Madelyn Ch. 06

Dear Readers,

Finally! Something new!

...er

Kinda...

Ok, it's not entirely new. I will tell you, though, that all the chapters leading up to this one have been revamped. This chapter contains parts that were previously in Chapter 5. Also, each chapter holds anywhere from a little to a Lot of new content. I would encourage each and every one of you to re-read the entire story from the Prologue.

Also submitted is the story of Madelyn's conception and birth. The name of that story is "Richard." I would suggest you all read it as well. Perhaps even read it first, if you didn't read it before now.

Some minor details in each chapter are different. You'll notice in earlier chapters that I have changed the location from Oregon to Northern California. This is because I actually live in California so a lot of things are easier for me, personally, due to knowing the state personally (for the most part...). Also, Madelyn's birth date has been changed to reflect the additional information that is contained within the pre-story "Richard." Again, I would encourage you all to read it. It might help you to understand some things.

Ok, now, back to writing. :)

Thanks for reading!

-sansa

-6-

"She'll come back when she's ready, Connor," Brian said softly to him.

"But, why can't I hear her?" Connor asked. "I could hear her when she slept earlier, her mind was a jumble, but she kept calling out to me."

"They'll do that when they're first changed, Connor. It's like they need their mate with them constantly." Brian paused, considering. "Connor, you can't hear her, but can you feel her?"

"No."

Brian's face paled slightly.

"What, Brian?" Connor asked as he watched his Elder, and his friend.

"Richard and Marie used to talk about how Madelyn wasn't safe. They wanted me to find them a place to make a home for themselves, where Maddy could just be a kid, play and run free as they did when they were children. A place where she could grow up without them feeling she needed to be watched 24/7." Brian paused before moving to the study to rifle through some papers he'd found. "Ah, here it is," he said, holding out a binder opened to a list of names. "This is the list of tutors I'd gathered for Richard and Marie to teach their daughter. I presented it to them one day when they were insistent upon sending Maddy away to a boarding school."

Connor took the binder and looked at the list.

"I know."

"You know?" Brian asked Connor, stunned by the admission. "How?"

"Madelyn was just 7 or 8 years old when you gave them this list, Brian. I know because she was outside on the porch, listening to the rain, when she heard you and her parents arguing. I happened to be at the bottom of the stairs when I heard her move, so I went to investigate. She was kneeling outside the study, beneath the window. Her focus was on what was going on inside the house, so she didn't feel or hear me approach. She turned and saw me, then backed against the wall as she watched me before her attention finally turned to the argument inside again."

Connor looked over the list of names, noting that all of the people on the list were Garou. 'Clever of Brian,' he thought.

"They had me convinced someone was after her, Connor," Brian said. "I readily believed it, and felt that if she was to stay here, she would be safest. There was also the thought of my wife's vision. If she were to leave, there was a chance you would lose your mate, and I wasn't going to let that happen to you."

"Thank you, Brian," Connor said softly. He silently looked over a few other pages in the binder before continuing, "Madelyn listened until she noticed the rain had stopped, then she took off running into the woods. I followed her, of course, until she came to a small clearing by the stream near the edge of the property. She sat there, listening to the sounds of the wood, and playing with blades of grass, and I watched her while she was there. Eventually, she dozed off. When she did, I came close and as I did, a boy came out of the woods on the other side of the stream."

"A boy?" Brian asked, frowning.

"Yes, a boy. He looked to be about Madelyn's age, with the same eyes and hair as she had. He was dressed strangely, his clothing made from a very light and flowing fabric that might have been fluttering in the breeze had there been enough of it. But his clothing wasn't cut to do so, except that his sleeves were cut very full, almost like a peasant blouse. I growled a warning and it was then that Madelyn awoke. She looked across the stream at him and two men stepped from the wood to stand behind the boy. They were dressed similarly to the boy, and wore their hair long and tied at the backs of their heads." Connor was known as an observer. He could be at full alert, fur raised, growling, yet notice the tiniest of details. So, it did not come as a surprise to Brian that he had noticed all of these things. What surprised him was that he remembered them after so long.

