Our run takes us deep into the northern portion of the pack lands, where the Rogue River split us from the Dark-lands, a place filled with rogues and other creatures exiled to the shadows. The first time I'd come here my father had sent scouts into the woods and we've never seen them since. I've come back a number of times out of curiosity to see if they returned, wondering what lie deep in the shadows.
I hear a deep growl coming from behind me and swiftly turn to see Jackson, his hackles raised, alerting us to the presence of danger on our side of the river. We form a tight-knit circle, our senses on high alert, as five people emerge from the shadows of the dense forest.
Their leader, a massive brute with a scarred face, steps forward with a malevolent grin. "Well, well, what do we have here? A pack of softies, it seems this should be easy boys." He says catching my glare.
I look to the others and we exchange glances, knowing that this encounter could turn bloody. The tension in the air is tense as the rogue leader lunges first, aiming for Jackson. In a blur of motion, Jackson dodges the attack, his teeth bared in a menacing snarl.
The fight erupts into chaos, the three us engaging our opponents with ferocity and agility. Claws clash, and the forest echoes with the sounds of growls and snarls. One of the rogues attempts to flank us from the side, but Stella, intercepts him with a lightning-fast strike that sends him tumbling backward.
I find myself locked in combat with a burly rogue, our teeth snapping inches from each other's throats. With a powerful shove, I manage to throw him off balance, giving me a chance to regroup. I jump on top of my previous attacker and rip his head off, throwing it into the river and going for the next one.
As we tear through them we stop at the last on, "wait, wait please you need you know something first please just wait." He say is pleading I shift and grab him by his throat death gleaming in my eyes. "I've had a stressful day asshole, so you better make it worth it."
"I bring a message, deep from the temple in the Dark-lands. The Land of Arcana is awake, she is coming mother of night and all who dwell within. You know it, you've seen her but you don't know it." He says clinging to my arm, pleading with his eyes. "Hail the guardian of the woods, the one who roams the land of beast, but be warned of the Land of Death for it stirs as the time of reconciliation comes."
His words are just too cryptic to understand, but the grave importance of this entire situation hits me. "You're coming with us, try anything stupid and I'll gut you like a pig." I say throwing him to the ground and watching as Stella and Jackson pick him up and start heading towards the pack house.
I stand at the site of the bloodbath, I haven't had a fight like this in awhile and as much as I hate to say it but it felt nice, like I was the defender of the pack. I head back home behind the others straight to the pack jail. A shabby brick building with iron bars saturated in wolfsbane, a truly torturous place might I add.
"Put him in there and watch him I'm going to get my father and I'll be right back." I say as we approach the eerie building, with my luck my father should be leaving the pack house. I run up to the front of the building and see him walking towards his car, "Dad, hey" I say catching his attention, he sees the fresh blood and runs up to me "What the hell, what happened where were you whose blood is this are you ok?!" He says going through all of the concerned parent motions.
"Dad I'm fine, I'm completely fine it was a couple of rouges, but one of them is a witch and he's talking nonsense, I wanted you to hear him out and make sense of it." Over the years my father has made it his life focus to study what mysteries lie in this portion of the woods. And with this witch coming from the woods saying he has a message, it would be a great chance for my dad to get answers.
As we got closer to the cell the scrawny witch walks towards the bars, his eyes still crazed. I point towards my father "Tell him what you told me and we can talk about letting you out of this cage." He nods and looks to my father as they begin to converse I back away to talk with Stella.
"Hey you and Jackson can take off I got this, and thanks for today you're the best." I say bumping fist with her and giving a quick hug. Before she leaves she turns to me and says "As your friend and his Derek, Silas is going to need to know about this it's the right thing to do."
As she walks off I head back over to my father and the prisoner, "Any luck dad or is he just talking a bunch of nonsense, cuz it definitely didn't make any sense to me."
"Well it's all quite clear honestly, he's speaking a prophecy but it's all coming out jumbled whatever he encountered in the woods took a toll on him." My father says in locking the gate and helping the rogue out of the cage, "Help me get him to the pack doctor, his injuries aren't healing correctly we can continue our conversation later."
As we carry him towards the pack doctor the witches words grow increasingly manic and he begins to speak prophetically again. I could barely hear his words, but he seemed to speak of a world teetering on the precipice of destruction.
He mentioned a war, and continued on about a goddess who would join to rectify the wrongs of an age gone astray. As I listened to his crazed words all I could think about was me and Silas, how the witch said I'd met the mother of night and I didn't know it yet. My mind races with the words of a crazy man, talk of gods and witches, and lastly Silas's face.
As near the pack doctor the witch looks at me into the eye and utters something quietly, that sent a shiver through my body and made my dad stop walking, both of us frozen by his declaration.
"puer silas lupum mori debet."
His words ring in the old tongue of Latin throughout my head like church bells on Sunday morning, and having delivered his message his body went limp.