She cut him off. “You gave us the freedom to die and to be obliterated by the human race.”
He chuckled some with this. Her defiance was so strong. Her contempt for him felt almost overpowering that it was hard to think straight. He so wanted her by his side and he had trouble containing that simple thought. It made him feel raw. He felt overpowered by her strength, but he had to remain calm. He needed her, but he also needed her respect. She was nothing to him without loyalty. It was all they had left between them, and she had to see it. She needed to know her place.
Sharlia saw something in his eyes and it made her blink. If she didn’t know any better she thought he had longing there. He longed for something from her. She felt nothing but his joy with this conversation. She felt his pride, and it seemed to move towards her. If she was right, she knew she had more to use against him than what she thought she had at first. As soon as she thought this, she regretted it instantly.
He read her so clearly that it made him laugh again. “Yes, I agree. We need to stop with this game my lady Sharlia. You need me as much as I need you.” He unfolded his fingers and turned back around. He walked back to his chair and sat down. He then again stared her down. “I have something that you want and you have something that I want. I think we could come to an understanding here. We can make use of this.”
She didn’t want to do it this way, but she did agree with him. He was right. They both had cards to play in this game, so it was time to lay it on the line. It was time to play the game together. She would do what she had to do to get what she needed from the Seer. Even if this was making a deal with the one the humans have corrupted his name to meaning something else. Making a deal with Devish, the Devil, well that would have to do.
He laughed again with hearing the name. “I have always loved the human need to corrupt names to suit a purpose. The Devil sounds so simple than my own name, does it not?” He truly felt pleased with this. He loved the pain that made them call him such a name.
“We are what we are, are we not my lord?” She shrugged the statement off the best way she knew how. She went back to the matter at hand.
“Good. I will allow you to see her and speak to her but first there is something you have that I must have also.”
“And what do you wish of me?” She prepared herself for what was about to come. She truly didn’t know where this was heading, and now held on some waiting to hear it. It could, quite simply, be anything.
He kept the smile firmly over his human looking face. “You must swear to me your loyalty Lady Sharlia. You must give me your life and those that may still follow you.”
Sharlia winced with this. “I have only myself to offer you Devish. I have no one following me. I am nothing but alone.”
He nodded with this before he continued with what he wanted. “You have so much more than you realize my lady. In the old days, you carried such sway with Lord Odan and with my father. They cherished you in so many ways. The clans cherished your strength.”
She moved up to him and stopped directly in front of him. “I offer what you wish for as long as I can pursue what I discover from the Seer. I will give you everything else you may need or want.”
He agreed with this. What she wanted from the Seer didn’t exist anyway, so he saw nothing to lose. “I accept.” He stood up and held out his right hand to her.
She knelt down in front of him to her right knee, took his hand and gently kissed his middle knuckle with her lips. The pact had been sealed with a simple kiss.
He never lost his smile, or the glee flaring through his heart. “Welcome to my family Lady Sharlia.”
She released his hand.
He kept his stare on hers. “You may now speak to her.”
She returned his stare. It was time to get to what she needed.
She followed him back to the door. She followed him down the hallway, and finally to her. She felt excited. She only hoped she would get what she came there for.
11
“We should stop Rochie.” Kenar squeezed his waist.
Rochie kept his eyes to the trees. As far as he knew it, they were far enough away from any of the Walkers so they didn’t have to worry much about being found by them. They rarely attacked so far from their families that he didn’t think they would change their habits now. But then again, he had been wrong before.
Kenar laughed some with his thoughts. “I see nothing following us.” He squeezed his waist again, reassuring him with a playful hug. He also had other things that were important on his mind. “I know only that my backside is killing me and I need to get off this damn animal before it falls off.”
“You are right.” Rochie agreed with him with a soft laugh. They had been riding all night. They were both tired, and with the sun coming up again, it was safe to stop. Besides, they were on a road through a valley. If anything were coming, they would see it before it got to them. So in other words, it was the perfect place to stop.
