Scavengers feast on the cut-up
carcasses of my wolves. A few paces away, my dead body lies on the
ground, half buried in the tall grass.
The white wolf grows into the
great angel. Kneeling beside my mortal remains, Gabriel gently touches
Wolf Shield’s hair before walking towards me.
Had I tears, I would cry.
‘So, you no longer hate
them?’ Gabriel sits at the foot of the oak.
Casting
my mind back, I remember how pathetic I found the two-legged. How
ironic to have become one of them. Now, I love and respect the People.
My last incarnation, this other
life within my own, opened up inside me, like a wound, vivid and raw. I lived in Wolf Shield’s body not as a bird in a
cage, but as water in a sponge.
‘My mind is muddled, confused.
I no longer know who I am.’
‘Perhaps you have gone to the
Land of many Lodges.’
He laughs. ‘You should send forth prayers to the Ones Above
and beg them to explain.’
We remain silent. Beyond,
towering peaks watch over the meadow. Eagles glide in their effortless
way through the late morning sun before turning away to their homes in
the mountains.
‘Though
stranded in this forest, surrounded by a myriad of beasts, circled by
darksome woods, besides loneliness, nothing threatens me, while my
love is lost in the world of flesh.’
‘As
are all creatures He created.’
‘Tell
me, what has befallen her?’
‘She
still loves dancing and to have fun. And though the wings she wears
are false, she is as beautiful as any angel.’
.