The Wolf Folk Series: The Adventures Of Jeremiah Tate

When Jeremiah discovered the old schoolhouse, the youngsters' groans were likely heard all the way back to Charlotte, especially when there were four teachers on the plane when it made its last trip carrying supplies. The teachers were wolves from Charlotte and the very first meeting of the classes, the teachers demonstrated who was wolf and who was wolfling in no uncertain terms! The two clans would work hand in hand as long as they stayed in the area. In less than five years, the two clans numbered over one thousand wolves and gold had been discovered on both their lands.

Gorlu, Prince Alpha of the Belize Sept contacted Tecito, who was finishing up his studies at the University, "Lord Tecito, we have a wounded young wolf here. He says he is from the south, from near Quibo, Columbia. He begs our assistance, but what he is describing is beyond our ability to help his folk. Can you and Lord Jeremiah help him?"

Tecito joined with Jeremiah and let him know what was happening. Jeremiah asked Gorlu, "Know you of what Family he belongs?" Gorlu replied, "I know not, My Lord, and he is delirious from his wounds right now." Peter came up behind Jeremiah and said, "Brother, we must go, NOW!" Jeremiah agreed and called for Harley Myers to ready the Red Wolf.

He asked Tecito to again act as his Proxie in route, if Peter was going with him, Chub would need to remain in Charlotte to handle things. They were ready to go by late afternoon. Chub was not a happy camper!

The closest airport to where Gorlu and his Family were located was Santa Cruz Airport. Jeremiah designated Wolf Warrior Len as his War Leader and told him to select 50 Warriors to accompany them, they could ask additional Warriors from Gorlu, if needed.

Peter was urging speed and Jeremiah trusted his brother's judgment, so, as soon as the Warriors were gathered, they went to the airport and loaded on the plane. Jeremiah told Chief Wolf Pilot Harley Myers to make it a fast trip, there were hurt Wolves involved.

They stopped briefly in New Orleans for fuel and a light evening snack before proceeding. It was still dark when they made their approach into Santa Cruz Airport, the landing lights were on and they heard Gorlu telling them that he was waiting for them. He had a dozen trucks and a large SUV sitting beside the runaway.

The Customs Officer never even realized they were there, Tecito had used his power of Persuasion. Jeremiah congratulated him on his newly awakened power of the Ancients. Tecito grinned, "Oh, this is not the first time I have used it" Jeremiah was about to ask him about that when Peter sent, "Don't ask, Brother, you are better off not knowing!"

They arrived at the Family Kellison home, where Alpha Wolf Mopayu greeted them warmly and led them to the bedroom where the injured youth from Columbia was resting. When Jeremiah entered the room, the teen recognized Jeremiah as a Prince of his kind and struggled to stand to do him Honors, Jeremiah held on to him and had him lay back on the bed, "Son, stand on no ceremony, we are here only to help you."

The boy replied, "Lord Prince Wolf, my papa has sent me seeking help for our folk, the drug cartels have raided our villages and enslaved our people. I and my papa are all that remain of our Family, they murdered my Mother and younger brothers. Papa told me to give you this if you would come to our rescue."

The boy pulled at a thong that was around his neck and opened a leather bag. He removed a ring from the bag and handed it to Jeremiah, it was of heavy gold, set with a large blue sapphire that was glowing in the dim light. Jeremiah told the boy to slip the ring on his own finger and, as he did, the stone glowed brightly, lighting up the entire room. They knew the boy had inherited an Ancient Line. Peter sent, "Blue is the House of Tor" The boy began to cry, "My papa is dead, isn't he?"

Jeremiah held the boy tightly and said, "If the ring shines brightly on your hand, yes, I am afraid you have inherited the leadership of the House Tor." He showed the boy, whose name was Balap, how is own ring glowed softly, meaning that his own father yet lived. Balap clung to Jeremiah, "My Lord, please, help me to help my folk, if I am now Alpha Wolf, I do not know what to do, help me!"
 
Jeremiah replied, "First, get some more sleep, I will arrange for help to come to us and we will be ready when you awaken. Nothing can be done if you are sick, sleep now while I make arrangements." He put his hand on the boy's forehead and soothed him into a deep, healing sleep.

As soon as Balap was asleep, Jeremiah jumped up and started issuing commands, "Gorlu, I require 100 Warriors of you, fully armed and ready for war!" He continued, "Len, ready our own troops, Tecito, please contact Jonal and Tosco and ask them for 200 Warriors and their new airplane!"

