Silver Wolf
This is the story of the silver wolf.
Zaccheus was doomed to many lonely aeons as the silver wolf while he waited for his destined mate Cassandra.
His favourite form to take was the silver wolf.
His senses were at their peak when he was in wolf form. That way he could always be in tuned when the signs were present to show him that Cassandra was about to be reborn in this world again.
Being an immortal he had no need to hurry as he bade his time to wait for Cassandra to be reincarnated.
When he was bored, he would meddle in kingdom's affairs and helped to make or break kings and emperors.
It had been so long that he thought Cassandra would not be reincarnated anymore. Until one day he felt her soul calling out to him.
It was a voice, loud and clear.
"Zaccheus. Find me. It will be another 500 years before you can find me but start looking for me now. Look for the 40 thieves," and the voice died.
Hence began his obsession with the 40 thieves and their descendants. One generation after another lived and die. No signs of Cassandra.
On the 500th year, on the final day of the year, he was losing hope that maybe he heard it wrongly. Maybe she never reached out to him. Perhaps it was just a figment of his imagination. As he fought his urge to close his heavy eyelids, suddenly the dark sky was illuminated in front of him. Right then, he saw a light in the sky, a shooting star at the break of Dawn. He felt tingles all over and deep inside an elation grew, mixed with excitement and extreme joy.
"She's here. She's finally here. My Queen is born," he beamed in relief. Now the rest was so much easier that eternity had ended for him.
**********************
Back in present day.
"You know that your husband has old wealth accumulated all over the world? Malabar is only one of them," Zaccheus smiled his charming smile that melted Theeya's heart right there and then, turning her legs into jelly. Fortunately she didn't stumble as he held her arm to lead her to the dining hall.
The doors to the dining hall opened wide and everyone turned to look at Theeya and Zaccheus.
Announcing the arrival of Mr and Mrs Zaccheus… no sooner the sentence finished, Zaccheus was tackled to the floor by Jeff.
Theeya could only let out a gasp as both men dueled right in front of her. Jeff was clearly on the losing end as his face was punched repeatedly; one could barely recognise him now as his eyes were swollen shut, his lips split in two places, his nose obviously broken and blood trailed down to his white shirt.
"Enough! Jeff! Zaccheus! Stop!!!" Theeya finally found her tongue and shouted at the top of her lungs.
Both men stopped in a tangle of arms and legs on the floor while Dawood, Hameed and Hamood stepped forward to pull Jeff away from Zaccheus who looked mostly unruffled. His hair was still held in place by the gel he applied earlier, just like how the movie star would always have impeccable hair not a strand out of place after a fight in the movie.
"I think we should leave," Theeya told Zaccheus.
"No, my darling wife. We just got here. Come let's eat," he casually pulled a chair from the nearest table and motioned for Theeya to sit. Before she could even decide to sit down and stay or leave, she heard a familiar voice calling out to them.
"Come join us, Theeya," chubby Dawood beckoned them over to their table.
Zaccheus shrugged and led Theeya to across the room. He nodded politely at Dawood before settling Theeya in her seat and took his seat to her left.
The table was tense for awhile as all eyes were on the handsome couple.
Dawood cleared his throat and broke the ice.
"Welcome back, Theeya. Congratulations on your wedding. Come eat! Don't stand on ceremony. Our quest starts tomorrow! We need all the energy we can get," he started reaching out for a piece of the bread and the rest of them started breaking the bread, ending the awkward silence.
Jeff was no where to be seen. According to Dawood, the twins Hameed and Hamood brought him to seek medical attention for his injuries. The evening went by without any further dramas. Theeya was shown to the guest room where she was supposed to share with Zaccheus.
"No water bed, thank God," Theeya let out a sigh of relief as they entered the room.
"Water bed?" Zaccheus raised his eyebrows.
"Never mind, it's just that Dawood's inn or motel has this water bed in its presidential suite. The first night we were there I was horrified," Theeya's cheeks flushed as she thought back of how embarrassed she felt with Jeff on that first night which seemed so long ago.
She was still head over heels in love, or rather infatuated with Jeff and that high school girl obsession was over now. She actually married Zaccheus. Theeya glanced at Zaccheus who was smiling at her with adoring eyes.
She shrugged and announced: "I'm using the bathroom first." She then shut the bathroom door and locked it before Zaccheus could respond.