True Heart
All around him, the barren land stretched as before. Theodore hadn’t felt aimless in his life often, but now, after killing his enemy, he didn’t know where to go. It was an unfamiliar sensation. For decades – for as long as he’d known himself to be alive, as much as his memories could truly belong to him – he had acted based on instinct and rational thinking at the same time.
Was the curse over? He didn’t know. The ruins stood solemnly, reminding him of what had happened centuries ago.
How old was he? He couldn’t recall how he’d gotten to the other side, beyond the veil. It seemed like a kind spirit had taken care of him, transporting into a world where the dead wolves that had destroyed his pack couldn’t reach him.
The sun shone brightly above his head. He’d need the Moon to guide him, but for that he’d have to wait for nightfall.
Theodore began walking slowly through the ruins. He’d have to reach the longhouse, sealed against the evil by his father. There, he’d find answers. The evil dead wolf hadn’t told him everything, and Theodore was certain some of the things he’d said were lies. That left room for his intuition to fill in the blanks.
His mother had appeared, as much of a hallucination as she must have been. Yet, her advice had worked. Without Jack’s glitter of hope, who knew if he’d have been able to break through the fog inside his mind and the noose holding him prisoner?
Wrapping his head around what had happened wasn’t the easiest thing. For a while, he had relived his childhood memories, but they hadn’t been precisely that. No, because they had had Vince and Jack in them. Of course, he hadn’t recognized them, treating them as strangers, but that was enough of a detail to make him understand that he’d been trapped in such memories by the evil that had lured him here.
If memory served, the longhouse had used to be here. Theodore stopped and, for a few moments, took in the blackened remains and the musty wooden logs that hadn’t turned to dust even after so many years. An acute realization of the time that had passed invaded his mind. Even if his mother hadn’t perished that night, she couldn’t be alive, no matter what the dead wolf had told him in one last-ditch effort to save himself. So much time had passed. Wolves weren’t immortal. They did believe, however, in their packs being that, with new generations rising and continuing their traditions.
Whatever the truth was, he had to confront it. He stepped through the opening that a long time ago must have been where the door stood.
At first, he smelled only the vague scent of burnt wood. But how could that be? He knew now that his pack had been destroyed centuries prior to his current visit to these lands. A part of his brain understood, while the other still struggled through the dark.
A soft giggle drew his attention to his left. Nothing was there, but the sharp cry of an infant, not one caused by pain, but by tickling or surprised delight, making him turn his head in the opposite direction.
Everything came alive around him. Laughter, the warm light of a fireplace, and faces.
They were only silhouettes at first. But he was inside the longhouse, as he remembered it, and all the cubs were there, with a few older women, and—
His mother.
Theodore remained rooted in place. He worried that the illusion might fade if he did as little as inhale too deeply.
They had been so happy, unaware of the evil rising below. Theodore blinked and pressed his lips together.
His mother, who was cradling a cub in her arms, looked up. Her face lit up, and she passed the little girl to another woman.
“Theodore,” she said, walking toward him.
“Can you see me?”
“Of course,” she replied. She held out her hands.
He hesitated. Was this another trick meant to make him come undone? But his heart’s desire was stronger.
His mother smiled as he put his hands in hers. “You’ve grown so much.”
“How is this possible?” he murmured.
“You are back,” she said. “We’ve been waiting for you.”
“For how long?”
She didn’t reply. But her eyes searched his face for a sign. But a sign of what?
“Your fight is not over. I’m grateful for this glimpse of you.”
If she was rising from the past to help him, he’d better pay attention. “I must find the wisdom tree, mother. Do you know how I can find it?”
“You need your heart to be true,” she replied.
“True and wild. I know. But what does that mean?”
Her eyes were clear like the sky when she looked at him. “You will discover that on your own.”
“You are not truly here,” Theodore said quietly, even if his heart was breaking.
She shook her head slowly. “Your father’s seal held. But we are trapped in here, just as the souls of the wolves you saved, your father’s, too, until you finish what you came here to do.”
Theodore frowned. “That is what the dead wolf said. Mother--”
He had only moved his eyes away from her face for a moment.
The vision of her was gone, along with the warmth and the laughter.
***
“Do you know what the best thing about this is?” Jack chatted happily.
“I’m sure you’ll tell us, whether we give you our permission or not.”
Skarg cackled. The skeleton wolf took some getting used to, but Vince had to say that he was endearing in his own particular way.
“I lost my boot up there, you know?” Jack continued. “And now, because I’m so well padded, I don’t have to worry about it anymore.”
“You mean because you’re in your wolf shape, your feet aren’t cold?” Vince asked for some clarification. Jack’s mind, after all, could work in refreshingly surprising ways.
“Yes, that. Wolves are lucky not having to wear boots and all.”
“You are so silly.” Skarg laughed some more. “You didn’t know that?”
“Shut up,” Jack groaned. “We’ve only been wolves for a little while, Vee and I.”
“Truly so? But how? Wolves are born… wolves.”
