Chapter Four

“Can we go back to the forest?” Brad found himself complaining in a tone that would have given Lance a run for his money. It was high noon and the sun was shining in a way that was less than welcome, seeing that there was no canopy of leaves above their heads anymore to shield them from it, neither were there any calm winds blowing down the river side that they’d been walking along all morning until the forest ended. Now Brad found himself walking on a clear field of tall green grass that reached above his knees, with nothing but more raised hills in sight instead of any signs of civilization like Rayne had promised.

“We are going towards one,” Rayne replied patiently, walking not too far ahead of him. The archer had stopped glancing back at him to make sure he hadn’t run off ever since yesterday morning’s episode. The rest of yesterday had passed without much event save the occasional stumble when the path out of the forest started sloping downwards along with the river into a series of rapids. When they had stopped for the night that time, they were still by the river, and Brad had tried asking a few questions about the surrounding lands, hoping something would sound familiar enough to lead him home. The answers weren’t particularly helpful. Or at least, judging by what he’d learned, it was starting to become glaringly obvious that however it was he’d find his way home, it wouldn’t be by walking.

“Lakal’s Grove, the forest in which Frostwater City is built stands as the direct center of our lands. Garou territory, so to speak,” Rayne had begun, drawing a circular shape in the mud with a long stick. “To the North, the climate becomes considerably colder, and the land eventually becomes covered with ice. To the South, a natural wall of mountains referred to as Karenor’s Teeth stands between our lands and the human kingdom, under the rule of King Tygras whose capital, Graffion is Southwest of here, across a great sea that we refer to as Atalya’s Tears.” As he spoke, the stick continued to move in the mud. Jagged lines represented the mountains. A considerable stretch of land which he drew south of it would be the human territory on this landmass, of which to the west of he drew three wavy lines which Brad gathered represented the sea. “Most of the garou settlements in our territory are centered around large forests, all referred to as Groves. A large portion of our lands between these segregated forests are open, grassy plains like the one we will be walking in tomorrow. To the far Southeast of us, although still within garou territory, the temperature rises and the land starts becoming treacherous. Bogs, marshes, swamps start taking up the bulk of the area, clearing up into rivers once it gets closer to the sea. The human settlement of Rhyss can be found here.”

“Don’t you people hate humans?” Brad asked curiously.

“Only the ones under King Tygras,” Rayne replied plainly. “His people stand divided between what they blasphemously call ‘The Old Gods’ and the new ways, a school of thought in which they discredit the presence of divine beings in the creation of our world. Their ‘Old Gods’ are the ones that we have followed since the beginning of time. And even those who still believe have perverted the faith, labeling us as unjustly as monsters and beasts, when the garou were supposed to be Lakal’s First. We were humans, once, Brad Wolfe, many centuries ago. It is only through Lakal’s blessings that we have attained our lupine forms. These borders, Brad,” Rayne said, pointing at the mountains again, “Were not made for us to keep the humans out. Once we lived south of those mountains, and everywhere else. Until the humans drove us all here out of fear of the powers that we wield. Our kin who do not live in the sanctuary of our territories have been persecuted and hunted down like animals. Rhyss, on the other hand used to be the territory of the slathirs, beings like us who were the First of the Snake God, Dagoth. They were among the first to reach extinction when the humans started to rise against the old ways. The humans who reside there still worship Dagoth, and have made no attempts against the garou, as they acknowledge us as we rightfully are. They have no enmity with King Tygras either, for that matter, and in a sense serve as mediators between us. Their trade routes allow them to bring goods and resources from Tygras’ kingdoms to us, and vice versa. So the humans living at Rhyss are not our enemies, at the very least. There is a chance that our Elders may choose to send you there. I hope you can find your way home then.”

“But you said there was one before me who arrived here as I did,” Brad pointed out. “If the way home lies through that city, would he not have gone that way too?”

Rayne stopped then, looking more than a little uncertain. “That’s a question I feel that the Elders will be able to answer better than I can.” And he had left it at that. The whole night Brad had debated with himself, wondering if he could just tell Rayne that his current suspicion was that he was from another world. None of Rayne’s geographical points had made any sense to him, and with the werewolves, and the talk of these Old Gods…it was quite obvious that wherever he was, it had to be a completely different world.

‘Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.’

Only there was no ‘yellow brick road’ to follow, Brad thought to himself bitterly, back in the present. There were probably no glass slippers or hot air balloons either, and if the Elders were going to play the part of the Good Witch of the East, who was going to be the Wicked Witch of the West?

‘Why did I have to win this free trip to Fantasyland anyway? Sure I’ve always wanted a bit of excitement in my life, but this…’

Brad was more than a little exhausted now. Sleeping on the ground had done little for him so far, and today’s trek had left him tired, hot, and drenched in sweat so badly that he’d taken off his parka and tied it round his waist, leaving the black t-shirt on. The scent of sweat mingled with fresh grass under his boots had no calming effect on him whatsoever. The first thing he decided he would do once they reached this city was to get a bath.

Just as Brad thought he would scream if they had to go up another hill, he noticed that Rayne had stopped at the top of the current one, pointing ahead across the horizon. Brad hurried up to his side just in time to hear him say, “There it is.”

If Brad had expected to hear gospel music in the background at the mere sight of the city, all he could hear now was the buzzing of flies that had started to gather around him. He would have asked where they came from if the answer had not been in front of him, on the last stretch of grass that lay between them and the thick forest that Rayne had dared to call a ‘city’.

Buffalo.

Lots and lots of buffalo. They numbered in the hundreds, covering the vast expanse of land that they had yet to cover. From where Brad was standing, he wasn’t sure if they were larger than their counterparts from his own world, but they looked peaceful enough, grazing calmly without a care in the world. Their brown coats stood out from the green backdrop plainly, with horns that would have stuck out even more clearly if they had been standing too close.

A few seconds of fascination did not make up for the fact that Rayne had pointed at a forest, though.

“Are you sure that’s a city?” Brad asked. “I can only see a forest.”

“Lakal’s Grove,” Rayne said as though it were an answer. “Frostwater City is in that forest. Don’t worry, it’s not that far in. We should get there before sunset.”

Brad decided that would have to do for now. As Rayne started to continue walking, Brad hesitated slightly, asking loudly, “Those things aren’t going to maul us, are they?”

“Only when they’re aggravated,” Rayne called back. “Ignore them and they’ll ignore you.”

‘Easy for him to say,’ Brad thought bitterly, walking hurriedly after him. ‘I’m not the one who can transform into a werewolf if they decide not to.’

-

The road leading towards the city was a wide dirt path, covered with wet dried leaves and puddles of rainwater. The trees here stretched even further upwards, standing so tall that Brad couldn’t see the sky if he looked up, the sunlight mostly blocked by the multiple layers of branches and leaves. Even without the sun shining directly down on him, he continued to sweat as the air was humid and damp. Where the view overhead was shrouded with green and red, the sides of the roads were lined and covered with huge ferns that stretched as long as Brad’s arms, stray vines and tendrils snaking up on the road. Similar growths could be spotted on the tree trunks, which Brad noticed were thicker than any tree he’d ever seen before. They were large enough that Brad imagined them as wide as houses or at least, large rooms. Some of the growths that had coiled round the trees had flowers blooming from them, of different shapes and sizes, different colors, shades and hues. Red leaves fell like snowflakes all around them as they walked, and still as Brad looked upward, it looked like it would take forever before all the leaves would fall. While a large percentage of the trees already had reddened leaves, a good amount still had specks of green among their branches. Like a sign of defiance against the changing seasons. Unlike the forest he had landed in, where the cat had been the only animal Brad had actually encountered directly, here the animals flourished as though they had nothing to fear, although none actually approached the road they walked on. The birds flew in plain sight here, and wolves, deer and rabbits ran and disappeared amongst the trees like ghosts in the wind.

“The forest is alive,” Rayne told him, not without a slight hint of pride. “The road is here because we have need of it. If enemies were to try and intrude on the Grove without Lakal’s blessing, the road would disappear, or lead them in circles. Sometimes the road will not appear to humans unless they travel here with the garou. The road is always open for our kind, or those who wish to learn.”

Brad raised an eyebrow. “Those who wish to learn?” he repeated.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” Rayne replied mysteriously.

“How about those who wish to leave?” Brad asked. “Will the road appear for them?”

“It works the same way,” Rayne answered. “Though we rarely have reason to keep people against their will. Humans who want to leave have guides to take them out.”

