Chapter Nineteen: Byron

“Okay, it’s okay,” Cassie soothed as she helped him sit on a moss-covered tree trunk. The door was gone. They were alone in the middle of nowhere.

“It’s like there’s a barrier between us.” Byron rested his head in his hands as he stared at the ground, fighting a wave of nausea.

“I’m sure that when we get back to the tavern, you’ll be back to normal.” Cassie sat down next to him and rubbed his back as if he were a lost, frightened child.

You are a lost, frightened child,his dragon told him.

Byron sucked in a deep breath. Thanks.

No, I mean, this was you before me, his dragon said. Before our first shift. But I’m still here. You are not alone.

“I’m okay.” He sat up straight and breathed in the scent of damp trees and the rich earth beneath his feet. “It was just a shock, that’s all.”

“Of course, it’s a shock,” Cassie said, still clutching the dandelions he’d picked for her on his way to the tavern this morning. “But the sooner we find the tavern, the sooner you will be reunited with your dragon.”

“You’re right.” Byron pushed himself to his feet. “All we have to do is figure out which way the tavern lies.”

“There was a compass. Beneath Morwenna’s feet, there was a compass. Did you see it?” Cassie asked as she tucked the flowers into her pocket.

How do I tell Cassie I was too busy looking at her to see anything else?Byron asked his dragon.

His dragon guffawed and puffed out a plume of smoke, but he had no answer.

“I didn’t get a good look at it,” Byron admitted.

“Okay.” Cassie dropped to her knees and scraped the fallen leaves and moss from the ground. Then she grabbed a handful of twigs, choosing the straightest to lie on the ground. “We walked into the room from here, where the stairs were.”

“Okay.” Byron closed his eyes for a moment as he conjured up a mental image of the room with the stone floor. “I think each compass point ended at one of the doors.”

“It makes sense,” Cassie said. “Although since this is The Lonely Tavern we’re talking about, that does not mean a lot.”

“True, it could just be symbolism, but it’s likely a clue. It seems a little bit of a coincidence that there were eight doors, one for each remaining couple, that corresponded with a compass point.”

“Seven,” Cassie replied, before thinking for a moment, and then she nodded. “No. You’re right, it was eight, since Amelia and Jerome arrived late.”

“And they were first into the room and went to the farthest door. Let’s say that’s north for now seems it was the farthest from the entrance, so we’d have all been facing that way when we first walked in.” Byron watched as she placed a stick on the ground. “Then Stan and Nancy were closest to the door. That would be south. Kengar and Nancy were to their right facing outwards, making that southwest, and then were west.”

“Unless Stan and Nancy were north, and Amelia and Jerome were south.” Cassie looked up at Byron. “Why didn’t we pay more attention?”

“Because we’re in love,” Byron said simply.

“Great, so the moment we stop being a fake relationship, we mess it up.” Cassie stood up and let the rest of the twigs in her hand drop to the ground.

“I think Stan and Nancy were south,” Byron said. “In fact, the more I think about it, the more I am sure.”

“Are you just saying that?” Cassie turned to face him.

“No, I heard Stan and Nancy talking about them standing on…” He cracked a grin.

“What?” Cassie asked.

“They were standing on their initial.” He looked at her until she shrugged.

“But they’re Stan and Nancy. North or South.” She shook her head. “Wait, who actually said it?”

“It was…‘S’ for Stan.” Byron chuckled. “So I’m going with south. This means we are west because we were two doors to their right when we were all facing our chosen doors. Which means we have to walk east.”

“And which way is east?” Cassie asked. “Oh, I know, isn’t there something about moss on trees?”

“No, that’s a myth,” Byron said. “Moss grows where it’s damp, which can sometimes mean on the north side of trees and boulders as it sees less of the sun, but there are so many factors that can…”

You made your point. Move on, his dragon told him in exasperation. If only we could shift, I could fly us out of here.

“Okay. How about moonlight shadows?” Cassie suggested as she looked up at the sky. “It’ll be dark soon and the moon will be out.”

