The Order of Events: The Red Wolf (12 page)

The trio of friends, Samana, Henk and Amen had entered the innermost wall and walked into a small room that was the threshold of what was once a library, as the entrance to the library through the chamber had caved in long ago, leaving only the entrance room as a tease to what knowledge lay buried ahead. The girls talked amongst themselves as they picked spots on cushioned seating in the small room.
              Samana stretched out, and yawned tiredly. “That was so tiring. I couldn’t imagine anyone going against the Mother if she was going full force. She was holding back so much and it was still impossible to come even close to hitting her.”
              Henk agreed fully, and removed her hood, feeling really warm. “I know. I can’t even imagine that amount of power. It must be crazy holding that much strength within you.”
              Samana slumped as her eyes teased sleep, and began to droop heavily on the furniture she was on. “It must be incredible…”
              Henk got up from her seat and went over to a book shelf behind an old counter and looked up at some books on the top shelf, stomping her foot on the stone floor. “Why do they always have to put things so high up? I can never reach them.”
              All the sudden, Henk felt herself being lifted upwards and looked around to see Amen lifting her up, enabling her to grab the books she wished to read.
              Blushing uncontrollably with Amen lifting her by the waist, Henk grabbed the books from the top of the old, wooden shelf, and then was lowered down.
              Henk looked at the books, trying to avoid eye contact as she stood before the silent one, and spoke quietly. “…Thank you, Amen…that was really helpful.”
              The silent Amen nodded, accepting her thanks, and then the two went back over to where Samana was sitting amongst the seating of the dusty room.
              Picking a comfy, padded bench by the wall, Henk looked about the room as she opened one of three books that sat on her lap. The room was lit with but a few colored lanterns, green, blue, red, and yellow. The walls were green stone, but grayed a grand amount by the dust of long ages. The cushioned seating about the room opposite the counter was blue, and was made of a nice dark wood.
              Henk smiled at the surroundings. She loved the feeling of the library, it was calm, quiet, and the atmosphere just spoke to her. She felt it a great shame that the actual full library had caved in ages ago, and was currently unable to be entered. As she looked around the room, Henk caught Amen sitting next to her, staring. She returned his stare with a smile, and then both turned as they heard soft snoring coming from a sleeping Samana, on the bench across from them.
              Feeling rather tired and in need of comfort, Henk leaned her head on the sturdy shoulder of Amen, as she held the book before the two of them to read.
 

In the far wilderness, the three travelers sat together. The young boy slept as the elder two were awake, and conversing with one another. “Every day the eclipse grows nearer, yet, I cannot help but think of what Rartyr told me before he left…”
              The old one shook her cloaked head at the younger Satthias, the aged wolf skull mounted upon her hood forming a grim picture as she began shaking her bracelet bearing arms. “Do not worry, Satthias. Do not think of what he said, for it is against our very whole to do such a thing, or even think of doing it. After all, you sent Rartyr away when he proposed it and even tried it himself. It is against our laws to kill our own, especially the one that will carry on our blood, and populate a new world with our people.”
              Satthias looked at his child as they slept, and nodded his head in agreement. “I know it is wrong, but there still remains a feeling inside me that won’t leave…I keep thinking that maybe the world doesn’t deserve the extinction that our people faced. Who are we to condone the slaughter of innocents?”
              The old one placed her hand on Sattthias’ shoulder and spoke assurance to her leader.               “It is destiny. We cannot change it, for it must take place. Think of the future of our people and you will know it is right.”
              Satthias ruffled his son’s hair as he slept, and smiled upon his son through his scarred features. “It is right. I don’t doubt it…”
              Runa accepted the answer, but from this moment on she planned to keep a wary eye on her leader. It seemed that he might try to do something against their laws, and against their future, for his mind was troubled and seemed it could change at any moment and decide upon a course of action that would lead to results that Runa did not desire.

