Suddenly the cage moved. It literally lifted off the floor and glided in midair to the back of the tent.
Seeing the movement, she knew instantly what had caused it.
“Oh Rochie, I do see that you have not lost your touch.” She smiled, half so, as she turned to him on her right.
“You will not take her to him Elizabeth.” He stood up, brought his mind to focus, and locked his power firmly on to the cage with ease. He was not about to let her touch it again.
She laughed with hearing this. “You cannot stop him from having the company of this lovely thing Rochie. He will get her, and I will be the one to bring her to him. Over your dead corpse if I must.” She let her eyes flare to their brightest red color. Her human looking teeth transformed into long and devastating looking fangs. Her fingers slid out in to dagger like claws that were now easily four times their human looking size. Long clawed nails sat at the tip of each finger.
He watched her skin turn to an ashen white haze.
“Not going to happen, Elizabeth. Not tonight, not ever will I allow something like that to happen.” He watched movement behind her and realized that both Kenar and Jameson had regained their feet, and they were now standing tall again. Jameson had the sword firmly within his left hand.
Seeing the look on his face, she realized that he was looking behind her, so she turned. Seeing Jameson, she hissed, with a low thunderous moan.
Kenar watched her aura sparkle with a deep and dark red. “You will not have the child Elizabeth. Devish will never have her.” He felt sure of this much as he watched Jameson lift his sword to only inches from her face.
She watched both of them. “What makes you believe that it is her he wants?”
Suddenly Kenar blinked. He thought. He felt floored. “He is using her for bait.” It made complete sense, which so much so, made everything feel a thousand times worse. Again, he felt played. He felt used. Devish had accomplished his task.
Jameson had enough of this. He led with the sword. “I do not care what that bastard wishes. I do not care what you have done.” He moved towards the Shade with his hatred raging through his chest. Inside him, deep inside his mind, he saw his sister’s face standing in front of him. He saw her glowing beauty. He saw her flowing and long hair. He saw the way she was before Devish took her away from him.
She watched him aim it to her face. She expected the move, so she moved faster. She spun to her left, and with her left arm stretched out, she swung it to his chest.
Her long clawed fingers struck him hard. They dug across the armor plate over his chest in four rows of powerful gashes. Two of them pierced the metal. He felt their burn. He felt his own blood pool beneath the metal. Everything made him drop his sword, as he spun to his right, lost his footing and fell to the floor on his knees.
Rochie couldn’t believe how fast she moved. When Jameson went down, he saw nothing more than a blur of speed. He then watched the blur head towards Kenar.
He saw red as it flashed. He saw it move towards his face, so he ducked and went down. He fell flat to the ground and rolled to his back.
Watching Jameson and Kenar fall, Rochie felt helpless. He felt useless. He saw Jameson’s sword out of the corner of his eyes. Seeing it, he felt for the sword. Gripping it, while still hanging onto the cage and the child, he lifted it up in his mind. He then watched it with his own eyes as it rose behind the Shade and glimmered in the torchlight. He then turned the point of its blade towards her back. That is where he stopped it. He lost his edge. He lost his concentration, as a deep black mass suddenly appeared on his left. That mass then came inside the tent. A snarling, rasping sound boomed.
The Shade heard it easily and turned.
All of them did.
The black wolf stood as tall as the tent. Its huge shoulders covered the entire doorway behind it. Its bulk would have covered the world.
The bat’s eyes blinked. She had been told of his size, but with that said; she would have never believed how big he really was. He looked like a mountain. He was nearly twice her size, and she was larger than any other Shade she had ever seen.
Jameson likewise felt stunned. He had seen hundreds of Walkers during this war but he had never seen one like this before. It not only looked different, a wolf walking on its hind legs, but it just felt different too. He couldn’t place the feeling. He had never seen the like—not since he watched Odan and Devish fight that night by the river. This wolf was even more different from them. It looked stronger, but it didn’t feel hostile, well maybe not hostile, but like he thought, he just felt it as different and left it at that.
Rochie saw him and actually felt relaxed. He then questioned himself. By all of the gods, I am actually glad to see him. He also felt relieved. With the black wolf there, they now had strength in their fight against Elizabeth. He would never allow her to take his child.
For what felt like an eternity, the two beasts stared one another down. They looked like boxers in the ring, scoping out each other for their next moves. The tension felt overwhelming because everyone knew it wouldn’t last. It just couldn’t. They were powerful creatures that would never give in.
Elizabeth felt this too. For her, she had an idea, so she slowly slid herself back into her human shape. When she looked that way again, she stood up to the wolf.
“You are magnificent, do you know this?” She stepped a single step forward, but stayed within an arm’s length from this massive beast—not her arm, but his. She still didn’t trust its size. She didn’t trust its will. She didn’t trust him. “My master had told me about your wondrous size. He marveled at it too.”
The wolf looked down at her with such a casual glance that it made her have to swallow hard. She didn’t know what to think about it. He could have been listening to her, or he could have been wondering if she would taste good enough to eat.
