He started to run. His body was so massive she felt she was atop a tree deciding to move— but she quickly realized he was beginning slow for her. He sped up to a jog and then quickened to a full run, giving her time to acclimate to his speed. She thought he might be able to outrun a horse.
But she was wrong.
Then he sped up.
And that comparison became obscenely inadequate.
She gripped him as hard as she could. The wind, whipping at her face, stung her eyeballs with its coolness; shrubbery and rocks became mere blurs of color beneath their feet; she knew if she fell off of him while he was moving this fast she’d surely die. Crack her head open and snap her spine in five places.
Sensing her distress, he gripped her forearms and looked back at her reassuringly.
He was right. There was the demon. Right there. She could see it within his eyes.
There were both there, sharing the same space.
And it wasn’t evil. It was joyful. It was overjoyed to be alive.
A steep dropoff into Dover Valley came up.
“Dunstan! No. Dunstan!”
He leapt into the air, across the openness. She screamed but couldn’t hear her own voice over the roaring of the wind. The ground was at least hundred feet below them, and they were falling in conjunction with the slope of the descent. He landed nimbly, sprinted and jumped again into the air, rushing higher than before, as high as the trees and then some. They descended and he instantly jumped again.
Falling, jumping, higher, higher still, until Amber saw that the tops of pines were well below them.
Whatever fears she had of mortal injury and death rocketed out of her. This is what it was to be truly alive. Truly alive and free. This was life itself!
They sailed down, and on the next jump Amber saw the town of Maldon and a shimmering gray-blue mass beyond it.
“WHAT IS THAT?” Amber screamed into his ears.
She forgot he couldn’t answer her as a wolf.
“THAT’S THE OCEAN, ISN’T IT?” she asked. “IT’S BEAUTIFUL! WILL YOU TAKE ME THERE?”
He howled in response as they descended to the ground and then rose back up again. Theirs was a wave of motion blessed by all that had ever been holy.
Amber laughed and cried at the same time. He was taking her to the ocean! Dunstan was taking her to the ocean!
CHAPTER 14
Amber spun in the sand with her arms outstretched and her feet in the pulsing ocean water. It was so much warmer here than it was in Bruton! And the cool, moist sand felt delicious under her naked feet. Dunstan, shirtless, sat astride a dune a few feet away with a smug look on his face. He had the look of a man who had just eaten a well cooked meal and told a good joke in the process. He seemed pleasantly, delightfully pleased and happy.
“Dunstan!” Amber yelled over the crashing waters. “Thank you! A thousand times thank you!”
Dunstan didn’t respond, but merely smiled back— his massive, well-muscled chest soaking in the sun.
Amber looked around. They were alone. The closest person to them had to be many, many miles away.
She pulled the hem of her dress up and walked towards him. His eyes widened as he got a slight glimpse of the start of her thighs. She smiled at him.
She fell down beside him and looked out across the ocean. She could stay here all day.
“How is it you have pants on?” Amber asked. “You actually keep stashes of clothing in different places you frequent?”
“It’s a lesson I’ve learned the hard way,” Dunstan said and laughed. Amber put her head down on his shoulder. “Disappointed?” he asked.
“Dunstan Conner, I am a lady,” Amber said. “I don’t think about such things. And don’t you forget it.”
“Sorry!” Dunstan said.
Amber rolled on top of him, letting her hair fall into his face. Heat radiated off the smooth skin of his sculpted body. “I suppose carrying a girl across the country on your back to the most beautiful sight she’s ever seen, allows you to make a remark like that.”
Dunstan relaxed and smiled— pearly white, teeth she could get lost in.
Dunstan was quiet, but he gazed intently into her eyes. “Amber,” he whispered.
Everything was perfect here. The smell of salt air, sea breeze blowing across her skin. No worrying about the man she loved. Perfect – temporarily. This was their moment, Amber knew. It may be their final chance.
She drew her skirt up, and felt the sea breeze blow along her naked thighs. She tugged at the string of his trousers. Every instinct cried for her to make love to the man who had captured her heart at twelve years old and had never released it. Now may be their first time, and their last.
Dunstan put his hands to hers and stopped her. Amber felt a sting of rejection and embarrassment. He didn’t want her to take his pants off.
“I just always thought we would get married first,” he said, sheepishly. “In a church. Before the whole town.”
“Married?” Amber asked.
He looked into her eyes in bewilderment. “Would you not have me?” He asked.
Amber teared up. Not have him? She was already devoted to him in every way. “Of course I would,” she said. “I’d marry you a thousand times.”
Dunstan stroked her hair and kissed the tender skin of her neck. “But you think this moment won’t happen again?”
She hadn’t allowed herself to fully think about it, but knew he was right.
She nodded.
“You think one of us is going to die?” he asked.
“I think we are in danger. And I think I’m afraid. I think I’m terrified. I think you can’t handle them all on your own, Dunstan. You know you can’t! But you and I both know you’re going to try.”
“Bruton’s not capable of—”
“But they’re capable of condemning you!” Amber burst out. “They’re more than capable of that. Why don’t you just leave? Let them figure out how to defend themselves against these monsters.”
