Chapter 82 Journey of Betrayal
ELIJAH
I’d made the journey alone. I didn’t want to bring anyone into this, especially due to my history with them and also because I knew this wasn’t going to be an easy trip at all.
I wouldn’t forgive myself if anyone I brought along got hurt because of me. Hazel had wanted to come along and I told her no from the very beginning, and Aiden tried his luck as well.
“Guys, it’s not an issue of being a lady or not, I just can’t take you with me on this trip.”
“Why?” They’d asked at the same time, which almost made me smile.
“I just can’t. I mean, what if something happens to either of you? What will I tell the pack? That I went to see the same witches that were responsible for the death of their former Alpha?”
They were hated by the entire pack, not just me.
“And what if something happens to you out there? Don’t you think they will ask why we didn’t go with you to protect you?”
That sounded like a good thought but it still didn’t change my mind at all.
“I’m sorry guys but no, you’re not coming with me. Nothing will happen to me, I’m sure of it. And don’t even think of following me secretly, I’ll know.”
Actually, I wouldn’t know and I really wished that they would follow me secretly—I didn’t want to have to speak to those women myself.
Not after what they’d done, not after the way they had let my father die without lifting a finger.
I’d been the one to make the trip on behalf of him. The elders said that I had to be the one to go because the witches would only accept someone who has a blood relation to the sick.
My father didn’t want me to go but he was too weak to fight me. I’d only been a little boy then so I thought they were fighting for my father to get well.
I should have known better. I should have known that they didn’t want the best for any one of us.
I had no idea where I was going but I just went. They’d given me some old map to follow and that was what I used as I walked deeper and deeper into the thick forest alone.
My fear hadn’t been to die, my fear had been for my father to die. I didn’t care if I died in the process, I just wanted to get there in time and make sure that they came to save him.
So even when I felt so weak and my water and food had finished, I didn’t mind. I kept walking, telling myself that my father depended on me.
I finally got to them after what felt like forever, a little boy in front of five witches who looked like they would snap the life out of me with their eyes alone.
“What do you seek, little one? You’re a long way far from home.”
I swallowed, not knowing how to start or what to say.
“You’re here for your father right?” One of them spoke up and I quickly nodded.
“The origin of your problem is not very far from your home. The one responsible is within your house, the evil is so close to you. He wants to be Alpha and feels like he has been robbed of it. He feels you’re too young to take over. So he sent you here to die. I mean, why didn’t they tell you that you are not supposed to enter without a blindfold? They wanted you to be struck to death.”
Back then, everything they were saying sounded like a foreign language to me. I didn’t understand any of it.
“Little boy, go home. Your father has served his time, it’s time for you to step up.”
That I had understood and I didn’t like it at all.
“Please, you have to help me. I don’t want my father to die. He’s everything to me. He got poisoned and his body is decaying quickly. Please help him.”
They laughed, that high pitched sound that dealt with your eardrums and made you wince in pain.
“Little boy, who do you think the poison came from?”
They proceeded to laugh again and I covered my ears tightly.
Them. They had done this. They killed my father.
“Why?! Why would you do this to him?! Why would you want to kill my father? He fought for you!”
My father had been the one to help them build a new house when their former one burnt to the ground. I remember that day, the fire was so mysterious as no one knew where it came from.
He’d been there to help them but the only thing they could do in return was give the poison that killed him.
“It is in accordance with the law. Your father’s time has come to an end and it has been written that you will take over as a boy. Who are we to stand in the way of that? We only helped the process along. If you want to be mad, be mad at the goddess. She’s the one who wrote the book.”
That was utter bullshit. The law? What law? Why would it want to kill my father?
“Please, you made the poison so you have the antidote. Please, help him. Or you can tell me what to do and I’ll do it. I don’t want him to die.”
Even with the tears streaming down my face and my knees to the ground, they didn’t budge at all.
One of them had been silent since the whole ordeal but her eyes had been on me the entire time, watching.
She was the one who spoke up finally.
“Let me tell you this. I can’t give you the antidote because there is none but I’ll give you something for your tears. Your father will still die, I can’t stop that, but he will return to help you only for a short while. I can’t tell you when but you will see him again.”
What the hell did that even mean? That didn’t help me in any way and I never understood what she meant until this day.
“Leave before we strike you to death! Leave, boy!”
I had run all the way home, my heart breaking with every step, knowing I had failed him.