Breaking Free

Arrival

Conan looks at me with amusement. He seems to be happy with my choice. Some of the others in the room don’t appear to be as happy. Vivian and Hunter don’t seem to trust me yet, not that I blame them. I would be surprised if any of them truly did.

“I suppose our first order of business should be shelter. You look as if you’ve been without proper accommodations for a while.” Says Conan. “We’re out in the wilderness so we obviously don’t have much, but we make do. Leah, would you mind helping our new friend get situated?”

“Sure thing!” Leah says cheerfully. I’m grateful it’s her that will be helping me out. Leah seems the most friendly in the current situation. Giving myself a quick once over I can see what Conan means. I have dirt and grime in my fur and an apparent lack of clothing. Some proper accommodations would be good. I might not plan on shifting back in the near future but it would be nice to have something to wear should I have too.

“Ava, I would like to make something clear.” Hunter speaks up from his corner of the room. “You are welcome here, your story makes sense. However, we would be fools to blindly trust you.

Zane nods along and pipes in “Consider this your trial run. There will be guards keeping tabs on you, until we feel comfortable. You will train with us, hunt with us, and do your part around here. If you do anything suspicious, there will be consequences.”

I nod and tell them I understand. I can’t be surprised at their caution. I’m grateful for the opportunity I’m being given here.

“Well Ava, if you don’t mind following me, we’ll get you settled in!” Leah chirps. She’s quite cheerful, which is a welcome attitude after the last few months. Leah is handed the keys, and unlocks me from my cuffs. I rub my wrists subconsciously as I look at Conan over my shoulder one last time as we leave. The expression on his face is unreadable as the door closes between us. I wonder just what these wolves have in store for me.

The clacking of the door snaps my attention forward. I was blindfolded on my way here, so the surrounding area is all new to me. The cave we just left was fairly small, I gather its only purpose is for interrogation.

Looking around me I see we’re at the base on a steep and hilly part of the forest. The trees are not so thick that they block the sky, but it is certainly not a wide open clearing.

“Since you’re new here, I’d say a bit of a tour is in order” Leah says, while tugging my arm.

I follow her wordlessly, just trying to take it all in around me. On my left there is a huge river which separates this place from the rest of the woods. It loops up and to the right until it is out of sight. There are a few people drinking from the water, they eye me suspiciously as we walk past.

“This is the western border of our territory, the river provides protection from all manner of attacks, but it also prevents us from expanding that way.” Leah explains as we walk.

We continue on in silence for the time. As the babbling of the river fades I hear the chatter of people taking grow louder. I see some scattered buildings constructed of wood and leaves, and the ground is slightly sloping upward.

The surrounding terrain around me is getting steeper. Roughly 5 minutes pass, and now the land is jutting in steep hills. Looking up I see we’re at the base of a mountain. Some large rocks jut up from the mountainside, and I see what appears to be entryways into the mountain. There are some constructed buildings in the center of this area, but it looks as though the vast majority of shelters are in the surrounding hills. Large rocks are setup as makeshift door frames along the base of the slope. Some have thin doors which swing on makeshift hinges. Others have blankets draped over the entryways offering some privacy from the outside. Werewolves are entering and exiting their homes as we walk past, many giving me the side eye. Obviously wary of the newcomer, not that I blame them.

“This is essentially the south part of our territory. The mountain provides shelter and protection. It’s where a majority of the living spaces are. There are also a few recreational spaces around here. We have a mess hall for gatherings, although the group has grown since it was made. It can’t fit everyone, most choose to eat in their homes.” Leah informes me.

“There’s also some supply caches here. They can provide you with the basics.” She gives me a once over. “ Clothes to fit you, and other essentials you might need.” She finishes.

I look down and remember my discarded prisoner’s uniform. I wouldn’t be able to shift back to human form without clothing. Not that I would feel safe enough too at the moment. I don’t know how recognizable I am to these people. It doesn’t appear to be a problem, there’s plenty of others werewolves walking around shifted.

“Dully noted. Do you know which one of these will be mine?” I ask her.

“We’ll determine that when we finish the tour. Conan is getting a space arranged, he’ll let me know once it’s ready.”

We continue walking along and eventually come to another terrain change. The space in front of me is a steep downhill slope. To the south the slope turns into a sharp cliff edge. To the north it meets up with the river again. Looking at the slope I see some spiked fences along the edge. Wolves take up posts along the sides keeping guard.

“This is the eastern entrance to our territory. The natural landscape keeps us well defended. This is the only easy way in. The North and East is entirely surrounded by the river. The west and south are all rugged mountains. We keep a constant patrol going around the area.”Leah points a ways off in the distance, gesturing somewhere at the bottom of the steep hill.

“That is where we found you. You managed to slip in past our patrol, and you had gotten pretty close. We had to circle back to find you. The route you were on really seemed like you knew where you were going. Couple that with how well you slipped past us, we were quite concerned about your intentions. There’s a couple weapons caches in the rocks around here. Not the most secure place for them but the wolves on patrol might need them.” She finishes.

