by Neo Edmund
At the far end, Ash opened the rusty cover over an air duct. “After you, ladies.”
Red and Dote exchanged reluctant shrugs. As soon as they were all inside, Ash slid the cover shut. The smell was worse than it was on the bridge, surely the result of clumps of wet mildew and roaches crawling around the inner walls.
“How is this helping us?” Red asked.
Ash gestured for Red and Dote to be silent. Seconds later, several guards entered through the metal doorway and dashed across the bridge. Red watched through the vent cover as they passed by and headed down a long staircase.
Ash whispered, “We have to wait a couple of minutes for the guards to search the basement. Once they’ve cleared it, we’ll be good to go.”
Red did her best not to look at the cockroaches scurrying around their feet. “I sure hope Wolfgang is okay.”
“In all my life, I would have never guessed he would come to our rescue," Dote said.
“Stop kidding yourselves,” Ash said. “Whatever reason that guy showed up, it had nothing to do with saving Red’s tail. Not unless doing it can help him get whatever it is he’s after.”
Red shrugged. “All I know is he covered our tails while we got away, so he’s got a friend in me.”
“I sure hope you don’t live to regret that,” Ash said. “Now quiet. They’ll be back any second.”
As soon as the words left Ash’s mouth, the guards raced back up the stairs. There was soon the sound of a metal door slamming shut. Ash slid the vent cover open and peered out to make sure it was clear. “Okay, let’s move.”
Red, Ash, and Dote crawled out of the vent and headed down the metal staircase into the darkness below. The further down they went, the worse the smell got.
Red shuddered at the sounds of what she assumed were rodents scurrying all around them. “This place is a major creep show.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve been down here a hundred times,” Ash said.
When they reached the bottom of the stairs, the sound of flowing water became thundering loud.
Red pressed a hand over her nose. “When you said sewers, I had no idea you meant this.”
“How about a little less complaining and a lot more thanks for saving our lives?” Ash reached into a gap in a cracked brick wall and pulled out a small lantern. A few hard shakes caused it to illuminate.
Red took a closer look at the lantern. Inside a glass sphere, dozens of tiny glowing creatures were flying around. They were quite furious over being disturbed. “Whoa, are those fire flies?”
“More like teeny tiny fire fairies,” Ash said.
“Just hope you never encounter their people-sized cousins,” Dote said. “They’ll burn down your house if you get on their bad side.”
“These little ones are mostly harmless,” Ash said. “You just have to remember to feed them every so often, and they’ll pretty much live forever.”
Red looked at the fairies banging against the glass. “They don’t look harmless to me.”
“They are as long as they don’t get out.” Ash approached a rusty metal gate and shined the light through the bars, illuminating a brick waterway on the other side. “This is our way out.”
Dote whimpered. “Are you sure this is the only way? It stinks like something died down there.”
“Lots of things die down there,” Ash said. “Unless you want to be one of them, we’d better get moving.”
“Just open it up already,” Red said.
The gate’s rusty hinges squeaked and screeched as Ash pulled it open. Red and Dote cringed, both sure that the noise would alert the guards.
“Don’t worry,” Ash said. “I’ve done this a hundred times. The guards won’t give the noise a second thought.”
On the final push, one of the rusty hinges sheared in half under the gate’s weight. The entire thing crashed down, causing a metallic banging and screeching. It was so loud, Red, Ash and Dote had to press their hands over their ears.
The three friends exchanged nervous looks.
“Oops.” Ash said.
“Let’s move. You can’t tell me they didn’t hear that,” Red said.
Ash was quick to squeeze through the jagged metal debris left in the wake of the fallen gate. Once he got into the waterway he reached back to help Dote as she fumbled to get through. From the top of the stairs came the sound of a door opening, followed by the shuffling of booted feet dashing down the steps.
“They’re coming,” Red whispered. “We’ve gotta hurry.”
“Distract them for a few seconds. Dote’s foot is stuck on something,” Ash said.
“Sorry,” Dote said with a whimper.
“What am I supposed to do?” Red asked.
“You’re the Alpha. Come up with something,” Ash said.
The guards emerged at the bottom of the stairs and stopped cold when they saw Red.
The lead guard pulled his sword and pointed it at her. “Hold it right there, little girl!”
“Little girl? I’ll have you know, I’m the Alpha Huntress.”
The guards began to advance. Having no energy to fight, Red did the only thing she could think of. She grabbed Ash’s lantern and flung it at their feet. The glass sphere shattered to bits, freeing the fire fairies inside. An ear-piercing buzz erupted as the tiny creatures swarmed all around. The guards broke into a panic of swatting and swinging their swords at the attacking fairies.
“Red, we actually needed that,” Ash said.
“You said to improvise.” As Red squeezed through the jagged debris, she heard fabric shredding. A glance down revealed a shard of metal had ripped her dress down the side. “I have soo had enough of my clothes getting trashed.”
“I’ll buy you a new one,” Ash said.
Red hopped into the waterway and landed in ankle-deep water. She glanced back to see the guards were advancing and several more were emerging at the bottom of the stairs.
“Ash, don’t let us down now,” Red said.
