by R. C. Rutter
Shabb opened his eyes again and attempted to stand. He made it about halfway and collapsed.
“And spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder? You can if you want to, but I am staying.”
“Since when do you care about anyone else?”
“Spending time in a pit makes you appreciate life. I don’t want to be the old me any more. Besides, he stopped and cut us loose. He could have easily killed us and he chose not to. That has to count for something.”
Vincente was taken shocked. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
Sacco remained quiet for a few minutes. “Yes, I am. Taken a long time but it feels good. You do the right thing for the right reason, no better feeling. We are going to need a few things. Look around and find me some dragon’s breath and lilies of the valley, you know, the little flowers that look like bells. We have a wolf to save.”
“I have never seen you so fired up. What if we heal him and he kills us, or worse?”
“No, it is the right thing to do. He won’t kill us and even if he does, well then we die with a clear conscience.”
Sacco held Shabb’s head and comforted him while Vincente searched for the plants.
* * *
Chapter 23
“OUT OF THE WAY YOU FOOL!” Eric almost tripped over Bartholomew as he entered the cave. He leapt over him and kept running. Thorgon was right behind Eric so he reached down and grabbed him by the collar. Bartholomew flew through the air and landed on Thorgon’s shoulder.
“Thanks big guy!”
“Don’t mention it. Everyone needs a lift now and then.”
The group rushed the cave entrance and Robald checked off everyone as they entered. He wanted to ensure no one was left behind. Eric was in, as was Thorgon, Erica, Seth, Malcolm, Samuel; all that was left was Lydia. Robald slowed down so Lydia would pass him. She realized what he was doing and gave him a dirty look.
“I can take care of myself, thank you very much!”
“Never said you couldn’t.”
“Well then, you go in, and I will be the last.
“No, not this time! You are too important.”
“And you are not? Do you think life is worth living if you are not in it?”
Robald gave her a big smile “I love you too!”
“I never said that I loved you!”
“Of course dear.”
Robald picked Lydia up and ran through the entrance.
“Put me down you big oaf!”
Robald stopped when he heard the wall close.
“Of course dear.” He placed her gently on the ground.
“And quit saying that.”
“Of course dear.” Robald was grinning from ear to ear and his eyes were sparkling.
“Ahhhhh, you are just impossible.”
“And you my dear are the most beautiful passionate creature I have ever laid eyes upon.”
Lydia opened her mouth to reply but was caught off guard and could not think of anything to say.
“Well, if you are going to open your mouth and not say anything, at least you could kiss me!”
Lydia began walking towards Robald when there was a loud pounding on the wall.
“Ahem, if you two can spare a few minutes, we best be moving.” Eric winked at them and headed further into the cave.
A collective sigh spread among the group as they finally felt safe.
This time Robald took the rear position with no objection from Lydia as the pounding on the wall continued. He glanced back every few minutes to make sure all was well. It was. For about two minutes the wall held then a loud crackling sound filled the space all around them. Robald looked back to see sunlight streaming towards them.
He yelled.
* * *
“The time is upon us. We don’t have the luxury of waiting any longer. Loosing Michael has left us weaker.”
Damien paused, contemplating his words carefully.
“Why does this have to be so hard? Isadora has undermined us, the wolves have turned against us, we have lost most of our army, and the assassins have failed.”
His brothers nodded their heads in agreement. They knew their opinions did not matter. It was the eldest that made the decisions and to oppose him meant you would be punished severely.
“It has always been our intention to rule this kingdom. I have made my decision. To choose to do nothing means we loose everything. We will, together, leave the castle and confront our enemies.”
The brothers erupted with fury and yelling as Damien expected. It would be hard to hold the emotions back when they had worked for ten years to get where they are now.
Damien raised his arms “THERE WILL BE SILENCE!” He waited until they had settled down in their chairs.
“I will overlook that outburst because I know the consequences of what my words mean but do not make that mistake again. To oppose me means banishment. Understood?”
The brothers sat quietly but sternly. Not many liked what they heard but they had no choice.
“A few soldiers and staff will be left behind to secure the castle. Everyone else goes with us. We cannot take the King for we shall meet the daughter. The closer the two of them get, the stronger their bond will be. We know that once that bond is set, killing one kills both but if the bond is too strong, we will not prevail. We are taking a great risk as it is, we do not need to compound that.”
Damien stood and walked over to the window. The guards moved out of his way.
“Come brothers; come see what life holds for us.”
