He believed her entirely. “I know.” He looked up to Elizabeth and gave her a subtle nod. “I will need her mind clear of the pain my dear.” He then looked back to his beautiful Rana’s eyes. His went to a deep and overwhelming red.
Elizabeth removed her finger as quickly as she could.
Rana felt the instant release of the pain. She felt her body instantly go limp. It made her fall to the palms of her hands.
She saw his eyes. She heard what he said, but wasn’t sure if she believed him or not. It didn’t matter. After the next minutes—the next seconds, she wouldn’t remember any of this anyway. She would just be what he wanted her to be.
Looking into her eyes, he brought his mind to hers. He locked into it and with it firmly held, he began, “You will not remember Kalima. You will not remember who he is to me. You will obey my wishes. You will obey back to the way you were before he came. He is the one who tried to harm you. He is the one that tried so hard to take you away.”
She looked at him with a blank stare as every word echoed around inside her mind.
He saw this and felt pleased, so he continued, “You will be this. You will live it forever, and if I chose to release you, I will only say one word. You will know it as release.”
She blinked.
He looked up.
Elizabeth admired everything he did, but nothing more than telling her that he was not going to make her love him. This struck her hard. It told her that she still had the chance to win him over to her heart. She could do it now by simply serving him.
Devish finished and stood up.
He raised his right arm. With his left index finger’s nail, he slashed it down over the wrist. Blood instantly flowed from the wound.
He then held the arm over Rana’s left shoulder and chest.
He watched as several drops struck the wound.
He then watched the wound slowly close.
Finished again, he looked back to Elizabeth feeling tired and worn down. “Please remove her to her room and let her rest.” He now intended to do the same thing. “She has much to absorb. She has a lifetime to forget and remember again.”
She bowed, and did what he asked.
He watched her leave with Rana, and turned back to the chair. He sat down on it with an overwhelmingly heavy mind and heart.
It was time to rest for the coming fight that he now knew was on its way.
22
Rochie rode with Kenar sitting on the horse behind him. They stayed with Shelley who rode with Devin. All of them rode with Jameson and Donte. He asked them to stay close to him, so they did. It felt like old times again. Whatever had happened with Jameson, he seemed different. He also looked nervous. He looked like a man about to meet the woman of his dreams for their first date.
The army moved all around them with most of them on horseback, but a few walked. It made the night feel long.
They were approaching the Channel to head across to the island, when Rochie felt the familiar booming feeling inside his head. He knew instantly that it was his sister again. This time it didn’t shock him. It still shook him some.
Kenar felt it too.
Rana? Rochie asked her when the boom stopped. She didn’t answer him. Now this did surprise him some. She never paused after the initial connection. This felt different. “Rana?” this time he spoke her name out loud.
Her shrill scream came next.
It roared. It echoed. It made him shudder. He recognized it as a shattering pain. He could even feel it flaring through his left arm and straight into his chest. It felt like he had just been stabbed. She had been stabbed. He felt it as if it happened to him.
“Rana, oh my dear gods.” He stopped the horse, and caused the column of men behind him to stop too. Most of them were not prepared. Some ran into each other, while others veered off the path to avoid the collision. It did draw all of their attention to him.
Jameson saw it too. “What is it?”
Rochie didn’t hear him. He focused on to her, but there was nothing there. The scream was brief. The pain disappeared as fast as it had come. Instantly, he felt nothing but his own body. He felt his own mind. She was gone so fast.
Kenar saw and felt it too. “His sister Rana has had something very terrible happen to her. She sent it to him. She felt pain. She screamed.” Inside him, inside Rochie, he heard her too. He felt the pain, but he also saw something else. It came as a flash. With his ability to draw out the mind, Kenar focused in on it. He tried hard, and pushed away the haze, which seemed to surround it, and what he saw, it almost made his heart skip a beat.
He saw Devish. He saw his red eyes flare. He saw him speak something that sounded like the word release. He then saw blackness overwhelm her mind. With it all, he knew what it meant.
“She has been blocked by him Rochie. Devish has blocked her mind.”
Rochie heard him but didn’t want to hear him. He just couldn’t believe it. It meant something terrible. It went beyond pain. It went beyond the most horrible things in the world. His sister was gone. Who she was now, he feared her the most.
Kenar agreed. “I understand your hesitation Rochie. I know how this must feel, but there is nothing we can do about this now. We do not even know what he did to her. We can get her back.”
Rochie felt the pain, and knew how it all happened. “He hurt her. He caused her pain and she dropped her guard.” He didn’t know why he said this, but he did.
Kenar knew why. He wanted to know the cause. He wanted to understand how his sister, his powerful sister, could have fallen to Devish so easily. It helped him to understand the helplessness he now felt. It helped to ease his mind if it could, and in fact, it did.
Jameson watched them and felt befuddled beyond words. “He did what to her?” He didn’t understand this—them.
Kenar kept his eyes on his friend. “Those who control the mind can block others. Make them do what they want them to do. They can plant false memories and false hopes. He did to Rochie’s sister what he did to yours, all of those years ago.”
