Note: This is a piece of fiction and any resemblance to reality should be seen as purely coincidental.  Sorry about the length and quality of the piece.

 

Kashin Wife

 

Editor’s note: The story of the Kashin Cat or the Kashin Wife is one of the lost stories in the Arabian Nights storyline. It was never included in the written versions because telling this story was to be a test of a storyteller’s oral skills. The many changes of in the number of characters  and in the characters themselves requires a lot of sound changes by the teller. This is a story told to me when I was a young storyteller and so now I am writing it down so that future generations will have it. Because it is a verbal story, it has changed a little bit in each line of oral tradition that knows of it. To be fair, I have included some of the words of others from these lines to both add atmosphere and as an acknowledgement that the way I tell the story is not the only way this story should be told.

 

Once a upon a time,

in the land of ancestors

The eyes of two young persons

found each other across a sea of Strangers

 

Aden grew up with a different last name then we was born with that of gutter snipe. It was true, Aden was just a street scamp. His father was some sailor that never came back from the sea. His mother was forever at work in the Bishop’s service. His only friend was his sister Ania. Every Monday, Ania prayed that her mother would come home to them but on one of these visits, it was Aden’s unknown prayer that would be answered. 

 

Her name was Rachel. The youngest child of a wealthy merchant, she has just moved to the town.  She was young girl of 12  with beautiful long black hair and a comely face. She knelt at the alter giving the required family thanks for a safe journey. She pretended that she didn’t see him come in. She tried to look very pious, but it was hard.  He,  though only a young man of fifteen, he was very fit and struck a handsome demeanor. 

 

As he shyly glanced at her, she couldn’t know that she was the first girl he had ever saw with those eyes. He thought to speak but her eyes froze him as strongly as his eyes held her. It was only when Ania saw them both locked in that look she knew so well and  then Rachel had turned to leave that she spurred Aden to speak with a sharp kick in the shin.

 

Rachel giggled. Aden smiled. Then he said his first words to her. Then he had to be told by the priest to be quiet down. He tried to look so smooth and debonair. When he saw through it and liked him anyway. When she had seen him across the room, he had taken her heart. They began to talk. More and laugh and then they found themselves bound together in the most natural of feelings. From that day on, Aden and Rachel were always together.  It was as if no force could keep them from each other’s side. There was one man that was not happy about that.

 

Her father knew and disliked Aden. He had plans for his daughter’s hand and they did not include Aden. He tried to talk to Rachel but while she said “Yes, Father” in all the right places, she didn’t seem to care. He tried bribing her but Aden was the only treat that she wanted. He tried threatening her and eventually beating her. Neither was effective. Finally, he tried to trick her into the arms of the man he wanted her to be with. It was then that Rachel's father found his nemesis in Ania. In Rachel, Ania had found a sister. She made it her purpose, after finding her next meal, to keep the “old man” from breaking them up.

 

The ‘Old man” many plans tried but his every plan was met by the couple’s persistent desire and Ania’s ingenious plots. Soon every on in the village was aware of the couple and their situation.  They met many times before they were certain of their feelings and what they had to do.  He went to the girl’s father and asked for her hand.

 

 

The Old Man hated the pair of gutter tramps that managed to frustrate his desires to marry his daughter to a rich noblemen. It was clear that he wanted to spite them. That he would devastate his daughter in the process didn’t matter to him. He never claimed that he loved her in public or private. Most wondered if he ever really liked his daughter. That was really beside the point. He hated the boy. Not just because he was poor and had no station, but even more because he so obviously loved Rachel more then anything else. To break them, her father set a task of perseverance before the young man. The boy would have pay the bitter old man a 500 coats of the finest furs to get her hand. The task would have taken him ten years alone but he was not alone. His beloved, Rachel learned to sewed the furs in patterns that increased their value. In addition, Ania helped them by curing the furs.  Their combined work made the task half as time consuming and before five years were done dowry was complete. Angry but true to his word, the father let the boy take her as his bride. 

 

___________________________________________

 

They were poor but happy.

They had work and love.

Although the girl’s father stopped them from selling much of what they made.

So, they didn’t have much money, they just had everything else.

and then tragic fate visited the young couple with a problem

 

All that changed on Rachel’s 25th birthday. As was their custom, on her birthday, Aden through Rachel a birthday party. When Rachel returned from her mid-day chores, Ania and Aden pounced upon her and showered her with gifts. Ania gave her a beautiful comb, a kiss on the cheek and left. Aden gave her a dress. Ania took the gifts and scampered off to try them on. While she was gone, Aden prepared a fine liquor and stoked the fire. He served the mid-day’s meal that Ania had been so kind to make before she had departed and he waited. After what seemed a long time, Aden went to see what had taken Rachel so long to return. He found her in their chambers. The dress lay on the floor in front of the mirror. His wife lay on the bed quietly weeping.

 

Aden sat beside her and reached out to his hand to his beloved. She felt his touch on her shoulder. For a moment he saw her shutter at his touch. Then she threw her self in his arms. She held him tight and tried to forget what she had felt. What she had felt had to be a bad dream. She hoped by holding him hard enough, the dream would go away and she would awaken. Her sinking heart knew the truth but her lips couldn’t say it.   

 

Shaking and trembling in his arms she could only look at his caring smile. It was that smile that she had fell in love with. Rachel would have done anything to avoid hurting him but he needed to know.  “I have to confess something beloved.” she said, “I am cursed.”

 

“No never.”

 

“But I am. My mother had a blood illness and now it seems so do I.”

 

She took his hand in hers and put it to her breast. She rubbed his hand there until he noticed the difference.  She gathered her strength and let it flow out of her.

