The melting snow from the higher grounds was weaving a green blanket around the mountains. There was a change in the scenery. Nature was carving its way for another transformation.
The king stood at a distance in his balcony and sighed looking at the moving clouds which cleared the sky.
Stanislas was enjoying his days in the palace wing. He was carefree and smitten by his own devilish mind. For years he was on the lookout for the power couple. He could barely hold his anguish when he realized how the blue moon alpha played him like a fool. He was relieved that the search for the Elemental master was over and now he only had to play his cards right.
"We have news."
The sudden disturbance from Frederick was less of a bother, for the king hardly cared about anything right now. He had anticipated victory before hand.
"Did we succeed?" The king asked as he gracefully sat on his chair.
Frederick and his two brothers kept looking at the king for the longest. They were finding it hard to compel their tongues to roll.
Wallace exhaled briefly and spoke "The Elemental escaped."
Stanislas furrowed his eyes and strangulated his arm chair. The anger was just there trying to overpower every other emotion. However the king sighed and clasped his hands. "He isn't a bit of my worries right now." He sighed "Tell me everything."
Bernard continued "As was planned Richard sowed hatred in the human and he was broken. He was angry when he knew what happened to the village chiefs daughter and the were bear. He escaped the prison with the bear.."
"This is fantastic! There was a confrontation right?"
"Yes father. Einar was head to head against the Elemental"
"And?"
Bernard nervously looked at his brothers and gulped in trepidation "No one died."
"What!" The words seeped in slow but Stanislas was stunned. He failed to understand how his perfect plan didn't pan out as was thought.
"No..! How did.." he took a pregnant pause with his mouth open "Why?" he whispered in disbelief.
"The Elemental just ran away like a coward."
By this time Nevart was at his kings side and joined the conversation as a mute spectator. He observed the calm in nature while his own mind was anxious all of a sudden. He was holding his own to be brave but deep down he was upset. "This is not what we expected." he said in a meek voice.
"You are right. I cannot wait anymore." Stanislas looked at the priest who gave an encouraging nod
"Prepare the army" He ordered his eldest son "We will be marching at dawn."
"There is something more." Bernard interjected.
"What now?" The king asked with a haste. Irritation clear in his tone.
"The locket has been broken."
The kings mouth lay hung open as he slowly rose from his seat in utter disbelief. "Impossible!"
The entire hall fell silent as Stanislas and Nevart mirrored each others expressions of horror and panic. His heart beats rose to such a level that every wolf ear was able to hear the rhythmic drums loud and clear. Small beads of precipitations glinted through his forehead. He felt so weak in the knees that he had to take support of the priest to stand. His nightmare was real now.
The sons looked at their fathers condition with utter helplessness. They were clueless for they thought that their fathers worry was unjustified. Though Einar was strong beyond comparison, the royal army was twice the size of the entire blue moon pack. Besides their enforcers consisted of strong alpha males who were proficient in their job. Even if they suffered a big loss ultimately their royal victory was guaranteed.
"So what?" Frederick spoke with smug face "Einar must be grieving for his unborn and the loss of his mate. This is the perfect time to attack. We can easily take him down."
"Sometimes I really doubt about you being my son."
"But father.."
"Keep your stupid ideas to yourself!" Stanislas roared
The power exhibition radiated throughout as both king and his royal offspring were marking their dominance.
"Don't be angry." Nevart sighed and spoke calmly "Your father has a point."
"I am confused." Wallace raised a brow "Isn't this what we wanted? Of course you wanted them to kill each other but even if that's not the case Einar is still at his weakest. We must grab this opportunity."
Nevart eyed his friend as Stanislas sighed in defeat and sat on the throne weakly. The priest on the other hand ordered every warrior in the royal hall to leave the place at once. He slowly undid the top buttons of his shirt to reveal a red glowing gem. The three royals gasped in surprise simultaneously.
The red locket was identical to the locket which Einar wore up until now.
"Years ago I was called to the blue moon pack for they were finding it difficult to control the beast in their alpha or so I was told. When I reached there I was mesmerized by the sheer potential a fifteen year boy possessed. He had the dominant blood of an alpha, a mighty spirit and a very viscous wolf inside of him. He was more powerful than his father and his growing age was promising something big in the coming years. The entire team of elders were struggling to control him. At that point of time I suggested elder Odulf and others to confine the powers of his beasts inside the locket. A simple but powerful trick."
