The Order of Events: The Red Wolf (29 page)

              The Red Wolf was dead.
              Samana stood on the stone tongue and pressed her weight back against a pillar. Her destiny was fulfilled, the journey over. She ran from the pillar with great alarm, for there was still much to do, and many things still were unknown, like Hoosun’s condition.
              The young warrior took place at her friend’s side and lifted up his feathery face from the ground. The bundle of feathers was so very heavy for her to lift. “Hoosun, are you alright?” Tears coursed down Samana’s cheeks in worry, as she held the head of her friend, and then the body of feathers shuddered, and arose before her. The owl spoke to the saddened form of Samana. “I am…okay, young one. They are but minor wounds that will mend in time.”
              Samana rose, as the owl took her in arms, and then took her arm, and removed the burning chain, examining her wound while speaking softly. “Your arm is burned, Samana. Have you killed the beast?”
              Samana nodded and looked upon the wound herself, as the owl spoke. “The Mother will be proud. It looks like he has left his mark on you.”
              Samana looked out from the confines of pillars and to the tongue where the Red Wolf fell, speaking in a sad tone. “That is not the only place he has left his mark...”

With the journey over, the destiny fulfilled, Samana and Hoosun made their way down from the great height, and were met by Hatchlen, who upon hearing the news of the threat removed, took his friend and the young hero to have their wounds treated. The lizard spoke highly of Samana’s heroics, calling her a “hero”, a word that Samana would get used to, for in her coming years, it would define her.

-Chapter 22-
Present

As the sky was ever filled with ash and embers, blowing carelessly in the wind, outside and about the massive sight of the city, Samana and Hoosun had their wounds treated, and were bed ridden for a couple days to heal.
              Kurlank had reached the city, and was introduced as Samana’s friend, and partner on the journey, and joined Samana and Hoosun for a walk amongst the streets of Murta Sota.
              The metal one spoke to Samana in his booming, echoing manner. Speaking highly of her, and not shy to voicing his impression of the young hero. “Samana, I am very impressed with you, and honored to serve you. You are truly a warrior of greatness.”
              The armored warrior kneeled before Samana, who did not like the idea of people bowing to her, Samana speaking to her dedicated friend. “It is my honor, that you are my friend, Kurlank. But you need not serve me anymore, the journey is over. Don’t you return now, redeemed?”
              The metal one stood upright and looked upon the young hero through his visor, speaking with purpose in his voice. “I am only here, for I still serve you. The journey is not over, there is more to my purpose, as there is to yours!”
              Samana looked at the metal one, and spoke her mind, as Hoosun swiped his beak with a feathery gesture. “Then you shall serve me, Kurlank, as I shall serve you!” The young hero bowed a curtsy to her warrior partner as the owl spoke to both her and the metal one.
              “I sense that much is tied to you, young Samana. We shall only discover in time what it is!”
              All three stood together looking out across the cityscape, Samana speaking with one friend at each side of her as a soft wind took up the air, blowing the young hero’s unbraided lengths of hair to her right, in a smooth motion. “We shall discover it together, Hoosun. Do you think the Mother knows of the Red Wolf’s defeat?”
              The owl nodded and spoke. “Yes, her senses are strong. Fate will have told her, young one, for it is a matter of great importance that she knows of the conclusion.”

Back at the Order, the wind was soft, the trees, and greenery fresh and hydrated from the storm that had passed over. The sky had been left open and wide, blue and serene as a peaceful wind blew in from the distance.
              The Mother stood on her balcony, and had sensed that the right action had taken place, the Red Wolf stopped from his destructive intent.
              The Mother Dhahn felt the soft breeze catch her unveiled features, her green eyes shining justly in the sweet sunlight, streaming down upon her.
              A voice rang out from behind, as the Mother rushed her veil back upon her face and turned to meet Amen, Henk, and Mensh, the one of outcry being Henk, who stood leading the bunch. “Sorry, did we disturb you, Mother?”
              The Mother smiled beneath her veil and gestured the young ones to her side, to take a good look of the vast beauty below. “No, not at all, come here, all of you.”
              The Mother and the young ones looked over the balcony edge, viewing the green walls basking in the streaming sunlight from above, Henk speaking as she overlooked the sight.
              “Mother, I came up here, because I wanted to know something. How is Samana?”
              The Mother smiled and looked upon Henk, the sun shining off the brown-haired girl’s spectacles as the Mother spoke to her. “You cannot figure that out yourself?”
              Henk felt the Mother’s words were strange, and questioned them, wondering what she meant by them. “What do you mean?”
              The Mother passed a finger through the brow of Henk, avoiding touching her skin, and spoke. “You’ll learn in time what I mean, and as for Samana, Fate tells me she has succeeded in the task set before her.”
              Henk and the others were overjoyed. Amen hugged Henk from behind, as Henk smiled and laughed joyfully, Mensh smiling and leaning on the balcony, speaking. “I always knew she could do it!”
              The Mother smiled upon the one known as Mensh. She had shown such considerable growth in the recent times, and it was well-appreciated and thought of by the Mother as she spoke to the young ones. “We all did, didn’t we?”
              All had stopped movement and nodded, Amen putting a kerchief with a huge grin on it, upon his features. Taking Henk in arms, he leaned back on the balcony, as Henk felt flustered to his grip, but tried to hide it as she spoke to the Mother. “Now what comes next for her, Mother?”
              The Mother looked out into the distance, light  shining down from the glorious sun,  upon the tongue of the great tree tower as the Mother spoke her thoughts on the future, which were far too many to mention, and were surmised in few words. “The future is unknown, my young ones. But heed this. Though the future is unknown, it, as our past is unchanging, holds a purpose, great and true, and that it shall reveal only in time, and so we shall wait.”

The young ones all nodded in agreement, and stood beside the Mother on the balcony, looking out upon the vastness of the walls and beyond them. What would the future bring? Would it bring love, death, strength, or weakness? None on the balcony knew, not even the Mother.

But as destiny and purpose were questioned in the minds of many, something moved beneath the surface of the world. Something lost and long forgotten…something with a purpose and a destiny of its own.