The beginning of the route was pretty normal. It looked similar to the routes in Night Leaf, a well trodden path of packed snow, dark trunks and branches of trees and brambles and bushes.
We found the first trap without a hitch, which wasn't surprising since Gamma Endo pretty much led us right up to it.
"I'll show you on the first one." He took out a screw driver from some kind of utility belt he had on under the jacket.
Ben stepped up and took the screwdriver from him, "We got this."
We did? Ah yeah... Sure, of course we did. Jonah and I followed Ben up to the trap. It looked almost identical to the one at Night Leaf, except for the coppery rust on one side.
"Is that blood?" Jonah asked.
"Nah, just rust." Ben spared it a look before returning back to the panel. Yay! He found the panel. We didn't even have to check all the sides of the trap to find it.
"Don't step into it yet." Ben warned as he put the screwdriver in.
Jonah and Ben worked together. Unlike Nix who worked the panel with one hand and used his foot to catch the spring, Ben worked the panel while Jonah stepped on the spring part when it was released.
"That's good." Hank observed, "Usually, in a group of three, two men will check and reset the trap, while the third will stand guard."
Oh, was I supposed to stand guard? I looked at Gamma Endo and Killion who were standing closer to the path. Wolves alert and you guessed it, standing guard.
I walked over, the wind here was strange, it carried the smell of pine trees and magic and sounded like it was singing... It's voice like the twinkling stars that sang in my dream.
"Alright, they did it." Hank declared as the guys came back to meet us on the path.
"About time too." Gamma Endo grumbled.
Killion just smiled placidly.
But as we walked on, we started to hear the sounds of children singing. At first I thought it was the wind, or my imagination...
"We wait along the borders
Waiting for our fathers
But they will never come home"
As we walked on, the words got clearer and clearer. The words like a spell stirring my wolf.
"Don't cry little one
The moon goddess will come
She comes with her pet moon."
"Do you hear that? Is this trail haunted by singing ghosts?" Jonah asked.
Gamma Endo laughed, but I noticed he turned his face to muffle the sound in the high collar of his jacket, "They are just children. But it's a good sound. If you hear the children sing, it means the rogues are away."
"When you see her tell her
Our Fountain needs her
To bring back River's stone."
I felt my wolfie teether on its edge. The words of the song stirring me like a magic spell.
After a while I started to notice we were walking exactly along the border. I knew this because the other side was suddenly evergreen trees, like the type that grew in our prophetic dreams. That was where the smell of pine trees came from.
And in the snowy embankment was lined hundreds of little white paper cranes.
The song was very clear now, I could sense wolves up in the trees. I could even see a flash of pink, a jacket? Or a hat?
I stopped like in a trance, trying to make out the owners of the voices that sang:
"We wait along the borders
Waiting for our fathers
But they will never come home
Don't cry little one
The moon goddess will come
She comes with her pet moon.
When you see her tell her
Our Fountain needs her
To bring back River's stone"
The men stopped when they realized I wasn't going to continue moving.
"Best to keep moving. The song has a spell woven in it. If you listen for too long, it'll get to you." Gamma Endo said.
"Sam, we better keep moving." Hank said.
But I didn't move. Grrr...
"Sam?" Ben's voice was low, his wolf was so much on the surface again.
I took a step toward the warlock forest. I heard the men around me reaching for their guns. The singing stopped.
Grrrr...
"Come out." I alpha commanded.
"Goddess, we should probably not do this." Killion advised, "They are only pups."
"Whoever is singing, come out here now!" I alpha commanded again. I didn't scream or yell, only raised my voice a little. I knew the young wolves could hear me. Young wolves had an amazing sense of hearing.
A small body seemed to drop out of the tree. And then another, and another. We listened as about eight pups appeared. They stopped behind the line of paper cranes. The oldest, a boy, looked about 10 or 11. He had a gun in his hand.
"Step out." I said.
The children stepped out. They hadn't wanted to. I could see their thin frames shaking. One girl started crying and then another. But they were only children, and had little to no resistance to my alpha command.
I looked at the boy who stood in front of the others. His hands shaking, his gun pointed directly to me.
"Put down the gun." I alpha commanded, "That goes for the rest of you behind me."
I heard movement behind me as the men reluctantly complied.
But the boy, even as his hands forcibly lowered his gun, shot it. I stepped to the side, my alpha reflex not missing a beat. It whizzed past me, and I heard Ben snarled and fall forward.
"Ben!" Jonah and the others went to tend to him.
Ben!
My hair flared up at that moment. Hitting the gun out of the boy's hand and then hitting him over the head with the flat of my palm. Bad puppy.
Grrr...
"It's the goddess." A small girl in a yellow raincoat said. Why was she in a raincoat in the middle of winter? Could they not afford coats?
"No way the goddess will wear that jacket." Bad puppy snapped back vehemently. At least my jacket was warm. You kids looked like... I'm not sure what they looked like, but I would have used the word threadbare.
