The Cabin-A Wolfwalkers Fanfiction(COMPLETED)

Chapter Ten

    I woke up thinking about the tracks from the day before. I decided to go and check them out. After eating breakfast, that is. I went to the carcass to see if there was another leg for me to eat, and there was, much to my surprise. I cut off the last leg and returned home to cook it. After I had eaten my hearty meal, I set off to go and find the person behind the mysterious tracks.

    Following the tracks, I found bits and pieces scattered along the path. Scraps of cloth, a lead ball from a flintlock. Drips of water were melting the snow, leaving little depressions in the cold ground. Who was this person? Why were they wet? Why did they have lead balls in their possession? This thinking went on for a long time. The tracks were winding, twisting, as if the person didn't know where to go or how to get there. I was curious, to say the least. I also noticed that the tracks were heading away from the wolf den, so either it was just luck, or an actual conscious decision to go away from the wolves. The tracks were hurried from the looks of it. There were many nicks in the wood of trees and trampled bushes, so I was under the impression that the people who made these tracks didn't want to stay long.

    I followed the tracks for some time. Beating down bushes and climbing over fallen logs, I realized that it had slowly shifted to night. I had been following these tracks for longer than I had thought, and I was hungry. After hunting down a deer and cutting down some small branches for a fire, I ate seared deer for dinner before continuing on my way.

    I looked up to see owls flying overhead through the trees, hooting and fluttering. It was a good thing to see, a familiar sight in an unfamiliar place. It gave to the courage to go on, so I plowed forward to see who was behind all of this. I needed to know. Another question couldn't go unanswered. If it did, my brain would explode. I was a teakettle about to burst, and I needed to let off some steam.

    As I walked through the forest, I saw a light through the trees. I crouched down, so as not to be spotted by these mystery people. I approached and picked out a spot behind a tree. I did a double-take. There were guards around a fire wearing iconic red coats. English. Why were English troops out in the Irish wilderness? Trying to start a new town? They didn't have any people to populate. Trying to gather resources? Why go this far into the woods? Then I saw him. He was black-haired down to his shoulders, with a long nose and gray eyes. It was real. The Lord Protector had come to Northern Ireland, possibly to finish what he started: Finish off the wolves.

    I was shocked. Robyn told me he had been killed in the fight! How had he survived? Had Robyn lied? Had the Lord Protector somehow survived his fall into the ravine? How? Why? Why was he back, right within a day's reach of the wolves? They had almost killed him once, why come back for more? I had to confront her about it, fast. I slunk over to some tree cover, then sprinted back to Robyn through most of the remainder of the night. When I reached home just before dawn, I needed food and sleep. Jogging over to the deer carcass, I cut off some lean meat for me to chow down before hitting the sack. When it was cooked, I hurriedly chopped it up and dumped it into a bowl to eat. Tossing in a hand ful of berries, I dug out a spoon I had laid into the snow to clean, wiped it off, and dug in. Afterward, full, lazy, and sleepy, I threw the bowl and spoon out into the snow again and laid my head down on my pillow. As soon as I had drawn my blanket up to my head, I was snoozing.