Mara Servatis Ch. 01

Author's Note: This is my first submission so any and all feedback is more than welcome. My main goal here is to improve. The story is set in one of my alternate histories so don't go looking up any of the terms or peoples, though as you'll see, everything is heavily based on Roman culture and language, so if you have any suggestions about how I can be more accurate on those things please share them. Some things I've changed intentionally, but there are many things of which I'm simply unaware.

There's not much in the way of sex in this first chapter, but believe me it's coming, and soon. This is mostly an introduction of the main character and a bit of setting development before events get moving. If you came because of one of my tags, please don't be angry, all that will be coming in future chapters, and much, much more.

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Maranea Gnaea Equitius ran across the grassy field toward the tree line as fast as her bare feet could carry her. She knew without looking back that the greatwolf was behind her, closing the distance rapidly and the thrill of fear helped her surge forward so that the wind roared in her ears. As she neared the edge of the open field she aimed her headlong rush toward one of the thinner trees standing vigil at the border between forest and meadow. When she reached it, she flung out a hand, catching the trunk and using it to slingshot her body a quarter turn without losing any of her momentum. Her hand burned from the friction of the trunk but she was satisfied to hear the crashing of underbrush as her pursuer tried to match her turn, sliding and thundering through brush and small saplings in the process.

Mara hurtled through the trees, threading her ways through the narrowest gaps and over the most treacherous ground light as a deer. Her lungs burned and the Griefer's dagger twisted in her side, but the sound of the wolf tearing across the forest floor behind forced her to ignore her protesting body and run even faster. She leapt across a creek running through a wide and deep ditch forming a wordless prayer to the inhabiting sprite to entangle her pursuer and allow her to escape. Perhaps the sprite couldn't hear her, perhaps she ignored the request, or perhaps the wolf was simply too powerful to ensnare. Whatever the case, Mara heard the wolf clear the ditch and continue his pursuit almost as soon as she had regained her balance.

Panicking now she tried to gain some ground by repeating her earlier trick of using a tree to turn, but the wolf had anticipated her move and actually sounded closer than it had before the turn. Mara's breathing had become ragged and her pace had begun to falter. She knew she couldn't continue much longer. She spotted a hedge of thorn bushes with two small trees growing in front and formed her plan in the instant before her next stride hit the ground. She turned, ran till she was within a few feet of the prickly plants, leapt toward the trunk of one of slender saplings, then leapt again toward the other trunk taking her even higher. She grabbed on to the second sapling and was adjusting her weight to leap over the hedge when the wolf's snout punched her planted ankle, knocking it away from the

She fell to the ground hard, driving what little wind she had out of her lungs. She struggled to rise, but her exhausted body refused to respond, and she only managed to kick her legs feebly. She could see the wolf with its jaws opened wide as it drew closer. Mara's scream echoed out into the trees as the cavernous maw flew at her face and she closed her eyes.

Something wide and wet slapped Mara on her cheek and slid toward her open mouth leaving a slimy trail in its wake. She shut her mouth, giggling as the tongue repeatedly hit her on the lips tried to find its way to the source of all the air and noise. "Stop it... Regalt, stop!" she said as she turned her head back and forth while trying to push the big wolf's head away. Her protests did no good, and the wolf only tried all the harder to explore the inside of her mouth with his tongue.

Mara never heard the sound of the two footed pursuer approach, only the forceful, though definitely amused voice saying, "Enough Regalt, get off her." Regalt's response was immediate. The tongue stopped its assault and the giant animal padded to the side of the tan skinned young woman in her mid twenties, who had emerged so silently out of the woods, as if she had always been standing right there. The wolf sat at her side, not in the tame way a dog would sit by a master, but in the companionable way, leaning up against her legs as he might lean against a fellow member of a pack. The young woman stroked his head with that same detached casualness as she eyed Maranea there lying on the ground.

Mara caught her breath enough to speak, "I got a lot further that time."

The woman didn't stop stroking the wolf's head as she grinned. Her white teeth stood out against her tanned face, which at the moment was lit with amusement. The grin had more than a little of the predatory nature of the wolf at her side. Mara knew that smile well, and didn't think twice about it. That was just how Vereta was. Mara couldn't remember the first time they'd met but she'd heard stories about it.

