5.Stone Walls

I woke up with a pounding headache, my body aching, and for a moment I didn’t know if I was safe. Slowly, I realized I was in a cave. Memories of Kaven and the woods came back, and my chest tightened. He had forced me to leave him.

Then a woman walked in.

“You’re finally awake,” she said.

I sat up quickly, my hand moving to protect myself without thinking.

“Don’t worry. I won’t bite,” she said with a small smile. “I’m Gilda. I found you passed out in the woods.”

She reached for my hand, but I didn’t take it. My hand moved down to my thigh instead. I ran my fingers over it in disbelief. The scratches and the blood were completely gone.

“What happened? My leg… it’s healed,” I said, shocked. “Did you…?”

Gilda shook her head. “No. You healed on your own.”

I blinked at her, still trying to understand. My heart was racing. How could that happen?

Gilda stared at me for a moment, then told me to rest a little. She said she would bring food and let me freshen up. She called out to someone while preparing a fresh set of clothes for me.

I kept looking at my thigh and then at the scratches on my face.

“Where am I?” I finally managed to ask.

“We’re still in the forest,” she explained. “But here, it’s a lot safer than wandering in the wild. The others and I call it Stone Walls.”

I nodded. Two other women came in, both looking like they were in their mid-twenties, carrying bowls and towels.

“You should eat,” one said, nudging the bowl toward me.

“You shouldn’t be out there alone,” Gilda said, stepping closer. Her eyes met mine, and I froze mid-bite. “There’s news of the Talon beast hunting in the woods.”

She knows about Kaven. She hesitated first, then added, “Not when your blood could do that.”

My breath hitched as fear crept in. I moved away from her and she let out a soft laugh.

“How did you know that…what are you talking about?” I whispered, my voice cracking.

“I saw you last night in the woods,” Gilda said, her voice low. “Your blood… it glowed in the dark. I know this because I’ve met someone like you.”

I swallowed hard, unsure of what to say.

“Who are you?” I asked, my brows furrowed as I tried to make sense of her face.

“I can see you have a lot of questions. I will gladly answer you, but first eat, freshen up, and then we have all the time in the world to get you those answers.” She gave me a warm smile that actually felt genuine. “Trust me. We’re not going to hurt you,” she assured me.

I did what she said and cleaned myself up. They gave me black pants and a tank top to wear, which felt better than the rags I had been in. She helped me out of the cave, and I stopped in my tracks. Massive stone walls rose up around us, surrounded by towering trees and the sounds of birds. It was beautiful. I felt so much stronger than I did yesterday, and it was still hard to believe that my body had just fixed itself. It was almost sunset. I had slept almost the whole day.

I stood there and watched the others for a minute. Some were training while others were busy preparing weapons. I counted about ten women and four kids.

“We have been hiding here for a few months now, just trying to stay alive. We don’t know how long we have until other rogues find us and invade,” Gilda said, stepping up beside me.

“Manora,” I whispered, finally giving her my name. She just nodded and kept that same warm smile on her face.

As we walked toward where the others were training, I couldn’t keep the question bottled up anymore. I needed to know what she meant about my kind.

She went quiet for a second, then told me that when she was only eleven years old, she was a slave. She and her mother had managed to escape from the north along with a few others. Among the group they escaped with, there was a woman just like me. A woman who bled gold.

“She was different from the rest of us,” Gilda said softly. “The way she moved, the way she survived things that should have killed her. My mother told me she was part of something ancient. I never thought I’d see that light again until I found you bleeding in the bush.”

I looked at my hands, thinking about the father who had used me as a pincushion for years. He knew. He had to have known that I wasn’t just a defective wolf, but something more than that.

“What happened to her?” I asked, my heart hammering against my ribs. “The woman from the north?”

Gilda stopped walking and looked me straight in the eyes.

“She gave herself up to save the rest of us who escaped,” Gilda said quietly. “My mother always said her blood was a gift from the moon itself. Even though I can’t remember much, I know she was powerful. She was powerful enough to wipe out half of the guards on her own. Seeing you last night, I knew exactly what you were.”

I stood there in silence, trying to process her words. I had spent my whole life being told I was broken and weak. I never imagined my blood was actually a weapon.

“Is that why I healed?” I asked.

“It’s why you’re still alive,” she replied.

Before I could say anything else, a loud snap came from the trees behind us.

We all froze, our heads turning toward the sound as the women reached for their weapons. Then we heard it. A howl, and suddenly, wolves coming over the walls and charging at us.

The others shifted into wolves around me. I felt cold fear, but a strange heat was stirring in my blood, making me want to fight back.

Gilda pulled a blade from her belt as the first massive wolf landed in the dirt, its eyes locked on the children. She told me to take the kids to the cave. I hesitated but grabbed them and ran for cover.

“What do you want?” Gilda snarled.

Deep growls answered her until a familiar voice broke through.

“You have something…someone who belongs to me,” Damien said. My heart pounded as I hugged the kids closer. Gilda told him he was wrong.

“I can sense her blood,” Damien threatened. “Don’t make this hard. You’re just outcasts, and I won’t think twice about ripping out your throats.”

Gilda denied there was someone here, but Damien didn’t believe her. He called out my name, his voice echoing into the dark of the cave.

“I know you’re in there, Manora,” he yelled. “I’ll let my men feast on what’s left of your friends.If you don’t come out.”

He paused for a second, then added, “We have a lot to catch up on. Don’t you want to know how Selene is doing? Or your father?”

If I go out, he’ll kill them. If I stay, he might find another way in. I have to find an edge.

He let out a bitter laugh, mocking which made my stomach twist. A second later, I heard the sound of a claws  slashing through skin. Gilda let out a pained groan, the sound of her choking on blood making my stomach turn. Then everything erupted into chaos. I heard weapons clashing, deep growls, and screams cutting through the air.

The kids screamed in my arms, their small bodies shaking as I tried to comfort them. I held them tighter, my heart hammering against my ribs. The sounds from outside were brutal, and I knew Gilda and the others were losing.

I knew I caused this, and guilt was suffocating me.

Before I could even think about going out there, the loudest snarling growl I had ever heard shook the entire stone wall.

I didn’t even have to look. That growl sounded more animalistic, more like a beast than anything I had ever heard before.

I knew that sound. And It could only come from Kaven.

The violence outside suddenly went quiet for a heartbeat, replaced by the heavy thud of something massive hitting the ground. The kids stopped screaming and just stared at the entrance with wide, terrified eyes.

Even Damien’s voice was gone, replaced by frantic shuffling. Kaven was here, but he wasn’t the man I knew. He was the monster everyone was afraid of.