by B. J. Smash
He had to know that I was in good hands. Lucian would fight to the death for me. Drumm also knew that I would fight to the death for Lucian. Regardless, this is how things ended up, and we would have to make the best of it. I changed the subject back to the race.
“What were you telling me earlier? What did you mean that it is worse farther down?” I asked.
“First of all…when Solstice jumped over the log back there, you two disappeared into thin air. I almost had a heart attack, and then I ran further down, and I finally saw you again. This forest is fricken’ weird. I have a horrible feeling about it.”
“For real? We disappeared?” I asked. The queen had said the forest was cursed.
“You really did. It was confusing as heck.” He paused and then continued, “Oh man…it is incredibly muddy down to the right of us. I almost got sucked into the mud myself. Solstice went the best way if you ask me. All around us, the ground sinks. Solstice probably knew this.”
I patted Solstice on the nose. Maybe it was a good thing he was stubborn.
“Where is everyone else then? Where is Ella?” I asked, confused.
“I don’t know. I was too concerned about finding you again. Regardless, we better get going. We’ll continue on for a while and then set up camp for the night.”
“Okay.”
We traveled on in the forest for quite some time, and came to a pleasant stream shaded with overhanging tree branches. Ivy grew up the trees and vines looped around the branches and hung down toward the water. Green moss covered the rocks, and the fresh water rushed swiftly by us.
Lucian went farther downstream to stand guard and keep watch, as I stripped down and hopped in for a bath. I couldn’t continue on in the race with mud down my britches, it was driving me crazy. I also washed my cloths and hung them to dry. My pants would dry quickly – they were elven pants. The two great things about elven clothing were, one: each piece of clothing—no matter how big it is—will conform to fit your body perfectly. Two: the clothing dried extremely fast.
I forced Solstice to jump in and clean off. He normally liked baths, but he seemed really skittish, and was out of there in minutes.
As I was rinsing my hair, I heard someone approach from the opposite direction than Lucian had gone. My plan was to zip out of the water as quickly as possible and grab my clothing. I didn’t have time. There on the rocky bank stood William.
“Whatcha doing, Ivy?” he nonchalantly asked like we were old friends.
“Um…taking a bath,” I said. I was chin deep in the water, but still, this was weird.
“Oh!” He turned quickly and faced the other direction.
Lucian was upon us in no time. Even if I hadn’t heard William approaching, Lucian had a hellhound nose and he probably smelled him from a mile away.
“What’s up?” he asked William, and William turned to face him.
“Ah…Lucian, this is William. William, this is Lucian,” I introduced them. They shook hands, and I noticed that Lucian was observing William’s eye patch. As they exchanged pleasantries, I said, “Can I um…get dressed?”
“Sure,” William said. “We won’t look.”
But Lucian touched William on the arm and said, “Let’s give the girl some privacy,” and they walked off.
I dressed quickly. I shouldn’t have been lolly-gagging around in the brook to begin with, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Drumm. He had to be fine, but what if he wasn’t? I had a bad feeling about the whole thing.
I walked downstream to find the guys sitting on a big boulder which was completely covered in lime green moss. This forest was lush, green, and enchanting; at the same time it was dark, thick and eerie.
Tom was nowhere to be seen and so I asked where he was. William replied, “Oh he’s setting up camp. He says we better be ready for the wolves.”
I had forgotten about the wolves. Probably, because I had Lucian with me. I don’t think the wolves would be bothering us too much.
“But you are a big wolf when you want to be. So, they might not bother you,” William said, referring to when Lucian shape-shifted back in town.
“Well, I’m not exactly a wolf. I shape shift into a hellhound,” Lucian explained.
“Oh that’s much worse,” William said. “Me mam told me she saw a shape-shifting wolf once. Her pace maker almost busted she said. It scared her something awful.”
“Really?” Lucian said disbelievingly.
“She’s seen a mermaid before too. Me mam likes to get out of the house and walk for miles. She sees lots of stuff. Sometimes my aunt goes too, but not often,” William said.