‘Of course that means that if I find out that they want to eat me, I won’t be able to run away,’ Brad thought to himself bitterly. More than once, he had started to wonder why he was so eager to trust Rayne and follow him here. Technically there was the fact that the garou hadn’t eaten him the day before when he’d had the chance, but what if he was only bringing Brad home to share with his mates? The talk about humans being cruel towards werewolves felt ridiculously one-sided too, Brad realized. He wasn’t sure that he was ready to take the garou as all nature-loving, dancing elves, but perhaps the only reason he was following Rayne, in the end was because he didn’t know what else he could do. Circumstances hadn’t exactly left him with much choice on the matter, and so the best he could hope for now was that he wasn’t going to be double-crossed at the last moment.

“There are humans in the city?” Brad asked hopefully.

Rayne nodded. “Mostly scholars from Rhyss, though there really aren’t that many of them. Some of our kind have an unspoken vendetta against humans no matter where they may come from. But the humans who dwell in the city usually do so under the protection of the Elders, so no harm usually comes to them.”

“Usually,” Brad repeated, his eyes narrowing with skepticism.

For once, Rayne appeared to falter. “I would not vouch for the behavior of every single garou in the city. And neither can the Elders. The same would work for humans wherever it is you come from. Your city or village will always have leaders, but there will always be criminals or people who do not follow. I’m sure you understand this. In that sense, we’re not that different from the humans. A fact that not many human or garou for that matter would admit readily,” he said.

“And you would,” Brad pointed out. “So you’re saying that you don’t hate us?”

Upon asking that question, Rayne stopped walking. Brad was so surprised by the sudden halt that he almost bumped into the garou from behind. Had he asked the wrong question?

“That is not something I would readily confirm either,” he said finally. Though the calm tone of his voice sounded like it was forced. Whatever it was, Brad decided not to push further, so he kept silent for the rest of the trek. The path did not stay straight, much to Brad’s dismay. For the most part of the journey, the path started to slope downwards, as though they were heading down a valley. They’d passed a few small streams that seemed to trickle in the same direction that they were heading, though it was only about an hour down the path before they actually met other people coming down the road.

There were two of them, walking side by side uphill to meet Brad and Rayne. The first thing Brad noticed was that both of them were carrying spears, though they did not appear as though they were going to use it. Much to Brad’s relief, they were both wearing their human forms, both appearing to be slightly younger than Rayne, though definitely older than Brad. Like Rayne, one of them had black hair, though he kept it short behind his head. This person had a thinner frame, and a less harsh look about him than Rayne did. He was clothed in loose-fitting robes the color of sand, painted with red triangular markings up his sleeves. His counterpart, Brad noticed was about Rayne’s height, though the man had dirty blonde hair and scars all over his pale face, partially hidden by the unkempt beard that touched his chest.. His eyes were blue, though they sparkled with a kind of unspoken ferocity that made Brad decide that it was probably better that he’d met Rayne first after all. Because the way the man regarded him almost instantly gave Brad a gut feeling that the man didn’t trust him. This man was also dressed differently, clothed in much more fur and less fabric. He would have looked more at home somewhere cold, Brad thought to himself. The man was standing directly in front of Brad, and he smelled distinctively of blood, salt, and of all things, fish.

“It would appear that Leorith wasn’t treacherous enough to kill you then, brother,” the shorter man said with a smile on his face. “When you did not send word for so long, we had begun to fear the worst.”

“Leorith claims that he has not made any moves against the humans, as usual,” Rayne said. “I was sent back with a letter for the Elders. It is good to see that you are well too, Jarin. And Narbis, judging by your attire I suspect you would be returning North?”

The larger man nodded, though he did not smile. “I am a snow wolf, after all. These forests don’t suit me very well, I’m afraid,” he said. He gave Brad another cold glare before turning back towards Rayne, only when he spoke now, the sound that came out sounded more like growls and guttural snarls that it looked like he was challenging Rayne. Brad imagined that if he had been in his lupine form, his hackles would probably have been raised.

Rayne appeared unfazed. “No, Narbis. This human isn’t Leorith’s letter,” he said calmly. This seemed to earn a chuckle from the other garou, Jarin. “The boy is here because he has lost his way. He is not an enemy; else I would not have risked bringing him to Lakal’s Grove. Still the fact remains that I found him dangerously close to the Grove. I’m merely fulfilling my responsibility by bringing him back to meet the Elders.”

The larger man snorted with a look of apparent disgust. “Your Elders have gotten soft, forest wolf. If a snow wolf were to have found this boy, he wouldn’t be alive right now.”

Brad stepped back, just a little further away from the man. The stench had been motivation enough, now that it was obvious that he was less than friendly.

“You’re forgetting that one of the three is a snow wolf,” Jarin laughed. Brad decided that he would have less trouble liking him. “And he didn’t have any words to say against Olren’s proposition either when humans were first allowed into the city. The Elders stand for all of us, Narbis, as they always have. You had best remind your pack of that fact, or Barkal might just come home to do it himself.”

Narbis growled a response at Jarin which seemed less than friendly before he walked straight on past Brad and Rayne, continuing up the road.

“You have to wonder sometimes where Barkal learned his manners,” Jarin muttered out loud. Clapping his hands together, he nodded at Rayne, “Well, duty calls, brother. If you felt as though talking to him was unpleasant enough, just think how I must feel. I’m to spend a month up North with the snow wolves. Still, it was good to see you before I leave.” He nodded at Brad once, giving him a quick smile before he ran past to catch up with Narbis.

“I take it snow wolves are garou who live in the Northern regions?” Brad hazarded a guess.

Rayne nodded. “Where the sea turns to ice. We should hurry. The sun will set soon and we’re going to have to find you a place to stay the night. Thankfully the city isn’t too far from here.”

And so they hurried onwards. The road became less treacherous as they descended, eventually flattening and widening out, until the trees started to thin out, leading into a small clearing where Brad got his first view of the city- standing right at its doorstep.

Brad had earlier expected to see a large clearing with structures built out of wood or tents scattered along the open area. What he found instead was that the clearing was the base for a wooden ramp which led upwards to where the city was. The structures weren’t particularly built out of wood, Brad realized as he observed the huge trees standing before him. The trees were the buildings. With the sky turning purple above them, Brad could see holes in the trees filled with light. From where Brad was standing, the trees looked as tall as skyscrapers, with wooden platforms adorning the sides, curving around them like huge spiral staircases. Others had platforms that were large enough to join two separate trees together. These platforms were held up by with a combination of wooden supports and ropes which looked more like thick vines. Torches adorned these platforms, particularly the longer ones which seemed to stretch on like roads that linked more of the giant trees together, though they weren’t the only source of light. Fireflies seemed to dance around the air in large numbers, hovering just above the heads of the scores of people who walked the wooden platforms. Brad thought he heard Rayne say something about them coming out after the rain, not that it really registered at the time. In addition there were round, spherical paper lanterns that seemed to be strung up along the road. More wooden platforms and rope bridges seemed to continue overhead, all twisting and turning in different directions. Brad imagined that if they were to climb up to the highest platform, looking down would be like looking down on a multiple-leveled freeway built out of wood. As Brad ascended the first ramp which appeared to be one of the main entrances, he noticed that there ‘roads’ had stalls on their sides, places where some people gathered around. Judging by the smoke and the scent of honey and spices that filled the air, Brad guessed that they sold food. Others seemed to be manned by people sitting at devices that looked like looms where they weaved together pieces of fabric to add to the ones already on display. There were even more people gathered at some particular platforms, where the trees had been carved out to make large open spaces without doors. These ones looked like shops. Signs were posted all around; some Brad could read plainly, others marked in weird curved lines that Brad guessed was some other form of language. The air was filled with the sounds of people chattering, though it was a unique mix of plain language and more growls, yips and snarls. The people who Brad passed reflected these sounds- there were a good deal of people who walked in their human forms, but there were just as many people lumbering about in their giant lupine forms. The crowd of people they had to walk past eventually got thicker, as did the scent of sweat and the deafening noise. At one point Rayne had to remind Brad to stay close to him, which Brad found unfortunately hard to do. What with the growing temptation to stop and look at so many places.

They walked on in a straight direction for quite a good while, until they came to a large square platform which spanned the width of a large hall. At the center of the platform stood a wide, rectangular board that stood as high as a house. Pieces of paper were stuck all over this board, though what stood out the most was a large illustration of what appeared to be a map of the city, complete with labels though sorely missing a ‘You Are Here!’ sign. It didn’t matter much anyway. This was obviously the city center. If it were up to Brad, he would have stayed there and examined the whole map along with the papers.

