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There seemed to be no gravity in this place.
It was warm and bright but wonderfully so. Sascha had absolutely no worries about what had just happened, but still remembered it. Where was she?
She opened her eyes to the most beautiful place she had ever seen in her life. The warmth seeped into her skin, caressing her with the greatest amount of love. Every pain in her body was completely gone and her wounds were nothing but simple scars. The blood stains from the two previous battles were gone to. The white wolf blended in perfectly with the pinkish white clouds and sky.
As she stood up she began to see a stunning, tall golden gate.
‘Could this be Heaven?’ She wondered curiously.
When she remembered the druids she found that she cared for them, but also never wanted to leave this place. It was too wonderful.
“Hello, Sascha,” a soft voice sounded up ahead.
The white she-wolf poked her head up over some passing clouds to see a barely visible figure moving toward her.
She found that it was a male with brown facial hair and yellow green eyes.
“Tairek, you’re here!” Sascha exclaimed joyfully and bounded after him.
When she reached him she stood upright and placed her front paws on each of his shoulders, covering his face in licks. “I felt like I’d never see you again.”
“You will always see me here, and every other druid that has died,” Tairek answered with a smile, scratching behind her ears.
That was her favorite place to be scratched, and he was her favorite person to do it. “But you can’t stay here. You must go back and complete your prophecy. You are almost finished!”
‘I can’t stay?’ Sascha thought with great disappointment.
She didn’t want to go back!
Anything but that! She loved this place.
She had never felt the presence of God in a place so much as here, for it was Paradise.
“No, I want to stay!” Sascha protested, climbing down from Tairek. “Besides, I’m sure the druids can handle it from here, right?”
“Yes and no,” the former druid physician said calmly. “If you stay here, everyone except Avyrus will escape Xanthus’ grasp. But he will strike again, and so your journey would be a waste.”
“And if I go back?”
“If you go back the druids will never be bothered by him again,” Tairek responded.
It was the biggest decision of her life. To leave Heaven and go back to that horrible world, or stay here where she wanted to remain for all of eternity with no pain or suffering or illnesses.
Then Tairek’s next words made her feel like he had read her mind:
“Your time will come someday. And when it does, we will spend all our time in Paradise until Heaven is brought down to earth after the end of the age, where we will live forever and ever. But now is not your time.”
Sascha sighed unhappily. “Then I will go back.”
“Never give up, Sascha, you’re almost there! Your goal is right before you!” Tairek shouted to her as he faded away into the light.
She was pushed back hard by someone that she could not see, but she assumed that it was God. And as suddenly as she was out, she was back in her body.
With a huge gasp for air she lay on the floor in a pool of her own blood. The sword that the malicious King had killed her with was gone. All the wounds were back on her skin, stinging her painfully.
The first emotion that she felt was anger... for she did not want to be in this place. Heaven was so amazing, and now she was back in this chaos.
There was one good thing though, something that didn’t exactly surprise her that much. Her chest wound was just a scar now, despite how unrealistically quick it had turned from wound to dead tissue.
So once again her fur was completely scarlet red as blood.
Suddenly hearing the sound of swords crashing together she stood up slowly. Xanthus was fighting the druid King.
But she could not understand why it sounded like Avyrus had a sword also. Perhaps the shape-shifter King had handed him a sword, to make it more like a fair duel?
She spotted him by the royal chairs fighting Avyrus. The King knocked him to the ground and looked like he was about to dive the sword through his heart just as he had done with Sascha.
The white she-wolf attacked him off guard by using the move Rei had taught her; leaping up at him and aiming at his center line, pinning him to the ground without sinking her fangs into his throat as Rei had described as a last resort move.
Xanthus was horrified of her sudden appearance from the dead, therefore unable to fight back. Sascha raked her claws over his face, leaving four skinny streaks of blood.
“I killed you!” Xanthus gasped with pain and horror. “How did you..? What happened?”
Sascha smirked. This was her chance! “It just wasn’t my time.”
With that she fell onto her left side and kicked him hard with all four paws across the floor into the nearest stone wall. He fell unconscious on impact.
Avyrus came up behind her but did not touch her. She turned to face him, seeing the deepest respect flash in his eyes. She’d never seen that before, and it had definitely never been expressed toward her if she had seen it.