“I sure hope I can find the way in the dark.”
The three friends began a long trek down the slippery tunnel.
Dote and Red pressed their hands over their noses to block out the foul stench. Red couldn’t believe that the odor wasn’t bothering Ash in the least. She wondered if it was because he was just used to it, or if it had something to do with his being a boy. From behind, sounds of metallic screeching erupted. “The guards are coming,” Dote said.
“We need to move faster,” Red said.
“This would be a lot easier if you hadn’t trashed my lantern,” Ash said.
They pressed on through the darkness for another hundred yards.
“Red, is it just me, or is it odd that Ash knows his way around these tunnels so well?” Dote asked.
“It is a little weird. I’m strongly considering having a talk with him when we get to granny’s house,” Red said.
“How about you two stop talking about me like I’m not here,” Ash said.
“Ash, you have to admit it is a little weird,” Red said.
“Can we just focus on staying alive?” Ash said. “Even if we escape the palace, we’ve got a long journey across Wayward ahead of us.”
“Sorry,” Red and Dote said in unison.
They came to a point where the waterway forked off into two different directions.
“Which way now?” Red asked.
Ash looked to one tunnel and then to the other. “Left. No. I mean right.”
The sound of the guard’s shuffling boots could be heard not far behind them.
“Are you totally certain?” Dote asked.
“Remember? Smashed lantern? I’m going on instinct here,” Ash said.
“Ash, you have to make a choice right now,” Red said.
Ash closed his eyes and thought for a few seconds. “It’s right. I’m sure of it.”
“That’s good enough for me.” Red ripped some fabric off her dress. She hooke
d it onto a shard of metal sticking out of the wall of the waterway that forked to the left.
“Red, that’s a clever idea,” Dote said. “Let’s just hope they buy it,” Red said.
The three friends forked off to the right and headed deeper into the darkness of the waterway. The ground was so slippery that they had to hold each other’s hands to keep their balance.
Red could hear the guards approaching from behind. What was truly strange is that she could smell their sweat, and the fragrance told her that they were growing angrier by the minute.
“Which way did they go?” a guard’s voice echoed out.
“Look sir, it’s a piece of the girl’s dress.” another guard said.
“We have them now.”
The sound of the guard’s voices soon faded away.
“It worked, Red. You’re a genius,” Dote said.
They continued for another minute or two, taking several turns along the way and hopping down a few drop-off points. They rounded a corner and could see the moonlight illuminating the open end of the tunnel.
“You did it, Ash. We’re home free,” Dote said.
Ash took a nervous gulp. “We made it somewhere.” The three friends dashed the final twenty yards to the end of the tunnel. Peering over the edge, they all gasped at an alarming sight. The waterway was on the side of a cliff, with a drop off a hundred feet straight down.
“This was your big escape plan?” Red asked.
Ash whimpered. “I guess we were supposed to go left.”
Dote began twitching in a panic. “We can’t go back. They’ll find us for sure.”
“You’re right. We can’t.” Red looked over the edge and saw a small lake below, though it was impossible to know how deep it was. With no other choice, she nodded her head in a calm resolve. “We have to make a jump for it.”
Dote took a frantic step backward. “No way. We’ll go major splatter.”
Ash shook his head in outright refusal. “We have to double back and hope they don’t find us.”
Red looked to Ash and Dote with fearless eyes. “There’s no time to debate it. Now take my hands.”
Dote took Red’s hand and squeezed it. Ash trembled as he took her other hand. Red feared their chances of surviving the drop weren’t great, but it was still better than risking a fight with the guards in her weakened state.
“We go on my count,” Red said.
“I so wish I had said left,” Ash muttered.
Red took a deep breath. “1 ... 2 ... 3 …”
Hand in hand, the three friends jumped from the ledge and began free-falling toward the water below. In that brief instant, Red thought of her life before she came to Wayward.
She recalled the countless nights lying in bed, feeling sad and alone, wondering if she would ever have a family to love and call her own—or friends that would stand by her side through thick and thin—or if her life would ever have a true purpose.
As the surface of the water rushed closer, Red realized that in just two days, all of these things had come to pass. “I’m not afraid.” Red’s mind went blank when they hit the icy cold water. The darkness that surrounded her brought a feeling of tranquility that she would have never thought possible. For the first time, she was truly free from a lifetime of cares and concerns. The moment was so perfect that she wished it would never end.
“Wake up, Red Riding.”
A woman’s hand reached down into the dark abyss and locked on to Red’s arm. Red somehow knew the voice belonged to the Alpha Huntress who came before her.
“The time has come to rise as the new high protector of Wayward.”
“What if I fail? I’m not strong enough to face this,” Red said.
“Victory can be achieved if you believe in the great power that lives within you.”
A sudden surge of energy shot through Red’s body. The feeling was so intense it felt like her heart was going to explode. It was the power of the Alpha in its purest form.
“I can feel it.”
Red’s eyes snapped open. All of her senses awoke in a heartbeat. There wasn’t a bit of air in her lungs as she sank deeper into darkness. She could see a faint flickering of moonlight on the surface of the water far above. For most anybody, drowning would have been a certainty, but Red refused to let this be her end.