‘Rite of Adulthood Five Moons From Now.’ One read. Judging by the fonts, it was obviously handwritten in black ink. ‘Those involved are to convene at the Temple Square five nights before the next Lore Moon.’ The larger one beside it advertised a place which sold weapons and leather armor brought in from Rhyss Harbor. ‘Ashenal Sun-tailed to be the spirit singer at the next Lore Moon,’ declared another, and just as Brad was about to read the lengthy paragraph below it, Rayne had grabbed his left hand and pulled him away.

“There will be plenty of time for that later,” the archer said, sounding a bit cross. “First we’re going to the platforms near the Temple. Guests of the Elders are usually allowed to board at the guestrooms there for free. I doubt you’ll be meeting the Elders tonight, but I’ll try to arrange for you to meet them tomorrow.”

“That’s fine with me,” Brad replied, suddenly reminded that he was here because he was a semi-prisoner of sorts.

As they continued walking on, Brad eventually saw an end to the wooden road ahead with wooden railings preventing anyone from going further. To the sides however were large ramps that led downwards and ahead, towards what Brad later saw was a huge stone square in the distance which rose above a good deal of smaller trees at its side. Its width was about the size of the city center with large torches lining the sides. Smaller wooden platforms seemed to hover round the large stone one, held up by vines and ropes attached to overhead branches. They were connected to the main stone square by rope bridges and wooden ladders. Apart from the two ramps that led to the stone square, there was another even larger one ahead that led to one of the biggest trees Brad had seen in the whole city. A large section was carved inwards, towards huge wooden double doors which could have reached the height of a few good storeys. And before the door were four large cylindrical stone pillars, each with different carvings on them. From the distance Brad could only make out the shape of a wolf on one of them. Flowers and vines lined the steps up to the entrance. The area wasn’t particularly congested as the rest of the city, but the good amount of people who walked around the area appeared to be dressed large, red priest-like robes. The large tree, Brad guessed was the temple, and the stone square would be the Temple Square mentioned on the map. Rayne led Brad up a few floors of one of the nearby trees, passing more robed people who greeted Rayne as they ascended. After passing a certain number of wooden doors, Rayne stopped at one that he seemed to remember out of memory, and opened it.

The room inside was small, and dusty besides. Rayne picked up one of the torches lining the walkway and brought it into the room, lighting another one he found on the far wall. As the room lit up, Brad saw that it had a single bed with dark brown covers, a cupboard beside a circular, open window, a latrine bucket in the far corner of the room and nothing much besides. An empty basin sat on the bedside table. Rayne picked this up and handed it to Brad. “If you need to wash, follow the circular ramp downwards, past the main platforms which we came from and keep on going down until you reach the ground. You should be able to see the river there. I’m sorry we don’t have any spare clothes for you at the moment, or if you find the room more than a little uncomfortable. Everything will be settled tomorrow, I promise.”

“Thank you,” Brad replied, realizing that he didn’t really mind the small room. He wished he could get a fresh pair of clothes, but he’d worn it for two days already, so he didn’t see how another night would hurt.

“Apart from the river, I wouldn’t recommend that you wander around the city. You might get lost, and there are places I wouldn’t want you to turn up at,” Rayne continued. “I will have a friend sent here later, bringing you food. You may have seen a lot on your way here but I doubt that you would have the currency to buy those things. And if anyone asks what you are doing here, tell them that Rayne Touched-By-Fire brought you here.”

Brad tried not to appear too crestfallen at the prospect of being confined to the room. But if it was for his safety, he decided that it was best that he didn’t argue. He thanked Rayne again and watched as the garou walked out the door hurriedly without looking back.

And then Brad was alone.

After dropping his backpack and the rifle on the bed, Brad headed on downwards as Rayne had said before. It was a long way down, he soon discovered. He passed a few other garou on his way, all of whom looked at him as they passed. It was becoming apparent by now that they had some way of identifying humans by looking at them. Some glared at him, but thankfully there were a good few who actually smiled at him.

The area around the river was dark, but a single torch allowed Brad to walk over to the bank without stumbling over anything. He went only up to the point where the water touched his ankles, or would have if his boots weren’t on. As he looked around, he saw that the river ran in a straight line under the main road above in the direction of the temple. It split in two directions around the base of the stone square before it disappeared out of view. The large river seemed to have been formed by a large number of smaller streams which flowed from a lot of different directions. It became apparent that a lot of the trees that served as buildings had ramps leading to the river like the one he was on, or at least to the branched streams that would eventually all join here.

‘How do they get the water to flow from all these places?’ Brad wondered. The river looked natural enough, leaving the only explanation being that the whole place was nothing short of a miracle.

There were a lot of others down at the river. Some gathering water with wooden buckets, others wading deep enough till the water was up to their waists. There was a particular group of robed men standing in a circle in the water, holding hands and chanting something that Brad couldn’t hear. Not too far from them were a bunch of children, laughing and singing, playing under the watchful eyes of a group of older women standing by the shore. Some appeared to be bathing, wearing nothing without a care in the world. Brad diverted his attention away from a group of girls, reminding himself that he was here for water. He did so quickly and walked away without looking back.

An hour later Brad found himself lying on the bed staring at the torch on the wall. The city was still very much alive outside, judging by the noise outside his window. He had felt tired out not too long ago, back when they had still been walking. And yet now, lying on the bed, he couldn’t take his eyes off the door as though expecting Rayne to come back and tell him that it was alright for him to wander the city. It wasn’t like he was a child who needed to be babysitted anyway. He took a glance at his watch out of habit, for all the good it would have done. The Casio that he’d been carrying for five years had conveniently stopped functioning the moment he’d arrived in this world. The batteries still alive enough for him to turn on the light behind the digital display, yet the numbers weren’t moving, stuck at 8.55. Whether that had been the time while he had been in the cave, Brad couldn’t be sure. His cell phone, he checked, was still alive, only that the battery for this one was running weaker and he doubted that he’d find a port or a charger to recharge it anytime soon. The clock on it was oddly frozen too, again at 8.55. He contemplated just throwing away both items, seeing that they wouldn’t be of much use anymore anyway, but in the end stashed them in the back pocket of his pack, where he’d possibly never look at them again unless he got home.

Just as Brad was about to drift off, there came a sudden knock on the door, stirring him back to consciousness.

“Who’s there?” he asked, suddenly feeling cautious. What if it was one of the werewolves who had spotted and identified him as a human on his way up? He took a glance at the rifle lying in the corner, and made a move towards it when a reply came.

“Rayne sent me.” The voice didn’t sound like a growl. So at least the person outside the door was either a garou in human form or one of those humans who came from Rhyss.

Brad didn’t pick up the rifle. Looking back at the door, he realized that it hadn’t been locked in the first place. Rayne had simply opened the door to the room without having to turn any keys. If it had been someone who meant him harm, the person would have been able to come in without asking.

‘I’ll be ready to scream, just in case. Not very manly of me, but it’s not like Lance will be around to rub it in my face…and it’s not like his screams are very manly either.’

He stifled the amused smile that appeared on his face as he finally made for the door, and opened it to find a boy about his age staring back at him. The boy’s hair was short, unlike Rayne’s but a lot more unkempt. It appeared dark brown in the light of the torch he was carrying, a shade darker than the shirt he was wearing. The boy stood about a head taller than Rayne, with a leaner, less muscular build. The features of his face suggested a kind of mischievous, playful manner although the boy’s black eyes looked serious enough as it scanned Brad from top to bottom. Brad noticed he had a string round his neck with some sort of amulet made from woven bands, feathers and some kind of tooth hanging in front of his chest. His skin was a shade lighter than Rayne’s, the single red stripe on his left cheek thinner. They didn’t look related at all. Far from it, the boy didn’t look very Native, and would have looked right at home living next door to Brad in Boston if he wasn’t dressed funny. In his right hand, Brad noticed a rectangular wooden basket from which the distinct smell of freshly baked bread wafted out tantalizingly, suddenly reminding him that his stomach had been growling for the past few hours. The only thing that drew his attention away from that was the knife he noticed at the boy’s belt.

“Are you Brad?” the boy asked.

Brad nodded simply, though he stepped back just in case the response was going to be the knife leaving its sheath. “Did Rayne send you?”

