The man's pace was quick and sure and I was annoyed when I found myself struggling.  Not only was I following some creepy guy in a cloak into the wilderness, but I was apparently doing it too slowly.  He kept looking over his shoulder and I could have sworn he was frowning at me, though it was hard to tell in the dark with the hood shadowing his face.  A few steps later, a low-hanging branch brushed his hood back and I saw his head was shaved and his cheeks seemed lean, but I only got a glance from the side before he replaced the hood.

As we walked, I slowly became aware of a presence behind me and a shiver ran down my spine.  Eventually I stopped short, unable to take the dread anymore, turning to look. 

“You cannot stop, my lady.”  The man sounded exasperated.

“Something’s there.  I can’t see it.”

“Oh.”  He gave a low whistle.  

A black form materialized from the shadows and my breath caught.  A hound.  I’d been tricked!  The animal was huge, more like a wolf than a dog, its eyes iridescent with the dim light. 

“He’s here to protect, he will not harm you.”

“The hell he won’t!  Why is he following us?”

“He’s following me, not us, and you’re being rude.  Look how he’s eyeing you, he doesn’t trust you any more than you trust him.  Now.  Let’s go.”

Though he didn’t look like the hounds from my nightmare, I was still shaken.  Even so, the man seemed to be right.  Was that suspicion in the wolf-dog’s gold eyes?  That was silly.  Dogs couldn’t look suspicious. 

A sharp tug on my coat sleeve brought my attention back to the man who moved forward again, almost jogging it seemed.  One more glance at the canine and I followed, reluctant.  Had I stepped right into my nightmare?  

As the moon sank toward the western mountains and we entered rougher terrain, it certainly seemed so.  I grew first sweaty, then thirsty as I climbed up hills and stumbled down the other side, surrounded by a forest of pines.  Questions multiplied in my mind.  Who was this man?  What looming danger could be averted by marching double-time into the foothills?  Weren’t he and his wolf the only danger here?  I couldn’t quite make myself believe it.  I’d been around crazy people and druggies before and this man was nothing like them.  Unusual as this circumstance was, I got no creepy feeling from him or even his wolf like I had from the relatively benign conversation yesterday with Leo. 

The moon set and the man showed no sign of flagging.  He seemed to be able to pick out a path blind.  With the hiking and running I was accustomed to, it was strange for me to have trouble keeping the pace, but I was now.  How long had we been walking anyway?

At last—it must have been nearly six in the morning, it was getting a little lighter—he stopped on the side of a hill in a kind of natural shelter.

“Rest for a while, my lady.”

I plopped unceremoniously onto the ground.  The black wolf lay down next to the man’s feet, still eyeing me as if I was the threat.  In the gray light I saw more of the man’s face and guessed him to be in his thirties.  From somewhere within his cloak, he produced a leather canteen, offering it to me.  I raised a distrustful eyebrow and made no move to take it.

“It’s water.”

Thirsty as I was, I wasn’t stupid enough to take what he offered without question.  The man’s lips tightened and I saw understanding come into his brown eyes.  Raising the canteen to his own lips, he drank.  I watched closely to make sure he swallowed and then accepted the canteen when he offered once again.  I smelled wet leather and drank deeply. Once I had gulped my fill, I handed back the canteen.  

Scooting my back against a boulder, I shivered in the cold air, looking at the man resentfully.  I needed some answers before I was going to take another step.  Why had I ever climbed out my window to follow some renaissance man?  Maybe all my feelings were wrong and he really was crazy. 

“Here, you need to eat something.  I don’t feel them behind us yet, we have a little time.”  He held out a fabric-wrapped bundle.  

Where had he been keeping this?  I took the bundle, my curiosity and hunger too great to resist.  I unwrapped a sticky granola bar that looked homemade and gobbled it before I could consider that it might be drugged.  Was that molasses I tasted?  Weird.  When nothing but crumbs remained, I glanced back at my companions.  I was bone tired, but I knew somehow that the man would urge us onward shortly.  Now was my chance, if ever, to try to get some truth out of him.  “Why are we running?” I demanded.  “Or what are we running from?” 

“We’re running so you have a chance at living, my lady,” he replied flatly.  “And we’re running from those that would kill us both if they find us here.”

I crossed my arms, unconvinced. The lighter it grew, the more ridiculous my dream and fears of the night before felt.  “It feels more like we’re running from shadows and I’m about over it.”

The man gave a harsh chuckle.  “You’re not wrong, my lady.  We are certainly running from shadows.  But these shadows will slit your throat.”

