A Werewolf's Saga, The Beginning (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets Book 3) Read online

  “It is not far my lord. I feel it coming from the base of the Silent Mountain.” Gorhan stood up from kneeling on the ground in front of the six others with him. His gifts went far beyond what the other Walkers had. He could see other’s thoughts. He could feel their minds, and thus their bodies. With this gift, he could track anyone and anything as no one else ever could.

  Odan nodded, understanding that there was a small village of humans at the base of the mountain, and realizing it, he knew why they all smelled death. Satar must have carried on his rampage to yet another town. He is moving fast. He continues to head north, but why. This question bothered him the most. His attacks seem random, but are they. Is he searching for something? What is he trying to find?

  “We move then.” He turned to the others with him. He saw Adollo. He saw Sharlia and Gorhan. He looked straight at Devish, Satar’s only offspring and only heir. “We must find him before he gets too far ahead of us.”

  Devish just stood there and said nothing. He of course knew everything that Odan did, and like him, he regretted the worst. His father was taking this too far. He was getting too close. He was going to ruin everything.

  Together, the group headed on. They continued on foot.

  Gorhan led the way.

  With their speed, they reached the shadow of the Silent Mountain quickly. They found the village just as they feared they would. Only death was left.

  3

  “Father?” Carla called out. Her breathing felt shallow. Her chest felt pain. A stinging feeling ripped through her like needles sticking through her skin. All she knew was that she was lying on the floor somewhere inside her once and beautiful home. She wasn’t even sure of this. With all of the pieces of wood and shattered thatch scattered all over her, she just couldn’t be sure. What she did know was that she saw movement coming from just above her. Seeing someone, someone she hoped was her father, she watched the movement bend down over her. “Father, is that you?”

  He didn’t answer her. The voice she heard, she didn’t know who they were.

  “She lives.” Sharlia removed the last of the wood from the female’s face. “For now.” She didn’t need to see her to know that she was human. She could smell her torn flesh. She could hear her heart beating beneath the wood. She could smell death swarming over her like flies would find a carcass. She was a human close to death.

  Odan stayed at the side of the wall, closer to the front of the building, the only part of the home that was still standing. He never liked human’s homes. He thought they stunk. To him, it was like walking through a barn surrounded by cattle. It made him sickened to be there at all.

  “Ask it how long ago did this happen.” He didn’t even bother to look down at the creature. Finding Satar was the only thing on his mind. He didn’t have the time, or the want to care about anything else.

  Sharlia nodded to him, but kept her eyes on the human child.

  “When did this happen?” She spoke softly. She spoke with confidence. She was the only one of the few clan elders that had ever been human once. Being so, the others let her speak to them. It made sense, even to her.

  Carla instantly started to cry. The thoughts of what happened splashed through her like a flood pouring over a rotting dam.

  Hearing the tears, Odan did look down. “I do not know how you came from such creatures Sharlia. How far you must have come to reach what you now are?” The emotions of them always bothered him. They were so simple. They were so plain. They were nothing like his kind, and now, watching this wretched thing sob, he felt it more than ever.

  Sharlia shrugged with this, but kept it a simple one at that. “Did you see the one that did this my child? Did you see what happened?” She gave the young female a smile and caressed the left side of her face with an open palm.

  A pointless gesture if there ever was one for Odan. “She is beyond understanding any of this Sharlia.” He looked at the human, saw all of her blood, and didn’t need to see anything more. “Kill it. We cannot risk her being infected.”

  Sharlia now looked up. “We do not need to be so cruel Odan.” She did feel for humans, even now being what she was. Quite frankly, she couldn’t help herself not to do it sometimes. They were so weak. They were so helpless that she didn’t seem to have the choice.

  Odan shook his head strongly with this. “We cannot risk her becoming one of us Sharlia. We must choose wisely with such gifts. Without that choice, we lose our control.” He knew this, and so should she. They had to be very careful who would join them. The slightest miscalculation could lead to the deaths of all of them. Their venom carried no such burden.

  Sharlia already understood that, but cruelty for its own sake was still—well—cruel.

  “I know my lord.” She looked back to the girl. She continued to caress her face. With the final touch, she continued it to her throat and without breaking the touch; she broke her neck. The girl died instantly, and hopefully, without further pain.

  Now that that was over with, Odan turned to the matter at hand. “He is continuing north.” He turned to the others on the other side of the wall from Sharlia. He locked his stare on to Devish. “Your father is growing tiring my lord Devish. I grow tired of this.”

  “I understand.” Devish nodded with this. He had no other choice but to agree with him. He blinked several times before he forced himself to look away from Odan. Inside him, his mind felt broken and his heart felt cold. In many ways, he felt for his father, and in other ways, he didn’t. He just didn’t understand why this was happening. He just couldn’t bring himself to feel for everything he had done and was still doing. This was the hardest part for him. He couldn’t do anything to help either way with anything, and it made him feel helpless like he had never felt before. He hated his father for doing that to him too.