“Yes. He asked me to bring this,” the boy replied, inclining towards the basket in his hands. Without being invited, the boy took Brad’s stepping back as an invitation in and thus strode past Brad plainly, setting the basket on the bed. He then turned towards Brad and said, “My name is Keo, by the way. I suppose I should welcome you to Frostwater. Rayne said you were…different. You smell like a regular human to me.”

“I washed,” Brad replied. “Else you would think I’m half buffalo.”

Keo let out a sudden chuckle which made Brad flinch, though it relieved him somewhat to see the other garou smile, an expression which he hadn’t seen much on Rayne’s face, if at all. “Well it’s good to see that you can joke, at the very least. Actually there’s still a faint trace of buffalo in the air. Though it might be your clothes. I take it you passed the herd on the way in?”

Brad nodded. “Yes, yes we did. And you…you’re a garou, right?”

“Yes, you could say that. Though some of us would rather believe that you’re only truly a garou after your Rite of Passage. Mine is five moons from now,” Keo replied.

Brad still had no idea what a Rite of Passage was, but he guessed somehow that it would entail dancing around a fire, killing some poor animal and drinking its blood.

A kind of awkward silence hung in the air between them. Despite the thousand questions burning in his head about the city, Brad didn’t think to ask Keo these things. And Keo, though he looked like there was something he wanted to say, particularly when his eyes found Brad’s rifle, kept silent as well, stepping back finally as he said, “I have to go. But I’ll see you in the morning. Rayne told me to take you around the city and help get you a fresh change of clothes before you have to meet the Elders.”

That prospect cheered Brad up somewhat. And so the smile he returned was genuine. “Thank you again, for the food,” he said.

“You’re welcome,” Keo replied plainly, disappearing out the door.

Brad closed the door behind him and almost dove at the basket. There was a large portion of cheese and a cooked chunk of red meat that he couldn’t identify apart from the loaf of bread. The lack of cutlery didn’t hamper him in the slightest- he tore at the food with his fingers and teeth. What reason was there for shame anyway? He guessed that this was how the locals ate anyway. He devoured the meat readily after the first taste, savoring the juices and honey that flowed warm in his mouth. It tasted only slightly like beef, except that it was much tougher. Brad guessed that it was probably buffalo, though seeing that they were in a forest, it could have been a large variety of other things. He decided it was a question best saved for tomorrow. In the meantime, ignorance was bliss.

It was only when he was fully sated that Brad realized that that the basket didn’t have anything to drink in it. The basin he had been given was empty, so he decided to head down to the river for one last time tonight before turning in.

The river was slightly less occupied with people when he returned, and the torch by the end of the platform had died out. It didn’t matter anyway, Brad decided. It wasn’t that dark, anyway, and his eyes adjusted quickly enough. He squatted down at the end of the platform and washed his hands carefully before using it to raise water to his mouth. Even though he couldn’t see the water in his hands so clearly in the dark, he remembered it being clear enough earlier anyway, and it tasted alright.

He was just about to stand up again when he felt a sudden shove coming from behind him. The next thing he knew, he was falling forward into the water. He outstretched his hands reflexively, managing to prevent banging his head on the shallow riverside, but the impact of the fall caused him to scrape his palms and knees on the rocks.

“Oh no.”

The voice of the girl caused him to look back up at the platform to see his assailant. It was hard to make out her features in the dark, but the torch far behind her sent light dancing through her long, bushy hair. She had a thin, slender outline, standing just as tall as Brad, only looking taller because of the platform she was still standing on. As Brad stood up, he found himself aligned with the girl’s knees. The girl was wearing black pants and a loose dark colored shirt with rather large sleeves. A silver colored bracelet on her right wrist gleamed in the light from behind her.

“I’m sorry, I thought you were someone else,” she told him as she backed away, allowing the light behind her to pass.

As the light finally allowed him to see her face, Brad decided to accept her apology, seeing that a nervous grin was etched there instead of a malicious one. Her skin was pale, like the snow wolf from before, but her hair was the color of fire. Her face was thin, like the rest of her though there was a look about her that made Brad feel that she was far from weak. Her large, deep set blue eyes stared down apologetically before she offered her hand. Brad took it and she helped him back up onto the platform, obviously a lot stronger than she looked.

“It’s alright,” Brad replied, realizing that he really meant it. Even if he didn’t have a fresh pair of clothes to change into up in his room, and the clothes he was in were already drenched. It’s not like he could scold her, anyway. Even if she had been a ‘he’, there was always the risk of having her turn into a wolf form and bite his head off if he tried to shout back at her. Brad wasn’t even sure how he knew that she was a garou without her telling him. Perhaps it was because Rayne had mentioned that the humans here were a complete minority. Or perhaps it was because of her strength. There was no way that a human built like that could pull him back up with such relative ease.

The girl was scanning him from top to bottom as well, raising her eyebrows with surprise as she gasped, “You’re a human!”

“Is that a problem?” Brad asked, very much prepared to run if it was. He was beginning to wonder now, how exactly it was that these garou could tell immediately upon meeting him that he was human. Was it the clothes? Was it the scent, as Keo had commented earlier? Or was it some kind of different sense altogether? If it was possible, perhaps it would be more prudent to try and cover it up. The less he had to listen to that exclamation of surprise, the better.

“No, no, nothing like that,” the girl reassured him. “It’s just that you’re obviously not from Rhyss, so I’m guessing you’re the boy that Keo had to meet just now, am I right?” the girl asked.

“You know him?” Brad asked.

The girl’s apologetic grin turned into a genuine smile. “Yes. I actually thought that you were him when I pushed you. My name is Rena. I didn’t catch your name when Rayne mentioned it to Keo though…”

Ah, he thought. So she was a friend of Keo. Who was a friend of Rayne. Who hadn’t wanted to eat him. That at least gave him some slight measure of comfort. Not that she’d ever looked like the kind who’d want to eat him, he thought. She’d get blood on that pretty face of hers, unless they cooked people the same way the cooked meat… Like the meat he’d eaten in the room. He decided to stop contemplating right there.

“Brad,” Brad replied. “Brad Wolfe. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He held out his right hand towards her, which she stared at for a while. Brad was beginning to wonder whether he had offended her when she asked, “Is there…something in it I’m supposed to take?”

Brad would’ve slapped himself then. “Oh, uh…sorry,” he said, withdrawing it. “Where I come from you shake hands as a form of greeting.”

The girl cocked her head to the side, looking very much intrigued. “I haven’t heard of that custom before, but let’s try it anyway,” she said, extending her hand back towards Brad in the same manner he had before. He took it and almost gasped when she grasped it a bit too firmly. They shook, nonetheless, though Brad had to tell her it was over before she let go, looking slightly embarrassed.

“Where are you from, anyway?” she asked. “You’re the first human here from outside the territory in ages.”

“It’s…somewhere really far away,” Brad replied hesitantly, not wanting to say ‘Boston’ anymore seeing that it would most probably raise more questions. “It’s a long story.”

He was saved then by the timely intervention of another figure approaching the platform, calling out Rena’s name. Brad instantly recognized the voice, and turned to look upwards, seeing Keo approaching them, looking more than a little surprised to see Brad standing here.

“Brad,” Keo said, “You’re drenched.”

“Just a little,” Brad admitted.

It was obvious that he’d known Rena long, then, as he cast a sidelong glance at Rena, who just merely shrugged and said, “It was dark. I pushed because I thought he was you.” Something about the way she said it reminded him of Cassie. It was most probably that calm way of admitting that the prank she had pulled off was planned all along, even if it hadn’t reached the intended target. As though there was nothing wrong whatsoever with pushing friends into rivers from behind. Or lobbing snowballs at them when they least expect it. Or tying their shoelaces together when they were not looking. Or drawing shapes on their faces with magic markers while they were sleeping. Or-

“I’m sorry you had to meet her like this,” Keo said with a smile, knocking Brad out of his thoughts. “My suggestions to have her locked up for the general safety of the public tend to go unnoticed.”

“Lock me up, Keo? You’re the one who almost killed Ireen at archery lessons just now,” Rena protested. It looked like they were going to get into a good quality bickering session, Brad noticed, realizing suddenly with a pang that they probably had been friends for long. Feeling more than a little out of place as they started arguing, Brad sidestepped around Keo and started walking back up the ramp.

“Hey, wait!” Rena called out to him suddenly. He turned round to see them walking up towards him. “Do you have anything else to change into?” she asked him.