 

“My mother told my sisters of this. She said it had happened to my grandmother. First the bad blood turns hard in the flesh. You grow weaker though not all at once. Sometimes you can feel quite well. Sometimes you just get sicker. Then one day you die. ”

 

“I won’t let that happen.”, he held her in his arms. She snuggled into his chest. She let his warmth soothe some of her fears.

 

“It is my fate, Aden. Two of my older sisters have already passed thus.”, She could feel the fear shivering through him.

 

She looked up at him. She could see that he was determined to fight this but he didn’t know how. “I don’t want to leave you. Not now.”

 

“Know this. Someone must know a way you can avoid this fate. I will find that person. I swear it. “

 

Rachel looked away through the window. There was nothing more to say. She knew that no one could change this. No potion could cure it. Aden didn’t care. He wouldn’t care. They spent the night together arm in arm and pondered the future. 

 

___________________________________________

 

For the rest of the night they dreamed

Both dreamed of seeing the end of time in each other’s arms

They awoke to the nightmare that none of it will come to pass.

 

The next day, Aden set off to the big city to search for a cure. It took almost a day for him to get to Horndeeep. Once he arrived he began to methodically search the city.  He checked the temples of healing and war. All offered potions to make her comfortable but none had a cure. They said much as she had said, that the problem was in the blood and one can’t change one’s blood. He searched out men of wisdom and learning. They said the same. Finally, he checked from bar to bar. He wouldn’t give up.

 

As he went from place to place he was being followed from the shadows. Aden was so driven by his task that he  never noticed the shadowy form that followed him. After a week of searching, he knew their was no hope. As he slowly rode home, he felt the weight of his failure.

 

As night fell, Aden made camp in the forest on the road home. He built a fire and pondered his next move. He considered going to Levendale or Contell but that would require almost a weeks ride in either case. Moreover they were smaller cities and so they couldn’t have anything that Horndeep lacked.  Rachel said that she could die at anytime, and he didn’t want her to die without him being at her side. He reasoned that if he could find the right elixir then she wouldn’t have to die at all. It was a loosing proposition either way.

 

As he stared into the fire, Aden noticed a pair of silvery eyes just beyond the fire. Aden looked closer but the eyes didn’t move. Aden pulled a small bit of dried meat out of a mint leaf. he casually tossed the meat beside the fire and he waited. 

 

Out of the undergrowth came a little tabby cat. It’s black coat shown only as a pattern of yellow shadow against the darkness. The creature had obviously seen better days and it carefully sniffed the meat and then quickly ate it. The cat eyed Aden with suspicion until he pulled another meaty treat from his pocket.  The cat looked at him and the meat in his hand. Aden knew that it was considering it’s options. He tossed the treat to the ground between them. The cat slowly approached the it and then in short order scoffed it down. The cat looked at Aden and licked it’s teeth. Aden pulled another piece from his pocket and the cat came up to him and sat at his feet. He tossed the piece of meat at the tabby’s feet and saw it go the way of the others.  The cat came up to Aden and began to purr and rub itself at Aden's side. Aden rubbed it’s head,  “Here is the deal cat. If you keep Rachel happy while I am gone, then you get to eat like this everyday.” Aden thought that he could hear the cat purr in agreement.

 

____________________________________________

 

It was an innocent gift that causes her to feel such joy.

She shared her joy with her husband in every way that a wife should

In their wet passions they didn’t think anything about the cat sitting in the corner

The cat looked at them and listened to their heart beat.

It considered them and then knew what it had to do.

 

The next day, Aden arrived home. At the door, only Ania was there to greet him. She looked at him with a hollow sadness. She said hello but the words sounded to his heart as “I am so sorry”. He held her for a moment before he passed.  He found  Rachel still shut up in their bedroom. Inside he found the room filled with flowers and plants and herbs. He knew it was the residue of Ania trying to comfort her.

 

Rachel was lying on the bed. Once she saw him, she began to smile. Aden couldn’t help but to touch his lips to her tear stained cheek. He didn’t say that he had failed. They both knew that was the case. No words could contain the feeling sorrow he shown in his eyes.  Then she heard the small purring sound coming from his pocket. She looked at him with a puzzled look. He sat beside her and pulled a little black furred form from his pocket. Once the creature touched the light revealed the little cat.  Rachel smiled. The cat immediately leapt into Rachel’s arms. Rachel looked at the cute creature and then snuggled her face against it’s soft fur. It purred in approval to her touch.   He looked at the two- his wife and the cat. Their faces side by side and both looking at him in appreciation of the moment, Aden could not help but to let a little look of contentment cross his face as for the moment they were happy.

 

Aden and Rachel spent the rest of the day marital frolic. The two allowed their problems to disappear in the a dozen moments of passion. Aden was exhausted and slept. As the glow settled across her face, Rachel felt the need to take a quick toweling off. As she reached the bowl, she began to run the wet cloth across her body. As she reached down her legs she saw the cat looking up at her from just below. She looked at it’s eyes, glowing in the candle light and she whispered to it, “I wonder what you think of what you just saw?”

 

“I think it was very lovely, even though it took a long time for your two to finish”, it purred.

 

Rachel blinked. She considered screaming, but though she understood it, all she could remember hearing was it purring as any cat might. She kept looking at the cat’s face and she stooped down to it’s level.

 

“Here I thought that you said something. But you couldn’t have.”, Rachel said.

 

The cat began to purr and yammer, “I said that humans take an awful long time to have sex. I mean, we cats understand how to do it in the right amount of time. After all, he was servicing you for so long, how could you stand it.”

 

Rachel fell to the ground. Her arm caught the bowl and dowsed her with water. The cat wasn’t speaking but she could understand it anyway. Worst, of all it was talking to her about something no cat should even be thinking about.

