The ground fell away on the other side and so did we.
We landed in soft pile of leaves. I sprang back up. The wolf was still in charge of my actions, but then it let go.
Natalie picked here self up. “Okay?” I asked.
“No broken bones”. She looked behind us. There where two trees with the strange lens between them, beyond the lens it was night.
“Err, I think we have a problem” Natalie said urgently.
To our left there was a large and angry looking wolf, just meters away from us. It’s yellow eyes burned with hate and it’s teeth where fully bared at us. I pulled Natalie away.
As I did I caught sight of more yellow eyes to my right. Coming out of the forest in front of us where more pairs of eyes. More wolves. From behind us I hear more movement. I glanced there. Three more wolves moving towards us.
The ring of snarling wolves was complete now. Frantically I checked behind us.
Natalie held me close.
I could feel something, in my mind, was it what was left of the old wolf? Why would his pack be acting this way. Did they know what I carried? Did I even carry something of the old wolf?
Would it be enough to stop them? I didn’t know. They didn’t seem sure of what to do them selves. Maybe the two of us made to big a target for them. Didn’t wolves only attack injured people? These wolves looked big enough to be a treat to us. They where for sure at least as big as Barney. But these where not happy, slobbering, tail wagging doges, they where wolves. And there where a lot of them.
One of them, maybe the leader of the pack steeped forward and it’s cold orange eyes looked in to mine. I couldn’t take his gaze and looked away. I…
The forest floor streaked by. Tree’s and brushes, smeared in to a dark green blur.
After so long, the waiting was over. The pack would be whole again.
Reunited with…Me. I saw my self from outside. Disorentated I span around and looked straight I my own face.
I leapt.
It had been 3 years, but as on that fateful night my mind was suddenly not alone in my head. The old grey wolf had returned.
Her. She is here! It shriked at me. I pushed Natalie away. Her eye’s opened wide in horrified shock.
I tried to grab her wrist as she fell towards the fangs and claws of the pack.
She fell to the ground and the pack tensed.
The world shook. The wolv’es mind seemed to vanish for a moment.
Again the wold shook.
It was not the world shaking but a sound. Low and loud it pummled everything around. I saw the wolves fur ripple with the sound.
The pack split. Breaking up as the turned and ran. Again the sound came. It was a roar, but louder and deeper than anything on earth could make. I grabbed Natalie’s arm and hualed her up.
Leave her. The wolf growed in my mind, She…
“Sorry” I whispered to her as I pulled her in to me.
A pair of orange eyes staired at me. The leader of the pack had not run. It stood before me, jaws open, ready to pounce. Take her. The wolf in my mind called.
Again the roar. Closer this time.
The wolf hesitated, it looked beyond me and I saw fear in those killers eyes.
I did not look behind me. I knew enough just to run.
The wolf did too. I ran almost dragging Natalie with me.
“God, Dave…” She whispered. She tried to run as well, but our legs tangled and we fell in to a small hollow behind an achient looking tree.
The wolf hollwed beifly, but he hollw was cut off by another roar.
Then silence. Either of us moved.
The came the sound of soild heavy foot steps on the forest floor. They where getting closer.
What ever it was it could be far away. I could hear Natalies heart pounding over my own deep breaths and hammering heart beat, but in the moments between the beats, I could hear it breathe. Great breaths.
Natalie’s body stifed, her eyes opened wide. I rolled over.
Standing over us was a huge bear. It’s golden eyes looking at us intently. I expected nothing but a horibble death at that point. But the bears head and it’s wide shoulders disaepeared back behind the garnled roots of the tree.
I could still hear it’s great lungs moving air and the heavy thuds of it’s foot steps. It was coming for us.
I stood up and pulled Natalie up with me. “Run” I shouted to her. I grabbed a fallen branch.
Natalie pulled my arm, but I was not running with her.
The great bear emerged fully from the tree. I waved the branch at it. But I knew it was useless. The beast must have been as large as horse. Natalie hadn’t run. Her hands dug in to my wrists.
I shouted at the bear. I just looked at me. It’s eyes where curious.
For a moment it nothing but stand there. I took my chance and swung the branch at it.
“Don’t”. The voice was deep an loud.
I stopped mid swing. “Mmm, that’s better”. Natalie’s grip fell from my arm. The voice had come from the bear. It was so low, that I felt it more than hearing it. I dropped the branch.
The huge bear approached. I moved my self to be between it and Natalie.
“I’m not going to hurt you or your mate”. I still didn’t trust it. Looking at the bulk of this animal and the size of it’s claws and teeth, there was no way I could fight it.
It sniffed the air and then growled. We both flinched at the sound.
“You do not belong here”. It said simply.
“Sorry, we…er well, it’s complicated” I told it, as I helped Natalie up. She seemed to have hurt her leg in the fall. “Okay?” I asked.
“I can stand”.
“You are unharmed”. The bear said. “Complicated, yes it normally is when people are involved. You have come through the gate to this realm and you do not belong, yet there is something, some part of both of you that wants to return to here. That is strange and complicated”. The used the word complicated almost as a curse.
I looked at Natalie. “Should we?” She asked. I didn’t know. This was a talking bear after all. If a talking bear thinks the story is strange, then we probably where insane.
