Coven of Wolves

by Peter Saenz

  The Archon’s guards look weary but obey his orders, closing the door behind them. Nicholas however stays his ground, looking toward the Archon to see if his uncle will dismiss him as well or allow him to stay for the discussion. He smiles when Jason crosses past him towards Adam. Nicholas then nods, sits on one of the couches, crosses his legs, and spreads his arms across the top for comfort as he prepares to watch the family drama enfold in front of him.

  Jason stands in front of Adam and says, “To disrespect me is one thing, but to disrespect my guard? Adam, they are more than just ‘help’. You grew up with over half of them. They are your kinsmen. They would die without question for my safety. For yours!”

  “Really, father? Has my time away changed nothing here? Those men out there, US, we’re killers! Death means nothing to anyone here as long as there’s a profit in it for the clan.”

  Appalled, Jason says, “You’re still questioning our way of life? Adam, why must you be so difficult? Why can’t our reunion be a happy one? More than anything I want to sweep you up in my arms and hold you tight yet you constantly fight me even at the happiest of times.”

  “Happy? You want me to be happy? How can I be happy that you put a hold mark on my wife and son? And for what? Just so I can fall into being a killer for you again? I had a family!”

  Jason gets a look of fury on his face and says, “Those cattle are NOT your family! To even suggest it is repulsive! You are wolf, they are not. Do you know what I went through all these years not knowing what happened to you? And then to find out you went into hiding to live as a human? Breeding with humans? Do you have any idea how horrified that made me?”

  “Newsflash father, my life is MINE to live, not yours.”

  “You’re wrong. From this point on you live under our code again. No more human mixing. You will act as our Ambassador with the Basque Clan and you will do everything you can to help me put an end to the potential war that lies ahead. Do you understand me? This independence of yours will end, otherwise your humans will suffer for it. Their fate lies in your hands.”

  “Will you at least allow me to visit them occasionally?”

  Sternly Jason says, “No. You are to have no more contact with either of them what-so-ever. From this moment on you eat, sleep, and breathe wolf only. I’ll see to it they are taken care of financially but you are not to so much as call them. I mean it Adam, no contact. Now, go upstairs, shower, shave and make yourself presentable. The Basque Ambassador will be here soon. Nicholas will update you on all the details. You may not have any love for me but you WILL learn to respect the clan.”

  Jason then leaves the room, slamming the door on his way out.

  The room goes silent as Adam fumes in aggression. Nicholas finally breaks the silence and says, “Did you really expect him to react otherwise?”

  Adam turns to Nicholas and seethes venom in his direction. The color of his eyes change into a brilliant yellow. Seeing he has struck a nerve, Nicholas laughs.

  “Hey, I’m just the messenger, but there’s no surprises here. You knew the laws all along and disobeyed them anyway. You might not like our way of life but at least your human family is safe and taken care of, right? You heard it from your father yourself.”

  “My ‘father’ just proved he has no concept of what being a father really is. My place is with my wife, with my son!”

  Nicholas looks solemnly at Adam and says, “Your place is here with us. We’re your family. We always were.”

  “You’ve never HAD a family of your own Nicholas. You have no idea what I just gave up.”

  The look on Nicholas’ face changes to sadness. “True and I’m sorry Adam. I really am. But is it really so bad that you are reunited with your old family? Not all of us removed you from our hearts. Despite it all, your father never gave up looking for you. You’re his entire world.”

  Adam responds, “The clan is his entire world. I’m just an extension of his rule. Someone he can show around like a possession.”

  Nicholas interjects, saying “If you think that then you’re the one who’s been blind all this time. That man thinks the sun rises and sets on you. Have you ever thought that he not only has pride in you for being his son, but also because you’re the last real connection he will ever have of your mother?”

  This cuts Adam to the quick and he becomes silent. Nicholas continues, “No matter what my personal feelings are about humans, I promise to keep my word to you Adam. I’ll keep tabs on your family for you. They won’t come to any harm.” Nicholas walks over to my father and puts his hand on his shoulder. “I promise.”

