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

by Michael Lampman

  He turned back to Melinda. “Now!”

  The Nightwalkers charged. They ran to the right of the humans and turned into a sight of nothing but a blurred mass.

  The humans didn’t expect this, and it showed by what happened next.

  37

  Donte watched the wolves regroup to his right. Seeing this, he turned to Mantha on his left. “What are they up to?” he asked. He didn’t have a clue himself.

  Mantha didn’t either, but before he could question this to Donte, he watched the wolves then begin running to his right. They looked like they were flanking their lines, trying to get around them to their rear. If this were true, then Jameson and the Wanderers would be in danger behind them. Their entire line could also be breached from behind. It was a cunning move, but it still surprised him some with seeing it too. He didn’t think that the wolves had it in them to make such a calculated move.

  “They are flanking us, trying to breach the line from behind!”

  Donte agreed. “We must turn and meet them. We cannot let them get behind us.” He turned back to his men. “Pivot and turn to them!” he screamed out.

  Everyone did as they heard him. Collectively, they all turned right.

  Donte watched them, and when he saw them ready, he called, “Charge them!”

  All of the horses kicked high. The riders pushed them hard.

  The humans rode directly at the side of the mass of wolves.

  Seeing the wolves not turning only made Donte more confirmed in his thoughts. They could take all of them at their side.

  “Give them hell my brothers and sisters!”

  The riders kicked their steeds with everything they had in them.

  The horses moved harder and ran faster, and they didn’t slow down until they smashed in to the wolves.

  Even more of them were cut down in the waves. Some of the wolves were trampled hard from their sides. The entire lot of them buckled and went down.

  “We have them Donte. We have them…” Mantha saw them; he saw them going down and being slaughtered by the dozens, so he turned back to his young friend. He felt victorious, was about to announce it, but saw a blur of movement out and behind them. Having lived through this war for all of the years that he had, he knew what the blur was, and more importantly, who had caused it. “Nightwalkers are moving to our left.” He looked to his left and saw the Wanderers gathered with their king. “They are attacking Jameson!”

  Donte turned, saw the blur as it turned into several dozens of Nightwalkers, and watched them as they crashed in to Jameson and his guards. This was terrifying enough, but he also noticed that they weren’t concentrating on his friend and king. In fact, they were moving at the Wanderers. He knew why. He knew that the battle could change in a heartbeat’s worth of time and death if they managed to take them out.

  Without their gifts, the fight and the very war itself could be lost in one lofty charge.

  38

  Sima came into the foyer, and knew exactly who Rana was. She knew where she was, and ran to her without stopping.

  As for Rana, she felt more than shocked with seeing the child again, she felt astonished. She had grown. She had become a young woman. She couldn’t believe how big she was. She didn’t know how she knew this. She had never seen her before.

  Sima ran to her and knelt down in front of her. Instantly, she felt her mind. She felt the shade covering it, and truly felt saddened with all of it.

  “I am sorry my lady Rana that you have had to put up with what has been done.” She locked her eyes on to hers. “But I can change this.” And they glinted. They sparkled. They glowed.

  Rana saw them shine directly into her mind and deep into her soul. Within seconds, she felt a calming serenity blow through her almost like a cool breeze caressed her face on a hot summer evening. Within another second, her mind cleared. She saw Devish. She felt the sting of pain as something was plunged through her back. She felt Elizabeth there behind her. She saw Kalima and the tears in his eyes. She saw his love. She saw his forgiveness. Seeing everything, feeling everything, her eyes watered over and spilled all of her fears right out with them. She then shook her head.

  Sima kept her face as light and as open as she could. “You have been lifted.”

  Rana saw the look. She saw her eyes slowly fade. She knew what happened, but didn’t, couldn’t, understand how she did it. “What did you do to me?” She returned the enlightened look. She felt so relaxed that it was hard to explain how she really felt. She felt like a great weight had been lifted off her heart. She felt free again.

  Sima looked at the rope holding her hands to the banister and sighed. “I have only given you back what you needed to see.” She reached up and untied them with both small hands. Finished, she looked at her shoulder and again, she sighed.

  Rana took turns with rubbing her wrists. She hadn’t been tied long, they didn’t hurt as much as they should have hurt, but it was still nice being free. She loved the feeling of having both her body and mind as hers again.

  “Is that your gift? Is that your power? You can clear people?”

  “I can do many things. I can stop all of those who can do things from doing them.” Sima reached up and quickly pulled the needle out from Rana’s back.

  She flinched some as she felt it removed from her shoulder. Once it was gone, she felt even better. She could now also feel her own power coming through her again.

  Finished with everything, Sima knelt back down to her knees. “Are you better?”

  Rana did too. With the shock of everything, she had just witnessed fading out; she knew that they were still in very grave danger. They had to get out of there. She had to get Sima out of there too before Devish saw her. She had to protect her from him. She had to make sure that she did this for Kalima. She couldn’t hurt him.

  “We must get out of here.” She stood up.

  “I cannot go with you Rana. I am here to fulfill my destiny.” Obviously, Sima had other ideas.

  Rana again didn’t understand any of this. “You have to come with me. I have to get you out of here before Devish sees you. I cannot allow him to use you against your father.”