“No, he doesn’t. And he wouldn’t have had to change if you hadn’t pushed him,” Keo sighed.

Rena grinned that apologetic grin again. “Well you can’t sleep in those,” she said, stating the obvious.

“That’s alright,” Brad replied. “It’s only one night anyway. Maybe they’ll dry quickly.” It was a lie. These clothes would not dry quickly, and he knew that. With the cold, autumnal air, sleeping in them would be like begging to get a cold. Of course, there was an alternative to sleeping in the drenched parka and jeans- though since there was no way to lock the door, it was an alternative Brad wouldn’t even begin to consider. Yet.

“Well, Keo was going to take you to buy clothes tomorrow,” Rena pointed out in a matter-of-fact tone. “But since you’re drenched now anyway, perhaps we should go now.”

Keo looked at Rena begrudgingly, his eyes narrowed. “Rena, Rayne is going to give me the money tomorrow morning,” he said. “I’ve only got twelve gold lupis and five silver drakes on me now.”

Rena rolled her eyes. “We’re buying him clothes, Rayne, not weapons, a horse, charms, jewelry, armor and a wife. Besides, Rayne can pay you back tomorrow.”

“You don’t have to, really,” Brad began to protest, but Keo’s silence was the only thing Rena had taken into account. “Then it’s settled,” she happily announced as she walked up past him back towards the direction of the main platform.

Keo looked at Brad and shrugged. “You’ll find that she’s impossibly hard to argue with,” he smiled. “Just remember to stay close to us at all times. We can’t risk you getting lost, or Rayne’s going to have our hides.”

-

The clothes shop that they brought Brad too was a good distance away from the temple. The crowd was slightly thinner, now that it was darker, but the city was still very much alive. Keo confirmed Brad’s theory that garou slept less than normal humans, though it was something that the garou had been ignorant about until the question had been raised. Rena, on the other hand seemed more than a little surprised that Keo hadn’t known that all along. “Humans tire faster than us, Keo. It’s a well known fact,” she said as they turned for the western platforms at the city center. “Of course, they also have to consume less food than us to keep them going through the day, so I believe that’s a fair trade off.”

“So, seeing that we’re forced to spend a little more time together, maybe you can tell us a bit more about where you come from,” Rena said, turning towards Brad. She was walking backwards while facing him, staring at him intently as though he was some kind of important person whom she’d been waiting all of her life to meet. Now that Brad realized it, ever since they’d met, she’d seemed to find him fascinating, in contrast to Keo who seemed satisfied with what he knew- which Brad guessed would encompass ‘humans run like hell when I threaten to bite their heads off’, among other things. “Sorry if I seem a bit too eager to have that question answered,” she said quickly before Brad could open his mouth. “It’s just that there’s not much that we know about the human kingdoms outside our territories. Travelers aren’t always so well received around the villages and towns surrounding Frostwater.”

“While we’re on that topic,” Keo interrupted. “How did you get here, anyway? Rayne told me he found you at the Malakis Forest, not too far from here. And what’s more, that’s northward, not southward. So you can’t have come from any of King Tygras’ settlements.”

“To be honest…” Brad started scratching his head. He hadn’t come up with lies yet because he hadn’t expected to have to use any. His first impression about coming here had involved meeting the Elders immediately, to whom he was expected to tell the truth if he wanted their help. He hadn’t expected to be assaulted by two complete strangers who, he had to admit, were suspiciously being suspiciously friendly in contrast to Rayne’s early treatment towards him. Perhaps it was that he was already in the city, Brad thought to himself. If he had been an enemy, he wouldn’t have gotten in here, according to Rayne.

“I don’t know.”

Rena stopped so suddenly that almost bumped into her.

“It sounds weird, I know, but I’m lost. I was trapped in a cave…a snowstorm, when I heard this voice calling my name. I followed it, and somehow fell towards this light… I woke up in a forest. Rayne found me and brought me here,” Brad blurted out, watching the expressions on the faces of the two garou to see if they thought he was crazy yet. And true enough, they were staring at him with looks of surprise. Though whether they’d reached the point of judging him, Brad wasn’t sure.

“That doesn’t really make sense,” Keo said.

“It does, actually,” Rena argued. “There is one way to disappear at one place and reappear somewhere far away.”

Keo turned to look at her. “Rena, he’s a human,” he said in a reminding tone. “And the art of controlling the spirit plane in that way is lost even to us.”

“I’m not really following this conversation too well,” Brad admitted. “Does this have something to do with magic?”

“You could call it that,” Rena answered. “But we’re hardly the people you should ask about this matter. If you got here the way that I think you did, then the Elders will probably be able to confirm it. If not, then it’s probably something else.” She turned to look at Keo. “And Keo, don’t stare at Brad like he’s off his rocker. Rayne always knows what he’s doing. He wouldn’t have brought Brad back here if Brad’s story weren’t true.”

This argument didn’t seem to convince Keo, but he shrugged and nodded nonetheless. “He hasn’t tried to kill us, so that’s fine enough with me,” he said.

“So come on then,” Rena said finally, the cheer suddenly back in her voice. “Let’s get moving. We’ll have plenty of time to discuss this tomorrow after Brad’s meeting with the Elders.”

The shop was one of the smaller places, carved into one of the large trees. The tailor was a frail looking, elderly woman who Brad noticed had acid yellow wolf eyes despite her being in human form. Brad refrained from asking about it, though, thinking that it was possibly a matter of preference on the woman’s behalf. He had noticed a few garou walking around in human form, with acid yellow eyes as he’d walked through the city, though almost all of them were old or elderly. Brad theorized that perhaps age came with the loss of the ability to revert their eyes back to their original human ones. The woman stared at him for a while as he entered the calm, dusty old shop. The toothless smile she gave him didn’t make her look any less haunting in the dim light. Rena explained that the pants and the shirts would need sewing, and thus wouldn’t be immediately available. So Brad allowed the woman to take his measurements with a long tape with unfamiliar symbols on it before he picked out a dark brown, priest-like robe with a hood from the shelves, deciding that it would have to do for the night. Keo paid her with two gold coins which he extracted from a pouch at his belt, thanked her, and they all left.

Brad in turn thanked Keo when they were out the door.

“Don’t mention it,” Keo said with a snigger. “Besides, if Rayne doesn’t pay me, Rena will. Seeing that she was the one who got you wet and all.”

“We’re going down to the river, next,” Rena told Brad. “You’re welcome to join us, if you like. Though I daresay you’ve probably had enough of it for one night.”

“I have,” Brad admitted, his desire and curiosity to look at the rest of the city more or less forgotten. “And I wouldn’t want to impose on the two of you for any longer. It’s perhaps for the best if I go back to my room and turn in.”

They escorted him back to the room near the temple, wordlessly, as though they had said enough for one night. The awkwardness, to Brad, at least was tolerable because he wasn’t sure if he wanted to talk about himself just yet, which Rena seemed to be more interested in doing.

“We’ll see you tomorrow morning,” Rena told him as he opened the door to the room. “Keo’s bringing you breakfast. Rayne told him to more or less take care of you while you’re here. I haven’t got much else to do tomorrow either, so I’ll probably come with him.”

“Thank you,” Brad said for the umpteenth time that night. He was more than a little relieved when they left. It had been a long, tiring day, and in the light of everything, now he just felt like being alone.

-

The waves crashed on the rocks below the concrete platform, and yet they made no sound. Still he could taste the salt in the air, as though they confirmed to him where he was. Leaning against the metal railings which kept people from falling/jumping down to the sea not too far below, he looked on at the fair, or at least the line of people gathered for their turn to get on the Ferris wheel. In the light of day, it probably wasn’t as magnificent as it would have looked at night, Brad realized. The white, metal frame was adorned with lights which were either turned off to save electricity, or turned on but unnoticed with the sun shining overhead so brightly that the sky seemed almost white. Candy bar wrappers and empty popcorn tubs sailed carelessly across the empty fair lanes. It seemed like the wheel was the last attraction this dying place had.

“It’s a shame, really,” he heard a voice telling him. “I’m going to miss this place.”

He looked over to his left to see Cassie leaning against the railing too, her eyes on the Ferris wheel as she passed him a hotdog carried in a white napkin, stained with excess mustard. The one in her other hand was already half eaten.

He looked back at the ride with her, noticing Lance and Steve sitting placidly on one of the metal seats as it neared the top of the wheel. “How did you convince Lance to get on?” Brad asked. Lance wasn’t screaming. He should be, he realized, but he wasn’t. And somehow that still wasn’t important.

