FSE

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That night Kalan walked out from under the beech tree and walked across to the river. He knelt down and cupped his claws, dipped them into the river and splashed water onto his muzzle. Kalan sits back and runs through the events that have recently happened. He thought of the ability to use the magic that he had. How did I get it? He thought about what he was going to do getting up, he walks back under the tree and sits down, leaning against the trunk, staring out through the leaves, lost in thought. Selena stirs and sits up. "What are you doing up?" He continues to stare out through the leaves. "Thinking." She looked at him, concerned. "About?" Kalan sinks further down and closes his eyes. "About all that has happened, all that might happen and all the will. Go back to sleep." She sat there looking at nothing in particular. "You know we need to find food soon." He waited till she had lay down and gone back to sleep before he got up and walked over to the cliff. He stood there staring at the treetops. As the sun began to rise, Kalan looked down the cliff face and noticed a small glint about mid way down. He scrambled down the cliff face to get a better look. He noticed that they where a pair of blades and a dagger, staring at them he frowned upon seeing the emblem on the hilt of the blades. He tied them to his belt and scrambled the rest of the way down. Once at the bottom, he ran his finger along one of the blades. The blades themselves where twenty-eight inches of solid steel. He stood there for a short while staring at the emblem, noting it was his mother's emblem. Remembering the others he tucks the dagger into his belt where he could reach it in a hurry and faces the cliff face, beginning to climb. As Kalan climbed he noticed another glint off to the side from where he found the blades. He crawled over to the glint, careful to not loose his grip. The glint turned out to be a small golf ball sized crystal. It was smooth to the touch, like that of a cut crystal, spherical in shape. It was clear like a diamond and had a small sapphire structure inside. It looked like the veins of a person, but more chaotic. Holding onto the cliff with one hand he pocketed the crystal. Once secured he continued his climb back up the cliff.

When he got to the top he noticed Max's face staring down at him. "Max, you're in my way. Move." He moved a pace to the side so Kalan could climb back onto the cliff top. He turned to face him standing there in silence for a few seconds. "What where you doing?" Kalan looked back to the cliff. "What do you think? I was climbing." He shook his head. "Not that." Kalan looks about and sigh. "Thinking." He scratched his head and smiled. "About what?" Kalan looks at him and laugh. "Stuff." He turns and walks back toward the camp. "What ever." As he heads back Kalan turns and watches the sun continue to rise. Kalan was still looking out from the cliff top when Selena walked up to him and stood next to him. He passes the dagger, he had picked up, to her. "I think you might have need of this." She clasped the handle of the dagger and smiled. "Thank you." He holds out the crystal to her. "Do you know what this is?" She took it as he stared out over the treetops. "No, but it is beautiful. Where did you get it?" Kalan turned and took the crystal back. "On the cliff face." She let go of the crystal and he lifted it from her palm. "You take it." She placed the gem into his pocket. Kalan turns to head back. "Let's go." Kalan walked back and turned to see her stare out over the treetops. She raised her hand and clenched it into a fist and then unclenched it and an orb of green light appeared floating a few inches above her palm. It was only the size of a golf ball, but he stopped and stared any way. The moment she noticed the stone it vanished from sight. Kalan stood in the middle of the path, staring at her, "How did you do that?" She looked to the ground and stood there, silent for a few minutes. "Back in the maze, you mother showed me a few things, while you where gone." Kalan stood there and stared at no one in particular. "Mum, knows magic. Since when?" She walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Your mother had more secrets than you know. It's not always easy to tell someone you are related to, your secrets." He turns to face her. "I never knew she kept so many secrets." Kalan says quietly. She turned to him and smiled. "Hey you weren't to know. How could you?" He just shrugged her off and walked back to their camp. As Kalan walked he began to wonder what else his mum had kept a secret from him. He forgot that he still had the blades unsheathed when he walked into camp. Tim stepped out in front of him and stood there. "You better put those away." Kalan sheathed the blades, securing the sheathes to the hollow of his back. "There gone." Kalan whispered. He stepped out of his path. When the others noticed him they all got up to speak at once. Before any one could get up Kalan raised his hand. "One at a time, please." Sahara stood and the others let her. "What are we going to do about food?" Tim faced her and shook his head. "We'll send out foraging and hunting parties. Duh." Kalan steps between Tim and Sahara. "No Tim and I will go hunting. No one else. Max, your bow." Max stood and waked over, placing his bow and quiver into his hands. He turns to face the tree and start running. Tim closely behind.

