Ep. 3.10 (R) - Yes 'Cause I Be Trippin'

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Farid and Aidan find themselves trapped in the middle of a clearing. To their left, the raven demon hovers menacingly above their heads, ready to dive-bomb them at any moment. To their right, the mysterious creature with ice blue eyes slowly emerges from the woods.

The boys stand frozen in terror as the two fearsome forces converge upon them.

But to their surprise, what emerges from the woods is not a creature of their nightmares, but a statuesque being with an ethereal beauty and a remarkable grace.

It's a giant, luminously gray wolf—twelve feet tall and five feet wide—with silvery gray fur that sparkles like diamonds in the moonlight. Its ears flare back, and its blue eyes shine with an ancient power, like mystical shimmering gemstones.

This is no ordinary wolf.

And in the face of it, Aidan begins to hyperventilate as his eyes go wide with shock, while Farid drops to the ground, desperately looking for his bloodied sword, cast off by the raven demon and now buried somewhere in the heavy foliage surrounding the forest.

Both boys are terrified as it becomes increasingly clear that the only thing they can do now is keep their wits about them, keep their eyes trained on each one of the beasts headed their way, and pray.

Aidan stares at the wolf in awe. "What the hell is that?!"

Farid shakes his head almost imperceptibly. "I have no idea."

"Is it a Shifter?"

"I don't think so," Farid replies softly.

The boys start slowly backing away from the creature, but this then pushes them closer to the raven demon; and suddenly, they come to a complete stop as they realize there's nowhere else to go.

"I don't think Maximus can help us with this one," Aidan says plaintively.

Farid looks down at his sword. "Yeah," he says, defeated, "neither will this."

"Crap!" Aidan whispers. "So, what do we do?"

As Farid is about to answer, he looks up just in time to see the wolf crouch low on its haunches, then leap into the air, propelling itself forward towards them.

"Duck!!" Farid yells.

The boys hit the ground hard as the wolf sails above their heads, and with its lips curled and claws bared, flies right into the raven demon, taking it by surprise and knocking it to the ground.

The wolf and the demon begin to fight and are soon in a furious struggle for dominance--the raven demon scratching at the wolf as it tries to make its escape, the wolf using its teeth and claws to hold the demon still long enough for it to administer a lethal bite.

Frantic caws and vicious growls fill the night air, and giant black feathers rain down on Aidan and Farid as they try to navigate their way out of the middle of the fray.

Unable to stand up for fear of getting caught on a stray talon or sharp claw, the boys army-crawl on the ground, just like Master Achebe taught them, and begin making their way to the edge of the clearing.

But they don't make it far before they hear a desperate cry and then a brutal crack as the wolf captures the raven demon's beak within its powerful jaws, and with one thrust of its head, slams the raven to the ground, instantly breaking its neck.

And when the wolf looks up, large drops of blood drip, bit by bit, from its razor-sharp teeth. It slowly drags its huge tongue across its lips, then begins slinking towards them.

Fatigued from battle, its labored breath is visible in the cold night air. And even though the raven demon is now dead, the wolf could still easily kill them in a second. Fighting it is pointless and there's nowhere to run.

So, the boys sit there, helpless and unable to move, just hoping the wolf eventually finds the raven demon carcass far more appealing than them.

But the wolf keeps moving forward. And when it finally reaches them, it lowers its head close to Aidan's...

...and aggressively pushes its nose into Aidan's face 

...and then sniffs him.

Visibly trembling, Aidan closes his eyes, and with demon dog snot running down the side of his face, he fights the urge to let out a profound 'Yuck!'"

Standing beside him, perfectly still, Farid racks his brain for something he can do. Then, without moving his head, he sweeps his gaze over the grass looking for anything he can use as a defense or possibly as a weapon.

But when he hears Aidan whimper, he carefully turns to see that, surprisingly, the wolf doesn't look like it wants to attack them.

Instead, it lowers its muzzle and gives Aidan another sniff behind both ears, then nudges Aidan's head against its own.

Aidan cowers as the wolf whips out its enormous tongue, leans in, and licks Aidan's hair, then his ears, and then his face.