"Did you notice anything else?" Brian asked him.

"Not until Madelyn ran and was back at home," he replied. "Marie was at the edge of the wood, calling for Madelyn to come home. She seemed agitated when Maddy finally burst from the trees, and scolded her for running off. It was not something she'd ever done before. I watched from the cover of the trees for a while and not long after Marie took Madelyn inside the house, she came back outside and went to the far side of the clearing. There, two men emerged from the wood. They were dressed very differently than the two who were with the boy. Their clothing was harsh and heavy. Their hair was cut short, and their eyes were black. Marie spoke with them for a bit, and I caught bits and pieces of the conversation, but the wind was not in my favor, so I did not hear anything relevant."

"What did you hear?" Brian asked, very interested to learn all he could about Marie and her visitors.

"They were talking about Madelyn, and I heard one of them say 'she's not dead, is in Sa Sakor," and that's all I heard them say."

"Sa Sakor?" All color left Brian's face.

"Yes, Sa Sakor is what they said, but I don't know who they were speaking of, or why they spoke of her. And I've never heard anything more of this place since. I didn't know who to ask or where to begin looking for it, and I didn't know why Marie would have any interest in anyone from there. I've never learned why, either." He looked at Brian questioningly. "Do you have some answers for me?"

"I may, but not at the moment. I will have to do some research and make contact with someone I never thought I'd speak with again in this lifetime." Brian stopped, looking down at his hands. When the silence seemed like it was an ending to the conversation, he said quietly, "I think Madelyn's mother and brother may be alive, Connor." He paused again. Sighing, he continued, "And they may have Madelyn."

The room went silent. The men looked at each other. Connor paced.

"It's been long enough. I'm going to look for her, Brian," Connor said finally.

"I'll stay here, Connor, and watch for her. If she returns before you do, you'll know," Brian replied.

Connor nodded as he stripped his clothing from his tall frame and changed to his wolf. Charcoal grey fur emerged from smooth skin to cover his powerful frame. His eyes changed to the color of raw honey as his bones and joints rearranged themselves.

It only took him a few minutes before he reached the small clearing at the edge of Madelyn's property. He took the time to sniff around the clearing. It wasn't long before he located the place where she'd taken a drink from the stream, and the place where she'd laid down for a nap. While taking in the smells around where she'd lain, he detected another scent. This scent jogged something in his memory, a time when he and Madelyn had been here once before, when she was a child. He'd watched over her as she slept.

His reliving of that scene was interrupted as he caught a scent, fresh, and turned his head at the sound of branches being pushed away. It took him only a second to follow the sound and scent. Whoever it was, they were running as fast as they could, and he had to grant, they were fairly fast on their feet. But, they were not too fast for him to follow, and he continued after them, silently, as they made their way to their destination. The sounds stopped as the forest around him began thinning and he slowed just in time to keep from emerging into a small clearing. A man dressed in flowing blue garments ran across the clearing toward a boulder formation at the other side.

As the man disappeared into an opening at the center of the formation, Connor was sprinting across the clearing, entering the formation right behind the man.

***

Madelyn's mind awoke before her eyes would open. She tried to lift the lids several times before she gave up and just relied on her ears and nose. Her surroundings had changed while she was sleeping. Using what limited experience she had with smelling so much more, she determined she was no longer in the forest, but she was not at home, either. The room smelled of freesia and rose, the two delicate scents played with her nose as another nagged at her. She'd smelled that before, but place when or where she'd smelled it.

Frowning, she tried her eyes again. This time, the lids lifted slowly, her vision blurry, but she could make out that the room was bright, with big arching windows. The light sheer curtains were moving in the cool breeze that also ruffled her white fur.

As her violet eyes came into focus, she could now tell that the walls weren't white, as she had originally thought. They were muted shades of very light blues and pinks and tans, so light that before her vision returned to normal, she couldn't make them out. Scenes were delicately stenciled with shades ever so slightly darker than the others. There were scenes of oceans and mer-folk playing in the waves. Another scene showed unicorns galloping through a meadow. Still another showed a little girl sitting in the grass by a stream, a wolf nearby, standing guard over her. She focused on that scene, wondering how it came to be part of the images on the walls around her.

