HOME page>                  NEW STUFF page> 
          WRITING CONTENT page>       GUEST ARTISTS page>Home_1.htmlNew_Stuff.htmlEssays.htmlGuest_Artists.htmlshapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1shapeimage_1_link_2shapeimage_1_link_3
 

Louve and Blaidd

Mick Stratton

mstratton@hlkn.tamu.edu


A child has faith in the seemingly impossible. Sometimes we should be more childlike.


Louve was so relieved that the wolf was not Lykos. But why wouldn't the wolf leave and why wouldn't Ravenwolf help? Maybe schimba forme did exist and he was one…


The wolf population was almost decimated, but Lykos was still free; in fact, sightings of him increased. It was as if he were taunting them.


Quite a few hunters had come in from other villages to hunt for Lykos. A number of them were disciples of Unulr_u, knowing full well who the wolf was and were under orders to kill the wolf, the raven and man if they had a chance. 


Two of these hunters got too close to Lykos and not realizing how cunning, fast and strong the wolf was, ended up dead with their faces ripped off. The result of this was that the reward was raised to $2500.00.


Louve was very upset and spent a lot of time looking for Lykos. If she found him she didn't know what she would do, but probably would try to convince him to go away, or maybe stay in her backyard? A wild wolf in a backyard; no, that wouldn't work.


She had talked to Blaidd about the situation but all he did was make her mad, by acting totally indifferent to it.


That also got her to thinking more about the possibility of Blaidd being a schimba forma. If he were both the wolf and the raven he would be almost impossible to catch, neither would he be concerned because he would always be there.


Then came the night that the hunter ran into the tavern and said they had the wolf trapped in an area surrounded by over forty hunters. He thought it was impossible for the wolf to escape so it was sure to be killed.


Louve looked for Blaidd to get him to do something. When she saw he was not there she went into a great panic, now believing for sure he was Lykos and was going to be killed.


She immediately started to run to where Lykos was supposed to be and upon seeing the chaos, she felt a horrible fear she was going to lose the most important person in her life. She ran straight to the cliff where the wolf was last spotted with bullets flying all around her, because the hunters in their excitement were shooting at anything moving.


Louve quickly realized that she was in the general area where her mother's love jumped off the cliff and suddenly had a fear that history was repeating itself.


She heard two shots nearby, a horrendous growl and a scream. She ran toward the spot of the commotion. There on the ground were two dead hunters and Blaidd sitting on the edge of the cliff with blood pouring from a wound in his shoulder.


If she had been there a few seconds earlier she would have seen the hunters shoot at Blaidd and then one of them fall under the weight of the giant wolf and the other scream while reaching for his head as the large black raven attacked his eyes.


After Lykos crushed the head of the first hunter he did the same to the other as Corbcer flew up with an eyeball in each talon.


The two dead hunters were disciples of Unulr_u. When they came upon Blaidd they told him who they were and that with him dead Corb Lupia and all of the planet Planet_ Verde would fall into the hands of the Mysterious Woman.


Blaidd had said nothing but just stood there looking at them as if they were dead. They had raised their rifles to fire only to hear a growl behind them causing the shots to miss Blaidd's heart. One shot missed him entirely and the other hit him in the shoulder.


Louve ran past the bodies of the hunters straight to Blaidd, threw her arms around him and wept.


He then told her that he was the young man who loved her mother and that when he had come back to get her she had left and he could not find her. Blaidd said at the end, “I want you to stay in the valley and I know that will be hard to do because Blaidd will not be coming back. Have faith in me when I say in the end all will be well.” He said this because The Way told him to, but he did not understand what that meant since he planned on returning.


Blaidd then jumped off the cliff.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ravenwolf, Diavol and Corbcer returned to Corb Lupia where he was treated for his wound and then appeared before the Consilui Intelepti.


He told them that he thought that Louve had the qualities of an Om Deluminii but he had no idea how long it would take to get her there; after all she wasn't even an Om Intelept and it took many years to become one.


Ravenwolf also said “Unulr_u has spies there and is aware I was in the village for a purpose. However, I do not believe he is aware of our plan and how Louve fits into it.


“I would like to go back as soon as I can to convince her to come back here with me so we can start training her.”


Lastly, Ravenwolf told the Consilui Intelept that he had a theory that Unulr_u and the Mysterious Lady may be one and the same and that Unulr_u could be in more than one place at once, though he was not sure.