William continued to ramble on, but Lucian politely interrupted him and asked, “Have you seen any of the other racers?”
“Only one.” Williams’s eye lit up and a big grin spread over his face, “She is so beautiful, and so nice. Ella is her name. She talks to me, and she even let me touch her pretty hair. I love red hair! It reminds me of fire. And hers is so shiny.”
Lucian and I exchanged looks. “Is she setting up camp with you?”
“Oh yes. She says if we stick together tonight, she can protect us from the wolves. I never did like wolves…no offense…you being a wolf and all,” William said.
“I’m not a wolf. I’m a hellhound,” Lucian explained again.
“Yup. But they are mostly the same,” William said.
“Not really,” Lucian said.
By this time, Tom was looking for William.
“There you are! I can’t let you out of my sight for a minute,” Tom yelled, and then he noticed me. “Hi Ivy! How’s the race going so far? Or should I say...the race just before the real race. How weird is that anyway? We have to make it through the forest just to be able to race. Whose bloody idea was that?”
I smiled and shrugged my shoulders, not bothering to answer any of his questions. He talked so fast it wasn’t likely he’d hear my answers anyway.
He continued to babble on, bringing up the queen. “Man alive! She gave you and Drumm one helluva stiff penalty, didn’t she? Making him stay behind…man. She ain’t messing around.” He ran his hand through his greasy blond hair. “William and I almost didn’t come along, when we heard about the queen. But me mam is a much scarier woman, I’m sure.”
I nodded, but didn’t further the conversation on that topic. To me, the queen seemed low-key. Sure her punishment was harsh, but she was playing a game with me. If Tom wanted to learn more about “stiff penalties,” he should meet Izadora. And then…he can tell me what he thinks of the queen. Izadora didn’t play around. Oftentimes, it was me or Drumm that talked her down and convinced her not to be so harsh. I dare say we’d been good for Izadora. Over the last year, she seemed to tone her wrath down.
We talked about the muddy field. Tom told us how they almost ran over the edge of a cliff, and that cliffs were everywhere. Then the subject of Ella came up.
“Man, that girl gives me the heebie-jeebies. But William likes her so I’ll let her hang out with us tonight, then she’s on her own,” Tom said. Apparently he didn’t know that Ella and I were cousins, and I wasn’t going to be the one to tell him.
“Not true. You said she could stay because you are scared of the wolves,” William said as though he were tattling on Tom.
“Well, there’s that too. Still…the girl is weird,” Tom said, while scratching behind his ear.
“How is she going to protect you from the wolves?” Lucian asked as he checked out William’s tattoos. I hadn’t told him that much about Ella. All he knew was that she was my cousin.
“She has all kinds of tricks up her sleeve! She’s a magician!” William’s smile made him look five years old, and with his eye patch he reminded me of a child dressing up for a costume party. “She pulled a red rose out from behind my head. She told me to look at my ankle. I did and there was another red rose.” He laughed and said, “Red. You know what that means.”
Tom snorted and rolled his eyes. “He thinks she has the hots for him
.”
If that’s all Ella could do for magic tricks, I wouldn’t have to worry. But something told me she had the knowledge of far more than just parlor tricks. I couldn’t fathom why she was hanging around Tom and William, either. Sure they were nice fellows, but she had to have something in mind. Was it because she really did want some company? I had to doubt it. Ella never had been the type that needed anyone for anything. Except for my recent discovery of her energy stealing ability, I couldn’t imagine her wanting anything. That was it! Was she hanging around Tom and William in order to steal their energy? Was she going to suck them lifeless?
Tom finally answered Lucian’s question about the wolves. “Well, she says she can control them with her mind. Does that sound loony? I’m thinking it does sound a bit loony. But I seen her start a fire with the click of her heels. Soooo…I’m guessing she might be able to keep the wolves at bay? What do you think, Ivy?”
This piece of information shocked me a bit. “She started a fire with the click of her heels?” If this were true, Ella’s knowledge of magic was even better than I thought, and her ability to practice this magic had to be strong. Starting fire by one’s will, was in Izadora’s category of the craft. A thought occurred to me then. Was Ella able to do great magic because she could steal other people’s energy and focus it to do her bidding? If so, I might have a problem on my hands.
