As the Wolf Howls

by Michael Linford

  ‘I am born of the darkest fire, Majila, one that holds all in eternal damnation. I can unleash it at will and take all it engulfs with me. My word may mean nothing to you, but it is always to be obeyed. You have offended me enough, so now I shall say one more time. Come with me and your daughter is free, or watch as I burn her pretty little face into your mind forever.’

  The stranger held Esmee’s head at an angle and the guard moved his sword towards her cheek. The air filled with the smell of burning as the blade singed bits of her hair. Majila watched as the sword got closer and knew he had no choice. Aalym’s voice rang through his mind: You must save Esmee.

  ‘Stop, please just stop. She is just a child! You can take me, but please don’t harm her.’ The tears of anger were welling up in his eyes as he spoke and he slumped in relief as the guard withdrew his sword and the stranger dropped Esmee back to the floor.

  ‘Please, just let me say goodbye though. She is all I have left in this world.’ Majila begged for a chance to hold her one last time.

  The stranger nodded to the second guard and he cut the ropes that bound Majila to the chair. Majila sank to the floor, desperately crawling to Esmee and cradling her in his arms.

  ‘My beautiful child, I am so sorry. I failed you and your mother. You are my little soul, my future, I will pray for you every day until I can find you again.’ Majila sobbed as he hugged her dazed body close. Through glassy eyes she looked up at him and smiled slightly. With a curious look on her face she spoke one word, which was more of a question than a statement.

  ‘Safe?’

  She then lolled back sleepily in his arms as Majila cried into her hair.

  ‘You see, Majila, this is your problem and that of all mankind. Your love makes you weak. We will destroy you all and leave only the blackest of hearts in your place.’ The stranger taunted Majila, his dark laugh echoing loudly around the cold stone room.

  Slowly Majila stood up and faced the stranger, his body shaking with anger and the grief of all those people he had seen destroyed. With a shaky voice he attempted one last act of defiance as he faced his adversary.

  ‘It is you who is wrong. My love makes me stronger than you could imagine. I will face you again and you will burn in your own flame for all the acts of evil you have performed. I will find you in the next life, trust me, and I will finish you.’ With these words, Majila drew his hidden sword and plunged it deep into his skull, killing himself instantly, his lifeless body dropping to the floor at the stranger’s feet.

  The stranger let out a blood-curdling roar and, slowly, his body turned into a thick black ash that gathered on the floor and blew away under the door and out into the sky, away from the temple walls. The guards were watching in horror. Realising there was no one left to lead them, they moved towards the door to escape, just as Kaliam kicked it open.

  They couldn’t draw their swords quickly enough to launch any form of attack, and Kaliam sliced one across the chest before circling round and plunging his sword deep into the other guard’s stomach. With the two guards dead, he moved quickly to Majila’s body but realised it was too late. Blood poured from the huge wound in Majila’s head and Kaliam fought back the tears as it spilled over his hands and body.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Majila, it should have been me.’ As he spoke the words aloud, Kaliam wept for the loss of his friend. He said a silent prayer and covered Majila with the blanket. As he did so, he noticed Esmee stirring next to him. Wiping his hands clean, he picked Esmee up in his arms, cradling her gently as he stood up.

  ‘It’s okay, my child, you are safe now. Keep your eyes closed and I’ll get you away from here.’ Esmee stirred slightly but cuddled in closely to Kaliam as he headed out the main door and back down the steps where Majila had been captured.

  Kaliam ran as fast as he could, cradling Esmee in his arms the whole time, until he made it to the foot of the mountains where the other children had gone. The members of the city who had made it out safely during the attack were gathered together, planning their next move. Some of the adults had gathered things that could be used as shelter and others had food. Across the crowd of people, Kaliam caught sight of Drei Ran, walking slowly away from the group towards the city walls. He left Esmee with one of the women tending to the children and caught up with him. He grabbed him by the arm, stopping him in his tracks and glared accusingly at him.

  ‘Where are you going? Abandoning others again are you? You’re very good at that.’ He spat the words in Drei Ran’s direction, as he pointed towards Esmee.