"What purpose did it serve?" Wallace asked
"The power in him blinded me and I wanted him all to myself; I wanted him to be my pet." he smirked "The plan was to mess up with the mind of the boy so that he relied on me in every way. I fashioned the locket in a unique way. Some powerful enchantments, hidden from the rest of the group and the task was done. The boy wore the locket. For years it did its job quietly but perfectly. I was really proud of myself."
Nevart took a pregnant pause as he viciously smiled "The wolf and the spirit would never come together to overpower the locket. I was sure of that. They would always try to dominate the human to take full control while Einar would suppress his beasts so as they wont be a part of him. I wanted him to hate his beasts."
"But he was still powerful"
Nevart briefly nodded "Only his body was strong not his mind. The locket was degrading his inner self. With the locket doing its thing his decisions were always weak because there was always doubt clouding his judgments. Unlike others his beasts never integrated as one. Einar was never able to control them fully. The consequences being that their barbaric nature came to fore every time and disrupted the sanity within him. His actions scarred his conscience. He was scared of himself."
He continued "With the locket tied around his neck Einar was always confused, frightened and low on his self esteem. The locket was making his mind feeble. His struggles were real because he never wanted to be united with his beasts. It worked well up until now. He hated everything his beasts loved. He was his own enemy."
"How do you fit in all of this?" Wallace was confused.
"Don't you see." Bernard looked intently at the priest like he was close to the answers "He wanted to make the man insane so that the blue moon alpha would again ask for his help. He crippled his mind to be dependent for support. Am I correct?"
Nevart smiled again. "Yes."
"But something changed.." Wallace furrowed his brows.
"Ragnar was relying too much on elder Odulf. He was afraid that the affairs of his pack would run around the community. Everyone would know the situation the pack was in and so he wanted to keep matters to himself. He never asked for my help and why would he, I was the outsider after all."
Nevart sighed "I patiently waited for years to hear from Odulf but nothing happened until one fateful day the man himself came looking for me. He was desperate for help."
"Einar came to you?"
The priest nodded "He wanted a strong decoction to control his wolf on the full moons. Something about the moon was scaring him."
"What was it?"
"I asked myself the same question. What possibly could instill such a fear in a powerful man? I tried to study his behavior every time and concluded that he did not want to be near his mate. The question remained why? I thought there was something wrong with the current luna and so I sought information about her. It was a big surprise when I came to know that she already had a mate who died in the massacre of her pack."
Every sentence of the explanation was making the men even more worried and slightly furious. "If you knew all along you should've came to my father way back. You hiding things didn't do us any good." Bernard argued.
"I had some suspicions but I wanted to be sure before meeting Stanislas."
"What suspicions?"
The priest bit his lips for the longest as he watched the trembling hands of the king. He wasn't sure if this was the right time but the truth was overdue. "Your father and every king before him was aware of the deeds of Gideon; your ancestor. The first king." Stanislas gulped as he knew what words were to be followed in the narration. Nevart looked at the curious faces of the three brothers before speaking in a low voice "The throne never belonged to your family.. It was stolen!"
Shocked marred the faces of the young royals. This was something huge for them.
"This.. this is untrue." Frederick whispered in disbelief "You are lying!"
The three brothers looked at their father for some comfort but Stanislas bowed his head in shame. He always thought that the burden of this truth would be entrusted only when one of his sons ascended the throne. It was the best kept secret of the family.
"Gideon was good at his words." Nevart continued "A manipulator. After the great wolfs death he sided people with him, gained their trust and established himself as their leader. A conniving man I must say. He was successful in overthrowing every other alpha in competition becoming the only choice left. He became their savior and tried his best to destroy the history of the wolves so that no one remembered the ancient wolf."
Stanislas stood from his chair in a trance and moved ahead to the big paintings on the wall. A series of oils representing the family lineage on the display. He swiftly moved past every photo until his eyes stationed on one particular man. The wolf who started it all.
"He was like no other. Whatever we are is because of him. A leader in true sense. The only thing he was afraid of was the prophecy."
Up until this time all the young royals knew what prophecy their father was talking about. Bernard spoke his mind again "It was a folk legend." It was more of a question.
"Everything is true." Stanislas spoke in a trembled voice again. Fear evident in his stance "The prophecy foretold that the Elemental would be born again and so will the beast in a body of his choosing."
"That could be anyone."
