The Sight

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The Sight is a novel written by David Clement-Davies. The sequel to The Sight is Fell. The Sight is about a pack of wolves. The pack members are: Huttser, Palla, Khaz, Kipcha, Brassa, Bran, Larka and Fell, though Kar joins later.

Plot introduction

At the beginning of the novel, a Dragga (the term a wolf uses for the Alpha male of a pack) named Huttser, and his mate, the Drappa (The term for Alpha female), Palla, seek a cave in the side of a mountain in which Palla had grown up, and where she can nurse the cubs that were growing in her womb. They are trying to find this cave in order to raise their cubs in secret from Morgra, Palla's evil half-sister. Much pain and hate consumes the pack and one by one they learn their mistakes and hold fast to each other and learn the power they possess as a pack, but will it be too late to help each other this time?

Plot summary

Part One: The Cave

After a while, Huttser and Palla find the cave, under a castle called the Stone Den, and settle in. When the litter of cubs is born to Palla, she realizes that sadly, two of the cubs are stillborn, but two had survived - a little white she-wolf, Larka, and her black-pelted brother, Fell.

When the cubs are still very young Palla's half-sister, a savage she-wolf named Morgra, pays the small pack a visit. Many years ago Morgra had been thrown out of her pack, for the pack believed she had committed the crime of killing a cub. (It is later revealed that she had been trying to save the cub, but had ended up killing it by biting it too hard when picking it up. The one witness to this was Palla and Morgra's nurse, the storyteller Brassa, who did not speak up or defend her. She knew Morgra was barren and always wanted cubs of her own, although this was not the real reason Morgra had taken the cub.) Morgra became extremely bitter and angry, causing her to join a pack called the Night Hunters (also known as the Balkar). The Night Hunters were a pack that was made up of strong Dragga wolves, until Morgra became their only female member and eventually leader, after which the Balkar start being considered evil. They had previously been led by an old wolf by the name of Tratto - whom Morgra murdered in order to gain power over the legions of Balkar. When Morgra came upon Huttser and Palla's pack, she asked to see the new cubs, but Palla and Huttser refused, thinking she would harm them. Morgra told the pack they had two full moons to change their minds, or else.

Brassa tells the wolves that Morgra possess a power known as The Sight. The Sight allows who ever has it to talk to birds (known as The Helpers), and see through the eyes of birds, as well as being able to see the past, present, and future by looking into water. Huttser does not believe in these legends and tells his pack that they are just a way of Morgra playing with their minds. Bran is especially fearful of The Sight while Kipcha is intrigued and thinks it as exciting.

Eventually, Skop, Palla's brother, stumbles upon the pack. He has with him an orphaned wolf named Kar, whose parents were murdered by the Night Hunters and brothers were taken by Morgra. Skop and Kar were on their way to join a group called the Greater Pack. As the cubs grow older, Fell feels that he is not getting the attention he deserves as Larka seems to like Kar more than him. Fell believes that this is unfair, as he thinks he is superior to the orphan. When Fell's father, Huttser, shakes him by the neck in what Huttser thought was play, Fell gets slightly hurt and believes that Huttser did it to punish him, driving him further from his family.

The promised moons pass and Morgra returns, and when she asks to see the cubs she is once again turned down. Angered by this, Morgra puts a curse on the pack. It terrifies them, but the Alphas try to remain rational and to get the pack to remain firm in their belief that it was just a way of tricking them into submission.

When the cubs go on their first hunt, Larka looks into the sky at a group of birds. Suddenly she sees herself looking up and realizes she is seeing what the bird is seeing. Knowing this power is part of The Sight, she runs off into the forest. A long while later, the white cub stumbles upon a human village and notices a piece of meat hanging off a tree. Larka misses when trying to grab it and is found by some of her pack. Khaz sees the meat and jumps up to grab it, falling into a trap waiting underneath. He falls into a pit with large spikes on the bottom. Kipcha, Khaz's mate, mourns her loss until the humans come. This leaves Kipcha in a state of depression and leads Bran to believe that Morgra's curse is in effect.

