Werewolf Knight 2, page 10
“For the vampire’s notebook,” I responded. “Sebastian told me about a cipher who can help us decode what Wenderoth wrote. Then, we can find out why it’s important enough that someone broke into our property to steal it.”
Sybil nodded and looked up at me with a curious glint in her emerald-green eyes.
“Did he say where the cipher would be?”
“Yep,” I said. “Well, vaguely. He wasn’t sure exactly where the cipher had fled to, but he knew the general area. If I told you guys that he said East of Yarikh on an island by the river of Gomul, would that mean anything?”
Sybil racked her head, and Tabitha sat up straight.
“I’ve never been there in person,” the witch said. “But I have seen the river of Gomul on a map. And of course, I know the forest of Yarikh.”
“Good,” I said. “Will it take us long to get there?”
“I don’t think so,” Sybil started, “But it sounds like a tricky journey.”
“Tricky journey indeed,” Tabitha nodded. “But I know we can do it.”
I felt a smirk creep across my face. There was nothing we loved more than a challenge.
“Well, then, ladies,” I started. “Time to find that cipher.”
Chapter 6
The girls stood up at the same time and pushed their chairs back in.
“Does this mean that we won’t be going to Lake Wayaha?” Sybil asked.
“I think it might,” I said.
“Not necessarily,” Tabitha replied. “We might miss the pilgrimage with the nobles, but it doesn’t actually take too long to get there. Most of the nobles just like to travel on foot because it’s a type of pilgrimage. A lot of them camp overnight on the way there, which adds to the fun. But if we wanted to catch up with them either with Casanova or in your great wolf form, I’m sure we could do it.”
“I can’t believe we’ve made this journey twice in the past two days,” Sybil replied as we picked our way through the hall. “I’m exhausted. And now you want us to chase after a bunch of nobles, after we visit Lake Gomul?”
“You know what they say about Lake Gomul,” Tabitha laughed.
“What do they say about it?” I asked.
“Well,” Sybil sighed. “They say that the lake is full of--”
“Monsters,” Tabitha interrupted.
We crossed through the empty courtyard and met the knights at the main gate to the castle. I nodded at one of the guards, and he nodded back to me.
“I will fetch your direwolf now, my Lord,” he said politely.
“Thank you,” I said as he headed off.
“Let’s hope he doesn’t run back to Stock this time…” Tabitha trailed off.
“I won’t let that happen,” I replied. “Anyway, now that we have a second, did you say that we were heading to a lake full of monsters?”
The girls looked at each other and then back at me.
“I couldn’t say for sure,” Sybil shrugged.
“Me, neither,” Tabitha said. “But that’s what the legends say. If you look at any map of Lupercalia, Lake Gomul is always depicted with monsters in it. But I’ve never been there myself.”
I heard an authoritative stomping noise, and the guard appeared with Casanova in hand. Casanova’s big pink tongue flopped out of his mouth, and his tail began wagging back and forth so quickly that I was pretty sure we could’ve used him as a wind turbine.
“Your direwolf, my Lord,” the guard said.
“Thank you,” I smiled, and I took the reins from the guard.
We walked out to the center of the drawbridge, and I looked out onto the hills of Lupercalia. Straight ahead of us I could see the little village of Stock, and just beyond that to the west of the castle, was the estate.
I hopped onto Casanova, and the girls followed in their natural order. I made sure to point him in the direction of the estate before I got him going, so that we didn’t run into the same mistake as last time.
“Are you girls ready?” I asked.
“Ready as ever,” Tabitha replied. “Let’s go!”
I nudged Casanova with my foot and pulled on the left rein so that he’d turn left. Luckily, he started off at a pleasant trot.
“Look at him go,” Sybil called from the back. “Maybe some of the royal direwolves back there taught him a thing or two.”
Once I was sure the pup was heading in the right direction, I tightened my fist around his reins and gave him a slightly stronger kick. As I’d hoped, he zoomed forwards toward the estate and made no side trips toward the town.
The afternoon was crisp and sunny, and I felt the autumn wind blowing through my hair. I sure loved running in my great wolf form, but there was a different sense of freedom that I felt on top of a direwolf. I felt like I was flying.
The first sign that we were nearing the estate was the heavenly scent of our moon beans. I was so grateful that Sybil took such great pains to make sure the mineral count in the soil was just right. It had ensured that our moon beans had an even more rich and fragrant taste than the beans that were used in the castle.
I pulled back slightly on Casanova’s reins, and he slowed down to a very bouncy trot. When we reached the gate, I pulled back on Casanova’s reins to bring him to a complete halt, and one of the peasants from the previous night ran out to open the gate.
“My Lord,” he said breathlessly and opened the high gate for us.
We all slid off Casanova, and I led the four of us through.
“Hey,” I said to the peasant. “Thanks so much for everything you did to help last night. I hope you got enough sleep after all the drama.”
“Trust me,” the peasant said as he shook his head. “It’s no trouble. However, I have some news. We think we’ve found how the man got in.”
“Show me,” I ordered.
“Of course,” he said with a slight bow.