 

The cat walked over the floor and put a paw on Rachel’s arm. “As you okay?”, it purred.

 

“You’re talking to me. You can’t talk to me.”,  Rachel said.

 

“Of course, I am not talking to you. I am purring at you. Cats do that all the time.”, it purred.

 

Rachel grew fearful and whispered, “You can’t be a cat.”

 

The cat stood on it’s rear paws and corrected her, “I’m not a ‘cat’. I am a ‘Kashin Cat.’”

 

Rachel looked at the cat with a total lack of understanding.

 

The cat sat and shook it’s head before it explained,  “I am a genie spirit combined with a cat spirit.”

 

“I’ve never heard of such a thing as a Kashin...”, Rachel said.

 

The Kashin cat began to explain. “Well, I was two creatures originally an unborn cat spirit and a genie- a Kashin Genie to be exact. The genie part of me was born at the endtime of creation. My job (and that of my fellow Kashin) was to complete the broken balance of magic on the earth. I was given the power to bind things together by magic and create new species. We created a lot of new species. Some where successful and some weren’t. My brother Tetus did the Dragons from some old lizards and bats. My sister Lidus did the unicorns from lions, gazelles, zebras and a piece of goat. Me, I did the platypus. “

 

“The plata..what..catawaul slower.”, Rachel begged.

 

The Kashin shook it’s head and repeated, “Platypus”

 

Rachel shook her head in confusion.

 

The Kashin’s shoulders drooped in shame, ”...it’s a sea creature.”

 

The Kashin laid down and put it’s head on it’s paws. “See that is the problem. People don’t appreciate them. Well, my brothers and sisters didn’t like them either- especially Ocrata. Ocrata, she made the merfolk from some Atlantians and dolphins,  she saw them as a threat. She accused me of ‘forsaking my duty to make new species to maintain the balance'. They held a trial and decided that I was guilty. As punishment, I was bound to an unborn cat spirit. That cat was born and here I am.”

 

“Why are you here at all?”, Rachel asked. 

 

“Because, I can help you and you can help me.”

 

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

 

“I saw what you husband was doing. I heard him preying to the stars. I know.” The cat put it’s paw on her breast. Not just on any spot, but directly in the center of her hardened flesh. In a shock of realization shot through her to the very core.

 

“Get away from me.“, Rachel silently screamed.

 

“Hear me out. I will merge with you and then my magic will cure you of your affliction. In exchange, your human creativity will show me how to make a new species that will show that I am not guilty in the eyes of my fellow Kashin.  They may even let us have my genie form again. So what do you say?”

 

Rachel wanted to be cured. She would have jumped at it but then she looked at her sleeping husband. This wasn’t just a root or berry. This would change her forever. “I should talk to him about this.”, she said.

 

“All I can make is cat sounds. He will never believe you alone. Besides, there is no time. If we do it now then your spirit will survive to merge with me as equals. If we wait even a couple of hours your illness will weaken your body and you will lose enough mana so that I will be more powerful. You would be overwhelmed.” 

 

“If we do it now would I be in charge or you?”

 

“I, the Kashin spirit, would be in charge from sunset to sunrise and you, the human spirit,  would have the power from sunrise to sunset.”

 

Rachel turned on her belly and rested her head on her palm. “And what of the cat spirit?”, she asked.

 

“He is within me now as much as I am within him. I guess he would also be within you, too. But he is never much bother. I guess he makes me eat some weird things, hunt rodents and lay around a bit in the sun but other then that...”

 

“But it is a he...”, Rachel pointed out.

 

“I am a he...”

 

“I am a she.”, Rachel pointed at herself.

 

The cat walked under Rachel’s chin and brushed her face with it’s tail. It purred, “Don’t worry as long as some physical lovemaking is done, I don’t care about being female -as long as it is human lovemaking. Besides, my Kashin part was a she so it is two to one that we will be a she.”

 

“I don’t know.”

 

“When we cast the spell, there will be an option for either Kashin spirit or Human spirit to become a cat again. If we feel the need then he will have the opportunity. Otherwise, we will be in your body and as long as you like ‘boys’, he will too.”

 

“Okay.” Rachel said,  “How to we start?”

  

The cat jumped up to the windowsill and looked down at Rachel. Rachel gathered herself and stood up. Without thinking about it she drew open the curtains and opened the window. “Take hold of my paw and face the setting sun.” Shivering in the cold, she did as she was told.

 

The cat said something as in a cat’s yowling and hissing. Rachel could understand it all. It was everything that they had agreed to. She couldn’t understand as the language changed. The words began to burn into her mind. Rachel felt the cat’s fur against her naked chest. It was so soft and smooth. She felt herself rubbing against it. She couldn’t help but to pick the cat up into her arms. She began to rub it against her bosom. It felt good and helped to ease the pain as the words scraped into her soul.

 

The cat’s sounds became focused into words. She held the cat even tighter into her breasts. Rachel wondered why the Kashin wasn’t struggling. She knew that she was squeezing the cat hard, but she couldn’t stop. She looked down and saw the cat look up at her. It was still speaking and then it looked back at the sun setting. It was obvious that Kashin wanted her to look away from them and at the sun. She couldn’t help but to look down anyway. She saw that the back of the cat was sliding into her solar plexus.

 

Rachel knew that she should have been scared but she wasn’t. She began to speech the words of the cat with her own mouth. She grew louder or the cat quieter and soon only her words could be heard.  She looked at the sun and she felt tired. She looked down as the cat’s face slid into her. Rachel finished the words one final time and then stopped. She touched her stomach and it was solid. She felt all over her body with her hands. She felt okay just normal skin. Then she checked her breasts. It was soft again. She smiled. Maybe it wasn’t a dream. She extinguished the candles and returned to her husband’s side.