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It had been many years ago. Mara had only been only a little girl at the time and had fallen while playing on the bridge her father's men had been constructing over the river. Her Father, brothers, and all the servants had run after her, but the current had been too swift, and Mara hadn't known how to either fight or escape it. The helpless pursuers had been forced to watch her be thrown into rock after rock. At some point Mara had lost consciousness and simply floated as if dead. The men continued to sprint after her, but most of them admitted they thought she was dead already as she floated down the river so still and limp.

Just as the first of them were beginning to tire and falter, a dark shape streaked out of the trees on the far bank, sprinted across the uneven and slippery stones of the river without slowing, and leapt into the freezing water, and swam to Mara. The pursuers had barely had time to realize the shape was a raggedly dressed person when a giant greatwolf had bounded out of the woods and sprinted to the stony rapids ahead. It jumped out onto the rocks racing to get ahead of the little dark person in the water who was trying to keep Mara's head above the water. The wolf straddled a narrow, swift bit of the river flowing between two stones that just barely cleared the white foamed waters. It planted itself firmly as the dark haired wild girl had struggled to make sure she would flow through.

The beast leaned out and clamped its jaws around Vereta's shoulder and torso as she had been swept past while she maintained her desperate hold on Mara. The huge animal lifted the two young girls out of the water as easily as it would land a fish, then it released its hold on Vereta and began to snuffle and lick her with obvious distress and concern. Vereta had ignored the greatwolf's inspection as she performed her own on Mara's pale little form. She had continued to rub and slap at the little girl's face and body till the crashing feet of Julian, Mara's eldest and swiftest brother, had drawn her attention away.

Mara had asked her brother to describe that moment so many times she could see it almost as clearly as if she'd been awake. Vereta's eyes flickered between the crowd of running men and Mara, who had just begun to convulse, regurgitating the river water she'd swallowed or inhaled. She had paused there for a moment of indecision while her wolf started to growl behind her. Julian had continued his headlong charge alone, panicked with fear for his sister. He was yelling, waving his arms above his head and preparing to fight the wild girl and animal together for her if need be. He told Mara how Vereta had taken one more look at Mara. Later he would recognize the concern in that expression, but at the time he'd been too upset.

Finally, just when Julian had been sure he was going to have to make a fight of it, Vereta had turned and leapt onto the wolf's back, wrapping both her arms and legs as far as she could around the huge wolf's torso. The greatwolf had immediately bounded away, leaping across the water from stone to stone as easily as if the girl on its back was just a butterfly. When it had reached the far bank it had stopped, allowing Vereta to dismount. The girl and Wolf had stood there for a long moment. When she saw Mara begin to cry and cling to her brother, she had turned and disappeared, still dripping, back into the woods.

The rest of the day had passed in a blur for Mara. Her grandmother had been convinced that the Buria, the Lady of the Wolves, had manifested physical form to save her daughter from the River Crone and had spent the entire day making sacrifices to the wolf lady and praying to various gods and goddesses to punish the River Crone for her wickedness in trying to steal an innocent. Mara had been constantly surrounded by concerned family and servants. Stenius, Mara's father, called a halt to all work on the bridge and had the women prepared a feast in celebration of the day's good fortune. The day had ended in the reveling that could only come from a narrowly averted disaster. The short notice feast soon devolved into an excuse to drink large quantities of largely undiluted wine. Most of the revelers seemed to forget the entire reason for the celebration, but Mara forced Julian to tell her over and over again how she had been rescued by the wild, tangle haired, wolf girl.

For the next few days, Mara bullied Julian into searching the forest for her rescuer. Julian teased her incessantly about her infatuation, but Mara didn't let him bother her. Julian was almost eighteen already, but he was Mara's favorite sibling. She could always get him to play with her and when he teased her it didn't feel as mean as when Lacius, her youngest brother, teased her. She also knew Julian was just as curious about the mysterious wolf girl as she was. The result was that he ended up devoting the better part of his free time to helping Mara tromp about in the woods calling for her strange heroine.

