The rest of the pack followed William’s lead and shifted into werewolf form, even Ansuya didn’t want to temp the fates of this place and shifted as well.
They traveled east. It was a shorter journey to the Southwest of America by traveling east and traversing the area that would have dumped them out into the Pacific Ocean. With the other packs using the Whyte Plain to travel west toward their destinations it was wise to spread their numbers out as far as possible.
Ansuya seemed content to let William lead the pack, he was the only Enforcer in their numbers and no one had a better chance of shrugging off a first surprise attack than he did.
The air didn’t move here, it was the one thing that William never got used to. He could feel air move around him in every other environment he had been to in werewolf form. But here, the dreamy stillness was something that still unnerved him even after all this time. The mist moved around his feet but not the air around it. It made it hard for him to pick up any scents at all, and that always made him nervous.
They moved as rapidly as they dared. Ansuya was pulling up the rear and William urged them to move faster by his example.
Amanda was still a bit shocked by everything that had happened. My father trained me for this. I was expecting this. But nothing could have prepared her for the pure joy that she felt now, as a werewolf and being able to see, and smell, and hear everything around her with a clarity that made her want to laugh with pure joy. A strange sensation; that pure joy mixed with the dread and fear that the Whyte Plain was stirring inside her. Joy and fear the best of everything, or the worst?
She found her back pack was as light as a feather and wished that she had packed a few more supplies. She felt amazing but also very, very hungry. She hadn’t wanted to eat anything this morning, or last night. She would admit to herself that she had been a bit emo last night and this morning. She was truly a freak now, and her life would never be her own again, not that the last few years had been any different at all. Still, she didn’t want to be a burden on anyone and with Ansuya moving just behind her, she didn’t want to show any weakness either. If her dad had been truthful about traveling the Whyte Plain, they would reach their destination in a day, maybe less. Of course, a day was a very long time and anything could happen.
She felt it in her fur before she heard or smelled anything.
Amanda was suddenly gripped with an icy cold that wrapped around her throat. She couldn’t cry out; her throat was closed tight and it was a struggle just to breathe. Her steps slowed and soon it was all she could do just to stand.
Her eyes began to tear up and her vision blurred. She saw the rest of Aceso and William’s pack move ahead of her. She reached out, grasping at their quickly fading backs. She had never felt so alone. Somewhere in the back of her mind she thought about how Ansuya was supposed to be behind her, but she couldn’t move to see. Everything around her was getting even darker, if that was possible. She could feel her body start to go limp. It had happened so fast. She was going to die here. Her legs went numb and she felt her body collapse to the ground of this place, but her body didn’t make a sound. Tears slowly trickled down her snout. The mist seemed to rise up like a blanket and the last thing she saw was that thick white mist closing in around her, darkening to the jet black of oblivion.
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Charles reached a clawed hand up and grabbed William by the shoulder.
The Enforcer stopped running suddenly and turned around. Charles’ nose was to the air sniffing deeply. Charles looked back and saw no trace of Ansuya or Amanda. How long had they been running? When did those two fall behind? And how had an Elder been taken completely by surprise without giving any warning? As he was trying to figure out the next move, William took off running back past his other pack mates the way they had come.
Charles knew that thinking about it wasn’t going to help and followed after William. The rest of the pack trailed behind. This was not the time to point fingers at anyone, he should have known that one of the true pack members should have brought up the rear. He kicked himself for being so stupid.
William ran at a full out sprint, Rash, my friend, too rash. The only one of them that could keep up with their Enforcer at full speed was Aceso. Even though both Charles and Katherine had pledged their loyalty to Aceso, not even the pack bond gave them speed that matched their Alpha and Enforcer. Almost as if Aceso was reading his thoughts she too ran ahead of them to join William.
Charles focused on a point far in the distant dark. As far as he could tell, they had been running in a straight line, so if they backtracked properly, and if the Shadows hadn’t moved their newest member and the Elder, than they should be able to find them. All he had to go on was his instinct. This place wreaked havoc on his sense of direction. The mist moved and shifted like sand. This place was a death trap and they had just fallen into it. Being separated here was the worst thing that could have happened.
He saw William dive into the darkness and he breathed a heavy sigh. William had found them and soon he saw the two women, unconscious on the ground being swarmed by the vile Shadows. In four strides he was dive tackling a group of Shadows that had swarmed over Ansuya with Nicolas right behind him.
He wasn’t as good a fighter as William but he had learned a thing or two from Efraim as well. He fought viciously side by side with Nicolas. The Scout had actually become pretty competent as well. The two were able to double team the Shadows and drive them away from the Elder. There claws ripped and shredded at the shapeless forms, sometimes swiping through them, sometimes tearing into their forms. It was exhausting fighting them.
He was openly sweating as he fought. They had to keep doubling back on each other’s flanks as the Shadows tried to find a weakness in the two’s defenses. Charles felt a strange warmth come over him. Through the chaos of the fight, he hadn’t noticed it before. But now he felt it. It wasn’t the exertion of the fight; it was something much more calming and comfortable.