 

____________________________________________________

 

The husband awoke and saw his wife happy.

Her not only were her tears were gone,

Her body was soft and healthy and her appetite was good

Little did Aden know that his wife’s appetites had also changed.

 

After seeing to his wife’s needs, Aden left to tend his traps. It was a long journey into the king’s lands and hard work awaited him for the rest of the day. Once he had passed out of sight, Rachel began to smile a wicked smile. Ania had never seen such a look on Rachel’s contence. “Are you okay?”, Ania asked. Rachel turned away from her and responded, “I just have an errand to do.” Rachel saddled a horse and left to go to her father’s home.

 

At her father’s house, she found him sitting in the main hall. As was frequently the case, her father kept his most valuable items for sale there. This time it was a consignment for a circus. Wolves, wild cats, birds, and fine woods were scattered all over the room. She found him counting the silks.

 

She walked behind him. He didn’t seem to notice. When she lived in his house, he never noticed except when he though he would lose her. “Hello, father.”

 

“What do you want Rachel?”

 

He didn’t even turn around. Rachel sort of expected this type of rudeness but that didn’t stop her hating receiving it. Normally she would hold her tongue and let it pass but today it would be different. He would not meekly hold her tongue. “Well, hello to you too. Everything is fine. Yes married life does agree with me.  I missed you, too. “

 

Her father looked at her with thinly veiled hatred. He waved his hand to demand an answer to his question.

 

“I just wanted to ask you ‘why’.”, she finally answered. 

 

“You want to know why I didn’t want you to marry Aden?”

 

Rachel was to looking at the various animals ready for transport. She looks back at her father.  “I want to know why you blamed mother’s death on me?”, she asked.

 

“She was fine until she had you. Then she got sick and she died. End of story.”

 

She scanned his face and found nothing but hatred/ “Now you’re going to tell me that you loved her.”

 

“I did. When she died, so did that part of me.”

 

“It wasn’t my fault. I didn’t do it. I had the same illness but I am better now.”

 

“Maybe so. I don’t even care. If you are done, then you can leave, Serpent's tooth“. Her father turned away from Rachel and began to continue to check his cargo.

 

“No, I am not done. You hurt me. You tried to kill our love and now you are trying to kill our business so that we will starve. That is not how a father is supposed to treat his daughter. The way I see it, thinking back on everything that has happened between us, I think you owe me. Now I have a debt to repay and you are doing to help me.”, Rachel said to his back.  Then she caught sight of the young wolf in the cage. He was very powerful, young and virile. He was perfect. She walked over to the cafe.

 

“All of your machinations and mean spiritedness has cost you almost all of you spiritual energy. In fact, your energy is so low that this wolf dwarfs you.”, she said. She opened the cage and the wolf jumped out. She half expected the wolf to at least consider attacking her but instead he began to growl and moved toward her father.

 

He immediately backed away from the angry lupine creature. “What are you doing?”

 

“Did you torture this creature? You decided that you would write this creature’s life story just like you did mine. You planned to sell it for a profit much like you were going to do to me. Did you beat this wolf like you did me?”, Rachel asked. the wolf began to growl even deeper. “I think so. I think that like me he has a score to settle with you, too.” She walked up to the wolf and patted it on his head. “I think we can help each other boy.“

 

Rachel smiled at her sire and said the magic words. “Get ‘em, boy!”

 

The wolf charged the old man. Her father tried to run but he just managed to get a few feet before the wolf’s paws landed on his back. Wolf and man tumble to the floor but it was the wolf that landed on top.

 

Rachel began to repeat the mantra that she had learned the day before. The wolf sensed something was wrong. He tried to step off of the old man but his paws would not move. The old man grabbed at his chest. Rachel smiled. He begged, “Please girl don’t do this.”

 

Rachel remembered when she was a little girl. She had said much the same thing and he kept beating her. She continued the mantra until the wolf and man were fully merged. The creature had humanoid form but it’s hands were a four fingered amalgam of a man and a wolf. It’s body was covered with fur and it had a tail. It’s head was lupine but had an almost human look to it. Most pleasing to Rachel was that when the creature stood and spoke it was not her father’s soul that she heard.

 

“Will you please let me go, Rachel?”, the wolf said.

 

She came up to the creature and rolled her fingers through it’s chest fur. “What is your name?”, she asked in a sultry voice. 

 

“I don’t know how to say it in your tongue. Scents don’t really translate too well into sounds - you know.”, he responded.

 

Rachel slowly padded around to the nude man-wolf. She checked every inch of his body with her eyes. “Daddy?”, she asked.

 

“I am not your dad, Rachel. I don’t feel much of him at all.” The wolf bowed down his head and said, “I am so sorry.”

 

“I’m not. He always hated me. He drove my sisters away from me and turned my brothers into my jailors. After he lost his chance to make me marry some minor nobleman, he made it his business to make sure I and those that I loved, remained poor. Tell me that he loved me and I might feel a guilty.”

 

“I wish I could say it to you but I can  feel that it isn’t the truth.”, the wolf replied. He sniffed her once and then took hold of her shoulders. She smiled and pulled away.

 

“You have nothing of my dad in you.”, she asked.

 

“I have his skills and some of his memories of facts and some of his form but none of his soul.”

 

She grabbed the wolf by his most maleness and pulled him to her. She pushed her mouth to it’s muzzle. She kept kissing it until she felt him push his tongue into her  mouth. He grew very excited and then he pulled his face away from hers.

 

He asked, “What of you husband? It is unnatural to cheat on him.”

