Mari and Evan looked at him.
"I mean, we need to be careful. It's fine and dandy to enjoy it all, but we've really got to be on our toes here. This is primal. That means dog-eat-dog. What Mari said about the food chain here is right: we're not the highest point on it."
"Correct," Mari said. "We should not let our guard down. It is dangerous here."
Evan looked disappointed, but nodded.
"Now." Albrecht said. "We've got to figure out where in this jungle to look for the Silver Crown."
"I've been thinking," Evan said. "We should start with the legends about this place. What does the Silver Record say?"
"I don't know," Albrecht said. "I thought you were more familiar with that. It's a Philodox and Galliard thing, isn't it?"
"It's our history," Mari said, staring scornfully at Albrecht. "We should all be familiar with it. Especially a king."
"I think there is something," Evan said. "I'm not sure. There's a line about the Litany. How does it go? Uh… 'A Grand Moot of all Garou was called at Table Rock. All gathered from all over the world in a night's time where they were one Tribe, and the Galliards chanted the first Litany. From sunrise to sundown they repeated the words until all present could remember.'"
"That's pretty good, kid," Albrecht said. "How'd you remember all that?"
"We live in an oral culture, Albrecht. It's our duty to remember these things. Not everyone can keep records like Antonine."
"Well, what do you think it means? I didn't hear a mention of Pangaea there."
"That's just it: there's no direct reference. But that line about 'where they were one Tribe.' At a place called Table Rock. I think that's here. Don't you remember the other stories, the ones that say that all Garou are of one tribe when they enter Pangaea?"
"I've heard those, but I don't believe them. How can we lose our tribehood? It's inherent."
"But this is the Umbra, Albrecht," Mari said. "Anything can happen here. Landscapes and identities are fluid. Nothing is set."
"Fine. Let's assume Table Rock is here. What then?"
"Well, it seems to me that it would he a good place to hide the crown," Evan said. "It the record is correct, that is the place where Garou civilization began, with the Litany, Gaia's covenants. If it's not there, then surely a clue will be."
Albrecht nodded. "All right. Sounds like a starting point. Where do we go' Where is Table Rock?"
"I don't know," Evan said, looking around. "I don't have the slightest idea of where to start."
"Well," Mari said. "Where would Garou gather? Table Rock has to be someplace hospitable for Garou."
Albrecht looked out across the vista behind them. "Do you see that? Way out there, to the… north, I guess it is? It looks like a pine forest. I think that's where we'll find wolves. And where there are wolves…"
Mari nodded. "Let's head that way."
"How long a walk do you figure?" Evan asked.
"At least a half-day." Man said.
"Assuming no interruptions," Albrecht said, walking off into the forest.
Their wonder increased as they went. After a while, the woods grew so thick they were forced to take Lupus form to get through the brush.
"Albrecht!" Mari said in the Garou tongue. "What happened to your fur?"
Albrecht looked at his pelt and barked in surprise. It was no longer white, but gray, like a common wolf. "My fur!" He looked at Mari and Evan and saw that their fur had also changed. "Mari, your black pelt is gray! Evan, yours is grayer than usual."
They all looked at each other.
"What's going on here?" Albrecht said.
"One tribe," Evan said. "We're all one tribe. No marks of breed to distinguish us. You're no longer a… a… I can't remember what tribe you were."
Albrecht thought. "I can't either. I don't even know what tribe you guys are!"
Mari smiled. "Good. Maybe now you'll learn some humility."
"Perhaps you will, too," Evan said. "You're not a… well, you know. You're not your tribe anymore either."
"I don't need my tribe to know who I am," Mari said, and sauntered off ahead into the forest. The others followed.
Even in wolf form, the going was slow. They had to stop many times to get their bearings. The environment changed from hardwoods to pines. After a few hours, Albrecht caught the scent of wolves. He stopped and looked around, sniffing.
"Territory," he concluded, turning to Mari and Evan. "We're in a wolf pack's territory. They've marked it in various spots," he said, pointing to a tree and a rock. "Think we should announce ourselves?"
