Kenar looked back up. “I don’t know Rochie. I never knew it either. He did say that we blocked it. I believe he’s right.” He nodded to himself. As for what he said, he was right. He did feel it, even though he didn’t.
Robert turned back to him. “If it’s true, can we trust him?” He crossed his arms over his chest, and he leaned against the railing with his buttocks. As for his question, well that made him want to fall over it hard. If it were not for the railing, he probably would do it. “If he is Satar’s son, can we trust that he will do the right thing? If we blocked the memory, we obviously wanted to keep him hidden. Why would we do that, if we knew that he was dangerous like that?”
Kenar scoffed some with this. “He obviously knew about it before we did. He may have always known about it. If that’s the case, then he did everything he did while knowing the truth. Why wouldn’t we trust him now?” He agreed with himself. He was right again. Kalima always knew. He still fought with them even though he did.
Robert could not argue with that. There was more there than this. He could not stop thinking about what Jimmy told him before he left. Forgive the pain. Release it. He bowed his head to the floorboards and hugged himself tighter. What in the hell does that mean? What in the hell am I supposed to do? It just doesn’t make any sense.
Kenar heard his thoughts easily. “He knows a lot more about what’s going on than we do Rochie. I think it’s clear that that’s true.”
Robert looked up. “I just wish that I knew what to do.” He continued thinking. He spoke those thoughts. “Now I know how Jimmy felt all this time when we were trying to keep some things from him. I never realized that until now how terrible that feels.” He chuckled some beneath his breaths. He could not help himself.
“Whatever he needs us to do he obviously has that a part of his plan Rochie. He knows what he did before. He knows what we did. He’s figured that in to this, I know he has.”
Robert again agreed with that. He was about to look back down, but he noticed a woman coming towards the porch on his left. He turned to her and watched Sandra move to the steps in the center of it. “Well, look who’s finally made it here.” He gave her a smile.
Sandra nodded to both of them as she took the railing of the three steps into her right hand. She stepped up to the bottom step with only her left leg. “I told you that it would take me a little time to get here.” She looked to Kenar. “I see you’re both still here.” She smiled.
Kenar nodded to her presence.
Robert left the side of the porch and came right in front of her. “Thank you for coming.” He bowed his head.
She noticed that something was wrong or more likely that something had changed. “What did I miss?” she asked that idea. She hated surprises, and did not want to have one now.
Robert looked back up. He did not know how to say what he needed to say, but thankfully, Kenar did.
“Kalima has given himself to Devish.” He sat forwards in the chair. “He turned himself into him.
She turned to him feeling rather shocked by this. Why wouldn’t she? “Great.” She looked back to Rochie. “Why would he do that?” She thought they had a plan. She thought that he was on their side again. “What changed?” There had to be something. It didn’t make sense.
Robert could answer that. “He believes he’s helping my sister.” He looked up, but not all the way and it made him look like a little boy who was trying to get away with something from his parents. Inside, he felt exactly that.
She just nodded. “Again, great.” She bowed her head.
Sharlia now stepped out on to the porch, but she stayed in the doorway. The shadows were best there. “Sandra? It is good to see you again.” She stopped by Kenar’s left side.
Sandra acknowledged her with a pessimistic look on her face but kept her eyes on Rochie. “I see that others are here too.” She looked to Kenar. “What’s with all of the Nightwalkers?” she had to ask. Seeing this many, a dozen of them if not more, all around them, made her feel worried. She feared it too. She always did and always would.
Kenar laughed with this.
Rochie just kept his head down. “They’ve come to help.”
Sandra shook her head. “That’s a first.”
Kenar answered her in his own way. “Our friends have come to help us fight. They want the same things as we do. They want to protect the truce.”
Sandra scoffed some with this idea. “You were never one to welcome help from the Walkers Kenar. What changed?” She wanted to know.
He bowed his head. “Several years ago I met a man that I couldn’t believe was what he was. He was different, and when I found out who he really was, I changed my mind. He helped me. He led me out of the darkness and into the light.” He looked up. “His name was Kalima.” He felt the need to explain, so he continued. “I was just a boy and didn’t know who I was, but that didn’t matter afterwards. The black wolf become so much more to me than what I remembered. That’s when I realized what I do now.”
Sandra bowed her head as she listened, but then lifted it again as she heard the last part of this. “What is that?”
He smiled. “Black wolves are different. They are powerful, but they too have a soul. They are more like us than I ever realized.”
Sandra bowed her head again.
Sharlia now understood him as she listened. She liked hearing it too.
Rochie sighed.
Sandra heard him and looked to him next. “What is it Rochie?” She approached him and climbed the few steps between them. “You always believed in the black wolf, but now I get the feeling that you don’t. I never thought I’d see the day that Kenar and you would switch those beliefs. If I remember correctly, he was the one that we had to convince to help him. You were the true believer.”
Robert huffed some with all of this. “I have changed. Things are different. I’m not too sure any more about anything.”
