Page 69 of Destined to the Lycan
I thought of lying down right where I stood and sleeping until I could go again, but thoughts of the witch made me reconsider. She hadn’t attacked me inside the Haunted Woods but in thesafe Storm Hill Valley beyond it. If she had been so bold then, what would keep her from doing the same here in the ‘safe’ Kairn Valley?
I cursed her to the deepest pits of Hell as I turned to run to the Hunters Lodge. With some luck, it would be unoccupied. But even if someone was using it, I could simply stay within the wide area enclosed by the powerful protective wards that would keep anyone with ill intentions at bay. I hated having to make that detour, which added at least ten more minutes to my journey. But ensuring my safety in my time of vulnerability was primordial if I ever wanted to complete my mission.
Grinding my teeth through the throbbing pain in my ankles and shoulder and ignoring the taste of blood in my mouth and wheezing sound of my breathing, I hastened towards the lodge. I didn’t need a doctor to know I had undoubtedly popped some blood vessels in my lungs, which would explain the wet sound that accompanied each breath. As soon as I crossed the invisible wall of the protective wards surrounding the large radius around the lodge, I collapsed to the ground. Darkness immediately swallowed me.
The sound of distant voices pulled me out of my slumber. I felt comatose, my eyelids weighing a ton as I tried to pry them open. Soft hands touched my injured legs and shoulder. My instinctive fight or flight instincts died almost instantly. Although my brain was still too foggy to put a name on the presence surrounding me, the scent was familiar… not comforting, but safe. I vaguely recognized a shaman’s chant as the pain in my ankles steadily decreased.
“Remus, where is the woman?” an imperious voice demanded once the chanting ended. “What happened to you? Who did this?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but a whiny sound came out instead. Only then did I realize that I was still in my wolf form. Shifting back to my human form was normally effortless and as easy is breathing. But this seemed to drain all the sliver of energy I had managed to regain in however much time I had been unconscious.
“Friend took Amara home,” I slurred.
“What friend?” the voice insisted.
After struggling to open my eyes, I found Rolf looming over me, a concerned look on his face.
“I must go to the Weaver,” I said, my voice barely more than a whisper.
“What? Why? What happened to you?” Rolf demanded.
“No time,” I replied, annoyed, each word demanding a monumental effort. “Beware the… witch in Haun… ted… Woods.”
“What witch? Did she do that to you?”
“Must go… to Weaver. Full moon… soon.”
“You’re in no condition to travel to the Weaver, assuming she’ll even see you,” Ulric’s voice said sternly.
My heart leapt. I couldn’t see him from the angle I was lying in. But he hadn’t directly spoken to me in years. How sad that it should happen when I was in no condition to engage with him further.
“I must…”
My eyes rolled to the back of my head, and I went limp. As I hovered in a state of semi consciousness, I heard Ulric utter a string of curses. Something was wrong with me. The lack of food and water, and my extreme exhaustion couldn’t explain my current physiological reaction. Something was affecting me. Hadthe Tentrian poisoned me somehow? The blades at the tips of its tentacles possessed a paralytic that further immobilized its prey after it severed their tendons. But I couldn’t recall it cutting me at any point.
I bit its tentacle ‘tongue’ to set myself free.
Could that be the cause? Had I ingested part of its paralytic or some other form of toxin while injecting him with my own?
Multiple voices started arguing, my mind too far gone to make any sense of their words. Then, two strong arms picked me up, wiping out the wandering thoughts from my confused mind. Moments later, I felt myself getting hoisted onto a horse. Behind me, a muscular chest pressed against my back. A wave of emotion crashed over me at the familiar scent of Ulric.
Although he was now a full-grown adult, feeling him like this brought me back to our youth when we were inseparable. We would take turns carrying the other piggyback.
“I missed you, brother,” I slurred, then fainted.
I was in and out of consciousness, gently rocked by the movements of the horse while being held steady by Ulric. My throat constricted when I awoke as we were crossing the bridge leading to the south shore and the main road to Willow Grove. Before I could say a word, my childhood friend extended a thick piece of cured meat. I quietly accepted the offering and barely chewed before swallowing, wolfing it down in only a few bites. He then gave me a water skin which I drained in one go.
“Sorry,” I said at last. “I didn’t mean to drink it all.”
He grunted in lieu of a response. Although still feeling a little weary, the unnatural fog that had knocked me out earlier had lifted. I no longer doubted that the Tentrian injected me with some sort of sedative. I glanced at the sky. We’d been riding for hours as the sun was already very low on the horizon and painting the sky with fiery ribbons of blue, purple, and orange.
“Thank you,” I said at last, still facing ahead. “I can never repay you enough for this.”
“The woman believed in you,” Ulric grumbled reluctantly after a moment of silence during which I thought he wouldn’t respond. “Save her, and it will be payment enough.”
“Whatever it takes, I will,” I promised.
He remained quiet for a moment. “I know you will,” Ulric eventually said.