“I had caught some scents while I was running along, but I didn’t know all of this was here. I had thought I was just smelling other wolves that had passed through, I was not expecting all of this.” I say while gesturing around us.

“I was trying to head for Timberline. I had managed to escape with just the shirt on my back, I wanted to supply up there. Even my clothes didn’t make it, they were too small to survive my shift.” I told her.

Leah nodded along while we traveled back to the living area. My thoughts run while we travel in silence. There’s more werewolves here than I could’ve ever imagined coming across. It’s comforting to see this many, I’m estimating about 60. With the river to the east I’d estimate we’re about 25miles from my home. My father would keel over if he knew there was a pack this big, and so close. That thought is deeply gratifying. I was definitely off in my initial destination. I guess that could be expected after running for my life. I was headed more east than north. I would’ve eventually found the river and corrected course but this is a much better outcome.

Leah starts leading me back from where we came. The sun is getting lower as the tour moves on. Once we get closer to the center of the territory she veers to the north. We walk for a slippery of minutes before the sound of the river gets quite loud ahead of us. I can see it up head, and what appears to be a smaller river that breaks off and reconnects about a mile west. It makes a small islet/sand bar that could easily be swam to.

“This is where we typically bathe. The fork in the water has a significantly slower current and is roughly 6 to 7 feet deep.” Leah says to me.

She tosses me a lump of scratchy soap before she speaks again. “We try to trade for the good stuff when we go on runs to towns. It’s been a while since we’ve gone, we make do with the homemade stuff in the meantime. Dries your hair out, but it’ll get you clean.”

“Thank you.” I say earnestly and set off for the water. It’s cool against the hot summer day. I swim out to a couple large flat rocks and set the soap on them. I dunk my head under and as I surface a thought occurs to me. “How long was I out?” I ask her.

“About 3 or 4 hours I’d say. We didn’t inject you with that much wolfsbane, I think your body was just tired from your journey.” She tells me.

I nod. So it is still my birthday then. I don’t feel rested at all for as long as I slept. What a long day it has been. The water is soothing and the soap feels nice through my fur. I set to work scrubbing the soap in my mane. I rinse in the current and try to detangle it with my claws. Not the most effective but it will do. I scrub my body for longer than is probably necessary, but it feels so nice to be clean.

After about 10 minutes I swim back to the shore. I get out and shake the water out of my fur. I don’t have a towel but that’s fine. The my damp fur feels nice against the hot air. I nod to Leah and offer her the soap back. She shakes her head no and tosses me a bag.

“Keep it, you’ll need it for next time. You’ll have the change to check out the shops for other stuff if you want it. If you can make a valuable trade for it that is…” she trails off. I nod back and we continue on our way.

It takes us another 10 minutes or so to get to get to the center of the territory. The sun has started to set. I see more cave entrances than I initially thought, now lit up from the inside. The entryways blocked with blankets or wood of some sort, light seeps through the cracks. It seems nearly everyone lives in a cave of some sort. Most of the buildings are crude and fall under the heavy tree cover. I see what appears to be a large cabin, must have been abandoned during the war. I assume that is the mess hall she told me about. Leah starts walking towards an open mouth in the mountain. It’s closer to the eastern side of the mountain but still surrounded by other entrances.

“This will be your space right here. Conan has already set you up with some basic furniture. It’ll be up to you to come up with anything else you want.” Says Leah while gesturing into the hole.

I take a look around. I see 4 steep steps carved down in the earth. It appears to be a roughly 10x 10 hole carved out of the dirt and stone. I see support beams along the rough edges and along the ceiling. There’s an oil lamp hanging on the side of the wall. We can see in the dark, but the lamp makes it feel more like a livable area. There’s a cot in the room with a pillow and some blankets. There’s a space set up for a fire with a vent at the top to let out the smoke. Over the fire pit is a makeshift grill rack and off to the side I see a pot.

“Thank you, this is more than I could have expected” I say to Leah.

She scoffs and says “This really isn’t much at all. You’ll have to check with the shop keeper around the square tomorrow to get more. Some of us have taken up wood working. We try to go on runs to Vaticca, that lumber village, for additional furniture. The citizens there are willing to trade quite a bit for a deer or two. We try to live in as much comfort as we can while remaining hidden.”

“Well thank you nonetheless. I truly appreciate it.” I tell her.

“Conan will be by in the morning to give you a rundown of life here. Until then get some rest. There’s a bottle of homemade bug-spay on the cot. They aren’t too much a of a problem, but most of us spray around our homes regularly to keep them away from our food and valuables.” She tells me. She thinks for a moment and speaks again

“Have a good night. I don’t think I need to remind you but there is will be guards outside all night...” she trails off.

Translation: Don’t do anything stupid. Got it. I nod to her and head down the stairs. Since it’s the middle of summer the thin blanket should be plenty with my fur coat. It’s colder in the cave, but not unbearable. I hear her walk away and I turn off the oil lamp. I lay down for the night and think of how much has happened since this morning. My eyes are heavy. This has been an eventful day but really it couldn’t have gone much better.

“Happy birthday to me” I mutter to myself. Then I feel myself doze over the edge.