"This place is called the dark forest, it's the home of werewolves and werecats, no ordinary wild animal can live here." Linda spoke for the first time since they met her. "The elves are the only magical creatures they truly fear; a werecat cannot come close to an elf, I don't know why, but they don't go near elves; a werewolf can have his heart easily plucked out by an elf, a werewolf when he fully turns can be extremely strong and fast, but an elf is slippery, he can pluck his heart in a twinkle. But sometimes, the elf might be unlucky"
"So why are they still living in the forest, if living with the elves is so detrimental?" Ethan asked.
"They don't believe they are living with the elves, they believe the dark forest belongs to them and like Cryptmaw, they don't accept they should submit to the leadership of the elves. They govern themselves here in the forest." She said.
Cyclux who had been silent also asked Linda, "what if a mage runs into one?"
"If that one is a werewolf, you can interact with his humanity to suppress him... or her- only if it's not a full blood-red moon, but if it is a werecat, it is completely wild- find a way to kill it before it kills you and-" There was a howl from within the woods, that startled all of them, they all stopped in their tracks.
"What was that...?" Cyclux asked; his eyes widened.
"Shush..." Linda hushed him, trying hard to listen to any sinister sound in the forest; there were the croaking of frogs and the chirping of crickets around them, nothing howled. "Let's go..."
"When are we to signal to the escort?" Ethan asked.
"At the end of this path, they can see the smoke from there." Linda pointed to a cluster of trees, few kilometers away but she put down her hand quickly and raised her wand-like torch, its light beaming in the dark forest. What Ethan saw made his heart slam in his chest, it had deep spots like a leopard, but its face was uglier than a hyena's and its fangs were dripping saliva at the corners of its mouth with unsaid threat. Cyclux's first instinct was to run as fast as he legs can lift him, he had suffered terrible nightmares about werewolves in the past, but here was a werecat and he wasn't dreaming. "Fall behind me." Linda said, she sounded determined. She raised her voice above the croaking and chirping sounds, and she started casting a long spell, several sentences in a foreign tongue- it reminded Ethan of what happened when he and Cyclux were before the wall of flames. Her wand-like torch started beaming and then became dull, in successions. It wasn't a flashlight, it was an actual wand. The werecat gave a loud, deafening how, that echoed in the deep forest, revealing his long fangs. But Linda did not stop, she only raised her voice and walked closer and closer towards the animal and her spell soon started taking effect on it. The animal started whining- such annoying cry, it stretched its fore-limbs and started nodding continuously, such that it was dribbling saliva in all directions, from the corner of its mouth. Linda let down her wand, when she was satisfied it had been disarmed but she did so too quickly, it had summoned other werecats with its last howl. They were now surrounded by four of them, growling at them. Ethan unsheathed his sword quickly, the blade shinning dimly in the moonlit forest, but Linda was not fast enough, a werecat to her left pounced on her and sank its fang in her right arm. She struggled and managed to point her wand directly to its stomach, "flagranta!" She managed to say, the wand sent flashes of light like short lightening through its stomach to its back, it released its fang and dropped dead. Another werecat charged at Ethan, but his instinct kicked in, he sidestepped quickly, missing the incoming blow by an inch. As though the sword was taking control of his hands, he thrust his sword sideways and an unsuspecting werecat, which was preparing to attack from behind, was cut right through the mouth, in its throat. Ethan pulled his sword out and the animal fell, dead. Cyclux was almost confused with fright, Linda had disarmed another werecat that had charged at Cyclux, its fangs were completely pulled out by a charm and it started drooling blood mixed with saliva. But another werecat was closing up on him now, Linda already had a burning fever, the fang was poisonous, she could not move her right arm at all, she had to lean against a tree. "Disarm it with the spell I used." She moaned.
"Wh-at spell... I don't kn-ow..." Cyclux stuttered.
"Are you a mage at all?" Linda looked at him in disbelief.
"I'm a bloody mage!" Cyclux screamed; his face firm. The werecat was closing up on him. "Flecto ablazo!"
Nothing happened, the werecat leaped, it's long fang longing for his neck, slash! Ethan's sword came down on its neck, severing its head completely and splashing blood on Cyclux's face and coat.
