Chapter 2
1900 Words
2
The heavy door swung open under his great strength and revealed to us a whole new world, but it wasn’t one I wanted to take a magic carpet ride through. Two dozen wide marble steps led down to bare brown earth that was an ancient road. On either side of the road were dead brush and trees. Their bare, black branches brushed against the rough stone blocks that made up the front of the Old Den. The trees were spaced evenly apart and created a lane of depression. The plateau of death was a half mile wide, and at either end was a steep drop to another steppe, of which I could only see the tops of the tall trees. Stone staircases led down to the lower levels. The road had a gentle slope that led down several miles to a small harbor in the distance. There were a half dozen long docks, but only two boats docked at it.
The feeling overall was one of decaying grandness. The road was twenty yards wide and must have held grand processions. The dead trees were tall and at one time well-pruned, and I noticed pits at the bottom that showed they once bore fruit. The bushes were in front of the trees and lined the road. Some of them still showed some evidence of their berry-producing past.
“Is this place dying?” I whispered. The solemnity of the area didn’t allow any louder a voice than that.
“Yes. The dirt’s nutrients rapidly depleted a hundred years ago,” Erik told me.
“Ever hear of fertilizer?”
He led us down the steps and onto the dusty road. “All of them were tried, but none worked.”
Teagan stood twenty yards down the road. His cloak was pulled back to reveal a long sword and an ancient revolver. In any other hands I would’ve thought such an old weapon useless, but I suspected that in Teagan’s possession it was more dangerous than a machine gun.
I chanced a look back and my mouth dropped open. This side of the Old Den was built like a medieval castle. The rough blocks rose a hundred feet into the air and stopped at the top where I glimpsed battlements. On either side of the entrance and fifty feet of the road were rounded towers that jutted out from the stone walls. The walls above the wide stairs were punctuated only by tall, narrow windows with arched tops. The windows were adorned with broken stained glass.
I stopped and pointed at the glass. “Who are they?”
Erik didn’t stop, but instead made his way to Teagan. “Past kings, but we should hurry. The boat’s waiting for us.”
I couldn’t help but linger on that empty road before that large edifice of fallen pride. I don’t know why, but it tugged at my heart to see such a once-grand place become a depressing mockery of its former self. Those broken stain-glass portraits stared down at me as though pleading for something to be done before they completely perished.
A heavy hand fell on my shoulder, and I started and spun around. I found myself staring into Greg’s long face, and I could see a reflection of my sadness in his eyes.
His voice was quiet, but among that dead I heard it perfectly. “They call to you, don’t they?” he asked me.
“‘They?’” I repeated.
He nodded at the windows. “The kings.”
I followed his gaze and shuddered. “How can they? They’re just glass-” I paused and turned to Greg. “Right?”
Greg cast his eyes on the many faces above us. “The Master used to hear them, too, when he was young, but he stopped listening when his father caught him out here and beat him.”
I frowned. “Why couldn’t he be out here?”
“Lord Greenwood warned of loose stones, but perhaps he heard their voices, too,” Greg mused.
I blinked at the old servant. “What voices?”
He nodded at the broken glass above us. “The wind plays some strange tricks with those broken panels. Sometimes it’s almost like you can hear them calling to you.”
I felt the color drain from my face. “They. . .they aren’t alive, are they?” I asked him.
“What’s the matter?” Erik called from a dozen yards down the path from where he stood with Teagan.
“Nothing, Master,” Greg replied. He took my arm and led me away from the wall and those peering eyes. “We should obey the Master,” he told me.
“But are they?” I persisted.
Greg smiled. “What do you think?”
I leaned back and frowned. “I think you’re nuts.”
He chuckled and bowed his head. “Thank you for the compliment.”
By this time we reached Teagan and Erik. Erik looked between us and the towering walls behind us. “Don’t dawdle again. Only one of the assassins died in the cavern,” he reminded me.
“Yes, Mother,” I teased. I glanced past Erik at the road. The way stretched out before us and there were miles between the docks and us. My feet ached just looking at it. “Got any horses around here?” I asked him.
“No, and the way isn’t too far,” Erik replied.
I snorted. “Speak for yourself. . .” I muttered.
Erik ignored me and turned to Teagan. “Take the rear and I will take the lead.”
Teagan bowed and stepped in back of Greg and me. Erik marched us down the long, winding, descending road.
I glanced back to Teagan. “Where’s Lillian?”
“Safe,” he assured me. “She sends her regards, and pleads for you to be careful.”
I grinned and gave him a salute. “Will do. That is, if I don’t get killed.”
“Then that would certainly be breaking your word,” he pointed out.
I shrugged. “There’s just no stopping some assassination attempts.”
“If there are any more attempts than Gethin will reveal his sphere of influence,” Erik spoke up.
“That’ll be very comforting for my dead body,” I quipped.
