Blood Moon Chronicles: Book 3: A New Moon Rises

This will be a rather long entry as a lot happened in such a short time. It has been three days since we escaped from that hellish prison and a lot has happened. After we woke, we knew that we had to put as much distance between our captor and ourselves as possible. There was no sign that we had been followed and no tracks had appeared around the tree we had spent the night in. After untying ourselves and climbing back down to the ground, we surveyed the area around our perch. Confident that no man or hound was on our trail, we confirmed which way was south and continued our path. As we made our way south, we continued to use every trick we had learned to mask our scent and tracks. We would spend a few moments to collect berries or grapefruit to eat as we went. When we could, we used the nearby river to travel and made sure to get our fill of the cool, refreshing water before heading down. We had found a small cave to use for the night that did not have signs of an animal living within it.

We did not build a fire, as we feared that we were being looked for. Though it was cold, we huddled together and the blankets we had been using helped to keep the cold at bay.

That evening, the blood moon filled the sky and we felt agony unlike never. The pain of the wolf attack seemed mild in comparison. My skin felt aflame and I felt my body contorting. I heard loud ripping and feared it was my very skin was ripping at the seams. I fell to the ground and felt my body start to jerk uncontrollably as the pain increased. I closed my eyes, trying to drown out the pain and the sounds of Stevan’s cries. I am not sure how long it was before the tremors ended, the pain subsided, and the burning sensation quenched itself.

I opened my eyes and found that I could see the interior of our cave much better than I had before. I could hear subtle movement outside and there was a unique smell nearby. As I went to get up, I saw a paw instead of a hand, and began to scream. Instead of a scream, I let out a loud howl, which startled the wolf near me. He got up quickly and got into a defensive stance. He had light brown fur and piercing blue eyes, not unlike Stevan’s. I went into shock as I realized that the wolf in front of me was my friend and he was seeing a wolf in front of him. However, he had not noticed his change, that is, until he attempted to stand upright.

When he realized he had changed he began to freak out, letting out chuffs and barks. What surprised me was that I understood what they meant, despite them not being human words. I thought of what I wanted to say and tried to talk to him. Barks, growls and chuffs came from my snout, but caught the attention of my friend.

He wondered how this happened and it was then that I recalled what the man who had held us prisoner had said. He had mentioned a coming change. This must have been what he had been talking about.

I felt more energized than ever before and asked Stevan if he felt the same, getting a nod in reply. I suggested we should use this to get home faster, and he growled in agreement. Wasting no time, we dashed out of the cave and continued our path south, running at full sprint. The rush of dashing through the forest was exhilarating, feeling the air rush past me. I was surprised that I did not feel the nip of cold winter air, but my coat seemed to protect me from that. Soon, I felt rather tired and was able to slow to a light jog, or trot, in wolf form. We had been traveling for about an hour when new scent filled our snouts. We looked at one another, and with no need to say anything, moved to follow the scent. It was another fifteen to twenty minutes before we found the origin of the scent. A herd of sleeping elk, a few bulls and a smattering of cows and cafés. We saw what looked to be an older bull and dashed quickly to attack. I went for its hind leg, sinking my teeth in and thrashing, just as Stevan locked his jaws and gave a sharp twist. He succeeded in breaking its neck, and its cry woke the rest of the herd.

The two remaining bucks tried to get us as the females and children ran, but soon gave up and followed. Feeling a hunger, I never had known before, I began ripping into the flesh of our kill and savored the taste of its raw meat. We gorged ourselves on the animal until only the bones and organs remained. We then made our way over to the river to drink our fill before heading south again.

We traveled for hours, switching between a light trot to a slow walk and back. I looked up and saw we had a few hours of moonlight left - we would need somewhere to rest.

I then smelled a familiar scent, that of smoke, and darted off towards the origin of the smell. Stevan followed, and after a half hour of running, we came across a small farm. There was a stable, and we approached carefully, in case there were animals inside. We were very lucky that there were not, and we found a hole big enough to fit through.

The stable looked like it once housed multiple animals, but the structure and its stalls had seen better days. We moved to the stall furthest from the door and found a thick bed of dry hay inside. We both rested our eyes and let sleep take us.

We were surprised to find, when we awoke, we were normal, though naked, people. We had never expected we would change back, but whatever had made us change had destroyed our clothes. We were also quite a few kilometers away, which we were both happy about, but now we were stuck. We looked about the stall and found work boots, some work pants, and gloves. The pants had suspenders to hold them up, since they were meant to be worn over everyday pants and shirts, making them rather baggy. We watched the house, and found it was owned by an older farmer, who lived alone. He split some wood then went out into the woods, possibly to check traps. He was gone for two hours before returning.

We snuck out, braving the cold to try and find some food until tomorrow. We found some berries and some citrus plants. Once we had our fill, we drank some water from his well. We then returned to the stable and waited for our moment.

It was not long after nightfall when we heard someone approaching. The old farmer called out for us to come out of hiding. He had noticed us when we went out and wondered if we needed help. We explained we had been taken from our home in Fardun and were trying to get back. Our clothes had been ruined and we had nothing else to wear. He brought us inside and let us warm by the fire as he collected clothes for us. While the shirts were big, the pants would help with that, as he said we could keep them. He then gave us bowls of stew and cups of tea. Both warmed us up and I asked how far from Fardun we were. He said we were about half a week’s walk northwest of the village. That meant that we were a week away from getting home to Cartha. We thanked him and asked if we could rest the night. He let us sleep inside, near the fire, and in the morning, provided us with a pack to carry some cured meats and other foods with us. The provisions would last us until we reached home if we made sure to collect food on the way.