Our Second World book three: Personal Truth

Chapter 43.1: Miafilellie

(Part one of two)

After waking up in the middle of the night to the sounds of fighting outside, Emilia and I rushed outside to find Wolf and another shifter trying to literally tear out each other's throats in their shifted forms. Emilia managed to break up the fight by hitting the other shifter with an arrow from a bow I didn't even know she had.

It's been about an hour now since then and Wolf--er..Kuroki..gods I don't know what to call him now-- he was sleeping soundly on the floor of the living room in front of the fireplace.

Even though Mikhael had offered to do it instead, I decided to stay up and watch Wolf for a while. I couldn't help but be a little worried about him since he'd fallen asleep almost immediately after we finished talking, but at least he didn't seem to be in any pain while he slept.

After a while, it started getting lighter outside. When it did, I noticed Wolf changed back to a humanoid form, though his ears and tail remained along with his snow white hair.

It was nearly seven when Wolf woke up, and we ate breakfast with Mikhael and Emilia. When we were done eating it was silent, yet it was obvious what everyone was thinking.

What now?

No one seemed to want to ask the question that hung heavy in the air, but, eventually, Mikhael spike.

"So...where will you two go now?" he asked, his deep voice cutting through the thick stew of silence.

I opened my mouth to say something, but Wolf beat me to it.

"We're going to continue moving north," he said." There's something there that we need."

"Ah, then...you must be heading to the crystal cavern falls, right?" Mikhael asked, pausing to take a sip of his coffee." That's a long way to go for younguns like yourselves."

"Yes, we are aware of that, but we don't have any other options," I said." Please understand."

Mikhael shared a look with Emilia, and sighed," we understand lass."

"Then--"

"--But! That doesn't mean we condone you going alone, especially since one a ya's injured," Mikhael shot a look at Wolf, who lowered his head." So I ask ya' this: Will you let us help ya' out?"

"You've already done so much for us, though."

"Emi's from up north so she knows 'er way 'round, an' I'm pretty handy with an axe myself," Mikhael grinned. Emilia nodded." So, whad'ya say? Will ya' let us take you?"

"I don't know..." I glanced at Wolf who had been silent for a while now.

He had a dangerous grin on his face," You better not slow us down, old man," he said.

"Same to you, lad."

~

We waited about an hour for Emilia and Mikhael to get themselves ready. I was surprised to find both Wolf's bags and my own sitting on the table when I returned from retrieving my cloak from the bedroom. Mikhael had gone to get them from the river the day after he found us apparently, and I was happy to find that nothing seemed to be missing from mine.

It was nearly nine by the time we were all ready to go. I was surprised, to say the least, when I saw how different Emilia and Mikhael looked in their travelers gear.

Emilia wore a simple white blouse and black riding pants under her white cloak with sleeves, and she also wore tall black boots lined at the top with fur. On her back sat a black leather quiver full of arrows and a simple cherry red bow was thrown over her shoulder, the string pulled tight against her chest. Her short black hair had also been pulled up into a half ponytail with some loose strands framing her pale face.

Mikhael was similarly dressed in a plain green tunic, dark brown pants, and black boots. Under his brown cloak, a small axe hung from his belt, and he had a bag of supplies for both himself and Emilia slung over his shoulder.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

I nodded as I adjusted my sabers on my belt. As I did, Emilia walked over with two brown horses all saddled. One hers and the other Mikhaels, but Wolf and I would share one and the couple would share the other.

After securing our bags to the saddle, I helped Wolf up into the saddle before jumping up behind him. Like the last time we'd ridden a horse together, Wolf didn't let me hold onto him, and he sat with a small gap between us. In contrast, Mikhael sat behind Emilia with his arms wrapped tightly around her waist.

~

We made good progress that day, traveling at a steady pace with Emilia in the lead. When it started getting dark, we stopped to make camp for the night. Tying the horses to a metal stake in the ground before digging a hole in the snow for a small fire, courtesy of Emilia.

We got up as the sun rose and smothered our smoldering fire with snow before continuing on our way.

For the next three days, we made good progress.

By mid-afternoon on the 16th day of the 12th month, we could see a thin black line forming on the horizon.

About five days later, that line turned into a small mountain range that slowly grew bigger as we went.

After about another week or so, we finally arrived at the base of the large mountain range late one night.

We camped at the base that night and continued into the mountains the next morning.

After two days of grueling climbing up the well worn mountain path, Emilia reared off the road and started leading us up the next, short mountain at an angle. By the time we reached the top of that mountain and the flat area behind it, it was starting to get late.

We decided to stop and set up a camp before the sun dipped too low in the sky. By now, most of Wolf's injuries were pretty much healed, but he was still the first one asleep after we ate. Emilia was next, and, pretty soon, it was just me left awake.

At first, I wasn't sure why it was that I couldn't get to sleep, but it wasn't long before I noticed an uneasy feeling churning in my stomach. It didn't take long for me to notice how quiet it had gotten. There was no wind, and no animals; the silence pressed in on my ears and I covered them with my hands in an attempt to alleviate the uncomfortable pressure.

That was my mistake.

With my ears covered, I wasn't able to hear the footsteps approaching behind me.