Rochie agreed.
So did Kenar.
Donte turned with them as they passed Jameson, and moved deeper into the circle of tents.
He led them straight to a large tent in the center of all of the rest, and there, at the opening, Donte stopped.
“She is the only thing in there. I will stay out here so both of you can do whatever it is you do.” He swallowed as he bowed his head to both of them. He never understood Wanderers, and right then, he knew he never would. They were just too creepy for him to like all that much.
Kenar led Rochie inside the tent.
35
He followed them through the trees. He followed them closely, but kept far enough away for them not to hear him. When they reached the small gate at the camp, he stopped. He kept to the trees. He kept to the shadows, and there, he watched. There he waited. He had no idea what to expect.
This feeling intensified when he felt something coming from the trees behind him. A strong overpowering stench of a decaying corpse came in with the hint of blood. It came within the hint of a mustiness that he knew all too well. Smelling them, wolves, vampires, and others, he looked back to the gate. He bowed his head.
Whom do I trust? He thought hard about this. He felt nothing but comfort from the Wanderers, but even with this feeling, he still wasn’t sure if he trusted them. So much felt hidden inside them that he didn’t know what to think. So much of all of this felt wrong, dark and clouded within his own sense of loss and pain. It just made everything feel that much worse.
He looked back to the trees. The wolves were moving fast. The vampires were coming faster than they were.
Do I trust others like I am? Do I wait? Do I let them help me?
Kalima looked back to the gate. He decided rather quickly.
I will wait for my answers. I will wait to see what will happen next.
And he bowed his head again. He would do just this.
36
“It is time to discuss this Kenar. It is time for us to be honest with each other about all of this.” Rochie saw the cage. He saw the young child sitting in it. She looked so human. She looked so sad. She looked as normal as any child he had ever seen before in his life. She just couldn’t be dangerous—no matter whom her father was.
Kenar only nodded. He could only see the child’s aura around her, and what he saw made very little sense to him. All living things carry an aura around them. He called it their life force. Humans were yellow. Blood Walkers, Nightwalkers, and Shades were red. Moonwalkers were tan, an earthy tone. Wanderers had a golden colored hue. What this child had looked entirely different. Her color looked almost purple, with a heavier lean towards a yellowish glow. It was also just too light. It looked dim. He had never seen anything like it before. He just couldn’t think of any other way to describe it.
“I am not sure what she is. I have never seen her kind before. I have never come across another like this.” He was right. He only hoped that Rochie would understand.
Rochie didn’t. “If he is a Walker, if he is one of them, than she must be a Wanderer like us. She has to be.”
Kenar turned from the child to his friend. “I am not sure he is a Walker.”
Hearing this, Rochie nearly fell over. His legs felt weak. His mind felt worse.
“What does that mean? He turned into a wolf Kenar, you saw it.” He felt he needed to point this out, and for the live of him, he didn’t know why he even had to. Kenar should know better than this. He didn’t doubt that and neither should he.
Kenar took a heavy and long breath before he began. “I meant to say that I can feel something about all of this that does not make sense to me. Whatever he is, it is different. He is different, and that means that this child is too.” He looked back to the child, saw her innocent face, and looked back to Rochie again. “He is something that Devish has come a long way in searching for, we both know this, but look at the danger he took upon himself in order to find him. It means that he sees the same things as we do…as I do. He, this Kalima, is more important to him than his own life. That child is too.”
For Rochie this at least made sense to him, so he bowed his eyes.
Kenar heard this within his mind. “I know she is not a Wanderer, and that means that she is something different. If we do anything, anything at all, we must find out what that is.” He finished this thought when they both heard the sounds of a heavy commotion erupting all around them coming from outside the tent.
Rochie turned to the opening first. “What is it?” He asked. He knew that humans were easy to read so Kenar would know first.
And he did hear it. He heard their minds. He saw their fears. He saw their horror with what was happening around the makeshift walls of the camp. If he hadn’t heard what he did, he wouldn’t have believed any of it.
“We are under attack.” He turned to Rochie and watched him look straight at his face. “Walkers are attacking the camp.”
Rochie blinked. “That is foolhardy. Why would he do something so reckless? He is outnumbered here by ten to one.” He meant all of this, but he also felt fear for it too. Devish was many things, and the main one at that was that he was not stupid. There was a reason for this move, he was sure of it, and that caused the fear. It also caused dread.
Kenar could only see one thing that would make him do something like this, so he looked back to the cage. He looked to the young child inside it.
Rochie watched his head look down. “He is coming for the child.”
Kenar swallowed hard. The child was obviously more important than he ever believed before now. “We must protect her.” He looked back to Rochie. “If Devish gets her, everything will change. We must stop him.” He felt more sure of this than ever before. He knew that he was right.
Rochie knew there was more to it than that. “He will not be able to get in here Kenar. He would have to get through the humans first.”
Kenar nodded with this. His friend was right. Devish’s people wouldn’t have the chance, but then again, “He is not stupid to the world. He will know of their weaknesses. He can see through them.”