 

She put her lips to his ears and whispered, “I am not mating you, we are testing your new equipment and making sure that dad isn’t anywhere in you.” She pushed at his chest and the wolf let himself fall to the ground. He wasn’t alone on the ground for long before she was on him. The pair were so engrossed with their passions that neither looked to the window. At the window,  a pair of crying eyes looked in at the carnal passions unfolding. 

 

The next day, once Aden had left to take care of his traps.

Ania cornered, her brother’s wife.

Ania told her what she had seen.

Rachel smiled because while Ania had seen her and  the man-wolf making love.

She knew nothing about Rachel’s father.

Rachel tried to persuade Ania that it was a mistake

Rachel tried to get her to think she was sorry.

Rachel even tried to threaten her into silence.

Nothing worked.

Ania ran off into the woods to look for Aden.

Rachel knew that she had no choice.

No one would keep Aden from her.

Not even her best friend.

 

The Kashin wife found the young girl by a stream. She was very upset and crying. She screamed that this was so unfair. Rachel agreed.  But Rachel knew that Ania only had herself to blame for what was to happen. She looked around for a suitable animal. Not too far off was a lonely skunk It was sick and it’s brain was on fire. It knew that it was dying and wanted to stay away from everything in the forest.. It had just dug up a some food and was sitting back to eat it’s final meal. Rachel’s only real problem was how would she sneak up on the critter. Rachel remembered that she could allowed herself to become a cat. She closed her eyes and let the words of power come over her. Her form slowly shrank. Her skin was covered by fur. Her irises narrowed into vertical slits in the daytime sun. She looked at her hand and found only a paw. She stood on four legs. She was a black tabby tom cat.

 

The tom cat looked at the skunk and planned out what he would have to do. As soon as it knew  were each paw would land, the Kashin cat shot by the skunk and stole it’s meal. Normally, the skunk would spray the cat or just let it go. The skunk was so angry that it had to get that “meal” back.  The skunk ran after the Kashin cat. Under a log and through the trees they went until the pair, ran right into the girl.

 

Ania looked at the situation and figured it out quickly. She caught the Kashin cat and told it to be nice. Ania pulled the root grub out of the cat’s mouth and set it down in front of the skunk. For a second, the skunk and girl eyed each other in a question of trust. The skunk slowly moved up to the girl and took the food.  The moment the skunk’s tail was down, the Kashin jumped out of the girl’s grasp.

 

Then Ania saw the black Kashin cat begin to run around them. She watched as cat accelerated in a tight circle. As one moment turned to the next, it was obvious by it’s speed that this was no normal cat. It was moving so fast that Ania thought began  to get dizzy. She reached out to grab the cat, but it was too fast. Ania tried to track it with her eyes and only manager to make herself slightly dizzy for the effort. She sat down on the ground next to the skunk as the cat accelerated even faster.

 

In seconds,  the image of the cat blurred into itself.  The black fur of the cat coat became a solid ring about the pair.  Girl and skunk didn’t feel threatened until without warning, the ring grew in height. Before either could move, the ring grew taller then the girl’s own height.  Now fully surrounded by the wall of black fur the girl began to worry.

 

It was then that the Kashin cast it’s spell. The skunk didn’t know exactly what was happening as the mystic energies shot through it’s body. It just knew that it was bad. It tried to spray the wall and even claw at it. Ania tried to help by kicking trying to kick her way free. Neither had any effect on the wall of black fur. 

 

The girl decided that if she was to be killed at least she could save the skunk. Ania picked up the skunk. It looked at her but didn’t try to attack her. It knew that Ania was trying to help. As the girl tried to throw it over the wall of black spinning fur, she realized that even though she was tossing it,  the skunk wasn’t leaving her hand. She watched in horror as the black fur of the skunk began to flow over her hands. The girl tried to get  push the skunk off of  left hand with her right only to have both hands congealed into the same furry mess. She tried to pull her arms down to scrape the skunk off of her but they wouldn’t respond. The realization of what was happening to her began to sink in. She fell to her knees and began to recite a prayer as the black fur rolled down her arms and over her mouth.  The darkness consumed her vision. 

 

Ania awoke a few minutes later. The cat was gone. She looked around and saw only the cool quiet forest around her.   There was no wall of fur. There was no skunk. She shook her long hair and reached over to the stream to wash her face. Whether she screamed because she had seen her own black furred hand or because she had seen her skunk-like features, she would never determine. She just kept screaming until the tears began to fall like a summer shower.

 

___________________________

 

The Kashin wife returned that day but Ania did not.

the Aden was worried but not too much.

Often his sister would run off with her friends,

- to look at boys and dance in private places

It was dawn again before he became concerned.

He looked all over the glen and could find no sign of her.

He prayed that someday he would find her

Though he would never see his sister’s face again

he would get his wish.

 

Aden got out of bed tired, again. He loved his wife but now she was almost too much for him to handle these past few days. In the morning she wanted him. At night, she needed him. At first he was so happy that she had gotten so lusty for his touch. But so many times in a day. It was becoming too much of a great thing. He knew better then to complain though. She might go the other way and that would be unbearable. Still, she seemed to need him twice as much as before. He wondered if there was any man that wouldn’t enjoy having such a problem with so beautiful a wife? He wanted to be happy. Any other time he might have been- but for Ania.

 

As he slowly got dressed, he pondered his missing sibling. Everyone in the county said that she must have just met some guy and disappeared into his life. Most guys envied that unknown stranger his good fortune. Aden couldn’t believe it though. She would never leave without talking to him. That was what his mother and father had both done. It hurt them both in the heart, but she had suffered the worst of it. She cried so very hard when mother said that dad was never coming home. Aden was knew that she would never do that to him. As he mounted his horse and headed off to the traps, he began to wonder when his life would ever return back to normal.

