Taming the Wild

Into the Woods

Charles' next meeting with the blacksmith happened sooner than either of them could expect.

One fine day at the school, Charles was grading papers and Moira was teaching the small class of kids new songs when a letter arrived. As soon as Charles opened it, he jumped up from the desk vigorously and grabbed his hat.

"Charles?" Moira looked at him puzzled, so did the class.

"I-- I have to go, Moira! This can't wait, not even a moment, not even a second!" was all he could say in his excitement before rushing out of the sunlit schoolroom and climbing on top of his horse's back.

Charles was a good rider, he's always been a good rider and it seemed really fitting for him now because he needed the fastest way possible to get to the little wood-like area just outside town.

Good news! Finally good news!

To Mr. Charles Xavier, the city of Carlton, April 22, 1885.

Mr. Xavier,

After months of extensive search I have the honour of informing you that I have found your sister - Miss Raven - and am currently bringing her to you. Unfortunately one of the wheels of our coach is broken and cannot be repaired as quickly as we hoped. Miss Raven is in no condition to ride and I have no other way of taking her to town. If possible, come get us. If not, we'll arrive in two days or about.

Harrison Alston.

You can imagine Charles' sheer happiness upon receiving this message. Of course he'd come get his sister! Of course, he'd not wait another day for it! He needed to hold Raven in his arms and make sure she's alright! And Alston mentioned something about Raven's condition...? Charles couldn't wait calmly in Carlton while his sister was so close and yet so far away in a 'condition'!

Charles' insane riding did not go unnoticed throughout the small town. Passers by stared at him as he flew past them as if he were a criminal or a lunatic. But Charles could not care less. All that was on his mind now was Raven.

He was soon out of town, near the woods. He slowed down the horse' pace and looked around. There was nothing and no one to be seen. He got off the horse and approached the woods.

"Raven?" he called "Mr. Alston?"

There was no reply and Charles began to worry. What if they were attacked? What if something terrible happened? What if Charles was too late?...

Suddenly he felt strong arms grabbing him from behind and twisting his arms to his back, slamming him into a tree. Charles cried in pain and tried to resist but it was all a fruitless attempt. He was caught by surprise; unable to defend himself he received a hard blow on his head and by the time his vision became less of a blur, he was already tied down to a tree.

Charles looked up, warm streak of blood was slowly sliding down from his temple to his cheek, down to his chin. There was a man, a huge threatening figure, casting down a shadow on Charles. Charles squinted his eyes and forced his blurry vision to form some kind of an image of his attacker. The man above him was none other than Alston.

"Why are you doing this? You were supposed to be working for me..." Charles managed, his speech slurred "You were supposed to find Raven..."

"I got a better offer." the man said and took out a knife.

Charles froze. This was a trap. All of it. From the start. Raven wasn't here and this person was after him. Charles' mind quickly started calculating for any possibility of escape. His best weapon was his mind, his telepathy. But when he tried it on the man, it did not work.

Charles panicked. He had no explanation as to what was happening and why Alston's mind was immune to Charles' power. That has never happened to him before.

He was scared, and not ashamed to admit it. He was scared because he would never be able to see Raven again. He was scared because if one of the men that Charles had hired to look for her was in fact trying to kill Charles, Raven was in danger too. He was afraid because without Charles Raven was all alone in this wild world. Charles had to live in order to do his best to help his sister. But Charles realized with terror that his telepathy couldn't help him this time, that he was slowly losing consciousness and the man before him had a knife. There was no one around in these parts and the chance for escape in this case, in this condition, was... zero.

Just as he could feel the cold blade of the knife on his skin, he felt it slide away inches from his skin and he realized he was not hurt. His telepathy alerted him of the presence of a familiar mind but Charles couldn't find a name yet.

He opened his eyes to see a tall man tackling Alston on the ground a few steps away from where Charles was. The two were clenched in a desperate deadly battle. Someone had come to his rescue! Someone was saving him!

Alston was a large man but Charles' rescuer somehow managed to keep him down, the two rolling in the dry grass, each trying to prevail. Alston had dropped his knife when the other man tackled him and was now trying to reach for his guns but the man had pushed those away too so both of them were unarmed.

Charles glanced at the metal blade of Alston's knife, glittering not too far from him and he tried to reach it with his foot in order to untie himself.

"Damn it!" he cursed under his breath because the knife was too far and too hard to get.

Charles' rescuer heard his quiet groan apparently because he glanced at Charles for a second before getting hit by Alston and turning back to him again. That short second, though, was enough for Charles to see the face of the man who was his savior - it was Lehnsherr, the blacksmith from Carlton.

Charles had no time to be surprised.

"Untie yourself!" Lehnsherr called as he was trying to keep Alston down.

The huge man was not easy to overcome but Lehnsherr was doing surprisingly well, Charles noted absentmindedly. He made one more effort to reach the knife and this time the metal blade came so easily to him that Charles would call it magic, if he didn't know any better. He cut the ropes and jumped up from the ground, stumbling a bit from his dizziness.

"Are you alright?" Lehnsherr's voice sounded tense and strained from the fight

Charles' head was spinning too much for him to understand the question.

"I said, are you alright?" Lehnsherr repeated, more demanding this time, his eyes searching Charles for any visible wounds other than the one on his head.

Alston used the advantage of Erik looking away to punch him hard in the face and knock him off of himself. He sprout up, looking for his guns, while Erik was on the ground a few steps away, recovering from the blow.

It all came back to Charles like a whirlpool. That man, Alston, had lied to Charles by giving him false hope that his sister was near, he endangered Raven, then tried to kill Charles and now he was going to hurt Lehnsherr - the man who came to Charles' rescue. That was not acceptable!

Charles' face twisted in an angry grimace and threw himself at Alston with the man's own knife in his hands. His anger and despair were giving him extra-strength, unusual for him.

"Don't make another move!" he gritted through his teeth. "I need to know why." he said quietly but ominously, his eyes piercing through Alston's very soul "Who made you do this? Who wants me dead?"

His voice was shaking a little but Alston could read it in Charles' eyes that he wasn't joking, that he needed answers. The man opened his mouth to speak when suddenly a gunshot pierced the air and Alston's face twisted in a combination of pain and surprise. He slid down to the ground, glassy eyes and a trickle of blood coming out of his mouth.

Charles looked down at Alston's body, spread down on the ground before him and swallowed. Was the man really dead?