Wendigo Wars (5 page)

"Are there any more questions?" she asked, just in case.

The class stared at her dumbstruck. This was the usual reaction. They thought they were almost adults but really they were still young and she had told them so much. They would need time to digest. She knew there would be more questions but they would come later when they had thought about what they had learnt and their parents or Carers would be the ones who they asked.

"Thank you for letting me talk to you today. I hope that I will see some of you at the Protectorate trials if that is where you decide your destiny lies"

Mathilde walked to join Seb at the back of the room. He gave her a smile of thanks for letting him off the hook again. As they left the room they heard Master Jonas introducing Amelie.

"Now class our talk from Carer Superior Amelie about the work of the thirteen Carers."

As they left the room Seb’s face lit up with the relief that Career Day was over for another year. He grinned at Mathilde over his shoulder as he bounded off. Tilly gave a weak smile back, knowing that what she had to tell him later that day would make the smile disappear.

Chapter Five

Mathilde and Seb checked the other Protectorates were happy in their duties then went to the practice rooms to train. Though Mathilde favoured the crossbow she knew that distance was not always a luxury that the wendigo presented to her and so she had been trying to master swordsmanship. Seb was more at home with an axe than a sword but his sword skills were still impressive and he had been training hard with Mathilde, teaching her all that he knew.

“Keep your arm up Tilly... Don’t back off unless you need to... Attack when you see an advantage like that, only back off if you have no advantage,“ Seb called out instruction after instruction at Mathilde as he stabbed, sliced and dodged. He gave no extra slack to Mathilde despite their difference in height and strength. This had meant a good few months of minor injuries when he had first begun to train her but now Mathilde managed to nick him more than he did her and she had become expert in slipping out of his reach, using her height to her advantage.

“Ok I’m done,” said Mathilde, slumping to the ground.

“Done? You wimp! We’ve only been practicing for an hour,” Seb chuckled and sat down next to Mathilde. He gave her a one armed bear hug. “So what was it you were going to tell me this afternoon?”

The sun streamed through the training room windows and made Seb’s eyes glint mischievously. He looked in the mood for a fun afternoon and Mathilde’s heart sank as the memory of her meeting with Violette and Fleur came rushing back. It only took a matter of minutes to update Seb but in that time he went from his normal funny self to a more serious Seb. Mathilde had always been grateful that Seb was able to tap into her emotional changes and reflect them with his own.

“We can’t take the whole of the Protectorate with us. Especially after...” Seb paused and looked apologetically at Mathilde.

“After Jack,” Mathilde finished for him, her heart feeling like lead once more. “Yes it’s important to keep everyone’s spirits up and the best way to do that is to let as many of the Protectors stay here as possible. It would affect everyone’s morale too much to lose another Protector now. We should just take a few with us.”

“Or...maybe none,” said Seb.

“What not go at all? We can’t do that Seb, they need our help,” Mathilde was rarely shocked by anything that Seb said but this response took her aback a little.

“No I don’t mean not go; I mean why not just us two go? That way the settlement stays safe with almost everyone here still to protect them.”

Mathilde thought about the options for a moment. It did make sense for them to leave as much of the Protectorate behind as possible but just the two of them going? It would be a big risk if they were attacked. “It would be too difficult. We barely hold the wendigo off when there are thirteen of us. How would we cope with just two?”

“I think it would be easier with less of us to call attention to ourselves. We travel in the day when not many wendigo are out and skirt around the forests so we have the advantage. Any wendigo coming we would see a mile off. At night we make a double ring of fire and sleep in shifts. Come on Tilly we can do this.”

“You might be right. It would definitely be nice not to worry about keeping anyone else safe.” Mathilde thought in silence for a moment. “Yes let’s do it - just the two of us. We ride full speed in the day and avoid trees and gullies as much as possible.”

“Better go and tell everyone then,” Seb said as he stood up and held his hand out to Mathilde.

The rest of the day passed quickly. Mathilde and Seb hardly had time to breathe with the well wishers and preparations which filled the rest of the day and evening. That night Mathilde slept restlessly and she was relieved when morning finally arrived and gave her permission to stop trying to force sleep.

