Unfamiliar Territory - Chapter 11 (Early Access) (Patreon)

Chloe blinked through her pupils’ adjustment at the bright light they had crawled out into. Ruins had been an accurate first guess, but from inside the giant arena-like structure of stone, Chloe realised they were ruins in the middle of restoration. She could see the opposite wall in the distance, but only from the top half and up. Buildings and decorative archways, pillars and statues filled the space in between. There were small huts with thatched roofs (most moss-covered), grey, imposing guard towers topped with ragged, ripped flags that sat at the four compass points, and squat boxy pieces of brickwork with open sections lined with wooden planks like a shop counter serving customers passing by in a market. Not all of the structures were whole enough to be identified, some pieces of wall sat with broken awnings hanging limply, a hint at a thriving past as a business or maybe an eatery, while others had a whole four walls but a collapsed roof. These places, the ones that appeared abandoned despite being dotted in amongst their surviving siblings, were overrun with ivy, moss and clover, It climbed walls, dug under tiles, and fought for ownership of the creases between the paving stones that surrounded the stone husks.

Tove was already on two feet again and digging through the pack where it was still attached to Chloe’s back, searching for her clothes.

They drew notice, and a crowd, almost immediately. Chloe's eyes had slid from place to place, searching everything, noting every new question she could ask Tove, missing the abundance of eyes poking out from behind doors, through open windows, and popping out from between the branches of the trees that grew wherever they pleased throughout the ringed city.

Now that they were moving as one towards her, she was very suddenly and acutely aware of every eye on her.

Wobbling on her heels while the backpack knocked her around, Chloe did her best to offer a polite, albeit awkward, smile at the approaching pack. A fairly even mixture of two-footed and four-footed werewolves didn't smile back, only got closer. Others, further away, who were working on tasks up ladders or buried amongst foliage slowly put aside their tools and joined the wobbling approaching line. Those in human-like form weren't naked, much to Chloe's pleasant surprise. Instead, their long and lean bodies were draped in a variety of knitted, crocheted, and embroidered items. A lot of arm, leg, and midriff was on display, but only a few bare chests. One woman, who didn't bother to follow the others and instead continued to sun bathe on a large flat rock, wore what looked like a bikini with flowers crocheted into the pattern. Even from afar, Chloe could tell she had a beauty that stunned. She was also one of the minority of those Chloe could see that had hair beyond the ear lobes, and it was braided long and sleek, the beaded tips hanging over the top end of her sun spot.

Tove stepped out from behind Chloe, dressed with top, skirt and grin.

A woman on the leftish side of the oncoming group leapt forward. "Tove!" Said like an accusation, and waving her hands angrily, but this didn't seem to bother Tove. "Where have you been? Your mother has been worried sick!"

"I'm sorry, Auntie," Tove answered. If she was truly sorry she shouldn't still be smiling, Chloe thought. "I have a great story to tell, though!"

The group looked amongst themselves as though this might actually be enough to redeem her, dependent on how good the promised story actually was.

"You will have to tell it to your parents first," Tove's aunt replied. "And who have you brought with you? Did Alpha give you permission to bring home an outsider? What pack is she from?"

It seemed aunties were the same no matter your species.

"She is not from a pack, Auntie!" Tove announced with unnecessary pride. She stepped aside a little to dramatically reveal Chloe with both arms up, pointing at her, as though everyone wasn't already staring. "She's a witch!"

The reaction was exactly what Chloe would have expected to get if Tove had just announced she'd brought home an angry bull with violent diarrhoea. Horror, disgust, and terror spread through the werewolves. Those on two feet staggered back a little, those on four began to growl, low and long.

"And she saved my life!" Tove added.

It didn't do a great deal to soothe the crowd.

Her auntie did not turn, but called behind her, "Someone get Alpha. Now."

A wolf took off running.

"You two will stay exactly where you are until he arrives."

"Yes, Auntie," Tove answered, still the image of innocent joy.

It was not a long wait. And no one else left while they did, all curious to know what Tove had gotten herself into, and what Alpha's reaction would be.

His arrival was obvious before he was in sight, the crowd parted for him on instinct, folding outwards until a huge, hulking man stood before them. He had brought even more people with him, all wolves but two, who looked both terrified and a lot like Tove.

"This is Alpha, he's the leader of the pack," Tove introduced helpfully, pointing him out as though Chloe would have had any confusion. Her eyesight wasn't that bad even without her glasses. "And those are my parents!" She waved cheerfully at them, they returned the gesture in a much more timid way.

"It's lovely to meet you all," Chloe said to the three of them, although her voice was barely a squeak.

"Tove." The pack leader's voice was gruff, and it shook the air around him a little. Tove stilled beside her. "What have you done?" He sounded so angry and disappointed, Chloe wanted to cry for her mother.

"I brought home a witch, Alpha."

"What would possess you to do something so foolish?" he roared. "Did she possess you? With her magic?"

"No, Alpha. She saved my life. A human hunter shot me with a crossbow and I was dying in the woods when she found me and healed me with her magic!"

“Do you have any idea the danger you’ve brought to your pack?"

"She’s not dangerous, Alpha. She’s a vegetarian.”

Chloe’s mouth fell open and her eyes squeezed shut. She was too scared to try and make a better plea for why she wasn’t dangerous, but that didn’t stop her from utter mortification.

"Why is she here?” he bellowed. Chloe felt a few strands of her hair blow back and her eyes snapped open again fearfully.