Kenar jumped down first. On his feet again, he felt weak. He couldn’t even feel his feet. In fact, now, he wasn’t even sure if he still had them. He felt that bad. He stretched his back to get everything moving again.
Rochie climbed off and joined his friend. He too had other things on his mind. “Are you sure that we are heading in the right direction? We have not seen anyone for hours. We have not even found a town.” He had been thinking about this all night. He was beginning to feel like they were wasting time. He wasn’t even sure what they were looking for.
Kenar fell with his hands to his knees. “I am sure.” Over the night, he was concentrating on hearing the name from anyone who was speaking it throughout the world. So far, he did hear something but it felt vague. It might have been because it was night. Human’s minds were rarely alert when they slept, so he could only hear their dreams. Names almost never come in them when they do. As for what humans do dream about, that is another story entirely. He never understood them and probably never would.
Rochie just shrugged. “Well,” He looked around their area and saw nothing but newly sewn fields. Seeing them, he knew that there had to be humans nearby. No field, fresh or otherwise, would be left unattended like this. He only hoped to find the people that planted them. It was all he had left, but at least it was something. “At least we know that there must be a farmstead nearby with these fields.” He looked back to his friend. “Someone has to be here to plant them.”
Kenar felt that his backside was starting to feel better already. Thank the gods for small favors. “Someone is here, but I feel them asleep. There is a young woman with a child.” Only after he said what he did, he felt something else. “It is strange that a woman would be asleep alone with a child.” He looked back up and straightened his back. “I do not feel a husband or father with them. I cannot see his thoughts.” This is what felt odd about it. In this time and place, it was dangerous for a female to be alone like this. In another time, maybe in another place but not now, not with a hundred Walkers roaming the lands not that far from where they were.
Rochie would have agreed with this. “You do not feel a mate with her?” He thought this was strange too.
Kenar looked out through the trees. The shadows were there even though the sun was not. He saw only the dark, but he also saw what looked like heat. He saw their minds. He felt them in the trees not far from them. He didn’t know who they were, but knew it had to mean something. It was worth checking it out.
“We should head over there. I feel the woman and child coming from that direction.” He even pointed so Rochie could see it.
Rochie shrugged again. At least we are going to do something. Anything was better than just sitting there and wasting time.
Together, they led the horse as they moved through the trees. The closer they went, the odder everything felt. It seemed like a strange place to have a home. It felt dark. It felt too secluded. It felt just plain strange.
Kenar kept the woman in his mind. She was still asleep but he could see he
r clearly. She was dreaming. She was thinking. It felt pleasant if not disjointed. She was thinking, seeing, a man. He looked calming, almost serene. He saw his face. He saw his hair. He saw the one they were looking for.
“It is him.” He turned back to Rochie, and took his right shoulder with his left hand. He had to stop him. He had to make him understand what he saw.
Rochie did stop. He did understand. “The one we are looking for?” He felt relieved. Maybe we are not wasting time after all. “Are you sure?” He looked out to the trees. He didn’t see anything.
“I think so.” He looked to his left as a golden color hue flashed out through the corner of his eyes. After he turned, he saw nothing there. He didn’t know what it was, but it did spook him. His heart nearly skipped a beat. He turned back to Rochie. “Someone is out there but I cannot see them.”
Rochie followed his friend’s head as he turned. “You think so?” He knew his friend better than that. “I thought you could still see somewhat in the shade.” The fact that he was having trouble seeing with his wolf’s eyes, it made him scared some too. After all, he was relying on Kenar seeing what he couldn’t see.
Kenar just shook his head. “This is different. The woman sees the man, the boy, that we are looking for every day, but I cannot read his mind. I cannot see him. She may just know him, but it feels stronger than that. She knows him too well for such a general thing.” He doubted this, but at the same time, he didn’t. After all, they were looking for someone that they didn’t know what he was. If the man in the village was right about everything he saw, then all of this was different. All of this was new, so in other words, he didn’t know what to expect.
