“The future has already been set. The choice has been made.”
He saw the Seer’s face—not there with them, but only inside his head. “Who made the choice?”
Sima looked back to the flames. The burning, the endless fire was as strong as ever.
Seeing it, bathing in it, she turned back around. “Rana has made the choice to do what she feels she must. Rochie has chosen to help her with it. You have chosen to keep the past to the past. Both of you and Rochie chose this path. Everything has set the future in motion. Follow what has already been done, and will be done again.”
He heard her name, along with everything else, and could only think of one explanation for this. “He has spoken to her then? He has talked to her about the black wolf—about your father?”
She bowed her blue eyes. “My father’s future is set. He made his choice a long time ago. He continues to make it.”
“What future?” He thought, but said it aloud at the same time. He now hoped to hear the truth of this, even though he didn’t mean to ask her it.
She just turned to the trees behind him. A voice was on the air. It called out from the world beyond the trees. It was a voice that she knew all too well.
“Kenar? Where are you Kenar?”
He heard it too. “Sharlia?” He turned to the trees but only briefly before he turned back to her. As he did, he found her gone. Only the fire was still there. “Sima?” He suddenly felt panicked, and he didn’t know why. He now felt empty. He felt alone. He took a single step to the fire, but then suddenly a cool blast of wind cut at his face. It bounced into his chest and without mercy; it pummeled him from the front as it pushed him back to the trees.
Before he knew anything, the fire vanished.
The trees replaced the darkness.
He opened his eyes and saw nothing there.
12
“Kenar, are you there?” She asked, finding him sitting on the floor in front of the fire at the back wall. He looked like he was a sleep, but somehow she knew he wasn’t. He just seemed to be a thousand miles away.
He opened his eyes. He saw nothing.
She touched his back left shoulder with both hands. “Kenar, are you there?” she asked again, not sure if he could hear her or not. When he turned his head towards her touch, she relaxed. He was there after all. “Are you all right?” She had to make sure.
He felt disjointed. He had just seen the flames. He had just seen the trees. He saw Sima and himself in another time standing by the fire. He saw everything, but now he saw nothing. He didn’t see Sharlia standing over him either. He didn’t see the fire that was still obviously burning right in front of his face. He didn’t see the room they brought him too. He saw nothing, and it meant only one thing. He was blind again. He was back where he started. With it all, he didn’t know what to think about any of this. Was what I saw real, or did I imagine it? It had to real. It felt so right.
“Kenar, are you all right?”
He suddenly felt the need to stand, so he did.
He faced her voice. “I was just there. I saw the flames. I saw her. I saw myself.” He looked to his right, saw nothing obviously, and turned to look left. Again, he saw nothing but blackness. He saw nothing but his own blindness staring him directly in his face.
She nodded with all of this as a blast of a chill flared down her spine. “You did see it. You did go where the Seer sent you. You did do it.” After the meal they shared together, she didn’t eat what the humans ate but she did feed on the blood of it before they cooked it, she asked the Seer about Sima and Kenar. She told her openly that she was going to show him how to head to the flames. Now seeing him returning from them, she didn’t know where to begin with any of this. There was so much to ask. She wanted to know what he saw.
“I did. I was just there.” He turned to his left and took two steps, stopped and came back to face her. In other words, he paced without knowing he was doing it. “I think I was there. It all felt so odd. It all felt so right.”
“What did it look like?”
He shook his head. “The fire stood in the center of the clearing that was surrounded by trees. It burned like no other fire in the world. It looked so bright but it did not hurt my eyes to look in to it. It was beautiful.”
She took in everything. She left no word out. “Who did you see?” There was more. She could see it on his face. She saw it in his eyes.
“I saw Sima, but not as she is now, but as she will be one day.” He looked back to her voice. “I saw myself.” He blinked.
She couldn’t fathom what he must have seen. She only wished she could do it too. “What was it like? What was it like standing there?”
He truly had no words to describe his feelings. It felt too strong to put in to words. It just kept wanting to take his breaths away.
She saw this too, and now, more than ever, she wanted to experience it. She didn’t know if it was possible, but right then she knew that it would forever haunt her to the end of time. She wanted it more than life itself.
He turned towards what he thought was the door as he heard it open. He heard Rochie’s thoughts come into the room.
What he saw inside him also blew him away. “You talked with your sister? You talked with Rana?” It all seemed too good to be true for all of them on this night. All of their questions had answers after all. They just had to come to them, just as Sima told him by the flames.
He now felt rushed. Seeing Sharlia there with Kenar, he just burst out saying what he needed to say. “She told me about the black wolf and what Devish is using to keep the humans from being able to kill the Walkers. She told me everything.”
Sharlia couldn’t bring herself to believe this.
Kenar did. He just saw so much.
“What are they using?” Sharlia wanted to see where this was going. She wanted to know if any of it made sense. She of course knew that the black wolf was special. He was the answer to life and to death, at least according to the Seer. It was time to see if that was real or not.
