CHAPTER THREE

Gwa still in the forest. He was growing weak as the days rolled by and the fact that he was still alive was surprising, even to him. His mind flashed back to the last days he spent in his home before he had to run... Every effort to help his body recover by human physicians proved abortive. (Werewolves have the power to heal their own wounds consistently at an accelerated rate, so they didn't need a physician). Nobody knew what was going on with him and he was growing weak everyday. As time went by, the werewolves started going missing.People started living in fear and soon, the trust the werewolves had in Gwa began diminishing. Soon the weredragons started infiltrating the forest and dead bodies were found lying around. ''What's happening?'' The people asked among themselves. ''Why isn't Gwa doing something? Why are our people dying?' They directed their questions to no one in particular.

*****

Balls of fire rained on the werewolves and everyone ran for their lives. The keepers tried their best to defend their people. They fought hard with several with their strength and even had to use weapons. The keepers had burn marks all over their body. As the moon shone brightly, their strength increased. Rapheal ran to where Gwa was and he marveled at how weak thier leader had become. As he was trying to carry Gwa out of the forest, Sham came in informing him of how urgent his attention was needed outside. Rapheal who was holding Gwa up so as to leave for any safe place, handed Gwa over to Sham saying "Take him to safety, this place is no longer safe for him. We will try our best to hold them off, you go ahead".

''I will take care of him, you leave now!'' Sham assured him. Immediately Rapheal left, he let Gwa fall to the floor hard and laughed hysterically. His voice of ridicule echoed inside the room. He stared at the weak pack leader who was coughing up blood.

"Fool!" he spat. "I thought you were the all powerful and invisible Gwa. How couldn't you see the signs everywhere? See how weak you have become! See how lowly you are now'' he laughed.

Gwa couldn't comprehend what was going on. He thought hard on why Sham was talking like this. "Please, no time for jokes, let's leave here now," Gwa said not minding all Sham was saying. He struggled to get up but Sham kicked his hand, distabilising his balance.

"ARE YOU DEAF?" Sham barked! "Or has the secret poison affected your ears too?" H mocked. Gwa was stunned on how Sham knew he had been poisoned because he told the physicians to keep it a secret from his people. "Shame! O great Gwa" Sham said now bending down. "Show your strength now and save your people" He mocked again.

"Why are you doing this? I trusted you and so did the people" Gwa said weakly but anger blazed through his eyes.

"You think you are better than everyone else right?" He asked now pulling Gwa's hair. "When you are gone, I will rule the people like the Alpha I was born to be. And if anyone stands in my way, I would not hesitate to eliminate including your beloved Rapheal" He sneered. Gwa was short of words so he said nothing. "Life would be sweet without you in it and don't worry I will rule side by side with the great weredragons" He said smiling. " The best I can do for you is to give you a honourable burial" He smirked. "Also know that you wouldn't be buried alone as all you keepers will die with you" He chuckled as an evil Mastermind.

Now Gwa understood that one of his most trusted keepers has sold out his people to the weredragons because of greed. 'But what was this secret poison he spoke about?' He thought. 'Could it be what I am thinking it is? Very few people knew about this and Rapheal certainly wasn't one of them. How did the weredragons know that he was too weak to defend himself and his people?' These questions flooded his mind. He concluded Sham must had let jealousy control him and now he was consumed with greed". He must have gone to the weredragons and made a deal with them. But kind of deal? The weredragons have tried to subdue the werewolves for years and even tried killing them all if possible.

Now that Gwa thought about it, Sham had acted foolishly. The dragons were probably tricking him. Those creatures weren't going to let him live after all this. He told Sham but the young man wasn't seeing reason. "The people will be enslaved" Gwa said now getting angry. "If you do not care about your life, think about the people you badly want to rule!"

"I think it is about time you die finally" Sham said, holding a bottle and was going to force Gwa to drink from it. With all the strength he could muster, he pushed Sham and immediately transformed into a wolf. Before Sham could recover from the shock, the wolf jumped out the window and into the forest. He jumped as fast as he could but he felt himself slowly losing consciousness. He fell to the ground while gradually changing back to human. He had gotten back on his feet and continued running till his foot hit that root. Gwa looked up in the sky, wondering why the full moon was hiding behind the clouds. Just at that moment, he heard footsteps coming from far. He could have ran if the steps he heard were that of someone running but this person was walking. He saw it was a girl and he wondered what a girl was doing in this forest at that time of the night.

***End of Flashback***

Gwa's chest was rising and falling rapidly as he heard the footsteps getting closer. He closed his eyes as the girl came into view.