Jeremiah was a whirlwind of activity, Jonal replied immediately, "My Lord Prince, we are departing with your 200 Warriors, THIS TIME, I am coming with them! Jeremiah heard also, "ME TOO!" The last was definitely a defiant Tosco! Neither Wolf Warrior was willing to be left behind again!

As soon as they had eaten their morning meal, Gorlu gathered his Warriors for Jeremiah's inspection. Gorlu had finally attained his full growth, he had filled out into a wolf of huge proportions, his human stood nearly 7 feet tall and weighed in at close to 300 pounds. His wolf was even more fearsome, not an ounce of him was flab; he was a Wolf Warrior to be feared!

Just after noon, a gold and blue plane landed, it had a golden wolf head emblazoned on each side. Two huge Warriors stepped from the plane, followed by 200 Warrior Wolves, each nearly as big. Tosco marched up to Jeremiah and hugged him, "Papa, we are here!" Jeremiah could hardly believe his eyes, he looked at Tosco and then at Tecito, they looked enough alike to be twins and no one, sane OR insane, would dare challenge them! Together, they were the most fearsome pair of their kind!

There were 350 Wolf Warriors formed up, with their Leaders saluting Jeremiah. Peter sent to Jeremiah, "Brother, this is the largest Wolf Army in 10,000 years! Not since the Ages of Darkness descended upon us have this many warriors been assembled in one place!

Jeremiah carefully brought Balap out and introduced him to the Warriors, "THIS IS LORD ALPHA WOLF BALAP OF CLAN COLUMBIA, HAIL LORD BALAP, ALPHA WOLF OF THE BLUE FAMILY OF TOR!"The 350 Warriors pounded their chests and responded, "HAIL LORD BALAP WE ARE HERE FOR YOU, COMMAND US!" The young wolf was nearly in tears, he turned to Jeremiah and asked, "Lord, what do I do?"

Jeremiah whispered in his ear and the boy stood straight and replied, "I SEE THEE WOLF WARRIORS. I KNOW THEE WOLF WARRIORS. FROM MY HEART I THANK THEE FOR THY HELP." The Warriors hollered and shouted their approval of the young Wolf, those that could, sent him personal thoughts of encouragement and honors.

Jonal, Tecito and Tosco came up and hugged him, all three told him that the terrible wrong done him and his folk would be rectified! Balap stared at the three huge Wolf Warriors, never had he seen such huge members of his own kind, not realizing that he would be as powerful as they, when he attained his own full stature!

After they had eaten a light meal, the Warriors boarded both the Red Wolf and the Golden Wolf for the flight to Columbia. Jeremiah appointed Jonal overall War Leader with Gorlu, Tecito and Tosco as sub commanders. Balap would understudy Jonal in preparation for his ascension as Family Tor Alpha Wolf.

The two heavily laden aircraft took off, headed south to Quibo, Columbia. Jonal, Jeremiah and Peter spent the flight developing tactics and planning a war against the drug lords. Balap hung on their every word, soaking up knowledge as a sponge soaks up water.

Balap quickly became a favorite of the Warriors, two younger Warriors, Tolan and Geran took the young Wolf into their hearts, it was to become a lifelong friendship. Both Tolan and Geran were of Jerimiah's Warriors and had participated in the relief of the Wolves of the Northlands. They were not about to allow more Wolf Teens to be abused. Tolan and Geran would remain behind in Columbia and would guide the young Family Alpha as he matured into his estate.

By the time Balap had related his story, the passenger cabins of both planes were lit up in red fury from the eyes of angry Wolves. The Wolf Folk had no use for drugs or those who peddled them and even less for those who preyed on the young, enslaving them as mules to carry their poisons. They were not affected by the narcotics, their metabolism destroyed the drugs as fast as they entered their bodies.

By the time the planes landed in Quibo, both planes were simmering kegs of high explosives, needing only a spark to detonate! Only a Warrior of Jonal's stature could lead these angry beings, anyone less would have been utter chaos! They parked both aircraft, leaving guards to protect them.

With Jeremiah and Tosco running interference, they passed through Customs unnoticed and proceeded to Balap's home. There, a few teen wolves were hiding, protecting a large group of young Wolf Folk, some still babes in arms. Only by force of his personality, did Jonal prevent his Warriors from charging the drug lords' compound immediately. Balap introduced Jeremiah to his Family Tor and they all knelt giving the Heir of the Most Ancient Line honors unknown since the great breakup. Those honors were almost part of their DNA, it did not matter the thousands of years that had passed, they all knelt to the young Prince who represented them all.

