He left the room.
25
“You cannot leave like this. You must stay here where I can protect you. I cannot protect you out there.” The Seer didn’t expect Sima for doing this. She didn’t see it coming. She didn’t even know it was about to happen, until she watched her head to the door. This scared her so much. She didn’t know how to react with it.
Her mind was made up. “It is time that I go.” She opened the door.
“But why? You must tell me why you must?” She held herself closely with her arms over her chest. She heard the patience in her young voice. She heard the determination there too. She was more like her father at that moment than she had ever seen before.
She did stop at the door just outside the house. “I have seen it. It must happen this way.” She bowed her head down. She could describe it no other way but this way. She saw everything. She had to help. She had to end this. She knew she had to do it.
The Seer felt this from her, she let her do it, so it had to mean something. She just didn’t know what that was. It wasn’t hard to know the truth.
“You are intending to die?” she blurted this out without really thinking about saying it. It just came out all on its own.
She did look back. “We all have a life to live. We also have a death to take too.”
She knew it. She feared it. She now saw it. She hated it too. “You cannot leave us. It is not right. There is so much more that you can do. There is so much you will do if you allow it.” She knew that she had to stop her. What she had already seen involved her taking over this world in a way that the Walkers would have never expected to happen. Not even the humans could do what she could do. It was important for her to carry this on. She had to let the future unfold. “You are destined for so many great things.” She had to make her see it too.
Sima did. She saw the future well beyond the scope of what the Seer ever could. What she saw was the unified world. She saw the peace and the power that those like her would bring to it. She saw the new balance. She saw this, but there was so much more to it than her. She was not the one to do it. It was not the time for her to change the world. This would only happen when one was born from all of the world’s peoples. This was not her.
“I know of the future you see. I know of the times you have witnessed in your dreams.” She looked her straight into the eyes. “I am not the one you have seen doing it.” She even smiled.
The Seer saw the smile and it made her gasp. “You are not the one?” She couldn’t believe it, but it was there. She saw it all. She saw the one, and now, seeing her face, it dawned on her that it wasn’t her that she saw. The boy was there. She saw his face now so clearly that it almost blew her mind away. She should have seen it, but didn’t—not until right then did she.
She looked back. “I must set that path in place. I must allow the truth to unfold, as it should have happened. This world is already set.”
The Seer dropped her eyes. She now knew what she had to do. She didn’t like it, but Sima was right. The path has been set. Inside her mind, as her eyes went blue, she saw his face. She saw his unique overwhelming power flow from him in such a way that it made her eyes tear up. He was the one. He was the Trinity.
Sima nodded. She walked fully outside and closed the door. She had a long journey ahead of her and she had to get to it. She even had help.
She watched her close the door.
When she was alone, she turned back to the back wall and hugged herself tighter. She now knew that there was going to be a long road ahead for all of them. She was going to have to go through so much more to get there that just the knowledge of it made her shiver with fear. She was going to have to live so many more lives before she finally reached the end.
Sima walked through the central plaza and made her way to Malcolm Moore, the Shade that she had waiting for her. She moved to him softly.
“Are you ready?” he asked her when she was with him. Seeing her, he half expected her not to come back. He thought she was foolish in wanting to do this. He thought she was reckless. He also knew that she was determined. She told him that much, so he decided to help her. He would take her to the forest. He would take her to the fields, but that was where he would leave her. He had too much to risk in taking her any further than that. He couldn’t risk his mother. She was human. She was weak. Since he had been turned, he always knew he would protect her. This was one of those times.
She of course knew all of this, and didn’t mind it. She was just happy to have the ride. She needed him if she was going to get there in time.
“I am.” She felt confident.
He admired it. He didn’t know what she was, but he still believed in her. She told him so much.
“Then let us do this.” He brought the eyes at the back part of his mind forwards. He brought on the change.
She watched his face turn pale white. She watched his ears turn pointed and tall. She watched his nose turn oval and flat. She watched his hands and fingers flare out into large and powerful wings. She watched him turn into the bat.
Fully formed, he turned to her.
She knew the plan. She was the perfect size to do it.
She climbed on to his back. She gripped him tightly around the neck, and when she felt comfortable, he lifted off.
He flew high up into the night air. He headed left—he headed west. He headed towards Devish’s home and the fight she knew was coming next.
26
“You must be Kalima?” Sharlia welcomed him with a slight bow. She had of course heard about him for years, and seeing him the first time, those stories did not do him justice.
His youthful appearance felt removed only by his enormous size. He had the broadest shoulders that she had ever seen on a Moonwalker before. His height was beyond normal and his hair was beyond black. He was bigger than almost anything that walked this world. In other words, she was absolutely impressed.
Seeing her, he knew who she was. His brother had talked about her many times. He admired her, which in its self was strange for him when it came to a made Nightwalker. It told him that he feared her. It told him that he feared everything she was and could do to him. He liked her because of it.
