Grand Game 294: Ghosts (Patreon)

Duggar growled, and I glanced in his direction to find all four elders staring at me. It took me a moment to realize why. With my mind fully shuttered, I couldn’t hear them.

I lowered my mind shields to half-height.

“Finally!” Sulan growled. “It took you long enough!”

“There’s an intruder nearby,” I replied, ignoring her tone.

“Are you sure?” Duggar asked. The big wolf scanned the cave himself. “I sense no one.”

I nodded. “I am. He—she?—spoke in my mind.”

Strangely enough, my words caused the wolves to relax. Leta even snorted in amusement.

“What? Whoever it was, they were in my mind!”

“And here I thought you were an alpha,” Sulan said as she flopped back down. “All full-grown and mature, only to find you’re still afraid of ghosts.”

My eyes narrowed as I stared at the white wolf. She couldn’t be serious, and from the undercurrent of laughter I sensed in her voice, I didn’t think she was.

Is Sulan… poking fun at me?

“Stop toying with him,” Aira chided. “There’s only the one.” She tilted her head nearly perpendicular to stare at me. “Ghost, that is.”

I blinked. Aira too?

“There is no such thing as ghosts,” I refuted, but even to my own ears, my denial sounded weak.

“Not ghosts. Ghost.” Duggar said. He, too, sounded amused.

“Sit back down,” Leta ordered. “You’re making me strain my neck.”

I sat. I still couldn’t make sense of what they were on about, but it couldn’t be anything threatening if it amused the elders this much.

“Man-wolf?”

There was the strange voice again. This time, it was accompanied by a picture of Anriq and a keen sense of interest.

My alarm grew, realizing that whoever the speaker was, she had riffled through memories I’d not shown the elders. “Who or what is Ghost?” I asked, striving not to react.

“Ghost is a pup,” Aira said.

“Not anymore,” Sulan retorted. “The girl must be nearly two years old now.”

“I don’t like Sulan,” the voice whispered. “She’s nasty.”

“I heard that, you wretched girl!” the white wolf said primly.

Ignoring the exchange, I let my gaze drift to where the pack’s young played. The entire contingent romped around the twins, and none seemed remotely interested in the elders or me. The mysterious Ghost was not one of them, I was sure.

“You will not find her amongst the younglings,” Aira said softly, her voice serious once more.

My confusion grew. “Meaning?”

“The girl has no body,” Sulan answered.

I glanced at her. This time, I sensed grief—ruthlessly contained—lurking beneath her words. “How did that happen?” I asked quietly.

“It was the rings,” Leta answered. She looked at me. “You remember the rings?”

“The Rings of Astral Walking?” I asked cautiously. It was the artifact the elders had used to send me to the first Wolf Trial.

“That’s the one.” Leta sighed heavily. “We didn’t know it then, but while we were keeping the spirit portal open for your trial, a pup strayed into the first ring. She was three months old at the time.”

I winced. The first ring, I recalled, was the one responsible for corporeal separation. It severed the ties between the spirit and the body. “What happened to her body?”

“It died,” Sulan said morosely.

“Lost…” Ghost echoed.

I shuddered, recalling my own time as a pure spirit in the Mind Trial. It had been a strange experience, to say the least. Worse yet, an unclothed spirit was vulnerable, and as far as I knew, there was no way to mend the damage a spirit sustained without the safe harbor a body provided. “How did the pup survive the loss of her body?”

“We don’t know,” Aira said. “It should not have been possible.”

“But Ghost was always an odd pup,” Sulan added. “Unusually powerful for one so young and with an unhealthy dose of curiosity, too. The strangest things caught her interest.” The white wolf’s eyes fixed on a spot a few feet from me. “As they still do.”

I tracked her gaze but saw nothing.

“Look with your mind,” Duggar suggested.

Doing as he bid, I opened my mindsight, revealing the mindglows of the four elders and one more—Ghost. Sulan was right. The pup’s mind burned brighter than a sun. Reaching out with my will, I analyzed her.

The target is Ghost, a level 1 spirit wolf.

Death is often considered the greatest equalizer. After death, we all pass on. But some spirits are too strong to fade away and remain in the Forever Kingdom even beyond final death. Usually, these entities become wraiths and phantoms—half-mad ethereal beings that are only a shadow of their former selves. But a rare few, those of exceptional mind and will, retain their memories and intelligence, becoming fully-fledged spirit entities.

I pursed my lips thoughtfully at the Adjudicator’s explanation, understanding now, at least in part, how the unfortunate pup’s strange state had come about.

“Wolf-becoming-man?” Ghost asked, feeling my attention and showing me another stolen image of Anriq. “Or man-becoming-wolf?”

“Werewolf,” I replied.

“Ooow,” she exclaimed, her mindvoice quivering with excitement.

