It still didn’t sit well with their king. “You have a Walker here. What are you doing?” He raised his sword.
Kenar stepped forward. He grabbed the king’s left arm and pushed it down. “He is of no threat to you King Jameson. He is the father’s child.” He felt nothing from the girl. He knew she was dead. All of his feelings now passed onto her father. Boy, did he feel for him.
Jameson didn’t care. “I do not care what he is Wanderer. He is what he is.”
Donte agreed with his king. “He is still a Walker and still a threat to us. We must not let him get away.”
After saying this, they watched the naked man fall to his knees.
He collapsed into both hands with his head. He cried loudly as he wept in his palms.
Rochie now stepped forwards in between all of them. “As you can see he is not a threat to anyone Donte. He is not an ordinary Walker.” He looked at Kenar. “We do not know what he is.”
Again, Jameson didn’t care. “That is not my concern. I do not care what he is, or is not. I cannot let any one of them escape or live.” He turned around and looked at all of his men, and finished the gaze back on to Donte. “If he will not fight, then we will take his life and end his grief for him.”
Donte nodded.
Kenar stressed his point. “He is not a threat to you my king. He is harmless with all of this.” Again, he thought about everything he did. He thought about how he had led Devish to him and exposed him to the world. He thought about the man’s wife lying dead on the floor of their farmhouse. He saw the missing life force of the child, a child that he heard her voice speak to him like nothing he had ever heard of before. He thought about everything, and with everything, he hated himself even more for it. They should have left him alone. They should have never tried to find him and start him down this path. He would never forgive himself for this, ever. With all of this, he still felt the need to help him. He just didn’t know how, except this, “Let us speak with him first. We must find out what it is about him that Devish wants.”
Donte thought he knew the answer for this, so he stepped forward. “He survived silver, my king. He survived it and lived. That is all that we need to know.”
Jameson heard this and shook his head hard. “That is impossible. No Walker, no wolf, can survive the moon metal.”
Rochie came to Kenar’s defense on this. “My king, if he is able to survive silver, than we must understand how he came to be. If one is like him, then there may be more of them. We must discover the reasons for why he lives.”
Jameson didn’t like the sounds of any of this. Just the thought of more like him, if Donte were right, would haunt his soul. Seeing how Devish did what he did, attacking them like this, told him a lot. Devish obviously believed it too.
“Very well.” He turned to Kenar. “Find out what you can, but he must not live. He must not pass on his curse to others. The danger to all of us is too great for there to be more of them.”
“Thank you.” He bowed feeling relieved, and turned back to Kalima.
Kalima heard everything, yet heard nothing. He felt too lost to accept what he heard. He just couldn’t bring himself to move. He just cried his life away.
40
She flew back home. With her was only a hand full of Shades left. She hated this, but she didn’t truly care all that much. What had been done was done.
Devish welcomed her home. “Thank the world that you have arrived home my dear safely.” He walked down the small set of steps from the front door of the castle and greeted her in the courtyard. She had already turned back to her human form. He saw his prize in her arms, and loved the sight more than anything else he saw. “I see that you have brought her safely as well.” He smiled hard. The look almost consumed his face. He felt too good to be alive.
Elizabeth bowed her head solemnly. “So many have been lost to capture this.” She looked down at the child. She had no idea what it was, but at the same time, she felt proud that everything had gone according to his plans. She only hoped that it was worth it. “So much for something so small.”
He looked at the child and couldn’t get the smile off his face. “You have done well.”
Elizabeth had more on her mind. “The black wolf, the one you sought, has been vanquished my lord. I watched him die.” He needed to know everything that happened. She still didn’t believe what she saw. He was so sure that he was special, but he wasn’t. He died so easily.
He glanced back up, as Rana joined him by his side. He watched her come to them.
“Has he felt her loss, my dear Rana?” He knew the truth to everything. It went just as he hoped it would.
Rana bowed her head, staring at the child. Seeing her, seeing the black wolf’s child for the first time, it made her feel uneasy. Elizabeth was right. So much had been lost for something so small.
“He believes that she has been lost, my lord. He watched her die.”
“Good.” He looked back at Elizabeth.
She felt completely stunned with hearing this. “How? I watched him die. I watched him struck down.”
He shrugged with this. He then turned back to Rana. “I guess we should remove a place mat from your dinner table my dear. It seems that poor Anna will no longer be joining you for dinner.” He looked back to Elizabeth. He felt more than just giddy, he felt like dancing. He couldn’t believe how well everything went.
Elizabeth finally understood. “It was Anna playing the part of the black wolf. She died so that I might have taken this.” She looked back to the child. He had told her that she would help her, but she didn’t know how. Now she did, and it made her cringe some. She thought he needed Anna more than he really did. It seemed that nothing was beneath the man, not even his friends.
Devish could care less. “Now my dear Rana, please make sure that this child does not affect everything else. She must not be allowed to speak with her father. Can you accomplish this for me?”