“I am.” He returned her bow. “Where have you been?” he asked with a muted laugh. He already knew. Sima told him everything. He would keep her secrets. He would keep her treachery towards his brother to himself. He liked her for that too.
She heard his laugh and understood it. As for him, she wasn’t entirely sure what he was up to, but she knew that it had something to do with helping all of them so she left it that. Besides, she still had to speak with Michael. Sima was also helping her. She would keep Devish in the dark long enough for her to make the plan known to him. She only hoped he would go along with it. Devish was cunning in so many ways that it was always hard to keep anything from him or to know your friend from a true foe. Either way, she knew that she had to try. The world depended on him and his friends in taking their offer. As for Kalima, she would just play along with him.
“Devish was hoping that you would return. He is hoping to speak with you.” She motioned with her right arm to their respective lefts.
Kalima nodded again. Good, it is time for this to begin.
She led him to the door of his throne room. As he followed her, he kept thinking about everything he had to do. He had to occupy Devish and keep him from seeing what was happening outside the walls. He had to give the humans the time to form. With all of the Walkers, Moon and others outside, it already looked like he was ready for something. He only hoped he could do this. Knowing that Rana was no longer herself may prove difficult for him to do it. He didn’t know how she was going to react to his returning like this. He didn’t know if she would still show her feelings towards him or not. He didn’t know how far her mind was no longer hers. He didn’t know if she would fight him. This was his greatest fear. He didn’t know about her, but he did know about himself. He couldn’t do it. He wouldn’
t fight her, and he feared this the most.
Sharlia led him to the throne room and opened the door. She stayed outside, and just motioned for him to go inside with another soft wave.
“Good luck Kalima.” She hoped for many things. She hoped Sima was right. Everything would end tonight.
He gave her a gentle grin. It spoke volumes. He felt nervous. He also felt afraid.
“Hello my friend.” Devish sat on his new throne. It didn’t take long to make a new one, and seeing his brother again, he felt thankful for that. He was now alone. He wanted it this way. “It is good to see you again. I have missed your company.” He tried to remain calm, knowing everything he knew. He also felt afraid. He feared his brother. He feared what he may have to do by the end of this night.
Kalima waited until Sharlia closed the door behind him before he began. When she did, he turned back to the chair. “My brother.” He took a resounding breath. He tried to control his emotions and found it rather hard to do, but when he fully saw the emptiness of the room, it made him calm down instantly. She wasn’t there. They were alone. He knew why.
Devish knew what he had done. He knew about the humans. He knew about what he had found—his daughter alive and well. He also knew that he would never allow him to leave him. He needed him, and one way or the other, he needed him alone.
“I know about my daughter. I know she is alive.” He readied himself as he took several steps to the chair. He stopped to the middle of the room.
Devish sighed with this. “I know.” He looked down at the floor. He didn’t know why, but he felt guilty. He felt sad. It felt awkward beyond words. “I know that Rana has told you the truth.” He looked back up. He spoke her name with the greatest ease. He wanted to see what he would do with hearing her name.
Kalima also looked down. “She did.” He looked back up. He knew this game. He knew it all too well. “I also know what you have done.” He was not about to play it.
Devish nodded quietly. “And yet you came back to me.”
Kalima did too, but kept it simple. He kept it light. “I have to see her. I need to see Rana.” He even tried to sound like he was begging him. Again, he knew his brother well.
So did Devish. “You may not like what she has become again.” He kept his grin. He played for the reaction he hoped to see. He wanted to see where his loyalty lied.
Kalima took another resounding breath. “I know what you have done to her brother. I know about the blackness you have caressed over her mind. I know what you have done.”
Devish nodded to himself. “I did what I had to do. I did what was needed.”
This made his anger flew through him like wine heats the mind. He even felt the eyes begin to stir at the back of his head. Feeling them, he pushed the back. Now was not the time to fight. He had to keep to the game they were now all playing.
“Why?” He stared directly into his eyes. He saw the mocking joy that seemed to bellow through the man’s lack of a soul. “Why do you need her? Why did you do to me what was done? Why could you not leave me alone?” He kept this as simple as he could.
Devish laughed with this. He couldn’t help himself. “Why? Why not?” He stood up. His nervousness made him do it. “You are simply amazing. You are the very thing that has changed this world. You have given me so much more than I could have ever had found on my own.” He slapped his hands to his hips.
The sound echoed around the room and bounced off the stoned walls several times.
“You did all of this to fight the humans?” This sounded like him. He could also smell his fear. He could smell his lack of control. He could smell his blood lust blowing through his breaths. He continued with what he needed to do. “You took her away from me to get my blood?”
Devish felt the guilt again inside him, so he shook his head. This was not the time to feel guilty for doing something that he had to do. It didn’t make sense. He couldn’t allow himself to continue it.
“Of course I did.”
