Chapter Ten: By the Teeth of the Wolf

 

Some say our understanding of evil as a universal truth is flawed—that it would not exist without a preconceived assignment of righteousness.  One glance at the face of the new Koopa King convinces me otherwise.

 

In the Mind of Morton Koopa, Reis Jochum

 

Uliania, Tropacine Isles

 

When Taber awoke the next morning, there was only a troubling silence mingled with the dusted rays of sunlight spread out over the dimness of the room.  If there had been the slightest breath of wind touching off the clustered leaves of the canopy or the dry rattle of cicada wings scratching out their mournful droning, then perhaps he would not have felt so much bare fear crawling over his arms and chest.  Something about the way the bright beams from the sky broke clearly through the forest tops and shimmered lazily without sound gripped him in a tight anxiety, though, and caused a cold shiver to shake down his spine.

 

He began clumsily to recount the events of the previous night, drawing up mental images of himself barely escaping the fangs of the monstrous wolf which had attacked him and his desperate climb up one of the shorter trees.  After that, he recalled his fainting and rescue by the old Noki, who had told him his own strange history before he was no longer able to remain awake.

 

That’s where I am, then, he thought.  Still in that elder man’s house, sprawled out in his guest bed like a freeloader.  Grandpa’s going to be so mad at me when I finally get home!

 

After yawning cautiously, the Pianta gave the quaint room one last glance and climbed out of bed.  He looked for his traveling pack and found it in a dull corner, thankfully unscarred by his frantic encounter with the wolf.  The same could not be said for his baggy gray pants, though, as they were heavily stained with dirt and the deep green pigment of leaves.  Assuming that he would eventually run into a stream clean enough to wash them, Taber switched the pair out with another in his knapsack and pulled them up snugly.  They didn’t fit as well as his old ones, but he had been meaning to stretch them out anyway.

 

Finally, he made certain his cudgel was still blunt enough for fighting with and hooked the straps of his pack over his shoulders and under his arms, letting the buckles loosen so that they wouldn’t cut off his range of motion.  The Pianta couldn’t help but grin at the way he had made out so brilliantly even after being viciously attacked but then remembered to thank the Star Spirits and settle his renewed sense of adventure.  It was his overwhelming eagerness, after all, that had made him so unaware during the past night.

 

I have to be a lot more careful from now on, he thought to himself, remembering now just how close his escape had really been.  Alec might need my help with that creature out there, and I should say thanks to the old Noki before I head off.

 

Resolved to undertake his quest with a bit more seriousness, he looked out the window to the strengthening beams of light—drinking in the resurrected sounds of the forest as old as rock—and when he didn’t see his elder host decided to check in the living room.  As he walked in and looked around, though, he was shocked by the scene sprawled out before him.

 

Splintered furniture and torn fabric saturated in dried blood lay thrown about, cascading down the steps that descended into a carved depression at the center of the room and bashed into large dents that littered the walls.  However much evidence there was of a struggle and violence, though, he saw no corpse or other remains that might have indicated the death of the Noki.  It took quite a measure of courage not to run out in a panic, but he gathered what amount he had left to him and crept through the door, looking around at the wide expanse of trees and underbrush that surrounded the cottage.

 

It’s not looking good for the poor guy, he thought, brushing aside the images of ripped cloth and crimson-stained wood still burned into his brain.  There’s no way I’ll be able to find the wolf, whether it was the attacker or not.  It probably came during the night, so it could be anywhere by now.

 

As he finished the thought, Taber felt his breath abruptly sucked from his lungs and expelled painfully through his throat and out into the chill morning air.  Thinly-veined leaves twirling in slow patterns along gusty currents seemed to freeze in time, and the flakes of glowing seeds that breathed through the forest dimmed and sputtered in mid-flight.  Then, above all the gathering silence rang a piercing howl as frigid needles weave through warm fabric and leave trails of ice-burns on flesh.

