Not wanting to make my friends wait any longer, I rolled the pants up and placed them by the rabbit. Someone with foresight had to have left them, but I didn’t have time to explore the area and look for a clue as to who it might have been. We needed to eat, especially after last night.
Transforming and flying back was as simple as it was the first time. I was worried that the weight of the rabbit and pants would throw me off, but it didn’t. I also wasn’t sure what the barrier would do, but that was simple too.
When I arrived near the camp, I could see that Grace was up with Nikkan. I didn’t want to attract any wolves to the area, so I sat down further away from them. Slipping my new pants on first, I made my jog back to my friends.
Nikkan had a fire going and was ready for the rabbit I handed him.
“I’m not really understanding all this, but thank you, Castiel, for helping us,” Grace told me as I sat down next to her and the fire. It looked like Nikkan had filled her in on me.
Being an animal was definitely warmer than being human. It had to be all the long fur. But I couldn’t complain too much. The fire was keeping us all warm as Nikkan expertly skinned and placed the rabbit above the fire to cook.
“I do not understand it much myself,” I admitted. Grace smiled shyly and nodded.
It was crazy to see her shy again, but then again, Nikkan was with us. The confident girl that was giving up her human life only days ago seemed like a dream. She was back to being the red-faced girl I grew up with. I really didn’t mind, though. After the first night of them behind the wall and no news of what happened, I was grateful that my friends were just alive.
Nikkan sat down and took Grace’s hand in his own. She was still a good shade of red but happier than I had ever seen her before. Nikkan shrugged at me.
“When you are faced with every day being your last, you kind of have to make a move,” he explained, which made Grace turn a deeper shade of red. “Don’t waste time wondering if something is right or not. We have to live in the present and be happy now as we don’t always have tomorrow.”
I laughed. When did Nikkan get sentimental? I was more than happy to see my two friends, finally admitting the truth. In all this darkness, they still had hope.
“So yes, explain it more,” Grace said, changing the subject. “What are you?”
That made me laugh more. “Um… I’m Castiel…..pretty sure I’m human….male, at that, if you want to check,” I teased.
Grace’s cheeks went back to red as she covered her eyes, thinking I was going to get naked. That was more Nikkan’s style, not mine. I was only teasing.
“I meant the animal thing Nikkan was trying to explain. He said you could turn into a wolf, but you aren’t a wolf.” She peeked through her fingers at me and removed her hand once she saw I was still sitting...and still had my pants on.
I nodded. “So far, I’ve been able to turn into any animal I want to be.”
Grace’s eyes bugged at my admission. It seemed that Nikkan hadn’t really explained it much at all to her.
“Anything?” she asked.
I nodded again.
“How about a mouse?” she suggested.
I hadn’t tried yet, but it seemed likely. I stood up and thought about being a mouse. My body shrunk, and soon Grace seemed like a mountain beside me. Her face pinched into an oh as she looked at me. I transformed back into myself as Nikkan grabbed Grace’s face to stop her from looking at me. I completely forgot about the whole naked part of being cursed.
“Oops,” I said as I made to cover myself.
Nikkan dropped his hands from Grace’s face as his mouth hung open in shock. The pants I had found in the woods while hunting were still on me. It seemed maybe someone was looking out for me after all. I grinned at my friend without a single way to explain it. Being a shifter just got a whole lot easier. One shifter problem down and one more to go. I was feeling more than a little optimistic.
While I wanted to head right back to Sera and show her that I was okay, I couldn’t. My friends were both injured, and I couldn’t leave them to fend for themselves. I hoped that one good night’s rest would be enough to allow me to go find Sera and prove to her that everything was fine. She wasn’t serious about my mother taking her head, but I knew she was worried; both of them would be.
After spending the day playing with my new transformation powers, yes, I could shift into any living creature, including a fly, we made plans for the night. Grace could feel the power of the moon and the curse calling to her. She was having trouble keeping human, so we decided it was better if we were all wolves. Before night fell, we all transformed. As she shifted on her own accord, she had control over her wolf or at least seemed to. We weren’t sure how long her control would last, but she had it for now.
Nikkan’s camp was the perfect place to spend the night. We were able to take shifts and keep to ourselves the whole night. It allowed us to rest and recover as Nikkan and Grace were both still recovering from their injuries. The food I had caught helped, but they needed more. All the wolves needed more.
It would be a great time for the kingdom to come together as one, but the tree people were still unrealistic. They would rather let a race of their kingdom die, than risk helping them. I didn’t understand their position before the curse returned and even less now. The wolves were all trapped behind a wall to keep them safe, and the tree people still didn’t want to help the wolves in return.
While we could hear the howls and the voices of anguish, we were far from the mess of the village. It seemed likely that we were the only ones trying to stay away on our own. I had expected more people to leave, but Grace and Nikkan had explained to me that as a pack, it was hard to do that. Nikkan had an easier time leaving because of all his time spent with me, and Grace was able to latch onto that. Being a lone wolf was hard, but it seemed we had our own little pack going on, so that made it easier for both of them. Everyone else was more or less stuck in the main pack.
