He slowly navigated his way through the heavily wooded forest. Occasionally he had to stop for a moment when the trees became denser. He couldn’t understand how or why, but the tracks he was following would tend to jump over a few feet to the left or right in places like these. Sometimes it was extremely difficult to reacquire the trail. He did not give up though. His curiosity was piqued because he noticed that the longer he followed the tracks, the more human they seemed to become.
One thing continued to puzzle George though. How were the owners of these tracks staying far enough ahead of him that he could not spot them? Perhaps the tracks weren’t as fresh as he thought. The sun was beginning to get low enough in the sky that he knew he would have to stop soon. His best guess told him that he had about another hour before he would have to make camp. This frustrated him, and he began to second-guess himself. Maybe he should have stayed back near the clearing he found earlier and searched for those that he could sense were watching him.
As he considered the option of turning back, George began to notice the trees were becoming sparser and the tracks were getting easier to follow. He was able to increase his pace slightly, and before much more than a half hour had passed, he found himself at the edge of the forest. In front of him was an enormous field. Some of it consisted of tall grass, but there was also some that looked to be fields that farmers would use to grow crops. Beyond the field was a good-sized town.
Even though he could see no movement in town from where he sat on his horse at the edge of the forest, George thought it would be wise to make camp where he was. The town looked deserted from here, but there was no point in taking any unnecessary risks. He could sneak in after dark to investigate. George was relatively sure that the owners of the tracks he followed would be found hiding somewhere in the town.
He turned his horse around and headed a little further into the woods to make sure he would not be seen. After about a hundred feet he brought his metallic steed to a halt and dismounted. He sat down on the ground beside a large tree, laced his fingers together behind his head, leaned back against the tree and closed his eyes. It would be dark soon, and after traveling all day, George felt he could use a short nap.
Chapter 13
A large, smooth stone hovered in the air dripping water back into the stream. Edward had found the spell he was looking for, and made quick work of removing the barricade. The last piece was floating in the air a few feet above the water. It slowly made its way to the bank where the rest of the stones were piled. Once it was in position near the rest of the debris he had removed, Edward released his focus from the stone, allowing it to fall to the ground amongst the others. The entire time he spent moving the rocks Kronos and Kieron had looked on in fascination, unable to believe what they were seeing.
“Marvelous display!” Kieron exclaimed with adoration.
“Thank you for your aid, young wizard,” Kronos said. “Now we can continue our journey to the south.”
“What lies there that you are so intent upon reaching?” Katie asked.
“Warmer waters and less danger,” Kronos replied. “We were afraid that we might have gotten trapped in the northern lands.”
“The waters to the north are getting rather bitter lately,” Kieron added, “and we could ill afford to be trapped in by the ice that has begun forming at night.”
“I have noticed the temperatures during the nighttime hours have gotten cooler recently,” Edward said, “but didn’t think it was cold enough for ice to form just yet.”
“I don’t think the coldness of the water to the north is due to the weather,” Kronos told him. “The ambient air temperature seems too warm to support it being a natural change of seasons.”
“Then what do you think is causing it?” Katie asked.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Kieron replied. “There is something evil afoot, which appears to be trying to keep us from doing our duties.”
“And whatever this evil force is, the gods seem to be powerless to stop it,” Kronos sadly told them.
“Perhaps now that a wizard of your caliber is intent on traveling that way the evil will recede,” Kieron said hopefully.
Katie shook her head. “Somehow I don’t think it will be that easy.”
“I feel the same way,” Edward agreed with Katie. “Our path seems to be one of great adversity. If anything, I feel we will likely have a great battle on our hands at some point very soon.”
“We wish you the best of luck on your journey.” Kronos bowed his head respectfully to them. “If we can aid you in any way in the future we will try to do so.”
“We are very grateful for your help,” Edward replied with the same courteous bow of his head.
Kronos and Kieron turned away, submerging their heads beneath the surface of the water, and with a flip of their tail began to make their way downstream. Edward and Katie watched them go until they were out of sight.
Once they were alone again, Edward and Katie crossed the stream where the stones had once been. Even without the stones, it was still the shallowest and narrowest part of the stream that they could see. They splashed their way across the knee-deep water to the other side. The stream was much cooler than it had been the last time they crossed. Once they were standing on the opposite bank, the slight breeze caressed their wet clothes causing a chill to set in.
“I’m going to get some wood so we can make a small fire,” Edward stated.
“Are you sure that is wise?” Katie replied, her teeth chattering slightly.
Edward tried to reassure her. “I am sure we will be fine. If the man that came through here earlier had thought us to be a threat to him, I am sure he would have hunted for us.”
“Maybe he didn’t know we were around,” Katie said, trying to sound hopeful.
“That is unlikely. I am sure he didn’t think our horse,” Edward pointed to the magnificent white beast, “was just wandering through the woods on its own accord. Especially considering that it is saddled.”
