Chapter Ten

Llewellyn and Axius opted to return to wherever we were going as wolves, which made me more then a little nervous as it meant we were stuck with the car that currently had a dead wolf in it's trunk. I didn't say anything as Zak strapped the kid into the car and jumped into the drivers seat. In fact, I didn't say anything for the next hour as my legs wouldn't stop shaking and I watched as the familiar sight of Quelias buildings fell away until we were surrounded by forest.

"Princess, if you don't stop that I will strap your legs to the seat." Zak was watching me in the rear view mirror. I tried to stop shaking and instantly began chewing on my nails. "That's not any better!" Zak cried and then sighed. "Why are you so anxious?" I twisted my fingers together in an attempt to keep them from my mouth.

"You mean, besides the fact you're dragging me to a place I've never seen before? We're in a car with a dead body in it." Zak sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"That place, our home, it's called Fortitudine. And what were you thinking we'd do? Just leave him there? He's still in wolf form so it's not like we're driving around with a human body." I narrowed my eyes at Caerun who had twisted around in his chair to talk to me.

"Ignoring the fact that he was a person with his own life, the fact he is in wolf form isn't any better. Quelia is strict as hell when it comes to hurting you wolves." Zaks eyes grew dark in the rear view mirror as he turned the car down a hidden side road that I never would have seen otherwise.

"Who do you think made those laws?" He said as the car hit a ditch and heaved slightly. I tilted my head at him.

"Are you telling me there are werewolves working in Quelia?" I asked. I have no idea why I was so surprised since I'd met them there but the idea that some people I saw every week had the capabilities of turning into wolves was a bit strange.

"Of course. The man who runs the bookstore, Truis Durvis, is one of us." He smirked when I gasped. That old man was a werewolf? That actually explained a lot. Now, I was never going to be able to look at anyone without wondering if they were a werewolf. I swallowed, pushing the list of people that appeared, out of my head. We still had the issue of the dead body.

"Okay, so you guys can honestly tell them what happened, but, why take the body with us at all?" Both men looked at each other, confusion on their faces before Zak turned back to look at the road.

"What do you mean?" Caerun asked, twisting around in his seat. I shrugged, picking at my nails.

"I mean, why not just leave him there? He's in wolf form so it's not like the human authorities are going to launch a murder investigation and couldn't the pack he belongs to come searching for his body? After all, there were two others in that fight." Caerun frowned and looked at Zak, who was watching me through the rearview mirror again.

"You are putting things together pretty well." I shrugged. "To be honest, Princess, we considered that. But, we have a feeling that whatever pack that man belongs to is not exactly respectful with the dead." I turned to look at the boy, who'd fallen asleep about half an hour into the drive and smoothed his hair down. I couldn't imagine what he'd seen or been through and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to wrap my arms around him and promise him that he was safe.

"You're talking about the attacks, aren't you?" The tension in the car could be cut with a knife as both mens expressions hardened. For a moment, I thought Caerun was going to punch the dashboard but he gripped his fists so tightly they turned white before breathing deeply and unravelling them.

"Yeah we are." He mumbled and was silent for a few moments. "Werewolves, in fact most of the humanoid magical community, has a belief that peoples souls are stuck in their bodies until the decompose and return to the earth." Caerun watched me as I chewed my lip, confusion pumping through me.

"Okay... what does that have to do with taking him with us? All things return to the earth eventually." The men nodded as Zak turned the car down another road before we hit a dead end. Zak parked the car and we all climbed out, I marvelled at the forest canopy before Caerun almost hit me in the stomach with the bag of things I'd managed to put together.

"We have about a half hour hike through the forest now." Zak said as I swung the backpack onto my shoulders. I couldn't help but smile when I saw the boy fast asleep against Zaks back as cautiously lifted him into the air. I stepped forward and moved the boys arms around his neck so it was harder for him to slip from his piggy back ride. Zak looked at me gratefully whilst I eyed the car gingerly.

"We'll come back and get him later, when you and the kid are mostly settled in." I nodded and followed Zak onto an overgrown path, Caerun coming up behind us. "We normally move through these woods as wolves." Zak said, almost apologetically as he pushed a branch covering the path out of the way.

"It's fine. You guys didn't answer my question." I unzipped my jacket as we got further into the forest, the exercise and lack of snow on the forest floor seemed to be assisting in making me boiling hot. This hike was not going to be fun. Zak easily shifted the boy on his back and turned to look at me.

"Depending on the time of year, decomposing takes time, doesn't it? Especially now, with how cold it is." I nodded, swallowing heavily as I began to regret not bringing a bottle of water.

