Hey here’s a new version of ‘For the Love of a Wolf’. I apologise to everyone who was reading the original version, but every time I looked at it, it made me cringe with embarrassment that I’d posted such rubbish. So with that in mind I am re-writing it.

Hopefully you will all like this version as much as I do. R/R and let me know what you think.

Chapter 1.

The Dark Sight was tormenting the quiet lives of the farmers and fishermen, and even the lives of wealthy. It would seem the minions of the Dark one cared little of class structure or indeed race; they butchered any who opposed them.

Many noble bloodlines had been broken and lost to the Dark Sight in the past twenty-five years. The Royal House of Elistor had been one such line. In one night of blood, fire and death the entire royal line was lost to the oblivion of time.

The Dark Sight, servants of the twisted Dark Mages ravaged the lands, corrupting and twisting the very force that flowed through the trees, the rivers and the people. Those who would not submit to the rule of a Dark Mage were either killed or enslaved. The once beautiful world of Elisten was quickly becoming a black empty shell; her people nothing more than mindless vessels of black magic.

However, even in a land ruled by a man whose heart was tainted black, hope still glimmered.

The tavern was warm; the air was thick with the scent of ale and pipe smoke. Alanna passed through the doorway unnoticed by the other occupants, as they went about drinking and laughing. A hooded figure draped in a heavy cloak wasn’t such a rare sight in these parts.

A small smile touched the corners of the woman’s lips as she took a seat near the back of the bustling inn. Laughter was a rare thing in the lands now, what with the times as they were. Allowing herself to relax slightly the petit stranger regarded the others in the crowded room, listening intently to the pieces of conversation floating to her ears. Two young girls were giggling with each other as they watched a young knight proudly displaying his blade. While a group of four men, clad in worn leather armour and fur cloaks were muttering in low voices to each other near the bar, clearing discussing something important.
Why come to a crowded tavern to discuss something clearly a secret? Alanna mused silently watching the men. She sighed before answering her own question; Less conspicuous I suppose.

Listening curiously to the snippets of conversation she could hear, Alanna found herself stunned to the point of disbelief.

“Aye, the army masses in the north…”

“The Dark Sight have learnt that one of the Elisten royalty survived the slaughter all those years ago?”

“Aye, the bastards finally realised they’re not as effective as they thought. That one of the most powerful elemental bloodlines still endures.”

“So it’s a son then?” one of the younger men stated.

Another one of the men laughed, his smile hidden beneath a thick beard of red. “Nay, rumour has it’s a daughter.”

Alanna shifted in her seat, her stomach giving a nervous lurch.

“How can that be possible? Elemental magic passes from father to son.”

“Our sources have yet to confirm if the girl is magically inclined, even if she isn’t the likelihood that a child born to her is male is too great a risk for the Dark ones. They will hunt her regardless.”

A soft gasp escaped Alanna lips, before she had to time stifle it. Rising quickly to her feet she headed for the door, a sudden need to leave washing over her. Unknown to her four pairs of eyes followed her departure.

“Marcane,” the bearded man spoke his dark eyes resting on the door.

The younger man looked at him expectantly, his steel grey eyes gleaming, as strands of his long black hair obscured his right eye.

“Follow the girl.”

Nodding the man took a last swig of his ale and headed wordlessly out of the tavern, in search of the cloaked woman.

Alanna moved swiftly down the narrow, cobbled streets. She had no desire to stay in the city, not now that people were looking for her. Not that people really bothered her, what bothered her was the fact it was the Dark Sight themselves who would be hunting her.

She had to make it back to the woods, the clan elders had been right, the city was no place for her kind. She belonged in the wild; singing to the moon with the wolves, sleeping in the protective embrace of the ancient oaks and dancing in the long forgotten glades with the rest of her adoptive kin.

Picking up her pace, Alanna heading down another dark alley, heading north towards the river; the fastest route out of the city. Once she got to the river, she would follow it south for a day and then cross at the shallows and enter the woods. There she would once again be safe, the Dark Sight wouldn’t dare enter the woodlands or forests of Elisten. Too much natural magic was entwined in the trees and flowing in the streams. The Nymph races had seen to that. They guarded the old places, the ancient woodlands where the trees still remembered the gentle times, and the old rivers that had seen a thousand lifetimes and mourned for every loss.

Alanna let a small smile of satisfaction grace her lips, oh yes there was still enough old magic to keep the Dark Sight away. Nymphs were the only race the Dark Sight couldn’t truly control; they were as wild as nature herself and just as unpredictable.

Pulling her hood further over her face, Alanna navigated through the maze of narrow alleys and back passages, letting the pull of the forest guide her.

Marcane slipped in and out of the shadows with natural ease, his steel grey eyes following the girls’ every move; each graceful stride, every light movement of her delicate hand as she adjusted her cloak. The gesture suggested she was anxious and hoped to keep her identity a secret. He sniffed lightly at the air, frowning as the scent of earth and pine trees mingled with the scent of the first dewy dawns of spring filled his nostrils. She smelt like the woodlands after summer rains.

Licking his lips, Marcane gave a low growl deep in his throat; the air was so thick with her scent he could taste it. The earthy aroma stood out too much in the forest of stone.

Foolish girl. His mind barked. If the Dark Sight was within the city they’d track her down in a few short hours, just on smell alone. They wouldn’t even have to come for her themselves.

They’d send those damned hounds.