Samantha R. Cichella - A New Successor

They ran as fast as they cold go, trying to reach Sophia’s house. After a few minutes, Virginia had to stop.

“Wolf…I can’t keep going like this.” She said, her voice cracking from lack of breath. Wolf stopped and ran back to her.

“Oh Cripes, Virginia are you okay? You shouldn’t have been running, especially if you’re pregnant.” Wendell and Evelyn came back both out of breath. Wolf seemed to be the only one not about to collapse. Wolf tugged at his hair. He had been so stupid! Virginia shouldn’t have been running. It was his fault. He should have been thinking. He turned to Wendell and Evelyn.

“You two go ahead and get Tony and the horses. We’ll catch up in a few minutes.”

Wendell and Evelyn both nodded and they sprinted off. Wolf waited until Virginia had caught her breath, then they walked at a fast pace toward the cottage. Wolf sniffed the air. They were getting closer. He scratched the side of his head nervously while keeping the other hand firmly on Virginia. If worse came to worse, he would stay and fight them while Virginia got away. He could try leading them on a false trail, but the last time he had tried that with Tony and Virginia, it hadn’t worked and Virginia had gotten taken. No, he would try and buy the others some time by fighting. After all, those men were after him and Tony.

Tony plopped down onto the chair in the kitchen. Sophia was standing preparing lunch. Tony had spent previous day and the morning chopping logs, pulling weeds, and fixing furniture around the cottage. He was tired but it felt good to do some actual work for a change. Sophia had had no problem with him staying but told him that he would help her with some of the chores then, which he had agreed to. She had been very kind to him and he was happy to repay her in someway. Now she was making him a sandwich before he would get back to work.

Tony looked out the window that showed Dragon Mountain. He wondered how things were going with the others. They had been gone since yesterday afternoon. Sophia handed him his chicken sandwich and busied herself dusting around the small cottage. Tony ate quietly still thinking about what Gustav would tell them. When he was done, he found that he was already kind of tired. He took his plate to the counter, probably the first time he had ever cleaned up after himself, and then laid down on the couch just to rest his eyes for a minute.

Sophia walked out and found him snoring. She smiled and shook her head. She quietly went outside and checked on all the horses, making sure they were all well fed and watered. She checked on her own horse, Molly. Molly was probably dying to get some exercise. Maybe Sophia would take her out for a ride later. She brushed the horse's mane before leaving the stable. As she was walking back to the cottage, she stopped when she saw Wendell and Evelyn running up the trail. She looked behind them but didn’t see Wolf or Virginia. They came running up to her and stopped, trying to catch their breath. Wendell tried saying something but the words came out all jumbled together.

“What is it boy? Spit it out! Where are the others?” They still couldn’t answer so Sophia ran over and got a bucket of water that both Wendell and Evelyn gratefully drank. Evelyn was the first to be able to form words.

“Bounty Hunters…coming…get Tony,” she said, not being able to say anything else. But that was enough for Sophia. She quickly led them into the cottage. Wendell ran over to the snoring Tony.

“A-Anth…Tony!” He finally managed.

Tony sat up quickly. “I wasn’t sleeping, just resting my eyes. Oh, Wendell, it’s you.” Then he looked around and saw that both Wendell and Evelyn flushed from running, but he didn’t see Virginia or Wolf and stood up alarmed. “Where’s Virginia? Is she all right?!” Tony grabbed Wendell by the shoulders.

“Fine…her and Wolf…coming…bounty hunters coming…We got to go!” Wendell turned to Sophia taking a deep breath. “Sophia…My grandmother said…you should go to the mountain, for a couple days…It’s not safe right now…there are men chasing us.”

Sophia nodded, not needing to ask what Wendell meant when he said his grandmother. Snow White had been known to still be in contact with some people. Sophia hurried to her room and grabbed her bag and threw a few things in before heading back out to the main room. Wendell came over to her and bent down to give her a hug.

“Thank you for all your help Sophia. Hurry to the mountain, so you’ll be safe.”

“No problem at all. Come back and visit me soon when you aren’t out saving your kingdom. Bring them back with you. I would love to get to know them better. I got to know Tony some, but not enough, although, he was a great help around the house. But I would like to see more of Virginia, Wolf, and Evelyn also.”