They were out of ear shot when Kalan stopped and turned to Tim. "Why only the two of us?" Kalan looks about before he faces him. "There is not enough of us to all go out hunting and foraging." He looks at me sceptical. "That's not the true reason is it?" Kalan shakes his head. "No. While I was thinking I noticed a small band of armed men following us I want to see what they do." He looked back at the group we had left behind. "Why?" Kalan looks to the sky. "Something doesn't seem right." He turned to face him. "How do you know that?" Kalan faces him and look beyond him to the others. "Not sure. I do know that if we go east we might find some prey. Shall we hunt?" He nods and smiles; it was a very unsettling smile, that of a wolf who has a baby deer cornered. They begin to run off silently. Kalan see a bush move to his left. Kalan points it out to Tim and watch as he circled around. He rushed the bush and a deer shot from it like an arrow from a bow. As it fled past him, he turned, lowered to the ground, his fur hiding him from site and notched an arrow and drew back the string. Kalan stayed like that for a few seconds before he released the arrow and watched it cut through the air to become embedded into the deer's heart. It stumbled for a few feet and fell to the ground. He walked over to the deer. It was a stag, and a monster one at that. It was nearly the size of a small horse. Kalan bent down and grabbed the antlers. Bending his knees, he raised and hauled the carcass up onto his shoulders. Kalan heads towards the camp. "You coming or not?" He stood and got up. "Yeah, yeah. Just a second." He stood there waiting for him to catch up. "Is that all?" Kalan turns his head slightly, unable to turn it fully because of the carcass. "Yeah, we can't keep it for long, any more than this and it will go off too quickly and we don't have salt to preserve it." They continue along the path to the campsite.

Upon reaching the campsite they found it deserted. Kalan drops the carcass and walks around. While walking, Kalan noticed tracks that were clearly not their boots and his foot pads. "Someone's been here." Tim states. Kalan looks up from the ground. "You think?" He looked at him confused. "What's that suppose to mean?" Kalan looks at him and rolls his eyes. "It's called sarcasm, you dolt." He shrugged. "Doesn't matter we have to find the others." Kalan looked at him and sigh again. "Well duh." Meryle climbed out of the hole she was hiding in. "What are you two arguing about?" Kalan turned to face her and laughed. "What happened here?" She looked around and shrugged. "It was Marc. He attacked us with about a hundred troops. I guess they left me because they thought I was dead." Tim turned to face her and smiled. "What way?" She looked around again. "Don't know, I was knocked out." Kalan faces one then the other. "What do you mean Marc? He can't possibly be here." She shrugged as she responds. "Don't know why or how he is here. But he is and he led a band of armed men upon us." He sighs and looks around. "Fan out and look for where they might have been taken." They both stood and faced him. "Okay.' They said together. They went three separate ways. All of them looking for a clue as to where the others were taken. They didn't have to search long before Meryle shouted. "I found something.' Tim and Kalan rushed over to see what she had found. "What is it?" Tim asked as we came to a skidding halt. She held up an aquamarine bead between her index finger and thumb. "One of Selena's beads from her bracelet." Kalan looks to the ground, lost in thought. "Hansel and Gretel." Tim stood there scratching his head. "What about them?" Kalan takes the bead from Meryle and roll it around in his palm. "She's leaving a breadcrumb trail." Kalan waits a few minutes for them to see what he meant. They gasp and smile. They head off in a westerly direction. Every ten feet or so was a bead. They continued along this path for the rest of the day and most of the night. Thanks to the two moons of this dimension they could have continued all night but the body demanded sleep. It wasn't until early the next morning that they caught up with Marc. He had camped in a clearing next to a cliff edge. Kalan threw his arm out to stop Tim from rushing head on into the camp. Tim tried to push his arm away. "Let me go, he must die for this. Look they are in chains." He faces him and nod. "I know, I know, but there is nothing we can do about it yet." Meryle steps forward to take his arm and hold him. "We'll bide our time and strike when it will be effective." They move back into the trees and ran around to the other side of the camp and find a clearing in the trees. It was small enough for them and they could see the camp, but the camp couldn't see them. They sat there taking note of where Marc and their friends where.

