The Hungering Saga Complete

by Heath Pfaff

  "I am ready when your representative is." I told the brown and green wolf, not hesitating any longer. My time was not unlimited, and I was as able bodied as I was going to be for the challenge I faced.

  "Then we will confer." The wolves dissolved their circle and gathered into a group, speaking silently in their own tongue, a language of growls, yips, and gestures far beyond my comprehension. Malice placed a hand on my shoulder.

  "Fight hard, Lowin. The Kaziem wolves are faster than they look, and they do not tire no matter how long they fight. They are cunning and brutal warriors. Do not think this will be an easy battle." The look in her eyes as she spoke to me was intense, and I believed every word of what she said. There was a war of emotions playing across her features. I found myself moving without thinking of what I meant to do. I placed my arms around my green-eyed companion and pulled her close to me.

  "I'll be fine. We can do this." I told her, as much confidence as I could muster in my words. At first she was as stiff as a plank of wood against me, but she softened in a moment and placed her arms around me as well, her head on my shoulder. She was warm and soft, simply a woman and not the frightening trainer from my time with the Knights of Ethan. I wasn't sure how I forgot that sometimes. We parted, and I turned back to face the wolves. They had obviously come to some type of decision. They were all sitting, huddled together, facing Malice and me. Whisper of the Mist stepped forward.

  "I will be your challenger, Lord Lowin, of the gods of wolves and men." She said, bowing her head as she spoke.

  My heart skipped a beat in my chest, and I was barely able to find my words. "You honor me, Whisper of the Mist." I bowed as I answered her. I had never anticipated that it would be the alpha female that I faced. The other wolves backed off, disappearing into the long grass. I turned and saw Malice vanishing back into the grass as well, her hood pulled low over her face to hide any emotion that might have broken her normal stoicism. In a moment they were all gone, and it was only Whisper of the Mist and I who stood atop the quiet hill in the misty light of early morning.

  "It begins now." The brown and green wolf said, and her lips came back from her fangs in a snarl, her serene wolfish features becoming fierce and terrifying. I took a ready stance, and she came at me, a blur of motion so fast I entirely lost sight of her. By the time I had quickened my heart, and shifted my body to full speed, a long and jagged tear had opened up across the outside of my right arm, and the green alpha wolf was standing behind me, preparing to strike again. She was death, swiftly on four paws.

  I dove to the ground and backwards, towards the wolf, hoping that my move would come as a surprise, but the agile matriarch of the wolves was not fooled for a moment. Her deadly charge halted mid-step, and she swung her powerful jaws towards my suddenly exposed neck. Instead of knocking the wolf off balance, I was barely able to move my arm up in time to intercept the blow. The block cost me a large chunk of flesh on my left arm. I rolled to my feet, facing the golden-eyed wolf who watched me intently, her every move a feral threat. Malice had said the Kaziem Wolves were fast, but even having been so warned I had not been ready for just how quick they were.

  I took the initiative, charging ahead with all the speed I could muster without over stretching my limits. I lashed out with first one claw, and when she dove under that one, I struck out with the other, directly in her path of travel, but Whisper of the Mist was too agile. She spun backwards, her clawed feet ripping tufts of dirt from the ground in the effort. I tried to pursue her, but in an instant her jaws came around and snapped viciously at my face. I backed up, but not fast enough to escape being grazed by the side of her mouth. A line of blood trickled down my face. The first wound I'd received was healed; the second larger bite on my left arm was still stitching itself together. I had yet to lay a single wound on my opponent, and she'd already made three successful strikes.

  We parted again, facing off across the top of the hill. Despite my training, I was outclassed and I knew it. She was faster than I, and seemed to be unnaturally aware of where the greatest danger to her was at all times. My heart beat unsteadily in my chest, a wavering reminder that I had been pushing my full speed for too long. The green wolf's eyes sparkled in the morning light. I sensed that she knew I was already at my limits.

  I took a deep breath, and forced back my body's safeties, knowing that I couldn't let go of the speed if I was to win the fight. I had to survive this battle. Kay was depending on me. My daughter needed me, and I couldn't fail her again.

  I will not lose this fight. I repeated that thought in my mind. I pushed my heart harder. I will not lose this fight. The abused knot of muscle began to beat faster, and the world around me slowed down even further. I will not lose this fight. I charged, lashing out with my right claw as hard and fast as I could. My opponent seemed startled by my sudden burst of speed. She broke away backwards, throwing herself into a roll across the grass with such force that I knew she had probably given herself several bruises in the process, but her effort was enough. My claws only lightly grazed her side, drawing slight lines of red against her green fur. She was away and safe. She didn't take time to recover from her near miss.

  As soon as Whisper of the Mist's feet hit the ground she was changing her momentum and diving towards me like an arrow for the heart of its target. I was faster now, though, and I brought my still damaged left arm to bear. I cannot lose this fight. Her teeth bit into the flesh of my arm hard, her powerful jaw closing and breaking the bone with a resounding crack, but I ignored the pain and lashed out with my right claw. It struck firmly on her side, ripping a vicious gash in the wolf's flank. Blood spattered into the air, cascading in seeming slow motion through the sky. Whisper of the Mist yelped and fell back, and I pressed forward. I cannot lose this fight. Only too late did I realize that her fall back was a feint.

