{"sf1_id":890059,"sf2_id":null,"title":"The Wandering Shadow: Chapter Nineteen","author":"LucarioZer0","words":2134,"posted_at":"2015-07-24T01:48:00.000Z","tags":["Canine","Human","Magic","Plot Development","Story Progression","Wolf","Wolfess"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/890059-the-wandering-shadow-chapter-nineteen","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/890059","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=890059\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"\n19\n\"This\ndoesn't make any sense,\" David grumbled.\nThe three\nof them had spent the past two days camped in the lowlands, enjoying the more\ntemperate climate created by Nepal's highly varied geography. Will and Jenna\nwere out side, tending to the camp while David sat inside the cart, trying to\nfigure out where it was they were meant to be going. Laid out before him were\nMax's book and a map of Nepal. For his part he was finding it difficult to make\nsense of the few clues Max had left to indicate where the supposed monasteries\nwere located.\nHe\ngrowled with frustration. \"Dammit Max...couldn't you have given me more to work\nwith here?\"\nHe ran\nboth hands through his hair, sliding them down his head to brace the back of\nhis neck for a moment. He then leaned forward, looking more closely at the\nmeager resources he had to work with. \"This doesn't make any bloody sense!\"\n***\nWill sat\non a wooden folding chair, stoking their camp's fire. Jenna was beside him,\nsprawled out on the ground with her belly toward the fire. About a meter away\nwas their tent, the beige fabric standing out against the green grasses all\naround them. Taking a moment to look around, Will noted not for the first time\nhow strange it seemed to see so much that was green and growing when surrounded\nby mountains.\nAlso\nstrange to him was how at peace he felt. \nThere he sat, halfway around the world from his home, facing the\npossibility that there might be no solution for his and Jenna's problems, and yet\nall he could feel was...serenity.\nWill\nsmiled. \"You know, even though we've had some pretty bad stuff happen the past\ncouple months, a good thing or two has come out of it all.\"\nJenna\nraised her head to look at him, a questioning look in her eyes.\n\"Well,\njust look at where we are right now,\" he explained. \"If it weren't for all the\nbad things that have gone on, we never would've had an excuse to travel all\nover the world. We wouldn't be here, in what may be one of the most beautiful\nplaces in the world. We wouldn't have gone to Paris...traveled across the\nMediterranean...London...Cairo...all these places. Sure, things haven't been great--they've\nbeen pretty shitty, in fact--but there is a bit of a 'silver lining', so to\nspeak.\"\nJenna\nrose slowly into a sitting position, looking all around. I hadn't really considered it, but he's kinda right, she thought. Who knows, maybe someday we'll be able to\nlook back on some of this fondly.\nA\ncomfortable silence fell between them, and for but the briefest of moments it\nwas like they were back home.\nThe\nmoment passed when they heard a cry of frustration from the cart, surprising\nthem and startling Vincent.\nWill\nsighed. \"I suppose we should see what's got him upset.\"\nJenna\ngrumbled and nodded reluctantly. They stood and walked over to the cart,\nstopping for a moment to soothe Vincent's nerves. The poor horse had put up\nwith traveling across half the world. The least they could do was keep him from\nbeing unduly stressed.\nWith the\ngrey shire colt calmed the two of them continued around to the back of the\ncart, where Jenna stood on her hind legs and the both of them poked their heads\ninside. \"Is everything alright in here?\" Will asked.\nDavid\nlooked over at them, his eyes twitching slightly. \"Oh yeah, just brilliant. You\nknow, aside from the fact that I can't figure out where we're supposed to be\ngoing.\"\nWill\npushed the canvas aside and hopped into the cart, holding it open so Jenna\ncould follow suit. They then sat down and looked over David's maps. After a\nmoment Will asked, \"So what is the problem?\"\nDavid\ngroaned. \"Okay, so it starts with Max's book. See, he makes it pretty damn\nclear that these monasteries--should they exist--are somewhere in Nepal.\"\n\"Right.\nNot seeing the problem yet.\"\n\"Oh, you\nwill soon enough,\" David assured him. \"Because you see, he provides four\ncoordinate sets, and says that he thinks that they're the most likely places\nfor the monasteries to be. Well, as it happens, none of those coordinates are\nactually in Nepal. They're all just\noutside the country.\"\n\"Uh\nhuh...are you sure that you have the coordinates right? I mean are you sure you\ndidn't make some mistake somewhere?\"\n\"No, I\ntriple checked. Each one is just outside the country.\" David pointed to the map\nof Nepal, and pointed in turn to four black dots he had drawn on the paper.\n\"There they are. All outside the country.\"\nWill and\nJenna both immediately noticed that the four dots formed a roughly square\npattern. When Will asked if David had noticed the shape the illusionist said,\n\"Yeah, I did, but I'm not sure what to make of it.\"\nWill\nnodded. \"Did Max write anything else? Maybe some clue that could help us here?\"\n\"Not as\nfar as I can tell,\" David groaned. Even so he picked up Max's book and passed\nit to Will. \"It's open to the right page. It's all there.\"\nWill read\nthrough it a few times, holding at an angle so that Jenna could see as well.\nWhen he was satisfied he set the book down and asked, \"Do you have a pencil?\"\nDavid\nnodded and--after rummaging in his pockets--handed a stubby pencil to Will. Will\ntook it and pulled the map of Nepal toward him. Using the pencil he began to\nconnect each of the four dots David had already put down. He spoke as he drew\nout each line. \"While there was no explicit clue, there was one line that I\nthink might just hold an answer. Max mentioned something about all of the sites\nbeing connected, but he didn't say how. Looking at this though...\"\nHe pushed\nthe map away, and they could all see that all four of the locations were\nconnected and not only was there a definite box around part of Nepal, but there\nwas also a large \"X\" through the country. Will pointed to the spot at the\ncenter where the lines crossed. \"Since we have no better theories, it may pay\nto check there.