 

When the dark tones of the lonely bay faded into an uncertain nothingness, the Pianta fell to his knees and took in deep gulps of air, filling his lungs faster than they could function.  Everything around him returned to its normal course, but the patches of sky scattered beyond the thick canopy were gray and overcast.  Even the atmosphere had grown much thinner and cooler, rippling across his skin in barely perceptible shivers.

 

“That thing’s not a wolf,” Taber said, at a loss for anything else.  “I’ve got to find Alec and get out of here.  Come on now: walk forward!”

 

His feet wouldn’t move, though, and now he heard the distant report of thunder, creeping up over the edge of his hearing like a second ill omen.  The rain would start next, pouring in heavy over the wide leaves of the forest and flooding the soft soil beneath him.  Darkness, too, would pervade the light gleam of the former blueness and create a cluttered arena perfect for the ravenous hunter.  He could already see his own blood mixed in dirt and the shrubs like the Noki’s with his cottage, anonymously drying so no one would know he had died.

 

 Stop thinking like that! he chided himself, pounding out the unevenness of his nerves with pure will.  Standing here worrying isn’t going to do anything.  Alec taught me well enough to fend for myself, and I’ve still got my cudgel and an hour at least before the storm sets in.

 

A distant roar of precipitation and the silver-curtain mist obscuring his view into the far west portion of the forest finally set his feet moving.  Every gnarled tree and willowy piece of brush slipped past him in dull rushes like birds darting from some horrible plague, and he could not help but wonder if he was sprinting into the embrace of his enemy.  Taber found that it no longer mattered, though.  All he had left to do was run.

 

~*~*~*~

 

…and run.

 

The demon who had taken the form of a wolf crouched in a pile of leaves and tangled thickets, his rough tongue panting out and slavering red from the burrow of squirrels he had dined on earlier.  Although the body was understandably limited, there was something sadistically gratifying in prowling the darkness and feasting as the screams of his prey died into the squelch of muscle and bone.  How appropriate, he thought, that the blood so central to the cravings of a mindless carnivore fit his form more perfectly than any other.

 

The Executioner has already begun the process of deceiving the Star Spirits and the sages of this planet, he thought, pouring proudly over the information given to him when he had been brought into existence.  Even now those who claim knowledge have not one idea of our plan—of the Master’s design.  If they are so easily fooled, though, then why are we needed?  What do the High Ones fear?

 

He shook the long mane running over the bulk of his neck and drove the thoughts away, only slightly irritated at the digression in purpose.  Being alone had coddled him too much—left him blind to the power he knew existed for his ultimate benefit.  Questioning was not something for him or any other below the Master, for it was only to him to become completely absorbed in his task.

 

The consumer of souls became the wolf, the wolf became the demon, and so only through the recognition of equivalence did he turn into himself completely, forgetting all but the deepest drives to hunt and bite into the soft flesh of his prey.  Heart, kidney, brain: what had been hollow terms were sensual images of meals marked by the possessive stench of death and victory.  These were his eyes’ fulfillment now, and so he leapt into the underbrush and the glowing moss just as the rain began to fall.

 

…and running.

 

~*~*~*~

 

Taber eventually tripped over an arching branch and slid several feet through a wide path of mud.  It covered the painful warmth coursing through his legs and seeped thickly into his mouth and nose.  Not even risking a moment of rest, he rolled over and coughed the sludge out of his throat, already feeling the intensifying rain washing off the rest of his body.  He looked around, vision glazed over by the moisture steaming from the dry forest bed, and tried in vain to listen for the sound of approaching footfalls.

 

“Alec,” he said to himself, wondering where the word had come from.  Suddenly, he thought, I’m getting closer to him, I think.  He’s got to be nearby!

