The Silver Crown

by William Bridges

  "Stop it! I do not want to hear this. Lies! You think your stupid logic will convince me?"

  "If you don't believe it, why have you accepted our aid for so long? It wasn't my Garou who failed to kill Albrecht. If your two exiled flunkies had done their job, you wouldn't be in this mess now, and I wouldn't have to bail you out."

  Arkady fumed, silent. He stared at Greyfist's dead body.

  "Enough of this," Dagrack said. "We must bloody ourselves, and I must escape, before more Garou come."

  "What if I do more than bloody you? What if I kill you and show the trophy to the tribe?"

  Dagrack smiled. "Then my packbrothers and sisters will do everything in their power to reveal your treachery against the Silver Fangs. You will become a pariah, worse than your hated Albrecht. No Garou will trust you then. At least Albrecht has the Bone Gnawers to feed him. You… you will feed only with the lost."

  Arkady glared at Dagrack as if trying to decide his course. He then lowered his head.

  "What do I need to do?" Arkady asked.

  "First," Dagrack said, opening his shirt as he walked up to Arkady, "slash me across the chest. And then across the thigh. Oh, and a head wound would be good, too. After that, I'll rip you up a bit, so you'll have some wounds to show for it. I'll drip the blood all over before I leave."

  Arkady slashed out at Dagrack, hard and fiercely, cutting open his chest. Blood sprayed forth.

  "Oh," Dagrack said, his eyes rolling up with what seemed like pleasure. "A bit more than necessary, but good anyway. Now, the thigh."

  Arkady was disgusted. He stepped back from the Dancer. "No. There is enough of your blood here now. They will believe me."

  "Not without this, they won't," Dagrack said, reaching his claw out quickly and slashing Arkady across the shoulder. Arkady grimaced, but didn't move. "One more." He slashed Arkady's left thigh, where a scar from the challenge combat two nights ago was still visible. Arkady winced and stared coldly at the Dancer.

  Dagrack smiled. "Well, I'm off. Don't worry, I'll dispatch some packs to hunt down Albrecht. He won't get far." The Dancer stared at his spilled blood on the floor, leaning down close, looking for reflections within it. He stared so for nearly five minutes, and then faded out of view, into the Umbra.

  Arkady kicked a chair and cursed. He looked down at Greyfist. "I am sorry, Seneschal. I never meant this. Take this condolence: I will not be pushed around so for long. I will turn the tables. It has always been my plan. It is hard to understand, I know. But… you have no idea of the horrors in Russia. How hard it is to escape. Can you think? How many have slipped past the Shadow Curtain besides me? None. I am the only one. But… a bargain was required. I will turn the tables, Seneschal. Believe that."

  He then walked to the door, opened it, and howled long and hard. The Warning of the Wyrm's Approach.

  Chapter Eleven

  The pack traveled down the curve of the shining road. The Moon Path reflected the radiance of the half moon above them, faint near the edges, but brighter in the center. In certain places along the road, the path actually broke up, forcing them to walk on the dark, nondescript ground between the shards of moonlight. The unformed ephemera — raw spirit — was all that could be seen in every direction around them. Their only marker was the path.

  Occasionally they passed a Lune, one of the guardian spirits of the Moon Paths, gliding by on its mysterious errand. The mobile strips of moonlight spun slowly around and around as they moved past, in some unfathomable form of communication. Even Mari, who knew the language of the spirits, was puzzled. Lunes were among the most enigmatic of spirits, especially during a crescent moon. But even under a half moon, the Lunes were strange.

  The pack let the Lunes pass and kept on their way. They traveled for hours, each chewing on his or her own thoughts, not sharing them with the others. The Moon Path cut through many small domains, but the pack stayed their course. As long as they remained on the Moon Path, they were relatively safe from whatever spirits laired in the domains into which they trespassed. Safe also from the odd laws of nature which were often different in each domain or realm of the spirit world. Reality was a local phenomenon here, not the shared fact known in the material world.

