In his wolf form, the trip through the Dora woods had been a quick one. His destination was a flight of stairs leading into a long forgotten town. It was foggy and hard to see but his heightened senses helped him to stay on Ada's scent. The stairs were worn away, what was left was covered in moss. All his senses told him that this trail had not been used for many years. Yet this was where Ada's scent led.
"What evil spirits are working to keep you from me Ada, that they leave no trail of themselves? No matter, I'll find you," he said.
He continued down the steps and found himself in a place known only as the town of the Other-world. The town had another name once, many years ago, but it is long forgotten. The people who lived here are long since dead. Their descendents, if they had any, have probably migrated elsewhere. If they were smart that is. Cornell walked straight through the main street of the town. Around him were all half-destroyed buildings and homes. No doors and no signs of life that he could see. Something suddenly caught Cornell's attention. There was a small campfire up ahead. He could see that there was a lone figure sitting close to it. He could not see anyone else, nor could he smell the presence of any living creature. He reverted to back his human shape. Surely anyone who would brave living in this ghost town would not be frightened to see a man-wolf, but he thought that in light of the fact that this person might be the only one here, it would not be prudent to scare him off. He might need a guide after all, and this did not seem to be any sort of trap.
He walked closer to the campfire until he thought he was about hearing distance and announced himself in a firm tone, "Greetings stranger." There came no reply. Could he be deaf he thought?
"My name is Cornell. I am a stranger to these parts…"
Suddenly the figure spoke in an old rackety voice, "All are strange in these parts, except he who rules these dark corners of the country." Cornell walked closer to the campfire and it's light illuminated his features for the cloaked figure to see.
"Who are you, sir?"
"Is it a name you seek?"
"No, but I do like to know who I am talking to."
"I am but the humble ferryman to these haunted parts. I have for many years served adventurers such as yourself to venture from place to place so that they may go about on their mission."
"I'm no adventurer, I am only in search of those who have taken my sister. Her scent takes her through here. Have you seen anything these past few days?"
"My young friend I have seen many things. But I have not seen what you are looking for. Not surprising to say the least. Around these parts it is quite easy for one who spends his time among the spirits to miss the passing of another."
"Spirits…you?"
"I recall a similar adventurer, Simon I believe was his name. Have you noticed the poles with the Merman statue from which hang small horns placed at all the crossings of every lake? No? Well those are my horns. On nights such as this, when the fog is thick and the strong-hearted need to cross, that is when I answer the call of the ferry horn. It is lucky for you that no one else has called me tonight. But I suspect that is not good news."
"Why ferryman?"
"When one has lived in these parts as long as I have. One develops a sixth sense very much a tuned with the spirits that stalk the night. I tell you young one, something is happening in their world, something terrible."
"Something to do with Ada?!"
It was then that the ferryman allowed the light to shine upon his features. The skin of his face was tight over his skull. The skin itself was gray like dust; and his eyes were white as snow with small gray pupils that glimmered in the fire's light.
"I do not know. But I can tell you where her trail will lead you."
"Where?"
"To the house of the dark lord. I must warn you, it would be best if you turned back. I can feel that his children are gathering, and soon something evil will arise. I sense that your going will not bring about anything good."
"I'm not abandoning Ada to any sort of devils!"
The ferryman rose and towered over Cornell by two feet. He looked into Cornell's eyes and asked him "be very sure. There will be no turning back on the road you are taking." Cornell nodded and asked the ferryman to show him the way. He then motioned to follow him. "Whatever happens now I leave for fate to decide." They began walking further down the main street when Cornell began to smell the night sea air.
"There is water nearby," Cornell asked.
"Yes. The castle sits on a small island on the foggy lake. There use to be a long wide bridge, the West Bridge it was, and it spanned from the mainland to the island. But many years ago it crumbled when a holy warrior crossed it to go fight him."
"Him? Castle?"
