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

by Michael Lampman

  “I am sorry my friend.” She moved around him and faced him head on.

  He turned his head back to hers after having to look away to think about all of this. Their eyes now met.

  His were burning like the sun.

  “Will you join me? Will you join with the humans?”

  His red eyes never blinked. “I will fight with you Sharlia. I will fight to end this war. I will fight to end him.”

  She smiled hard with this. She also felt relieved.

  Rana couldn’t believe what she had just heard. “You are all traitors.” She left the staircase and made her way down them as her blue eyes were now flaring. She felt angry. She felt confused. She felt downright pissed off to think straight. “How could you do this to him, after everything he has done for you?” Her voice hissed. When she became angry like this, she couldn’t help her voice from going high in pitch, as it was doing now.

  Both Sharlia and Michael turned up to her at the same time. Only Sharlia expected to see her.

  “My lady Rana.” She bowed only her head ever so slowly to her. Inside her mind, she kept her thoughts simple. She couldn’t give away anything she already knew. The Seer taught her this too. The best way for someone not trained in the art of blocking out a mind reader was simply do not think. Give them nothing to see, and thus they have nothing to read. “It is good to see you again.”

  Rana saw nothing but blankness in her mind. She knew why. She was trying to keep her from seeing her thoughts. This didn’t bother her much. She already knew what all of this was about.

  “How dare you come here and pay me such a lack of respect. How dare you come here and give nothing to your master.”

  Michael saw only his rage for Devish. He saw only the deep redness of that rage. He wasn’t trying to block her. When anger flew inside his head, it happened all by its self.

  Rana could see nothing in him either but that deep red color emanating from his heart. He didn’t matter to her either. All she knew was that she had two traitors in front of her. All she had to do was to keep them there and let others do to them what now had to be done.

  “Devish will know what to do with you.” She gripped them within her mind.

  Both Sharlia and Michael froze instantly where they stood. They couldn’t move. They couldn’t even blink.

  Sharlia knew it was time.

  “Do it now!” she screamed.

  Two Nightwalkers, friends of hers from the old days, came out from the shadows beneath the stairs. One of them, Margaret Lowe, a former member of her once powerful and proud family and still was, carried with her a long four-inch long sowing needle in her left hand. She led with it, and quickly moved it to Rana’s left shoulder. She stuck her with it before she even had the chance to turn around and see it coming. The needle, round enough not to cause her any permanent damage, was just big enough to drop her power down.

  She screamed with the pain. Her blue eyes faded. She fell to her knees.

  Free, Sharlia moved to her and knelt down in front of her. She took her by the shoulders and held her face to hers. She did it to keep her from striking the floor. She deserved so much more than this. Rochie would have it no other way.

  Rana watched her closely. “How did you know how to fight this?” She tried to keep breathing. She fought hard to keep awake. The needle had already started to turn cold inside her flesh. It was an odd feeling. One that she didn’t expect. She expected more pain than the cold.

  Sharlia didn’t enjoy this at all. “The Seer told me many things about you, including your weaknesses.” As she answered her, the sound of a roaring fight was coming from above the stairs. The sounds of a deep howl came after a thudding bang. She knew what it meant. The fight has begun.

  Rana dropped her eyes. She of course knew about the Seer but she had never met her before. She took Sharlia for her word. “What are you planning to do with me? I suppose you will kill me now.” She did know this. It seemed like the logical next step. She would do it if she were in her shoes.

  Sharlia shook her head.

  Michael had no such thoughts. “That sounds like a good idea to me.” He rushed in, letting his fangs protrude from his upper mouth, while his red eyes sharpened onto hers. He even had his claws exposed on his fingertips.

  Sharlia spun around and stopped him before he reached her throat.

  “We cannot harm her, my friend. We need to keep her alive.” She saw his face. “It is the price for Rochie. It is a part of the deal that we have struck.”

  He didn’t agree. “If we allow her to live, Devish will have her strength. She must die.”

  Again, she felt sorry for him. Also again, there was so much more happening than this. “I know how you feel my friend, but we must prove our strength with the humans. We must prove to them that we can still our nerves. We have the strength to balance the animal inside all of us.”

  He could agree with this. Still, he so wanted to kill Devish’s pet. He would have loved seeing his face when he learned of her death. However, Sharlia was right. In thinking about what she had done, if she had struck a deal with the humans, he too would have to keep to their honor. He respected her word, as much as he did with his own.

  Outside the walls, the sounds of hissing and a roaring blast blared around the castle’s keep. The sounds of a great battle had begun.

  Sharlia heard it and knew that it had started. She also knew what they had to do. “We must go out and speak with the others. We must stop them from fighting.” She stood up and pulled him with her to their feet. “They will listen to the both of us if we stand together Michael. They will agree to this, if we do.”

  He calmed down even more, still locking his eyes onto Rana. Seeing the needle sticking out of her back, he couldn’t help but wonder with all of it. I have never known how to keep a Wanderer from using their powers, but now I do. The idea blew his mind. Oh, the things he could have done if he had known of such a thing.