“What’s a werewolf?” Duggar asked curiously.

I turned to the alpha. I hadn’t deliberately concealed the existence of the werewolves from the elders. Not wanting to burden them with unnecessary information, I had only shown them what they needed to see to make their decision.

“Look for yourself,” I said and lowered my mind shield again.

Five mindglows drew closer.

“Not you,” I scolded Ghost. She’d taken enough liberties with my memories already.

The spirit wolf shied back, not concealing her hurt.

Immediately, I felt guilty.

While Ghost was technically an adult, in many ways she was still a three-month-old pup. What must it have been like to spend two whole years in spirit form, without any of the normal physical interactions the other wolves enjoyed?

It couldn’t have been easy for Ghost and her differences had likely isolated her from the rest of the pack even if, as telepaths, they could still communicate with her.

She must be lonely.

“I’m sorry,” I said, speaking to Ghost alone. “That was rude of me. You can have a peek, too.”

Like a frightened bird, she hesitated. “You won’t be angry if I look? I want to see more of the shadow man. He’s funny.”

I bit back a sigh. She was talking about the Loken. How much had Ghost managed to see of my memories in her first foray into my mind? Too much, by the sound of it.

She was still waiting for my answer though. “No, I won’t,” I promised. “But whatever you see, you can’t tell anyone. Understood?”

Her mindglow pulsed happily, and not needing to be told again, she dived into my mind. “Of course, Prime!” she called out in passing. “It’ll be our secret!”

This time, I did sigh.

✵ ✵ ✵

A few minutes later, the five visitors in my mind withdrew.

“Werewolves,” Sulan muttered. “Now, I’ve seen everything.”

“A wolf turning himself into a man?” Leta wondered. “Why would any wolf want that?”

My lips twitched. “Or, for that matter, what sane man transforms himself into a wolf?”

The elder glowered at me, and I chuckled. “Only joking.”

“These werewolves, they guard another Wolf trial?” Duggar asked.

I nodded. “I’m certain of it.”

“Then you intend on finding them?” the alpha asked.

“I must.”

“I don’t trust them,” the alpha growled. “Be careful.”

“I will,” I assured him. “But locating the werewolves is a task for another day. Today, we must see to the pack’s safety.” My gaze drifted to where the twins still played with a pack’s pups under Oursk’s watchful eye. “Although, before we get into that, there is another matter we must discuss.”

Aira followed my gaze. “Who are they?”

“They’re my... students.”

Duggar tilted his head to the side to study the youngsters. “They are not Wolf.”

“They’re not,” I agreed. “But maybe after they awaken their blood, they might—”

The alpha shook his head. “You mistake me. Their bloodlines are different. They are not of Wolf.” This time, I took his meaning.

“Oh,” I murmured. Given the task they had received, I’d been hoping the twins bore strains of Wolf blood. It would’ve made things easier.

Duggar glanced at Sulan, and the white wolf rose to her feet. Trotting to Teresa’s side, she lowered her head and sniffed.

Startled, the girl looked over her shoulder at the white wolf looming above her. “Michael...” she called worriedly.

“No need to be scared,” I assured her. “Sulan is just...”

I paused. What was Sulan doing?

“Calm the girl,” the white wolf said wryly. “I’m not trying to eat her, only ascertain her bloodline.”

“… inspecting you,” I finished.

“Cat,” Sulan pronounced. “These two are of Cat. But their blood is weak.” Turning around, she rejoined me and the other elders.

Terence and Teresa were still staring at me. “It’s alright. I’ll explain later,” I said, not sure that I would.

Reluctantly, the pair turned back to the pups vying for their attention.

“What made you bring them here?” Duggar asked.

I shrugged. “Circumstances. I’d not planned on it.” I met his gaze. “But having two other friendly players around can still be advantageous to the pack.”

Duggar gazed back at me steadily. “What are you asking?”

I glanced at the twins again. They’d already forgotten their momentary unease and looked very much like pups themselves as they played with the pack’s young.

I closed my eyes. Was it fair to involve the pair further in my troubles? I wondered. They’d been willing, eager even, to learn more about the pack. There was still a chance, though, that they could disentangle themselves from me and choose a safer path.

I won’t tell them anything of the Primes or the ancients just yet, I decided. But I couldn’t let the twins go their own way either, not until I’d resettled the pack. It was too dangerous—both for them and the wolves.

Opening my eyes, I answered the patiently waiting alpha, “Can you shelter the two here? They can help the pack hunt and build up its reserves of food.”

“We will do as you ask,” Duggar said.

“Thank you.”

“Have you told them they will be staying?” Aira asked.

I shook my head. “Not yet, but I will before I leave. Now, let’s discuss what else needs to be done before the pack can depart the valley.”