  Adam embraces his cousin in a tight hug before saying, “Thank you.”

  From the expression on Nicholas’ face it is obvious that he is only now beginning to realize just how deeply his promise means to Adam. He hugs him back for a few seconds, then pats him on the shoulders a couple times as a sign to end the embrace. After collecting himself, Adam releases his hold.

  Nicholas walks over to the door and opens it for Adam. “Come on cousin. You’ve got some changing to do and we’ve got a lot to go over before the Ambassador arrives.”

  Our world shifts once again and we’re suddenly in a child’s bedroom. Standing before us is the red-headed woman previously seen during my spirit travel. She is tucking a 5 year-old boy into bed. The boy has red hair similar to her own. Behind her stands Adam, peering over her shoulder with a smile on his face.

  Talking to the boy, the woman says, “You must go to sleep now mon petite. We have to fly back to Paris tomorrow morning.”

  The child sighs, “Again?”

  The woman smiles and says, “Yes, we have a long day ahead of us.”

  Optimistically the boy says, “Can I bring William and Frederic with me this time?”

  In a still gentle tone the woman says, “No, they are Synoro. They are not allowed overseas. It would be very dangerous for them if they were to go.”

  The boy says in frustration, “But daddy is Synoro and he can go overseas, and you said I’m half Synoro and I’ve been oversees several times. Why can’t my friends come too?”

  Reassuringly she says, “Your papa is an Ambassador, just like me. We are given special permission to travel to both places by the Archons. You, mon ami, are a very special case. It’s only because you are so special that you can go too.”

  The expression on the child’s face seems very confused. Adam notices the expression and moves to the other side of the bed. He sits down and says, “How would you like for me to tell you a story? I think it might help answer some of your questions better.”

  The boy excitedly shouts, “Yes!”

  Adam laughs and says, “Very well. Have you ever wondered why we grow fur and why humans don’t?”

  The child scrunches up his face, deep in thought. Finally he says,“Yeah.”

  Adam continues, “Well, the reason for that is because of something that happened a very long time ago. Way back then, the only wolves that existed were the animal kind. Wolves like us didn’t exist yet. Oh, there were a few Halflings of other animals here and there, but the majority of them were very stupid and eventually died out over time. If you tried to look for ones like us though, you’d never be able to find one.”

  Wild eyed, the boy asks, “So we’re not as old as humans?”

  Adam replies, “No, not really. On the other side of the world there’s a land called Greece. One of the biggest cities in Greece back then was a place called Arcadia. A very powerful human king named Lycaon was in charge back then. He was loved and respected by all of his subjects. One day the Greek god Zeus came to Lycaon and demanded the king and his people throw him a huge feast. Now, Lycaon was a very proud king and didn’t like anyone to tell him what to do, especially in front of his subjects. Lycaon was angry but went through with the feast anyway. You see, what Zeus didn’t know was that Lycaon had planned to teach Zeus a lesson in humility. Instead of serving the god with delicious animal meats like everyone else, Lycaon had one of the
killers in his dungeon sliced up and served to the god instead.”

  Appalled the boy says, “Ew, gross!”

  Adam laughs and says, “Yeah. That is pretty gross. Unfortunately for Lycaon, because Zeus is a god, he can see inside a person’s mind. So the moment Lycaon put the plan in place, Zeus had been waiting to see if the king would actually go through with it. Unfortunately for Lycaon, he did. The moment the platter was placed before Zeus, the now angry god decided that he was going to punish Lycaon for disrespecting him. In the middle of the feast Zeus transformed Lycaon into a half man and half wolf beast.