“You carry…” The bear looked at both of us very carefully. “…Others, the old wolf and the…Queen. Complicated! People are always complicated” The bear sighed and flopped down on the ground.
“Err…Sorry. We came here to maybe get rid of these others. Can you help with that?” Natalie asked.
The bear glanced at her, with…annoyance. I wasn’t sure, could I read any emotion on the face of a talking bear? The bear said nothing.
I whispered in Natalie’s ear. “Is this a good idea?”
“We have no idea about this place, this bear at least can talk to us, maybe he can help”.
“Mmmm”. The bears humming shook the branches and twigs around us. “Of course I can help! That is my job, you do not belong here. That is what I must fix. But returning you with these fragments still inside is not right either”. The bear stood up.
“It is clear that both the Queen and the wolf have something unfinished. Some reason why they stayed behind in you. I knew the wolf and what he wants, he was always a suborn old fool, and so I can guess what the Queen wants to”. The bear shook his head. “Complicated, people always make things complicated”.
“So what do we do?” I asked. For a moment the bear didn’t answer. Then in what might have a been a sharp, angry voice. “You need to let the unfinished things get finished”.
“But that would mean one of us killing the other!”
“Yes, I know”. It growled. “See people complicate things. Let me think now”.
I looked around us. The wood didn’t look so much different from the one we left on our world, but it was clearly very different. I wasn’t sure we could even find our way back to the gate without help and then there was the pack, which wanted to kill Natalie because she carried the Queen.
Kill her, I will free you then. A tiny voice came from the back of my mind. The wolf was still there. I wondered how much control over my body it might have. Right now I was only really aware of it when it chose to talk to me. Maybe that’s what the wolf wanted, me to forget it was there and then to take over and try and kill her. Maybe when I was asleep.
Oh god! Why had I thought that. Maybe the wolf had heard it.
The air around us ripped again with the bears low hum, which seemed to so it was thinking.
“You must find the Queen”. The bear said. “Or more likely you must let the Queen find you”.
The bear said nothing for a few seconds. I’d been expecting something more.
“Then what?” Natalie had been expecting more of a solution too.
“Then the wolf and the Queen and do what they both seem to want to do…”
“But that would mean one of us would have to kill the other. I won’t fight!” I said defiantly.
The bear turned and looked at me for a few moments. “Are you sure you won’t. What makes you think that the wolf inside you isn’t just bidding his time, waiting for the right moment to make his move?” Did the bear know I had just thought those same thoughts? It looked like it might have a smug look on it’s face, but how would I know?
The bear turned to face Natalie. “And the Queen will be able to control you for sure, probably from some way off”.
“No…I don’t want her back in my head. I won’t let her”.
“Do you want to be rid of her?” Natalie nodded. “Then you will have too let it happen”.
“This is crazy you just want one of us to kill the other. I…” The bear growled and stepped towards me, I stepped back, but stumbled and fell to the ground. Natalie moved to step between me and the bear, but for something so large it moved very quickly. The bears snout was inches from my face.
“Understand this, your being here in my world, is wrong. It’s not natural. I want to get you out, back to ware you belong. I need to get these other sprits out of you and back to ware they belong in my world. That’s my first concern here. I’d rather you not die here, but if you dying serves that concern, then I sorry, but you will die”.
Natalie grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the bear. It just stood there watching us.
“We can find our own way back to the gate” I said standing up.
“That might be true. But can you make it there without the wolf calling it’s pack to kill the Queen? Or could you find the gateway before the Queen find’s you? And what do you know of this forest and the things living here. Would you survive?”
We didn’t say anything for a moment. In the quiet, I could hear the sounds of the wood all around us. Was I hearing it more because I was actively listening for it, or was there more movement now. Something moved through the undergrowth to our left. We both looked there, but could only see the branches of the bush move. The bear just looked at us.
I looked at Natalie. It was true what she had said, the bear was the first thing that hadn’t tried to kill us on sight. It could talk to us and we could talk back, we could reason with it, maybe? Natalie glupped and stepped towards the bear.
“Sorry. We need your help. Please help us restore things to the way that they should be”.
Again the bear let out a long low hum, which moved the branches and leaves of the undergrowth.
“I have not choice but to restore things, but yes I will help you. I do not want to see you die here, that would not be right either, but remember my world comes first here, not you”.
“Thank you” Natalie said. I was not so sure we should be thanking it yet.
For a long while the bear just stood there, apparently thinking about what to do with us. It, or was it a he, would occasionally hum. The now famillia, soft but low sound still made us jump each time.
The between this the sounds of the forest seemed to have reduced, but we both knew that there where things out there. A bush would move in the distance or we might see a quick flash of something’s eyes. But nothing ever really got close. The bear seemed to be keeping them back.
The quiet finally got to much for me. “How are you holding up?” I asked Natalie quietly. I didn’t want to disturb the bear.
She shrugged. “I have no idea. I’ll let you know when we get back”. She smiled a little, but I was sure that under that she was struggling to keep control. But then so was I. We where totally reliant on this bear, which may or may not have our best interests at heart, in a place we knew nothing about, holding the souls of two things which wanted nothing more than to kill each other, using our bodies to do it.
