Bram's Hollow

The walk out of the castle was surreal for Tobias. At least it was quiet, Tobias was thankful for that. He had a lot on his mind, first Rymun’s amulet is taken and now Orlok’s ashes have been stolen. Tobias wondered if that was why his father attacked at Rotigan’s place. It must have been the ashes he was looking for.

Henry escorted Tobias past Main Street and up the hillside toward his home. They were quiet the entire time. When they arrived they were greeted by Bethany who gave Tobias a warm, comforting hug.

“I have water hot on the stove if you would like some tea.” She said to Tobias.

“Oh, no thank you.” He looked around the living room hoping for Isabelle to come out and see him. “Where is Isabelle?”

“One of her friends had just come to ask for a hand.” Bethany smiled brightly. “Something about climbing a tree I think.”

“Was it Derek?” Tobias asked.

“The ogre boy? No, this one was quite short, and wet.”

“Bibby? Was his name Bibby?”

Bethany thought about it for a second. “It very well may have been: It does sound familiar.”

Tobias turned and opened the front door. He knew just where they were headed. But Henry grasped the door before Tobias could walk out.

“I don’t think you should head out Tobias.” Henry said in a concerned tone. “After what happened with Vivian the attack and all. I’m just not sure it’s safe for you out there.”

Tobias paused. Henry had a point after all. “All the more reason for me to go and get Isabelle I suppose.” He squeezed through the half opened door. “Don’t worry, I know just where they are.”

A fast walk became a run as Tobias headed for the Tall tree forest. As it did back at the castle the running helped him sort his thoughts, about his mother and father and everything. He no longer felt the urge to cry when he thought of his mother. It was an outburst that seemed childish to Tobias now. He worried about her but knew that the only thing he could do was wait and hope. But the way he figured it he could do better than waiting. He had been left in the dark about his father almost his entire life. He felt cheated that he turned out to be a murdering fiend. Tobias was determined to find his father before the Wolfkin did. He felt it was his responsibility to find him now.

The distance to the western meadow was cleared in a matter of minutes. Tobias felt better after the run. His head was clearer and his objective even more so. He headed into the forest and to his surprise had caught up with Bibby and Isabelle quite quickly. Isabelle was walking while Bibby hopped and skipped about.

“Tree, tree. We going to climb the tree.” Bibby said with a shrill shriek when he saw Tobias. He ran over and grasped Tobias’s hands trying to get him to hop with him. Tobias wasn’t in the mood.

Isabelle turned around as soon as Bibby shrieked. Her face was pale. Her good natured demeanor had fled leaving behind a sad expression that only warmed slightly when she saw Tobias. He understood. After all she was the one who stumbled onto the attack that injured his mother and Rotigan and killed Arthur. Tobias grinned a half-smile of somber understanding.

“How are you holding up?” Tobias asked.

“I could ask you the same thing.” Isabelle replied with a half-smile of her own.

Tobias looked down and remembered what Dr. Donavan said about no more tears. Bibby was in front of his skipping about like a hyper toddler. He was tugging on Tobias’s wrist.

“Come, come.” Bibby demanded. “The tree has awakened and we need to climb.”

“What do you mean?” Tobias said confusingly.

“The tree is talking.” Bibby was so excited he couldn’t keep still.

“Trees don’t talk.” Tobias paused and looked up at Isabelle. “Unless-?“

“No,” Isabelle confirmed. “Trees certainly do not talk.”

“Mother Tree did so.” Bibby jumped and stomped his webbed feet hard on the ground. “Bibby tells no lies.”

“Well,” Tobias tried not to speak to him as if he were a child but found the task difficult. “What exactly happened when the tree talked to you?”

“Bibby ran to Mother Tree to try to climb her. I do it all the time.” Bibby demonstrated by jumping and grasping on to the side of a nearby tree. “Bibby slip and fell like I do.” He purposely let go of the thinner tree’s trunk and fell to the ground. “The tree started talking, high in the leaves.”