After a quiet breakfast with Amelie, Seb and Jaya, Mathilde checked her travel bag for the twentieth time since packing it. Dried meat strips, dried berries, flat bread, one set of spare clothes, crossbow, arrows, water flask and healing balm. Dressed in her thermal underclothes, heavy down lined jacket and fur lined walking boots with a thin chainmail vest studded with amber she had everything she needed for the journey which would take five days. As Mathilde closed her bag and promised herself that she would not check again, Amelie returned from her morning walk. She took a chair at the table on which Mathilde’s bag rested and rubbed her forehead. She looked tired and older than usual.

“I’m worried Mathilde. You don’t know what you are getting yourself into.”

Mathilde took a seat and joined her surrogate mother at the kitchen table.

“No one does. Nobody knows anything yet, it’s all a mystery, but there is nothing to worry about. I’ve planned the journey well and only two of us are going,” she said. “We’ll travel by day and sleep in shifts at night, we’ll be fine. There will still be ten of the Protectorate here to look after the settlement so there is nothing you need to worry about.”

Mathilde sighed. There should have been eleven Protectors to stay but she still had not had the heart to look for a replacement for Jack even though it had been two weeks since his death. Anya had begun to recover but Mathilde could have sworn that she caught her glaring at her out of the corner of her eye once or twice. She couldn’t blame her. She still felt as if it were her fault so Anya wasn’t alone if that is what was going on in her head.

“I know that Mathilde. That isn’t what I’m worried about. I know that you’ll be fine. You were born to be a survivor.”

Mathilde wished that people would stop saying that. She had heard it her whole life and still didn’t believe it was true.

“I’m worried about Seb.”

“Ha!” Mathilde burst out with an incredulous laugh. “Are you kidding me? He is about a mile taller than me and as wide as a grizzly bear. Why on earth are you worried about Seb? I agree he would probably be a good main meal for a wendigo but when it comes down to it the poor creatures would never get to him anyway. Have you seen him with that axe?”

“Mathilde are you really so blind that you don’t know what I’m talking about?” Amelie rubbed her temples and looked exasperated. Mathilde stared at her blankly before eventually shaking her head in frustration.

“I guess I must be. Is he ok? Is Seb ill?”

“Lovesick maybe. Have you never seen the way he looks at you Mathilde?”

“What? You seriously have to be kidding me. Seb doesn’t see me like that. He is a friend, my best friend, that’s all. He feels the same.”

“I don’t think that he does. I don’t know, maybe he hasn’t even realised it himself yet but I once had a soul mate, a true love, and I know that look.”

“I think you are completely wrong but I will be careful ok?” Mathilde tried not to get annoyed at the pointless conversation. She knew that Amelie was only talking like this because she cared but she was way off the mark on this one.

“Ok. That is all I can ask. I just love you both so much. I don’t want either of you to get your heart broken”

Mathilde stood and gave Amelie a kiss. “I will be careful,” she said, confused at whether the new flurry of butterflies in her stomach were due to the task ahead or the fear of Seb’s feelings.

Chapter Six

“What’s up Tilly? We’ve been riding for two hours and you haven’t said a word.”

Seb stared at Mathilde as they trotted, each on a large, dark brown horse. They hadn’t spoken since they first set out and the only noise which had christened the air was the crunching of snow under the horse’s feet and the puffs and snorts as the horse’s breath misted into the air.

“Nothing,” Mathilde said, glancing at Seb, as big as a lion in his many layers of clothing, the sun glinting off his hair. She tried not to look him in the eye, afraid of what emotion she would see there. “I’m just thinking about this General Zhu,” she lied.

“Yeah that one is weird,” Seb said, visibly cheering up. Battle talk always got Seb in an energetic mood. “So how is a human controlling wendigo? It can’t be blackmail, they have nothing to be blackmailed about. Fear maybe?”

“That would make more sense,” said Mathilde, happy to shake off thoughts of how Seb might feel about her and concentrate on the safer topic of wendigos. “But what would a wendigo be scared of? Maybe he has figured out some sort of mind control or a way of training them.”