“I have already taken care of this my lord.”
“Good.” There was more. “Please also keep Kenar in the dark as well. Keep telling him what we wish him to see.” He reached out, took a firm hold of the child and took her from Elizabeth’s arms. He then cradled her in his.
The child smelled so sweet and gentle. It was her smell of innocence and she so wreaked of it. He found it hard to resist the temptation to have a nice little snack out of her, but stopped himself from any further thought about it. She was too valuable for that.
“Where is the child’s father now?” He looked back to Rana.
The child didn’t make a sound. She didn’t cry. She didn’t even struggle. She kept completely still and calm.
Rana had never seen anything like her in her life.
“He has broken down my lord. He is with the Wanderers. He is with my brother.” She saw it all. She still felt surprised with how clearly she could see them, but at the same time, she wasn’t. Rochie never knew how far they went together, or why he couldn’t hear her thoughts. She was more gifted than he ever realized before.
Devish accepted this. “Good.” He turned back to Elizabeth. “Assemble our people again would you my dear. It is time we go and gather him. It is time to bring him home. He should be ready now.”
She didn’t like the sound if this. Who would? “My lord, we lost over half of our people in the last strike. We have so few left.”
He nodded with this, as he placed the child on his left hip. He held her so naturally that it startled him some with how well he did it. He had never held a child before, and believed he was doing well with it.
“All I need is for our people to be ready my dear. Have them gather at the tree line outside of the walls of the human encampment. Have the humans see them do it too.”
Elizabeth thought she now knew his plans. “You want another deception?”
He laughed with this, but kept it short. “Of course I do my dear. How else am I to see him alone?”
She heard this and sighed. “You are coming
with us then.” She almost felt floored with this. She also felt worried some too. “It is too dangerous for you to come with us my lord. The humans will strike at you with everything they have.”
Again, he laughed, and again, he kept it short. “That is why the wolves, all of the wolves, will assemble at the tree line outside of the walls. All of your Shades will come in afterwards. Every one of us will join the fight this time.” He turned back to Rana. “Without our dear, poor Anna, I am going to need you to help me with something my dear. I need you to plant something inside all of them for me.”
She blinked with this. “What would you like for me to do?”
“I need them to see me with the wolves. Can you do this?”
Again, she blinked. She added a shrug in there too. “You can plant a sight better than even me, my lord.” She was right. He could. He was better than anyone else ever was.
He admired this about her, her truthfulness with all things, but he was needed for something else entirely. “When I speak with him, I am going to need my full concentration. I am not going to be able to do both if I am to accomplish this task.”
She accepted this. “I will do my best.”
“Good.” He turned back to Elizabeth. “You have your plans my dear. Please carry them out.”
Elizabeth nodded, even though she didn’t, couldn’t, agree with all of them. They were all there for him. He was their master so if anything were to happen with him they would all flee. They would all hide. He was the only reason they were still there and fighting with him. She knew this from speaking with all of them. The Gorhans, the Odans, all of the clans would quit the fight if he died. It just wouldn’t be a question about it.
Devish watched her leave them, so he looked back at Rana.
She did agree with Elizabeth. “She is right about this, Devish. It is too dangerous to do this.” She also didn’t agree with him about trying so hard to get one single wolf on his side. She never did understand his needs. She wanted to too. She so wanted to understand everything.
“I will be fine, my dear.” He started to walk back up the steps, but she stopped him on the second one.
“You are risking too much Devish for just a single Moonwalker. You are doing too much. I think you are listening to the Seer too much too.”
He bowed his eyes. “You believe I am doing this for nothing, is that it?” He turned back around and faced her. “You believe that he is one simple Walker—just like all of the others.” He stepped down one single step.
She watched him closely. “I know of his ability to live through silver Devish. I know of his longevity, but I do not know why you fight so hard to get him.”
He did laugh some, but it sounded too soft to be genuine.
She recognized it too.
“He is more to me than a simple, average Moonwalker Rana. He is so much more than immune to our weaknesses. He is so much more than his ability to heal from all wounds. He is much more than all of the armies of the others like him that he can create. He is more to me than all of those things.”
She heard true eagerness in his voice. She also heard sadness there too. He did want him for something else, but she couldn’t place the sound in his voice. In a way, it sounded like regret, but she couldn’t be sure. He never regretted anything in his life, at least as far as she knew it.
“What if he does not wish to join you?” she asked her next thought instead.
He now smiled firmly, as he looked down at the face of the child. “He will because he has lost this.” He looked back up to Rana. “He will because he lost his wife. He has lost his mother and father. He has lost his homes. He has lost his chance of living with humans. He will join me because I am the only thing he has left.”
