The plans for the trip were quickly made by Alec and Lestat, Akascha didn’t even notice much of it. Lestat had gone to the council and with the help of Alec, the council was quickly persuaded. The town soon became a busy place, food being gathered, strange instruments Akascha had never seen before were being wheeled in and she wasn’t even allowed to check it out. She had been sent away by some old guy with glasses, the man screeching about delicate objects and a lot of other things she didn’t hear right. She eventually left when the man began to see red and purple because of the strain of being angry, she didn’t want to give the man a heart attack or something. Alec had introduced her after that incident to the scientists so they at least could get used to the fact that such a young kid would be around. Akascha had already tried to kick Alec for that but unfortunately the old man was quicker than he seemed. She became quite aware of the stares of the researchers who looked at her like she was some kind of subject. Alec explained to her that she was pretty unique for being a woman in both human and wolf form and the goal of this trip was to find the reason why there were so little females and more things about their past. After all that was behind her, Lestat had introduced her to his team with a bit of pride in his voice. Including Lestat there were 5 people in the team. One was a bit older than Lestat and two were around the same age. Akascha could get along the best with the younger one named Kayaiga, who was all too happy that he wasn’t the youngest anymore and wouldn’t be the subject of age jokes. They all had respect for her thanks to the fact that she was under Lestat’s care, she had underestimated the importance of Lestat in the community, though she hadn’t really cared or thought about that much. But even though they respected her, they didn’t think she was strong since she didn’t even reach their shoulders and she looked so fragile in their eyes. Akascha reminded herself that she would kick their butts to prove them wrong.

When the introductions were finally over and the people involved in the trip had a good night sleep, the time to leave had finally arrived. They had packed everything they needed and Akascha was bouncing around, curious by what she would see and hopefully discover. Though her mood quickly grew to suspicion when she saw Lestat and Alec arguing softly about something and she noticed that there was a horse missing in front of the carriage the scientist would be sitting in. Her suspicion had been right she noticed as she caught the last words of Alec: ‘..She wanted to train herself so she’ll just have to suck it up.’ Alec said with a small shrug. ‘Hey Akascha.’ He added when seeing her. Now the people had gathered around them to see what the holdup was, they were almost as curious as Akascha was usually. Alec started to explain. ‘You wanted to have some more training and I thought since we are on the road anyway, you can lose some energy by pulling the carriage. Any objections?’ Alec asked her with a small smirk. Akascha rolled her eyes, she actually didn’t mind having to pull some extra weight. She usually had too much energy anyway. ‘Fine with me.’ Akascha said after shrugging. She stretched herself out for a moment before changing smoothly into her wolf form, stretching again in that form.

Soon she was strapped in front of the carriage and she was slowly making her way to the road. It was strange at first, the ropes holding her back but as the first miles passed she got the hang of it and all too soon she was called back because they wanted to spare the horses. They rode like that for a couple of hours, eventually stopping so the horses could take a sip of water and rest for a moment though it was more an excuse for the rest of the men so they could rest too. When the men descended, they started to pull and push at the baggage, trying to find something to eat before they sat down huffing and puffing. Akascha smirked, she had sat down near the horses and she was busy cleaning her paws, some small stones were stuck between her nails. She mentally chuckled again when seeing the men, they were so amusing.

After a while they had settled down, drinking some water and eating some bread. Akascha went to sit beside Alec in her human form since Lestat was nowhere to be found, he was probably off to mend the horses. ‘We’ll be riding for another few hours after this break.’ Alec informed Akascha since she had no idea what the distance was between their village and Sinta. Akascha smiled. Her village she thought. ‘After we stop we’ll be making camp for the night and in the meantime, you can train with the hellhound again.’ Alec said. He opened his mouth to say more about the planning the upcoming days, but he was interrupted by a half shocked half skeptical Kayaiga. ‘You’re kidding right Alec? You can’t let her fight against a hellhound, you’ll kill her.’ he said, close enough to hear their conversation perfectly. ‘Mind your own business Kayaiga.’ Lestat said, walking up from behind Akascha and Alec. ‘You don’t want to question my training methods do you?’ Lestat said suggestively which made Kayaiga bind in a bit, Lestat was his superior after all. He muttered something that sounded like he didn’t mean it that way and soon he was sitting quietly again though glancing once in a while to Akascha, a bit worried this time. ‘Anyway..’Akascha started. ‘Fine with me, it’s a bit boring here.’ Akascha said teasingly. ‘That’s settled then.’ Alec said, clapping in his hands and rubbing them.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

