The old woman led Oriana to one of the huts. The place was more spacious than what you could perceived from the outside. The stone floor felt strangely warm at Oriana's feet, allowing her to regain the heat lost on the journey. Suddenly tiredness washed over her body. The old woman sensed this and led her to one of the beds, which was nothing more than straw and blankets on the floor. Oriana lied down finding it surprisingly comfortable. The old woman approached her with a container filled with a brown liquid.
"Drink, it will help you sleep."
"I've never needed help to sleep," Oriana answered, shaking her head. "Not even in my darkest hours."
"Drink," the old woman insisted. "The first nights here will fill you with nightmares if you don't drink it."
Oriana sighed in resignation and brought the container to her lips. She understood that she could be arguing with the old woman all night without getting to any point. She found the drink comfortingly sweet and warm. She didn't take more than three sips and she felt her body sink into sleep. The last thing she saw was the old woman gently taking the container from her hands and placing a blanket over her body. Then, all was darkness, calm darkness.
She woke up being shaken slightly. As soon as she opened her eyes she was met by one of the men who had brought her the night before. She tried to remember his name, but her head was blank.
"I am Vento" the man said, reading her expression.
Oriana smiled at him in response. When he smiled back, she felt her heart skip a beat. That man was really gorgeous, and his beauty seemed to come off even more when he smiled. He helped her sit up and passed a cup warm to the touch on her hands.
"What is it?" Oriana asked.
"Warm milk with honey"
Oriana raised the cup to her lips and immediately let out a sigh of pleasure. And when she saw the amused expression of the man crouched in front of her she felt her face heat up. He didn't say anything, just handed her a dress and stood up.
"I thought I wasn't going to see any of you today," Oriana said quickly, hoping to hold him back for a moment longer.
"I'm not supposed to be here" Vento smiled.
"And why are you here?"
"Old Mother awaits you in the forest" he said instead, "go when you are ready"
Oriana stood up and looked at the dress she had been given, it was soft to the touch and intricately embroidered. Those beasts never ceased to amaze her. They lived in the wild, and their houses seemed primitive at first glance. But if you looked more closely, you could see that they had more comforts than Oriana had observed in her own village, from the always warm floor, to the comfort of the bed and the clean air that moved everywhere. It was very different from the smell of rot that could be perceived almost permanently in the humans' town.
She quickly dressed and left the hut. A slender woman, taller than her, was waiting outside.
"I'm going to take you to Old Mother"
Oriana nodded and immediately allowed herself to be guided by the woman into the forest. After walking shortly she spotted the old woman near a small stream. Her companion made a small bow to the woman and left.
"Come" said the old woman "I have a lot to explain to you"
Oriana began to follow her through the forest and was surprised at her agility. Her movements were light and fluid, her body did not seem to match the years that indicated her face. They walked until they reached a part where the stream become a little dam, enough to be able to submerge completely in it. The old woman sat on a large rock, Oriana imitated her sitting in front of her.
"Do you know why you are here?" the old woman asked her.
"They sacrificed me to the beast"
"For what?" the old woman insisted.
"I don't really know ... to keep the peace."
"Yes, my girl, to keep the peace, and we are not beasts, we are werewolves, a completely different species from humans." She paused and sighed. "And as you said, you're here because it is necessary for peace."
"But why?"
"One hundred and fifty years ago, humans attacked our species, they poisoned all the women of our town, girls and adults alike, all died except for one"
"That caused the war; our men attacked the human villages. They were relentless, driven by pain and anger ... in the end we were still without women, facing extinction and humans had been completely devastated"
"A peace treaty was made, the humans promised to deliver a young and healthy woman every two years, as a way to repair the tremendous damage they had caused"
Oriana was silent, unable to believe what she was hearing. No one had ever told her that story. No one had ever mentioned a war.
"You are here to pay the debt of your people" concluded the old woman.
"Why? Why did they kill the women? " Oriana asked still incredulous.
"I wish I had a unique answer for that... but there's not" replied the old woman with a sad smile. "Before, humans and werewolves shared territories, for centuries we lived in harmony, but when the humans began to violate the norms of nature, our class tried to stop them. The conflicts began, unleashing the war "
"You say that happened a hundred and fifty years ago? And since then do humans deliver girls? "
The old woman nodded.
"So why do you keep bringing us here? Haven't the woman given enough children already? "
The Old Mother smiled sadly.
"Yes, but our women are infertile, they born like that, it is a consequence of mixing. In order to survive, we still need human women. Only men are fertile"
"Are they here then?"
"Who?"
"The humans that our people gave to you."
"No"
"Where are they?" Oriana asked having a horrible feeling that she knew the answer.
"Dead" replied the old woman without changing her stoic expression.
"You killed them!" Oriana exclaimed in horror.
"Not exactly, nature did it"
"I do not understand"
"The humans are not strong enough, most die at the time of giving birth. In the hundred years only one survived the first childbirth, but died five years later, when she gave birth to her second child"
Oriana's heart raced, she remembered the words of the wolf the night before, he told her that she was not going to die... that night. That didn't mean that she was saved.
"Then... death is still my destiny" she whispered more to her than to the old woman.
And even though last night she expected to die, she couldn't help but feel disappointed and even more terrified than she was at the thought of being eaten alive. This was going to be a painful lethargy ... where she was going to get pregnant and then die. She suddenly felt the need to run out of there, she felt an object, an object that was going to be used and discarded.
"No ... I can't, I ..." she started to stammer, until something seemed to hit her head and her face was filled with horror "They are going to rape me!"
"Of course not!" the old woman exclaimed immediately "I wanted to explain that to you. The men who claimed you are going to pass a series of tests, only the strongest can have you in the end"
"Once the competition is over, the couple is given privacy and three months to come together as one, after that, we wait for the woman to get pregnant and protect her until birth."
"Can't I at least choose ...?" she couldn't finish the sentence.
"No" replied the old woman "nature and destiny choose, the strongest must prevail"
"It's barbaric"
But the old woman no longer answered, she stood up and approached the water, where she began to sing in whispers.
"These waters are sacred" she finally told her "they will help you calm down and clear your thoughts"
"I don't want magic waters, I don't want to get pregnant, I want ... to go far away from here" she added when she realized that she couldn't say that she wanted to go home, there was no longer a home for her "
"I'm sorry" said the old woman smiling, but Oriana felt that her words were not genuine, much less her smile "but you must be ready"
"Ready for what?"
"The hunt begins in a few hours" replied the old woman and began to walk through the forest, a few steps away she stopped again "one of my girls will come for you, be ready"
Oriana watched as the Old Mother disappeared into the forest. Then she approached the water to observe her own reflection. In that moment, she realized that she was crying. She threw a stone at her reflection. It immediately became blurry. Then she screamed at the top of her lungs. Several birds flew out in all directions and silence ruled for a few moments in the forest.
She looked back at the water that was calm again, and saw it was deep enough; maybe if she let herself sink deeply, she could avoid all that entire, she could forget everything. Without thinking too much about it, she took slow steps towards the river and little by little she let the water cover her completely.