  In one domain — a chimare, a mortal's dream given reality — they saw a man leap from a skyscraper. He fell for a long time — longer than the height should have allowed. His family and friends gathered on the street below, staring up at him and gossiping about his predicament. Before he hit the ground, the chimare unravelled and became featureless ephemera again.

  The pack kept walking. Later, after passing through a mountainous mini-realm, Mari stopped and consulted the map. "I think the Lunae is just ahead. Maybe forty minutes at the most."

  "I hope so," Albrecht said, pointing to the horizon. "The moon has almost set. It'll be dark in half an hour. I don't want to be out here much longer after that. Once this Moon Path goes, we're lost."

  "The paths soak up light, though," Evan said. "This one should hold the light, like one of those glow-in-the-dark toys, for at least long enough for us to get to the Lunae."

  "Well, let's get moving anyway," Albrecht said, walking again. "The Moon Paths are our only fixed geography. Everything else here changes so much, we'd never find our way to Pangaea in time without them."

  Mari nodded, folded the map, put it in her pocket and moved on, with Evan behind her.

  Half an hour later, the moon had indeed set and all was dark, except for a slight radiance from the Moon Path. Albrecht shifted into Lupus form, his backpack shrinking to conform to his new shoulder width. He had performed the Rite of Talisman Dedication on all of his equipment, allowing it to change shape to accommodate his various forms. Mari and Evan followed suit and each of them walked down the path on four legs. They made better time that way, and soon Albrecht could see a light over the next rise. As he came over it, he saw a large, glowing circle of light. Bisecting it crossways to their Moon Path was another Moon Path. A crossroads.

  "This is it," Albrecht said. "The Lunae. Antonine was right."

  "Let's go," Evan said, sprinting forward.

  "Wait," Mari said. "Let me go first. There may be other spirits there. We don't want to pick a fight by just walking in."

  Evan slowed down and let Mari pass him.

  "Let us know when it's okay to go in," Albrecht said.

  "I will," Mari said, shifting to Glabro form. She stepped into the circle of light, disappearing from view. Albrecht and Evan shifted back to Homid form and waited at the edge. The Moon Path was fainter, as was the other one bisecting the circle, but they weren't worried now. If worst came to worst, they'd step into the Lunae and deal with whatever was there. Regardless of the spirits there, the Lunes would intercede in any fights. But no one wanted that. That kind of intercession could lead to anything: most often the antagonists popping up in some strange realm far away, transported there by the angry Lunes.

  Mari, now in Homid form, poked her head out and motioned them in. They stepped into the circle and blinked at the brightness. When their eyes had adjusted, they saw a large, silver-white glade, with a single white tree and a lawn of white grass surrounding it. Three Lunes glided slowly about, like helium balloons set loose on a random course. A crow perched in the tree and cawed at them as they came through.

  "That's Ivan," Mari said. "He's a naturae spirit taking haven here for the day while traveling the airts. Don't worry about him."

  Albrecht nodded and walked to the base of the tree.

  Shrugging his pack off, he sat down, pulled out a cigarette and lit it up. Slowly taking a drag, he leaned back, smiling, then let out a cloud of smoke. That's the ticket, he thought Nothing like a good smoke after a long walk.

  Evan walked over and dropped his pack. After untying his sleeping bag and spreading it out, he lay down and rolled over. He was asleep in seconds. Mari was watching the Lunes, trying to fathom their movements. She gave up after a few minutes and came over to the tree, sitting down next to
Albrecht.

  "I haven't done a walk like that in a long time," she said.

  "Me neither," Albrecht said, still smoking. "It's hell on the feet. I think we should travel in Lupus more often."

  Mari sighed. "I guess. I prefer Homid or Glabro, however, I fight better that way."

  "You can always shift if you need to."

  "I know, but… I'd like to be ready for anything."

  "You're pretty paranoid, aren't you? I don't mean in the conspiracy-theory sense, but in the… distrusting sense. You seem to think there's always someone out there ready to pop you one."

  "So? In my experience, there is. The world is cruel to the unwary, Albrecht."

  "Yeah, I guess it is. But going around always expecting the worst… I don't know. It seems like a waste of energy to me."

