Kenar thought about this for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain what he knew. After that moment passed he felt ready, so he began, “You carry an inner light. You carry the inner light that all Wanderers have. You possess the inner you.” Saying this, it made him feel relaxed. It felt damn good feeling it too.
“The inner light?” Donte had heard stories of this belief from some others within the village before about humans carrying a special gift. They called this gift the inner light, a light force that moves on to a special place after death. Hearing a Wanderer repeat such a thing made him take notice with it. It had to be worth something special. He was still a Wanderer after all. He knew things that only a few ever did.
Kenar emphatically nodded. “The inner light is the force that we Wanderers carry with us to the place of the trees and flames after death. We wait there for the time to return to our bodies. We pass on that force to a new host.”
Donte nodded, left Jameson’s side and moved to only inches from the Wanderer. He had a thousand more questions to ask, and didn’t know where to begin, but thankfully he couldn’t, for Jameson had had enough talk.
He interrupted both of them quickly. “Where is my sister?” His pain subsided some, and with it, so did his mind. He was back in the only place he wanted to be, thinking and hoping to find her again.
Kenar looked around Donte and had to shake his head. He had almost forgotten as to why he was there. With everything that he had just learned, it all seemed too pointless now, but at the same time, it wasn’t.
“She is with Satar in Devish’s home.” He stepped around Donte some, they were the same height, the same size, but he still needed to see the boy directly to answer him correctly. He was still their chief and deserved respect.
Jameson held his shattered arm in his left. Even though the village doctor had wrapped it, it still hurt to move it, but he did manage to stand.
“Then we go there and get her back.” He cried with a steady flow of tears flushing over his face. The tears were not for his pain. His sister was the only reason for the tears.
Kenar admired him for this, more than he could ever truly say.
“You will never be able to get her back, young chief. She is surrounded by the members of the four clans. Satar will not allow you to see her.” He wasn’t sure if he should tell him the rest of what he knew. Should I tell him about her and Satar? Should I tell him about what he intends to do with her? Seeing his pain for her, he just couldn’t do it. Why hurt the boy more than he already is?
Jameson didn’t, nor would he ever agree. “I will do what I must do.” He held his breaths before exhaling them with one large gust of pain.
“It would be foolish to continue with that line of thought.” Again, Kenar admired his strength. He didn’t know this child well, but he did know of his father some. He was his father’s son.
Donte turned. “Why have you come to see him?” He thought back to what he had said and why he was there, so the question came to him quickly.
Kenar turned to his yellow flare. “The council of the elders has called for Jameson to visit them.” He looked back to the boy. “They intend to question him for his attack on Devish.” He now held his breaths for what he knew was coming next.
Jameson would not disappoint him. “He took her from me. I would have killed him if I could have.” He grimaced some, but again, it was all for her.
Kenar nodded with this. “You cannot harm a Walker. No swing of a sword could ever hurt him.” He felt like he needed to add this, so he did.
Donte continued with his thoughts. “We are preparing weapons that will do so much more than just hurt him.” After he said this, he instantly regretted it. He wasn’t sure how the Wanderer would react to it. What it could mean, could be the death of all of them if he told the Walkers what they knew.
Kenar turned to him and understood everything without even trying.
“You are intending to use the moon’s metal.” He looked back to the boy, and now understood everything else he saw from his thoughts. He understood the need to avenge, and the confidence that went along with it.
Donte looked to his friend and his head went down fast.
Jameson understood his guilt for saying what he had, but as they say, the cat was out of the bag. The truth was out, so now there was no going back. In a way, he liked this. It meant that the dye had been cast. They would not be able to stop him from doing this now. They had no choice but to fight at his side.
Kenar felt fear, true fear erupt through his heart. “You cannot be serious with this. No one, not even we Wanderers, has ever stood up against them.” He knew something else too. Jameson was right. Now the Elders would know. They would know that humans now possessed the gift of metal. They knew of their weaknesses. There was no going back now. “They do not die well.”
Jameson wouldn’t have it any other way. If he could read minds, he would have agreed. “I am serious. I will do what I have to do to get her back home.”
“I cannot allow you to follow this path, but now, there may be no other choice.” Kenar shook his head as strongly as he could. There is no going back now. He turned to the door they came through, walked to it with three steps, and then turned back around. “I am not the only one of us that can do what I can do. They will now know all of this. They will see everything we have said.” He thought about Gorhan and it made his heart sink. “They will know everything.”
Jameson again agreed. “Then we will have no other choice but to fight them.” He took another breath, and fought back the agony swelling through his chest. “We will fight you too Wanderer if I have to.” He stared him down, now not knowing where this was going to go. He knew that Wanderers were as weak as they were, physically. He wouldn’t need moon’s metal to kill them. If he had to that is. He didn’t want to, and for some reason that he didn’t understand yet, he didn’t think they wanted to either. This Wanderer was different somehow. He could only hope that he was right.