Unfortunately things rarely go the way we want them too. The Consiliu Intelept said that while the flying machine project was well advanced and all they were doing now was improving upon the design, they still had problems with the laser gun and that they really wished he would stay for a short while to see if he could help.


The laser gun was really not a laser gun in the sense we would expect it to be. It would shoot a ray of light, but not normal light; this would be the light of the Essence of The Way. The weapon that the Corb Lupians were trying to develop was a defensive long range gun that would be capable of destroying or deactivating any other weapon in the Universe. The idea had come to Ravenwolf in a dream and he had convinced the Consiliu Intelepti that it could be constructed.


When he sought the wisdom in trying to produce it from The Way he did not receive any response. But he went forward with it anyway. The theory was to gather some of the Essence of Love out of the Cosmic Stream and then shoot a laser beam of It at the aggressors. Since this would be a beam of the Essence of Love, It would destroy or deactivate anything that produced evil. If it was shot at Unulr_u it would seriously wound or weaken iT as the light purplish ball of light had. At least that was the theory. 


If they succeeded in developing this gun, Ravenwolf thought  it would be able to neutralize any weapon ever created if that weapon was being used with hate and evil intent.


Both of these projects were desired by the Consilui Intelept, so private companies were created to accomplish them. The Flying Machine facility was originally owned by Doethblaidd and Miclupea for it was this facility that was used to create the hover vehicle. Ravenwolf bought shares in it when they decided to use it to try to develop the flying machine. They had succeeded and would eventually make a great profit, but not until after the Bolivians were defeated and the Mysterious Woman destroyed.


The Laser gun factory was owned by Corbulom although Ravenwolf and others also had shares in it. The problem was trying to get the Essence to be contained. Ravenwolf had a couple of ideas on how to do that and his ideas worked but only if the gun was fired shortly after charged. Because of this the gun worked great when it was close to the Cosmic Stream, but if it was far away the Essence would be gone by the time they got it there.


While working on the project Ravenwolf spent his spare time exercising, meditating and surfing the Cosmic Stream. During his meditation he began realizing that he really needed to put together a training program to get Louve to become an Om Intelept and that depended upon the fact that she even would agree to go through with it. After all she knew nothing about the Cosmic Stream, Planet_ Verde, Unulr_u or The Way, or did she?


He also spent time cogitating over exactly what Unulr_u was. He realized that of course iT had schimba forma abilities because iT changed iTself into a storm. But could iT be in two places at once? Could iT be the Mysterious Woman at the same time iT was the Storm?


Another thought that kept reoccurring to him was that he looked much older than Louve and while the merging was not a sexual thing at all, actually much deeper and personal that that, it might be easier if they were closer to the same age; like it had been with Vulpe. If only he could look as he would be if not for the battle. Remember that the people of Planet_ Verde aged much slower than the people of Earth.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Blaidd had jumped over the cliff, Lykos was not seen anymore and life got back to normal.


Louve missed Blaidd, the raven and the wolf very much and tried her best to hide her sadness. She didn't see how he could have survived the jump because he had fallen out of view before he had entered the Cosmic Stream. Still, Blaidd had said all would be well, and he had done the same thing those many years ago when he was a young man. But he said he would not be returning. It was all so confusing.


She continued her exercise regime and spent more time in the Haunted Forest because it reminded her of Blaidd. It was during her meditation time that a change in her started to happen.


Her mind would drift into the dream she had of the faceless man sailing forward with beautiful lights exploding all around him and then he was orbiting a strange planet. She remembered the silver disk and she began to feel the presence of love and peace around her. After a while it seemed to be with her even when she was not meditating.


When she was in the Haunted Forest and the animals came up to her she felt like she might be developing a much greater connection to them. One day she was sitting in her glade when she saw a raven flying overhead and thought to it. “Raven, oh so beautiful, please come and be with me.” The raven turned in flight and came to her and she laughed with glee.


“What is happening to me,” she thought.   “Blaidd said the Haunted Forest talked to him. Is it possible it is trying to talk to me?” Then she remembered that he had once called her “Beautiful Lady of the Wood.”  She began to realize that he had not been joking and had known something concerning her that she did not.