“Unless they’re shapeshifters,” Jack corrected their young, bony friend. “Then they are born… How exactly are they born, Vee?”
“They are born as humans, I presume. Shapeshifting is a skill they all learn eventually.”
“That’s not what I remember,” Skarg intervened. “I mean, look at me. I’m a wolf--”
“But you walk on two feet,” Jack pointed out.
They were walking without a specific destination in mind. But Vince had learned not to fret much about such things, seeing how magic, time traveling, and other incredible things kept happening to them here, beyond the veil.
The landscape had changed some, and he felt relieved that they were leaving the Black Forest behind. The guardians had to still be asleep, thanks to Skarg’s lullaby, and the farther they got, the better the chances that they wouldn’t get attacked from behind were.
“That is true,” Skarg admitted reluctantly. “How come I walk on two feet if I’m a wolf?” he exclaimed, as if that realization had only now dawned on him.
Vince hadn’t thought about it until now, but he found it odd, too. It was as if Skarg – and the others like him – had been caught between one shape and the other. The muzzle and general skull traits were that of a wolf. But otherwise, along with being a biped, Skarg looked pretty much like an average teenager. That is if no one bothered to take into account the lack of any meat on his bones whatsoever.
Great. Now he was starting to think like Jack. But that had to be important. If Skarg belonged with the wolves underground, from where the evil originated, his in-between state said something essential about their nature.
“You’re a special wolf,” Jack hurried to put their new friend’s mind at ease. “I mean, isn’t it cool to be both human and wolf at the same time? Tell him, Vee.”
“Sure.”
“No, no, this is wrong,” Skarg said in a small, pitiful voice. “I should be a wolf. Or a human. And be able to shift. But I can’t!”
Skarg stopped abruptly. Vince and Jack stopped as well.
“What am I?” Skarg asked, looking at them with the empty sockets where his eyes must have been a long time ago.
“Please, please tell me you aren’t having an existential crisis right now,” Jack said. “Come on. You are special.”
“Jack,” Vince warned the seer quietly.
But Jack was determined to make Skarg feel better about himself. “I mean, how many wolfshifters can say the same thing? You have mastered the final form.”
“Where is--” Skarg stopped and pressed his bony fingers to his chest. “I don’t have a heart!”
“You do,” Jack countered. “You so obviously do. I mean, without your big heart, how would we have survived? It was your dead squirrels that did it. Or else, we would’ve been, you know, in pieces. And you even sang the song that put those ugly ass trees to sleep.”
“They will punish me,” Skarg complained. “I shouldn’t have done that. I will be alone again. I don’t want to be alone.”
Jack stood on his hind legs and placed his front paws on Skarg’s shoulders. “Listen to me. Breathe. Okay, I know that’s hardly possible since you have no lungs--”
“Jack,” Vince repeated, this time, a bit reproachfully.
“I know, I know, I’m only putting my foot in my mouth,” Jack said. “But poor Skarg is spiraling, and I must stop him because it’s my fault because I started running my mouth and--”
“You should be the one to breathe, Jack,” Vince advised. “Skarg, are you remembering now about the time when you were different?”
The skeleton wolf had covered his muzzle with his hands in an effort to make sense of what and who he was.
“Is this really the best time to ask him something like that?” Jack asked.
“He already remembers,” Vince said. “There’s no putting this one back in the bottle, I’m afraid.”
***
Jack stared at poor Skarg. Okay, so he had blabbered so much about how awesome it was to be a wolf and not wanting or needing boots, and now he had a skeleton wolf on his hands, one on the brink of a mental breakdown. What was he supposed to do? He was hardly the best choice for a therapist and, unfortunately, he was everything Skarg had at this point.
Since Vee was so convinced that Skarg needed to remember who he was, anyway.
“I do remember,” Skarg started, choking on his own words. “There was… a big battle.”
“Who won? Oh, damn, I shouldn’t ask that,” Jack said quickly.
“Let’s hear it from Skarg,” Vince said, as polite as ever.
“Okay, if you say so.”
“We should have won,” Skarg continued, “but the Moon--”
“Was she there?”
“She punished us!”
“Ugh-okay, not that good a look on her, I guess.”
“Skarg, make a little effort,” Vince said. “You must remember more.”
“We tried to take back our lands. Because a new pack came. They were named--”
Jack had to bite his tongue not to say a word. A glance at Vince convinced him to stay quiet.
“What were they named?” he asked.
“Whiteflame,” Skarg said. “And they were… white wolves. Like you!” He stepped away so quickly Jack’s paws slipped from his shoulders. “You are the enemy! You fooled me!”
“I didn’t! We didn’t! Come on, Skarg, we’re your friends!”
“No, no, I must go back,” Skarg said, walking backward quickly. “I must be with my people. You are the ones who attacked us!”
“We definitely weren’t,” Jack said. “I mean, not Vee and I, at least. We’re two guys from Glasstone, which is a place with big supermarkets and movie theaters.” He was aware he was babbling, but he couldn’t stop himself. “Vee, shouldn’t we stop Skarg?”
