Sons of Wolves (Among Wolves III)

Episode 1

The harrowing screams of the woman in labor echo far and wide. Drenched in sweat and enduring the pain, she longs for just one thing—to have her child emerge swiftly, healthy and away from the squalor that surrounds her.

The midwife approaches and spreads the woman's legs trying to extract the child from her womb. Her shrieks intensify as she feels her baby is about to be born.

"Push hard," the midwife urges, peering between the legs of the wretched woman.

Her husband leans against the door frame, observing everything with immense fury. He had tried to beat the child out of her, but to no avail. Clenching his bottle filled with liquor, he drinks without taking his eyes off his wife.

A cry pierces the air; the child has been born. The woman falls unconscious, incapable of moving or seeing her infant crying desperately to be with his mother. The midwife scoops him up and wraps him in white sheets. The man strides forward and snatches the baby, looking at him with intense anger and scorn, saying nothing. He takes a basket and puts the child inside.

"The child has just been born; he needs his mother to feed him," the midwife protests upon seeing what the man is about to do.

"Do not interfere," the man snaps furiously and strides out of the hut, mounts his horse, and departs.

As he rides away, he recalls his wife's betrayal. He found her nude in the arms of her lover in their bed; in a fury, he plunged a knife into the other man's abdomen repeatedly. His wife's screams for him to stop were ignored—his wrath had completely consumed him. The bed was stained with blood; turning back to his wife and dragging her by the hair, he snarled.

"YOU ARE A WHORE!" he bellowed with all his might.

"I would not have betrayed you if you had treated me better. Nightly, I endured nothing but beatings and insults from you. That man you just killed restored my belief in love—a notion you had never cultivated. Every time you came home, you were drunk and ill-tempered, reducing me to nothing but trash. Now you've slain my child's father," the woman challenged him with tears in her eyes. Her heart was overwhelmed with pain, having lost the only person she had loved, and now her fate was to be a curse at the hands of this man.

Grasping her chin and forcing her to look into his eyes, he hissed.

"I will beat that bastard out of you." And that he did; she faced the worst beating of her life. But the baby did not perish; he bravely clung to his mother, remaining in her womb.

After leaving his unconscious wife on the ground, he disposed of her lover's body, leaving it for the wolves to erase any sign of him.

Time passed, and his wife continued to carry the child, a constant reminder of her betrayal. To prevent the townspeople from gossiping about her great infidelity, he locked her away until the baby was born. Once that happened, the child's fate would be the same as his father's—food for wolves.

Reaching the spot, he dismounts, taking the small basket that now holds the baby. Looking at it with mistrust, he abandons it in the forest. A she-wolf, having just lost her pups, witnesses the scene and approaches the ceaselessly crying infant. Slowly nearing, she sniffs his cheeks and licks him, and at once the boy stops crying, rewarding her with a smile. Enchanted by the human child, the she-wolf decides to care for him, taking the basket in her teeth and carrying him to her den.

The man rides back, drinking from his bottle until the liquor takes hold, causing him to lose balance and fall to the ground. Rising quickly, somewhat drowsy, he walks back to his hut as his horse has left him. Suddenly, he hears growls from the bushes. He looks around and finds himself encircled by a pack of albino wolves. He tries to fend them off, but in vain. They prepare to strike, and the man's screams are heard throughout the forest; he dies just as he had left the child.

After their feast, the wolves return to see the she-wolf cleaning a human pup. They pass by, watch, and upon receiving his smile, lick him and accept him as part of their pack.

As time goes on, the boy grows up, never leaving his family, although he always wonders why he is so different from the others. He cannot talk to them, but in a way, he understands them, knowing what they say, communicating through instincts.

At age five, he sees the town below and, filled with curiosity, descends. Initially, it's all wondrous, a beautiful dream, where people talk peacefully, adorned in grand attire—but unlike the boy, who only wears rags for warmth. Suddenly, the dream turns nightmarish as the townsfolk begin to judge him, culminating in their driving him away with torches and pitchforks. It's a harsh lesson, and he understands why wolves avoid humans; henceforth, he detests them with all his might.

As he grows into a young man, he encounters a distraught young woman about to jump off a cliff. Moved by her sorrow, he grabs her by the waist to avert her fate. She lands on him, and for a moment they lock eyes; he sees only sadness within her, her spirit shattered, still scared, she clings to him and weeps her heart out. They rise from the ground, he wipes away her tears, trying to console her.

She opens about her life, unspeakable horrors she's endured at the priest's hands, her desire to end it all. He recalls his past conflict with this priest and promises to help her escape the hell she's living in. They form a close bond. He disappears for days, always returning. One day she waits, but he does not come back—he has vanished utterly. Resigned, Katherine accepts her fate, adopting the stance of Samanta, embracing death as a resolution.

When he learns of Katherine's demise, a deep bitterness engulfs his being, and he vows to avenge all who wronged her, especially the priest.

Now he prowls the Kingdom of Toledo, seeking his revenge and the grave of Katherine, to lay her to rest and honor her spirit.

Characters

Name: Enzo

Age: 25 years

Name: Gisela Palacios.

Age: 21 years.

Name: Elena Palacios

Age: 49 years

Name: Sebastian Palacios

Age: 54 years

Name: Leornad Palacio.