Rochie again agreed. “Then we stand for her.” He turned back to the door of the tent, and let his eyes flare to their glorious blue color. He brought his power forward in his mind.
Kenar just looked to the girl. He moved to the cage and knelt down to her, just by the bars. She looked at him with the clearest eyes. He saw them and it made him suddenly feel calm. He felt confident. He felt almost reassured. He couldn’t believe any of it. She made him feel completely serene, and he knew it. He felt it. He could feel her.
What are you sweet child? He smelled her sweet childlike scent. It smelled like apple blossoms on a warm summer’s day. She even smelled calm.
You will not let them harm me will you Kenar? A soft voice came inside his head. It sounded so subtle that he nearly missed it, but he didn’t. It was there. It was as clear as day.
Her eyes grew large. A soft tear formed in her left eye.
He saw it and it sparkled. He couldn’t believe it. He had never seen a tear like that, and it made him realize something else that he had never seen before. Her aura wasn’t dim at all. Her sparkle was still as strong as ever. What made it look dim was that he could see her skin. He could see her face. He could see every corner of her delicate form. In all wonder, he could really see her.
By all of the gods in all of the heavens what is this. He reached out, slid his right hand through two of the bars, reached in and touched her right cheek with the tips of his fingers. He felt her soft touch.
The voice came again help me Kenar. Do not let them take me away from my father.
Who are you? How do you know my name?
I know you. I have seen you by the fire. The child didn’t flinch from his touch. In fact, she welcomed it by pressing her face to his fingers.
The fire? He knew this well, but also had never seen it before, at least not yet. When a Wanderer dies, they move on to a place in the trees. W
ithin the trees, there is a clearing, and in the center of the clearing there stands a fire burning that is as bright as the sun. The Wanderer waits there until they are reborn again onto the plain of this world. He knew the place because one other had seen it before, and when they do, everything is explained to them. They take those answers back with them to the world. He saw this in her mind. He saw the flames. He saw the truth of it. He knows what it means. Now, here this child knows it too. How is it you know of the fire?
She looked down at her own small hands, and then looked back up again.
He pulled his hand back from the cage.
I am the flames.
He felt floored. He felt the wonder. He felt beyond shocked.
Rochie soon interrupted him from everything else. “Someone or something is coming.”
He stood up and watched Jameson run into the tent.
He joined both of them just in front of the cage. “We are being attacked. Walkers have surrounded the walls. They have surrounded us.” He was out of breath. He sounded like he ran a thousand miles and went nonstop at it too.
Rochie of course already knew this, but he needed more information about the attack. He wanted to know how bad it was.
“How many?”
Jameson stopped between both Kenar and him. “I do not know.” He turned to both of them, one at a time. “I need your help. I need to know what their plans are so I can raise a strong defense.” He looked straight at Kenar. “I need you to read them.”
Kenar bowed his head. He of course already knew the answer to that, but wasn’t sure how to say it. He knew Jameson well enough to know what he might do with the information, and he couldn’t let him do it. He couldn’t let him harm the child.
Rochie saw his hesitation written all over his face, and it made him feel lost and confused. Their king had just asked a question of them, and he knew the answer to it. Seeing Kenar, he also trusted his friend. So in other words, he didn’t know what to say.
Jameson noticed this too, and he didn’t have to be a Wanderer to see it either. “You know something. You already know why they are making this foolish attack.” That had to be it. Hell, Kenar should have known they were coming before they even came within a mile of the place, so he must have seen it. The look on his face, the blaring fear in his eyes, told him that he was scared of it too. He knew why, and he was afraid of telling him. Seeing the two of them there with the child, it suddenly dawned on him why—why everything was happening. “The child—the child is why they are here.”
Kenar kept his head down.
Rochie did the same thing.
It told Jameson everything he needed to know. “Devish is after the child.” He looked down to the cage. He looked down at the girl. He felt completely stunned. “Why would he want it?” He looked at his two friends, his two Wanderers, and now wanted answers. He was also growing angry too. “You are both supposed to be helping me in this fight, and now you are both refusing to aide me. Why?”
Rochie saw that Kenar wasn’t about to answer him, so he gave it his best shot as he did so for both of them. “We do not know what the child is, but she is the child of the black wolf. She has something that Devish is obviously seeking.” This was all he had.
Kenar finally found the courage to look up.
Jameson looked straight at him. “She is a Wanderer then. What are her gifts?” He now felt rushed too.
Kenar shook his head as he answered him. “She is more than that. She is more than a simple Wanderer. She does have gifts.” He looked straight at Rochie.
Rochie felt shocked, but in the end, he really wasn’t. “You saw something in her?”
Kenar swallowed hard and fast. “She can speak to me. She knows my name.”
Rochie looked back to the cage, not sure of what to think, or what to say.
Jameson didn’t understand, except for one thing. “She can see the mind then, as you can.”
Kenar shook his head. “I am not sure. Her voice inside me was so clear, much more than that of a child.” He heard her again inside his mind.