“I promise to come back and bring them all with me. Now please go. Those bounty hunters should be here soon.” Wendell rushed Sophia out the door and watched as she ran over to the stables.

Sophia got the saddle and put it on Molly. It seemed as though she would be getting her exercise after all. She took off out of the stables and took a back way that didn’t run near the road but still led to the mountain.

Wendell, Tony, and Evelyn went out to the stables as well.

“I’ll take Wolf and Virginia’s horse to them. You two follow this path that way.” Wendell said, pointing in the opposite direction of the road. They were about to protest but Wendell stopped them. “Antony, you and Wolf are the ones they are after. You and Evelyn need to get to safety. I’ll go back and get them. Wolf knows his way around here better than I do. So just follow that path for now.” And before anyone could say anything else, Wendell hopped onto his horse, grabbing the reigns to the other horse, and then galloped away. Tony and Evelyn watched him go before getting up on their horses as well. Evelyn hoped he would get to them in time and get back soon. She realized that she really did like Wendell and didn’t want anything to happen to him.

Wolf kept glancing back behind them nervously and was trying to get Virginia to go a little faster. She kept saying that she would be able to run but he wouldn’t let her. Then he heard the sound of horses approaching. Wolf rushed Virginia off the side of the road and hid her behind some bushes. He looked toward the road but didn’t see anyone. He turned around to see Wendell riding their way with their horse. Virginia saw him too and came out of hiding.

“Are you two okay?” Wendell asked.

“Yeah, but their scent is getting stronger.” Wolf helped Virginia up onto the horse and then turned to Wendell. They were both able to read each other’s eyes. There was very little chance that they could outrun them. Wolf looked back toward where he knew the road was. He looked back and Wendell nodded reluctantly. Wolf looked up at Virginia and she was oblivious to what they were thinking. Wendell started to lead the two horses away and then she realized what was going on.

“No, Wolf! You get your ass up here now!”

Wolf shook his head. “Virginia, they’ll catch up too quick. I’m going to try and stall them so you can get away.”

Virginia grabbed the reigns to her horse from Wendell and went over to Wolf. “I am not leaving without you. You’ll be killed! I couldn’t live without you, now get up here now!” Virginia’s eyes were filled with tears but her voice was strong. Wolf looked to Wendell for help but Wendell said, “Come on Wolf. We can outrun them. Besides, we need you to show us another way out of here.”

Wolf looked back. In the far distance, he could just make out blurry shapes turning on to the road. Growling softly, he jumped up on the horse behind Virginia. They had wasted too much time and Virginia wouldn’t let him stay behind. Stubborn girl. But, oh how he loved her. They galloped away, pushing the horses as fast as they could. Within minutes they could see Tony and Evelyn ahead of them. Once they were all together, Wolf said that they should take the horses off the path and into the woods. They could go through there for awhile before making their way back to the road. The Bounty Hunters would have a harder time catching up that way. They agreed and took the horses off the road, following Wolf’s lead.

After an hour of traveling through the dark trees, Wolf changed their direction and they eventually reached the road. Behind them Dragon Mountain loomed in the distance. They all breathed a sigh of relief. They had a little more time now, and more distance between them and the bounty hunters. They continued down the road at a fast pace, not wanting to lose the advantage they had just won.

Virginia turned around and hit Wolf in the arm. “Don’t you ever pull that again! Got it? We were able to lose them for now. You would have been killed…” Virginia was crying now, the pressure and fear from everything had finally taken its toll on her. Wolf hugged her and put his chin on her head.

“I don’t want anything to happen to you or the cub. I would do anything to make sure you were kept safe.” Virginia didn’t say anything. She just leaned back into him.

“Would somebody please explain to me what’s going on here? Wendell, you said something about your grandma. Did you see Snow White?” Tony asked.

Evelyn was also confused. “When did you talk to her? And what were Wolf and Virginia talking about? What happened back there?”

Wendell decided he would explain everything, so he started at the top, telling Tony all about the boulder and then the meeting with the dwarf king. Tony beamed proudly when he heard about what Virginia had done. Then Wendell went on to tell Tony about what Gustav had said. Tony’s face turned pale when he found out that they were mainly after he and Wolf. But then the fact that Wolf was a prince sunk in.