Kenar listened and concentrated on his thoughts. He could see him thinking about the last time he saw his sister before she knew who she was. He was supposed to be protecting her. He let Kalima protect her when she was taken by Vincent. He saw all of this and he finally understood what was bothering him. He hated Jimmy for letting it happen. He hated Kalima for starting all of this and loving his sister. He hated that he fell in love with her again when given the chance after everything ended the last time. He hated himself for all of it too.
Robert turned to him and looked back to Sandra with a single tear in his right eye. Feeling it, he wiped it away just as quickly.
Sandra nodded. “We will get her back, Rochie.” She took a deep breath and put both of her hands in to the back pockets of her jeans. “I trust Kalima. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I do.”
Robert nodded.
Kenar smiled.
Sandra continued, and laughed slightly to herself. “I think we should start this, but first, we should figure out how we’re going to do this. What’s the plan?”
Kenar folded his hands in between his knees. “We’re going to do what we did the last time. We’re going to hit them head on.”
Sandra felt stunned with this. “Is that a good idea?” She looked at each of them, one at a time. “Won’t Devish be expecting that?” She shrugged.
Sharlia looked at Kenar. She did not know what to think, but only knew what she had to do. She didn’t care. She just wanted the fight. Nothing else mattered more than that.
Kenar smiled. “We have to do it. Kalima has a plan.” He unfolded his hands.
Again, Sandra shrugged with this. “Did his plan include being taken by them too?” She scoffed.
Robert looked up. “All of you are going to move across the field. I’m going to go in another way.”
They each heard him and turned to him at the same time. To say that they felt shocked by this would have been an understatement if there ever were one. The truth was they felt dumbfounded beyond words to describe it right.
Robert felt their eyes. He
understood the looks, so he explained what he intended to do. “That’s what I did the last time. I snuck in. I found Rana. I just got there too late to help.” He nodded as he talked. “I’m not going to be late this time.”
Kenar was the first to nod. “I didn’t know that you did that the last time.” He felt confident with his memories. In all truth, he just didn’t see it.
Robert nodded. “I did. During the battle, I was able to get inside the walls and get to her. I’m going to do that again.”
“I’m going in with you.” Brandon heard all of them from inside the cabin, and for the most part, he was going to stay out of it, but when he heard Robert telling them what he was going to do, he had to come in. He had to come out.
They all turned to him at the same time.
Robert was the only one that would answer him. “Good. I could use the help.” And he gave him a smile.
Brandon nodded.
They all nodded with both of them.
“We should try and get some rest. We go tonight at dusk.” Kenar now felt sure of everything. Whatever was going to happen, whatever Kalima had planned, it was time to end this. It was time to set everything right again, and this time, they would not stop. He intended to finish Devish off. It was time to correct their biggest mistake.
They all agreed and said nothing else. They simply went back into the cabin. Sharlia headed out to the trees to inform all of her kind of what they had decided to do.
The fight would come soon enough.
29
They brought him in to a small room just off the main entrance to the dungeons. He knew exactly where he was. He was in the oldest part of the castle. He knew this place well. This is where they used to keep humans before their feedings. This was where they would choose the ones they were going to change. He breathed in the air. The room smelled like death. A hint of blood, that iron strong flavor, was on the air. The stench of human waste was all still there too, even after all of these years. It was stronger than ever.
Once in the room, the three Nightwalkers led him to the far wall, where they took his arms and shackled them to his sides with silver chains. With his wrists clasped, they left him on the wall. They left him in the room. They shut the gate and locked him inside it. He watched them leave back down the hallway through the bars.
Now alone, he looked down at the floor. I hope you know what you’re doing. He looked at the chains. His arms were free to move around some but he wasn’t able to move away from the wall much. Same old time. Same old chains. He looked at the gate. It seems like yesterday since I was here. He looked at the darkness around him as a sweet aroma coursed through the room. It raked his mind. It moved over his mouth and it made him taste it. He knew instantly who it was. “Hello Rachel.” He looked up to the gate and saw her standing through the bars. The torches lining the walls cast her face in a powerful glow. They made her look even more beautiful than he ever remembered her to be.
“The name is Rana.” She watched him closely. She watched him move. She could not believe how he made her feel, seeing him again. The memories of everything he did, so long ago, crossed out everything he did recently that it made her cringe some. She hated him more than she truly did ever remember him. She hated everything he did to her—did to him.
He lowered his eyes. “Is that who you are?” He looked down at the dirt floor and accepted her hatred. He did not like it but he did remember it. He remembered her. He remembered everything he did. “Or is that what Devish gave you?” He looked back up.
She stared in to his eyes. “Why do you hate him so much? He is your brother.” She could not fathom this. She did not understand him at all, but in ways she would never admit, she did. After all, she knew the hatred she carried for her own brother. Because of this, she understood the hatred Devish had for him.
Hearing this, it made him chuckle some under his breaths. “If that’s true than why don’t you feel the same way about your brother?” He looked back. He gave her a smirk too.
She saw it and it turned her stomach some. “You have no idea what he did to me.” Her anger grew right along with it. How dare you say such a thing?