Cassie didn’t answer his question. She just continued eating, prompting him to do the same. The hotdog was tasteless in his mouth, still he continued chewing anyway. It seemed to dissolve into air when he tried to swallow it. But then he wasn’t hungry anymore anyway.

“You should get back before dawn,” Cassie told him suddenly.

He turned to look at her and ask what she meant, only she wasn’t there anymore.

The noiselessness of the atmosphere was suddenly taken away, interrupted by the sound of snapping metal. He turned around again to see that the Ferris wheel had somehow come off its hinges, and was rolling off its frame onto the ground. Its passengers were laughing, as though it was some kind of joke. The people in line merely looked impatient, still standing there even when some of them were flattened by the large ride as it rolled past them-

Towards Brad.

Gathering what little wits this space allowed him, he ran, hearing nothing but the laughter of the people on the wheel gain in intensity as the wheel drew closer despite his best efforts.

“You can keep on running, Brad,” he heard Cassie shout after him, seemingly from all directions. “But it shouldn’t really be a problem for you. You’ve gotten used to it, right?”

-

Brad awoke with a start, panting and sweating as though he really had been running. The fabric of the robes he was wearing made him itch, and the small room he was in felt a little too cold. He glanced at his left wrist, out of habit only to notice that his watch wasn’t there. Summoning every ounce of willpower he could muster, he pushed the blanket draped on his feet off and walked towards the window. It was still dark outside, he realized, though the purple orange tinge of what little sky he could make out beyond the treetops suggested that sunrise was around the corner.

He washed his face with water from the basin, shivering as the biting cold water touched his skin. It was enough to wake him considerably to realize that he was hungry again, his stomach growling as though he had done nothing to feed it the night before. He drank a bit of the water left over before sitting back down on the hard bed, staring expectantly at the door. Rena and Keo had only said they’d come in the morning. They didn’t particularly incline when exactly- not that they would have been able to, Brad realized. He didn’t know if they had clocks of any sort to measure any form of time below a day. His dead watch wouldn’t have helped him get any sort of idea about what time it was either. He contemplated leaving the room to go down to the river, but decided against it when he thought about risking meeting garou who would be less than friendly. Despite the fact that he’d spoken to three reasonably well-mannered ones so far, he wasn’t so quick to forget that there were some who had glared at him last night as though they meant to slit his throat the moment he turned his back.

And so he stayed on that bed in the small room, quickly resorting to lying back down on it when what felt like an hour passed without any sign of Keo or Rena. It was only then that Brad began to truly feel like a prisoner. As friendly as Keo and Rena had been to him, the fact remained that he was still afraid to leave the room. He was trapped. Boredom eventually drove him to pick up the rifle at the side of the room. He pretended to aim with it at the unused latrine bucket on the floor, though he never dared pulled the trigger, out of fear of the attention it would bring, and the fact that he still had a limited number of bullets in his backpack. Every shot would have to count.

‘Could use with one of those hotdogs now,’ Brad thought bitterly as his stomach started growling even louder. The details of the dream he had had the night before were still fuzzy, but he remembered the hotdog at least, and it didn’t make him feel any less hungry. He remembered the place even more- it was one of those spots where they used to hit on summer weekends when Lance or Steve didn’t mind driving out of New York. Before that they used to have Cassie’s brother or one of their parents drop them off, the former usually demanding a good amount of money. Still Brad missed it terribly. There was a place almost similar to it in Boston, he remembered, but there hadn’t been many people to go there with him. True, it wasn’t particularly the coolest thing people their age would tend to do, but he went there alone sometimes. If not to watch the people, then to watch the waves beating tirelessly down on the beach. It helped him think. Used to be it was all they needed to do- the four of them staring out from that ledge with half-eaten hotdogs in their hands, talking about the future. The rides used to be okay enough, though for the most part the ones involving leaving the ground for more than ten feet up were usually taken by three of them while Lance looked on. There were the very few occasions where he joined, though rarely out of free will. When Lance had been pursuing that girl from French class, Marlene, Steve and Cassie had joked about bribing her to tell him to get on this one ride that Lance had until now avoided in earnest. It involved hanging from a rail that went overhead in flimsy looking seats with nothing under your feet to look at but the distant ground below.

‘Should have left a will,’ Brad thought bitterly. ‘They probably think I’m dead. Hell, I still haven’t ruled out that option entirely yet. “Dear Lance, if you’re reading this, and I’m dead, as a last request from an old friend, please ride that thing you’ve been having nightmares about. Have Cassie take a picture and place it on my headstone. I have left you behind the unread Nicholas Sparks novels you gave me for my past two birthdays, and my comic book collection. The old rules apply. So much as stain them, and Cassie will use the rifle I left her. That’s right. HER. Remember how we had to win that rabbit plushie for her at the fair once because she accidentally shot the booth proprietor’s knee? She’ll hit your groin aiming for your forehead. So take care, and have a nice life! P.S.-Steve has the other one in case she runs out of ammo.”’

By the time the door opened, Brad was already lying half asleep on his side, facing away from it. The noise was enough to startle him back onto his feet, though he staggered and fell onto his knees too quickly. “I’m awake!” he slurred out reflexively as he turned to face Rena and Keo who were standing at the door. Keo had a raised eyebrow while Rena’s expression betrayed her apparent amusement at his gracefulness. Rena was carrying a basket similar to the one Keo had brought last night in her hands.

“The Elders won’t be meeting you until noon,” Keo told him. “If you would prefer, we could leave you to continue sleeping if you’d like.”

“No, that’s alright,” Brad protested. “It’s good that you’re here. I’m-

But the scent of freshly baked bread wafting towards him prompted his stomach to do the rest of the talking, much to his embarrassment. Feeling that he’d made Rena giggle one time too many in one day, he calmly took the basket she offered and decide to eat slowly and properly this time.

“So…where’s Rayne?” Brad asked with his mouth half-full.

“You’ll be seeing him later,” Keo replied. “Before you meet the Elders. You’re lucky you had him to speak for you, get them to see you so soon. Otherwise you’d probably have to wait another two or three days.”

“He won’t be there when you step into the council chamber, though,” Rena pointed out. “From what he told us this morning, the Elders have requested that you come into the council chamber alone.”

Brad didn’t like the sound of that.

“Is there a certain way I’m supposed to act around them?” Brad asked. “Again, I’m not very familiar with the way things work around here…”

“There are three Elders for this city. That’s the way it’s always been- a triumvirate, three garou of equal power. Bow when you approach them. When you speak to them, you’re expected to treat them with respect. Never turn your back on them, even when leaving the room. And most importantly, don’t lie,” Keo said.

Brad raised an eyebrow. “Don’t lie?”

“They will know when you do,” Rena explained. “Or at least, one of them will anyway. Thankfully he’s also the least…angry of the three.”

“That’s a cheerful thought,” Brad muttered. “He can watch while his two angrier friends rip me to shreds.”

Rena laughed. “Well it’s not that bleak, Brad. I’m not saying that the other two will jump at the chance to kill you because you’re a human. They were chosen because they were the most level-headed and wise among us.”

“Rena, they were picked through a trial by combat,” Keo contradicted her.

Rena shot him a reprimanding glare as though telling him ‘Well Brad didn’t need to know that just yet, did he?’ “Well they’re still the wisest among us. Or else they’d have been challenged more often, wouldn’t they? And Olren wasn’t picked through a trial by combat. He stepped back in to take the place that Leorif vacated.” She then turned back towards Brad and said, “Look, don’t worry so much about it. I’m sure you’ll be fine. The other two just look scary, that’s all. But the point is all three of them are guided by reason. They wouldn’t call for your death unless they have a good reason to. Just answer them truthfully, and you’ll be fine.”

-

Keo and Rena left promptly after Brad was done eating, saying they had to be somewhere else. They promised to return later when it was time to take him to meet the Elders. It was a win some lose some deal. On one hand, it left Brad alone with no one to talk to and nothing to do, seeing that he wasn’t really all that willing to venture out of his room save to the river to get water. On the other hand, it wasn’t like he knew what to talk about either. As friendly as they were, once Brad was done asking questions, he was still the stranger who had just arrived last night.

Keo was the only one who returned later, saying that Rena wouldn’t be able to make it because she was busy. Feeling more than a little anxious, Brad followed the young werewolf out of the room, back down the spiral ramp to the main street, celebrated by falling autumn leaves. Keo didn’t say much to Brad as they walked, which was probably just as well because Brad didn’t feel much like talking. He’d spent the whole day rehearsing what exactly he would say to these people, and nothing he came up with sounded good enough. So far his confirmed speech had only been written as far as a nervous, shaky, but hopefully respectable ‘Hello’.

