Again, he roared. He bellowed. It sounded louder than the sound before it.
Seeing him locked, Rochie turned to Garreth.
“Get the silver shackles from the horse.” He looked back to Satar. “We have him.” He felt somewhat relieved, but not entirely. After all, they had never done this before and he had no idea how it was going to end.
“What shackles?” Garreth blinked several times. He didn’t know what he was talking about and it showed.
“The silver is a moon’s metal. It will harm him but not hurt him. It will contain his strength.”
“There is a metal that can do that?” Kenar felt likewise shocked. He had never heard of such a thing before, and wasn’t sure if he heard him right.
Rochie nodded. “Just get them from my bag.” He didn’t have the time to explain. He wasn’t sure how long she could hold him like this.
Garreth obliged and went for the shackles in the bag draped over the back of his saddle, found them quickly and brought them out with both of his hands. He carried them to Rochie, not sure, if this would work. They looked like normal metals. He really didn’t see the point.
Satar saw the shackles and again he roared.
Rochie didn’t like the sounds. He sounded horrified, and he knew why. He knows that I know of their weaknesses. There is no going back now. This is the start of something entirely new. He could feel it. He knew about the precious metals of the world. He knew what silver would do to them. He also knew about gold. Silver felt heavy to Walkers. It weighed them down. It was as hard as their bones. Gold on the other hand was like the sun. It would burn them. It would scorch them like the very heat they felt on bright and sunny days.
Garreth held the shackles up.
Rochie nodded. “Put them on him quickly. Let us not prolong his pain.”
Garreth blinked hard several times. “Me?” He couldn’t believe this. He wanted nothing to do with it, and with his voice quivering within his words, it showed.
Rochie shrugged cautiously. “I have to be ready to block him with something. I cannot be the one to do this task.” He nodded to himself, and agreed with it. There was no telling what he was capable of doing. If he broke free from Patrice’s gifts, he had to be ready to throw something at him and block him. He had to be ready for anything. They had one chance to do this, and now was that time. He didn’t have the choice. They didn’t have one.
Garreth nodded. He stepped in front of Rochie towards Satar but then suddenly stopped. His legs froze. His muscles stopped pumping. His legs felt like ice as they went completely cold and numb. Before he could do anything, he felt locked in place.
Rochie held his breath.
Kenar felt all of it. “It is him. It is Satar.”
Satar smiled. He suddenly twisted hard with his shoulders and with one sudden jerking motion, he moved. He stepped. He came right at Patrice first as his red eyes burned.
She tried to act but she had never had this happen before now. Usually when she locked someone, as she called it, the person could never break it. But now, here she was, having that happen, and she didn’t know what to do about it. She didn’t know how to react.
Satar reached her too fast anyway.
He swung. His left arm came forward and aimed towards her head.
She watched it come, but suddenly felt a wind blow at the side of her face. It came strongly with power. Thankfully, it caught her and she felt her head bounce backwards to her right away from his incoming blow.
His arm missed her by the smallest amount and instead of pounding her squarely, it flew over the top of her crown.
The air moving didn’t stop there. Patrice continued backwards but luckily, she caught herself before she fell and she landed on her hands and knees.
Shandra came to her side first. After all, she was the one who shaped the wind and pushed her to safety.
Patrice felt her by her side. “Thank you for that.”
Shandra only smiled.
Satar stumbled hard. He didn’t expect to miss her and his weight almost spilled him when his swing went wild, but he did manage to regain his paws. When he did, he turned.
Sharlia took her chance. She moved like the wind itself and jumped on to his back. In this form, he was twice her size, but this, right now, didn’t matter. It was a chance that she had to take.
“Get those damn things on him now!” she screamed. With her fangs exposed it sounded more like a large and a powerful snake’s hiss more than anything did.
He felt her on his back. He immediately began clawing at her from around his own chest. This time, being in this shape, it hindered him some. He couldn’t reach her. He could do nothing but grope.
Rochie saw this and pulled Garreth’s right arm with him as he ran up to Satar’s hands.
“Put on the shackles.”
Garreth went with him freely. It seemed his body worked again thanks to Shandra. He moved one of the shackles to Satar’s left arm but it moved before he reached it. He then moved to the right, but again, it vanished before he could find it. Frustrated with this strategy and his moves in it, he stopped.
“I cannot get his arms.”
Rochie puzzled.
Satar roared again. He saw what they were trying to do and realizing it, he stopped with Sharlia and went for Garreth instead.
Garreth stepped back.
Satar reached him, grabbed him by the shoulders with both hands and lifted him up. Without another second, he swung wide.
Garreth flew through the air completely and helplessly until he hit the wall to a building on the other side of the square. He hit hard. He hit firmly. The sound of it echoed around him like the sound of a large gong had just sounded.
Rochie watched him fly. He watched the shackles leave his hands and drop to the ground about ten feet away from him, almost directly between him and Garreth. It is too far. He turned back to Satar and now watched his hands move at his face.
