Storyline Updates

Traditionally, the Moktirah transformation ritual takes place under a full moon. Conall fasted for days and meditated to prepare himself for the ritual. He had never performed the ceremony himself, and had never seen it performed on so many at once. Ritual and discipline helped Conall to keep his head during the one night when all Moktirahs turned feral, but not Selina. As the moon climbed into the sky she took her wolf skin and started for the snow-covered forest. Conall had to fight to subdue his mate and by force of will push her into her true skin to help him with the ritual.

One by one the people approached the alpha pair. Conall asked each to verify that he or she was joining the pack freely and then to swear an oath of loyalty to the pack. Once each had spoken, Conall bit the left shoulder while a glassy eyed Selina bit the right. Blood trickling down their naked bodies, the new Moktirahs staggered away as their first transformation began. Bones snapped, reshaped themselves and fused back together. Limbs stretched themselves, lengthening, becoming larger as hands and feet reformed into massive paws. Fur that matched hair color began to push its way through the softly undulating flesh. The nose and mouth extended to become a snout as ears lengthened and teeth became fangs. And then the night was filled with the howls of newly born Moktirahs, 28 in all, snarling and growling as they marveled at their new bodies and heightened senses.

Conall watched his new pack with loving and cautious eyes, but Selina, no longer bound by his will, escaped to the forest to hunt. Conall’s heart was overjoyed … they were no longer alone. The pack lived! Still, he was wary, because he knew that not all humans could be Moktirah. One mind or the other could take hold. Either the new Moktirah would become savage, completely feral, or he might start to disembowel himself, because his human mind could not accept what it had become. Some newly created Moktirahs immediately began speaking in their true skins, while others, like Selina, took longer or might never learn.

Just as he was about to congratulate himself on a completely successful assimilation of the humans into the pack, Conall heard the sounds he had been dreading. One new Moktirah, Calan, was growling, snarling, and he started to froth at the mouth. Calan started for the mouth of the den, but two of the females blocked his way. The children were in the den, and they would not allow the savage Moktirah to pass. Quickly several of the males surrounded Calan. The feral Moktirah lunged and snapped at the others as they closed the circle in around him. Somehow, the newly created pack sensed what had to be done, but none wanted to be the one to do it. Finally, Conall leaped over the pack into the center of the circle and mercifully broke Calan’s neck. Throwing his head back, the pack leader howled his sorrow to the moon and the rest of the Moktirah followed suit. In the distance, they could hear Selina’s mournful cry as Calan’s body was laid on the fire and burned.

The first hunt went better for them. Conall was thrilled to hunt with a pack again. He still vividly recalled the last hunt lead by his father the night before the orcs came. Between them, the new pack managed to bring down five elk, enough to fill their bellies that night and the next. Conall watched as the pack established a hierarchy, noting that both Luthor and Valo claimed the hearts of their kill.

Conall knew the first month would be the most difficult. Old bonds that existed for years were broken, while others were reinforced. Conall was pack leader, but it soon became clear that Luthor and Valo would be his seconds. The pack sniffed each other, rubbing heads and bodies against one another to learn and share scents. Males who were too aggressive with the females were rewarded with an angry swat to the snout, but all in all, the transformation went well.

One week after the transformation, Conall got into a brawl with another male who wanted to use his new Moktirah body to take vengeance on the orcs. The pack leader tried to explain that the reason they became Moktirahs was to live, not to make war, but the young male would not listen. Conall easily defeated the inexperienced Moktirah, but did as little damage to him as possible. The male reverted to his human skin when he lost consciousness, and a female scooped him into her powerful Moktirah arms and tenderly carried him back to the den.

All of these problems were mere annoyances compared to the one that weighed most heavily on Conall’s mind. All of the female would go into heat with the new moon, which was rapidly approaching. That was when the real trouble would start. On the new moon bonds of manling marriage would be broken. Some might be re-forged if the male Moktirah was still attracted to his former wife. Even then he would have to fight off other pursuers and then defeat her, before he could claim her as his mate. Usually un-mated males tried for un-mated females, but in a case where there were more males than females, they would go after any female in season, unless her mate could fight them off. The only truly mated pair in the pack was Conall and Selina, but he could tell by the way three of the males behaved that they would be coming after her on the new moon. On the night before the new moon, Selina charged her mate to guard her well, and Conall swore he would do so with his life.