The Awakening: Part Two (The Lycan War Saga)

by Michael Timmins

  “I am honestly sorry for the upheaval this must have caused you in your life. But I assure you, the need is great. Even now Kestrel will be attempting to reach the other Trues who were loyal to her, the boar and the rat. There is no way to know if their line continued, but those who are carriers of lycanthropy, whether they can change or not, are not easy to kill. So, we must assume they are out there, and she will find them.” Hank wanted to interject something, and she indicated with a nod he could talk.

  “You said the need was great. What need?”

  She knew she was going to like Hank. Thoughtful and straight to the point. She liked that.

  “Kestrel is a Druidess, like me. For those of you who don’t know what a Druid is, it is a kind of priest of nature. We were in power in and around 200 B.C. We tasked ourselves with the preservation and conservation of the natural world. She was under the belief nature would never be safe if civilization was around. It was her personal quest to thwart civilization wherever possible.

  To do that, she felt she needed to subjugate mankind. To do this, she created the first Trues, which she used to pass lycanthropy on to others; many times, by force. She created an army of Were-beasts.” Sylvanis recalled all of this as if through another’s eyes. Though they were hers, they were also someone else’s.

  “I was left with no other choice but to create my own Trues.”

  “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt,” Simon said, “but you keep referring to Trues. I think I know what you mean, but could you clarify?”

  “Of course, Simon, my apologies, sometimes you assume others understand your terminology, when there is no way for you to know.” Sylvanis paused to clarify the explanation in her head before she went on.

  “Trues is a term we used when we refer to the first eight who were given lycanthropy. Then there are the Pures. Those which were given lycanthropy directly from Trues. The rest are considered Weres, or those who got it from Pures. Got it?”

  Glancing around, she was looking at a room of confused expressions.

  “Okay. Think of it like this. Trues are like grandparents, Pures are like parents and Weres are like grandkids.”

  Again, she gazed around, this time though she saw comprehension.

  “When I created my Trues, I tasked them with creating an army with which to fight Kestrel’s. I would not allow force to be used to recruit, which in some ways put us at a disadvantage. In other ways, it was a boon.”

  “Well, to make a long story short, we were able to defeat Kestrel’s army, mainly by killing some of the Trues.”

  “How did that help?” A voice from the back of the room made Sylvanis and the others turn.

  Standing at the back of the room were two individuals. The male was tall, lanky of form yet muscular with broad shoulders. Brown unruly hair covered his head and a face which was angular with a squared chin, rounded on the edges. The woman was a touch shorter, a fighter’s body with slim but muscular arms, not a shred of fat existed on her body as far as Sylvanis could tell. Short cropped tawny red hair stood upright topping a long attractive face. She gave the impression of feminine brutality a strange contrast. It was the male who had spoken though, and was waiting for her response. He appeared ignorant of the group occupying the room, some of them rising to their feet in anticipation of violence.

  Sylvanis noticed the female was aware of the possible danger and had changed her stance to square her body off towards Hank, whom she must have assumed was the worse threat. Smart girl, Sylvanis thought.

  If she wasn’t missing her guess, this was Wolf and Tiger. Hands clenched tightly into fists, the Wolf stood erect and his eyes were cold rage.

  “Once killed,” Sylvanis offered up. “All Pures and Weres who are recipients of his or her lycanthropy, whether directly, or indirectly, lose their ability to shift and become non-weres.”

  Tension left the Wolf’s body.

  “I need your help. I need to kill the Boar, he infected my girlfriend.”

  The others relaxed audibly, and perhaps for the first time, the Wolf became aware of the others in the room.

  “Ah, so the Boar has awoken.” Sylvanis mused, not liking the idea perhaps all of Kestrel’s minions’ scions were alive. At least all of hers were, it was a start.

  “I will do what I can to help release your girlfriend from the Boar, though it will not be easy. Right now, Kestrel will be tracking him down, if she wasn’t the one who sent him after you in the first place. It would be like her.”