After the first day was unsuccessful, Julian suggested they try bribery instead. The next day they each saved part of their lunch meal and took them into the woods. They set up a miniature altar and placed their morsels upon it. When the offering was set up to Mara's satisfaction, she and Julian backed off a ways. They had waited for a while in silence, but nothing happened. Mara had begun to get bored and started a tickle war with Julian. This had been going on for a while and Julian was playing one of Mara's favorite games, where he let her put him in any position and she tried to hold him there while he broke free. He had just begun to pretend to struggle when her giggling had stopped and she'd gasped.

Julian looked up excitedly... to see a pair of foxes bounding into the woods with the last morsels carried in their narrow jaws. Mara had been heartbroken for a whole fifteen minutes till Julian let her ride on his shoulders the whole way home.

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Julian thought she might have given up the hunt, but the next day she convinced the kitchen servants to hold a little extra for her at the midday meal and was pestering him to hurry to the woods. They chose another likely spot near where the rescue had occurred and set the food down after calling for the wolf girl. They settled in to wait. Mara seemed determined this time not to take her eyes off the food. Julian was proud of her, she lasted nearly an hour before her head began to nod. He helped Mara lay down on a bed of leaves, covered her with his cloak, and continued the vigil in her place.

Over the next two hours he chased off two more foxes, a weasel, a good sized mountain cat, and more squirrels and birds than he could count, but there was no sign of the girl. When he caught himself with his head nodding and his eyes half closed he decided it was about time to pack it in. He was about to shake Mara to wake her up when a voice behind him said. "Don't wake her yet."

Julian's jump of surprise sent him stumbling, off balance, away from the quiet voice. He recovered himself only by placing his hand on the ground behind him and freezing in a sort of three pointed crabwalk. His eyes darted behind him to see two very amused pairs of eyes watching him not five feet from where he'd just been sitting and where Mara still slept. The greatwolf sat, relaxed. Its tongue lolled out from its wide mouth, and from the eyes he could tell the animal was openly laughing at the spectacle. The other pair of eyes held amusement too, but the face they were set in betrayed the girl's amusement only with the slightest of grins. Her appearance was the same as the day before, albeit a bit drier. Her dark hair was tangled and knotted and her clothing was old and frayed with all manner of small rips and tears. Still, now that she was standing still, Julian saw her face was simply tan not dirty. She was in fact remarkably clean even though her lean frame and ragged clothes indicated that she'd been living in the woods for quite some time. She crouched, and her face studied Julian intensely. He realized that her face was no woman's face, in fact he suspected she was little older than Mara, perhaps no more than fourteen or fifteen.

Julian's face burned with embarrassment, but he stood quickly and regained his composure. She'd had a little laugh at his expense, but he knew he owed her that and much more. He was man enough to accept it. He had straightened formally and touched his hand to his throat, his belly and his heart saying, "thank you lady of the wood for saving the life of my sister, I wronged you when I charged you by the river, I offer you whatever I may as recompense, ask and if it is within my power I shall do it." The ritual words his Father had taught him flowed from his mouth easily and gracefully, helping him somewhat recover his dignity from having her sneak up on him. The wolf girl cocked her head at him in an way that was eerily similar to the mannerism of the animal sitting at her side. She regarded him for a moment then silently made her way to the offering Mara had set up by the riverside. She wordlessly shared the meal with the greatwolf, neither of them making a sound the entire time. Julian had been starting to wonder if it had been the wolf who had spoken when the girl looked up at him and said "Vereta."

"Excuse me?" Julian said, again caught off guard.

"I'm not any Lady of the Wood, my name's Vereta, and this is Regalt." she said the last inclining her head toward the mountain of fur and fangs by her side. Regalt was at the moment licking the last vestiges of the food from the leaf wrappings.

"Thank you for saving my sister Vereta." Julian said less formally as the wild girl moved back to Mara's prone form. When she said nothing in reply Julian continued. "Why are you living in the woods?"

"She's beautiful." Vereta said instead of answering. Julian decided to follow her lead, especially since she didn't seem at all inclined to have things any other way.