"Linda!" Ethan screamed, she had started slipping off the tree. Ethan caught her in time, before she slipped to the ground. Her fever had worsened, her breathing was very slow. "Cyclux, let's try and get her where we can send signals to the escort. Cyclux!" Ethan had to shout his name to shake him out of his shock. Cyclux looked around, as though he had forgotten where he was before moving towards Ethan.
They started moving towards the cluster of trees at the end of the path, supporting Linda in between them, her hands strung around their necks. The moonlight gave enough illumination to walk the path to their destination.
"Do you know how to send a signal to them?"
"No, I don't. I think it's the wand." Cyclux pointed to the wand, which was now in Ethan's hand. Linda started moving and mumbling something under her breath.
"She's saying something, Cyclux..." Ethan bent over and Cyclux joined him. They tried to get whatever information Linda was trying to pass across, but Linda was barely audible, she was trying to tell Cyclux what spell will send flashes through her wand, she kept pointing to it. Cyclux collected the wand, not sure if what he heard was the actual spell. Linda was trying to call him but Ethan persuaded her to lay on her back and save her energy. She was muttering something like, "he can't- my wan-" but her fever was growing worse and she could only rest her back, shut her eyes and sleep. Cyclux held the wand up high, he was trying hard to remember the spell Linda used to kill her attacker, if it was the same as the one she was trying to tell him but he wasn't sure of either of the two. "Flegranta!" He finally said, the wand sent thick lightening-like flashes straight up, the tree branches directly above him caught fire.
"What I've you done! You will set the whole woods on fire."
"I was just trying to help... I had no intension for this," replied Cyclux, but they soon heard distant barking- a familiar howling and it was growing louder.
"Werecats! They are coming for us; I think there are more of them. Thanks to Cyclux for sending signals to them." Ethan unsheathed his sword and held it firmly, Cyclux stood beside him, he was holding Linda's wand in the same manner, he was ready to face the beasts. They were soon surrounded by them, more than a dozen of them this time. They started closing in on them, their eyes glowing in the dwindling moonlight, the stars were almost gone. They were all ready to pounce at once, it gave them very little chance of surviving the attack. Suddenly, the werecats started backing away and they started whimpering, but could not attack. Ethan and Cyclux looked over their shoulders to see what they were so afraid of, bright light approached them hurriedly, but they could not see the creatures carrying the flashlights. The werecats disappeared as fast as they came, into the shadows of the forest. One of the creatures let down his flashlight in front of a tree that had almost burnt completely; he stood beside Linda and examined her, "she's been bitten..." He said, before walking to Ethan and Cyclux. He wasn't a mage, his features were like that of a goblin- like Tanda, at the sand castle; his head- almost as big, but with scanty, gray hair; his ear; his nose and eyes too; but he was looking much more po-faced- all of them were. They all had the thick features of a dwarf, they were one or two feet taller than an average dwarf. "You are welcome. I am the head of the patrol team... Who sent the signal?" The old elf said, looking up at both men.
"I did..." Cyclux quickly answered and raised the wand.
"How did you-? Are you an Ebon witch too?" He said
"No, I'm a mage. What's
an Ebon witch...?"
"You don't know the witch leading you here is an Ebon witch? They are the only ones who can wield wands. So, if you did that- though you must have said the wrong spell -you are not just a mage." The old elf looked squintingly at Cyclux for what seemed like half a minute and then said "we have to go now, the cult leader has been expecting you and we need to go and join the preparation for Halloween." The elves gathered around them, two elves to one man but three of them were with Linda. In an eye blink, they were out of the woods, Ethan was looking at cluster of trees in a minute, it all became blue smoke and then a very wide, huge wall in another minute, all very quickly. "You are welcome to 'the fort'..." The old mage said. A supersized wall stood before them- if it had flames on it, it could have been the wall of flames in the woodlands, a huge portcullis was at the entrance. It moved up and down, mechanically, and very quickly too- as people thronged in and out; elves, goblins and mages. There were several of them who came or left the same way the escort team arrived, but Ethan noticed they all did so outside the portcullis. The guards on the wall and entrance were both mages and elves also, but mostly mages. Ethan and Cyclux supported Linda into the fort, and she was quickly attended to by a witch doctor, while they were led to the cult leader; Cyrus Thistlebark. Apart from Cyrus's robe, he looked exactly like any of the escort. He wore a long, red robe with a golden chain. His hair was scanty- scanty strands of pale yellow.