“True, but that still doesn’t comfort me much. What is to say that building a fire won’t attract his attention and bring him back this way again?” Katie asked.
“I guess that is just a chance we will have to take,” he told her. “We won’t get very far if we make ourselves sick by traipsing around in wet clothes.”
“Point taken.” Katie gave an exasperated sigh and gazed up at the sky, noticing the position of the sinking sun. It was rapidly nearing the horizon.
Edward began to move a little further into the woods, collecting small, dead branches. He made sure he stayed close enough to the clearing that he could keep an eye on Katie. Edward hoped his words had soothed her, and that she hadn’t seen how nervous he was. While he gathered wood for their fire, Katie stood next to the horse patting it absently.
A tear formed at the corner of her left eye and leaked down her cheek as her gaze fell upon the disturbed earth about fifty feet away that marked the spot where they had buried Mike. Her mind began to whirl as she thought about all the things she had endured during her time in this world. For the most part, she had done well. She had remained strong in the face of adversity, even when things went from unusual to downright unbelievable. Now she wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep up the charade. Yes, she had always considered herself to be tougher than most girls, but there were times in this world that everything threatened to come crashing down on her. To expose her as the girl she truly was. High school was no more than a distant memory. Silently, Katie wondered how she had ever gotten herself into the mess that she was currently facing. It was like a nightmare she couldn’t seem to wake from.
Edward wandered back into the clearing with an armload of twigs and branches. As he set it on the ground, Katie began to come out of her fog of thought. With the wood now piled on the ground, Edward walked over to her and stopped, seeing the almost dried tears that were on her cheeks. “Are you all right?” he asked her softly, and brushed his fingers lightly over the tear tracks.
“I’ll be fine,” she replied, trying to sound reassuring. “I just got caught up thinking about everything.” Katie gave him a weak smile.
Edward wasn’t the best at reading emotions, but even he could see the pain hidden deep within her eyes. “Come help me build the fire,” he said, hoping to distract her from her current train of thought and get her refocused on what had to be done.
Together they went over to the heap of wood and began to arrange the pieces to allow the fire to breathe once it was built. When they were satisfied with their construction, Edward produced a flame in the palm of his hand and lit one of the smaller branches. As soon as the flames took hold of the wood, he placed the stick into the neat stack of branches that would in moments be a small campfire.
As the fire began to catch and spread, Edward and Katie sat down. He held his hands out to the flames to warm them and Katie moved her hands briskly over her leather pants as steam began to rise from them.
Edward looked up at what remained of the sun; only half of it was visible on the horizon. It would be dark soon and he couldn’t help but wonder what the night would bring.
Chapter 14
George opened his eyes. It was completely dark out. The only illumination came from the faint twinkling of the stars overhead, as the moons of this world had not yet made their appearance in the sky. He got up and strode to the edge of the forest; before him lay a town shrouded in darkness. Something didn’t seem right. As he stood there squinting toward the town, he realized what was off about the place. A town of that size should be lit up enough that he could pick out the individual buildings. What lay before him was the exact opposite. Not even a single light was lit. Surely it wasn’t so late that the whole town would be sleeping? It was so quiet where he stood that if a mouse were to suddenly fart, the noise of it would be deafening.
He was beginning to think following the tracks that led this way from the clearing north of here had been a huge waste of time. Obviously he wasn’t going to be able to capture more workers for the factory from this ghost town. He should have stayed near the clearing. At least there he might have been able to acquire more people. He had the feeling that they would have been easy pickings for him too. Hiding like scared little rabbits as they had been, he was relatively sure that there couldn’t have been enough of them to overpower him.
Just as he was about to turn away, a shadowy movement flitted quickly by at the edge of his sight. It seemed rather large, and if he was not mistaken, it was traveling close to the ground. Something that moved so rapidly was surely not human, but he also knew that whatever he had just caught a glimpse of had likely made the tracks he had followed. He slowly scanned the area to the southeast, where he had seen the movement. Maybe his mind was playing tricks on him. If he had seen something moving in the darkness, it wasn’t there now. Or perhaps it had seen him and was lying motionless and observing him.
George continued searching for any signs of movement for a few minutes longer. Then, convinced that he had only seen a bit of shrubbery moving in the light wind of the night, he walked over to where his mechanical horse stood waiting for him. Just as he was about to mount up, a low, menacing growl sounded from somewhere very close. Instantly every nerve in his body was on high alert. He looked in the direction the sound had come from and saw nothing at first. As he continued looking, George fumbled with the strap that held his sword to his side. He was still trying to train his mind to grasp the fact that he was no longer in his own world, and his reactions in this one would have to adjust, taking into account what was available to him now.
