by Ritu Ghosh
Zack looked at the pile Aaron brought.
“Hmm.. These will be fixed in two days. I will have them delivered to your place Aaron”, said Zack.
He then disappeared into the shop. Aaron could hear him giving instructions to his workers.
Flynn said so many things to Aaron, he was being quite talkative as usual. The sun was almost down and most of the shops were closed now. People were leaving in a hurry to get to their houses before it got dark.
Aaron suddenly stopped Flynn. He said, “Flynn, I need to tell you something”.
Flynn was surprised, “What is it?” he asked.
“It’s Billy! The weird guy at the farm that I told you about”.
“What about him?” Flynn asked.
“He asked me to be careful”.
Flynn frowned a little, “Careful.. From what?”
“He said, there are evil creatures in the woods near the village. I don’t know what to make out of It”.
“What?! how does he know?” Flynn asked.
“I don’t know, he wouldn’t say that” Aaron said.
“Why is he telling you this? If he knows anything, he should be speaking to the village council or your uncle”.
“I know, but he asked me not to tell anybody. He says it’s dangerous”.
“That’s strange. I have not heard any such thing. May be that Billy is just crazy. You should tell your uncle about him. Billy should not be telling you such things”.
“I don’t know what got into him today. Normally, he doesn’t bother anybody” said Aaron.
Aaron wondered if he should tell Flynn about what he saw in the woods the other day.
“Do you think there is anything in the woods?” Flynn asked.
“I don’t really know. But I thought I saw something on the way back home when I came to your house last time”.
“What did you see?” Flynn almost jumped “I told you to throw a knife if there is anything”.
“Relax… It was not even near me. Besides, I’m not even sure If It really was something”.
“What did you see Aaron?” Flynn asked with his eyes wide open.
After some hesitation, Aaron said “ I think I saw a pair of glowing red eyes looking at me. And I heard a howl like I have never heard before”.
Flynn seemed to be in a deep thought now. “Why didn’t you tell me about this before Aaron? Do you have a weapon with you now?”.
“I have a sword” Aaron showed Flynn the sword hanging at his belt inside his long cloak.
“Can you use it?” Flynn asked.
“Yes, I have been practicing” Aaron said with confidence.
Meanwhile, it was getting dark sooner than they expected.
“I should accompany you today” said Flynn boldly.
“That won’t be necessary. I can take care of myself” Aaron said with a smirk.
Flynn narrowed his eyes again.
“It’s going to be all right Flynn” Aaron tried to assure him.
When their argument was over, it was almost dark and all the carts had left the market place. The empty ground looked bigger than before.
Suddenly, a stench hit Aaron’s nose. He looked around. “Flynn” he said
“What’s wrong?” asked Flynn.
“Something is over there” said Aaron, pointing towards a few trees that stood nearby.
“What is there?” asked Flynn.
“I don’t know but I can smell it. And it is the same stench that I smelled in the forest the other day.”
The stench had hints of sweat and blood. And they could smell it really close.
Suddenly, there was a loud howl right behind Flynn.
Flynn froze as he realized that something was crouching behind him.
Chapter 3
Weather Wolves
Flynn’s eyes widened, he looked at Aaron without moving. Aaron stood still with his hands on the hilt of his sword. He couldn’t see anything yet.
As they stood there, a shadow appeared behind Flynn and it grew bigger and bigger.
Aaron now saw the same red eyes that he saw in the woods. They were coming towards him.
Without wasting any time, he pulled out his sword and signaled Flynn to remain still. The growling of the creature was horrifying. The shadow under the moonlight now began to become clearer. It was a large wolf-like creature with black fur and fangs and it walked on two legs upright. Aaron had never imagined such a creature even in his worst nightmares.
The creature made a grunt as he stood right behind Flynn.
The beast picked up Flynn with no effort at all and threw him aside, as if he was feather. Flynn fell a few yards away and landed on the ground with a cry. The beast was coming for Aaron now.
