I beheld an animal of a breed that I had never seen come to this size. As big as a horse, fur as black as a moonless midnight was a wolf. Whatever breed it was I didn’t know but to be of such size it had to be a very far breed from those wolves I was accustomed to. Its head was well equal to mine in height, but far larger. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjyKJ8HDsIk
Staring at it something tickled at the back of my mind. My wards, something was tinkering with my wards, not triggering them but probing them. Stepping back from the edge of the trees I cast my eyes about but I couldn’t see anything. I looked back at the wolf, staring deep into its eyes, and there I saw something, an intelligence not native to any animals I'd ever encountered. This wolf was not a primitive creature; yet it was not quite sentient, a primal, potent and above all I sensed the lethality radiating out from it. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6SnlarW2mb
Then I could sense it, so subtle it almost slipped beneath my notice. It wasn’t just observing me with sight and sound, I sensed an incredible subtle mind probe. I stood stunned and speechless at the presence of a creature that was already physically a thing I had not known could even exist and on top of that, it had psionic abilities. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHMHixQdVDR
This was not a young creature either, its hide bore scars that could be seen through its shaggy black fur which I could see wasn’t the pure black I first thought it to be but was riven with gray and its yellow eyes bore wisdom won through the trials of a life hard lived. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWofxRHODrJ
I saw movement, coming up all around the large black wolf was other wolves, these ones were mostly smaller, their fur different colors varying as you would see on any wolf. There was one not much smaller than the black wolf, its fur was russet, its eyes were green, unlike its kin this wolf didn’t radiate a quiet lethal aura, but rather a calming one when I stared into its eyes. Staring at all the wolves before me I quite realized that if they attacked I was very unlikely to survive, without my helm, and possibly even if I’d had it. With every ward on my armor, every weapon at my disposal they would rend me physically and potentially psionically. I was outmatched, outnumbered and had few options. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM2j6M1oei1
I decided to go with the first option that came to my mind and I prayed to Afgara it would work. “What do you want?” I asked, speaking with words even as I allowed my emotions to express freely, hoping they would understand this. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0n0pwczxju
As I finished speaking the black wolf simply shook its great head then turned to look at the smaller russet colored one. The two stared at each other for a moment before looking back at me. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ayQYtYhZC
A probe then touched upon my mind, I hadn’t even sensed it coming, I simply sensed nothing one moment, then the next it was there, questing at the edges of my mindshield. When I met it with my own, words were not exchanged but instead images and strong emotional resonance. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡENfV705Ckz
I saw Zehal, moving freely, a sense of elation upon seeing this, wonder and some confusion. Me, reinforcing a perimeter, faceless behind my helm, inscrutable, unknown, but no sense of fear emanating from Zehal. The pack is confused, yet elated. They want to draw in, they want to guard as is their charge, but there is already one there, one to whom they can see Zehal looks to for guidance, so they circle, they wait, they watch. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJjOVbKLbET
Then, after I watch Zehal and I enter the wagon, I come out but this time without my helm. They can see me, scent me and as they do so they sense nothing of the darklings that stole their charge, nothing of darkness at all within me, but instead a radiating light that pushes back the dark. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoUQfeKsVug
Now I look upon myself through the eyes of the russet wolf and they see me with a crown of light upon my head, a crown crackling with energy and I feel a resonance within this wolf, a sense of kynship. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFtfJuhvtoj
I step back as I disengage with the probe, my senses returning to me as I stare at the wolf through my true eyes. She has wandered closer now, her green eyes staring up at me and as I stared back I felt the impulse to reach out and it tentatively sniffed at my gauntlet before accepting my touch and as my armor came into contact with its fur I both saw and felt an energy exchange as this creatures and my energy flowed between us for a moment before I jumped back, heart pounding as I stared, heart pounding and the wolf stared back, seemingly unfazed. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7tanWkr2r2
I then saw, almost as one, all the wolves turn to look at something to my left and I felt a presence at my side and I knew it was Zehal before I turned to look at her. She was holding my helmet as she stared wide eyed at the wolves. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg3Dw0cgmhC
“What…” She trailed off before she could even start the sentence as her eyes fell upon the russet colored wolf who stared back at her with what I could almost describe as a fervor. Almost as I had, Zehal reached out but with both hands as she stepped forward and instead of tentatively sniffing at her the wolf embraced her touch and as Zehal embraced the wolf, the wolf hung its head over Zehal’s back, returning the embrace. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZH4bjHDXjw
I simply stood there, watching the pair before realizing Zehal had dropped my helmet and I stooped to retrieve it. As I came to my feet I found myself staring into those two yellow orbs once more. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCtHxbC4tbM
The aged wolf stared at me for a long moment before I felt a gentle probe against my mind and, this time shielding myself I reached out to it. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡujSNmPBmbH
Blood, fire and ice, the world was pain and rage mixed into a flurry of battle. Hooded figures lashed out with clawed hands and there was fire, ice and blood everywhere they pointed. They barred the way to them with the reluctant ones, the ones who were filled with terror, desperation and pain. Many of them lay dead, many more charged at me and I slew them too, all the while confused as to why they were here. I did not smell the same corruption from them as I did from the Hooded ones, I smelled none at all in fact, just blind terror and a desperation to live even as they died to my and my packs fangs and claws. If only they were not here, if only we could reach the hooded ones, reach our charge and… 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCtfKts5Yxv