The wolf was still there somewhere inside my head, I could feel it, but it wasn’t talking of doing anything. Bidding it’s time?
Natalie surveyed the wood around us. “So this is the faire realm. It feels like it should”.
“What you mean the feeling of hidden terror and death awaiting in every shadow for you?”
“Yes. That’s right. You think about the sort of fairy tales that get told, they have some pretty horrible things happen in them. Maybe that comes from here”.
“Like some sort race memory” Natalie nodded. “Mmm, I guess there could be other gates and we know our one has probably been around for hundreds of years. Make’s some sort of sense. Crazy sense, maybe, but that fits as well”.
I looked at the woods around us, maybe for the first time since we had arrived here. All of the trees looked ancient. Their trunks had where covered in moss and strange looking fungi and the branches where twisted and looked deformed. None of this seemed to effect the trees however, the canopy of leaves high above us, looked as rich and green as any wood, I’d seen before. The forest floor was no different, the plants and flowers growing here all looked a little strange, but seemed to be unnaturally colourful and vigorus.
“So any idea’s about our ursine friend here?” I asked very quietly. I didn’t know if bears had good hearing or not.
“I think, it or he. Yes I think it’s a he for sure. He is some sort of manifestation of the sprit of the wood it’s self. He seems to have some sort of power over the creatures here. Nothing is coming to close to it”.
The bear hummed and looked at us. “People!” He used the word as curse. “Always trying to understand and classify. To complicate things! There are somethings that just are, there is no why or how about them they just are. Accept that”.
“Sorry. It just that we…”
“It is in your nature, I know. That is why you don’t belong here. So that is why you must seek the Queen out…”
“But that…” I interrupted
“You must seek the Queen out or let her find out. I can not directly help you with this. I can only prepare for what must happen”. The bear turned and started to leave.
“But what do we do if we find the Queen and how do we do that?” I called after it.
It stopped and turned to look at us. “I can not interfere with that, things that need to happen will happen. And you will have no problem finding the Queen, she lives in a place to north, that way”. The bear pointed with his head. The turned and resumed walking. “And don’t worry nothing of the forest will harm you and as long as you don’t provoke it. I can make no such promise of things from beyond the forest which you might meet here”.
Natalie started following the bear, so did I. “North! That way”. It pointed with it’s head again, with out even looking around at us.
It had been hours it seemed since we had parted from the bear, but it was difficult to tell, really, the forest canopy was to thick to get a clear idea of where the sun actually was in the sky. Should I even be calling it the sun? And my body clock was throughly confused. It had been night when we had left our own realm.
“This is crazy”. I said for the first time, although I’d been thinking it many times.
“Yes it is”. Natalie said looking back at me. “But this whole thing is crazy, so doing something crazy seems to have it’s own…crazy, I guess logic to it”. She had been getting further and further ahead of me and she seemed to be moving with confidence through this fairy tale forest.
“I mean do you have the faintest idea where your leading us?”
“Nope, I don’t know for sure, but I’m pretty sure that what’s left of the Queen is taking us this way”.
“What!” I caught out with Natalie. “The Queen is leading you this way?”
“Not leading as such, but I guess I can remember bits of what she knows. This way feels sort of familiar”.
“Great, so we could be walking in to trap!”
Natalie stopped and turned to face me, she smiled and put her hand on my shoulder. “She doesn’t know we are here, I’m pretty sure of that”.
“I don’t like the sound of ‘pretty sure’. She could be leading you, without you knowing”.
Natalie shook her head. “No, that’s not the way she works I know that for sure. She’s a hunter, she’s in it for the chase. She wouldn’t use traps, takes the fun out of it”.
“What? That’s not you talking now”. I stepped back from her.
“That’s what she would say…”
“But not what you would say. She’s in your head”.
“Yes she is, but no more than the wolf is in your head. I can’t know what’s going on in your head. The wolf could be telling you to…I don’t know grab a rock and crack my skull with it”. Natalie stepped forward. I stepped back again.
“I could control the wolf”. I said feeling panic start to grip me. “You couldn’t control the Queen!”
Natalie’s face suddenly changed, her smile was gone, her eyes seemed to die. Oh god, why did I say that?
“Thanks for reminding me”. Natalie turned and walked on quickly.
“Sorry” I called after her. She was now almost running through the forest. I ran off after her.
Suddenly I could feel the blood surging in my vanes, the wind rushing past my ears, the smell of the prey…
These where the wolf’s memories, memories of its own hunts. Running with the pack to bring down the prey. It was intoxicating for a moment I felt the urge to run on all fours the way I should…
I caught sight of Natalie ahead and it was all gone, I was man again. “Natalie…sorry”.
Running with the wolf’s memories had in my mind had brought me right up behind her.
“I’m so sorry, please stop” I reached for her arm. She slowed down and stopped.
“Look I’m sorry. I’m not coping with all of this well. I know she did horrible things to you. I know you didn’t want to do any of it and you where fighting her all the time and that have been ever since. I’ve not said this before, but the way you coped with all of this, the memories of the queen and what we did that night, everything that has happened since. Your just incredible, you have had all this happen to you and your still the same, wonderful lady that I knew before”.
