Flames erupted from inside the black house on the corner. A crowd had gathered, people were screaming out evil words, calling the woman inside a witch. She came running out, a shock of black curls tumbling down her back, her violet eyes peircing the crowd of spectators with her pity and sorrow. She held a bundle of blankets in her arm, a little baby girl snuggled inside them. She wore a tight corset, black lace, and a silken crimson skirt billowing out from her trim waist. Her surprisingly lavender eyes were full of pain, but she refused to let herself cry.

No, Shana was too strong to cry.

Suddenly they came at her, from all sides. The tore at her clothes, snatched the baby from her arms and slapped him around, until finally, Sir Ludre du Travin approached them, his brown cloak sweeping the cobblestone ground as he pulled the silver knife out of his sheath.

There were three men trying to hold Shana down. She was screaming and tearing away from them, an incantation finally blew them away from her. She tore at Sir Ludre, but he swept her away with an incantation of his own.

"I have my powers to use for God," he muttered. "You, dear lady, serve the Devil. This child of Satan's shall suffer no longer." He pierced the knife through the baby's flesh, and the sweet little girl cried no more.

"Tamara!" Shana screamed, crying furious tears, screaming, tearing her way through the crowd, but all in vain...

ic--Lyra carefully watched the crowd of rioters and the poor woman whose name she could not determine. Her black eyes seemed to be the same color as the dark of the alley in which she stood, but they stood out beautifully, and the dark of the alley served only as camouflage for her beautifully black eyes. The dark of the alley covered her eyes as a bloodred tear, shed for the woman's child, slid down Lyra's pure white face. Lyra was a beautiful werewolf, and her skin seemed borne of the moon, with the same milky whiteness. She sighed as more tears came down, and she decided to wait until the rioters had gone to confront the woman kindly about her sorrow. After all, werewolves were hated by these people, and she could lose her life and the sweet change of the Moon if she intervened while a great number of people were present. Lyra knew that she could only do what must be done in this situation if she still had her beautiful and long werewolf life ahead of her... she was only 18 years old. She waited patiently for calm to come over the crowd of people who had killed this poor woman's baby.

Sir Ludre de Travin nodded and the people pulled Shana into the centre square, putting her head and arms into the holes fit into a rectangular wooden chained door, laughing bitterly at her.

"Shana," they hissed. "A name for a witch."

Eventually, tiredness consumed them and they went off into their homes, leaving the tear-stained Shana, covered in blood from the whippings she had received, locked in the centre square, her head and hands through a wooden plank.

ic-- Lyra carefully came out of the dark of the alley that she hid in. She used her wolf-like nose to sniff for the scent of any humans, and she found none. Carefully, but with increasing daring, she entered the space where the poor woman named Shana was trapped in the rectangular wooden door. Lyra took out a rather strong and thick knife, and began to hack on one side of the door, through the length of it. She was careful not to hit Shana, and carefully cut off the part of the door that was above her head. Lyra dropped her knife and carefully carried Shana out of the stocks. She smiled sadly, and the young werewolf gently alighted Shana on her back (for Shana was relatively light in this way), and quickly ran to her cottage which her parents had given her for her recent 18th birthday. Lyra entered it and immediately started the bath for poor Shana, along with some hot tea. Lyra wanted her guest to feel as comfortable as possible. Lyra carefully filled the bath with flowery powders made of lilacs, daisies, roses, and all sorts of other flowers. She carefully helped Shana get off what was left of her clothes when she was already in the bath. Lyra left some soap and shampoo for the woman, as she finished making the tea, setting it on the fire to keep it warm for when Shana arose. Lyra carefully called in her loyal pet and wolf friend, Damien. Rubbing his head and asking him to take care of the woman in the tub, Lyra left the cottage in search of some flowers which were known to heal cuts and wounds, and very hard to find.

