Chapter Four – Tracking the shadow.
The Madam’s body was numb from the fall. Her eyes shook with pain.
The soldier kept pulling the whip with Margaret while enduring the beatings at his back. The sticks weren’t painful and Evelyn was enjoying the beat she was making.
The soldier let go of the whip and same time pushes Evelyn away from him. She doesn’t expect it and falls to the ground, she begins wailing.
“Sister down” Lydia yelled as she snatched the whip Margaret held and flung it on the soldiers back giving him a taste of his own medicine.
Evelyn’s wails turned to laughter as the man danced to the pain the whip gave.
Some boy in the crowd shouted “more” and Lydia decisively lashes the soldier again. Madam Lara was trying to crawl away now.
It was like a town charade. Some children threw Madam Clara’s dirty tomatoes at the soldier for coming to embarrass his ranks.
Horses neighing as they ran towards them made Margaret stop whipping the soldier and threw the whip into the crowd.
“What is going on here?” one of the horseman shouted as he pulled his horse to a halt.
No one answered. “Somebody answer me?” the soldier shouted again. Still silence. He brought out his sword for effect but no one still said anything.
There were all soldiers, soldiers from the kingdom of Craitan which bullied the small village Evelyn and her sisters lived in.
They’re were not very religious as they worshipped many idols so they had no specific mode of conduct.
Reporting to them what happened will bring no justice, they were all unjust. The soldier saw Evelyn sitting on the ground and came closer to her.
“Young woman, what happened! Why is this soldier weeping!”.
“Sir” she started with a teary voice. “Madam Lara just began yelling at us. She had earlier insulted a little boy. She then told this soldier to flog me and my sisters.
I accidentally kicked him in the groin while trying to stop him from flogging me. He just laid on the ground crying since then” she increased her cries.
Everyone kept a gloomy face, trying to make Evelyn’s story seem true. The soldier on the horse glared at the soldier on the ground.
“Pathetic” he cursed as he began riding away. Lydia smiled mischievously while helping her sister up.
“Nice acting. Be an actor not a soldier” Lydia winked. The girls laughed as they walked away from the crowd.
They felt like heroes who just saved a poor child from a big hungry monster that was going to devour him.
Their laughter soon died down when they remembered the situation that had brought them out of their home in the first place.
“Oh, I am really not going back home” Lydia folded her arms grumpily. Margaret did the same.
Evelyn also didn’t feel like returning but they had no where else to be. They were just helpless orphans.
“Did anyone hear or see the shadow lurking around during that Killer Wolves attack?” Evelyn asked her sisters as they strolled in the forest.
“The only sound I saw was the growls of the Killer Wolves. The only sight I saw was death” Lydia sounded poetic.
Evelyn frowned, “I am serious. It had the figure of a man. It better not be what I’m thinking”.
Margaret hurried to catch up with her sisters. Her weight seemed to have doubled only from eating three unripe tomatoes of Madam Lara.
“Let’s go find out then” Lydia gave her evil smirk and the three adventurous sisters went deeper into the woods. Margaret picked a stick along the way, just in case.
They walked into the sounds of the forest and buzzing off wild bees.
Deeper, they came across a cave with claw marks on it’s surface.
Lydia suggests they leave immediately but Evelyn's curiosity is turned on so she declines. She could be on her way to revealing a great stranger amongst them.
Lydia followed her sisters cautiously, grabbing a stick of her own. She couldn’t die at seventeen.
“They’re fresh claw marks on this cave” Margaret noticed. Lydia freezes as her eyes landed on something even more alarming.
A red haired wolfman was flexing his claws on a nearby rock. His body had blood and it seemed he had just killed an animal, hopefully.
His back was against them but Evelyn was sure he was the owner of the shadow that had helped them during the Killer Wolves attack.
Lydia was now tugging on Evelyn’s shoulders that they should turn back.
“Wolfmen are bloody. We should not engage” Lydia quotes their Uncle’s usual line to them.
“We are free now. We don’t need listen to whatever Uncle said” Margaret counters immediately. Lydia frowns. Wasn’t whatever he said still valid for safety?
Evelyn picked a stone and threw it at the nearby river besides the wolfman prompting him to turn around. They all hide behind the cave, peeking slightly.