"What? You expect to see the goddess in a white toga? In this weather?" I scolded.
"Oh yeah? Then where is your pet moon?" An older girl challenged. She had the pink jacket I saw earlier, but up close I noticed the jacket was tattered around the edges.
My what now? What did a pet moon look like anyway?
"Over there!" The kids pointed. I looked around. Killion was glowing over Ben. Ah, that was a bad sign. If Ki would reveal his healing ability like that, it meant Ben was in bad shape. So much for the bullet proof vest.
I turned back to the kids, "What was that song?" (What are you pups even doing here? This isn't a place for pups. But I could only ask one question at a time.)
"We were calling you, goddess." One of the girls told me.
"Alright, you were calling me. Now what?" I asked.
The girl in the yellow raincoat answered, "Now we tell you that our fountain needs you to bring back River's stone."
"Okay. Very good. Now who can tell me what is River's stone?" I asked.
"Don't you know?" The bad puppy asked, looking at me suspiciously.
"It's a magic stone like the ones that protect our forest." Pink Jacket said, "If you bring it back for our Fountain, our homes will be safe from rogues again."
"My Mama says it's blue." Another pup informed me helpfully. He was probably a boy pup with long hair, or a girl pup with boy's clothing.
"It's shiny and blue." Yellow raincoat said.
So we were talking about a literal stone?
{Rogues are near}
"The rogues are coming." I said. I saw the pups turn pale and knew I shouldn't let them meet. I picked up the gun and pushed it into Bad Puppy's hands.
"Run. Go back to your homes. If anyone asks, you shot one of our mean warriors, got scared, and ran."
"Are you going to bring back River's stone?" Pink Jacket asked.
"I'll have to find it first. Now go." I almost alpha commanded them again, but I didn't have to. These kids really didn't want to meet the rogues either. They had already scrambled into the forest.
"Sam, we need to go. I sense rogues." Hank said.
{Rogues are near}
{Warriors are near}
Yeah. I nodded, "How's Ben?"
"Alive." Killion said. He was still glowing. Quite brightly too, my pet moon.
Gamma Endo picked Ben up but then Ben kicked him off, growling as he landed back on the icy ground. There was blood freezing around him.
"Pop. He's going to shift." Killion said.
Everyone moved very quickly then. Hank used a knife to cut Ben out of the rifle strap and bullet proof vest.
Ben was growling, his face and hands deforming very much like Uncle Andre, and then the sound of bones snapping and I saw a blood covered bullet pop out.
"Bullet's out." Killion said.
"Then he's gonna make it." Gamma Endo predicted.
"Come on, Ben!" Jonah said, "Rogues are coming."
{I'm gonna make them wish they were never born!}
Woah... Was that Ben's wolf on the mindlink? I knew he had a bad wolf but hahaha.
And how did he get into my head?
Come on Ben, let's go.
Ben's wolf stood up. He lumbered over to me, his head bowed slightly in submission, his fur still slightly sticky at some places with blood. But it's hard to see, just the fur being a bit clumpy since his wolf was pure black, and his eyes like his dad's, a familiar emerald green.
I grinned at his wolf. He was almost the same height as me on all fours, "Nice to meet you!"
"Sam, we really should leave now." Hank warned.
{Rouges arriving}
S***. Hank's right. We were sure to suffer casualties. Ben's wolf was definitely bloodthirsty, but Killion... I wasn't sure how long Killion could hold out after glowing like that. And Jonah hadn't shifted yet. No, we shouldn't run into a skirmish now.
I climbed up Ben's wolf, "Let's go!"
And we did. Running on four legs and two, we returned to the old brick shed.
We heard gunfire and then it was quiet, the wind blew the smells of gunpowder and smoke, and the faint howling of wolves. The rogues retreated, the warriors sent out returned just as we finished putting away our gear.
We moved to the side to make room for them just as Harvey and Nix showed up. Harvey held a spare change of clothes for Ben over his arm.
Hank reported that Delta Simon and Beta Lucas and Mrs Beta were all on their way over to check on Ben.
"Can I borrow your bed, Harv?" Killion asked.
Harvey raised a brow at Ki, "I thought Ben was the one who took the bullet and shifted?"
"Who the hell kept him alive to do that?" Killion grumbled, "The moon is tired."
"The what?" Harvey asked, looking half amused.
"The kids in the forest next door think they've met the goddess and her pet moon. Our Alpha promised them some River stone" Killion mumbled, "And I really need a bed or you'd have to carry me."
"Oh, you heard their song." Harvey recognized the reference, "Wait, what?"
He looked like he had wanted to ask more, but Ben had returned dressed, Harvey's sweat suit looking baggy on his slighter frame.
Harvey took a quick glance at the warriors checking in their gear after the skirmish, then at Killion who was leaning heavily on his shoulder, and then he decided with all the calm in the world, "Let's get back to the pack house."