[Dylan]
I watched as Avira suddenly became uneasy once I mentioned the cave, and I wondered why. It was only a cave, and it was the only option I had with the other members of the pack nearly upon us.
"Is something wrong?" I asked again when she made no attempt to respond to my first question.
"It's the pack's sacred cave." She said simply as if I was supposed to understand everything from her short response. It was the pack's sacred cave alright, and should be the safest place in the pack's settlement. In fact, she should be glad that I had taken her in here as I was sure no one would harm her in here but Avira didn't seem to share in my line of thoughts. Her eyes darted quickly from one corner of the cave to another, at the slightest sound of chirping.
"It's night now, these sounds are completely normal." I said in a soothing voice, but she wasn't listening, in fact, she wasn't concerned about the chirping sound as I had just realized, but was desperately searching for something, a way out perhaps.
"You ever wondered why the others didn't come in with you?" She asked after some time. Her voice was low, and wavy. As she spoke, her eyes darted about, still in search of something.
I shook my head, realizing what she meant. It was obvious that the others had deliberately not come in here in search of Avira. Even though they did not see me take Avira inside the cave, they had searched, and not seen her anywhere else, and since there was no way she could have gotten away from the pack within such a short time, and on human feet, the cave was the only place she could have gotten into.
But I heard the others travel back, past the cave's entrance, and without stopping. I had wished silently that they wouldn't come in, and when they didn't, I thought it was the gods granting my wish but Avira's question now made it clear that without my wish, they still wouldn't have come in.
"What is this place?" I asked, and when I realized how stupid my question was, I rephrased. "How bad is it here?" I asked again, not fearfully. I was only curious as fear didn't come easily to me. But Avira had resumed looking around fearfully.
"Let's leave this place," Avira said instead, and I raised an eyebrow. Fine, I had no idea how her death would have affected me seeing that I felt all of her pain which meant that as much as I saved her life, I had somehow saved mine as well, but isn't she supposed to thank me for saving her?
"Tell me how bad it is first," I said instead. Maybe cutting her a little more slack wasn't a bad idea seeing how much she had gone through within the space of two days.
"I don't know how bad exactly, but the Beta went rogue after visiting," She replied, and I shook my head in understanding. I was right, there was nothing to be afraid of in the cave, as long as we were not here to make consultation. It is the same back in my pack, and every other pack, I think.
The Beta must have come in here to make consultation, and had gone rogue because it was not in his position to do that. I did a quick calculation, and made a decision.
"The Beta must have tampered with the sacred flowers. Simply stepping on them could mean doom for the offender." I said in a slow and thoughtful voice while Avira's gaze settled on mine. There was no way I would be able to convince Avira the Beta had gone rogue because he made consultations, and there was no way I would make her travel with me through the route I had in mind unless I employed the means I had just thought of.
"What's that?" She asked, looking at me. Although it was getting darker, and difficult to see her eyes, I could tell when she looked straight at me. I could feel when her eyes rested on me.
"Gloompetals." I said simply, and bit my lower lip to stop myself from laughing. Gloom petals were totally rare, and found only in caves but there was nothing about them that could spell doom for whoever stepped on it. Avira's intense gaze on me confused me. I wasn't sure if she saw through my deceit or was simply surprised that what she thought about the cave was not accurate.
"Gloom petals," She repeated but her tone had raised a little at the end so that it sounded like a question.
"Right," I said, and sat down on the bare floor. There was a long journey ahead of us, and it was only wise to rest for as much as we can now while we still can.
"I thought we were leaving." Avira asked, lowering her head to face me.
"We would. It is too early now and we need to be well prepared for the journey ahead " I replied, and pulled my backpack towards me.
"How is your leg by the way?" I asked just as Avira eased into the spot beside me. I opened the bag, and brought out two wraps of dumplings.
"It still hurts but not as much anymore." Avira replied, and received the wrap I had just stretched towards her.
"This tastes good," she said after a cautious bite. Her voice lacked every form of enthusiasm, and it was totally understandable. No one would remain cheerful after going through what she did.
I took a big bite of my dumpling, and munched it slowly, enjoying the taste, and resisting the urge to look at Avira's direction as she devoured her wrap with haste. She must be either too hungry or she found the dumpling too delicious.
I reached for my backpack and brought out another wrap, commending myself for bringing supplies that would last for weeks.
"Here," I said, stretching the wrap towards Avira. She collected it after hesitating for a while, and in no time,she was devouring the second wrap like she did the first, hungrily and quickly.
The cloud was shifting gradually to reveal the moon, and I wasn't sure what to wish for. A full moon would mean travelling as a wolf, and travelling very quickly but for Avira it would also mean travelling with a wolf, and trying hard to meet up, seeing the Lunar lock which was around her neck. Whereas anything else would mean two werewolves trying hard to cover a long distance on human feet.
My whole body suddenly shivered as I felt a difference in the air. One moment, I saw Avira clutch at the Lunar lock tightly as if to pull it off, and the next moment, I was on the floor, on all fours, and in pain.
It was a full moon.