“Well, what did it say?” Isabelle asked. Her sadness slowly melted away as she spoke.

“Bibby no know. That why we need to climb, sillies.” He started pulling on Tobias again trying to get them closer to the tree in question.

“Alright, wait. Just hold on a second.” Tobias yanked his hand free from Bibby’s grip. “We can’t climb the Mother Tree. Only Isabelle can make it up and if you remember it tried to kill her.”

“At least we can go to the Mother Tree and see if there anything to Bibby’s story.” Isabelle’s attitude was still improving. Her smile had become toothier and more honest. Tobias nodded in agreement and held his arm up, leading the way toward the Mother Tree.

The walk through the forest was a little annoying for Tobias’s taste. Bibby moved constantly in and erratic fashion with skips and jumps and hops in some direction or another for the entire trip. But it made Isabelle smile so Tobias was willing to deal with the annoyance. It had already been a trying day for both of them. With his mother in the hospital wing of the castle and his father to blame Tobias had plenty of reasons to want to be alone. But just being near Isabelle seemed to help, and it was comforting to be near her.

The sun was starting to set behind the mountain range as they marched deeper into the tall tree forest. The sky was drifting from blue to purple as the sun descended adding an extra layer of eeriness to the forested environment. Even Bibby with all of his over exuberance was looking around cautiously at every crumbled leaf and snapped twig he heard. It was getting dark, real dark. The purple sky descended to let the darkness out and the forest started to become much more active.

Just outside of the field of their field of vision they heard one set of footsteps followed by another. Tobias held up his hand and Isabelle and Bibby stopped, and so did the sound of the steps. When they started to walk on again, to steps followed right along with them. Tobias didn’t know what to do, weather to head back to town, or continue to the Mother Tree. Bibby didn’t let him choose, he started to make a bubbly squeal of a noise, like a shriek released under shallow water. The footsteps drew closer.

They kept walking, traversing the dark forest toward the Mother Tree. Their steps landed faster and faster until the three of the, were running. The fear of the unknown presence acted like a gust of wind behind Tobias’s back forcing him to run faster. The stars began to shine in the night sky just beyond the top of the mountain range that was closer than any of them anticipated. They were running off course and had lost their bearings. Bibby, Tobias and Isabelle ran up to the jagged rock face, they looked at each other hoping someone else knew what to do. This time the footsteps did not stop advancing.

The moon was just coming into view between the branches of the tall trees. It wasn’t much light but it was enough to see a good eight feet in front of them. All three of them backed against the rock face, they were trapped by whatever was out there, and it was coming. Tobias looked to Isabelle and flapped his arms. She looked at him confused.

“Fly.” Tobias whispered loudly. “Turn into the robin and fly back to town. You can get help.”

“I don’t want to leave you two.” Isabelle protested.

“It might be our only chance.” Tobias was trying to sound stern. “Now go, quick.”

Isabelle reached out her arm and placed her hand on Tobias’s cheek. She then looked at the sky and shrank and shifted into the form of a robin. The small bird flapped its wings and took to the sky. She became lost in the air amongst the moon and stars and Tobias lost sight of her. He looked down at Bibby who was at his side. His scaled green face looked as frightened as Tobias imagined his looked. The footsteps cleared the trees and the moonlight unveiled their shambling lifeless forms.

These zombies looked far more rabid and agitated than the slow shamblers that attacked the town the day before. They had a greater muscle mass and their teeth looked to have been sharpened to fine points. There were four of them in total each with milky, white eyes that seemed to penetrate the darkness of the forest. Bibby quaked with fear as he grasped Tobias’s leg.

“Bibby hates brain biters.” Bibby said with his face buried in Tobias’s pants leg. “Make brain biters go away.”

Two of the zombies broke away from the group and approached the natural rock face where Tobias and Bibby stood. Their movement was not as uncoordinated as the previous zombies but still they slightly stammered with every other step. Tobias’s eyes sharpened and his heart started to beat faster. Bibby squeezed behind Tobias hiding himself as best as he could. He was shaking with fear and quietly murmured to himself making sounds that Tobias had never heard before.

