George began to lead them one by one back to the line of collars and secure them in the order he had decided upon. He anticipated trouble with one or two of the males that had been more aggressive before he had brought them down to the boat, but none of them resisted at all.
He had no more than secured the last prisoner in the line when Morgana’s voice echoed down the hallway, “Arriving at your destination.” George quickly untied the rope from the ring on the wall and began to lead the prisoners to the door. Just as he got to the doorway that led from the boat, George could hear the ramp extending from the dock just outside. It bumped lightly against the side, the door opening roughly, banging against the outside of the boat.
The same older looking man with short black hair streaked with gray, that he had met the last time he was here, was standing just outside the open doorway. “How many this time?” he inquired.
“Five males and four females,” George stated.
The man began to grin. “That is a fine haul,” he said. “I’m sure it will please the taskmasters. They have had to send some of the workers up to Cemetery Hill since the last time you were here.”
“Cemetery Hill?” George asked.
“That’s where we send the workers when they are unruly and uncooperative,” the man explained.
“Well hopefully this will be a good batch of workers for you. A couple of the males were a bit troublesome when we were topside, but since then they have been very compliant,” George informed him as he passed the lead end of the rope to the man. George stood to the side of the door as the line of prisoners filed past him. “I may have to find a new location to pull people from, so I’m not sure how long it will be before I return again. The town I got these from was on high alert when I left.”
“Whatever you do, don’t get caught,” the man said. “We cannot afford to have our operation disrupted.” He turned and began to lead the line of captives toward the factory entrance. As the dock ramp began to retract from the boat, George pulled the door shut. Next he went to the front room of the boat where the route monitor was, found the button for Outpost 13, and pressed it. Immediately Morgana hummed back to life. Finally he went to a chair, sat down, and closed his eyes, knowing he had a long ride ahead of him.
Chapter 8
Katie had phenomenal success on her hunt. She brought back three very large rabbits, which were now being slowly turned above the fire. The juices from the cooking meat would occasionally drip into the fire, causing flames to shoot upward. The scent in the air was maddening to the three of them; they sat hypnotized with a bit of drool sneaking from the corners of their mouths. Apparently the scent had also drifted downward because Jack and Natasha were beginning to stir. Jack's stomach rumbled loudly as he sat up. “I don’t think I have ever smelled anything better!” Jack announced with a smile.
Katie poked at one of the rabbits with a sharpened stick. “They should be ready to eat in a few minutes,” she said.
“So what did the two of you do for a living in Haven?” Edward asked.
“We have a small farm on the north side of town where we raise animals. We have a small slaughterhouse on the land as well, which we use to supply the town butcher,” Jack replied.
“What did you do with your animals when you fled town? Release them?” Edward asked.
“No. We secured them in the barn the best we could, hoping to go back after it was safe again and go on with our lives,” Jack said. “I’m hoping that we didn’t lose any animals this time.”
“This time? You mean to tell me that this has happened before?” Edward inquired.
“Yes. The same beast normally comes once a year. Most of the time the townsfolk manage to get to safety before anyone gets hurt, but there have been a few casualties over the years.”
“Has anyone ever tried to stay and fight?” Edward asked.
“A long time ago, when the beast first started showing up, there were a few that tried. It didn’t take long for us to see how futile our attempts at ridding ourselves of the beast were. By the third or fourth year we had all decided that it was a better idea to flee and hide until the beast went away.”
“Did anyone ever injure the beast that you know of?”
“None have been able to do anything to damage it until you folks came around. The only thing any of us managed to do was make the beast mad. That is, if such a creature has any emotion at all,” Jack said. “I am hoping that since you folks managed to hurt the beast that it won’t return in the future.”
Katie began to remove the rabbits from the spit and placed them onto the log between her and Mike to cool a little. “I’m sorry for interrupting,” she said, “but I am curious about something.” Jack and Natasha turned their attention to her. “During the attack last night, I don’t remember seeing anyone fleeing town. The only thing I remember was a rather large pack of wolves running down the street outside.”
Jack and Natasha exchanged a nervous glance. “Can I tell you a secret?” Natasha asked.
“If you wish to tell us. I’m not trying to pry or ask you to tell us if you aren’t comfortable,” Katie said.
Natasha nodded and continued on. “I am not trying to scare you folks, but I feel you deserve to know the truth after all the kindness you have shown to us.” Natasha paused for a moment and looked at Jack for approval. With a grim look upon his face he nodded to her to go on. Katie looked up at Edward nervously for a brief moment before turning her attention back to Natasha. “It is better that I tell you this now than wait until it gets dark and you find out for yourselves.” Natasha paused again briefly. “We are werewolves.”
In spite of his pain, Mike was almost instantly on his feet and holding his sword in a defensive pose.
“Relax,” Jack said. “We mean you no harm.”
“And just what exactly do you think will happen to us when you change into a wolf?” Mike asked.
“Nothing will happen to you. Despite any myths you may have heard about our kind, we are extremely intelligent and retain all of our thoughts, memories, and emotions even as wolves. We are nearly always in full control of what we do,” Jack said trying to reassure Mike and the others.