Hearing a noise outside the room, she closed her eyes quickly, slowing her breathing to try to make herself appear to still be asleep.

The person came into the room, setting something on the table beside her. She felt a hand on her neck and resisted the urge to snap at them.

"It's no use trying to pretend you're asleep, Madelyn," a gentle feminine voice said softly to her. "I know you're awake. Open your eyes now, please."

Madelyn complied and looked up into the face of her captor. The woman had long, curling blonde hair and violet eyes. Her face was soft and gentle, with a slight smile turning up the corners of her lips.

"I would appreciate it if you would change back now, darling," the woman said to her, in her gentle and soothing voice.

Watching the woman warily, she moved into a crouching position on the bed, not changing just yet. She'd prefer to stay in her wolf form, the form she knew she could protect herself better than she could in her human form.

The woman sighed softly.

"I guess you're not quite ready to know more about why you are here," she said quietly. "When you are ready to change back into your human form, Madelyn, we will tell you why we have brought you to Sa Sakor, but not until then. In the meantime, I have brought you food," she indicated the tray on the nightstand. "You're welcome to eat it at your leisure. Please do not fear about it being laced with anything. We are a peaceful people and I was not pleased when I learned that you were drugged to bring you here."

Madelyn's ears perked at that. 'Drugged?' she thought to herself. 'No wonder they were able to get me here so easily, without my waking from my nap.'

The woman turned to leave the room, but paused at the door, as if she wanted to say something more. Changing her mind, she continued through the doorway, the door having retracted into the wall on its own as she approached it, and now returning to its original place after the woman moved through.

Madelyn realized she was hungry, so she sniffed at the food. It was mostly fruit and vegetables, but there was also cheese and a large portion of grilled fish. The cheese and fish both smelled delicious, but the fruit and vegetables didn't seem all that appealing to her. It surprised her. She'd always loved fruit and vegetables. Maddy supposed it was all part of her change into the werewolf that she had become, and started debating whether to eat in her wolf form or to change back to her human form.

Looking around the room for the first time, she noticed a wardrobe in the corner. It was colored much in the same manner as the walls were, s it didn't surprise her that she'd not noticed it before now. Moving off the bed, she padded over to the wardrobe and nosed it open to find several long, flowing dresses in light, airy fabric.

Backing away from the wardrobe, she decided to go ahead and change back to her human form. It took her a moment to remember how to do it, but finally she stood on human feet, trembling softly. Moving back to the wardrobe, she selected a dress in a very light lilac color and was surprised to discover that it fit as thought it were made for her.

"I wonder..." she started to whisper, then stopped herself, not sure she really wanted to wonder anything further. Returning to the bedside, Madelyn took the handles of the tray into her hands. She'd noticed a pair of French doors leading to a small veranda off the room. It had a table and three chairs positioned around it and she took the tray to sit in the sun while she ate.

Everything on her plate was simply divine, from the fish to the cheese and she even ate some of the fruit, the first bite of which tickled her sweet tooth as it was very ripe and very sweet. She remained on the veranda after finishing her meal and just stared across what she could only describe as a city. Only, it wasn't like any city she'd ever visited. The buildings were flowing works of art in and of themselves. All of the entryways were arched and one could never call any of the lines on the buildings angular. They flowed with the forest that not only surrounded the city, but also stood within it. It was like she had stepped into a Mediterranean village, but in the middle of a forest.

It had been about a half hour when she heard the door slide open and someone move into the room.

The one who entered was not the woman who visited earlier, but rather was the one whose scent she smelled earlier. Distinctly male, though she wasn't sure how she knew that, she could hear him approaching her.

"And the sleepyhead returns to the land of the waking," he said jovially. "So, how is the elusive Madelyn doing?"

She looked up at the man and was startled to find herself staring into what could be her face, if she were male.