Rochie couldn’t get the grin off his face. Rana’s voice was still so strong in his memories. He couldn’t help but feel her again, almost like she was standing in the room right then, with them. It made him feel whole again too.
“Devish is using his blood. Apparently, he is able to feed it to them and that is what is making them immune to the metals. Somehow, his blood is nourishing them.”
For Sharlia, this made sense. And so did something else. “Blood wears off eventually. It means that once it does, they will be normal again afterwards. They will need to keep feeding with it. It will wear off and they will become vulnerable again.” She felt strong again. It seemed they had an answer to the greatest riddle after all. It too made her feel complete.
Kenar agreed.
So did Rochie. He had so much more too. “She also told me that Kalima has many doubts about Devish. She believes that she can convince him to fight him—to turn against him. She is going to try.”
“How?” This Sharlia wanted to here.
Kenar wanted it more so than her. “How can she do that?”
Rochie bowed his eyes. He felt for her with this, and it crossed his face with its heavy weight. He knew how bad and tough this was going to be for her. “She is going to tell him about what Devish had done with his daughter. She is going to tell Kalima about how she did it to him too. How she hid her from him.”
Kenar understood his concerns for his sister. He too knew how hard this was going to be. As for him, he felt even more confident that what he heard was now real. He heard it from Sima, and now he heard it from Rochie. It is the black wolf that will change all of this, and not us. The choice has been made. All we have to do is wait for what will happen next. He felt better than ever. The world felt right again.
“We should let her do what she needs to do. We should prepare for this. We should prepare for their next move.”
Rochie felt all of this too. “What are we going to do to help her?” h
e asked. He so wanted to have a good plan in place to do what they had to do. He waited for Kenar’s response. He felt sure it was going to be big. It suited this moment. They needed it and so did she.
Kenar sighed. “We wait. We see what happens next.”
Rochie felt shocked with this. His mouth dropped open as he shrugged. “What?” He just couldn’t believe that that was it. It didn’t make sense. Kenar was bigger than this. “You just want us to sit here and wait to see how things unfold? That does not sound like you Kenar. We cannot just sit here and wait for something to happen. We have to do something to help her.”
Kenar of course understood this inside his friend too. But it was greater than this. It was bigger than any of them—including him. “We have to wait. We have to see what happens. There is nothing else left that we can do. It has to play out as it is meant to be.”
Sharlia agreed with Rochie. She had never heard Kenar say such a thing. He was a mover and a player. He rarely ever sat on the sidelines. It wasn’t his reputation. It wasn’t his style. It was not to her liking.
“Rochie is right Kenar. We cannot just sit here and wait for things to unfold. We must act now. We must do something to help.” Right then, she felt something else too. She cared about Rana, and it sent a shiver down her spine. With everything that happened, she couldn’t believe how far she was now willing to go to help her. Oh, how things have changed?
He looked at both of them. “I know this sounds different, but I have strong information that everything is going to play through this as it should. I can do nothing but wait for it to unfold. When it does, we then act. We then move against Devish.”
Rochie sighed. “I cannot believe this Kenar. I do not understand it.”
Again, he understood this—he understood him. “I know this is difficult for you Rochie, but you must trust me. I know what we have to do. I know this will work out for the best in the end.”
Rochie shrugged heavily.
Sharlia thought she understood. This was moving in a certain direction, and because of it, because of everything that she had seen and done, she knew it was best just to ride along with all of it. Sometimes doing nothing was better than doing everything. Sometimes, you just didn’t have the choice.
They decided.
Kenar looked back towards the heat of the fire.
Rochie continued shaking his head, not sure what to do next.
Sharlia waited for the next stone to fall.
13
“I have been looking for you my friend.” Michael found Kalima making his way back to the main gate just as the sun was starting to head down again for the day. He looked winded. He was covered in sweat. He looked like he spent the entire day working in the fields. He never understood wolves, and right then, knew he never would. He just couldn’t stomach such thoughts or such feelings.
Kalima didn’t stop with his greeting. He just kept walking past him and headed to the field.
Michael used his Nightwalker speed to catch back up to him quickly until they were walking side by side.
“I wish to speak to you, my friend. We have some things to discuss.” He tried to make his voice sound as inviting as ever. It made him sound plastic, almost fake. After all, it was that and more.
Kalima laughed strongly with this. “I am no friend to you Nightwalker. And I do not care to speak of anything with you.” He picked up his stride. They were now almost to the field. From there he would have to get across the open field to get to the gate. A thought he now relished. The sun was still out. The Nightwalker will not like being exposed like that. He could be burned. He could be scorched. He hoped he would keep walking with him.
Seeing the field coming, already feeling some of the heat that was waiting for him as soon as they stepped out into it, Michael grabbed Kalima’s left arm and pulled.
He did stop him.
He even growled. “What do you want Cold-blood?” This was his real name for those like Michael. It was his own little show of contempt for them. He had even more. He hated them for many different reasons, but the main one, the one that bothered him the most about them, was that they simply stunk. They smelled like decay. They smelled of death. To him, and other Moonwalkers like him, the smell was beyond bad. It left a horrible taste in their mouths. It went even deeper than that.
