Rochie opened the door. “Kenar, are you still awake?” He peeked in just with his head.
“I am, yes.” He spoke to his voice.
“Good.” Rochie felt relieved. There was so much to tell him that he couldn’t wait until dusk to do it. He felt rushed. He always did when he had news. He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. He then walked to his friend and touched his right hand with his own. The need to let him know where he was, he always gave him it. It was the polite thing to do.
Kenar instantly read his thoughts. “You tried to talk to Rana.” He nodded with this. He also knew the answer. “She ignored you again.”
Rochie sighed, long and deep. “She will never forgive me for what I did to our father. I understand her reasons. I also understand her hatred for me.”
Kenar could only agree. “She is strong willed. She will know the truth to all of that someday, long from now, but now is not the time for this.” He squeezed his friend’s hand. “I just had something happen to me that I do not understand, and I am happy that you are here to help me with it.”
He could see the terror in his eyes. He looked scared with a good deal of worry there too. “What is it? What happened?” He felt the same way. Kenar was good at what he did. When he feared something, he feared it more than all of them ever would. When one can see into the soul, and deep into the mind, no one can hide much from him. When he feared, he saw the depths of that fear unlike anyone else.
Kenar rested his mind before he began. “The Seer has told me something that I do not understand.”
Instantly, Rochie’s mind turned.
Kenar knew why. “I have not told you this, but I have spoken to her before, twice before, to be completely honest about this. That is how I knew to come here and find you. That is how I knew that she is here with Devish. What I did not know is that he is looking for someone, a boy, because she has told me to find him first.”
“What does this have to do with any of this?” Rochie just didn’t understand, and now began to think that he never would.
Kenar agreed with him so he continued trying to explain, “Devish has made a terrible risk coming here, to this island, with no possible way to escape. He knows we are here. He knows he is surrounded, but he thought it was important enough to come here. He is looking for this boy, so that must be the reason he has. If he is risking all of this just to find him, then we should find him too.”
Rochie could agree with this, but he didn’t agree with anything else. “Why? Who is he?”
“She told me that he is special and that is why Devish is looking for him. We must find him first.”
“How do we find someone when we do not even know who he is? What can we do? If Devish is also trying to find him and has not, how can we?”
Kenar bowed his head. “I have seen his face.” He saw the wolf’s eyes. “I have seen his eyes.”
Rochie bowed his. “She showed you his face?” He felt more confused than ever, but it didn’t last long. Hearing the eyes part of what Kenar said struck him hard and it brought his mind back to it quickly. “What about his eyes?” He didn’t like the sound of that.
Now Kenar bowed his head. He saw the anger swell inside his friend and he feared it. He knew what it meant. He will not like it if I told him what I saw. He would fight me if I told him the truth. He would never help me find a Moonwalker. Thinking this, he shook his head to himself. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t tell him about the eyes.
“I do not know what this means Rochie, but I do know that the Seer would not have showed me any of this if she did not think it important. She needs us to do it before Devish does. She told me it would help him to destroy the world.”
Rochie shook his head. “If you believe we must?” He shrugged hard. “Okay, how do we do it?”
“I do not know Rochie.” He thought more about this, and something did come to him. “If this boy is special, then I may be able to see him. I may be able to find him.”
For Rochie, there was more to it than that. “I thought you came here to find the Seer. Why did you not tell me that you were speaking to her?” He knew his friend kept many things from him, for whatever reasons he had, so it didn’t surprise him that he did it again. What he didn’t like was that now something had changed. Devish was now searching for something that they were too. Things just became dangerous. He didn’t like being kept in the dark when danger was involved.
“I had to remain silent on that Rochie. She is strong, and I am not sure which side she is on in all of this. She tells me only things she wants. I have to stay cautious about everything she does and says.”
Rochie shivered some with this. “How do we know that she is not telling you something that Devish wants her to say? How do you trust this? How do you trust her?”
“I do not know.” He didn’t, but there was more. Her voice was always strong and sure of itself. She was always confident, but this felt different. She felt scared to him. She felt terrified. It was all he had. “I just feel that she is not a threat to us about this. She sounded sad and beaten down. She sounded rushed. It told me all that I needed to know.”
Rochie huffed. “Then again, how do we find him?” He did trust his friend. “How do we find the boy?”
Kenar closed his eyes. “If he is out there, I can. If he is unique to this world, in any way, I should be able to see him.” He looked deeply inside his mind. He searched through space. He searched the voids. At first, he saw only a thousand different voices echoing through the darkness. He heard all of them there with them, but it wasn’t enough. He knew that he had to go deeper, so he did. He looked past everyone he knew, and dug in deeper, until he saw a voice. He saw an image. He saw a woman crying alone in her home. He felt her tears streaming down her face. He saw an endless longing that felt misplaced. At first, he didn’t know why she felt this, but then she saw something running. She saw black. She saw the memory of sadness, and watched it stand. Its black fur glistened in the sun. He saw four brown wolves, Moonwalkers, standing outside a narrow doorway, and watched this black mass jump through them with total strength. He saw the mass, this powerful black mass, as it turned back to her. He felt her grief. He felt her tears grow stronger, and then he heard a name. Kalima, what have you done?