Aaron forgot all about the sword in his hands and he stepped back from the wolf creature as it advanced towards him menacingly.
“Run, Aaron” he heard Zack’s voice from behind the creature suddenly. The creature gave out a cry and fell on its knees momentarily. Zack had struck the beast from behind. It then got up quickly and pounced on Zack and attacked him. Zack was down now and hurt badly. He was lying in a pool of blood. Zack was clearly no match for the creature’s strength.
The creature now turned his attention back to Aaron. It jumped in front of him even before he could gather his strength to run.
The glowing red eyes came closer to Aaron and now he could see the beast clearly. It had a face like a wolf but disfigured and horrifying. It’s teeth had grown in every direction and looked as sharp as knives. The creature’s mouth was foaming and Aaron could smell blood.
Aaron flinched as he felt a sharp pain on his left arm. He realized that the beast had clawed him in the dark. Without a thought, he thrust his sword into the chest of the beast with all his strength. The beast moaned loudly and it fell to the ground. Aaron’s sword had pierced it through the heart.
Aaron held his arm to prevent blood gushing out from his wound. Flynn came running towards him and said “Are you all right? Let me see that”.
Flynn pulled out a piece of cloth from of his pocket and tied it to Aaron’s arm to stop the bleeding.
Aaron saw that Flynn’s forehead was bleeding too.
“You are hurt too” Aaron said.
They heard another howl.
“Quick we have to hide.” said Flynn looking terrified.
“Let’s take your father inside” said Aaron as he got up to see if Zack was alright.
“Father?! What happened to father?” Flynn had not seen Zack coming out and attacking the wolf creature.
“He was trying to save me” said Aaron.
They found Zack unconscious under a tree, nearby. His legs were badly hurt. Flynn couldn’t believe his eyes. “Oh my god! What happened to him?” he said.
Aaron and Flynn carried Zack inside the shop. The workers inside the shop were scared of the wolf and were hiding in a corner. As they saw Zack’s condition, they immediately helped Aaron and Flynn bring him inside.
Flynn closed the doors immediately. They waited inside the shop for sometime. Flynn sat next to his father and Aaron looked out the window to keep a watch. They heard many howls at a distance. It felt like the creatures were calling out to each other.
“Close all the windows quickly and put out all the lights” Flynn said to the workers. “The dead beast is outside, the others might come looking for it” he added.
They sat in the dark making no sound at all. They could now hear many screams outside. The villagers were running away and they could hear many growls. After a while, the screams and the growls died down. But they sat inside and waited. After a long time, Aaron carefully opened a window and looked outside.
“They are gone” he said.
Flynn also came to check, he peeped out of the window. Zack was still unconscious and lying on the floor.
Flynn and Aaron came out slowly while the men attended to Zack. A few people were gathered in front of a shop. Some was cursing the Devil and some were calling
names of Gods.
The Wolves were gone but they had caused a lot of damage. Most of the shops were rundown or broken. But thankfully, not many villagers were hurt. Aaron wondered why these monsters came to the village.
“What were those things? Why did they come here? Billy was right then.” Flynn said, as he looked around.
They heard some yelling, a small group of people were gathered at a distance. Aaron and Flynn rushed towards them. One of the shop keepers was telling everybody that the wolves had talked to him. He looked terrified.
“They asked for the boy. I didn’t know that they meant.” The shopkeeper looked scared, he was sweating. “ I couldn’t say anything. Then they broke my shop.” He stared to sob and the others consoled him.
Aaron was not comfortable. He wanted to get away from the crowd.
“I will check for other casualties. You look after your father.” Aaron told Flynn.
Aaron ran towards the shops in the outer circle of the market place. Most of these shops were empty and untouched. These shopkeepers had left long back.
He walked through the row of shops searching if anybody was still inside or trapped. He spotted a small light in the corner. He realized that it was coming from the book store.