With a strength that came from a place deep within, she began kicking her legs with furious intent. It took mere seconds before her head broke the surface of the lake and she was able to take in a gasping breath of air.
Red experienced an astonishing new connection to the world around her. Every tree, every bush, every flower, even every blade of grass had its own distinct fragrance. She could hear the voices of the trees and the creatures that dwelled within them speaking out in the wind.
When she finally found the energy to swim toward the shore, she spotted Ash and Dote wading out to her. She smiled at her friends as they pulled her out of the water.
“Easy, Red. We’ve got you,” Ash assured.
“You’re going to be okay now,” Dote rejoiced.
Ash and Dote held Red in their arms as she kneeled on the shore, gasping for air and coughing up water. It took only a brief moment before her strength began returning.
She looked up to the sky and saw that the moon was now glowing crimson red and looming directly overhead. The voices of the lunar deities whispered into her ears, telling her things that only one gifted with the Alpha Power could ever understand.
“I hear you.”
Ash and Dote backed away in awe, as if they knew what was about to come.
“Red, don’t be afraid,” Dote said.
“We’re here with you,” Ash said.
Red broke into a sweat as her blood nearly boiled in her veins.
Razor-sharp claws tore through the skin of her fingertips— brownish-red fur grew from her skin, covering her from head to toe—her muscles became empowered with immense strength— canine ears even poked out the sides of her head.
“Rise up, Alpha Huntress.”
Red’s transformation into a werewolf was complete. The power of the Alpha surging through her body felt like pure awesomeness. She gazed at her reflection in the lake’s surface, expecting to see a dog-faced girl. It was a huge relief to see her feminine form was well intact. “With the right outfit, I could make myself a smoking hot, werewolf-powered hero.”
A thumping sound of heavy footsteps rushing their way broke the silence. Red turned to see a dozen of Ice’s guards emerging from the trees, wearing heavy armor and carrying broadswords. “They’ve found us,” Dote cried out. “We have to run.”
Ash grabbed Dote’s hand. “Our girl has got this one.”
With fearless eyes, Red charged flat out at the men. The first guard swung his sword at her with a powerful grunt. Red caught his arm and took his weapon without effort. She then kicked him in the stomach, sending him crashing to his knees.
The next guard swung his blade at Red from behind. Red spun around and blocked his attack with the sword she had just claimed. She followed up with a counterstrike that was so powerful it hacked the guard’s blade clean in half. The exchange ended with a punch to the jaw that put the man on his knees.
The other guards attempted to engage Red with attacks that were futile against her superior power. She took each of them down with effortless speed and precision, spinning and kicking, punching and ducking, darting and striking, her motions lightning fast.
When the last guard crashed to the ground, Red dropped her sword and dashed back over to Ash and Dote. The three friends stood under the moonlight, looking at one another in silence for a lingering moment. Red wasn’t sure what to say, fearing that they were thinking she was some kind of freak.
Ash finally lowered his head and dropped down to one knee. “Alpha Huntress, I pledge my loyalty and ask that you accept me into your clan.”
Dote kneeled down and lowered her head. “My grandmo
ther from many generations ago stood by the side of the Alpha Huntress through the darkest of times. I now ask that you allow me to stand by yours.”
Red looked down at her two greatest friends in the world. “I’m honored by your pledge of loyalty and gratefully accept you as the first two members of my clan. You two are my trusted friends. I know with you by my side, nothing on this earth will stand in my way.”
Red pulled Ash and Dote to their feet and hugged them tightly. It was certain her road ahead would be paved with unknown perils. While her mission wasn’t at all clear, she knew a great evil was coming their way. It was now her duty to face it head on, and if she failed, Wayward would surely fall into darkness.
Ash finally broke the silence. ”So anybody know what we’re supposed to do now?”
CHAPTER 16
With Ash leading the way, the three friends hiked through the dark woods. It took two hours before Red felt they had cleared enough distance from Ice’s palace to take a rest. They would have continued on, but Ash insisted that they should stay put and make camp. The region ahead just wasn’t safe to venture into during the night.
“Tree gnomes are nocturnal creatures that viciously attack anybody who dares to enter their territory.” Ash went on to recount a rather unsavory tale of a time he came across a pair of them mating in the woods. He couldn’t decide which scars were worse, those spanning the length of his back, or those from the horrific images that had forever stained his memory.
“Fine, we’ll set up camp,” Red said. “But as soon as dawn breaks, we’re moving on.” She had a moment of panic when she tried to turn back into her human form. Without anybody to guide her, she feared being stuck as a werewolf for the rest of her life.
Ash’s and Dote’s attempts to coach her through a visualization exercise only made the situation more frustrating.
“Imagine looking at yourself in a mirror, and you’re in human form,” Dote said.
“Tell yourself over and over that’s the way you’re supposed to be,” Ash said.
It wasn’t that Red didn’t appreciate their help, but it only caused more frustration when it didn’t work. The change finally came when she got a moment of silence to calm her mind. Like a child realizing she could stand and walk, it required an instinctual understanding that could never be put into words.