by Holly Evans
Sleep never really came to me. As much as I closed my eyes and tried to relax, I just couldn't. The knowledge that the Garou were right there never left me. I wasn't concerned by the predators that called the jungle home. I could handle those, should I need to. No, it was the Garou and what they might do if they decided they'd reached their limit.
The moment light started to filter through the canopy, the jungle exploded with a riot of noise. Birds and small mammals squeaked and cried out their morning songs. I sighed and wished for a good strong pot of coffee. I didn't need a cup; just hand me the pot, and I'd pour it straight into my mouth. The Garou stirred and whispered something to each other before they poked and prodded us and demanded that we climb down and begin the day's trek.
Sweat streamed down my back as I fought to put one foot in front of the other. The plants fought just as eagerly as they had the day before, but there was no sign of the elves. Perhaps we weren't on such good terms as I'd thought. Not that I liked the idea of rescue, but I wasn't too proud to embrace one should it be offered. I was growing tired of constantly fighting with vines and bushes at every step, the buzz of insects was beginning to wear down my nerves, and my muscles were growing tired from the mix of dehydration and overall exhaustion.
The hours crawled by in a mass of greenery, aches, and pains, occasionally punctuated by an angry snarl or growl from one of the Garou. I glanced at Erin and Logan to make sure they were holding up ok. They seemed to be as exhausted and ready to be done with this as I was. Wispy remained quiet in the bottom of his cage. I hoped he was simply conserving energy and not something worse.
I suddenly became aware of a large tubular flower that was as tall as I was turning its attention to the lead Garou. He was focused on yanking at the vines before him, his bare back and arms covered in cuts and scratches from other plants throughout the day. The pale green flower with red flecks slowly tilted itself as its light-yellow tendrils moved through the branches over the Garou's head. Some quiet voice in the back of my mind said that I should warn him, but I really wasn’t that good of a person. These Garou had kidnapped us and were marching us through the jungle. Let them suffer suitable fates.
It all happened so quickly. One moment, the Garou was giving his all to tearing vines out his way, the next he was fighting against the huge plant as it fed him down into itself. The air elemental stood stunned as the two Garou grabbed onto their comrade's ankles and yanked him with everything they had. I looked around and tried to decide if it was worth running, but there was no path. The Garou at least seemed to know where they were going.
Logan and Erin moved closer to me. I ran my hands over Logan and checked that he was ok. He pressed his lips to mine and offered reassurance that we’d get out of this. Erin gave me a fierce smile, and I moved to Ethan to check him over. He relaxed to my touch, and I tugged his hand to bring him closer to the group.
“You’re one of us,” I whispered.
I didn’t like how he pulled away from the group, but each time I brought him closer he seemed relieved by it.
After a good ten minutes of fighting, the two Garou gave in and accepted that their comrade was lost to them. I quietly thanked the plant as I passed it. Losing a Garou made our lives easier.
It was almost sunset again when we stumbled into a clearing. My head was spinning, and I had to catch Erin before she collapsed. A small stone temple stood in the middle of the clearing. It was a simple pyramid structure formed of large grey blocks. Erin shuddered next to me as she watched the Garou stroll up to it with their heads bowed.
"They're not going to sacrifice you, I promise," Logan said as he stroked Erin's back.
She relaxed under his touch, and Ethan came to stand closer to us.
"We're not leaving without all three stones," I said quietly.
Ethan smiled.
"We need to eat. Those fruits are edible," Logan said, pointing to a short stout bush with large purple-blue fruit.
We descended on the bush and ate the fruits as though our lives depended on it, which they might well have done. The fruit was rich and decadent, with a strong sweet taste that gave way to something akin to strawberry. We made sure to leave some fruit on the bush for other animals in the jungle. The elves could still be watching, and we couldn't afford to anger them by being disrespectful.
My spirits lifted and my energy levels sky-rocketed once I'd eaten the fruit and rested for a while. The best thing we could do was stick with the Garou and ensure that we secured all three of the tears. I still had my backpack and the tear there. I stuffed leaves into Wispy's cage, which he gratefully ate. I continued to wander around and give Wispy leaves at Logan's direction. I trusted him.
I paused when something caught the faint light Wispy gave out. A gentle white glint. Crouching down, I picked up a small moonstone. That could form the heart of some alchemical weapon against the Garou. My hand slipped down over my belt to hide the stone, when I remembered the poison I'd created to go on our blades. The Garou were showing no sign of returning, so I rejoined the others and made short work of coating their blades with the poison. It took every drop I had, and it might not have even worked against Garou, but it was worth a shot.
35
It was hard to be sure exactly how long we stood in that clearing waiting for the Garou as the jungle nightlife went on around us. I was aware of multiple sets of eyes watching us from within the darkness. There was no point in wasting energy worrying about it.
Finally, the Garou emerged from the small temple.
"We will sleep here tonight. Get here," the female said.
"Say please," Erin shouted back.
The Garou stalked over to us and slung Erin over her shoulder. She got a kick to the stomach for her trouble, not that the Garou seemed to notice. The rest of us followed behind, not seeing much of a choice. I reminded myself that it wasn't going to be for too much longer, that we were biding our time.
