A Werewolf's Saga, The Beginning (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets Book 3)

by Michael Lampman

  “My gods,” it came out as a whisper. He felt the shock. He saw pain. He saw anguish. He saw death. He saw Odan and the need to talk with them about what they knew about the metals. If they answered wrongly, he saw what he intended to do. It felt downright terrible beyond words.

  “What was that?” Rochie heard him; at least he thought he did. They stayed quiet for the past hour or so, so he should have heard him, but he didn’t. His thoughts were too far-gone. He was a thousand miles away.

  Kenar heard him, but he remained quiet. He had to concentrate his thoughts. He had to remember where he was. When he entered another’s mind, he found it difficult to find himself again after breaking the connection. It was the curse to his gift. It took time to do it, and sometimes, it was time that he never had.

  “Kenar, did you say something?” Rochie asked again.

  “Yes.” This time, he did hear, and he was able to answer him. His mind was his again, but now he felt panicked. “Stop the horse.” He looked around and behind him to the others too. “All of us must stop.” He tried to keep breathing. He tried to stay calm. He seemingly failed at both. “We have to stop!” This time he shouted it. This time he was able to gather his thoughts. The shout was for his sake, and not for theirs.

  They all did just as he shouted.

  “What is it now Kenar?” Rochie huffed again with having to do it.

  “Odan, I know what he is intending to do.” He removed his hands from Rochie’s waist and brought them down to his own hips. He needed them for support. His head started feeling lightheaded. He felt almost like he was about to pass out.

  “What is that?” Garreth didn’t like the sounds in his voice. He sounded rushed. He sounded terrified beyond his ability to speak clearly. He heard every part of him like none of them ever could.

  Kenar blinked several times, but it didn’t help him with the rushed feeling that he now carried within his soul.

  “Odan intends to question one of us about how we know about the Walker’s weakness to silver and more importantly to gold. He wants to know how we learned of it. He also wants to know what we intend to do with that knowledge.”

  “We should tell them the truth then. We will tell them how we knew about it.” Patrice understood all of this. After all, as far as she was concerned about it, the Walkers had the right to know. They were their parents after all. It didn’t sound like that big of a deal to her. It didn’t make sense to panic, so she wasn’t going to do it. She just didn’t care.

  Kenar shook his head, while still balancing himself hard.

  “That is not going to be good enough.” He looked to Rochie—from this angle, all he could see was the side of his face. “He wants to punish us for knowing it. He will do more if we do not answer him in the way he wants the answer. He intends for you to be the one to answer for all of this.” He swallowed hard.

  Rochie did not see his face, but he didn’t need to because he could tell that it was him. He felt his breath on the left side of his face.

  “You mean me?” He looked straight ahead. Afterwards, he shook it too. “That is no problem. I will tell him the truth. I will tell him how I knew of it.” He shrugged it off as he always had done in the past. After all, Devish knew that he knew. Hell he was there when I discovered it. I think Devish still carries the scar from the gold that touched his left shoulder. Knowing this, why would they need to question him? Why would they hurt him—hurt them—for it? Devish and Gorhan will see the truth in me. “I will let them read my thoughts. Gorhan and Devish will see that I am telling the truth.”

  Kenar heard this and it made him suddenly take a much-needed breath. He didn’t know any of this. Now that he did, he didn’t know what, or how, to think about it.

  “Devish knows.” He searched through his thoughts, trying to find him within the jumbled images and rambling sights of his mind, but suddenly he saw nothing there. Either Devish is blocking me, or something else is happening, he didn’t know. Without seeing it, without feeling his thoughts, he felt helpless to argue with Rochie about what he knew. Again, he just didn’t understand any of this.

  Rochie nodded strongly. “He was there with me when we found out about the gold and silver. He was there. He found the metal first. He even used it against made Walkers to punish them for crimes when he had to.”