Birds were chirping and preparing for the evening to set in. The sun already seemed to have dropped faster than normal, and it would soon be dusk.
“We better get back to camp. Who knows what she’s doing with our stuff,” Tom said, and then he looked me in the eyes, “Ivy, are you setting up camp here?”
I hadn’t planned on it. I was going to convince Lucian to travel by night, but now that I knew they were staying here with Ella…I didn’t dare to leave them. “Yes,” I said at the same time Lucian said, “No.”
Lucian gave me a puzzled look, “I guess we will stay here for a while.”
“It’s best that you do. Wolves can be nasty. If you have any problems, you just call out to us. I have a shotgun handy. Not many shells because someone left them behind.” Tom scowled at William.
“I though you was bringing them. Ain’t my fault I forgot who was doing what,” William frowned.
“Anyway, if you need us, just call out. We’ll come,” Tom said with a nod of the head, and turned to walk back to his camp.
William waved and followed Tom along the rocky bank of the brook. Occasionally, William would stoop down and pick a wild flower. I knew exactly what he was doing; he was building a bouquet for my cousin. They rounded a bend and disappeared into the trees.
I let out a long breath and shook my head.
“Maybe you better tell me about your cousin,” Lucian said dryly.
“Maybe I should,” I replied.
We started a small fire, and Lucian spread a thin blanket out over the ground. We sat down and ate some jackfruit chips that Izadora had made. It wasn’t like eating chicken soup or lasagna, but just one or two would fill you right up. She made them in a special way, and they were meant to be eaten on long journeys such as this. Lucian offered to catch a rabbit, but I didn’t eat meat too often. I preferred vegetables. I’d spent too much time in nature with the animals and preferred not to eat any of them. Most of the elven were the same. However, they did eat meat about once a month.
Tomorrow I would gather some berries, and look for some rhubarb. Even boiled dandelion roots would be quite tasty. But right now, the jackfruit chips would suffice.
Lucian watched me as he ate, and our eyes met. The way he looked at me sometimes made me feel weird. While it was evident that my heart belonged to Drumm, I still had feelings for Lucian. Although, I daresay I tried to never let them show. I never wanted to lead him on and let him think that we had a future. I cared about him too much to hurt his feelings. I averted my eyes, and looked above and into the canopy of trees, and the hanging vines.
As the sun went down, we talked about Ella. I told him everything that I knew about Ella’s “sucking energy ability” and then we discussed Ish McTish. What was the little man going to do if he got his hands on the bottle?
Neither one of us could come up with anything. We just knew that he’d somehow want revenge on Izadora.
Before Luican dozed off I asked him, “What do you think Drumm is doing right now?
“He’s probably eating an eggplant and drinking dandelion root tea with a splash of lemon zest. I don’t know, Ivy. Get some sleep. I imagine he’s just fine.” And with that, he was snoring lightly.
I couldn’t sleep, and my mind was plagued with questions, and terrible thoughts. I went over several spells in my head, trying to recall every single one I knew. I had a foreboding feeling that I was going to need them. I had studied dozens of spells, but only mastered a handful. It wasn’t like I didn’t try – I just couldn’t do most of them. Magic was my sister, Zinnia’s, forte. It was like a sport to her. But for me…I just couldn’t grasp it like she did. In the back of my mind, I remembered what The Great Wizard Maximus once told me. “Magic always has its price…even the good kind.” And what price was I willing to pay in order to use it?
***
I closed my eyes, and my limbs began to feel heavy. Sleep was right there, I could almost feel my consciousness slipping away. That was when—from the deep dark depths of the forest—the howling began.
Chapter Twelve
A sliver of the moon was showing through the thick clouds, and the air was damp. A silver-white mist flooded the forest, and parts of the ground couldn’t be seen. A couple of wolves howled. The sound brought tears to my eyes. Not out of fear. That didn’t come until later. Tears welled up in my eyes, because the wolves sounded full of sorrow. Desolate. Abandoned.