The inside of the temple was cool and full of spun-moonlight orbs, much to my surprise. The interior was rough-hewn stone and consisted of two rooms. The larger central room had an altar to the moon goddess, and my questions were answered. They had been speaking with their lady.
"Sleep," the female commanded as she dropped Erin on the stone floor.
The rest of us went to Erin and checked she was ok before we sat down and made some attempt at resting. The roof was open over the altar. I assumed the idea was to allow the moonlight in. Unfortunately, it had clearly been abandoned some years prior, as it was un-swept and un-kept. The cloud cover stopped any moonlight from entering through the roof.
Still, there was a sense of peace about the space, a feeling of calm that I'd come to associate with airships. To my surprise, I did manage to sleep for a couple of hours and woke up ready to tackle the day. The Garou weren't going to know what hit them when we made our move.
Our chance didn’t come until the afternoon of the following day. The morning was full of more marching through the unrelenting forest. The Garou were sullen and snappy as the forest continued to assault them at every turn. The elemental was dragging his feet and looked as though he was deeply regretting his decisions in life. I nudged him with my elbow and leaned in to whisper to him.
“You know they’ll kill you once they have the tear,” I said.
The elemental glared at me. His skin paled some as he rolled his jaw.
“And you won’t?” he finally said.
I gave him my most seductive smile.
“Of course not,” I said in honeyed tones.
He looked me up and down. I fought to keep my expression bright and interested. Logan moved closer behind me.
“They’re taking us to a house in the hills. We’re almost there. It’s supposed to be a dark place with some guy,” he said in hushed tones.
‘Some guy’, how very informative. I managed to stop myself from rolling my eyes. I would end up with the useless elemental, wouldn’t I? Still, every snippet of knowledge was better than nothi
ng.
The climb up the hill was steep and tiring. I really needed to do more cardio, if I was going to get myself into these situations. I made a mental note to find a gym or some interesting way of increasing my fitness when we got back home. I wasn’t unfit, but I wasn’t able to spend days fighting a jungle on little to no food, either. Wispy groaned in his cage. He’d turned paler and was clearly suffering. The heat likely wasn’t doing him much good. Bogs weren’t exactly hot places. At least, the ones in Northern Scotland weren’t. There wasn’t really anything in Northern Scotland that could be described as hot.
My mind wandered over past adventures as we continued to trek. We couldn’t talk, and I had to do something to keep myself sane. Finally, we crested the hill and emerged into a large, open grassy field, complete with dirt track and car. At the very top of the field stood a small house made from a mix of logs and stones. Something about it made my stomach turn, and a shiver crawled down my spine. The magic in the area was corrupted and twisted. The other tears hadn’t felt like that. The dark person must have done something with it. I chewed my bottom lip as we made our way across the field. This tear was supposed to increase the mind. Perhaps he’d used that to find a way to twist the local magic in some abominable way.
We were almost to the house when Logan nudged me in the ribs with his elbow. He nodded towards the outskirts of the forest to our right. I peered into the gloom and smiled. I could make out three elves, and I had no doubt there were others nearby. They hadn’t abandoned us, after all.
36
The Garou were determined and focused in their walk up to the house. They didn't so much as twitch an ear in the direction of the elves. Once we were within ten feet of the house, I began to wonder quite what the plan was supposed to be, here. We needed the tear, and we didn't know what was in that house. My stomach was full of butterflies. The magic was twisted, and I couldn't quite pinpoint how or why. I did know that I didn't want to be anywhere near it, if I didn't have to be. Maybe that was why the elves were holding back. I still wasn't sure how their magic and their networks worked.
Logan, Erin, and Ethan closed ranks behind me as the Garou turned to snarl at us. The elemental shrank away from them and looked at the car on the dirt track.
"You will retrieve the tear, and then you will leave," the female said.
I positively beamed at her.
"Yes, that sounds perfect," I said.
She narrowed her eyes at me. She was clearly trying to figure out why I was so happy with her plan. I had no intentions of handing the tear to her, and given that she hadn't told me to, we were both in agreement. She just hadn't realised or understood that.
The male Garou kicked the door down.
"You could have tried knocking," Erin said.
The Garou ignored us and pushed into the cramped space of the house. It was rustic and dusty inside, with bare wooden walls and sparse furnishings. The Garou sniffed the air and went up the narrow stairs, each of which creaked under their weight. The place set my teeth on edge. I had to fight to focus and look for potential escape routes and weaknesses in our captors.
The upstairs space was a single open room with a small bed tucked in one corner, a half wall around a shower cubicle and (I assumed) toilet, and a small coffee table. Then there was the man in a comfortable high-backed chair with a wide bookcase full of notebooks to his left. In front of him was a gaunt woman with bright silver eyes, limp hair that had clumps missing, and clothes that had clearly seen better days.
The man turned away from the woman, who was chained to the wall in a standing position with her arms at her sides. Her head lolled, and she shuddered.
"Visitors, how delightful," he said with genuine glee.
