Russel and Lola spent the next two days traveling in a northwestern route across Oclan. The one thing that Lola noticed was the surprising lack of villages, towns, or even cities. The lands seemed to only be barren, rocky hills, snow, skeletal-looking trees, or iced over lakes, rivers, and ponds. The only animal life she spotted was some large birds circling overhead on several occasions. If she didn’t have Russel with her, she would have been terrified to travel across such a foreboding place. Even the skies overhead were sullen, gray, and filled with clouds most of the time. The sunniest part of Oclan appeared to be near the border with Alcroft.

When she asked Russel about why everything looked so dreary, he just shrugged his shoulders and said that’s how it’s always been.

“Since we’re much further north than the human kingdom or even Sarchi or Harvenk, we get a lot of snow. It doesn’t make for a whole lot of pleasant days. My father said our clan moved here because of those reasons. All this tough, rugged terrain makes for great natural defenses and barriers to attacking armies.”

She wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Was it a good thing they were hard to attack? Or that Russel’s father seemed to have war on his mind?

For the first time since leaving Alcroft and entering Oclan, she wasn’t sure if she made the right choice in seeking sanctuary there. She supposed it was her own past experiences making her extremely nervous. Having everyone she loved slaughtered to a man and then being involved in two ghoul attacks, plus the oni, had a lasting effect on her it seemed. She wanted to push those fears down into the depths of her mind, but it was no good. Not only did her misgivings come back even stronger, they also brought back all those terrible memories to the forefront of her mind again. It was like her brain wanted her to remember why she should be cautious.

As if she needed it.

All of those things were so fresh, they were almost replayed on a constant loop inside her head.

“Is everything all right?” Russel asked her during one of these long and introspective moments of hers.

She looked at him and smiled softly.

“Yes. I’m fine.” She huddled in on herself as an icy, chilling breeze suddenly blew across them. She felt it across her face and ears the most but the thick, wool-lined coat she had on did a lot to blunt the effects. It was one she bought in Wrexon under Russel’s urging before leaving the city.

“You sure? You look like something might be wrong.”

He, Lola noticed with some envy, didn’t have to wear a coat or even a thicker shirt. He strolled around in a thin, long-sleeved cotton shirt, a pair of pants, shoes and that was it. “Werewolves,” she remembered him explaining. “Have a natural resistance to most colder temperatures. Our bodies run a lot hotter than a human, even in our base form.”

Base form meaning his human one of course.

“Don’t worry,” she said, brushing off his concerns. “I’m really fine. With everything that’s happened, I’m just constantly on edge, you know?”

“Yeah. I think with everything you’ve been through, you have a right to be,” he told her.

She didn’t say anything back but nodded her head a little in acknowledgment. Russel realized she didn’t want to talk about it so he let the matter drop. She had to deal with her trauma in her own way. No amount of prying or butting in from him was going to help her. In fact, it might do more harm than good.

Besides, if she came to him directly and asked for advice, he would be more than happy to offer it.

They continued trudging across the rather unpleasant landscape for a while longer, Russel urging them onward with promises that the castle was close.

“It’s really not much farther now,” Russel would keep saying.

But, Lola kept thinking bitterly to herself, he’d been saying that for the last three hours or so. By the time she saw the perimeter of Oclan’s capital city and the impressive towers of Russel’s ancestral castle home, she wanted to punch him in the stomach; she was so irritated. She forced that away though. At least now, she could actually see an end. That was something.

“Another two hours and we’ll be there,” Russel said, way too chipper.

“Two hours!?” Lola asked, groaning.

“Why don’t we stop h…”