 

The day went slowly for Aden. His energy sapped by his loving wife, he found himself lacking most motivation to move. He had just finished setting the traps on Wilkson’s Ledge, when he saw a human form laying nearby. He immediately saw the a trap biting into his leg. While he was a little angry that someone was trapping in his area, he was even more angry at the trap that he saw.  It was a bear trap of a kind he would never set. They were brutal and tended to kill anything instead of just the creature that you needed. It was a disrespectful trap. As he ran up to the body, he could more evidence (as if he had not already seen enough) of the trap’s cruel efficiency. He could see blood all over the cold steel row of teeth.  Aden knew that the poor traveler had set off the trap was dead. Either the loss of blood would claim him or the cold would overcome him. When he saw the form move, Aden jumped to get the trap off. As he set to work opening the teeth, Aden noticed that the poor man couldn’t have been very rich as he was cloaked in a cheap set of wolf furs.  It was only after he had removed the trap and freed the traveler that he realized what a mistake he had made.

 

The “man” stood and turned to face him. Aden realized in silent horror that the “fur coat” didn’t cover his entire body- it was his body. Instead of a nose and mouth he had a snout. The continence was unmistakable and that of a wolf. Half wolf and half man. the combination shot through his mind and stabbed at his heart. Never had he heard of such a thing. Aden wanted to run, but the creature was standing over him at least 6 foot tall. It’s eyes still glazed over in pain. He saw the thing’s paw slash down at his face. Aden cringed in fear.

 

“Please at least let me help you stand so that we can be properly introduced”, it said in a gravelly voice.

 

Aden open his eyes and took it’s hand. It quickly pulled Aden to his feet. Aden released the Man-wolf’s paw and with a flaring gesture it bowed to him, “I offer my kindest thanks to you, sir. I am Silvermane. To who do I have the honor of addressing?”

 

“Aden of Castleburry, son of Miller. Pardon me for asking but are you a wolf or a man?”

 

“I am both and neither. I have the best of both. I run like the wind and can write poetry about every smell I encounter on the way. I know the scent of every creature I have ever met and know them by that ‘name’. I can howl a greeting to each spirit of the woods, but I also can call to them with words.”

 

“Who gave you a name?”, Aden said as he backed slowly away. He only stopped moving as he realized the man-wolf was easily keeping pace with his movements. His eyes darted around in a vain attempt to find a way he could escape.

 

“I took it for myself when I saw my reflection in a mirror.  Though I was born a wolf with no spoken name,  when the old merchant gave me all that was his humanity, I learned to take a name that could be said and spoken and not just smelled. But I retain both.”

 

“Then you weren’t born like this?” , Aden asked. He looked up momentary expecting some other evil creature to be looking down on this magical thing and directing this entire encounter from the shadows. Aden worried when he saw no such malefic creature.

 

“Of course, not. I was born a wolf and through magic I became as you see me now.”, Silvermane said as closed the gap between them by half a foot. Silvermane glanced around and then looked at Aden with a distinctly puzzled look on his muzzle.

 

“Magic is the stuff of evil and so are you are a monstrous abomination or merely a spawn of evil?”, Aden said.

 

Silvermane shook his head in disbelief. He knew that some creatures and humans might think that way but he didn’t think that this human looked that foolish. “Neither. Though you are a bit pert, I owe you my life. I feel that I must perform a single service to you to balance the scales. “

 

Aden thought for a moment and looked at the Man-wolf before him. Though he loathed dealing with this creature of ‘magic’, he looked at this obviously lupine creature and understood he could do something that he himself had failed at. He looked up to the creature and tried to steady himself. He tried to make his voice very firm and he meet him eye to eye hoping that like a dog, he would understand the serious nature what had to be done. “I need you to find my sister and return her to me in the same state of grace that you find her in.”

 

The man-wolf blinked and said, “I will find her and bring her home to you. Then you can ask of me a task that is a real challenge. For now show me to her room, so I can find her quickly”.

 

The Man-wolf extended his hand to shake Aden’s. Aden wondered if he could trust a creature with wolf blood and magic, but he had no choice. Aden shook his hand and lead  the man-wolf to his home. Relieved to find that Rachel was away, he swiftly ran the Man-wolf up to Ania’s room. Aden expected the wolf just to sniff around, but he was shocked when the creature quickly looked at her the soles of her Sunday shoes and looked at her dirty dresses. He took a special pleasure poking and prodding at some of the stains on them. Within a few minutes, Silvermane began to leave. Almost as an after thought he sniffed at her clothing before neatly folding the dress and laying it across the bed.  

 

To show his good faith, the wolf took Aden to the clearing. He looked around and he had found a piece of her Ania’s dress. The wolf creature smelled the ground and then looked at Aden.  He displayed a half smile and then ran into the woods. Aden left to tend his traps and worry about the deal that he had just made.

 

At dawn on the second day later, Aden’s husbandly duties were interrupted by an insistent knock at the door. At first thought to ignore it but the second time the knock was strong enough to rattle the frame of the house.  Aden pulled his self away from his wife’s embrace to see what was the problem. He opened the door expecting the King’s guard to bust in. He would have only have been so lucky.

 

The moment he opened the door a vicious odor assaulted his nose and eyes. As a fur trapper he knew it well enough - skunk musk. It was definitely the most powerful musk he had ever experienced. Through his suddenly watery eyes, he could barely focus on the very angry man-wolf in front of him. The creature gently walked past Aden with something wrapped in a blanket in his arms. 

 

He sat down holding his squirming  ‘cargo’ in his lap. He motioned for Aden to sit down. It took a second for Aden to feel-find a seat but by the time he did the smell had begun to subside.