“Nearly always? It sounds like there are times that you lose control and become the savage that I’ve always thought werewolves to be,” Mike said.
“The only time that we totally lose control is when we are angered.”
Mike slowly began to lower his sword. He set it against the log and sat down once more, never taking his eyes from Jack and Natasha. So much had happened to him lately that he wasn’t sure if he could trust them or not. As much as he enjoyed a good fight when he was back on Earth, he was still unsure of himself here. He was more used to reacting to situations with his martial arts training. Not that he didn’t occasionally use weapons when he trained, but the sword he now had at his disposal was more cumbersome than the lighter weapons that he was used to. Sometimes he found himself hoping that this was all a bad dream that he would soon wake from. He worried a lot about the faith that Edward and Katie had in his ability to protect them. At times he felt that either of them would be a better choice for protection. Edward, from everything he had seen, was very efficient at keeping them out of harm's way with his magic and Katie was really good with the crossbow. His leg being injured didn’t really help his confidence in his ability either.
“This may sound like an ignorant question,” Mike said, “but until now the only place I ever knew werewolves to exist was in the movies. Do you only change into wolves during a full moon?”
“I’m not sure what this movie thing is that you are referring to,” Jack replied, “but to answer your question—no. We can change into wolves no matter what phase the moon is in. The only limitations that we have are that we cannot change when the sun is in the sky and at least one of the moons has to be above the horizon.”
“Do you always change into a wolf at night or is it something that you can control?” Mike asked.
“For the most part we will always change at night,” Jack explained. “Although, when only one of the moons is visible in the sky, we can resist the change if it suits us.”
Mike looked up at the sky, noting the current position of the sun, which looked to be somewhere past midday. Edward passed his knife to Katie and she began to cut pieces of meat from the rabbits that had cooled enough to touch. She handed out equal portions to everyone until all the meat had been distributed amongst them. As they all began to eat, Katie tossed the stripped carcasses into the fire.
It seemed that Jack and Natasha had not eaten in quite some time because they gobbled down the meat very quickly. Jack burped loudly, and absently wiped the meat juice from his chin on his sleeve. “That was delicious,” Jack told Katie with a grin. “Thank you very much!”
“Yes. Thank you all for being so kind to us.” Natasha gave them a demure smile.
“You are both very welcome,” Katie said blushing slightly.
With their bellies satisfied, Jack and Natasha curled back up on the ground next to the fire. Soon the others finished their portions and found themselves getting sleepy as well, their stomachs no longer growling in protest. One by one they drifted off into much needed sleep.
Chapter 9
Mike awoke with a shiver. Apparently they had all fallen asleep after their meal. Now the sun was down and the fire had gone out. In the darkness he suddenly felt very alone. That soon changed when he began to see the familiar form of Amber gliding up the road toward them. Her glow lit the entire width of the road and soon that radiance illuminated the camp. “Shit!” Mike said as he saw that Jack and Natasha were no longer amongst them.
Edward shot up to a sitting position and immediately began to look around, trying to discern if there was trouble. Katie was a little slower waking up. She rubbed her eyes and sat up slowly. She stretched her arms above her head and yawned. Despite the apparent alarm of Mike and Edward, Katie wore a huge smile on her face as she saw that Amber was with them once again. Mike was on his feet with his sword in hand looking around nervously.
Still unable to figure out what had Mike so wound up, Edward asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Jack and Natasha are gone,” he spat, pointing to the spot on the ground where they had been sleeping.
His words seemed to jar Katie from her little daze of happiness. Amber, who saw the look of unease on her face, asked Katie, “Who are Jack and Natasha?”
“They are a couple from Haven that we ran into earlier today,” Katie told her.
“And why would that cause the alarmed look that I see on all of your faces?”
“Because, after we met them, they told us that they were werewolves,” Katie explained.
“That’s impossible!” Amber said. “Werewolves don’t exist! They are just the product of someone’s imagination. They only live in scary stories.”
“That is what I have always thought, too,” Katie replied, “but they seemed like really nice people. I don’t know why they would make something like that up.”
“Perhaps now that we can see Amber again we should break camp and get moving anyway,” Edward suggested. “Maybe they left to find their friends from town.”
“True,” Mike said. He limped his way over to where the horse was tied up. “Can I get a little help please?”
Katie and Edward rushed over and boosted him up so that he could get his foot into the stirrup. As Mike swung himself the rest of the way into the saddle, the others went back to the camp and gathered their things from the ground, checking to make sure nothing was missing. Satisfied that all their belongings were where they should be, they looked to Amber. “Which way should we go now?” Katie asked her.
Without a word, Amber began to move down the road leading back to Haven. Katie had thought this would happen. That was why they had agreed to not wander too far from town.
As they reached the edge of the woods Amber veered northward off the road that led across the open area surrounding Haven. She followed the line of trees staying just outside of the forest's edge. When the tree line turned to the west, she turned with them, continuing to stay just outside the forest. By the time they reached the westernmost edge, both moons were high in the sky above them. The moonlight reflected off of the stream before them that separated the forest from the mountains beyond.