“Because they’d die,” Dunstan murmured. “I can’t have them die. Not if I can prevent it.”
“But you’re going to get yourself killed,” Amber said. “And I’ll be alone. I’d be content to live in secret with you, but I can’t live my life without you.”
“You’re not going to,” Dunstan said. “I’m not going to die.”
“You don’t know that. You, we don’t even know what we’re up against.”
Dunstan rolled her over to the ground and looked into her eyes. “I will marry you in Bruton. Father Bren will marry us. And you and I will carve our initials into Lovers’ Tree. I promise you this will happen.”
“How can you promise me something like that? Knowing what we’re about to face? What you’re about to face?”
“Because that one dream has kept me warm through many nights. It is the reason I never stopped fighting. It saved me from death once. It will do so again. You are my woman, Amber. You will be mine always.”
*
He dropped her off back at the pasture where they had met earlier and he slunk back into the trees when they noticed Jessica’s father walking through the fields.
He watched her as long as he could, before he ducked into the mighty pine forest that decorated much of Dover Valley concealed himself quickly.
“What you doin’, Amber?” Jessica’s father asked when he spotted her.
“Oh, just getting some sun. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Never, Amber, but even Martin walks back there with somethin’ on ‘im. Aren’t you afraid of the wild animals?” He looked around. “Of the wolves?”
“Your land has been safe to me since I was a child. With you around, I know it always will be.”
Mr. Grey blushed and flashed an embarrassed smile. “Get out of here,” he said and laughed. “Jessica’s gone to Town Square if you want to see ‘er. Sounds like somethin’ is goin’ on down there.”
“Has it been decided who’s going to go and speak with the w
olves?” Amber asked.
“Don’ know. Happy not knowin’, frankly. There’s a reason I live where I do. Need everyone a few stone throws away from me to get any sleep at night.”
Amber laughed and waved goodbye.
Past Avondale Road to West High Street, it quickly became apparent that Mr. Gray was right. She could hear the commotion carrying through the air.
She hurried to Town Square as fast as she could where the mayor was talking, but she doubted he could even hear himself. Everyone was yelling at him.
She looked for Jessica and found her towards the back standing beside Martin.
Amber leaned into Jessica’s ear and asked, “What’s going on?”
“Mayor refuses to go on a manhunt for Dunstan, and is telling everyone he doesn’t support the idea of anyone going into the mountains to speak with the wolves.”
“Well, that’s good,” Amber replied.
“No, because it apparently doesn’t matter what he says anymore. They’re doing it anyway,” Jessica said. “Three men have already volunteered.”
“Well, that’s not good,” Amber said. “Who are they?”
“Alan Eddington for starters,” Jessica sighed. “Remember him? Teenager Dunstan beat up before he had even gone into puberty. The one who was older than him?”
Amber nodded. She remembered. “That’s great,” she replied. “Makes me feel real good about this.”
“Then there’s Colin Dennel. The genius who tried to walk across Amble Lake a couple years ago when he thought it was frozen.”
“Don’t know him too well, but his father’s a regular at the pub. Who pulled him out again? I can’t remember.”
“Mr. Chapman,” Jessica answered. “But not without cursing him to three different hells in the process.”
“Who’s the last one?” Amber asked.
“Eric Ashford,” Jessica said. “One of your favorite people, if I remember correctly. Wasn’t he a bit of a jerk to you in his younger years?”
“Amber, Amber there’s not one fatter,” Amber recanted. “He’s one of the ones who helped write the song, and who chased me down when I broke out of the circle.”
“Did you know he’s courting Betty Phippen? She was in on the ballad, too, wasn’t she?”
“Yes,” Amber growled.
“Well, it looks like one good thing came out of them bullying you. It brought them together. As much as I dislike both of them, I’m awfully sad for Betty now. She left as soon as Eric announced he was going. She was sobbing, Amber. It broke my heart. I can only imagine what it must feel like knowing your person might be about to die.”
Amber didn’t say anything. Jessica obviously wasn’t giving much thought to everything. Sure Dunstan could shift into one of those monsters, but that didn’t mean he was safe. She more than anyone knew what Betty was going through, and how she felt. For a moment she contemplated finding her and comforting her, but then remembered Betty was probably one of the people who thought they should take Dunstan to the wolves and decided against the moral high road.
“So we have two bullies and one moron representing us?” Martin broke in. “What could possibly go wrong?” He kicked a rock across the lawn in frustration.
The crowd began to hush as it became apparent that someone new of importance was speaking. It was William.
“What’s he doing?” Jessica asked. “What in the gods’ names does he think he’s doing?”
William cleared his throat and said, “I’d like everyone to know that I, too, am volunteering to go.”
Jessica shrieked and clenched Amber’s arms with her nails.