“Hmmm, or he has offered them something they can’t resist.”

“I don’t know Seb. It just doesn’t make sense that anyone could control them. It’s against their nature.”

“So what do we do when we get to Bucharest?”

“Just wait I guess, and be ready to fight. He has sent them one message already. His next move can’t be far behind.”

“Should we find somewhere to rest for the night? We’ll need to start setting up camp in a couple of hours.”

“Let’s get through the hills first. We’ll stop in Cornu Luncii. Most of the buildings are gone there but we should be able to find something sheltered and easy to defend.”

Seb nodded. “Race you,” he shouted.

Mathilde forced her bad mood out and grinned. There was not much time in their life for foolish things but the rare moments that they did get to act like stupid children always cheered Mathilde up. She spurred her horse on and tried to catch up to Seb who had bought himself a head start. It didn’t take long for Mathilde to catch up. She was a far lighter passenger than Seb with his excessive bulk. They raced neck and neck, hollering to each other with the confidence they could briefly have courtesy of flat open space with no hiding places for hungry wendigo.

Soon the ghost town of Cornu Luncii came into sight. It had long been abandoned by its residents who had moved to the Bucharest settlement two generations ago. Seb slowed, his horse exhausted from the race, and Mathilde took the opportunity to speed up, galloping towards the village far ahead of Seb and pulling up fifty metres from the first building. She dismounted and grinned at Seb as he slowly caught up. Mathilde’s normally white skin shone pink from the cold air and the fun of the race. Seb grinned as he reached her and dismounted.

“Yeah yeah I let you win,” he joked as he led his horse towards her.

They stood and stared at the borders of Cornu Luncii for a moment. There were still quite a few buildings but very few of them were still standing. Most had half crumbled walls and rotten away roofs.

“Looks safe enough. Look there are birds.” Seb gestured up above the buildings where black specks darted and soared in the sky, coming down to land in broken chimneys before shooting up again.

“Yeah, probably no wendigo then. Still let’s go slow and keep our eyes open. We’ll head for the centre and look for a good shelter for the night,” said Mathilde giving the reigns she held a shake to spur her horse into movement.

As they walked the noise of Mathilde and Seb’s steps on the untouched, hardened snow crunched and were absorbed by the closely sited buildings. They weaved through the grey stone landscape taking care to watch the dark gaping doorways and windows of the houses for signs of movement. A decaying door creaked and Mathilde saw a flash of movement. Seb’s hand flew to his axe and Mathilde’s to her crossbow. Mathilde burst into relieved laughter when she saw that the intruder was just a large snow hare but she did not still her hand. She pulled her crossbow to her eye and shot one perfectly targeted arrow which stopped the hare dead in its tracks.

“Hot dinner tonight,” she said, smiling at Seb. Seb grinned back.

With the promise of food and now sure that the town held no nefarious beasts they quickened their step and looked more actively for a place to stay. It didn’t take them long to find it  - an almost fully intact cottage; no window shutters or glass but a good roof and door and the chimney still standing upright with no signs of birds to hint at nests blocking the exit for smoke. It only took a moment of gentle pushing for Seb to ease the swollen door from its position to allow them entry. Once inside they were happy to see that the furniture, though covered in mildew, was relatively useable and the fireplace was clear. They set about finding furniture dry enough to use as firewood and covering the chairs with what dry blankets they could find in the drawers. Before long Mathilde and Seb were sitting by the fire with hot milk, from Seb’s travel bag, and with the hare roasting on the fire. The comforting meaty smell made Mathilde feel safe and her mouth watered at the thought of food. They had spent a good hour boarding up the windows and doors so even if any beast did come close they would have quite a job trying to get in.

“Do you ever think about...you know...having a boyfriend Tilly?”

It was the first time Seb had spoken since they had settled in front of the fire. Mathilde had been enjoying their companionable silence and the uncomfortable question, which just a week earlier would have meant nothing ominous, now seemed loaded with expectation.

“I don’t really have time for anything like that,” said Mathilde, staring in the fire to avoid having to look at Seb.