Damien stepped through the large window onto the balcony. As the brothers joined him, they looked down to see twelve chariots in a row. Directly behind were two thousand soldiers followed by an assortment of people dressed in all manner of clothes and uniforms.
“When we reach our destination, we shall make our way into the caves, find and kill the daughter. If she is bonded, that kills them both. If not, killing her will break his heart and weaken him. We will then come back here and finish it forever. The soldiers and servants will remain outside the cave ready to attack anything that comes out. The castle staff will attack first. They are expendable and will do much to wear out our enemies.
The brothers showed no emotion when Damien said this. Luckily for the guards, the demons could not see their reaction. It was one of shock and horror. Opening the door to spread the word would be too obvious so one of the guards slipped a note under the door. They had to get word to the castle staff; they were marching into a slaughter.
“We depart immediately. Prepare for battle.”
The room cleared immediately and they were soon on their way.
The chariots flew as fast as they could go. Damien was busy casting spells to make the road smooth. Before they left, he gathered all the brothers as they mounted the chariots and together they cast a spell to give everyone the gift of speed and nourishment. There would be no stopping until they reached the Cave of Forlorn.
* * *
The caves were hot and musty. There was no movement of air except for the breeze created as they ran. Eric held his staff up which lit the passageways. He knew they had to get out of the Cave of Forlorn as soon as they could. He knew Cerberus and the others would have to stay together as the creature was the only one who knew the correct route to take.
The cave they were in opened into a small room with two exits. Eric shone his light briefly down each one and could not tell any difference. There was no time to ask, no time to debate, he knew he must choose. Cerberus and his army were getting closer by the second.
Eric chose the left tunnel and cast a spell. Robald was still in the very rear and as soon as he entered the tunnel, it appeared to close behind him like an opaque curtain.
Eric stopped running which forced everyone behind him to stop.
Breathing heavily, he said “We can’t keep this up. He knows these tunnels all too well and we must save our strength.”
Lydia leaned against Robald who was happy to re
ceive the affection. “Why don’t we just fight them now? You know, the element of surprise?”
Eric raised his hand, palm out. “In time we shall I am afraid, but as long as we can avoid risking any harm to you or Gweneviere, then that is what we shall do. I have masked the tunnel entrance. Cerberus still does not have his full powers back so he won’t feel the magic. Hopefully his memory of this exact location will be old and he will not notice the change.”
They watched through the curtain as Creature entered the small room they had just left closely followed by his army. He did not even hesitate but ran into the other tunnel.
A collective sigh of relief came from everyone but Lydia and Robald. They both groaned.
Robald put his arm around Lydia. “It is okay sweetheart; perhaps we will get a chance to kill something later.”
Lydia smiled, pulling his face close and giving him a kiss on the cheek.
Eric cleared his throat. “Right then, shall we be on our way then?”
The path was getting very narrow. Thorgon and Robald were struggling to make it through and had to squeeze in a few places. The wall on the left side gave way and they found themselves on a narrow pathway overlooking a large cavern floor.
Eric froze and extinguished his light. There were a few muffled sounds from the group behind him but that stopped quickly as everyone realized something was wrong. It took a few seconds for their eyes to adjust to the darkness.
Sounds of shuffling feet and metal hitting metal were coming from below. In the darkness it was impossible to tell what was there. The group stood frozen, listening, and afraid to move.
A light appeared from the far end of the cavern. Basking in the light was a tall woman wearing a tiara. In one hand she held the lit wand, the other a sword. She was followed by Royal Army soldiers, lots of them. They made their way across the cavern floor.
The group held their place, trying not to make a sound. They were severely outnumbered. Robald moved back trying to hide his massive frame. He pressed against the wall, knocking a large rock loose. Lydia tried to grab it but it was wet from condensation and slipped out of her hand. They both watched as the rock fell to the cavern floor.
Erica saw it too but knew she could not use magic; the Queen would sense the spell and know, without a doubt, that they were there. So they watched as the rock fell. It landed with a loud thud then bounced several times before coming to a stop right at her feet.
The Queen whipped her light around to find the source. She saw little pebbles falling that had been knocked loose. Scanning the area for any movement she saw nothing. She turned her attention back to the cavern when a yell came from up above. It was Creature, standing on another path along the opposite cavern wall. He was pointing directly at Eric and yelling. Only then did he realize that the Queen and her massive army were below and he just given away his element of surprise. She threw a spell at him and he caught the full force of it, reeling backwards. She then looked over her shoulder to find what he was pointing at and spotted Eric and the others.
“Get them!” Kill them except the girl. Bring her to ME!” she demanded.
