Arrival of the Prophecy (32 page)

“It’s been a long day. Why don’t you come inside?” Anthony said,
walking up and putting his hand around Sky’s shoulder.

“Look what they’ve done in less than a few hours.” Sky circled her
arm around his waist.

“A strong group of people work hard and fast together. My father
used to use the saying, ‘
hardfast
’ for the things he
was serious about. ‘I mean it,
hardfast
’ he would
say.”

“I think it’s a beautiful word to use. Maybe I’ll start using
it…would you mind?” Sky asked turning in his arms.

“I would be
honored
, but know this. He
always told us that one should never lie to a ‘
hardfast
’
for it was worse than breaking anything that you hold dear. He told us that
Mother Earth would never forgive such a misleading ordeal.”

“I really like the way your dad thought. I want our children to be
taught the very same thing, and if they believe it, we won’t ever have to worry
about them telling us a lie,” she giggled.

“I bet my mother said the very same thing.” They stayed a while
longer watching their people move about, then went inside, to the much crowded
hall and foyer. Everyone knew that the upstairs belonged to the family, but the
rest of the estate was free for all the clan to use as they saw fit. The
kitchen was the only room on the first floor that the women held as their own,
warning any man that his life would be in utter danger if he chose to enter. Anthony
had set a meeting for later that night, which all the men would attend, leaving
the women to ready the final things in their own rooms and tents.

Some of the men seemed to be in disagreement, wanting to seek out
and stop the boars before they could attack and harm their families like they
did in the past. Anthony called Parker out, and had him stand next to him on
the steps so every man could see his face. “This man saved my life. He killed a
wereboar
,” Anthony said, getting an automatic cry
from the crowd that led to several howls and yells from others. “Yet, he is not
one of our own.” The crowd calmed as soon as the words left his mouth. “He
protected our men when we went into the back caves on
no man’s land
where the boar’s where staying, putting his life
before others, and yet he is not one of our own,” Anthony said getting louder
as he went.

           
Anthony looked over
and nodded his head at Parker who began taking his clothes off down to his
boxers. He then did as they all do; he bent forward, gripped his chest then
yelled out as his body shifted, until he stood proud as a
wereboar
for the entire crowd to see.

“He’s an enemy!” One man yelled out.

“Are you deaf? He is my friend, and one of my highest enforcers. If
any man here does not like that, leave now and be on your own, because we are
proof that peace can be made,” Anthony yelled, becoming angry at the man’s
ignorance.

“How can this be? We have never befriended their kind. They killed
your parents, and yet you let him live?” Another yelled out.

“My father would never have me avenge his death by killing what he
was trying to accomplish. He was friends with this man’s father, as I am
friends with him. We will become a nation of one if we all work together. There
is no need for any of us to live in fear of the other anymore.”

“What if the boars are out there right now, waiting to attack us?” The
same man asked.

“The elders and I have decided to give them what they want.
The piece of land on the east side of the river.”

“This is madness.”

“They’ll kill us one by one.”

“What
will become of our children?” Many of the crowd spoke up.
     
“I’m doing this for our children,
and their future. Don’t you see? They will have nothing but war to face if we
don’t put this to an end right now. I would lay my life on the line for any one
of you, and I would think that you would do the same for your fellow beast, be
it werewolf, or boar, or any other kind of
were
creature. Some are too small of prides to make it on their own, and others
fear leaving the confinements of their own land, because of the fear of
crossing the wrong plain of land. Why should any of us have that fear?”

“And if the others do not agree?” This came from the first man that
spoke.

“Once they see that we are making progress, they too will join. I
know this as my father knew this,” Anthony assured, as Carter walked up beside
him, tall and proud.

“My father knew it as well,” Parker added in a gruff voice, standing
even taller on the other side of Anthony.

“And together we can bring their hopes of peace to life!” Anthony
yelled at the top of his lung, causing the crowd to go wild.

Chapter Twenty Two

Mohee
lay asleep
on the bed with the girls wrapped around her, one on each side, holding her
tight. Marcus and
Dillan
sat in the two high back
chairs watching them, until they were good asleep, then both stood and left the
room. Marcus told
Dillan
that he had something that
he wanted him to see, hoping that it had not been discovered by his wicked mother.
He took
Dillan
into the study and closed the door.

“It’s over here by the book shelf.” Marcus said stepping up next to
it, and fumbling through the books. “My mind fails me, and it’s hard to
remember which book. Ah, yes, here it is.” Then he took the book down, opened
it and smiled.

“What?”
Dillan
smirked, walking over to
see what he was looking at.

“The key.”
Marcus took
it out of the cut-out in the
center
of the book.

“Guess the ole girl didn’t do much reading.”

“What’s it for?”

“I’ll show you.”

He watched as his grandfather went to the bookcase on the other side
of the desk and pulled out four books off the middle shelf, then reached in and
inserted the key. A clanking sound rang out, and the bookshelf slid open. “It was
your father’s private work room. It was once my own, and now it belongs to
you.” Marcus reached in and hit the light switch. The room came to life with
several sconce-like lights, hanging off all three of the walls, layering the
room in a yellow glow. The fireplace sat at the back of the room and had piles
of wood stacked on both sides. Tools hung off of the right wall, while
unfinished weapons hung on the other. The table that sat in the middle was made
of thick dark mahogany, scarred beyond repair, with an anvil on the far right
corner.