“Stay away from me,” Skarg bellowed and began running toward the Black Forest in the distance.
“Vee!” Jack shouted, turning to look at his friend.
Vince shook his head. “Do you think it would be a good idea to hold Skarg against his will?”
“Not really. But now he’s going back to the guardians and they’ll punish him.”
“All that is true, but if we try to stop him, he’ll only think that we mean him harm. As much as it pains me to admit it, the guardians are Skarg’s people, not us.”
Jack couldn’t go against Vee’s logic, which pissed him off. “But--” he tried to argue some more. “Argh, you’re right, and I hate it!”
“I’m really sorry about that. We must find Theodore, Jack. If it’s going to be within our power to help Skarg, we won’t hesitate.”
“Pinkie promise?”
“Of course.”
“Damn it. I can’t even pinkie promise properly now,” Jack said, as he lifted one paw. “Maybe it’s not that great being a wolf all the time after all.”
“What about the boots you don’t need to wear?”
“It’s an advantage, but don’t try to change the subject. We just abandoned one of ours to the enemy.”
Vince was staring behind them, in the direction in which Skarg had disappeared. “If he was capable of becoming our friend, maybe this enemy is not made up of only bad wolves.”
“Deep,” Jack commented, still holding onto his grudge. Why did Vee have to make so much sense? It was annoying. “Where to now?”
“I don’t know, but I feel like it’s about the right time for a clue or a sign.”
“Don’t tell me you’re illogical when it suits you.”
Vince shrugged. “I am logical enough to understand that this place has its own logic. It’s still daylight. That means that we should find our way back to Theodore before another night falls.”
“Is that the extent of your wisdom?”
“For now, yes. Jack, don’t be pissed at me for letting Skarg go. You do know it was the right thing to do.”
“Just admit that you aren’t strong enough to hold back a skeleton kid wolf who tries to run back to his shitty family.”
“Shitty or not, it’s still his family.”
“Hmph.”
Vince didn’t say anything more, making Jack steal a glance at him. The guardian’s silence didn’t have much to do with his being annoyed with his companion, to Jack’s relief.
But it had to do with who had just decided to join them.
“Ah, the wisdom tree,” Jack said. “Tell us quickly. Was it a wise idea for Vee to let Skarg go?”
The nehesh hissed from between the heavy branches. “Yes. Wise indeed.”
“Let your friend do the talking,” Jack snapped. “Sorry,” he added quickly, “I’m not usually such a brat. Only when I lose a friend. Or at least a potential friend.”
“The boy belongs with the pack he’s from,” the wisdom tree spoke in its steady, calm voice. “You would have stirred the wrath of those below too soon by preventing him from returning to them.”
“When you put it that way,” Jack agreed. He looked around. “Where is Theo? We need to get to him in a hurry, but we don’t exactly have a map. We’re pretty much counting on you for directions.”
“We cannot give you directions,” the wisdom tree said. “Theodore has won half the battle. It is still up to him to win the other half.”
“What do you think of that, Vee? It’s like we’re being told to wait.”
“You are,” the nehesh said.
“Will we be waiting for Theodore?” Vince asked.
“Yes. You cannot influence his choice when it comes to pass,” the wisdom tree said, as benevolently as ever.
“Bull--” Jack swallowed his words. “This doesn’t sound good, though. What are we supposed to do? What if he chooses the wrong thing?”
“There is no wrong thing,” the wisdom tree replied. “He must decide where his heart lies.”
Jack turned to Vince. “I really don’t like the sound of this. And don’t bother to ask these guys, as awesome as they are, for more details. They will only stuff your head with big words that can be interpreted in a thousand different ways.”
“We speak clearly,” the nehesh insisted.
“Yeah, according to you.”
“Jack, I do think what’s being asked of us is quite clear,” Vince intervened.
“Really?”
“Yes. We must trust Theodore. And his heart.”
“Damn. You’re right,” Jack agreed. “But what if he doesn’t choose us? I feel like it’s going to come down to this. Us or… something else. What, like his pack?” Once again, he turned toward the wisdom tree, standing tall in that barren land, the only thing alive and green in it. Well, not the only thing. There was also the nehesh, as well as him and Vince.
“His heart will guide him,” the wisdom tree assured him.
“Why don’t I feel that reassured?” Jack said out loud.
“Because you must also be true to your heart, clever seer.”
“True to my heart,” Jack mumbled. “Easy-peasy. I mean, how hard can that be?”
TBC
Author's note:
@Derek - you're not wrong that we're getting closer to the end, but there are still about 9 chapters left :) Skarg will find his happy end, too! Even if it's not a romantic one. There is one - I believe big - surprise left.
@Mark Mortland - it's summer, I imagine people go vacationing, so I didn't worry :) I hope your absence was because of fun reasons. Everybody loves Skarg! He's such a puppy, lol.
@DavidB - I plan on having a decently long happy end! I hope it will feel rewarding. And thank you for all your kind words!
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