Silvermoon. A Tale of a Young Werewolf. A YA Novel. 12-18 (20 page)

The were-man withered under her stare, “Please forgive me, Helga, I gave him shelter. I did not know his motives until it was too late.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I believe he has the rune stone, he has taken possession of Chanteline.”

Helga
aged before their eyes,
her hair turned grey and her skin dried and
Jennifer ran forward and caught her as she swayed, “Helga, do not leave us now, return, return to us now.”

Silvern and Seawan came to her side
and caught her as she fell.

Derek called out, “Is she dead? What has happened.”

Silvern said, “She has receded into the netherworld, Chanteline is lost, she will fade away.”

“No, she will not,” screamed Jennifer and laid her hands upon her.

Seawan and Silverfoot, did the same and those elves that could
,
touched her dying form, others came, wounded or not and laid their hands upon the others.

I silver glow surrounded the group.

Jennifer watched as Helga’s face slowly retained its beauty and her hair shone golden. She rose to a sitting position and the surrounding elves stepped back.

A gasp arose from
the werewolves and
Derek and his family and he said quietly, “The magic of the elves.”

Helga
rose to her feet and
spoke
with finality, “We must find Lucas
and rescue Chanteline fro
m his clutches,
and this time it must be reclaimed and kept in safety by the werewolves and the elves together.”

Lengowyn and his people left with Seawan, Silvern and the elves, Helga made room on her sled for the wounded and they headed back to their village.

Jason, Jennifer and Yvette left with Derek and his family. Yvette asked Julia, “How is Ingrid, is she better?”

“She’s doing well, my dear, she persuaded Derek and me to help you and I think she has taken a fancy to my youngest boy, Reginald.”

Jennifer looked at Yvette and they both grinned.

“Forgive my impudence, but you are quite old in your human form.”

“I noticed that too
and I believe has something to do with loving a human male, one grows old with them.”

“Does that mean you will age and pass on as he will?”

“We have had a good life, when he is gone I shall no doubt join him.”

Before they had journeyed more than two miles, Jennifer stopped and peered into the distance. She said to the others, “Someone is approaching.”

Julia said “That will be Lionel, my eldest.”

A young man approached the group at a tremendous pace, he came to rest before them breathing lightly, he held out two pairs of hiking boots plus thick woollen socks. “I had to guess the size.” He gazed at Yvette with sheep-eyes and said, “If they, er, er, don’t fit then I, I will carry you” he added, “If I may.”

Yvette cocked an eyebrow, “You, carry me?”

The young man’s face reddened and his siblings hid their smiles, “Yes, gladly.”

Jennifer steadied them both as they pulled on their socks. Jason could have sworn he detected a
slight
feeling of discontent from Yvette as her feet slid easily into her boots. He fastened his laces and stood up with her, he said to Lionel, “Thank you, Lionel, they fit perfectly.”

It was plain to see that he too was disappointed, but his features changed swiftly and Jason hid a grin when Yvette said to him, “Mine do too, but you may take my arm until I get used to the feel of them.”

As they walked on, Jason said to him, “You are fast on your feet, even in the snow.”

Lionel grinned and said, “Would you like to race me some time?”

“We’ll see.”

They reached the crest of the hill and saw Ingrid watching for them from the doorway. They made their way down a well-trodden path and Reginald, the boy Julia mentioned, ran past them and skidded to a halt at the doorway, he took Ingrid’s hand, said a few words and she waved to them.

Julia said, “She’s a good cook, food will be on the table within the hour.”

Yvette sighed and said, “That is good news, why I am so hungry I could eat a goblin.”

Lionel smiled and said softly, “Didn’t you get enough of them back there?”

She punched him on the arm and said in mock anger, “No, not really, because somebody with long arms kept stabbing them with his spear.”

“Sorry, I was trying to, er, er…”

“Protect me?”

“Er, yes.”

She grabbed his arm and pulled him to her, “Oh, what a sweet thing to say.”

Jason explained to Ingrid, at the dinner table. “…and luckily we found you in time and brought you here.”

“I will always be grateful. It was a horrible experience. I heard a groan and I thought he had slipped and fell. I went to look for him and I saw him, he had removed his mask, his face was swollen and bleeding lightly, then he saw me and - well I woke up here, amongst these nice people.”

Yvette said, “Julia is a werewolf like me and Jason.”

“I know, and Jennifer is an elf. I thought that was only in fairy tales. Wow, a werewolf and an elf.”

She looked at Yvette. “And you are his sister, but you are much smaller.”

Jennifer said, “She was the one who found you and carried you on her shoulder.”