More joined in. There was one cry in particular that sent shivers up my spine, and made me chilled to the bone. A few of them snarled and yipped. They sounded hungry now. However, it was when the next several added howls happened that caused my hair to stand up on the back of my neck. I jumped down from my limb and landed next to Lucian. He leaned up on his elbows and cocked his ear up to listen.
“Lucian. Do you hear them?” I asked, even though I knew the answer. I was one to state the obvious sometimes. I sat so close to him now that I could feel the heat coming from his body.
“Of course I hear them. Something isn’t right,” he said sitting all the way up.
His answer made me nudge in closer to him. “Wha – What do you mean?”
“Usually there are around ten wolves or less in a pack. It sounds as though there are like fifteen,” he said. Just as he finished his sentence, more and more howls filled the forest.
“Um. I might have been wrong about that. Perhaps, thirty would be more appropriate.”
“Thirty wolves!” I squealed.
“This is definitely strange. Don’t worry…if they come any closer I’ll talk to them,” he said.
“Talk to them?”
“Uh…you remember that I’m a hellhound, right? I can talk to wolves and they understand me. Kind of like a wolf whisperer,” he grinned.
His answer caused the ball that had formed in my stomach, to subside a little.
We both sat listening to the cluster of wolves, and their never ending howls and yips. They weren’t far away. My butt was cold from sitting on the hard damp ground, but I continued to lean my upper body toward Lucian, and he felt like a heating blanket.
It was when Solstice began to neigh and bob his head that I became worried. He pawed his right hoof into the ground. I knew my horse friend well, and I knew this meant he was uneasy about something. He was preparing to fight. Each time he whinnied, his breath could be seen as fog.
Branches snapped as something walked close by. I grabbed Lucian’s arm and held on tightly. It was getting closer.
Lucian observed me for a moment and said, “Where are your bow and arrows? Grab them, just in case.”
My faced flushed. I was e
mbarrassed for leaving them up in the tree. Forcing myself to let go of his arm, I climbed the tree and gathered my bow and arrows. I knew better than to leave them behind. Drumm told me to always, always, keep my bow and arrow attached to my body. To be honest, I didn’t think I’d need to keep them close while Lucian was present. I flung the bag of arrows over my shoulder and grabbed my bow. Before I had the chance to jump down, a terrifying scream echoed out in the woods. Someone was calling for help.
Two shots were fired, and Lucian jumped to his feet. He stood in a fighting stance, and his tense muscles told me he was prepared to fight.
“I—I thought you were going to talk to the wolves. Not fight them,” I said.
“Something is not right,” he answered.
“And that is not what I wanted to hear,” I mumbled.
A low growl came from behind a tree, and two big yellow eyes glowed in the darkness. Lucian attempted to speak to the wolf; to calm him. The growls became louder, and out of the woods he crept, low to the ground. He wrinkled his nose up, baring his teeth, and they were not small by all means.
We were caught off guard when—on the opposite side of Lucian—two wolves bolted out from behind the trees. One of them jumped so high that his whole body seemed to fly right into Lucian, knocking him to the ground. A big “Oooooof” sound escaped Lucian’s lungs as he landed on his back. The other wolf tore at his leg. Within seconds, Lucian shape-shifted into hellhound form. He was much larger than the wolves, but that didn’t stop them from being vicious.
I let out a glass shattering scream, and fumbled with my bow and arrows. I clumsily dropped two arrows on the ground, but I finally managed to aim one at the wolves. Nevertheless, the last thing I wanted to do was kill a wolf – they were among my most favorite animals. And I’d never killed an animal before!
Luckily, I didn’t have to. In hellhound form, Lucian was a beast. He flung the two wolves from him like they were rag dolls; but more came. He kept fighting them off two by two. I turned to Solstice to see how he was faring. He kicked one with his hind legs, and the wolf whimpered as he flew through the air and landed lifeless in the grass. I aimed for the next one that jumped for Solstice’s throat. Without hesitating I shot, and the arrow went right through its head.