“My father has not asked me to do this, nor has anyone else. This is my decision. I believe if we are going to make progress with this group of people, then someone needs to be able to negotiate with them. No disrespect to the other fellows who have volunteered, but I believe I am the best person in town to do that. I’ve been sitting in on meetings with my father since I was a child, and it’s become second nature to me. You should also know that unlike all of you, I agree with my father about not turning in Dunstan. I wholeheartedly oppose it. Not because I’ve known him my whole life and respect the man he has become, but because I would never dream of treating any one of you that way. If he made a mistake, we should be the ones to deal with it. He’s one of us. No one else should be allowed to think they hold power over our own— doing so will just create further problems in the future. And I think all of you would feel the way I do if something were to happen to you. We don’t ship people off across the country so that others may decide for us what is best for one of us. It’s bad politics and it’s bad common sense. I know I’ve angered a lot of you just now, but, all the same, if you could all say a prayer for us tonight that are going, I would greatly appreciate it.”
Amber looked at Mayor Haven. His entire face was flushed. He was angry and horrified his son was choosing to go. And it was clear to see that as soon as the crowd dispersed that William was about to have a very colorful conversation with him. But William was eighteen and could make his own decisions, and judging by the way he handled and held himself, he wasn’t going to change his mind. All the same, his father was going to lay into him and attempt to talk some sense into him.
Amber remembered then that Mayor Haven had known before Spring Festival that the wolves were not simply wolves, and that he had told William this little gem of wisdom some years ago. Perhaps the mayor was afraid for reasons entirely unknown to anyone else. Perhaps he had extra reason to be afraid...
Jessica was still clenching Amber’s arm, and tears were dropping from her cheeks. She was biting her lip, and much like William’s father, seemed to be biding her time and thinking of what she was going to say to William as soon as she could. It was not going to be pretty. Jessica had a temper on her that was outmatched by none. She took no prisoners and spared no one’s feelings whenever she got angry.
But it was different now. Now her heart was involved, and she seemed to be struggling with this new added dimension. It was clear she didn’t know which emotion to process right then.
It’s good a thing William’s a big guy. Hopefully the extra weight around his midsection will absorb her blows, Amber thought.
People began to disappear, and before Amber even noticed her friend was gone, Jessica was slapping William in the chest.
“What are you thinking! You know, William, you know what you’re getting yourself into! This is the dumbest thing you could ever possibly do!”
William held up his hands and tried to speak, but Jessica continued.
“Do you want to die? Is that it? Are you hoping to die? I can kill you a whole lot faster, save you the trouble of trekking into Bowlands. Want me to do that? Huh! Do you want me to do that?”
“Jessica, it’s because I know what’s going on that I’m going,” William said. “That’s precisely the reason.”
“It’s suicide,” Jessica yelled. “We need to find the alpha before we even begin to do something like this.”
“Well, maybe we will find him. Afterall, that’s what this is all about.”
He tried to grab Jessica’s hands but she pulled them away and stormed off.
Martin shook his head and walked after her.
A middle aged woman with her hair pinned up made eye-contact with Amber and hurried over. “None of this would even be an issue if your little recluse boyfriend would man up and turn himself over!” Belinda Glover said. “If you had any decency in you, you would have helped us turn him over by now!”
Amber didn’t say anything back to the old crow. The woman sneered at her and spit on Amber’s feet as she walked away.
“Amber, come along now,” someone said to her.
She turned around. It was Old Abbie.
“Come on. Let’s go.”
“Where are we going?” Amber asked.
“To Lovers’ Tree,” Abbie said and chuckled.
“Isn’t that too far for you?” Amber asked.
�
��Keep up if you can,” Abbie said, and tapped her cane faster as she walked.
CHAPTER 15
It was a slow walk, but Abbie made it. Amber felt weird being at Lovers’ Tree without Dunstan, but her curiosity as to what Old Abbie had planned far outweighed any misgivings she held. She also felt bad for not being with Jessica, whom she knew needed her shoulder to cry on right then, but hopefully whatever Abbie had planned would make things better.
Abbie, hunched over, rested her weight on top of her cane, and breathed quick, light breaths. Her whole face was sweaty.
Amber waited patiently for her to catch her breath.
“Our initials are in that tree, you know,” Abbie said, looking at the tree as if it were miles away. “No one’s ever noticed and brought it up to me, but we’re in there. CS and AS. Top right if you’re inside and looking out the tree hollow. People only care about where their’s are. Have you picked out a spot, yet?” Abbie asked. “For where you and Dunstan are going to go?”
“No,” Amber said. “I don’t want to jinx it.”
Abbie laughed. “I bet he has it picked out. I look at him, and all I see is a hopeless romantic. The heart on that boy… never seen anything like it.”
“What about Cletus? I thought you said he was like Dunstan in that way.”
“Yes, but Dunstan’s got ‘im beat, as much as I love Cletus.”
Abbie grew silent and closed her eyes, breathing deeply through her nose. She seemed to be communing with the forest, or finding something within her. “Call out to ‘im,” she said. “Call ‘im to us. You don’t need to be loud. If ye listen closely, ye can hear ‘im. He’s patrolling nearby. Let ‘im know you’re waiting on ‘im. His ears are honed in on you. That’s one of the interesting things about these creatures. They can stay honed in on someone from far away. Doesn’t matter what other noises are going on in the world. If you call ‘im, he’ll hear you and come.”
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