Without thinking much, he ran towards the book shop. He heard a faint voice coming from within the shop. He rushed inside and saw the lady of the shop lying in a pool of blood. Aaron knelt near her and tried to keep her awake.
“Can you hear me? I am here to help. I will take you to the village. You will be fine” Aaron said in one breath.
The lady opened her eyes slowly and held Aaron’s hand.
“They will come again! You should not be here” she whispered.
“Are you talking about the wolves? What do you know about them?” Aaron asked.
“They were sent by the Dark One, they are turned evil by the magic, very dark magic. They were looking for you” she said.
“Me?!” Aaron jumped back a little. “What? But Why?” Aaron felt a knot forming in his stomach.
“Why are they looking for me?!” Aaron asked again, holding her hands tight.
“There was a searcher here, he was looking for you. It came after you had left. He looked inside my head and knew that you were here.”
She took a deep breath. She had lost a lot of blood. With a trembling voice, she said “I tried to stop the searcher but he was very powerful, I couldn’t, I couldn’t….” she was not able to speak anymore. Aaron could see the pain in her eyes now.
Aaron had no idea what the lady was talking about. As he sat there, she was taking her last few breaths.
“What is a searcher? And who is the Dark One?” He asked.
But no sound came from the lady anymore. She did not move or speak again. She was dead. Aaron dropped her hand to her sides and slowly got up. He walked out of the shop and looked back for the last time. To his surprise the whole shop vanished in front of his eyes like there was nothing there before. Aaron rubbed his eyes in surprise, ‘How was that possible?’ he thought.
“Aaron! Where are you?” came Flynn’s voice from nearby.
“I am here” Aaron ran towards Flynn’s voice.
“Where were you? I thought I had lost you” Flynn said in a worried tone.
“I was just…” Aaron held his tongue for a moment. He was not ready to tell Flynn what had just happened. He couldn’t believe it himself.
Flynn was in a hurry.
“Come let’s check on father!” he ran towards his shop and Aaron followed him.
Everyone had left the market by now. It was dead silent. The workers in Zack’s shop had left as well.
Zack was still unconscious.
“Bring some water! We will try to wake him up” Aaron told Flynn who was kneeling next to him.
Flynn went quickly into a smaller room and came back with a glass of water. They sprinkled some water on Zack’s face and he woke up with a jerk. He mumbled something and tried to kick his legs but Flynn asked him to remain calm. After a few seconds Zack realized his left leg was hurting and he held on to it.
“Does it hurt a lot father?” Flynn asked as he saw Zack clenching.
“Just a little” Zack tried to hide his pain.
“Here, Let me help you” Aaron found a piece of clean cloth to wrap Zack’s wound with. Zack clenched again but allowed Aaron to dress the wound. Aaron tried to clean the wound but it was pretty bad. He could see teeth marks on him. The wound was also pretty deep.
“What happened to the beast, did it go away?” Zack’s remembered slowly. “Are you alright Aaron? You are bleeding” Zack noticed the blood stains on Aaron’s shirt.
“Don’t worry father. He is fine. He killed that weather wolf all by himself” Flynn was proud of Aaron.
Aaron smiled faintly. The mention of wolves reminded him about what the lady had said in the book shop.
“Is it true Aaron?” Zack asked. He was surprised.
“Yes Mr. Zack. But I could not have done it without you helping me” Aaron was very grateful for Zack’s help.
“Aaron, you are a son to me. I did what I should have done.” said Zack patting Aaron’s shoulders.
Aaron was lost in thoughts. “Thanks Mr. Zack. Do you know anything about these wolves?”
“Well Yes and no. These nasty creatures are called weather wolves. They are minions of something much more evil. I have heard about them only in tales. I even told stories of them to Flynn” Zack clenched again as Aaron tied the final knot on the wound and then continued, “But till today, I thought they were stories made to scare people to keep them from coming out at night. I don’t know anything more about them.”
Zack tried to get up but he couldn’t. Flynn and Aaron helped stand up. They walked slowly supporting him on their shoulders.
