Chapter 22: Chapter 22

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Eyes closed in sleep

She begins to drift

And as her subconscious

Takes a peep

At the dream world

She senses defeat

Shattering her world

With no one

To defend it.

- PenaciousShewa

Wanda is seated in bed, her back resting against her huge pillows. She is biting her fingernails in apprehension. Her palms are sweaty and so is her forehead. Her whole body is still vibrating, an aftereffect of the terrible nightmare that she has just woken up from.

In the nightmare, she saw that she and Milos were standing at the edge of a cliff, with their hands tied behind their backs; and they stood facing each other. Kayola was kneeling seven feet away from them, and she was trying to reach out to them, to save her parents from falling down the cliff, but her legs were rooted to the ground and she could not move. Suddenly, without warning, Wanda and Milos were swept off their feet by a very strong wind, and they were thrown down the cliff with so much force, that Wanda jerked violently out of her sleep.

Why on earth would she have such a dream? Does this mean that she will be taken away from her baby? What is this dream trying to tell her?

As she is trying to decipher the exact meaning of the bad dream, Petra knocks on the door of Wanda’s room for a second and walks into the room. She walks into the room and stops in her tracks when she sees that Wanda is already awake, and her facial expression is as that of a person who has just seen a ghost. Petra dashes to Wanda’s side and asks what the problem is.

“Luna, what is the problem? You look petrified!” Petra exclaims, wiping the Luna’s forehead with a towel.

Her chest heaving heavily, Wanda replies, “I just had the worst nightmare of my life, and the thought of it coming to pass scares me greatly.”

“Tell me the dream,” Petra requests and Wanda goes on to give her the details of the dream she had.

“Luna, I cannot deny the fact that I have seen a nightmare similar to this play out right before my very eyes; but at the same time, I want you to calm down. The moon goddess will not let any evil befall us.” Petra says, with a far-away look in her eyes.

“Amen, and thank you, Petra. But, what did you mean when you said that you had seen something like this play out before now?”

“Well, Luna, it is a very long story and I do not think that you want to hear it”

“Of course, Petra, I want to hear it. Tell me,” Wanda asks and Petra repositions herself on the king-sized bed, poised like an ardent storyteller.

“You see, I have not always been a member of this pack. I was born and brought up in a very small and insignificant pack known as the Peasants. We lived on the western side of this forest, the Taga Wereforest. Farming was our only trade and we supplied foodstuff to the Rogue pack and sometimes, they would forcefully take more farm produce than our weak Alpha agreed to give out to them.

Sometimes, the Rogues would plunder our village and have forceful intercourse with the pack females. I was still a child when this was happening, but this image will forever be etched in my memory. We constantly lived in the fear of the unknown, and we were at the mercy of the Rogues.

One cold morning, shortly after I turned twelve, I was sleeping right beside my mother when she woke up from her sleep; she had practically screamed. I asked her what the matter was and she said that she dreamt that I was in a pool of blood and that the whole pack was in disarray. I assured her that all would be well and that the moon goddess would protect us.

However, I was dead wrong because while we were still in bed, the watchman blew the Horn of Doom, and my mother jumped out of bed, pulling me with her. We sped out of our tent and saw that everyone was running helter-skelter.

My mother pulled me and we ran as fast as our yawning legs could carry us. We ran and ran until my mother stopped abruptly. I turned to look at what made her stop and that was when I saw it. I screamed when I saw the arrow that had been shot right into my mother’s head. Almost immediately, I felt two strong, icy hands grab my throat, and I am immediately crippled by the sensation, knowing exactly what it meant. I found myself flung over a soldier’s shoulder and I screamed my lungs out as I watched my mother take her last breath.”

“Oh my,” Wanda interjects.

“That was just the beginning of my pain, as I found myself in the Rogue Territory, and I was raped severally by the soldier who took me. Thankfully, he did not share me with the others; it would have been a worse experience for me.

Every day, I cried for my dead mother and for my ravaged territory. Apart from pleasuring Hector, I was also made to clean a large part of the pack and also cook for the soldiers. Life slipped slowly and soon, I was used to the status quo. I lost hope that things would change for the better, and I got accustomed to my new life. Little did I know that the moon goddess had other plans”

“What happened, Petra?”

“I woke up one morning to work as usual. As I stood up from my bed to change into my work clothes, a hand grabbed me and covered my mouth, preventing me from screaming. I watched as Hector was strangled with the pillow I had used over the night. It was then that it dawned on me that a rescue mission was going on.

I was led out of the room and saw a few slaves who had been captured alongside me, and we were all put on horses. We rode away from the Rogue Pack, leaving the corpses of our captors behind us.

We arrived at the Conscientious Pack and we were immediately greeted by a warm welcome. We were all ushered into our respective rooms and we were given very good food and fresh, clean clothes. I had a good sleep that night, and for once, I did not sleep in fear.

I was given my schedule for the next day and it was the same every day. I was assigned to the kitchen and I did my job very well. I was already twenty-two years old at this time. I watched Alpha Milos grow and I always knew that he would make a fine leader. The late Alpha Stocles treated us so well, and that is why I mourned his death so hard. He gave me, Mira, and the others a new life and saved us from hell.”

“Woah,” Wanda says, “I never knew this, Petra. I am so sorry darling.”

“It is okay, Luna. It is now a thing of the past, and I am thankful for how far we have come. I can say that without the late Alpha, I would have been dead, buried, and forgotten”

“What about the rest of your pack? What do you know about them? Do you know if they survived that attack?”

“Luna, not one day passes without me wondering what is left of the Peasants. I know the way back home like the back of my hand, but I feel like I have nothing to live for; my mother was all that I had, and she was brutally taken away from me.”

Wanda holds her head in both of her hands and thinks for a very long time. She then speaks.

“Petra, I want you to promise me something,”

“What is it, Luna?”

“Promise me that if anything happens to me, you will keep Kayola safe” Wanda requests, staring into Petra’s eyes and holding her hands firmly.

“Luna, nothing will…..”

“Promise me, Petra” Wanda insists.

“I promise you, Luna, to keep Kayola safe until my last breath.” Petra sighs.

“Thank you, Petra,” Wanda says.

They hug and talk for a very long time before they both go downstairs and start the new day.