I am providing this book for free here on Royal Road because I love my fans! Have a read for free! If you wish to buy to support me, or want physical media, buy from the links below please c: <3
BUY THE DIGITAL VERSION HERE.
BUY THE PAPERBACK HERE.
----------------------------------------
The moon was covered by dark storm clouds, rain stinging the man’s scarred arms like needles. The pine treetops looked like black figures above him, revealing the mottled blue-gray sky.
Squeezing the rainwater out of his brown hair, he walked to the door of the King’s Shed. It was the biggest of all the sheds in the druid camp.
“Avyrus, I must speak with you immediately!” the druid physician called out, knocking his rough hands on the door.
Thunder crashed above like a great tree colliding with the ground in a fall. “It cannot wait,” he added impatiently. To Tairek the druid King seemed to be taking a long time, but it was probably just his anxiety.
The visions he had seen in his nightmare were repeating in his mind now. That was why Tairek was so determined to address King Avyrus about the matter.
Oh, how the glowing green orbs of the being’s eyes and the huge blood-stained fangs were haunting him right now.
Where was Avyrus?
He was about to knock again before the druid King opened the door with surprise and a tad bit of annoyance in his blue glare.
The druid physician could sense how Avyrus was trying to hide his annoyance. Tairek did not blame him for being annoyed, though. Being awoken after a very stressful day wasn’t exactly pleasurable. The King sighed, letting go of his irritation.
“What could it possibly be now? I only hope it is important,” he told his physician. Avyrus gestured for Tairek to come in, walking back into the shed.
Tairek nodded in respect for his King and walked into the dryness and welcoming warmth of the King’s Shed.
Avyrus turned to face him, his blue eyes glaring at him expectantly. “Well, what have you to tell me that is so vital?” He asked, nodding for the druid physician to explain the matter.
Tairek hung his head for a moment; he didn’t know where to begin. There was so much to tell! Raising his glare to the druid King, he spoke in a deep voice, “I have received visions of things to come.”
Instantly, Avyrus’ calm, irritated expression turned into a more serious look. He understood now that this was very important. “Please, go on,” the King urged.
Tairek let a few seconds of silence pass and then described what he had seen. “I foresee the coming of a great white wolf with eyes the color of the green grass. She will save us.”
King Avyrus was speechless. His icy blue eyes shone with something similar to fear, but the druid King shook it away quickly. “A wolf?” he began, raising an eyebrow in confusion. “But how can a wolf save us? It is an animal. What will it save us from what?”
“I don’t know,” Tairek hung his head, feeling slightly ashamed that he had no answer for his King. “We will have to wait and see for ourselves. It is all we can do right now. However, I am sure that I heard and saw correctly from God.”
Avyrus gave a long and stressful sigh and walked slowly to the mouth of the shed. He gazed up at the stormy sky, thinking carefully. “You have always been good at predicting the future, Tairek. I trust what you are saying,” the King spoke in a very calm voice, still glaring up at the storm clouds as the rain collided loudly with the ground.
A streak of lightning lit up the entire sky for just a split second. “If what you are saying is true,” Avyrus said quietly but was still heard over the crackling of the rain, “then the wolf will save us.”
Four mornings later everything was very quiet. Avyrus went about his duties as King of the druid clan. He had sent out patrols to check the territory for any signs of invasion, made anxious by Tairek’s prophecy.
He had also sent out hunting patrols to retrieve food for the clan. It seemed like a normal, peaceful day in Rosewood Forest.
The sun offered its welcoming warmth, and the air was as sweet as flowers themselves.
“My lord,” A druid rushed up to the King, who was sitting on a large boulder. The man had been with two others who had parted with him moments earlier, and Avyrus looked up to see who they were.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Yes, the hunting patrol he had sent out earlier had at last returned. But he did not see any prey with his men. Now, how strange was that? They had never failed to return with food, and even if there had been a prey shortage they would have hunted for days if they had to.
There was just something about this that he couldn’t place his finger on.
“Yes, Titus?” Avyrus dipped his head for the druid warrior to explain. What could possibly be the explanation for this? It had better be good.
