She wasn’t finished yet. Seeing that he was safe, she looked back up, called on her powers from deep within her mind and found the charge. She found the heat. She pulled it forward, and now called on the wind.
The wind blew hard. It swirled all around their heads, but they didn’t feel it—they just heard it turn.
She used the wind, and blew it out away from the humans.
The Shades instantly reacted to its tremendous strength, and flew high. They did everything they could to get out of that powerful gale.
Free from having to do so, Kenar looked back to Devin, who was now standing on the other side of Shelley. He saw his eyes sparkling too. He knew what was coming next. He saw everything through his young friend’s eyes.
“Everyone should hold their ground!” he screamed back to Jameson.
Jameson understood.
Instantly the ground began to rumble and roll. It started softly at first, feeling like a soft tremble beneath their feet. It built up strength, and then moved.
All of the humans felt it slide right under their shoes. It even made the horses stop their charge.
It felt like a wave as it flared out to the wolves. It then banged.
The ground shook. It bounced. Every wolf lost their footing and flailed back to their backs. Even then, it didn’t stop as they bounced up and down all along the ground, until they couldn’t even lie still on top of it. Instead they just rolled. They just jumped while on their backs. They just couldn’t even catch their wind.
Seeing this happening, Jameson felt stronger than ever before. The fight was theirs. Victory was theirs for the taking and there was no stopping them now.
34
My god…Rochie could not believe whom he saw. He watched a giant Shade land in the center of the courtyard, not twenty feet in front of him, and gasped. The Shade was not alone. Sima, my god Sima how did she find you?
Elizabeth turned back into her human form. She placed the girl down on her feet in front of her and in between them. She saw Rochie, and also gasped. She also felt appalled. How dare he come back to this place like this?
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” She pulled the child as close to her as she could. She was not about to lose her prize again—not to this Wanderer and traitor. She would die first.
Rochie still had the shock rocking his soul with seeing the girl with her. Not only did he not expect this happenstance, but now he feared it too. He feared what it would do to Kalima if he were to find out. Would he still fight with them, knowing that they had his daughter? Would he still stand with them knowing that they didn’t protect her as they promised him they would? It just terrified his very mind, body and soul.
She saw the terror in his eyes. She loved it, and knew why he felt it. She squeezed the young thing closer to her naked chest. She held her to her with a hand full of claws. She kept them under her chin, and thus, at her throat.
“I see that you noticed a little something that I have found and brought back with me.” She smiled with just the thought of what this must be doing to him. Just the thought of his fears tearing out his heart made her feel boastful beyond words. Lord, did she love this so much.
Rochie knew right then that he had to control his mind, and the only way he knew how to do this was to take control of this situation. He had to get back to his strength. He couldn’t allow her to see any more of his fear.
“You will not take care her with you any more Elizabeth.” He brought out his power. He felt for anything inanimate, and grabbed on to them within his mind. With them all there, he felt every stone. He felt every branch and every other piece of wood. He even felt for the walls, as his eyes flared to blue.
She saw his eyes, and felt herself love this even more. She had never fought against a Wanderer before, so she didn’t know how to truly feel about it in any other way. Seeing how his brown colored eyes flared to blue so clearly, she now couldn’t wait to find out.
“You want to fight me, Wanderer? Is that it?” She still couldn’t resist her attempts at mocking him. She would have it no other way.
He watched her back up to the steps that led up to the front door of the Keep, and feeling those very same steps, he gripped them hard in his mind. As long as she held the young girl in front of her, he couldn’t risk throwing anything at them, with fear of striking her instead, so he settled on the stairs. He felt each stone. He felt each block. When he held them firmly in his thoughts, he pulled at them in his mind.
Elizabeth took one-step up, and just as she did, her left leg moved out. The entire step pulled out in front of her, and with one graceful motion—as graceful as it could ever be, and actually was—she fell back and slammed the ground with her backside hard. In doing so, she lost her grip of the girl.
Free from the vile thing, Sima moved out and away from her, and moved to the center of the courtyard.
She did not run to Rochie as he hoped she would have. Instead, she didn’t look at him once.
“Come to me Sima. I will keep you safe,” he pleaded.
Inside his mind, he heard her voice. You cannot save me Rochie. It is my time to do what I must do. You cannot stop time from turning this world.
He didn’t understand. “What are you talking about? Come on, come with me.”
He could see her face light up. He hated seeing this. She looked content. She looked completely at ease with whatever she was about to do. Seeing it and watching what she did next, he feared for her even more.
“What are you doing?”
She turned, looked at him calmly before turning back, and running to the front door. She jumped past Elizabeth and flew up the steps. She ran so fast that she reached the front door in only a brief second, and was gone even faster than that.
He couldn’t believe what he just saw. He just couldn’t wrap his head around it long enough to find any good reason for what she did.
Elizabeth on the other hand loved seeing it. She like Rochie didn’t understand it, but it didn’t matter. Devish would have her after all, and that was all that did. She just couldn’t believe that it happened, but loved how much that he didn’t see it too.