Hearing him, Rochie hated this. He hated feeling exposed, which he now was. Going on instinct, he let his eyes turn blue. He brought out his Wanderer’s powers in his mind. He felt out around him and found everything that wasn’t alive and gripped them tightly within his thoughts. He readied himself for anything, no matter what that thing was.
Kenar agreed, but letting his own power out would do nothing to help them. Without seeing this boy, without being able to read his thoughts, he felt absolutely helpless. His powers didn’t reach out beyond the mind. It never bothered him before, but it did now. Being blind, well that made everything else feel that much worse.
Again, a yellow flash streaked out to his right.
He turned to it but found it gone just as fast. Whatever it was, whoever it was, it was moving too fast. He couldn’t see it clearly.
“We have to get back to the road. I feel like someone is toying with us. We have to get out of the trees.” Kenar turned back.
Rochie did too.
A man was standing right behind them, now in front of them, and it made both of them stop dead in their tracks. Even the horse seemed to flinch.
“Who are you and what are you doing here on my land?” The man stared them down with an overpowering gaze. He was large. He was tall. With the shade around all of them, it was hard to see him.
Even within the shade, Rochie recognized the look. He is not afraid of us at all. Why? If I found two strangers on my land, as he put it, I would be afraid. You can never know what is really wandering around in the woods these days. He looked down at his arms. He is also unarmed. He saw his empty hands. He looked at his build, and even through his clothes, he looked slim. He did have large and muscular arms. He did have broad shoulders. He did have a strong and powerful face. He might think he could fight us off with his bare hands, but I would not be sure of this. We could be something a whole lot stronger than he could ever imagine we are. He looked back to Kenar as he did all of the talking for him.
“We are looking for a person, a man,” he stopped and paused. He saw only the hint of a golden, yet tannish colored hue surrounding a tall and trim man. He had never seen a color like this before and he didn’t know what it meant. He couldn’t even see the man’s mind. His thoughts were as black as coal. “We are looking for one named Kalima.” He swallowed fast. He tried to gather his heart. He tried to rekindle his mind. Nothing seemed to work anymore.
Rochie watched the man’s eyes turn large and then bow.
“I have never heard of someone named such a weird word before.” He looked back up.
Rochie also recognized the look. He is afraid now. He knows this person. It may even be him.
Kenar heard his friend, and without anything to go on himself, he took it for what it was worth. It was all he had.
“You are the one named Kalima?” He wasn’t sure what was about to happen. Seeing the black wolf—seeing the power that he used to fight the other Moonwalkers, he could do anything. They would not be a match for such a beast.
So did Rochie as he kept his blue eyes burning. To his left he felt a downed log, gripped it within his thoughts, and readied himself to use it if he had to. He would throw it at the man within a second’s thought.
The man looked back behind him. He then turned left and then right. He then stared them down. “Who wishes to know?”
Rochie saw his face grow into another familiar sight. He could almost see his eyes slightly turn into something that looked yellow. He wasn’t sure. It was hard to tell in the shades of the trees if what he saw was right or not, but he did see it.
Kenar heard this, and just shook his head. “We are friends of his from another time and another place. We were hoping to find him again.” This was all he had. He had to say something.
“You are on my property. If you do not leave, I will be forced to remove you.” The man looked back behind the two strangers, saw nothing obviously there, just by the look in his eyes, and stared back at them.
This time Rochie did gasp as he watched the man’s brown eyes shift again. This time, he did see them turn to a deep yellow glow. They flashed with a wolf’s glaring yellow fire.
The man even growled. “Leave now, or I will have no further choice.”