That night, only the stars could be seen in the skies. He stands and shakes, going over to nudge Tim and Meryle to wakefulness. "Let's go." Tim got up unsteadily, still half asleep. "Go where?" Kalan face the camp. "To go get our friends and return a favour." That brought him fully into consciousness. He looked around. "Well what are we waiting for?" He points to him "You." Kalan grabbed the bow he had borrowed from Max and Tim grabs his. They slip into the night. Kalan points to the tent nearest to the cliff. "Marc is in the tent nearest to the cliff and our friends nearest to the forest. You get Marc." He nods before he slips off into the trees. Kalan continue to the edge of the trees. Upon nearing he noticed the three sentries, placed just inside the others range of view. Kalan drew three arrows from the quiver slung at his side, notching one and holding the other two; drawing back on the bow he sights his target and release. The sentry went down shock on his face as he realised he had an arrow in his chest. Before the other two could react he released his other two arrows. Hitting one in the neck and the other through the eye. Without waiting for them to hit the ground he rushed over to his friends. As he ran past he took a dagger from one of the bodies. Upon reaching them he dropped to the ground and slashed the rope linking his friends together and binding them to the camp. Once they were free he passes the bow back to Max and striping the sword from one of the guards on the ground. He passes Selena the dagger he used, and the sword to Max; watching Sahara take a dagger for herself. Selena stood and striped the sword from a second sentry. He holds a finger to his lip as he points in the direction he came, watching as they ran as silent as possible. Circling the camp Kalan caught up with Tim. "Let's go." Like twin wraiths they moved through the night and into the camp, passing the slain sentry, killed by Tim's blade. Kalan split from Tim headed for Marc's tent.

Instead of using the main entrance the two of them cut their way in from two sides. "Tim, Kalan, wh...wh...what ar...ar...are y.....y.....y....you doing here." Marc stammers as they burst through. Without a word they grab him and drag him to the cliff edge. He collapses to his knees, begging. "Please don't kill me." Tim turns to Kalan, who shakes his head; turning back to Marc he kicks him from the edge. They stood on top of the cliff watching Marc fall. Halfway down a giant plant, that had the look of a Venus fly trap, lashed out and caught Marc. Max appears by their side looking at the plant intently. "I know that plant." He suddenly exclaims. "Really. Care to tell us about it?" Kalan asked. "It's a Veckius. Anything caught by one of those, will spend the next three months being slowly digested. Don't ask me how, but that thing keeps the victim alive the entire time." He answers. Tim and Kalan, turn to each other and grimaces. "Ouch" Tim says. They all turn and head into the trees.

When they got back to the small clearing they just previously used, the sat and stopped to catch their breath. "Where to now?" Selena asked upon seeing them. Kalan turns to the north. "North." Max looks to Kalan confused. "Why north?" Tim walks over and slaps him across the back of the head. "North is the best direction to go to get away from the camp down there." He point to the camp they just fled. Ignoring them Kalan starts treading northward. Glancing back he noticed that none of his friends had followed him. Frowning he turns to face them. "We stay here we are dead. I don't know about you but I don't have a death wish, so I go north." Tim nods and smiles. "Right, let's get our sorry asses out of here." Stirring the others into action. Nodding Kalan turns and treads north again. "Meryle, can you cover our track as we go." Tim whispers to Meryle. "Alright, alright. No need to nag." She replied. "I wasn't....." He began. "You are now. She countered. Smiling and shaking her head, Selena follows Kalan. "Children, children, settle down please?" They both faced each other and smiled. "Yes mother." They replied in unison. Max walked ahead to Kalan. "Why do they call her mother?" Selena walks between the two of them. "Something I said." Starting he nods to her. "Where did you come from?" Kalan asked. Looking back to Tim and Meryle she smiled. "I caught up while you were talking." He nods and frowns. "What happened after I left?" She shook her head as if to clear it. "It all happened so fast, they came out of nowhere and rounded us up. I remember Meryle scream a name. Marc that was it. But what would he be doing here." Kalan holds a paw up to halt her. Turning to Max he stared at him for a few minutes, turning back to the front. "What happened to Marc?" He turns to Selena. "He stopped to do some gardening." He replies, refusing to say more. Seeing his face Selena didn't push for answers. Tim walked over and pulled him and Max aside. Walking alongside of the rest Kalan turns to Tim and frowns. "What is it?" Tim looks to Max and stares. "You know where we are, don't you?" Frowning Max shakes his head and turns to Kalan. "I only know of that plant as it was in one of your mother's journal, I swear that is it." Kalan nods and lets it rest. "How did she know about the three month thing?" Tim asked us. "Don't know, don't care." Kalan replies. Selena hearing what was said walked over and stood next to Kalan. "From my father's research. Wolfies mum and my dad where on the same research team. His mum the zoologist and my dad the biologist." Tim started to laugh at Kalan's nickname, when he noticed the glare from Selena. Kalan's ears stood up, in interest upon hearing this. "How did they find this out?" She looked to the ground for a minute before looking Kalan in the eyes. "They jumped through dimensions, using a RIFT. Stands for Rift In Finite Time." Looking to Tim, silencing his unasked question. He smiled and frowned. "They had access to that?" Kalan turned to her and frowned as well. "I thought that was still in the developmental stage." She looked from one to the other and laughed. "As daddy told me, it was and it wasn't he would always say, would you trust a government with that sort of power?" They both shook their heads. She smiled and nodded. Then facing the ground again she sighed and looked up. "They stopped using it all together when Kalan's mum's team vanished; they never returned to the rift, father said he begged them to send a team after them. Their reply was it was too dangerous." They nodded and joined the others as they walked.