“I’ll take Casanova,” Sybil offered. “He usually likes to play with some of the children in the afternoon. You go see what’s going on.”
“And I’ll go inside and formulate a route we can take to get to the cipher,” Tabitha said. “I need to consult a few different maps to get an idea of the terrain and the time frame.”
“Perfect,” I said.
The peasant led me over through one of the moon bean fields, and the smell was so intoxicating that I felt like I’d hit a runner’s high. I couldn’t wait to take the next load back to New Jersey, but first, I had to make sure everything was safe in Lupercalia.
“It appears that the thief didn’t come through the forest, as we’d initially expected,” the peasant said. “He climbed over the fence near the silo. It looks like he hit the ground pretty hard on this side, so he may have fallen off the wall.”
When we reached the silo, the peasant pointed toward a small crater near the wall. If the robber had indeed made the divot, it must have hurt like hell when he’d crashed to the ground.
“I’m impressed he managed to make it to the house,” I mused as I gazed at the manor. “He must have been in some serious pain.”
“He might have brought a potion,” the peasant suggested.
“Still, he would have been lying here while he waited for it to kick in,” I replied. “He couldn’t be sure that someone wouldn’t find him.”
“This section is usually empty at night,” the peasant sighed. “Our guess is that he waited until the fields were empty and then climbed over. We’ve set up a roster for nighttime patrols. We’ll take turns checking the walls, just to be sure we don’t have any more visitors.”
“I think that’s a good idea,” I agreed. “But you’ll need to be armed, and we should set up some way for the person on patrol to signal when there’s trouble. Like with whistles or something.”
“We have a few small weapons,” the peasant replied. “But one of the women has an uncle who works as a smith at one of the other estates. She sent word first thing this morning and asked if her uncle could send some more swords and such. The lord himself heard about it and is sending what he can spare.”
“Which estate?” I asked.
“The family of Blueclaw, my Lord,” he said.
I smiled. Now I really did have a good reason to get Tabitha’s folks over for dinner, and for Sybil to whip them up some blackberry syrup.
“That will work for now,” I nodded. “It’s not a permanent solution, but it’ll hold down the estate until I return from this quest. We’ll have to expand our own armory once I’m back. When will the weapons be here?”
“Later today, my Lord,” he said.
“Good,” I replied.
We chatted for a few more minutes about the patrols and the general feeling among the peasants, but my guide quickly assured me that most people were more angry than scared. No one wanted to lose their plum position on my estate, and they would defend the property with everything they had.
I felt better about leaving the estate after our conversation. There had been a twinge of guilt that we were cutting out so soon after a break-in, but it was clear that my crew was up to the task of protecting my manor and my beans.
As I passed through the field of beans again, I felt so charged up that I sprinted all the way back to the cobblestones. When I finally stopped, I was panting hard and doubled over while I tried to catch my breath.
“Hank!” Sybil called over, and I looked up and saw Sybil was in the door of her little hut.
“Yeah?” I called back.
“Come here,” she shouted and gestured to the hut. “I have something important to show you. I think it’ll be important for this quest.”
I stood up straight and stretched my arms high above my head before making my way over to her hut. Even though it was a cool, crisp day, the sun beat down on my face and almost blinded me.
I padded over to her hut, crossed my arms, and leaned in the doorframe.
“What’s up?” I asked.
Sybil’s usually pale, creamy complexion turned a burnt-red color, and she batted her eyelashes at me.
“Hank,” she purred.
“Yes?” I smirked.
“Nothing…” she trailed off, and her eyes glided over my body like they were eating me alive. “You look very handsome like that.”
She picked up a basket that was on the floor of the hut that she’d filled with various ointments and tinctures. She always carried it with her when we went on a quest, and I knew she’d been cooking up some new potions since we’d moved onto the estate.
“I’ve been working on something the past few months,” she said. “And I think it’ll help on this journey.” She produced a green bottle of dark, cloudy liquid that was about the size of my palm and placed it in my hand.
“What is it?” I asked as I held it up in the sunlight.
“It’s a solution that will make you run incredibly fast,” she said and shrugged.
I lowered the bottle and raised my eyebrow at her.
“Oh, really?” I asked. “And how do you know it works?”
“Don’t worry,” she giggled. “I’ve tried every version on myself. When Charles was in here asking how I got so much accomplished in such a short amount of time, well, this was part of it. I was experimenting with moon-beans and silver, and I managed to extract a few elements that will help us move three times faster.”
I was shocked at the idea of gaining that much speed, and once again, I thanked the Moon Goddess for helping me meet this amazing woman with the mind for science and witchcraft. And I was sure it was the Moon Goddess who had brought us together.
“Whoa,” I said and stared at the cloudy liquid.
I uncorked the bottle and held it up to my nose because I was honestly expecting it to smell like herbs and maybe something citrusy, like most of the witch’s concoctions.
But the new elixir smelled absolutely disgusting. It was like old coffee, paper, and gin mixed into one. I felt some of the herbed bread travel back up my esophagus, and I’m pretty sure that I must’ve turned completely pale.
Sybil saw me recoil, even though I tried to grin and bear it.
