by Blair Aaron
CHAPTER 30
“Let's kill her. I think he's telling the truth.”
“You better not,” Augustus said. “If you think you're corrupted now, just wait until you find out you burned an innocent girl alive at the stake, all because of your precious prophecy, brother.”
“You're giving us no choice, then,” Humburt said. “Maybe if we just go through with it, you'll see the Doctor is telling the truth and you won't destroy yourself trying to go back out into the real world.”
“Yeah, or maybe I'll leave anyway, and you'll be stuck with knowing you're a murderer. An EVIL murderer.”
Elsa figured that, because she needed to leave the forest as quickly as possible, and because she would be able to convince Augustus to help her get to the edge of the forest, she would need to back up his argument that Theo was alive and well in the real world. The truth was that she had no idea where Theo was, but she did have a hunch Freja kept him locked away. Regardless, he was almost certainly not in the Forbidden Forest. If she didn't say something now, Augustus would leave her here in this terrible place to burn at the stake.
“Augustus, don't go. Please stay with us,” Niklas said, as Augustus walked off into the distance. Now was Elsa's chance. She raised her head, mustering all the energy she could.
“He's right,” she said, over the commotion of the wolves. They all stopped and looked in her direction.
“She's awake,” Humburt said. Even Doctor Kirbleitz looked up, somewhat surprised. “What did you say, ma'am?”
“I said,” Elsa continued, “your brother is right. I came from the towns. Theo lives in a shack on the shore of a lake. He's fine. Lives a normal life.”
“It can't be,” Kirbleitz said, his mouth agape. “How do you know? Did you see him for yourself?”
“I didn't just see him. I am in love with him. I will be his wife.” All three men looked at each other in shock and disbelief, unable to entertain the idea that the prophecy was a complete sham. “This Prophecy of yours doesn't exist. It can't because Theo is fine. He left the woods of his own accord and never had any trouble.” The lie dripped from Elsa's mouth like poison. She could not help but feel a stab of betrayal from her own heart, even if it was for a greater good. There was no doubt in her mind that she, and the whole wolf pack, would be fine outside the borders of the forest, and she needed to get to Theo as soon as possible to save him from whatever Freja had in store for him. A white lie never hurt anyone.
“See! I knew it,” they all heard Augustus yell from behind them. “Doctor Kirbleitz's story was made up.”
Niklas and Humburt looked over to the doctor, who frowned because he had no energy left to fight. “I never made it up. Perhaps--” He stopped.
“Perhaps what?” Niklas asked.
“Perhaps I misinterpreted the prophecy. I don't think Zamir would lie to me deliberately, even if he were in a manic state of mind due to his experiences near the cottage.”
“You mean all this time you were not as sure as you said you were?” Humburt looked over at his brother, and without saying word, apologized to him for all his doubts.
“Look I'm going, done with this limbo. Are you all coming with me?” Augustus said.
“The girl says she knows where Theo is, maybe she should lead the way,” Kirbleitz said, skeptical. They looked to Elsa.
“Um, yes. I do know where he is, but I don't know how to get out of this forest. This is not my place, it's completely foreign to me.”
“OK, just follow Augustus then. Right?” Kierbleitz said.
“Let's do it,” Niklas said, gung-ho for the adventure, yet unaware of his abrupt change of stance on the existence of the prophecy. Burning innocent girls at the stake amounted to little more than a small opportunity for some excitement in his otherwise languorous days in the forest.
“Do you know how to get out of here, Augustus?” Elsa asked. She forced her face to betray none of her fear or self-doubt, and crossed her arms to protect herself.
“I do. We all do.” Augustus said.
“Well then show us the way,” Elsa said, laughing. She wanted to keep all of the boys convinced she knew what she was doing and where to find Theo after escaping the forest. The truth was that she didn't know what waited for them in the towns, as a good great amount of time had almost invariably passed. Elsa wondered what was in store for them when they left. Even though she didn't know where Theo was, she knew he had in fact left the forest intact without the repercussions which this Zamir character had apparently suffered. She looked around her again. “Let's be clear, boys. You get me to the edge of the forest, I'll show you Theo myself, in his new life, proof that he's all right.”