The main walk wasn’t as crowded as Brad remembered it being the night before. Most of the people they passed didn’t give the two of them much notice, all of them seeming to be rushing off to do something, or were engrossed in conversation with the people they were walking with. Keo led Brad towards the giant stone platform he had seen the night before, now filled with robed people coming in and out of the huge temple it lay before. As they walked, Brad found it hard to take his eyes off the temple. The stone pillars that he’d been unable to see clearly the night before now loomed majestically in plain sunlight as they approached. Brad was finally able to discern the identity of the carvings on another two at least. From left to right, the first was a bird of some sort, the second was the wolf, the third, with coils round the stone cylinder, with a head near the top from which a forked tongue protruded- was obviously a snake. The fourth, standing on two hind legs with huge wings that circled round the pillar had a large reptilian head which, judging by the carvings, seemed to be spewing fire from its mouth. Brad wasn’t sure if they had another name for it here. But the first word that came to mind when he saw it was ‘dragon’.

‘Why not? We already have werewolves. Might as well bring in the dragons. We’ll have gorgons, vampires and harpies next.’

Standing at the center of the stone square as they approached, Brad noticed, was Rayne. Beside him was another garou, standing slightly shorter than him in human form. The man beside Rayne looked old. His hair was white and long, reaching down to his shoulders. He had a gaunt, aged face, marked with a single scar over his right eye, which appeared to be blinded as it was snowy white, unlike his left eye, which was the reason why Brad was quick to notice that he was a garou- it was acid yellow and lupine, the same as the tailor from the night before. The older garou was dressed in plain white robes, holding a staff which may or may not have been used to support him as he stood. Looking at him made Brad feel confused somewhat. The wolfen eye was still a fearsome sight for Brad, and yet the man was smiling as warmly as though he were a host welcoming an old friend into his home.

“Brad Wolfe,” Rayne addressed him as he approached. “You now stand before Olren Moon-Singer, one of the city’s three Elders.”

Remembering what Rena had told him, Brad bowed.

“Greetings, Brad Wolfe,” Olren said, his tone almost reassuring Brad that, despite the threatening appearance of the man’s lupine eyes, he was the ‘least scary’ of the three. “I hope you have been treated well since your arrival?”

Disregarding Rena’s push, Brad decided that yes, he had been treated well all things considered- seeing that Rayne had remembered to send Keo to feed him. “Yes,” he said, wishing there was a title like ‘Sir’, or ‘Chief’ he could add to the answer. According to Keo and Rena, he was only meant to address anyone here by their first names. Which felt a little bit too personal for him, but it was something he’d have to get used to anyhow.

“I will take you into the council chamber to meet the other two Elders,” Olren said. “We will then decide what we’re going to do with you.”

For some odd reason, Brad had the sudden image of being ripped apart by a towering werewolf. The obvious discomfort this thought caused him showed on this face, prompting Olren to put his left hand on Brad’s shoulder, his eyes never leaving Brad’s as he said, “Don’t worry, boy. We haven’t had to resort to killing or injuring anyone who’s come before us in a long time without good reason to. If you could convince Rayne of your innocence, I don’t see how you wouldn’t be able to do the same for the rest of us.”

“…alright,” Brad managed, though he still wasn’t quite able to convince himself any further than allowing himself to agree verbally.

“Now, if there isn’t anything else, we probably should not delay here any longer,” Olren said, taking his firm hand off Brad’s shoulder as he stepped back and aside, gesturing the way towards the steps of the temple with his staff. Brad nodded, biting his lip as he took his first step towards it.

“Good luck,” he heard Keo tell him from behind. Brad stopped to give him one last glance, before looking at Rayne as though expecting the older werewolf to wish him the same. The taciturn expression on Rayne’s face didn’t change. He simply nodded in Brad’s direction. Deciding that that would be all he would be getting, Brad finally tore himself away from looking at them and started walking towards the great steps, with Olren walking beside him.

As they reached the top of the steps, past the giant stone pillars and into the shade of the temple, Brad looked up at the yawning giant entrance ahead of him, and had to stop and marvel at how small he suddenly felt. The width and the height of the main doors which now lay open before them, held in place by chains on either side, was such that there would have been enough room for a whole parade to go through it. Beyond the threshold was a straight walkway towards what Brad saw was a giant spiral staircase that seemed to spiral downwards instead of upwards. While the antechamber they were in now was big enough to serve as a great hall itself, apparently the bulk of the temple lay below this floor, not above. The entrance to the temple itself was at the highest level of the living building.

The fact that it was alive was one of the first thing Brad had noticed since he’d stepped in. While it would have been an obvious thing if he’d considered the fact that all the trees from which the garou had carved their buildings out of still bore leaves, compared to the small room where he’d spent the night, here, he could almost feel that the tree was still breathing. A gentle breeze seemed to blow into the antechamber from all the directions, accompanied by columns of sunlight lancing in through large, round holes for windows situated high above them. The straight walkway towards the stairs was lined by unlit braziers and wooden statues left and right, in a straight line all the way. The statues, Brad observed all seemed to be statues of garou in their true form- the half-man, half-wolf form he’d seen Rayne in once. The carving was so intricate and precise that they looked almost alive, frozen in time from some specific moment in their lives. The ones that were depicted holding weapons and in battle stance had ferocious snarls etched in their muzzles which Brad struggled to ignore. Others seemed to be standing simply with their arms folded around their chests as though waiting for something, or sitting down with an opened scroll in front of them as though they were still trying to decipher its secrets. In the pedestals in which they had been stood upon, their names were inscribed in plain alphabet. But below their names were longer statements that were written in the same language Brad had read at the main square the other day- the same weird curves and dots. Bizarrely, the rest of the room save for the walkway, was covered in what appeared to be vines and roots growing out of the tree’s walls, more proof that the building was indeed alive. The air had the distinct scent of morning dew, almost making the antechamber itself feel like it was in an open area. Save for a few other garou who seemed to be walking away from or towards the staircase, the statues and the braziers, the antechamber was otherwise empty, although seeing that there were still a large amount of places where the sunlight didn’t touch, still bathed in shadows, Brad couldn’t be sure.

“These statues are statues of our heroes,” Olren told Brad as they walked.

‘Seriously? Because I thought they were janitors or employees of the month or something,’ Brad thought sarcastically.

“Rayne tells me that there is much you do not know about our kind. If you were to delve into the roots of our history, I’m afraid you will find that we were for a most part of our past, a war-mongering race,” as he said this, he stopped in front of a statue that depicted a garou leaning forward as though ready to pounce off the pedestal, its claws at the ready and its teeth bared in a less-than-friendly grin. “It is a past that some of us deny, particularly since we’ve been running from it for so long that many have forgotten.”

Olren looked up at the grinning statue as though appraising it, squinting slightly in the column of sunlight that covered both him and the statue. “Unfortunately not everyone is willing to wash off the blood on our claws. Lesser still are the humans who are willing to let us forget. It is a lesson they have taught us ten times over, writ in the same innocent blood we used to spill back then. They will not be satisfied until they shepherd us the way we used to shepherd them, during the Age of the Gods.”

The old garou closed his eyes as he finally turned away from the statue, back towards Brad. “The lessons that we teach and learn are harsh, sung in the words of an unsheathed sword, breathed in the voices of the lost. It appears, sometimes, that it is a lesson that we will never ever learn properly. And yet we continue to teach, and so it will probably continue until there is no one left to learn.”

“Do you understand, then, Brad Wolfe, why Rayne’s first thoughts of you were suspicion? Do you understand why even the humans who live here to follow in the footsteps of the Gods are never above the suspicion of hiding daggers in their belts?” Olren asked.

Brad’s eyes narrowed. “I can’t see how a human can even lay a finger on one of your kind, even with a dagger. Your claws are almost as large as any dagger,” he replied.

Olren’s lips curved into a wry smile. “It’s easy to forget that we are as mortal as you are, sometimes, considering how frail your kind is. But what you lack in strength, you more than make up for with numbers and strategy.”

“Neither of which I have, so you shouldn’t really worry about me,” Brad pointed out.

Olren let out a throaty laugh. “Your blood runs true after all,” he said mysteriously. “You have my support, Brad Wolfe. Now it is my peers whom you will have to convince,” he said as he started walking again, continuing onwards towards the great staircase.