  Drei Ran lowered his head from Kaliam’s gaze.

  ‘No, Kaliam, I’m not leaving anyone. I tried to warn them, it wasn’t safe here and I didn’t want so many sacrificed. This is a great evil and we never stood a chance.’

  ‘Then where are you going?’

  Drei Ran pointed to the sky above the city.

  ‘The city is safe now, they wanted Majila and he gave himself to save us. We can go home.’ He spoke with sadness as he looked at the dark cloud above him.

  Kaliam watched in shock as the cloud appeared to sift downwards in a funnel before shooting out across the plain and out of sight. Small bits of ash scattered to the ground and he realised it was the dark force moving away from them, far off into the distance.

  ‘But what of Esmee? She is his child, surely they will come back for her?’ Kaliam knew it was his duty to protect her now.

  ‘She is just a child, they cannot sense her power until she’s older. Until then we are safe, she is yours to guard though.’ He headed back to the city again.

  Kaliam looked back at Esmee and wept at the loss of Majila, her father and his friend. Alone, he held Majila’s blood-stained knife in his hand and looked towards the sky.

  ‘Majila, my brave friend. I will keep your child safe, I promise. Move gently into the next world and one day it will be me who gives my life for you. Until then, my friend, rest peacefully.’

  Kaliam wiped away his tears and composed himself. This wasn’t the time for regret; this was the time to protect Esmee.

  CHAPTER 41

  Black Wolf awoke minutes later, face down on the floor, his head in the shadows of Orgent’s doorway. Dazed, he scrambled around, trying to clear his head, vaguely aware that someone was with him.

  ‘Stay calm, Black Wolf, it’s me. I used my medicines to bring you round. You’ll feel a bit dizzy for a moment, but you’ll be normal again before too long.’

  Through his foggy mind, Black Wolf recognised Grey Moon’s voice and sat upright.

  ‘Where have you been, Grey Moon? Elspeth is dead and many of our tribe too. We’re losing this fight — we need you!’

  ‘It’s not my time yet, my child,’ he said, helping Black Wolf back to his feet. ‘You need to go back and face him, but don’t rush in. He has power — but so do the four of you. Let him know who he is facing.’

  Then Grey Moon slipped back into the shadows, leaving Black Wolf to get back to his feet. As he slowly walked back to face the dark power, his mind was flooded with the visions he’d just seen, and he knew it was time to take revenge for everything that had been done to him in the past.

  As he reached the others, he saw Amelia’s face; she was sobbing as Lone Wolf held her tightly. Then he looked at Tallulah and took a deep breath before stepping back into the light again.

  ‘Black Wolf, you’re alive?’ Amelia cried as he appeared.

  ‘You should have stayed down, Black Wolf,’ the evil being taunted. ‘You could have saved yourself more pain and the suffering of seeing me take the lives of your loved ones for the second time.’

  Black Wolf ignored the comment. ‘I’m fine, Amelia. I told you I wouldn’t leave you,’ he said, before stepping forward in front of the group, facing the evil one on his own, with all of the tribesmen having retreated in fear.

  ‘We came here to end this and we will,’ he said defiantly. ‘What you face is more than you know. You wanted the princess because she is one of the powerful ones, but what
you have here are all four together. The four chosen ones, picked by our Great Mother. You are nothing more than the child she abandoned.’

  The evil being looked at the four of them, silently taking stock of this new information before speaking. ‘You may well be the four chosen ones, but you are all thieves who took what was rightfully mine, and I want it back. You are no threat to me anyway; you know very little of what you speak. You are nothing without the only other power I know of, the one who trapped me in this ghostly prison. You are nothing without the teacher.’

  ‘It is you who is wrong!’ a voice called out from the city gates, silencing them all, and Grey Moon walked forward with the carved wooden box in his hands. ‘It has been a long time, my old friend,’ he said, as the tribe and group parted, letting him walk forward to join Black Wolf.

  ‘You are one of the powers?’ Black Wolf muttered to him, surprised by this revelation.