“Yeah,” Humburt said, “but that means we need to cross the edge of the forest first. How will we know you're telling the truth before we leave this place?”
“I guess you won't. You'll just have to trust me.” She knew Augustus was on her side, but Kirbleitz, Humburt, and Niklas all worried they were being swindled. She had to convince them, no matter what, that the she was telling the truth and looking out for her best interest. She waited for their response patiently. “Are you coming with me and Augustus?” She looked over at the red-headed, stone-faced man, his sharp eyebrows and pointed chin belying fierce intelligence, the bow slung across his naked chest reminding her of the threat of violence underpinning every second of her relationship with these men. If they knew she was lying to them, they would never listen to anything else she claimed was true and would almost certainly burn her at the stake. That was her fate should they find out at any point along the way she was never fully truthful to them. Hopefully she would find Theo before they realized her true motives. “Let's go boys.”
CHAPTER 31
Humburt and Augustus Jordan were identical twin brothers, and like all twins, they stuck to each other's sides. During what was perhaps the most terrifying journey of their life recently, they remembered how much affection and protectiveness they had for one another, even if their opinions differed often about many things, their current plans to leave the forest notwithstanding. Humburt, always more inclined to follow his gut and intuition, set aside his suspicions about their journey to the edge of the woods. Augustus was the lead in this situation, and it was clear to Elsa that Humburt at least wanted to be next to his brother should anything bad happen.
She walked behind them, bare foot now, and listened to their whispered conversation, while Niklas and Kirbleitz kept each other company behind her. It was funny, Elsa thought, that the first two werewolves she stumbled upon when she first entered the forest were the ones who, more or less, trusted her. The other two, Niklas and Kirbleitz, held radically opposite opinions of her. In both case, one wolf leaned on another for guidance and reassurance, as Niklas did with Kirbleitz and as Humburt did with Augustus. Elsa felt a pang of sadness for the entire wolf pack, as their relationships told her they were afraid of being separated from each other. In good times and bad, they turned to each other, against the cold and calculating forest in which they stumbled into. For a group of men hell-bent on declaring their evil to the world, in a full supposedly full of horrors of all kinds, they sure seemed to be the exact opposite. She wanted to get to know them better if she could, so she jogged up behind the twins and tapped Augustus on the shoulder.
Augustus jerked his shoulder from her hand, before he looked up to see who touched him. “Whoa, lady,” he said. “I would be careful if I were you. There isn't much telling what lurks along this path, waiting to gobble us up.”
“There are monsters in these woods?” She asked.
“You thought it was just us wolves and your dainty little tippy toes, huh,” Humburt said. He pointed to the darkened trees on either side of the path. Elsa thought she could see a serpent slither into the underbrush, ghost-white in color, standing in contrast to the earthy brown and greens of the grass and gravel. The image caught her breath, but after she blinked her eyes, it was gone, and she chalked what she saw as her imagination
playing tricks on her.
“Listen, I want to know something,” she said. “Where all have you been throughout these woods? Theo never got a chance to tell me why he was a lion, instead of a member of your wolf pack.” Elsa caught herself in the story she was making up on the spot. “I mean. Before I was taken.” Both twins looked at each other, a silent knowing which said volumes about their suspicions of Elsa. But they answered her anyway.
Augustus adjusted his bow to the other side of his torso. “My brother and I came long after Theo and Dorien. First it was Zamir, now we know that, because Doc would never talk about it until now. Then Doc came.”
“We'll let him tell you how he got here,” Humburt said, interrupting.
“Doc told us that he doesn't know when Theo and Dorien came into the woods, if they were here before or after he came. But he found them walking along as young guys, from a place at the center of the forest Doc would never go to. He said the place they came from was dangerous, but somehow they were protected from being more corrupted by the forest. Doc figured they would have lost their minds at one point, going that deep to the heart of the forest. But they seemed fine, like someone was protecting them from the start, like someone was watching over them.”
“Who was it?” Elsa asked.
