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

by Michael Lampman

  Free again, he turned. He stared Rochie down. “I am sorry my friend.” He turned right, just as Satar flew through the doors. He ran after him out of the room.

  40

  Jameson pulled her through the foyer.

  She helped him run to the front door. She led him down the steps as they headed to the gate.

  Miranda smelled them coming. She saw them running. She saw enough.

  “Something is not right.” She turned to her group.

  Donte too saw Jameson and Lina. He too saw them run. He too had seen enough.

  “The wolf is right!” He shouted to his group.

  Each one of his men drew their swords.

  The five with the pikes readied them in their hands. They pointed them at the wolves.

  Jameson saw the wolves turn. Behind him, he heard the Blood Walker snarl. He saw Donte on the other side of the open gate. “Attack!” he screamed.

  Donte didn’t need to hear anything else. “We fight for Jameson. We fight for our chief!”

  They pushed forward with the weapons leading their charge.

  They ran through the gate. They ran straight to the wolves that were now on all four legs and running towards Jameson and Lina.

  The wolves heard them, and not surprisingly, they all stopped. They all turned.

  Donte was the first one to strike with his sword. He also had Jameson’s sword, and with both of them, he swung from wide out and in. The two swords came together like a pair of scissors at one of the animal’s head.

  Blood spewed from both sides of its neck, as a screeching gurgling sound followed the blow. Amazed, he watched the head come clean off. Equally amazed, he watched the body then instantly transform back into her human form. It was the damnedest thing he had ever seen before in his life. It was close to watching the sun rising in the morning after a winter storm. It was breathtaking. It was awe-inspiring. It felt like the most wonderful thing in the world.

  The other animals were each struck within the same amount of time. Some were stabbed with the pikes. Others were impaled from forehead to tail. One other had its front paws removed with a heavy swing, only to be killed with its head down in pain. Instantly, their bodies transformed back into their human forms after death. It was a magnificent sight in deed.

  With a clear, yet bloody path now in front of them, Jameson ran until he reached Donte’s side. Once there, he pushed Lina towards the center of his people and faced the group.

  “We must ride!” He was nearly out of breath.

  Donte didn’t need to hear anything else. He turned, took Jameson by his left arm, moved him to Carlos; one of his other soldiers, and handed him to him.

  “Protect him. Ride with him.” He looked back to the gate. He could clearly hear a heavy thudding sound coming towards them from inside the castle. When he saw what was making the sound, he hoped to have protection for himself. “Mother of the gods, RUN!”

  Satar flew through the door. He flew through the foyer and flung himself to the front steps. He leapt down them without touching his paws to the stones. When he saw the group of humans, standing at the front gate, he pushed on. He ran faster and harder until he came to the group, but then, he suddenly stopped. He was not yet there.

  A voice bellowed through his mind. A voice shook his very head from inside out.

  Do not do this lord Satar. Do not risk this. It is not her. It is not Permona, your bride. She is only human.

  Kenar stepped out onto the front steps. He had to do something, and this was all that he had. He just didn’t have the time.

  Satar bowed his head. She is her. She is my beloved Permona. He huffed out with a huge and heavy wind. A slow ebbing growl followed the breath.

  With the time now given them, for whatever reason Donte didn’t care, he climbed his horse. With all of them safely on their own, they turned and headed back to the plain. They rode back to the trees as fast as they could go. They didn’t look back.

  Satar just stood there and watched them leave.

  Your beloved is gone my lord. She has left this plain. She has left this world.

  Satar turned to him. You are wrong Kenar. I will prove this to everyone. We do have a soul. He smiled. Being in wolf form it stretched out along his entire snout. It even curled his nose.

  You are wrong. You must let her go. Kenar felt so much of his pain that it nearly brought him to tears. He actually cried for him.

  I will show you. I will show you. I will show all of you. He could see others step out onto the steps behind him. He knew his time was up. He looked inside his mind, found the Shade and pushed it forward. He brought on the change.

  Kenar watched him turn from wolf to bat. He watched the bat push off with its massive wings and disappear into the darkness of the night.

  Odan, Adollo, Rochie and Rana watched him too.

  Odan now knew what he had to do. He also believed that he understood why Kenar did what he did.

  “He has lost his mind.” He gathered his thoughts. “We must put an end to his madness.”

  Adollo couldn’t agree more. “He must be stopped.” No Walker would ever stand side by side with human. It was hard enough to do so with a Wanderer. They were just beneath them as a species, and everyone knew that—or at least, everyone should.

  Odan saw enough, turned back and went inside. He walked straight to Devish who was still on the floor. Seeing him, with a line of blood across his chest, he knew that he was injured. Satar had obviously given him a few good blows. In a way, he figured that he deserved it. For everything he did to help his father, they all did.

  Devish watched him stop over him and allowed his human face and body to return. When he was himself again, he looked Odan in the eyes.

  “Now do you understand why I did what I have done? He must be stopped.”