-Chapter 2-
Past

It was a hot day in the Sharp Sands. Sofius was grinding dry vegetation in a wooden mortar. Sitting outside his tent, decked out in his full cloak, he watched as two small children were seemingly playing with each other, one trying to grab a good-sized bone from the other, tugging hard to take ownership of the object.
              Sofius smiled upon the young ones at the center of camp. It was not unusual for young ones to be playing roughly and arguing over possession of something unimportant.
              Many other members of the clan were outside their tents, wandering the sands. Some watched the scuffle of young ones, while others enjoyed the serene wind, as the day was one not as wild as some. Sofius had finished grinding the dry weed, and got up to enter his tent, and gave the mortar to his wife, who was laying down on her back, resting. “Here, take this, Moira. It’ll help with the pains.”
              Accepting the weed with a smile, Moira added some water from a small canteen to the dryness, and drank it like soup. Sofius watched her, beautiful to his sight, but was distracted as he heard a yelp of pain from outside.
              Leaving his tent, Sofius burst out and went over to the two young children that were at play. One standing up, holding the bone in hand, while the other was holding their hand, blood squirting onto the sandy ground as they cried out in pain. “He bit my finger off! He bit my finger off!”
              Sofius tore a piece of cloth from his waist, while others gathered around the scene, watching as the hunter wrapped the boy’s hand tightly to stop the bleeding, and held him close, trying to calm him. “Don’t worry. Hold still. Let me wrap it. It needs to be wrapped or else it’ll bleed you out!”
              As Sofius was taking charge over the young one, he couldn’t help but take a good stare upon the standing boy. Blood was dripping from their open mouth as they held the bone at their side. Sofius spoke furiously to the boy. “What have you done? What were you thinking? Why did you…”
              Sofius stopped in speech, as he stared upon the bone in the boy’s hand. There was something strange about it. Sofius was about to speak further questioning of the boy when Grede left his lead tent and parted the crowd, taking the bone from the young boy, speaking as he shook his head. “What have you done? You are going against sacred law, to not kill or harm another of our clan. What do you have to say for yourself? What is this…a bone from an already eaten beast? This should be tossed away to stop the likes of you fussing over it!”
              Sofius had gazed upon the bone as it was tossed from Grede’s hand and to one standing in the crowd. Grede called out an order, as he cast his eyes to Sofius and then to the young biter. “Get rid of that, bury it. I don’t care where, just some place it won’t be found, and as for you, young biter. I suggest a good punishment for you.”
              The young one with blood dripping from their mouth made a look of horror as Grede spoke, Sofius rising with the wounded child in arms. “Let’s have you chained up out here for a little while, with no coverings…it should teach a good lesson to you!”
              Grede gestured two adults over to grab the young one and take him away as Sofius went to the side of Grede and spoke in a whisper. “It’s as I told you, Grede. The taste of flesh is getting to the clan. It’s only a matter of time until things get worse!”
              Grede put his arm around the back of Sofius, as the crowd scattered back to their own doings, leaving the two to talking with each other. “It’s only children being children. Don’t read too much into it. They were only fighting over something that was like a toy to them.”
              Sofius watched the cold face of Grede, a glimmer of suspicion in his eyes. Not caring to stress the matter further, as Grede seemed rather fixed on his opinion, the hunter left his side, speaking as he did so. “It’s as you say, Grede. I’m going to have this one fixed up. He’s passed well out, now. Better stop the loss of blood before it’s too late.”
              Grede let his hunter take leave, and went to his own tent, two of the clan following him as he did so.
              Sofius entered his tent with the child and let them lie before his wife, telling her of the incident. Moira took a concerned look upon the young one, as she treated the wound with water and some herbs that had been crushed into a powder, speaking to her husband as she fixed the wound. “His finger was bitten off by another child, you say?”
              Sofius paced the tent and looked out from the entrance, seeing two figures entering the lead tent, having followed Grede. Closing the entrance, Sofius kneeled to his wife and spoke in a concerned manner, as Moira was finishing the fixing of the unconscious young one.
              “I’m worried, Moira. Something just isn’t right. They don’t act like this. This isn’t just playing…and that bone they held, Grede wanted it buried and forgotten. I feel that there’s something up, that bone wasn’t just any bone…”
              Moira had finished the fixing, setting the child on the tent floor as she stood up, as did her husband, Moira speaking worriedly. “What do you mean?”
              Sofius gripped one of the tent supports tightly. It was a long, wooden tree limb, dry and aged from the sand. The hunter spoke, his golden eyes melting with fear as he did.
              “The bone was human.”

