Cloak as Red as Blood

Chapter 17: No Place Like Home

After another week of being held up in this bumpy moving cottage, we finally made our way out 

of the thick forest. Just as the Alfverans said, we had entered the Moorlands and might I say it 

felt good to be home after so many years.  The flat lands were covered in brown grass, as it was 

almost Hearthstime. The hills in the distance seemed to stretch on for miles. The air was colder, 

but it smelled cleaner. "Whew! We're finally home boys", said Jonathan. "It's bigger than I 

remember it", said Henry. "Well you were still in diapers when we left", I said smiling. "What do 

you think Skylar?", I asked. "It's like a sea of brown hills and flat land, for miles." "You should see 

it in Springtime", said Jonathan. "Well let's not just stand here gawkin', let's get to the village", 

said Henry. We all nodded our heads in agreement and began our trek across the Moors.

Henry and Skylar chose to ride in the cottage while Jonathan  and I decided to walk. I felt a walk 

in home territory would do us some good instead of being trapped in that stuffy cottage. As we 

made our way through the countryside we passed a few dwellings scattered around and some 

lakes. No one seemed concerned that we were traveling next to a house with chicken legs.  They 

were probably were more concerned with bringing in the harvest. I was thankful that I would be 

reunited with my family without the burden of my Moonstime symptoms. Artraeon knows how 

they would all react to me in my half wolf half man form. I was so busy with the multitude of 

worries and thoughts in my head, that I almost didn't hear Jonathan's voice.  "We're home little 

brother!", he said giving me a pat on the shoulder.  I looked up and saw that we were 

approaching a tall red building, made of bricks, on a hill. It was The gathering house, where all 

members of the Loxley clan would come together for celebrations and meetings.  My Da was the 

leader of the clan until he moved us away. As leader we lived the closest to the gathering place. 

When we moved our house was given to my Uncle Bannon and his family. I wondered if they still 

lived there after all these years.

Suddenly the cottage came to a halt. Jonathan and I stopped to turn and look at it. The legs 

began to shrink as the cottage began to descend. Out stepped Skylar, Henry, and Skylar's beast 

of a cat. With a wave of her hand and the whisper of words I couldn't understand the cottage 

shrank further until it became a collar. Putting the collar around  the cat she said, "I'd doubt 

your family would relish the idea of a house with giant chicken legs coming to meet them." 

Together the five us walked up the hill towards the big brig house.

Seeing the building up close was nostalgic. The spot where I had carved my name into it's solid