Emotionally exhausted, the expedition members went to bed as soon as they could Most of them lay awake, wondering if they should go home. Surely, they were nearly to the west coast!
The following day, Jal and Sage Elvan shouldered their packs and looked at each other. Jal said quietly, “No one has said they wanted to go home. Do you?”
“I gave it a lot of thought,” the sage admitted. “For right now, I’ll continue on.”
Now that the group was practiced in getting across streams, things went faster. It still took most of the day to get everyone over to the other side. This time they untied the ropes when they were done. They could be laid out to dry and used for other rafts. This was based on the assumption that there would be another stream feeding into the river.
“Dragging the wet ropes along is maybe not such a good idea,” Dr. Gyasi said to Jal. “We do have access to the supplies in the storage room.”
“Let’s not be wasteful,” Jal reminded him. “We could use them for snares if we need to or tie a carcass out of reach of animals.”
“True,” Dr. Gyasi acknowledged. “I simply think they are heavy to be dragging along, especially if they’re wet.” It seemed those ahead had gathered into a group. He pushed his way to the front. “What’s going on?”
“Look at these animal prints. They’re like a wolf’s, but see how far apart they are?”
“Big strides,” Dr. Gyasi noted. His mind raced through the reference materials he was full of. “Bigger than a boracaine of Iragos Peninsula.”
“Bigger than the wolves of Mazeza,” Golsho remarked.
Cirus pointed out, “The pattern is similar to that of the wolves north of Kop. They are killer wolves, generally surrounding an animal and killing it as a group. The lead wolf eats first, then the second strongest and so forth.”
“Would a pack of wolves try to attack a group of humans?”
“I don’t know.”
“Let’s go on and see if we can find a place that will provide only a few sides to defend,” Luk suggested. “Our best bet would be to get out of their territory.”
They continued onward for a few hours before stopping for the day. After stretching the ropes out to dry, the group broke into three groups. The first group set up tents and prepared a spot to cook. A second foraged for edible greens, and a third looked for some form of meat.
When the group re-gathered, a set of guards began to circle the encampment. Everyone was nervous about the tracks, but went to bed early, expecting to be woken in the middle of the night. The guard change went smoothly and the night continued without incident.
Several days passed quietly and the expedition moved northwestward. One night they camped along a stream after searching the area for food. Finding none, they cooked from dehydrated foods and using Jal’s bowls. They crossed the stream without having to build rafts and walked on. That afternoon the group came to a river that was filled with white water racing through rocks.
“I wonder what the source is,” Jal said to Dr. Gyasi, “we still don’t know where we are exactly according to the maps.”
“It’s very odd that this big of an area was unnoticeable from the satellites,” the scientist acknowledged. “Once again, we need to cross it. We’ll need to go upstream.” At first the incline seemed minimal. But when they looked backward, it was clear that there was a definite grade behind them. When the ground became level, Jal could hear a low rumble. It wondered what created the sound. Again they went up a low grade for a long time before reaching a plateau.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Jal said quietly to Sage Elvan.
“What do you mean?”
“My heart is racing and I feel nauseous, like something is going to happen.”
“I hope you’re wrong.”
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Those who guarded the campers at night came to Jal and Dr. Gyasi at the noon break. “We have an idea,” Tomau said. “Instead of having the tents lined out like the spokes of a wheel, with the fire in the center, we could set up in a triangular formation. It would take less time to get from one side of the group to the other. He drew the plan in the dirt. “If we put three places to relieve ourselves in these three locations we would have one person stop here and here, and always have that person in sight, yet they would have some privacy.”
“I like this idea,” Jal responded.
“Well thought out, “Dr. Gyasi commended them.
There was some resistance that afternoon when the tents were being erected. Several people complained that the people who were closest to the fire would have more protection. That night, while the meal cooked and wood was gathered, Badas and Luk realized that if there were to be an unknown enemy, they could draw the enemy to the fire and the tents placed in one location would prevent scattering of the fighting. Everyone discussed the pros and cons of such a layout and agreed to try several different things over the next few nights.
The darkness in the tents seemed to be lessened in the entire camp, they all agreed the next morning that it was better to be closer together. When it was time to collapse the tents and go on their way, several more people recognized the wisdom of this strategy.