“You see that Wanderer? You could not even convince a young girl to join you by your side.” She laughed as she picked herself back up to her feet. Her red eyes were now glued onto his blue stare.
Rochie stared her down. He shook his head, trying hard to get what just happened out of it. It worked some, but not enough to stop his heart from aching from witnessing it.
Moving, she took two steps towards him. Inside her mind, she called on her bat’s eyes.
He watched her change, at least as she began to, and had enough. He felt a rather large rock just at her feet, and with a quick look at it with his real eyes, he realized that it was the same stone he had just pulled out from the step, so he lifted it up in his mind. He then threw it towards her chest.
The stone, maybe three feet long and one foot wide, did actually fly.
It struck her hard directly against her chest just as her wings unfurled. It even shattered in to two separate pieces as a loud smack echoed all around the enclosed courtyard. Her hissing with a gushing cry came right after the sound.
It even blew her back to her side. One of her wings was caught up beneath her, and it crunched down hard into her ribs. It cracked with an awful and painful sound.
Watching her tumble down, Rochie didn’t keep to only the one stone. In fact, he kept it in his mind, found a large piece of it, and lifted it back up. With everything he had, he then slammed it hard back down to her chest as she rolled to her back. He now kept it there, pinning her down. He magnified its weight.
She screeched out again, this time finding it rather hard to catch her wind. It fought against her with every breath she tried to take in. The foot-by-foot block on top of her weighed like a ton. She couldn’t move it. She couldn’t stand from it. She couldn’t do anything at all.
He didn’t know how long he could do this, but right then, he di
dn’t care. He just had to keep her still. He also knew that he needed something more than just that one stone, so he reached out and found the wall standing on his left. It belonged to a small building, more than likely a guard tower facing the gate, and with it, he pulled.
The entire wall rumbled. It jumbled. It cracked.
It smashed down so fast that Elizabeth didn’t even see it or know what had happened until it was completely on top of her.
Instantly she disappeared beneath the mass of stone and cement. The wall was thick, nearly a foot wide, so when it shattered on top of her, it buried her completely beneath it.
She passed out from its impact as she felt her entire body go limp.
Rochie didn’t know this of course, but he didn’t see the mound of stone move. He didn’t hear her screams. He knew he had done what he needed to do.
It didn’t last long.
Within seconds, she opened her eyes to the blackness of the gray colored stones. She regained her breaths. She regained her mind, as she felt her entire body begin to mend. She felt her wing come back together into her long fingered hand. She felt her ribs reform back into their human shapes. She felt her entire body return to human, but more importantly than this, she felt herself completely heal. It no longer surprised her as to why.
Rochie moved towards the mound, having to do it in order to get to the door. With his victory over Elizabeth, all he wanted to do next was to find Sima. He also had to find Rana. In other words, he still had a lot to do.
He didn’t even reach what was left of the steps.
She heard him come. More importantly, she felt him move towards her. When he was close enough, she pushed up through the mass of stones and caught his leg as it passed above her head. She grabbed him and pulled.
He stumbled. He fell back.
Without another moment, she pushed up through the stones, and blasted out with him still in her grip.
He felt more than just shocked by the grab of his leg, he felt blown away. When he went down to his back, he lost all of the air in his lungs and it made him nearly pass out. Thankfully, he didn’t.
“Well that was interesting.” Elizabeth threw down his leg towards her feet.
It hurt some, and thankfully, because of it happening, it woke him up.
“You really do have an amazing gift.” She brushed herself off some. A light mist like fog followed her as she did it. “If I had not seen it, I would have never believed it.” She laughed. Her neck felt somewhat stiff so she twisted it around and let it crack. It made her feel better already.
Realizing what had just happened, Rochie crawled over the debris of the wall, found the floor of the courtyard behind him, and found his knees.
“Thank you Elizabeth, I can say the same of you.” He turned towards her quickly. He matched her eyes. He watched her closely. She didn’t have a scratch on her anywhere. He heard the crack of her wing, but likewise noticed that it looked completely healed. He had never seen any Shade recover so quickly from an attack. He just didn’t know what to think.
She watched him as he then stood up.
“You are an arrogant one, are you not?” She began to feel the rage inside her just by this thought alone. She always hated Wanderers. She hated what they did to the Walkers. She hated them for helping the humans. Now she had something else to hate about them.
Rochie stood his ground. The shock of everything was gone again, so he let his eyes turn back to blue. He brought his power back to the forefront of his mind.
She laughed seeing his eyes recover their strength again. “You wish to fight me Rochie? Good. Than it is a fight you shall have.”
He readied himself for what she was about to do. As he thought about everything she recovered from, he began to see something else about her. She was different. She was stronger than any Shade he had ever seen before, this was true, but he saw something else. Because of it, because of this, he didn’t know what to expect next.
She let her eyes turn to their fire red flames.
