Page 67 of Destined to the Lycan
Chapter 16
Remus
My muscles burned, my legs had turned to lead, and every breath felt like inhaling shards of glass. Every movement awakened a fresh new pain. I couldn’t tell how long I had been running. Night gave way to morning and judging by its position in the sky, the sun would set shortly.
A part of me regretted not grabbing some of our rations before beginning my descent. I was beyond parched. You’d think sand coated my tongue and filled my throat. My stomach cramped, but I couldn’t tell if hunger or exhaustion caused it. At the same time, another part believed it had been the right choice. Aside from being lighter without that burden, it spurred me into reaching the valley below even sooner so that I could find some prey to sate my hunger and a source of fresh water to quench my thirst.
But every step was becoming harder, my vision blurring as I attempted to plow forward. In my haste, I nearly lost my footing while navigating the narrow path at the edge of the mountain. I yelped and scrambled to get closer to the jagged rock face of themountain. To my undying sorrow, I had no choice but to slow down a little to avoid falling to my death.
I couldn’t recall entering the last narrow passage in the mountain, let alone collapsing in it. By the time I became aware of my surroundings again, night had fallen. I snapped fully awake, realizing I must have passed out from exhaustion. Considering the current darkness, I slept a minimum of two or three hours.
I inwardly cussed myself out for this wasted time as I set off running again. Obviously, I understood that this rest had been needed and that I couldn’t dream of reaching the Weaver’s house in one piece if I didn’t take a moment to recover from time to time. But I wanted to be a lot closer before I indulged.
I resumed my painful journey with renewed vigor. Finally reentering the safe Storm Hill Valley at the foot of the mountain gave me a jolt of energy. I cut through the forest, catching small prey in the process, which I ate whole as a wolf. Since embracing my human form, I had lost all taste for it. But it was faster to eat it raw than to take the time to skin it and cook it a bit. In the end, all that mattered was to get enough sustenance to fuel the rest of the grueling trek ahead.
Although the few creatures I devoured filled the hole gnawing my insides, the thick blood didn’t quench my thirst but increased it instead. With less than a kilometer before reaching the Haunted Woods, I headed a bit farther to the east until I spotted the river in the distance. I made a beeline for it, drinking a bit of water before briefly dipping into it. It helped cold my sweaty, achy body as well as slightly reduce the swelling in my paws.
With much reluctance, I stepped out of the water, taking a final sip before resuming my journey. Less than a hundred meters later, the muffled sound of a panicked female voice reached my sensitive ears. At first, I presumed it to be thedeceptive calls of an evil wood spirit attempting to lure me, then quickly dismissed that thought. Not only did the mystifiers never bother with me, but I also hadn’t entered the Haunted Woods yet. Although no clear marker indicated its borders, I knew it to still be at least half a kilometer away. Anyway, you could feel the evil in the very air the moment you crossed the threshold into that foul place.
Despite time being of the essence, I went to investigate, running around the bend to see what the source of the commotion could be. Just as I was circling around a giant tree, I spotted a beautiful woman standing by the water. Her single-horse carriage had left the path and ended up toppling over into the river. From where I stood, her horse was still attached to the carriage and was slowly sinking into the water, trapped by the weight of the vehicle and its harness.
On instinct, I ran towards them. Too busy pulling in vain on the harness to try and get her horse back to the shore, the woman didn’t hear me approaching at first. Her cries for help and the splashing of the panicked animal further covered the sound of my steps.
Suddenly sensing my presence—unless she caught movement at the edge of her vision—the woman jerked her head in my direction. She gasped, pressed her palms to her chest, and took a couple of backward steps away from me with a frightened expression. Her milky complexion appeared even paler, making her gray eyes stand out as they widened. But her fear quickly gave way to a mix of awe and hope.
“A Lycan…” she whispered under her breath before waving and projecting more loudly. “Please, help me! My horse is drowning!”
I cursed inwardly. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have hesitated. But at a glance, I could see it would require a tremendous amount of time and work to get her carriage out ofthat precarious situation. Beyond the fact that I couldn’t afford such a delay, it would further drain more of the limited energy I had left. Truth be told, in my current state, I doubted I was strong enough to pull the carriage out.
I almost kept going. The way she stepped directly in my path and raised her arms as if to block me indicated that she had guessed my intention.
“I beseech you!” she exclaimed pleadingly. “Don’t leave me here like this. I will never make it back to the inn or across the woods back to Kairn on foot and on my own. Help me, please!”
Emitting an aggravated growl, I reluctantly slowed down and approached the water. As per my initial assessment from afar, closer inspection confirmed that there would be no easy way to free her carriage. The front wheels were almost fully submerged, and the right back wheel was sinking at an angle in the mud. The horse was also at an angle, its rump mostly poking out of the water while the front of its body had sunk in to the neck. With the carriage gradually sliding further towards the river, sooner than later, it would drag the animal deeply enough that it would drown.
Without my current exhaustion, I would have been able to pull the whole thing out with some effort. But it would never happen now. I could only rescue the horse so that the woman could ride it back to safety.
My decision taken, I partially shifted into my semi-human form so that I could speak to the woman and more easily handle the task of freeing her mount.
“Your carriage is too deep in the mud. I cannot pull it out for you,” I said without preamble. “It will take too much time and strength that I don’t have. However, I can detach your horse. At least, you will be able to ride back to the inn or forward to the Hunters Lodge on the other side of the Haunted Woods.”
“But my carriage is worth a lot, not to mention all my belongings inside!” the woman exclaimed, crestfallen.
The entitlement in her voice pissed me off. Under my current physical and mental state, I had no patience for anyone’s demands. Judging by her elegant black riding outfit, with the long skirt, expensive black boots, and tailored vest, she was clearly well off. A bejeweled pin adorned her long blond hair twisted into an elegant bun, with some braids artistically woven in the mix. So what in Ferazan’s name was she doing near the Haunted Woods all by herself? I could think of a dozen different answers to that. My guess would be that she’d been warned against such a reckless endeavor, but she stubbornly decided that no one would tell her what to do.
But that was not my problem.
“Your horse is all you get. Take it or leave it,” I hissed.
She recoiled and pressed her palm to her chest with a shocked expression laced with outrage. Yeah, that woman was used to people bowing to her every whim and never talking back.
Annoyed when she failed to respond, I shrugged and turned to leave.
“Wait! Please! The horse! I’ll take the horse!” she cried out.
Without a word, I approached the water. However, I couldn’t help but wonder what could have caused this accident.
“What drove your carriage off the road?” I asked over my shoulder as I entered the water. “What scared your horse enough that it would stray so much from the path and directly into the river?”