"Thank you," Shana had murmured tiredly as Lyra helped her. Shana felt safe, the wolf sitting by the tub loyally. She scrubbed her flesh so hard her creamy skin became red. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She was angry at herself. How could she have let them take Tamara? "TAMARA," Shana moaned into her hands.

ic-- Lyra carefully shifted into her wolf form, the form of the timberwolf. Lyra was a very gifted werewolf, and she could change into the many different species of wolf at this point in her life. (This ability would decrease as she got older.) Lyra used the nose of the timberwolf to locate the herbs and plants she needed to heal the woman that was back at her cottage. Clutching them in her jaw carefully, as a mother wolf would clutch a newborn wolf cub in her jaws, Lyra ran swiftly back to the entrance of her cottage. Laying the herbs she had retrieved at her doorstep, Lyra changed back to her human form, fully clothed and now ready to help the woman Shana inside recuperate fully. She entered the room, holding the bunches of herbs in her hands, and whistling just so that her wolf friend Damien could hear. Damien came bouncing up to Lyra, giving her a fiercer version of a dog's welcome for his master. Lyra laughed at his welcome, and let him out so that he could stretch his muscles and practice hunting for when she needed him to track prey for dinner later that evening. Lyra smiled, and approached the woman Shana respectfully. She turned away, seeing that the woman was bathing by herself, and sat at the table that was in the middle of the room and started to make some potions for Shana. Quickly grinding a few soft herbs of the bunch that she had retrieved of the woods, Lyra handed a bowl with a little bit of silver liquid in it to Shana. "Drink," Lyra softly commanded Shana, "it will keep the blood from running any more than it already has."

Shana's eyes of a brilliant orchid shade, purple, gazed up at the woman, Lyra, the she-wolf. She sipped the oddly colored liquid. The flavor was so unfamiliar to her Shana almost spat it right back out, but she continued, guzzling down a few more swallows before she set it down. She lifted herself out of the tub and adorned a silky robe placed by the tub. She wrappd it around herself and stood a little dizzily. "Thank you... My name is Shana, as you may know, Lyra." Lyra, the feared werewolf. The town was far too prejudicial. Shana swayed a little. "The other werewolf, how did you meet him? Do you think there are others that... Well, others with my disposition as well?"

ic-- Lyra smiled at Shana, and stood to greet her in the midst of grinding the other herbs that would help Shana recover from her abuse. "Well, it's nice to finally meet you, Shana. I'm sorry about what happenend... I didn't think that some humans were so... selfish that they would injure another because of their differences. Humans have yet to understand that even members of the same species in the same family are endlessly different from each other." Lyra glanced at the bowl that Shana had set down. Glancing at it, she kindly commanded, "You should really drink the rest of that potion, if there is any. I'm sorry if it's really bitter, but the more you drink of it, the faster you will be able to recover." Lyra sat at the table in the middle of the room again, crushing up herbs and mixing them for a different potion that would help Shana, and keeping her body turned towards Shana. Lyra arched her eyebrow at Shana's first question. "Other werewolf? There is no other werewolf that lives here... not in this cottage, anyway. My family and pack live a little farther away from the town, for they need to hunt more than I do, and can't afford the chance that their presence might be sensed by anyone. This is a beautiful area, with lots of game in it." Damien came into the cottage, for the door was open, and came to Lyra's side, nuzzling her leg in a loving manner. "It's just me and Damien here, and Damien is a normal wolf. I raised him from the time when he was just a cub, for his family was killed by farmers, after they killed a sheep. We've been friends and family since that time." Lyra stroked Damien's head lovingly, and put down the herbs she was working with for only a second. Lyra carefully went to the kitchen counter, and produced a piece of meat for her friend, tossing it up in the air so that Damien could catch it in his mouth. She carefully pushed on his lower back, telling him through her motions to go outside for a few more minutes. He obeyed his friend and caretaker quickly, leaving Lyra and Shana alone again. "I'm sorry about that," Lyra quickly apologized, "Damien is a handful sometimes." Sitting back down at the table and resuming the manufacture of another potion, Lyra thought about Shana's second question. "Well, what do you mean, your disposition?" She started politely. "Do you mean other... witches, or do you mean others who have been rejected by their community?"

