Fire!

The storm had come up suddenly throwing wind and lightning about like Zeus on a rampage, and it didn't take long for a lightning strike to set the dry forest around the mountain camp on fire. Without any recent rain, it quickly turned into a blazing inferno.

Richard, Louie, Shang-Da and Jamil were on their feet and throwing gear into the back of the SUV while other campers hopped into their vehicles and sped down the mountain road. An Eagle Scout troup on horseback, young men and women and their scout masters, galloped by in a race against death. The lycanthropes paused a moment to watch them leave. The wind was blowing hard, and not even the fastest horse in that group would get to the flats before the fire overtook them.

Richard's heart froze when he saw one of the horsemen was a young girl on a spotted pony. She was probably the daughter of one of the Scout Masters and couldn't have been more than ten years old. The look of terror on her face was probably going to stay with him a long time.

Shang-Da, as if sensing his Ulfric's emotions, stepped up beside him and said, "If they turn off the road at the first curve, they might be able to reach the trout stream we visited before the fire over takes them."

"In the dark, they will get lost and die quicker, " Louie thoughtfully opined, " but gentlemen, we need to go now." He looked back at the roaring monster that was boring down on them.

Richard jumped into the driver's seat and gunned the motor. After a spray of gravel, he was on his way down the mountain. It didn't take long for them to meet up with the scouts riding as fast as they could down the dirt and gravel road. The little girl on the pony was bringing up the rear.

Richard did not try to drive past them. He seemed entranced by their desperate flight. Fires were a terrible way to die, and their horses were not going to make it no matter how fast they ran down the road. The only way they might have a chance was to enter the forest and ride like crazy down to the trout stream.

He started blowing his horn and waving his hand out the window. The scoutmaster looked back, his face a mask of horror and now hope. When the SUV pulled up, he asked, "Are you offering to take some of my kids down?"

That was a thought. "Louie can take some with him, but you aren't going to make it if you don't go that way!" Richard shouted and pointed into the sloping forest.

"We'll break our necks," one of the women said as she jumped off her grey Arab and ran to the little girl on the pony. At another time she would not have been seperated from her child, but she was desperate and this gave her hope.

"Not if you follow us," Richard said and tried to ignore the surprised looks on Jamil's and Shang'da's faces. "If you have anymore of those green lights, we can let you follow us."

"Men on foot?" the master asked incredulously as his eyes lifted to the roaring fire.

"Not men," Richard answered. "Werewolves."

There was a moment of silence then one of the girls handed Shang-Da a green light. Jamil and Richard also got one and hung them around their necks before shifting into full animal form. There was no time to ask questions as Louie jumped into the SUV and started her up. The little girl fought her mother and refused to go with him, and with the trees around them starting to smoke from crackling embers, the horsemen followed the werewolves into the forest and down the slope.

Richard was following the faint scent of water, running as fast as he could down a brushy slope with a hellish light behind him and darkness before him. He could smell smoke and burning would, and the scent of water was almost too faint to detect, but he had to trust himself this time. Most of the horsemen were behind him, although one of two were fanning out. He wanted to tell them to stay behind him and his wolves, that there were ravines that they could fall into if they were not careful, but the point was driven home when they all found themselves airborne. A hard landing and off they went again.

Pausing in his flight, he watched the riders flash past him. The little girl on her game pony were following as best they could. Then the pony slipped. The image played in slow motion in Richard's head, but the pony's fall lasted only seconds. Broken, it did not rise. Richard lunged forward and managed to get the little girl on his back. She clung to his fur, her face wet with tears, her eyes large and frightened.

Richard's stride widened as he caught up with the horses. As big as they were they were not running full out the way he and his werewolves were. Watching the two green lots flopping in front of him, he hurried to catch up to them. The smell of water was stronger. Shang-Da was turning!

Effort became EFFORT for the scouts as they put all their trust in three werewolves. Reaching the water would give them some safety, but they would not be out of complete danger until they were off the mountain. If the werewolves could not get them all the way down, they would be lost and in greater danger than when they were on the road.

Shang-Da's paws hit the water first, then Jamil's and finally Richard's. There was no time to let up as they lunged through the water and up on the other side. The horsemen followed unconditionally when the werewolves led them up the bank to an old lumber road. Who knew where it went, except that they were going to follow it down.

Settling in a ground eating lope to save the horses and themselves, Richard took the point with the little girl clinging to him. Her mother on the Arab came up beside them and smiled encouraging at her, although the red light of the fire behind them made her expression more garrish than assuring.

Opening his mind, Richard reached out to Anita and Jean-Claude. He needed them to help him get these people and himself to safety. Jean-Claude answered, surprise and concern filling his thoughts. What did Richard need? Directions. Where was Louie? Call him.

The contact gave Richard strength and he shared it with Jamil and Shang-Da. Through the night they continued DOWN. Down to where they did not know, but down, away from the fire. By now it was on the other side of the trout stream. Nothing could have held a blaze like that for long.

Daylight and the faces of the horsemen were drawn and haggard. The horses were white with dried foam, and some time during the night the little girl had fallen asleep on his back. Richard wished he could have shared his strength with them, but they were human and could not be touched by his powers. At least they could walk now.

Noon found them on a paved road. Richard stopped and shifted back into human form. He gave the little girl to her mother and told them to stay on the road, and to keep going down the mountain. He watched them ride away and then turned to Jamil and Shang-Da still in wolf form. They were going to go down the mountain too but through the forest. Jean-Claude was telling him that that was the best way to catch up with Louie who was waiting for them at the hunting lodge they had visited a week earlier.

In all the confusion, Jean-Claude did not think anyone would pay any mind to a trio of wolves running for their lives. Oui? Yeah, right.