"I don't think it can hurt," Mari said. "Go ahead."
"What's a good howl? I don't want to scare them off."
"A simple Howl of Greeting will do."
Albrecht sat back on his haunches and howled. A long, one-note howl. He looked about, waiting for signs of approaching wolves. Soon he smelled a wolf off to the left, still a ways off, but approaching them warily. Then, to the right, another smell. Also to the front now. They were approaching from all sides.
Ahead, a wolf stepped from behind a tree, obviously the alpha. Albrecht couldn't believe its size — it was a prehistoric dire wolf, akin to the Hispo form of the Garou. Then, even more surprisingly, the wolf spoke in a broken Garou tongue. It wasn't a wolf; it was a Garou.
"What… want… here?" it said, glaring at the pack.
"We seek Table Rock," Albrecht said. "I am Lord Albrecht of the… well, a Garou. My packmates are Mari Cabrah and Evan Heals-the-Past."
The alpha cocked his head. "I… Rake-to-Death. Lupus. This my place!"
"We don't want your territory!" Albrecht said. "We just want to pass through, to Table Rock."
The alpha seemed to be torn. He paced around, growling low. Then he turned to them and said, "Follow." He whirled and headed to the north.
Albrecht, Mari and Evan followed. The Garou alpha's pack could be seen and heard running along with them, a few paces away to either side. The land rose up, and they were soon running up a hill, struggling to keep up with the alpha. They finally came to the top of the rise, and looked down into a bowl-shaped valley. In the center of the valley was a large, flat rock, resting horizontally on top of a vertical slab.
"Table Rock," the alpha said, watching them as they came over the rise.
"Thanks," Albrecht said.
The alpha moved back into the woods, and the pack moved down into the valley. As soon as the wolf was out of sight, they all shifted into Homid form.
"I don't think he liked us," Albrecht said.
"We're too civilized for him," Evan said. "I don't think he's native: he doesn't seem like a spirit. He's obviously trying to get back to nature. Our reminders of civilization — our backpacks and all — probably don't help."
They reached the bottom of the valley and walked carefully up to the rock. Painted Garou pictograms adorned it, faded with time, wind and rain. The ashy remains of many fires were scattered about.
"Well, here's a sign of fire at least," Albrecht said, kicking some of the ashes. "That's civilized."
"It's probably the only concession to tool-use we'll find here," Evan said, roaming about the rock, looking into every small fissure he could find. He tried to read the faded pictograms, but few of them made any sense. "These writings are old. I can't make out most of them. Those I can read seem incomplete. None of them has anything to do with a crown, or even leadership."
Albrecht explored the valley, looking for signs of any buried objects or caves. He came back to the rock, where Evan and Mari were searching, and threw up his hands. "Nothing. There's nothing here. We're not going to find anything."
"Don't be so defeatist," Mari said, sitting down. "Maybe we need to wait. Something might show itself."
"Yeah, like a big Tyrannosaurus Rex." Albrecht sat down and fumed.
"Look," Mari said. "Maybe some Garou will show up who know this place better than we do."
"Yeah, real likely. We could be waiting weeks for that."
Albrecht looked up at the sun. "It's weird to see the sun again. It's really throwing off my hours. Been used to night travel for a while."
"Look," Evan said. "This place is sort of like a caern. You never know what could show up under moonlight."
"All right," Albrecht said. "We'll wait here tonight. Tomorrow morning, we'll figure out a new plan." He stretched out and looked up at the shifting clouds.
Mari moved her bag to the base of the rock. "I think we should camp close to the rock. There are no animal tracks around here, almost as if they know better than to come here."
Albrecht sat up and looked around. "I hadn't thought of that. Interesting. Now, what could be driving a bunch of wild animals away from here?"
"I doubt it's the rage of the Garou," Evan said. "Maybe it's something spiritual. There may be a ritual in effect here."
"How would we go about finding out?" Albrecht said.