“We don’t know where we are,” Byron said gently.

“I feel like that’s the point of the trial.” Her brow creased as she processed what he’d said. “You mean we don’t know where in the world we are.”

“Yes, we could assume we are still in Wishing Moon Bay,” Byron replied. “If we were, we could use the moon’s phase. It would be rising at eleven fifty-one...”

“I get it,” Cassie said. “And we might not even see moonlight shadows since these trees are so dense. I doubt whether we’d even get much of a view of the stars at all.”

“No.” Byron stared up at the sky. “Do you have a hairpin?”

“A hairpin?” Cassie reached up and plucked one out of her headscarf. “Like this?”

“Exactly.” Byron nodded and held his hand out for it. “Now we need a leaf and some water.”

“Right, well, I don’t have either of those on me.” She patted down her pockets. “But luckily I think we’re good for leaves.”

“I think you might be right,” he chuckled. “Let’s go find some water.”

“Are we just going to walk in any direction?” Cassie asked.

“No, we’re going to go downhill. It doesn’t have to be clean water, but water will pool in any lowland.”

“I was thinking more of a north, south, east, or west,” Cassie told him as they set off into the trees. It wasn’t exactly downhill, it was more of a steady decline, but they had to go somewhere.

“That will come later.”

“How do you know all this? I didn’t take you for a boy scout.” Cassie watched him, and Byron tried not to blush.

“I’m not, trust me. But lucky for us, Robbie is.”

“Robbie? Oh! The boy from Bella Incantesimo?” Cassie asked.

“The one and only. He wants to travel and explore the world when he’s older, so as a gift to him I helped him write The Young Explorer’s Handbook.” Byron chuckled at the memory. “Now, I didn’t have a clue about orienteering, but he was a real expert in it already.”

“We’ll have to buy that kid nothing short of a large amount of ice cream when we get back,” Cassie laughed. “Okay, what else would Robbie tell us to do?”

“Hmm.” Byron thought for a moment. “When it gets dark, it’s going to get very dark until the moon rises.”

“If the moon rises,” Cassie replied.

“If the moon rises,” he agreed. “And if it doesn’t, it’s going to be a long, dark night. So we should decide on a signal.”

“A signal.” Cassie followed him as the trees became closer together and they had to pick their way carefully over gnarled and twisted roots that tugged at their feet.

“A sound. Like a whistle or something,” Byron said. “So that if we get separated, we can find each other.”

“Like an owl hoot.” She cupped her hands around her mouth and hooted loudly.

“Like that,” Byron said. “And I’ll reply with a whistle like this.” He pursed his lips and gave a shrill whistle.

“That doesn’t sound like any bird I have ever heard,” Cassie said.

“It’s the woohoowoo bird from Stesia.”

Cassie giggled. “That what? Woohoo?”

“No, the woohoowoo bird.” Byron tried to sound deadly serious, but couldn’t stop himself from cracking into a grin.

“Now that is a good name for a bird,” Cassie said. “Do you think we are in Stesia?”

“We could be. I was talking to Kengar about how he came to Wishing Moon Bay and he said that he walked into the tavern in a place known as Myrithia. That’s several thousand miles away,” Byron said, reflexively lowering his voice as the night began to draw in.

The ground was now sloping downward more steeply. There was a good chance they might find a small pool or a creek. Or at least a puddle. He brushed his hand against a tree trunk. The moss was only lightly damp. It seemed there hadn’t been rainfall for some time.

“Thousands of miles away?” Cassie stopped walking. “That is just... That’s crazy!”

Byron stopped and turned to face her. “It does defy logic.”

“Logic!” Cassie cupped her face in her hands. “What if we don’t find our way back to the tavern? What if we’re stuck here? I have a store to run.”

“We’ll find it,” Byron assured her.

“But what if we’re walking in the wrong direction and the tavern leaves without us? It’s not going to wait forever, is it?” Cassie asked in an increasingly panicked tone.