Walking, they all tried to forget what has happened. Kalan slowed and walked at the back as the others walked ahead of him. As he walked he was thinking what to do next, so lost in thought he didn't notice Selena drop back to walk with him. The others seeing this and deciding to stay out of it. "What happened back there?" She asked when he noticed her. Looking confused he stared ahead. "We where betrayed." She frowned and placed a hand on his armoured arm. "What are you not telling me?" He shakes his head and smiles. "It's nothing, don't worry." He walks off before she could question him further. As he walked he thought back to the events that had just happened. First he was betrayed by his father then a person he thought was his friend and now he has just found out the company he worked for had been lying to him and leaving important information secret from him. He vaguely heard Selena's whisper. "Okay, but don't say I didn't ask." She walked with him for a while before allowing Tim to take her place. "Should we tell them?" Kalan shook his head and frowned. "No, it will just worry them more. Don't forget we're in charge of their safety." He nods and walks by Kalan. "They have a right to know." He starts. Kalan frowns and turns to Tim. "Yeah I know, but not the now." He shakes his head. "If not now, then when?" Kalan looks away. "Ah... I don't know." Tim turns and walks away, headed for the front, he turns back to Kalan just as he left. "Whatever, look I'm not gonna tell you how to lead?" Kalan nods and laughs. "And I'm not gonna ask." Tim turns back and continues to walk to the front, leaving Kalan to his thoughts.

They had been walking for an hour when Tim signalled for a stop. Kalan walked forward, getting his thoughts into order as he went. When done he was free to focus on the planning. "What is it?' He asked when level with Tim. "Something is up ahead." He nods and looks around. "Any ideas?" Tim shakes his head and continues looking ahead. "Nope." Frowning, Kalan turned to Meryle. "I'll take Meryle and take a look." Tim nods and turns to the left. "You do that; I'll swing round from the left and see if we can surprise them." He shakes his head and frowns. "No I need you here to look after the others. If I have to I will go alone." Tim takes a step back and holds his hands up. "No take Meryle, just don't die." He turns and walks off. Kalan turns to Meryle. "Meryle let's go." She turns and looks up. 'Where to?" Tim looks back from where he was and shouts. "Don't ask questions, just go." She holds her hands up defensively. "Okay, okay. I'm going." Kalan just smiles and turns walking off. Handing his chest plate and helmet to Selena. He then turns down the path they where following and starts to run, Meryle following close behind. Keeping a steady pace they ran for a few hundred metres before turning off the path and running parallel to it in the forest, Meryle running along the other side of the path. Charging through the bush, they kept each other in sight. Still running Kalan leapt over the log that appeared before hi, not seeing the edge on the other side. He fell till he hit a rock, feeling a sharp, stabbing pain shoot through his arm from his wrist, rippling through his entire body. Then he hit the ground and lay there staring at the sky. Suddenly Meryle's face appeared in his sight. She looked at him worried. "Are you okay?" He lay there, hearing her as if she stood at a distance. He tried to get up slowly. "Yeah I think......Argh." He screams in pain as he places his hand to the ground. Meryle draws closer and looks him over. "What is it?' She asks. "I think it's my wrist. I think I hit it on the rock as I fell." He answers from his position on the ground. She helps him to sitting and checks both his wrist. "What are you going to do? Do you need my help?" He lays his left arm across his chest. "I'll have to bind it and put it into a sling." She tilts her head to the side and smiles. "How, I mean you can only use one hand, errr, one paw." He turns to her and smiles his lupine smiles. "I guess I'll need an extra set of hands, won't I? I also need a strip of cloth about forty centimetres long." He takes his shirt off with care and passes it to her. She takes it and cuts it into the desired strips, using her sword. Picking up a straight stick he holds it to his wrist and she ties it up with the shirt. She then constructs a make-shift sling for him. Picking up the remaining strips, he stands and starts to walk back to the others. Going carefully up the hill to one side of the log. He walked to the path and turned back to the others. His fur covered in dust and sticks.