2
19th March
Finally rested, we were able to wake at a normal time and had the energy to go about our day. We headed back to the village as humans to see how we could help and gather supplies for the next few nights.
I tried my best not to gasp as we reached the edge of the village. We had only been gone one night, and it had changed more than I thought was possible. What was once a nice little bustling town was now a war zone. Blood and dirt splattered nearly every wall. People lay around in various stages of death. We passed more than one person who was never going to recover and probably wouldn’t last another night. We’d run through it the day before, but it hadn’t really registered in the way it was registering now.
It was hard to walk by people and not stop to help. We didn’t have the supplies to help, let alone the time. Another moon was coming tonight, and it was hard enough to keep Grace from being pulled by the curse.
“I’m going to go find Micco,” Nikkan said as he took Grace’s hand and pulled her with him. “We’ll come back to the wall to meet with you and Sera.”
I nodded to my friend as he took off to the west, and I continued south through the village. I tried not to look too hard at anyone I passed. There was bound to be someone I knew, and it was hard enough to just walk through it. If there was someone I knew, I’d have to help them.
As I made it to the southern edge of the village, I happen to glance at the hut I was passing. There was a small person sitting by a severely injured older man. The person was dutifully bandaging the man and didn’t notice me. I stopped to help, and the person looked up at me. I stared in shock. It was a young boy. He couldn’t be more than seven or eight winters old. I froze in my place. All the carnage I had seen had consisted of adults. I’d assumed the children were locked away somewhere safe.
The curse couldn’t affect young children. It wasn’t until they reached maturity that the magic would take them too. Nikkan’s family had sent his younger siblings away days ago. I didn’t expect there
to be any left.
“Are you the only one here?” I asked.
The boy looked up at me with big sad eyes. He shrugged.
“Micco came last night and helped my sister escape, but he could only carry one person at a time. I made her go first because she’s smaller than me.”
“So, Micco has a safe spot for you to go to?”
The man the child was tending started to cough, and he tried to sit up.
“He said he was going to get them somewhere safe, but I think he’s fighting the curse like the rest of us. I hope Tilly is fine.”
I needed to find a way to stop the curse, but at the same time, I just couldn’t leave the boy in the village. He wouldn’t last the night. There would be no reason to stop the curse if there were no youth left. While I wanted to go back and look for more clues, I was needed more with the wolves.
“Wait here,” I told the boy. I needed to let Sera know that I would be back to Azren as soon as I could, but first, I needed to get the children to safety.
The boy looked to me and nodded. His father tried to thank me, but I stopped him.
“Save your strength for tonight.”
The man nodded.
Before my friends could return, I took off running to the wall.
Everything swirled together in my mind as I ran. I was a shifter, but that still didn’t help me break the curse. I knew why the healer told me to stay away from the wolves. Maybe it was possible the curse could happen to me also. But I really didn’t care. Being cursed could end my life as I knew it, but at the same time, I couldn’t just turn a blind eye to the wolves like the rest of Elder was doing. The wolves needed help, and I was going to help them, no matter whether it put my life in danger or not.
I didn’t fear death. Death was part of life. Growing up in Elder had taught me that much. But I did fear failing to keep people safe. I may not have been born as a citizen of Elder, but it was my home. I was going to do anything possible to keep it from falling apart, even if the cost was my life.
Outside of the village, I turned into a large cat that could cross the barrier and picked up my running speed. It took almost no effort to run through the woods in my lithe four-legged form. One thing was for certain; I was born to be able to do this. I understood my life much more now that I realized that.
Maybe it was Grace and Nikkan finally getting to me or maybe something else, but when I rounded the last tree and saw Sera standing just outside the wall, searching the forest to see me, reality hit me. I bounded through the barrier without a second thought. Sera turned around to face me and didn’t fear the animal pouncing at her. In one motion, I transformed back into myself and continued onto where she was.
“Did you…” Sera began asking, but I didn’t let her say anything else.
Reaching forward and cupping her head in my hands, I pulled her to me as I stepped forward. I think the shock of my boldness stunned her as I pressed my lips to hers, but it was only a moment before she was kissing me back. Her arms wrapped around my neck, holding me to her as much as I was holding her to me.
“Castiel?” Nikkan’s voice called, breaking us apart.
I leaned my forehead on Sera’s. Life was too short the play the games Grace and Nikkan had played for over a season. I wasn’t sure what would happen, and there was death all around the village. I planned to come home unscathed, but that wasn’t really my choice. I needed to live in the present.
Even if I had denied what I truly felt, I understood it now. Sera was the girl I had always been watching. I knew everything about her and how to push every button to make her mad, but I also knew how to make her smile, those real ones she saved just for me. While I acted like I hated her, that was just easier than admitting that I liked her. I wasn’t going to lie to myself or her now.
“I’ll meet you in Azren tomorrow,” I told her quietly, really wishing we had time to finish our kiss Nikkan so rudely interrupted.
“Tomorrow?” Sera asked, still slightly stunned by my actions.
“There are kids left in the village. I need to make sure they are safe before I leave.”
Sera bit her lip and nodded. I knew she could never object to saving kids.
