William smiled. “If I hadn’t, you would have been content to just lie there until this place killed you.”
Charles looked down at his wound. “What are you talking about?”
William was a little shocked but not surprised. “This place does things to you. You don’t remember saying that trying to rescue Achelois was hopeless and that you just needed to rest?”
“I remember being very tired.” He stopped rubbing his leg and shot a startled stare at William. “Where’s Aceso?”
William took a deep breath. “She’s still moving. But I couldn’t leave you and Katherine here like this could I?”
Charles stood up. “We had better go.”
“Absolutely, as soon as we get Katherine awake.”
Charles looked at her sleeping form. “What happened to her?”
“The same thing that happened to you.” William commented as he knelt to deal the same wound to Katherine as he had to Charles. He glanced at Charles over his shoulder. “Would you mind holding her snout shut so she doesn’t bring every shadow in here down on top of us as I do this,” he smiled, “like you almost did.”
Charles looked sideways at his friend, but knelt down at Katherine’s head. He grasped her snout and held it tightly shut. William shot his face forward and clamped down on the exposed flesh of Katherine’s thigh. Katherine’s eyes shot open, and she started to struggle. Charles held on to her snout with both hands but that didn’t stop her muffled cries of pain. Katherine swiped at both of them with her claws. She seemed to be concentrating on Charles and she raked his snout and face once or twice. William held on for another moment or two amidst the wild flailing and then let go. Charles released pressure from around her snout as the cries eased and she stopped fighting them. Charles was able to let go.
Katherine sat up and reached her claws out to massage her leg in very much the same way that Charles had done moments before. She looked at William wide eyed, not knowing what to say.
William shook his head. “No apologies, Katherine. It wasn’t you; it was this place.”
“How did you know what to do?” she asked.
He winked at her as a smile spread across his face. “How do you think Aceso got me out of this place this first time I was here?” Katherine nodded as she stood up.
William could feel Aceso as she moved across the Whyte Plain. “We have to go.” William took a few steps into the mist as Charles and Katherine followed him. The wound that Charles had given him and the few scratches that Katherine had landed on his back were stinging but that only served to keep him sharp. The feeling of heaviness in his limbs was almost completely gone.
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Charles and Katherine followed as he led them deeper into the mist at an ever-increasing pace. He kept a sharp eye on both of them. Neither of them showed the sluggish apathy that had forced them to stop. The wound he had given them gave them a slight limp. William knew that after they had moved for a while that limp would go away. He couldn’t help but feel a little guilty about the blood though. If the wound was too deep and they didn’t heal properly, their blood would leave a trail in the mist for the shadows to follow. Hopefully their thick fur was enough to soak up the blood as their werewolf bodies healed themselves.
William was almost running now. He could feel Aceso get no closer, but then that was the point, for him to swing wide so he could come in on her attacker’s flank. The maddening thing about this was that he wasn’t sure exactly how far away she was. She was still moving and that was the only thing he had to go on. William was wrenched to a stop as Charles grabbed at his shoulder. William whipped around to demand what he had stopped him for. Then saw the look on Charles face as he motioned for silence. William cocked his head to side and listened to the Whyte Plain. The mist almost made a sound. It was as if it was whispering to them just out of hearing. Charles had his nose to the air, and he was inhaling. William knew that Charles would not stop them unless it was important.
“There is something very close to us,” Charles whispered. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply again. “It’s over there.” He pointed off in the path that William had been taking seconds before.
William knew that they could not afford to get into a fight. “Can we move around it?” he asked Charles.
Charles nodded. “I don’t think it can sense us. We might be able to get around it.”
Katherine stepped up to the both of them. “Whatever we are going to do, we had better do it. There’s no telling when Aceso will need us.”
William nodded. “We move out that way.” He nodded his head in another direction. This one pointing almost directly toward where he could feel Aceso through the mist. “Katherine? Can you do that camouflage trick you used when we left the mountain?” Katherine nodded. “Alright.” William moved off in the new direction.
They moved slowly, much more slowly than he would have liked but if they were being hunted here then caution was much more important than speed. He kept looking back to Charles. Charles would shake his head and point to where the thing’s scent was coming from.
After a few minutes William leaned back and whispered to Charles, “What about now?”
Charles shook his head. “I can still smell it, whatever it is.” Charles looked off in the mist. “It isn’t any closer, but it hasn’t gotten any farther away.”
William felt a lump form in his stomach. He couldn’t stop his eyes from going outward into the mist in all directions. He felt like a mouse, a very small mouse being stalked by a very large cat. He felt exposed even though he couldn’t see three feet in front of him. “They’re playing with us,” he said in a whisper. Charles nodded.
“Whatever’s out there we can’t afford to get caught or attack,” Katherine whispered. “The only thing we can do is get to Aceso and get out of here.”
William nodded. “We have to keep moving.” Aceso certainly had. The closer he got the more acutely he could feel her. She was still strong and moving in a steady pace. William stepped in between his friends. “Better not keep our hosts waiting.”