Her jaw dropped, after which she shook her head
gazed at all three and said, “When I have finished at the college, I will be taking Reginald to meet my parents in
Germany
.”

Jennifer looked at Jason and asked him, “When are you going to introduce me to your parents,
as
you already know mine.”

“My real parents are in
Scotland
, you can meet my foster parents when I finish college in two months time.”

Derek looked up from his meal. “
Scotland
! Who told you that? There are no werewolves in
Scotland
, Jason, not for years. They are in the French alps.”

Julia asked him, “Who told you that, Jason?”

“Lucas.”

She looked across the table at her husband. “I knew there was something not quite right with him, asking us where the werewolf village was without even introducing himself, there seemed to be something missing, he told us…”

Her voice trailed off and she looked up to the ceiling, he and the others heard a drumming noise, she whispered, “Is that rain?”

Yvette shouted out, “It’s raining.”

Everyone made a mad scramble for the door. Jennifer and Julia arrived there first, Julia yanked the door open and in the light from the room they saw the rain splashing down onto the snow. Jennifer held her arm out; her sleeve was drenched within seconds. She pulled it in, “It’s warm, the rain is warm, and the snow will melt now.”

Ingrid said, “It seems silly to say it now, but did anyone, notice, it hasn’t snowed for over twenty-four hours, and the air is not as cold.”

“I wonder how it is in the lowlands,” said Reginald, standing by Ingrid, his arm round her waist.

Ingrid looked at him. “It will probably be flooded, which means we will have to stay here for a while.”

Derek stretched his arms and covered a yawn with his hand. “I am tired, and I haven’t been tearing goblins apart, only shooting and stabbing them.”

Lionel spoke up, “I’ve fitted hammocks for our guests in the barn. It’s warm and dry in there with the animals.”

Jason said to Yvette and Jennifer as he edged nearer the door, “Race you to the barn.”

The trio left the room in a flash and Julia said to Ingrid, “Say good night to Reginald, my dear, your bed is still in our room,” and walked off with Derek in tow.

It rained heavily for the next thirty-six hours, confining everybody indoors.

As the dawn broke over the hills, the sun shone down on lush green grass. Julia said to the four, after gazing at the azure sky, “You will be leaving now, you’d better start packing.”

They said there goodbyes and promised to write when they had finished college.

The four companions made good time now that the snow had cleared. The air was warm and dry, it being the middle of July.

They reported directly to the rector when they arrived at the college. He had already heard from Jennifer’s parents that four of his students were well. They had informed him by telephone of the theft of a family heirloom and apologised for their daughter’s unthinkable behaviour.

Jennifer told him, “My parents have already explained why I behaved so recklessly, but I wish to apologise in person.”

The rector, a kindly man, told her, “Apology accepted. It was brave of you to journey here alone and also brave of your friends to assist you, I am glad you were successful.” He paused, and then added. “I do hope nothing serious has befallen Jonathon.”

Jason said, “He insisted on going for help, mainly because it was his carelessness that caused Ingrid’s fall.”

The old man’s shoulders rose and fell with a sigh, “Well, back to your studies, you missed your final exam, but if you feel up to it, you can take it tomorrow. Now off you go, clean yourself up, and put on some fresh clothes, the ones you are wearing smell as if you’ve been sleeping with wolves, and get something to eat, lunch will be ready soon.”

The four of them managed to keep their faces straight and left the office.

Mr
Wednesday, who was waiting for them, told them as they walked the corridor to the dining hall, “I really don’t know what to do
about poor John
? He was an orphan you know, he said he was of independent means, he paid us a huge sum for his education, and his belongings are still here.”

Jason assured him, “John may have got lost and injured himself, somebody will have found him, we saw lots of farm buildings, he is either still recuperating or he is on his way back here at this very moment.”

Yvette added, while bowing her head as a mourner would, “Sad to say, now the snow has cleared that if anything tragic has befallen him, his body will soon be discovered.”

Wednesday shook his head. “I really hope that is not the case.” Then he handed Jason a letter. “Before I forget, this arrived yesterday.”

He took and opened it hurriedly, fearing something had befallen his parents. His face creased in a grin, he said to the others, “Everybody is fine and they have a big surprise in store for me.” He looked at Yvette, “You will be coming too, won’t you?”

“Of course, and I must write to my foster-parents and tell them I will be bringing a friend along to meet them. Would you like to come too, the pair of you?”

Jennifer asked, “Where to, to
France
?”

“Of course,” she replied.

Ingrid said to her, “You are planning on taking Lionel, aren’t you?”

Yvette reddened and nodded, “Well, I hope so and if you are taking Reginald then you can travel with us, meet my people and then journey on.”