"Normally we'd look for signs of a ritual, such as pictograms. Those are already here. Maybe it's just the strength of successive rituals. Maybe it's the fact that fires have been lit here. That may be bad mojo for the inhabitants. Remember, Albrecht, these animals may act like animals, but they're really spirits."
"I keep forgetting. Seems so real," Albrecht got up and pulled his bags closer to the rock. "Well, I'm going to get some shut-eye. Do you want me to help you light a fire first?"
"We can manage," Evan said. "Besides, I got more sleep than either of you. You should both sleep. I'll stay up for first watch."
Mari nodded and lay down. Soon, she and Albrecht were both asleep. Evan sat for a while, listening to the sounds of the primordial world. He swatted more than a couple of times at some very large insects. These are going to get annoying, he thought. He wondered if there was anything he could do to ward them off, but decided that there wasn't. Except for a fire, perhaps.
He walked to the edge of the valley and started gathering what old wood he could find. He found mostly pine, which he knew didn't burn well, but there were few hardwoods in the region. He soon had a stack of wood in his arms. After carrying it back, he dug a shallow fire pit, then walked around again, this time gathering twigs and dry pine needles for kindling. These he brought back to the gathered wood and pulled out a box of matches from the sealed plastic baggy he carried them in. Be prepared, he thought wryly. He struck the match and held it to the kindling. It flared into life, catching on the dry twigs and growing bigger.
Evan sat back and readied himself for a long afternoon. He thought about the quest they were on and the metaphors in the fable they had heard from Antonine. He tried to figure out if these things had any meaning for them, on this quest.
Four gates, he thought. Have we passed any yet? Or, more importantly, has Albrecht passed any of them? Does he need to? That was just one story. The other story, about the bad king, didn't have any gates to pass. Is the quest different for everyone?
The sun was beginning to set. Standing up and stretching, he figured he should wake Mari up and get some sleep himself. The fire was dwindling. Twice already he had had to go in search of more wood. One more trip would probably be enough for the rest of the night.
He walked into the woods again — and froze in his tracks. A loud bellow came from beyond the grove before him: a sound which tapped something primal in him, making him want to flee in terror. He shivered, but gathered his will not to move. He was a Garou, after all; his rage was his courage. After a few moments of silence, he crept forward and peeked around a large tree.
A dinosaur tore at the flesh of its fresh kill. It chewed at the bloody remains of the deer, every now and then peeking about, bird-like, to make sure nothing else was near. It stood on two legs and had sharp claws on its small forearms.
Oh shit! Evan thought. It's one of those raptors from that movie. That means more of them must be around. He slowly and quietly shifted to Crinos form and concentrated on his surroundings, using his near-lupine senses to discover if the dinosaur had friends nearby. But he smelled and heard nothing. The dinosaur appeared to be alone. Evan breathed a sigh of relief and backed up, turning around to head back to camp.
He heard the noise before he saw it. Only his Garou senses and speed saved him, as he jumped to the left in time to avoid the rush of the raptor. It sped past him, crying in anger and spinning around.
Evan shifted to Hispo form, the dire wolf, and ran forward, hoping to throw the thing off by attacking it. The raptor shifted to the side and slashed at Evan as he ran by. Its claws tore off some fur, but Evan's adrenaline was pumping too much for him to feel the pain.
He kept running, hoping to make it back to camp to get his packmates' help. He was afraid that he was no match for this natural predator. He heard it moving in the woods to his right, running to head him off. Suddenly he saw the Table Rock clearing ahead and put on an extra burst of speed. The raptor lunged from the trees as he sped past, then stopped dead in its tracks.
Evan ran into the open clearing and turned around to face his attacker. But it stood at the fringe of the woods, looking edgy, nervously tramping the ground. Finally it honked in frustration and slipped back into the cover of the trees.
Evan let out his breath and collapsed. After long minutes of thanking Gaia for his life, he stood up and shifted back to Homid form. His wound was only a scratch. He was also pumped up, and knew he wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon. But his guess about the supernatural nature of the clearing had been right; it did spook the natural inhabitants.
