by Erin Kelly
A large stream suddenly cut out in front of him and caused him to stumble to a halt, scattering rocks along the creek bed as he stopped to keep himself from falling in. The water doesn’t seem too deep so he said, “I think we can wade across it guys.”
He turned to face his fellow escapees, but no one was there. He panted, strained his ears to listen, but he can only hear the babbling brook and the quiet song of the forest. He doesn’t hear any branches snapping or footsteps rushing behind him and his heart sank. “Guys?”
There is still no response, and he swallowed then tried to catch his breath. His entire body shook, adrenaline coursing through his veins. His heart was pounding like a frantic drum, so loud he was sure it would give away where he crouched among the tall reeds along the riverbank.
He waited, but doesn’t hear or otherwise sense any sign of the others’ approach. Part of him wanted to continue on, to turn and keep running further away. He had to find Sophie, he had to get home. RJ’s freedom depended on his return, he was sure of it. He had to make things right.
He started to step down into the creek when a pang of guilt hits him hard. Could he really continue on and leave the others behind with those psychopaths? Would he be able to live with himself knowing he’d abandoned them to some twisted fate?
That same part that urged him to continue running growled at him, Keep going, get help, come back.
A sharp whistle pierced through the quiet of the forest, followed by a familiar voice. “Korban! Look out!”
Hati’s warning came too late. As he turned in the direction of his fellow prisoner’s voice, from the opposite side Spike lunged at him, tackled him down hard and caused them both to land with a splash into the muddy bank of the creek bed. The wind is knocked from Korban’s lungs as the heavier werewolf pinned him down beneath the shallows and caused him to choke and sputter for air. “What… the… hell Spike?” He coughed, suddenly drenched in the muddy water.
When he glared at Spike the heavy set werewolf trembled, looking more fearful than ever. “I-I’m sorry, Korban, he made me do it. I can’t disobey him. I’m so sorry.”
Before Korban could argue further, suddenly Spike got up, grabbed him up by the upper arm and yanked him back toward the shore. Korban jerked back his arm but suddenly found Blaze there too, grabbing his other arm as he silently frowned. Korban struggled to free himself from the pair but they were dragging him back, almost robotically, neither saying much more. Hati stepped behind the three of them, and when Korban turned to catch a glimpse at him he saw his jaw squared, teeth grinding as they headed back through the forest. They headed back up the path towards where they’d been captured before. “What… why are we going back? What the hell, Spike? Let me go, let’s get out of here, all of us! Right now! What are you waiting for?” Korban barked out, and for a moment it seemed Spike did hesitate, but Blaze shoved him forward.
“Do us all a favor and shut your mouth,” Blaze cautioned, then fell silent again as they broke through the brush and growth of the forest and returned to the clearing where Davey stood, arms folded over his chest and a sly smirk spread across his face, flanked by his two human goons.
“My, my, my… look what my wolves have returned with! Did you really think I’d let you go so easily, Korban?” Davey clucked his tongue and shook his head, that smile never wavering. “Not a chance would I give up my most prized wolf to date… let’s get you all back inside, get some dinner and drinks in you for a hunt well played… and then I think we’ll pick up our training tomorrow.” He licked his teeth, in the same way a predator cleaned their fangs after a kill. “I already can’t wait to see how you’ll handle our next game.”
~*~
The sun was beginning to set again, the sky turning from pale blue to orange, tinges of violet and lavender creeping up toward the highest point in the sky. With the changing of the sky signaling another day of fruitless searching coming to an end, Sophie’s heart sank in time with the sun behind the distant hills. When they returned to the camp she felt like howling out her frustration, but with darkness closing in Val’s words of caution to return to camp seemed to echo in her mind. She didn’t want to sleep or eat. She wanted to be out there searching for Korban, until he was found. Until she knew he was safe and also had some safe place to sleep or rest, and something to eat or drink.
She began to pace as the rest of Odin’s pack gathered around the camp fire for the night to go over their lack of findings that day. “Sophie, you should sit. Try to relax. It’s not going to help him or you for that matter if you wear yourself out. You need your strength for tomorrow.” Val’s tone sent an even more frustrating feeling through her- that reasonable tone of voice that parents used with defiant children, when their child knew they were right but hated to admit it.
Sophie found herself sitting and staring into the fire, listening to snippets of the all too familiar conversation. They were running out of ideas. She could only hope that inspiration would come. Instead, she thought back to a time where she was sitting at a smaller camp fire, curled up on a cold, clear night snug in Korban’s warm lap.
Even now she could feel his arms around her, could feel his warm breath on her ear as he chuckled at something she’d joked about. The memory made her smile, just like she had smiled then.
The smell of burning wood and the warm, welcome scent of him flooded her senses. Familiar forest, fragrant pine, and musk of wolf fur. She closed her eyes and almost felt his strong arms around her once more. She must have started to drift off to sleep, because the next thing she knew, Val peered over to her, a frown etched on her face. “Sophie, why don’t you go in the trailer and get yourself a hot shower? Maybe it will help you relax and recharge.”