“I do know. I know everything that happened.” He knew that she would hate him. He knew that she would spit fire his way, but even so, even with that said, he truly did still love her. Whether he was Kalima or Jimmy, he always would. “I know what you don’t.” he had to add, as he looked back up.
She saw his eyes envy hers. She saw his face calm. She hated his arrogance even more than she already did. “You know what?” She had to take several long breaths to help her calm down some, herself. It worked some, but not by a lot. “How you took advantage of me? How you used me for your own gain? How you used my pain to get what you wanted?”
He remembered this too. He regretted it more than she would ever remember, and that was, there was more to it than that. “You don’t believe that, do you Rana?”
She scoffed with this. “I know what you did. I know why you left me. You used me to get to Devish.” She nodded as she spoke. She agreed with everything she said and more.
Jimmy bowed his eyes. “I’m sorry Rana. I’m sorry for that loss.” He looked down. “Your pain is real.” He looked back up. “I did what I had to do. Once, you knew that too.”
She huffed some again. “You will never know pain.” She took two of the four bars of the door and gripped them strongly in her hands. She did it so hard that her hands turned white. Her anger flared with red, as that heat flared to her face.
He felt a tear form in his right eye. It filled it quickly and streaked down his cheek. “I do know pain. I do know loss.” He could not believe how she hurt him. He never remembered him hurting her like this. In fact, what she was doing now was burning his very soul. “You will remember it soon.” He bowed his face again.
She saw the tear. She saw the streak. She hated him more. “I will remember what? Why? Why did you hurt me?” She remembered their last night together by the trees. She remembered him asking her to leave, and how she told him that she couldn’t. She remembered how he left and joined those that tried to kill her. She remembered how he almost succeeded and how he did. “You were the one that left me,” she spoke what was on her mind, and with it, her voice cracked with the anger that flowed through her heart. “You were the one that came back with the humans. You were the one that tried to kill me. You were the one that tried to kill him.” She dropped her arms. She truly began to regret that she came here to see him. Hearing that he gave himself up, she had to do it. She had to see him again. She had to see his face. She hated herself now that she did.
He heard all of this and it made his heart ache even more. “I’m sorry again Rana. I’m sorry for your pain. I’m sorry for everything.” He turned away from her. He could not see her like this. It hurt him too much to go through it. It blazed his soul.
She saw him turn his head. It was so like him to face away. It was so like him to avoid a fight. “When all of this is over everything will be right again. When Devish takes your life, the world will be as it was…as it was supposed to be.” She turned. “It will be right again without you walking through it.”
He noticed her turn. “It will be.” He said to her back. Her black hair sparkled with the light. “Come tonight everything will be right again.”
She huffed one final time before she left.
He watched her leave. When she vanished, he turned back to the room around him and noticed how much darker it now looked. It was darker than it ever was. Please God, let me do this right. He looked back to the floor. His left eye now flashed with tears. Please let me do this right. He crumbled to the floor. He sat there alone. He thought of nothing else but the pain now racing through his mind. He would now have to wait. He would have to wait for the dusk, and the hope that everything would end the way he hoped it would.
30
The dusk came. The sun slowly disappeared over the hill. With it all, the pieces were now set.
Robert and Kenar approached the field. They stopped at the tree line, and there they watched. The moon rising behind the hill helped Kenar immensely.
“This looks familiar doesn’t it Rochie?” Kenar watched the walls. He watched the field, and all of the colors that spread across it. Tan hues surrounded the red. The red kept to the walls. It all looked the same as he remembered it. The wolves stood in front of the Nightwalkers and the Shades covered the tops of the walls. They did the same thing before. There were dozens of them surrounding the castle.
Robert leaned his left hand to the tree next to him, as Kenar stood on his right. “Yes it does.” He saw everything that Kenar did except for him, he could only see shadows moving beneath the moon’s light. He didn’t see the colors. He didn’t see anything but the hint of darkness. “Except back then we had humans with us in numbers and even that wasn’t enough.” He looked to Kenar and bowed his head. “Now, it’s even worse. We’re short of the numbers.” He was right. They were outnumbered back then, and now, well, that situation was worse. “We need more help.” He looked behind Kenar and watched Sandra join them. “We need some cover.” He stared at both of them.
Kenar knew what he was asking them. He looked to Sandra and nodded to her golden hue. “If you can give us some pressure I can make some moisture.”
She returned his nod. “I can do that.” She looked back to the field. Her eyes went blue as her power flared through her mind. She could feel the air. She could feel the pressure of that air, and without any effort, she squeezed it in her mind.
Over the field, they could all hear the air begin to whistle. They could hear it moan. It sounded like a thunderstorm was beginning to roar through to them. The air went completely stiff, and then suddenly, it pulled. They could feel it being sucked away from their faces. They could feel it blowing in towards the center of the field.
After feeling it, Kenar also let his eyes flare to blue. He felt the power of the air. He felt the horizon and felt for the water within it. He grabbed that water with his mind and brought it down towards the ground.
A Werewolf's Saga Books 4, 5, & 6 (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets Book 2) Page 57