As more pawprints were seen along the route, Jal’s uneasiness grew. It counted members at all the meals and tried to keep track of where each one was in order as they walked. Golsho halted for the noon meal and Jal studied the formation they used as they stood. Even as they gathered, they formed into a triangle.
Suddenly the Luminary shouted, “Swords out!“
Huge wolves circled a short distance from where Ladi, Mila, and Andi sat. The rest of the members raced to where they were. The beasts snapped and growled in their attempt to kill their prey. Many people fought with a wand in one hand and a sword in the other, defying the logic of using a shield,and trying not to panic. The pack was driven away with smash and lightening spells, along with an identify weakness spell and Luk’s fire arrows. One was annihilated.
This time, Cirus, Luk and Jal did an autopsy of the animal. Its legs were long and skinny and the head was shaped like that of a wolf but much larger. The canine teeth were longer than those of the northern wolf. Its weakness was in its sides and chest cavity between the ribs.
“Now we know,” Luk said as they finished the process.
“Yes, and now we have to dig a hole and bury the carcass,” Jal remarked.
“We do? We never did with the others.”
“We do. I’m guessing they have a very good sense of smell because of the wide nostrils. They’ll smell the blood of the dead wolf and our scent, then come looking for us. I’ll dig,” Jal said.
“You need to drink something,” Sage Elvan came to remind them. “Before we move on.”
“We need to bury this carcass,” Jal said. “Or we’ll have worse trouble than this was.”
Several people came to help with the digging. Using small spades and their hands, they dug a deep hole. When they were finished, they dragged sticks with scented leaves attached over the area.
“Now we’re ready,” Jal said to Golsho.
“We don’t have much time,” he responded.
“We can walk for two or three hours. That will get us out of here.”
When they stopped for the night, the group had gone about sixteen kilometers. They set up camp, had a quick meal and went to bed, hoping for an early start.
This time the shout for “Swords out!” came in the early dawn. “By the fire!” Everyone scrambled out of their sleeping bags, dressed quickly, and grabbed their wands and swords. A few moments later, they were out the doors of the tents. One wolf stood over Cirus and had him pinned to the ground. Cirus had already unleashed a lightning bolt at it, hitting it in the side. Ladi and Andi hit it simultaneously with two more lightning bolts, killing it.
“Three lightning bolts kill one wolf!” Ladi shouted to the others.
A flurry of bolts were released, as well as paralyze ones.
“Kleinwor!” Luk hollered. “Verplat!” He shrank a wolf and slammed it with a solid hit. It went off yipping in pain. “I’m out of energy!”
“Drink this!” Kir handed him a potion. “It will take a few minutes to take effect. In the meantime, stay here in the center of the fighting. Here!” he shoved a potion into Luk’s hands. “Give this to Morti.”
Luk stood parlyzed with fear as a wolf attacked Morti. “Verplat!” he shouted. Nothing happened. “Piljer!” The wolf looked away from Morti and charged at Luk. “Piljer!” he yelled again. He had become the wolf’s target. Morti fired a lightening bolt at the beast. The lightning bolt struck the wolf and it fell onto Luk. He gasped and had to push hard to get the carcass off.
While Luk struggled to recover, Morti scrambled to help Zalim. Together, they killed a wolf, then Morti guzzled the drink Luk had brought her. Morti went to help Verle. She had been shooting at a wolf, it seemed to be the biggest in the bunch. It seemed to shrink before Verle hit it with her last shot. It fell over and became even smaller.
Those who had energy left filled in between Golsho, Sidi, and Sage Elvan. They took down two more wolves and hurt a few others, before the remaining ones slunk off. Kir looked at Sage Elvan. It had a big tear in his clothing and a long scratch that was bleeding.
Pira and Chetan were lying on the ground. Their heads were gone.
“Oh, no!” Dr. Gyasi stepped forward. “We’ve lost two more people! I hope that’s the last of the fighting. I’m ready for things to go smoothly for a month or so.”
Jal was visibly upset and staggered to a spot by the fire. “That was horrible! Maybe we should request to be transported home. I didn’t think it was going to be like this. I’m so sorry everyone!” Jal’s head went down. “I’m so sorry!”