He walked over to Mari but stopped before he got to her. There was a shimmering light on the other side of the rock, growing bigger by the second.
What now? he wondered as he ran to the edge of the rock and peeked around. In the empty air, a hole had opened, silvered moonlight flowing out of it. A wolf leaped out of the hole and looked around.
Evan ducked back behind the rock and ran to Mari. He shook her awake and covered her mouth before she could speak. "There's a Moon Bridge on the other side of the rock. Someone's come out of it."
Mari bolted up. She instantly assumed Glabro form, growing larger and more muscled, but uglier and more brutish also. "Wake Albrecht," she whispered, and crept over to the corner of the rock.
Evan shook Albrecht awake, clamping his hand down on the other's mouth before he could say anything. Albrecht frowned up at Evan. "Shhh," Evan said softly. "There's a Moon Bridge behind the rock, and a Garou came out of it."
Albrecht's eyes widened and he stood up. "What the hell is a Moon Bridge doing here? I thought they couldn't open into this realm." He drew his Grand Klaive out and went to where Mari was standing. Evan followed him. They all poked their heads around the corner and saw more strangers come out of the Moon Bridge.
There were now six wolves, each looking and sniffing about. The Moon Bridge closed up, and the shimmering light was cut off. One of the wolves seemed to pick up a scent, and it barked at the others.
Albrecht raised his eyebrows. "They've found our scent. They seem to have been expecting it."
The new arrivals spread out, three around the far side of the rock, while the other three headed for the corner where the pack was watching. Albrecht pulled Evan and Mari back.
"Who the hell are they?" he asked. "They're obviously looking for us."
"We've got to leave," Mari said. "Now."
Evan started to run back to his backpack, but Albrecht grabbed him by the shirt collar.
"No time for that," he said. "We leave now."
Evan looked disappointed, but followed Albrecht and Mari as they ran to the edge of the forest. Behind them they heard a howl which immediately became multiple howls as all six wolves picked it up. They had been seen. The chase was on.
Albrecht shifted to Crinos, as did Mari. Evan began the shift while he ran, but he was having trouble concentrating. He looked over his shoulder and saw the wolf pack n
early on his heels. Yelling out, he called on his rage. In an instant he was in Crinos form, and he took to four legs, catching up with Albrecht and Mari.
The wolves howled and barked, spreading out through the forest, trying to overtake the pack.
Albrecht led the pack to the left, along a ridge that apparently went to the mountain pass. If he could get to a tight pass, they could fight the wolves one-on-one.
One of the wolves caught up with them and snapped at Mari's heels. Mari spun around and slashed at it, spinning back again and continuing her run. Her claws had connected: the wolf's snout had opened up, and blood sprayed onto the pine-needle blanket that covered the ground. The wolf yelped and stopped the chase, but the other wolves ran past him.
Mari's brief attack had lost her some ground. She ran after the rest of the pack, but she was off course, running to the right where they had gone left. Too late to compensate for her mistake, she yelled out to them, "Keep running! I'll meet up with you!"
Albrecht growled back in acknowledgment. He kept the pace up, slowing himself slightly when it looked like Evan might fall behind.
The wolves split up. Three of them — the wounded one among them — went after Albrecht and Evan, while the other three went after Mari.
Mari broke through a thick stand of pines and slipped down a hill, sliding on the needles but managing to keep her balance. Ahead, to the left, was a cave mouth big enough for only one person to stand in it. She ran for it, hearing the wolves still behind her. As she entered the cave, she saw a light glowing from deep within, around a far curve. She ran Forward, hearing her pursuers enter the cave behind her and abandoning her plan of holding them off at the entrance. As She came around the curve, she stopped short, staring around her in shock.
The cave was gone. She now stood on a muddy field under gray skies and roiling clouds. In the distance she heard moans of pain and, farther off, screams of horror. Barbed wire snaked through the field, and she thought she saw human limbs —
The Silver Crown Page 13