Natalie smiled and pulled me in close. We kissed, like we used to. The passionate kisses of lovers.
After a few moments she pulled away from me. “Thank you. I needed that”.
Suddenly all the memories of Natalie before the Queen and wolf entered our life came flooding back to me. Her innocent smile, her laugh, the things she had done in the wood that night, which weren’t so innocent, her body…
I blushed. I felt like a teenager noticing girls for the first time.
I wanted so badly to hold her. My body wanted something else.
She smiled a sly little smile and drew in close, her hand touched my leg. She gently dragged her hand up to my stomach. “I…er…oh”.
She said nothing and kissed me again. I had missed her so much, since that night…
We both suddenly pulled apart. Doing this here was really not a good idea.
“Sorry”. I blurted out.
We where both blushing now. “Oh god, phew. Nearly. That was just us wasn’t it?”
I nodded. “You really do still love me” She said. “And you haven’t…er you know since…”
I gulped. “No, never. Like I said you are the one”.
“Wow, when we get back, we are going to…” She walked very slowly and seductively towards me. “…Have some amazing…” She put her hands on my shoulders. “…A very long nights”. Her hands slipped down my arms as she pulled me and kissed my just once. But that one kiss…
We where going to make it out of this. Natalie wanted me back. That was all I needed to know. I would do anything to get us back.
Natalie seemed to know exactly where she was going. I was just following here, hoping we where a, headed the right way and b, not headed in to some sort of trap.
While we walked I tried to get in the to wolfs mind, to see if the wolf knew where we were heading. It was not that I didn’t trust Natalie, I did and probably was trusting her with my life, but I guess it was a man thing, that I didn’t want to be relying on a lady for directions.
Try as I might, the wolfs mind was closed to me. I guess it made sense, the wolfs mind must have been very different to mine, where as the Queens mind, at least Natalie and her where of the same species. Well I think they where.
Maybe that didn’t make any difference with this sort of thing. I was probably trying to understand things that just where as the bear had said.
My train of thought was suddenly detailed by sounds coming from up ahead of us. It sounded like some sort of struggle or battle was going on.
Natalie had stopped dead. “That doesn’t sound good” I whispered as a long, loud, human sounding cry rang out.
“What do we do now?” She whispered back. The sounds of two voices came from ahead. One sounded human enough, the other definitely didn’t. Far to sibilant and breathy for a human. How you might imagine a snake would talk if they could. Oh god there weren’t talking snakes here where there? I hated snakes, worse than just about anything else.
The two voices seemed to be facing off before the start of a battle.
“Do you know a way around this…er bit?” I asked.
“Well sort of yes, but what about this? Can we just leave what ever is going on up ahead. I mean what if the winner eats people and comes after us?”
From ahead of us there was an human sounding cry, this sounded like a battle cry.
“What if they both do. We don’t know anything about this place”. We where both still whispering.
“Yes”. Natalie turned to face me. “So maybe one of them could help us”.
The sounds of a battle once again rang out from ahead of us. “Which one” I said in my normal voice. There was no way either one of them could hear us, unless they had some sort of super hearing, which was possible.
“Which one of what. We don’t even know who is who”
I nodded. “Well I guess we are going to have to get closer then”.
We moved forward slowly. Ahead we could see what looked like a clearing in the forest. There where two figures in the clearing. They both looked human and where locked in combat. Nether of them noticed our approach.
As we reached the edge of the clearing, details became clearer. One man with his back to us was dressed in some sort of cloak with a high collar, he didn’t seem to be armed. The other was dressed in various mismatched bits of armour and weiled a sword. The stood very close, locked in battle.
Suddenly the man in armour was pushed back, violently, his sword flew from his grip as he landed hard. The cloaked man laughed an awful sounding laugh and advanced on the man.
As he did we could see that this was no man. His skin was grey and wrinkly. He didn’t seem to have any hair on his head, but worst of all, around where his mouth should have been there 4 thick, long ropy tentacles. They writhed as the figure bent over the man.
I didn’t want to watch, but was transfixed by the horror of what I was seeing. Natalie picked something off the ground and ran in a short distance in the clearing before throwing. “Haaay”. She shouted as she did.
I stood static for a few moments, stunned by her actions. Then realising what she was doing I grabbed a stick from the forest floor and ran in after her.
The thing turned to face us both. It was truly horrible. The tentacles glisended with slime and in the middle of them was a small circular mouth, it was lined with many small, sharp teeth.
The stone that Natalie had thrown missed the monster completely.
“So these are your new friends then. Not much of a challenge for me, but they will make a tasty snack”. The thing had the snake like voice.
I stood in front of Natalie. “Get back”. I shouted as I waved the stick in front of me. The stick turned out to be nothing more than a twig really, with a few leaves still on it. I could see the man behind the thing, crawling towards his sword.
The thing laughed at me, then it seemed like it took in a breath and jutted it’s awful head towards us.
I felt something start to happen, I don’t know what it was, but then suddenly two other things happened at the same time.
The man had reached his sword. He picked it up, scrambled to his feet and charged screaming at the monster.