  I charged head long into her deception. In an instant she went from a whiny huddled form to a fully extended mass of muscle and teeth. She brought her powerful jaws to a vice in a flash, latching on to my shoulder at the base of my neck and there was nothing I could do to turn her away. She twisted with more power than I would have thought possible, and her weight drove me to the ground. I tried to bring an arm up to defend, but she was in too close to my body. Her teeth crunched down, there was a loud crack; my collar bone, my shoulder joint, possibly more shattered, and I felt my arm go numb. She released her jaws for only a second, before striking down again on the other side of my body, her teeth ripping through my shifting cloak as though it were not there, and sinking into my shoulder and neck with ferocity. She bit down hard, the sound of bone rending exploded into the air, and my heart faltered. All the speed I'd put into the battle was gone, and I was gasping for breath, the world blurring before me.

  I must not lose this fight.

  Pain was all I could see. Stars of black and red cascaded through my vision, and my body convulsed in agony. What was worse, my heart was skipping and stuttering, struggling to return to normal pace. I felt it stop, and looked up into the fearsome face of Whisper of the Mist. She had slowed as well, her golden eyes staring down at me, her lips drawn back from her teeth in a snarl. My blood dripped from her mouth to rain down upon my face, and then her face was lost in a blur as the blood stopped pumping through my system and I could no longer maintain consciousness. "I must not lose this fight." Words assailed me from too far way for me to know from whence they came. There was blackness.

  "He. . .lost the. . .the prize is mine. . .claim." The words came through a deep chasm of emptiness, floating by me before I could grasp all of them. My heart jumped in my chest, once, with a painfully slow start, and the two voices became far too distant for me to hear once more. For a while I was falling through an infinite night sky with no stars to guide.

  "But you can't. . . will become of. . ." Again my heart hammered, weaker than before, and the world blurred and faded. The voices seemed insubstantial, simply things of another place that did not concern me. An image of Kay, sleeping
in Wisp's arms came unbidden to my mind. I found myself calling out to her through the dream-like haze.

  "Kaylien!" I shouted. Wisp smiled as she looked up and saw me. The horned set my daughter down so that she could come to me. Kay ran toward me, her bright purple eyes shining with their own inner light, and I put my arms out to catch her as she arrived. "I love you, Kaylien. I'm sorry I never told you." I said, but suddenly she was running away from me, still with arms outstretched in my direction. Every footstep she took seemed to pull us further apart, as though we were both falling, but it in opposite directions. "Kay!" I yelled in desperation as a red mist filled the air before me. My heart hammered in my chest.

  "Wake up, Lowin. . .must wake. . ." A familiar voice called. I attempted to turn towards it and saw only blackness. I realized my eyes must be closed, and forced them open. Malice's face was scant inches from mine, and I could feel the warmth of her breath on my face. Something green and massive moved beyond her and the world began to fade away again.

  "It shall be done." A voice said from behind Malice's shifting figure. I saw Malice's expression turn to one of pure terror.

  "No!" She cried out, and then there was only darkness. From the darkness a small light formed. It seemed to be in front of me, so I began to walk towards it. As I drew closer toward it, I saw that the light was actually emitting from a person, and not from a fire or a torch as I had first thought might be the case. It was a pure white light, suffused with a certain calming aura. Wisp was at its center, sitting atop the darkness as though there were a chair there for her to occupy. She turned to me as I approached and smiled.

  I collapsed to my knees in front of her, everything that had happened over the past few days falling down upon my shoulders with more weight than I could bear. "I'm sorry, Wisp."

  She laughed easily. "You don't have to be sorry, Lowin. My time spent with you, Malice and Kay was truly among the happiest in my life. What came after was terrible, but there were many good times."

  "I should have been there to protect you. I should have been a better friend, a better father." I said, reaching out to her. She reached back, grabbing my hand, and pulling me towards her. We embraced, as we never had in life, not as lovers, but as siblings long apart.

  "It is alright, my noble friend, my brother. It will be alright." Her voice was soft, reassuring. She leaned close and whispered into my ear. "It won't hurt for long, and then. . ."

  I took a step back. "What?" Another thought occurred to me, distracting me from my momentary confusion. "Come back with me, Wisp. Let us return to the world. Malice would be. . ."

  "Lowin, I'm not really here." She whispered, a sad expression on her face, and then she was fading away. I understood the truth of her words, but her fading left a hollow within me. Wisp was gone, and I could not bring her back to the world of the living. I wondered if I could even bring myself back.

  "Please, wake up!" Someone yelled into the darkness, and I found my eyes fluttering open. The light was bright. The world was a burning, intense haze, and the only sense I could discern was the shape of Malice who leaned over me, blood covering her face. "You. . . live! Remember Kay!"

  "Kay." I said aloud, and I remembered my daughter, and the way she smiled when she was happy, or she felt that she was getting away with something. I will live. The world began to sharpen before me, and I could see Malice's face clearly. She was crying. An explosion of pain burst into me, my heart stopped dead in its pace, and the world, which had just started to come so clear, faded again. Sobbing filled my mind as I was overtaken a darkness so complete, and so consuming that I felt I was truly lost for eternity. Then there was only silence.

