I am Wolf (The Wolfboy Chronicles) (11 page)

“We?”

She smiled and took a step to the side. Behind her
appeared hundreds of people similar to her but not as strikingly beautiful as
she was. Men, women, children, all bore the same lightness to them. It seemed
they weren’t touching the ground. They were floating just a few inches above
it. When they walked it looked like they were walking on air.

“How ... How ... Who ... who are you?”

The woman smiled warmly. She gesticulated widely with
her arm. “Well we are Bakhtu - the Wind-People.”

“Wind-People?”

She nodded. “Wind-People. We share this magnificent
forest along with the Light-Lingers, Color-Creatures and the Shadow-men, that I
believe you have already met. They are all very shy creatures so be gentle. The
last group is the most timid among us. You have to be extremely careful not to
scare them.”

I stared at her in disbelief.

“Who are you?” she asked her voice singing lightly.

“Me? I’m Sami. I’m human. Well, I’m part human, part
wolf,” I answered. It was the strangest sentence I ever had to say.

She curtsied in front of me. “Welcome to our forest
Sami the Human Wolf. I’m Slavia, Queen to the Wind-People.

I bowed in front of her thinking that was the proper
way to address a queen. “A pleasure to meet you,” I said. Then I looked at the
people behind her. “All of you,” I added.

“We’re certainly delighted to have you here as well,”
the Queen replied. “Now you must come with us to our city and let us treat you
as our guest.”

Quite taken aback by all this I felt a little shy and
slightly reluctant to go with those people to a place I hadn’t even heard of.
Yet I felt strangely curious and there was something about them, something
comforting and reassuring, that I couldn’t escape. I felt I could trust them
more than most humans. I dared to take a chance on these people and bowed
again. “I would be delighted to.”

“Good,” she said and clapped her hands. Four
Wind-People floated towards us and grabbed me by my legs and arms and lifted me
in the air.

“Since you’re not used to travel with the wind, we
need to help you a little,” the Queen said. Then she clapped again and soon a
strong wind appeared as if from nowhere. I was lifted high up into the air and
soon shot through a wind tunnel like was it a cannon and I was the ball.

T
he Wind-People lived
in a city
made entirely of light. To my astonishment I realized as soon as we came close
that there were no walls, no floors, no ceilings or even a roof - even if it
looked like there was. It was all light. It was quite spectacular I thought to
myself as I entered, following the Queen and her many servants. Even when she
walked, or more like floated, she was so graceful, so elegant. She smiled at
her people and always treated them with respect and love.

I stepped carefully into the city, taking one step at
the time, placing one foot in front of each other walking through the city
walls. The entire city seemed to float in the air, since it was elevated a few
feet above the ground and I was afraid I’d fall through. The Queen looked at me
and took my hand. She pulled me inside.

“Don’t be afraid, Sami the Human Wolf. It is built to
hold even a heavy human body ... or a wolf.”

I smiled and walked carefully into the streets of the
city. People with the same lightness as the Queen were everywhere, floating
while talking, looking like they used no effort at all to move around.

“The wind is carrying them,” the Queen said. “We
believe the wind knows what we want and where we want to go to, so we let it
carry us. Sometimes the wind takes us somewhere else than expected, but we
believe the wind knows best. It knows what is best for us, what we really want
and need.”

That sounded strange to me. “So you can’t control it?”
I asked.

The Queen smiled widely. “We don’t need to,” she said.
Then she turned and led me into another street. People crossing our way nodded
or bowed politely. I felt the wind pushing me as well now, making it easier for
me to walk. “You know, Sami, you don’t have to be in control all the time.
Sometimes letting go is the best thing to do. Just flow with the wind, let it
take you where you’re destined to be. Like your being here. It’s no
coincidence.”

“You don’t think so?” I looked at her quite startled.

She shook her head then turned another corner. The
wind gave me a push on my back to follow her. When we turned a huge castle of
light appeared in front of us. It was spectacular, I thought and stopped
walking. I felt a gentle push on my back by the wind then started to walk
again.

A huge gate made from yellow lights opened and we
entered the castle. Some people came up to the Queen and began updating her on
events taking place in the palace while she had been gone. The Queen gave a few
orders, then sent them on their way.

“Let’s go in here,” she said and pointed at a door
that immediately opened and a bright light shone from inside the room.

A feast of raw meat was prepared on a floating table
of red light.

“I thought you might be hungry,” the Queen said.

The wolf in me growled as it saw all the raw meat.

“Dig in,” the Queen said.

So I did. I felt how the very smell of the meat caused
the wolf to suddenly appear. The hair grew out, then the fangs, then the claws.
Suddenly I stood in front of the Queen as my alter ego, the human wolf. To my
surprise the Queen didn’t seem to be the slightest bit afraid or even concerned
over my sudden change. She still smiled and nodded like she enjoyed my company.
Then she pointed at the meat. “Please, be my guest,” she said.

I couldn’t stand it any longer and jumped onto the
table and feasted on the meat. I ripped it with my teeth and drank the blood
without paying attention to the Queen until I was done, until the beast was
satisfied. Then I glanced back at the Queen feeling slightly embarrassed about
my own conduct.