Kalima shook his head too. “You destroyed my life and all of these others just so you could get your fix. You did all of this just to get blood.” He always knew this. Everyone did.
Devish chuckled again. “Not just that.” He grew serious too. “If you had seen the way we were before all of this happened. If you had seen what this world was like before the humans became emboldened you would understand my reasons.” He left the front of the chair and walked around it to its back. He kept his head down as he moved. “When I learned about you, when I learned that Satar had a child and what you could do from that Seer bitch, I knew what I had to do. I knew that I had to find you and bring you to me.”
He watched him closely, and then thought of something else too. He saw his Alana’s face and now felt that he knew the truth about her too. It was there all of this time. Why didn’t he see it before, he didn’t know, but now he did.
“You killed her. You killed my Alana.” The eyes moved again. He tried to push back at them, but he couldn’t do it. The anger wouldn’t let him.
Devish spun back around and faced him strongly. “Of course I did not.” He blasted with this.
Kalima felt thankful for hearing this. It helped him to push back at the eyes, which he then did.
“The humans killed her, not I.” He truly believed this.
Kalima saw that he did. “You still led them there.” He remembered the wolves. He remembered them there. He fought them before the humans came.
Devish scoffed again. “This is an old argument my brother. I no longer feel the need to continue it.” He stepped completely around the chair until he reemerged from behind it and back in front of it again. It was time to get back to what he needed. Arguing with his brother was not it. “Come back to me. Come back home.”
This was Kalima’s turn to scoff. “Why would I come back to you? How can I trust anything you say?”
Devish knew he would ask him this. He had an answer for him. “I have her.” He put his hands on his hips and suddenly felt relaxed. It even warmed him over with all of its strength. He had his cards to play in this game.
Kalima bowed his head. “I need to speak with her.” He looked back up.
Devish now felt relieved too. “I will allow it only if you agree to come home, and continue furnishing me with what I need from you.”
Kalima felt none of it. There was so much more to do. Knowing this, he knew what he had to do. “I will consider it if you allow me to see her.”
Devish understood this. He also understood that he had nothing to lose. His brother would not like what she has become. He will not like her as she now is, and knowing this, feeling it, she would not go with him. Being that she would not, he would have no other choice but to stay there with both of them. It was a win-win if there ever were one.
“Very well then. I will let you speak to her for old time’s sake.”
Kalima hated it, but agreed. “Thank you brother.” He said nothing else. He let his brother gloat. He let him feel victorious. He did what he had to do.
He then followed him out of the room.
He followed him to her.
27
He could see the castle lying up against the hillside, sparkling in the deep moonlight overhead. He could see the forces of Devish ringing the bottom of the hill. The moonwalkers were spread out in front of the nightwalkers as they waited for the battle that he was bringing to them to begin. The nightshades flew overhead, circling in broad strokes as they waited for their orders to dive. There were hundreds of them. It was quite a striking sight.
His forces, led by wanderers and strongly manned with humans, faced them from across the field. They hid in the trees and waited for the right time to attack. There he stood at the trees and watched. The thoughts of the coming battle ran around inside his head. The doubts he had for what was about to happen, the ideas of whether or not he was doing the right thing, hung over him like a damp and heavy cloth. Everything was there. Everything was nothing more than a jumble of thought
s. His worry was the strongest of each.
Jameson met him at the trees. “Rochie, are you sure about this? Are you sure about him?” He kept on his horse. He thought about everything he knew and he came to the conclusion that he knew nothing. He wasn’t even sure if he was there or not. Nothing felt real.
He turned to him with a cautious stare. “You spoke to him. What did you talk about?”
On their way there, Jameson asked to speak with Kalima alone. This was not like him, a man filled with so much hatred for the Walkers as he had would have never done it, but he did. At the time, he didn’t believe it. Afterwards, Jameson agreed to fight with him. He was dying to know what they said between them.
Jameson looked down at the side of the horse between Rochie and the animal.
Rochie could tell that he was looking at nothing at all.
Jameson knew better than to answer him. Whatever was keeping Kenar from knowing this meant a lot to him? It meant that he had to keep that conversation between them to himself.
“We spoke about his plans.” He needed to give him something, so this was it.
Rochie could easily tell that he wasn’t going to answer him. Anyone could have seen this in his eyes.
“It is not like you to do this. Whatever he told you, it must have been something very important?”
Jameson looked back up. He saw the wolf, he saw Kalima, as they stood together by the trees. What they talked about rocked his mind.
“I know who you are,” he said to him. The entire time he felt rather winded. He didn’t fear him, as he should have. That too meant something to him. It meant something that he still didn’t quite understand.
Kalima obviously had no idea what he was talking about, so he asked him next, “Who am I?”
He kept his eyes on him. He continued to marvel at the look in his eyes. He had her eyes. He had her face. He was hers.
A Werewolf's Saga, The Beginning (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets Book 3) Page 64