Suddenly, another rustling sound comes from deep within the woods, and the giant silver wolf lifts its nose high into the air. It catches the scent of something far more intriguing than the boys and suddenly turns and saunters gamely back into the forest.

After a long, tense moment, Aidan tries his best to stop trembling while Farid collapses onto the grass, scrubs his hands over his face, and breathes out a huge sigh of relief.

He cracks an eye open and asks Aidan. "Is it gone? Is it really gone?"

"Yeah, it's gone." Aidan says, his teeth still chattering.

"Damn! That was a close one," Farid mutters as he drags himself up into a sitting position.

"Yeah, I'm not exactly sure what just happened here," Aidan says, his voice high-pitched and cracking, "but I've gotta get back to the tent, right now, because I'm about to piss in my pants!"

And without waiting for Farid, Aidan races, like a bat out of hell, straight to the safety of their yurt.

*****

Farid drags himself into the tent and gives Patrick who, now fully awake and pulling on a t-shirt, watches as Farid heads straight for his bed.

"Where's Aidan?" Farid asks. "He took off so fast, I couldn't keep up."

"He came tearing in here like a lunatic," Patrick says, "babbling something about demon dogs and giant birds? Then he grabbed a towel and headed for the shower. Saying he had to wipe the slime off. What the hell happened to you two out there?"

"We were attacked," Farid tells him.

"By a demon?" Patrick asks, surprised. He wouldn't expect them to encounter a demon within the confines of a Shifter compound.

"By two demons, in fact," Farid says as he winces taking off his jacket.

"Oh, damn!" Patrick replies.

"Yeah..." Farid adds, carefully peeling the shirt away from his scratched up back while trying to hide his pained expression.

Suddenly, Aidan walks in, with a towel wrapped around his waist and another one sitting like a turban on his head. "Did you tell him? Did you tell him everything that happened tonight?" Aidan asks Farid, pointing to Patrick with his chin.

Farid groans out a "No" as he struggles to find a way to situate his body comfortably on the bed.

Aidan sits on the edge of his own bed, then bends over to unwrap the towel from his head. He pops back up and, while vigorously rubbing his hair, takes on the task of telling Patrick the rest of the tale.

"So, we were out in this clearing in the middle of the woods and—"

"Wait?" Patrick's face scrunches up. "Why would you be in the middle of the woods at this time of night? What happened?"

"Your shaman's pot o' crazy is what happened!" Aidan practically squeaks out as he points at Patrick accusingly. "You know, that Lahopa stuff? Yeah, well that's what sent me on my little psychedelic journey tonight! But," he waves it off dismissively, "never mind that. The point is, we were in the middle of this clearing when, out of nowhere, this giant raven--black as night with steely blue eyes and glowing wi—"

"Its eyes were red," Farid murmurs, his voice muffled, his face buried deep in his pillow. "The wolf's eyes were blue."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever!" Aidan brushes off the interruption as he begins to pace the room. "So, this raven demon thing swoops in and attacks us. The only thing we could do is hit the ground hard, just like we learned in combat class. And then this huge silver wolf appears from somewhere in the woods and at this point, we're convinced we're going to die. But instead, the wolf leaps up and begins to fight with the raven demon. They were really going at it too! Claws and teeth and feathers and fur! It was insane!"

"And then what happened?" Patrick asks.

"The wolf demon manages to get the raven demon in its jaw, and it absolutely tears the thing to pieces! And then," he shrugs casually, "the wolf demon just takes off and goes back into the woods."

Patrick looks at Aidan skeptically. "Just like that?"

"Yep! Just like that," Aidan asserts as he plops bac down on the bed.

Farid attempts to get comfortable, but now that the adrenaline has worn off, the sting of the raven demon's marks causes him to recoil in pain no matter how hard he tries to position himself. So instead, he scooches to the edge of the bed, and leaning forward, rests his arms on his thighs and settles in there.

"Oh, but there's more," he offers. "The wolf demon took a very keen interest in Aidan before he left."

Patrick's gaze swings from Farid to Aidan. He's intrigued.

"Yeah..." Aidan wrinkles his nose in disgust. "The wolf creature was sniffing me up and down and knocking me about. Honestly I tell ya, he gave me a right good saliva bath. That's why the first thing I did when I got back was take a shower." He shivers at the memory. "I'm still tryin' to figure out exactly what that thing was."

