Chapter 13 - Secrets Revealed and Questions Answered

Serenity felt herself shaken awake. She blinked slowly and let out a moan. Light could be seen dancing above the layers snow. The sight would have been beautiful under different circumstances, but today it symbolized more weary traveling and digging with freezing fingers through the impossible snow.

When she looked to her right she saw Tlen's face looking down at her.

“Care for some food?”

Serenity gratefully took the meat from his hand and started chewing.

Tlen went rummaging through their packs with a worried look on his face. “Unfortunately, most of our food supply consisted of bread, and as you know, snow is wet. All of our bread is spoiled. The only thing we have left now is the dried meat.”

Serenity slowed her chewing as the words sunk in. They weren't even to the top of the mountain yet. How would they survive the rest of the journey? A wave of homesickness swept over her and she fought back the pressing tears. She wanted so badly to be back on Earth with her family. They would probably be enjoying pancakes right now with maple syrup and butter on top. Then an even more sickening thought crawled into her mind. What if her family was worried sick? They'd probably contacted the local news station and police office by now. They all probably thought she was dead or kidnapped.

She half smiled at that last thought. She was kind of kidnapped. She was taken here against her will and was being led to a place that for all she knew was Zarayne's palace.

“Where are we going?” It came out a bit harsher than Serenity had wanted it to.

Tlen looked at her. The inquiring look in his eyes couldn't be mistaken. “What?”

“After we cross the mountains, where are we going?” Serenity kept her eyes pasted on the wall of snow in front of her. If she looked at him, her courage would melt and she'd lose her confidence.

“Would it even matter if I told you? You don't know any cities or towns or forests, so why ask?”

“Because I need to know.” She could feel the resolve in her start to fade.

Tlen sighed. “Okay. It's not like I have anything to hide.” He felt the guilt creep into his heart. He was hiding everything from her. Everything. “There's an elven village where I have a few friends. Zarayne would never dare enter the sacred realm of the elves, so I'm going to keep you there as long as possible.”

Wow. A real elven village. Serenity was expecting him to say another dumpy town like Minnin. Then yet another question came to mind.

“How do I know that I can trust you? I-I mean, I don't really know you,” stammered Serenity.

Tlen perked his head up and looked Serenity directly in the eye. A look of sadness passed over his face, but just as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared. He turned his head forward and sighed. He had to tell her now.

“Serenity, there's a lot you don't know about this place yet, so let me straighten out a few things. As you already know, people who are born with Wolf blood are mainly evil and their eyes are red. Zarayne also has Wolf blood and it-it allows him to do…unnatural things.”

Tlen took a deep breath before he continued. He didn't want to tell her, but he had made up his mind.

“Well, when you have Wolf blood, you have to make an extremely important decision when you turn ten. You have to choose whether you will use your Wolf blood to do evil or good. Zarayne makes sure all of them choose evil and they become his faithful minions, which is when their eyes turn red. Never has a recording of someone choosing good been made.”

Serenity listened carefully, not quite sure what this all had to do with Tlen, but she remained silent.

“Zarayne had a son. Of course, he had Wolf blood and when he turned ten, Zarayne did everything in his power to make his son turn to evil. The boy's mom wasn't evil and he loved her very much -“ Tlen's eyes looked pained and faraway. After taking another, shaky breath, he continued. “Zarayne's son chose good. His ey-eyes became white. Pure white.”

Serenity stared in disbelief. Tlen was Zarayne's son.

She could barely breathe. Just because he'd chosen good over evil didn't change the fact that he was Zarayne's son.

Tlen looked back at Tlen. His face was red and he looked like he was about to cry. “If you don't trust me, you have every reason not to.”

“Why are you protecting me?” Serenity's voice was barely a whisper.

“There was -is -a prophecy. It was written years ago, before anyone alive can remember, not even the elves. A young ranger stumbled upon it one day. It goes something like this:



When a wolf of white is born

His father gives birth to scorn

His life is forever in danger

Until the day he finds her

The lady living on distant reach

Found only by musical speech

She controls the green in Fayrah

And protected by the wolf of white



“Pretty much, it sums it all up. When I chose good over evil, everyone knew I was the wolf of white.” Tlen closed his white eyes. “But I cannot protect you if you are unwilling to except my guardianship.”

Serenity couldn't believe it. Was she really so important? This place was very strange. It made no sense. Questions flew freely around her head, a jumble of confusement and fear.

But out of all the questions came an answer. Serenity looked back up at Tlen, resolve reflecting in her eyes.

“You were born for this, as was I. If I was to refuse your guardianship, both of us would die.” She reached her hand out and rested it on his. “I will go with you.”

Something behind Tlen's eyes lit up as he looked at her. He knew there were mysteries that neither of them knew, but he was ready to uncover them with Serenity at his side. He gripped her hand firmly and pulled her to her feet.

“Then let's get moving.”

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