Jameson nodded with this. He did understand that. It made him feel for Rochie like he hasn’t in a long time. The same thing happened to his Lina. He knew how it devastated him. He knew of that particular set of pain. He knew how Rochie now felt.
“I am sorry.” He also knew that they could reverse it, again, as it was done to Lina. “We can change her back. We can find her again.” He tried to reassure him. He didn’t know why he felt the need to do it, but he did it anyway. It was the least that he could do.
Kenar nodded. “Yes. We have to find them and defeat Devish. We have to make him set her right again.”
Rochie knew this too. It just didn’t help him right now. He nodded with this anyway, but said nothing. There was nothing for him to say.
Kenar looked back to Jameson.
Jameson nodded. He didn’t like hearing this, because it meant that he was not going to be able to kill Devish as he wished to do, at least not until he released Rochie’s sister. He was going to have to wait, and that was what he didn’t want to hear. But like all of this, he knew that he didn’t have the choice. Again, the world turned and all moved in the direction that it had to go.
23
They made it across the channel rather quickly. The horses gave them the most trouble. Horses didn’t like water for the most part. They definitely hated boats. It took them several hours before they managed to get all two hundred of them across to Britannia. They rested after they did.
Being this close now, the humans didn’t take where they were lightly. They were not only with in Walker territory, but they were now alone on an island with no easy way to retreat. If Devish attacked them now, he would surely win the battle. With them cut off from escape, he could more than likely win the war. They would be easy to pickoff.
But nothing came.
“We cannot stay here forever Kenar. This does not feel right.” Jameson felt like this for hours now, since they began crossing. They used e
very boat they could find. Many of the human villages along the northern coast of the continent helped them, so mouths would talk about the great human army moving across the water to the island sooner rather than later. Devish would eventually know of this. He felt sure of it.
“We should at least rest before we move on. A tired army is a dead one in the making.” Normally Kenar would have agreed with him, but at the same time, all he could hear was Sima’s voice echoing inside his head and she was telling him to stay patient. She was telling him to remain there. He didn’t know what to think about this, but he did trust her. With this knowledge, he didn’t know how to convey it to Jameson. He would never trust something like this, he was sure of this much.
Rochie agreed with Jameson. “We should keep moving. A moving army is one that cannot be destroyed so easily.”
Jameson looked at him with wide eyes. They were all sitting on a downed log along one of the main roads that led inland and north. Rochie just proved his point.
Shelley sat next to Kenar and Devin was on Rochie’s right. For these two, they said nothing. They continued just to go along for the ride. Sima told them this too. They just didn’t know that she was.
Kenar watched all of them. The sun was starting to come up, so he didn’t fear them being attacked, but at the same time, he wasn’t sure anymore. Nightwalkers could still fight them during the day. They would just be weaker than they were at night. The Moonwalkers had no such limitations, and with their ability to withstand the silver, anything was possible. But of course, there was more to it than that. He just couldn’t shake the young woman’s voice from his head.
“All I am saying is that humans need rest. Walkers do not. It is dangerous moving about like that.”
Donte joined all of them. Oddly enough, he agreed with Kenar. He still didn’t trust him, or them, but he did see where he was coming from. “The blind one is right, my king. The men are tired. They need to rest with the day. They will be of no use to you in a fight if they are not fully rested.”
Kenar turned to the hint of his aura and gave him a simple bow of the head.
Donte did not return it.
“We cannot just sit here and wait. We have to keep going. Now is the perfect time to move with the daylight. We should not be detected by anything now.” Rochie didn’t like this at all. All he could think of was getting to his sister. Nothing else mattered but what happened to her. Everything else was simply mute.
Kenar knew this about his friend too. “She will be all right Rochie. This is not lost. We have the time to set this right again. If we can get to Devish and control him to the point that he will release his grip on her mind, then we will get her back. You have to trust this.”
He scoffed loudly. He was also feeling somewhat mad. He couldn’t believe that Kenar would think of him as this shallow. Things did not always revolve around her. At least this was what he told himself. The truth was far more simpler than that.
Kenar touched his right knee with a firm grip. “I know Rochie. I know.” He gave him a wink.
Rochie just stood up.
Three human soldiers came to his back as he did.
They were Donte’s men, a part of his remaining guards. They looked rushed, and none of them wanted to see it. It meant that Rochie might have been right after all.
“What is it?” Donte felt the same way as his men. The looks on their faces said that they were not alone.
Kenar couldn’t believe how intuitive he really was.
“A man has come to our picket lines.” The first man, the one in the middle said as he stopped. His name was Franklin. He was young but looked worn, just as all of them did. His graying hair was premature. The four scars on his face, two on one side and two on the other made him look worse. He was Donte’s captain, so he obviously spoke for the group.
Kenar knew instantly who this man was. He saw his face with the man’s eyes. He felt completely shocked by it too.
“He has come.” He stood up. My sweet girl, you are so very clever. He now knew why Sima wanted them to wait. She knew her father was coming to them. He couldn’t believe it, but now he didn’t have the choice. She was right. Of course she is.