“Shh!” Byron held up his finger to her.

“What?” she hissed.

“I think I can hear water.” He held out his hand to her. “Come on.”

She slipped her hand into his and he led her through the trees, stopping every few feet to listen. He wanted to rush down to try and get started putting the compass together. If they could at least get some sense of direction, they could begin making progress. He could feel the anxiety beginning to grip Cassie, but he wouldn’t let her fear. They would find their way back.

That’s water,his dragon said as the sound of running water grew louder. We did it.

We have a long way to go until we’re back in Wishing Moon Bay,Byron told his dragon.

But at least we’ll know that we’re heading in the right direction, his dragon answered.

Unless the compass on the floor had nothing to do with this,Byron said.

You really are a Debbie Downer,his dragon said.

I just want to be prepared for any eventuality,Byron said. But for now, this is the most logical plan. But we should not be so tunnel-visioned that we might miss a clue along the way.

“There.” Cassie pointed through the trees. “I see it.”

I don’t have my shifter senses, Byron told his dragon. If I did, I would have seen the water before Cassie. I feel like I’m half blind.

We’re going to have to stay sharp, his dragon said.

A loud crack echoed through the forest. It sounded like a tree had been uprooted, and they froze to the spot as they listened as it crashed down through the canopy before smashing into some distant ground.

“What was that?” Cassie crowded close to him.

“I don’t know,” Byron said. “But it’s not close.”

Yet, his dragon said. Maybe it’s a freaky doll.

It’s a good thing Cassie can’t hear you, Byron retorted. I wouldn’t want to run into any freaky doll that can topple trees over.

The sound faded quickly amongst the dense trees, and once silence reigned once again, they continued on.

It wasn’t much longer before they reached the water. A small spring babbled quietly amongst a rocky outcrop that stuck out from the moss. It was little more than a trickle, but it was enough.

“Do you think it’s safe to drink?” Cassie asked as she crouched down next to it.

“It should be safe.” Byron cupped his hand, scooped up the water and tasted it. “Minerally, but it tastes fine.”

“Good.” Cassie scooped up the water and drank, while Byron took the hairpin and pulled his money clip from his pocket.

“So, how does this work?” Cassie wiped her mouth and peered over his shoulder.

Byron began passing the hairpin over his money clip. “A compass works because it’s magnetic, and when the pin is allowed to move freely, it will align itself with the north and south poles. My money clip is magnetic, so passing your hairpin over it a few times will make the pin just magnetic enough.”

“And then when we float it on water, it will point us north! I think we owe Robbie more than ice cream.” Cassie stepped away and reached up and plucked a broad leaf from a low tree branch.

After passing the pin over his money clip some forty times, he passed it to Cassie before stooping down and scooping up water with his hands and holding it up.

“Now place the leaf on the water, and the hair pin on top.”

The leaf trembled on the surface of the water pooled in Byron’s hands, and Cassie gently laid the pin atop it. They both watched intently in the low light with held breaths as for a moment nothing happened, but then the leaf and pin began to slowly turn, before coming to rest once more.

“Did that work? It looked like it worked,” Cassie said.

“I think it did.” Byron looked up. “As long as I stroked the needle in the right direction, that should be north.”

They froze again as the squealing, rumbling sound of a tree being uprooted reached them again.

“Did it sound closer to you?” Cassie asked as she stared in the direction of the crashing sound.

“Hard to say.” Byron looked back down at the pin. “Now that we know which direction we need to go, we can move faster. East is that way.”

Byron felt his dragon coiling up within him, straining against whatever strange barrier lay between them. If only I could get out, there would be no need to run.

Unfortunately, this is the situation we have found ourselves in.

“I hoped we would be traveling in the opposite direction to whatever is out there.” Cassie gazed in the direction of the sound. “But it feels like we’re going to be moving parallel to it.”

“Then let’s move fast while we still have some light.” Byron cast a reproachful look at the sky above. Then he dismantled the leaf compass and tucked his money clip back in his pocket.

