Chapter 48
In the yard they found that there was already a fire pit carved out of the ground, surrounded by some wooden lounge chairs. Nat walked up to the pit as all of the canines left the Soulscape. Kali made sure to leave with the tent still set up from the night prior and dropped into it as she exited. Thanks to the repetitive nature of setting up camp over the last few days, everyone made it go so fast that the wargs were dumbfounded at how much everything around Nat changed in minutes. While Kali got the tent filled with pillows and blankets out and prepared, Ash and Shadow dropped firewood off beside Nat at the pit. Bryden and Emily took care of making sure none of the pups went adventuring too far away from the pack, while Maia took care of running tools and ingredients that were needed for the supper that night out so they were accessible. Lucille and Edwin took it upon themselves to take care of getting the meat needed from one of the cattle inside, which all that was needed was a single creature. All except for the wargs knew that they were in for a treat when Nat got started cooking.
Getting a part of the top sirloin cut off the hunted down cattle, Nat got to work as the rest was just stored and un-summoned inside her. Weirdly enough, if you took one cut off an animal hunted in there, the animal nor the cut of meat counted as a different unique item to store in the Soulscape. She quickly hung the meat up so as to let it drain a little as it was just freshly cut off. While the meat was draining, she ground up a sizable amount of parsley and basil for seasoning. While she did not know if the wargs had any dietary issues, as they had no idea that was a thing, she just went and assumed that their bodies composition was similar to the gray wolves that surrounded them. As such, she held back from using either salt or pepper, and especially held back from garlic or anything spicy as they all had the chance to cause severe complications for canines. Once the two herbs were all minced and ground, she cut the meat into small cubes before tossing it all in a bowl with the basil and parsley. After the meat was fairly evenly covered with the herbs, Nat turned to the small fire in the bit beside her.
Placing a large skillet above the fire, she tossed in a few tablespoons of butter to grease up the pan before throwing in half the meat. Any more than this would not cook right, and any less meant the canines around her may start slobbering on her shoulder trying to get closer. Thankfully it only took half a minute to cook each side of the cubes, so within 10 minutes of trying to flip them all and fending the wolves away from the half finished plate, the meat was all cooked. Before any of the canines could get near, Nat took the pan and poured the browned and melted butter over top of the meat. Giving the signal to her usual assistant Maia that it was all good to go, Maia put a paw on the outer edge of the plate, and quickly stored it inside, before bringing a plate back out to Nat. A train of canines went in and out of her as she moved back to sit beside the tent, grabbing plates for themselves to eat and enjoy.
The wargs looked on at the insanity and movement in confusion. How could any one figure out where to go, let alone what was happening. As they heard a whistle, they turned to look at the tent. Nat, Maia, and Kali all gestured for the to come over. Sitting in front of each of them was one plate, but then there were another three settings beside them. Each of these however had three times as many plates of the cooked beef compared to anyone else. The wargs slowly walked over to the beckoning trio, and cautiously took a bite. As soon as they did, they all started ravenously eating as fast as they could, enjoying the taste of the meat and herbs that mixed together in the fire. Growls of satisfaction sounded out from them, and every one else in the camp.
It took not even five minutes for every piece of meat to be eaten, but no canine was left unsatisfied. After relaxing, and having a large amount of food, the exhaustion from the long day finally set in, and collectively all of them made it towards the tent. Nat made sure that the fire was doused before checking to make sure the two coyote lookouts were good. Hearing confirmations from both of them, she crawled into the tent and laid down in the middle of the mound of fur. Feeling the tiredness in her bones, Nat quickly passed out.
Next that she knew, she was back in the forest of dreamland. However, as she turned around to get her bearings, a wide hole suddenly opened up beneath her, swallowing her into the ground. She did not fall for long, but abruptly landed in a dark and cold place. Unlike the plains filled with goblins, this one had a feeling of dread and captivity. Suddenly a dim and cold light came on behind her. Turning around she was aghast at what she saw. There was Shannon, the one she had always been close to and looked up to, covered in bruises and cuts. Her wrists and ankles were bound by chains of shadow, and looked as if she had strained against them time and time again. Natalie started running towards her, to free her from her bindings. The more that she ran at her, the further she seemed to be from Shannon. Looking back, Nat saw shadows, wispy and flowing, pulling at her, drawing her away into the dark. The last thing she remembered before succumbing to the void was the sight of shadows mounting her friend, as Nat screamed out, powerless to help her entrapped friend as she was dragged away.
Huge thanks to my Elder Wolves Jake, Viktor, Nikolas, Saganatsu, Eeleater, Lachlan, Coen, Adam, John, Ty, and Kevin for supporting me and my writing! Remember that I keep Patreon ten chapters ahead at all times. Our next goal on Patreon will be getting up to 25 patrons, which I will then open up an official discord for everyone to come and discuss the story in and hang out!