  All of them took a rather large gasp after hearing this. They felt stunned. They knew nothing about it. Hearing that Devish knew what he knew it did make things simpler for all of them. With now knowing the truth, they all took a heavy and deep breath, almost all at the same time. Relieved—yes, they felt it in spades.

  Kenar finally focused his thoughts. “If this is true than I must be fearing nothing.” He turned his mind back to Odan. “When asked of you, you must tell Lord Odan the truth. He does not know about Devish.” He saw as much. Odan knew nothing.

  Rochie agreed. “I will. I will tell them all that I know. We are no threat to them. One of their Elders has already known about this for years.” It was almost as if he was trying to convince himself of it. In fact, he was.

  Kenar bowed his head. “We must be cautious. I feel so many conflicting things happening from everyone and it is making me feel uneasy.” He looked back up. “Something just does not feel right.”

  With this, they all agreed with him. A lot seemed to be going wrong in the world that they just didn’t understand.

  Rochie felt this more than the others did, but now, he felt more than just uneasy. He felt scared, but soon realized that he was and pushed it aside. He still couldn’t believe that the Walkers would or could ever harm him for doing something like this. It just didn’t make sense. After all, he was one of their children. He had known them for decades. They had trusted him with some of their darkest fears. Why would they consider him a threat now? He was right. He had nothing to fear. Thinking this, he kicked the horse and they were off again.

  They now had a long way to go.

  They should reach Devish’s castle just after dusk.

  21

  “You do not need to hide in the shadows my son. There is no need to fear me.” Satar sat in his little cell. He was now in his human form. The silver makes it hard for them to change from one form to another, and now with it gone, he felt natural again. The silver that lined the walls and the bars of the cell door kept him also calm. He had no choice but just to sit there and stare at the blankness of the walls.

  Devish stood on the last step to the floor above them, and kept his eyes down. In front of him stood the long hallway, which was lined with twelve separate cells, six on each side along the walls. His father was in the second to the last cell. He could feel him there. He could see his smell through the walls. He could hear his every breath.

  “I do not fear you father.” He kept his mind clean. He and his father were a lot alike. They had the same gifts. They had the same weaknesses. In a way, they were the same stock of skin and flesh.

  Satar laughed. It sounded hollow and unsure of itself. When he finished it, he just bowed his head.

  “Of course you do. You always have.”

  Devish could only sigh. “You left me no other choice but to fear you. You always hated me so much for so long.” A tear welled up in his right eye and it gently slid down his cheek. The glint of it sparkled within the orange glow of the torches lining the cells.

  Of course, Satar never saw it. He never could, even if he was right there, and standing in front of him.

  “I do not hate you my son. I have never hated you.”

  This time Devish did laugh, hard and long. Its sound rattled the very walls. When he finished it, another tear streaked down his face, but this time it came from the other eye.

  “Is that true? After all of what you have done. After all, you wish to do. How could you not hate me?” A tear streaked down the right side again. “How could you never hate me for what I did to you?”

  Satar looked down to his hands. How human they look?

  “I have never hated you
for her death Devish. She made her choice.”

  He sounded so calm—too calm that Devish felt his rage rush in through his chest like fire races through a log. It just simply flashed.

  “Her choice was to give me life.” He left the step and slid along the wall to his left. He stopped just in front of the cell door. With the little light inside the small five foot by five-foot room, he barely saw him. All he saw was his shadow. All he saw was a darkness that was he. “Her choice was to remove herself from yours.”

  “She did what she wished to do.” Satar didn’t look up once. He just kept staring at his hands.

  “You forget father. I can see your mind. I can see her face and everything you remember about her. I can see the hatred you have for me.” Devish laughed again, this time it sounded so soft that it barely registered in his own mind.

  This time Satar did look up. In fact, he even threw himself at the door. He grabbed it hard with both hands. If it weren’t for the silver that he now felt weighing down his hands, he would have ripped it clean off its hinges without a second thought. He was now so angry for what he just heard that he nearly lost his mind.