Some time alone to clear her head sounded good, so she nodded and after Val got her a fresh set of clothes to put on and a clean towel she cranked on the tiny shower, stripped and then stepped inside. The hot stream of water felt divine, though she would trade it in a heartbeat to be back in the chilly lake with only Korban there to warm her up. She poured shampoo into her palm and mixed in a few drops of conditioner, the coconut scent familiar. Val’s signature scent. She could feel herself relax, though as the steam fogged up the glass on the tiny window and mirror above the sink her mind began to wander again.
Where was Korban now? Was he able to enjoy a hot shower? Was he safe, and just as worried about her as she was for him? They would laugh together about it when they were reunited.
When the rivulets of water at her feet no longer carried bubbles and suds she turned off the hot water and then dried off before she put on the fresh set of clothes. She toweled off her hair, and it is still damp as she headed out of the trailer and said her good nights to the others before she hid away in her tent once again. She lay down and for a long moment stared at the bag of Korban’s clothes which sat there next to her pillow. She pulled out his borrowed t-shirt, pulling it closer to her and breathed in his faded scent as she closed her eyes.
She found herself out in the forest again, in the clearing with the trailer where Korban and her camped together before the full moon. The familiar silver Streamline sat there, a constant sentinel in that clearing. It was there long before they arrived, and would be there a long while after they left these mountains. “Sophie,” Korban’s voice comes from behind her, and her heart soared as she spun around.
Instead of her boyfriend being there, a familiar and massive gray wolf stood at the edge of the clearing, his tail held tall and ears perked up. Her heart skipped a beat as she recognized his wolf form, and she breathed a small sigh of relief. “Korban, it’s you.”
He gave a small wag of his tail in confirmation, then his voice came again as he turned towards the forest. “I love you.”
“I love-” Sophie began, but he bolted away, the leaves and brush swallowed him whole as he raced off. “Korban! Wait!” She cried out as she rushed off after him.
Beyond the clearing, the forest became a mirror maze of trees and green foliag
e. Everything seemed to look the same as she raced after him. Her throat tightened as she lost sight of his tail, and suddenly found herself alone and lost once again.
“Korban!” She called to him, pleaded. “Korban, where are you?”
There came a rustle ahead of her and she felt a brief moment of relief as golden eyes peered from behind the brush at her. “Korban, you scared me-” She stopped again as instead of a gray wolf another wolf stepped out, with light golden fur. She tensed, but there was something familiar about this wolf too. She remembered a much more vicious dream where she had seen her before, this wolf was her.
The golden wolf trotted over to her, whimpered, tail curled between her legs in submission as she approached. Sophie froze, not sure if her own wolf would attack her. The she-wolf kept her head low as she went over, and then nudged Sophie’s hand. She turned, as if to gesture for Sophie to follow her. Sophie nodded, silent, and followed as the golden wolf slowly lead the way through the brush, and returned her to a familiar path. Sophie recognized it as one of the paths that lead from Odin and Valkyrie’s camp.
Sophie watched carefully as the golden wolf lead her through the forest. This was all familiar to her, she realized as she noted the landmarks she recognized from the days of searching for their missing pack mates. Her wolf form turned and made sure she was still behind her as she guided her from the familiar path to a new one, still moving slowly through the lush greens. This was a new trail but there was something also familiar to it. She saw a snapped set of twigs, and though her scent had faded here, she could smell it faintly, a trace of mint and vanilla. She had been here, maybe running from the full moon night. Her heart soared again.
The golden wolf sensed her recognition and her tail unfurled from beneath her, growing in confidence as she led Sophie deeper down the hidden path, winding around past several snapped twigs until they reached another overgrown clearing. Sophie had sped up her steps, but stopped when they reached this clearing when she heard his voice again, closer this time, louder and clearer. “Sophie,” Korban’s voice came like an echo in her mind, and her eyes set in on the gaping maw of another wolf pit that sprawled before her.
“Korban!” She called back to him, and rushed toward the edge of the wolf pit.
“I love you,” his voice came back, as clear in her memory as the first time he’d said it. She slowed so she wouldn’t fall in to the pit, and peered down inside the deep hole.
“I love you too, Korban!” She called down to him, into the inky darkness of the shadowy pit. “I love you so much!”
Tears filled her eyes, she had finally said it, and she finally admitted it here and now, out loud. Only her joy of finding him and the pit quickly soured as her vision adjusted to the shadows below her. She sank to her knees as her heart broke, and her own wail melted into an anguished howl, or maybe it was the golden wolf mourning alongside her. At the bottom of the pit below laid pale wolf bones.
“No!” Sophie woke with a start, Korban’s shirt clutched up against her chest as she sat up, her mouth dry and her eyes wet with tears. “Korban!” She yanked away the blankets and rushed from the tent. She had to find that path; she had to get to him, and now. Before it was too late.
She felt a warning tug as she started from the camp, but the darkness of the middle of the night filled her with less dread than the soft daylight of her nightmare. She had to get down that path while it was fresh in her mind. A voice called to her from the camp but she ignored them. The urgency to find Korban was all she focused on as she headed up the path, then deviated from it where the wolf had guided her in the dream. It was a little more challenging to find the snapped trail of branches in the darkness, but the memory of those bones laying at the bottom of the pit sent panic through her she couldn’t shake away.