Do not let him take me Kenar. Keep me safe. Find my father and all will be set right.
He blinked. He swallowed. He found it hard to breathe.
“She is speaking to you now.” Rochie recognized the look; after all, he felt the same way when he would talk with his sister inside his mind. He looked just like he always did.
“What is she telling you?” Jameson found this somewhat intriguing, but being that they were being attacked in every direction, he didn’t have the time for this. Still, he needed to know what to do.
Kenar just couldn’t find the right words to tell them what he was hearing. When children discover that they are Wanderers they generally speak with the age that they are. Like all living things, they just cannot escape this simple fact. But here he was, listening to this child speaking to him with a complete clarity of thought, that he didn’t understand it. It just didn’t make any sense that she could do it, but here he was, hearing her doing it.
Rochie thought he understood. “She is more than a Wanderer.” He could see it in his eyes. He could hear it in his voice. He didn’t know what to think. Thankfully, well terrifyingly, he didn’t have to do it for long.
A scream roared, and it came from just outside the tent. A deep shadow flared from the little light around them, and with its shape, they all knew what it was. When the Shade showed itself at the doorway, they all turned to it all at once.
Jameson drew his sword.
Kenar and Rochie let their blue eyes stare the beast down.
Kenar saw the bat, but that wasn’t everything he saw, well in all hindsight, it was what he didn’t see. He didn’t hear its mind. He didn’t hear its thoughts. Seeing it step through the doorway of the tent was the first time he saw it at all. It was completely blank from his mind’s eyes.
The Shade hissed its high flaring sound as it came straight to Rochie first, being that he was the closest to it, and pounced into him within a second of a second.
Completely caught off guard by how fast it came at him, Rochie just flew back and to his left from the impact. He didn’t land until he was nearly to the far left wall of the tent. He hit the ground hard.
With Rochie down, the Shade went after Jameson next.
He was ready for the beast, and raised his sword up to its chest.
Shades move fast, but when they are in their bat form, they tend to move awkwardly being that their arms are their wings and their legs are short. They don’t move in a crawling motion but look more like a penguin with a heavy waddle. With only the thumb at the bend of the top of the wing for gripping, it waddled beneath the sword, and made it miss it completely. It then brought its head up with a blast.
It struck Jameson directly beneath his chin. With his mouth open some, breathing heavily for the fight that was about to come, the action made his lower teeth smack hard into the top of his mouth. His own teeth pierced his flesh, and caused blood to immediately flow from the wound. One tooth from his lower jaw actually came out from the brute impact of it all.
With pain, true agony, his head snapped back. His body went in the same direction, and it spilled him to Kenar’s chest.
He managed to catch him with both arms. He wasn’t fast. He wasn’t strong, but he was in the right place to keep him from falling to the floor.
With everyone out of its way, the Shade turned to the cage. It turned to the child in it. Elizabeth needed her hands so she slid back into her human form after that.
Sima watched her closely. She watched the massive bat come to the front of her left side. She screamed.
She screamed for her father with everything she had.
37
Kalima watched the attack from outside the walls. He stayed at the tree line. He watched as Shades swooped down from the dark. He watched wolves plunge at the walls. He watched Nightwalkers jump the walls and take out several humans at the main gate so fast that all he saw was what was left of them afte
r the attack. Blood sprayed everywhere. No one survived.
Watching this, he felt somewhat impressed. In all his life, he had never seen such a sight like this. Their brutality looked impressive. Their will to fight seemed paramount.
The scream came next. Her voice, his beloved baby girl’s simple sound, came straight out from the dark, and came to him from the other side of the walls. With his ears, so in tuned, so imbued with her sounds, he heard it without a second thought.
“Sima?” He looked to the walls. He looked through the chaos and heard her clearly coming from the direction of the gate. She sounded so scared. She sounded so terrified that it nearly ripped out his own soul. “Sima!” he screamed. He had enough of waiting. It was time for action. It was time he fought for her.
The eyes flared. He felt them move forward, and just as quickly, they pushed his aside. The wolf came out of the darkness fast.
His body roared with heat. It moaned. It bent. It banged.
He answered it and ran.
He ran to the wall.
He ran to the gate.
He turned from human to a massive black wolf within seconds and was fully formed by the time he reached the wall. Nothing stood in his way. Nothing would prevent him from doing what he should have done in the first place. It was time he took matters into his own powerful hands.
38
Sima watched the monster step to the cage. She watched the human woman reach for the front latch that held the door closed. Seeing her, feeling her strength, tears erupted down her soft cheeks, and streaked down them with an innocent glaze.
“Oh sweet little child, do not cry. I am here to save you from these animals that locked you in here. I am here to bring you back to your family.” Elizabeth lifted the latch, and broke the lock holding it with relative ease. With the latch up, she opened the door. She felt pride that her prize was almost with in her grasp. The feeling didn’t last long.
A Werewolf's Saga, The Beginning (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets Book 3) Page 44