“They wouldn't tell him. They seemed like they wanted to protect Doc from something, so they adopted him, and eventually us. No one knows what made Theo a lion or Dorien a dragon, honestly. There must have been something in them both, different from us,” Humburt said.
Just then, something ahead in the distance caught Humburt's eye. “What is it, brother?” Augustus asked.
“Look,” Humburt said. Up ahead, the pathway in the forest trailed off into the grass, fading away. A semi-circular opening in the trees shrouded the upper path of the forest.
“What the hell?” Augustus said. “This is the way out. I don't know any other way.”
“Shit,” Elsa said, under her breath. She was counting on Augustus to get them at least to the edge of the forest. Then she would have to coax all of them over to the other side, or, even better, if they refused to go with her, she could just leave them there and get back to her life with Theo. Something told her at least one of them would follow her simply out of a burning curiosity to see if Theo was in fact all right.
The trail was gone, though, and Augustus obviously had no idea what to do next.
“Brother, what will we do? Do you know any other way?” Just then, Niklas and Kirbleitz caught up to them. Niklas looked around to the twins for instruction on what to do. But Kirbleitz clearly expected this to happen. Humburt asked him, “Doctor Kirbleitz, do you know what's going on?”
“The Forest knows we are trying to leave. I told you it would get angry.”
“What do you mean, 'get angry'? That's ridiculous. The Forest is not alive,” Augustus said.
“I beg to differ, son. Though we have already had this conversation.”
“Well if you know so much,” Augustus said, “why can't you tell us where to go next? I can, but you're not going to like it.”
Elsa's swallowed hard. She had a bad feeling about Doctor Kirbleitz. He might try to take her and the other boys down a wrong path, or worse, back the way they came.
“Where will go, doc?” Niklas asked.
“Over there,” Kirbleitz said, pointing across the grassy ditch to a bridge over a swampy area.
“That's not so bad,” Augustus said, trying to convince himself as much as the other guys of his resolve.
“Say that when we've passed through it,” Kirbleitz said, shaking his head.
“Doc, I'm scared,” Niklas said, tugging on the doctor's black vest.
“I am, too,” Humburt said, looking at his brother.
“What's so bad about a swamp? It doesn't look all that dangerous,” Elsa said.
“The swamp is not dangerous,” Kirbleitz said. “It's the creatures in the swamp that are dangerous, lethal of course.”
“Then let's just turn back,” Humburt said. Niklas shook his head in agreement. Both Niklas and Humburt looked at Augustus for his vote.
“We all know what Kirbleitz thinks,” Humburt said. “So are you going to drag this out any longer, or do you want to die along here with my fair maiden?”
“Let me think,” Augustus said, showing for the first time some solidarity with his pack. Elsa could see the group was beginning to have an effect on Augustus' resolve. Elsa decided she better do something.
“Wait,” she said. “I'm going alone or with you guys. I came in here alone and I'll get out of here alone, if I have to.” She looked at Augustus, to show him her bravery. He looked over at her with his beady green eyes, looking her up and down.
“OK. I'm going with her.”
“Come on, brother! You won't last a minute with our help!”
“I have my bow. Once I get past that swamp, the edge is free and clear. There won't be anything to stop me.”
“I can't believe you, brother. You're making the biggest mistake, and I can't sit idly by and watch you walk to your death, because you hate your life here so much you will do anything to leave.”
“So be it, Humby.” And with that, we buckled up his bow and marched forward through the group of shifters, toward the swamp. The situation was not a bad thing, Elsa guessed. She just needed their protection until they got to the edge of the forest and left them behind. She wondered if Augustus would attack her when he inevitably found out she didn't know exactly where Theo was. He would more surely follow her out of the forest. Maybe she could explain the truth to him and he would listen. He did seem to be the more rational of the twin pair. Niklas, Humburt, and Kirbleitz looked on at them as they approached the swamp area. Elsa hustled up behind Augustus.
“You're going to protect me, right?” she asked, hoping he would show some sort of vulnerability before they entered the swamp.