  “How dare you think such things?”

  Devish flew back into the bars behind him and felt the sudden pain from touching them ripple through his back like a hammer had just trampled a nail. It made him flinch back away from them again, but he stayed away from the center of the hallway. He was more afraid of his father than he ever was of such other pains.

  “How dare you see those thoughts?” Satar let go of the bars, and he dropped his hands back to his sides. The pain from the silver vanished fast. “Those are my memories of her. Those are mine and not yours to see.”

  Devish held his breaths, trying hard to force his fear back down inside him, and he did manage to do it.

  “I know what you are seeking father. I know about the young girl, the human, you have found.” Devish felt a sudden rush of courage flow through him once he saw his father let go of the bars. It also made him calm down some too.

  Satar chuckled some beneath his breaths as he turned back to the shadows.

  “I do not know what you speak of my son. You must have seen your own face in a mirror of shadows.”

  “I know you are looking for her. You are looking for my mother. You believe that you have found her too.” Two tears came again and they slid down his face.

  Satar looked back down at his hands.

  “She was my wife before she was your mother, my son. She will always be that to me.”

  “I know you are seeking her. I know that you believe that you have found her.” He fought the anger growing in his chest. For centuries now, his father dwelled within his sorrow for losing his wife. He knew how he blamed him for her death. He knew that he hated him because he took her away from him. He saw it all. He saw his memories and his pain. He also knew that he could do nothing to change what happened. He lacked that kind of power. There was no point to continue that fight.

  Satar laughed again. “You see this, do you?” He turned his back to his son and looked to the back wall of the cell. He saw nothing but the blackness of the shadows. He never saw the light. He preferred it that way.

  Devish nodded, but only to himself. “You know I have.” He watched his father, but he saw only what he had ever seen—darkness. He saw nothing but the dark of night.

  Satar nodded, as he turned back to the bars.

  “You knew what I was looking for.” He chuckled again some under his breaths. “Yet you have not informed the others of this.” He looked directly into his son’s eyes. “You wanted me to do this.” He chuckled again. “You wished for me to find her.”

  Devish saw why. “I did.” He saw his father’s surprise. He felt his subtleness overwhelm his heart. Do you feel for me now father? Do you love me again, for what I have done for you? He wasn’t sure. A part of him could never believe such a thing ever to come from his father’s mind. As far as he ever knew, he was just as dark on the inside as he ever was on the outside.

  “You wished me to find her. Why?” Satar did feel everything, but love had nothing to do with the feeling. He had no time for such a weakness, especially for his son.

  “I did.” Devish’s tears flowed like water over a falls. He just couldn’t help himself. He had to bow his eyes and face to make sure his father did not see the tears. He could never show him such things. His emotions were his own. His father would only see it as weakness, and nothing else but that.

  “Why?” Satar turned full on to the bars. He took a simple step to them and stopped before he came too close.

  “You know father.” Devish chuckled some with this. He looked back up. “You already know.” He opened his mind to him. He pounded his thoughts. He let his father see everything. He could never put into words his feelings. He could never show his thoughts. This was not in his nature. This too would show weakness on his part.

  Satar saw the truth. He felt his son’s pain and regret. If he hadn’t seen it, he would have doubted it. He just couldn’t believe that his son would do such a thing for him.

  “You want me to find her again. You want me to find love again. You want me to forgive you for taking her away from me.” His voice cracked in between the words.

  Devish noticed it, and it only made his own voice crack too, “I will do anything to repay you for what I have done.” His shook within the cracking. “I love you father, and just wish for you to be happy.”

  Satar stepped to the bars and came to only a few inches from them. He raised one hand through two of the bars and reached it out towards his son.

  “What do you want in return?” He knew his son all too well.

  Devish watched it and raised his left hand to it and together, both touched their hands. His touch was nothing but warmth. It warmed him so much.

  Satar caressed his hand.

  “What makes you believe that I want anything for this?”