After the hunt the pack is in terror, except for Huttser, who still does not believe in The Sight or the curse. Brassa then tells the pack the truth of Morgra and how she tried to save the cub. This slightly changes Palla's view on her half sister, from hatred to pity. Brassa goes on to say that the guilt of not telling the truth had been killing her inside. She dies shortly after. The pack makes up their mind that they must leave the territory and search for Tsinga, Brassa's sister and a fortune teller who knows much about The Sight, although not possessing it herself. Tsinga taught Morgra and Tsarr, an elderly wolf who also once had the Sight. They hope that she can help Larka and the rest of the pack. On the way, the pack must cross a river by using a makeshift bridge. Almost all of them make it safely across but as Kipcha is crossing, Bran, behind her, slips and they both tumble into the current. Since Kipcha is Huttser's sister, he urges her to shore. Kipcha, after losing Khaz decides she has no reason to live and gives up. Bran, however, makes it back to shore, although since he is the Sikla (lowest ranking member of the wolf pack) the rest of the pack does not acknowledge his survival. Kipcha is violently thrown around the river and is killed when she hits a rock. Before she dies she reveals to the reader that she was pregnant with Khaz's cubs. Palla, trying to remain positive, is grateful that Kipcha did not drown, as the Varg fear death by water. They believe it prohibits the soul from passing on. After this, the two Alphas struggle to keep their wits. Eventually, Palla and Huttser begin fighting with one another, arguing over the smallest things.

When they finally arrive in the Valley of Shadows, where Tsinga lives, only Palla, Huttser, Larka, Fell, Bran, and Kar are still alive (Skop left shortly after giving the family Kar). Tsinga tells the pack little, only that in the verse about The Sight, the line that states "Their faith shall be tested by the makers of life" the makers of life aren't Tor and Fenris (the wolf gods) but the elements (fire, earth, water, and ice). Tsinga also says that Larka has The Sight and when she is confronted by Fell, Tsinga goes into a state of hysteria which confuses them. The pack also finds out a human cub has been stolen by a wolf, told in the ancient prophecy. Tsinga believes that it is with Tsarr and his helper, the steppe eagle Skart.

Soon after they leave Tsinga's valley, Bran goes back to ask Tsinga a question and finds her throat slit by a pair of Balkar wolves. Bran overhears the group of Balkar talking about destroying the pack and heads in their direction Bran then confronts them and is tortured into telling them where the pack went. He lies and tells the wolves that his pack went West and the Balkar believe him. Bran crawls back to Palla and whispers a secret in his ear before dying. It is revealed later in the story that the secret was to Larka saying "It isn't so terrible being the Sikla", although Palla never tells Larka this because she is never given the chance.

When attempting to cross a frozen river, Huttser goes out onto the ice to find a safe path. When most of the pack are most of the way across, with Fell and Kar trailing behind, Fell starts to wander off the path that Huttser designated. Huttser tells Fell that it is safe to cross but he goes in the wrong direction onto the weakest part of the ice and falls in. The pack thinks that he died immediately, but when Huttser notices that Kar is staring horrified at the ice, he says that Fell is under the ice. Huttser tells him to help him. The two wolves try to break the ice but it is no use. Fell is carried away by the current and Palla is devastated. She blames Huttser and tells him that she hates him, although Huttser blames Kar. They begin the fight each other and Larka, seeing her parents' ferocity towards one another, runs off into the woods. Kar follows her and eventually catches up to her although she asks him to leave many times because she doesn't want the curse of the Sight to kill him too.

Part Two: The Child

Morgra is desperate for the verses of The Sight to come true for they promise the holder to become the Man Varg, a powerful creature who has power over all of the animals. She believes she can get this power from Wolfbane. Wolfbane is a character in most of the wolves stories and is told to cubs that if they do not listen, Wolfbane will come after them. In the stories, he is considered evil and plots against the gods and is banished to the shadows of the world. Morgra then howls and makes sacrifices, including Kar's brothers, in order to draw Wolfbane to her. Eventually, she does and this frightens the Night Hunters more into Morgra's submission.

