THE WHITE LONE WOLF

The wind howled, the thunder clapped, and the leaves whispered. Amidst this chaos, a white wolf stood on the hills of Leschan. Calm and watchful, he gazed through the mist of rain, shaking his fur as the rain poured down on him. Azariah always cherished the rain, never missing a day outside in the downpour. He believed that rain cleansed the heart. "The heart needs to be purged of its filth. Without reconciliation with nature through elemental forces like rain, sun, moon, and stars, we are nothing but empty vessels with impure souls," Azariah would often tell Luke, the only person he spoke to in Leschan. Azariah roared, causing the rabbits and other forest inhabitants to scurry to safety. The mood of the forest shifted quickly. Sensing something was amiss, Azariah snarled, scanned his surroundings, and ventured into the heart of the forest, rain beating down heavily on him. There, he encountered Shadowpack scouts, enemies of the Leschan empire. Stealthily climbing a tree, Azariah observed the scouts setting up camp amidst the battling winds. "They must have lost track. The rain has erased scents and footprints. What are they doing here?" Azariah whispered to himself. With no time to waste, he had to inform Luke. Racing through the trees, Azariah ensured minimal noise as he moved. All houses were locked as the members of Leschan were safely locked in from the heavy downpour. Luke's house was in the Upper class settlements, he was one of the chiefs of Odesian, the ruler of Leschan empire. Azariah was not looking forward to encountering the guards of the upper settlements, but he knew he had no choice. As he approached the gates of the upper settlements, he slowed down his pace and approached cautiously. "What business do you have here, Azariah?" One of the guards roared, his voice mixing with the howling wind. "I am here to see Luke son of Ragnar," Azariah replied with the same boring tone he always use to answer whenever they ask him. "One would have thought they would be bored by now with this question. Who else do I look for in this place?" Azariah whispered and gritted his teeth, as he tried to control his anger and urgency, he didn't want to arouse their suspicion. "And you couldn't wait till the rain is over?" Another guard asked. And Azariah lost it. He roared and stood on two paws, his physique was enough to make other wolves tremble. He was still in his wolf-form. "Open the damn gate!" He shouted. Luckily, an older guard arrived at the scene and he immediately informed the younger guards to open the gate. Azariah didn't wait, he sped immediately the gate was opened. Azariah got to Luke's house and immediately transformed into his Human form. He knocked on the door and Luke's youngest sons opened the door. Azariah swept him off and he snickered. Azariah threw him up and turned on a spot, soon another of Luke's child ran to meet them requesting him to be thrown up. They eventually walked to the living room were Tosah, Luke's mate was dishing out food with the kids. Azariah dropped the kids and walked towards Tosah, he wrapped his hands around her, bent and kissed her protruding belly. "You are wet, go and clean up," Tosah said in her stern voice though she was smiling. Azariah chuckled and kissed her cheeks "He is in the forge. Odesian requested more swords for the eleventh division," Tosah said and Azariah nodded. Apart from being a chief, Luke was also a swordsmith. Azariah walked to the basement of the house were the forge was located. He could hear the grunts and sounds of Luke welding swords. "I hope Tosah gives birth to a girl, we need someone as fierce as her around here," Azariah said and Luke laughed. "I want another son, a fifth son is a good omen," Luke said. He stopped what he was doing, wiped off his sweats and hugged his friend. "You are wet," Luke said. "Yes, your mate already mentioned that," Azariah responded and picked up a clothe to dry himself. "What is it that brought you here in the midst of a heavy downpour? I thought you would be on the hills enjoying the rain," Luke said and they both sat down. "I was doing that till I saw the shadowpack scouts," Azariah said. Luke's demeanor immediately became serious, his nose flared and lines of frowns formed on his brows. "The shadowpack scouts?" Luke whispered. "Yes, and before you ask me if I knew what I saw, I know what I saw and they were definitely on Leschan territory," Azariah said. Leschan and Shawdowpack were neighbor empires, they shared borders and that has been one of the causes of their long-standing clashes. "The Odesian must hear about this, we must call a council meeting. The shadowpack scouts are never always up to something good," Luke said and stood, and he began to pace. "The Shawdowpack scouts?" Both Luke and Azariah swiftly turned and Luke cursed under his breath. "Hell! Can you walk like a proper wolf and stop moving around like a f*****g snake!" Luke shouted furiously. "Sorry, I can't help it," The intruder said and smiled, his eyes shining with mischief. "And this is?" Azariah asked , looking at the two men, one extremely angry and the other amused. "Niklaus, Tosah's step brother," Luke said. Azariah had always heard about Niklaus from Luke and Tosah, but he had never met him. From what he heard, Niklaus was half-wolf, half-specter. "Hello, you must be Azariah, the orphan. We would get along, we are both outcast," Niklaus said and Luke looked at him as if he wanted to throw him out of the house. "Well, that's one way to put it, Niklaus," Azariah said and cleared his throat. "Sorry for the interruption. I came down here to tell you that you have a message from Odesian. Two of his guards are at the door. Do you think it's about this Shadowpack scouts thing you both were talking about?" Niklaus asked and stood akimbo. Both Luke and Azariah looked at each other, and Luke took off to see the visitors.