Signs and Shadows

Signs & Shadows

“It’s locked?” Strider hesitantly said returning from the inside of the shadowy shed. Her coat was so dark I could not tell where it ended and where the darkness of the shed began. “Locked? It doesn’t lock?” I gruffly responded while walking into the shed to find it was indeed locked. Maybe locked isn’t the right word, usually, you walk in and emerge back in Sanctuary. This time there was a wall as you would find in any normal shed.

I walked out and Strider smirked at me playing with the flower we were sent to find, “I told you it was locked, Bailey.” I rolled my eyes and said, “Put the flower away before you destroy it, they don’t grow everywhere you know.” Strider’s smirk was quickly wiped from her face as she stammered ‘I, uh, okay, sorry.” I shook my head and chuckled before seeing a shadow dash further into the forest from the corner of my eye. I raised my hackles and began to growl. Strider put her back to mine as she tucked the flower into her coat. We scanned the forest and I saw it again. I whispered, “It’s a dog?” Strider nodded and added, “You recognize him don’t you?”

“We need to leave here, now.” I gruffly said. “Where are we going to go?” Strider asked, “The shed is blocked remember?” I wondered to myself if this was the plan all along or just tremendously bad luck that got us stuck here with him and no way out. I didn’t have much time to wonder before I felt Strider tugging at my coat “We need to go!” She was pulling me to the Great Oak, but I shook my head “We need to go to the grove. The Oak is too far and we cannot risk leading him there!”

She wanted to argue, she wanted to fight, and she wanted nothing more than to stand there proclaiming all the reasons I was wrong; but she and I both knew there wasn’t time for it. So, instead, she followed my lead and we ran to the grove. The forest was quiet as we cut through the paths it had laid for us. No birds or pigs or cats, the only sound I heard was our feet on the ground and our breath in the air. When we finally made it to the grove our hearts were nearly beating through our chests and we strained to hear anything that was out of place. Instead, we heard the continual and unnerving call of unnatural silence which fell on us like the eye of a storm falling on unwary and unprepared travelers, allowing us a moment of deceitful rest.

We never would or could have imagined what we saw in the grove that day. Typically the grove is one of the few bright spots this side of the Oak. With clean, healthy grass, vibrant trees, running water and a statue of the first Sentinel in the middle. Watching over the grove as if it were Sanctuary itself.

When we got to the grove we saw more than a statue of the first Sentinel. Instead we saw the statues of the sentinels who are supposed to guard the final walk path. Each statue was broken into several pieces each and carelessly tossed across the ground. The center statue; that of the first Sentinel was missing its hands and head. I could not see them anywhere in the grove, just a body stood there. One who could not see or stop anything anymore. The stream which was usually so clear you wouldn’t know there was water there if you didn’t hear it babbling by was now brown and murky. Although it was silent it looked as if it was struggling to move just another inch. As I gazed into it I was mesmerized in horror to see Strider hanging in the reflection of the water suspended by an unseen force. My gaze was broken by Strider muttering. I looked to see she had turned her nose away from the place and mumbled: “I told you we should have gone to the Oak.” I whispered “Yea” in disbelief. “This isn’t supposed to happen.” I continued, but Strider cut me off “But it did, just like the shed isn’t supposed to close and the forest isn’t supposed to be silent but it did and hold on a second.” She paused for a moment “Yea it’s still perfectly quiet.” Her words rang throughout the grove and into the forest like a rock being plopped into the middle of a lake. He would come now, we both knew it would happen sometime. I looked at her to apologize and that’s when we heard him.

“Well hello, ladies” we turned to face him. It was Troy a basset hound lost to the shadow years before Sanctuary was founded. Instinctively I snarled at him. He was less dog and more other now. What little of his coat still clung to his skin lay clumped and matted. His bones defining most of his shape and his ears were rotting from the inside out. He returned my snarl with a mostly toothless smile. “Come now where are your manners?” stomping his paw on the ground; I let out a single “yip” as I felt a pressure on my neck and was forced to bow. I turned to Strider and saw the same thing. “Much better,” Troy said his tongue filling all the spaces his teeth should be. “What do you want?” I asked staring up at him so I could fix my eyes to his. “Well, I come with a generous offer from my master.” The pressure on my neck was lifted and I stood up, shaking out my coat and laughed “An offer? From you. I would rather die thank you very much.” Troy’s black eyes narrowed before coldly saying “That can be arranged.” Strider stepped in front of me swiping my snout with her tail. “Sorry about her, it’s been a long day. What is the offer?” Troy straightened his posture and his lips curled into another smile as chills went down my back. “Join us and we will let you live in the hollowed out and charred remains of your oak.” Strider looked at me, doing her best to stifle a laugh. Strider’s tail which was frozen began to softly sway from side to side. She showed her exceptionally white teeth and barked out “The Oak will stand forever.” Troy shrugged his shoulders and let out a brief sigh before saying “Then you will die.” He lifted his paw and again I felt the same pressure on the back of my neck. Silence surrounded me and as I struggled to lift my head and to my horror I saw Strider’s feet hanging inches from the ground as if she had tried to jump in the air to catch a ball and was suspended. I froze remembering what I saw in the murky water just minutes ago. An eerie kind of silence filled the eternity that followed the only sound I could hear was what sounded like air being sucked out of a room. I didn’t speak or move as I began to accept my fate.