From the other side of the clearing came a different cry as something flew through the air. There seemed to be some sort of explosion and the thing was nocked away by the force of it. A figure landed on it’s feet just short of where the monster landed and with a quick motion stabbed it with a brutal looking sword.
The thing cried out and inhuman cry of agony before it died.
The man’s stumbled as he stopped his charge and he fell the ground just in front of us.
He stood up. “Thank you friend”. His voice was loud and gravelly. He grabbed my wist and shook my arm hearty. I winced at how hard he squeezed. I held his wrist and tried to squeeze back. Well that I lost that battle of manliness!
“I could not have dispatched this fenid with out your help. And what vision of loveliness do you bring with you?” He stepped forward kneeled in front of Natalie, took her hand and kissed it.
“And I suppose I had nothing to do with it”. The other figure spoke as she walked over from the body of the thing. She was very tall and had very pale, almost white skin. Both sides of her head where shaved and there was some elaborate tattoo’s there. Running down the centre of her head was a line of thick black hair. This hair hung down from the back of her head to below her knees. Coloured crystals seemed to be weaved in to it.
She wore baggy clothes that seemed to be made from sacking.
The man turned to face her. “Of course you did, my love. You as ever arrived just in time for the kill. I would have had it in few moments, thanks to the help of my new found friends.
The woman looked at us. Her eyes where a brilliant, light blue colour that looked almost luminous. Her face and skin looked perfect. Increblily systematical and blemish free. With her pale skin I could have almost believed it had been carved from marble. It was a beautiful face, but some how wrong. To perfect.
“Thank you. You brought me the time I needed”. Her voice also sounded wrong, each work pronounced perfectly. There was something slightly unnerving about it.
“Yes, your timing was prefect, but I think your choice of weapon, could be a little better advised”.
“Er yes”. I realised I was still holding the stick, I dropped it. “I’m Dave and this Natalie”.
“Dave and the lovely, Natalie…” The man’s gaze lingered on Natalie. Couldn’t blame him, but all the same I felt a little threatened by him. “…I am Furgus and this is my companion at arms, Mondreana. We thank you for your help in distracting our foe”. Furgus turned to face Mondreana. “Which I would have bested, had you not jumped in again”.
Mondreana was putting on a hooded cloak and I notice she seemed to have some sort of sun glasses around her neck. “You take to, you take to many risks these creatures are not to be played with”.
“You must forgive Mondreana, she fights with her head and never the heart. It is always odds an angles with you”.
“I find that I live longer that way”.
Furgus laughed. “If you can call that living. Anyway now is not the time for me to bet you in this argument again. It is the time to welcome our new friends, and ask if I may where you are heading, so lightly armed and equipped?”
“We…er” I started, but I didn’t really know what to say now. Would our story be anymore believable to people in this world than it was in our own.
“We are seeking the Queen of the hunt”. Natalie told them.
Furgus burst out laughing and Mondreana took a step back. I couldn’t read anything more from her as the long cloak, hood and a scarf she now wore totally obscured her face.
“You will need more than you stick there my friend”. Furgus said, then I saw the look on Natalie’s face. He stopped laughing.
“You are serious, aren’t you? There is nothing pain, humiliation and death there for good people such as your selves there. Why would you seek such a creature”.
Me and Natalie exchanged glances. I didn’t know how much more to add. But Natalie continued. “Because we have to. It’s not something we want to do”. Furgus frowned. “You do not beileve that you are cursed do you? That is all nonsense, Mondreana knows…”
“We sort of are cursed. It’s not a proper curse, but…well it’s complicated”.
“Complicated lives, you know life isn’t really the complicated. You only make it like that when you look for it”. Frugus stood between us and put his arms around both of us. “Well my complicated friends, let me simplify things for you and then I might just be able to talk you out of this madness”.
Furgus and Monareana lead us back to her camp. It was a small clearing by a stream. There they offered us a meal and a safe place to sleep tonight.
This really was crazy, I had no idea how far away the Queen’s palace was and we didn’t have any sort of supplies. I wasn’t going to ask Natalie about that here.
From this clearing we could see the expanse of the woods. The where vast. Downstream there where some low hills, which quickly rose up in to mountains of epic scale. The snow covered peaks where tinged pink with the light of the setting sun, except one which was a fireiry crimson, as if the snow and been died red.
The river it’s self was wide, but shallow. It’s waters came no higher than Furgus’ waist and he was shorter than me. But somehow seeing Natalie’s reaction to his impromptu topless bathing, I felt slightly threatened and intimidated by him. He clearly didn’t need to go to the gym to stay in shape.
I was not worried of course. I knew Natalie. And I guess I know knew how she might feel if I where to look at Mondreana that way.
It was strange. Even covered completely in that cloak, the was something very sensual about the way she moved and there was the slightly odd sculpted beauty of her face. With the sun now low in the sky and the shadows lengthening. She lowered the hood and removed the goggles. The glass in them was tinted.
“I hope you don’t mind me asking but you do need all of this protection from the sun, don’t you?”
“I do. My kind are not used to such light. We live subterranean lives during the day and normally only venture out during your night”.