"She is, God help the poor fool who ends up married to her someday. She's a wildcat now and she'll be a tree lion when she's grown."

"She sleeps like a cat. Plays like a cat too, she's so happy and curious, not knowing how much can hurt her." Vereta said, smiling absently and a little sadly.

"She'd never forgive me if I didn't wake her up in time to thank you herself."

"I know, I've watched you." She looked Julian straight in the eyes then, a powerful and searching gaze "You're all so happy, even the men who work all day are happy, and when the little one fell, everyone came for her, like pack. How can people be that happy?" There was an earnestness in the question, and more. Yearning perhaps? Julian thought so, but the question seemed strange to him, he didn't know how to take it.

"You mean the family? I don't know, we fight all the time, but we love each other, I mean... that's what family's do isn't it?"

Instead of answering Vereta just sat there for a while. The wolf padded up to her and thrust its giant head under her thin, muscular arm prompting her to scratch him between his ears. Julian moved around them to Mara. He watched Vereta, but she gave no sign for him to stop, so he gently shook Mara's shoulders to wake her. The little girl opened her eyes slowly at first, but when she saw Vereta and the wolf, they flew open. She jumped up and gave a delighted battle cry, then launched herself into Vereta's chest, wrapping her in a bear hug. Vereta had seemed shocked, but she didn't have time to do much of anything as Mara had started chattering like a mockerbird. Within a minute of Mara waking she had claimed both Vereta and the wolf as family and wouldn't hear anything except that they would come back to the house immediately.

That had been the first time Julian had seen real fear in Vereta's eyes, but Mara didn't allow her a word in edgewise, and almost literally dragged her all the way to the house. Vereta's arrival, and that of Regalt caused quite a stir both among the stabled animals and the less stabled human inhabitants, but when Pater Stenius arrived and he discovered that Vereta could speak so well he greeted both girl and beast as if they were honored ambassadors, offering them refreshment, use of the newly completed baths house, and ordered another feast in honor of her arrival. Mater Calnea had grumbled something about how if her husband called for any more feasts they were going to start to run out of livestock, but he silenced her with a look. He wasn't a man who called for unplanned celebrations often and everyone knew it.

The whole evening Vereta looked frightened out of her wits, and both she and her wolf seemed to constantly be looking for a means to escape, but Mara kept Vereta with her wherever she went, and the wolf seemed reluctant to leave on its own. When the time came for the minors to leave the celebration, Vereta seemed almost relived when Mara led her back so they could sleep together.

That night paved the way for how things would be from then on. Mara was determined to make Vereta a part of the family, and by the gods she did, and fast. Some of the servants were afraid of the unusual bond between Vereta and Regalt, but Pater Stenius' firmly controlled any superstitious rumors, and after a few weeks of living together, all but the most paranoid servants came around, and those who still harbored doubts kept their mouths shut about it.

Vereta was then enfolded into the family, even accepting the family cognomen. She lived with the family part of the time, working, eating, and sleeping with the rest. For days and even weeks at a time though, she'd disappear into the forest with little or no warning. She just drifted in and out of everyone's lives. Four years had passed in that way and her strange comings and goings were noted no more than the coming of the rain or the wind. It was there when it was there, and when it wasn't it wasn't.

The bridge had long ago been finished and the Road continued on for leagues beyond now, almost to the border of the mountainous lands where the Yodegts had retreated after decades of war. All the land for hundreds of miles around had once been theirs, but they had finally given in to the relentless war engine of the Alci. Along with the road had come the people. Many were ex soldiers receiving their hard earned plot of land as reward for their nine years of service. Some were convicts receiving a second chance after having fallen once before into debt or having committed one of the many forgivable crimes that came from having too many people with too little money packed into too tight a space. The rest were a mix of the experienced and new poor looking for a chance to live where it wasn't too expensive to eat and sleep. All of them were under the rule of Pater Stenius. He led them well and the main house soon lay at the center of a small town laid out in the same fashion as any legion camp. The River nearby was tamed a bit and soon riverboats were making their way to and from the town in both directions turning it into a trade destination in its own meager right.