“I am no threat to you. You are as I am. You are a Walker.” She held out both hands to him and showed him her palms. “We are of the same blood. We are made of the same gifts.”
The wolf looked down at her hands. Its face didn’t flinch. He showed nothing to her to make her believe either way about his intentions. This made her feel even more worried.
Rochie saw this too. “Do not listen to her Kalima. She is nothing like you.” He had to do something. The calming feeling now vanished inside him, and he feared what that meant. It seemed that anything could happen now. He could go one way or the other without a second thought.
The wolf turned to him with a soft turn. His face stayed the same way, calm and unreal, until he saw the cage. Everything changed when he saw who was inside it.
Rochie heard the snarls. He watched its eyes turn from non-caring to something akin to real pain. He looked winded. He looked downright pissed off. Seeing the cage just to his right, it dawned on him why the wolf looked like that, and it nearly made him lose his concentration and drop the cage. Luckily, he caught himself at the last second and he kept it firmly in his mind, and likewise still hanging in the air above the ground. He didn’t want to think what would happen if he dropped it.
The wolf moaned making a sound that nearly came off as a whelping whimper. He sounded like a dog that was happy that its master had finally come home.
Rochie understood the sound.
Being around wolves of her own, however intolerable as it was, Elizabeth knew the sound too. “You can see what the humans have done to her.” She turned back to the wolf.
He kept his eyes, and his snarls locked onto the cage.
Seeing this, hearing those whimpers turning into growls again, she kept up with her plans. “We did not do that, my friend. They did. It was them who took her away from you.”
The black wolf roared, sending out a blast of heat that could have easily blown down the tent wall behind Rochie. With it striking his face, this time he dropped the grip of the cage in his mind, and with it, the real thing crashed to the ground with a solid thud.
The black wolf responded to watchin
g it fall with a charge. He flew himself to the floor.
Elizabeth laughed as he did it.
Rochie took a step back. He watched the wolf come straight at him. He watched the cage hit the ground and continued watching as the door at the front of it opened and watched as the child spilled out and landed on her side. He then watched as the wolf instantly stopped as something shiny crossed his face. Right after it, he felt a warm spray smack his chin. All of this happened within a second or two. After the spraying feeling, he saw a long piece of wood, a staff, protruding out from the black wolf’s right shoulder, just above the arm. Seeing it, realizing that it was an arrow strike, he turned back to the direction of the arrow’s path to the front door of the tent. He saw Donte and three other men there. The man just to his left carried a bow. He watched him lower it.
The pain rippled through his shoulder and carried on down his arm. It felt like a sharp pinch. It felt like slamming your finger in a drawer. It stung him and forced him to stop. He then turned.
Donte watched the beast turn back to him. He could now see its eyes. He could now see its anger and pain. This felt good, so he turned to Devon who had just fired the shot.
“Hit it again. Keep hitting it until it goes down.”
Kenar heard this. Through the man’s eyes, he watched as he drew another arrow from the pouch he carried on his back, and as he placed it on the bow. He then watched him lift it up and take aim.
“No!” He moved and brought himself in between the animal and the shooter. At least he thought he did. When he saw through another person’s eyes at himself, he had found it hard sometimes to gage distance. It was a fact of life for a blind man to have trouble with doing it, even though he could see with a sighted person’s eyes. He just wasn’t used to it, so when he stepped in between the man and the wolf, he misjudged the depth. He misjudged the angle so that when the man fired, the arrow flew right past him and went straight to the wolf’s chest.
The arrow struck him hard, just dead on in between his breasts. It pierced his flesh and fur and lodged directly into his chest. It hit his sternum head on.
The sound he made was startling, yet submissive. It came off as a low rumbling, and then went to something like a soft wincing moan. After making the sound, he then felt his knees give in. He felt his body begin to burn as all of his breaths shook out from his chest.
Elizabeth watched everything with a quiet shock. She wasn’t surprised but was at the same time angry. She knew of the power of the black wolf, Devish had told her that he was immune to the weapons that the humans used, but when she saw his reaction to the strikes, she felt sad. She also felt somewhat relieved. He wasn’t as immune as he thought he was.
Rochie watched him fall to his knees. He then watched as he went down to his clawed hands.
Seeing this, Elizabeth called on her eyes at the back of her mind, and brought out the bat. Quickly she turned. As fast as she could, and while she was still turning, she headed for the child who was now sitting just behind the cage. She reached her just as her feet formed into clawed looking hands, and with them, she grabbed the child just as fast. Now fully formed, she lifted herself up, and with one good flap of her full wings, she flew up. With a burst of motion, she tore through the back wall of the tent and flew out into the night sky. She had the child. She did what he told her to do.
Rochie watched her come, but with everything happening, he didn’t react fast enough to stop her from making off with the child. He just stood there helpless.
With her gone, and everything hopeless, he turned back to the black wolf. He moved to it as the others joined him. They watched it then fall to its left side. They then watched it take its last breath as it stopped moving.
Kenar fell to his knees. He felt the life leave him.