  There was intense pain in my chest and I struggled to sit up, but a strong force resisted me. I found I had no energy to fight against my pain. I forced my eyes open, though they protested even such a slight abuse, and saw the spectral form of Tyvel floating before me. His face brought back memories of what I had learned from Whisper of the Mist, and with that knowledge also came the memory of what had transpired when last I was a part of the waking world. I found my hand struggling for the place my sword had once been, even as I lay starring up at the phantom figure that had betrayed my family to its doom.

  "It's just Tyvel and me." A soft voice spoke from above me. I shifted my gaze, and saw that Malice was the one who had restrained me. My head was lying on her lap. Her face was hollow, careworn, and creased with exhaustion. I didn't know how long I'd been out, or what had happened during the interim, but it had taken a toll on my green-eyed friend. "It's just Tyvel," she had said. I got the impression that she was holding to the illusion that we did not know the true nature of the spirit's actions. I would need to do the same. I forced my hand limp to my side and away from the place that no longer held my sword.

  "Where are we?" I asked, and found my voice raspy and weak.

  "We're in the foothills. It has been a full day since your fight with Whisper of the Mist." She touched my face as she spoke, her fingers lightly grazing my skin.

  "What happened?" I asked, not sure I really wanted to know the full details of what had transpired, and even more so unsure when I saw the expression that crossed Malice's face at my question.

  "You. . ." She began, but Tyvel cut in, sounding somewhat smug and self-assured.

  "You lost the fight, and nearly lost your life because of it, as I warned you might happen." The fake ghost stated with a certain pride, obviously taking joy in having been right about the risk I was facing. "Luckily for you, when the Kaziem Wolf found out that your heart was weak, she deemed not to take it at all. Still, it was quite a struggle for poor Malice to get your heart beating again. You have, by all reason of the sciences of medicine as I know them, been dead multiple times in the past few days."

  I felt my heart beating in my chest, a weak patter that seemed to come only grudgingly in response to my body's need for flowing blood. A terrible sense of horror and loss came to me me as the realization of what this all meant settled in my mind. I had lost the fight. I did not have the Kaziem Wolf heart, and I had nearly been killed in the process of trying to acquire it. Would I be able to try again? I opened my mouth to speak that very question, but Malice spoke before I could form the thought into words.

  "You've damaged your heart beyond repair, Lowin." I turned to face her and saw tears flowing from her green eyes, though her face showed no expression. She was struggling to keep calm. "It is beating now, and may eventually heal enough that you can live a fairly normal life, but you will never be able to push yourself again. You will die if you even try to use the full extent of your strength and speed."

  Her words were far worse than the beating the wolf had given me. I felt every single syllable as though it were a slash from a rusted sword, and what made those words worse was what they ultimately meant for Kay. I had not only failed to make myself stronger, I had made myself much weaker by pursing a reckless course of action, and I had only myself to blame. Time was running short.

  I needed to be able to travel in order to reach the king. I tried to sit up again, and this time Malice did not restrain me. It was a difficult process, as though all my strength had fled. I felt weaker than I had since I'd long ago been injured by a Shao Geok before starting my training to become a Knight of Ethan. I forced my way to my feet, a cold sweat building on my forehead. Malice stood with me.

  "Will you be able to travel?" She asked. Tyvel was hovering over her shoulder, and so I nodded, indicating that I would be fine, though it wasn't true. I did not want him to know just how much of my strength was gone. Malice looked less than convinced.

  "Climb on my back. I'll carry you." She told me, turning so that her back was facing me. I took a step away from her.

  "I can't do that. Not while my legs still work." I said, my voice tight. It wasn't that I didn't think she could manage my weight, for Malice was strong, but I didn't want to be a burden. I especially didn't want to show weakness in front of Tyvel. Malice turned back to face me once more.


  "You have no choice. We have a long journey, and our time is limited, more so for the time it has taken for you to recover to this point." Her voice was firm, but underlined by concern for my wellbeing. I gritted my teeth in agitation at the situation. I didn't want to admit that she was right. I also didn't want the cursed ghost to have the satisfaction of hearing me admit my own weakness.

  "You're almost as pale as I am, Lowin. Let her carry you." Tyvel said, a smile on his ghostly, betraying face. That he could smile in the face of all that had happened, all that he had caused, made me hate him with a purity that I had to struggle to encapsulate.

  "Alright." I said, between clenched teeth. Malice turned once more, and I climbed reluctantly onto her back, as if I were just a child wanting to be carried by my mother. It was a humiliating experience, yet one I was forced to accept that I had brought upon myself.

  In my chest, my heart was beating irregularly from just my slight exertion, causing the world to sway and blur in front of my eyes. I knew that I would have been unable to walk for long on my own. Had I insisted upon doing so, I would not have made it far. I wondered if I would be so weakened forever, or if I might regain more of my strength over time. Malice began to move, and my thoughts scattered at the jarring from her steps.