  Sharlia could now hear screams, human, Walker, or otherwise, now blaring around the Keep’s walls. We have run out of time. Those sounds told her.

  “We must do this Michael. Do you stand beside me as a friend? Will you stand with me and the humans?” She had to know. So much was riding on his answer. The world was about to turn.

  He turned to her and took a heavyhearted breath. “I will stand with you and our kind, my lady. I will try.” He also knew that there was more to it than this. “Many will join us, but more will come to our side if we agree not to kill him. We must not kill Devish.” Hearing himself saying this, he held his heart. In fact, he nearly choked on it some. He couldn’t believe what he just said. For him, he would love to kill the monster and end his life forever, but he knew better than this. If he was going to lead the Walkers with Sharlia, he had to remain practical. He had to stay diplomatic. He was right too. Many Walkers would join them regardless, but many, many more would not if it meant the end to the one they had looked up to over all of these years. Some wouldn’t join them simply because of a remaining level of respect for him, but most wouldn’t simply because he was the last of their kind. He knew this, and so she should too.

  “The humans may not agree with that?” She had to point out.

  He nodded. “We will have to convince them that it is in their best interests to do so. He has been their god for a lifetime’s journey. For a Walker that lifetime is greater than time itself.”

  She agreed with him. “We will do what we must do.” She turned and looked back to the front door on her left. Even though it remained closed, she could still hear the world hurting outside through it. Knowing this, she looked back to her two friends still standing behind Rana. Something had to be done with her. She had to remain there. “Clasp her hands to the stairs. Keep her injured. Keep her out of this fight.”

  Margaret obviously didn’t agree with this. She shook her head and pouted with it. Even still, she did what she asked her. This was not her place to argue with her master. It never was and it never would be.
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  Sharlia watched her and George move to Rana. She watched them take the ropes they carried from behind them, and wrap them around her hands. She then watched them pull her over to the stairs.

  They wrapped the rope around the banister of the bottom step and made sure her hands were tightly bound to it. When they finished, they both stood back up and faced her.

  Sharlia felt content, turned back to Michael, and gave him a solemn nod. “We do this together my friend. We will change the world as one.”

  He nodded.

  Together the four of them flew to the door, opened it, and rushed outside.

  The final battle of the war, on the night that would become known as the End Times, had just begun. The fate of the world was now at hand.

  32

  The humans charged with their horses and riders first. A great line of them rode across the fields. Those on foot, about half of their total strength, ran behind them carrying heavy axes and broad swords with both hands. So did those on the horses. All came fast and hard.

  Jameson rode too, but kept behind the foot soldiers.

  Mantha, one of Jameson’s father’s closest friends, joined Donte at the center of the line.

  Rochie kept Kenar with him on his horse. Shelley and Devin rode together with them. They stayed back from the lines. There they could use their powers more accurately. They needed to see the danger before it came. In some ways, including the beliefs of the humans, they were just as valuable as the king was his self.

  The wolves came at them first. Three great waves left the walls and flooded out in to the field. One group stayed in the center, while the other two flanked their lines.

  The Shades all came down in large arrow formations.

  The Nightwalkers stayed in the rear, closer to the walls.

  Seeing this tactic, the humans expected it. When they came to within a few dozen yards, they split off into four rows of four groups. The outer riders curved back, and formed into something that looked like diamonds flying across the fields. They could now easily handle the wolves attacking them from all sides. At least this was what they hoped to happen. With Devish, anything was possible. He might have seen their plans of the attack from their own thoughts. Hell, he could have heard everything.

  Jameson knew this, but when he saw the wolves fan out and turn to his flanks, he felt pleased. At least it looked like they were falling at them the way he wanted them to. He could only hope it would continue the way it was.

  The wolves came in hard. They smashed the diamonds from the sides.

  The humans swung their axes. They swiped with their swords. They gashed the wolves’ lines.

  Blood flew. Heads literally rolled. All that was left in their wake were headless human remains.

  The human foot soldiers stopped.

  Rochie and Kenar did too.

  “It is working Rochie. They are taking to the formation.” This was what they had planned. It was their intentions, and the reason for having Kalima head in first. He could even see it through Devish’s own eyes. The black wolf was fighting him. They swung at one another with the utmost power and violence. With it all, he knew that Devish was distracted just enough for this to work.

  Rochie watched it, when suddenly, deep inside his mind, he heard a woman’s scream echo around in his thoughts. She came out of nowhere, and he knew instantly who she was.

  “Rana? Rana is in pain.” He could feel it. He could see blood on her hands as she was obviously looking down at them with her own eyes. He could feel a coolness coming from her shoulder, just above her left arm. With it, within her own thoughts he could see who did it. Sharlia and Michael were there. Two others, a male and a female were with them. He felt her anger for this. He knew it would happen, after all, he knew everything that Sharlia did, but it still hurt him. It still flared through his heart and devastated his very soul.

  Kenar understood his pain for this. He understood his friend, but there was a lot more at stake than just them. “You knew that this had to happen, my friend. She promised that she would not cause permanent damage to her. She was too dangerous to be left with her full power like that. We had to do it. It was for her own good.” He still felt he needed to say this, so he did.