She watched him turn from her and finish climbing the steps. She then watched him head back inside the home. Now alone, she thought hard about everything she just heard and it only made her mind feel numb by everything at once. He is hiding something from me. I can feel it. She turned back to the front gate of the wall, and looked through it to the trees across a short field. Somewhere out there, Rochie was living. He was thinking of her, and now with what Devish thought, she, for the first time, felt alone. She truly missed her family and her life. So much had changed since that day she left him. So much had changed since that day that Rochie did what he did to their father. So much had changed, and now, she finally felt it. She finally lived it too. Feeling this, she looked inside herself, trying to find the answers to all of her questions, but unfortunately, what she found was something that she always did. There was nothing there. The blackness was nearly blinding. She didn’t possess such a gift, but she did know of one that did. The Seer of Golan knows what is happening here. She knows what he is up to and why he needs this black wolf. She also knew something else too. She will not tell me what she is doing. She is too gifted for that. But there was more. I am going to have to put an end to this. I am going to have to do it before it destroys all of us. She thought about the child. She thought about the black wolf. Devish wants him by his side. He wants his gifts. It made sense with what she knew. This will never end if he does win him. I will have to finish this by getting rid of the two things that have set this in motion. I have to get rid of the Seer and the child. Only then will everything happen the way it should. She decided so quickly that it even surprised her some with its speed.
She turned from the gate and the world behind it, and headed back up the stairs. She headed straight to the room where they kept her locked up like an animal.
She walked inside.
She already knew that she was coming. “Lady Rana, welcome to my little cage.” The Seer kept her head flat on the bed. She kept her eyes looking up.
Rana walked to the foot of the bed. “What is the game you are playing with this, with him?” She got straight to the point. She had nothing to lose.
The Seer now did look up to her and their eyes met. “I am playing no game here Rana. I am only trying to live.”
She laughed with this. “No you are not.” She left the foot of the bed and made her way to her left side. Standing over her, she looked down. “Unlike many here, I see you for what you are. I see the truth behind your words.”
The Seer now laughed. Hers came out halfhearted and nearly sounded empty. “You do see much more than the others ever did.”
“That is why you are not going to continue with it. I am not going to let you get what you want.” She knelt down to her knees. She kept her stare. “You are hoping that when he gets what he is looking for that he will kill you but he will not do it. He will not give you your most wanted gift.” The smell of waste grew so strong with her this close to her that it took everything she had to keep herself from gagging in it. She still did control it. The Seer was right. She was far more gifted than many others ever were.
The Seer’s eyes filled with tears with hearing this. She knew that she was right. Devish would never let her go. He would never let her die. As for Rana, she now felt something else. She knew something. She knew what she was going to do, but she had to have her say it. She had to let her make the choice. The future was always in motion, and much of that motion happened with a simple choice. Without it, nothing would happen. The world would end.
“What do you want of me Lady Rana?”
Rana moved to her shackles. They were clasped with a simple pin that held them in place, so with both hands, with her thumb and forefinger, she popped out the pin. The shackle fell to the bed as her hand came free from it.
Feeling it let go, she now started to cry. The burning of it stopped cold.
“There is a child in a room off of this one. You are taking it with you.”
She stood up and made her way to the other side of the bed, around the foot, and did the same thing to her other arm.
With both hands free again, she sat up.
“Why are you doing this Lady Rana? What game are you playing?” She already knew the answer to this, because like all things, she did se
e it. Rana too wanted this war to end. Unlike the humans, unlike the Walkers, unlike her own brother, she didn’t care who won it. She just wanted to go home.
Rana walked back to the door. She didn’t stop, opened it again, and left the room without saying anything else.
She just headed back down the hallway, and headed back down the stairs. She had a fight to plan for, and it was time to get to it. It was the only thing on her mind.
As for the Seer, she felt right again, but it wasn’t the freedom. It wasn’t the empty wrists. Everything was going according to plan. She was just surprised that Rana set the rest of this in motion, and not the one she thought it was going to be.
41
They brought him to a tent towards the center of the camp. They took him to the center tent and weighted his hands down with heavy silver chains. They did the same thing to his ankles. With all of his limbs clasped and tight, he fell down to his knees. It wasn’t the weight of the moon metal that did it. His sadness felt heavier on his shoulders than anything ever could.
Watching him with the chains on, Donte felt them as hopeless as anything they ever had. He knew the full truth of this wolf and everything he could do.
Rochie felt somewhat in awe still.
Kenar felt ashamed. “You do not need to keep him like this.” He turned back to Jameson, who stayed at the door of the tent.
“We cannot risk him not to be.” He felt nothing at all.
“For what good it will do anyway.” Disgusted with all of this, he preferred to kill the thing, Donte turned and passed his king back outside. He left the tent.
“He may be right Kenar.” Jameson understood his friend’s feelings entirely. It was still too dangerous to keep the thing alive like this. His men may have surrounded him, but it also meant that they had one of them inside their sanctuary. He didn’t like that thought at all.
A Werewolf's Saga, The Beginning (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets Book 3) Page 46