  The man appeared confused. “Kestrel?”

  Sylvanis closed her eyes and sighed. She had always been patient, but she found in this body things grew tiresome fast. Summarizing, she told him what she had told the others, though she didn’t elaborate as before.

  “That is what we are up against,” she told him. “Kestrel will begin using her Trues to start gathering an army. Fortunately for us, but unfortunately for those who she comes across, the survivability rate is low when exposed to lycanthropy. Most perish when their bodies start to try and fight off what they believe is an infection, which ordinarily leads to heart failure.”

  It was Simon who spoke up at this point. “How is it, of the two of us here who were exposed, we lived?”

  “One thing Kestrel never knew, and we never told her was the bond between the two involved in the transfer somehow seems to increase the rate of survival. Also, if the person is agreeable to becoming a lycanthrope, it also increases their likelihood of survival. Or, so we believed. It was how it worked out, anyhow.” She shrugged, a slight gesture.

  “So, you see? Your relationship to your father and Jason’s relationship to Stephanie was what saved you.”

  Sylvanis stopped to consider something she hadn’t thought of yet, and gave voice to the troubling thought.

  “Of course, this was before we had real doctors and defibrillators. I am not sure what will happen now these things are in existence. It may be possible to ensure everyone who gets lycanthropy survives.”

  Sylvanis straightened her back. This was the part she dreaded from the first. She was not like Kestrel. Did not demand obedience. If these people were to help her defeat Kestrel, it would be on their terms, not hers.

  “Now, here is the thing. I cannot make you help me. Nor would I want to. If you choose not to help me, I will bid you farewell, and you may go. I can tell you this, though. If Kestrel creates a strong enough army, there will not be many places to go to get away from her, so in the end, you will have to fight or die. At least now, at this point, we have an excellent chance to stop her before she gets too strong. So, I beg of you. Please, help me defeat her.”

  Taking a moment, she studied each of them, trying and make a connection and to hopefully transmit wordlessly her dire need for their help.

  No one moved. It was clear they were all digesting the information she had dumped on them and trying to make up their minds. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Hank gather himself to stand. She had faith he, at least, would help her. Before he could stand and speak, the man at the back walked forward to stand before her. The intensity in his eyes startled her, and strangely, reminded her of Calin.

  “My name is Clint,” he told her, loudly for the rest of the room to hear him as well. He gave her a slight smile taking the fierceness out of his eyes. He turned to the rest of the room.

  “I am also begging you for help. The woman I love is now being held against her will.” Glancing at each one as he spoke. “The only way I can save her is to defeat the monster who gave her lycanthropy. To do so, I must help defeat this Kestrel. So please, join us.” He turned back to her and moved to stand behind her, hands clasped behind him.

  Hank again made to stand after lowering himself when Clint began to speak. And once again he didn’t make it up before someone else spoke up.

  “Well, hey,” the woman who had come in with Clint spoke up. “I saved your ass once, Clint. I can’t have you go off by yourself and get killed now, can I?” She moved to join them. “You
can count me in.”

  Clint smiled at her as she approached. “Thanks, Kat.”

  Sylvanis nodded at Kat as she passed her to stand next to Clint at her back.

  She watched as Hank made a rush to get to his feet, determined to not let anyone speak again before him.

  “Dad and I are in as well,” Simon said as Hank got fully to his feet. Hank glared down at Simon who smiled up at him mischievously. Hank snorted.

  “Yeah, as Sim said, we are in.” sitting back down unceremoniously.

  The room turned as one to gaze over at Stephanie and Jason, who shrank back under the scrutiny.

  “Stephanie. Jason. As I said, you do not have to do this. No one will think ill of you. We all understand other people’s lives are involved, families, school and the like.” Mentioning it mainly to remind the others so they would not be angry if the two decided to go.

  Stephanie stared at Jason as if searching his face for some clue as to what to do. He appeared to be doing the same. After a moment, he reached across and took her hand in his and nodded. She nodded back. Decision made.