"Welcome, welcome..." He said, beaming, which revealed that it's not just his hair that was scanty, his teeth were too. He stood on a platform, erected before his chair. "I heard you had trouble with the werecats... they are trouble makers. They think the forest belongs to them... Please, seat down."
From outside the fort, Ethan was expecting to see the same thing he saw at the rock palace, but the interior wasn't as crude but yet simple, it looked more like Jonathan's living room. Cyclux brought out the blank slip to present it to him. "Ah, I got Isaiah's message. I perfectly understand your mission; I've spoken with Grusav on few occasions too. This mission is very dear to us in this cult. Cryptmaw is our arch-enemy; we've been expecting this day to come." He said, with a glow in his eyes and his hands behind his back. "We have sworn to avenge our fathers and their friend, Cryptnash! We have sworn; until Cryptmaw the ashen dragon becomes ashes... we will not rest!"
"AYE…!" There was an echo in the room; Ethan now noticed there were more than two dozens of both mages and elves in the room, warriors- men and women. Very few of them were goblins.
"We will fight every one of us! With all of our might... until Cryptmaw is damned!"
"AYE…!"
"We will start tonight..." There was a grave silence in the room. "Last night, werewolves crept into the fort and stole our treasure, the helm of the eagen elf!" In the stead of silence, the final statement was greeted with murmurs, which was escalating into an uproar.
"Silence!" Cyrus shouted, shrieking, his voice echoing throughout the room, as though it was amplified. "We just found out today. There is a traitor in this room, he led them to it. I will kill the traitor myself, he pretended he was one of us, but he does not even belong to this cult..." At that minute, a house elf- a goblin, sprinted from one corner of the room towards the exit, Cyrus lifted his right hand and in a heartbeat, a spare appeared in his hand and with a decisive move, he pitched it with great strength. It whizzed very quickly through the air and across the room, the goblin was at the exit already, almost escaping, but the spare caught up with him, going straight through his head. It pierced his thick skull from behind and the spare head stuck out of his fore-head, he slumped, face-down first. "A goblin from the cult of sands pretended he belonged here, he was sent here to infiltrate the fort, by Zander the cruel... Zander the traitor…!" There was another session of murmurings.
Ethan and Cyclux exchanged glances. Ethan whispered into Cyclux's ear, "Tanda..." And Cyclux nodded.
Cyrus continued, he came down from the platform and walked to the center of the room, "Zander has formed a league with Cryptmaw and the werewolves help them do their dirty jobs!" He looked through the rank of mages and elves in the room. "But tonight... tonight, we will send Cryptmaw a message; we will pluck out the hearts of every werewolf and put to death any werecat that stands in our way. Tonight…!"
There was uproar in the room, shouts of war and clanging of metals. Cyrus walked towards Ethan and Cyclux. "Mr. Ethan, I hope you are ready. We set out immediately, it's better for us if we launch a surprise attack." He looked up at both men, while others were busy preparing to leave for war. "They think we are preparing for Halloween and we can't wait till tomorrow, it's going to be full blood-red moon tomorrow, that is when werewolves turn fully and are stronger." Ethan nodded in agreement, while Cyclux glanced at the entrance, he saw two elves drag Tanda's body from his pool of blood.
"Very well then, I should go and prepare too." Cyrus finally said, patting Ethan on the hip.
"We are going to be killing people, Ethan." Cyclux said, his eyes blinking innocently and glancing back at the entrance.
"Cyclux we will be killing werewolves and werecats... You saw what they did to Linda. Besides, we need the helm; we have to get it back." Ethan tried calming his fears.
"Okay..."
