The Crimson Cape

Chapter Seven

Before they knew it, Evander, Esmerelda, and Phoenix made it back to the path that Evan had originally plotted out. They had successfully made it around an obstacle that caused a serious problem for the first hunting party. Of course, their detour cost them the rest of that day, so the journey to Faraway Hollow would take them another day longer. The only downside to this was that they had no way to contact their village to let them know that their journey would take them another day longer.

They follow their original path until they come upon a clearing, where they make camp for the night. A large thunderstorm brews overhead and begins to dump rain on them. The pouring rain motivated the three of them to set up their shelter faster. In no time, the three of them had pitched their tents and crawled inside. Phoenix and Esmerelda each had their own tents, which somewhat made Phoenix uncomfortable. What eased Phoenix's mind was her proximity to Esmerelda's tent. Even though Esmerelda was in a separate tent from her, the proximity to her grandmother made Phoenix sleep better that night. Evan stayed up the entire night with a crossbow in his hand and his ears open. He would only defend the camp if the wolf begins to attack.

The storm continued well into the night, but soon it disseminated. The woods were very humid after that and Evan was sure that it would be very foggy the next morning.

Just past midnight, Evan heard the sound of footsteps in the mud. He feared the worst, but after he did not hear any other noises, he dismissed it as just another animal. Perhaps a wild stag had wandered into their camp and after not finding anything that is of interest to it wandered off into the night. However, the very possibility that a wolf wandered into their camp haunted Evan throughout the rest of the night.

Dawn broke and Evan woke Esmerelda and Phoenix and told them to start packing up the camp so they resume their journey. When the sun began to peak through the trees, they were able to see footprints in the mud. The prints that were left behind were unmistakably made by a wolf.

"A wolf came into our camp last night!" Phoenix exclaimed.

"Apparently one did." Evan replied. "Don't worry. I stayed awake with my crossbow in hand. If anything were to happen, I would have shot it before it knew what hit them."

They packed up camp, each ate a piece of bread, and set out again on their journey. Phoenix noticed that the wolf tracks continued along the path that they were following, which chilled her to the bone. Eventually the tracks disappeared and veered off into another direction, but Phoenix had no interest in following them. She was primarily focused on finding Big White and getting a sample of his blood.

"How far are we from the hills?" Esmerelda asked.

"Well over half a day's journey from now." Evan answered. "Had we not had to take a detour, we could be on our way home by now."

On their way, they saw signs of wolf activity. From animal carcasses to more wolf tracks, it was obvious that they were entering wolf-infested territory. They could hear the faint sounds of howling in the distance. Every howl was another reminder that they were very far from home and they did not have any indoor shelters to use to escape the wolves.

They paused at a creek to refill their canteens. The creek ran with fresh water from a spring a short distance away. Suddenly, they heard a rustling noise from a bunch of bushes behind them. Each of them loaded their crossbows, aimed them at the bush, and prepared to defend themselves from whatever was hiding in the bushes.

The three of them slowly approached the bush and prepared to fire their arrows into the bush. Whatever was hiding in the bushes would not survive if it stayed in the bushes.