Xavier walked until the sky grew lighter in the west before he stopped for a rest. He guessed that he had covered about two miles in the direction of his home to the south when he heard a faint humming coming from his bag, it was the blades! He quickly got to his feet as the bag slung over his shoulder pulled him quickly south. He was thankful for the cloak the girl had made him because it absorbed most of the bumps and left his skin well protected instead of having cuts and bruises covering him from head to toe from the rocks and bumps that the bag ruthlessly dragged him over along the road. When the bag finally stopped Xavier breathed out a sigh in relief.
"Excuse me sir, are you alright? Did someone rob you and leave you wandering the roads by yourself at this time of night? It's terribly dangerous at this time of night, follow me and I'll share my camp with you." Xavier looked up to the source of the familiar voice to look into the face of his son. His eyes were the same deep, expressive blue that Xavier remembered them to be but they were covered slightly by his long, black hair. Xavier looked up at his son's ear to make sure there was a hoop in the top part of his left ear, one of the symbols of his family heritage.
Xavier stood up and gave his son a wry grin, "What's this, you don't even remember your old man? I thought I raised you better than that."
Xavier chuckled as he watched his son's eyes widened in shock as he took in the familiar black hair and blue eyes that he inherited from his father, "Dad? Is that really you?" The boy rubbed his eyes before looking at his father again.
"Will you please stop that? You haven't done that since you were four and you woke up from your nap."
"Dad!" He groaned, obviously annoyed, yet relieved to see him. Xavier chuckled as he tousled his son's hair, feeling more at ease than he had in months.
"How's your mother? Is she okay?"
"Oh yea, about that... Mom's trying to procrastinate her wedding to Samuel."
"WHAT? Your mother is already married to me!" Xavier fumed for a few long minutes as his son stood back and watched his father pace and rant. Finally the boy took his father by the arm and gently led him to a hollow tree a little ways off the main road and led him underground to the cove that the boy had temporarily set up his home in.
"Hey dad, where did you get that cloak? It looks like it was made for a King."
Xavier had finally stopped ranting to look around at his surroundings, but he still paused for a moment to answer his son, making sure that he had his temper under control. "A new friend made it for me, as well as something for you." Xavier reached into the bag he had set down and tossed his son the belt that the blacksmith had made.
"Wow, look at these markings, aren't they cool? I wish I could make something as intricate as this." When Xavier tossed him the bag containing the blades, he quickly strapped on his belt and slipped the blades into each of the loops, Xavier wasn't surprised to see that they fit into the loops as if they were made for them. "Hey dad, you never answered my que-." The boy abruptly cut off his sentence as he watched his dad start to shimmer and turn into a huge black wolf tinged with gray around his muzzle. "Dad." He whispered quietly as the sun came up over the horizon to start a new day. The wold silently walked over to the boy and laid its head in his lap and listened to the birds start to trill good morning to each other as they fell fast asleep.
~*~*~*~ ~*~*~*~
Rowenna paced around the dimly lit throne room, trying to think of a solution to her problem. She didn't want to marry Samuel and she was running out of time before the wedding was supposed to take place in two months. Besides, she thought, Xavier is still out there, cursed to be a wolf by day and a man at night. When she heard the heavy footsteps of Samuel, she almost panicked but regained her composure as the door swung open to reveal the man made of shadows that she and her husband used to call friend.
"Rowenna my pet, how are the preparations going for our wedding? I'm sure it will be smashing." The shadow's voice was as slippery as oil and twice as disgusting as white teeth formed a cold smile on what would be the shadow man's face.