  Odan simply tipped his head. “Of course.” He also knew that he didn’t believe him at all. He just kept that thought in the back, dark recesses of his mind. He did not intend to let him see it. “It ends tonight. We must now destroy him Devish. We have to destroy your father.” And he turned. He left him and headed back to the foyer.

  Devish stood up. He didn’t agree with Odan’s plans. He had other intentions, and now knew that he would have to carry them out—alone. Odan was right about one thing. It was time to end this. It was time for all of them to die.

  Odan returned to the Wanderers outside.

  They had left the steps and were now checking on the wolves to see if any of them had survived.

  None of them did.

  “We must prepare ourselves for this.” Odan joined them.

  Garreth stood up from examining a young female, and just shook his head. “The sun will be rising soon my lord. It will be too late to find him.” If his master didn’t know this, he needed to tell him. His senses could already feel the sun’s heat cresting over the horizon. It would be only another hour or so before it rose.

  Odan did believe his Wanderer. He just didn’t want to have to wait. “Very well.” He had no other choice. “He will not be able to do any more harm during the day. We will go out and find him tomorrow night.” He looked down at all of the wolves. Three of them were his, while the others belonged to Devish. Seeing them returned to their pitiful human states made him feel sad for all of them. That was no way to die.

  “What should we do with the bodies my lord?”

  “Burn them. They are nothing now but wasted flesh.” Odan turned and only answered him when he made it back to the front door.

  Garreth shrugged as he looked back to his friends. He had nothing else left to say.

  Kenar did. “This is only the beginning.” Now that he was with his friends, if they were still his friends it was time to find out, he could speak freely. He could only hope they would listen to him this time. “We have to stand together in this.” He looked only at Patrice and Garreth. Rochie he knew some of what he thought, Rana he wasn’t sure, but the two of them he knew were worse. They did not, nor would they, st
and with him. He still needed to try.

  Patrice knelt down over a young man that was now missing his arms. She couldn’t help but notice how human he really looked. She had never seen a Walker look like this before. She had forgotten what they really were.

  Kenar heard her and his mind smiled. It made him relaxed too. “They were all human once. They are all just as fragile as they ever were.”

  Patrice stood up. She felt shocked beyond words, and needed to speak her thoughts, so she could understand all of this for herself. “The weapons they used did this?” She thought about the moon metal. She thought about them using it against Satar the night they captured him. She tried to put it all together in her mind. “Those did that.” She pointed down to the young man at her feet.

  Kenar nodded. “With the moon metal wolves are not immune to death.” He looked at Rochie. “Is that not correct?”

  Rochie stood by Rana’s side. Just over her left shoulder, he could see the sun winking in his eyes. Garreth was right. The sun is rising.

  “It is true, and there is more. There is also a metal made from the sun. It is not deadly to the moonwalkers, but it is to the others. It can burn them just as badly, if not more than that.” He said all of this without really thinking about what it meant. After all, now telling them, he had just spilled the Walker’s most deadly secret. In some ways, he would have regretted it, but now, he just didn’t seem to care at all. He wasn’t sure what this meant, but at the same time, he just didn’t. It didn’t seem to matter anymore.

  Both Garreth and Patrice turned to him with a slightly stunned glance.

  Patrice continued with what was on her mind. “So it is true then. They knew of this. You knew of this.” She turned to Kenar, saw his eyes answer her for him, and then looked back at Rochie. She had more to ask him and now it seemed like the best time to do it. “Devish knew about the metal. He knew that you knew. You did not try to hurt him like they said you did, did you?” She knew what that meant. Suddenly, seeing everything like she now did, it made sense. Everything seemed to, all at once.

  Rochie only gave her a small nod. He didn’t even look up.

  She believed him, and now hated herself for not standing up with him when she had the chance. “I am sorry Rochie, for not believing you—for not believing in you. I am sorry for doing what I had done.” Kenar was right. They should have stood together, and now, she knew she would, not with knowing what she now knew. She just had to do it.

  Kenar smiled like never before. “You will stand with us then?” He needed to make sure. With everything that happened, he just wasn’t sure of much anymore.

  She looked directly into his eyes. “I will, and now do.”

  He was now having some trouble seeing her, the damn sun was coming up in front of him, but he did see her eyes. He did hear her thoughts.

  Garreth heard everything. He also agreed. Gods do not die. These did, so they could not be gods. They were animals and nothing more. If he didn’t see this, he would have never believed it. But he did. They were right there.

  “I am with you too. I stand with those like me.”

  Rochie now looked up. “Do you all understand what this means? There is no going back from this.” He felt the need to point out everything to them. It was just his nature.

  They all nodded.

  All but Rana, as she dropped her hands down to her sides.

  “I cannot believe what you are saying. I cannot believe what you are all going to do.” She looked at Rochie and gave him a saddened look. “You, of all people, know what has to be done here.” Why he didn’t see this, she just did not understand. She apparently didn’t understand him after all. This was the hardest part for her, because she knew she was wrong. She knew she did know him better than he did himself.

  He knew that she was going to do this, and that was why he did what he always did. She was too innocent for anything else.