  Sima shook her head with a calmness that was hard to explain. She just looked so serene that it made her look surreal. She didn’t look like a figment of truth.

  “That is not my destiny. I must go and find my father. I must be with him. I must do what I need to do. I have to make the sure that the end times happen as it should.” She moved past Rana and climbed the first step.

  Rana grabbed her forcefully with a firm yet gentle grip as she reached the second step. “I cannot let you go in there Sima. It is too dangerous.”

  Sima gave her a gentle nod, and slowly removed her fingers from her arm. She also did this as gentle as she could.

  Surprisingly, Rana did let her go.

  “Why…you must tell me why?”

  Sima looked up, as a loud and thunderous crash flared out through the castle’s hallways above them. It sounded like a wall had just been torn down. The feeling of the earth shaking followed the sound. After it, she looked back down, and again, their eyes met.

  “This is the end for me. Your child is the truth. It is the one who will set this world back into balance.”

  Rana couldn’t believe what she just heard. “My child?” she had to ask, and then had to add, “I cannot have children. I am a Wanderer.” She was right. No Wanderer, like her made Walker female counterparts could ever bear children. They were infertile. They could never conceive.

  Again, Sima didn’t agree, and she showed this with another soft and graceful smile. “You will Rana. My father will give you the one. He will give you the Trinity.”

  Again, her eyes exploded over her face. They even made her skin hurt some.

  Sima saw her shock and understood it, but it was time. It was time for her to go. “You will understand all of this in time Rana. A long time from now, all will make sense.”

  She turned from Rana a
nd continued up the stairs. She followed the sounds of her father’s interior voice, until she found the room. She continued until she found him again.

  Rana watched her, and seeing what she did, the shock of everything vanished quickly from her mind. With it clear again, she realized that she had to follow her. She had to do something, so she ran up the stairs behind her.

  She followed her into the room.

  39

  The Walkers came.

  The vampires gashed into the horses seemingly coming out of nowhere all at once. They also seemed to ignore Jameson and his guards. They went straight to Kenar and to the other Wanderers.

  Kenar didn’t see anything until his horse screamed out with an ear shattering bellow that broke the air. The animal lifted up, and spilled him down to the ground behind him and he fell on his back with a thundering pain. The animal suffered a whole lot more. Its neck was gashed out just beneath its head in three long strokes that went so deep that it reached to the bones of the neck.

  Now lying on his back, Kenar had to lie there for a moment. The wind had been knocked out of him. He couldn’t breathe.

  Seeing him down, Shelley tried to move her horse over to him, but her animal didn’t fare any better. It too was struck down with a mighty blast that instantly killed the animal before it even hit the ground. She too was spilled down, along with Devin who was sitting behind her. Both of them went down equally hard.

  Shelley managed to roll over and avoided the horse, while Devin wasn’t so lucky.

  The animal came down fast and brutally on top of his legs. It pinned him just beneath the animal’s back legs. He bellowed in agony as he felt a sharpness erupt through both of them just before they went completely limp. Then, he felt no pain. That scared him the most. He didn’t know what it meant but knew that it couldn’t be good.

  Shelley quickly regained her footing. It helped that she rolled over to her knees. Now, she just had to find her bearings. She looked back behind her and saw the animal on its side. She saw poor Devin lying beneath it in obvious pain, and just as obviously injured. She went for him, but didn’t reach him as a blur appeared instantly in front of her, and showed itself as being a woman with the brightest red eyes she had ever seen.

  The Nightwalker didn’t stay for long. She just swiped before she vanished again.

  Shelley felt a blow of heat race to her face before she felt any real pain. When it did come, she immediately felt dizzy. She reached up to the area on her face, felt for her forehead above both eyes, and felt a warmth oozing feeling covering it from her hairline to her nose. Within this warmth, which she suspected was blood, she felt nothing else but a hardness that had to be bone. Where the skin went she couldn’t tell. She was lucky to be able to notice this much.

  Kenar caught his breaths, and turned to the sound of Devin’s scream. He saw Shelley as she was struck by the Nightwalker, and saw in through her mind. He saw what she saw. He saw the beginning of the fading and knew what it meant. She was dying. She just didn’t know it yet.

  He found his knees and pulled himself back, and with them firmly beneath him, he stood up. He rushed to her quickly.

  The blur came again, and this time he felt them as they came to him. He saw his face. He saw his thoughts and knew who it was.

  “Vincent!” He reached out to his left with a raised right arm.

  The blur came and struck his arm awkwardly, and stopped.

  He didn’t hit him hard, and actually meant to stop.

  “Kenar you fool.” Vincent grinned, showing his fangs. His white hair almost seemed to glisten in the strong moonlight over all of them. His teeth did the same thing.

  Kenar stared him down. Seeing him real for the first time, seeing all of this bloodshed with his own eyes and not those of a wolf’s, he preferred the wolf’s eyes, he truly felt sickened. With human eyes, he saw all of the colors and messiness of death. With the wolf, he just saw the colors of their lives fade, and now, he missed it so much as it forced him to see the truth. It forced him to see real death.