“I'll get you to the edge of the Forest. If I find out you're lying, all bets are off sister,” he said. Elsa's stomach practically hit the floor. She had no choice but to follow him into the dark area of the swamp. They continued on, and Elsa looked back at the Niklas, Humburt, and Kirbleitz, tiny figures in the distance behind them now.
PART THREE - THE BLACK WOLF
CHAPTER 32
The darkness enveloped them from all sides, and yet the black didn't blind them. Elsa could still make out the outlines of crows on the tree limbs, and the owls hooting from within the enclosures of the trunks. A blue-gray mist hovered near their feet, though Elsa could not see where her feet met the floor. This scared Elsa, and she grabbed Augustus' arm, the muscles bulging in anticipation of an attack. She could hear the metal on his bow clacking against his powerful chest. But he showed no signs of fear, as if fights like these were familiar to him. He simply looked up and around the area, sniffing the air for signs of danger. They continued on, their footsteps quickening with every stride they took. Elsa saw Augustus' large gait, because she had trouble keeping up with him. The darkness began to take shape on her right and left, as she trailed behind him--at first it was very faint, but she could see the outline of a half bird, half human shape in the silvery mist. Soon the shapes became more defined and only then was Elsa sure her fear was not getting the best of her. The shapes began to move in her direction, reaching for her.
“Augustus, look--” He ignored her and pulled his bow and arrow from around his waist. He was ready to fight. “But they're just clouds. You can't do them harm.” They began to run through the mist, the swamp water rising from around ankle height to their knees. The swamp was full of mud and grit and mired them in one place.
“I'm getting stuck, Augustus.”
“Me, too.” Up ahead, she could see a small flickering red light, a point of contact to which both Augustus and Elsa sought refuge. “That light up ahead, that's where the edge is. We always see a red light. Don't know what it's from.”
“Let's get there then before we get taken down,” she said.
> Elsa's feet sank under the clay on the bed of the swamp, at first hard and steady enough to hold her weight but then giving way to her, almost like the swamp knew who was walking its waters. As they plodded on through the darkness to the red light in the distance, the mud pulled them farther down into the ground. Soon enough, they were unable to continue walking.
“What are we going to do? I'm stuck,” she said. Augustus reached over and grabbed a tree branch to pull himself out of the mud. His strength was no match for the suction of the mud. Once on dry ground, at the edge of the murky waters, he grabbed Elsa by the hand without a single indication of strain and pulled her onto the ground. She lay there for a second, trying to catch her breath, before a giant hand emerged from the depths of the swamp to grab Augustus by the ankle and pull him back into the mossy water.
“Augustus! Grab this branch,” Elsa said, trying to help him. She maneuvered herself sideways as he struggled with whatever creature had pulled him under, and before she knew it, she was standing right next to an ivy covered wall. She leaned back against without realizing it, as her attention was solely focused on helping Augustus. He continued to fight against the monster of the swamp, and Elsa felt a mild heat on her back. She looked over her shoulder at the wall, which featured a red, fiery ivy blossoming all over the surface of the muddy concrete. The ivy grew before her eyes as if it had a life of its own, and Elsa found herself transfixed by its beauty. Augustus screamed, and she looked back at the horrific scene in the swamp. “Dear God,” she said. “What do I do?” Just then she saw a pair of red eyes emerge from the area where they had come. “Augustus there is something coming toward us.” The seconds before the shadow creatures from the woods which emerged, the fire from their angry souls glowing from within were the longest seconds of Elsa's life. When the creatures came close enough, she could see they were no creatures at all, but Niklas, Humburt, and Kirbleitz.
“Oh thank God,” she said. “Please help him. I knew you guys wouldn't let us down.” They looked down at their fellow wolf struggling with a gargantuan creature underneath the waters and then immediately dived into the swamp, without a single moment of hesitation. There was a violent struggle under the water, most of which Elsa could not make visual sense of, then Niklas, Humburt, and Kirbleitz jumped onto the side of the swamp, each holding a long arm of some creature whose body the swampy waters obscured. They tied the arms around the vines of a tree, and then Elsa jumped into the swamp to help Augustus. All five men sat on the banks of the swamp coughing and dry heaving from the struggle.