“Oh…er why is that?”
She turned to face me, those beautiful bright blue eyes, seemed cold and hard now. “We live longer that way”. She said sharply, then in her normal neutral voice she added. “I come from lands far to east. Lands where humans do not walk the surface freely. The surface is place to test one’s self, not a place to live”.
Natalie sat down beside me, but she was still looking over to Furgus finishing his wash. I’m sure he knew she was watching him and was playing to that. I was almost equally sure that he was an hournable man and there was some spark between him and Mondreana.
“Your people test them selves regularly on the surface then?” I asked.
“It is the only way to know one self, through trails and testing” She said this like she was quoting from a sacred text.
“And you have found me quite testing haven’t you” Furgus said with a grin. Thankfully for my battered male ego he now had his top back on.
“Trying, yes very trying”.
Furgus sat down. “So now that you have had chance to eat, drink and think, can I ask you to reconsider your quest to find the Queen”. The man’s face was very serious now. “She is just plain evil. I’m sure you really don’t want to find her”.
Natalie spoke. “No your right we really don’t, but not going is not a option we can take. We have to find her”.
“I do want to respect your privacy, but when you say you have to do something as stupid as this and then don’t say why, it makes me think that I might be wrong about you and what you actually want to do”.
Furgus sighed. “I don’t want to be wrong, but your making me feel I am”. He looked at Mondreana. “So I’m going to ask you straight out why you have to find the Queen. And if you don’t answer, well I’m going to have to find out anyway”. Furgus’ voice had lost it’s friendly sound now, there was a cold, hard edge to it. Suddenly I was more than a bit worried. They where both armed and clearly very good with there weapons, we where alone here and a world we didn’t know with no sort of weapons or real means of survival.
We had to tell him something, but I didn’t really want to lie to the man. He had been very friendly and helpful to us up till now.
I opened my mouth to give him the reason, but clearly Natalie had reached the same conclusion at the same time. “We have to find the Queen, because I’ve got something of the Queen stuck in my head. She took my body over once and when she left a bit of her was left behind. I want it out”.
Furgus blinked in surprise and Mondreana reached under her robes for something. I feared she was going for a knife. I started to stand up and moved my hand to pull Natalie away, but she didn’t make any move. I hoped none of them had seen my move.
“That is quite a story. I’ve heard tell that the Queen has those powers, but how did this happen and more importantly how did you survive such an encounter?” Furgus said, his voice seemed more normal now.
“Errr…we don’t really know how it happened, well not the details anyway”. I looked at Natalie, trying to see if she wanted me to continue, she nodded slightly. “We come from a different…realm. And some how the Queen and the prey she was chasing, a wolf came through to our realm and took our bodies over. I got the wolf. Natalie got the Queen. We managed to take back control of our bodies before they where able to do anything to each other and they jumped back to your realm”.
“And you hope that meeting with the Queen again might help remove her from your mind?” Mondreana asked.
“Yes”.
Mondreana shook her head. “For one who has had the Queen in her mind, you do not know her well at all. If you are useful to her, she will keep you around until you cease to be useful. If not then she will remove the fragment of her and then play with you for a bit, before killing you”.
“Oh” Natalie sighed.
“You have had no plan at all for this did you?” Mondreana asked coldly.
“We are completely new to this realm, how could we?” I jumped in to defend Natalie.
“True. Now what you need is a friend”. Furgus smiled. “A friend who knows the lay of the land and who know’s someone that can help with the guests in your heads. In short you need someone like me”.
Mondreana shot Furgus a look of what I’m sure was irritation. Furgus started to say something, but Mondreana cut him off.
“We can take you to a place who’s properties make it possible to separate two minds. These properties should make it possible to get Queen back to her own mind, provided that her body is close by. You will have to lead the Queen to this place”.
Natalie shook her head. “The Queen isn’t going to be lead anywhere, I know that much about her”.
“We can lead her there”. I said, having an idea. “The wolf, she still wants the wolf that I carry and she loves the hunt, so we give her just that”.
“I won’t let you be hunted by her again”. Natalie said forcefully.
“But you know the Queen”. Mondreana said to Natalie. “She is inside your head. You can make sure that she finds you both at the right time”.
I was beginning to realise what I had just suggested and the more I thought about it the less I liked the plan. To be chased by her again. The wolf inside of my stirred but I couldn’t tell what it was thinking. But this was for Natalie, she was worth it. What sort of man would I be if I didn’t do this for the woman I loved?
“So I would have to be running with Dave?” Natalie asked.
Mondreana nodded. “It will give her more reason to chase you both. And you will need to be at the place anyway”.
Furgus was looking confused now, but he didn’t say anything.
“We will be there to protect you during the transfer”. Mondreana looked to Furgus who nodded enthusiastically.
Natalie looked at me. She looked worried and I felt terrified at the prospect, but Mondreana seemed sure and while I didn’t fully trust these two yet, what other choice did we have. They had knowellege and the skills it seemed to help us. It would be madness to turn this offer down. So I thought, what did Natalie think?
“Can we have a moment alone to talk about this?” I asked.
Mondreana nodded. “We’ll leave you here for the moment. We can check those snares can’t we”. Furgus seemed confused again.