 

There came a blaring thunderclap from the east that split the corners of his mind, followed by several successive blasts of lightning.  Each tore the sky and broke brilliantly through the leaves clustered above, and through it all screeched another wordless howl, rising higher and higher as wind and fire fused into a fuming cyclone.  None of it stopped the loudness of the exploding storm this time, though, and instead it seemed to make everything more horrible than he could imagine.

 

He groped behind him, both arms stretched out weakly into the opposing air and sightlessness of the shadows.  Mumbling, feeling his voice break as it tried to drown out the torturous sounds, he collapsed against a large trunk and fell into a clump of saturated leaves at the base of the unseen tree.  His hands gripped the damp dirt beneath him and braced against it, as if all the forces of nature could not prevail against the weakness of its own flesh.

 

A gray silhouette lurched among the surrounding trees, and he could see it flashing briefly every time a blast of lightning forked across the troubled skies.  Watching its easy, loping stride and hunched middle, Taber was sure the wolf had finally found him.  He gripped his cudgel closer and tensed without thinking, even though Alec had warned him to be as calm and limber as possible when fighting.  It wasn’t exactly something he could control at the moment, anyway.

 

The images of the approaching beast abruptly ceased and gave way to another deceitful lull in the thunder, and for a moment the Pianta wondered if the wolf was going to howl again.  Waiting and sinking lower into the brush at his feet, Taber thought he felt the rough bark that was pressing against his back groan.

 

Yellow eyes opened all around him—hazy dots emitting beams of blazing radiation—and it seemed that his enemy waited behind every veil of shadow, letting out a deep, sustained growl.

 

He screamed mightily and rushed forward with his cudgel swinging back and forth, but each time it connected with one of the floating eyes, the weapon’s blunt, wooden face swept through empty air and carried him around.  At the sound of another heavy creaking from the towering oak behind him, Taber whirled around and saw the crooked form of his hunter arched over two of its largest boughs.

 

With a contemptuous snarl, the wolf leapt up and through the canopy, and the tree gave one final shriek before it convulsed in its death throes and toppled towards him.  He slid instinctively out of the way and was deafened by the sound of the centuries-old tree crashing into the soft and pliable ground.  Delirious and unable to stand, the Pianta flailed around in the mud and reached for his cudgel, not able to find it anywhere nearby.  He vaguely reasoned it must have cleared a few feet after he was knocked over, but then the wolf landed with an ominous thump before him, its stained teeth glinting in the fires of the storm.

 

Still mumbling and shaking loose the scrambled images in his mind, Taber lifted up both arms in desperation and waved them frantically, as if in an attempt to ward off the unspeakable evil looming over his paralyzed body.  The wolf only cracked back his immense head and let out something like the disjointed cackle of a hyena, absorbing every ounce of pleasure he yielded from the fear permeating his prey.

 

Lightning returned in sparks and bursts, and now the rain poured down heavily across the two lone figures in the forest.  One fed off the other in the invisible movements of cyclic order: sweat and tears and the final grip of a brain falling through the layers of its consciousness and plunging into the unknowable.  Taber thought helplessly to the stars, begging their intervention, but everything—even hope and the boundless concern of the heavens—seemed struck into the farthest regions of the universe as if quieted by a hush of darkness.

 

“Leave me!” he shouted, or at least attempted to sound it out past the inactivity of his throat and the rest of his body.  Even as movement crept back into the smaller nerves running to the tips of his fingers, he felt two heavy legs pin down his shoulders and slam his back into the dirt.  “No!”

 

The fell creature’s black and silver hair bristled over its muscular frame, and boiling saliva dripped from its gleaming fangs as they ripped at the air.  With the tenuous connections of his mind slowly fading, Taber thought of the patience of the beast.  Instead of immediately tearing into his throat and fraying the vital walls of his jugular, the wolf was standing over him mockingly, almost like one of the large predator cats in the wilds of Chai.  In fact, it seemed sentient in a way, its brain processing information and deciding based on more than pure instinct.

 

“What are you?” he asked it plainly, distantly.