“Don’t worry,” she assured me. “The taste is the worst part. But I can assure you that there’s no negative side effects. I got rid of all those in the earlier trials.”
“Earlier trials?” I asked and corked the bottle again. “What kind of side effects did it have?”
“Let’s see,” the young witch said and leaned on the wooden counter of her hut. “Well, the first batch I had made me unnaturally angry after taking it. Remember when I offered to chop down that tree that needed to be cleared in the moon-bean fields because everyone else was being too stupid about it? That was the first batch.”
“That was when we moved in,” I noted.
“Yep,” she nodded. “I’ve been working on it for a while.”
“Any other effects I should know about?” I asked.
“I did go through a phase of being unusually talkative at one point,” she admitted. “Remember when Tabitha got annoyed at me because I wouldn’t stop telling her about the time I almost got trampled by a sow and how it had affected my love for plants?”
I racked my brain before I remembered the day in New Jersey when Tabitha had snuck off to the mall with Ava because she said that Sybil’s pig stories were depressing her too much.
“Sybil,” I laughed. “I’m exceptionally proud of you for making this amazing solution. But I don’t want you to use yourself as a human lab rat. The last thing I’d want for you is to get hurt by an untested drug.”
“Don’t worry,” she said and blushed again. “I learned my lesson this time. But trust me, this solution works. If you drink it before running, we’ll get there in record time.”
“It’s tempting to use it now,” I said. “But we might need it later, once we have this notebook translated. So I’ll just save it for now.”
“I just have a few more things to pack, and then I’ll be ready,” she replied with a nod.
“Then I’ll go get my armor on and check on our squire,” I replied and ducked back outside.
I tucked the solution in the leather pouch with the notebook, even though just the memory of the smell made me nauseous. If it really did what Sybil promised, then I’d have to find a way to force it down if I had to use it, but for now, I’d tell myself that it wouldn’t come to that.
I stepped into the house and was met with the familiar sound of servants’ feet scurrying over the dark wood floorboards. It was a relief to hear everyone at work and for the estate to be bustling again. I realized that I’d started to think of these sounds and smells as home now, and I found myself grinning as I leapt up the stairs, two at a time.
For a moment my mind drifted to the possibility of protecting my home by having Sybil hex the gate in some way while we were gone, but there were too many ways that could backfire, and I didn’t want someone like Charles getting hurt while we were on our quest. The curse would have to wait until we returned, and for now, we’d just have to rely on the patrols.
My armor glinted in the light from the narrow window, and I stopped for a moment to admire it. It may not have had all the stones and symbols of the armor of some of the great knights, but I was sure I’d have just as many one day. But first, I had to translate the diary.
As I started to pull on the various pieces, I tried to decide what to do with the notebook, which was still in the leather pouch. It soon became clear that I could keep the belt on beneath my breastplate, but I wouldn’t be able to retrieve anything as long as I had the armor on.
Since I wouldn’t need the notebook until we arrived at our destination, I decided to leave it in the pouch where it would be protected. The speed potion was a different story, though, and it seemed like that was something I would want quick access to, so I pulled that out of the pouch and set it aside while I finished with the armor.
When the last gauntlet was in place, I opened the chest inscribed with my coat of arms and looked over my weapons options. At the top was the opal dagger that the King had warned me about. When I held it up, the moon-silver glimmered in the sunlight, and the opal that had been inserted into the handle almost glowed with power.
The blade was another reason I had to translate Wenderoth’s notebook. I knew now that the opal had an effect on the moon-silver that made it poisonous, but I didn’t know just exactly how that happened. If I did, I could harness similar powers in other weapons. The whole thing seemed alchemical to me, but I’d seen what the blade could do.
I took a thick leather sheath from the chest and slid the opal dagger in it. I placed it carefully in my sack, followed by my ordinary dagger, which had served me well in the fight against Wenderoth. I added the vial from Sybil after that, and then I looked around the room to make sure I hadn’t somehow forgotten something.
“I always did prefer to travel light,” I chuckled as I opened the door.
“Oh!” Tabitha exclaimed and jumped back from the door in surprise.
“Didn’t mean to scare you,” I laughed. “By the way, you look amazing.”
Tabitha blushed. She was wearing tight black suede pants with her silver boot-covers and a black suede hooded shirt. On top of the shirt, she wore a chainmail cover and a breastplate that bore my coat of arms. The sight of her in my coat of arms made me proud and maybe just a little bit cocky as well.
“So I have the route,” she said and held up a rolled-up map in her fist. “But I can’t find my leather pouch that I usually keep my map in."
“That’s because I have it,” I replied. “I wanted to keep the notebook close to me at all times. It’s under my breastplate, fastened around my waist.”
She looked me up and down and cocked an eyebrow.
“Good thinking,” she purred and batted her long, kohl-defined eyelashes at me.
“I get the feeling that you’re imagining me with my armor off,” I said with a snicker. “Am I right?”
“Could be,” she giggled.“Maybe you should add mindreading to your list of skills.”
I leaned over and gave her a quick slap on her soft, round ass and ran down the stairs before she could catch me.
“Hey!” she squealed and raced down the stairs behind me.