“My blood runs- what? Wait-

“There will be time for that later, boy,” Olren told him without looking back, chuckling as he walked on.

Brad hurried on after him, resuming his normal pace only after he’d caught up. Any efforts to pursue the subject further only resulted in Olren either ignoring him or pointing at another statue or window as they started their descent down the stairs. They passed a few good floors on the way down, each large and lit with pure sunlight. It was after passing about two floors that Olren finally took him down a long hallway towards a pair of large double doors at the end. The two garou guards in their lupine forms both bowed as Olren approached, greeting him before letting them pass.

Seeing that there were only three elders, Brad was surprised to find that the council chamber seemed liked it was built for at least a hundred people. It was as large as a small hall, with circular rows of seats which extended about three or four rows back. At the hollow center was a single raised platform of white marble. The rest of the seats in the room seemed to be simple wooden logs. The walls that surrounded them seemed to be covered in a long painted mural depicting the same four figures that Brad had seen on the pillars outside. The floor beneath their feet was white sand, as smooth as though it was from a beach. A huge lamp hung from the ceiling, directly above the circular platform in the center. Despite the lack of windows, it appeared to be sufficient to keep the room well lit.

Sitting on two chairs on the front row, right opposite the entrance were two men- one large and muscular, the other only a head shorter than his friend, but lean and well built- who Brad immediately guessed to be the other two elders. As his eyes fell towards them, he noticed that the chairs they occupied, along with one chair beside them were larger than the others and carved out of marble rather than made out of wood. This confirmed his suspicions even before the two men said anything. Brad bowed once immediately towards them as Olren brought him to the marble circle.

“Brad Wolfe, standing before you are Dareth Lakal’s-Fist and Barkal Windsong.”

“Good day to you, Brad Wolfe,” one of the two men said cheerfully. The speaker was the larger of the two, whom Brad noticed, as the black-haired man stood up, was big enough that he could more than possibly cover the whole of Brad’s face with the palm of one hand and crush it to a fine pulp. Despite his cheerful tone of voice, his face was another paradox. Upon first glance, he didn’t really look very friendly. His chiseled jaw and large forehead, along with his bared teeth gave him an almost savage look, reinforced by the wild (but otherwise, human) look in his dark brown eyes. His beard was as messy and unkempt as his clothes- robes that appeared to have been torn in so many places, revealing hints of the leather he wore beneath. His long hair hung down in braids beside his shoulders and over his back, almost hiding the fact that a small chunk of his left ear had been torn off. The number of scars on his face made him look all the more imposing and fearsome, especially when coupled with the fact that his body appeared to have been sculpted specifically for the purpose of combat. Lying at his feet beside the chair was a giant battle axe that convince Brad upon seeing it that he wouldn’t be able to even lift it a few good inches off the ground. The blade was still caked in soil and dried blood. Even though Olren hadn’t pointed while he had introduced them, Brad made a pretty good guess that this man was probably Dareth, seeing that he couldn’t imagine him having the word ‘song’ anywhere in his name. Brad decided upon seeing him that he was indeed, a lot scarier than Olren.

But that was before he took a good look at Barkal. While Dareth had the build of a brawler, Barkal had the lean build of an athlete. He didn’t speak or smile as Brad’s eyes met his pale green ones. He simply stared- It wasn’t a friendly look, nor was it exactly a hateful glare either. His face seemed calm, emotionless. Unlike his two counterparts, he didn’t seem to carry any scars, and his long gray hair was a contrast to his otherwise youthful appearance. While he looked well past adolescence, he was definitely nowhere as old as Olren or Dareth. Brad wasn’t sure what exactly he found threatening about Barkal. The garou only sat calmly, unmoving on his seat with one leg crossed over the other, his hands on his lap. It looked as though he were studying Brad- although for all intents and purposes, granted his lack of facial expression, he could have also looked like he was already ripping Brad apart in his head. His face was narrow and pale, his thin lips pursed together as he stood up after about two minutes of regarding Brad in absolute silence.

“The physical resemblance is not so great, but it is there,” he said, his voice just as cold and emotionless as his face. “That does not, however excuse him from judgment. He is still a human who has trespassed on our territory.”

“Aye, he has a point there, Olren,” Dareth chuckled. “The boy’s blood does not speak for his character. Unless you can convince otherwise, I’m finally going to get to sink my axe into proper flesh instead of wood.” Seeing the look that Olren shot him almost immediately, he raised both hands defensively and said, “A week already feels like an eternity, Olren. You know how it is.”

“You will sate your thirst for blood elsewhere,” Olren warned him.

“If the lad can convince us of his innocence,” Dareth reminded him. “Does he have the same story? He doesn’t know how he got here, he just did? And from another world besides?”

Brad’s eyes lit up with hope. ‘Someone else has passed this way!’ He could only hope that the fact that that ‘other person’ wasn’t in the room meant that he had been sent home.

“Things are different now, brothers,” Barkal interrupted coldly. “We are on the verge of another terrible war with the humans. We cannot afford the same pleasantries as we did last time. If we let him live, then we risk having him lead Tygras here to Lakal’s Grove.”

Brad didn’t like the way the conversation was going. It took every ounce of willpower to remain rooted to the platform where he was standing, even as Olren stepped out to stand between him and the two other garou.

“He’s right,” Dareth agreed. “Like it or not, he is human. We don’t know where his loyalties lie.”

“Which is precisely why we cannot kill him!” Olren said exasperatedly. “Your fears of him betraying us are unfounded- his only thoughts are of returning home, nothing more.

“Even if he is friendly now, there is no guarantee that he will stay that way, Olren. You know how humans are. I know a way to ensure he stays loyal, however,” Dareth said.

Olren’s eyes widened. “Dareth! We cannot-

“You know I speak the truth. He can’t run away and tell on us if the humans won’t take him in. In the meantime it will make his stay here more pleasant since the people of the city won’t glare at him as he passes. Everyone is happy,” Dareth said with a smug grin.

Brad, obviously not following this conversation very well, opened his mouth to let them know about this crucial fact, but he could not raise his voice above the sound of Olren arguing with Dareth. It didn’t help that the two had started to growl and snarl at each other in turn, as though it were a language by itself. Judging by the way their facial expressions changed, Brad guessed that it was most probably their language- those curved lines and dots somehow translated into this unintelligible noise to Brad’s ears.

“Enough,” Barkal said suddenly, silencing the two other Elders. He hadn’t even had to raise his voice. “What Dareth speaks is the truth, Olren, and you know it. Unless the boy can prove that he can be trusted, he will either die or become one of us.”

“How can he prove that? Even if we were to ask for him to tell us his story, you will just say that his word alone isn’t enough!” Olren protested.

“There is the option for trial by combat…” Dareth suggested.

“Not an option!” Olren snapped. “You may as well have sentenced him to death!”

“Olren, don’t let his blood ties cloud your judgment,” Barkal warned.

“Why not?” Olren shouted back. “You both are allowing your fear of the oncoming war to cloud yours!”

Silence.

Brad would have opened his mouth to say something as the three Elders regarded each other. The only problem was that he wasn’t sure what exactly he should say. ‘Don’t worry, folks, I’m a nice guy?’ It all felt silly now. He’d studied literature as a subject in school only to find himself unable to form a proper sentence to save his life.

“Olren, you go too far,” Barkal said finally, staring coldly at the older werewolf. “Once and for all, the boy proves himself, or he dies.”

Brad was almost ready to let his fear overpower him and run. But how far would he be able to get? He hadn’t managed to outrun Rayne- and that was in a forest. Now he was in a building, no, a city full of them.

Olren stepped back, turning towards Brad. Brad noticed now that the stern look he had put on when he had tried to defend him was now suddenly replaced by a look of apology. “You leave me no choice,” the old garou said, though judging by the tone of his voice, he wasn’t addressing Brad when he’d said it. And yet, his eerie lupine eyes were staring straight at Brad.

“You would break a law just to protect him?” Dareth gasped. “You really are one determined old wolf.”

And beyond that, Brad found himself unable to hear or focus on anything else Dareth, or anyone else was saying. Transfixed to the spot, he found himself unable to look away from Olren’s eyes. The world around him started to blur. A distantly familiar ringing sound started to blare through his head as his numb body crashed to the floor, down on his knees first, his eyes still locked upwards before he finally slumped forward, everything fading to black before he hit the floor.