 

The wolf jumped back with a yelp and shook its head.  At first Taber wondered if it was hit by something, but it was actually considering the words of the Pianta.  Through the wall of animal indifference and building chaos, the demon temporarily brushed aside the flood of its purpose.

 

The adolescent had unwittingly jabbed at his most insecure thoughts and brought them tumbling back to the forefront, where they battered and blared at his already weakening control.  It was too much to stay in this body when he was inherently flawed—incomplete and lost in the confusion of a secret past.

 

There was a resounding crack as the full weight of a quarterstaff broke over the thick skull of the wolf.  He whimpered pitifully and staggered around, his feet giving way and finally collapsing beneath him.  With his tongue rolling out and his eyes turned up inside his head, the demon felt all of his previous thoughts disappear peacefully, and, after a jolt of anger, he picked himself up and darted away through the darkness.

 

“Taber!” shouted the Koopa with the staff, trying to shake the Pianta out of his fright.  “It’s me, Alec!  Look at me now!”

 

“Alec?” asked Taber doubtfully.  “It’s not real.  It’s something else.  The wolf talked to me!”

 

The Koopa helped his friend against the tree and constructed a wobbly lean-to above them to keep out the rain.  “I know, I know.  We’ve already met, the beast and I.  On my way through the forest yesterday, we crossed paths somewhere halfway, but he just stared at me for awhile and ran off.  I knew then and there he was something new, though, something just as cold and calculating as any conscious killer.  I’m only glad he retreated so easily.  I just gave him a good bump on the head, nothing more.”

 

“It wasn’t what you did,” Taber said.  “Something I said to him, when I asked him what he was, threw him off-guard.  He must have really not known himself and been rattled by it.  Having to deal with a major migraine didn’t help him either, I guess.”

 

Alec looked worriedly back at him, silent for a moment.  His shell was a swirling of colors from sapphire and jade, spawned from a birth defect most likely.  The overall impression was something of awe rather than repugnance, but it didn’t stop many Koopas from hating him just out of jealousy.  The rest of him, in fact, was completely normal for his species. The only deviations were two sabers crossed in a sling tied over his shell and the staff he always carried.

 

“I sort of knew you’d follow me, after how you’d talked about being bored with the village,” said Alec, not expecting an answer.  “I just wish you had picked a safer time.”

 

“And miss the chance to find out what the falling star was?  You know me better than that.”

 

Taber smiled half-heartedly, but Alec wasn’t watching him any more.  “It was not a falling star, of course, or else it would’ve burned up long ago.  It’s too heavy for me to get out of the ground even.”

 

“So you found it,” said the Pianta with an air of solemnity that he didn’t expect.  Deep down, he was still hoping there might be an adventure ahead of them.  “Probably just a big rock in the ground, anyway.”

 

“It wish it was,” Alec said, conveying an unspoken measure of dread.  “I can’t just tell you about it here, though.  Someone might be listening, not the least of all that wolf.  I’m not so sure of anything anymore, you see.  It’s paranoid, yes, but if you’d seen what I have, you would understand, I think.”

 

“Well, don’t leave me in the dark about it.  I can’t go back alone now with that wolf still around and probably crazier than before.  Out the other side is my only option, and besides, it looks like you could use some help.”

 

Alec nodded wordlessly and helped the Pianta up.  They found Taber’s cudgel in a patch of ragged grass not too far away, and it looked as new as the day it had been carved.  Neither of them said anything as they walked in the rain towards the dwindling light to the west.

 

~*~*~*~

 

After a time they came upon an impact crater with a diameter that stretched the length of a small field.  The collision had completely engulfed the scattered ashes of several juvenile trees and ravaged the ancient frames of larger pines and maples.  As Taber cautiously approached the edge of the wide pit, he began to see a faint, yellow glow emanating beneath them and growing stronger as they went on.

 

“It’s not radioactive,” Alec said without explanation.