"I cannot take you all the way but, there is a ship out there", the ferryman said pointing out to water, which was visible now. They reached a small wooden dock. Together they walked to the end of it where there was a ladder along the side, which led into a small ferry. The ferryman went down the ladder first. As he went down he said, "You will take the ship the rest of the way to what's left of the bridge. From there you are on your own." When Cornell was aboard he pushed the ferry along with his punting stick and they were on their way. Cornell looked back and slowly watched as the dock disappeared and was replaced by fog. He looked ahead and all he could see was fog.
"Can you really see in this fog?"
"No actually." Cornell shot him a worried glance. The ferryman smiled. "I apologize. Ferryman humor is rarely appreciated." Cornell smiled sarcastically and once again turned his head towards the fog in front of them.
"No small wonder," he muttered.
It was not long before the shape of something large was just becoming visible to Cornell's eyes. "There she is my young friend. There is your ride to the dark castle." Cornell took a whiff of the air. The ferryman was not misleading him. Ada's scent was not far off. Whatever spirits carried her off, obviously took a more direct route to this "dark" castle. Finally the boat could be seen quite clear through the fog.
"Ferryman, where did this ship come from?"
"Not many years ago a wealthy man came to these parts claiming that his family had it's roots in this part of the country. He was a kind-hearted man but he was obsessed with his heritage. With him he brought along his wife and child. This was the ship he used to travel to the castle. Apparently he owned the land that the castle sat on and meant to claim it as his own."
The ferry gently bumped into the hull of the ship. The chain going down the side of the hull meant the anchor was down. Cornell looked at the chain and judged that he would have to climb it in order to get aboard. But first he waited for his friend the ferryman to finish his tale.
"Talked of building, a villa I think, so he and his family could lead a quiet life. The elder villagers warned him that island was not known for its security. I warned him myself. But not even a gander at that ghost village back there dissuaded him from going on."
"What happened to him?"
"I don't know. I never venture out beyond this point. All I know is that I found this ship abandoned and a drift. I anchored it here in case it might come in handy someday or maybe the lord of the manor comes looking to claim it. Although I doubt it."
"Did you think of maybe finding out what happened out there?"
"As I said. I've been around these parts for a very long time and I never go past this point."
"I wonder if I could ask you to join me? Only as far as the island then you can go back. I'm afraid that sailing was not something I learned in my travels."
The ferryman smiled again and said, "Lucky for you the rich man could afford such luxuries as owning a ship that could practically sail itself. On board there are several switches to operate the masts. Throw all of them once and you should be on your way. When you get close to the bridge just throw the anchor and you can take it from there."
Cornell looked into his eyes for a moment and then began to climb the anchor chain. He knew it from the ferryman eyes that he would not change his mind. "Good luck my man-wolf friend!" he heard the ferryman yell. Cornell stopped for a moment and looked down to see the ferryman starting to move away. "I never told you what I was!" Cornell yelled. "No. You didn't!" he heard the ferryman yell in response before he disappeared into the fog. When Cornell reached the deck of the ship he looked toward the general direction the ferryman must be taking. "What a truly mysterious character. He obviously knew more than he let on," said Cornell in his mind. Nonetheless he had this ship to get sailing and he couldn't spend the rest of his time thinking about it too much. He turned to take a look at the deck. It was pretty much empty save for the giant wheel in the center that is used to raise the anchor. The deck was level except for the bridge that was elevated slightly. There were two masts and one lookout tower. Various sized crates were littered throughout. Cornell walked up to the anchor wheel. He wondered if in human form he would be able to turn it.
"One way to find out," he said aloud. With that he began to turn the wheel with all his strength. Slowly but surely the wheel turned. Cornell could hear the anchor slowly rising out of the water. When he could turn it no more he walked to the side of the hull and saw that the anchor was up. Almost as if on cue, the wind suddenly picked up and he could feel the ship moving. Cornell jumped onto the second level bridge and saw one of the levers he had to throw. It was embedded in the mast pole. It was rough at first but it quickly gave way and Cornell pulled the lever down. Above him the first mast turned clockwise a little and stopped when one of the platforms around it faced the second mast. He jumped onto the platform and jumped his way to the second mast where he pulled the second lever. The mast turned a good 90 degrees as the first one did. Cornell took advantage of the view and looked around to see if there were any other levers to be pulled. Seeing that there weren't any, Cornell made his way back down to the deck to wait until he reached the remains of the West Bridge.