-Chapter 11-
Present

The night was quite cool outside. The moon stood solemn and bright in the sky, raining gentle beams of its gifted light upon the world that was below.
              Samana was sleeping and came to wakefulness, feeling very drowsy.
              She blinked hardly, her vision blurry due to her tiredness, and felt as if she was floating as she saw bright lights pass her by.
              After but another moment, Samana was fully awake, and realized she was being carried by her old friend, the owl, Hoosun. She must have fallen asleep in the library, and must’ve been found by him. Upon his discovery of her sleeping form, he obviously decided that her bed was a far more proper place for her to take her rest.
              The chamber door swung open, creaking as Hoosun carried the girl over to the bed. The door closed behind him as a heavy breeze bustled in from the window, the owl seemingly unaware that the one he held was awake.
              Laying Samana out on the bed, the owl pulled a cover from the end of the bed over her, and then she spoke to him, causing the owl to act slightly startled. “Thank you, Hoosun. You didn’t really need to bring me up here though. The bench was fine for me.”
              The owl regained his straightness, and sat next to Samana, as she moved her legs to make room for him at her feet. “It didn’t seem proper for you to sleep on the bench. The library is too dusty a place. Besides, Henk and Amen were weary. I didn’t think that they should have carried you up here.”
              Samana grasped the owl’s feathery hand and leaned her head on his shoulder, feeling his soft white feathers on her skin. “None the less, thank you, Hoosun.”
              The owl smiled through his beaked features and held Samana’s hand tightly.
              “You are very welcome, young one. Today, when I saw you practicing combat, I was worried. I thought you might have gotten hurt, even though I knew the Mother would let no harm come to you. When it was over, I was relieved that you were okay, and only took a few minor scuffs. It reminds me of the time when you burned yourself trying to put up a lantern in this very room.”
              Samana remembered the time fondly, and smiled. “I remember. I couldn’t reach high enough, and jumped up to hook the lantern. But it was lit while I was doing so, and when it hooked, I was still gripping it, got stuck in air, and then the support snapped under my weight, and I fell to the ground…bump, and the lantern blew up, and fire scattered on my hands, burning them.”
              The owl shook his head, and patted Samana’s shoulder. “I was so worried when I got back to the room. Your hands were so badly burned. We had to bathe them in much sweet tree sap, and then the burning went away.”
              Samana removed her tattered gloves, which she always wore, and put her hands on exhibit in the moonlight streaming forth from the window. “It scarred, but I did learn a lesson… never play with fire…or just be taller.”
              The owl laughed softly and looked at the patchy hands of the young girl. Red marks were spotted about them, with small cuts from broken glass, and slight pink streaks running about the skin like wild vines.
              The owl ran his feathery hand over the burn marks and spoke. “Indeed, but even though the scars will always remain, the pain can always go away, Samana.”
              The young, seventeen-year old girl nodded, and examined her hands closely in the beaming white shafts from the watchful moon that lay outside, holding much pain within.
              “That is true…I do miss them so very much. I wonder if I’ll ever see them again…”
              The owl gripped Samana’s hands softly, yet firmly, and spoke comfortingly.
              “You will, Samana, and like these burns, they will always be there, but your pain can go away. I know they miss you too, I know I would…’
              Samana returned the soft grip of her owl friend with one just as sturdy, and smiled.
              “I know you would, Hoosun. You are very dear to me. I would miss you too, if you were gone.”
              The owl smiled, as his eyes began to tear, cheerily. “I understand the pain of your father, young one, for I think of you as my own child. I wouldn’t replace you for a thing, and I would give my life for you.”
              Samana let go of the owl’s hands and gave him a huge hug. “Don’t go anywhere, anytime soon. I need you so much, Hoosun. You’re one of the few that accepts me here.”
              The owl hugged her back with his feathery limbs, and allowed her to nestle her head on his chest, as he felt it dampening as tears left her eyes. “We all must go whenever our time comes, but you must always remember this. Death is not forever, we all meet again in the end, and you will meet your sister and father again. I promise that, as if I had gone, you would see me again, too.”
              Samana understood what he said, and removed her head from his chest, and looked outside at the moon, shining gloriously upon all those who stood below it. “I’m sure I will see them again…”
              Samana returned her torn gloves to her hands and spread out on her bed, thinking of the journey she was soon to be on, looking at her now covered hands. “I guess I’m going to be playing with fire again though…won’t I, If this prophecy is true?”
              The owl nodded and got up from the bed, and went over to the opening to his perch, looking far out into the southern distance. “You will, but I am confident in you. You will be safe. I know that no matter what comes, you will overcome, and become even stronger.”
              Samana turned on her side, and looked out the window. She had never traveled where she was to go. “Thank you for having such undying confidence in me, Hoosun.”
              The owl bowed his head, and said his goodnights before going to his perch. “I always have and always will believe in you, Samana. Now sleep. You have a great deal of testing in the days set ahead of you.”
              With that, the owl went out to his perch, and sat serene, as Samana closed her eyes, feeling the moon shafts penetrate her eye lids, silent, thinking of the coming days. She was to train with hands, blade, endurance, and agility, preparing herself for a journey that would test her will, as much as it would her physique.