35
“You will give me what I want Kalima. I will destroy everything you love if you do not. I will kill her. I will destroy everything you are.” Devish moved away from the back wall, recovering from the blow to his chest. The pain was already starting to subside some. Kalima was strong—he was powerful—but he was more than he would ever be. He could never be defeated. He could never be stopped. He was more powerful than anything that has ever walked this world.
Kalima knew this too. He stood back up straight from his swing. His pawed feet gripped the dirt floor of the room, trying to keep him standing. He watched the clawed gashes across Devish’s bat-like, wolf-like chest already beginning to heal. His deep creamy colored white skin turned clear again. Seeing this, seeing his own lack of strength against him, he howled. Hearing what he did, hearing about her, he growled. He could not let this happen. He had to stop it. He had to stop him. He also knew that he had to do better than what he was now doing. Devish’s strength would not dwindle with just a clawed swipe like that.
Devish smiled, his fangs glistened within the orange glow of the torches that lined room. The white stoned walls helped them. With it, he looked pale. He looked even more evil than he normally looked.
“I promise you—you will give me what I want.”
They were both equal in size. Devish’s body was the same height, but the wolf matched him in every other way. They both had girth. They both looked powerful. They were more alike than Devish would ever care to admit.
Kalima roared. He bellowed. The sound bounced off the walls, sounding like thunder blasting the world.
He moved with speed, pouncing the few yards between them with a powerful blast of wind. The sounds of his heavy stride shook the very floor. His clawed hind paws dug in as he came at him.
Devish expected his charge. The black wolf may be strong, but he was also instinctual. He was also predictable. He knew him all too well, so with it, he charged too.
With equal speed, they came together with a resounding thunder of flesh and muscle as their bodies smashed in to each other with an outermost power that seemed to shake the world. The sound even echoed around the room, sounding like two large tree trunks smacking against each other during a resounding storm. It banged. They crashed.
Devish’s strength showed instantly as he grabbed the black wolf beneath his arms and quickly pushed him back to the wall behind him. His own hind paws, the paws of a large and massive wolf, also dug in to the floor. With them, he pushed.
Kalima felt his paws slash along the dirt floor, giving him an equal lack of leverage. He felt his legs dragging beneath his heavy and large frame as he moved back. He could not stop it. He could not prevent it. His arms were unable to claw. His claws were unable to dig. All he had left was his bite, so he opened his long snout and bit down on nothing but air.
He was not close enough to bite him. He was not in the position to strike, and instead, he just went back until the cold stone of the wall smacked his spine with a staggering pain.
With all of his strength, Devish lifted him up the wall. He watched him with true hatred in his eyes. “You will give me what you are. I want it. I need it. I need what rightfully belongs to me.”
Kalima roared, but with his throat now clutched tightly within Devish’s right hand, the sound rolled out with a low ebbing chime. It made it sound muffled. It sounded gargled. It sounded half of what it normally was.
Devish heard it, heard his weakness, and it made his voice grow lower. He grew angrier too. “You are nothing.” He squeezed his throat tighter. He forced his throat to near collapse. “Why you possess what I do not is confounding to me. It is a waste of flesh. It is a travesty of fate.”
Kalima swung with a wild right arm.
It impacted nothing. It caused just that to him.
The air became hard to take in. His throat felt flattened, as all of the air flushed out of him with one giant gush of wind. It now felt like death showing itself to him its hideous
face. The pain now felt like agony. It seemed that the time to die was nearly there.
36
The wolves had lost half of their numbers as the Nightwalkers came up behind them. They were gashed. They were bloodied. But they were not finished yet.
The humans stayed where they stopped.
Vincent Gorhan led their defense. He looked at all of the carnage and felt enraged.
Melinda Gorhan, his second in command of this battle, shared his feelings entirely. “We cannot go up against them as long as the Wanderers are controlling the winds and ground, my lord. We must try a different tactic.” She saw all of this.
He agreed with her. “Then I believe we should allow the humans to pass my dear. I believe it is time to see how much the Wanderers can handle our full blow.” He looked back to the humans, and could see the Wanderers grouped together near the human king. Being there, it would prove difficult for them to reach them, but is also gave him an idea. “Have all of the wolves flank them. Have them peel off and head to the right. See if we cannot give the humans something to fight.”
She nodded with everything. “And what do we do now?”
He gave her a smile as he looked across the fields. “Get all of us Nightwalkers together.” He looked back at her. “We are going after the Wanderers.”
She nodded, turned and left him.
After just seconds, she returned. “We are ready my lord.” Her gifts were special. She could speak to anyone through their thoughts. With this, she told everyone their plans and what they were supposed to do. With it finished, they were ready.
Every Nightwalker, male and female, large and small, joined them. There were now at least a hundred of them gathered along the wall.
Vincent nodded to everyone, as he heard the wolves snarling to his left. He turned that way and watched them gather and ready themselves for the assault. He then watched them run.
A Werewolf's Saga, The Beginning (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets Book 3) Page 69