Cornell looked around the deck and began to ponder the cause of the mess that was littered around him. He also pondered on his conversation with the ferryman. Now that things had slowed down somewhat, the reality of it all was finally sinking in. His home had been burnt to the ground by undead skeletons and he was now on his way to a supposedly "dark" castle. As a man-wolf he aged much slower than a normal human and therefore has been around for quite a number of years. But in all those years the only "dark" castle that he could be possibly heading to is castle Dracula. He has heard leAnads about the demon castle that appears every one hundred years. In all his years Cornell had never seen any proof that he really existed. Sure there were a few odd happenings about fifty years ago but at the time the man-wolves were hibernating. And if Dracula did exist then the man-wolves would have considered him a human problem. But now it would seem that he is real. But why would Dracula want Ada? And where did all the villagers go? There were no bodies and no trace of them. Cornell sensed that there is more to Ada's kidnapping than he thought at first.
Day was breaking and the fog was lifting. "Good" thought Cornell, "now I might be able to see the shore." Then Cornell became suddenly aware that there was a strange noise coming from the water. He looked over the side and saw that bubbles were surrounding the ship. From the bubbles suddenly shot out five figures. Cornell jumped backwards. The five figures made a great thumping sound when they hit the deck. With the fog lifted he could see plainly what they were, but he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Lizards?!"
The Lizards were man-sized and armed with axes and shield. They all hissed at him and began to circle and close in on him. "I should warn you," Cornell began, "as a man-wolf, I eat lizards for lunch." Uncomprehending the meaning of his words they continued onward until all five jumped on top of him. If their were a spectator all they would see would be a quick flash of light and then in the same split second, all five of the lizard men flying off to different parts of the deck. Cornell stood alone, breathing heavily in the center of the deck. He was mad and in his wolf form.
"Anymore?" Cornell howled.
In response, five other lizards jumped from the water. The other five who he just knocked off him were stirring and making their way towards him. Once again Cornell found himself surrounded. He looked around the deck and saw that there was a door that most likely led to the lower decks. Five other lizards jumped onto the deck and made like the others and started to move towards him. "That settles it," Cornell said as he fired a burst of energy from his hand and blew the door off its hinges. The lizards stopped for a moment, apparently pondering on this new ability their prey has shown. For a moment Cornell thought they might turn back but the lizards started to move faster in his direction. Cornell ran for the doorway as fast as he could. The room that the doorway led to was a dead end. The lizard men were almost through the doorway when Cornell noticed a hole in the floor with a ladder leading to another room. Cornell jumped in blindly. The lower room was basically the same as the above, a small hallway, except that this one had a door at the end. He made for the door and prayed that it was unlocked. Behind him two lizards jumped into the room with him just as he budged the door open. Cornell rushed in and slammed it shut. He knew the door wouldn't hold them for long and he had to find something to block the door. He looked around and saw that he was in a large cargo hold. More large crates were lying around. He looked up and saw that there was a level above him. He could see another way out on the far side of the hold. What he couldn't see was a way up to the second level. Then he noticed that the lizards weren't trying to break in. Even odder was the fact that it was suddenly very quiet. A sudden crash came from his left and Cornell saw that the hull and been broken through. Cornell stared in disbelief as a giant arm flexed it claw tipped fingers. The arm didn't move for a moment and then water started to pour through the hole it made. It was then that the giant arm with a clawed fist disappeared through the hole it had made. The lizards then pressed the advantage and broke through the door. Cornell fired a few blasts at them and they stood back a moment. Then more lizards started to come in through the hole in the hull. The water level was reaching Cornell's knees. He looked around and saw that there was a pile of crates stacked one on top of the other. The stacked crates were high enough for him to reach the second level. Cornell jumped onto one of the single crates and from there he leaped onto the top of the stacked crates. The lizards below were getting ready to leap after him when Cornell saw a chandelier hanging in front of him. He fired a bolt of energy and it landed right on top of two of them. Cornell jumped onto the second level and made his way to the exit. Just as he reached the exit the ship rocked sideways. Cornell's head slammed against the wall. He touched his forehead and his hand came back with blood on it. He was bleeding and feeling lightheaded he looked ahead of him towards the exit and suddenly water flooded over him.