“This is the third one…” Marcus commented, running his hand along
the table, “since your father took this room. See the charred marks on the
ceiling? It was his first year, when he was younger than you are now.” Marcus remembered
shaking his head, smiling. “He created this enormous fire trying to heat the
metal faster. The next thing you know he almost burnt the house down around our
ears.”

Dillan
walked
around the table running his hands along the marks that his father’s hammers
had made, then reached up and smoothed his fingers along the anvil. He told his
grandfather that night that he wanted to follow in his father’s
foot steps
and wanted to learn how to create the amazing
things that he and his father had made. The two stayed in the private room,
building a fire and beginning the first lesson of
Dillan’s
new craft until the sun rose the next day. They found
Mohee
,
sitting on the desk chair when they came out, with a tray of steaming coffee
and muffins, waiting for them.

“I knew where to find the two of you,” she smiled warming both of
the hearts.

Mohee
was a small
woman with a weak hip that kept her from standing for the roll of matriarch. She
kept her hair up in a bun, and now had her cane. Marcus was a tall thin man with
a long
gray
pony tail that hung down his back. His
face was worn and was marked like old leather. But his love glowed as he looked
down at what he thought was the most beautiful woman that he had ever been
blessed enough to see again.

“I prayed to Mother Earth, every night to keep you safe,” Marcus
said, going down on one knee in front of
Mohee
, as
Dillan
quietly slipped out of the room.

“Father Moon was watching this family, while he waited for the life
of that evil woman to be banished,” she reached out running her fingers down
the side of his face. “You look tired, husband.”

“And you bring comfort to my eyes.” He laid his head in her lap as
they enjoyed holding each other.

Dillan
cracked the
door to the girl’s room just enough to look in, and found them gone. “Cara?
Tara?” he called out as he burst into the room. He dashed around the corner
finding Cara, sitting on the toilet, with Tara standing beside her.
Dillan
closed his eyes, then opened them and smiled at the
girls. He walked exited the room and waited for them to come back out. When
they did, they were both smiling.

“I’m so proud of you.” He opened his arms and they ran to him. “Want
to try breakfast with the others today?”

“
Mohee
?”
Cara asked.

“And
Popee
?”
Tara interjected.

“How do you know about,
Popee
?”

“He lives in our dreams with
Mohee
,” they
replied in unison.

“What else lives in your dreams?”

“Others.”
They
sounded like a recording set to go off at the same time. It was uncanny.

“Others?”

“Where are our sisters?” Cara asked.

“I’m afraid they did not survive at birth, but you have a brother
named, Parker,”
Dillan
explained the best he could.

“He lives with the others.” They looked at each other and smiled.

“You mean the others are the werewolves?” he asked, getting a
confused look from them both. “Can you tell me what the others look like?”

“She looks like you,” Tara said.

“And others look like soft hair, with bright orange eyes,” Cara
added, pulling at a strand of her hair.

“They live in our dreams,” they said at the same time.

Dillan
had no
explanation as to why his sisters would be dreaming of the werewolves, much
less the only female that could look like him. But he did tell his grandparents
about what he had found out after the girls had been cared for. He asked the
girls if they wanted to play dress up, then took them into their mother’s
walk-in closet, a place he had once thought of as a hell that they would never
see, until he saw his
Mohee
. He finally knew that
this house never belonged to her, but the
Fortain
family, and would make this room fit for the two future Queens of the
Fortain
, fortune. The girls stood frozen at the door,
looking in with huge eyes at the sparkly dresses that hung on one side, and all
the shoes that sat on the many shelves on the other.

“You two find whatever you want to wear, and I’ll go get
Mohee
, and then we will have some yummy breakfast,”
Dillan
told the girls, closing the bedroom door as he went
out.

He knocked on the door to the study and his grandparents opened it.
Mohee
went to the girls and Marcus went down stairs with
Dillian
to have a meeting with the men that Thomas had
gathered. They spoke of going in a small group to the Michelle estate within
the next few months, to talk about a peace treaty, and see what could be done
to have their Parker returned and for the wars between them come to an end once
and for all. They were totally unaware that Anthony was planning the very same
thing.

Dillan
excused
himself early, going back in to check on the girls. When he walked into the
room where he had left them, he found all three dressed in ball gowns that were
three times too big for the girls, and somewhat
to
tight around the bosom for
Mohee
, and dragging the
floor on all three. They had found the make-up, and like all young minded
females, with the help of
Mohee
, had learned that the
colorful
contents went on ones face.
Mohee
had just as much spread across her face as the twins
did, and a smile to match.

“Do you like, Brother?” Cara asked, standing up, wobbling in shoes
far too big for her.

“You look
marvelous
. You all look like the
belle of the ball.” He bowed at the waist, causing the girls to giggle. “But,
you
Mohee
, I must say look absolutely divine.” Then
he walked in, took her hand and kissed the back of it.

“I should have known you would be just like your father,” she
snickered, covering her mouth with a little white hankie.