  “When the people of the kingdom had seen what Zeus had done to King Lycaon, they shunned their king because of his monstrous appearance. He was eventually driven from his own home and was forced to travel the land alone for quite some time. He eventually came to a city called Lagina, near what we now call Mt. Lykaion. There he discovered a huge temple to the goddess Hecate. The goddess Hecate could sense Lycaon’s sadness and she felt sorry for him. She offered him food, shelter and protection. Lycaon was grateful to the goddess and swore he would spend the rest of his life as her follower if she promised to help him not be hated by normal looking humans. Hecate thought about the proposal and came up with a plan. Hecate told Lycaon that he needed to provide her with more people from his kingdom to be her followers for at least 200 years. Once that time was up, they could live their own lives however they wanted. This made Lycaon very happy and he quickly said yes to the goddess’ demands.

  “Happy that she would have more people following her, Hecate tried to help Lycaon be able to look more like a human again so people wouldn’t be afraid of him anymore. Zeus’ was her leader though and if she simply removed the curse from Lycaon, it would make Zeus very mad. Not wanting to get in trouble with Zeus too, Hecate was able to bend the curse a little bit instead. Now instead of looking like a wolf all of the time, Lycaon was able to transform back and forth into his human form when he wanted.”

  “Like us!”, the boy interjects.

  Adam says, “Yes, like us. After Hecate changed the curse on Lycaon, she spread his altered curse to Lycaon’s family members and part of the people in his kingdom as well. Because they knew regular humans would be afraid of them, the new werewolves in Arcadia joined Lycaon and chose to follow Hecate as well. This is why when humans find old vases or paintings of the goddess Hecate from back then, the pictures depicted usually show Hecate with a dog at her side. That dog is a representation of the very first werewolves, your ancestors.”

  Completely enthralled, the boy says, “Wow, I didn’t know that!”

  Adam says, “Yeah, we’re very important to her. By the time the 200 years ended, King Lycaon had long since died of old age but he and the rest of the werewolves had lots and lots of children. The number of children became so big that they had created a good sized kingdom of their own. A few of them chose to stay in Lagina to continue worshiping Hecate and began calling themselves Lykaions. Their descendants are still there on Mt. Lykaion and continue to worship Hecate today.”

  The boy gets a look of confusion on his face. “Aren’t they bored praying all day? I think I’d go crazy if that’s all I did.”

  The woman interjects, saying, “We wouldn’t know mon petite. No one has spoken to the Lykaion Clan in over a hundred years.”

  “Why?”

  She continues saying, “Because they like to be left alone. Not all the clans like to talk to one another like your papa’s and mine do. Some would rather stay to themselves.”

  Adam says, “Going back to the story, the rest of the werewolves who didn’t stay on Mt. Lykaion decided to travel north. They followed the Danube River into Europe. They eventually settled in a land called Northern Slovakia. After settling in and making their homes there, the traveling wolves agreed to make a clean break with their past in Greece by calling themselves the Neuri. They continued to revere the goddess Hecate and even carried on some of their old traditions under a new name they gave her called Marzanna.”

  The boy asks, “Why would they do that?”

  Adam answers, “Well, you see, they agreed to keep the existence of their brothers in Greece secret. Hence the new name for themselves and their goddess. The Neuri managed to keep the fact they could change into wolves secret too by living hidden among the normal humans, much like we do today. Back then though, the humans had a lot of wars among themselves and hardly anyone was happy. Because we wolves are a lot stronger and a lot faster than humans, some of the Neuri began to collect a lot of money by hiring themselves out as assassins for ruling kings and rich aristocrats. The humans were surprised at how good the Neuri were at their jobs and pretty soon the wolves had more jobs than they knew what to do with.”

  Confused , the boy asks, “So some of the humans didn’t care that the Neuri were werewolves back then?”

  Adam says, “Oh, they did! If even one human found out the Neuri could change into wolves, the humans could have turned on them out of fear. The Neuri were VERY careful to keep their secret from everyone. Because of this the Neuri created the very first Sacred Law: any human who discovers the werewolves’ secret is to be immediately killed. This is the most important law to all wolves, and as you’ll learn, keeping our history private is something you must always do.