“Show me this weather wolf you killed Aaron. I would like to take a closer look at it” Zack said.
Zack was a brave man and he had proven it this night. If he had not been unconscious, he would have done a great deal of damage to the beast. The three of them stepped outside to look for the dead creature. Its body was fallen at a distance. And it was twisted. Aaron’s sword was still in it.
Aaron and Flynn helped Zack sit on the ledge of the shop and walked towards the dead creature.
“It looks dreadful even though it is dead.” said Flynn.
The sheer size of the creature was scary. It was almost twice the size of any man and seemed to have the strength to tear any living thing into pieces.
Aaron slowly reached for his sword. He held the handle tight and pulled it out with all his strength. The sword was stained black with the creature’s blood. Aaron looked at the sword disgusted.
“It’s not good Aaron.” Zack said suddenly “They might not like it.”
“What do you mean Mr.Zack?” asked Aaron.
“The wolves of course. If they see one of them dead, the others may come back for revenge. We have to do something about it.”
“What can we do?” asked Flynn.
“Let’s bury it” Aaron said coldly. Flynn looked at Aaron, he felt that something about Aaron had changed.
“That’s a good idea. Flynn, go get the shovels from the storage. We should hide the body before anyone else sees it.” said Zack, holding on to his leg.
“We have to take Mr.Zack to the village, he is losing blood” said Aaron. Flynn nodded in agreement and he hurried to bring the shovels. They dragged the body outside the market near the bushes and dug a hole to bury it as quickly as they could.
While they were digging, Flynn was thinking about something. He finally asked Aaron “The wolves did a lot of damage but did not attack any villagers, but why did they attack you?”
Aaron was not prepared for this question, he tried to ignore Flynn but Flynn wouldn’t stop. “What were they looking for? That shopkeeper said they were looking for a boy. And the creature attacked only you?”
Flynn looked at Aaron but Aaron still didn’t say anything.<
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They put the body in the wide hole and started covering it up.
“Aaron! Do you know why the wolf attacked you and nobody else?” Flynn was annoyed as Aaron was ignoring him.
“I don’t know” Aaron said without any expression.
Flynn looked at Aaron suspiciously. “Do you know something you are not telling me Aaron?”
“No, it’s not my fault that the wolves attacked me” Aaron shouted.
“What have you been up to Aaron?” Flynn was confused now.
“It doesn’t concern you” Aaron said coldly. If there was trouble coming for him, he didn’t want Flynn to be a part of it.
“Doesn’t concern me? We have been friends for the last ten years. Aaron, tell me what is going on. It looks like you know something and you are not telling me.” Flynn was getting very angry now.
“I told you before Flynn. I can take care of myself and I will. I do not need your help” cried Aaron. But he really wished that he could tell Flynn everything and ask him for help.
“Very well then, have it your way” said Flynn as he shoveled mud into the hole and covered it up fully before heading back to the shop.
Zack had dozed off right where he was sitting, the pain had taken over.
Aaron came forward to help but Flynn stopped him “I can take care of him, I don’t need your help.”
Without saying a word Aaron turned towards the empty fields and walked fast. His head was numb; he didn’t know what was going on. ‘Why is all this happening?’ he thought. He wished that he could tell Flynn about what the lady at the book shop told him. But he knew very well that Flynn will not let the matter rest and will dig into it and get into more trouble.
Aaron did not know why the wolves really attacked him and who this ‘searcher’ was, who was looking for him. Aaron then remembered how his mother was scared and was running from something that night. ‘Was she running from these wolves? Have they come for me now?’ he wondered.
Many questions clouded Aaron’s mind. He wanted to ask somebody but whom? His uncle didn’t know much about his mother. Aaron had tried to speak to uncle Sentas about his parents many times before but uncle would not say much. The only thing he said was he didn’t know much about Aaron’s parents. Uncle Sentas himself was only four years old when his sister, Aaron’s mother Bella, left home.