“Oh yes, right. Be back in a while. Just yell if anything happens”.
The two wondered off in to the woods. I looked at the amazing sights around us, the epic mountains, the dense ancient forest, the spectacular sun set and most of the the most incredible lady in the world, my Natalie. In that moment I knew I had to do this for her.
Neither of us said anything for a few moments.
“Should we do this?” Natalie asked.
“Yes” I said simply, it was the only answer I could give.
“But this is crazy. You could get killed! We could both get killed or worse the Queen could capture us”. Natalie closed her eyes. I guessed she had just seen something of the Queens memories. I didn’t want to know what she had just seen. I put my arm around her shoulder.
“And anyway you’ve still got that wolf inside your head to. What are we going to do about that?”
“Maybe he will come out when we get to this place? But it’s not so bad having him in my head. It’s not like I’m carrying a murdering bitch Queen monster, he’s just a wolf”.
“So what’s that like for you, a very non-doggy person, carrying a wolf around in side your head?”. Natalie asked with a smile.
“I hardly notice him at all now. I can fell there is something there but even that had started to fade till we got here, then…I think I’ve picked up the rest of him, not long after we came through”.
“The rest! So was one of the wolfs that surrounded us?”.
“No. He died when he came back here last time. I didn’t know that till his…” I struggled for the right word
“Ghost?”
“…Yes, I guess ghost fits. When his ghost joined up with the rest of him I found out. He knew he was going to die either way, so he wanted to die here in his home and to deny the Queen the satisfaction of her getting to kill him. Or at least I think that’s what he planned. I not really sure, wolves think differently”.
“Does he still want revenge on her?”
A difficult question. What to tell Natalie? The wolf had said kill her, but I didn’t know if he mean the Queen or both her and Natalie. I had felt some compassion in the wolf before, so…
“He wants to hurt her, badly. Probably to kill her yes, but he isn’t an animal, well yes he is, but they do care, wolves. He had a mate once. She was killed by the Queen, that’s part of what drives these two to hate each other, but there is something else. But he understands the bond between to mates. I don’t think he gets love really”.
“This is crazy, listen to us talking. We have to get these things out of our heads”.
I nodded. We where agreed then.
I looked to the forest to see if I could spot Mondreana and Furgus. They seemed to be having an animated talk some distance away. I couldn’t hear them because of the noise of the stream behind us.
“It doesn’t look like they are checking snares does it?” Natalie suggested.
“Nope. I don’t know if I trust them really”.
“Nor do I. Particularly Mondreana, she is way to smart, I think”
“That’s not jealousy is it?” I asked jokingly of Natalie.
“No. Okay, yes she has those sculpted good looks. But she is way to smart to be hanging around with Furgus. He I trust more. I think he isn’t smart enough to betray anyone”.
“A simple, honest country lad”.
“Yes”.
“And that’s got nothing to do with his looks then?”
Natalie laughed a little. “Now who’s jealous?”
“Yes, okay a little. I saw you look at him when he was washing in the river”.
“Oh and you’ve never looked at another woman’s breasts in a low cut top , or legs showing in short skirt” Natalie hugged me.
“Okay your right. So we are going to do this then?”
“We really are”.
Mondreana and Furgus, waved to us and I beckoned them back. Furgus seemed much happier now, he was back to wearing a school boy like mischievous grin.
“So you are happy with my plan”. Mondreana asked.
“Well, not happy, but it’s the only way we can see of getting these things out of our heads”. I answered for both of us. Mondreana smiled, for what I think must have been the first time since we had met. “Good. Now this place we can take you to is sacred among my people so first I need to prepare both of you”.
Uh oh, this didn’t sound good to me. “Don’t worry it’s not going to hurt or be any sort of trial and it only takes a few minutes. But I do need to prepare you separately. Dave if I could take you first?” She beaconed for me to follow her
“Okay”. I followed her in to the woods, we got out of ear shot and she stopped and turned to me. She sat down and I followed suite.
“So now what?” I asked.
“There is no scared place in the woods…”
“What! but you said you can help”
Mondreana’s voice remained it’s normal clam, neutral tone. “We can, but since part of the Queen is in Natalie, she can’t know our real plan. If the Queen slips back in to Natalie and that is a very real possibility when she discovers Natalie is here, she can easily find out anything Natalie knows. I am the one that can perform this retransfer, I can do it anywhere that I have have the two bodies close at hand, but the Queen is very powerful and if she fights it I probably won’t be able to do this. I need to catch her unaware and distracted. Once I start the transfer, she will know, but it will be very much harder for her to stop it”.
This kind of made sense to me. I could see bits of the wolfs memory’s and we where different species, it also explained Mondreana and Furgus’ little conference in the woods. I still wasn’t 100 sure I could trust her, but I felt more comfortable now.
“So you are some kind of wizard or should be witch?” I asked.
“No, my people are masters of the mind and the power it has. The power we have is not magic. It doesn’t come from anything as messy and random as nature. It is a precise science”. Mondreana sounded as if she had defended her self against this ‘accusation’ many times. “The Queen uses magic to the achieve the same end, but what ever is used to do the transfer, the effect is the same, so it be reversed by either power”.