No one else saw what he did.
“Who is it?” Rochie had to ask.
Jameson stood with Donte.
All of the others turned but stayed seated.
Kenar looked at Jameson. He still wasn’t sure how he was going to react to this, even though he said he would trust the black wolf, he just didn’t know. With this, he had to be prepared for anything.
“The black wolf has come to us.” He swallowed hard after saying this.
Shelley and Devin now stood up.
Rochie looked at Kenar and felt his heart sink.
Jameson flinched some, but just looked straight to his three young men. “Allow him to come to me.” He felt shallow. He felt anxious. He didn’t know what he was going to say or do. He would have to wait until he saw him to know for sure. A part of him did want to do this, but the other part didn’t, just like some wanted to embrace him for what he is, while the other side wanted to just kill him and be done with it. Which side would win out, well that he would have to wait to know for sure?
Donte couldn’t believe what he just heard. “You cannot be serious my king. He is a Walker. He is the reason we have been pushed to the brink.”
They all heard the truth with what he said. He was afraid. He was terrified and it showed.
Jameson took a huge breath. “I need to see him. I need to know.”
Kenar looked at him and wondered aloud, “Know what?” He suddenly felt odd by this. Doing what he normally did in a situation like this, he looked inside Jameson’s thoughts, and surprisingly he found nothing there. He was completely blank. He was dark. This worried him some, but then Sima came inside his mind again.
Do not fear this Kenar. Some things must remain private. You do not need to know this.
Again, he didn’t like this, but he did accept it. He looked back to the coming darkness of the daylight sky.
Rochie couldn’t believe this, but he also wanted to see him. He wanted to talk with him. He wanted to tell him about Rana and about what happened to her. He didn’t know what he thought about him as of yet, but he at least knew what she felt for him, and with this, he believed that he should know the truth. He deserved this much because he also knew that he shared her love.
The three guards looked at each other for only a second, and then nodded to their king. It was not their place to question him, so they didn’t. They just turned and headed back to the outer lines. The king wanted to see him, so they would give him what he wanted.
With them gone, and now waiting, Kenar just stood there.
Donte mumbled to himself.
Shelley and Devin stood stunned.
Rochie stared at Jameson.
Jameson gripped his sword by the hilt as it dangled from his left hip.
Rochie watched him closely. He saw the grip of the handle. He could even see a slight tremble in his arm.
“I hope you saw some good news?” he asked him. He could only imagine what he was expecting to see in Kalima. He knew how much he hated the Walkers, everyone did, but he also knew that it stretched much deeper than what he showed. When Satar took his sister, after killing his father right in front of her, it broke him like he had never seen before. In all of his time being with him, side by side, he never spoke of it, but he didn’t have to. Rochie knew it by the look in his eyes when he killed one of them. He heard it in his voice when he shouted out his pain to it when he struck it down. He saw, felt, heard the pain, the longing, and the overreaching ache that only revenge could cause him. He knows because he felt the same thing when his father forced his hand in killing him. Even though he felt it, even though it was his own father, he could feel that same fling of revenge. He knew the need to take a life for the taking of one closer to you. So, yes, watching him grip the hilt, he saw that same look. He felt that same feeling.
He heard that same moan. Yes, he knew it all too well.
Rochie obviously knew him well. He recognized all of this inside himself, but now there was something else there, and it made it hard for him to understand it. He felt something that he had not felt for some time now that he wasn’t even sure if he knew what it was. The feeling was longing. He felt an overwhelming emptiness in his heart. He missed his sister. He missed his father. He loved both of them, but it had been years since he had felt such a thing, but now, knowing what, no who, was coming he could swear that he was feeling it again. He was feeling it for a Walker, but not an ordinary one at that. This was his sister’s son. This was a part of her. This was also a part of him. It was hard to grasp all of this at once. The hate, the need to have something of her back with him, was all so overwhelming; it struck him harder than he thought it would. Here he was, about to see the person again—an animal that just may be family. He didn’t understand it, and figured that he probably never would.
When that person, that man, came behind his guards, everything he felt suddenly came crashing in all at once. He started crying. His eyes watered right up. He didn’t expect it, and neither did anyone else that saw him do it.
Least of all Kalima, who now stopped right in front of all of them.
He saw the blind Wanderer on the far right. He saw the Rock Thrower on his left. Two humans, one he remembered as being the great king of the humans was in the center and looked like he was crying. The others he didn’t care who they were. Only the blind one seemed to matter to him. Sima told him this much.
“I see that you have come back to the island,” he started with this first. Quite frankly, he didn’t know what to say. This seemed to be just well enough for him.
Rochie watched Jameson cry and thought that at any moment he would draw his sword and go after the wolf. He hoped he wouldn’t but at the same time, he wouldn’t have thought twice about him doing it. When he watched him just stand there and stare at the black wolf, frozen and locked in place, he breathed. He didn’t even seem as if he could move.
A Werewolf's Saga, The Beginning (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets Book 3) Page 62