A wolf? He saw its face. He saw its size. He saw its blackened sheen. A black Moonwalker that stands on his hinds legs. He had to blink several times inside his thoughts, trying to understand what he was seeing. It didn’t look real, but yet there it was, standing there and turning to her.
He looked deeper into the woman’s memory and suddenly, and quite expectedly really, she blacked out and fell. He felt her fall to her side.
He opened his eyes, and let her memory fade away.
Rochie watched him carefully. He was only gone for a second, and when he watched him look back up to him, he felt relieved.
“What did you see?”
Kenar had tears in both eyes. He had to shake his head to clear the emotions of everything she felt out of his head. When he finished it, he felt his own shock rumbling around inside his soul.
“A black wolf lives Rochie.” He blinked several times, and tried to focus his thoughts. It worked just enough to continue so he did. “There is a black wolf that stands on his hind legs. He looks like a Blood Walker, but I can feel that he is not one. He is different.”
Rochie heard this and it floored his mind. He didn’t know what to think. “The boy?” He looked down, and again what he said about the eyes sparked through his head like a blast of heat burning his brain. “The eyes of the boy—you saw his eyes. He is a Moonwalker.” It made sense.
Kenar blinked, not realizing that he had just said what he didn’t want to say. It was too late. He couldn’t go back on it now. “Yes.” He looked back up to his friend’s voice. “He has the eyes of a wolf.”
Rochie huffed hard with hearing this. “You want us to find a Moonwalker?”
Again, he felt his anger, but what he saw had to b
e discussed seriously without anger. They had to be rational about this.
“Not just a Moonwalker Rochie. He is more than that.”
Rochie blinked, still thinking, still seeing his friend. “You were not going to tell me, were you about him?” He grew angrier. Again, his friend was hiding things from him and it made it feel that much worse.
Kenar shook his head. “I know what you are feeling about this, my friend, but now is not the time.” It wasn’t. “This is no ordinary animal. He is no ordinary Moonwalker. He is something else.” He stressed this point. He had to. What he just saw just didn’t do any of this justice.
Rochie did hear him clearly. “What about it?” He also calmed down some too.
Kenar felt relieved that he finally relaxed. “He is a black wolf, a black wolf that walks on his hind legs. He looks entirely different than any other Moonwalker that we have ever seen.”
Again, Rochie calmed. Again, he focused on to what Kenar was trying to say. It all didn’t make any sense. “What are you trying to say? Are you saying that another Blood Walker lives?” A chill flew down his back and it roared through his arms. He shook with all of it.
Kenar shrugged with this. “He is not, but now I know why Devish wants him.” He saw the animal again in the memory. He saw its girth. He felt the woman cry for him. “He was loved by a human. He lived as a human before he turned, but he was not bitten.” He didn’t feel the beast. He felt the woman’s shock. He felt her disbelieve of what she saw. She was shocked that he turned into something without them knowing it. This told him that another wolf could not have attacked him. Wolves pass on their bite to a human host. Without the bite, there could be no wolf to follow it.
“That is impossible.” Rochie finally found his bearings and it made him turn back to the door. “Wolves are made, not born Kenar. And also, there are no black wolves in this world. You must have seen something else.” He was right. All Moonwalkers that became one from humans were brown. They ran on all four of their legs. All Blood Walkers in their wolf’s forms were dark gray in color. There has never been a black wolf. There were never exceptions to this.
With all things considered, he would have agreed, but this was different. He felt it. He saw it. He knew that he was right. “I saw what I saw.”
Rochie shook his head. “I do not understand.”
Kenar did. “If I saw a black wolf while concentrating on this boy that Devish is seeking, than it must be him that he is searching for.” He stood up on shaking legs. He felt scared too. He felt the shock of it all.
Again, Rochie didn’t understand. “Why have we never seen this beast before? Why have we not known about it until now? If it does exist, why have we never seen it?”
Kenar didn’t know, but now he wanted to find out. “If Devish knows of a powerful Walker, one that we did not know was even alive; it would be of value to him. It would make it worth the move he has made.”
Rochie did understand this part. “If he believes that a new walker lives, it does make sense for him to find it. I agree with you on that, but it would just be another Walker. He can make one anytime he finds a human that will survive the bite.”
Kenar took a heavy sigh. “That is true, but it would not explain the coming to an island surrounded by your hunters. No, this Walker is different, and he knows that it is. We must find it. We must find him.”
This brought Rochie back to their original problem they had. “How do we find it—him—then?”
Kenar shook his head. “I do not know, but I do have a name.”
Rochie felt intrigued.
Kenar nodded with his swing in readiness. “I saw a small farm house. I see fields around the home. I saw four wolves, four Moonwalkers, and saw a woman’s mind. I know her name is Georgia Denton. She lives near the village of Glomar.”