“Okay so where do you want to do this?”
“There is a place, a little valley close to the Queen’s place. It’s far enough away that we can gather there safely but close enough for you to draw her there. You will have to goad her to get her to chase you probably. She needs to be focused on the hunt, when she is like that I will be able perform the transfer. I don’t need to be in contact with her or Natalie, but the closer the better”.
I nodded. “So is there anything you can do about the wolf inside of me?”
“If you will allow me examine your thoughts I can try and see what the wolfs intent is. It won’t hurt if you don’t try to fight it”.
“Oookay. And you can read my mind that way?” She nodded. “Don’t worry everything and anything that I sense in your mind stays between you and me. It has to be that way for you to trust me. Do you trust me to do this”.
“Yes”. I didn’t give my self time to think about this.
“Very well, this should only take a few moments. Just relax”. She put her hand on my head and for a few moments it did feel, like…well I have no idea what it felt like, but there was a different sort of feeling. The wolf felt it to. It stirred again in my thoughts. Some of its memories flashed in my head, a hunt, the joy of running with the pack, his mate, the Queen, their young.
The it was over. Mondreana lifted her hand from my head.
“Thank you for the trust you place in me”. She bowed her head slightly. “I know you have no reason to, but you did for the one you Love. You are a good man”. Did Mondreana seem slightly emotional? She said nothing for a few moments, maybe gathering her self.
“The wolf is only concerned with two things, returning whole to the pack spirit, it could do that now, where it not for the second thing it wants, revenge. Revenge on the Queen. That could make our plan difficult, but I believe that you are able to control the wolf”.
I nodded. “That is good, but being able to use the wolf inside you to goad the Queen will be useful to. I can’t tell you how to do this, but I’m sure you have the control to do this your self”.
I sighed deeply. I was sure that I could control the wolf. Even when it had first entered me, it was only my surprise and shock that had enabled it to control me. Yes I was sure that the wolf was under control.
But what if that’s what it wanted me to think. Dam it! Why did I have to think that again?
“Very well, you now know the real plan. You can’t let Natalie know or even suspect this. When the Queen takes her again, and of that I sure she will, she will know all that she does. Also when the Queen takes Natalie again, she will probably attempt once more to kill you. You have to be ready for that”.
I nodded again. I wasn’t really sure I would ever be ready for that again.
“I know that, but you both survived it before, your love is strong”.
“What, you just…”. I was suddenly very angry with her. She smiled genuine warm smile. “I am sorry, but very strong emotions such as the one you just had shine out to me. I do not ever enter the mind of another with out their permission. Never”. This was said with such total conviction that I did truly believe her. In fact I probably even trusted her now.
I headed back to the little clearing by the river. Natalie and Furgus where talking and laughing. Again I felt a little threatened by this man. It was stupid I knew, but my male ego won’t let it go. Natalie was the only lady for me and I was pretty sure she felt the same way about me…But not totally sure.
“Your all prepared then?” Natalie asked as I returned.
“Well Mondreana says I am, but I’m not convinced. Your turn now”.
We briefly kissed as she left.
“You are truly lucky man” Fugus told me as I sat by the small fire.
“I know. Why a lady like her should love me, well I can’t figure it out. But now she is back in my life, yes I know for sure, she is the one”.
Furgus nodded. “So you and Mondreana are you…?”
Furgus smiled a rye smile. “You have no fear there my friend, while even a blind man would find your lady’s beauty dazzling, yes I and Mondreana are very much in love, despite what you might think from hearing us. I do like the way she fights”. Furugs’ face broke in to a board grin, it would seem he was recalling some moment between the two of them.
I said nothing for a while. Once again I looked around at the incredible world that we found on selfs on. The clear cold waters of the stream soothed my nerves. It was less than a day ago that I woke up in my own bed and I was here. I had no idea where here was in relation to home, or even if you could measure direction and distance between these two realms.
“It is an amazing place this”.
Furgus nodded. “Lived all of my life here in these woods. I’ve been to other places, Mondreana’s lands to far east, Cori Celesti, The isle of the Winds, Rivendel, the City of Grayhawk and the base of Firetop mountain, but this home and if we can pull this off…If we can hurt the Queen or maybe even depose here. These woods without the fear of the Queens hunts”. Furgus shook his head. “That would be truly wonderful day to see dawning”.
“You think we can do this?”.
“Oh I have no doubt that Mondreana can do it, she is the most powerful of her peoples psychics. She could be on their ruling council where it not for me. Maybe anyway, she always was rebel so maybe her love for me wasn’t the only reason…” Furgus looked at the distant mountains. The highest peaks where all that now caught the orange light of the setting sun. “…But yes we can do this. We can free you of these other souls. We have triumphed against worse odds”.
Worse odds! I didn’t like the sound of that. I hadn’t really considered that we might not make it through this alive so far, maybe because I didn’t really know what we where up against. Furgus had maybe given me an idea we where up against an awful lot. I didn’t want to have any more than an idea.
“It is done”. Mondreana announced from behind us.
“Right. Now we sleep then. Tomorrow I will show you the place you must lead the Queen to”.