  Rochie already understood, but he also thought of something else. “Maybe we misunderstood what happened to her. Maybe I got it wrong.” Why else would she speak to him, call to him, as she just did. If she was against them again, if Devish did do to her what they thought he did, why would she want him. It just hurt his mind even more than it now already did.

  Kenar shook his head. “You saw it yourself Rochie. She may be trying to get you to come to her.” He also believed in something else. “She is trying to get your sympathy. You must not listen to her. You must let this take its course.”

  Rochie shook his head. Her screaming flared again inside his thoughts. They seemed to smash around inside his skull like a thousand hammers banging inside him all at once. It was a very powerful feeling.

  “She is calling for my help Kenar.” He looked down at the mane of the horse, and watched it slightly blow in the nighttime breeze. “I cannot just sit here, even though I know I should.” He now felt torn. Kenar was right. This was what they had planned, but now seeing it, feeling it, he just couldn’t help but to feel for her too. She was his sister after all. With his parents gone from this world, she was all that he had left.

  Again, Kenar could agree with him, but this was neither the time nor the place for such feelings. They all had a job to do. “You must not let her take you away from what you need to do. We have to keep to the plan. You cannot interfere with this.”

  Again, Rochie shook his head. “I must go to her, and protect her. I have to make sure she is all right.” He turned back to his friend. He saw his eyes sparkling with their overpowering blue haze directly in to his. He saw his doubt for him. He saw his confusion. He felt it all inside himself. “I am sorry, but I have to do this. As long as she is in there alone, and in pain, I will not be able to do anything else.”

  Kenar hated hearing this, he hated seeing it inside his friend, but at the same time, and yet again, he did understand his needs. Who wouldn’t?

  Rochie saw the acceptance of this inside his eyes. “I promise you that I will not let her out of the pain. I promise to only keep her safe.” He needed to say this, but he also knew that once he was there with her, feeling her next to him, and seeing that very pain written all over her beautiful face, he may not be able to keep his own promises. He after all knew himself.

  So did Kenar, but then again, he understood something else about his friend. He was stronger than he ever thought he was himself.

  “Very well, go and keep her safe. I will stay here and fight.”

  Rochie smiled ear to ear, as tears swamped his eyes. “I will do what I can from the inside.”

  Kenar knew this was meant for his own feelings of doubt. He was feeling it, but only agreed and left it at that.

  Rochie looked back to the field. He saw the blood. He saw all of the death. They were between him and the walls of the castle, but they looked massed in the center of it. It meant that he could either go left or right, and make it around the slaughter undetected. It would give him a chance.

  Kenar saw all of this as he climbed down from the horse.

  Rochie turned to him when he was safely back on his feet. “I will do what I can to help.” He gave him a final nod, not sure, if this was going to be the last time he would see his friend or not. With everything happening, with death on the air, anything was possible. He hoped he would see him, but deep inside, he just wasn’t sure.

  Kenar winked to him, and gave the horse a swift smack to its left backside.

  The horse obviously didn’t like it, and turned and started off.

  It did it before Rochie could say anything else.

  He just rode to his left, the way the horse went all by itself, and headed to the deep shadows towards the walls. He rode on until he reached it, and
when he did, he stopped.

  During the entire ride, which took a cool ten minutes at full gallop, he thought of only Rana. He now didn’t know what he was going to see. He didn’t know what he was going to feel. He just went completely on instinct.

  He climbed down off his horse, and slunk along the wall, heading to the only gate he could see. To his right the battle raged. The Nightwalkers had now left the wall and had made their ways out to the mayhem of blood and death. This was good to see. He would have an easier time to get inside, which he then did.

  He entered the courtyard, and there he stopped again.

  Someone else was with him, and he gasped with what he saw and whom she had with her.

  33

  He watched him disappear into the shadows. Just when he saw him gone, a hiss roared out from just above his head.

  A deep dark gray Shade flailed right to him.

  Kenar ducked down. He covered his face. He waited for the pain and the death that he knew would follow what he saw. But, it didn’t come.

  Instead, he heard a loud and reverberating crack that sounded like the snap of a leather whip right by his head. He even felt the air move. He felt a tremendous blast of heat with it.

  He looked back up.

  The Shade was now spiraling, flailing, and obviously hurt.

  He could hear her wail. He could see her flesh scorched. He could feel her utter pain as it raked over her entire body.

  He watched her crash down to the ground, near a small clearing just to his left. He couldn’t believe what just happened, until he turned to his right, feeling someone with him, and saw Shelly with a reverberating grin all over her face.

  “Are you all right Kenar?” she asked him, as the grin dropped. She pulled a free horse over to him and handed him the reins.

  Seeing her thoughts, he now knew what happened. She used her gifts. He saw her blue eyes sparkling. She let lightning take out the Shade.

  “Thank you.” He gave her an equally thankful bow. He climbed his new horse. He sat comfortable on the animal and turned to her. He watched her look back up.