Then she understood! The Haunted Forest and she were truly beginning to become connected in some strange way. Over time she began to relax and listen to it. Louve felt herself changing, becoming more attuned to her surroundings, almost reading the minds of the animals and feeling love as more of a force than just a feeling. She was becoming what Blaidd had called her, Lady of the Wood!


As she practiced with her weapons she became more and more proficient with them. She could shoot three arrows in less than two seconds hitting three apples thirty yards away. She could hold three knives in her hand and when she threw, only one would leave; so in this manner she could throw six knives, one immediately after the other, three from one hand and three from the other .


She was thrilled with what was happening and she so much wanted to tell Blaidd… and then she would remember that he was not coming back and a sadness would come over her. Why did he leave and why wouldn't he come back?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 This may seem impossible to you, but a number of knife throwers can do it today including the author. If you insert the following link in your computer browser you can see him do it: https://youtu.be/e2_ocpF6xdw


One day while surfing the Cosmic Stream Ravenwolf began again thinking about how much better it would be if he looked as he did prior the battle. Was this vanity or was it an important factor in the merging?


Then he started thinking about how the merging was a major hurdle for several other reasons. In all four mergings that had ever occurred, the totems were very young. Louve was a full grown woman. Would Louve be a totem? Hardly! Anyone who suggested that to her could be pronouncing a death sentence on himself! Also he had control over his companions. Who would have control between him and Louve?


And of course the most questionable factor was whether a merging could take place between two people of the opposite sex. It had never happened before with the Om Intelepti instinctively believing it could not be done because the female and male were opposites in the Yin-Yang. But… they had to try or their world was doomed.


All of this was going through Ravenwolf's mind when he remembered that The Way had said, “This Dream has also given you a control over yourself and your companions that you are not aware of. When this is needed, the knowledge will come to you.”


He got an idea. Looking at his hand, he thought, “Turn into a paw,” and it did!


Ravenwolf, realizing that he now had the abilities of a schimba forma, thought himself and Diavol to look as they did before the battle. Corbcer had stayed black so no change was needed. As for their strength and vigor? Overtime all three of them had completely recovered, and had even grown stronger and more vigorous, as they became more as one with The Way.


The next day when he saw his parents they were dumbfounded.  “Ravenwolf, this is not possible; you look as you did before the battle with Unulr_u. What has caused this miracle!” said his mother. 


His response was, “All I can say is that with The Way all things are possible,” and he let it go at that.


The people of Corb Lupia were elated because they believed this had to be an omen that something very great was going to happen. Needless to say the young lasses of Corb Lupia were even more drawn to Ravenwolf.


Unulr_u was unaware of this change and continued to look for Ravenwolf as a grey haired, older looking man.


One day when Louve was meditating, her dream came back and she saw the faceless man orbiting the strange planet on the silver disk.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She heard a loving, kind and gentle voice say “Would you like to see his face?”


And she said “Oh, if only I could.” And as she looked upon him a face began to appear and it was so handsome and so familiar but different; then she realized she was looking at Blaidd when he was a young man and her eyes filled with tears. “Why do I see him as young instead of as he was when he left me; is he now dead? Is that why he said he would not be returning? But he said all would be well. What does this all mean?”


It was a year since Blaidd had jumped off the cliff when sightings of a huge black wolf started reoccurring. The day Louve heard about the sightings she looked into the sky and thought she saw a very large raven, but it quickly disappeared. Louve had a feeling that something was getting ready to happen, but what?


She had continued to work in the tavern and tried to appear happy but the sadness was still there, particularly when she would look at the empty seat in the corner. No one ever sat there because she would not let them.


Then one night when the moon was full a tall young man with long black hair walked into the tavern, stopped at the door, looked around, then went over to the chair in the corner and sat down. Louve could not see his face because he wore a wide, flat brimmed hat.


She was furious. She was more than furious. She said to Henri “This will not be!”  She walked around the bar, marched right up to the table and angrily said, “Mister, you cannot sit in that chair!”


Then as he looked up, their eyes met. Staring into two sky blue pools she was overwhelmed with their intensity as they pierced her being and gazed upon her soul.


He smiled and said, “Hello, Most Beautiful Lady.” She smiled and whispered softly, “Hello, Man of the Wood,” and she knew, just as Blaidd had said “…in the end all would be well.” And she now understood why she was shown the face of Blaidd as a young man instead of an old man, for this was he.


And the Cosmic Stream Flows On…



enough