Then we all sense it, we all see it, a nova of pain and agony washes over us as we sense the great mothers wounding. She is laying in the snow now, her lifeblood draining from her as she screams with rage, then agony, not at her wounds, but at the child lifted from the cradle on her back. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQCyIsQ95NY
Our fervor grew, our rage became unchecked and we tore through the reluctant in a headlong charge that not even the Hooded ones had time to react. We were among them, tearing through them even as they tore through us, yet we charged undaunted. Finally, a few of us broke through their ranks, but too few, too few… I howled with pain as I felt the deaths of my packmates yet charged onward we did. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXSTGJqTTAk
When we reached her her blood was still steaming in the snow, a fang of the enemy still planted in her back. She looked up at us, I could just make out her eyes through the tangle of her red and gold hair, her green eyes met mine and a thought burned into me, branded there forever. “Find her! BRING HER BACK TO ME!” 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYpZfPxfpe4
I rocked backward as the connection broke, stumbling I began to fall before I felt my back come into contact with something soft, yet firm. I looked down to find that black wolf had gotten in behind me and braced me with its body, preventing my fall. I stood, pushing off the wolf and feeling that same strange energetic connection break as I did so, the sparks of it danced across the fingers of my gauntlet. I stared, wonderingly at it, then to the wolf, then, I remembered what it had shown me. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ64IgJp0v6z
The Hooded Ones, they had been the Vrokandin Varr, I recognized that much easily, but the woman… Despite having barely seen anything of her face, the resemblance to Zehal was striking enough with the hair alone. The greatest difference had been her blazing emerald eyes. The child… 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvfqGRdVjuE
My mental thought process trailed off as I turned to see the russet wolf and Zehal still embracing and realization dawned on me. Zehal had been the child, these wolves, they were her guardians, searching for her ever since she was taken. Sparks flew across my gauntlets again, but this time they did so in tandem with the anger that coursed through my heart. The Vrokandin were responsible for much pain, so much agony in the world. They were a black pit that pulled in everything they could greedily find and only ever on the rarest of occasions did something ever emerge from that darkness. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxgEo5zZoRT
I looked down at the black wolf and I nodded. “She has been found, you can take her back to her mother, to her family.” 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNklqdXfe2E
The wolf understood me, or, at least maybe my emotional resonance, either way it hung its head and I realized that it wasn’t that simple. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG1d984mILn
I turned to look at Zehal who had now pulled away from the russet colored wolf and was scratching it behind the ear which it seemed to be loving intensely. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeoWXaX8CwB
“Dead?” I asked of the black wolf in a low voice, quiet voice. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0a51ItG7Cb
I felt a distinct no from the wolf, but also a feeling of confusion. I realized it didn’t know, it just either knew Zehal’s mother wasn’t dead, or simply refused to believe she was. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsymEeJg4uE
“I understand.” I said as I stooped to pick up my helmet for the second time. As I lifted it from the grass I heard Zehal’s voice. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡabaKiLH8J9
“You understand what?” As I straightened up I saw her staring at me, the russet wolf sitting next to her, its green eyes scanning the treeline. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkoThUc0wkG
Turmoil surged within me as all that had been revealed to me flashed behind my eyes. Could I tell her? Could I not tell her? The wolves had chosen to show me, had they already shown her? If not, why not? If so, why show me? Confusion at what to say boiled within me as I finally spoke. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡig3QlnG3NO
“Speaking to and understanding these wolves is difficult, I’m just trying to communicate to them when I understand them.” 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPiaYdC5DQw
She nodded. “I was having a little difficulty at first but I’m finding it much easier now.” She started scratching the wolf down the back and it closed its eyes as it leaned into her scratching hand. “They… they want to protect me for some reason.” 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5uLqJpgN6n
“Yes.” I nodded. “You mean a great deal to them, I think.” 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGn9HFEIRlX
“But why?” She asked me, confusion in her eyes. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnD2G70tpdk
“I’m not entirely sure.” I said truthfully. “But now I understand a little more why you’ve been so bottled up all your life, why the Vrokandin never even so much as let you see a forest. It was because they were afraid of what was searching for you with fang and claw ready for them. I am not sure who or what you are Zehal, but whatever the answer to that question is, it is obvious you are extremely important to someone, somewhere, and they will bend heaven and earth looking for you.” 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR2xdWcJPh9
She smiled and nodded, scratching the russet wolf more intensely with both hands. “I probably have a home, out there, somewhere.” She whispered quietly. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyiiEZArfFW
“Where someone is waiting for the howl of a wolf to herald your coming home.” I added and she smiled again. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZDdtXR8r1z
“I have my wolves.” She said, “And I feel as though a piece of me that was missing has just been slotted into place, I am that much closer to being whole.” 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIP2SpjaEhL
“We’ll find the rest of you Zehal.” I said, taking a knee next to her and scratching the russet wolf with my left gauntleted hand as I held my helm on my raised right knee. “We’ll find your family and return you to them.” 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgJgkDi7E6W
She extended her left hand and laid it on my helm, running her fingers over the left eye lens. “Home.” She said
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