Cyrus came out dressed in a warrior's attire, as score of mages and elves were trooping out of the fort. He had a chest plate on his red robe. He also wore a helm and used silver finger bracers- they were cone-like and fitted perfectly. All the elves, prepared for battle, wore it. Linda was still weak and had to rest, Cyclux summoned courage to go with them. Ethan decided to start making use of his collections- the chest plate, shield, sword and gloves; prepared to add a helm. They soon launched out in several roofless vehicles, which were a little bigger than a golf cart, but very rigid and strong. They had large wheels, almost as big as a truck's. They drove out of the fort in batches, covering the air with smoke and the portcullis closed after the last batch. The car moved at very high speed, so fast one cannot make out what is on the left or right. Ethan was used to it now, from the carriage and wind storm at the sand castle to the train at the volcano base, he was already used to it. However, Cyclux was not having a good time, he held on to Ethan. The only faster way to reach the camp of the werewolves was the way the elves escorted them from the dark forest to the fort. The werewolves were not prepared for what was coming, they were preparing for their feast on the night of Halloween, when the moon is full and turns red.
The time for Halloween depends gravely on the eastern mages. There are mages in the east, especially responsible for the study of the alignment and arrangement of the astral bodies; this in turn determines when Halloween should be celebrated. Werewolves and werecats on the other hand, are usually exceptional strong on all full moons like this night. But werewolves turn fully when the moon is blood-red. The moon is not exactly 'blood-red' on these nights, but usually reddish-orange and is said to be blood-red.
The first vehicle smashed into the iron gate at the entrance of the camp and the others followed suit. The werewolves were caught unawares but not totally unprepared. Several of them came of their detached houses, ferociously. There was howling outside the gate and it grew louder and closer. Two werewolves charged at Cyrus, but he moved very fast, very nimbly and in a jiffy, their hearts were in his hands, blood dripping. A werecat pounced on a mage and did not leave him until its fang sank very deep into his neck, pulling out his lungs. Cyclux tried as much as possible to hide himself amidst the commotion. Ethan had pierced the heart of a werewolf and plunged his shield into another's chest, the sharp, protruding insignia piercing his heart too. A werewolf grabbed an elf, who tried fruitlessly to wriggle out of his grip, and pulled out his head completely. The werecats could not attack the elves; the elves naturally possess magic they are not comfortable around. The werecats leaped on the mages instead, they were too fast for the mages, attacking too quickly before they could react, before they could cast a spell. On the other hand, the elves were too fast for the
werewolves, too nimble. It was easier for the elves to pluck out their hearts than it was for them to pull out their heads or strangle them. Some of the werewolves also pounced on the mages and fought with the werecats for their flesh. A werewolf grabbed a witch from behind and deepened his fang- long canines at the corner of his mouth -into her neck, draining life out of her, but an elf stopped him in the middle of it. He pulled out his heart from behind, but as he left him, dead on the ground, a werecat quickly pounced on the remains of the witch. Cyclux wasn't lucky anymore; a werecat spotted him and started running towards him. It leaped on him, saliva dripping all over his face as Cyclux held it tightly in the neck- he could not even think of any spell, but he could not hold it for long either, the cat wriggled out of his grip and made for his neck. Cyclux closed his eyes, his nightmares finally coming true, but the werecat slumped heavily on him, dropping all of its weight. The old elf, who led the escort team, had pierced it through the side, with the silver coated bracers. He struggled to push the cat off him; he looked at Cyclux- stringently, hands dripping.
"You are not an ordinary mage, stop being a coward, stand and-" he was oblivious of a werewolf coming from behind, it happened too fast, too fast for him to react, the werewolf pulled out his head completely. Cyclux was completely in shock, but not for too long, another werecat was coming for him. He ran quickly towards an open door in one of the detached houses, the werecat close behind him. An elf jumped in between them, giving Cyclux enough time to escape, while the werecat whined and backed off. Cyclux entered into a large room and shut the door behind him. There was fire in the fireplace, keeping the room warm and dimly lit. Also, there was something shinning faintly, placed on a table close to the fireplace. It was yellowish-brown, it was a helm. Cyclux walked briskly across the room and gave it a closer look, he was certain it's the helm they came for. He carried it quickly and hid it under his robe. There was a heavy thump on the door at that minute and it continued, until it came crashing. Two werewolves and three werecats rushed in, there was still chaos outside. They moved hurriedly towards him, ready to pounce on him and devour him.
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