  “We have to discover a way to stop him. Just trying to find him is not enough. We have to discover the reasons he is doing this.” Sharlia joined the group just behind Odan. She meant everything. They were failing in this search. They had to do something else before it was too late. He was cleverer than even she realized he was.

  “He has gone insane with the thirst my dear Sharlia. What other reason could there be?” Odan nodded, and at the same time, he shrugged heavily.

  Adollo, the great Blood Walker of the southern region of the continent, a region that would be known as Greece one day, now came in, “Sharlia is right Odan.” For the most part, he remained quiet, but now it was no longer one of those times for such tendencies. Besides, Sharlia was right. He had been following Satar for a long time now, longer than the others had, and because of this, he had begun to notice something strange about what he was doing. It was time to tell them this too. “If Satar does have the hunger, if he is insane with the blood thirst as you Odan believe him to be, then why is he attacking certain places and not all of them? He is being too selective in his attacks, almost like he is looking for something—something that he is not finding.”

  “Lord Adollo is correct in this. His attacks do not feel to be random. The blood thirst would make him attack all humans within sight. He is not doing this. He seems to be selecting his attacks.” Sharlia felt thankful that she was no longer standing alone with this thought. It was about time.

  Odan shook his head. “The blood thirst is strong Sharlia—Adollo. It can make one do what you do not understand is even possible.” He understood this. The thirst was something that he had once himself, long ago, during the Great Dying. Even Devish suffered from it not long ago. When a Walker feels hunger, when he feels the thirst, it can be very powerful—sometimes too powerful for anyone to overcome. It can consume the very mind, and tear at the very fabric of one’s life.

  Of course, Sharlia continued to disagree, “From what I do understand about the blood thirst is that it overcomes the mind, but it also overcomes reason.” She turned to the wall, and to what was left of the house now behind her. “This has reason behind it. This shows purpose. He is looking for something and wh
en he does not find it, he destroys the village to the last human.” She looked down at the body of the young female and pointed to her with a raised arm. “He would not leave a fresh human alive.”

  Odan watched her closely, and turned to the others. He looked into each of their eyes and could plainly see that what Sharlia was saying they were agreeing with. He didn’t like this. He didn’t like her for starting it, so he had to say something to appease everyone there. After all, with Satar gone, he was the eldest of the elders. He was chosen to give all of them direction. He had to do something to regain their confidence in him.

  “If what you are saying is true, then how do we discover the truth? How do we discover what to do next?” He figured this was the way to do it. Leave it up to them.

  Adollo grew stronger with his voice. “He began his attacks in my region of the islands. The first village he destroyed was just to the south of the lands of the Daci. This is not far from the Seer of Golan.”

  “You cannot be serious Adollo. Why would a Walker, a Blood Walker at that, go to the Seer of Golan? Why would he ever go and see a Wanderer?” Odan now not only shrugged again, but this time he added a huge gasp in with it. He also had disbelief written all over his face.

  Sharlia never understood this—well for the lack of a better word for it—resentment towards Wanderers. For the most part, she saw them as being no different from the Blood Walkers. After all, they were both born as they are, unlike herself who had been made. What she did understand was that the Blood Walkers feared them. Why? She didn’t know. They kept it hidden within their cruelty towards them, but she did know it. She felt it stronger, now more than ever.

  Adollo continued speaking, continuing his thinking aloud, “She has an ability that few have. Not even we can see what she does. It is odd that he was so near her. She may know his next move.”

  “Sounds like a coincidence, do you not see it?” Odan placed both hands behind his back. As he did so, the heavy cloak he wore bunched up behind him.

  “You yourself have already spoken this, have you not Lord Odan?” Devish finally took a deep breath. Hearing everything, he had to do something. He had to say something before all of this got out of hand. He owed his father at least this much. “You wish to stop him. You wish to prevent the destruction that he has wrought. Doing as Lord Adollo and Lady Sharlia has stated may accomplish that.”

  “What would you have us do then?” Odan looked again at each of them, and again, he didn’t like what he saw in their eyes. They all agreed with this—all but him. He turned back to Sharlia as he asked the question.

  “We should go and talk to the Seer. We should ask her what she knows.”

  “And if she knows nothing?” Odan bowed his eyes while at the same time he smiled shallowly.

  “We must do something. Even if she knows nothing of him then she may know beyond what we can see. She may know and be able to see what he is looking for.”

  “Very well then.” Odan looked again to the others and again saw what he had before. He had already lost this fight and was now helpless to stop it. He turned back to Sharlia. “You will go and see her.” He gave her a solemn nod. “You were once human. You were once like them. You go and ask her what she knows.” He looked back to the group. “We will continue the hunt.”

  Again, Adollo spoke strongly, “We obviously cannot find him by ourselves, my lord Odan. We have obviously failed.” He bowed his eyes some as he turned to everyone there, but raised them again when he turned back to Odan.

  Odan smiled with this. “And what do you have in mind then?”