Donte went to his king’s side and helped him back to his feet. They then turned back to the wolf, and watched with all reverence as the beast began to shrink. They watched the black fur disappear and replaced by white skin. They watched its snout vanish into a feminine face. They watched as her breasts returned.
Rochie saw her and gasped. “Anna?” It was definitely her, but why. Why would she pretend to be the black wolf? It didn’t make sense. “It was Anna.”
Kenar did understand. Just before she died, he heard her call out his name. “Devish, he planned her to do this without telling her why. She was the cover for them taking the child. He sacrificed her life to get her.” And it worked. Again, he played them so well.
Jameson watched Kenar stand back up. “Would any of you care to explain what in the heavens is going on here?” He had enough of this. He wasn’t sure how much more he could take.
Kenar turned to answer him, was about to answer him, but watched as another man came into the tent behind him.
The young man went straight to Jameson. “My king, the Walkers have retreated back into the trees.” He was out of breath and had to stop to take one before he continued.
With everything that happened, Jameson let him do it.
When he was ready, he began again. “We have also found another Walker out here that you need to see.”
Jameson nodded. He left with Donte and the others, and headed outside.
Kenar saw what that something was. “They have him Rochie. They have cornered the black wolf by the wall.”
Rochie turned to him, and now, he didn’t know what to think. He didn’t even know where to start.
Kenar could only agree, but now there was more. They now needed to help the black wolf. They also needed to tell him that they had failed in getting back his child. He didn’t know how to do it, but he did have to try. He had to let the pieces of this puzzle fall where they may.
Rochie moved to him and took his left hand with his right, and led him outside.
They followed the sounds of commotion until they reached the walls.
39
He ran inside the gate, stepping over several bodies as he ran.
Once inside the walls, he stopped. He looked to his left and watched a Shade struck with what looked like ten arrows at once. The beast fell to a tent just on the inside of the wall maybe ten feet from him. He watched it turn back into a male as his body went limp. Behind the tent, two humans carrying swords saw him and charged him.
They swung their swords as they reached him, but he managed to evade them easily. With their wild swings, they both showed their backs to him, so he took his chance, and swung hard himself.
He didn’t miss. The back of his left arm struck both of them together, and the blast flung them back away from him to his left. Cleared, he turned back to the matter at hand. He had to find her. He had to find her now.
He turned and heard her calling him. He heard her as clear as day.
Father, please help me. She has me. She is here.
Kalima roared. He bellowed, he looked towards the center of the camp, and there, suddenly flying high up from the center of where he heard her voice, he saw a massive Shade. He saw what the Shade had grasped within its feet. Seeing his baby girl, hearing her voice coming from it, he screamed out with a gasping moaning roar.
The arrow shots came within the sound.
He heard them whizzing high towards the Shade, and watched as they struck the beast in several places at once. He heard the Shade cry out with a high-pitched screeching sound, which seemed to echo all around the commotion of the fight. To his instinctual horror, he then watched the beast fall. With it, his daughter went down. He heard her cry for him one last time before she stopped.
Father? Please father; do not let me fall! Do not…!
NO! He screamed. The sound blasted inside his head, but the only sound he heard was a whimpering cower that flared out from his chest. He had enough.
He ran in the direction of where his baby fell. He ran fast. He thought of nothing else, only keeping his mind on her. Within seconds, maybe a minute, he reached an area where several humans had gathered around, and there he stopped.
They turned to him
with their swords raised.
Two men towards his left side, running along the wall, aimed their bows and arrows at him and readied to shoot.
He didn’t look at any of them. He just looked at a small bundle on the other side of the humans in front of him to what was lying at their feet. He could see her pale face. He could see her black hair, so much like his. He could see a deep colored red pool all around her still frame. Seeing her, not hearing her, he truly began to cry. As he did, his human eyes moved. They came forwards and pushed his wolf’s eyes back to the backside of his mind. He then changed back into his human form.
The humans just stood there and stared. Even the men with the bows lowered their arms. They kept the arrows ready, but still relaxed.
Kalima cried as tears strode down his cheeks. “Sima?” He tried to hear her voice but nothing was there. Her voice didn’t call him. Her soft and sweat gentleness now felt empty. He moved closer to the two men, keeping his eyes down on her. He stared. He waited, hoping for any sign that she was living, but saw nothing. She was completely still. Even though he didn’t think it, even though he didn’t want to believe it, he knew she was gone. His baby was gone from this world. He would never again hear her voice. He would never again hold her warmth. He would never again feel her breaths on his face.
King Jameson and Donte came up behind him.
Kenar and Rochie were not far behind them.
“What is this?” the king asked, finding a naked man standing there with a half dozen of his men just watching him. He didn’t see the child behind two of them. He just knew that the naked man had to be a Walker in his human form. He would have been hard pressed to find one of his men fighting out there in the nude. He didn’t have that many crazy men who would do such a thing.
All of his men said nothing. They just stood there and stared. All of them were still shocked. They had undoubtedly never seen a Walker change back into their human form in the middle of a fight, crying, and weeping for a dead child before. It explained their hesitation. It explained their stares.
A Werewolf's Saga, The Beginning (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets Book 3) Page 45