\"\n\"Now see,\nI thought of that too,\" David said while shaking his head, \"But I think that\nseems a bit too easy, don't you?\"\nWill\nshrugged. \"Why do things have to be complicated? It's okay for things to be simple\nonce in a while, don't ya think?\"\nJenna\nnodded in agreement. She would be more than happy for something easy after\neverything they'd been through.\n\"Alright\nthen,\" David sighed. \"I guess we don't have any better ideas. Looks like that\nspot isn't too far from here. We could be there by this time tomorrow.\nThough...do you have a back up plan?\"\nWill\nshook his head. \"Not a one. But at this point back up plans aren't really\npossible. We have to go one step at a time.\"\n\"Lovely.\nWell, no point in waiting then. Let's move out, yeah?\"\nWill and\nJenna both nodded in agreement, and within the hour they left their campsite\nbehind. \n***\nAs David\nhad predicted they neared the spot on the map where the lines intersected late\nin the afternoon the next day, the cart ferrying them through passes lined with\nmountains that towered to heights beyond seeing.\nWhile\nWill and Jenna were hopeful, David was notably pessimistic. This was only\nmultiplied when they passed by a village that was unmarked on their map. \"You\nsee that?\" He asked, pointing to the settlement. \"There are people living in\nthis area. If there was some kind of temple or something in this area, wouldn't\nword of it have spread?\"\n\"I don't\nthink so,\" Will replied, shaking his head. \"Just because they live here doesn't\nmean they know everything about the area. Besides, maybe they've agreed to keep\nthe secret. We didn't even know they were here...so if anything it proves there\ncould be places hidden around the area.\"\nDavid\ndidn't reply, merely rolling his eyes and thinking that it was foolish to be so\noptimistic at this point.\nAn hour\nor so after they passed the village David poked his head into the back part of\nthe cart and said, \"Looks like we're coming up on some kind of valley. I think\nit's the end of the line.\"\nWill and\nJenna poked their heads out, looking ahead with no small amount of excitement.\nComing out of the mountain pass they pulled out into a valley that was roughly\nu-shaped. Half of its space was taken up by a small body of water and the rest\nwas taken up by some kind of knee high grass. Nowhere to be seen though was any\nkind of temple or monastery.\nThe area\nwas devoid of any human life except for theirs.\nWill and\nJenna climbed out of the cart, both walking out ahead and looking around as\nthough hoping that something would appear if the simply looked in a different\ndirection. Will dropped down to sit on the ground, the grasses now coming up to\nhis chest. Jenna sat beside him, whining mournfully. He placed a hand on her\nhead, gently pulling her a bit closer. \"It's...okay Jen. We knew this was a long\nshot, right? We'll just have to look somewhere else.\"\nThey sat\nthere for a while, quiet. As David watched he could tell that neither of them\nwould be in much of a mood to do anything else for the day. \"I'll uh...set up camp\nfor the night, yeah?\"\nHe\nreceived no response, decided it didn't matter, and got to work on clearing a\nspot.\nA cold\nwind began to blow down from the mountains, sweeping across the field of grass.\nWill shuddered and drew his cloak closer around him as Jenna moved in closer to\nhim, putting her head under his chin. He kissed the top of her head and brushed\na hand through her fur as he looked over the vale. It was really too bad it was\nso pretty to look at, as all he could feel was disappointment. He let his mind\nwander as he looked over the field of grass, being brushed by the wind.\nWill\nstood without warning, his eyes wide and wild. Jenna grumbled over being\nknocked aside by him, but he ignored her, staring at something intently. \"It\ncouldn't be...\" he whispered.\nHe bent\nover and came back up with a small rock, setting off toward the far side of the\nvalley. Jenna followed at his heels, wondering what was going on in his head.\nHe stopped about a hundred meters from the cart, still staring ahead. Will\nrolled the rock between his fingers a few times then threw it out ahead of him.\nJenna's\neyes went wide with surprise and Will smiled triumphantly when the rock seemed\nto bounce off thin air. \"I knew it.\"\nHe turned\nand yelled, \"David, don't bother with the camp! Just bring it all over here!\"\n\"What are\nyou on about now?!\" The illusionist yelled back.\n\"Just get\nover here!\"\nWill and Jenna\nwaited less than patiently as David guided the cart over to them, asking, \"What\nis it?\" when he jumped down from the driver's bench.\nWill\npointed. \"There's something hidden here.\"\n\"And how\ndo you know that then?\"\n\"Because\nof the wind. It's blowing all the grass in the valley, but not in this area.\"\nIndeed it\nseemed that was the case, as there was a large, roughly rectangular area where\nthe grass was still even when all the grass around it swayed. If one looked\nclose enough it was even possible to see that some of the stalks were bouncing\noff the same invisible barrier that had stopped Will's rock. Feeling skeptical\nthough, David reached out and found that his hand too met unseen resistance.\nDavid\ncleared his throat. \"Alright, so there's something here then. I actually feel\nkinda thick for not spotting it...but assuming this is what we're looking for,\nhow do we get in?\"\n\"Just\nstart feeling along the wall. If we're lucky, we might find an opening.\"\nIt was\nonly a minute later that David yelped in surprise as he stumbled slightly,\npulling back from the invisible wall. \"I uh...found an opening.\"\nResisting\nthe urge to make some joke at the illusionist's expense, Will said, \"Alright,\nno point in lingering out here then. Let's see just what we've found.\"\nThe three\nbraced themselves as they faced the spot David had passed through. There was a\nspark of anticipation in the air, and a rising chill of uncertainty that they\ndid their best to ignore as they stepped through the veil and into the unknown.\n"}