  “We will help. Though, to be honest, apart from the abilities which come with shifting, we are not fighters,” she told them.

  “You could have fooled me,” Sylvanis corrected. “You saved my parents and fought off two strong Trues long enough for reinforcements to arrive. Believe me, Stephanie. If it hadn’t been for the two of you, I would have been killed, same with my parents.”

  Kat took a step forward. “I can teach you how to fight. I have been training for this my whole life it would seem.”

  Stephanie and Jason nodded to Kat.

  Sylvanis regarded each of them again. Her smile was wide and her heart was light.

  “Okay, so I guess that is it. Thank you, all of you. You may not realize it yet, but you are not only helping me, but all of mankind by doing this.”

  Smiling at the group, they smiled back at her, feeling her optimism.

  It was Clint who broke the moment with a valid question.

  “So, what now?”

  Sylvanis pondered this. She had many ideas as to what Kestrel would do next, but one thing was more likely.

  “I believe we need to try to accomplish two goals. First, we need to start gathering others who wish to join our cause. Those who wish to become lycanthropes and those who don’t. Second, we need to try and stop Kestrel from getting the rest of her minions together.”

  Hank considered something.

  “How did she find you? And can you not find her the same way?”

  “Kestrel found me because I opened myself up to the Earth to call all of you. Normally I would hide my presence within the biosphere, but I needed to get you here and it was the only way,” she told him. “She hides herself, and will continue to hide herself. We will not find her the same way. But I do believe I know how we can find her.”

  “How,” Sim questioned.

  Sylvanis turned to Clint. “You said you had a confrontation with the Boar?”

  Clint nodded.

  “Was it visible to the public? Did others see you?”

  Again, Clint nodded.

  “It is a decent chance the last remaining True out there, the Rat, has heard of it and will most likely try and find either of you. The trick is to have them find you first, not the Boar.”

  “Right,” Clint agreed. “We must go back to Chicago. Which is fine with me, and it will give me another chance to kill the son of a bitch!” His anger was evident.

  “There is one thing I think we should mention.” Kat chimed in.

  “What is it?”

  “There are three of them.”

  Sylvanis was confused. “Three of whom?”

  Wincing a little, Kat explained. “Three boars. One True? And two Pures?”

  Sylvanis let out a breath. Bad news.

  “Well,” Hank interjected, “if what Sylvanis says is true, all we have to do is take out the one and the others will lose their power. And besides, three of them can’t be all bad.”

  “Four,” Clint was staring at his feet.

  “Aw, shit, you’re right, Clint.” Kat granted. “There’s also Sarah.”

  Clint glanced back up, tears welling in his eyes. “She wouldn’t do anything towards us, though.”

  Sylvanis took a step towards him and put her hand on his arm.

  “I don’t know how to tell you this, Clint, but she will not have a choice in the matter.”

  Clint wiped a tear away and stared at her, hard.

  “What do you mean, she won’t have a choice?”

  Sylvanis searched Clint’s eyes. She didn’t want to have to tell him this, because she was all too knowledgeable of what horrible things could occur.

  “A Pure is under the control of a True. They must do as the other commands. If the Boar commands her to attack us, she will be forced to do so, though she will do so halfheartedly. Another reason Kestrel’s army failed. You can command people to fight, but if it isn’t in their heart, or the cause isn’t just, they may fight, but they won’t do it well.”

  Clint was staring at her, as if he hadn’t heard what she had said. She could see it in his eyes, though. He was beginning to understand all too plainly what it might mean for the Boar to have control over Sarah. What he might, no, would do to her, and make her do as well.

  The anger swiftly grew in Clint, and she stepped back as he threw his head up and arched his back, letting out a monstrous roar.

  “NOOOOOOOOO!!!” He shifted instantly and stood before them in his wolf form, panting hard, his lips curled back to reveal sharp, slavering fangs.

  “Clint, you must hear me,” Sylvanis called to him. “You can do nothing for her alone. Get a hold of yourself.”

