now someone had helped you. In one night, less than one night actually. You had barely slept after the encounter so you would have heard something. Did the billets float across the thin air to their place? How about the clothes? With a little louder than normal voice you could speak to anyone standing at the sauna. You would have heard the splashing, the clothes were like you had just bought them when you found them.
But it was raining and the lake was storming. They also should have been wet in the morning, there was no way to make them that dry so fast.
You sigh and drag your hand down your face. You lean towards the fireplace in dismay. The stories of spirits and unknown tenants in the deep woods were said to be malevolent but malevolent how? The people they took (if it ever really happened), did they die? Did something worse happen, or was it something else entirely?
”What if she isn't evil?” you whisper. She asked you to let her in. Can't she break in on her own? Is it a spirit thing? Or didn't she wan't to be rude?
”So many questions without a single answer”, you grunt and spit at the fireplace. The smell of damp clothes assail your nose and you remember what you were up to. Maybe heat up the sauna, no. The beast could be watching. Of course she was watching, don't be stupid! Quick wash in the lake and in the shallow part of the shore, no more than that.
The axe rested on the mooring as your toes dug in the sand. The cold water licked you thighs and sucked the filth off of your skin. You scrubbed your hair with soap, making sure no fleas could take advantage of you. Those little fuckers could make you seriously ill. The axe didn't leave your sight for a second. The crystal clear water didn't calm you but you would see if something was to attack you. The current situation had got your on the edge. You expected anything to jump on you at any moment making you feel like a coward, not the fearless hunter and woodsman you always were. Truly a man feared nothing outside the unknown. The towel scrubbed your hair dry and the sun started to pet your skin. Usually you sat on the mooring naked and staring at the distance but if that female beast was watching without your knowing, you couldn't relax. Even now you felt eyes on you. The birds were singing, the water was shining, the gentle wind blew across the water and the sun was as grossly incandescent as always. Yet still you felt the cold insecurity creeping up on your spine.
You take a deep breath and steel yourself. That thing would have already attacked you, quit being a bitch. Scared of woodland spirits who has done nothing but helped you, so far. It was for the city- and townsfolk, not for the stalwart people like you.
You pull the clean clothes on, throw the dirty ones in the basket, pondering if you washed them right away so they could dry in the warmth of the day, but maybe leaving something for your new acquantaince would make her happy. Lets see how far her generocity goes.
The sun felt nice on the face after a cold bath. The essential tasks were done so what now? You would have loved to do some blacksmith's work but delivering all the needed that far from the city would have been a crueling task, hence you didn't have a workshop. It would have made your life easier if you could make all the parts yourself but it was also easier to take a trip to the city where you got the quality you needed. So that was out of the question but man's gotta dream, eh?
The boat was still resting at the shore since you hadn't yet turned it over for the winter. You often wen't fishing as long as the lake wasn't frozen. Maybe fishing then? Brown trouts were fatty and juicy in those parts and since no one else was there to catch them, they were abundant.
”So much choices”, you mumble. It was not very often you got to choose what to do just because you felt like it. You started to warm up to this nocturnal visitor. Could she hunt for you? Make food?
You shrug it off. It was man's work to bring the food to the table, what a silly thought. If she knew how to cook though, nothing wrong with that, hell, quite the contrary. Yeah, sure, you would live with a two legged wolf beast like a married couple. You let out a laugh. What a cute thought it was or at least would be if seeing her wouldn't make your skin crawl.
”Time for a dinner”, you shout and clap your hands together. Who knows if you magically recall everything was your doing when your brain get the nutrition it needs. What to eat? You grin as you make your way to the larder behind the cabin. You knew full well what you would eat. You salute your much mentioned venison with respect. Only it was hanging in several pieces all around the larder. The salt it had required wasn't by all means a small amount but you didn't want to risk food poisoning and losing such a generous kill to rot would have been the king of nightmares. You breathe deep through your nose and smile. All were as it should. No alarming smells, also the lack of flies was a good sign. There were rabbit sausages hanging in the air, trout fillets and dried mushrooms, vegetables from your very own vegetable garden, dried fat and all you had managed to put aside to wait the darker times. You grabbed the deer's leg by the bone, cut off a nice slice to check the status. You place the salty fillet in your mouth and... oh god! You feel like you've never felt better and it was just a small bite. Hell, if it was rotten you would die for just one bite such as that. You fight the urge to sink your teeth in right away. Holy shit, one single bite makes one hungry.
It wasn't long till the kettle in the outdoor campfire was bubbling under the lid. Sitting at the campfire provided nice view to the lake and you could see the clearing almost in its entirety. Creamy sauce, cured deer cuts and some select spices, dried mushrooms and fresh water from the spring. Now was the time for celebration, and if not, then at least you could be sure you weren't hallucinating if the beast showed up again.