“Wolf’s a prince?” He turned to Wolf. “You’re a prince?” He was shocked. Wolf nodded grimly, not liking how he was being asked this so much.

“Don’t go telling everyone though Tone. After all, it isn’t like Red would admit it to everyone, and I’m not proud of it either.” Tony would have said something along the lines of ‘you’re crazy!’ but then he recalled his meeting with Red Riding Hood the Third and found he didn’t blame Wolf. It was hard to imagine anyone would be proud of being related to her.

Wendell continued with their story about how Wolf had woken him up and they had gone in search of Virginia. Tony chewed Virginia out that she had run off like that; those mines were dangerous. Virginia just nodded. Then Wendell had turned to Evelyn so she would here the next part as well. He told them about their meeting with Snow White.

Evelyn sat in awe. It must have been a great experience to meet her. And Wendell was her grandson, which brought reality crashing down on her again. She had really begun to like Wendell but she was reminded again that it wasn’t probable that they would ever get together. Even if Wendell liked her, but she doubted he liked her more than just a friend.

Then Wendell got to the part where Wolf had planned on staying behind to stall the bounty hunters. Tony and Evelyn had stared at him in shock. Evelyn couldn’t believe he had been willing to risk his life for Virginia. If Tony had had any doubts about Wolf loving his daughter and keeping her safe, they vanished then. Tony didn’t like Wolf all that much but there probably wouldn’t be another guy that would risk his life for his daughter. Tony told himself that he would try and be a little more tolerant of him from now.

By then they had reached the town they had stayed in two nights ago. They passed through without stopping. After another hour they were at the crossroads again. Wendell pulled his horse to a stop and the others did the same.

“The Disenchanted Forest is that way and the castle is on the edge of it. My castle is this way. I think I should ride there as fast as I can and get about thirty soldiers and meet you back at the abandoned castle. Wolf, I trust you know your way through the forest?” Wendell asked and Wolf nodded, so he continued. “Okay, if I hurry, I might be able to get back in time. Those bounty hunters won’t be able to stand against thirty of my men.”

“Be careful Wendell,” Virginia said and Wendell smiled a little to reassure her. Wendell glanced at Evelyn and she had a worried expression as she watched him. Wendell’s heart skipped a beat when he remembered what Wolf said about her liking him. As soon as this was over, Wendell was going to tell her how he felt. He was about to leave when he thought of something. He took out his sword and his bow and arrows. He handed them to Tony who looked at them and then back up to Wendell.

“If I’m lucky I won’t need them right now. You may need them sooner than me. I’ll hurry back.” And before anyone said anything else he turned his horse around and took off down the road to his castle.

Tony hung the bow and arrows on the side of his horse and attached the sword to his belt. They watched him go until Wolf finally said, “We need to be going also.” He scratched at his head absently while looking ahead to where the Disenchanted Forest was. They would be passing through Little Lamb Village again to get there. Wolf really didn’t want to go through the forest but the only other way was to take a boat along the river and that was too far out of the way.

Wolf and Virginia’s horse led the way and Tony and Evelyn followed. As they kept their horses moving fast, Wolf concentrated on the task ahead of them. It would be dark soon and they couldn’t risk stopping for the night, not with the bounty hunters so close behind. On the other hand, he very much doubted the others would be able to stay awake that long.

“Tony.” Wolf called and Tony brought his horse up next to Wolf and Virginia’s. Wolf told Tony about the problem and Tony thought for a minute.

“Do you know how far behind they are?” Wolf looked behind them and then back to Tony. Both of their faces were filled with worry.

“It all depends.” Wolf said, hoping that would be enough. Nope.

“On what Wolf?”

“Well, on how fast they can follow the trail. We didn’t make it easy for them, so we might have a little while.” Tony nodded and was silent again, thinking. Virginia and Evelyn didn’t say anything either, leaving it up to the two men to decide. “Well, I guess the only thing we can do is ride as far as we can tonight until we absolutely have to stop.”