 

As he saw whatever he was holding push to a leaning position on the man-wolf’s chest. He could have sworn he heard something come from the bag. Whatever it was it caused Silvermane’s attitude to soften.  He saw the huge lupine creature take a deep breath and then he said,  “Aden. I am sorry but I couldn’t find your sister. I managed to catch some dinner though, do you want some?”

 

Aden was not amused. “Silvermane this is no time for jokes. Where is my sister? “

 

“I couldn’t find her.” The wolves being generally honest creatures, Silvermane couldn’t help but to looked down as he spoke the words again.

 

Aden reached out to the blanket that hid Silvermane’s captive from view. As he began to pull the blanket away, he saw the form inside shutter and turn away. Even with the blanket off, it managed to hide it’s face in Silvermane’s chest fur and it’s own long white hair.

 

“Please, don’t look at me.”, she said in Ania’s voice.

 

“I’m so sorry”, Silvermane whimpered. Aden noticed a tear coming from Silvermane’s eye, but he did not move.

 

“Ania?”, he asked.

 

Silvermane stood his quarry upright and slowly uncovered it. The creature was humanoid but instead of skin it had black fur. The shade of the fur was solid black across it’s back except for the two white stripes that lead down to the huge fluffy tail. Aden was only slightly less surprised when he turned it around and at the top of the pillar of white fur covering it’s female trunk he saw the unmistakable head of a skunk with tears rolling out of her eyes. She looked at him and he knew the answer to his question. He wrapped his arms around her and held her.

 

___________________________

 

Once the Silvermane brought back Ania

And the crying was done

Only one question remained

For justice be done

 

Aden noticed that Ania was acting very oddly. Of course, now that she was a skunk, it only would make sense that she would not act the same way she had as a human. The stench that permeated the wolf attested to the fact that she was more skittish. That wasn’t it. As she pored beer and loosened soap into Silvermane’s fur, she wasn’t just cleaning him. She looked at him with the eyes of a schoolgirl having a crush. As her hands rubbed the concoction into his fur, she was not just cleaning him. She was massaging him. Her hands lingering on him, even though she knew her brother was in the room. Aden knew that the wolf had tried to lie about bringing her back, maybe, he reasoned that he was better successful at not saying what he did to her after he found her. Silvermane was a wolf and a man, alone with a scared female - his sister. He wanted to believe that he had returned her as he had found her. At least, he wanted to. Aden held his thoughts in check until she used her nose to smell him at the nape of his neck. She said that it was just to see if it worked. For Aden it was the last straw. 

 

Unable to hold back his rage, Aden grabbed the wolf out of his sister’s reach and stood him up. “What did you do with  her?”, he asked. The wolf looked down at the human. Silvermane was bigger and he thought stronger and faster, but the human was crazier. The man-wolf felt a bit fear in his gut.  He began to stammer as he reached for the spoken language that was still new to him.  “I found her like this. The girl-skunk..your sister...this is not my doing...heat is on her.”, he finally stammered out.

 

He looked at his sister and knew what this meant. Skunks are really nice creatures if you follow their rules. Skunk females have a lot of reproductive rules. The most important of them is that if a skunk female is in heat she has to mate or die.

 

Hope sprang to mind. “If you, a wolf, can smell her in heat then maybe a man-skunk can smell it?”  The wolf’s shoulders dropped. Aden knew that it was a stupid thought. But He didn’t want to loose her again. He was always so proud of his sister because she kept her virginity (or at the very least never let him know when she had lost it). Now she was in jeopardy of dying because she was a virgin skunk.

 

Aden sat down and took Ania’s hand. He hoped aloud, “Maybe we can get a man who could help you, I mean..” Ania shook her head, “NO! I know what they would have to do. No human can do it.”

 

Aden looked to Silvermane, “Tell me, who made you. Maybe they can change her back.”

 

“No that girl was a witch. She made me happen but it was revenge from her point of view. She even made sure that I could never claim a mate because I was touched by her father.”

 

“I don’t understand.”, Aden complained.

 

“Right after I was created,  she seduced me. I know, I am a smart wolf and an adult, but with wolves if a female chooses you to be her mate and you accept it is for life. She knew this and then she left me. She knows I can’t track her because, she has no scent. So, you see you will have to think of something else.”

 

Ania looked at Silvermane again. It was almost as if she remembered something. She looked at the wolf closer. “I remember now! I know who you are talking about.”

 

Aden felt the impact of his wife’s frame before he heard her say, “What are you talking to, Aden? Get away from him, evil spawn.”

 

Rachel grabbed a log from the fire and pushed it toward the furry (and very flammable) creatures. The man-wolf grabbed the girl-skunk and put her behind himself before he backed away from the flame. Aden grabbed the log. When Rachel looked at him and for a second he thought that she would hit him. He put the log back in the fire and turned back to see both ends of his sister pointed at his wife. Aden put his face in front of his skunk-sister’s so that she couldn’t see.

 

Ania stood back up straight. She glared though her brother at Rachel. “Get out of the way. I saw her making love this wolf. They spent the day making love. She enjoyed it. I told her that I saw her just before was changed.”

 

“Liar. You are the spawn of evil. Don’t listen to her. Next thing you know she’ll say that I made her a stinky creature, too.”

 

Aden stepped up to his wife. “How did you know that the wolf was changed?”

 

“I didn’t. I just guessed”, She said. She backed away from her increasingly angry husband. Aden grabbed Rachel’s arm to hold her in place only to find that his little wife could easily drag him along the wooden floor. She finally stopped when her back was to the wall mirror.

 

“Tell me the truth women.”, he demanded.  He didn’t expect that his answer would come from the mirror!

 

“I guess you just got us busted, girl.”

