The Fourteen

Chapter 24: On the Third Day, They Shall Come Again

"We should have reached the aspen forest by now," Boe mused. "There's only a few hours left until sundown. We were clear of the main forest by this time yesterday."

"You didn't ponder the fact that perhaps this forest is bigger than the other one?" Brooke huffed back at him.

"Well, I'm just trying to suggest that maybe we're going in the wrong direction."

"Shelly said west. So we'll go west."

"Maybe Shelly was wrong."

"And you're right?"

"Never said that. I was simply implying that we check our bearings before we waste a day running away from our destination."

"You said it yourself, the sun is setting. We're surely heading west because the Sun has been blinding me for the last HOUR!"

"HEY! I'm just saying we should've been through-"

I gave Soren a meaningful glance before we shouted in unison, "Stop arguing!"

Thank Lady Luna they listened. Though my two pack mates' mouths were shut, their lethal expressions spoke louder than their words. But the silence was endearing. It was a start.

"Let's take a break. I'll climb a tree to see if I can locate the end of the pine forest." I calmly stated.

The formerly arguing pair remained quiet; they didn't trust themselves with simple banter. Soren was grateful for the break in their constant bickering. I was too.

Not wanting to leave Soren with the ticking time bombs, I closed my eyes to part my soul from my body. I felt a minute tug of annoyance from her; she didn't appreciate the hate emitted from my friends due to their arguing.

Briefly, she was visible for everyone to see; she was like an ethereal clone, a carbon copy of me. Then, shimmering into a wraith-like form, she whisked up a trunk, weaving around it, and glowing like a ball of iridescent light.

"I see the aspen forest, but its north of here. The river is not too far from it." I heard the report from her mentally.

We were heading in the wrong direction. After passing on the message to my friends, they were incredulous. Even Boe, who had suggested the notion of us going in the wrong direction, was speechless.

"Someone must've made a mistake when the directions were given." Soren concluded. But his voice was laced with uncertainty.

We left it at that.

~~*~~

The rushing torrent of the waters propelled our legs forward. We'd smelt the seaweed and the tang of fish long before we could hear the sound. Night cloaked the land as our paws charged through the foliage.

Four days until the full moon; all of us felt it as soon as our pristine deity's face lit the darkness. I had lost track of time in the Glass Room; I couldn't believe that it was almost a whole moon since my capture.

We had shifted and ran well into the night. Our sharpened senses helped us evade our pursuers. After a long dusk-to-dawn period of travel, our eyes started to droop. Lady Luna threatened to disappear into the horizon.

As we crossed river, our paws skimmed the rocks beneath the water's surface. Upon crossing, we instantly divided to find a place to camp upstream.

I pinpointed an old badger burrow; it was hollow and large enough for everyone. No one bothered to shift back into their human forms as we crammed into the space. Turning in a dog-like sleeping ritual, I curled up into a sable ball of fur.