“I never want to be under water again,” he said, in a weak voice.
“Then you never shall, little fox. You suffered enough today.”
Narre laid a palm on Gwara and his body grew. His legs extended to the point where they almost looked like stilts. Narre studied him. The tar had left his snout and feet black, as well as a patch on his back. The point of his tail shown white. He could no longer be called a fox.
“Look upon yourself. You shall never be so low again, but forever above the water.”
Wobbling at first, Gwara righted himself upon his extended legs and walked to a puddle of water left over from the flood.
“Look at me,” he said, excitedly. “I’m huge!”
“The little fox, Gwara, is no more,” said Narre. “You are now Gwara-wassu, king of the wolves. Your name and your form shall pass on to your descendants.”
Gwara-wassu wagged his tail happily.
“Eat my brother’s scraps no more,” said Narre, “and forget the language of the humans. It is time to take care of your own.”
Gwara-wassu lowered his head in acknowledgment.
“There was something else,” said Narre, looking around until his eyes fell upon Oludara. “Oh, right.”
Narre pulled a feather from his headband and placed it in Oludara’s hand, closing the fingers around it gently.
“Give this to your wife. She deserves it.”
With that, Narre clapped his hands and disappeared.
#
A clapping noise woke Gerard. He looked around, confused. Arany, Cabwassu, and Oludara all sat up around him.
“What on Earth is going on?” he asked. “Why am I all wet?”
“I’m not sure...” said Cabwassu.
Oludara crawled toward Arany.
“I have no idea either,” he said. “I went to find you a gift and...”
As he spoke, something wiggled in his hand. He opened it to reveal a tiny, blue bird hopping there. Oludara’s mouth dropped in surprise. The bird chirped happily and jumped from his hand to Arany’s shoulder.
“Amazing!” she said. “Where did you find it?”
“I...” Oludara started, but allowed the phrase to die away as Arany embraced him.
A flash of red from the nearby woods caught Gerard’s attention, and he spotted some kind of canine looking out at them. It stood on spindly legs and had a gorgeous coat of red hair, complemented by a black tuft on its back. Gerard felt as if he somehow recognized the creature, and tugged on his goatee in thought. After a few seconds, it turned and headed off into the woods.
#
Gwara-wassu followed the humans at a distance, making sure they reached their homes in safety. The massive longhouses in their village had been damaged by the flood, which had come and gone without warning, leaving everyone puzzled. Their only certainty was that of long weeks of work ahead of them, repairing the damage.
Now a proud, maned wolf, Gwara-wassu headed to a gathering spot deep within the forest. He howled, and at his call, wild dogs and foxes came pouring from the woods. They marveled at the white spot on his tail, his black legs, and his black-furred mane. Little Gwara had indeed become king of the wolves, champion of his kind, and his work had just begun.
END
Gentle Reader,
I hope you enjoyed “A Torrential Complication”, where Gerard, Arany and Cabwassu bravely confront powers far beyond their control.
As always, please consider leaving a short review of this book on Amazon. If you’d like to know when the next one comes out, sign up for the newsletter and you’ll be the first to know.
Thanks so much for hanging around through these first seven books. More are on their way!
Regards,
Christopher
Interested in further tales of Gerard and Oludara? There are several other titles available in this series, action-packed fantasy adventures that can be read in one sitting. Just $0.99 each or FREE on Kindle Unlimited.
Acknowledgements:
For this book, let me first acknowledge all my wonderful in-laws: Tom LaMere, Michelle Bowers, Randy Muck, Adriana Gusmão, Carlos Mendes de Azevedo and Cláudia Vaselli. They’ve been a part of my life for a long time, and I’m proud to have all of them in my family.
Thanks to my beta readers for this story: Mike Finkel, Tiago Rech and Sabine Hemmingway. They gave me some fantastic feedback for improving the story.
This book is dedicated to Max Mallmann, who passed away on November 4th. Max was an amazing person, and his “Publius Desiderius Dolens” books are some of my all-time favorites. I hung out with Max during several Brazilian literary events, and even had the privilege of speaking with him on a couple of panels. In 2014, he did me the great honor of launching his book As Mil Mortes de César during the 3rd Odisseia de Literatura Fantástica (Fantastic Literature Odyssey), an event I co-founded and co-organized for four years. I had gotten in contact with him the previous year about a possible launch, and even though he could have launched the book during some higher-profile event, he knew that I was a huge fan and agreed right away. That’s the kind of person that he was, and that’s the way he’ll be remembered.
Rest in peace, my friend.
About the author:
Christopher was born in Texas, but has lived in Porto Alegre, Brazil, for the last fifteen years. While his first love will always be literature, he also writes for video games, TV, and comics, where his stories have been enjoyed by millions.
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