Chapter 6

Ishar's bare feet hit the ground and alternated in hurried strides, his chest heaved and the muscles upon his legs burnt in protest for being pushed too hard. Gods help me! He prayed as he leaped over a fallen trunk and landed without breaking stride. Ishar was fast and he had incredible endurance but regardless of the pace he'd put on he could still hear the heavy thumping of paws behind him and the unmistakable growl of the Yendw wolves surrounding him.

Ishar wasn't sure what direction he was running, he had been confident in his knowledge of the layout of the land but adrenaline and fright had scrambled his mind and the only thing he could focus on was placing one leg before the other. If it weren't for the full moon he'd have already tripped on several logs laying on the forest floor or collided with a tree. He thanked the Gods for the moon once more then felt the irony of it for it was the Gods who'd placed him in the path of the Yendw wolves.

Ishar's hands flailed in the air either side of him and his cloak was pulled back by his momentum revealing his bare chest to the cold of the night. I'm going to die! I'm going to die! He tried to push away the thought but the steady thumping of heavy paws behind him dissuaded his ability to do so. I'm going to die a virgin! He felt like laughing at such a thought, there he was at the brink of death and his none existent sex life suddenly seemed to matter.

He pictured her face. The dark skin that he longed to touch, the green eyes that will never know his own, the white hair that he'd have given anything to feel or smell. It was a pleasant thing to die with her in mind. Ishar had spied on her numerous times as she went about her daily water fetching routine and in all those times he had never taken the initiative to avail himself to her. He would die without her ever knowing he existed. Niada! His chest burned from the run but her name scorched his insides even more.

He'd been running for several minutes when something occurred to him, the wolves should have already caught up to him and brought him down. No man can outrun wolves and he'd be a fool to think himself capable of doing so. The Yendw wolves were indeed giving chase and were hot on his trail and on either flank but they didn't seem to be doing anything else other than herd him in a specific direction. He found it odd but that didn't slow his stride, fear didn't give him the luxury to ponder further on the wolves' bizarre behavior.

Trees flew past him in the semi-darkness and gloom of the forest, his legs protested further the abuse he was laying on them and sweat dripped down his brow. Ishar knew he couldn't hold on much longer, he considered running headfirst into a tree to knock himself out, that way the wolves would just devour him without him being conscious enough to be aware of it. He was about to bludgeon himself on an oncoming tree when he spotted a faint orange glow in the distance, he didn't know what it was but he decided he would rather meet fate by whatever it was than the jaws of the wolves chasing him. Ishar sprinted towards the orange glow.

When he got close enough he noticed that the source of the orange glow was a fire in a clearing with a figure huddled beside it in a grey cloak. Ishar stepped into the clearing and sprinted for the fire, he grabbed a piece of wood that was feeding the fire and pulled it out. Ishar turned around with the burning piece of wood in hand to confront the wolves. He hadn't even acknowledged the presence of the person crouching by the fire in his haste to acquire a weapon.

The wolves kept to the darkness and circled the furthest reaches of the glow cast by the fire. Neither wolf made any attempt to approach Ishar. His heart was thumping heavily as he jerked the wood and its flame from side to side, "COME ON!" Ishar screamed. "COME ON YOU BASTARDS, COME AND GET ME BUT BE SURE I'LL TAKE ONE OF YOU OUT WITH ME!" One of the wolves at the edge of the clearing growled and Ishar turned and faced the wolf while baring his teeth, he too growled in challenge.

The figure sitting by the fire chuckled. "You're a peculiar one.", said the stranger in a deep voice. Ishar turned to face the person who'd spoken and didn't seem the least bit shaken by the wolves surrounding them. The stranger was definitely male from his tone of voice. He was draped in a grey cloak that fell over his head and was wrapped loosely around his body as a subtle act of defiance against the night's cold. The man lifted his head to face the boy who'd invaded his territory and Ishar let out a gasp and dropped the flaming wood he'd been holding on to. Violet eyes stared at him from within the cloak.

"You're...you're.." Ishar struggled to form coherent words. The eyes, the eyes the stranger had revealed were rare in the Kingdom, so rare that Ishar had never seen anyone else with them save only him. "You're Kolotian!" Ishar exclaimed. The stranger let out another chuckle and pulled the cloak off of his half naked body to reveal reddish brown skin covering sinuated muscle. He had dark moppy hair that were twisted into numerous locks that fell on either side of his head. Ishar marveled at the tips of the man's fingers for they were blue like his own.

"You're Kolotian." Ishar said, unable to move but gawk at the man crouched beside the fire. The man stretched his limbs and sat fully on the ground. He didn't speak, instead he just looked up and down at Ishar making the boy uncomfortable. His gaze finally met Ishar's eyes and Ishar took a step back for the eyes that were only recently violet were now green. The man's skin transformed too and the reddish brown skin retracted upon itself and in its place was dark skin. One lock of the man's hair suddenly turned white and the change spread out in an arc around his head transforming every strand of hair from black to white.

Ishar let out an unmanly short scream and fell back, he started crawling away from the fire only for the wolves around the edge of the clearing to scramble towards the direction he was heading for, hence dissuading him from such action. "Goddess Meena protect me!" Ishar muttered in prayer.

"DO NOT SPEAK HER NAME!" bellowed the man sitting by the fire. Ishar stiffened and turned to face the man. "Call her name and I will have the wolves devour you before she answers." said the man.

Ishar swallowed hard. Something told him he was in the presence of something inhuman, or rather something that had transcended human boundaries and if Ishar were to cross him he would meet a fate that would be befitting the lesser being that he was. He lay on the ground, observing the man who had been Kolotian but was now a Talisi. "Who are you?" he asked, his voice trembling.

"I have a better question for you, Ishar." The man's deep voice rumbled and Ishar stiffened, the man knew his name! "You swear by the Gods, talk of the Gods and pray to the Gods yet the only God you know is the Goddess Meena, can you name another God?"

 Ishar started trembling and shook his head from side to side. He did not know the name of any other deity besides Meena.

"Speak up boy!" Commanded the man.

"I don't know any other God!" replied Ishar.

The man tilted his head back and laughed, his laughter shook his entire body and the muscles on his chest and belly rippled in effect. The man stood up abruptly and made his way to Ishar. He wore pants that were as grey as his discarded cloak and the pants reached the top of his calves as Ishar's did. As he approached his skin colour changed back to reddish brown and his green eyes turned to violet. His mop of white hair faded into black and when he finally reached where Ishar lay he crouched until his face was inches away from Ishar's.

Ishar could smell the man, he smelt like burning wood . The man's face had a chisel shaped jaw and a stubble of dark beard that lined it. His brows were thick and a faint scar traced a vertical line between them to his hairline. His nose was slightly crooked as if once broken and one of the teeth he bared at Ishar was silver. Ishar tried to avoid meeting the man's eyes but he couldn't help himself, he watched as the violet hues of his eyes started fading and in their place was the amber glow similar to those of the wolves that had chased him "Name's Ovek." said the man. "Now you know one more God."

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