There was nowhere to go, they were surrounded. Two of the zombies moved in dangerously close and Tobias waited for them to close in. He was planning his attack, ready to fend off the rotting, walking corpses if he had to. Suddenly Tobias heard a snapping noise and the zombies stopped in their tracks, though it was not of their will. With restrained fury they reached out for Tobias and Bibby. Tobias noticed that each of the zombies had a thick leather strap around their necks and an equally thick strap leading back into the shadows of the trees and pulled taught. The two restrained zombies reached out and repeatedly snapped their sharpened teeth together, eager for their next meal.

“Now settle down boys. They’re not for you to eat, yet.” Three more forms emerged from the shadows of the forest. Two of whom were holding the zombies back by the leather straps. The third Tobias recognized immediately. And since Richter was head of the undead guild, he assumed that his traveling companions were vampires as well. “Now, why would you be out this deep in the forest at night Mr. Gates?” Richter asked in his smooth and high society sounding voice.

Tobias looked at the jaw snapping zombie, fearful of what Richter’s intentions were. “We were just walking.” Tobias said after a long pause.

“You should be careful. It can be quite dangerous around here.” Richter smirked and turned to one of his pale companions. “Take my little pets here for example. I’ve been working on them for ages. They are far stronger and tougher than the rabble I set loose on the town.”

This shocked Tobias. “You’re the Necromancer?” He asked.

“I couldn’t call myself master of the undead if I wasn’t.” Richter replied. “It is a handy trick to have up the sleeves. That’s why I kept it from the rest of the Arcane Chamber. Unfortunately zombies are immeasurably stupid and as such failed the mission I set forth for them.” He looked at his companions. “Never send a zombie to do a vampire’s job.”

The vampires laughed, and Tobias clenched his fist. “Come now Tobias, there is no use in keeping secrets from me. I think you and I are here for the same reason.”

“And what reason is that?” Tobias gritted his teeth, angry that they would laugh at his mother’s attack.

“Don’t play coy. I’m not as easy to fool as Donavan and that posturing hot head Lycos.” Richter walked closer to Tobias and Bibby. “So why don’t you save yourself and your little friend a lot of trouble and give me Count Orlok’s ashes, now.”

“I don’t have them.” Tobias said defensively. “Why would I take them?”

Richter approached the rock face. He looked at Tobias with meticulous detail. Tobias tried to look away but Richter grasped his face and forced him to make eye contact. “Now you listen to me mutt.” Richter pulled Tobias in close. “I will not let your father’s plan come to fruition. Orlok was a great vampire lord but he was too ambitious for his own good. If he is resurrected, his aim will fall directly upon me and my post in the Arcane Chamber and that I cannot allow. I want those ashes and you will tell me where you have them hidden or you and your friend are going to die.”

“But…but I didn’t take them. I swear I don’t know.” Tobias talked threw pooched lips as Richter squeezed his face harder.

With a quick thrust of his arm Richter tossed Tobias behind him like he was no more than a discarded piece of paper. Tobias fell hard to the ground between the zombies and the other two vampires who had to pull the leather straps back hard to keep them from attacking. Richter looked over at Bibby and reached out for him. Bibby tried to run but Richter was far too fast for him. With a pale skinny hand Richter grasped Bibby’s throat. Bibby gasped spitting mouthfuls for water as he tried in vain to catch some air to breath.

“Let him go!” Tobias screamed as watched Richter strangle Bibby.

“Tell me where the ashes are.” Richter squeezed tighter on Bibby’s throat as he talked.

Panic manages to soak Tobias’s veins; he looked around hoping Isabelle had help on the way but knew they wouldn’t make it in time. He had to do something and thought quickly.

“Alright.” Tobias said sharply. “I’ll take you to them, just let Bibby go.”