Eric wasted no time and ran along the path. He was hoping that everyone was following.
The Royal Army soldiers ran toward the cavern walls and started climbing, some after the creature and the rest after the girl.
Cerberus and his army began throwing rocks down at the approaching soldiers, hitting quite a few but there were too many. Creature yelled for a retreat and they disappeared back into the tunnel.
* * *
“Why did you do that? You could have easily let me die. You know if given the chance, I would have killed you or worse.” Shabb was lying near the fire, bandaged and bruised. He had changed into his human form so he could talk with Sacco and Vincente.
“I don’t believe that. You could have easily killed us when we were bound. Instead, you cut us loose. Vincente wasn’t convinced but I just felt it was the right thing to do. It is one thing if you had attacked us, I would have no qualms about killing you. But to come upon anyone in such dire need, well it is hard to see such suffering when you know you can do something to help.”
“Sure, I could have killed you then but it is no fun to kill a bound creature. I was giving you a chance to run so I could enjoy the hunt and the kill. Then the Queen was in danger so I had to attend to her. Life as a wolf is so much easier. We take care of one another, loyalty is always to the pack, and we have our hierarchy. The alpha male and female lead the pack. They stake out the territory and all defend it.”
Vincente snickered. “Yeah, I guess that is why you are here, because you wanted to witness humans firsthand. If life as a wolf is so grand, WHY are you here?”
Shabb sighed and gave a short laugh. “Ha, I wish it was so easy. The pack had been living quietly for centuries, avoiding contact whenever possible. The few times we encountered anyone, we were ruthless, had to be. Scared people stay away which is all we ever wanted, just to be left in peace.”
“You did not answer my question. “Why are you here?”
“We were captured by the demons. We have some abilities and can do damage to them, particularly if it is one on one. A strong wolf can kill a demon, but when they are together, it is a battle like none other with massive damage to both sides. They gave us a choice, do their bidding or annihilation.”
“So you chose to have a master!”
Shabb sat upright. “NO! A WOLF HAS NO MASTER!” He paused to catch his breath. “We chose that day to fight. It is a good day to die when the day is not yet over.”
“Did you kill any?”
“NO!” Shabb relaxed a little. “Unfortunately, no, the demons were surprised; they expected us to just give in. It is not in our nature. We assumed an attack formation and they unexpectedly lowered their wands. It is just like them, loud of mouth and quick to run when it becomes difficult. Wolves don’t know how to retreat. It was obvious they needed us, we knew it else they would have tried to kill us without hesitation. We also knew if we fought them that many of us would die but many of them would die too. After deliberation, they made us a deal, do what they ask and we would get our own protected territory.”
“What did they ask of you?”
“It was many years ago we came upon a human fight. There were several men attacking a woman and a baby. We easily killed the men. The woman was wounded too badly and did not survive but her baby did. To return the baby to the humans would have risked exposing ourselves and we could not do that so we raised the child until we could figure out what to do.”
Vincente started to ask but Shabb cut him off. “No, we are not savages. We don’t kill the innocent, especially the young.”
“And?”
“Months later we came upon a caravan traveling to Evandale. We left the toddler where they could find it. In man form, we can go as we please, but even then, one of us carrying a baby would have aroused suspicion. We have kept watch over her ever since. We knew that she was now a warrior, she had trained long and hard so she could take of herself. We had no idea that we would have such an influence on her. The demons wanted us to deliver the girl to them. Once they promised that no harm would come to her, we agreed.”
Sacco was intrigued by the story. “So why didn’t they just get her themselves?”
“You are asking me to explain human behavior? I think not.” Shabb stood up and stretched. “I think I am well enough to travel. I thank you for your hospitality, kindness, and caring. If our paths cross again, I shall hopefully be able to repay you for what you have done. I bid you well!”
Shabb began transforming back into a wolf but instead fell over and collapsed on the ground.
“That went well!” was the only thing Vincente managed to say.
“Come, help me move him. You know what? Wolves are not so bad after all, just misunderstood.”
“That confirms what I suspected. You really have gone off the deep end!”
* * *
Eric ba
rged through an opening and found himself back in the cavern with the statues of soldiers. He slowed down so as not to disturb them since they had no idea what would happen if the soldiers came to life. He took in the sight of rows and rows of armor. The group bunched up as they were forced to stop unexpectedly. Eric cast a spell to make the opening opaque. Their eyes were drawn to the new shiny soldiers that had arrived since they were last here.
Malcolm walked over and gazed at two of them. “This is interesting.”