"Exactly." Nevart sighed "Gideon was frightened to the core for he knew that his lineage would be threatened once the beast was reborn. Like the man he was he spewed hatred among people for the couples of the same gender. He claimed that every bad thing happening in the pack was a sign; a bad omen attached to the same gender mates. He accused them entirely."
"People just believed him?"
"He was their favorite leader. Why question him? Besides a lie told a hundred times weighs heavier than the truth." Stanislas weakly smiled as he strode his feet in the direction of his friend.
"What about the Elementals?" Bernard asked in curiosity.
"What do you think?"
Bernard's mouth lay hung open for he realized what his father implied. Gideon was the reason for the extinction of the Elementals.
"He hunted them in secret and blamed the same gender mates for cursing the holy people. Besides, without their leader there was hardly any protection for the Elementals." Stanislas huffed.
Wallace looked irritatingly at his brother. His intellect questioned the wisdom of the people back then "Why did no one raised any objections about this? I mean you cant just believe anything someone says. Queries are bound to rise after all."
"Trust is something that you earn over the years." Stanislas sighed "People thought that the chosen wolf would lead them to prosperity but he brought them all down. He cared for none and so people hardly noticed his absence. But a wolf pack needs a leader. Their social selves demands that they must follow a lead. Hence Gideon was chosen. He made people believe that he did everything for their wellbeing. He gave them what they wanted or what they thought they wanted. His influence was such that people demanded the king that same gender mating be banned or punished. Gideon did the same. He ruthlessly attacked packs and wiped out his enemies or the people he thought would go against him. He instilled such a fear in alphas that the pack used to present the mate pairs to king as a peace offering."
A complete silence overtook the conversation. All the men were deep in thought for their own reasons.
"Generation after generation, every king knew about it. That means they always lived in fear." Wallace looked at his brothers and spoke with an unknown expression "This will be our fate as well."
This wasn't going too well with Frederick. He thought that a lot of the problems could have been worked out had his father been open about it. A collective wisdom was necessary and taking the right step at the right time would have solved their issues. However his father chose to keep all the knowledge to himself which brought the royals on the brink of a disaster. He huffed angrily at his father.
"You knew everything! You had every detail to move forward and yet you always remained a step behind. Haven't you ever wondered that blue moon pack produced the strongest alphas in the world? Maybe you should have zeroed in on that pack! Had it never occurred to you that the powerful beast would require a powerful human to be reborn again?"
The question caught Stanislas off guard as he looked at the accusatory gazes of his sons and was cornered "It wasn't as if this possibility was ruled out but you see there was a catch.. The prophecy never mentioned the birth of a demon or the beast sharing a body with someone else."
"This is so stupid! You once told us that the beast fought with some demon over his mate."
"Precisely my point. Why would you agree to share anything with your enemy? Besides everyone thought that the demon part of the story was just a myth. Something created to exaggerate the actual happenings. Apart from the ancient wolf no one ever saw the demon."
Frederick ran his hands through his hair in frustration. The more they discussed about it the more anxious he got. It seemed as if the three brothers had formed an unspoken alliance against the king and the priest. They looked at each other with concern and were at a loss of words. It was too much to take in. Their father's over confidence had put put their futures in jeopardy.
However their main concern was the enemy. If what the priest said was true than Einar was indestructible. No one would be able to stand against the mighty power of the mythical beast. The legacy their forefathers had built was on the line just like that.
"What are our options now?" Wallace asked hesitatingly.
And that was the question. The king and the priest had devised the plan to over smart Einar but they never thought of a back up plan. They were so sure about Einar getting killed by Callan that they presumed victory before hand.
Nevart and Stanislas were both clueless at this moment. The king leaned on his chair as he entangled in fingers in nervousness. Nevart took the lead and spoke in a meek voice "Without the locket I have no hope of controlling Einar. The entire power of the beasts have assimilated into him. He will feel them inside of him. He will be more stronger than you can imagine. He will have no fear now. More importantly it would be very tough to mess with his mind again. He will have control over his powers and soon will be able to use his beasts at his beck and call."
The brothers understood what was being told. The turbulent ocean had calmed for good. The fog had lifted its cover for Einar to see more vividly. His mind was now unassailable.
"So you are saying that we do nothing and let the man take over our kingdom."
"I never said that." Stanislas quickly replied "We wont attack him until and unless it is necessary. For now we stay low and out of his way."
With measured breaths Frederick asked in despair "Is that the only way?"
Stanislas and Nevart looked at each other with defeat. The king gritted his teeth and closed his eyes "Its the only way to survive."
****