Devish knew what Odan had done as well. “We have all made mistakes in this. None of us are immune to the faults that have been caused.” He placed his hands on his hips and gripped them tightly. It helped him some with the pain too.
Odan knew he was right, but at the same time, what had been done was finished. They now had to consider things that were more important. Danger was fully on the wind, and it was time to face it.
“You are right Devish.” He looked back to Rana. “You are with us then?” He simply needed to know. He knew her bond with her brother was strong. How could he trust such a thing with everything else considered. He just wasn’t sure if he ever could, or should trust anyone ever again.
She looked up. She knew what he meant without even having to try to read him.
“I stand with you, but…” She didn’t know how he would take the next part of this, but she also knew that she had to say it. She had to let them know the truth, as she saw it. “I will not harm my brother. I cannot and will not stand against him.”
Odan was afraid of this. “Then you are of no use for us.” He took a step towards her, not sure how far he would go with this. He just knew that he had to do something, no matter how terrible that something might be.
Devish knew his intentions and couldn’t bear to see him do it.
“Stop Odan!” He readied himself for anything. His feelings for her would never be dissuaded in the least—not even now, not even, with what she just said.
Odan did stop, somewhat thankful for him for making him do it. He didn’t want to hurt her. She was far too important to them. Besides, she was a Wanderer. She would only return as an enemy, and a great one at that.
Devish watched him stop, relieved. “She has no place in this.” He knew what they had to do. He knew that Odan knew it too. “Let her go home to her father. Let her stay home. Let her stay with one of us to watch her.”
Odan couldn’t have agreed more. “Of course.” He gave her a soft smile. He also knew he had to stress how important that offer was. “You must stay out of this no matter what transpires Rana. You must allow what will happen to happen.” The smile vanished all too fast.
She accepted all of this—somewhat. She still didn’t want anything to happen to him. He was far too important to her. He was her life. Besides, a part of her didn’t fear this. A part of her already knew that he would survive. Feeling this, she stayed calm. She stayed relaxed. She knew what she had to do, and how far she would go to do it.
“You may leave us now dear Rana. You may now go home.” Odan nodded, and turned back to the others.
Devish gave her a full and hearty smile.
She accepted everything, bowed slightly to all of them, and then turned back to the door. She left just as quietly.
With her gone, Odan felt that it was time to discover what else they had to do. “Your father is a major issue Devish.” He stepped to him with a solemn stride. It was a cautious one at that. “I must be assured that you will take this to the end. I must hear you say what has to be done.”
Devish knew this was coming and already knew what he had to say. He would tell him what he needed to hear.
“My father has caused all of this lord Odan. I know how dangerous he is, and what this has wrought. I will do what I now must do to set it right.”
Odan accepted this from him. He truly admired it too. “You will lead the council one day Devish, and when that time comes, I will support your assent.” He looked at Adollo and saw him nod as he agreed with everything. Feeling their resolve well placed, he concluded everything he needed to say. “We head out after dusk. We will gather our full strength, and after we find them, we leave nothing alive. No one will return home after this night.”
They all agreed. The dye was cast, and now all they had to do was wait for night to rise again.
42
They rode for hours through the cool yet burning sun. They stayed to the road, and the brightness of the day. It was just their instinct to stay out of the shadows. They had no idea who might be following them. They didn’t know what animals maybe on their scent. Either way, it seemed like the best thing to do. When they reached a sharp bed in the road along the river, the horses showed a definite sign of fatigue.
Donte was the first to notice it. “We must stop and rest the horses.” He came along the side of Jameson. The road was wide enough for three of them to ride side by side.
Jameson understood this, but he didn’t like it. “We must keep going.” Dangers could be anywhere. They were everywhere.
Donte touched his right leg with his left hand. “We are safe. It is daylight.” He stressed his point. Someone had to do it, so it had to be him.
Jameson only shrugged hard. “What about wolves? They are not afraid of the light.”
Donte now stressed this, “We destroyed an entire pack of them with relative ease. I do not think they will attempt another attack, if there are any of them left.”
Jameson could not argue with this. He did have a point, so he just shrugged again, and stopped his horse.
“We stop then.”
His entire small group did. The horses were not the only ones tired. Many of them, at least half of them, all felt it. They had been riding for what felt like days. It was actually close to that.
“We should also break out some provisions. We need to rest and drink.” Donte turned to everyone.
They didn’t need to hear anything else, as three of them were already standing back on the ground. One had already led his horse to the river to drink.
Jameson stayed on his horse. He turned to his sister behind him.
“We must stop.” He gave her a soft look.
Surprisingly, even with everything that happened to her, she returned it. Her mind felt clearer than it had in days and she didn’t know why. Inside her, she wanted to keep screaming. She wanted to just fall apart, but she didn’t. She didn’t even shake.
“I know.” She started down the horse before her brother even moved.
He watched her climb down, and felt beyond shocked with this. As for him, he was almost ready to break down.