“Are we going to need these again?” Cassie asked as he handed the hair pin back to her.

“We are. Unless the tavern is very close by, we’ll have to check the direction often, so we need to keep an ear out for water.” He looked down at the trickle of a stream. “If only we had come prepared.”

“With a backpack filled with supplies,” Cassie said as she placed her hand on her stomach.

“We can look for food to forage as we go,” Byron said, trying to keep his tone upbeat.

“Have you written a handbook on foraging?” Cassie asked.

“No, but I have written several articles on the culinary uses for… What are you doing?” Byron asked as Cassie slipped off her headscarf and stuck it into the spring.

“We don’t know when we’re going to find water again. This won’t hold enough for us to drink, but we could probably squeeze out enough to use the compass again.” Cassie balled up her sodden bandana and placed it in her purse. “I’ll clean that out when we get home.”

“Good thinking.” He held out his hand to the shape of Cassie, not able to see her features anymore as the light faded.

They held tight to one another as they began to move. They held each other up as they tripped and stumbled over the rocks and roots, no longer able to see well enough, and Byron’s sense of which way was east was beginning to slip.

They both gasped and stopped at the sound of a branch snapping nearby.

“There’s something really close,” Cassie whispered.

“I’m sure it’s just a deer, or some sort of…”

A bellowing, deep grunting sound reverberated through trees.

“Run!” Byron hissed, and they both dashed forward.

They scrambled over the rugged ground, and as much as Byron tried to keep hold of Cassie, she slipped from his grasp. He ran on, trying to follow the direction she had been going, but he felt completely blind without his shifter sense, stumbling around in the darkness in search of her.

She can’t have gotten far!his dragon roared.

With this darkness, she could be right next to us, and we wouldn’t even know it.Bryon looked around frantically, panting, when he remembered another important piece of information that Robbie had given him.

“When lost, Mr. Byron, you gotta stay put. Most people will say ‘Of course, I know the way back’ and keep walking. But that’s sure to get you more lost than you already are.”

“Okay, Robbie,” Byron murmured to himself as he steadied his breathing. “I’m trusting you.”

He came to a stop and crouched low, peering into the darkness. It was eerily quiet, except for the soft call of nocturnal birds over their heads, and the occasional branch snapping. Whatever had made that noise was still close by.

He wanted to call out to Cassie, but if he spoke, it might draw over whatever creature was nearby.

The signal!his dragon yelled. Make it sound convincing and you won’t sound out of place.

Byron nodded and pursed his lips together.

Woohoowoo!

The shrill call sounded at home amongst the cries of the forest birds.

Byron stayed quiet, his heart pounding as he listened, hoping with all his heart that Cassie could hear him.

Then there came a soft hoot from right behind him.

Byron turned and whistled again.

Woohoowoo.

HooOOoo.

He crept forward toward the call, his outstretched hands falling on the rugged bark of a tree.

This was where the call was coming from, his dragon said, bemused.

Byron chewed his lip before he called quietly. “Cassie?”

“Right here.” Her voice came from right below him.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. The bond between him and Cassie transcended magic. He could feel her. He could sense her as if she were connected to him by some invisible thread.

He crouched down, and in a hollow in the tree, he could just about see Cassie’s face.

“Byron,” she whispered as she leaned forward and threw her arms around him.

“We need somewhere to hide until morning,” he told her.

“Well, I think I might have stumbled across or into the perfect place.” She shuffled back with his hand in hers. “It might be a bit of a squeeze, but at least we won’t lose each other in the dark.”

Byron crawled inside. The large tree was almost completely hollowed out, providing a space where they could both sit, albeit very close together. Not that Byron was going to complain.

“Do think it will be okay to wait?” Cassie asked. “Surely we’re on a time limit again.”

Byron shook his head. “No one’s going to be going far in a night this dark. We’ll be okay.”

As they squeezed inside, he wrapped his arm around her and held her close, taking comfort from the warmth of her body.

He only hoped without his dragon he could protect her from whatever was out there in the forest.