Upon reaching them, Selena rushed forward and grabbed his shoulders and steered him to the edge of the clearing, sitting him down. "What did you do?" Tim asked. Laughing Kalan turned to him and smiled. "I leapt before I looked." He laughed and smiled. "Now aren't you the smart one then?" Sahara walked over and knelt down. "Look it's getting dark, what are we going to do?" Lying on the floor, he looked to her. "I didn't see any tracks on the path, so I say we continue on ahead and see if we can find a better place to stay." Max stands behind Sahara. "What about you, you can't go far with your arm like that." Standing quickly he turns to face Max. "I can still walk. I'm not invalid yet." Standing fuming, Selena walks over and takes his arm out of the sling carefully, holding it in her hands. He felt no pain, only a slight tingle, looking down, he see that her hands give off a strange green aura. Looking up to say something he was struck speechless. Her eyes where pure white. There was no colour left in them. Feeling his moves moving and realigning, muscles rejoining and tendons reattaching he just stares. As the glow fades her eyes regained their colour. When the entire glow disappears she collapses into his arms. Holding her he stands there, speechless. Carefully he picks her up and carries her. Tim walks over, arms held forward. "I'll take her mate." Shaking his head, he pushes past Tim and continues down the path, bearing Selena in his arms. The others followed saying nothing, leaving a small gap between him and them. Walking in silence, feeling oddly refreshed, as if all his worries where washed away, he walked, the wind flowing over his fur. Feeling only a slight irritation on his arm. He continued despite it, refusing to put her down to remove the splint.

As they walked the path became progressively wider. The forest slowly becoming less dense, in front was a small town. Surrounded by a wooden palisade, with people patrolling the walls. Each man wore a long cloak and bore a pike. Placed every fifty paces or so was a brazier. Kalan walked towards the town. The others shying back, hesitant to follow. Stopping twenty metres from the gates Kalan stood and waited. A guard turned and saw the wolf. "Forgo your progress forward stranger." Looking up he stands there. Wind rustling through his fur. "We come seeking medical aid and sanctuary." The guard looks at him and frowns. Standing still. "To whom does thou belong to?" He tilts his head to the side, his ears flopping to the side. "I don't know what you are talking about." An old man walked up and stood by the guard and frowned. "Ah. Travellers. What are you doing Matthias; you know this abbey is open to all." Standing there he nearly fell to his knees with relief. "There are six of us in total." The gates swing open and guards flood out and surround the small group. "Thank you." A guard walks towards Kalan and holds his arm out to take Selena. Again he brushes past and walks on. They follow the guards into the abbey. As they walked Kalan's head moved to the left and right. Watching all those he passes, as they go about their lives, taking no notice of the strange group. He wondered what it would be like if he had never been sent to this dimension. Walking with the others, holding Selena, Kalan sighs and starts to relax, till suddenly the guards closed rank around them, preventing them from seeing anything.