His weak chin and large nose gave me the impression that his face was beginning to melt; his small eyes and thin hair did nothing to change that image. The woman had the tear in her hand. It was strapped in such a way that her bony fingers were wrapped around it against her will.
"I found it in the lunar temple a decade ago. Some poor fools had worshipped it, but they couldn't help themselves - they had to touch. Whispers spread through the village of the stone that killed people, of the moments of clarity they had before they died. I did some digging, and I realised something quite wonderful. It took a lot of planning to move the stone somewhere safe, somewhere I could enjoy its benefits."
He licked his lips with a slug-like tongue, and I fought not to gag.
"They become so intelligent when they hold the stone, those that survive. Of course, I don't want them to run away; now that would be horribly inconvenient. I have to hold them here, so I can learn. I've filled so many pages with fresh knowledge. I wanted to be a knowledge merchant, but they said I was weak and lacking. Oh, if they could see me now," he said wistfully.
The Garou shared a look. The female shrugged before the male bounded across the space and broke the man's neck. He died with a look of shock on his face.
We needed to make our move, and quickly.
The Garou paced back and forth in front of the woman, their focus entirely on the stone in her hand.
"Get us the stone," the female snapped at me.
I crossed my arms and carefully slid my kris blade from its sheath as I stared her down. Logan and Ethan slowly stepped away so that we formed a crescent around the Garou.
The female bared her teeth at me and took a step towards me. My stomach was beginning to ease now that the man was dead, although I swore I saw his corpse move from the corner of my eye.
"Get the stone," the female ground out.
The corpse definitely moved that time. Its hand twitched and clenched. The Garou both turned to look at it in shock. Ethan and I took the opportunity to rush the female. If I could sink my blade into her flesh, the combination of poison and silver would drastically slow her down. She tossed me aside as though I were a doll. Ethan landed beside me a second later.
The dead man was perhaps not quite so dead as he struggled to his feet, his head lolling to one side where his broken neck would no longer support it. His lips moved, and his eyes rolled from side to side. I was going to have nightmares for weeks.
"He was a death eater!" Erin said as she scrambled backwards away from him.
"Fuck!" Logan exclaimed as the corpse opened its mouth wider and wider.
Its jaw extended much like a snake. The death eater’s eyes focused on Logan as it stumbled forwards.
I wasn't entirely sure what the fuck a death eater was, but I was not going to lose Logan. Erin broke a leg off the closest chair and smacked the corpse in the lower back with it, sending it sprawling forwards. I ran over and pinned it down with a knee between its shoulder blades. Its eyes stared up at me. Its jaw opened and closed while its tongue flopped back and forth. I was never going to sleep again. Logan had come to his senses, and he hacked the head off before he threw it out a window.
That left us with the Garou, who were also returning their focus to us. Erin stood in a fighting stance with her trusty broken chair leg and a look of grim determination. Ethan was trying to slip behind the female with a pair of long silver knives in his hands. I decided to act as a distraction and grinned at the woman before I rushed her again. I was trusting Ethan to attack her from behind. I couldn't take her on my own. Maybe if I had some shadow armour or something, but I didn't. Life rarely gave us ideal situations. It was down to us to make the most of what we were given.
37
The Garou lowered herself into a strong fighting stance with her legs wide and her arms close to her sides with her claws extended. We didn't have any more healing paste on us. I couldn't afford to be reckless. I spun away at the last second as she swiped her claws at my stomach. Ethan slashed at her exposed side as she did so, but she must have armoured her clothing. His knife didn't cut through the fabric. Fuck.
She grinned at me, a malicious expression.
"We are prepared for your tricks," she said.
We needed to get her on the back foot a
nd end this quickly. She would have far better stamina than any of us. If I could cut her wrists, then the poison and silver would get into her system and give us an advantage. Ethan must have shared my thinking. He came around to my side, and we made a joint assault on her. I ducked under her punch as Ethan got in close and kicked at her lower stomach and the inside of her hip. She growled and paused for a moment. I stepped around Ethan and punched her in her solar plexus with everything I had. It was enough to make her cough and gasp. Ethan and I each slashed at her wrists.
She howled, a high-pitched, agonised cry that cut through the air and made me step back without thinking about it. Wispy joined in her howl, and I let him out of his cage as a matter of habit rather than thinking. He threw himself at the Garou's face and latched onto her eye. She screamed and clawed at him, but it's rather hard gripping onto a ball of pure magic. I moved around behind her and slashed at the nape of her neck, trying to get more silver and poison into her system.
Wispy finally let go, revealing a gore-filled hole where the eye had been. Black oozed down her cheek. Her good eye roamed around the room before she ran for the stairs and leapt down them three at time. The male took a more direct route. He threw himself out the window. Logan grabbed onto Erin to stop her from going after him with her damned chair leg.
That left us with the woman and the stone. Ethan walked over to her with a gentle smile. She seemed to relax and try to return his smile. He pressed his hands to her bindings, and the magic eased around us. She slumped down as she was released. Her body didn't seem as though it could stand on its own. I wondered if, perhaps, we'd be better putting her out of her misery.