 

“But how could you know that?”

 

“You’ll see,” said the Koopa, immovable.  “Climb down and read it.  I’ve already committed it all to memory.”

 

Taber obliged and carefully slid down the crater, finally coming face to face with a phosphorescent slab of rock.  It had strange words scrawled into its face, but they were written in an unfamiliar language.  Just as Taber was about to call back up for help, though, the script changed before his eyes and was suddenly readable.

 

“We are the Star Spirits,” he found himself saying, “Guardians of Plit, Composers of the Songs of this Earth.  Let it be known that the Malevolent One has escaped from the prison he forged with ages of malice.  He is now sending forth his demons from out the heart of darkness in preparation of his corporeal reincarnation, fueled by the inevitability of passing time.  We, in the meanwhile, oblivious to his ultimate designs, have been conquered and are slowly fading out of this realm and sifting through the fabric of existence.  Beware the Breaking Prophecy and the Shrines and the Altars therein, as they are traps set by the disciples of the Enemy and made only to rid him of Plit’s greatest heroes.  It is, indeed, the greatest deceit of the Deceiver, and we only lament that we reached you so late.”

 

Taber felt himself fall back and lifted up again when Alec caught him.  He looked around, face drained of all its color, and said, “What does it mean?”

 

“It all starts with a dusty scroll that my old master, Jinx, shared with me one day near the end of my training,” he began and went on for another two hours, covering everything he had been told about the Breaking of the World.  “This, however, shatters all of that, and what’s more, it means the time where people will be tricked by the prophesies has arrived.  We might be the only ones who know.”

 

“What about the flood and the other catastrophes it mentions?  If the demons are actually coming, then they could happen, as well.”

 

“If they haven’t already,” said the Koopa.  “Come on.  We’ve got to make for the nearest port.  Maybe we’ll be lucky enough to find someone with a plane.”

 

“But where will we go?  How do we know who to warn?”

 

“I don’t know,” Alec said simply.  “My only thoughts now are geared towards going wherever we might end up: maybe the Mushroom Kingdom for all I know.”

 

“Demons, ultimate evil, captured Star Spirits… this isn’t what I had in mind when I was looking for an adventure.  If only that big stone had landed somewhere else, we might be heading back home.”

 

“Or dead by the teeth of the wolf,” said Alec sharply.  “That creature that attacked you is one of the demons.  I’m sure of it.  If we were meant to find that script, than the Enemy would send one of his agents specifically to eliminate us before we could make use of the information.  Remember, he—the Dark One—has all the cards now that the Star Spirits are out of touch with this world.”

 

When they climbed back out of the pit, the pair was interrupted by the elder Noki as he rustled through into the clearing.  His cloak and walking cane were immaculate, and an odd smile covered half his face.  Holding up a hand and waving at them, he seemed the picture of serenity in the midst of turmoil.

 

Only Taber noticed that the skies were clouding over again with a paleness of gray overreaching.  Alec walked forward to greet the old man but was obviously concerned that he would read the inscription on the meteorite.

 

“No need, no need,” laughed the Noki.  “I’ve already met young Taber here.”

 

The Pianta was going to call out his name, but he realized it had never been offered to him.  “Hey,” he said instead.  The sway of his cudgel reminded him he’d tied his belt too loosely.

 

“My friend and I were just viewing this crater; a piece of space debris struck it the day before yesterday,” Alec said, failing to make the discovery seem uninteresting.  “Taber didn’t say anything to me about meeting a Noki out here.”

 

“I thought you were dead!” the young Pianta blurted out.  “I mean, when I woke up, there was blood and torn furniture all over your house.”

 

“Really, now?” asked the old man, apparently surprised.  “I always get up early and take a walk through the forest.  When I left, it was still as ratty as it always is,” he said and chuckled, almost wheezing.

 

“It was a wolf, maybe something more,” said Alec, not bothering to elaborate.  “I wouldn’t go back.  It’d be safer to come with us.”