  The dark power sneered. ‘You are an old man, but then you always were. Weak and pathetic, always longing to be important. Finally you think you can be, do you, Grey Moon?’

  ‘Let’s see, shall we?’ Grey Moon replied, before settling the box on the floor between them, all four carved symbols glowing strongly, leaving just the eye in the middle, pale and wooden.

  ‘Our Great Mother, now is the time of reckoning. All your children are gathered together. Let the blood I offer you illuminate our path.’ Grey Moon took his knife and cut his hand, letting it drip onto the box in front of them, and they all watched as the final carving came alive in glorious colour, leaving the box and all its carvings glowing solidly.

  ‘It is you,’ the evil being said, sounding less confident than before. ‘Then why not join me and we can rule together? You have tried to rid these lands of me before, as have many others, and you’ve all failed. Join me and you can free yourself from your own prison too.’

  ‘You know I will never join you,’ Grey Moon replied. ‘Our Great Mother created a balance in our lands. A balance between light and dark, between right and wrong. These have and always will exist and the good must prevail. You are just one, whereas the good are many. We are a collective, born of flesh and blood, with goodness in our hearts.’

  ‘How dare you preach to me, you and these peasants you call your people?’ the evil being demanded. ‘Without me in this world there is no balance, just a collection of gutless natives who see out their days breeding, hunting and carving wood. You have no greater plan, just an ancient ideal, and all that makes you is weak. Next you will be talking about love, I imagine?’

  ‘There is no point; you know nothing of love, just greed. You kill innocence and destroy lands because you don’t understand them or their ways. You feel threatened by this lack of knowledge, scared even, and when we speak of love it means nothing to you. Even your own mother didn’t love you enough to let you live the way you wanted to because she saw that it was wrong. You are the child she regrets,’ Grey Moon said, every word hitting the dark power hard.

  ‘Enough!’ screamed the evil being. His eyes burned darker as his anger consumed him.

  ‘Why else would she want me to put you in your prison? I gave up my own life to stop you from destroying all our lands, but it was at her request. You fear us and that is why you rely on trickery to try to rule the land. It is time to end this now and send you back to the world of the dead souls, where she wanted you to be.’

  ‘I’ll see you there first!’ the evil being screamed in anger and flung his arms out towards Grey Moon, sending a bolt of fiery energy directly into his chest. The force of the blow took him off of his feet and crashing to the ground, his body twitching, as the dark power prepared to finish his old foe, once and for all.

  CHAPTER 42

  Black Wolf dropped to his knees, gently lifting Grey Moon’s head, desperate to get a response from him. His body was still twitching slightly but his eyes were open and he seemed aware of his surroundings.

  ‘Get the men to cover us until he’s able to stand again,’ he ordered Lone Wolf, who signalled to the remaining tribesmen for them to step in front of the group again.

  The evil being had his hand held out in front of him and they could all see the energy sparking in the palm of his hand, as he prepared to launch another attack on his opponent.

  ‘I can see you have your hands full; it’s fine, I can wait. Let me know when you are ready to finish our fight, Grey Moon,’ the evil being goaded Grey Moon, as he continued to display his power to the watching group.

  ‘Grey Moon, speak to me. It’s me, Black Wolf, can you hear me?’

  ‘I can hear you, my child,’ Grey Moon replied, wincing with pain, the twitching starting to subside.

  ‘How badly hurt are you? What can I do?’ Black Wolf was desperate to help his friend.

  ‘It’s bad, my child, but I’ll be fine. I need you to help me get to my feet though, I need to face him.’ Grey Moon started to get up and Black Wolf put his arms under his friend’s, helping him to stand.

  Once more, the group parted for Grey Moon to face the dark power, only this time he was being held up by Black Wolf. When he reached his opponent, Grey Moon struggled forward alone, ‘It is okay, my child, I need to do this myself,’ he said softly to Black Wolf.

  ‘You are a fool, old teacher. You should have stayed down — it was your only hope of surviving. Now I’ll have to finish you…’ The vile being sighed to himself, starting to build his power up again.