Wolf nodded and they picked up the pace. It was starting already dark when they passed through Little Lamb Village. There were only a few people out, including a bunch over by the wishing well. The well must have gathered quite a crowd now that it was full again. They passed though quickly and a half an hour later, they entered the Thousand Mile Forest. Wolf gulped, and kept his senses sharp. Virginia shivered and Wolf hugged her tighter. “At least we don’t have to worry about the Huntsman this time,” Virginia said, trying to look on the bright side.

“Unfortunately, that isn’t encouraging.” Wolf said and Virginia looked at him. Tony did to.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“When the Huntsman was alive, he was evil, but he kept the forest under control. This forest is filled with dark things that usually stay hidden, but now that he’s gone…” Wolf let the sentence and Virginia shivered again and leaned further into Wolf. Tony paled.

“I’ve been hearing rumors lately,” Evelyn started and they all turned to her. “While I’ve been traveling, a lot of people have been talking about the Disenchanted Forest and they’ve been saying that some people have gone missing. There are only a few gypsy caravans that dare to come in here. Most of them have retreated to other forests.”

He didn’t like gypsies, but Wolf would have been almost glad to come across some right about now. They could provide some protection, just so long as Virginia didn’t go freeing anymore magic birds. Wolf wondered if the same gypsy caravan that they had stayed with last time was still here. Not that he would go to them, but he wanted to know how that boy was doing. Last time he had spent almost two hours just talking to the little half wolf. The boy’s mom, a pureblooded wolf, had been killed when he was two, and so he had no idea what it was like to be around other wolves. Wolf was brought out of his thoughts by Tony’s question.

“I don’t suppose there’s any chance of us finding Snow White’s cottage again is there?” Tony asked hopefully but his face had doubt written all over it. Wolf shook his head.

“Nobody’s ever been able to find the cottage when looking for it. People just stumble onto it every now and then. We got lucky last time.” Wolf sighed. “No, we’ll have to sleep outside this time.” Although, Wolf had no intention of going to sleep. He planned on staying up all night to keep a look out and watch over everyone.

They stayed on the path this time, keeping the tired horses moving at a fast pace. Wolf felt a pang of guilt at working the horses so much, but they seemed to be holding up pretty well. A few more hours passed and both Virginia and Evelyn fought to keep awake. Virginia could have fallen asleep if she wanted to but she knew it wouldn’t be fair to the others that they had to keep awake otherwise they would fall off their horses. So she kept herself up straight and pinched herself often. Tony yawned once or twice, but for the most part seemed wide-awake.

Wolf kept his attention focussed on the forest surrounding them. A few times he had heard a twig snap or a rustling in the bushes but it always turned out to be nothing. Wolf was beginning to think they might just get out without incident, and then the horses started acting up. Tony’s horse stopped completely and wouldn’t move. Virginia had seen enough movies and read enough books to know what was wrong. Horses could sense danger a lot better than humans could and it was clear something had them spooked.

“Wolf…I think we need to go…now.” Virginia whispered and Wolf nodded. He looked around but didn’t see anything. He looked over and whispered to Tony and Evelyn to ride as fast as they could when he said so. Wolf had a predator’s instinct, so he knew when the perfect time to run was. Just before the predator attacks, preferable as it attacks, so it would get caught off guard. Wolf let his instincts take over. The others looked at him, scared and wanting to go, but he ignored them. After a second he knew where the thing that was attacking them was. On the right, just off the side of the road. His sharp ears picked up a small quiet noise, not four feet from the road. Suddenly Wolf yelled “Now!” and all three horses took off.

A huge black shape pounced on the road where they had been less than a second before. Growling angrily, it took off after its prey at a remarkable speed considering its size. The horses were barely able to stay ahead of it. Wolf looked back and saw it was starting to get tired of the chase. Sure enough, a minute later, the thing slowed down to a stop. Wolf kept them going for a few more minutes anyway, until the dark shape was safely out of view. That’s when they finally slowed the horses down.

“Is everyone okay?” Wolf asked looking around at all of them to make sure they were all still there. Evelyn nodded and Tony tried to say something, but it took awhile for the words to form.

“What the hell was that?” Tony finally managed to blurt out. Wolf looked behind them again before answering.

“A bear, I think.”

Tony looked back too. “A bear?! That was one hell of a bear then!”