Kenar agreed with him. After seeing all of this, seeing the inner light, he couldn’t do it. After watching his friend Rochie being led away, after seeing the different memories about what he did, he just couldn’t do what he was sent there to do. This made him feel calmed some. He figured he now knew why. Devish put the false memory inside Rochie’s head. That is why it felt so wrong. Devish lied. This bothered him a lot more than he ever thought was possible, but again, he knew why. An elder lied, and that means that they cannot be trusted. He looked at the boy and felt his love. He felt his strength, and with it strongly there, he thought back to his sister and to Satar. Devish planted a false lie inside her head. He is making her love his father. He thought about Shandra waiting for him at the gate, read her thoughts, and saw the same doubts that he had inside her. He knew her history. He knew how she really felt about the Walkers. I am not alone in this. He looked at Donte, saw the same needs of revenge for what he had done to him, and turned back to Jameson. There is no going back now. The page has turned. He then bowed his head.
Jameson watched him think. He noticed his doubts. He saw just what he wanted to see.
“Join us Wanderer or fight us.” He held his arm close to his chest and moved to him carefully. He also moved with confidence. “Help me take her home.” He pleaded, but sounded strong. Again, he just didn’t have the choice.
Kenar finally breathed. “This means war. This means that many will die for your cause.” He had to make this point strongly. They all had to know how dangerous this was about to become and not just for them. All of humanity was now a threat to them. One fight always becomes two.
Jameson only smiled with a nod. “That is exactly what it means.”
Kenar blinked. He then nodded. “I am here to bring you to his court.” He closed his mind by allowing all of his thoughts to focus on the boy. He wasn’t sure if this would block Gorhan fully or not, but again, he didn’t have the choice. “I am thinking that I may have to do just that.”
Donte stepped to
him with strength flaring through his chest.
“Then you will joy us. You will help us do what must be done.”
Kenar turned to his yellow glow.
“I will.” He looked back to Jameson. His face burned within his halo and it made his features as clear as any eyes could ever see them. “Your sister is not the only one that we must take home.” And Rochie’s face crossed his mind.
Jameson smiled with all of this. “When shall we go then?” He felt better than he ever thought he would again.
Kenar gave him a heartfelt smile. “Soon, but first we must mend your arm.”
Jameson affirmed everything he heard with a nod. Now everything felt right again.
30
“They are coming.” Gorhan sat still, lying in place. He felt the air turn cold, as his mind turned with Kenar’s voice echoing through his head. “The humans know about the metals.” He opened his eyes, and found them staring at the ceiling above the bed. He had been asleep, but now, he was fully awake. This was how he saw most of what he did. As he slept the world’s noise would fade to the most important things, and well, this was more important than anything he had ever heard before in his life. Kenar’s answer shocked him the most. He has joined them. He has sided with the humans. He couldn’t believe it. He had known Kenar for close to ten years, and had never felt betrayal within his mind. It just was never a part of the man, but now hearing this, he just didn’t know what to think. He had no idea of how to feel. Shandra too? He saw her mind and knew how right Kenar was about her. She was always quiet, but her thoughts were stronger than most ever were. She not only controlled the winds, but she also knew which way they turned. She knew who she was and which way she would follow them after they did. She loved Kenar more than she would ever tell him too. I cannot believe that they are going to come and hunt us. He sat up in bed. He pulled his feet to the floor and let them fall with all of their weight. They felt so heavy that they banged the floor when they did. I must inform the others of this. Kenar is planning a trap. He is planning to bring the boy and the boy’s people with him. He stood up.
He raced to the door of the room.
He opened it and stepped outside to the hallway, and stopped.
Devish met him just outside the door.
“Are you heading somewhere my lord?” With the torches burning, he could see his face clearly. His mind was the same way. He saw everything he needed to see.
And so did Gorhan. “You already know what I am about to say.” He felt relieved with this. Now, he didn’t need to explain it, and it meant that time would move quickly. Their reaction to the pending crisis would happen just as fast.
Devish only smiled. “Of course I do.”
Gorhan saw the look. He saw the glee. He saw a lot more than that.
“You planned this to happen. You wanted them to learn of the metal. You wanted them to attack us.” He paused some, taking in every plot, every thought, everything that Devish had ever done. The only thing that now worried him was how he missed it. He should have known. He should have seen it. Now, he saw even more. “You planted the memory inside Rochie’s mind. You assisted your father with his search. You did all of this.”
Devish kept his hand gripped. He kept his mind open. With his father’s attention on the human, he could no longer use his strength of blocking others with his, but now this didn’t matter. He now knew everything, and there was only one thing left to do about it. He gripped the handle tighter in his right hand. With the leather over the handle it didn’t burn. It still felt warm, but it was manageable all the same.
Gorhan understood everything. “You never rid yourself of the blood thirst for the humans. You never saw the Great Dying and so you never believed it. You never believed in the balance. You never believed in the clans. You want to hunt them again as you did before.” There was so much information flowing into his mind that he was having some trouble in trying to understand all of it at once. “You want to return them to the cattle you wish for them to be.” He now saw something else too. He felt the heat in Devish’s right hand. He felt his grip. He felt the blade, and knew instantly what his intentions were. “No!” He brought out his true form. He let the bat and the wolf inside him out.