“You’ve done it, wolf,” he said gratefully. “I never should have begun to doubt you.”
She was very glad for his praise. “Thank you,” he added with a smile.
Even though she did not kill Xanthus, she had still fulfilled her prophecy. Now the former King would be put in the dungeons and locked up until his fate was decided. By who, she had no idea. Without a King Aerulis would be sent into chaos, especially with the news that a wolf defeated their sovereign.
And so, Avyrus and Sascha headed to the courtyard where everyone was still fighting. The moon shone above the warriors, casting its chilling light upon all of the land.
The white wolf was horrified when she saw all the blood on the ground. She saw that only twelve wolves remained. The rest of the wolves lay dead on the ground, fatal sword wounds to almost every part of their body.
Everyone immediately stopped fighting and turned their attention to Sascha and Avyrus standing at the castle entrance.
“Knights of Aerulis,” the druid King started loudly so that everyone may hear him. “Your King has been defeated! Your sovereign is down!”
“The King is dead?” A shriek of fear erupted from the courtyard.
Sascha looked for Akemi in the group of knights and wolves. She finally spotted her in back of some humans. “Akemi!” she called to her gray speckled friend. Akemi came up to her from the crowd.
“Did everything go well?” Her friend asked.
Avyrus interrupted their conversation as he spoke to the knights. “He is not dead. He is unconscious. He will be moved to the dungeon.”
“I take it that it did,” Akemi chuckled. “Do you need me to help?”
“Yes,” Sascha answered. “I want you and a few other wolves to move Xanthus down to the dungeon. Lock him in the cell closest to the entrance, the one Avyrus was in.”
“Yes, Sascha,” she said and then summoned two other surviving wolves, hurrying into the castle.
Then the most dreadfully familiar voice sounded from the crowd. An approaching knight made his way through the group to the bottom of the steps that led up the door entrance of the castle.
His name was slipping her mind. But she had a bone to pick with him. “You think it’s so easy to defeat the Aerulis bloodline? Even if it was that easy, Queen Anne would take over, and then her son, and then his son and so on! King Xanthus is still the sovereign. He has protected us from those evil magic folk!”
“Sir William,” Sascha hissed. He had killed Tairek!
Tension filled the air as she wondered if Avyrus would reveal Xanthus’ deepest secret. She hoped he would, it would benefit their situation somewhat. “I have something to tell all of you,” Avyrus began slowly. Sascha had a feeling that he was going to tell everyone of Xanthus’ traitorous secret. “Your King is not all that you think he is. He prosecutes the druids, and yet he himself is a magic user.” Cries and shrieks of outrage erupted from the knights.
“You’re lying!”
“How dare you accuse our King of such a crime?”
“Liar!”
“Traitor!
“Horrible druids!”
“I am not lying to you!” Avyrus shouted over all the protests angrily. “I have seen it for myself. He was fighting against Sascha, my wolf here, as a wolf himself, a shape-shifter. If you don’t believe me that is your problem.”
“I will not take the word of a druid,” Sir William broke in. “Nor will I believe that the King was fighting against a wolf. That’s what we are here for!”
Avyrus growled. “Now, I have another thing to announce.” Sascha wondered what it could possibly be. What he said next surprised her and yet made her extremely proud and happy at the same time.
“A long time ago my father and my mother met and they fell in love. Some of the older knights may remember it. My father was the great King Aeolus of the druids, and my mother was the Irish Princess Keeva,” Avyrus explained with an unreadable expression. It was a cross between happiness and sadness. “For those who do remember her, you were lied to about her fate. She was never killed. In fact, she lived to give birth to me. Although Keeva died of a strange illness when I was only a boy…”
“I remember her!” An older looking knight spoke up from the crowd. “Are you trying to tell me that the knights that went searching for her were lying? How dare you accuse them of that?”
“Because it’s true,” Avyrus growled defensively. Sascha just stood there with a smile on her face. She could tell that Avyrus felt much better with that off his chest. But she knew that he must have had a big point behind it that no one really understood. “What I am trying to say is that I am of two royalties.”
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
She understood what he meant now, but what exactly were his intentions?