Shana drank up the potion and glanced at Lyra. "He's gorgeous," she murmured, motioning to Damien before he left. "It must be nice to have him around. No one likes to be alone." Shana gazed into Lyra's eyes, listening. "I meant other witches..." Tears sprung into Shana's eyes. "Tamara..." She closed her eyes and wrapped the robe tighter around herself, suddenly uncomfortable. An innocent baby.
No. Tamara... There was another way. A smile came to Shana's lips. Ressurection. As a skilled witch, she knew it was possible, and she would make sure it worked...

ic-- Lyra smiled at Shana, thanking her for her compliment with her eyes. "You mean you're a witch? Really? Well..." Lyra stroked her chin, not wanting to insult Shana. "To be perfectly honest with you, I've really never believed in witches. But now that I've met and talked with you, there must be pockets of witches scattered all over this place. I should think that it's only the matter of where to look that would be a problem when trying to locate another witch. But I would be more than happy to help you look." Lyra finished crushing the rest of the herbs she had collected together, and her end result was two different potions. She handed Shana a small silver bowl filled with a bloodred substance, gently directing her, "Rub this where there are deep scars and places where the bruises haven't scabbed over." Then placing a second bowl on the part of the table that was away from the place where she was working, Lyra started to clean up, meanwhile eager to hear what Shana had to say.

Shana concentrated on the silver bowl and it levitated. "Yes, I am a witch." She let the silver bowl fall into her hand and took the bloodred substance to rub on her deep wounds and bruises. "It seems very few people know what witches are anymore. I doubt there's very many, and it won't be easy to find them." Shana sighed, her baby daughter's face fresh in her mind.

Resurrection.

It would be easy enough...

ic-- Lyra smiled at Shana, not in an especially cheerful manner but in a very helpful manner. "I'm sure we can find them. Damien and I have been tracking all sorts of.... well, creatures since I first became a teenager. I'm sure if we could find even a faint trace of them, even a place where they inhabited within the last day, Damien could sniff them out and lead us to them.... or should I say lead you to them." Lyra rose from the table, having cleaned it up, and, excusing herself from Shana's presence, Lyra yelled out the door, "Damien! Here boy!" in a very loud manner, even whistling a few times. Damien bolted in, for her was happy to be able to have some fun with his friend Lyra. Turning to Shana again while leading Damien, she asked, "Would you like some dinner? I know that Damien and I can take down some venison, rabbit, or deer... there are plenty in these parts." Lyra was challenged with the task of keeping Damien from jumping too high as she waited for Shana's response.

"I'm not hungry," Shana replied. "But thank you, Lyra." Shana moved into the kitchen, looking over the hardwood floors. "Where is it possible to find oleander flowers?" Shana asked politely. "I need to find some things... I'm... working on a spell of sorts." Shana laughed a little, out of sheer nervousness, nothing was funny about it. "Lyra? I'm going to need to be alone to preform this spell. It's a bit complicated. Once I gather all of the requirements, I'll need to be away to, um, preform the nesecary enchantments. Not that I'm not grateful, but it's a solitary meditation thing, a gathering of a sole person's energy. If another entity is there it could disrupt the channel." Shana was shaking a little.

Resurrection was forbidden. Nature's laws were not to be broken. Still, Shana had to do this...

ic-- Lyra cleared her throat, and walked over to the counter where she found a leftover bone from a deer carcass, which she gave to a now subdued Damien. Turning to Shana, Lyra said, "If you're looking for oleanders, or any type of flower used for magic, I know a small meadow where you should be able to find anything you need-- at least I think so. I've used it my whole life for charms and such. I would be glad to lead you there.... The only thing I ask about magic being done here is that you be careful and not play with anything you don't understand-- it could lead to dire consequences. Just ask my pack cousin, Arwen-- she permanently changed her nose into the beak of a toucan. " Lyra paused, getting various weapons from her storeroom and setting them down on the table in the middle of the first room of the house. "I could sure leave you alone for a few hours, Shana. Damien and I have to go out hunting, not only for ourselves, but for the rest of the pack. After I show you the clearing, I think Damien and I will leave, and.." Lyra looked at the Sun, using its shadow to figure something out. "If we leave around five tonight, then we should come around nine or ten late tonight. Will that be enough time?"

