Violet Riding Hood

Chapter 18

It was over, one of the fangs had pierced her skin and she was going to be a Wolf after all.

Vallery remained in silence for some time after that, looking down at the dead monster while she felt a cold, corrosive sensation spreading from her arm to the rest of her body. Her heart was beating so hard that she could hear it easily, and her blood was falling to the snow drop by drop.

"No" Vallery whispered, trying to deal with the disaster- "No, I cannot be..."

Vallery could hear sobs and cries coming from somewhere near the house, and it took her some time to realize that Sage Sallyahel remained alive. The proud Wolf hunter had crashed between the trees and seemed to be experiencing the final moments of her life, and despite her fatal injuries, her hand had not released the silvery sword...

The Wolf started to burn all of a sudden with a blue and cold fire, Vallery could see the bodies of Julie, Harry and Catherine around her and she had no idea what to do-

"Sallyahel will never forget about me" Vallery whispered, staring at the Sage- "Is she dead yet? Please, let her be dead! No, it just goes on and on... I cannot let her live, I need to go there and..."

Vallery knew that she had no choice but to finish the work that her father had started, for she could not allow the Sage to live and come back for vengeance one day.

Sallyahel was getting worse, now gasping and crying as she fought to draw breath. The claws of the Wolf had ravaged her throat, one of her legs was almost detached and blood was everywhere around her, but she remained alive and her intensely red eyes were wide open and looking at the sky...

"There... shall be Light... in the Heavens" Sallyahel prayed, holding her sword against her chest- "We shall fly to the sky, when our moment comes... All stars... g-guide us th-though the darkness of this world below your glory... Let us find the path to Eternal life, and de... deliver us from evil..."

Vallery looked like a violet specter as she drew closer to the Sage with the sword in her hand, her cloak was covered by Wolf blood, the corrosive sensation continued to spread within her system and she began to feel a terrible thing, a sudden and powerful desire to put an end to those prayers and then depart to the mountains and never come back.

Who knows, maybe this really was her destiny and she had already turned into a monster...

Vallery reached the middle of the clearing, she came to a halt trying to come back to her old self and there she was, her beloved Grandmother lying lifeless on the snow... Julie's eyes were open and frozen, and Vallery recalled the moments when they had seen each other for the last time.

What would Julie think if she could see her now?

Vallery remained standing there for a long time, she realized that Julie would not like to see her murdering the Sage, this could not be the right thing to do and meanwhile Sallyahel continued to suffer through an agony that seemed to never end...

"No, I cannot do this..." Vallery whispered, and then a figure wearing a purple cloak came all of a sudden from the forest.

Father Novembrus limped his way into the clearing, displaying bloody bandages around his arms and head and carrying a halberd that he had taken from a soldier. The Priest became awestruck with silence as he looked around at the site of the battle, he gasped at the sight of the burning Wolf and then his eyes became fixed on the woman of the violet cloak.

Vallery Silvermoon stared back at him with the sword in her hand, and then Novembrus, turning his head to the right, dashed to aid the fallen Sage in any way that he could...

53-

Sallyahel and Novembrus

"Your Grace!"