Sleep actually decided to be my friend that night and consumed my brains in its dreamless black folds. For once the sleeper was up before me and woke me up as he was sliding out of the tent. Yawning, I stretched and followed him.
The Merry Men were up and a few were sparring around the dying fires. The main duel seemed to be between a woman in red armor and a man in drab browns and greens. They had attracted most of the camps occupants to watch their fight, and from the way the men acted it seemed rather clear that they fully expected woman to win.
And she did with her sword hanging in the air beneath the other persons chin, his sword lying in the fallen leaves. I was impressed, and also wished that I could speak because I really wanted to meet this lady.
She sheathed her sword, and the crowd dissipated. I turned to see what Peter was doing and saw that he found an apple and was promptly eating it.
"So, you're one of the ones from the other world then?" the lady asked, walking up to face Peter. Benefits of being a wolf, nobody expects you to answer questions or really do anything but exist and follow them.
"That I am. I'm Peter, you are?" Pan asked, raising one of his eyebrows nonchalantly.
"Mulan, Robin Hood left me in charge to scour some of the farthest borders of the Enchanted Forest since your kind is popping up all over."
"Have you found many others?" Peters tone was innocent enough, and his wide-eyed look would be enough to charm a baby bird but I had an unsettling feeling about something in his tone. He was scouting out his playing field really.
"A few, but they've all left for the castle, since Snow White and her prince have summoned them all there to regroup." Mulan stopped speaking and resting a hand on her hip studied Peter for a moment before continuing, "Do you mind if I ask what exactly that was last night?"
"After effects of being back I believe." Pan spoke and a small smile seemed to dance across his face, as if he knew more then he was letting on. He was a weird kid definitely.
"Well, for your sake I hope it doesn't happen often. Now you can stay with us until you're back on your feet. After that though I can't do much else besides offering you a horse to reach the castle." Mulan's manner was business like and she seemed to not want to linger.
"I think that I'll hang around for a bit, see what all of the fuss about the 'Merry Men' is about." Peter responded and Mulan seemed happy enough with his response. She was distracted by a man who seemed to have an urgent question for her and so Peter and I were left to our own devices.
He didn't seem to be doing anything interesting and the grumbling in my stomach wasn't going to leave on its own, and so I decided to go hunting to quell the monster that seemed to be chewing on my stomach. Padding out of camp was fairly easy once I navigated through the men. None of them seemed too interested in me thankfully, just interested in not bumping into me.
A squirrel made a suitable breakfast, and I decided to investigate the smell of water that was lingering in the air. Following it I found a rather large river that was also quite shallow. And that's when a particularly familiar smell, the scent of Peter showed up.
Curious I followed the scent to find him sitting on a fallen log by the river, seemingly lacing together a bunch of reeds. I wanted to laugh when I realized that he was creating a set of pan pipes, but sadly I couldn't do much besides exhaling sharply in manner of laughing.
He seemed to be finishing up, and when he did he cast some sort of spell on the pipes. It was odd, when he used magic I felt a slight different feeling in the emotion-bubble, like it compressed and then went back to normal. His feelings seemed to be pretty neutral, though they were on the chaotic side of things in general.
Walking out of the undergrowth I went over to where he was. I couldn't help but notice that he was wearing a cloak, and I was rather glad that he was due to the chill in the air. I couldn't do much with a Pansicle should he turn into one after all. He seemed to perk up slightly and the wide-eyed look he had when interested in something and not in a this looks like my next victim sort of way was more effective than puppy-eyes.
I moved closer and let him pet my head, unsure as to whether or not I liked the feeling. It was moments like this that made me wonder how he would react to me as a human. I was decently sure that I could pretend to be a wolf without raising too many suspicions, but also half of my actions since meeting him had been quite unnatural for an animal. He seemed to be a pretty smart boy and I felt like I was playing a game I couldn't win.
It's surprisingly easy to block out smells and noises, and so when Peter stopped petting my head I looked up in surprise to see that the boy looked rather relaxed. Glancing behind me I could see the shapes of two hooded people standing there as if it was totally normal to creep up on people.
"Pan?" a half strangled sounding voice came from one of the figures. Both seemed frozen in place, neither drawing their weapons. I didn't move but I couldn't stop my hackles from raising. Something about the situation just seemed off to me and I couldn't quite get past the fact that Peter seemed to have no worries about these people.
The second hooded figure began to chime in, "We thought you were, well-"
"Dead?" Peter offered, a smirk beginning to form, "I thought I taught you boys better than that." he said, seeming to false pout for a moment.
The figures pulled the hoods of their cloaks down, and removed the scarves around their faces and I could see that they were both boys around Peters age. Both had shock written on their faces, which was quickly replaced by a look of almost identical eagerness.
"So what's the plan now?"
"Why did the curse not work?"
"Are the other lost boys here also?" a flurry of questions seemed to fall from their mouths which stopped with a single hand movement from Peter. He gracefully left the log and something in his eyes made my heart want to skip a few beats. It was a dark look, like a highly venomous snakes.
"I think it's time that we played another game." Peters words seemed familiar to the boys and I suddenly felt rather unsafe. Maybe I had underestimated just how dangerous of a situation I had gotten myself into.