Chapter 98: The Scroll Room
"This is the room of secrets," Ryn muttered as she winked at Emira as they entered the large isolated room.
Emira smiled faintly at that. Even though she knew Ryn said it as a a joke, but Ryn was not wrong. The Scroll Room truly was the room of secrets. Within these walls lay the oldest records in history, every decree, every incident, and every story of the pack that had ever come under the rule of the Stormhold. Generations of memories and truths were written on these scrolls, and Emira could hardly wait to get into them
But as her gaze wandered over the countless shelves, stacked from the floor all the way to the ceiling, Emira felt a moment of hesitation. The sheer number of scrolls was overwhelming that one person could barely hope to sift through.
"Are you scared now?" Ryn teased after a look at her expression, tilting her head and waggling her brows playfully. "Do you want me to shift you to the kitchens instead?"
Emira shook her head. Despite her own hesitation, she could not have asked for a better job. "No. This is perfect."
And it was. Because only by working here, only by sorting through these forgotten scrolls, would she have any chance of uncovering the truth about what had happened to her mother. And Why? It was why she had chosen this place without hesitation.
Ryn gave a small nod, though she still looked amused. "Alright then. I’ll mark this job as temporarily taken. If you feel like escaping later, just tell me. Okay? I’ll organise something."
Emira nodded once, but instead of returning to the shelves, she turned and looked straight at Ryn. Her expression was more serious now. "There is no one here in the Scroll Room. Now can you tell me?"
Ryn sighed, her playful air fading. She glanced around the silent chamber as if checking one last time that they were truly alone. "Fine," she said at last, lowering her voice. "Let’s sit here. I don’t know much, but I’ll tell you what I know."
The two of them settled on the low steps beside one of the shelves as Emira began slowly, "As you already know, triplets within a pack are rare and are born with special powers. Unlike the others, their wolves are bonded from birth, already connected to each other in ways most of us can’t even imagine. The princes were no exception. From the moment they could walk, they were always together-playing, training, and keeping each other’s company."
Her voice dropped lower. "It is said that once, when they were about five years old, something happened. Prince Kael and Prince Zen were playing outside. It was supposed to be safe, but rogues were lurking nearby. Somehow, they slipped through the guards. And then, Prince Kael was taken. Kidnapped by the rogues."
Emira’s breath caught at this. A five year old kidnapped? She could only imagine...
"By the time the Alpha came to know what had happened, it was already too late. The rogues had vanished with Prince Kael...It is said that the Alpha searched everywhere for Prince Kael, but no one was able to find him..."
Suddenly, Emira felt an oppression within her. She did not want to hear this story. Because this legend was definitely going to break her heart...
But before she could stop her, Ryn had already started to talk...
"It is said that after a year had passed, and when everyone had nearly lost hope of ever finding him, Prince Kael returned. But... not as a child. Not in his human form. He came back in his wolf form."
Emira frowned. Even for triplets, it was unheard of to change into their wolves so soon. It usually happened after they hit puberty...
"No one recognised him at first. The guards spotted a lone wolf pup slipping into the courtyard. Everyone thought he was just some stray pup that had wandered too close out of the woods. He looked hungry and was covered in blood so they thought to bring it inside to feed him... Because there there was no sign of human awareness in him, they took him to be a normal wolf. He growled, snapped, and snarled if anyone dared to approach."
"It is said that no one dared to go near him and they were even planning to put him down, assuming he had turned feral due to hunger... until Prince Zen saw him. He ran straight to that bloodied wolf pup and threw his arms around him, refusing to let go.
The pup struggled, even bit him, but Zen clung to him, crying, calling his name. And it was only then, only then, that the elders realized... this might be Prince Kael."
Emira’s lips parted slightly as she thought of the scene that Ryn had just described and she could already feel her heart break.
"But even after that, Prince Kael didn’t take his human form. Days passed, then weeks, but he remained a wolf. He lived among his brothers, followed them, slept beside them, but he did not speak."
"The pack doctors said it must have been the trauma. That perhaps, in his desperation, he had escaped the rogues by shifting. And because he had been so young, his wolf had become his only protection. They believed he had suppressed his human side completely, and that was why he stayed like that."
Her tone grew heavier and Ryn shivered.
"But then... something happened that changed everything. One day, the Stormhold Pack was attacked. It wasn’t a random strike. It was organised and planned. The rogues came in numbers larger than anyone could have imagined. And the Alpha- he wasn’t there. He had gone out, leaving the pack with little protection."
"Peace had lasted for years, and no one had expected danger to strike so suddenly. That night, everyone thought the Stormhold Pack would fall. That we would all be slaughtered. And that would have happened..."
"But then..." Ryn’s voice dropped, almost a whisper. "Prince Kael happened."
She hesitated, "They say he tore into the rogues without warning. That he attacked with a fury no wolf had ever shown before. He didn’t fight like a child or even a warrior. He killed them by tearing them apart, one after another. Within an hour, over a hundred rogues lay dead. Not just defeated. But Dead. Brutally, savagely dismembered, their insides hanging out of their bodies...
Ryn shivered, and so did Emira as she imagined the scene. A six year old... doing that...
"Those who witnessed it say it was... unbearable to watch. He didn’t just kill to defend. He destroyed them, ripped them apart in a way no one thought possible. Wolves are fierce, yes. Warriors are trained to kill. But this? This was something else. They said it was like watching death itself move through the battlefield."
Emira’s breath caught.
"And when it was finally over,when every last rogue was dead, Prince Kael shifted back. For the first time after returning to the Pack, he returned to his human form. He stood there in the ruins, a small boy drenched in blood from head to toe. and then, he just stood there, silent, until reinforcements arrived."
"When the warriors came and saw the scene... even the strongest among them, almost vomited where they stood. The sight was too much. The bodies, the blood, the brutality.
"The elders...They wanted to banish him. They said he was feral. That he was no longer a child, but a monster. They feared he was cursed, that his wolf had consumed him. The brutality of his actions terrified them."
Emira felt her blood rise! Those fools! A child had saved the entire pack. Done something that even made grown ups throw up and instead of comforting him, they had actually wanted to banish him?
"But Prince Zen and Prince Lance refused. They stood before the council and fought for their brother. They argued that he had protected the pack, that without him Stormhold would have been erased. They swore he did not deserve punishment. They refused to let him be cast out."
Her voice grew quiet, almost reverent. "It was because of them that Kael stayed. Because of them that the Stormhold still had three princes instead of two. But the pack..." She shook her head. "The pack never forgot what they saw that night... they still think of him as a beast."
"Even during the pack runs, every full moon... Prince Kael was not allowed to join. They were all too scared of the Wolf.. And now, it has been so many years, no one has even seen his wolf. But, despite everything... they are scared of him..."
As Ryn felt silent... Emira felt her eyes tear up... her heart aching for the child... She had thought that Moonville Pack was cruel but this kind of cruelty... of letting someone protect you but not accepting then, was even worst...