Eight

The hill slope was too steep for an easy climb. To Darla's utter surprise, Dormon made up to the top in no time and much less effort than she had expected from him. "You are pretty good. It will be easy for you to wake the wolf inside you with a little bit of training I guess. Otherwise, you have it inside you.", Darla said. Dormon did not reply to that. He had always had an athletic body having to chase werewolves on his hunts. As soon as they made the climb to the top, both of them were dragged to hide behind a tree.

"What??" Darla hissed at the four others who had left ahead of them. Brian was peeping from behind a tree. Dormon followed the direction of his gaze and saw a cave near the edge. The entrance was lit with massive oil lanterns. Two guys stood alert on either side of the entrance, guarding it.

"Now what?" Romell asked.

"Why are you asking me? I thought you guys had a plan." Darla glanced around the guys nervously. Dormon was horrified, "You guys brought me here without a plan?"

"They are Walter and Ryan. Tough guys! We can't get past them with our small talk." When Brian turned around, Dormon was nowhere to be found. Five of them looked around in the darkness behind the trees but Dormon was not around. Suddenly they heard a thud and again a thud following the first one. Both the guards were down. Five of then stared at Dormon with bulging eyes, who was busy checking their pulses. Darla marched over to him and shouted, "What have you done?"

"Shhh! I didn't do anything. They are just sleeping." Dormon did not wait for their response and plucked one of the lamps from the outside wall before making his way inside. Romell and Emora were thrilled at what Dormon had done. They skipped over the guard's bodies and tagged behind Dormon, pleading him to teach them the technique. Brian cross verified their pulses and gave a confirmatory nod to an extremely pissed Darla. "I am telling you – something is off about this guy." Gilly said in a serious tone.

Dormon shone the lantern against the dark walls of the cave. There were carvings, but they seemed familiar. He ran his hands over the coarse stone following the carvings. Romell and Emora continued to blabber beside him, but he paid no interest to them. He was not able to understand anything, yet he continued to explore them with his touch.

"You know, you didn't actually have to hurt them." Darla was close behind them. Her voice echoed against the dense walls of the cave.

"Darla!" Dormon's voice was quiet. Darla sensed some eeriness in it. She closed up behind his back. He took her hand and placed it on the wall. He helped her trace the carvings on the wall. Darla sucked in her breath. She recognized the patterns. "What is it?" she whispered.

"You don't know?" Gilly asked in a surprised tone. All of them looked behind to where she was standing with arms crossed over her chest. She looked everyone in the eye and was disappointed, "These are the spells and curses that bind the moon soul to this place." Darla's eyes looked over to Dormon. He was rooted to his spot, unable to move. They had to get going before the guards gained consciousness. So, Darla took the lantern from Dormon and led him by hand deeper into the cave. Rest four of them followed quietly.

It was spacious inside, like a high-ceiling circular room. In the center, there was a huge rock and on top of it was a white shining gemstone. Darla and Brian put aside the lanterns they were holding. And all five of them bowed deeply and prayed before the stone. Dormon was lost in his thoughts. He did not care to imitate whatever the others were doing. Once they were done, Darla gestured for all of them to sit in one corner of the cave.

"What is this place?" Dormon asked when all were settled.

"There was a man named Margeuse Honorheir. He once got very drunk along with his friends and in their drunken madness, they brutally raped a woman and that led to her death. She happened to be a very accomplished witch and in her anger she put the werewolf curse on them. They suffered on the full moon every time when they transitioned and massacred many innocent people during that. Their children and grandchildren were also not spared from the curse. It went on for long. Then came Brandon Honorheir, great grandchild of Margeuse Honorheir. He determined to relieve all of them from the curse. He did elaborate research on the werewolves and found a capable witch. She said she would not be able to undo the curse, but she would help them turn the curse into their advantage. Brandon Honorheir invoked the Moon Goddess here every night. They would meet for hours and exchange pleasantries till one day they were very close. The Goddess fell in love with Brandon and that was just what he and the witch wanted. When she was with Brandon, defenseless and her walls were down, the witch casted a curse on her soul and trapped her in this stone, that is called the Moonstone. Although the Goddess put up a good fight against the witch, a considerable portion of her soul and powers got trapped in here. She barely escaped and she killed Brandon before she left. This power of the stone was what helped the werewolves in our pack be stronger than they were. They were given the ability to transition at their own free will and not only on full moon. Basically, everything changed around here. The witch created a power perimeter around our settlement, which protects us against any harm and against any other werewolf packs more powerful than us. Any person who had this werewolf curse, who could transition only on new moon and wanted to join us, we have welcomed them. And like that our pack kept growing. Now important thing is you might think it was wrong – like whatever was done to the Moon Goddess. We also believe the same. But we are indebted to her for her sacrifice. At her cost we bear the power that we have. We love her and worship her for that. She has never tried to avenge herself ever again. She has never hurt anyone and never tried to take away what was actually her. She is truly a Goddess."

It was going to take a long time for Dormon to process the information. He just nodded his head, soaking up all the information dump.