Read The Damned 01 - White Wolf for Free Online

consciousness?’
    ‘In the street, when they were kicking me.’
    ‘Ah, I see,’ said Skilgannon. ‘Then you do not recall being dragged into the schoolroom?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘You were taken there by some of your pupils. They pulled you inside, and locked the door. One of them then ran here to tell the abbot of your injuries. Because of the riot we could not reach you immediately. You were tended by some of the children. They covered you with blankets. It was very brave of them,’ he added. ‘Brother Naslyn and I came to you before the dawn and carried you back. Several of the children had remained with you.’
    ‘I did not know.’ Labberan smiled. ‘Do you know any of their names?’
    ‘The boy who brought us to you was called Rabalyn.’
    Labberan smiled. ‘An unruly boy, argumentative and naughty. Good heart, though. Who else?’
    ‘A slender girl with black hair and green eyes. She had a three-legged dog with her.’
    ‘That would be Kalia. She nursed the hound back to health after it fought the wolves. We all thought it would die.’
    ‘I do not recall the others. There were three or four of them, but they left when we arrived. But the boy, Rabalyn, had a swollen eye. Kalia told me he got it when he fought the other boys attacking you. He beat them off. Well, he and the three-legged dog.’
    The old man sighed, then relaxed and closed his eyes. Skilgannon sat for a while, until he realized the old priest was sleeping. Silently he left the room and walked out into the night. As he crossed the courtyard he saw Abbot Cethelin standing below the arch of the gate. Skilgannon bowed to him.
    ‘He feels better now, does he not?’ said the abbot.
    ‘I believe so.’
    ‘You told him about the children who helped him?’
    ‘Yes.’

    ‘Good.’
    ‘Why did you not tell him? Or someone else?’
    ‘I would have, had you not. You still believe they are all scum, Lantern, these townspeople?’
    Skilgannon smiled. ‘A few children helped him. Good for them. They will not however stop the mob when it comes here. But, no, I do not think they are all scum. There are two thousand people living in the town. The mob numbers some six hundred. I make little distinction, however, between those who commit evil and those who stand by and do nothing.’
    ‘You were a warrior, Lantern. Such men are not renowned for understanding the infinite shades of grey that govern the actions of men.
    Black and white are your colours.’
    ‘Scholars tend to overcomplicate matters,’ said Skilgannon. ‘If a man runs at you with a sword it would be foolish to spend time wondering what led him to such action. Was his childhood scarred by a cruel father?
    Did his wife leave him for another man? Was he perhaps misinformed about your intentions, and therefore has attacked you in error?’ He laughed. ‘Warriors need black and white, Elder Brother. Shades of grey would kill them.’
    ‘True,’ admitted the abbot, ‘and yet a greater understanding that there are shades of grey would prevent many wars beginning.’
    ‘But not all,’ said Skilgannon, his smile fading. ‘We are what we are, Elder Brother. Man is a hunter, a killer. We build great cities, and yet we live just like the wolf. The strongest of us dominate the weakest. We might call our leaders kings or generals, but the effect is the same. We create the wolf pack, and the very nature of that pack is to hunt and to kill. War, therefore, becomes inevitable.’
    Cethelin sighed. ‘The analogy is a sad one, Lantern - though it is true.
    Why then did you decide to remove yourself from the pack?’
    ‘My reasons were selfish, Elder Brother.’
    ‘Not entirely, my boy. I pray that time will prove that to you.’
*
    At fifteen Rabalyn didn’t care about wars and battles to the east, nor about who was right and who was wrong regarding the causes. These were enormous issues that concerned him not at all. Rabalyn’s thoughts were far more focused. The town of Skepthia was all he had