Kar and Larka travel together for a few days but eventually since they are not experienced hunters, it is hard to find food and the wolves become desperate. Larka kills a rabbit at one point and her power causes her to feel herself die as the rabbit. She then realizes her power is much stronger than other that have The Sight for she can see from more animals points of view than just birds. They eventually come across a human village and Kar steals a chunk of pig. After a few hours though while the wolves are sleeping, Larka wakes up from a dream about Fell surrounded by swirling mist, and sees herself surrounded by the mist. But she soon realizes that it isn't mist. It's smoke. She sees that the woods are on fire and quickly wakes Kar. They try to escape it but find it impossible. Skart, Tsarr's eagle helper, helps Larka escape from the fire. She calls for Kar but can not find him and assumes he was killed by the flames. Larka is lead to Tsarr and a female wolf named Jarla who is nursing the human cub foretold in the prophecy. Larka at first says that she hates the cub but nevertheless, she takes on the responsibility of helping look after it, knowing that if Morgra had the cub that there would be far worse consequences.

Huttser and Palla were captured by the rebels or the Greater Pack and are being held under a sort of prohibition. They are only allowed to see each other for a short amount of time once a month. Huttser becomes close to Slavka, the Drappa of the rebel pack, who oddly enough has a striking resemblance to Larka except Slavka is gray and has a large scar across her face. The rebel leader says she does not believe in the wolf gods or The Sight and think that talking and believing in both make wolves weak. She then tells Huttser her biggest secret of why she also hates humans, who hunted her family. While Slavka was out and left her cubs in their den, dogs and hunters advanced. She either had to run and have her cubs be killed by the humans, or risk her life trying to save them. Huttser assumes she ran away since she didn't have any cubs now, but she tells him instead of trying to save one cub, which she could not do, she killed both because she believed that she was helping them. This changes Huttser's perspective on Slavka forever and he looks up to her for her courage and strength although he still would like to escape the rebels.

One night, Huttser sneaks into Palla's den where she sleeps and they start to devise a plot to escape. They briefly talk about Larka and the human cub. Slavka, who hates the Sight and anything to do with it overhears their conversation and orders one of her rebels to lead a patrol to find and kill Larka and the human cub and if he can't kill her to tell her that she is to come to the rebel's camp and surrender herself by that summer or her parents shall fight each other to the death.

The patrol finds Larka, Tsarr, Skart, and Jarla and a fight breaks out. Jarla is fatally wounded and makes Larka swear that she'll defend the human cub, which Larka has named Bran. The patrol soon leaves, and is well wounded. One of the rebels is found by a Balkar patrol and is torchered into telling Morgra what the Greater Pack is doing against her. She then sends the bleeding wolf into the woods where the most shadows are. The Balkar watch as the wolf howls in pain. Morgra tells them that Wolfbane is near.

By now, Larka has learned much of the Sight. She can see through the eyes of birds, see into water and see the past, present, and future, heal, and feel the pain of her prey.

