Rise of the Wolf by Curtis Jobling

Author:Curtis Jobling
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780141964492
Publisher: Penguin Adult
Published: 2010-11-17T23:00:00+00:00

1

The Shaman of Wyrmwood

Drew and Hector crouched low in the reeds, ankle deep in foul-smelling marsh waters, staring ahead towards the bonfire-lit village. Drew held his sword in a white-knuckled grip, his other hand shifting tall fronds to one side, to better view the town’s layout. There was no wooden palisade surrounding it, no guards on patrol, no sentry they’d have to slip past. Twelve large wattle-and-daub huts, all looking like they might fall over in a strong wind, surrounded the blazing fire. One larger hut sat to the rear of the village, the bare skeletal branches of the Wyrmwood’s blackened trees waving above it like ghastly puppeteer’s hands. The shaman’s hut, Drew reasoned.

The whole village danced around the bonfire: man, woman and child. The Wyldermen were either naked or wore filthy animal skins, their decorative bone necklaces jangling musically as they hopped, skipped and jumped around the inferno. The men carried spears or bows, shaking them up to the sky as they whooped and chanted. Three elders sat to one side, beating out a steady rhythm on animal-skin drums.

Leading the dance was a man who could only be the shaman himself. His body was painted black, and he was naked but for a capercaillie-feathered headdress, crowned with a ram’s skull. The horns twirled away from his face demonically as he danced in his own little inner circle, closer to the flames, in the opposite direction to his dancing villagers. He waved a staff over his head with both hands, one end shod with a mighty flint dagger, the other with a human skull.

Drew turned to Hector, who stood trembling by his side. He looked over his shoulder. Seven men from Oakley stood behind, looking even more terrified than his friend, swords, cudgels and crossbows in their hands.

‘How did we get here again?’ he whispered to the Boarlord.

When Drew had dashed downstairs to find Hector in the Mermaid Inn, he’d quickly recounted the news of Gretchen’s absence and the two of them had set out immediately. They were content to go alone, until Jonas had insisted that some of the villagers accompany them – the marshes could be perilous in daylight, let alone the dead of night, so it was best the boys had someone familiar with the land to accompany them. The Oakley men had acted as guides and scouts, speeding up the search for Gretchen. By splitting into two groups they were able to cover more ground. Jonas took a group himself while Drew and Hector accepted the kind help of the seven volunteers.

With Piotr, Oakley’s best woodsman, alongside Drew, their group had begun to trace the path of Gretchen’s escape. Piotr’s knowledge of the land was a great help, and with Drew’s natural – and unnatural – ability to track, the two of them had led their companions on to her trail. She’d been heading west, roughly the correct direction for Highcliff, when her trail was interrupted, five miles or so from the village.

Surveying the muddy ground where her footsteps abruptly ended, Piotr had surmised that she’d been ambushed.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.