Ryan was quiet on the walk back towards the town. At the cave, he had rejoiced with Evan and Lunus as they shared what had been perhaps the happiest time of their lives. Freedom, at last they had freedom and what a release that was to each of them.
There Ryan had been celebrating with them, joining in their laughter and glee, but it was different now. He wasn’t talking and his face looked a little more serious despite the fact that he was still smiling. There was a determined look on his face which glittered in his eyes like kindness, and Evan couldn’t help but watch him as they walked together through the forest now devoid of magic and mist.
“Do you think we could come back, back to the town?” Lunus asked, wanting to get him talking again as much as she was genuinely curious.
Ryan looked up at her. His smile broadened and his eyes lit. “Yes, of course!” he answered
Lunus and Evan sat the next morning on the wooden platform of the tall gallows which the Hunters had erected speedily the night before. They had been given places of honor on the stage for their participation in the discovery of the cure and sat alongside Eccord, Howard, Arthur, and the other members of the Town Council. Before them all the town was gathered. Women held their children on their hips and men lifted their little ones high on their shoulders to see this amazing spectacle of justice. At last, the curse of Banglador would be broken and paid for! Evan tapped his fingers on his thigh with nervousness. Someone was missing, someone of note, and it had begun to bother him considerably. "Where is Ryan?" he whispered harshly towards Lunus. She shrugged. "I don't know," she answered. Arthur looked at them for a moment, overhearing, but he turned his ey
Banglador was a flourishing town in the great forest of Malkouth. It was founded by settlers who carved out a place for themselves in the midst of the forest of trees. Since the time of the ancient settlers, the city grew, and since the time the city grew, the trouble came.The trouble was wolves, but the wolves of the forest were no ordinary creatures. They possessed ungodly power with supernatural strength and heightened senses. They hunted men for sport and dragged their victims deep into the forest. The wolves of Banglador were ferocious monsters with human spirits. In the day, they would take the form of a man, but their bodies would change with the rising of the moon. The men became cruel and savage beasts, hungry for blood, and the town was in fear because of them. Some called them demons and others shifting shadows, but they were known to the world as werewol
Mr. Finnegan started with a shock, and he gasped as the cold water hit his face. He seemed startled, his eyes wide, and he blinked. "If you come in here one more time, I swear, I'll...!" he waved his fist pointlessly in the air as he threw himself forward. Then, he stopped, becoming aware of his alternative surroundings. Again, he blinked. Looking one way, then the other at the two young people crouching over him. "Why, Evan, Lunus, I..." he said, lowering his voice and beginning to calm."It's alright, Mr. Finnegan," Evan assured him kindly. "The lady and I were just trying to help.""Yes, but what of the rouges?" Finnegan asked him.Evan smiled. "I told you to let me handle it.""Yes, you did," Finnegan muttered."And did you?" Lunus asked.Evan gave her the same wounded look as before. "Yes.""Well, at any rate... Evan, thank you. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't been the
Lunus wasn’t sure why she kept thinking of Evan Marshal, but she did, and it annoyed her, because the only “person” who she wanted to think of was Balthazar. Although, even thinking to use the word “person” for him sent a shiver down her spine and a discomfort in her stomach. She had to remind herself again that the wolves were bloodthirsty monsters, not people. Surely, that was Evan’s fault, also.
It seemed appropriate to Lunus that her first night should be a hunt for Balthazar. After all, he had been her personal target all along, regardless of the hunting team's nightly objectives. But it was a competition now, and one which she was sure to win. So, as Lunus rode through the gates and held tight the reigns of her horse, she kept her eyes fixed forward and focused on the shifting shadows of the trees.The trouble with Balthazar was that he was careful, calculating, and black as the forest. He moved swiftly and silently thr
The sound of the gun rang out and the smoke began to rise from the barrel as a silver bullet pierced the night. Lunus felt the kickback from the gun, and she flinched, her eyes closing for a fraction of a second, a time which would have been negligible under any other circumstances, but here it was long enough for her to lose sight of her target.Lunus had been watching the shadow beast and tracking its position by the movement of the leaves or the trembling of a branch as the wolf-man passed it, but now everything was still. There was no movement at all - not from shadows, not from any
Lunus cocked her gun and fired. The sparks of the flint burned bright like flames against the night's eternal darkness, and the smoke of the barrel ascended into the air, mixing itself with Malkouth's mist. Light hit the ominous scene as the silver bullet gleamed, catching the white of the moon and the orange of the sparks.The bullet soared determinedly towards the core of the Alpha's body and hit him, piercing his flesh and tearing into his monstrous form. He fell ingloriously to the ground, a crumpled heap, but something was wrong. He wasn't dead. He was merely wounded, and with a wo
Lunus watched Evan lying on the forest floor and tried to do what she could to help him, but he had fallen unconscious and didn’t seem to be coming out of it. So, she lifted him up, slung his body over her arm, and did her best to carry him. His feet dragged along the ground, parting the dirt as she pulled him along. It took all of her strength to move him, but she knew that they had to make it to a better place if he was to heal and she was to survive.Mal