Madelyn stared at him, her mouth open slightly, disbelieving what she was seeing. Brian had said her brother was dead, but this man couldn't be anyone but her brother. How could it be? A tear slipped from an eye as she sat there, uncertain of what to say or do.

He helped her with that.

"Hello, Madelyn," he said gently to her as he went to one knee beside her chair and took her hand gently between his. "I have been watching you for a very long time, with my Grandfather's approval. We wanted to come for you much sooner, but circumstances took that beyond our control, and we were forced to wait for you to return to your former home in the wood before we could fetch you and bring you to where you have belonged your entire life."

He paused to allow her to take that in before continuing, "Madelyn, I am your brother, Rinion."

"No," Madelyn said suddenly. "No...no!" she didn't know what else to say and it took her a moment to gather her thoughts. "My brother is dead, Brian told me so. Our mother gave birth to him and she died, and he did, too."

"No, Made..." he started saying gently. A rustle behind them made him stop and look toward the doors to the room she'd awoken in. He rose to his feet and backed away, still smiling gently to Madelyn.

"No, Madelyn," a soft voice said. Madelyn turned to look upon the woman who was here earlier. "We are not dead, my love. We are very much alive."

Madelyn stood up, pushing the chair away as she moved to stare between the two people standing before her. Could it be true? They looked so very much like her. She opened her mouth to talk once, twice, but no sound would come out. Her breath became short as her mind spun with everything that had happened to her in the past several days and before anyone could react, she blacked out, falling to the floor.

***

On the other side of the portal, Connor found himself at the edge of a great city. There were trees all around. A great many strange scents assaulted his nose, but there was one familiar one among them all, and terrible fear washed over him. It was not his own, though, he could tell that much. It was Madelyn, she was terrified about something, but he didn't think she yet realized he was near.

Hearing foot steps coming his way, he quickly ducked into a grouping of hedge plants, hiding himself from sight. Two men neared the hedge, talking quietly. His ears perked as he heard the word "wolf" from one of them.

"...found her in the same clearing."

"The same one? I wonder why she'd return there after seeing you there so many years ago?"

"She was fleeing something...or perhaps someone. I don't know why, though. She hasn't told Mother anything, but Grandfather is with her now. If anybody can get her to talk to them, he can."

"He sure has his ways, doesn't he?"

"Aye." They continued talking but resumed walking away.

Connor didn't like the sound of the conversation. He knew they were speaking of Madelyn, but didn't know why they wanted her, and whether she was truly in any danger from them or not. Either way, he was going to get to his mate.

***

She awoke in the bed, covered by a light sheet. The room was empty except for her and she could tell it had been a while since she'd passed out.

'They're alive?' she thought to herself. 'But, how can that be? Brian told me my mother was dead, died while trying to give life to my brother.' She sighed softly and moved to sit up, shaking her head gently. She heard a noise outside her door. Startled, she stood and moved out to the veranda. Looking over the rail, she noted that it was more of a balcony than a veranda, with a drop of about 45 feet. She'd survive it, but her legs would likely break. Madelyn knew she had to leave here, had to get back to Connor, but just didn't know how. They likely had a guard on her door, and if not, they had someone watching her to be sure she didn't try to leave.

She figured her only chance would be to change to wolf form. At least then, she'd have speed on her side. Her only question was how far would they go to keep her here.

"Are you so frightened of us, Madelyn, that you'd consider jumping to escape?" a man said from behind her.

Madelyn turned to see someone she had seen before, that day when she first saw the boy, in the clearing.

"Who are you?" Madelyn asked him.

"I am your grandfather."

"I don't understand any of this," Madelyn said softly. "My biological mother is dead. Brian told me the story as he'd learned it."

"Brian told you the story that Marie was sent to spread. She was the one who told your father his son and your mother were both dead, and she was the one who seduced your father into marrying her when you were but a week old. All of your legal documents were altered to reflect Marie as being your mother, but for all that she learned to love you, there was always the ulterior motive." He moved out onto the veranda and sat in one of the chairs, waving to another as he did so.