A short while later they arrive at their destination. The guards parted and allowed them through. An elderly man stood in the main hall. "Welcome travellers, you must be hungry, tired or both. I am Abbot Marlock and this is my abbey." Kalan steps forward bearing Selena. "I would shake your hand, but my friend needs some help first." Turning from Kalan to Selena he frowns. "Oh my. Sharku, show this man to the infirmary." A small boy appears from nowhere. He signals for them to follow him. Following him they walk to the end of the hall and into a hallway. At the end was a set of stairs leading down and up. The boy takes them up the stairs. Tim walks up beside Kalan. "Come on. You've been carrying her for over an hour. It's okay to let someone else take over." He continues to walk. "I am the cause of this. If she didn't use her magic on me she wouldn't be like this." Nodding Tim backs off slowly. Turning he see Meryle walk up to talk to him, but Tim held his hand out and shook his head. She stayed where she was and walked at Tim's pace. They left him to his silence. Continuing up the stairs the travel to the third floor landing before turning down the hall to a green door. The boy opened and held the door for Kalan and Selena, he walks in and places her onto the bed gently and stood back. A plump elderly lady walked in from the nurses' station. "My dears, whatever did happen?" He stands out of the nurses' way. "I'm still not sure how this happened." She walked over to Selena and knelt down and held her hand a few centimetres above Selena's head. As she knelt there a green glow appeared around her hand. She stayed like that for only a few moments, standing and turning she smiles. "Nothing serious, just exhaustion. All she needs is rest. Okay dears?" He nods and turns, walking out the door to the others waiting for him. "Wait. I haven't checked you out yet." She called. Turning confused he lifted his arm and remembered the split. "Oh. I am fine; I just didn't have the time to take it off." She walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder and turned him about. "Nonsense you need a proper check. So do your friends now sit." He sits on an empty bed. He sat there as she held her hand above his head and frowned. "What do we have here? Complete body transformation, broken wrist, incorrectly healed, torn muscle and a cracked rib. My, my, what have you done to yourself?" He shrugs and remains silent. "Lay back now. Stay quiet and don't fight me." She slowly pushes him down. He let himself be laid back onto the mattress. Closing his eyes. The moment they were close he passed out.

He woke to the nurse shuffling about his bed. He tried to rise and she rushed over and helped. "Gently now. We don't want to cause you more damage." He slows himself and rises, climbing out of the bed. "Thank you." She just shuffled over to Selena who was still unconscious. Tim walked over from the shadows beside the door. "Now what?" He looks around. "I need a walk. And no dog jokes." Tim nods and walks with him out the door. Outside waited the boy who showed them to the infirmary. He walked over to Kalan and held out his hand, holding an envelope. Standing there he takes the envelope and opened it, reading the words follow me. Looking to the boy he nods and smiles. He walks off with the two of them following. The boy takes them to the stairs and down to the ground floor. The goes to go forward when Tim stops him. "Where are we going?" Kalan watches the boy and places a hand on Tim's arm. "Leave the boy alone, you're scaring the boy." Kneeling down to look at the boy. "You're a mute aren't you?" The boy smiles and nods. Tim lets go and the boy takes off. Kalan quickly following, leaving Tim to stand there shocked.

The boy led him to a courtyard. Standing at the centre was Abbot Marlock and the guard Matthias. "Greetings. I hope you slept well." He says stepping forward. Kalan looks around. "Where are my friends?" Matthias' hand went to his sword. A knife in Kalan's hand. "I wouldn't if I was you." Matthias lowered his hand. "Your friends wander the village." He slowly lowers his knife. "And my weapons?" He looks to the abbot. "They will be returned after cleaning." Nodding he walks over to a bench and gestures to the Abbot. The Abbot nods and walks over. "Why thank you." Kalan waits for the Abbot to be seated before taking a seat himself. Matthias walks over and stands behind the Abbot."I don't think we'll be staying long." The abbot looked shocked at this announcement. "But why? You only just got here." He looks to the ground. "Two reasons, one you don't need to know and the other is that I'm not exactly human. When my friends are healed we are out of here." Matthias steps out in front of the Abbot and turns to him. "So why has thou wasted our time?" He stares at him and shrugs, but says nothing. The Abbot stands and places a hand on Matthias' shoulder. "As an Abbey, it is our duty to care for those in need. No matter the reason. They needed help and sought refuge, which is not a waste of our time." Matthias looks to the ground and walks off. Kalan stands and bows to the Abbot. "I am sorry for any trouble my friends and I have created while here." Marlock shakes his head. "Don't worry about him, he'll come round." Kalan rises and nods. He heads back the way he came and headed for the infirmary.

