Cry of the Wolf (Avalon: Web of Magic #3) (12 page)

Adriane stood, back to the rocks, and held her gemstone out before her, its golden light pulsing… and waited.

Nothing happened. Cautiously, she stepped forward and parted the thick brush, slowly opening the vines and bramble. There was something there all right—

“Ahhh!” Adriane fell backward as the big speckled egg, bright colors swirling happily, rolled out on top of her.

“What the—?” she exclaimed.

The egg tilted over and lay on her.

Adriane sat up, cradling the egg in her lap. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be back in the Fairy Glen! Bad egg!”

The egg’s colors shifted to blues and purples, and it quivered. Adriane rolled it to the ground and got to her feet, shaking her finger. “Oh, no! Don’t give me that. You are a very bad egg!”

The egg shyly leaned into Adriane’s legs, shaking.

Adriane sighed. “Okay, okay. I didn’t mean it. You just surprised me.” She knelt down and hugged the egg. “I’m glad to see you, too. I missed you.”

The egg beamed with bright colors.

“Do the Fairimentals know you followed me? You know I’m going to have to take you back to the Fairy Glen, if I knew where that was. But I don’t. So I guess you’ll have to come with me to meet the mistwolves.”

Bright colors swirled over the surface of the egg as it bounced up and down.

“But
then
I’m taking you back.”

Adriane climbed down from the rocks and started on the dirt path again. The egg rolled after her.

“Say, you didn’t happen to bring any of those red coconuts? No? Just wondering. And I like your name, Drake. It’s so smooth, like a rock star.” Adriane laughed. “Rock star, get it?”

The egg tagged along right by her side, glowing brightly.

“Never mind.”

They continued across the valley floor. The trees began to thin out. The rivulets became streams, and the ground started becoming rockier. Several times Adriane had to help Drake over fallen trees and jutting stones.

“Okay, let’s take five,” Adriane said as they came upon a deep gully. A small stream ran though it. She was thirsty, but she dared not drink the water, which might not be safe. She slid down the hill to the stream and sat down against a tree. Drake rolled down and leaned into her.

“I wonder how much farther it is.” She huddled close, arm around Drake. “Looks like we’re almost across the valley. I just need to rest for a bit … ”

Something shook Adriane awake. She opened her eyes. How long had she been sleeping? Drake sat silently shaking next to her, ribbons of bright red swirling. Adriane looked closer. Two reptilian eyes opened just under the surface of the shell.

Adriane gasped. Something tickled at her mind. She fell over as the ground trembled. What was that? She barely had time to look around before another shock wave hit, sending vibrations up and down her spine. Her wolf stone was pulsing with a strong, crimson light. She recognized the pulse immediately as a signal of danger. She heard the sounds of monstrous feet slamming into the ground. Something was coming—something big!

A
DRIANE PUSHED THE
heavy egg up the sloping side of the ravine. It was fiery red and warm to the touch. She glanced over her shoulder. Whatever was coming was getting closer. If she had to fight it, she wanted the advantage of height.

“C’mon, Drake.” She pushed the egg over the top of the slope as a tree fell over, smashing to the ground behind her.

Adriane whirled around and gasped.

It stood at least ten feet tall, massive with muscle. It had the head of a pig, with long curved teeth protruding from its bottom lip. Slightly hunched, its arms were like tree trunks. One giant hand held a double-headed ax, the other a gigantic round shield. Its beady, black eyes looked up at her and the egg. Its mouth turned in a vicious grin. The thing grunted something unintelligible and stepped forward, enormous feet with pointed claws hitting the ground, making it tremble.

Adriane scrambled over the top of the gully and stood protectively in front of the egg. She raised her gemstone, hoping it was powerful enough to stop this monster. The thing raised its ax. She braced herself as it stomped up the ravine.

Something flew through the air, swinging in on a vine, and crashed into the giant. Eyes widening in astonishment, the huge thing toppled over and fell back down. The ground shook as it hit bottom. Adriane carefully peered over the hillock—someone jumped up, knocking her back.

“Are you okay?” Zach looked down at her.

“No!” Adriane yelled. “What are you doing here?”

“Rescuing you.” He grabbed her hand and hoisted her to her feet.

Adriane ran to the egg and struggled to lift it. “Nice of you to drop in.”

“I thought so.” He edged her aside and hefted the egg in his arms. Together, they took off, running along the ridgeline. Zach searched for a place to hide.

“Couldn’t live without me, huh?” Adriane called after him.

“More like the drake here couldn’t live without you,” Zach replied.

They leaped across a small chasm to a dusty ridge. The cliff wall below was filled with rounded caves.

“We’ll have to borrow one of these caves. We can’t fight them.”

“Them? As in more than one?”

“They’re in a patrol, six of them.”

He placed the egg down and carefully leaned over to examine the caves.

“Six?!” One was horrible enough. “What are they?”

“Orcs. Disgusting.” He spit on the ground, reminding Adriane of something Windy would have done. “We’ll have to hide out and hope they pass us by.”

“And if they don’t?”

“Orcs aren’t too bright. You’ll think of something,” Zach said.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

She watched Zach slide down the hill and begin sweeping branches and debris aside, uncovering a large opening in the ravine wall. His Elven sword was strapped to his back.