  “You do.”

  Devish smiled. “You know what I wish for father. You have always known me.”

  “The thirst, you wish to continue it.” Satar laughed loudly.

  Devish returned it with a sly grin. “I know you have guarded me for all of these years. I know what you have done. I want you to stop it.”

  “Stopping it will only make you want it more.”

  Devish nodded. That was what he wanted.

  Satar did too. Quite frankly, he didn’t care anymore. He only knew what he wanted.

  “Odan and the others will not let you do this again my son. They will stop you like they have before. They will stop you as they did with me.”

  “Not with you by my side.”

  Satar nodded again. He continued to caress his hand.

  “You do not know what you are asking of me.”

  He did know, and more. “The humans outnumber us by thousands. I only wish to live again.”

  “Very well then.” Again, Satar didn’t care.

  “Ask me.” Devish grinned. He already knew what his father wanted, but he wanted to hear it. He wanted him to ask him to do it.

  Satar let go of his hand.

  Devish dropped his arm.

  “What can I do for you now father?” He felt better than he had in years—hell in his entire lifetime and it showed. It was all that he had ever wanted from his father and now, it was right there for the taking.

  Satar’s voice went soft. “You can bring her to me.” He removed his hand back through the bars. “Bring the young human to me.”

  Devish hesitated some with this. After all, he saw everything that his father did, and knowing that, he cringed some. “She may not wish to see you father.” He saw his father killing the male in front of her. He saw the terror written in her eyes. He saw her pain.

  Satar did nod. “You can make her want to come.” He smiled. His youthful human look almost sparkled. He knew his son well. “You have a gift of bringing humans to their knees. You have a special talent to make them do your wishes. I ask
you to give her mine.”

  Devish would do anything for him. “I will bring her back to you and will make her love you.” He gathered his emotions back together again. He wiped both eyes with both hands. He dried his face. “I will make you pleased again.”

  Satar turned back to the shadows. He moved to the back wall.

  Devish watched him disappear back into the darkness of the shadows. I will do anything to win your life again, and your love. And he turned back to the stairs.

  He left the dungeons and headed back up to the first floor of his home.

  He didn’t stop as he crossed the main foyer and left through the front doors. He told no one where he was going, or that he had even left.

  Once outside, he stripped off his long black overcoat, which he then flung to the side of the large front steps, called on the bat inside him, and quickly, he changed.

  Once fully a Shade, with his hands now large and massive wings, he pushed off.

  He flew up and over the walls.

  He flew south and headed to the village by the river’s bend.

  He headed for her.

  22

  Sharlia made it across the front foyer and headed to the stairs down to the dungeons. She walked down them slowly, and when she came to the last step, she heard two voices talking. She knew who they were. What is he doing? She recognized Devish. She heard Satar’s voice too. She heard him ask him to bring the woman to him. Why is he asking for her? This didn’t surprise her much, not with what she knew, but it did make her wonder even more. Does Devish know about his father’s quest? Does he know what he was looking for? This simple idea made sense to her. In fact, she almost expected him to know it. She knew how connected they were. Odan does not know about this. If Devish knew then why did he hide it from the others? What does he plan to do? She heard him talk about the young woman—the human on the steps. What did Kenar say about her? I heard him call her by a name. She thought back. She even saw Kenar standing there in awe as he saw her. He said that her name was Permona. He said her name. She thought back to the woman, but didn’t recognize her face. She had never seen her before, so she didn’t know if he was right or not. Kenar has the same gifts as Devish and his father. It makes sense that he would see what he saw. It did. Kenar is of the same family line. He was born of Satar’s blood. Knowing this, she now knew that he had to be right, and if he was, then the woman, the human female, is the one. She is the one that Satar believes is his reborn wife that he has searched to find. She thought about this until she heard Devish move. She smelled his scent move towards her, and with it, she had to turn. She could not let him see her there, so she ran. She ran fast and headed back upstairs.