Chapter Eight: The Full Moon
Diary of the Wolfgirl: May 1822 (The Neverwoods)
The Full moon arrives tonight in the Pueblo of
Los Angeles. The time to leave is fast approaching.
The Pack stands ready to fight. I know that Diego
Fox and Victoria are preparing for my arrival.
They will do what is in their power to prevent
the slaughter of the town. I must return.
Harley calls. It is time.
Los Angeles, California 1822: the night of the Full moon
Evening was fast approaching and Cassandra had yet to make her appearance. Diego stood in the entry to the hacienda, thinking. He was trying to figure out how he and Zorro could appear at the same time again. His father was expecting Diego to join him in town tonight. There was no way he could pretend to stay home. Not with the way he'd gotten himself involved.
He had packed Zorro's things into Tornado's saddlebags, just in case. That seemed to be the only thing he could do. Felipe caught up with him as he was headed out the door, lost in thought.
A tug at his sleeve brought him back to the present. "What is it?" He asked his servant boy.
Felipe pointed at the eastern horizon.
The full moon was already rising. Cassie could arrive at any minute.
Felipe signed a question to him as they mounted their horses.
"Do I think she will wait until the sun has set?"
Felipe nodded.
"I don't know." Diego replied, as they rode toward the pueblo.
The sun was low on the horizon, but not quite near setting yet. In the pueblo, Victoria and Don Alejandro were trying to evacuate the children and the innocents, they both knew.
Whether or not the people would listen, was another story entirely. Zorro had ridden to the center of town earlier that day to warn of the impending doom. He did not mention releasing Harley, but he did warn the townsfolk that the Pack was coming to get him.
Despite this, Ramone had refused to move the animal.
As Felipe and Diego entered the pueblo, they were relieved to note that many wagons had left the town. The people were taking their children to safety.
Ramone was standing in the square, glaring at them all.
Diego shook his head, with a sigh. "Some people never learn." He muttered, under his breath.
Victoria and Don Alejandro moved to greet the two new arrivals.
"Did you see her yet?" Victoria asked.
Felipe shook his head and Diego replied. "No. But the sun has not set completely yet."
"And what even makes you think she's coming back?" Ramone sneered, unimpressed.
"The fact that the Prince of their Pack is still in your cage." Diego remarked, pointedly.
Ramone rolled his eyes and walked off, toward his office.
"That must be an act of some sort. He can't be that unworried." Diego remarked, thoughtfully.
"The lancers are all on high alert." Don Alejandro informed him, pointing at all the armed Lancers, standing guard around the pueblo.
"You don't suppose they mean to shoot her on sight, do you?" Victoria asked, worried.
Diego frowned. "I'm not sure they can."
"What do you mean?" His father asked staring.
"It was in the man's diary that she was carrying." Diego explained. "They tried shooting her. For some reason, it didn't work."
"How didn't it work?" Don Alejandro asked, not understanding. "Are you saying she could stop a pistol ball?"
"I'm not sure how it works." Diego replied. "The diary wasn't exactly clear. The man who wrote it did not survive to finish it."
"There's a comforting thought." Don Alejandro muttered.
"That wolf needs to be released." Diego put in, staring at the tent. "If she can stop a pistol ball, the lancers are defenseless. She could slaughter them all."
"I think we should wait for Zorro." Victoria spoke up, trying to hold him back.
"I'm not sure Cassie is going to wait for Zorro before she starts the battle." Diego remarked, pulling away and walking toward the tent.
At the opening of the tent, Corporal Gomez stopped Diego with his rifle. "I'm under orders not to let you in to see the animal, Don Diego." The Corporal told him, bluntly.
They both turned at the sound of frantic murmuring. Approximately fifty yards from the pueblo entrance, the dust was blowing in a circular pattern.
Ramone, at the sound of the voices, ran from his office, and stared at the dust devil.
Within the dust, a lone figure appeared. She still wore her cloak, but the rest of her had changed. She was now dressed in the doe-skin garb Diego and Victoria had seen before, and her features had returned to their normal state. Everyone in the plaza saw her pointed ears, slit pupils, and the wolf-mark on her forehead. She carried a single sword as she walked, determinedly through the entryway.
She stood before Ramone and looked directly into his eyes. You will release my wolf. She ordered.
Diego glanced at Victoria, Felipe and Mendoza, noticing they could all hear her mind spoken directive. Apparently, the mind-link had returned with her.
Ramone started to laugh. "Shoot her." He ordered, backing away.
The lancers took aim, and Cassie whipped off her cloak. She was dancing before anyone knew what was going on. As the song began, every animal in the pueblo shied in pure terror. Horses broke free of their bindings, and riders were thrown.
Diego turned back to Felipe, seeing him trying frantically to hold down their horses. "Let them GO!" He shouted, knowing that Victoria would assume Felipe would hear him in his mind.