“There was a side-effect to the magic that left us stuck together, Alpha.” Even Tove’s voice had taken on a mild tremble. “It's a bit complicated to explain."

"Then you will explain in my chambers." He turned to the crowd. "Myself, Beta, Tove, and her parents will hear her story. The witch will be guarded up here."

Before Tove or Chloe could object to being separated, Alpha had already stalked away with a huge black wolf keeping pace at his side. Tove's parents launched themselves at her, squeezing her between them, kissing her cheeks, and telling her in equal parts how much they loved her and how furious they were with her. They ignored Chloe until Tove asked them to go on ahead, she would join them in the Alpha's chambers in just a few minutes, she needed to speak to Chloe first. It was visible in their expressions that they hated this suggestion, but they told her to hurry and followed the path that the alpha had taken.

The crowd was partly dispersed, although those that had walked away still watched her from their jobs, pulling apart broken huts or weaving while leant against a wonky wall. Tove smiled at every staring face, sometimes they had the shame to look away for a few seconds.

When she turned the smile to Chloe, it dropped a little. "I don't know how to explain this thing by myself," she admitted under her breath.

"What?"

"I just think it would be better if you were in there with me."

"In where?"

"In the den, the alpha and beta have this big chamber they use for important discussions, I've never actually been in there myself but I've walked past it-"

"What are you suggesting?" Chloe interjectedm keenly aware of the very scary man awaiting Tove’s appearance.

"That we try to talk our way in." The emphasis being on 'our'.

"If you think you can... sure. I don't want to be left up here alone."

"Oh, you won't be alone." Tove looked pointedly at the wolves that had remained nearby. The guards, Chloe assumed. "Let's go."

They walked straight into the heart of the battered city, and their enormous entourage followed, keeping closer than made Chloe comfortable. It was a beautiful place, in a haunting sort of way. Somehow both deserted and full of life in the quiet work that the werewolves were diligently putting themselves to. If they weren't needed somewhere, Chloe would have begged Tove to allow them to stroll the crumbling streets, inspect all of the nature that was creeping its way around the almost-white columns, and poke their heads into every door-less dwelling. Instead, Tove stomped through the streets and Chloe skipped to keep up.

In the very centre was another large disc with markings engraved in rings around the edge: an entrance. Around it, a semicircle of half-wall in light-grey stone was built with ridges all around like a crown. Between the ridges stood two-footed guards with long spears and leather clothing, each facing a different direction, with two pointing outwards to Chloe and Tove.

"Hello!" Tove greeted in her signature Tove-way. Bright and lovely.

"Hello, Tove." The man on the left replied, quiet. The woman on the right gave half a head nod.

"Alpha would like to see us in his chambers to explain our strange situation."

"Alpha would like to see you, Tove, not your witch," the man corrected, holding his spear out to halt them in their tracks. "She stays above, you will go below."

"But I'm not an expert on magic, she can explain this better to Alpha,” Tove reasoned. “He deserves to know everything as accurately as-"

"No," he said.

“She’s hungry, we haven’t eaten since breakfast,” Tove announced, to Chloe’s further mortification. “We should have an early dinner and tal-”

“No.”

"The human stays outside," the woman ordered.

"I'm not a human," Chloe argued through a mumble, wishing immediately that she hadn't. "I'm magic folk."

"Same thing," the woman replied, exasperated.

It wasn't the same thing at all, but Chloe was too scared of making a scene to refute her words openly. This wasn’t like Tove’s playful debates, though, and offence blossomed in her chest. Chloe had nothing against humans, they were perfectly nice people. But to call magic folk and humans the same because they looked similar would be like calling the fae and the lizard folk the same because they both had scales. If anything, the werewolves and the humans had more in common because of their primitive ways.

Chloe bit her lip. Guilt warmed her cheeks and she was suddenly very glad she hadn't continued the argument - she would hate for that to have come out of her mouth in front of anyone, especially Tove. She didn't mean it... Humans did the best that was possible without the aid of magic, the same as the wolves. The magic folk are not better than anyone else, their lives are simply easier. That's what her mother had taught her to say. Her father would always laugh rudely and tack on that their lives were easier because they were smarter than humans - work smarter, not harder, as the saying goes.

In these conversations of comparison, Chloe decided it was best to keep her mouth shut.

Tove was still attempting to convince the guards to allow Chloe into the tunnels, but neither would be swayed. The man told her no in the same stern and even tone, while the woman was more intense, almost offended at Tove's attempts at persuasion. With a brush of her fingertips over Tove's elbow, Chloe smiled weakly, letting her know it was okay. She had done the best she could to stay with her, but there was no point getting into a fight over it. Chloe could stay up top for the duration of one conversation.

Tove sighed, relenting to the guards' wishes. A pair of two-footed guards were assigned to take Chloe into one of the crumbling huts and watch over her. Tove had them swear to protect her against anything and anyone. They nodded, one rolling their eyes.

She pulled Chloe into a quick hug, squeezing her shoulders till they cracked. Chloe let out a little winded sound, but clutched her back as far round as her shorter arms could reach. She was so warm, and solid, and holding her felt safe.

"I'm not leaving you," Tove promised into the top of Chloe's head. "I'm coming back."

"Stop mimicking me," Chloe laughed, but nerves crackled through her voice.

They separated, and the two guards closed off her view of the den entrance before she could see Tove climb in. They pointed ahead and Chloe obeyed, walking to the nearest stone building and sitting down on a bench-like stretch of wood inside. At least it was dry, she thought, and tucked her hands into her lap in a way she hoped conveyed no threat to her many guards.