An hour later they would be up in the saddle again and Akascha would be in front of the sled running calmly. In the end, they had ridden for 5 hours. Nothing special happened but Akascha liked it anyway. The warriors started to set up camp while the scientists were sent off to find some more firewood, which they didn’t appreciate at all. Akascha in the mean time was calmly cleaning the small little rocks that had gotten between her paws again. ‘You can’t afford to be so lazy Akascha.’ She heard behind her from Alec. Akascha rolled her eyes before stretching herself out, readying herself to fight while Alec summoned the hellhound. Soon they were in a hot battle again, Akascha knowing better what to do and how to attack now. This time she lasted about an hour, hour and a half. The bunch had come back and had stared at the fight, they couldn’t believe that Akascha wasn’t dead already. Her fight ended with Akascha being thrown against some trees, a sign for Alec to shoe the hellhound away again. ‘Shouldn’t anyone go get her?’ Kayaiga asked a bit worried. ‘Nah, she’s just slow.’ Alec said between the bites, he was eating some meat. ‘I’m not slow, especially not when I smell food.’ Akascha commented as she walked into sight again. She dusted herself off before sitting down next to Lestat, who plucked a leaf out of Akascha’s hair. Akascha had some scratches and bruises but nothing serious, she had even less injuries than she sustained from her first fight. ‘I’m getting the hang of it.’ Akascha commented when Lestat healed one small cut that was bleeding. ‘A bit slow maybe.’ Alec said suggestive with a wide smirk. Kayaiga and a few others just stared at the scene in front of them with open mouths. Akascha smirked a little bit. ‘What, do I have something on my face?’ She asked innocently to the staring people. ‘Here you go.’ Alec said handing her a piece of meat which Akascha gratefully accepted. Akascha shrugged when she didn’t have much reply of the others, she felt a bit of an outsider when they were acting like that.

The rest of the evening was a peaceful one, Akascha finishing her dinner while the conversations slowly came back up. After that Alec divided the watch rounds, not that he expected any danger but there were always animals who were interested in the smell of meat. Akascha was luckily left out on that duty and she went to bed pretty quickly, falling asleep with Lestat’s arm around her.

The next morning Akascha woke up to the sound of men packing up their belongings. She stretched herself before rubbing her eyes. ‘Noisy people.’ She muttered before yawning. ‘No, you’re just being lazy.’ Lestat said teasingly with a wink. Akascha threw a twig at him before getting ready to leave again, this was already beginning to feel like a routine to her. They spend a few hours on the road again, the mountains coming closer and closer until it seemed like the mountains hovered over them. They stopped at the foot of the biggest mountain and they set up camp there. It was around 2 o’clock and Akascha wondered if they would be climbing up the mountain today. They had about 6 hours of light and it would be a waste to set up camp here she thought. So she changed into her human form and walked to Alec to ask that. She waited until she got his attention. ‘I wanted to ask,’ Akascha started, ‘what the plan for today and tomorrow is.’ Akascha asked. ‘We’ll have a small break and after that we will climb the first part of the mountain, the mountain isn’t so steep for the first couple of hours. After that we will arrive at a small plateau were we will stop for the night. Tomorrow and two days after that we will be climbing pretty high and we will not be able to take the horses with us so we’ll probably be a bit slower.’ Alec told her. Akascha nodded that she understood it and would be off to sit down for the rest of the hour.