They rested for the rest of the day, comforting the young who had been hiding in the compound and the warriors seeing to their weapons. Each Wolf Warrior was armed to the teeth, besides the normal weapons; rifle, pistol, grenades and knife, each carried a short sword, a chain flail and their native claws. Young teen wolves stood in awe of the Great Warriors, clearly drooling in envy. It took no mind reading to know that they had promised themselves that they would be worthy of being a Wolf Warrior!

Jonal's Warriors from the Yucatan also carried a hooked spear, made especially for gutting their opponents, a weapon from out of history of their Maya Ancestors. The youngsters crowded around these Warriors straight out of their oldest legends, their longing to be one with their visitors was plainly read on their faces.

As soon as it got dark, the Warriors made ready. Jeremiah held Balap's hand, "We stay here, Lord Alpha Balap, not because we cannot fight, but because we are the light for which our Warriors fight, watch as they pass by us."

As their Commanders ordered the Warriors forward, they marched by Jeremiah and Balap, each Wolf saluted the two as they passed in review by pounding his right hand, fist clenched, against his breast in salute.

Jeremiah said to the teen, "We are the inspiration for which our Warriors fight, we give them hope and faith, we are the symbols of our kind."

They fell upon the first compound of the drug lords, where they were manufacturing their poisons. It was like all the fiends from Hell itself descending on them, their eyes glowing red and bodies shifting back and forth between their human and their Wolf. Hot anger flowed over their bodies in a visible stream of red as they faced those who had given up their right as humans, these scum were merely animals of the lowest kind.

Tecito had discovered one of their leaders, Francisco Gomez, and he goose-stepped him before Jonal. Jonal said nothing, he brought forth his Wolf and tore the man's throat out, watching him die, gurgling in his own blood. Jonal had the man hung by his heels from a tree, stripped naked and dripping blood. Written on the man's bare backside was, "VENGENCE OF THE WOLF", in his own blood!

So it went through the night as they destroyed two more camps of the drug lords. For the next six nights, the Wolves destroyed drug processing facilities, killing the gang members and freeing those being held captive to process and carry the drugs. Those in the place where their bosses congregated, Medellin, grew fearful and gathered their thugs and fighters about them. Stories began emerging of demons and devils and their gang members dying terrible deaths.
 
The slow advance of the Wolves marched across the country steadily, destroying drug processing and distribution facilities as they went. The wolf folk moved like ghosts in the night, unseen demons, destroying all those who had been a part of the drug lords' business and management, unseen in the night and unstoppable. Rumors were flying about the legendary fabled LOS LOBOS DEL NOCHE; rumors that had been nearly forgotten in thousands of years of history.

Jeremiah had a branding iron wrought in the likeness of a Wolf's Head. They branded the bodies of the dead leaders in each drug camp they destroyed. The next morning, as their compatriots began searching why they had not answered their summons, the stink of burned flesh from the branding irons hung in the air, a wolf's head burned into the dead man's flesh.

The people engaged in the drug business retreated from the unseen force that was terrorizing them, nobody had seen just who or what was killing their associates. When they tried to investigate the destroyed camps in the daylight, their only clue was the huge, dog like foot prints left in the soil and the branded wolf's head burned into the naked bodies of the managers.

Medellin became a city under siege, the drug lords' army occupied the city, patrolled its perimeter and held its people hostage. Each night, members of that army died; a scream in the night and a mutilated body would be found, branded and no evidence of who or what killed them, other than the huge, dog-like footprints on the ground around the body.

It was a war of attrition and Jeremiah's Army had all the advantages. Never once did any surviving cartel member see the Wolf Warriors, nor did they guess that their legends of Los Lobos del Noche were real!

Soon, the thugs hired by the drug cartels were defecting and sneaking out of the city. Few of them made it, some were caught by their own people, but the majority of them were found hanging upside down in a tree, branded with a wolf's head and dead. After two months, an emissary from the cartels came to the city boundary, waving a white flag.

He was never seen again, nor was his body ever identified. It was as if the man had never existed.

The electricity suddenly was cut off to the city and soon after, the water taps dribbled to a stop. Food became scarce and the city seemed to be invaded by very large dogs. Cartel leaders were found dead in their beds, their necks slashed open and a wolf's head was branded deep into their flesh.

Finally, the ordinary folk of the city had enough and they rose up in rebellion against the drug cartels. They were captured and sent out of the city, bound and gagged, walking in their bare feet. Most were never seen again, a few of the most notorious were seen hanging in trees like Christmas ornaments around the perimeter of the city.