Sure enough, she found more of the broken branches, the path she must have cleared for herself as she raced away from the pit as a wolf. Patches of memory, from her dream and that night, seemed to fill in the gaps on the path. She soon found herself in that overgrown clearing, and to her horror and awe there it was, the other wolf pit. The one where Korban had been trapped.
A soft cry escaped her lips and she lurched forward to go see if he was at the bottom of the pit, but a strong hand grabbed her shoulder and held her back. She whirled around and growled in surprise as she came face to face with Val, who frowned at her. “What are you thinking, going out here in the middle of the night, Sophie? You could have fallen into that trap!”
Sophie didn’t like to be scolded like a child. “Let me go,” she warned the other werewolf with a low growl in her voice.
Something in her look surprised Val, who did let her go, and Sophie walked over to the edge of the pit as both hope and dread filled her. Her eyes adjusted in the dim moonlight, and as she squinted she could see nothing at first. A small click beside her sounded like a shotgun in the silent clearing, and suddenly a tiny spotlight flooded the empty wolf pit below as Valkyrie shone a flashlight down into it.
Empty. Sophie felt another duel of emotions fill her. Relief that there weren’t bones abandoned on the smooth rocks below. Heartache that once again, she’d reached a dead end in her search.
She sank to her knees as fresh tears blurred her vision and distorted the light that shone below on the vacant trap. Her entire body trembled and she brought a hand up to brush away her tears, only to find a fresh hit of Korban’s scent. She’d been so caught up in finding him she had forgotten that she still gripped his shirt. She buried her face into the shirt and sobbed in relief and renewed grief.
Val sat down beside her and put a comforting warm hand on her back, and began to rub soothing circles. As much as she hated her for it moments before, Val’s motherly touch was now more than welcome.
13: CONTROL
Night fell and once again Korban found himself in the dark silence of his prison. Only now he was seething with rage, his temper having simmered as the other three wolves remained quiet through their dinner, which he barely touched. He couldn’t think of eating when all he kept thinking about was their betrayal. Once Earl and Jimmy left and the lights clicked off, he waited, tried to gather his thoughts. But it kept returning to the moment the three of them had surrounded him and dragged him back to Davey. Captured again, and not a single one of them defied his command.
“I don’t get it,” he finally growled out loud. “All three of you are working with him? Even though he keeps you prisoner here, and treats you worse than animals?”
Silence again, though he could hear one of them shuffle in the darkness. It only made him angrier, like he was talking to the wall. He raised his voice. “What? Don’t want to admit to it? You really are a bunch of spineless cowards! Don’t want to say anything because those two morons might come back? What can they really do? Poke us with sticks, shoot us with silver? What the hell, what does it matter anymore? Clearly you don’t want to live; you only want to follow Davey, the psychopath werewolf!” Korban began to pace in his cell, fists clenched along with his jaw as he growled out. “I can’t believe you guys! Don’t you have any will to live, any reason to fight? Why do you blindly follow him?”
His voice seemed to echo in the air as he shouted into the void. He opened his mouth to vent out some more, when Blaze’s voice came low and quiet. “We don’t have a choice.”
His answer surprised Korban and he tilted his head in the darkness. “What?” He blurted.
“We. Don’t. Have. A. Choice.” Blaze growled again, a little louder this time. “Whatever Davey says, we do. Not because we want to, but because we have to.”
This only confused Korban more and he frowned. “I don’t understand. You’re telling me that he’s able to order you around, and you can’t fight it?”
“That’s exactly what I am saying,” Blaze growled again, and this time Korban can hear it in his tone. Blaze wasn’t growling because he was angry at him, but because his jaw was trying to clench tight. He was fighting, only Korban didn’t see it before, couldn�
��t see it. Blaze was disobeying, just as much as Hati had the day he slid over his plate of food. They were trying to defy Davey’s commands, but they physically could only do so much. The horror of it struck him and he stopped his pacing. “So that is why. You guys are fighting him, but can only do so much. How is he controlling you?”
“Wish we knew how,” Hati’s voice came this time, and Korban can hear the strain in his voice. How had he missed it before?
Korban glanced at the untouched food he’d left on his plate. “Maybe he is drugging us?”
“No,” Hati said through clenched teeth. “Davey wants us pure for the fight. No drugs.”
“Then… how?” Korban repeated, and this time he wasn’t surprised by the silence that followed his question.
How was Davey able to control the other wolves? So far he hadn’t felt even remotely compelled by the other yellow-eyed werewolf’s words. Though some of Davey’s words nagged him once more.
Someone just like me.
Was it because their eyes were the same? What exactly did that mean then? Korban knew he stood out from the other werewolves before, but this was a whole new level. If he was immune to Davey’s control, did that mean he was more like Davey than he knew? Was he able to control others with his gaze too, or whatever power Davey held over Spike, Blaze, and Hati?
The thought of being able to have such power over others sent a chill through him. He didn’t want to force anyone to do something they didn’t want to do. What if he had done something like that before and wasn’t aware of it? What if he’d used such power on Sophie and didn’t know it?