"Yes of course," Shana nodded and gave Lyra a reassuring smile. The 'dire consequences' Lyra spoke of were nothing Shana wasn't accustomed to. If anything 'dire' happened, Shana wouldn't care. If she died, or was damaged somehow, at least her baby would be back. Shana didn't care about herself. Tamara. Tamara was gone.

ic-- Lyra smiled back at Shana and said, "All right then. Let me get Damien ready for the hunt, and I'll show you the field on the way to my pack's den." Lyra whistled over to Damien, seeing that he had all but eaten the bone she had given him earlier. Loading him with small weapons and potions she might use on the hunt, Lyra carefully made sure he could handle his load for the long distance they had to travel to her family's home. Damien yapped with confidence and Lyra patted him on the head while she loaded her own pack with heavier and more dangerous weapons. Getting ready to exit the cottage, Lyra turned to Shana and said, "Ready to go?"

"Of course," Shana smiled brightly and followed Lyra. This would need a sacrifice of some sort... and some cloves. What else was needed? Sage for healing, roses for love and dying... What else? Shana racked her mind for memory. "Is it close?"

ic--"It's relatively close, I guess you could say," Lyra said as they quickly moved through the forest. They reached the edge of the piece of land that Lyra's pack had arranged for her to live on, and Lyra carefully examined a tree that had a patch of moss growing on it. Biting her lip and looking at the tree and the sun a few times, Lyra turned to Shana and said," This way. It's a short distance east." Turning to Damien who was eager to go to hunt with the rest of the pack and straying from their path, she called, "C'mon boy, we're just going to take a short detour. I promise we'll go to see everyone in a few minutes. Okay?" Damien obeyed with this short explanation, and followed close behind Shana, jumping up at her like a friendly dog. Lyra smiled at this sight, curious as to what Shana's response might be.
Lyra led Shana to a stone cliff that seemed to be menacing and dangerous, but when she jumped off the cliff, she landed in the stunning garden that she had told Shana all about. She drank in the smell of the fragrant garden, remembering all the charms she had done in her early teenage years to get a handsome werewolf to fall in love with her. Turning to Shana, she said, "This is it. Isn't it beautiful?" She waited for Shana to see the garden, seeing that Damien was still jumping up at her in his dog-like and eager manner.

"It is very beautiful," Shana breathed in the lush garden with a smile on her face. Somehow, for just an instant, her pain disappeared. But then she thought of Tamara, and the wound in her heart gaped open. Shana gathered up oleander, a poison flower, and sage. "Mm. I'll be eager to hear about how the hunt goes. How many are in your pack?"

ic-- Lyra stretched, happy to see that Shana was making good use of the flowers in that area. She carefully took Damien away from Shana, and said, "We have about one hundred or two hundred in our pack... it's a vast and changing number, since we might include a couple of strays and loners who are very hungry some nights. I guess you could say we're a charitable pack, and a cunning one as well since many of our wolf bodies are accustomed to using human-made weapons. What we normally do is have some go in their wolf forms and others use human weapons, keeping their human forms and following the wolves. I mostly stay in my wolf form, since I'm one of the more talented shifters in my pack." She scratched her cheek and asked Shana, "Will you be able to find your way back to my cottage? If Damien and I don't go to the pack now, we'll be late for the hunt."

"I'll find it, but I might be a bit disheveled," Shana was eager for Lyra to leave. She wanted her baby back... "Hundreds? Wow that's a lot. It must be hard to be a werewolf."

ic-- Lyra prepared to turn away and leave Shana in the beautiful meadow of flowers. "I like the large pack... it gives one a place to meet a lot of different werewolves. When I was a young werewolf, I always had many female werewolves that I could turn to for companionship. We always do things together and think about solutions to our problems together... it's a good sense of friendship that I hope our children will get too. A large pack is good for finding mates too... there are always a lot of guys to choose from, and different ones come all the time. You wouldn't believe all of the fun my friends and I have had at night, when all those male werewolves are fast asleep." Lyra smiled at her comment and winked at Shana, then left the meadow, turning to Shana, waving goodbye and saying, "I'll see you soon, Shana. Be careful. Feel free to go back to the cottage anytime you want to do your conjuring." With that, Lyra and Damien walked off into the distance, leaving Shana.