Rochie shrugged. He also felt awed. “How do you know her name?” This was one of those times he found himself marveled at what Kenar could do and see. He just never understood it—ever.
“I saw it in her mind, of course.”
“Of course.” Rochie shook his head and shrugged again. “Then we go out and find her. At least it is a start. The village of Glomar is not that far away.”
“We go out now. I felt her so strongly she should be close by. We should head out before night.”
Rochie shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. “Very well, we leave as soon as you are ready to travel.”
Kenar didn’t have to hear anything else. He reached for his clothes that he placed neatly on the foot of his bed, and quickly, he began putting them back on him. When he finished, he and Rochie headed out. Now it was just the matter of time before they hoped to find what they were looking for—whatever that was; they still were not entirely sure.
6
The day felt brisk for a mid-June day. The sun was beating down, but with the cool breeze, it made it feel tolerable. It felt like a good day to plant the crops for the season.
Everyone in the village did their part. The men worked the fields, plowing them in straight and even rows, as the women came up behind them and threw down the seeds. It was a close operation, which went along as planned. No one noticed the dozen horses move down the single path between two of the six fields until they were standing right next to four men with their heads down. In fact, the horses leading the plows were the only ones there who flinched.
Peter, one of the men holding the horses, spoke first. “Who goes there?” His animal just stopped, and it forced him to have to look up. He stopped too.
The dozen horses carried twelve men. They looked clasped in silver colored armor. They wore helmets made out of what also looked like silver with a golden trim. The shields they carried over their left arms were small and carried the emblem of a golden lion in the center of it. One of the men, the one behind the two on the far left carried a banner with a large golden colored letter J over a roaring lion.
Peter knew who they were. Only the King’s guards looked as fine as these men did.
The lead horseman, the one that wore a small golden colored band around his helmet’s crown, positioned himself on his horse. He sat forward some too.
“I am Captain Donte of his Majesty’s court guard.” He looked at the other people in the field who were now circling the group. Their curiosity was obviously peaked.
An older man heard this and stepped to the front of the group. “I am Chief Vernon Assange of the village of Gluon.” He brushed the dirt off his hands.
Donte tipped his head to him. “Chief.”
“What can we do for the Captain of King Jameson’s guard?” Vernon never saw any of the king’s guards before, but even with this said he still felt spellbound just by seeing them. Who wouldn’t?
Donte again tried to get comfortable on his horse. He and his men have been riding for hours now, almost a day, so he was tired. The sooner he ended this journey, the better off he knew he would be.
“Several people were killed three villages over from here, near the Monument Gap, a half days ride from here. We believe it was Walkers. Two other villages were also attacked, past the gap. Your village is now two villages from there.”
“I do not understand Captain. From what I understand, there are Walkers grouped just north of here. With so many of them so close, would it not be expected that they would raid a village?” This sounded reasonable to Chief Vernon. Besides, they had posted extra eyes to watch the gate to the village just to make sure they were protected. He wasn’t worried much. His village had gold. They had strong fighting men. Their women were good fighters too. Being this remote, and them being far away from the protection of the King, made them have to be. So in other words, he didn’t see a problem. He showed his lack of concern by leaning against the hoe he carried with him.
Donte looked at each of the people there, one at a time. “It is.” He looked back to their chief. “Except we are finding their attacks do not seem random. They seem to be looking for someone all along the valley, from th
e slopes heading west.”
This perked Vernon’s interest so he stood back straight. “Oh?”
Donte watched him closely. He noticed the man’s arrogance and understood it. No Chief of a village would show fear in front of this many people. He understood it, but still didn’t like it.
“Yes. They are attacking only young men with short black hair.”
All of the people their instantly turned to each other and looked. They looked for anyone with black hair. Only one, Justin Parr, had such a color, and because of this, he looked down from the group.
Donte smiled with this. “I would keep him safe and anyone else that carries such a look. Watch out for them, and post as many people as you can muster to the tops of your walls.” He turned from the group and looked to the walls of the village behind him. They looked short in comparison to some he has seen, but they did look adequate to do the job. What they wouldn’t protect them against was what he needed to point out. “Some of the victims were also attacked by Shades. Because of this, it would be wise to post archers along the wall as well.”
“I will sir.” Vernon looked back to the riders. He had already done this. He wasn’t worried because he was this close to so many people. He wasn’t worried because they were Picts. They would fight to the death, and all of them knew it.
Donte shrugged. “We will be close by for the next day or two. We will stop by again as we ride back to the city by the delta.” He looked back to his companions. He nodded to all of them and then looked back to the Chief. “Good day gentlemen and ladies. Long live the king.”
The group each nodded back to them and called the same.
Donte and his soldiers kicked off.
They rode back to the main road towards the village gate and turned left from there.
A Werewolf's Saga, The Beginning (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets Book 3) Page 30