  "And sucking in toxic fumes, like that cigarette you have there, isn't? Someone in this pack has to be ready in case of attack."

  "Okay, okay. Don't bite my head off. Just trying some small talk is all. I'm going to crash. See you tomorrow."

  "I'll take first watch. I'll wake you for the second."

  "Watch? We don't need a watch. The Lunes'll warn us if anything dangerous approaches."

  "We can't depend on that—"

  "Yes we can. We are in a Lunae, Mari. A crossroads ol Moon Paths. Luna herself protects these. If something were to happen here, believe me, we'd have enough time to deal with it. So go to bed. And don't wake me up for a stupid watch." Albrecht lay down on the grass. He rubbed his cigarette into the ephemeral dirt and put the stub in his pocket. He then rolled over and was snoring in less than five minutes.

  Mari looked around for a while. When she was satisfied that the place was safe, she spread out her bedroll and lay back on it. Even with her eyes closed, it took her a while to get to sleep. Every time the crow on the branches above moved, she started, expecting danger. But she finally forced herself to ignore it, and was soon asleep.

  * * * *

  As the moon rose the next evening, they packed up their bags and left the Lunae. The crow was already gone, presumably having left at the first crack of moonrise. They traveled down the same Moon Path, but this time they were in Lupus form from the beginning of their journey. It did make for better time, and they traveled farther than they had expected by the next morning, when the sun rose in the material world and the moon set in their world.

  An hour before moonset, they had seen no sign of another Lunae.

  "I think we've got to take the next domain we find," Albrecht said. "We can't stay out here. It's too unpredictable."

  "And a domain isn't?" Mari said.

  "Less so than the barrens between realms with no Moon Path," Albrecht said, looking at her.

  She stared back at him. "What do you suggest?"

  "The first thing we come upon, that's what," Albrecht said.

  "Hey!" Evan called. He was a few paces ahead of them, bending to the ground. "There are some tracks here. Rabbit, I think."

  Mari brightened up. "There must be a Glen nearby. I can't imagine a rabbit wandering so far otherwise."

  "Let's keep our eyes out then," Albrecht said, continuing on down the road. The others followed him.

  Ten minutes later, they saw the Glen. It was thirty yards to their right, off the Moon Path. It was unmistakable. The scent of grass and pollen wafted across the barrens to them. They could see the vague outline of trees from the path. After looking carefully around, they set out for it, stepping off the path, staying close to each other. Soon, they were within the boundary of the Glen, a sub-realm within the spirit world, a pocket reality which followed the laws of nature known in the material world. Of the many geographies in the Umbra — realms, domains, sub-realms, Moon Paths — Glens were perhaps the most normal; a welcome respite from the weird rules of the spirit world.

  They all breathed a sigh of relief and looked around. It wasn't a very big place, perhaps five acres square, but it was lush. Trees grew up around a small clearing in the center, and a babbling brook ran across it, entering from nowhere on one side and exiting to nowhere on the other. Albrecht wondered what would happen to something that was placed in the stream. Where would it float to?

  Signs of small fauna could be seen, such as rabbit tracks and mouse prints. They walked around the place, making sure that everything smelled right, that the scent of the Wyrm was nowhere to be found. Satisfied with the purity of the place, they gathered in the clearing by the brook.

  "I wonder what created this place," Albrecht said. "It's awfully weird to find it here."

  "It was planted on purpose," Evan said.

  "How do you know that?" Mari said, looking around for signs of intention.

  "That tree over there," Evan said, pointing at the largest of the trees surrounding the clearing. "It has a pictogram on it. It says that this place was planted by a traveling pack of Children of Gaia."

  "Well, that was awfully nice of them," Albrecht said. "Now we know it's all sweet and cozy here. That explains the cute bunny rabbits."

  "Albrecht!" Mari said. "It's because of their forethought that we have a place to rest tonight. They don't deserve your mocking."

  Albrecht nodded, holding his hands up toward Mari. "I know, I know. I'm just a cynical bastard, that's all. I'll shut up."