Seeing his reach and regaining her feet, Patrice once again took her chance. She concentrated on his hands. She saw only his arms. She felt for them and squeezed them solidly in her mind.
“Make the air around him lock his arms. I need your help,” she said to Shandra now on her left.
Shandra did, feeling the molecules on the air and once she had them within her thoughts, she moved them. She moved them to his hands.
Instantly, his arms stopped. The pressure around them froze them out in front of him almost like he was trying to pick something up that suddenly moved before he could grab it.
Seeing this, and rebounding from taking a few steps back from Satar’s arms coming at him, Rochie came in next. He felt for the shackles with his mind. With them strongly there in his thoughts, he clenched them, and moved them in his mind.
They all watched as they moved. They marveled as they slowly glided through the air. When they reached Satar’s wrists, they opened and with a sudden burst of movement, they closed over them with a powerful click.
The silver instantly heated his wrists. The weight of them complete flattened his arms. The pain of both made him roar again, but this time he truly sounded like he was in total agony. He even moaned and winced.
With the silver locked over him, Shandra stopped the air.
Patrice let go of his arms.
The very moment they were free, Satar fell to his knees. The agony of the pain raced through his arms into his shoulders and then flattened down his back. He fell from all of it. The weight pushed his arms to his knees.
They watched him fall.
Kenar turned from Satar, and looked to the girl still standing frozen on the steps. Her yellow glow sparkled around her, but that wasn’t what he truly saw. He saw her hair. He saw her face, and when he did, he gasped, “Permona?” He swallowed hard. He couldn’t believe it. He didn’t understand it. He just stood there and blinked.
Rochie stepped in front of Satar, and then kneeled down onto both of his knees.
“I am sorry my lord.” He felt for him. H
e feared for him. He pitied him too. “I am so very sorry to have to do this to you.” He then bowed his head.
Satar looked up to him softly. It took everything he had to do it too. The pain was already beginning to weaken him to the point of him wanting to pass out.
“I do not need you pity Rochie. I do not pity for myself.”
Rochie nodded. He understood this much, and he had nothing more to say but this, “Get the other shackles and put them on his ankles.” He turned to Garreth as he watched him rejoin them from the other side of the plaza.
He looked dazed and somewhat confused, but he did give him a solemn nod.
As he left to the horses, Rochie turned back to Satar and to the others.
“It is time we bring him home.”
14
Devish suddenly felt an overly powerful need to stand. He had been sitting on his throne for a few hours since rising for the night, but this wasn’t his need to do it. He felt a dry sharpness fly into his hands. He felt a pain race down his back and into his legs. He knew what it meant. They have found him. They have imprisoned you father. He blinked several times as he tried to force the pain to leave his mind. He had been sensing his father for weeks now—for months—so it didn’t surprise him that he felt everything this clearly. The fact that they found him so soon did. The fact that they used silver on him was even more of a surprise. They used one of our weaknesses father. They used one of our gravest pains.
He left the front of his throne and moved out to the center of the room. He moved towards the door to his room and stopped. He saw nothing but what was inside him. All of them now know more than they ever should. They used it in front of the humans. I was right. We should have never trusted them. He turned to his throne, left the door, and moved back to it. They are more dangerous than I realized. He stopped in front of it and bent down to the right arm. He gripped it tightly with both hands.
Its wood coursed through him as he squeezed it. His father’s mind now began to fade. Father? He stood back straight. Why? Why are you searching for her? He saw his mother’s face inside his father’s mind, but just before it vanished, he saw another. This face was young. She was human. She looked just like the one before it. He believes he has found her. It had to be the reason for what he saw. Knowing this, seeing it now within his own mind, he cringed. I cannot let you do this father. I have spent so much time trying to protect you. I have spent so long now trying to keep you safe. He did that and more. He couldn’t bring himself to harm him, he never could, but right now, right then, that old rage came flushing back into his very essence. Why was I not enough for you? Why could you not love me as you did her? He spun back towards the door, hearing footsteps coming towards it from the other side of the wall. With the smell coming in with the sound, he knew who it was, and again with it, he cringed.
A knock came next.
Pull yourself together. They have found him. They will soon bring him back here and when they do, you can find your answers. You can ask them straight to his face. This finally reassured him enough to answer the door.
“Yes?” He straightened himself back straight. He gathered his thoughts, as he watched the door open.
Vala Draco, one of his Moonwalkers, stepped through the door.
“My lord Devish, they have found him. They will bring your father home tonight.” She even smiled.
He could see the glee written all over her face. He feared the look.
“This is fantastic news my dear Vala. Inform the other Elders of this.” He forced a smile to cross his face. He was a better actor than any of them ever gave him credit for, and he knew it.
She nodded with a grateful grace. “They have already been informed. Lord Odan will come back here to see him.”
He nodded with this. “Of course he will.” He kept the grin. The smile was already starting its slow and ebbing fade away from his face. It always did this when he forced one. Maybe, he wasn’t that great of an actor as he thought he was.
She left him as fast as she had come in.