The wolfman had reddish eyes but they were not scary but shiny. And his lips were plump and pink and didn’t look rough.
His red hair also spread across his broad shoulders and his shirt was hanging on his shoulders making his chiseled chest visible.
He narrowed his eyes at the stone for seconds. Lydia narrowed her eyes at him. He seemed awfully familiar but she couldn’t place how she knew him.
Margaret began swooning, “He's so gorgeous. Sarah was right. These wolfmen were irresistible” she cackled quietly.
“They’ll do the same thing to you like they did Sarah” Evelyn shot back. Margaret stayed quiet.
Sarah was a childhood friend of theirs that was said to have fallen in love with a wolfman, she had a name for them. Werewolves. But the villagers preferred wolfmen.
Sarah had disappeared after claiming to be getting married to one of them. She was never seen again and was said to be dead.
“Can we leave now?” Lydia asked for the hundredth time.
Evelyn shrugged since there was no reaction from the wolfman so they could as well let him be.
“He's no fun” she concluded and turned to leave.
A growl stopped them three on their tracks and they retreated behind the cave.
The wolfman smiled and laid besides the stream playing with the water.
“See how gentle he is with water. Imagine how much gentle he’ll be with a woman” Margaret whispered.
Evelyn sighed tiredly. They better get out from there before he’d show them ungentleness.
Chapter Five – The Wolfman. “See how gentle he is with water. Imagine how much gentle he’ll be with a woman” she whispered. Evelyn sighed tiredly. Lydia slaps her mouth off her ears, “Did you hear that growl? That’s what we should be worried about?”. Margaret eyes shot wide with realization. A small killer wolf appears from the bushes. It held a small flower in its mouth. It kept it’s head low and dropped the flower on the wolfman's laps. The wolfman in turn kissed it’s head. “What’s happening?” Margaret glared at the wolf jealously.“What's happening? We have two predators now, that’s what” Evelyn answered. For the wolfman to be comfortable with a Killer Wolf, he could lord one and that wasn’t safe. The little wolf rests on the man's lap while the man places the flower on his head. Lydia recognizes that act but still stays quiet. “How'll we move without that wolf sensing us?” was Evelyn’s new question. “Dustin, do you wanna play?” the wolfman spoke suddenly. The girls
Chapter Six – No one to help.He proceeded in carrying the little wolf in his arms to leave.“Hey!!” Evelyn got back to her feet holding a stick. Margaret shook her head to tell her not to fight back but she knew her sister. Evelyn was stubbornness itself. “Wont you apologize for your pet wolf nearly killing us, huh?!”. The wolfman smirked. Margaret found it unbearable adorable. “But you nearly killed it” he replied, looking Evelyn dead straight in the eye. Lydia wanted Evelyn to stop since it was fair. She was regretting leaving her uncle’s home in the first place. “It attacked us first, we didn’t do anything” Evelyn retorted. “You came to its home to bother him, that’s what you did. Kindly go back home with your sisters” the wolfman said and left. Margaret helped Lydia up while Evelyn angrily broke the stick. “How does he know we are sisters?” Lydia wondered out loud. “We look it” Margaret responded. Three girls wearing the same boring style of dress. With brown
Chapter Seven – Lydia is Loco now. It wasn’t a cave. It was a fortress. Scott led the girls down to the very last wall. He punched a button and a stone rolled open. Another world was behind there. Everywhere green and flowery. There was a small stream that got it’s root from the forbidden river. It excited Margaret. They weren’t any houses in sight and just vast green space. Only small animals ran about, no bigger mammals. After surveying and finding only smaller caves inside the place, Evelyn confirmed that that was where she and her sisters would be staying. Lydia began making weird noises and acting stubborn. She climbed down from Margaret’s shoulder and began running to a tree. Margaret wanted to stop her but Scott held her back, “Let her play”. Evelyn found a less creepy cave amongst the many. It was also narrowed in and had a hole inside. Would be very useful at night. She was the one carrying their heavy bags so she dumped them on the floor and tried catchi