The doors behind her burst open and she turned to see Riza, one of the surviving wolves that had gone with Akemi to bring Xanthus down to the dungeon. “He’s locked in a prison cell now,” she reported. “Ready for whatever you wish upon him.”
“Good,” Sascha smiled. “...Thank you.”
The nine casualties that day were Tsute, Thundermist, Sorrel, Shin, Aeron, Kira, Yorath, Raven, and Zuri. The druids returned to their own camp for the night, Titus and Zachery waiting for them.
The dragons were still there, sitting there in the clearing patiently. The rest of the druids were startled, but Zachery calmed them down and told them that the creatures were their allies.
Back in Aerulis the druid King Avyrus stayed in the chambers of the traitor King, Xanthus. Sascha and the remaining wolves guarded him as he slept that night so that no one may harm him.
Everyone took turns guarding the King’s chambers while the others slept when it was not their turn. Sascha was extremely glad for the long needed rest.
She was so drained she couldn’t even shift to move position when she was sleeping.
However, when she was awake and on guard millions of thoughts passed through her mind. What had Avyrus tried to get across earlier that night? And why was he sleeping in the former chambers of Xanthus? The only thing that she could think of was that he was planning to become King of Aerulis due to his royalty, which certainly was not a problem with Sascha. Anyone but Xanthus de Taske! Plus Avyrus seemed to have more experience.
The next morning, just before noon, Sascha was just waking up when she heard the chamber door unlock. She lifted her white head; ears pricked, she watched who walked out of the bedroom.
Avyrus appeared and almost immediately turned his glare to the great white she-wolf.
“Morning,” he whispered quietly to her, careful not to wake the other wolves. Akemi was on guard at the moment but she didn’t pay any attention to Avyrus or Sascha. “Follow me; I want to talk to you.”
And so she did. He led her into the outside halls, a beautiful cold winter breeze finding its way into the walkway. There was snow all over the foothills in the direction opposite of Rosewood Forest, and the trees in the forest where she had been born were covered in blankets upon blankets of heavy snow.
There had been a heavy blizzard the day before.
Up ahead there was a bench made of what smelled like maple tree bark. Avyrus went to sit on it, the expression of nervousness on his face.
Sascha rotated her ears when she saw it, and she wondered if something else had gone wrong. Padding slowly up to him, her tail wagging lightly, she put her head on his lap.
The druid King stroked her from her forehead all the way to her shoulders. It felt amazing, but it also felt a little strange now that she thought about how gruesomely she had fought the day before. One moment she was a bloody warrior, the next acting as a domestic pet for a man? Which was she?
But his following words made her realize that she was neither of those. “I am very grateful for you, Sascha,” he said with a soft smile on his face. “Thank you. You are not a half-breed, nor are you a monstrous evil wolf. You are Sascha... the Great White Wolf.”
It was as if he had read her mind, her thoughts of wondering what she was.
“Tairek never lied or made a mistake when it came to a prophecy, that is why I believed him for so long,” Avyrus continued with his soft morning voice. “Who knew that one day a wolf would defeat a man of great power?”
A few moments had gone by when the peaceful silence was broken by the deep sigh of Avyrus. “I’ve been thinking of something, and I want you to be the first to know,” he said carefully. “Do you remember yesterday night when I spoke of my parentage? Keeva and Aeolus were both royalty, but of two different types. However, I wish to take Xanthus’ place as the King of Aerulis... seeing as the kingdom needs a new ruler.”
So she had guessed right.
He did want to become King.
And of course, she was his greatest supporter in that. “I think you should do it,” Sascha barked excitedly. “The kingdom will be sent into a great tension when they hear that they already have a new King. They won’t be sure of you at first but once they see how great of a leader you are they will not think twice about trusting your judgment.”
He could not understand her, but all the same he knew she approved of his idea. She started to lick his face and all behind his ears and he started to scratch her cheeks with affection.
“I can see you agree,” he chuckled jokingly. Her heart was filled with warmth as she felt things were slowly going back to normal. “I will announce it to the kingdom from The Balcony that overlooks the courtyard, preferably as soon as the druids are there. I’ll have to fetch them with you as my guard.”
That sounded great.
