Lykan

Chapter 3 - Journey

They book may be a bit slow right now but I promise it will pick up!

I had expected the villagers to react with anger or doubt. Surprisingly they acted grateful instead.

I sort of understood why. They wanted freedom form the werewolves. These werewolf hunters promised that.

The group of Southerners avoided the people's rapid questions and walked away. Leaving behind a trail of queries.

I followed them, quickening my stride until I caught up to them.

     "Hey wait up." I shouted. The group stopped so suddenly I almost collided into Scout. He raised his eyebrows at me, waiting for an explanation.

"If you need to know about werewolves, I can help you." I gasped out, breathless from excitement. All my life my people had told me that my research was pointless and a waste of time. Now I could prove them wrong.

"Sure you can." Darrow muttered sarcastically. Dove elbowed him in the ribs, silencing him.

" I'm a... lupus physicist... of sorts. I know everything there is to know about werewolves."
The group didn't look convinced. So I blurted the first thing I could think of,

        "Did you know that the last successful killing of a werewolf was in year 3b04. They used an iron hatchet to chop off its head. This suggests that, contrary to popular belief, silver is not their only weakness. Removing their head or heart will kill them just fine. Also, I studied known werewolf placements in Arcanum and there are none in Blue Brush Hills. My theory is that it is because of the abundance of wolfsbane there. So werewolves must have a weakness against it. Another thing, werewolves, like the wolf, mate for life. They also have the same hierarchical structure as the wolf. Alpha male, alpha female, beta and so on. This is proven by a stronger werewolf's tendency to mate more and dominating better hunting grounds. Actually, a year ago when I was stud-"

      "Okay we get it, you know a lot about werewolves." Darrow cut in. I stopped an took on a breath. Zara stepped forward, looking me up and down. Inspecting me.

        "You'll help us? She said, her silky voice doubtful. I nodded. This was everything I had ever wanted. Of course I was going to help.

       "Well then, where are the werewolves?" Juno questioned. I stopped "What?"
"How do we find the werewolves, so we can kill them." Darrow repeated for me through gritted teeth. Clearly he did not like me being here.

     "I... I don't know specifically." I stammered. "But I have and idea as to what could give us a clue."

     Dove, her cheery voice cutting through the tension laughed, "Finally as clue!" Darrow rolled his eyes at her enthusiasm but followed as I lead everyone to my place.

Back at my place I showed the group my map that I had drawn myself. On it it I had labelled areas of high werewolf concentrations.

I pointed to the village at the edge of the map, isolated and surrounded by thick forest.

        "This is the village of Lykan." I said, loudly enough to catch their attention. Everyone glanced over, except Darrow who was glaring at a picture of a werewolf like it might come to life and bite him.

        Zara was whispering things to herself under her breath. Her dark chocolate brown eyes sharp in concentration. "I believe that Lykan holds the key to getting rid of the werewolves...forever." I proclaimed.

      Scout, who was flipping through a book, looked at me. "And why is that?" He asked.

     I took at deep breath, filling myself with patience, "Lykan has never had a werewolf attack. Not even a werewolf den has been found there." I paused and took in their faces. Dove was smiling at a wind chime in the window, Darrow was scowling, Juno was going over my calculations, and the rest were paying close attention to me.

       "Something must be repelling the werewolves." Scout nodded excited "And if we're find what it is... we can use it to repel them from other villages." He finished.

        As if an unspoken signal had been made, the whole group gathered up their packs and exited my house.

      "Wait what are you guys doing?" I worried. They couldn't just leave right now. "We're going to Lykan, pay attention please." Darrow said exasperated.

       "But that's a dangerous journey." I said my voice high and panicked.  Dove giggled and motioned to her sword whip. "Don't worry, we can handle it." She said.

        I turned to Zara confused. "Ignore her she's debatably insane." Zara said. Darrow stepped forward slightly, visibly offended at Zara's judgement of Dove.

"But she's right. We'll be okay." Zara continued. I nodded slowly, "Wait here," I said quickly then turned and raced into my hut.

I gathered up some clothes and food. I shoved it all into a pack. Then, as an after thought, I shoved some of my most important notes over top. Followed by a blank notebook for new information I may gather.

I raced back outside, whilst swing my pack over my shoulders. "Okay I'm ready." I stopped in front of Scout.

"Oh hell no, she is not coming with us." Darrow said angrily. "She knows basically everything about werewolves, she could be an asset." Juno said thoughtfully.

The rest of the group nodded and Darrow glared at me. "Fine, but if she gets attacked by a werewolf she better be able to defend herself."

      With that Darrow turned and stalked towards the gates. Dove skipping along behind him. I shrugged off the dislike he felt toward me as I walked out of the village.

    I felt strange and free. I had never actually left the village. It had always been too dangerous. Not just the werewolves posed a danger, bandits and other mutated animals also roamed these woods.

     I moved between Scout and Juno, feeling a bit nervous. Scout was carefully looking around, alert for any danger, while Juno was munching on an apple.

        Eager and fearful, I knew that we would soon face dangers beyond my imagination. The deeper we travelled into the eerie forest the more apparent the threats became. But I knew we would be ready to face anything.

Thanks for reading! Hope y'all like it so far!