THE ISLAND WOLF - EPISODE 25

It felt like just ten minutes lying down on that hard earth but in reality, Dakar was there for almost an hour. He was reminiscing his memories. He remembered his mother’s face, his precious mother. For years he couldn’t remember what she looked like. All he knew was he had a mother. Oh! How he missed his kingdom. His best friend and their adventures. The game nights where he always wrestled and won. Everything came back to him.

“Dakar?”, Avril’s voice sounded. He sat up surprisingly. He waited for five minutes but didn’t hear her voice anymore.
“It must have been my mind”, he said as he stood on his feet. He was sweating so he went to his room and took a shower. He wore one of his old wooly trousers he had brought along with him the day he arrived. He ran his fingers through his wet jaw-length hair and dampened it with a towel. Then he sat on his bed and rested his head on the rock wall.

He didn’t want to think about his kingdom or his loved ones. He didn’t even want to think about Avril. If only he could leave reality even if it was for a minute. He would be very grateful to not have any worries for one minute. But was that possible? Not worrying about how to get the demon out, not worrying about hurting Avril, not worrying about the second part of the prophecy he had been scared to even think about.
It was possible though, because he soon fell asleep and didn’t worry about all that anymore. He slept for three good hours and it was one of the most peaceful sleep he had ever had. As if the universe granted his wish of no worry.

He got on his feet, tied his hair in a short ponytail and walked to the living room. He was very surprised to see Avril standing in the middle of the room, facing the fireplace. He stood watching her for five minutes as she tried to open one of her candy. Her fingers kept slipping so she couldn’t open it. She sighed and stopped trying.
“Let me help you”, he said and she startled and turned to look at him. She seemed to calm down after looking at his face. She stretched forth her hand with the candy and he walked forward and took it from her. He opened it immediately and handed it back to her. She placed it in her mouth and gulped down saliva with difficulty. She rubbed her neck and sighed. Dakar could see the lines formed on her neck from his hand. He looked at his hand and tightened his fist. Avril saw what he did and the look on his face. She smiled and embraced him. Her hands encircled his torso and her face pressed against his chest.

Dakar was more than surprised at her sudden action. He didn’t hug back. He didn’t even move.
“I thought I was going to die”, she muttered.
“I thought the last thing I would see were eyes that were not yours”, she added. Dakar softened. He was afraid she was going to be scared of him and hate him. He had hurt her twice but she still trusted him. He hugged her back and stroke her hair as she cried.
“I’m sorry”, he said. He couldn’t say anything else.
She disengaged from him and looked into his eyes.
“So glad to see they’re green”, she stated with a laugh. He smiled at her. “I wish I didn’t hurt you. I’m so sorry”.
“It wasn’t you. I realized that. Dakar, tell me what’s going on with you. I know you know. Tell me, please”.
“Not now. I need you to get better first. Sit, I’ll get you some warm milk because I know your throat hurts”, he said and helped her to sit down.
“Not yet. The menthol candy’s still in my mouth. And yes, I have a terrible sore throat”, she replied.

“Are you hungry? Should I get something for you to eat?”.
“No. I’m not hungry”.
“First time”, he chirped and they laughed.
“I will still get you some soup, though. I think I have the perfect ingredients for a sore throat”, he said and turned to go. Avril looked up at his figure and her eyes caught sight of the tattoo behind him. The body of a wolf sprinting forward. It was a perfect drawing. All the outlines of the wolf showed well and even the fur was portrayed. The statue had that same wolf but Dakar’s own was more realistic.

“Come to think of it, I don’t even know anything about Dakar’s past life. I didn’t even ask how he got cursed”, she said to herself.
Thankfully, after lunch of only thick hot cinnamon soup for her, Dakar decided to tell her what he remembered. They sat under a tree outside.
“This morning, I went outside after laying you down and I… I touched the statue”, he started.
“Don’t you… always touch…it?”, she croaked. Her voice had changed to deep and cracky.
“I do. But something happened this time. I… I got my memory back. I remember everything and I know where I came from now”, he said. Her eyes bulged in excitement.
“Really? Tell me”, she demanded.
“Uhmm”, he said and cleared his throat nervously.
“I am Remusian. From The Kingdom of Remus. Remus means “twin raised by a wolf”. Our ancestor, Remus was the twin brother of Romulus. They were both raised by a she-wolf and they both founded the city of Rome. My ancestors went and formed their own pack after they found traces of wolf characters in their body. They later found out they were not the only ones who were shifters.”, he began.
“Shifters?”, she asked.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Shifters are humans that can shift into a type of creature at will. I’m a wolf shifter, the kind of Werewolf that can shift at any time. There are other kinds of werewolves and wolves. There’s the lunar wolves, they shift under the full moon. There’s pure wolves, those normal ones you know of. We can communicate with them and control them. They get hyper active under the full moon”.

“How come I’ve lived with you all these months and I never knew any of these?”

He chuckled then said, “Because you never asked.”
“Anyway, continue”.

“I was talking about my kingdom. I am the second son of King Castor and unfortunately, the only surviving son. My elder brother died in battle. My mother was a princess from a faraway pack before becoming Queen or Luna of my father’s pack—”,
“Dakar, you’re a prince?”, Avril asked unbelievably.
“Yeah. Didn’t I ever tell you?”, he asked back.
“God! No! You never talked about your—”, she began to cough and he quickly handed her a jar of water. She collected it and sipped it with difficulty, even though she took it gently.
“Sorry”, Dakar mumbling.
“Thanks”. She gave him back the jar and he dropped it beside him.

“Prince, continue”, she jeered.
“Don’t tease me. Keep calling me Dakar, never ever call me Prince”, he ordered and his tone showed he wasn’t joking.
“All right, Dakar, do you mind continuing?”, she said with a smile.

He chuckled and continued.
“Well, my father hasn’t really been a good Alpha. By the way, Alpha means the leader of a wolf pack. And pack means a community of wolves. My dad loves women too much and he has a whole quarters for his concubines. My mother never cared about them, because she was a concubine too before he married her. My mother however hated my concubine, Ñiraka. After spending one night with her instead of going to watch over my sick mother, I got beaten up by her guards. She asked them to beat me up mercilessly. But if I wasn’t with Ñiraka, I’m sure she wouldn’t have—”
“You are so foolish, you know”, Avril barked and Dakar was taken aback.

“Huh?”.
“Your mother was sick and needed your company, but you chose a woman’s body instead? Were you that daft?”, she asked. Her voice got clearer immediately and Dakar wondered if it was the anger that cleared it.
“Yeah, I was stupid. But she shouldn’t have ordered for me to be—”,
“Yes, she should have. If I were your mother, I’d have you hanged. What’s with men and lust. Just because of a concubine? Disgusting”.

Dakar watched her as she crossed her arms and looked away, rolling her eyes and muttering things he could hear clearly.
“Some stupid girl… What did she have that made him lose his sanity? Eww… I can never understand men.”

“You know I can hear you, right?”, he asked with a smile. She looked at him and scoffed.
“I’m going inside. Just looking at you right now irritates me”, she stated and stood up. She began to walk away.
“Hey, I’m not done with the story!”, Dakar yelled after her.
“Tell it to yourself!”, she yelled back as she stormed away.

Dakar had felt the aura radiating from her. It wasn’t anger, it wasn’t hate. It was jealousy.
“But what is she jealous of?”, he muttered to himself. But deep down inside him, he knew what and why.