“This one looks empty,” he announced. “Come on.” He held out his arm and helped Adriane slide the egg into the hole. She followed, hoping they weren’t disturbing anything too nasty inside.

It was dark and musty, but from the opening they could see all the way to the valley floor below. Adriane placed Drake near the back of the cave while Zach quickly pulled back the brush and branches to cover the opening. They could just see through the debris, which acted like a screen.

Zach turned to Adriane. “Here.” He took out three small red coconuts from his pocket.

Adriane smiled. “You came all the way here to bring me coconuts?”

“I thought you’d be hungry.”

“Well, I am. Thank you.” She put two in the deep vest pocket next to the orb, and cracked open the other, gratefully drinking the delicious milk inside.

“Actually, the Fairimentals sent me to bring back you-know-who.” He gestured with his thumb and turned to look through the screen of brambles. “Orcs aren’t great magic trackers but they can sense the drake.”

“What do we do if they come?” she asked.

“You’ll have to create a distraction.”

“Good idea. I’ll just run around and they can chase me for a while.”

“I was thinking of something a bit more magical,” he said, looking at her wolf stone.

Adriane followed his eyes. “Oh. I can do that.”

Zach crawled back to examine the egg. “What’s with the drake? It’s all hot. I can barely touch it.”

“I know. And it’s all red.”

The boy’s eyes met hers. “I have to get it back before—” His face grew pale.

“Before what?”

Zach blinked. “You think those orcs are monsters? You have no idea what a dragon is. It’s mean, and vicious and, and—horrible!”

“How do you know that?”

“Because.”

“Because why? Have you ever met a dragon before?”

“Well, no … ”

Adriane crossed her arms. “So you’re just assuming it’s a horrible monster.”

Zach turned away and crawled back to the opening. “Everyone knows it’s true.”

“Well, I don’t. And no one is going to harm this egg!”

The ground outside trembled. The orcs were approaching.

Adriane tossed her empty coconut shell aside and kneeled next to the boy, peering out.

“They’re coming this way,” he said.

“I’m going to try something.” She held up her stone and concentrated, focusing on the trees across the ravine. She pictured them shaking and rattling.

Suddenly orcs came into view, their ugly pig snouts opening and closing, drooling over fearsome boar’s teeth. Some carried axes, some wielded spears.

Adriane concentrated harder and across the gully two trees shook. Maybe she could fool them by sending a ghost image of the egg and placing it behind the shaking trees.

The orc leader stopped and sniffed at the air. It looked at the far side of the gully and moved in the direction of the trees.

“It’s working,” Zach whispered. “As soon as they cross that stream, we’ll make a break and run.”

“Where?”

Zach looked at her. “I go back with the egg, and you … go where you have to.”

“You could come with me,” Adriane suggested.

“No way. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t bring the egg to the pack. Trackers would be all over them.”

Adriane hadn’t considered that. She could be putting the entire pack in danger by bringing the egg there. “But the Fairimentals want me to give this to Moonshadow.” She held out the sparkling orb on its chain for Zach to see.

“They gave you that?” he breathed, eyes wide.

“Yes, what is it?”

“A fairy map,” he told her.

So it
was
like the gift Phelonius had tried to give Kara. “What is a fairy map?”

“A map of portals.”

“So the mistwolves can leave,” Adriane realized sadly.

“So they can leave
safely
,” he corrected. “Hey, don’t forget your mistwolf abandoned you to fend for yourself here.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Adriane shot back in anger, slipping the orb back into her pocket. The pack might have treated Zach callously, but Storm would never treat Adriane that way! Would she?

“Just that the pack leader has his own agenda. And the pack will follow him.”

“So you’re saying Storm isn’t coming back.”

Zach’s eyes filled with compassion. “I don’t know, Adriane. Things change.”

He turned to look back outside. “Get ready to move, they’re across the stream. Be… very… quiet.”

Craaack!

Adriane jumped. “What was that?”

“It wasn’t me,” Zach said.

“Well, it wasn’t me, either.”

A high-pitched screech filled the cave.

The orcs had stopped and were looking around suspiciously.

Adriane and Zach exchanged stares.

“If it wasn’t me or you… ” Zach began as they both turned to look behind them.

The egg had a big crack right down the center.

“Oh, no!” Zach scrambled over to check it out. The egg writhed suddenly, its sides splitting into a dozen smaller cracks. Zach watched in horror as shards of shell crumbled. A low whine began to emanate from within. The egg was starting to hatch!

The boy’s eyes widened in terror. “Make it stop!”

“What?! Are you crazy?”

With a screech, a single hideous claw broke through the shell.

“We’ve got to get out of here!” Zach kicked away the brambles covering the cave opening.

Adriane had a sinking feeling that Drake might not be what she expected. The creature inside the egg was screeching like a banshee. A second clawed foot kicked out another section of egg. Two red reptilian eyes opened and peered out at her. As Adriane stared into those eyes, something flashed in her mind.

Zach grabbed her shoulder, whirling her around. “Let’s go! Now!”

Adriane didn’t know what to do. What if whatever was hatching was worse than what was waiting outside? She was trapped between an egg and a hard place.