The Abandoned boy

5.unexpected news

Adam pov

Apples? Zane can smell apples from the bracelet. That can mean one thing. But we can only be sure after we find her, and I didn’t want to get too excited.

We went back to the creek and searched for anything else. This time I asked for a couple of warriors to accompany us. Except we didn’t find anything. We had almost given up when one of my warriors came up to me and bowed in respect. “alpha, there is something you should see.”

We followed him to the dense part of the woods. Normally no one went there. We hid beside a huge tree. I didn’t know what to expect. Then pointed to a tree right in front of us. I squinted at it. Nothing seemed suspicious until a door opened from the trunk.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. A door. A whole door opened from the trunk of that tree. I was staring mouth wide open like a short man wearing a huge, brown cloak. He got out looked around and with a snap of his fingers he disappeared. He was no longer there. There was no evidence of anything suspicious anymore.

We retreated silently. I instructed through mind link to my group of wolves to keep silent until we reached our packhouse. I suddenly felt unsafe in this part of the woods. There are many magical beings here but I didn’t expect them to be this close to us.

I called an urgent meeting for our council, which consists of alpha, beta, third in command, and our head warrior. This is a serious matter to be discussed among us.

“How come we never found out about a tree that is a hideout for some weird guy who disappears at the snap of his fingers?”

I still couldn’t digest it. “All this time I was thinking the place was safe enough. Didn’t the guards on duty notice anything?” I looked at my head warrior.

“Alpha, there are no reports of suspicious activity,” he said.

We need to find out more about this. “I think he was a wizard. We didn’t notice any special smell. Wizards do have the ability to conceal their scents from us.” Zane pointed out.

But their realm is far away from here. What is he doing on our pack grounds?

“I need to spy on them. I want to know what they are up to. They cannot just hide in a tree within our pack boundaries like that.”

“Zane, I need you to be in charge of this. This is serious. Having a wizard hideout so close to our packhouse?”

Zane nodded. “ I want some trusted warriors checked on the activities near that tree at once. Tonight, I’ll see to it myself. I suspect they would be most active during the night when everyone is sleeping.”

Our head warrior bowed at us and hurried out to carry out the given orders.

“Well, that’s it for now. Do you have any ideas of what they might be up to?” I asked.

Jason frowned. “Wilma the witch could know about Wizards”

Wilma was a witch who lived on the outskirts of the pack boundaries. Six years ago, she was banished from her clan because she stood up for what she believed in – equal rights for Wizards and witches. She came to us and begged for a place to stay, and I let her when she took the blood oath. She chose to stay in the outskirts so that she could practise her powers without bothering anyone.

“ You are right. Looks like we need to make a trip to her place.” Zane said.

“Or I can just call her and tell her to come over. This is not the medieval times you know. We have mobile phones to use.” I said.

“Yeah, why didn’t I think of that” Zane muttered face-palming himself.

I called Wilma, with two rings she picked the call. “hello, Adam. You need my help.”

“Well yes, you know already?”

Of course, she does. It was her gift to see the near future. She chuckled in response.

“I’ll be there in a jiffy”.

It was a matter of a few moments before Wilma appeared in front of us with a puff of white smoke.

“Does all the witches and wizards have the power to appear and disappear like that?” Jason inquired.

Wilma chuckled. “It is a spell. Only the high wizards had access to it. I kind of stole it from the palace when I worked there. I wanted all the witches and wizards to be able to learn spells. But...well that didn’t happen.” She looked at us one by one and I watched as her green eyes changed golden. She most probably was having a vision so we waited for her to speak.

Suddenly, she started to breathe hard. “Visior!!!!!!” she screamed. And her eyes changed back to green.

“Are you ok?” I asked. I have never seen her react like this before. She shook her head. “The path you have chosen is very dangerous. But if you succeed you will be doing a lot of good for the victims. Remember, there is no going back.”

I was dumbstruck. What? The path I have chosen?

Just then Jess entered with Luke. Wilma looked at him intensely. She went to him and kneeled to his level. “sillllver........” she whispered so silently it was almost inaudible to anyone. But with our enhanced hearing I am sure everyone in the room heard her.

“what about our son Wilma?”

She looked at me shocked. “He cannot be your son.”

“Yes. I adopted him, is something wrong?”

She looked at Luke again. “can I lift his shirt? I would like to check something.”

Jess looked worried. “It’s ok. We can trust Wilma. She had always been a help for us for the past six years.”

With that she lifted his shirt. I saw her expression change to a happy one. “My master” she bowed. Luke kept looking at her. He didn’t appear to be confused by her reaction.

“ok, what is going on? Why are you calling him master? I need you to explain Wilma.” I hated being kept in the dark.

“Of course. I call him master because he is my true master. His real parents are our true king and queen.” She paused for a while and looked at Luke. “They were killed.....” she looked uncertain. “Should I continue with him here?”

“yes” Luke was fast to reply. “I want to know what happened. I overheard my uncle say that he killed my mummy daddy when I was a baby. I ran to my sister and told her everything. Then the bad guys took her away.” He said.

Wilma’s eyes widened. “Aisha was taken away? Oh my.....our kingdom is in great chaos. Don’t tell me they drove you away too, your highness.”

Luke looked down. Wilma hugged him. “ let me tell you something. Your parents were the justest and kind rulers we ever had. They were working for equal rights for everyone. I don’t think the king’s brother liked it. So he killed the king and queen and was wanting to kill you and your sister too. But he couldn’t because you are special. If they kill you the whole Kingdom will fall apart. You are born with the special mark and there is a prophecy that the one who is born with the mark will bring harmony among the mystical beings. You will only die when you have fulfilled your purpose. If anyone tried to kill you before that, that person will have to face the curse of black death. So he dared not try to kill you. And they couldn’t take over the throne because a prince, that is you were there.”

Wilma turned to me and bowed. “Alpha Adam.

My respect for you has increased today tenfold. You don’t know who you have taken under your wing. He is said to be the most powerful wizard of the century....but we will have to wait for him to turn 15 years. Then his powers will be fully developed. I’d be honoured if you would allow me to teach him how to control his powers. He may seem powerless now, but soon, on his eighth birthday, his powers will start to surface. He is the chosen one after all.”

I was dumbfounded. “ And all this time we thought he was human!” I said as Wilma chuckled.

“This is not the real reason we called you here. We found a hideout disguised as a tree in the woods. And someone who could disappear as you do came out of it.”

Wilma looked worried. “I think we should start his training as soon as possible. If I am not mistaken, your birth was on the fifth month of the year when the full moon was at its highest. So your powers should start to manifest then. I am sorry your highness. I know you are young. But we need to be ready for anything that might happen.”

“ I am ready,” Luke said. I looked at his eyes. His silver eyes seemed to shine like that of a star.

Luke was not human. He is a wizard. And a prince at that. I kept looking at him. He is my son now. I didn’t care. I love him already. I looked at Jess. She was silent.

“so Wilma, when do you plan to start his training? You can use the spare room in the packhouse. I don’t want Luke too far away from us.”

Wilma nodded. “That can be settled. I will come back tomorrow with some of the things I would need.” Then with the snap of her fingers, she disappeared.

Jason looked at Luke. “so I finally meet Luke. I am Jason. I hope you like it here.”

Luke smiled and climbed up to my lap. “ yes. I love it. Now that I have mamma and Pappa with me. And no one here hurts me as uncle did.”

“oh, no one would dare hurt you here. If anyone does just tell me, I’ll punish him” Zane said. Luke giggled. “ I wish my sister Aisha can be here with us. She was the only nice one back in the palace.”