“Why have you brought no food? There had better be a good reason for this.”
Titus was a dark-skinned man with clothing of the common folk. He had bright amber eyes, which apparently attracted women constantly.
Avyrus could not understand why they liked his personality, for Titus was far too arrogant to raise a family. But then again, that was none of the King’s business.
“There is!” Titus began, slightly out of breath. “I do not know what significance it is to you, but we have found a wolf pup. It is a few days old.”
Avyrus gave a light gasp; a wolf pup? How coincidental was that?
Tairek had prophesied the coming of a white wolf, and out of nowhere, his warriors find a lone wolf pup in the forest? The King needn’t fake the shock on his face.
Avyrus knew that it would be difficult, perhaps impossible; to nourish the pup with milk that was not from a mother wolf... but it was worth a try.
A wolf pup that age would most definitely not survive without its mother to nurse it. But the wolf pup had to live! It sounded mad, but that wolf likely held the future of the entire druid clan in its paws. It had to survive, or else.
“There must be a way,” he muttered to himself and then gave his warrior a stern look. “Take me to it, immediately.”
The young druid warrior took him to the pup, inside the Medicine Shed. King Avyrus squatted beside the pup, which was lying on the warm blankets, shrieking with hunger.
The small puppy was fully engulfed in snow-white fur, and when Avyrus stroked its back it felt as if he were stroking silk. The wolf pup reached for his hand and weakly bit into his index finger, a frustrated growl rumbling from its throat. It did not hurt him, for it was only a starved young puppy.
Pulling his hand away the wolf pup held its grip on his finger and gave a light tug. The wolf pup let out a squeak and began to suckle on the King’s finger. Avyrus raised both eyebrows and smiled down at the wolf. In fact, he found it quite adorable. He searched the pup’s eyes to identify the color, and when he saw them his heart sank in relief, and stress.
This wolf was the one Tairek had prophesied, she had arrived to them! The pup’s grass-green eyes seemed to glow and stare right through his soul. “Bring Tairek to me at once,” he ordered Titus sternly. “Tell him that the wolf has arrived.”
“What do you mean, my lord?” Titus queried.
“Go!”
Titus nodded curtly and was off to notify the druid physician of the wolf pup.
A few minutes later, Tairek rushed into the shed and squatted on the opposite side of the wolf pup. “This is the wolf I saw in my dreams, sire,” Tairek said with confidence. “I never forget a face. This is the only wolf I’ve ever seen with green eyes because usually wolves have golden eyes.”
Tairek’s face grew a little dim. “This one is part dog, I can tell.”
Avyrus played around with his finger, tugging it lightly back and forth. “Will that matter?” he asked.
“This is the one I saw,” the physician answered. “She was called a wolf. I suppose we will just have to trust the Lord.”
The wolf pup clung onto the druid King’s index finger with its small fangs, continuing to ‘suckle’.
The King let out a light sigh, “She has to live, but she is too young to survive without her mother,” and said with a worried voice, “there’s nothing we can do.”
“Don’t talk like that!” Tairek growled. He was daring to growl at his King, but only because they had been close friends since childhood.
It was rare he made that approach though, for he knew it would become abused if he did it frequently enough, but now was a very good exception for it.
“I know that the hunting dogs will sure not nurse her, and that she is too young to digest meat. However, I once knew a woman who found an abandoned dog pup and raised it on goat’s milk. I do not know if it will work with a wolf, but we must do everything within our power to ensure her survival,” Tairek explained.
“Alright,” King Avyrus nodded, a surge of relief rushing through him. “We have plenty of goats. Now all we need is someone willing to raise a wolf.”
Tairek smiled at the King, “I can get my apprentice to raise her. Since the wolf is so young he will have to feed her drops off his fingers, which will be time-consuming but worth it.”
“Then it is settled,” Avyrus dipped his head gratefully. “But what shall we name her?”
“Every time I think of the dream I had of the wolf, I keep thinking of the name Sascha,” Tairek said. “Perhaps it is a sign that this must be her name?”
“Then Sascha will be her name,” Avyrus agreed.