Page 1 of Moon Craving

Prologue

Millennia ago God created a race of people so fierce even their women were

feared in battle. These people were warlike in every way, refusing to submit to the rule of

any but their own . . . no matter how large the forces sent to subdue them. Their enemies

said they fought like animals. Their vanquished foes said nothing, for they were dead.

They were considered a primitive and barbaric people because they marred their

skin with tattoos of blue ink. The designs were usually simple. A single beast was

depicted in unadorned outline, though some clan members had more markings, which

rivaled the Celts for artistic intricacy. These were the leaders of the clan and their enemies

were never able to discover the meanings of any of the blue-tinted tattoos.

Some surmised they were symbols of their warlike nature, and in that they would

be partially right. For the beasts represented a part of themselves these fierce and

independent people kept secret at the pain of death. It was a secret they had kept for the

centuries of their existence while most migrated across the European landscape to settle

in the inhospitable north of Scotland.

Their Roman enemies called them Picts, a name accepted by the other peoples of

their land and lands south . . . they called themselves the Chrechte.

Their animal-like affinity for fighting and conquest came from a part of their nature

their fully human counterparts did not enjoy. For these fierce people were

shape-changers and the bluish tattoos on their skin were markings given as a right of

passage. When their first change took place, they were marked with the kind of animal

they could change into. Some had control of that change. Some did not. And while the

majority were wolves, there were large hunting cats and birds of prey as well.

None of the shape-shifters reproduced as quickly or prolifically as their fully human

brothers and sisters. Although they were a fearsome race and their cunning was

enhanced by an understanding of nature most humans do not possess, they were not

foolhardy and were not ruled by their animal natures.

One warrior could kill a hundred of his foe, but should she or he die before having

offspring, the death would lead to an inevitable shrinking of the clan. Some Pictish clans

and those recognized by other names in other parts of the world had already died out