The Queen looked at me. “Don’t ever be embarrassed by
your nature,” she said. “This is who you are. Make peace with the beast in you.
Stop fighting it.” Then she leaned over and touched my hairy face. Suddenly I
heard her voice in my head, like she was pushing her thoughts at me.

It is the key to control it, she said.

I stared at her beautiful face. What do you mean? I
asked through my own thoughts.

She petted my head gently. Embrace it. That way you
can control it. The key is to accept it, accept who you are.

I nodded slowly while I felt my body change back to
its human form. It made sense, I thought to myself. When I didn’t want the
change to come, when I feared it or tried to prevent it, which was when I
blacked out. That was when the beast had control over me and did what it wanted
to. But at the train station when the soldier took that little girl and hit
her, I wanted the change to come, I wanted desperately for the beast to show
its ugly face. Had I in fact forced it to appear? Forced it with my anger?
Could I do it again?

“Wolves of your race have been known to do many great
things,” the Queen said.

“Have you known others like me?” I asked.

“I have only met one once many, many years ago. But I
know about your race. Legends have been told about your people for thousands of
years.” The Queen leaned over and looked me in my eyes. She put a finger under
my chin and lifted my head. “But you know who you are, don’t you?”

I shook my head. “I really don’t.”

She sighed deeply. “Search your soul, dear Sami. Look
inside of your heart and you’ll know who you are. You have always known,
haven’t you?”

I stared at her feeling like a little child. There was
so much I didn’t understand. Why did she keep on talking about me as a race, as
a species? How many were out there like me? Were they all evil, hurting and
killing people, like I had?

“When there is good there will also be evil,” the
Queen stated reading my mind. “You can’t have light without darkness.”

“Am I evil?” I asked.

The Queen laughed lightly. “Do you think you are?” she
asked.

I sighed deeply. “I fear I might be.”

“Do you think someone evil would ask such a question?”

The Queen got up and walked away. She stopped and
turned to look at me. “Are you coming?”

I followed the Queen into another room. It was filled with paintings,
but not paintings as I knew them with canvases and paint on them. These were
completely different. Beautiful and very realistic, but when I reached out to
touch them, my hand went straight through. They were paintings made of light
and colors. The way they came together formed a picture, an image but if you
went too close there was nothing but light in the air.

The first painting she showed me resembled a man that
was half wolf half human. I gasped looking at it thinking that the creature’s
appearance was ghastly. Was that what I looked like as well? I couldn’t
comprehend it.

“Give it time,” the Queen said. “You will learn to
love the beast, trust me.”

I scoffed. I had my doubts. “Who is he?” I asked.

“That is Caspian. An ancient, Romanian wolf. He was
more than four thousand years old when the Light-Lingers and Color-Creatures
decided to immortalize him in this painting. They do all of our arts in this
castle. He is a great friend to them. But it has been centuries since he last
visited our forest.”

“So he might be dead, then?” I asked.

The Queen shook her head. “No, I believe he is still
out there somewhere.”

“What makes him so special?” I asked.

The Queen exhaled. “Once he saved a very important
person from certain death. The forest has been grateful to him ever since.”

“Was that you?” I asked.

The Queen shook her head gently. “No. It was my
mother. I was only a child. A gust in the wind.”

“What happened?”

“There is only one thing that can kill a Wind-person,
since we are not made of flesh and blood like your species, we cannot get hurt
or die physically. Our bodies are made of a materiel much lighter and more
similar to air. But we can dissolve.”

“Dissolve?”

“Yes. One day my mother was on one of her many
journeys through the forest when her convoy was attacked by our arch-enemies
the Watchaus - the Water-People who live in the waterholes and lakes of the
great forest. They wanted to destroy my mother, the Queen, in order to destroy
our people who have ruled the forest for centuries. They had captured a
whirlpool and turned it against my mother and her people. The whirlpool sucked
my mother and her people inside of it and caused my mother to spin. She got
stuck in it and couldn’t escape. If a Wind-person spins too fast around
ourselves we end up overheating and finally dissolving. It can happen in a
tornado or in a small whirlpool like this. Plus we can’t move when wet, so my
mother couldn’t get out.”

“So what happened?” I asked and looked at the
magnificent painting on the wall in front of us.

“Caspian arrived. I wasn’t there myself, but have been
told on numerous occasions how he rescued all of them. Allegedly, he jumped
inside of the whirlpool and stopped it with his strong arms. He simply stopped
it from spinning and calmed the water down by whispering to it. He saved my
mother and my people have been eternally grateful to him ever since.”

“But you haven’t seen him since?” I asked feeling a
thrill of excitement going through my body. It gave me great joy to hear a
story like this.

“He used to pay us a visit from time to time. I
enjoyed his company growing up, when he would visit bringing stories from the
outside world, but I’m afraid he hasn’t paid our people a visit in many years.
I must admit I thought you were him, when I was told a wolf-man had been
spotted in the forest again. Rumors like that travel fast, you know.”

“Well, I’m more of a wolf-boy, I guess,” I said.

“You are indeed very young, but age has nothing to do
with it. Even a young wolf can achieve heroic status.”

“I guess,” I said while feeling a slight joy inside,
maybe even pride. Was I in fact part of something good? Was what had happened
to me in fact something greater? Something far greater than me? Greater than
just being human?