Author's Notes: I'd like to give a special thanks to the wonderful people who took their time to review my story…. "THANK YOU!" I know it seems kinda' trivial but they sure do keep me writing! I love em! After all, dragons cannot live on meat alone!!! wink -LadyTiamat
The Curse of the WolfChapter 2
They wandered cautiously through the dense foliage and undergrowth, feeling VERY small compared to the colossal trees that forebodingly towered over them. Uni let out a soft bleat of fear and snuggled deeper into Bobby's arms. Bobby unconsciously hugged Uni closer to him as he pulled the hood of Shiela's cloak back over his head, despite the fact that they were well sheltered from the rain now.
He started walking closer to Shiela, who put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. She allowed her other hand to drop down to her side as she released her grip on Hank's arm. She was reluctant to let go of him, as she always felt safer when she was close to him, but if for any reason he needed to use his bow, he would need that arm.
Hank turned to her the second she let go of him, thinking something may be wrong. She just looked up at him and gave a reassuring wink. Hank nodded in understanding, turning his attention back to their surroundings. They had become very good at communicating to each other without words. It was amazing to him how just one look or one touch from her could speak such volumes.
Eric was still currently leading the group but was flanked on either side by Diana and Presto. The cavalier was silently grateful that they were close by. Even though he had acted so cocky and confident while entering the forest, he was beginning to wonder if Hank's hesitation to enter the forest actually had some merit. After about a half hour's walk the group slowly came to a halt in a small clearing in the shadowy woods.
"D..Do you guys hear that?" Presto asked quietly while looking in several different directions.
"I don't hear anything." Diana muttered, her hands gripping her javelin tightly.
"Exactly!" Presto exclaimed worriedly. "No wind, no birds, not even the normal 'creepy forest' noises you usually hear. Nothing!"
Hank didn't say anything. He had noticed the extreme silence the moment they stepped foot into the dark terrain. Not even the sound of the rain could be heard hitting the leaves on the trees. It was unnatural and it had set his nerves on edge. He was glad that he wasn't the only one who had noticed it, but it brought him little comfort.
"Maybe the animals are just hiding from the rain too!" Bobby suggested hopefully.
"Yeah, or maybe they're just getting ready to attack us!" Eric sneered, bringing his hands up in mock gesture of an attacking monster.
"Eric!" Hank snapped in warning to stop.
Bobby glared nastily at the cavalier and stepped forward threateningly. He was immediately pulled back by Sheila, however, who shook her head disapprovingly at Eric.
"Huh." Eric scoffed, looking around at the others. "Come on you guys! Lighten up! This is just a forest like any other we've wandered through in this crummy world! Nothing's going to 'get you', so relax!"
No one said anything, when a sudden violent rustling in the bushes nearby caused everyone to jump.
"GET BACK!" Hank shouted as he brought his bow up to aim at the shaking bush, an energy arrow already strung. Eric, Presto and Sheila stepped back while Diana and Bobby stood next to Hank to support him on either side, weapons at the ready.
Just as suddenly as the rustling had started, it stopped. No one moved. All of them stared intently at the bush. Hank's grip tightened on his weapon, preparing for anything.
The bush stayed deathly still for what seemed like an eternity. Then a sudden a streak of gray shot out from under the bushes and ran straight under Diana's legs, who yelped in surprise. Uni bleated in terror as she leapt up into Sheila's arms for safety.
Sheila also yelped in surprise as the flash of gray ran past her feet as well. It stopped a few feet away to stare at them before disappearing into the dense foliage far behind them.
"Its only a rabbit!" Presto laughed in relief.
The past few moments had been so intense that both Eric and Diana joined in Presto's laughter. Hank's grip on his bow slackened as he allowed the energy arrow to fizzle into nothing, letting out a shaky breath of air that he hadn't realized he'd even been holding. Bringing his weapon down to rest at his side he turned to look at the others, in no mood to laugh.
Bobby didn't say anything as he continued to look at the undergrowth that the rabbit had disappeared into, unsure about what was so funny. Uni wriggled out of Sheila's vice-like grip and trotted over to the bushes, sniffing at them curiously.
"You should have seen the looks on your faces!" Eric wheezed in laughter while pointing at the rest of the group. "Oh please Mr. Bunny, PLEASE don't hurt me!" He laughed while pretending to beg to some imaginary rabbit on the ground.
Sheila was unimpressed by Eric's antics and came to stand next to Hank who, ever so slightly, leaned into her. He was also unimpressed by the smug cavalier's display.
"RRRROOOOAAAAARRRRR!!!!"
Eric screamed as he jumped what must have been three feet in the air in reaction to the terrifying roar that came from behind him. He quickly whirled around to see, not a monster, but Bobby who was rolling around on the forest floor in a fit of uncontrollable laughter.