Upon reaching it he stops, with his hand about a foot from the handle, when suddenly the door swung open and the nurse came out. "You can come in now dear. Quietly though." He nods and pads over the threshold. As he steps in he see that Selena was awake and talking to Meryle and Sahara. Max and Tim stood in a corner looking around nervously. He walks over to Tim and Max. "What's wrong?" Tim stops looking around and looks at the girls. "Help they are talking girlie." He laughs and shakes his head. "And what am I suppose to do?" Max looks around. "Get us out of here." He nods and turns to the girls. He stands patiently as they talk. Selena looks up and sees him. "Kalan. How long have you been standing there?" the others turn and notice him. "Only a few minutes. Looks as if we are leaving tonight." Meryle and Sahara stand and nod and walk out the room with Tim and Max. Selena gets out of the bed to stand in front of him. "Look I know why, but why can't we have a little fun?" he looks to the ground, ashamed. "Cause a little fun could get innocent people killed. We're not of this dimension, but that doesn't mean we can ignore those trying to kill us." She lifts his muzzle with her hands. "We didn't ask them to hunt us. They just did it okay. That doesn't mean we can't have any joy in our lives." He nods and smiles. "Three days, no more. But if they get spotted we leave. I'll not jeopardize these peoples safety." She nods and smiles. Turning to walk away, Kalan feels Selena grab his arm. "And where are you going? Hmmm, wolfy?" He turns and smiles. "Don't know, was gonna wander." She slips her arm into his and walks with him. "What without me?" Looking out the window he smiles and faces her. "Of course not." Smiling she drags him from the room. "Where are you going?" He asked startled. "To tell the others the good news." She slows and lets him walk at his pace. "Thank you." They continue to walk around looking for their friends, passing people continuing their lives.

Walking past an alley, Kalan hears the sound of flesh on flesh. He slips away from Selena and walks down the alley, coming upon Sharku, lying on the ground bleeding from a cut lip. A man and woman standing over him. "I told you, you are not to help the Abbot, boy." The man shouted. The woman just swung her foot at the boy. Seeing enough he charges, growling. "Get away from that boy now." Slowing to stand over the boy, he uses his body as a shield. The woman glares at him, but drags the man away. "Foolish dog. We are his parents and we will punish the boy for disobeying us." The man gets away from the woman and swings his fist at him. Kalan grabs the fist and throws the man over his shoulders. "Back off. This boy is coming with me. I'll suffer no abuse to children. Ever." Kneeling down he pick the boy up and back out the alley. Selena sees the condition of the boy and screams. She runs into the alley. Retuning a few minutes later. "What did you do?" Kalan ask, still holding the boy. She walks over and takes him from Kalan's arm. "Nothing. I might have said a few choice words and broken the man's leg, but I left them alive. Now let's go find the others." She walks off, the boy in her arms. "What's the bet we'll find Tim at a bar?" She says as she walks. He laughs and follows. "Most likely. Hey mate, how old are you?" The boy holds up six fingers. Selena just chuckles and cuddles him. They head down the street marvelling at the sights and sounds. Kalan walks over to a stall and picks up a crystal. In his hands it starts to glow. "You like?" the store owner asked breaking his concentration. "Yes I do, but I don't have any money." He turns and faces the merchant going to place the stone back when the merchant grabs his arm. Frowning he tilts his head. "What money?" Smiling Kalan looks at the crystal. "An item used to purchase things with." He waves his hands and smiles. "You like, you take. No money, your thanks enough." Kalan nods and closes his claws around the stone. "Thank you." The merchant smiles and bows. He turns and runs to catch up to Selena. "What do you have there?" he opens his claws revealing the stone, only then noticing the shape. It was a palm sized dragon rearing on its hind legs, wings spread and breathing fire. It was made of sapphire, emerald and ruby. A marvellous piece of work. He couldn't believe the merchant just gave it to him. Selena took the dragon from him and passed it to Sharku. "Where did you get it?" he points to the merchant, following him she nods.

They had walked all the way to the fountain; they passed on their way in, when they found their friends. Selena rushed over to the girls with Sharku. H walked over to Tim and Max. Upon reaching them he noticed that they were talking to a man wearing similar clothes as them. Tim points towards Kalan and the man turns. "We were just talking about you." He inspects the guy and was surprised to see he was not much older than them. "Kalan." He offers his hand. The man shakes it vigorously. "Ben. It's good to see another person... ah werewolf, from the earth dimension." His jaw dropped. "You been here long?" He places his hand on the back of his neck and rubs it. "Coupla hours. You?" He looks to see another girl with the girls. "Couple of days. How did you get here?" Ben looks to the ground. "Feel off a cliff." He points to the woman. "And her?" Ben looks. "Trying to help me." Nodding he turns to Tim. "We'll stay three days, top." Tim smiles and slaps Max on the shoulder. "Maybe we can find a pub to drink at." Max smiles nervously. "You mean one we haven't been thrown out of yet?" Kalan laughs and turns, heading back to the Abbey. Tim and Meryle rush over and grab an arm each and turn him about. Selena places Sharku into his arm. He sets the boy down and hold his hand.