Wolf turned to Virginia. “Are you okay Virginia? What about the cub?” Wolf asked worried. Virginia took a couple of deep breaths and smiled. “We’re fine Wolf.” She put Wolf’s hand on her abdomen and Wolf let out a sigh of relief.

Evelyn was now fully awake and as white as a ghost. Tony was also pretty white and kept glancing over his shoulder to make sure they weren’t being followed again by that bear. Wolf looked over at him and smirked.

“Hey Tony? Do you need to take a minute to change your pants?”

Tony’s face lost its pale shade and turned bright red instead. He glared angrily at Wolf. Wolf chuckled and Evelyn relaxed a little.

Once they were ready, they kept going. They were able to get rather far since they were all to afraid to go to sleep. It was after midnight when Tony finally said something.

“Do you think it’s safe to stop for a few hours?” Wolf looked back and saw Evelyn yawning and that she had huge bags under her eyes. She saw him looking and said, “No, I’m fine. We should keep going.”

Wolf thought for a minute. The bounty hunters were probably way behind again, and the horses really needed a break. “We can stop for a few hours.” Evelyn was about to protest but he interrupted. “The horses need a break too and we can spare a few hours.”

Wolf found a relatively safe place about a hundred yards off the side of the road in a small cave. Wolf could tell no one had been in there for a few months so they wouldn’t have to worry about any more bears or other things coming in while they were sleeping. Wolf and Tony tied the horses up just outside of the cave where a stream conveniently ran by. Virginia and Evelyn set up the blankets and got out the food, having not had time to eat all day. Wolf came in and Tony followed.

“We can’t afford a fire so we’ll have to eat whatever we have cold,” Wolf said, but silently he was mourning over no bacon. They all ate cold chicken on bread that the dwarf king had given them. When they were done, Virginia and Evelyn curled up under the blankets and fell asleep fast. Wolf looked over and saw Tony yawning.

“You better get some sleep Tone. I’ll stay up and keep watch.” Tony nodded and laid down. A second later, his head popped back up.

“Wolf? Wake me up in a few hours and then you can get some sleep.” Not waiting for an answer or reply, Tony lay back down and was snoring a second later. Wolf took a blanket and moved to the front of the cave, sitting up against the wall.

Blake, Daniel, and Joseph pulled their horses to a stop at the crossroads. Blake was furious. They had almost had them and then they had slipped away. They had followed their trail to the cottage, followed day old footprints to the mountain, and then footprints leading back to the cottage. But it had been very confusing.

The three could tell by the footprints leading to and from the mountain that there had been four of them, but two sets looked like they belonged to girls. There was only supposed to be one girl. They had broken down the door to the cottage but found nothing, just blankets on the couch and the remains of a sandwich in the kitchen.

Blake, the leader and the smartest of the three, was the only real tracker out of them. The other two were just good at killing. So Blake was the one stuck trying to figure everything out. There were four horses, and four sets of footprints by the mountain (The mountain was another mystery. The footprints had disappeared in front of the boulder and the three men couldn’t get it to move). The cottage obviously belonged to a dwarf (who was nowhere to be found). It was possible that someone had stayed behind while the others went to the mountain. It was the only explanation, because there was a set of footprints around the cottage that were too large for a dwarf. But that brought up the only four horses issue again. It was possible that two were sharing a horse. Blake frowned. Now, at the crossroads, one horse went toward the castle, while the other three headed to the Disenchanted Forest. The forest itself didn’t scare Blake, but the things inside it did.

“Daniel, you go that way. One of the horses is headed to Castle White. Head it off. Joseph and I will go this way and get the others.” Daniel nodded and took off in the direction of the castle. Blake mounted his horse and the two of them rode to the Thousand Mile Forest.

Tony woke up to the silence of the forest. It was still dark outside and the silence creeped him out more than all the noises would. He looked around the small cave and saw Evelyn and Virginia still fast asleep, but Wolf was nowhere to be found. Tony stood up, keeping the blanket wrapped around him, and walked to the entrance. The horses were still tied up and were sleeping too. Tony started to walk out but tripped over something. Clamping a hand over his mouth to keep from yelling, Tony caught his balance and looked down to see what he had tripped over. It was Wolf’s blanket.

