Roland and Raini stopped to check the prints in the soil. Roland sniffed the air. Raini glowed a little and let all her senses range beyond human range.

“They have been here,” Raini said.

Roland merely nodded. He felt certain as well, but presently he looked around his feet. He saw a light for a brief moment. It did not look like a fairy light. It might have been a glow bug of some kind, but he felt sure there was something.

“What?” Raini wondered.

Roland shifted his foot and shifted a leaf with it. He picked it up. He found Boston’s wrist communicator left open and glowing in the night. He examined the wrist strap and Raini made the pronouncement.

“Torn from her wrist. No doubt painfully.”

Again, Roland merely nodded as he lifted his head. Something else prowled nearby.

“Up!” Roland shouted, and he scrambled up the nearest tree as only an elf can. The wolf growled and leapt, but too slow. Raini also went up, but she went straight up into the air, about six or seven feet, where she hovered and the glow around her increased. Her eyes lit up and a light came from them that looked hot as fire. The wolf’s back got singed and it leapt back into the forest and ran, like it knew when it was overmatched.

“Faya is much better at that than I am,” Raini said, as she floated back to the earth and Roland climbed down.

“I thought you did that very well, m’lady.” Roland understood that Raini was not a goddess, but she had to be a half-goddess to be sure, and worthy of all respect.

“But what was that?”

“A werewolf. The future kind. A poor diseased human driven mad by the transformation its body is not designed to make. It has been following us, through several time zones.”

Raini nodded this time. “So now we have to find your friend to protect her from more than just three dead men.”

The leaves stirred as the two figures ran so fast, they appeared to vanish.

~~~*~~~

Bruten leaned over the side of the bank. “Good, it is still here. Quick, get in.” A crude boat had been tied to a root with some of Bruten’s primitive rope.

They struggled to get Boston into the boat, but two more punches to her face and a punch to her kidneys brought her to her knees, and then she got tossed in. Boston felt sure her nose had broken, and probably a couple of ribs got cracked, at least. She hurt everywhere but felt better when she did not move at all. She thought instead how glad she was to have Thag’s hands off her, even if it was only a temporary condition.

Bruten sat beside Boston in the middle, and he held her rope tight to be sure she had no thoughts of jumping overboard.  Grogor sat in the stern with one paddle. Thag took the paddle in the bow. The boat was not exactly a canoe, but it functioned like one, and it took no time to cast off and reach the middle of the softly flowing water.

Thag had a thought now that he was unable to exercise his lust. “But we are at the big bend in the river. The current will take us closer to the high country and the mountain village before we turn toward the Great Blue River.

“Yes,” Bruten said with a wicked grin. “So even if they follow us to the riverbank, they will think we crossed over and should waste hours trying to pick up our trail on the other side. They will never guess we moved downstream, especially since it will take us partly back the way we came.”

“They don’t know we have a boat,” Grogor understood.

“But tonight is the wolf moon,” Thag protested.

“Easy, Thag. We are not going to the High Country. We are not going anywhere near the wolves. We will keep to the river and go to the side away from the wolves when we come to the big bend.”

Thag shivered. He found an emotion to replace his lust for the moment. Fear. Clearly, he wanted no part of the wolves.

“When we pull back to the shore, can I have her, father? I really like her. I want her really bad.” Grogor was obviously not as afraid.

~~~*~~~

They all heard the howl. It got answered several times over. “Here.” Koren came to a stop. “We will not have long to wait.”

“Decker. Keep your rifle on your shoulder no matter what, is that clear?” Lockhart wanted to take no chances.

“Understood,” The captain responded, but he made sure his knife remained handy all the same.

Lieutenant Harper talked, because she could not stand the wait, and Alexis agreed with her. “So why is your village protected by such a wall. Are you at war?”

“No longer,” Koren said. “Years ago, some say for a hundred years the whole world was at war. The gods were at war, you see, and we fought for our gods.”

“The gods were at war?” Lincoln asked. He did not get that far in reading the database.

“The gods of the Vanir and the Aesgard fought because of the witch no one wanted, the witch they could not get rid of.”

“Which side were you on?” Captain Decker asked.

“We served Queen Nerthus,” Koren answered. “Specifically, her two grandchildren by Njord, god of the sea, Vry of light and fertility and Vrya of love and war.”

“Njord, Fry and Freja,” Lincoln clarified.

“You fought for Aesgard? Weren’t they in Aesgard?” Lockhart guessed.

“Not originally,” Lieutenant Harper interjected before Koren could speak. “Originally, they were of the Vanir. They went to Aesgard with their father as ambassadors of the peace while Odin picked some pretty poor ambassadors to go to the Vanir.”

“Yes,” Koren confirmed. “The peace made by Faya, but once we were all at war. Once we lived in the north. Faya and I were both conceived there. We were losing, so we ran to this place. Faya and I were both born here on the same day. We are birth twins, being born on the same day. That was forty-six years ago.”

“I would not have guessed you were that old,” Lockhart said. Koren smiled.

“My wife, Raini keeps me young.”

They heard the howls again. They sounded closer, but not on them yet.

“Tell me about Raini.” Alexis asked to keep the conversation going. She did not want to think too hard about what might be coming. “How is it that she can run with the elves?” Elves could race at supernatural speed, like a fairy in flight, though hardly as fast as a fairy. Alexis understood perfectly when Raini said Lockhart and Captain Decker could not keep up.

“My wife,” Koren said, as he turned to Alexis with a broad grin on his face. “She is the daughter of Vrya, goddess of love and war. I am the most fortunate of men having her love to wife.”

“And she is cousin to Faya?” Lockhart started piecing it together.

Koren nodded. “Faya’s father is Vry, god of light and fertility, and even at forty-six years she remains a beauty beyond compare among mortal women.”

“I don’t know,” Captain Decker said. “I have seen the Princess.”

“As have I,” Koren said. “She is certainly beautiful. But Faya is a beauty to rival the gods.”

“Think Innan in human form,” Mingus suggested, as the wolves arrived.

Seven in the pack arrived snarling and drooling at the group. They paused only when they saw Koren in the lead. Koren held up his hands to be sure he had their attention, and he spoke plainly. “These are friends of Faya, the queen. Please, we must find her. One of her friends has been taken and is in need of rescue. Find Faya, please.”

One wolf barked and bounded into the woods. One wolf stayed where it paced, to block the forward progress of the group. Five wolves stepped forward to sniff the travelers. They walked around Koren and ignored the elf but gave the humans the once over.

“They may smell the fairy weave in your clothes,” Mingus said. “That may stand in your favor.”

Lockhart, Captain Decker, and Lieutenant Harper stood at attention and kept as still as they could. Alexis pulled her hands up to her chin but otherwise practiced calming thoughts as the wolf butted its nose up to her thigh. Lincoln shut his eyes, gritted his teeth, and tried hard to think of anything he could other than being surrounded by wolves. One growled at Captain Decker, but the captain wisely made no response.

************************

MONDAY

Roland and Raini need to rescue Boston before the worst happens. The rest of the travelers need to find Faya to see if she may help. Until Monday, Happy Reading.

 

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