Doctor Who_ Wolfsbane - Jac Rayner [13]
„So I‟m trotting off after it, all the while hearing some great hullabaloo going on in the distance and thinking to myself how frightfully annoyed those farmers would be when they found out they were on a wild wolf chase, so to speak, and before I realise it I‟m in the middle of the wood with not the faintest idea how to get out again. Ha, wood, we call it, like it was a pleasant picnicking spot. Deep dark forest more like. If it‟s not a hundred miles from side to side, I‟m a Dutchman.
All right, three miles maybe. The point is that I was stuck right slap bang in the middle of it. Kept thinking I saw a light, must be the edge and civilisation, hurried off after it only to find it was nothing at all and I was, if anything, deeper than ever.‟
„Don‟t mind telling you, I was getting a tad worried. Not exaggerating when I say I was out there for hours, just wandering. Gets so you feel you‟ll never see the open plain again. Odd thing, though, quite a lot of moon when I started out, and though I‟d got so I could see pretty well in the dark -
sort of the way cats can, I suppose - it suddenly came to me that I couldn‟t see half as much moon as I had been doing.
And it wasn‟t anything to do with clouds or the like, as I expect you‟re thinking. No. It was the trees. And you won‟t believe me, but if you go there you can see it for yourself. The trees had
leaves. Bursting out all over. Not your evergreens, that‟s not what I‟m talking about. Oaks, and things. Actually filling with leaves as I watched. If I had remembered to fill up my flask I‟d have blamed it on that, but I was stone cold, don‟t you know, and what with the wolf and the dark and being lost, I was feeling a bit like the end of the world was coming.
Fiery horsemen any minute, I was expecting.‟
„And the strangest thing ever - even more strange than that, if you‟ll believe me - was that I heard a voice. Sort of whispering through the trees right into my ear. “Dread,” it was saying. “More dread.” Now, I didn‟t think I could feel much more dread at that moment, but something happened to top it, and that was a scream coming from somewhere in the wood. Not your everyday scream, but sort of unearthly, if you know what 1 mean. And not quite sure if I‟d be rushing straight into hell, but knowing I couldn‟t ignore a lady in distress, I hurried off in its direction.‟
„Well, I don‟t know if you recall my mentioning earlier, but I had been a bit worried about all the fires that had been set up around the place, and it turns out I was right to do so.
Because what I found now was that the wind, or whatever, had carried the flames a bit too far, and they were just licking the edge of the trees. Obviously, my relief at reaching the outskirts again was tempered by the worry of what could happen if this wasn‟t nipped in the bud. The wind was still for now, but if a bit of a breeze picked up again it could be curtains for the oak and the ash. Or ash for the ash, you might say. I started calling out, “Hi, hi,” in case there were any farmers or similar rustics near enough to hear, but my luck was not in. And tempting as the call of my distant cosy bed was, I had to do something about this fire.‟
„And there was that screaming again. I dashed here and there, trying to find the girl who was making the fuss, but there was no one to be seen. And I didn‟t know what I was to do. There was probably a tub of water for the sheep out there somewhere, I supposed, but by the time I‟d found it... and then I see the wolf again, and it looks to be wet. Which struck me as a bit odd, but was too good a clue to pass over. So I hurried off in its direction, and what did I find but a stream.
And to cap it all, there were even a couple of buckets lying nearby, left by some peasant, I presumed. To cut a long story short, I fetched and carried and heaved and I put that fire out. And that was when I saw her. Just out of the corner of my eye, a woman - who didn‟t seem to be wearing all that much, either, from