Chapitre 1

SATURDAY OF THE 9TH MOON COUNT:

Fresh dew peeled off the leaves, which were just beginning to grow. I breathed in the forest air as a morning breeze danced around me. Sunbeams showed between the trunks and made the birds in the trees chirp excitedly.

Finally spring.

The first flowers ventured back into the clearing between the wet blades of grass. I closed my eyes and listened to the sounds of the forest awakening from its hibernation. Despite the sun, my breath was a cool mist.

I could hear a rustling in the distance and curiosity won me over. I crept across the leafy ground and my instincts led me to the source.

I peeked cautiously past one of the tall trees into the clearing, which was flooded with sunbeams. In the middle, as if he wanted to present himself, stood a stag with huge antlers. He was enjoying the lush grass, completely unconcerned with my presence.

"Such a majestic animal, isn't it?"

His voice was soft and very careful not to scare the stag away. I turned around. Father had a faint gleam in his eyes, which were snow white. Despite his blindness, he could only recognize each animal by its footsteps and smell.

"Yeah, you could almost say _he_ is the Keeper," I said, smiling. But instead of a complaint, only old wisdom escaped his lips.

“The stag is not the keeper. After all, the gazelle does not rule over the savannah either. As the lion is king of the desert, so the wolf is king of the forest."

I looked at the ground between us, beneath which the roots of the trees slumbered. Dull paws sounded frantically, scurrying over it a short distance away.

A rabbit.

"Ah, I love spring," said father, closing his eyes, through which he couldn't see anything anyway, and stretched his face into the sun. "Everything is slowly coming back to life. The old has died so that the new can grow ."

Footsteps nourished along with the smell of fresh herbs.

"Are you giving speeches again?" Mother asked behind me, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Darling, will you take the medicinal plants to the village for me? You can use the money to buy new fabric."

"Of course," I said excitedly, taking the leather bag. The smell of chamomile, rosemary, and nettle hit me before I tied it tightly. It had been ages since I was in the village. Fabrics and clothes were one of the few Things the forest couldn't provide us with.

But with herbs and other plants that could be processed into medicine. Mother used to be a healer herself before venturing into the western forest in search of fresh medicine.

That's how they met.

"Then I'll be on my way now," I said, taking one last look at my parents. Despite his blindness, father knew every inch of his forest, every tree, root and animal. As the guardian of the western lands, he probably had to .

He kept his balance, at least here.

He hated being in the village. He only came with me once to please me, but it was a disaster. He'd felt like a fish on land: disoriented, unable to move, unable to survive. He had never felt so blind as there.

I rubbed my chest as I felt the spark of sadness that accompanied the memory. He hadn't left the forest since then and I couldn't blame him. I would eventually succeed him as Keeper... hopefully in the distant future.

"Take care, Dana," he said, his snow-white eyes smiling at me.

"I'll do it."

I nodded to Mother and turned around, bag in hand. With quick steps I walked past our wooden house, the only one here in the forest. I took one last look around before removing my dress and knotting it loosely around my elbow.

I closed my eyes.

A feeling of nature washed over me and an earthy smell hit my nostrils. A familiar shiver ran down my spine as my bones began to crack. They regrouped. Immediately I smelled colorful tracks of different animals.

After a few seconds it was all over. My wolf stretched her limbs and shook herself once. It was like looking through blurry glasses, carefully analyzing their surroundings.

She looked at her brown paws, which were the same color as my hair. The dress was securely tied around it. She carefully took the leather bag with the medicinal plants that lay on the floor next to us between her teeth.

She took one last look at the house before facing forward. Hundreds of tracks and tracks ran through the trees, left by all the animals that lived here.

I suppressed the hunting instinct and tried to concentrate on the way to the village. At full speed I would do it in half an hour. I let my wolf take control again and without hesitation she charged off.

The cool wind flowed against us and only seemed to drive them to higher speeds. She jumped over rocks, dodged under fallen logs, and dived over grass and moss. The ground beneath our paws was damp from the frosty night.

I enjoyed the wet forest smell and the lush green of the leaves. Even though I liked the village, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. The forest was my home. I grew up here. My wolf snorted hot air as if to agree.

In the slalom she ran between the trees in perfect rhythm. We knew the route inside out, every shortcut and every hazard. The heart in our chests began to beat faster as the claws dug deep into the earth and pushed off with all their might.

Our brown fur blended perfectly with the surroundings. Only the chirping of the birds cheering us on got through. The closer we got to the village, the more tracks mixed in the air.

My wolf got restless and hid behind a tree. With a loud crack, I morphed back into my human form and pulled on my dress. It took me a moment to get used to the feeling of only two legs before I set off with the bag over my shoulder.

As I ran, I tied my brown hair into a ponytail that reached almost to my elbows. Some houses already stood between the trunks at the edge of the forest. Above was the smell of smoke rising from the chimneys.

The village pharmacy was next to the pack house in the center and so I left the soft forest floor and stepped onto solid stone roads. The cloudless sky above me gave the sun all the space it needed to shine.

I frowned.

Why was it so quiet? The market was usually open on Saturday and you could smell fresh fruit and flowers from afar. On a normal Saturday, the streets were packed with anyone wanting to shop or look.

But not today.

A sinking feeling gripped my stomach as I walked between the streets towards the pack house. I adjusted the leather bag on my shoulder. A voice came through the streets. I listened as I rounded the corner into the large square.

My breath caught.

A huge crowd stood in the square and had gathered around something. to someone The whole pack seemed to be here. Did we miss something important? My ears could hear soft sobs among the wolves and mothers.

I cautiously approached what was happening. Although I couldn't see anything because I was smaller than most wolves, I still joined the last row.

"FROM THREATENING?"

"What's going on here?" I asked the old woman standing next to me.

"They're coming for her," she replied in a pained voice.

"Who?" I asked, stretching on my tiptoes. I caught a quick glimpse of a mop of black hair and something dark green.

“One man from every family. You should fight."

My stomach knotted at the words. From every family? About also-

"VAN ESCHWALD?"

My heart froze as my last name echoed from the center of the square. I couldn't breathe for a moment.

"VAN ESCHWALD?!" the voice roared.

The crowd started looking around.

"Here," I whispered.

Immediately a few heads jerked towards me and made way for me. Forced by their looks, I ventured forward. Row by row the wolves backed away.

There, right in the center, stood a warrior in a green uniform. His black hair was shaved short and he held a scroll in his hands. His features were cold and he was staring at me disparagingly.

I stopped a few meters in front of him, unsettled. I wanted to crawl back into the crowd, but I couldn't move under the soldier's rock-hard stare.

"Where's your family?" he asked.

"I- they just sent me," I replied, my voice shaking.

"Then take this to them."

Another soldier behind him handed me a scroll. I took the paper.

"Tomorrow at 10 o'clock at the latest, a man from your family has to report to the northern camp with this scroll. Then the training for the army begins."

My stomach immediately shrunk as if all the organs had been turned over. The soldier seemed to be able to read my every emotion.

"If this doesn't happen, your whole family will have to live with the consequences."

For a moment, the soldier's eyes flashed yellow, as if his wolf seemed just waiting for a misstep. I swallowed the excess saliva and nodded before bowing.

"Step away," he ordered. I immediately turned and disappeared into the safe arms of the crowd. All around me I saw women with handkerchiefs trying to stop their tears.

One man from each family for the army.