  Adollo’s eyes grew wide. He knew what he was about to say was going to be hard for them to hear—even for him. “We should use the Wanderers to find him.”

  Even Devish now came to Odan’s side after hearing this, and it made him stand firmly with him.

  “That is insanity. You cannot possibly believe that we should allow them to hunt down my father.” He felt so angry that his voice growled with in a growl. It even seemed to rumble inside his chest.

  “You cannot be serious Adollo. I cannot believe that you would even question such a thing.” Odan felt angry too, but he kept his voice sounding simple. In fact, he almost laughed.

  Adollo stood his ground. He stood for his thoughts as he continued to speak them out, “We have been trying to find him for so long now and every time we have come close to him he has slipped through our grasp. How long must we let this continue? How much further can we let him get? How many more humans will be wasted and how much of their blood spilled? We have failed, my lords and lady. We have failed in this endeavor.” He looked at all of them, and surprisingly most of them looked like they agreed with him. Only Odan and Devish seemed not to be convinced.

  “How would they be able to accomplish this task better than we can? How would they accomplish what we have not?” Odan’s hands went back to his sides.

  Adollo was not about to give up on this. “Can they do no worse than we?”

  “You are asking us to condone the hunting of an elder by half lives. You are asking us to allow them to hunt one of our kin down like an animal.” Devish’s anger only grew like a bashing burning fire devouring overly dry wood.

  Adollo understood Devish’s fears, but by only a little bit. “I understood what this means when I first heard about your father’s rampage Devish. We all understand what it means if he continues to destroy humanity. Do you wish to relive the days of starving before the humans came? Do you wish to relive our great dying? There are so few of us left. How many more can survive. We are all that remains of our very kind.”

  This obviously struck a massive nerve with all of them. Even Odan blinked and clearly approved of what he heard, just by the look of acceptance written all over his face.

  “Adollo is correct. We cannot allow Satar to continue. We must find him before he does what all of us fear he will eventually do.” Gorhan stepped to Adollo’s right side and stood with him. Everyone joined with him too—well almost everyone.

  “You are all fools. You do not know the dangers you are about to bring on to all of us. You do not see what this will mean to our world, what this will do to the balance.” Devish now understood that he stood alone.

  Odan stepped towards Devish and placed his right hand on to his left shoulder.

  “We understand your fears Devish. We understand what this does mean. We all know of the power the Wanderers possess, but what is the difference with this task than anything else we already give them? Do we not already have them doing our bidding? Do we not already use them? This is no different.”

  Devish pushed Odan’s hand from his shoulder with a violent grip.

  “You are still speaking of having them hunt down my father Odan. You are still having them go after one of us. You are asking them to go after your friend.” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He couldn’t believe what they were thinking. How dare they do such a thing?

  As far as Odan understood it, this discussion was over. “The decision has been made Devish.” He regretted his pushing away his grip, but at the same time, he understood it completely. He too loved Satar. He too didn’t like having to do what they were now going to do. He too feared what all of this meant. But he was right. The decision had been made. “Well. Sharlia will go to the Seer of Golan, speak with her, and gain any knowledge she may have to help us find him.” He glanced at her and then immediately went to the others. “We will call on some of the Wanderers with in the clans. We will call on those who are good at the hunt. We will call on those who can accomplish this task.” He turned back to Devish. “We will bring your father home to you Devish. We will end this pain.” He even gave him a smile.

  As for Devish, he hated all of this. He hated what they were about to do, but Odan was right. The decision of the elders was made. He had been overruled, like it or not. Now wasn’t the time to fight them. He would have to wait for his father’s return before he could do anything else. He just knew that he had to stay patien
t, and he would do just that.

  “I will head to the islands, and will report back when I have spoken with the Seer.” Sharlia nodded to all of them and quickly left, using her speed as a vampire and headed south.

  Watching her leave, the Blood Walker Elders quickly headed off, heading further north. They headed to Devish’s castle and home on the great island of England.

  4

  “What is this?” Rana asked as she watched her brother climb his massive horse. She hated seeing him leaving her like this. The Elders called him many times before but they always gave him a warning. They gave him time. They have never done this. Calling him like this with so little time scared her a lot. It made her feel afraid. It made her fear for him.

  “I have already told you sister.” Rochie positioned himself on the saddle. It felt difficult some; he had never been good with animals, especially horses. They scared him like few animals had, but he did manage to get on it. He took the reins and held them firmly to his thighs. When he felt somewhat comfortable, as ever as he could be, he turned back to her and watched her take his left leg with both of her hands. “The Elders have called me. I must go.” He looked down but not at her. Like her, he had never had this happen before. Being twins meant that they could feel each other’s fears. Their closeness was one of their greatest strengths. Now, with him leaving like this, it was turning out to be one of their gravest weaknesses too.

  She looked up at him with tears in both of her eyes. Her dark hair, done up neatly in a strong ponytail at the back of her head, fluttered some just above them.