  They ate their dinner in silence and then pulled out their packs and went to sleep. This time, however, Mari took the watch. She woke Albrecht in the middle of the day to tell him it was his turn. He nodded and got up, not bothering to argue with her. Surprised, she crawled under her slight covers. Although she was suspicious of danger, she knew she needed sleep for the next leg of their journey, and soon went to sleep. She slept lightly, though, having taught herself to wake at a moment's notice.

  Albrecht sat by the brook, thinking about their journey. He had no clue where to start looking once they reached Pangaea. And if the crown wasn't there, what would they do then?

  He heard the scuffle of a small creature moving through the underbrush on the other side of the stream. The rabbit came out and stared at Albrecht. Albrecht nodded at it. It quivered its nose and hopped back into the brush.

  Albrecht looked up at the sky. He could see stars, which surprised him, although they were faint, as if they were very far off. Albrecht realized that this Glen looked up into the Aetherial Realm, the realm where the sky spirits resided. The place where Moon Bridges crossed. He wondered what Garou were now passing through those stars on their way to caerns all over the earth.

  He sat thinking about such things for the rest of the day, until the moon rose again.

  * * * *

  They took to the Moon Path again that night. After they had walked for many hours, the path began to curve wildly, and the ephemeral landscape around them started to change. Hills rose up and down; fields rippled and moved under a nonexistent wind. Wisps of cloud floated past them, ephemera that couldn't decide if they were clouds or fog banks.

  "We are very near," Mari said. "The signs of the Wyld are all about us."

  "How far do you figure it is?" Albrecht asked, looking about nervously. The Moon Path had already broken up twice. He hoped it could stay together far enough to get them to Pangaea.

  "Who can say?" Mari said.

  They kept walking. The moon was low on the horizon when they came around a large hill, and stepped into sunlight and a primordial jungle. They looked around, surprised. They had seen no sign of the realm, but suddenly they were there, standing in Pangaea. The musky jungle smells overwhelmed them after the day's walk in a largely scentless environment.

  "Wow," said Evan. "So this is it?"

  "Yes," Mari said, stepping forward to peer through the thick stand of trees before them. "Look here! Between these trees."

  They all stepped up and looked. Beyond the trees, the landscape fell downwards, a vegetative cliff face. The vista from here was astonishing. Laid out before them was a land from an earlier time, a primal forest of Jurassic plants. A place humans could only imag
ine. But here, for the pack, it was real.

  Pterodactyls glided far out over the huge sea which encompassed the horizon to their right. Herds of prehistoric antelope could be seen farther off, roaming across a grassland plain. Behind the pack, through the stand of trees that now hid the Moon Path, the land rose up, and they could see mountains with pine forests along their bases. The clash of geographical regions was remarkable.

  And the marks of civilization were nowhere to be seen; not a hint or clue of them. No roads, no buildings, no litter. No sound of cars or machines in the distance. Only far-off bird cries and the hum of insects. The thrashing of huge beasts in the forests. Nothing but nature, pure and untrammelled.

  "Gaia..." Albrecht murmured. "It's incredible. It really is as amazing as they say." He turned to look at the other two and saw them staring speechlessly at the landscape. Something deep within him — within them, too — was stirring. Something ancient and primal, some deep sense of wonder and belonging. He had a sense that, somehow, regardless of his city ways, he was home. They were all home.

  "Do you feel it?" Albrecht said. "I don't know, some sense of… belonging."

  "Yes," Mari said. "All my senses are awake, even in Homid form. It's as if all my instincts were alive, as if they had finally found an outlet."

  "It's great!" Evan said. "Far more real than any Boy Scout outing."

  Albrecht looked at him and shook his head. "If that's all you've got to compare it to, you need to get out more."

  "I am out," Evan said. "I think I can truly say, as none of us have ever been able to say before, that I am out. I am outside!"

  Mari laughed. She looked about them, at the trees and the ground. "Look here. Dinosaur tracks."

  Albrecht looked and saw what indeed looked like dinosaur tracks, although small ones. One of those egg-stealers, he thought. But if the small ones can be here, so can the big. "You know, I just thought of something. The legends about this place say there are dinosaurs. Big dinosaurs. Dinosaurs who eat Garou."