Book Two Chapter One: Questions

Chapter One: Questions

We sat in a dark room - Hojan and myself.  A door creaked open, and through it walked a massive Shepherd we both knew all too well.

Bailey.  

The room was dimly lit by a skylight that seemed to hang miles above our heads, forming a small cone around the two of us.  Whenever one of us would move, the light would follow as if the Oak itself was casting a wary eye on us. Vines from the ground had sprung up, forcing us to sit still.  The walls around us mimicked the tree we were in, but the bark was black and looked like cold steel rather than the wood I was accustomed to seeing. Bailey walked up to us, and even in the darkness, I could feel the disappointment and anger washing off of her thick coat.

“What did you fools do?”

“We saved them,” Hojan muttered, his eyes ablaze with the same orange color as his coat.  

Bailey huffed and then turned to me. “Storm, tell me what you did.”

She wasn’t asking. I looked over at Hojan who stayed still; his eyes never left Bailey.

He could feel my questioning gaze upon him. “You weren’t there Bailey, and if you were, you would have done the exact same thing we did!” Hojan’s voice sounded more desperate than usual, and I saw him begin to struggle against the vines. The more he struggled the tighter they grew until finally he was subdued. The vines laced around him like he was a fly caught in a spider’s web until he was forced to lie down. His breathing was heavy.

“Bailey, please, he still hasn’t recovered! You have to let him up or you’ll kill him!” I begged her.

Bailey shook her head glaring at me, “You’re lucky I haven’t already.  You knew better, even if that crazy coot of a Sentinel asked you to do it. You knew better Storm.”

I lowered my head and whispered in a soft voice, “Let him go, and I’ll tell you everything. Just let him go.”

Bailey smiled and flicked her tail. I felt the vines around me slip away, and I looked to Hojan to see the vines had also sunk back beneath the ground. He was barely conscious; every breath looked agonizing as his ruffled fur showed deep cuts from the battle. Bailey let out a single sharp and short howl as three dogs and a squirrel ran through the same door Bailey had appeared through.

“You called ma’am?” the squirrel asked, crawling on top of one of the dogs who appeared to be a polka-dotted Great Dane. Bailey swung her head towards Hojan who was struggling to get up. Every time he was able to will himself onto all four legs he would collapse again.

        The four creatures rushed towards him,  offering a series of hushes and directions. The squirrel ordered him to stay down, and a lush set of vines appeared underneath him creating a sort of bed that the three dogs picked up and used to carry him out of the dark room.

        The light did not follow him but stayed on me. Bailey started pacing just beyond the veil stalking in the darkness.

“Well?” she asked obviously impatient by having to wait for Hojan to be removed. I kept my eyes on the door, hoping that he would walk through them again and it would just be some poor joke.

        Bailey finally penetrated the veil. The once dim room was now showered with light. “Tell me what happened Storm.”

        I looked up at her and nodded slowly.

***

“It all started after the battle of Sanctuary. The Sentinel said goodbye to each of us, and after everyone had left, he took me to the stacks so I could tell him what had happened. After I had finished he said he had one last thing for me to do. He explained to me how Hojan had fled after his encounter with the Dark Sentinel and that he knew where Hojan was going and what he planned on doing.

‘He’s going to try to rescue Thomas from the scorching desert. I want you to help him bring the dogs of Sanctuary to the Oak,’ he said as if he could see the future laying before him like a map.

“How shall I find him?” I asked him.

“Start your search in the Plains of Rot. I think the forest will spit him out there.”

I shook my head, “What do you mean? The Plains of Rot are in the opposite direction from the Scorched Desert!”

He laughed. “Don’t you remember, Storm?”

I cocked my head to the side about to ask him why, but he answered before I got the chance. ‘Hojan didn’t take the paths to the Desert. He went in a straight line through the brush and forests. He will get lost, and chances are, he will be spat out in the plains of Rot. You’ll be able to pick up his scent there.”

I nodded and said goodbye to him. The Sentinel assured me that we would see each other again.

***

“Do you remember the forest just after the battle? In the months before it had been still and quiet like an audience awaiting the bride to walk down the aisle, but do you remember what it was like just after? The bird’s song changed to one I hadn’t heard before. A solemn melody. A slow pace and a high pitch which seemed to fade in and out. It was a far cry from the normal chirping we used to hear back in the day. And the trees! Do you remember the trees? A strong wind was blowing in the days just after the battle and it pushed and pulled the trees as if to give one the impression they were waving hello or goodbye to you—”

“Why are you telling me this Storm?” Bailey interjected, “I don’t care about the weather. I want to know what happened and your plans.”

She glared at me, I wagged my tail a few times letting it thump against the cold dirt beneath me and continued my story

“I saw something following me. I couldn’t make out a scent amongst all the other creatures that had sprung to life in the newly awakened forest. But I saw something that looked like a fox stalking me from the edge of the forest. Almost as if he wanted me to see him. I brushed it off and continued walking as if I had never noticed him. With how loud and clumsy he was, it was obvious he wasn’t experienced with tracking or stalking. Even with the birds chirping and wind blowing, each branch he broke and leaf he stepped on was easily heard. He would continue walking when I would stop. He would walk in such a way that I could even see his shadow. I took pity on him and found a quiet spot on one of the back paths to lay down for a little bit.

        I waited for a few minutes and pretended to sleep. Not a single second went by before I heard the awkward patter of untrained feet trying to gracefully pace themselves between a stalk and an all-out run. I let him get close to me then jumped up, knocking the fox onto his back. I pinned him down.

“Who are you! What do you want?”

        He was a young fox, not even a year old by the looks of him. In an excited voice, he said, “I’m following you!”

I was taken aback by such an honest response. I tilted my head to the side. “Well you aren’t doing a very good job, are you? I’ve been watching you since the moment you started!”

The fox shuttered ever so slightly before continuing in a more measured response. “Wow! You must be really good to see such a sly guy like me coming! I’m usually really good at this kind of stuff!”

I shook my head, “No, you really aren’t. What was your plan here anyway?” I released the fox from the ground and he scrambled up, his tail outstretched and he showed me his tiny little teeth.

        “I was going to get you!”

I laughed. “Oh? And do what with me?” I asked.

He turned his head to the side. “Well, I would… Uhm… Well, I suppose I hadn’t really thought about that part.” He plopped down and turned his head to the side in a brief moment of contemplation before turning back to me. “Wow, you really are good!”

I sighed, “We need to get you back to your pack. Where are they?”

He shook his head and gave a nervous laugh. “Well, we were playing hide and seek, and it was my turn to hide and I hide really well. So well, in fact, that none of them even found me. After a few minutes, they just gave up and went back to the cave. But by the time I got there, they had already left. I tried tracking them but lost their scent and then I found you!”

        “I really don’t care about this, fox. And your misadventure with him, Storm, could you please, for the love of the Oak, just get to you and Hojan and the plan and what happened.” Bailey said with a sigh of exhaustion.

I rolled my eyes. “Bailey, this is part of the story! If you want to know what happened, you’re just going to have to listen to the whole thing, got it?”

Bailey, in response, rolled her eyes and laid down, sensing this was going to be a long story. She was right.