Chapter Eight – Bringing them back.Margaret face slammed. She was embarrassing and so not Lydia-like.Scott handed some of the ‘yummy fruits’ he had to Lydia, with a smile. Again, Margaret was not appreciating his nice treatment to Lydia. She jumped in between them. “I could stay with you while my sisters stay in that cave” she smiled cutely. Evelyn came forward with a frown, “He is staying in a cave as well, what makes his cave difference from ours?”. She knew exactly was Margaret was thinking. And the last thing she wanted was her sister smooching around with some wolfman in the middle of the night, when wolfmen are most dangerous. “Well, my cave has only one person in it” Scott answered Evelyn. She shifted her frown to him. So he wanted Margaret to stay with him? Suspicious. Margaret smiled brightly. “Well, if you don’t count my wolfs, May, June and July, though. I am alone” Scott added with a smirk. Margaret moved backwards. “You have puppies? Let me see” Lydia’s e
Chapter Nine – Law of forest. Two men shrieked as they saw a snake slid by. It was the third wildlife creature they were seeing that passed them without attacking. The forest and its river were called forbidden for a reason but Sylvester had still paid them to go into the forest to search for his nieces. They were so blinded by the huge amount he gave that they broke their own law of trespassing the forbidden forest. A squirrel ran through their legs while chasing after a nut and one of the men screamed his lungs out. The other looked horrified. “Why do these animals not act like animals? Snakes are supposed to attack. Squirrels would avoid humans as much as possible. What’s wrong with these forest animals?” they wondered to themselves. Well, the animals at that forest had an Alpha. An Alpha they believed wouldn’t let anyone hurt them. They were also bonded by a law not to hurt anyone from the village as well. It was the new law of the forest. “How can those girls be
Chapter Ten – A marriage for Lydia. The hunters were surprised to see the girls coming out from the forest like they owned the place. They looked healthy and strong except they had gloom faces. Before any hunter could speak Lydia dragged his net that had little squirrels. The fearful squirrels ran away for their life the moment they were free. “Isn’t this forest forbidden? Why are you catching animals from it?” Margaret pointed at the men. Lydia spared them no dialogue as she targeted their catch and dragged it away, setting the animals free. Some hunters tried fighting for their catch but one look at Lydia’s face made them realize she was meaning business. Evelyn just watched in silence. She was careful not to make an outburst as it would be rude to the hunters. They were just acting on their natural instincts, doing their jobs. It was rather their own fault for running to the forest. She now understood that the forest was forbidden for a reason. The girls stood in
Chapter Eleven – Can’t marry a classmate Her face looked like someone had splashed it with mud because before her was Mrs. Lara and her teenage son with a bouquet of flower. “Did you mistake here for an asylum? What are you doing here?” Margaret asked disgusted. “That’s no way to speak to an in-law or an elder” her uncle spears behind the visitors. “Wow. Margaret is getting married to that kid?” Lydia looked both amused and repelled. Sylvester invited Evelyn and Margaret to the dining room to talk on “important matters”. Margaret had given an evil smirk and followed them. Evelyn didn’t bother. She knew her sister would reject the boy. For his own sake. She collapsed on her bed and let the amazing scenery of Scott’s home fill her mind. She low-key wished she could go back. She was slowing drifting to sleep when Margaret barged into the room, laughing her head out. Evelyn glared at her with half closed eyes. “You won’t believe. That kid is actually getting married t
Chapter Twelve – The Price of his Freedom. Evelyn slammed her hands in the table abruptly. Her hands ached as it was a wooden table but her anger subdued her pain. “Stop messing with our brains. Where’s the dead-now-revived boy, huh!” she looked like she’d hit the old man. Lydia looked calm. Sylvester didn’t look threatened at all by her rage, he had the exact words for her. According to him, the acclaimed boy was now a servant of the priest. It was a Buddhist priest, more or less a monk, and the boy was a servant there. To retrieve the boy is only by adoption and a huge amount have to be paid. Margaret listened with anger but it soon fizzled out as she remembered it could be a prank. “If you think it’s a lie, then ask yourself why Han looks like Lydia?” Sylvester ended his explanation with a grin. He expected to see a sense of realization in their eyes but their eyes only emitted hatred. There was a pin drop silence. Lydia clenched her fists, she raised them to hi