CHAPTER 7

The first few days of their trek back to Russel’s kingdom went on without too many delays or trouble. Serk went riderless most days because despite him offering the horse to Lola, she elected to walk, telling him it would do her good to get some exercise before their training officially started. Russel ended up agreeing with her and walked alongside the horse with her. He wasn’t exactly on a deadline so he didn’t feel any particular rush to get back home. He did, however, want to get out of the human lands before word of what happened at Gloucester spread too far. Lola kept her mind occupied with conversations with Russel as well as fantasies of revenge murder. She recognized that the revenge fantasies were most likely not healthy for her mind, but she didn’t care. At the beginning of their third day, she got woken up by Russel very early in the morning. “Two things,” he told her as she rubbed the drowsiness from her eyes. “First, get ready. We start your training in five minutes. Second, after that, we will have to head into the next town for supplies. I only had enough for myself and Serk originally. We’ll have to get some more if you don’t want to die of starvation or thirst.” “Yeah,” she murmured, pushing herself up and out of the bedroll Russel had given her to sleep on. “Let’s not do that. Sounds like an awful way to die.” “If worst comes to worst, I can always hunt something down but that can take up a lot of time. I think getting out of Alcroft as soon as possible will be more beneficial to us. I’m sure news of what happened will spread if it hasn’t already. King Harrison will send trained investigators to the town to find out what happened. They’ll be able to piece things together quickly.” He held out a hand and helped her to her feet. “I don’t want to be here when they do. Once they figure out werewolves had something to do with it, they’ll be searching for any wolves in their country and will not be kind to those they happen to find. Harrison is a fair king but ruthless when it comes to those that commit crimes in his country.” “That makes sense,” she said although in her just-woke-up sleep haze, she only comprehended about every three or four words. Despite that, she was about to piece together what he meant. And he was right. King Harrison was known as a fair and just man with reasonable taxes, laws, and wages, but he did not tolerate crime. Even petty crime. There had been numerous stories spread throughout the kingdom about it. She had even heard once that a child caught stealing an apple had been sentenced to have his right hand chopped off at the wrist. “Good,” Russel told her. “Also, you’re very slow in the morning. You’ll need to work on that.” Offended, she shot him a dark look. “I told you before we even got started,” he said, raising one eyebrow at her. “You’re going to hate me before we’re done.” “Well, you are starting off right on track then,” she told him, her voice heavy with sarcasm. Russel laughed that off, rummaged through his pack, and pulled out some dried meat. He tossed a handful to her while he chewed on a piece himself. “Eat,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting company so I don’t have much in the way of breakfast. This should hold you until we can find a village and get some food there.” Lola caught the little bundle of meat, untied it, and scarfed them down in short order. She hadn’t realized she was that hungry until the first bits hit her tongue. After they were finished, he had her roll up their bedrolls and blankets and tie them onto Serk’s pack. As she was doing that, something strange happened. She felt a cold sensation spreading through her, starting at the back of her neck and spreading all the way down her spine. It was a strange sensation and she could only remember it happening once before. She felt the exact same thing right before Drake and his werewolves attacked her village. It’s what made her race back home in the first place. She turned, the sensation so strong she couldn’t ignore it, and found Russel stalking toward her, hands up as if he was about to grab her. He stopped midway through though, a look of awkward incomprehension on his face. “What are you doing?” she screamed at him, her heart thudding in her chest. The weird sensation was already starting to dissipate. “I was trying to get a start on your training,” he told her, looking and feeling dumb. “The first lesson was supposed to be on effective ways to break free from a sudden assault. You kind of ruined that by turning around though.” “Uh…,” she stammered. “Sorry, I guess. But how about we don’t start with surprise attacks? You almost scared me to death.” “A fair point,” he said. “But, just to be clear, I did say no questioning me. The first rule of learning to protect yourself is that an attack can literally come at you from anywhere and at any time.” He didn’t look happy with her but he shrugged off the whole thing and brushed it aside. Besides, he supposed she did have a point considering what happened to her. “You seem to have a good handle on that at least,” he told her. “How did you know I was planning to come at you?” “I don’t know,” she said, not bothering with telling him about the weird sensation she had felt. “I don’t even know if I really did. I just turned around.” “We’ll dismiss this lesson for the time being then,” he said. “We can revisit it at a later time. Since you are still in the middle of dealing with everything that happened to you, let’s start with doing some exercises. These are crucial. They will hone your body and get it in fighting shape.” She eyed him a little at that, her lips a thin line. “You don’t think my shape is adequate?” she asked. “No,” he told her, flatly. “You’re a farmer’s daughter. Your shape is built for farming. While that may have served you well in that endeavor, it is a far cry from what you will need moving forward. Understand?” “Fine,” she muttered. “Okay. Now let's start with pushups,” he said, that devilish grin on his face again. This time, however, Lola didn’t find it alluring. She found it annoying. They spent the next three hours training and by the time they were done, Lola was exhausted. To compound on the annoyance, Russel was doing just fine. He wasn’t even breathing hard even though he did every exercise right along with her. She was also sweaty, still flighty from her mud bath the day before, and achy. She decided to head down to a small pond to wash up. She didn’t love the chill to its waters but getting clean was worth the price. The filth had been just another harsh reminder of yesterday’s events and she already had enough of those rolling around her mind. She had no need for more. When she was finished, she went back to their campsite. Russel was there waiting for her. “According to the map, there should be a town maybe three or four miles due north,” he said. “We can get there right as dusk hits if we make good time.” “That’s right. It’s called Howlton. They’ll have what we need there,” she told him, confident. Howlton was actually a bit bigger than Gloucester had been. He nodded to her and they spent the next fifteen minutes packing up their gear. When they were done, they headed out. Lola took advantage of Serk this time. Due to the intense exercise routine Russel put her under, she feared she wouldn’t be able to keep up with him. The trek to Howlton was uneventful. The way forward was mostly devoid of any other travelers. Even when they entered the town, there didn’t seem to be that many people out on the dirt streets. They saw a few though and the people they did find looked at the two of them with hefty amounts of suspicion. “Is there a local tavern?” Russel asked one of them. When no one answered, he pulled out a silver coin with King Harrison’s profile on it. “I’ll make it worth it for you.” One of them, a slender kid with lanky blonde hair, pushed himself off the wall and strolled up to them. He snatched the offered coin and disappeared it into a pocket like a magic trick. “Got one over there a ways down the street,” he said. “Ma Tomkins can make you something to yer liking. Best cook around.” Russel smiled, took out another coin, and offered it to the boy. “Thank you,” he said. “We’ve been traveling for a few hours and a nice, hot meal would be just the thing to suit us.” The kid, though, didn’t seem to care. He turned away from them and went back to leaning against the wall, eyeing them as they walked away. “What a charming personality,” Lola muttered. Eventually, they found their way to the tavern and headed inside. Most of the town appeared to be in there. Almost all the tables were filled and people were yelling and having what looked like very intense conversations with each other. The wall of noise was hard to separate but a few keywords kept coming through. Gloucester. Everyone dead. And, most importantly… Werewolves.