  “Some of the Neuri became restless living in Slovakia though. They wanted to continue moving away from the region. Half of the restless Neuri wanted to move west while the other half wanted to continue north. The northern bound wolves eventually settled in a place called Scandinavia. The people of that land thought the new wolves were different and called them Berserkers.”

  Laughing, the boy says, “Berserkers? Why did they call them that?”

  The boy’s mother replies, “They called them Berserkers because during battle some of the wolves lost control of their passions during the fighting and began shifting into their wolf form. The few humans who saw the change and lived to tell the tale thought the wolves had worn pelts and wolf skins into battle. They didn’t know it was really the wolves own skin they were seeing.”

  Turning to his father, the boy asks, “Do humans really think that silly daddy?”

  Adam replies, “Some do, but not all of them. Some humans are very smart and very crafty. You must be on your guard when you’re near them at all times. When the northern tribe heard what the local humans were calling them, they thought it was amusing and took the name “Berserker” as their own. Being distantly Greek though, they changed the name Berserker to the word Exallos. You see, Exallos is the Greek word for Berserk. While the Exallos settled in Scandinavia, the westward wolves eventually settled in the Basque region of Europe, between the countries of Spain and France.”

  Excitedly the boy says, “That’s where ama is from!”

  The red-headed woman smiles and says, “Yes. That is why we call ourselves the Basque Clan. Some say the goddess Hecate became very displeased by the splitting of her favored people though. Some say it’s because of this that she used her magic on all of the wolves to mark them according to clan. The Lykaion wolves’ who stayed in Greece had their fur turn snow white. The Neuri wolves’ who lived in Slovakia had their fur turn brown. The Exallos wolves’ who lived in Scandinavia had their fur turn grey; and the Basque wolves’ fur where I am from turned red.”

  “Is that why your hair and my hair is red ama?”

  The woman smiles and says, “No mon petite. The wolves from my clan have different color hair just like the wolves from your papa’s clan. It’s only when we change into our wolf form that you can see the difference between our people.”

  “But that’s silly. We’re all wolves. Why do we have different clans if we all look different without fur?”

  At this the red-haired woman looks at Adam with a loss-for-words expression.

  Adam replies, “Out of the mouth of babes. Let me finish the story and I’ll get to that. You see, like their Neuri kinsmen, the Exallos and Basque clans became rich by offering their services
to the powerful and elite. They began making so much money that they became afraid the other wolf clans would steal their wealth from them. After a while they began to create territories and boundary lines that the other clans couldn’t cross. This arrangement worked for a lot of years but as the human population began to grow, their businesses began to grow with them. That’s why sometimes the clans have arguments, because someone from one area would hire one clan for a job and then turn around and hire another clan for something else.”

  A light goes off in the kid’s head and he asks, “Is that what’s going on between your two clans?”

  The woman replies, “Yes, unfortunately but we’re working to try to fix it. Do you remember how I said no one has spoken to the Lykaion wolves in quite some time? That’s because once they heard that we had gotten into the business of being assassins, they got very mad. According to them we were being selfish and were turning our backs on our wolf history. Because they felt this way, they cut off all ties to the other clans. They instead chose to live alone, worshiping Hecate. The only time they’ve ever even spoken to any of us is when an issue arose that affected all of the wolves. So for hundreds of years, four clans have ruled the wolves; each with their own set of territories, rules, languages and customs.”

  “But what about your clan daddy?”

  Adam says, “A few hundred years ago no one even knew that America existed, son. It wasn’t until a handful of human explorers found America by accident that they knew there was a whole different part of the planet to live on. They called it the “New World”. When the wolf clans heard about a new frontier across the sea, some clan members asked to leave their groups in order to make a new home here in the Americas. The Neuri, Exallos and Basque clans allowed a small group to leave their individual packs to act as representatives in the New World. Once there, they were to create new clan territories for each respective group. After living some time with each other though, the various frontier wolves began to cut ties with their former packs and instead devoted their loyalties to themselves as a new clan. When this happened the frontier wolves’, or the Synoro as they called themselves, fur changed to black.”