You scan the clearing and come to the conclusion that making the food in the fireplace instead would have been safer. Too late for that and eating outside was more natural anyway. You lift the lid and check the meal. There was enough for a several meals, maybe even for tomorrow. As you spoon the heavenmade, greasy delicasy to your mouth you keep an eye out for animals. You wouldn't care for a couple of wolves, you'd fight them off with ease but a bear may be a different story. If you shot a bear, you wouldn't have to go to hunting for the rest of the year. Salt was running low however. You'd have to smoke it in the sauna.
Now when the belly was full and the mind was much more clear, you return to the topic you couldn't stop thinking. You were certain it wasn't you who did all the work. You wipe your mouth with the back of your hand and lick the broth off. You resist the urge to wolf down the rest of the pot. A mouthful of moonshine you wouldn't say no to but you wanted your senses on their sharpest. Whatever the truth was... it would be clear aftrer the nightfall. Impatiently you wait for the night and try to prepare your mind for everything that may or may not happen.
You lie on your bed this time covered only by a blanket and wearing short underwear pants. You didn't see a reason to arm yourself but the rifle was nearby fully loaded. You waited for that tap on the window like you waited your father to come home as a child. Nothing happened. It was close to a midnight already, the moonbeams in the window told you that.
”It was just a dream”, you conclude and you feel as your eyelids begin to sink. In your last waking moments you open your eyes. Not to a sound but light instead? It was not the moon. You sneak across the living room to your window and look outside.
”What in the...?”
You dress up and give a quick look for your rifle. It's metal shines in the dim light. What you saw just a moment ago didn't need a display of power. Therefore you carefully step out and stare in awe. The light reminded you of the northern lights, the most beautiful natural phenomenon you could think of but this time it was not high up in the sky where the lights danced. It happened right above the ground of your home clearing. Your eyes feasted on an entrancing display of lights and shapes, like water under the moon but the light, if light was even the right word, was between physical and ethereal, like glowing, thin mist, surrounding the star of the show. It was her, the very same but still so different. Her moves were weightless and flowing. The wide hips carried her across the dew on the grass. Her paws took graceful steps which were light as feather, never pausing her movement like water streaming through the woods. She danced above the ground, shifting the dimensions like the world around had moved instead, while she was completely still. Like a gentle wind in the canopy her weightless form floated off the ground, taking her unbelievable display higher and higher where she lied still, untouched by the gravity. Her immaculate body was taken above you by the force unseen, or maybe even by the lack of all power entirely. Almost like everything besides her ceased to be.
Her hair, or mane waved like she was slowly sinking through water. Her unclothed form floated slowly towards you. She was thin everywhere but her femininity was strikingly visible. Two amble breast covered in smooth fur were also unaffected by the pull of the earth. You didn't know if you should look, she was naked, it was not appropriate to lay eyes on her but you couldn't look away. The hostility of her former appearance was gone completely, now all you could think of was how beautiful it all were. How beautiful she were: familiar yet alien in one. In a way it all was familiar, humans and beasts were part of the same world, but now as the body of one. She opened her eyes while slowly descending. Should you run? Should you...? You could see her lips but no teeth, gently hidden out of sight, the lights gather around you both like shining curtains, gradling two lovers. She extends her arms towards you, giving you the kindest smile you've ever seen. You feel her palms against your cheeks as the outer lines of her face become more transparent.
”Sleep well, handsome”, she whispers in your ear. Then only moonlight was left.
”You too... you too.”
You feel the tears running down your face.
Chanterelle, yellowfoot, porcino, slippery jack, champignon. You repeat the names while checking the contents of your food storage and curse loudly. Not even toadstools to explain it with. They couldn't kill a man but you would have approved such mistake as an explanation for what you had seen.
”None of this makes any sense!” you shout. The seasoned beef stuck in your teeth but you needed something to do while going through what you had seen last night. None of those mushrooms were to blame, they were common food items instead of being even remotely related to what shamans used. You spit on the grass a piece of bone upon exiting the larder. The yard was like you had left it. You sit down at the campfire where the sausages shizzle above embers. The log under your butt emanates heat to your muscles. You bite the sausage and chew. The embers hummed silently giving off pulsating light.
At first she tried to give you an heart attack and now she made you cry with her sheer beauty. Maybe she didn't know what humans viewed as scary. Maybe she was merely observing you from up close, seeing your reactions and simply studying you.
”Nonsense!” You grab a new sausage ignoring your former attitude to conserve rations to a point of paranoia. She could have spared the last night as her first appearance and you would have fallen right into her trap if she had any ill intents.
You bite the sausage.
You were confused more than afraid. And afraid of what, if it felt like fear at all. It manifested as warmth within your chest, especially when you pictured her hands against your cheeks, even more so when you tried to ignore her breasts. That was even less reasonable. Were you in love with her?
It had been so long since you had felt touch. It was so long ago you didn't even know how much you needed it. Did she know that and was using it against you? You shake your head upon realising how heavily it collided with what you had experienced last night. No predator was able to such level of deceit and she had her chance last night. A hunter knew a hunter. You were not dealing with one, that much was certain now.
”Wonder if she has a name.”
It was noon but you were still eager for the next night. You just wanted to see her again, to talk to her. You wanted to learn more about her.