“Wolf!” Tony whispered. “Wolf, you out there?” Tony couldn’t see more than two feet in front of him and really didn’t want to go out there to look for Wolf. So he sat up against the wall and waited, wondering where the half-wolf could have gone.

About twenty minutes had gone by before he heard a twig snap right outside the cave. Tony jumped up and squinted trying to see what was out there.

“Who’s there? Wolf is that you?” He whispered, silently praying it was either Wolf or his imagination.

“Tony?” Wolf walked up to him and Tony let out a sigh of relief.

“Where were you?” Tony asked, still whispering. The forest was still deathly quiet and even whispering seemed too loud.

“I was hiding our trail. That way if they somehow manage to catch up, they’ll have more of a difficult time finding us.” Wolf looked and saw that Virginia was still sleeping and tried to hold back a yawn. Tony noticed the bags under Wolf’s eyes.

“Why don’t you get some sleep? I’ll stay up and keep watch.” Tony offered. Wolf considered it for a moment. He really was tired, but he didn’t entirely trust Tony to stay awake and alert the rest of the night. Finally Wolf nodded.

“Just an hour or two. Wake me up when it’s starting to get light out.” Tony nodded and Wolf went over and curled up next to Virginia. He was asleep a minute later.

Tony sat against the wall again and stared out into the darkness. He kept himself busy by going over his plans for the bouncy castles. He wasn’t in any hurry to get them done, after all he planned on staying in the Nine Kingdoms - unless he was going to have to keep going around fighting queens and witch’s successors, then New York might start to sound kind of good. Then again, it gave Tony a sense of purpose. In New York, he was close to being invisible while here he was recognized as a hero and was able to live in a castle. Wendell had even mentioned having Tony his own castle built. Just a Lord’s castle, nowhere near as grand as Wendell’s, but still… the idea had merit. Tony smirked. Yeah, Tony would stay in the Nine Kingdoms. It was worth fighting all the bad guys.

Tony was able to stay awake the rest of the night, yawning only a few times. When Tony was able to make out the shapes of all the trees around them, he knew the sun would be up soon. He waited a few more minutes before getting up and gathering what he could. He made sure the horses were ready and everything except the blankets were packed before waking up the others.

The bags under Wolf’s eyes were almost gone and he looked considerably well rested for just a few hours of sleep. He was somewhat surprised to find Tony had stayed awake the whole time. He figured Tony to be one of those people who fell asleep sitting up because of his age. Wolf immediately cursed himself mentally for thinking like that. Tony wasn’t all that old and was in pretty good shape considering everything he had been doing lately, traveling across the Fourth Kingdom three months before and now traveling all over again. Wolf really needed to work on acting nicer to Tony, although Tony had always been the one to blame him on things and not trust him. But Tony had been a lot nicer to him lately. Wolf kept pondering about it while picking up all the blankets.

Virginia and Evelyn just sort of sat around in a daze, still half asleep. When Tony and Wolf had the horses completely ready they helped them onto the horses before getting up themselves. Wolf had gone ahead when he first got up to see if it was clear by the road. So when they got back on the road, there was nobody in sight.

They pushed the horses to go faster, knowing that the bounty hunters had more than likely regained a lot of the distance they had lost. They went on for a few hours until the sun was completely up. That was when Wolf caught wind of the scents. He glanced back nervously but they were still a way back, but getting closer. Tony saw him and shot him a questioning look. Wolf looked at him and Tony knew what was the matter. Not wanting to worry the girls yet, they just casually picked up the pace. Another half-hour later, Wolf told them all that they should be coming to the edge of the forest soon. The scents were gradually getting closer and Wolf tried not to panic. There were only two of them now; one of them had probably followed Wendell’s trail.

They eventually reached the end of the forest and saw Rivertown ahead of them. They rode into town and stopped long enough to get something quick to eat. While Virginia and Evelyn went into the bakery, Wolf pulled Tony aside.