Michael heard the growl and just as quickly as he grabbed his arm, he let it go. At least he stopped.
“I know what you are giving to Devish. I know how we Walkers are now able to withstand the humans’ weapons. I know what you are doing to make it happen. I know about your blood.”
Kalima scoffed. “I do not care what you know.” He turned again.
Michael watched him, felt somewhat panicked with seeing it, so he turned back to something, or he should say someone, that he knew would make him stop.
“I know about you and Rana too.”
It worked. He did stop.
Michael saw his opportunity so he took his chance. “Devish is aware of you and Rana Kalima. He knows about you and your desire to leave with her. He knows everything.”
Kalima bowed his head. He took in everything he heard, and in the end, he didn’t care either way about it.
“I do not care what he thinks.” He looked back up.
Michael saw his eyes. He didn’t see fear. He wasn’t afraid of Devish. He liked him even more now than he did before. He saw how deep his feelings went.
“I would care about Rana if I were you.” He stepped between him and the field and blocked him from it. He faced him head on. “I would care for her and what might happen to her because of it.” He kept his face serious and firm. He couldn’t give away what he was really feeling on the inside. In his heart, he felt proud. He felt calm. He felt that it was only the matter of time before he won Kalima over to his side. Devish would not stand that chance.
He met his stare. “What do you mean by that?” He let his eyes flare to their wolf’s yellow sheen. He did it not by choice. He couldn’t help but feel the wolf’s rage. She did that to him too.
He looked back to the field, but only briefly before he turned back and stared into those yellow eyes.
“Devish does not intend to let you leave him, not with you giving him your blood to keep his Walkers immune to the humans and their weapons. He will not allow her to help you.” He tried not to smile and almost failed with it. One came, but only slightly, before he stopped it and forced his face to go serious again. It was close. He didn’t want to know what would happen if it did.
Kalima did notice it. He also smelled the man’s joy. He heard it in his heart. He saw it in his eyes. The wolf saw many things that no Nightwalker ever could. Seeing, feeling, smelling everything, he knew what Michael was up to, and now knew what he had to do. He was going to play along. He didn’t trust him and wanted to see where this was going. He wanted to know which side he was on. Did he stand with his brother? Did he want information? He just had to see which was which.
“What is it you want from me?”
It was time to play his hand. “I will help you find what you want. I offer you my service.” The knowledge about Rana and what she did to him, well that was for a later time if he needed to play it. Now wasn’t the time, but it could be. He just had to wait and see.
“You wish to help me?” Kalima laughed with this. He couldn’t believe he just heard this. It really was funny. “You offer me your service.”
Michael understood the laugh. Kalima didn’t trust him, he knew that, but trust didn’t matter here. Only what he could get out of him did.
“I will. I always help my friends.”
“We are not friends.” The laugh stopped.
“I know that you do not care for me or for my kind, but I do care about the others.” It was time to get to the point about all of this. “I can feel your displeasure with Devish. It is shared by many more that no longer trust him to do what is best for them. It is time for new leadership of the Elders.” He grew serious himself all too fast.
“It is time for a change to something more equal and sustained.”
Kalima took a deep breath. He felt pleased that what this Nightwalker wanted was now out in the open. He was getting tired of his stench.
“You want me to take out Devish?” He wasn’t entirely surprised with hearing this. He knew his brother was wearing out his welcome with the Elders. Only a blind man could have missed this, and he wasn’t blind. He just didn’t think it would be him they would ask to do it—to take him out. It wasn’t his time, or place to do such a thing. “Why do you not do that yourself, if you wish it?”
“You are the only one who is strong enough to remove him with force. He will not step aside easily. The Elders need this to happen and no one can do it—no one but you.”
Kalima looked down. He didn’t know why he was even thinking about this. He didn’t love his brother, he never would. He didn’t even like him enough to care either way. What he did want was just to be left alone. He wanted to go back home. He wanted Rana to come with him. None of this other stuff, this politics within the clans, made sense to him. It just stunk. He again just didn’t care about any of it.
“No thank you Nightwalker. If you want him then take him yourself. It does not bother me either way.”
Michael felt surprised somewhat with hearing this. He didn’t know the true dynamics between Devish and Kalima enough to know what one would do about the other. Hearing what he was, hearing the contempt Kalima had towards Devish, it only made him feel even more relaxed. He was the one to do the job that was sure, but getting him to do it was going to be harder than he thought. This he didn’t like. It may be time to play his final cards and save his hand before he lost it forever.
“There is more to it than this Kalima. Pain will only follow you if you leave.”
“What does that mean?” Again, this caught his attention. Again, he stared into his eyes.
Again, he tried to stay serious. He tried hard not to remain calm. “Rana could never go with you Kalima. Believing that she will follow you will not happen as you wish it to. She will never leave Devish and you will be forced to stay.”
A Werewolf's Saga, The Beginning (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets Book 3) Page 57