Once again, Amber began to head toward the north. The going was more treacherous on this side of Haven. The forest was much denser, making travel slow and tedious, especially for Mike. He felt like he was in a constant battle with low hanging tree branches. After getting his face scratched up several times, he tried to fold himself forward and put his head on the horse's neck. It wasn’t long until his leg began to scream in agony, forcing him to sit back up in the saddle. Almost immediately after returning to an upright position, a thick branch that he didn’t see in the darkness smacked into his forehead. He lost his balance and began to fall from the horse's back, in the direction of his bad leg. As he fell, his foot got tangled in the stirrup, wrenching him to a stop just before his head hit the ground. He screamed in pain as he felt the bones in his bad leg snap. Within a matter of seconds the pain became too much to bear and Mike fainted.
Edward and Katie whirled around at the sound of the scream and rushed over to see what was wrong. Edward opened his palm and produced a small ball of flame so they could see what had happened. Dangling before them was the limp form of Mike, swinging slightly from the stirrup his foot was caught in. The bone they had mended back in Haven, clearly broken again, was protruding through the bandages. Fresh blood was pouring from the reopened wound.
“I’ll lift him up enough to get some of his weight off of the leg that is caught,” Edward announced. “When I do, grab his foot and get it out of the stirrup.”
“Okay,” Katie said, moving into position and getting a hold of Mike’s foot.
Edward hunkered down and pressed his chest against Mike’s back. He wrapped his arms around him tightly and began to stand up. Moments later he heard Katie say that she had his foot loose and he gingerly lowered Mike to the ground. As they attempted to once again repair the break in his leg and stop his bleeding, Katie caught movement out of the corner of her eye. When she turned to look, she saw that Amber was looking nervous again. Her normally consistent glow was pulsating like it had back in their room in Haven. A few moments later, Katie noticed an underlying flurry of movement that seemed to be coming from all around them. Edward began to notice the sound, too; despite knowing that Mike needed attention, he stood up. In his nervousness the once small ball of flame that hovered above his hand had grown exponentially in size, lighting the surrounding area like a lighthouse beacon.
What seemed like hundreds of small creatures descended upon them from above. One of them got tangled in Katie’s hair and she began slapping wildly at it. Her hand batted against something warm and furry; it let out a screech as it flew away. The flapping of wings around them grew louder and several of the creatures, which they now saw were large bats, had begun landing on Mike’s unconscious body. Apparently his scream had stirred them and the scent of blood in the air had drawn them to him.
Seeing the creatures land on Mike, Edward knew that he could not risk turning the giant ball of flame above his hand toward the scavengers without turning Mike into a charred mess. He released his focus on the fireball and it extinguished immediately, plunging them temporarily into an unsteady darkness lit only by the flickering glow of Amber's form. Seconds later, a new light began to form between Edward’s hands; a cold, blue light that seemed to drop the temperature in the immediate vicinity by about twenty degrees. The bats that were still in the air around them flew higher into the trees to get away from the colder air. The ones that had landed on Mike didn’t seem to take notice. They kept right on tearing tiny holes in his flesh and eagerly lapping at the blood that continued to trickle out.
Hoping that his spell would not do any permanent damage to Mike, Edward turned his palms toward the fee
ding frenzy and forced out a short, cone-shaped blast of cold. As it struck the feeding bats, most of them fluttered off of Mike’s body and flapped their wings, frantically trying to get into the air and away from the cold. One lone bat, which was significantly larger than the others, remained on Mike’s leg—only stopping for a moment to glare malevolently at Edward before returning to feed.
Mike uttered a very weak moan from his semi-conscious state. His eyes began to cloud over and roll back into his head. From the shadows not far from them, Edward and Katie heard the growl of a much larger animal. The bat lifted its head again. Tiny droplets of blood fell from its mouth as it looked around, sensing a more urgent threat than the humans were currently presenting.
A very large wolf sauntered close enough for Edward to catch the shimmering reflection from its eyes. It stopped a few feet away and crouched like it was preparing to launch itself. The bat glared back and unfurled its wings to show an impressive three-foot wingspan. The wolf held its ground, baring its teeth and snarling.
Suddenly, a second wolf that was slightly smaller than the first sprang from the shadows on the opposite side, letting out a savage growl as it opened its jaws to grab the large bat. The bat flapped its giant wings once before the second wolf was able to clamp its teeth into it, narrowly escaping the closing jaws. The first wolf lunged into the air, trying to prevent the bat from escaping, but also missed its target. Sensing that feeding time was over, the bat spiraled up into the darkness of the treetops.
With the bat gone from sight, Edward and Katie nervously turned their attention to the pair of wolves that stood next to Mike’s unconscious body. The wolves made no move to attack them, but instead sat down on their haunches and seemed to grin. As Edward studied the wolves uneasily, he noticed what seemed like scraps of cloth and leather stuck in their fur. Recognition appeared on his face moments later. “Jack? Natasha?” he asked. In response the wolves bobbed their heads up and down.
Desolace Omnibus Edition Page 20