 

Aden looked at the mirror and it was clear that his wife’s image was not the same as what he was seeing outside of it. They looked identical and even had the same clothing on but the positions and mannerisms were totally different between them.  It wasn’t even close. He spoke to the mirror, “What are you and what have you with my wife?”

 

“I am your wife. I am Kashin part of her. And as to what I did,  I didn’t do anything except to save her life by blinding us together.” , the image said.

 

Aden release his wife’s arm and turned to leave her by the mirror. Rachel grabbed his hand and begged, “I did it for both of us. I didn’t want to leave you alone. I didn’t want to die. You have to understand.”

 

“He had better. Since, he prayed for anyone to help him. And then he brought us into the house in the first place.”, said the Kashin. the Kashin’s words immediately got Aden’s attention. He turned to tell the Kashin to get stuffed, when he saw the little black cat appear in the mirror image’s arms. Aden blinked twice and then his mouth opened. He looked at the cat in the mirror and the last piece in the puzzle was clear to him - it was the tom cat that he brought to keep his wife company. The Kashin told him to close his mouth and Aden could hardly reply. It all began because he brought that stray cat home.

 

Aden’s shoulders fell as it slowly sank in. “It is all my fault.”, he said. “I am sorry to all of you. I just didn’t know what I was asking for. I wanted my wife to live and to be happy and I managed to make all of our lives that much worst.”

 

Ania jumped to her brother’s defense, “You didn’t make Rachel put a wolf in her father’s pants or sleep with this bag of flies afterward.” Silvermane growled.

 

Aden waved her off. “No. Mr. Cat did that. Cats are a very easy practical animal. If they have an enemy that they have to fight they will kill it if they can. Run if they must. And for male cats they have will never pass up an opportunity to mate. Especially when they want to make a point.”

 

Rachel walked over to Aden and touched his chest. “How so, honey?”

 

Aden walked over to the mirror and looked at the cat inside. “You don’t want to be a girl do you, fella.” The cat looked directly at Aden and then jumped out of the mirror and into Aden’s arms. Aden expected the cat to land in his arms but it kept flying past his hands and landed squarely in his chest. The world blurred for a second and then Aden felt his world change as the cat merged with his every cell. Eventually, he felt the spirit of the cat merge into his own. As he felt the cat becoming part of him, Aden finally understood that the cat was what his soul had always longed for.  Aden opened his eyes and saw the others looking down at him. Even the Kashin in it’s mirror was looking down at him.“Well I hope you enjoyed your little nap”, said the Kashin. Silvermane helped Aden stand. 

 

Aden touched his sister’s hand and said ,“Now I understand what you need and how badly you need it.“ He took her hand and put it on Silvermane’s. The wolf and skunk inhaled sharply as fear played through both creatures eyes.

 

Silvermane protested first, “No. I can’t do this. I have an ill-chosen mate. And this skunk sprayed me.”

 

“Silvermane you said you owed me one. Well, the way I look at it, after laying with my wife, you made yourself a lesser wolf in my family. You will repay your debt to me by taking my sister as your mate and never so much as touching my wife again. After all you are not going to ever have my wife as your mate are you?” Aden smiled and showed the only physical manifestation that the cat left him - slightly enlarged canines. Silvermane stopped pulling away from the skunkette.

 

Ania tried to bolster his argument saying, “He kidnapped me and even tied me up.”

 

Aden rebuffed her concerns saying, “He was willing to try to lie to save your feelings. That was against every nuance of his soul. He is a good lupine and he is the only creature that you can have as a mate. You have to have a mate or you will die. He would die rather then she you hurt. That is more then enough to start a life together.”

 

Ania stopped looking at her brother and looked at the wolf.  She looked in his eyes and she could see that her brother has spoken the truth. She put both of her hands on his chest and then he took her into his arms. Then they kissed. It took a few seconds for them to realize that they were not alone. They glanced at her brother and then disappeared  upstairs. The last thing that was heard from them that day was the closing of  Ania’s bedroom door.

 

“Very nice”, said the Kashin. “Now I guess that this is were you tell me to get out of your wife.” 

 

“Tell me why I shouldn’t.”, Aden responded with crossed arms.

 

Rachel turned to her husband and said, “I like to stay as I am now. I don’t want to go back to the way I was before. Let me show you something.”  Rachel ran over to a draw and pulled forth a beautiful torc. She put it in his hands to examine it. The necklace was glass but inside of it was leather, gems and some metals that he had never seen before. “I made this. It is my impression of the seasons. I can make things that no one else can. Beautiful things and ..” Rachel looked at the Kashin image and then finished, ”...and if I unmerge with the Kashin, then she will die.”

 

“Is this true?”

 

“Yes, but I don’t mind All things must die to be reborn. Besides I made my point to my kin - Kashin Rachel made a man-wolf and a girl-skunk. I, as a Kashin, I am a huge success. If you let us live as one creature then I will never make another species and only work making art. My promise as a Kashin. “

 

“Of course, you both want time with me.”, he said.

 

Rachel quickly spoke for her Kashin-self, “No. She doesn’t want you.”

 

The Kashin in the mirror bit down on her finger and looked at Aden’s rear. She said, “Of course, not human-self. I would never do that...”

 

“If you can deal with that then she can stay from now on.”

 

“Thank you, Aden - my love.” Rachel hugged her husband  and began to think of ways that she could make sure that he slept alone at night.

 

All is as well

in The End

 

________________________________________________________________

 

Hawk note: I purposefully kept this work at the PG-13/soap opera level as far as sex and violence (what little there is) was concerned. If you think this story could be better told with more explicit sex or violence, let me know at Ebonhawk@aol.com. If enough readers feel that they need the ‘extra’ bits then I may consider doing a X rated version of the this story.