Kenar gasped too. Quite frankly, he didn’t know what to think. All he had was what he saw from the man back in the village, the boy’s father. He once again saw the black wolf stand up on to his hind legs. He once again watched it as it was struck by several arrow shots. He watched its size. He watched its power slam the world, and with it, he knew what they had to do. It was time to run. They were not able to fight him like this. Rochie might put up a good fight, but against a Blood Walker, if that was what he was, he didn’t have the chance. No Wanderer ever did.
“You are right. I do apologize for our trespass.” He grabbed Rochie’s shoulder and pulled him back to the way they came.
Rochie wasn’t ready to go. “What are you doing?” If he had to fight, he preferred to do it facing his threat, not running with their backs towards it. He just wasn’t ready to die without a good fight.
Kenar agreed, but they needed time to discuss this. They had to plan. They had to do something that didn’t include a fight. They were there to talk, and that was what he still intended to do, but not like this. So, he pulled his friend harder until he did finally move.
The two of them headed back to the road.
Rochie looked behind the horse several times to see if the man was following them, but saw nothing. He seemed content just to have them leave.
When they reached the road again, in the middle of the fields, he began, “Will you please kindly tell me what that was about?” He let his blue eyes down, and huffed out a deep exhausting breath with it.
“I am sorry Rochie, but we did not come here to fight him but only find out what he is and why Devish is looking for him.” He looked back to the trees but saw nothing at all. “The man was not willing to let us do it.”
“You saw this in his mind?”
“No.” He saw nothing, but didn’t know how to explain it, so he kept it at this.
Rochie slapped his hands to his thighs in total disgust. “So what did you expect then with all of this? Huh? That he would just say, ‘hi guys, yes I am a Walker, I am a wolf, and welcome to my home. Would you care for some t
ea?’” He slapped his legs again, harder this time. “Did you really believe that he would do anything else but to try and fight us? He is a Walker after all.”
Kenar shook his head. “I do not know Rochie, truly, I do not.” He felt his heart beating again, and with everything that happened, he felt relieved it was. “I cannot see his thoughts. I cannot see him even within the shades of the trees. I have never had that happen to me before. Most Walkers have to see me before they can block me. I have never had one block me so completely like that. I did not know what else to do. I am sorry. I panicked.” He just felt like babbling and he was.
“That is new.” Rochie looked back to the trees. The man was gone, but somehow he knew he wasn’t. He could almost feel him still there, watching them from the trees. He didn’t know how he knew this, but it didn’t matter. He just hoped he was wrong. Either way, he had to continue with this. He had to tell him everything he saw. “I saw his eyes turn yellow Kenar. I heard the growl in his voice. If he is not a Walker, then I am blind to this world. I saw it.”
Kenar did too, in Rochie’s eyes. “I know, but he is different.” He knew what he knew. “No Blood Walker has ever shown yellow eyes. He cannot be one.” Blood Walkers were the first of their kind. Because of this, they had red eyes. They never had a yellow color, not even in their wolf forms. They just didn’t.
Rochie knew this too. “You are right, but you said that the man saw a black wolf stand on his hind legs. You said he saw what had to be a Blood Walker and if this is true, then what is he?” He only shook his head again. He also felt ill. None of this felt right.
“I know.” Kenar turned some to where he thought the trees were, he wasn’t sure, and tried to see the man’s color again. The tannish color he saw around the man made sense to the yellow eyes, but the hint of gold told him something else too. “He is a wolf, but he is different. I saw gold within his aura, what I could see of it anyway, but I did see it.”
Rochie knew what the color meant. It was the sign of a Wanderer, but that was impossible. “No Wanderer has ever survived a bite from a Walker Kenar. If he is one, it does not make any sense.” Wanderers were from the Walkers, but it was complicated. The Walkers bite carried a type of venom that infected humans causing the change or death. When a Wanderer was bitten, they would simply die, no matter what bit them. It was the way it was. Knowing this, he looked back at his friend. “We should go back and find the drunken man back in the village. We should ask him how he came to know the boy.”
A Werewolf's Saga, The Beginning (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets Book 3) Page 33