Part Three: The Citidel

Characters

• Larka is the main character and, like Morgra, has the Sight. At first she is terrified, but as the story progresses she learns to control her power. Because of Morgra's "curse" all her pack dies except her mother and father, her brother (which in the middle of the book fell though the ice on a river and then lost his memory), and her best friend and possible mate, Kar. She has a pure white pelt and gold eyes.
• Fell is Larka's brother. He has a pure black pelt with yellow eyes with a sliver of green in the right eye. As a pup he pretended he was scared of nothing. After he fell though the ice he was found by Morgra and brainwashed to make him believe he was Wolfbane. Larka brought him back to believe in who he really was and help bring about the Vision.
• Morgra is the main antagonist (villian). She possesses the Sight, and is Palla's half sister. She was believed of being a pup killer. Her Helper, a bird companion that helps a wolf with the Sight learn to see through the eyes of birds, is a raven named Kraar.
• Huttser is Larka and Fell's father and alpha male of the pack. He is described as a large silver wolf with reddish flecks in his tail. His sister is Kipcha.
• Palla is Huttser's mate, and the Drappa of the pack. She is Morgra's half sister, and has a brother named Skop. Though the books do not mention her main fur color, it is said that she has a long, slim muzzle and bushy silver ears.
• Kar is an orphan who accompanies Skop to the main pack, and is then left with them when Skop goes to join the rebel pack. He and Larka were best friends and could have been mates. He is described as looking like a true Dragga, but often is shown to be slightly cowardly and more of a Sikla.
• Brassa is the pack's oldest member. She was the nurse who raised Palla and Skop as pups. She knew of Morgra's innocence in the pup killing, but said nothing to defend her. She dies of a lump in her stomach, brought on by the guilt of her lie and its ties to the legend.
• Khaz is the Beta or second-in-command. He is described as having gray fur with a bushy red tail, and the second strongest jaws in the pack. He falls into a wolf pit, laden with spikes at the bottom, and dies.
• Bran is the pack's Sikla, or weakest member. He is very skittish and often backs away from confrontations. However, he fights off a group of the Night Hunters to save his pack, dying from the wounds he sustained in the process. He has a distinctive smudge of black around his right eye.
• Kipcha is the sister of Huttser. She mates with Khaz, but her and her unborn pups die as she is smashed against a rock when she falls into the river.
• Skart, a steppe eagle, is Tssars's Helper and mentor. When Larka was trapped in the fire, Skart saved her life by showing her a way out of the flames.
• Skop is Palla's brother and also the one that brought Kar to the pack but then left in search for the Rebels. He couldn't find the Rebels and a few years later, found a lone wolf in a cave and pleaded with it for food and shelter while carrying the burden of a large wound on his side. He soon finds out that the lone wolf is none other than Kar then he dies slowly.
• Tssar is Larka's mentor . He is an old wolf who had the Sight, but it faded. His helper is Skart.

Morgra and the Pup

A vixen was rooting around the den one day. Morgra was the only one who saw it, and so grabbed a pup to save it from the fox. However, in her panic she bit down too hard, and so when she went to bury it, the pack found her and accused her of stealing and killing it. Later it was found out that Brassa was the only one who witnessed this, but did not stand up for her. Rumor was that Morgra felt bitter that couldn't have pups of her own, so she stole a pup from her own pack. After tasting a fellow wolf's blood, it was said that a wolf couldn't get enough and so kept killing its own. She was then banished from her pack for something she did not do.

The Searchers

The Searchers are the ghosts of wolves that have died. They can be summoned by the Summoning Howl, which can only be used by one with the power of the Sight. If the Searchers touch a living wolf, then that wolf can have its mind read and controlled by the one that used the Summoning Howl. The Searchers are neither good nor evil, but they have to do what the Summoner commands. These wolves are found in the "Red Meadow" that can only be reached when a wolf who possesses the Sight makes a kill, sleeps, and then calls Fenris's name (a Varg god), once that has been done they can walk the pathways of death, but there is a chance that they might not be able to return. ...

The Balkar

The Balkar are a group of Draggas, or alpha male wolves, who do Morgra's bidding. They are vicious and will do anything their leader asks of them, even if it will lead them to their own death. Before, they were lead by Tratto, a great Dragga who let all wolves live in peace and freedom, who then was murdered by Morgra, who fed him lies in his old age.

The powers of the Sight

The Sight is a power that very few wolves have, and it is difficult to control. Only a very small amount is known about the Sight, and most wolves consider it to be a myth. Wolves who have the gift of the Sight have potential to have these powers:

1. The ability to see though the eyes of Lera and feel their pain when hunting them.
2. The ability to look into water and see visions of the past, present and future.
3. The ability to talk to birds and to see through the eyes of a bird. (Goes with the first power)
4. It is believed by some that the true power of the Sight is to heal one's mind and body.
5. To bring forth the Vision, by looking through the eyes of a human at the citadel of Harja. The wolf to use this power has the power to enslave all the Lera to their will.
6. To howl to the Searchers/Fenris, and either summon them to do one's bidding, or enter the Red Meadow (or field of the dead) and speak with the dead, summoning them with fresh meat from a recent kill.