Finally, the city folk woke one morning to find a large sign erected in the city square, it read:

Jeremiah ordered his troops back to Quibo. Their total loss was one slightly wounded Warrior, who was completely recovered before they reached their airplanes. They had spent the better part of a year in the field; Tecito and Tosco were now experienced War Leaders and Balap had matured into a leader of his folk. He now stood nearly as tall as Princes Tecito and Tosco and mighty muscles bulged in his arms and shoulders.

When Balap led them back to Tall Cliffs, the ancestral home of the Clan Columbia, he was ready to assume the mantle of leadership as Alpha Wolf of Clan and Family. He found knowledge within himself that he had not known of before and he stood before his folk, a mighty Warrior Prince among other mighty Warrior Princes.

The new leader was amazed at what had been done to his home while he had been away at war, the buildings had been repaired; the streets had been cleaned and everywhere he looked he saw happy, well fed and cared for children. The market square was well stocked and business was brisk, the wolf folk were happy to bow to their Alpha whenever they chanced to meet him and there were several groups waiting to request permission to start their own Septs. Casa del Lobo had come home!

Balap appointed his cousin, Teodor as his Proxy and his Uncle Josef as his War Leader. He discovered he had 500 Warriors and another 200 Junior Warriors, all drooling in anxiety to be named a WOLF WARRIOR!

Jeremiah transferred emergency funds of $40 million to help re-establish the finances of the Clan Columbia, a sum that Balap insisted be paid back in less than five years. It was! Jeremiah refused to accept interest; that was something foreign and repugnant to all Wolves.

The clan's traditional wealth came from mining and agriculture, now that their people had been freed from slavery to the cartels; they had the folk to do both. Farms were returned to productivity and gold and silver started flowing from the mines. A small deposit of precious stones was discovered and Balap made a present to Jeremiah of an amethyst as large as a goose egg that he had carved to the likeness of a wolf head.

In formal presentation he made the presentation. "ALL RISE, I PRESENT TO YOU LORD PRINCE ALPHA JEREMIAH FRANKLIN TATE OF THE PRINCIPAL CLAN OF THE AMERICAS, HEIR TO THE MOST ANCIENT LINE, AMBASSADOR POTENTIARY TO THE CLANS OF THE AMERICAS, LORD ALPHA WOLF OF THE CHARLOTTE SUBCLAN, FATHER OF THE FAMILIES JEP AND GAL. HAIL PRINCE JEREMIAH!"

Balap stood and embraced Jeremiah, then dropped back to his knee and said, "PRINCE JEREMIAH, ACCEPT MY PETITION, BE THE FATHER TO MY FAMILY TOR" Jeremiah returned Balap's embrace and announced, "BE MY SON, CHILD OF TOR, I SEE THEE LORD BALAP AND ACCEPT THEE"

So it was that Jeremiah acquired yet another son and another Family of an Ancient Line to father. Never in the long history of their kind had a wolf ever attained such honors. Balap hung the huge blue amethyst on a golden chain around Jeremiah's neck and he swore to wear it in pride and honor.

They began to ready for the return trip home, Tecito decided to return with Tosco and Jonal to spend some time with his people. He told Jeremiah that he would soon return to finish his schooling and then send Tosco so he, also, could attend University.

Jonal hugged Jeremiah and said, "Thank you, my Lord Prince for allowing me to be part of this battle. When Tosco is ready to return to the Yucatan, my duties will be fulfilled and I wish to come home to you."

The planes took off from the airport at Quibo, The Golden Wolf would head straight for Cancun and the Red Wolf would refuel at Santa Cruz before heading for Charlotte.

Tosco had decided that he, also, would gift Jeremiah and he started his plans that involved a large yellow diamond that had been found.

Warriors Tolan and Geran asked permission to remain with Balap and help him rebuild his Clan. Jeremiah gave them permission, saying only, "When you are ready to come home, you shall be welcome."

The return home was anti-climactic, everyone was tired and war-weary. With grateful eyes, they saw Charlotte come over the horizon and Chub was waiting for them as they landed. He hugged them all, but especially, he hugged Jeremiah and Peter.

They were all whisked away to Greystone Manor before any Customs or Immigration authorities could become inquisitive.

It would be several weeks before Jeremiah could dig his desk clear and he could relax. Clearly, a trip to Cashiers and Magee Valley was on the horizon.

Jeremiah's stature in the society of wolves is rising to heights not known in thousands of years and he is on his way to restoring those clans thought lost forever.