Just then a sound broke through the shroud of silence, “Let them go Troy!” a Jack Russell Terrier jumped from out of the forest right in front of Strider and myself. Strider collapsed onto the ground just ahead of me and began coughing. I ran to her checking to make sure she was still breathing. She was, but barely. I examined her coat, checking quickly to make sure the flower was not crushed or missing, and it was still there like a the moon in an otherwise starless sky.

 I looked to see who had come to save us to see a small Jack Russell, mostly white with a few brown spots. One over her left eye even covering the base of her ear and two more on either side of the chest which wrapped around her shoulders. She shone brightly, almost blindingly so. I did not recognize her from Sanctuary and I had never seen her before.

She stood between us and Troy. The two growled as they circled around one another. After just a few moments Troy bolted back to the forest where he came from. The small dog who had saved us turned and greeted us as she shook out her coat “Hello Bailey and Strider, sorry I’m late. Traffic you know?” Confused both Strider and I looked at the other both of us had the same question but before it could ever escape our mouths the strange bright dog answered for us “We have not met, but I am sent from the Oak. My name is Jenna, I am the sister of Hank the first dog of Sanctuary. I am the first chosen of the Oak.” Her eyes widened and her light grew brighter as she spoke her voice rung throughout the forest as if we were at the base of a canyon. Strider and I immediately bowed towards her. She huffed at us “Get up. I am no greater than you, just much older.” She said with a wink “Walk with me as there are things I have been instructed to tell you.” We did as she asked.

“Rad has left Sanctuary. She snuck out shortly after you two departed. Your sanctuary blocked the shed once they discovered she was missing in case she had not yet crossed over, but they were too late.” A feeling of shock washed over us. “Where is she?” I asked. Jenna shrugged her shoulders before saying “With an old friend.” Strider gave me a concerned look before Jenna continued “We are going to be sending her to another Sanctuary.” Both Strider and I bristled at the idea and I screamed “We found her! We have protected her, we have given her everything we could!” Jenna stopped walking and gave us both an empathetic but stern look “We know, and now she needs something and someone else.” We all stood there kind of quiet for a moment before Strider’s eyes glistened as she picked up a scent she recognized. Her tail began wagging and she looked at Jenna, “Is it?” Jenna nodded before Strider could finish. Strider nearly flew past us, her feet barely touched the ground. Jenn who was rolling her eyes motioned for me to follow her. “The dark Sentinel is not here, well not really here. He is powerful enough to manifest an image of himself out here but not much else. Even those who serve him like Troy are not really here. Their beings are still locked away. But Rad can undo all of that. She was born of this place and she has the power to release them or destroy them.” We rounded a corner and Rad sat beneath Storm the grey lab mix who was talking to a very excited Strider. Jenna looked at me “The race is coming soon you cannot allow it to happen or he will strike.” Her eyes, which seemed so dull in comparison to the rest of her glimmering body searched me, and I nodded.

We met with Storm who said Rad would be coming to her own Sanctuary. She assured us Rad would be taken care of and watched carefully. Rad didn’t say much, she kept a curious eye towards the darkest part of the forest. Several times I saw her uncomfortably squirm and when I looked to the woods I thought I saw a familiar face for just a moment before it faded into the darkness. Storm and Strider saw it too. We accompanied them to a water fountain where they pass through to their sanctuary and they hopped into it. Quickly disappearing from sight.

We said goodbye to Jenna and went back to the shed. When we arrived we saw Troy again His black eyes wider than should be possible and what was left of his lips were completely drawn back. His clumped hair raised. Our hackles raised in response and we prepared to leap at him. He opened his mouth “Then you will die.” He began to lift his paw but before he could do anything a small bright dog dove through the air like a shooting star streaks across the sky. We saw her light envelop them both as they rolled on the ground. It took but a moment for her light to overtake his darkness and when she arose from the ground she was alone and the sounds of the forest had returned. “Is he gone?” Strider asked. Jenna shook her head “No,” looking at me “They aren’t really here” I whispered. Strider tilted her head to the side and gave me a questioning look “I’ll explain when we get back” I quickly said. Again we said our goodbyes and walked back through the shed. To our Sanctuary.

When we arrived we saw the council was already in session missing only two members, myself and Bella the Yorkie. Strider went to deliver the flower to Bella and I turned towards the council’s meeting place to address my peers.

The End