  Clint wheeled on her, letting out a low growl and stepped forward.

  Hank was between them in a second. Clint turned away, but spun and back-handed him, sending him flying.

  Simon turned into a Bear and made to intervene as his father did, but was brought up short by Sylvanis’ outstretched arm.

  “Stop,” she told him, not taking her eyes off Clint.

  “Fine, go to her,” she told him. Clint stood before her, chest heaving from full, deep breaths, his golden wolf eyes boring into her. She stood her ground. Spinning around, he ran out of the house.

  “Why did you let him go?” Kat demanded of her. “We need him.”

  Sylvanis turned to study her.

  “I know we do. There was no stopping him. Not without bloodshed, and I will not have that amongst friends.” Turning to the side of the room, Hank was dusting himself off, trying to remove the drywall dust from the wall he partially went through when he hit.

  “Are you okay?”

  “More or less,” he told her. “More surprised than hurt. Kid packs quite a punch. Though, if he hits me again, I am going to hit back, and he will find I hit a whole lot harder.”

  Sylvanis smiled at him. She thought he was jesting. Well, perhaps not. The truth was, she didn’t know these people. She knew their ancestors, but not them. They must be noble people to offer their help, knowing they might not survive. She didn’t know them, but she could get a sense of each of them, and she felt confident they would be enough to stop Kestrel.

  “Well, I would suggest we rest for the night. There is plenty of room here for all of you to sleep. Tomorrow, if Clint hasn’t gained control of himself and comes back, we will go to Chicago, and hope to intercept him there.”

  She noticed Stephanie and Jason were not paying attention, but were arguing about something.

  She watched them for a moment. Realizing the room had gone silent and they were now the focus of the attention, they each stood and stepped closer to the rest.

  “I don’t think we should go to Chicago,” Stephanie told her.

  “Really? Where do you think we should go?” Sylvanis asked.

  “Oh, no,” Stephanie laughed, blushing. “I don’t mean you shouldn’t go to Chicago, only Jason and I shouldn’t go
.”

  Sylvanis raised her eyebrows inquisitively.

  “It’s just one of the goals you listed was recruitment. We believe we know a couple of people who we might be able to convince to help us. So, we have to go back to our college.” Sylvanis thought this over. It was likely Kestrel would figure out the same thing about where her last minion would end up. So, it was likely if they ran into each other, it would be her, Kat, Sim, Hank, and hopefully Clint, against Kestrel, Syndor, the Croc and four Boars, assuming Kestrel didn’t get to the Rat first.

  She did not like those odds. But Stephanie did have a point, and one thing she learned from Stephanie’s predecessor, Adonia, was the Fox always planned ahead. Now, whether Stephanie was anything like Adonia, she couldn’t be sure, but it would have been like her to split up and try to accomplish two things desperately needing to be done. Would it be harder without them? Most likely, but it did seem necessary.

  “Very well, you and Jason return to your college and see who you can get to help. Try and meet us in Chicago as soon as possible. For we will be sorely pressed without the numbers your presence would bring us.”

  “Thanks, Sylvanis.” Jason told her. “We will meet up with you as soon as we can.” He glanced to Stephanie, then back to her. “If it’s all the same to you, we will leave tonight. The sooner we get there; the sooner we can make it back to you.”

  Smiling at them both, she considered herself lucky to have these two on her side. They turned and left, leaving Sylvanis there with the others.

  “Kat,” Sylvanis turned towards the young woman. “How do you think the Boar found Clint?”

  Kat shrugged her shoulders. “Not sure. It is possible he found him the same way as me.” Kat sat down on one of the couches.

  “I watched the news, read the papers, trying to find anything which would lead me to someone like me. You see, my parents knew about the lycanthropy. My mom was entrusted with the secret. One day, she knew, we might be called upon to serve again. She knew there would be others as well, most likely. So, when I transformed the first time, we knew it was time. It was before I found Clint when I started to feel your… summons?”