Chapter Eight: Finding Ursula
The sun was just beginning to rise when Garrett awoke from his dream. He got up and looked outside, pondering his next move. John, still fast asleep, was busy sawing logs in la la land.
Garrett walked over to the other bed and shook him awake. "Hey, wake up."
John opened his eyes in a daze, still trying to heal the last of his wounds.
"We have work to do," Garrett said. "Get dressed."
The duo rode into Potter's Mill a few hours later to begin their search for the elusive Ursula. They parked the truck at the local hotel. John appeared antsy.
"What is it?" Garrett asked.
John looked around and looked back at Garrett. "I want to get a good look around. Wait for me here, I'll be right back."
Garrett shrugged and John walked off, skulking around behind the buildings on the town square. He went down what could be construed as an alleyway and popped behind the buildings. Then he stopped dead in his tracks.
One of the men from the diner was standing there. He turned to face John and smiled.
"Here kitty, kitty …" the man said and laughed. John tensed up and prepared for a fight.
"Are you going to run?" he asked. "All the kitties I've ever encountered have run."
John started to shift.
"Yes!" the man said as he shifted to a crinos form standing more than 10 feet tall. Out of the corner of his eye, John spotted the second one, in wolf form, emerge from behind a stack of palettes. His form blurred as he swayed from side to side.
Oh shit, John thought to himself. He was outnumbered and most likely outmatched. He shifted to feline quickly and ran as fast as his legs would carry him.
The crinos sneered as he looked over at his comrade. "See? I told you they always run."
Garrett was waiting by the truck for John to return when a strange and disturbing sight appeared from around the corner. A mountain lion bolted down the street, being chased by what appeared to be a large dog. He watched this in awe for an instant before realizing it was John and he was in trouble. He hopped in the truck and began to chase them down the road.
He began to gain on them because for some reason, John never veered off the main road into the wood line. He positioned himself to ram John's pursuer when a shot rang out from behind him.
He looked in his rear view mirror and was astonished to see a man standing in the back of the truck. A head popped into view on the driver's side.
"Keep her steady," he yelled out over the sound of the engine. "I'll bag that mountain lion for sure!"
Garrett didn't give himself time for second guessing. He slammed on the brakes. Thankfully, his seatbelt was fastened.
The man in the back of the truck went flying over the roof and skipped down the road like a stone on water before rolling to a stop some forty feet ahead of him. Garrett leapt from the cab and ran over to the man. As he approached, the man rolled over.
"Goddamn, what did you do that f…" he stopped as he got a better look at Garrett. His eyes narrowed and he was gone, into the umbra as he slipped sideways.
John was beginning to have better luck as he darted through the wood-line. He could hear the werewolf behind him cursing and gasping for breath as he lagged further and further behind. He eventually lost his pursuer and ran back to rendezvous with Garrett.
The found each other near the caern and began their search in haste.
"Those were the guys from the diner?" Garrett asked.
"Yeah … Black Spiral Dancers," John replied, "malformed and twisted Garou in service of the Wyrm."
Garrett tried to navigate by remembering his dream, but it was nowhere near an exact science. They wound up going in circles more than once. When the sun prepared to descend toward the horizon, luck began to work in their favor.
As Garrett turned down the same trail for the fourth time, a red bushy tail flashed briefly and disappeared into the underbrush ahead. Not willing to look a gift horse in the mouth, he took off in pursuit. The wily fox spirit was hard to follow, but they kept up the chase, desperate to find what they were looking for.
The trail ended at a rocky hillside. Garrett and John stopped, looking for some sort of sign. John raised his head and sniffed the air. His nostrils caught a faint scent on the breeze. It was female. John followed the scent to the hillside, and walked around a large pile of rocks. A hole opened up behind them, leading into darkness.
He alerted Garrett and they cautiously entered the cave with Garrett in the lead.
"Ursula?" Garrett whispered.
There was no response in the darkness ahead.
"Ursula," Garrett said, louder this time. "We need your help."
A sound came out of the cave, like someone yawning. The head of a bear loomed out of the black depths of the hole. Garrett and John instinctively backed away.
"You had better have a good reason for waking me, Pumonca," the Gurahl said in a low, almost menacing voice.
"I think we have more than a good reason to wake you," Garrett said. "The caern here is in danger."
"And why is it that the Black Fury pack sent you to me," she asked growing concerned. "Where are they?"
"They're all dead."
Ursula shifted down into the form of an older, middle-aged woman as she emerged from the cave. "What happened?"
They spent the next few minutes detailing as best they could, everything that had taken place since the first dream sent by fox, to finding the cave.
"This is serious," Ursula said thoughtfully. "They are trying to corrupt the caern and make it their own. But apparently they haven't caught fox just yet."
"What happens when they catch fox?" John asked.
"The caern will be theirs."
Garrett spoke up. "What can we do?"
"First, we must save the caern," Ursula replied. "If the caern falls, we will fail no matter what. We must lead the Dancers away so I can try to purify the site."
"What do you suggest?" John asked.
Garrett and John, in feline form, bounded through the underbrush toward the caern clearing. The plan was simple: they were the bait that would divert the tainted Garou away from the caern so Ursula could do her work. Once they had successfully led them away, they would go to the hotel and try to get some outside assistance from the kinfolk there, (they had no idea those people were kinfolk). After that, they were to return to the caern to provide security.
They arrived at the clearing and sure enough, the Spirals were there. The two cougars never missed a beat and never even slowed down to pay attention to their surroundings. They shot right through the clearing and into the trees on the other side. The Spirals, bewildered and surprised, hesitated momentarily before giving chase.
They bolted back toward Ursula's position and skidded to a halt when they reached it, just she had told them to do. To their surprise, their pursuers ran right past them and didn't turn back. After waiting a few seconds to allow the BSDs to get further away, they executed the rest of the plan.
Garrett and John made it to the hotel a few minutes later. They ran through the back door to find Sarah Miller, the mayor and owner of the hotel, on the phone. The girl they had met at the front desk the day before paced back and forth, looking very distraught. They both jumped in surprise and fear when the two men burst through the back door.
Garrett nodded at Sarah, who nodded back in understanding as she hung up the phone.
"Help is on the way, but they will be awhile," she said. "For now, you two are the only hope we have."
Garrett and John paused and looked at each other.
"They took her," the girl, who identified herself as Jessica said, holding back sobs.
"Took who?" John asked.
"Karen, my sister. They took her while she was walking home from school. Please help us!"
"Who took her?" Garrett already knew the answer, but asked anyway.
"Black Spiral Dancers," Sarah said. "They probably took her to the caern to offer a sacrifice. Did you find Ursula?"
"Yes, she should be at the caern now, working to purify it."
Garrett paused for a moment and then said, "If the cavalry gets here before we get back, direct them to the caern," he said as his expression darkened. "We will bring her back … even if we have to die trying."