Her more recent wounds were starting to heal quickly, so they didn’t sting as much anymore. The area that the sword penetrated through her heart was completely and miraculously healed and nothing else remained but a scar and a long line of missing white fur. Maybe the current court physician could take a look at them, maybe treat her with some herbs to benefit her health.
And so Avyrus and the white wolf headed around the main city of Aerulis and then into Rosewood Forest, following the same path that Sascha had walked upon so many times as a pup in Zachery’s care.
They would be coming upon the camp soon, everything they passed looking so beautiful. She had a quick flashback of when she was only a month old seeing all the snowflakes cover the ground while everyone else was asleep. It was just so beautiful to her.
Back then she would never have guessed that in exactly one year from then she would be the greatest animal warrior in the country.
Soon they reached the camp. Avyrus was surprised by the sight of all the dragons, but Sascha calmed him down by licking the palm of his hand excitedly. The first person to spot them was Zachery the new druid physician, and he went off to warn Titus of the King’s presence.
Titus rushed out of the King’s Shed and went up to Avyrus. “It is good to see you again,” Titus smiled brightly. The King had returned.
Titus assumed that he would resume his title as the leader of the druid clan, but he was very wrong.
“Hello, Titus,” the icy blue eyed King greeted in return. Taking a deep breath Avyrus spoke again several heartbeats later. “Look... there is something that I must tell you.”
Here it came.
She did not know how Titus would take it, that the only King he had ever known was going to step down and leave someone else in charge of the forest.
“Come, follow me,” he said quickly.
They headed away from the camp and into the forest. Climbing over mounds of snow and bushes Avyrus and Titus followed by the white she-wolf finally stopped when the voices of the druids had faded into the distance.
“What is it?” Titus asked with concern.
Avyrus was hesitating, starting to sweat. How could telling the young druid warrior that he was not going to return as the King be so hard?
Just say it! Sascha thought to herself.
“I have to tell you something that I know I should have told you a long time ago...” Avyrus started quietly, and then gulped silently. Was that fear she smelled? “See... a long time ago I knew your mother. We were the greatest friends.”
“What are you talking about, Sire?” Titus growled. “What about my mother?”
“You never knew her, she died when you were just a few weeks old,” the former druid King went on. “What I am trying to say is that... Titus,” that was the strongest moment of tension Sascha had ever experienced in a long time. “I am your father.”
WHAT?! She widened her eyes with shock.
Titus just stared at his former King with shock.
What would he do now that he knew who his father was?
What would he say?
How would he feel about the fact that his father was still alive?
She was very anxious to find out and worried at the same time.
“No,” he began quietly, and then shouted. “No!” With great rage he went on with a loud voice, “My father died before I was born! I never knew him! I never knew a thing about him, not even his name! Nor did I know anything about my mother!”
“Titus—” Avyrus tried to comfort him by putting his large hand on his shoulder but the young druid warrior shoved him away immediately.
“No! You are lying!” Titus snapped furiously. All the respect that the druid warrior had once had for the King had vanished into thin air and all Sascha could see now was sadness and rage in his amber eyes. “Don’t touch me! I don’t want anything to do with you, ever!”
Avyrus hung his head, the words obviously hurting him deeply. Titus was his son so to hear him say these things was very painful.
Titus turned away, head facing the direction of the camp. Sascha could have sworn she had spotted a single tear drop down his face. “Just stay away from me. You are no father of mine.” The druid had just started walking away when Avyrus tried to call him back.
“Titus, wait! Please!” He begged.
“What do you want from me?” Titus responded with a very cold voice.
“I am not going to be here for the clan anymore. I am not going to be their King any longer,” Avyrus explained a little shakily. It made him sound weak, but he obviously was not afraid to sound that way in front of his own son. “I need someone to take over. And since you are of my direct bloodline, I need you to become King!”
“What a letdown,” Titus growled. “Why can’t Zachery become King instead of me?”
“Because he is not my son, and he has only been trained in the ways of a physician,” he replied quietly. “I need you to lead the clan. I need you to lead them to the castle of Aerulis where I will explain everything.”
Titus shook his head. “I’m sorry. If you want to abandon us, that’s fine. But if you want me to take over for you, you’ve asked the wrong person.” And then he walked away back toward camp.
Sascha flattened her ears and went to press her wet wolf nose against Avyrus’ hand.