Her Tortured Bear

Chapter 9

The forest was ancient. The trees thick and old, roots that were twisted. It might once have been filled with bird-song and animals that roamed. But now it was ages past its former glory. It's canopy was so dense that you could only see the occasional streak of sunlight that rarely touched the forest floor. Even its thick vines were slowly taking away the last remnants of the temple that stood in the centre.

When the day is growing old and the hearth calls, the sun sinks down beneath the tops of the pines. The light streaks through the boughs in both brilliant and shadowy beams. In the summertime they were white gold, illuminating the greens into viruscent riots; yet the gift of those warm days has passed for the season. On these wintry days the fogs cast those same beams of light into sepia tones and the woodland becomes the most beautiful of photographs. The trunks of fallen trees bare icicles longer than my hand, no two of them the same - more enchanting than any work of man. Every twig and blade of grass grows winter "leaves" of ice crystals, frost deeper than the fleece in my gloves. And never is the woodland silent, though it is quieter than any city street for sure. There are the birds above, calling, pecking for grubs. There is movement of mammals, mostly small, sometimes not. There is the water that flows quietly until it meets the sharp rocky scree slopes and forms the waterfalls I love so much.

In this forest I am with my tribe of wood and leaf, among the giants whose roots hug the earth. It is a place of ancient souls, of the creatures who dwell with the sweet sounds of moving water and bird song. Somehow this is more home than home, perhaps one day I'll learn why.

And then Salem laughed at the stupidity of his own joke. Of course he was more at tune in the forest than he was in the city or the town or even amongst people who were not his family. When he was in here he could breathe in the wet air and the green would fill his lungs, not when he shifted. Of course not when he shifted but also when he was a human, it would have the same effect on him.

The woodland seemed ominously quiet. They paused, now that even the sound of their own footfalls was silent, all that could be heard was the susurration of the leaves in the gusty wind. Looking up, they were transfixed by the myriad of fluttering leaves that danced in the high boughs, making a living roof above them. They were calmed, almost hypnotised, but the longer they stared the more the leaves looked like eyes staring back down at them and the boughs seemed to draw closer, blocking the sunlight as if they were forming a cage around them.

Salem undressed and folded his clothes in a neat bundle and put it in a plastic bag and then buried it among the shrubbery. He marked it with three stones so that he would lose them because going back to his home naked in the dark was not going to be that of a big deal but in case his bear lost track of time and it was morning then all was going to become even more difficult. Jax was happily chewing on a large doggy bone that he had freshly opened from the pack and given to him. There was a chance that this was going to be immensely painful because since the time that he had come back Salem had not transformed, except the time when it was absolutely necessary to heal.

Even at the time when he was in the worst pain Salem had never thought that he would have to take the resort of his bear in order to heal. Then his mother had told that sometimes it was fine to be weak and sometimes it was fine to take help. After all he was clinging to his soul for support rather than medications and life-support. So shifting would be a better option than going into ventilation and he had agreed. It had taken him nine days in his bear form to heal and since he was trapped in the body of an animal he could only cry out at the shifting on the bones inside. And the trauma of that had stopped him from going to thee forest or coming in touch with his Cla soon enough.

Everyone had laughed when he had come to know the name of his spirit animal. No one had heard it before but then his father had taken him to the archives in the library when he was extremely frustrated and angry and he had been then showed the history of their origin. His mother had been the only one who had understood the extent of the power that his spirit had held. His father had told him the story of a tribe of men who had protected the forest and mountains and the life of one God. The God whom none of them had seen and ever been heard as well but his spirit still resided in the forest. And they were blessed with a strange power that is to shift into the animals or the bears who would be always responsible for safe-guarding the forest.

And there Salem had learnt that Cla was no one else but the first one to be inducted and blessed with the spirit of God. The most powerful and only after a lot of generations and lot of prayers Cla was back in his human soul. And Salem was the chosen one.

Salem knew it was time, and he breathed in deep and then he felt a crack suddenly starting from his legs and ankles making him fall to his knees and he groaned as he welcomed the pain. He could feel the pain and the cracks moving upwards through his entire body as his spine changed and grew longer and then his face went flat and smack on the ground and then he growled.

Cla was back and he roared. The forest knew that their Guardian was back for them.

Stepping into the forest robbed you of one sense and heightened the others. It was disorientating to be almost blinded but given the ears of a wolf. Even the soft susurration of the branches felt heavy in the ears. The sense of smell was sensitized, the loam in the earth and the decomposing leaves made the atmosphere close and thick. The blackness nurtured a sense of claustrophobia inside you even though the woodland stretched unbroken for miles. The narrow path, which was made uneven by the knotted roots that crossed it, branched at intervals. There was no map to follow, but even if there was the perpetual dark would prevent you from using it. Only the songs of the elders would take you through. That's why the children sang them every night before bed and then again after breakfast. They were the only way to navigate.

The bare branches spiked into the sky - no sign of life to be found anywhere. It was so dark you were barely able to see where you were going. There were only small sounds of rustling bushes and the howl of the wind. You didn't know what laid in the dark forest, all you knew was that it wasn't going to be a peaceful journey. But same was not the case for everyone, like it was not for Salem or for Cla. They knew their way in the forest not due to the forest itself but because they were a part of the forest and the woods were a part of themselves.

I was pulled blindly in to the dark forest by her. The canopy let no light filter through, there was no sound. As I walked under the dark tresses of the trees my feet caressed the velvet flesh of the forest ground. I loved her and they all laughed. She breathed. No one believed me. They could not hear her voice when she sang, they could not see her beauty. They did not understand. They could never learn to love her as I did. She had many children, although they were not mine I loved them as if they were. Darkness engulfed, all that lighted my way was the will to lay with her. I sat under her heart. The arteries that pumped life blood in to her and her children now pulsed through me as I lay just below her bosom. All I asked was for her take me, to love as I loved her. It never mattered if she could speak to me. They said I was demented it, that it could never be, she was the darkness and people belonged in the light. Why did we fear it? Were the dark coils of the woods so foreboding?

But he could not decide upon that in the body of a bear, of course Cla would feel comfortable in the dark in the wet woods and also inside a cave. There were some things that he needed to focus on today and that was the reason of his visit. Mother had said that this would help him clear his mind and she was not very wrong in thinking that. She was also a shifter and along with that there was something which only he and his father knew. Not even Selene was aware about that. She had not been told because this was something which was not supposed to be known even by him. Salem had come to know it by accident and then Seb and Kaya had no choice but to make him aware that she was not a human and not because she was bear shifter. That his mother was originally not a human and bear shifter and she was an outsider who came here by accident.

Cla made Salem remember that when Seb, his father was mortally wounded by poachers in his bear form and there was no chance at survival then he had been rescued by an unknown lone woman who lived in the hills all by herself. She was not any normal human either. She was a wood witch who was also responsible for the protection of the precious woods and their treasures from the hands of the humans whose greed was going to be the downfall of all. Kaya was the one who helped him survive through what became the only reason for his remaining alive. They both fell in love and Seb found his mate the moment he opened his eyes. She was not a bear shifter but it did not matter to them because their love was strong and true.

Where was it written that it was necessary to have a bear shifter as his mate only? Where was it stated that no other creature or maybe even human would not be worthy of taking up that responsibility of becoming his for eternity?

Cla rose to his full height and then prowled on the territory for a long time marking the place as his. Finally when he was done hee knew that it was time for him to rest. He was fed, he was happy for now and there was nothing which could make him feel otherwise.