The growl was growing in intensity and volume. He could just make out the stealthy footfalls of the animal steadily moving toward him, but still he saw nothing. Just as George managed to free his sword, he saw a pair of eyes glinting near the base of a tree roughly ten feet from where he stood. And luckily not a moment too soon, for seconds later the animal launched itself at him. George dropped to the ground and swung his sword wildly in the direction of his attacker. The animal crashed into the side of his mechanical horse and let out a yelp. He got to his knees and turned his body around to face the animal. As he did, George found himself nearly face to face with the beast. Its head was only about a foot away from his own and he could feel the animal's hot breath on his skin. Now he could see very clearly that what he was dealing with was a wolf. Seconds after he made this realization, the wolf snapped its massive jaws at his face.
In an upward stroke, George brought the sword up with savage force from its place at his side. As the wolf’s jaw snapped shut not more than an inch or two from his face, the animal's head departed from its body. It fell to the ground by his knees as George watched the rest of the body convulsing wildly. Blood sprayed out from the stump of the animal's neck; most of it soaked the ground around the twitching beast. George could tell that at least once, maybe more times than that, the spraying blood had splashed onto him. Some of which now dripped from his face, making him look more like the murderer that he was. After a couple of minutes, the stumbling, headless animal fell to the ground in a heap and ceased to move.
As George saw it fall, he began to relax a little. He stuck the tip of his sword into the ground next to him and leaned on it, losing himself in thought. Why had the wolf attacked him? Had he somehow, unknowingly provoked the animal? As he contemplated these things, his attention was diverted when he started to hear leaves rustling nearby, like a small animal moving. He squinted his eyes and looked around in the dim light of the stars overhead. After a few minutes of fruitless searching for the source of the noise, he used the sword beside him to boost himself to his feet. He bent down to retrieve the head of the wolf he had just slain, intending to hang it from his saddle as a trophy. As he plucked it from the ground, he noticed there was something different about it. The shape of it didn’t feel right in his hands and there were places that should have been covered in fur that felt smooth.
George lifted the head up toward the sky, hoping the dim light from the stars would clear his confusion. What he saw nearly shocked him into dropping the head. There, before him, was a head that appeared to be a cross between a wolf and a human. That was impossible! What he was seeing belonged in the nightmares of children who had watched one too many horror movies. Werewolves didn’t really exist. Did they?
Apparently they did, because the head was continuing to change before his eyes. The longer he looked at it, the more human the features became. After a few more minutes, all traces of the wolf were gone, leaving him holding the severed head of a woman. Still he had trouble wrapping his mind around the obvious fact that werewolves did indeed exist. He glanced over toward where the rest of the wolf’s body should have been, and saw that it had changed as well. A naked, headless female body was lying on the ground where the wolf had once been.
Convinced that hiding out in the woods at the edge of this town wasn’t exactly his safest option, George decided it might be a better idea to go into the town and find a place that didn’t leave him so open to attack. He walked over to his horse, stepping over the headless body as he did, and used the hair on the woman’s head to lash it to his saddle. Once it was securely in place, he mounted the horse and turned it toward town.
The first of the two moons of this world began to poke above the horizon as he crossed the fields in between the forest and the town before him, providing George with slightly better visibility. As he slowly made his way toward town he remained on high alert, scanning the fields and buildings ahead for movement. Other than the tall grasses of the fields swaying gently in the night breeze, he saw no cause for alarm. It was as if the town was abandoned. How long it had stood empty he didn’t know, but at least it would provide him with shelter in case there were other werewolves in the area.
It was slow going, but about fifteen minutes later George maneuvered his horse between two buildings and emerged onto the dusty main street of the town. He looked down the barren length of road in both directions for a suitable plac
e to wait out the night. To his right, the buildings seemed to be more business oriented types of structures. One of which looked to be a tavern with a hitching rail in front of it. Broken boards littered the street in front of this building, and upon further inspection, he also noted a large hole in the outer wall of the second floor of the building. He had no idea what could cause such damage, but was relatively certain that it was likely the reason the town was now abandoned.
George turned his head and looked down the street to his left. What he saw there were the type of buildings that would suggest individual dwellings. These looked more appealing to him; he was sure they would be more comfortable. It would also be a lot easier for him to secure a place like that, rather than one of the business buildings that had a lot of open areas in them.
With his mind made up, he turned the horse to his left and began making his way down the street. It didn’t take him long to find what he was looking for. Tucked neatly between two of the more extravagant dwellings on his right was a small, well-kept cottage. It looked perfect. George steered the horse over to the building and stopped underneath the awning that stretched across the front of it. He dismounted the horse, walked over to the only window on the front of the home, and peered inside. There was no light coming from anywhere inside, so either its occupant was asleep or the house was empty.
He then went to the door and tried the latch; it was not locked and opened easily with a slight creak. He stepped into the gloomy interior of the cottage and closed the door. He stood still for a moment, giving his eyes a chance to adjust to the complete darkness. After what seemed like an eternity, he began to be able to see the shapes of nearby objects. The silhouette of a chair a few feet to his left with what looked to be a table next to it. To his right was an object that seemed to be floating in the air, likely a hanging plant of some sort judging from the size of it, even though he couldn’t make out the manner in which it was hung.
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