“Are you alright?” he just had to ask.
“I am okay now.” She turned back to the horse, and even helped him down from it. She knew about his arm but didn’t know how she knew it. She just did and that was enough.
He looked at her with caring eyes. “What happened?” He knew there was more there than that. He could see it on her face. He heard it in her scream.
“I am not sure.” She truly didn’t know, or didn’t remember that much. Everything over the past few days seemed like an endless blur of images. The pictures were there, she saw faces, she saw rooms, but they all seemed to be just that—nothing but a hollowness that was difficult to comprehend.
He knew she wasn’t telling him everything. He hated this. He wanted to know everything. He wanted to know about her pain, but at the same time, he understood her answer. He understood her. If she didn’t want to tell him, she didn’t have to. He would wait for the right time. He would wait for her to come to him.
Donte had other ideas. “We should have someone stand watch at the trees, just in case,” he pointed out.
Jameson took this interruption for what it was worth. “Have one person stand watch. Let the others eat what we have and rest.” He gave his sister a gentle hug around her waist with his good left arm. “When we have waited for a few moments, we will go again. I do not wish to be out here when the sun goes down.”
Donte couldn’t have agreed more. He didn’t intend to have this happen either.
Jameson watched him leave, talk with an older man whose name he was unaware of, and watched him then head him to the tree line. He then watched the man stand and face the trees.
Johan was the man’s name, and no sooner had he stopped, he saw something moving towards him. Seeing that it looked like a man, he quickly turned back.
“Someone is coming.” He held his fear. He held his heart. He waite
d for anything.
Jameson and Donte heard him at the same time.
“Gather together.” Jameson was the first to order the others.
They did. They moved fast. They rushed towards the trees with their weapons in hand.
Donte approached Johan first, with Jameson moving back to his sister’s side.
The person came to a spot to where everyone could see him. He looked young. He had black hair that looked short and neat. His eyes looked dark. His face was pale with a little redness near his nose and mouth. He walked to them and stopped.
Jameson saw him and knew instantly who he was. “You bastard!” He raised his left hand with his sword up and ready. He stood in front of his sister and stood as her guard.
“I am of no threat to you, young Jameson. I am here as a friend.” Satar stepped to the last tree, just before the road.
“Who is it?” Donte had no idea who it was. He didn’t know his face.
“It is the bastard Satar. He is the one who killed my father and tried to take my sister away from me.” Jameson readied for anything.
Donte heard just the name, and raised his sword. A Blood Walker had followed them after all.
Satar saw the blades. He saw their faces, and he read their minds. “The weapons you carry will not harm me as they did the wolves.” He felt the need to point out. “The moon metal does not burn the flesh—my flesh.”
Donte didn’t believe him. “Try and come at us and we will see if you are right or not.”
Jameson did. The blind Wanderer had told him as much. “What do you want?” He also noticed that the Blood Walker had come to them. Even in the sun, he could have attacked them, especially with them having no weapon that could harm him fatally. Knowing this, he had to be there for something else. Feeling his sister’s hand squeeze his, it suddenly dawned on him what that something was. Realizing this, he took her hand and held it firmly with his right. The pain wasn’t enough for him to let her go.
Satar smiled at him with a heavy mind. “I have come to speak with you.” He took another step.
Donte raised his silver sword to his chest.
All of them readied their weapons to strike him if he moved.
Satar saw it and stopped. “I know I have hurt you young Jameson. I know that I have hurt her.” A single tear swelled up in his left eye and it gently streaked down his cheek. He felt stronger than this. His emotions were stronger than ever before, at least since she died.
Donte and the other men with him, side by side, gasped with seeing such a sight. None of them had ever seen a Walker shed a tear before, and none of them ever thought they would.
Lina saw him and her mind suddenly flashed with those same images, those same feelings. She saw him lying with her. She saw him glancing at her with a passionate embrace. She saw his face come to hers and even felt his lips press onto hers. She truly felt his warmth. She truly felt his power, but then her mind flashed again, and this time she saw her father’s face. She saw it splashed with blood, his blood, as he died. She saw his eyes. She watched his face go flat. She watched him fall.
Satar saw all of this and it made another tear roll down his cheek. It even made him bow his eyes from hers.
“I cannot change what had happened.” He looked back up but kept his eyes on Jameson instead. He just couldn’t look at her. He couldn’t feel the pain that he caused her. He couldn’t grasp what he had done. “I can only speak what I am now feeling. I can only do what I am now doing.”
Donte didn’t understand. “And what is that? What are you doing?” He gripped his sword’s handle tighter. He readied his arm. He prepared his body. He even accepted his own death if that was how it was meant to be.
Satar shook his head. “I have no intentions of harming any of you. I truly mean this.” He watched only Jameson’s face. “I saved you from my own son.” His face now looked stained with tears.
“Why did you do that?” Jameson held his breaths. He didn’t understand any of this. He had to know more. All of their lives now depended on it.
