Visions of Night: Remus’s Story

          The sky was black with ravens. Helicopter blades sliced the sky. Bullets spewed out of the copter guns, and the dying howl of wolves mixed with the squawking and shrill cawing of the ravens. The air was thick with blood. Brittle grass and black feathers whirled on the wind, and through it all came the sinking feeling of doom…

          Remus awoke with a gasp. Her coat felt heavy, but when she turned she found it was only with sweat, not blood. She was in her own cave, with the rest of her pack lying beside her.

          The stillness of the night left room for the memory of her awful dream, and in her eyes the pool of moonlight cascading into the cave was tinted red. Her breathing slowed, but her heart was still pounding. She hadn’t felt like this since she had been a pup. When she had had that dream about the raven and the white wolf…

          Remus pushed herself to her paws and looked around the cave. Her brother, Shade, and her sisters, Shaila and Ruska, lay curled up at her feet. Her mother and father, Aleu and Flint, lay across the way. Linder and Quicksilver were asleep at the back of the small cave. All would be equally grumpy if she woke them up, especially if they heard it was just for a dream. But she knew this was more than a dream. It was a…premonition. A vision. Somehow she knew it was going to happen. She had to tell someone.

          Shaila, who had always been a light sleeper, rolled over and stared up at her sister. “Remus, what is it?”

          “I…I had a dream,” Remus told her, hurrying to explain. “But it was a vision. I just know it was. There was a battle, and wolves were dying…It felt the same as the dream I kept having when we were pups. Remember?”

          Shaila nodded, and then yawned.

          Aleu raised her head and blinked sleepily. “Alright, girls, what is it?”

          “Remus had another dream, Mom,” Shaila said softly, “Like the one when she was a pup.”

          Aleu sat up. “A dream?…Was there a raven?”

          “Well, there were ravens,” Remus said, “Not one particular one like last time. But I know it’s going to happen, just like the other one did.” She had figured out a long time ago that her dream/vision had led them from her birthplace in the Aleutian Islands to here, near Nome. “But hundreds, thousands of wolves were dying! There were helicopters that shot bullets from guns sticking out of the windows, and ravens were everywhere. You know ravens feed on the dead…”

          “Where was it?” Aleu breathed.

          Remus shut her eyes tight, trying to remember. The horrific image filled her mind again: the black, squawking sky, the gunning helicopters, the smell of fresh blood…and two boulders in the mountainside that formed the head of an eagle…

          Remus’s eyes shot open. “Eagle Pass!”

          Aleu sucked in her breath. “Eagle Pass…”

          “Do you think the pack there needs help?” Shaila asked.

          “There was more than one wolf pack there,” Remus said, shivering. “There were hundreds of wolves. And humans, with guns!”

          “Guns?” Flint said, suddenly alert as he joined them. “I thought wolf hunting was down.”

          Aleu shook her head. “Where have you been? We’re being hunted more than ever. The humans are blaming us for poor game, and with all these new things like armed helicopters, they’re trying to get rid of us.” She looked strangely sad and angry at the same time. Remus remembered her mother had lived among humans. She was sympathetic, but now wasn’t the time to sympathize! Now was the time to act!

          Shaila padded over and leaned against Aleu comfortingly. Aleu nudged her gratefully and said in a soft voice, “That’s why I was going to announce tomorrow morning that…we should move north.”

          “What?” Flint said, taken aback. “Aleu, why didn’t you tell me?”

          “Because I knew you would object,” she said sharply.

          “Look, Aleu, we’re fine here. We’ll have to move sometime to follow the caribou, but it’s too soon for that. You know we’re safe! No one’s come after us with a gun, and they know we’ve been here for months.”

          “I would just feel better away from a town,” Aleu said in a tired voice.

          “Could we get back to the matter at hand, please?” Remus cried, “What if the Eagle Pass pack needs help?”

          Aleu sighed. “It’s too late for this, Remus. We’ll be thinking clearer in the morning.”

          Heat licked at Remus’s throat. “So you expect me to sleep while wolves might be dying? I have to go! Mother!”

          “No,” Aleu muttered.

          “But–”

          “I SAID NO!”

          Remus felt the sting of her mother’s anger. She retreated, but inside her rage still bubbled and boiled.

          “I am not having one of my daughters chasing some dream when wolf hunters are out there set to shoot the first thing they see!” Aleu cried, “You will not leave this cave until I do! Do you understand?”

          “Yes,” Remus murmured, but inside she thought, ‘But that doesn’t mean I have to obey.’

          Aleu trooped back to her place and lay down, staring fixedly off into space. Flint gave Remus a long look. Remus tried not to glare at him, but rage popped inside her. How could they ignore her vision? Wasn’t her safety a small thing to sacrifice for the lives of a hundred wolves?

          “Remus…” Flint sighed and shook his head, and went to join Aleu. Shaila glanced at her as she trotted over to Quicksilver and lay down beside him. Remus still stood, frozen.

          Well. So much for family support.

          Quicksilver’s voice filtered through the quiet. “So. You do have visions. Even about wolves outside your family.”

          “Yes. Why? Does that make me a psychic or something?” Remus asked.

          “A Seer.” Quicksilver smiled, and his face fell into shadow as his glowing eyes closed.

          “A Seer?” Remus whispered. The word felt strange on her tongue, like it contained a certain mystery and power she didn’t feel capable of. “I’m a Seer.”

          The revealed truth and title filled her with determination. She was able to have visions for a reason. Perhaps helping others was that reason. Her mother’s worry was not going to hold her back from her calling.

          She waited until the cave was silent except for deep breathing. Then she stood up and silently padded over to the cave entrance. The night was cold, with a small snowfall drifting over the whispering wind. Remus hesitated.

          The wind suddenly whirled into her ears with the intensity of the dying howls of wolves. She sprang forward, only to be tackled from behind. She and her attacker rolled down the hill in a flurry of struggles and muffled cries, and when they stopped she immediately jumped up and placed her paw on the neck of the other wolf. Before she could growl a threat, she looked at his face. And groaned. “Shade!”

          Her brother grinned wryly and got up. “I’m coming with you.”

          “No, you’re not, and why would you want to?” Remus asked, bemused. Why did Shade of all wolves want to follow her into danger.

          “There’s safety in numbers,” he said.

          Remus snorted. “Two