  “I know you do not agree with this sister. I know what you wish for, and who you love.” He saw his father standing there in front of him. He knew her love for him. He knew that in some ways she loved him more than she had ever loved him.

  She blinked hard with this. How could he say such a thing? She just didn’t know. She had to find out. “Why?” She truly smashed the words. She truly sounded totally shaken by everything she heard. She didn’t know what to do but cry. She wanted to cry for him.

  He knew what she meant, and took both of her hands into his.

  “One of us must stay within the clans my sister. One of us must still take care of father. I am not the one for such a task.” He gave her a boyish grin. The same one he always did. It was his look for her, and always would be for the rest of time.

  Tears streaked down her face. “You are going to leave me.” It floored her. It boggled her thoughts and shattered her heart. She truly couldn’t believe that this was what he now intended to do. Another part of her completely understood it, however. He was right. He had to make his own way, and she was not a part of that now.

  Tears swelled up in his eyes. “I must do this, but you do not. It will become bloody. It will become full of death. I cannot allow you to do it with me.”

  She shrugged hard and heavily in his hands. She could feel herself melting into them like jelly oozing through your fingers from a spilled jar. It just felt too messy to feel it right.

  “I understand.” She did. She really did.

  He sighed as he reached in and kissed her gently on the left cheek. With her tears flowing down her face, he tasted nothing but the salt that came out heavily from her eyes. “I will watch you from the distance of time my sister. Maybe one day, one time, far from now, we will cross our lives again. Maybe when all of this is over with, we will live again as one.”

  She accepted his kiss. “I understand.” She let go of his hands. She stepped back towards the front door and steps. She gave him one final smile. “I will watch out for you Rochie. I will do what I can to make this right.” She knew what she had to do. She was right. She would help him in any way she could. She would wait for the Elders to release her and she would then head home. Before she did, she would find the river’s bend. She would find the village surrounded by fields. She would find what he would need there.

  She watched him return her smile, and satisfied with the decision she just made, she turned and climbed the steps. She went inside and didn’t look back.

  “She is a strong woman Rochie. She can take care of herself.” Kenar watched her leave just before the sun blinded him for the remainder of the day.

  Rochie already knew this, so he only shook his head. He had nothing else left to say.

  Patrice did. “She is too powerful for any of us to fight, if it comes to it Rochie.”

  Kenar was going to answer for him, but he surprisingly did it for himself.

  “She will not harm me. She just will not do such a thing.”

  Garreth decided to join in. “Are you sure about that?” He didn’t know much about either of them, but what he did know scared him like no other ever would. He knew that no one could ever match her power.

  “I am.” Rochie turned back to the group. He looked at all of them, one at a time. “We should move out before the Walkers know what we are doing. They will stop us once they do.” He was right. They were now enemies. They were now a total threat, and they wouldn’t stop until they extinguished that threat.

  Kenar already knew. “Devish knows, but he does not care. It was what he wanted.”

  All of them looked at him at the same time.

  Patrice continued, “Is he also responsible for what Satar has done? Are they together on that?”

  Kenar knew only what he knew. “I believe they are enemies now. It gives us a great advantage that we must exploit, if we can.”

  “So where do we go now?” Rochie moved to him and took his left arm with his right.

  Kenar thanked him for taking him as his guide. “We have to find the boy and his group. We have to help them with Sata
r.”

  Rochie agreed with this, but he had more questions than he had answers for. “What happens after that?” This was one of them.

  “The real gods will help us or not.” Kenar could only bow his head. He had to lower his eyes.

  Everyone there knew what this meant, so none of them questioned it. They just left through the gate. They headed off to the stables on the south end of the castle, found just enough horses and saddled them up. Thankfully, no other Walkers were there. The wolves that protected the castle were obviously gone, so they knew there wouldn’t be.

  Ready, they then headed off.

  Garreth led the way tracking the humans as they rode.

  41

  Odan waited in the throne room for the Wanderers to come back inside.

  Adollo helped Devish with his wounds. Blood Walkers healed from most things, but when another Walker caused them, it was difficult. It was slower. It would heal eventually.

  When the door of the chamber opened, they all watched as only Rana came inside. They gasped with such a simple sight.

  “Where are the others?” Odan felt shocked.

  Rana could only bow her head.

  Devish of course already knew. “They are not going to assist us.” He pushed Adollo away from him and stood up. His knees shook some as he did. “They have joined with the humans.” His shirt had several large gashes through the chest. Blood showed against the white of it. He still felt the burn of the slashes. His father had gotten him well.

  Odan could never believe such a thing. “Why?” He looked at Rana. “Why would they stand against their own families?”

  She truly did not know how to answer him. She still didn’t know it herself.

  Devish did. “They have seen our weaknesses and now no longer believe in us. They have lost their faith in their gods.” He took a heavy breath. The burning subsided some as he continued to heal. “We should have never pretended to be ones.”

  Odan just shook his head. “You did this. Your blatant actions have caused all of this to happen.” He meant all of this. He meant more than this too. He did blame Devish, and of course his father, for everything. His father for what he had done with the human female and for Devish in allowing him to accomplish it.