“They will only be attempts,” he promised.
I leaned to the side to look past him to the road. “Like there’ll be only a few short miles to the dock?” I teased.
“They would be shorter if we sprinted, Master,” Greg spoke up.
“Can she sprint so soon?” Teagan wondered.
“Who? Me?” I asked him.
Erik glanced over his shoulder and studied me. “I don’t believe so. She will have to be carried.”
I scowled back at him. “Oh no. No carrying for me. I’ve got two legs and I’m-”
“I can carry her, Master,” Greg offered.
“Nobody’s going to-”
“I will do the chore,” Erik insisted.
“I said nobody’s going-”
Erik spun around and swept me into his arms. “Hold onto me,” he advised me.
“Put me doooowwwnnnn!” I screamed as he turned to face down the road.
Erik rushed forward with such velocity that I wondered if this was what astronauts felt like in the gravity capsules. It certainly felt like one of those mad carnival rides where you’re pressed against the walls of the spinning machine, but without the fun. I clutched onto him as we swept over the rocky, uneven ground. Yards were covered in a second, and my face was covered by my now-annoying cloak. It whipped my face like a slave-driver and I had a hard time pulling the corners out of my nose.
“Mind going a little slower?” I yelled at my mate.
“Yes,” he shouted back.
I cringed when we flew over a sizable pothole in the road. “Thanks!”
The miles were covered in half the time my slow legs would’ve needed. We crested the final hill and I had my first clear look of the grand docks of the ruling island. It was depressing. The long docks were in the same disrepair as the one on the mainland. Old posts rose from the murky waters as silent witnesses to past glories. The planks between them were long gone, washed away by waves and time. Thirty yards beyond the ruins lay the heavy fog that perpetually surrounded the islands.
Only one dock was in any condition to walk on, and on that one we found a small yacht with a cabin. The steering controls were above the cabin, and the bow had a few boxes of what I guessed was provisions.
“Is that the only boat you guys have?” I asked Erik.
“There was once a fleet, but it was in great disrepair by the time the kingship was revoked, so they scuttled the ships near the island on which they were built,” Erik told me.
We also found Lady Greenwood waiting for us on the dock beside the boat. She wore an emerald-green cloak and a smile on her face.
Teagan passed her with a bow of his head and walked over to a man who held the ropes to the boat. Erik walked up to his mother and there was a frown on his lips.
“What are you doing here?” he questioned her.
“Can’t a mother see her children off on a dangerous quest?” she wondered.
Erik pursed his lips and shook his head. “The island is no longer safe. You could have been-”
Lady Greenwood held up her hand and shook her head. “I know the dangers, but I refuse to live in fear. The Council does enough fearing for all of us.” She looked past Erik at me and studied my cloak. The Lady swept past him and grasped my hands in hers. “I see Gregory’s craftsmanship hasn’t waned. You look wonderful.”
I smiled and shrugged. “It’ll work.”
“Mother, I must insist you return to the Den,” Erik persisted.
Lady Greenwood sighed and dropped my hands. She turned to her only child with a resigned smile. “I will return to the Den with Teagan.” She stepped towards Erik and gently laid a hand on his cheek. Her eyes looked into his and searched for something. “You will be careful, won’t you?”
Erik smiled and clasped her hand in his. “As careful as we can be,” he promised her.
She chuckled. “That’s no promise to make to your worried mother.”
“It’s the only promise I can give,” he returned.
Lady Greenwood let slip her hand and sighed. “You’re very hard on your mother. I haven’t come only to wring promises from you.” She reached into her cloak and brought forth a small booklet. The worn, frail cover spoke of a great age. She held out the booklet to Erik, who took it with a raised eyebrow. “A little something for you to read on the trip.”
Erik glanced between the book and his mother’s smiling face. “This isn’t for pleasure,” he reminded her.
“Nor is the reading, but get to it when you have the time,” she insisted. She turned to me and pulled a small bag of skin from her cloak. “And this is my gift to you. I hope you won’t have use for them, but if you do then I hope they will get you out of trouble.”
I took the bag and opened the drawstring mouth. I peeked inside and wrinkled my nose. “Dried meat?” I asked her.
She smiled and nodded. “Yes, but not for you to consume. Give it to friends when you’re in need.”
“Other werewolves?” I guessed.
“You’ll know when the time comes,” she told me. The Lady turned her attention to Greg and removed a smaller bag of skin from her cloak. “And a few more beans from my own collection.”
Greg took the gift and bowed his head. “A thousand full moons to you, My Lady.”
“The winds will change against you if you don’t hurry,” Teagan announced from the ropes.
Lady Greenwood bowed her head to us and took a step back. “A safe journey, and may your wolf protect you.”
“We’ll see you soon,” Erik promised as he set his hand under my arm and guided me towards the boat.
- Writer