"Would you enjoy being trapped in one spot, unable to move or communicate with anyone, until your bones turned to dust?" Caerun stumbled on a root and I turned to make sure he was okay. he shot me a smile and waved me on.

"No, that would probably drive me mad." Zak nodded, jumping off a huge buttress root before pausing to give me a hand down. I was grateful for that, if a bit envious. The man wasn't breathing hard at all!

"It's drive anyone mad. We believe that the longer someone takes to return to the earth, the longer their spirit has to go mad and decide not to move on." Zak paused when the boy slipped slightly and I moved forward, trying to hide how hard I was breathing, to lift him back up again.

"So, what do you do to give them a reason to 'return to the earth' faster, as you say?" We continued pushing on, moving deeper and deeper into the dense forest.

"We believe that cremating then allows their ashes to return to the earth faster, therefore they don't have time to wallow in the reality of their death." I swallowed, my throat hurting as I ducked under a branch. The absolute belief in Caeruns voice was slightly unnerving. We were silent for several minutes as the information swirled around my brain. Who could've thought that living amongst the people in my life, there were some who believed in things like this. It made more sense then some other religions I'd heard of but as the boy once again slipped on Zaks back, I was reminded of something.

"What does that have to do with the attacks though?" I asked as Zak hitched the boy back uo and started the uphill climb that we were suddenly faced with. I grit my teeth, ignoring the way my legs burned as I was determined not to fall behind or slow them down.

"Remember what we said?" Caeruns voice was low as he brought up the rear of our little hiking group. "That we found the packs slaughtered?" I nodded but, to be honest, I didn't truly know what that meant. Caerun must have seen it on my face because he sighed. "The snow was more red then white. We found bodies strewn around their home, they'd been taken by surprise. Hadn't even managed to put up a fight. The adults were bad enough but the little wolves..." Caerun swallowed, tears filling his eyes and he quickly swiped them away. I couldn't see Zaks expression but the hunch of his shoulders told me this wsn't easy for him either.

"The little ones were incredibly brave. They put up a fight. But it wasn't enough." The level of pain in his voice pressed down on me like a blanket. I didn't say anything. I didn't know what to say.

"Not only did those bastards kill them but they left them there!" Caerun shouted, punching a tree beside him. "They just left all of them to wallow in that pain for eternity. They're werewolves as well! Have they lost everything that makes them people?" Tears streamed down his face as Zak finally paused, his back to us.

"I don't think those monsters even remember what it's like to be werewolves, Caerun. They're the ones who killed them in the first place." The only sounds in the forest was the strange song of a bird I couldn't see and my heavy breathing. I didn't know what to say. What did you say to people who had seen hell with their own eyes? Zak shook his head and continued pushing on as the track thankfully flattened out a bit,

"We don't know who they are. We don't know why they're hurting people. We don't know their end goal." He paused and turned to me. "We do know they were close enough to find you twice, but that may not mean anything. Quelia is the closest town for hours. They may have just been there for supplies." I frowned, finally making my way to the spot where he stopped. We were standing at the top of a very steep hill that dropped off into a small valley, surrounded by similar hills.

But that wasn't what caught my attention because, in the middle of the valley, was a huge structure. From our vantage point, i could see over the giant wall circling the buildings below, one of which was several storeys high. The rest of them seemed like little huts, lined up in rows against the opposite side of the wall. Directly in front of us was the gate to enter the structure, my mouth dropped open at the engraving, a cursive F was surrounded by a strange bird with long feathers and an aggressive wolf, it's teeth bared knowingly as though telling me to stay away.

"Welcome to Fortitudine." Caerun announced, his voice tight. As Zak started the treck down the hill, I moved to follow him when a loud squark made me look up. A large eagle swooped in front of us and I flinched as it's giant claws came surprisingly close to Zaks head. At the last moment, I realised it was coming straight for my face and I threw me hands up to protect myself when something came flying into my face. I choked as I inhaled the substance, it burned my eyes and irritated my throat as I tried to cough it back up. Swallowing several times in an attempt to rid myself of the feeling, I looked up and instantly fell backwards on the damp earth. It wasn't an eagle in front of me, not by a long shot. The birds feathers blazed orange, glowing in the afternoon sun as it's beady eyes looked down at me. Sorry, eye. One of them was missing, forced shut by a horrific scar along the side of it's face. It flapped it's enourmous wings and opened it's mouth. I blinked. That was the bird song that I'd heard in the forest, the night of the attack. As I stared up at the enourmous, beautiful bird only one word occurred to me. Phoenix.