“Nikkan and Grace agree that there must be something to do with me that will help all this, but there will be nothing left to save if the kids all die.”
Sera looked to my lips, and I could tell she wasn’t finished with our kiss either. That made me grin.
“I promise to be there tomorrow.”
Sera nodded, still not saying a word. I dipped my head down for a quick kiss before letting go of her and shifting back into my cat form before she could protest.
I jumped back through the barrier and to my friends, who were both staring at Sera in shock.
“I’m not making the same mistake you guys made,” I commented after I was back in my human form. “I’m not going to play the game of who likes who for many, many moon cycles.”
Nikkan grinned and punched me in the shoulder.
“Then what the heck are you doing on this side of the wall? Your girl is over there.” Nikkan pointed to Sera, where she stood, still watching us.
“I’m not heading back with her. I will fly over to Azren tomorrow after we make it through tonight and get the children in town to safety.”
“Children?” Grace looked confused. “They were supposed to leave with Micco. I thought that’s why we couldn’t find him.”
“I found a kid in town. His father said he thought the curse had taken Micco. No one is coming back for the ones left. We need to save them.”
Grace gasped.
“We need to get the remaining kids to the caves. We can keep them safe there.”
Nikkan nodded.
“I’ll gather supplies if you gather the kids,” Nikkan replied.
“We can put them in the trees---”
“Just like when we were kids,” Nikkan finished for me. I nodded, and my friend took off.
One of my first times in the village, I had wandered away from Red because I was bored by her meeting with Micco. I came across Nikkan. He wasn’t the nicest to me, but he was beyond curious about how people lived in trees. It was one of his main obsessions. Every time I returned, he’d ask me more and more questions. Finally, one day, I returned to find he had made a tree village himself. It wasn’t the most stable thing. In fact, it was downright dangerous, but it was his interpretation of all I had told him, made of course, with blankets.
I turned back to Sera before we left to go back into the village. She stood on the other side of the wall, the wind blowing her hair in her face, but she was still watching us. She raised a hand to give me a nod before she turned and ran back into the woods towards Azren.
“I’ll go this way, and you go that way. Tell them to meet over at the Yael house and bring only what they can carry.” Grace took charge like I had never seen before.
I hurried back to the hut where the young boy waited. We needed to work fast. I wasn’t sure if we’d have enough time to get all the children into the trees before night came, and the wolves came out.
One by one, I looked in every house I passed. As other children joined us, it went quicker as we were able to look into several houses at the same time. By the time I had made it around to all the houses I could find, Grace had gathered fourteen kids with her. Combined with the eight I found, we had more than I expected. How the heck had they made it through the nights?
“Okay, everyone, we’re going on a hike,” Grace said cheerfully. “It’s going to be boring and tiring, but we need to keep moving as a group. No one gets left behind.”
“And then we have to work quickly to make camp,” I added. This wasn’t going to be all fun and games, even if Grace used her cheerful voice.
“Will my mom be alright?” a little girl asked. Her dress must have been blue at one point but was now covered in blood and mud.
“I hope so,” I replied. “But more than anything, she wanted you to be alright. My f
riends and I are going to do our best to make sure you are alright. Your mom will be happy if you are safe.”
The girl nodded and reached for my hand. Without hesitation, I took her and tossed her onto my back to be able to walk faster and lead the other children away. She was by far the smallest child and would slow us if she walked. This made her feel safer, and we could move quicker.
We took off, and in no time, Nikkan was able to catch up with us. We were lucky that we were with wolf children, as most of them spent their days running free in the woods and didn’t have any trouble keeping up. I couldn’t imagine any of the tree people being able to make the trek we were on. Most of the children had left the village feeling down and distraught from the last few nights, but I could see their spirits lifting the further we got away from the camp. Memories of their depressing nights would haunt them for seasons to come, but we were now giving them hope.
“Castiel,” one of the older boys called to me. I slowed to let him walk beside me.. He looked over his shoulder at Grace and Nikkan as they walked with the children behind us.
“Samuel, right?” The boy lived a few homes down from Micco. I had seen him many of the times I had come into the village.
“Yes.” He nodded at me. “Um… I was wondering.” Samuel looked back another time at the kids behind us. “Are they safe?”
“They?” I looked at the gaggle of children marching through the woods. I would do anything to keep them safe, but could I actually say they were safe?
“Grace and Nikkan,” Samuel clarified. “Are they cursed yet?”
Oh, were the children safe from my friends? Everyone knew I was human and safe, but they didn’t know about Grace and Nikkan. That was a tricky one. I wanted him to know that Grace and Nikkan would do all they could to help keep them safe, but he also needed to know that any of the adult wolves were susceptible to the curse, and he needed to be on guard, not only for them but for other wolves that might show up. “Neither one has succumbed to the curse yet,” I explained carefully. “But that doesn’t mean that they or any other wolves are always going to be safe. That’s why we need to get you all away from the camp and then Nikkan, and I’ll make you beds in the trees to spend the night in.”
Castiel: Son of Red Riding Hood (Kingdom of Fairytales Boxset Book 3) Page 25
