Another wolf called in the distance. Jacqueline shivered, tugging her blanket closer. “They’re getting nearer,” she said. “Think the world ending’s just pushing their range further and further south because they can’t find enough food up in the UP?”
“Maybe,” Thom said, staring at the flames.
Rory frowned. “You sure it’s not more of those skinwalkers coming after Phelan? We can’t be that far, right?”
Thordin swore softly. “Damnation.”
Jacqueline looked toward him. “You don’t think that’s what those are, do you?”
“I hope not,” he said, lurching to his feet and heading for the horses. “But in case they are, we need to get to Phelan first. Before it’s too late.”
“Before it’s too late?” Jacqueline swallowed the urge to swear herself. “You really think they’re still hunting him?”
“I know that they’re still hunting him,” Thordin said, already re-saddling their horses by firelight. “They won’t stop. Those witches won’t stop until he’s dead or they are.”
“What the hell did he do to them that made them hate him so much?” she asked, pushing to her feet and watching as he finished with one horse and moved on to the next. “Not that I’m not familiar with his ability to piss people off, but this is a little extreme, even by the standards of Cariocecus and—what was that other chick’s name?”
“You mean Menhit?” Rory asked, watching the two of them.
“Yes, her. That one.” Jacqueline crossed her arms. “I know he dealt with Vammatar, but she was trying to kill him—and all of us—before he did what he did.”
“I’m sure Vammatar’s death only has a very little to do with how much her sisters want Phelan dead.” Thordin shook his head. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say Phelan was the original Puck archetype—the inspiration for him. I never knew all of the trouble he’d gotten himself into, but there was a lot. I imagine that one of his misadventures was what won him this particular set of tenacious enemies.”
“So we’re going to ride out after Phelan in the dark and hope we reach him before the other people hunting him do?” Thom asked, still sitting by the fire, arms crossed as he watched. “Before those skinwalkers find him?”
“I don’t see us having much other choice,” Thordin said. “Unless you want to bring home a corpse, we ride now.”
Thom sighed. “Then I guess we ride.”
Thanks for the latest post. Good story!!