 

“Fine, fine,” said the Noki, not entirely displeased.  “Say, I see you have your new cudgel.  The old one broke, right?”

 

“Right,” said Taber, but then remembered that his original one had completely shattered during the first fight with the wolf.  Why hadn’t he thought of that before, when he just picked up the old man’s without recognizing its difference?  But then again…  “How did you know I had one?  My old one was destroyed.”

 

The Noki’s eyes twitched, and Taber remembered the newness of the same cudgel after the second encounter with the wolf.  He backed up, tripped, and fell in the grass.  Alec looked over and saw the old man on the ground, convulsing.  Crashing, crackling, lightning split the air, and a familiar howl tore the order of the forest in two.

 

Before their eyes, the skin and bones of the Noki exploded in a mass of bloody pulp, and the wolf emerged, growing before them into its terrible fullness.  With a swipe of its paw, Alec was knocked several meters into the dirt, unconscious.  Taber jumped up and handled the grip of his cudgel, knowing he had no chance of winning.  It was fight or flight, but his body was too tense to move, so the only alternative was death.

 

“Why did you save my life just to kill me now?” asked Taber, wondering where the words came from.  He felt as if he were the medium of some greater cause.  “It’s almost like you wanted me to know, the way you must’ve constructed the illusion of that cottage and your own treatment of me in the form of a pleasant old Noki.  Even the cudgel slip-up… did you plan it?  I don’t think you’re sure you want to kill me now, either.  Don’t give in to the Enemy.  You have a chance to be free!”

 

The demon roared in anguish, bashing his head against the soft ground.  He spoke with uncertainty, but even the sympathy in his voice came across as deeply evil.  “No!  No!  It’s too much, and it’s only a flaw.  I was imperfect, but I’m found now.  You must die, for that is the way of things.”

 

The wolf gave one final scream and charged, his eyes filled with the lust of the hunt.  As Taber rushed forward to meet him with his gaunt weapon reared, they met in a clash of bone-shattering power.  Both forces were thrown back several meters, and the strong wood of the Pianta’s weapon was already beginning to crack.

 

The shock of the hit numbed Taber’s senses and left him sprawling, thoughts jumbled around so he couldn’t get a clear grasp on where he was.  Already recovered from the blow, the wolf picked itself up uneasily and twisted its head around in confusion.  Something inside of it was pulling away at the veil of shadow closed down tightly around its mind, trying to break through the surface of something long dead and hollowed out by the drab grayness of passing time.

 

“Alone, alone…” the demon mumbled, pawing at the air as if some transparent enemy were trying to find it.  “No!”

 

Alec ended the chaos with a single slash of his saber across the wolf’s neck, spilling its lifeblood onto the shredded ground.  He let the beast fall limp to the ground and helped Taber up, brushing off the grass and dirt he’d taken in the fall.

 

“Alec,” Taber said, rattled.  “What happened?”

 

“You distracted it long enough for me to get a cut in, but I’m not sure how.  It seemed physically unhurt, yet something was bothering it internally.  Perhaps this Deceiver who trapped the Star Spirits didn’t have as powerful a hold on the poor creature as he thought.”

 

“Either way, how can we help the Guardians?” Taber asked.  “We’ll never be able to reach the Mushroom Kingdom in time.”

 

“I know, and the Star Spirits should’ve realized that too,” said Alec gravely.  “If they really are trapped, then perhaps this was a last-ditch effort to get some message out.  It saved us from that demon, but what good will it do the people who need it most?”

 

“I’ll leave at once,” Taber said with weary determination.  “Lavalava Island is the nearest landmass before the mainland of the kingdom.  I should make it in a week or so.”

 

Alec nodded, grinning for the first time since they’d met in the forest.  “I think you’re finally ready for that adventure of yours, Taber.  Let’s just hope it meets your expectations.”