  ‘I have an offering for you. Please, hear me out,’ Grey Moon said. ‘Let these people go and take me instead. You are right, I am old, and am tired of the fight now. So take me and my power but let those here go free.’

  ‘No, Grey Moon. What are you saying?’ Black Wolf shouted at his friend in shock. ‘You cannot do this, he’ll kill us all anyway. You cannot surrender to him.’

  ‘He is right, Black Wolf. We have no choice, this is for the best. I will be under his command, and you can all walk free,’ Grey Moon said, his eyes glancing down to the knife on his belt.

  ‘At last you speak sense, old man. Come join with me then and let all the lands be ours,’ the dark power ordered.

  ‘No, Grey Moon, please,’ Black Wolf said, fearing for his friend and reaching out to stop him.

  ‘Get your hands off me, child. I have made my choice and I will join this great power so that together we can rule,’ Grey Moon said. ‘Master, let me come and bow before you as a sign of my loyalty.’

  ‘Yes, old teacher, you may,’ the evil being replied smugly.

  With the group watching on, Grey Moon walked towards the evil one, slowly slipping his knife from his belt and concealing it in the sleeve of his robe. When he reached the dark-cloaked figure, he got down on one knee and spoke, ‘Allow me to serve you, master, as you become the emperor of this land and all others around it.’

  ‘Good. You may stand now,’ the evil being said.

  Sensing a perfect opportunity, Grey Moon slipped the handle of the knife into the palm of his hand. He stood and leapt forward, aiming to pierce the vile being in the chest. The evil one saw the blade and stepped back quickly, before sending another bolt of energy in Grey Moon’s body. The bolt hit Grey Moon in the chest again, and this time the smell of burnt flesh permeated the air as his body fell backwards into Black Wolf’s outstretched arms.

  ‘How dare you try to defy me!’ roared the evil being, reeling backwards; the energy he’d conjured up seemed to sap him of some strength.

  Black Wolf looked at his friend, helpless in his arms. His cloak was charred where the energy had hit him and Black Wolf removed it, folding it up behind his head as he rested him gently on the floor.

  ‘I’m sorry, my child,’ Grey Moon stammered breathlessly. ‘I thought it would work. I’ve let you all down.’

  Black Wolf fought the emotions that were building up inside him. ‘Don’t say that, Grey Moon, you are a brave warrior. It isn’t your fault, believe me. Your wound looks bad though. How can I fix it?’

  ‘I don�
�t think you can, my child. Leave me and save the others — it’s too late.’

  ‘I won’t lose you,’ Black Wolf said firmly and he dragged his friend back to the shadows of Orgent’s doorway, where he had been helped by him earlier. He found Grey Moon’s sack and took out a mixture of paste that they had used to heal Amelia’s wounds when they first met her, and the herbs he’d been woken with. ‘Amelia, quick, come help me,’ he said.

  Amelia rushed over and joined them, staring wildly up at Black Wolf. ‘What can I do?’ she asked.

  ‘I need you to stay here and treat his wounds with this paste. It’ll be safer for you and I trust you to look after him,’ he said, looking up at her with pain in his eyes.

  ‘Kill us both… Birthmark… Only way,’ Grey Moon mumbled to himself.

  ‘I don’t understand, Grey Moon…’ Black Wolf replied, leaning in closer to try to hear his friend’s words.

  ‘It is the only way… Sacrifice.’

  Black Wolf gently wafted the herbs under Grey Moon’s nose and he appeared to become more alert. He reached up and grabbed Black Wolf by the shoulders, pulling him in close.

  ‘We have a mark of our birth. It is the wound from which we left our last life. A reminder of our past from our Great Mother, one that is always travelling forward with us. It’s the only way to kill the powerful ones, and that is why through all these wars, you barely got a scratch on you. If you sacrifice me, with him, the mark of the noted elder is powerful and fuses our powers into him. This is the way to defeat him; it will rid us of his presence and banish him into the world of the dead souls.’ Grey Moon started to fade again once he stopped speaking.

  ‘What about you though, Grey Moon? What will happen to you?’