The young barbarian's prank soon got a laugh out of everyone except Eric, who turned his back on the group to stare at the dark forest, folding his arms across his chest in an air of disdain.
Diana's laughter lessened as she watched Eric stand there, pretending to ignore them. Slowly she started to make her way towards him. Eric could be shallow and callous at times, but she was certain that much of his dry sarcasm and cutting remarks were merely a shield to protect a somewhat fragile ego.
"Hey Cavalier, why the long face? We were all having just a little fun right? Even you?" She asked with a pleasant grin.
"Fun!?!" Eric blurted in annoyance. "FUN!?! You think being cold, wet, hungry and humiliated is fun!?! Boy Diana, I'd sure hate to know what you think is dull!"
Diana bit her tongue. It's not like the rest of them weren't cold, wet, or hungry too. Not to mention the fact that wet armor wasn't half as bad (or as smelly as) wet fur!
Though it wasn't easy, Diana chose to ignore Eric's complaints and instead came up with a solution. Snaking one of her arms through one of Eric's locked ones, she pulled him towards the edge of the clearing.
"Well I know how to fix that." She said playfully. "Hank! Eric and I volunteer to go and find some food, if that's ok?"
"WHAT!?!" Eric burst out in surprise. "I didn't volunteer for that!"
"Oh come on!" Diana insisted. "It'll be fun! Besides," she said while lowering her voice, "We all know that you're the best when it comes to finding food."
Eric's look of resistance soon melted into a look of proud confidence.
"Well, I guess I can't argue with that. When you're right, your right Diana!" He said proudly. Both turned to look for Hank's consent.
Hank on the other hand wasn't so sure of letting them go off on their own. Even though they hadn't seen any signs of danger, he still couldn't shake the strange feeling he had.
"Yeah! And Bobby an' me'll go and try to find some dry leaves and sticks to start a fire with!" Presto volunteered gladly.
Hank's fear started to lessen as the others didn't seem to share his feelings of doubt about the forest for some reason. Maybe it was all of the stress that He'd been under lately that was causing him to feel this way. It had only been a few days since the battle in the Dragon's Graveyard and that had been one of the biggest decisions that He had ever had to face…Whether or not to let Venger live.
In the end, He believed that he'd done the right thing in letting Venger go, but they hadn't seen him since that last encounter. And now one of Hank's greatest fears was that Venger would do something to them to make him regret that decision.
"Do I have to find wood for the fire? I'd rather help Hank build the pit for it." Bobby griped, snapping Hank back into the present.
"No, go ahead and stay here Bobby and I'll help Presto." Sheila consented patting her brother's shoulder kindly. Bobby smiled in satisfaction at getting to stay with Hank, willingly giving Shiela's cloak back to her.
"All right." Hank finally answered with a small trace of apprehension in his voice. "But DON'T wander away from the clearing to far, and DON'T leave each other's sight. Alright?"
"Anything you say Hank." Eric replied in a tone of false adoration. Diana gave him a sharp jab in the arm with her elbow and simply nodded back at Hank.
Sheila and Presto also dutifully nodded in agreement to Hank's orders and started heading towards the opposite edge of the clearing. Hank watched them all head into the shadowy forest, ignoring the nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"What do ya' think about having the fire over here Hank?" Bobby asked, pointing to a spot in the clearing far from any of the trees.
Once again being jolted out of his thoughts, Hank scanned the spot that Bobby had picked and nodded in approval.
'You've gotta get a grip Hank.' He thought to himself as he helped Bobby find large stones for their fire pit. 'Eric's right, (Although that thought made him grimace) not everything in the realm is out to get you.'….
Golden eyes watched the young ones intensely as they split up to perform their various tasks. 'How amusing.' He thought with interest. A deep rumble of laughter vibrated in his chest as his eyes focused on his objective. 'How nice of them to make this so easy for me.' His crimson tongue ran along the ridges of his razor sharp teeth, licking his chops with anticipation.
Shifting his sights, his eyes settled on the blond young man with the small boy. 'Ranger.' His mind registered. Venger's colleague Shadow Demon had warned him of "that" one. Just the look of him caused his black fur to bristle. There was something about "that" one that was unsettling. But what?
Truthfully, after the way Shadow Demon had described the young man, he was prepared for a full out fight. But after watching him let his friends pair off, he had come to the conclusion that this young man wasn't as clever nor as big a challenge as Venger had made him out to be.
He was almost disappointed at how simple this was going to be. But ultimately it didn't really matter. Time was of the essence now and he would deal with the Ranger and the rest of the young ones later.