"Ada…"
The rest was darkness.
Cornell awoke in human form and floating face up in the water. His head was still throbbing from the hit his head took. He threw up some water and looked around to see the ship nose up and half sunk. In the opposite direction he smiled at the sight of what was obviously the remains of the West Bridge. He swam towards it and climbed over onto it. Now standing on it he looked around to see that he was standing on a broken off section of what was once the extremely long West Bridge. There was a short gap between the section he was standing on and the rest of the bridge but it wasn't anything at all to him. Ahead he could see the bridge was a lengthy one. At the end of the bridge he could see what seemed to be a doorway through a now visible wall surrounding the island. Cornell quickly changed into his wolf form and felt a sudden relief from the throbbing in his head. He took in a whiff of air and started to follow the Ada's scent again.
Cornell was half way to the doorway when he suddenly jammed his leg in something and fell face down onto the bridge. "Arggh!" he exclaimed as he looked down to see what he had gotten stuck in. Looking down he saw that his foot was in a puddle of greenish slime. He tried to pull his leg out of it but it seemed to take hold of his foot. Suddenly he noticed a shadow covering him. He also heard and felt heavy breathing coming from in back of him. Cornell turned around watched slowly as an enormous dragon rose from the water. It was serpent-like in the fact that it had no wings except for small scaly ones coming out of his arms. By the look of the arms, this was definitely the creature that tore up the ship.
It looked down at Cornell and breathed heavily for a few moments and then with its huge arms snatched Cornell right off the bridge. It brought him level with its bright green eyes and stared at his prey, soon it thought, to be its dinner. Cornell fought to break free of its aggressive grip on him but to no avail. Slowly the dragon pulled him towards its open mouth. Cornell waited until he was almost in the creature's mouth when he fired a large burst of energy right into its' mouth. The creature howled in pain and immediately released him. Cornell tumbled into the water. He hadn't even begun to reach the surface when the dragon dove back into the water apparently not easily dissuaded. Underwater Cornell could finally see how large the dragon really was. Entirely the dragon was probably a mile and a half long. That was his advantage. Being so long it was going to be hard for it to find something as small as he was underwater. Its head was looking in another direction when Cornell began to dig his clawed hands into the part of the dragon's body closest to him. The head, he saw, immediately went above water. Even from under the surface Cornell could hear it screaming in pain. Slowly at first, Cornell started to climb the back of the dragon by continually digging his hand into it to make hand and footholds. "This is one situation where having claws for toes is really useful", Cornell told himself. After climbing to the surface the dragon was still screaming and now it was actually breathing fire in its hysteria. It's arms were large but apparently couldn't bend backwards all to well and so it was clawing unsuccessfully at it's back, attempting to grab at Cornell. Now that Cornell was above water he could climb faster and quickly made it directly in back of its head. Cornell dug his hands as far as he could through the dragon's scaly skin. With his hands still dug into the dragon, Cornell fired a large blast of energy from both hands. The dragon screamed even louder. When the screaming ceased Cornell's hands could feel as the muscles inside the dragon went limp and he soon felt himself falling with the rest of the dragon's huge corpse. It's body broke through the a section of the West bridge and slowly began to sink. Cornell pulled his hands and feet from the dead corpse and swam to the section of the bridge that still lead to the doorway. He climbed up and walked towards the doorway. He sat down in front of one of the statues that decorated the doorway. He caught his breath for a moment and then got up feeling as ready as he was ever going to be to face whatever fate had in store for him next. He felt as if he had come a long way but had even longer to go and yet his body was already aching. But he knew he couldn't abandon Ada. He owed it to her. Cornell had sworn that he would go to hell and back to protect her. Looks like it was time to prove it, no matter the cost. At first the doors did not budge but after a few rams they swung open and Cornell walked in without looking back or even another thought of turning back.