I glared at him defiantly.  “I’ve just about decided you’re crazy.  And why are you calling me ‘my lady’? It sounds ridiculous.”

The man made an exasperated sound.  “We don’t have time for this.  Ask your questions if you must, but let’s get moving again.”

“Moving is the last thing I’m going to do.  I don’t believe anyone is chasing us.”

Both man and wolf regarded me with deep and somber expressions, then exchanged a look.  It was uncanny, almost as if they were communicating about me through their glance.

Frowning, I decided to try a different track of questioning and see if I got farther.  “What’s your name anyway?  I’m A—“

“Shhh!” The man went stiff and spun around, holding his hand up, a dire expression on his face.  “Do not tell me your name!”  His voice was the most impassioned I’d heard it and, next to him, the wolf growled.  I stopped short, closed my gaping mouth, then raised a skeptical eyebrow, waiting.  He would have to elaborate at least a little after such an outburst.  He seemed to realize this for, after a few seconds, he took a deep breath and relaxed a bit, his eyes falling to the ground. 

“I know you are not used to thinking in these terms, my lady, but, here, a name is power.  If you give someone your real name, they have a very real power over you.”

“Really?” My voice dripped sarcasm.

 “Please, my lady, if you believe nothing else, believe me now.  Do not give your real name to anyone here.”  He spoke slowly, emphasizing each word.

I sighed in exasperation.  “Then what will you call me?  ‘My lady’ only goes so far, sir.  Furthermore, what do I call you?  I can’t call you Man-in-cloak, now, can I?”

He ignored my jab and looked thoughtful, rubbing his chin for a moment.  “What do you think of ‘Ethereal?’  I could call you that.”

I opened my mouth to object, but then shut it again.  This point wasn’t worth arguing. 

The man was talking again. “…otherworldly and insubstantial.  You are most assuredly ethereal here.”

I shrugged.  “I guess it’s better than some things you could call me.”  

For the briefest moment a smile flashed across his face, transforming it.  The smile chased away the gloom and made him look years younger.  Perhaps he wasn’t as old as I’d thought.  The moment passed.  Then again, maybe he was.  “Good.  Then you shall be my lady, Ethereal.  You may call me Trenwyn.  It’s my circle name.”

“Ah,” I said, though I hadn’t a clue what he was talking about.  At least it was a name.  Trenwyn apparently thought the exchange was over.  He began to walk again but I was far from satisfied.  “What’s your wolf’s name, Trenwyn?”

“If you want more answers, Ethereal, you’ll have to walk with me,” he called over his shoulder, heading south. 

I cursed under my breath.  My legs and feet ached, but I was so curious.  And, strangely, I noticed something for the first time.  The sense of foreboding or unbelonging or whatever the feeling was that I had developed over the past year, was gone.  At a time when forebodings should have been strongest, this made me pause.  It’s also probably what made me force myself to my feet again with a groan and start after Trenwyn.

“Okay, fine, I’m walking.  So what’s your wolf’s name?” I asked again. 

 He glanced down at the wolf walking at his side.  The wolf looked back up at him placidly.  “He’s called Lucian.”

I nodded, scanning the landscape for the log houses and large retirement homes I expected to see.  There was nothing but tree-covered foothills.  The mountains were still to my right but they seemed different somehow.  It must be the angle.

 “So, just who are you, Trenwyn?”  I looked at his cloak again and now in the light saw his tall leather boots.  “Are you a cosplayer or something?”

He didn’t look at me, keeping his steady pace ahead, but the back of his hooded head shook in the negative.  “No.”

“A charlatan, maybe?” I persisted.

He flashed me a crooked smile but his pace did not slacken and I quickened mine to better hear him.  “I would like to think myself more a wizard than a charlatan.”

“Wouldn’t we all,” I muttered under my breath.

“I am a maj, my lady.”

“Ah,” I said again.  “And what does a maj do?”

 “A maj, my lady, is…is like one of your magicians, I suppose would be the best way to describe it.”

I gave him a flat look.  “So you do parlor tricks.”  He grunted and I rolled my eyes and we fell into silence once more.  “Who’s following…” I nearly bumped into him as he stopped abruptly, holding up a hand.  It was his left hand and the middle finger sported a ring of some dull silver metal with an amber stone in it. 

Trenywn was listening for something, so I listened too, but heard nothing except the soft wind through the pine boughs above us.

“They’re coming,” he said at last.  “He’s brought all his blasted hounds.”