Satar only blinked once. “I love her.” He looked at her face, but again he had to pull away from such a beautiful but yet tragic sight.
Jameson rushed him without truly thinking. Just hearing something as awful as this made him lose all control. He pushed past Donte and grabbed Satar’s overcoat with both hands by the collar. He pulled him to his face.
Donte and the others flinched. They didn’t expect him to jump him. They didn’t know how the monster was going to react. What happened blew them away.
He did nothing. He just stood there and took the boy’s wrath. He let him take him without a fight.
Jameson, even feeling what he was, noticed this too. He felt shocked by it. It too blew his mind.
“You are not fighting me!” he screamed out. All of the pain in his right arm vanished with it.
Satar continued with his tears. “You may do with me as you wish.” He continued not to fight.
Jameson just let him go, and he didn’t know why. He wanted to kill him. He wanted to end him, but didn’t. Instead, he too just started crying, as tears flushed down his face.
“Why? Why did you do it?” He sobbed almost uncontrollably. He nearly collapsed from the weight of his sadness. His father was gone. His sister was nearly taken. His entire life had almost ended. Why? Why did he do it to him?
Satar felt him release his grip. He took a deep breath. He took in the moment and relished in the feelings of his own regret.
“I did not intend to harm him or her.” He didn’t even bother to straighten his coat. As far as he was concerned, he deserved so much more than this. “I have searched for her for my entire life.” He looked at her face. He saw her eyes, and for some reason, he let her see his tears.
She did look right at him. She saw his loving look. She saw his longing, and felt it within her too. Feeling this, reliving his tenderness, she too lost her control.
“You were searching for me?” she said without thinking again. She couldn’t help herself.
He took a step past Jameson and stopped on his left. He stopped just to Donte’s right.
“Yes.” He couldn’t take any more steps. It just didn’t feel right. “I know what you possess. I have seen it with my own eyes. I have felt it within your life. You have so much within you that you do not even understand that you possess.” He breathed. He took in her loving scent. He took in everything she was.
Jameson pulled himself back together again. He heard his sister’s voice crack within what she must be feeling, and it made him have to do it. Again, he had to stay strong. He had to be what his father could no longer be.
“You said that she possesses something. What is it?” He turned around and faced his monster down. Yes, he was still a monster, but more was happening here that he didn’t understand, and he needed to know what it was. Now, they all did.
Satar relaxed with hearing this. He also calmed down some too. “We Walkers have suspected for years now that you people, you humans, possess that which we do not. We thought it was an illusion, but not now. You have a life after death. You have a gift. You have a life force beyond the body and mind.”
Jameson sighed, heavy and deep. “The Wanderer spoke of this too.” He saw Kenar’s face. Then, he didn’t believe him, but now, he did.
Satar nodded emphatically with this. “He has seen it too, yes. The Wanderer’s possess it. Humans possess it.” He turned to him but only briefly before turning back to her. “I now believe that we can possess it too.”
She watched his face. She saw him standing there, but she didn’t move. She just didn’t know what to do.
“You think I am your love from the past.” She heard him before, back when she was under his spell. She heard him talk about his lost love. She heard the name. With all of this flushing over her, she finally understood him. She understood why he did everything he did. “Because we share the same life force as the Wanderers you believe that we are the same as them. You believ
e that also like them, we can pass on our souls. You believe that because they come from you, we must too.”
Satar felt the tears again, as he saw her realization fly through her mind. It made him feel relieved. “I was unsure of this before I met you, but after I have tasted it myself, it all became so clear to me. I never thought that I would feel this way about another again.” He gave her a smile through the tears. He gave her his loving stare.
She saw it and wasn’t sure of what to think. All she saw was what he said, and what he did. It was just so hard to think. It was just so hard to understand—even if she did understand why he did what he did.
“I did not believe that one like you could give so much affection to another, especially to someone like me—a human.”
Jameson heard all of this, and now he knew why he could not end this monster, as he wanted to. He didn’t know what this meant but now at least he did feel some comfort with it. He could only hope he would understand the rest of it in time.
“You will not take her back with you.” This came up next, so he went with it. Besides, he felt stronger about this as he never did before now.
Satar surprised him again. “I do not wish for her to return with me.” After all, he knew what was inside his son. He saw what he was. He saw what he wanted. His blood thirst was stronger than it ever was before, and he would stop at nothing to quench it again. He wanted to live it again as he had before they stopped him. Fighting him made that realization even more real. “My son will not spare her life. He will stop at nothing to end her once and for all.” He bowed his head, and truly felt shame for this. He tried so hard to protect him from himself, but now, it all seemed hopeless.
She bowed her head too.
Jameson stepped between his sister and the monster beside him.
“You brought her into this.” He felt his anger again, but not for the reasons that he thought of at first. He suddenly didn’t feel right about any of this. In all honesty, he didn’t care about this thing and his son. How dare he put them—her—into it like this?
A Werewolf's Saga, The Beginning (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets Book 3) Page 22