Chapter 4
Nxälina
For thirty days, I was permitted to mourn the grief of my father and mother's passing. Through those languished hours, Nüxali remained at my side, comforting me. The day of their interment arrived, and I stepped under the hot, scorching sun with Nüxali at my side. We were dressed in mournful clothing, a long black dress and a black veil over our heads.
My eyes burned with tears as the guards carried the lifeless forms of my parents.
My mother had wanted me to leave Üxiryan before she died, but Mäeruvax, enthroned as the new King, forbade me to leave his presence. He feared that I would gather a host of loyalists to usurp him from the throne. He knew the people censured him.
He had been ten years absent from the pack and suddenly returned, proclaiming himself sovereign against the law of Säli. Such usurpation would never sit well in the hearts of the people.
I had held onto the frail hope that some Alphas would surely avenge the death of the late King and Queen. Yet when I stepped outside the castle, there was not a single Alpha present to attend the interment. Instead, they went to Mäeruvax, eager to curry favour from him. Those loyal to the true monarchs had been executed for their fealty. The others, fearing for their lives, bent the knee to Mäeruvax.
It should have been my brother's duty to allocate our parents to Txärwan, the afterworld, but in his refusal, the weight fell on me. Only a few accompanied me. When the common folk sighted us, they cried with their hands raised towards me.
"Oh, Daughter of Säli!"
For so we were remembered. Every Mätleklavs Queen is a daughter of the moon goddess, Säli, who had gifted us a drop of her blood, who had made us feel divine in the eyes of the people.
At the mention of Säli, the guards sought to scatter the crowds, but some pressed forward, their faces written with grief. They feared not only the loss but their new King. What Mäeruvax might become. Would he prove to be like King Txülkyrik, the Heretic King?
I looked at the guards. With Tvärdlyn warriors stationed at every corner, I mourned not only the passing but Nxäerawa itself.
Beside me, Nüxali's skin glowed like the moonlight under the sun. Strands of raven hair plastered across her forehead with sweat.
We followed the priestesses, who would perform the sacred rites to ensure that the King and Queen passed through the gates of Txärwan. My thoughts traveled distantly to my mother's reign; to the Alphas who came from distant packs, thronging the halls, hungering for place and power. Now that she was gone, where were they? Where were those men who had sworn to die for my mother?
At last, we arrived at Xuimna, the deep eternal sea, where dead royals were committed to burning upon great ships. This was no common tradition in the realm but a sacred rite of the Mätleklavs family alone. We believed that when a person is burned, the flames that soar into the sky are their spirits traveling to Txärwan.
My father and mother, dressed in their royal red robes, were laid in the bodies of the ships along with their possessions.
Tears flowed freely down my cheeks as the priestesses began to chant in the old language of Näzik, from the book of Säli.
They sang that when Werewolves are born, Säli sends us on an adventure in life. When we die, it is her calling us to return home again. She keeps her children safe in Txärwan. She is our eternal mother and divine protector.
When the song was finished, one of the priestesses handed me a torch of flame. Slowly, I treaded into the sea, the water soaking my garment as I moved towards the ships.
Lifting the fire high, I spoke so that all might hear:
"Säli has reclaimed that which she once sowed. Though their flesh is consumed in flames, their souls ascend the passage to Txärwan, where our divine mother waits. May the moon guide them there!"
I set the torch upon my mother's ship. The fire burned feebly, but when it crept towards the part which was absorbed with oil, fire sprang out suddenly, blazing the sky with smoke. Just before I could light my father's pyre, my mother's fire had reached his, and soon, both burned together like twin flames, fuming into the sky.
.....
Later that day, after the burning, Mäeruvax summoned me to dine with him. There, at his left side, priestess Näzxuxliya was draped in a long black gown and the usual black veil. It was as if she were mourning the death of a loved one.
"The people's minds have been poisoned with the false worship of Säli," Mäeruvax spoke, turning his gaze to me. "But from tomorrow, that will change. When Father sent me to the Nxüvalain pack, he thought my piety to Iyä Naxixis would fade. But he was wrong. Even in his death, he would see that Iyä Naxixis is the one true goddess, the glory of Nxäerawa."
"Have you forgotten what she did to the people?" I asked. "In a single day, she obliterated an entire pack. Thousands were killed!"
"That was because they rebuffed her," he replied. "She offered them power, promised to show them things that Säli has hidden from everyone."
"No." I shook my head. "She corrupted them."
Tvärdlyn had been a minor pack in Xändlumry Kingdom. But when Iyä Naxixis came, she seduced them. They worshipped her, and in return, she corrupted them. She made them evil, gifting them with mist magic that allows them to melt the flesh from your bones. After her fall, the Tvärdlynians rose and claimed dominion in Nüxwarysta. They became part of the Higher packs.
I turned to Mäeruvax, my heart heavy with dread. In one day, Säli had created us all. But now, Mäeruvax, blinded with devotion for the false goddess, would be the unmaking of us.