He emerged from the foliage, a dark wraith in the filtered light of the forest. As silent as death itself he effortlessly followed the sent of his prey. In moments he positioned himself under the protection of a very large bush, the leaves concealing his location.
His sharp eyes followed his quarry's every movement, his large keen ears picked up every sound. It was almost time. All that was needed now was his disguise.
With a few harshly uttered magic words his pelt, that was as black as midnight, changed to the color of freshly fallen snow. Immediately the sight of his pelt filled him with an indescribable hatred. His eyes burned with extreme fury. 'Just you wait…Brother.' He thought viciously. 'After hundreds of years, your end is drawing near…'
His powerful muscles tightened, like a coil prepared to spring. His mouth watered, the thought of blood on his mind. He fought the urge to howl maniacally at the ecstasy of the hunt. The time had come…
Sheila, once again, pushed her wet cloak out of the way while she scanned the ground for dry wood. The cloak was heavy from the rain, and was cold on her back but she was grateful to have it despite that.
She already had a nice bundle of sticks gathered in her arms and turned to see how Presto was fairing. The young magician was also searching the
ground for kindling but unfortunately was not doing as well as Shiela.
She couldn't help but smile as she watched Presto diligently hunt. Out of all the others, she and Presto were probably the most alike. Both of them were relatively shy and unsure of themselves and were often branded as "followers". This never bothered her though, as long she was following someone she trusted.
This thought naturally led her to think of Hank. Just the thought of him caused her heart to beat a bit faster. She had always liked Hank. He was the complete embodiment of everything that she was not. He was brave and bold, while she was shy and timid. He was strong and fearless, when she felt weak and afraid. Hank was a natural born leader who people just naturally flocked to, while she had often felt invisible. Which made her weapon, the cloak of invisibility, an almost painful irony.
The thought made her heart sink, and yet, there was one person who had seen her when no one else had; who she never felt invisible too. And that thought gave her hope.
"We can probably head back now Presto. I think between the two of us we have enough wood."
Presto turned to look at Shiela and frowned at the bundle of brushwood she held in her arms. How did she find her's so quickly?
"Ok Sheila. Let me just grab these few I just found and we can go." He said, turning back to the large bush he had found the sticks resting under. As he reached for them a sudden blast of warm air on his hand caused him to look up. Staring into the bush Presto's heart stopped as his eyes met with another pair staring back at him.
Jerking back in surprise Presto continued to stare into the foliage at the pair of gleaming golden eyes.
"Sh..Sheila?" Presto stammered, almost unable to speak.
"Hmm?" Sheila muttered without turning around, examining a bush that seemed to have some kind of berries growing on it.
Unable to break his stare with the creature in the bushes, Presto backed up until he bumped into Shiela.
"Presto!? What are you…." She started to ask, but immediately stopped when he grabbed her wrist tightly. Sheila looked from Presto to the direction that he was staring at and inhaled sharply as the biggest wolf she had ever seen emerged from the bushes.
For a moment time seemed to stand still as Presto and Sheila stared at the wolf. It was huge, and as white as a ghost. Presto jerked in terror as the wolf let out a deep and terrible growl that shook him to the core. The wolf, continuing to stare at Presto, opening it's mouth to reveal his wicked looking fangs.
Sheila was entranced by the beast. Not even Kelek's wolves could have compared to the monster that stood before them. And it was absolutely terrifying.
The wolf took a step forward, and Sheila took a step back. Presto didn't budge, as if he was suddenly physically unable to move.
'DON'T PANIC!' Sheila thought to herself while taking a deep breath. 'What would Hank do!?!'
Suddenly Sheila desperately wished that the ranger were there. He'd know what to do! Hank always knew what to do. But he wasn't there, and Sheila didn't have a clue as to what to do.
The wolf took another step forward and snarled fiercely at them, still continuing to intimidate Presto.
Sheer desperation suddenly forced Sheila into action as she dropped the sticks in her hands and grabbed a large rock from the ground.
'I must be crazy.' She thought, cringing, as she used all the energy in her arm to launch to rock into the air.
The shot was true and it hit the wolf directly on it's right temple. The wolf dropped to the ground, momentarily stunned.
"Presto RUN!" Sheila screamed as she pushed him in the direction of the clearing.
Jolted out of his trance, Presto abruptly started running for the clearing but slowed as he saw the Sheila wasn't following.
"Sheila!?!" Presto yelled in fear, watching as the wolf got back up on its feet.
"GO!!!" She yelled forcefully, as the wolf roared at Sheila in rage. Making eye contact with the wolf, she then turned and ran in a different direction.
Presto watch in absolute horror as the wolf turned to look at him one last time, it's mouth drawn back into what Presto swore was a sadistic smile, and then launched itself into the darkening forest… chasing after Sheila.