He watched her leave and closed the door behind her. He then turned back to the chair, and retook it with a heavy heave.
I have to know father. He looked down at his own hands. His father was now completely gone from his mind, but this didn’t matter. He spoke to him anyway. I must know why you love her more than you have ever loved me. And he rushed his face into his hands and cried.
15
The moment to move was now. The humans stood silent. They stood calm. They stood with udder disbelief. None of them had ever seen this happen before now. None of them knew what to do. No one knew what to say, so each stood there speechless. They stood there solemnly still.
Only Jameson moved. He picked himself up. He looked back to the beast that had taken his father. He then turned from it to his sister.
“Lina?” He ran to her in an open stride. He jumped to her on the steps. He took her firmly within his arms. “Lina?” he screamed.
She didn’t move. She did nothing but stare straight ahead.
Rochie saw him run. He saw him jump. He saw his embrace. Seeing everything, he stood up and moved to the bottom step.
“Is she alright?” he had to ask. He could feel her alive. He could feel her breathing, but even with this said she still looked gone. She looked like a ghost that was no longer there.
Jameson took the bottom of his shirt and used it to wipe away the little blood that was on her chin.
“Lina?” he asked again. Finished with his shirt, he dropped it and had both hands clasp her face. Slowly he turned her eyes to his. “Lina?” She looked right at him. Her brown eyes suddenly swelled with tears. Seeing hers, his did the same thing. “Lina please speak to me?” His voice pleaded. His heart exploded.
Thankfully, she did come back to him, just after the tears streaked down her face. “Father?” she cried.
He took her head into his arms and slowly sat her down to the steps. They sat there together with her on his right thigh.
“He is gone Lina.” There was no other way to say it, but bluntly. After he did, he too began to cry.
Rochie watched all of this and suddenly tears swelled up in his own eyes. He had never seen this emotion like this before coming from humans. Seeing it, however, it made him wince all the same. He felt it too. He saw Rana’s face inside his mind. They feel as we do. They do have what we have. He found himself smiling. He couldn’t help himself.
Patrice and Shandra stood there and watched them.
Garreth watched the other humans and noticed what Rochie did. They all had tears in their eyes. They all had feelings. He just couldn’t believe what he saw.
Kenar already knew all of this of course, but it didn’t stop him from feeling the same way as the rest of them did. It was such a beautiful thing to see.
Rochie wiped his face with the back of his left hand and turned back to the others. Their job wasn’t finished yet.
“We have to get him back up north.” He looked to Sharlia. She stayed with Satar and watched him closely. “We have to transport him before the night ends.” He walked to her and stopped by her left side.
She nodded. “He was so magnificent once.” She couldn’t take her eyes off his face. Even in this weakened state, he still looked powerful. He looked strong. She couldn’t help but feel for him.
Rochie took her shoulder with his open hand.
“How do we move him?” The task was all he could think of. He cared of nothing else but this. Once finished, he could go home. He could see Rana again.
She nodded and agreed with him. “I will take him. I am the only one here who can carry him and get him there before daybreak.” She turned and looked at him with a determined glance.
He could see the hint of a teary gaze on her face. This one, he could truly understand the reasons for it.
She saw him looking at her and it made her blink.
Seeing the blink, and with what she said, he gave her a soft smile.
“Will the sh
ackles affect you too?” He wasn’t sure. He knew about their weaknesses, and even with that said, he had never used them before intentionally and had no idea how it would affect them. She would not be able to run if they too weighed her down.
She shook her head. “Not if I do not touch them.” She, like all of the Elders, knew about their weaknesses to certain metals. How he knew of it, she didn’t care. She didn’t think twice about it. She just looked back at Satar, and before she said anything else, she reached under his body and pulled him to his feet. He felt heavy. She couldn’t believe how heavy he was, but at the same time, she did manage. When he was standing, she went under his arms with hers and lifted him up on to her shoulders. Once he was secure, and she had a firm grip, she ran off.
She was so fast that all he saw was a blur of wind. When she left, he then turned to the others and gave them his plans, “We need to start out. We should be there when he arrives.”
Shandra said nothing. She just returned to her horse with Garreth walking beside her.
Patrice gave him a smile before doing the same thing.
Kenar couldn’t bring himself to move. He just stood there and watched the boy and girl. Inside, he felt everything they felt. He saw everything they saw. He felt completely mesmerized by everything they were.
Rochie saw this and came to his right side behind him.
“Kenar?” He put his right hand on his shoulder and squeezed him gently.
Kenar did nod. “They have so much feeling.” Tears swelled. He did everything he could to keep himself from crying, but he was failing at it fast. “They have so much love and warmth.”
Rochie shrugged. “They are what they are.” He looked back to the young humans. He saw this too, but found it hard to feel anything else but that casual feeling one has to a favored pet. He had been around humans only when he needed to gather them for devotion. They always seemed plain. To him, they were no different from the horses they used to ride there.
Kenar heard this inside him, and it made him wince some.
A Werewolf's Saga, The Beginning (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets Book 3) Page 7