Caino's Alphabet, T

    There was a time before Caino went 
into the wild, many years before he returned 
to the company of his fellow man.  
A time before he knew of monks 
and duelling Sciences.  
A time when Caino was just a little boy.
    Caino was the youngest of three brothers 
and two sisters.  They lived together 
with their mother, father, 
and dog in the wilderness 
which had replaced man’s world 
in the wake of the Last War.  
His sisters and brothers were old enough 
to help their parents with chores, 
but Caino was young and spent his days playing with the dog, who he used as a pillow at night.
    One day, while their father was out hunting, 
one of the children forgot to bolt the door.  
A pack of wolves, scenting the food Caino’s mother was preparing, pushed it open and came inside.  
The dog, who loved Caino most of all, 
took him by his collar and, leaping 
from a window, ran to a rocky stream 
where he knew of a small and narrow cave.  
He left Caino at the cave’s mouth and turned back 
to run as fast as an arrow back to the house.
    Caino could barely fit inside what was little more than a crack in the rock, but coaxed by his fear, 
he managed to squeeze his way in.
    He heard horrible noises from the direction 
of his house, and that night 
there came a sniffling and growling 
from the mouth of his cave.  
Only the light of the morning sun brought silence.  
    When Caino, at last, tried to wriggle out 
of his crack, he found he was stuck.  
He tried to cry out, but the tightness 
of the crack would not allow enough 
wind for a shout.
    Two days passed.  Little Caino grew hungry 
and his throat became dry from thirst.  
No matter how hard he tried, 
he could not get himself free.  
    On the third day, he knew he was dying.  
He had stopped struggling and was trying 
to sleep when he saw a frightened little boy 
who looked just like he did, staring back at him 
from the mouth of the cave.  
The boy was gesturing, 
but Caino could not understand.  
Then, softly at first and then louder 
and clearer came a voice without words 
in his head.  It told him to be strong.  
It told him to escape.  
It gave him something like hope 
and urged him to try to break free.
    With his last bit of strength, 
little Caino pulled at the rocks, 
and just as he felt he was finally spent, 
his body shifted toward the light 
of the entrance.  A moment later he was free.  Outside of the cave, 
he drank gratefully from the stream.  
His thirst at last quenched, 
Caino looked up to find that the boy was still there, but slowly at first and then almost at once, 
he began to change into a wolf.  
Caino blinked his eyes at this strange apparition 
and remembered his family—his dog.
         Caino rose to his feet and started for home, but the wolf blocked his path.
    “Stay,” said the wolf in 
a voice Caino felt while hearing 
nothing at all in his ears.
    “My mother-” Caino said and the wolf turned and sat, again slowly changing to the form 
of a small, frightened boy.
    Caino ran to the house, threw open the door… and stoped, frozen in dismay.
        His mother, brothers, and sisters 
were devoured.  
He knew them only by their bones 
and tattered clothes.  Three wolves 
also lay broken amidst the gore, 
and beside one, with teeth still clenched 
about its throat, lay the torn and bloody carcass 
of the dog who had kept him alive.  
The pillow he slept on at night.
    Caino turned from this horror and ran.  
Blinded by tears, he ran into the wild, 
never again to return.