Devish kept the smile as he watched his face begin to swarm.
“Not this time.” He brought the golden blade out from behind his back and without so much from breaking his swing; he swung its point forward towards Gorhan’s chest.
The blade struck home, plunging through him, through everything from flesh to bone, until it pierced his heart.
The heat from the gold blazed through him like the sun would welt his flesh. He felt his heart burst, and then collapse around the double-edged weapon. He felt his body instantly go limp. He felt his death, and an endless blackness of nothing, as it swarmed over his mind.
Devish had never witnessed the death of one of his kind before and suddenly, now seeing such a thing right before his eyes, he found himself mesmerized by it. It was like watching wax melt from a burning flame.
His face bubbled up as he turned, but suddenly, it went limp and almost lifeless instantly. The skin just seemed to fall away from the bone. A horrendous smoke began to waif up from his chest. His chest burst with flames. The heat carried all around him until he suddenly melted down to just hollow flesh lying above his skeleton’s frame. He collapsed to the floor as nothing more than skin and bone.
Devish just stood there and watched what was left of him fall.
“That was interesting.” He looked down to the mesh of—well—goo that was left. “He didn’t even make a sound.” He stood back and dropped his arm, making sure the golden blade came nowhere near his leg. “I so wish that I didn’t have to do that my dear lord Gorhan, but I could not let you stop the fun that is about to begin.” He looked to his right and then to his left.
The corridor was empty. No one saw what he had just done.
This was good. He after all needed them for the fight ahead.
“If you would have let me explain, I would have told you that I set a trap of my own.” He looked back to the pile of flesh. “My father hid everything well. He hid the truth from Kenar’s mind. He blocked you from seeing things that you would never understand. You just never wanted to listen to me about the humans.” He smiled. “Look where this has brought you now.”
He turned, stepped to the other side of the corridor and removed his robe. He took it and laid it down over what was left of Gorhan.
“It is too bad that you had to leave us so suddenly.” He wrapped every part of him inside the robe like he was bundling only leaves. Thankfully, there was no blood. It seemed the heat made it all go away. “But I know that you had to head back to your country.” He bundled the mess up and folded it calmly in his hands, and stood back up. “It is just a shame that you had to miss this.” He carried the bundle back into Gorhan’s room, took it to the refuse in the restroom to the right of the chamber and threw all of it down the hole. “Oh well. Odan will miss you.” He brushed both hands together, making sure nothing was on them, and then headed out of the room. “I must prepare for what tomorrow will bring.” He closed the door and headed back to bed.
The night would come soon enough.
31
She rode all night, she didn’t want to leave her mother, but she felt that she didn’t have the choice. Her brother needed her. She had to help him if she could.
Arriving at Devish’s home just after dawn, she finally relaxed. She worried the entire trip, but now that she was there, the answers would come. She could only hope if she was right or not.
“Are you sure of this?” Rathia kept in the shade along the wall as he followed his daughter to the gate. With the sun behind the castle, it made it easier for him to make it across the plain. Now that it was up, he already felt weak. After hearing what his daughter told him about Rochie, he already was. He just couldn’t believe that this would happen, not after all of this time.
Rana climbed
down from the horse. She felt more determined than ever.
“Yes I am. He told me they accused him of blasphemy. Devish accused him of treason.”
Rathia followed her through the gate.
“What are you intending to do?”
She made her way to the large set of steps.
“I am going to vouch for him to the Elders. I have to try.”
Two Moonwalkers greeted her at the top of the steps.
“Rana, Rathia, welcome.” The female wolf met her first. “Devish is expecting you.” She bowed her head, but only slightly to the Wanderer. She gave Rathia a larger one as he joined them.
Rana said nothing else. She just followed the young wolf through the front door and into the great foyer.
Devish was in fact standing on the staircase, halfway down it from the second floor, and waited for them.
“Ah, my dear Rana.” He finished his dissent and took both of her hands into his. “It is so very pleasant to see you again.” He flashed her a full and lighted gaze. Out of all the life on this world, she was his favorite. Her beauty spoke through the ages like no other creature ever did.
Rana didn’t come there for him. She was there for her brother.
“I need to see him.” She got down to business. “I need to speak with Rochie.” Her eyes burned some, but she kept her feelings somewhat contained. She told herself over the entire trip that she had to remain calm. She had to do it for him.
Devish’s face kept calm but firm. “He has been accused of a very grievous offense.” He looked at Rathia and watched him bow to him. He admired this. He also admired her love for her brother. Her strength and everything she was, made him melt as well.
She released his hands, and dropped hers back to her side.
“I must speak with him my lord Devish. I will stand with him. I will vouch for him to the Elders.”
Again, she only made him smile. “In time my dear—in time. First, you must speak with Master Odan. He would like to see you.”
A Werewolf's Saga, The Beginning (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets Book 3) Page 15