“Tony, they are getting closer. Back in the forest, I could only smell two of them. So I think one might have gone after Wendell. Now that we’re this close we need to figure out what we’re going to do. Even if we are able to get to the castle without the bounty hunters catching us, they will still get up there and who knows how many guards this Jessica has. We could be walking right into a trap. We need a plan, but we are really pushed for time here.” Wolf scratched his head and muttered a small ‘Cripes.’ Both Tony’s and Wolf’s faces were etched with lines of stress and worry. Tony was worried about Wendell too. He'd given his only weapons to Tony, and who knew if he was able to reach his castle in time? Tony was about to say something when Virginia and Evelyn returned with some bagels and some orange juice. They ate the bagels while walking back to the horses. When they got there, Wolf thought of something.

“I think we should leave the horses behind now and travel on foot. The castle is just right there and we would be able to sneak up better without the horses.” Everyone nodded. Tony took the bow and arrows off the horse, muttering something about how he didn’t even know how to shoot one of these. So they headed up the hill, staying off the main path, to the ancient castle.

Twenty minutes later, Blake and Joseph reached Rivertown. Both were glad to finally be rid of that cursed forest. They had luckily made it through without incident but had still seen some weird things. Blake stopped and asked a few people if they had seen the ones they were chasing. According to the townspeople, they had just left twenty minutes earlier leaving their horses behind, and for some reason, heading up to the abandoned castle. Blake frowned. They were going straight to Jessica. He quickly pulled out his mirror.

“Yes?” Jessica asked eagerly. She had been awaiting an update for sometime now and wanted to know if they were dead yet.

“Milady, we just reached Rivertown. It seems as though they are headed straight to you. According to the townspeople, Wendell was not with them. He must have been the one I sent Daniel after. They have another girl traveling with them. Do you wish for me to kill her as well.”

“Yes, kill everyone except for Virginia. I will have a welcome party awaiting her when she arrives. Meanwhile, catch up to them and kill the wolf, oaf, and the new girl whoever she is. I will deal with Wendell later.” Jessica’s image disappeared and Blake tucked it safely into his belt. Joseph and he then left their horses as well and took off running along the path.

They were almost to the castle, not that much farther and Wolf was getting even more nervous. Virginia noticed his behavior and would have said something when suddenly Wolf stopped. Tony saw him and looked back the way they had come and then back to Wolf.

“They’re almost here now aren’t they?” Tony said knowing and trying to keep his voice calm. Wolf nodded and Virginia stared at them in shock. They had known that they were getting closer and they hadn’t said anything. She was going to yell at them for not warning them when she caught sight of two figures a distance off running between the trees. She froze. Wolf saw them too and growled softly. He quickly made a decision, one he knew nobody would like, especially himself and Tony. He turned to Virginia and Evelyn.

“Virginia, you and Evelyn need to get up to the castle. Sneak in through the back or the side. Be very careful because we don’t know if she has any guards there or not. Tony and I are going to stay behind and fight them.” Virginia started to protest, but Tony stopped her.

“Virginia, listen to him. There are only two of them; we can take them. The important thing is that you get to safety and stop this Jessica person. I took on those three trolls by myself before remember?” He smiled reassuringly and turned to Evelyn. “Evelyn, I need you to watch her for me. Don’t let anything happen to her and stay with her. We should be able to catch up in few minutes.” Tony squeezed Evelyn’s shoulder and then hugged Virginia who had tears in her eyes. Wolf also hugged Virginia tightly, whispering to her, “I’ll come back. Nothing can keep me away from you. Now go.” Evelyn took Virginia gently by the arm and led her quickly to the castle. After about two minutes, Virginia soon grew angry. She practically ran to the castle with Evelyn close behind. The only way to help her father and Wolf was to stop Jessica first.

Tony and Wolf watched them go and then turned around to face the bounty hunters who were now very close. Tony handed the bow and arrows to Wolf.

“I don’t know how to use this, so maybe you should.” Wolf shook his head.

“I don’t know how either. I’ll be fine, I don’t need a weapon. You use the sword.” They hid behind separate trees, waiting for them to get there.

The two bounty hunters were about fifty yards away when Tony said quietly, “Wolf, if I don’t make it, watch over Virginia for me. She’s my baby girl and I don’t want anything to happen to her.”

Wolf nodded and said, “Don’t worry Tony, she’ll have her mate and her father there for her.”

Just then they heard the approaching men running and with one last look at the castle, they both jumped out from behind the trees, Tony holding Wendell’s sword and Wolf ready to pounce.