  “I should have known that you would be the one doing this.” He saw Shelley drop down to her knees. He continued seeing her life fading away to a nothingness of blackness that wanted to consume her mind. He wanted to get to her. He wanted to help her if he could, but knew that he never would again.

  Vincent bowed. He always admired the times he knew of Kenar from the old days back before the war. He didn’t know him well, but he of course he knew of his gifts. He shared them after all like so few ever did.

  Another blur formed into the face of a young man stopping behind Vincent.

  Kenar felt another one form behind him.

  Behind Vincent and the second Nightwalker, he could see the shadows of the battle between the humans and the Moonwalkers a good distance from him across the field. If any of them were going to come and help him, they were too far away to do any good.

  As for Jameson and his guards, they just stayed on their horses and surrounded him maybe twenty feet to his right. They were more focused on protecting their king, which he believed they should do.

  Seeing all of this, he knew he was now completely alone with dealing with this. Being that his gifts were only those of reading the mind and nothing more powerful than this, this was a very dangerous thing in deed. In fact, his own death was only now a heartbeat away.

  That was until a woman’s voice carried itself strongly inside his mind. He heard Sharlia speaking to him and it made him gush. What she said to him, it also made him completely relieved.

  Do not worry my friend. We have come.

  Four new blurs of movement came up behind all of them on his left and stopped.

  Sharlia, Michael, and two other Nightwalkers joined them just at the head of Kenar’s now dead horse.

  Vincent turned to them as all of them did. In fact, he looked first.

  Kenar knew why. Michael’s voice was as clear as day.

  “What?” Vincent asked him quickly. He couldn’t believe what he just heard and needed clarification for it. He just couldn’t have heard him right. It didn’t make sense.

  Michael was as adamant as ever. “You heard me my friend. We are to stop this fight.” He looked at all of the other Nightwalkers as they all stopped around them. Even the Moonwalkers on the other side of the formation of humans stopped fighting.

  As for the humans, they just stopped cold, and looked at each other with wide eyes.

  Jameson saw this, and broke out from the circle of people protecting him and rode to Kenar. He saw Sharlia with them, couldn’t believe what he saw, but loved it all the same.

  Vincent however didn’t. “You want us to stop fighting?” He looked back and saw Jameson joy them. He turned to his left and saw the humans all turn towards them too. He also saw all of his people likewise stop and turn. Michael’s voice carried to all of them, he knew that now, but he didn’t want to believe it. He needed a lot more than what he just heard. “How can you do this? How can you do it to them?”

  Michael stared him down, and then looked at everyone else with him. He knew he had a tall task on his hands. They all needed to be convinced. He had to get to it.

  Kenar would let him and Sharlia do the rest. All he wanted was to get to Shelley’s side. He didn’t hesitate after this thought, and rushed to her.

  She was on her knees, and her face had already gone pale. She was still alive. He didn’t know how much longer she would be.

  He took her in both arms by the shoulders and held her so he could see her face.

  She didn’t have one from the eyes up. Blood covered her everywhere. It had even draped her eyes. She couldn’t see him but she knew he was there.

  “I am sorry Kenar. I did my best.” She felt like crying but didn’t. She felt too stunned for any tears. She felt too far-gone for any real emotions at all.

  “I know you did. You did wonderfully.” He did his best with helping to ease her mind. He tried to keep her calm.

  She knew he was humoring h
er, and let him do it. She had more important things to tell him. She couldn’t let things end this way.

  “You must kill me Kenar. You must end my life and not let the beast be the one to do it.” She tried to see him but gave up trying. Her mind had already started fading, and it was only the matter of time before she would be gone forever. She had to keep herself there before the end took her.

  He shook his head. “I do not understand. I cannot be the one to take you from this plain. You will come back again.” This was all he knew. This was all he felt.

  She started shaking. She couldn’t stop it. “You do not understand.” She felt her body growing weaker with every breath. Again, she didn’t have the time to explain this, so instead, knowing him and his gifts, she let him see it instead.

  He watched her, and heard her voice echoing around inside his mind. He then saw a young woman, Chandy, but never knew her, standing to her left. Shelley had met her during her travels with the humans in the south. She and Chandy became fast friends. She was a Wanderer like her, but she could control the winds. Shelley could just form lightning then. He never knew this, but now with her memories, he did.

  The Walkers attacked them near a gap in the great central mountains of the northern peninsula and with their human companions; they were slaughtered by the hundreds. Only a few remained as they forced them in to a tight bottleneck of two large and imposing cliffs, and there, they made their last stand. Only she and Chandy fought them to save the humans from complete death. Chandy however was not so lucky. A Moonwalker had cut her down with a lucky strike. When they had fought them off, using her lightning gifts to shatter one of the mountain’s walls on top of them, Chandy told her a secret about the Wanderers. They all possessed the gift of being absorbed by another Wanderer. The gift came with a terrible curse. In order to absorb another’s gifts, the one who took them would have to be the one to end the life of the one that gave it to them. They had to be the one to kill them in the end. They could then take their gifts and use them as their own. In the process, the Wanderer that gave them would no longer be reborn, but would join the flames and move on to the place where the humans went after death.