Don Alejandro, hearing Diego yelling, quickly snatched Felipe away from the horses, as they thundered away from the pueblo.
They all turned to watch as Cassie sang. Though the language was not Spanish or English, there were a few people in the pueblo who could actually understand what she was singing about. The movements of her body in the dance and the motions of her hands were almost in a sign language.
--
The lancers repeatedly fired their weapons at the girl, but to no avail. Once the song had started, the gunshots were useless. What happened to the pistol balls, nobody knew; but not one of them ever hit Cassie.
Felipe watched Cassie's dancing. He saw her hand motion to the rising moon, then the setting sun, then again to the circle of dust blowing around her. Over her head, her hand swept a circular motion as if she were swinging a lasso, but the hand was open, as if beckoning, while the other hand motioned to the circle on the ground.
She seemed to be calling them from above. Remembering what Diego had said of where she had come, Felipe had no doubt her home was amongst the stars that were slowly appearing in the night sky. Looking up, he suddenly spied one star, glowing brighter all the time, just to the right of the North Star.
"What is it?" Victoria asked him, knowing he would hear her.
He motioned up to the glowing star, and then turned her attention to the dance. She is speaking in sign language. He told her.
Victoria stared, watching her, realizing Felipe was right. According to the motions of her hands, she was singing of the wolves as being bound to her. It was as if she and the Pack were one in the same. Then she went back to the circle, beckoning from sky to the ground, and as she called out for the wolves for the third time, the dust around her stirred again.
The people in the pueblo stared in horror as the tracks of wolves appeared in the dust, along with the howls that were becoming louder by the second.
Diego shook himself, turned back toward the tent and ran.
In the entryway, Corporal Gomez was staring in shock as Cassie continued singing with the wolves, now visibly running around her. When Diego entered, he again pointed the gun at him, although this time, he looked less sure of himself.
Diego looked from the Corporal to the rifle, then back at the wolves in the plaza. "Shoot me." He snapped, pushing the Corporal aside.
Behind him, Sergeant Mendoza ran into the tent. "Madre de Dios! Do you see the size of those things?!" He cried, panicking.
"We have to get him out of here." Diego told him quickly, approaching the cage, where Harley was howling in anger at not being in the circle. "Where's the key?"
"The Alcalde has it." Gomez told him, terrified.
Diego groaned, and then snatched the Corporal's gun. "Get back." He ordered, taking aim at the lock.
The two exchanged a glance and quickly fled the tent as the gun went off.
ZZZZZZZZZZZ
Out in the plaza, Victoria and Alejandro heard the gunshot, and seeing the officers run from the tent, started to rush toward it. They jumped back fast, as Harley burst through the entryway, and ran to where the Pack was now standing, flanking Cassie's sides as she approached Luis Ramone.
Diego walked, slowly out of the tent, dropping the rifle as he met up with his father and Victoria. "What's going on?" He asked, uncertainly, looking exhausted.
"I'm not sure." Don Alejandro replied.
Ramone stared as Cassie grabbed him by his lapels, holding the sword to his throat.
"Cassandra!" Diego shouted, moving forward.
Barely acknowledging Diego's presence, Cassie released the Alcalde, and looked deeply into his eyes. I tell you this once and only once. Victoria heard in mind-speech . . . but the rest of it was apparently for the Alcalde's ears alone, because she heard nothing more as Ramone frowned, confused, but obviously listening to her.
The people in the pueblo plaza could only stare as it appeared the Wolfgirl was communicating silently to the Alcalde. Not one heard anything, even when she returned her sword to its sheath, and left him standing there.
Ramone, staring blankly after her, backed away. He seemed to have had no idea what she had meant, and yet, he made no move to go after her.
The wolves behind her did not move. Harley had rejoined what could only be his parents; the largest pair of wolves in the entire Pack.
Victoria frowned. Did Diego releasing the animal stop the attack? And what was it that Cassie had told the Alcalde? He seemed to look completely speechless, which was very odd for him.
Cassie turned, eyeing the lancers, who were still posted around the pueblo. As she did this, every lancer dropped his gun to the ground. Not one of them made any move to attack.
Seeing this Cassie turned to the wolves and nodded. At her signal, the entire Pack turned and ran toward the entryway to the pueblo. As they reached the place Cassie had first appeared, they all vanished, their howls echoing across the desert.
The people in the plaza were finally able to breathe their first sigh of relief since the animal had first arrived.
Cassie turned to leave, and then stopped, frowning. Looking alarmed, she stared directly at Diego.
Diego did not meet her gaze, much to Victoria's surprise. In fact, it seemed he was having trouble focusing at all. Before Cassie could even approach, he collapsed to the ground gasping, as if he could not breathe.
"Diego!" Victoria cried, frantically.
