Ansuya stepped into the corridor and grabbed a torch that was hanging just inside the portal. She lit it by striking the flint stone nearby, and the torch blazed up in a yellow orange flame that illuminated their immediate area. Ansuya walked deeper into the passage. The rest of them followed her silently.
The corridor that they traveled was so broad that the flame from the torch couldn’t touch either side of it. They were walking in the most open passage he had ever been in, in the city. It reminded him of a massive indoor runway, like the ones he had seen in the movies. It was always one of those that was buried inside of a mountain to keep the production of a super secret air plane or bomber from being discovered. He looked down to see if there were any running lights on the ground to prove his theory, there weren’t any. Slightly disappointed he looked up and continued to follow Ansuya and Alexiares as they led them down the corridor toward their unknown destination.
After a relatively short walk, only an hour or so, they ran up against another stone wall. Alexiares led them off to the right. Ansuya placed the torch into a wall bracket and snuffed the flame from existence.
They were shrouded in total darkness. William didn’t mind the sudden darkness but he heard a small gasp of inhaled breath from Katherine. Was she one of those annoying girls who would scream every time the lights went out? He hoped not, at least she didn’t scream now, and now is what was important.
There was no howl from Alexiares only a slight guttural sound. There was a harsh sound of stone grating on stone. A beam of light cut across their vision, slicing through the darkness. The grating sound lasted only a moment then complete silence. The beam of perfect natural sunlight broadened until there was a block of it on the floor. William moved to see around the rock and looked at real sunlight for the first time in weeks.
He was drawn to it. The weary boredom of the trip had been worth it to see this, to feel the suns warmth on his face. It wasn’t that warm, but warm enough. Katherine brushed past him as she bathed her hands in the golden light. And even Nicolas moved up to feel the light upon his skin.
“Aceso.” Ansuya said quietly.
William pulled his eyes away from the beautiful orb of light to reacquaint himself with his immediate surroundings. The first thing he noticed was that Alexiares was gone. Jerking his head around he noticed that a dog had joined them. Doing a comedic double take that he hoped his pack mates didn’t notice, he realized that the golden brown dog that had joined them wasn’t a dog but a wolf. He wanted to slap himself upside the head.
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Ansuya was looking at Aceso who after a slight hesitation understood what she had to do as well. Aceso melted into herself and coalesced back into her natural born wolf form as well. Ansuya bowed her head to Aceso. She then produced two bands of leather from her jacket pocket. William didn’t know what they were for until she dropped one end of them to the ground. Is this really happening? Sure enough, Ansuya knelt down and wrapped the leather strap around Alexiares’s neck. The elder enforcer looked none too happy to have to wear a leash but he acquiesced to Ansuya’s touch and allowed the leash to be attached to himself. Ansuya turned around and approached Aceso who looked as if she would bolt before letting the elder put a leash on her. Ansuya’s eyes bored into Aceso’s and the alpha slowly walked toward the elder offering her neck to the leash as well.
Ansuya stood up and gave Aceso’s leash to William. He looked at the leather strap as if it were a snake that would bite him at any moment. He followed it to where it wrapped around the neck of his alpha. She stared at him hard and William apologetically winced. He wanted nothing at all to do with this plan but Ansuya had made the decision and he was not ready to challenge her in any way. Taking the lead and holding Alexiares’s leash loosely in her hand, she lead the group out into the brilliant golden red light of the setting sun.
William looked back at the majestic mountain that they had just exited. The mountain commanded the sky and was covered in a beautiful vale of pure white. They were too low for the snow blanket to reach, but he could see patches of snow here and there that had survived the early spring thaw. Those patches would be gone soon though and he knew that the vale would recede higher up the mountain the warmer it got. Still, seeing the mountain this close covered in pure snow was awe inspiring. A brisk early spring wind cut across the grassy plain at the foot of Mount Shasta. Ansuya seemed to not notice the wind as it blew her hair to one side. She walked without pause in a south westerly direction.
It didn’t take long for the seven of them to come upon a road. It wasn’t the best kept road in the world, but a road none the less. Ansuya continued walking along the black top. Alexiares and Aceso hung their heads. William couldn’t tell if it was in embarrassment or if they were trying to hide their embarrassment. William knew how they felt and his heart ached for the indignity of the situation. At the same time, they were far better off to have Aceso and Alexiares be seen as dogs then for them to walk around freely as wolves or in their werewolf forms.
Not long after having found the road they came upon a tourist scenic overlook. There was one car sitting in the turnaround with a male and female sitting on the guard rail. They were wrapped up in good winter clothing. William could only assume that they had just come down off the mountain after a day of winter sports or hiking.