"Interesting..." Patrick murmurs as he thinks about it for a minute, then he says, "You know, I think you two got saved by a Spirit Wolf."

"A what?!" Aidan exclaims, with a mix of shock and confusion.

"Yep," Patrick nods, his lips twitching up into a hint of a smile. "Look, Aidan, you can make fun of our shamans' abilities all you want. But they can summon some pretty powerful beings from the spirit world. And in the wake of Shaman Windwalker's ceremony, I think he ended up calling on the spirit animal of this tribe--a Spirit Wolf."

"Huh..." Aidan says, tilting his head. "Well, I'll be damned."

Patrick nods towards Aidan. "And I'm guessing the Spirit Wolf took a particular interest in you because, even though you're an Enchanted, you're also a Spirit Guardian. Somehow it could tell."

"Wow. That makes a lot of sense," Aidan agrees, impressed.

Exhausted, Farid leans forward and slowly tries to get his shirt off, pulling it up over his head. But he stops as he  flinches in pain.

Aidan comes over and takes a closer look at Farid's back. "Oh, mate, that does not look good," he says. "It's definitely gonna smart in the morning."

"Well, Aidan, since it hurts like hell right now, I took that one as a given," Farid snaps, mildly irritated.

"I'm sorry," Aidan apologizes for his insensitivity. "You know what? I might be able to help you with that," he says.

"Oh, what? Now you're a healer too?" Farid jokes, not wanting to take his frustrations out entirely on the kid.

"No," Aidan laughs softly. "But as an Enchanted, we're all taught the basics of healing magic." Aidan taps his chin as he thinks for a moment, then he says, "Let me see if there's anything around here I can use to make a balm and hasten the healing. I'm gonna go look around the tent here and see if I can find some good plants and herbs."

"Be careful," Patrick warns. "Seriously, don't wander off too far. You've had enough adventure for one night, and I have no idea how to summon a Spirit Wolf to come and save your ass."

Aidan stands at attention and salutes him. "Aye, aye, Captain!" he playfully barks. Then, his grin turns into a ridiculously big smile. "Or should I say thank you, mom."

"Oh, shut up!" Patrick throws a pillow at Aidan's head, suppressing a smile since he has no intention of really hitting him.

Aidan giggles as he jumps to the side, ensuring that the pillow actually misses him in the end. Then, he walks over to the wood-burning stove and reaches for the bucket of kindling sitting next to it.

He pours the sticks out onto the floor, confidently gives Farid and Patrick a nod, and tucks the bucket underneath his arm as he leaves.

**********

A/N - I wonder what Aidan will be cooking up.  While he's a good student, I'm not entirely sure he can be trusted with medicinal magic. 🤔

***

So, I have a question for you -- especially the silent readers. 

I don't know why this is, but no matter how early in the week I start my edits, I always end up publishing late on Friday nights (Pacific time.) It's like a curse or something. Seriously!

And the problem is that it's starting to stress me out. So, I'm wondering how many of you regularly read at least one chapter the weekend it's published, even if it's not the most recent chapter published? From the numbers, it seems like some of you (or perhaps many of you) can't get to the chapters weekly, so you read in chunks -- which is totally okay, btw! :-)

But on Wattpad, pre-2018, it was part of the culture to regularly read each chapter close to the time it's published. But that was also when Wattpad was a much more social site. The tempo here has definitely changed and become more fluid and casual, with people jumping on the site all hours of the day and night and as they could, not necessarily weekly. 

I know the more vocal users (love you! 💖) keep up within at least a few weeks of my posting, and that's so cool! But if you're the minority of my readers, then maybe I'll take a little time off and try and get ahead with my chapters and let the you superfans beta-read the weekly chapters if you want so you can follow the story as its published.

Does that make sense? I'm thrilled you're here, no matter how you follow along with the story, believe me! And I really love having the responsibility and accountability of posting weekly.

But if most of you aren't reading chapters regularly, then maybe I'm stressing myself out for nothing?

I'm just trying to take y'all's temperature.

Thanks for weighing in!

 ~ Paula ❤️


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