Don Alejandro knelt beside his son, trembling. "Diego, what is it?"
Cassie knelt beside him, and drew a dagger. In seconds, she had sliced his sleeve open, revealing three small inflamed scratches.
Victoria's face turned white. "Is- is that the poison?" She asked, uncertain, and yet terrified.
Cassie met her gaze. Yes. He will not be able to breathe. Tornado comes now.
"What poison?" Don Alejandro demanded, not hearing the mind-speech.
"The wolves, they are poisonous." Victoria told him, tears streaking her face. "Harley must have scratched him when he opened the cage."
Tornado's cry interrupted them as the stallion rode into the pueblo, without a rider. Odd, that his master would not be with him, Victoria mused, frowning. Where was Zorro? Had he been thrown off when the horses had stampeded away?
Put him on the horse now! Cassie ordered, interrupting any whispers about Zorro.
By the time Diego was loaded onto the horse, he was unconscious. Cassie leapt up behind him and Tornado took off at break-neck speed . . . . and just as quickly as she had appeared, she and Tornado vanished . . . and with them Diego was also gone.
Don Alejandro stared after them. "Diego." He whispered, as he collapsed to the ground in despair. "No, oh no." He moaned.
"There is a cure." Victoria told him as she knelt beside him.
"Do you know that for sure?" The old Don asked, quietly, not meeting her gaze.
"Zorro said that Tornado told him it could only be found in the Woods where the Neverwolves live." Victoria replied.
"And where exactly is that?" Don Alejandro asked, staring at the place they had vanished.
Victoria looked at the ground. "I don't know." She admitted. "I was told that it had six moons, so I didn't think it could be anywhere near here.
"Six moons?" Mendoza asked, suddenly. "That would mean it's on some other world!"
The group cast a look up toward the heavens, in silence. Each one wondering the same thing. Would they ever see Diego again?
"How would Tornado know of such things?" Don Alejandro asked after a moment of silence. "And how would he tell Zorro about it?"
Victoria met his gaze. "Cassandra talks to her wolves with her mind." She explained. "When she came, she was able to communicate the same with Diego, Zorro, Felipe, and I. Because of this, Zorro was able to talk to Tornado. He said that the Wolf Girl was a legend amongst the animals. They all knew of her, but had never seen her. He had only heard what was in the legend. Zorro checked Harley's claws to find out if it were true."
"And he couldn't bother to tell Diego?!" Don Alejandro demanded, angry.
"Diego knew." Victoria replied slowly.
"So the wolf scratched him for letting him out." Alejandro replied, thoughtful. "A fine way to say thank you, I would think!"
"I think it was an accident, Don Alejandro." Mendoza put in, quietly. "I don't think Harley even realized he'd done anything."
"Cassie would not let Diego die." Victoria told Alejandro, sternly. "She didn't mean for it to happen, anyone could see that."
"And she would not have taken him with her unless she intended to help him." Mendoza added. "I guess that means she will bring him back from where ever she took him."
"Where ever that is." Don Alejandro retorted, drily.
Felipe tapped Victoria and pointed upward toward the sky.
"He's right." She agreed.
"About what?"
"There was one star earlier when she was singing that was brighter than any others." Victoria told them, and motioned to the star near the North Star, which was now very small and dull.
"How could that have six moons?" Mendoza asked eyeing the little star.
"You don't know how far away that is." Victoria reminded him.
Don Alejandro sighed. "I need to get some sleep." He finally replied, defeated. "Please remember to pray for my son."
Victoria and Mendoza nodded.
Off to the side, Felipe had listened to the exchange. He too was worried. He knew Cassie would not forget Diego had helped her, but down inside, he also knew that a human being could not be without air for very long before he died, and Diego had not been breathing when they'd loaded him onto Tornado.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
In his office, Luis Ramone had completely ignored what had happened after Cassie had released him. He had blankly walked back into his office and shut the door. Sitting at his desk, he frowned, thinking.
Chewing his lip, he pulled out a pen and paper. Carefully, he wrote down the words she had told him.
"The secret you seek leads only to death.
When one life shall end, and another begin.
That which was whole, shall only be half.
When destiny calls you, again you will live.
And then, only then, will they learn to forgive."
Confused, Ramone stared at the paper. What on earth was this supposed to mean? Was he going to die over a secret? And what secret was it that she was talking about? The only secret he'd ever wanted to know was the identity of Zorro. Did she mean that it was going to kill him to find out? And what was that part about coming back to life? And what would only be half? Half of what?!
Shaking himself, he folded the paper and placed it into his desk. Perhaps he would figure it out later. Without a word, Ramone stood, and walked, almost in a trance, into his quarters. He didn't even bother to look outside before he wrenched his boots off and collapsed onto his bed. He was asleep before he could even take off his clothes.
