another scaffold, with another execution being prepared. A prisoner, shaking, stood on a platform, blindfolded, a noose around his neck.
Caitlin was so distracted, she almost lost sight of the boy, as she felt Caleb grab her hand and guide her further down Clink Street.
As they continued, Caitlin suddenly heard a distant shout and then a roar. She saw the boy, in the distance, turn the corner, and heard another shout rise up. She then was surprised to feel the earth shake beneath her. She hadn't felt anything like that since the Roman Colosseum. She realized that there must be a huge stadium of some sort just around the bend.
As they turned the corner, she was astonished by the sight before her. It was a huge, circular structure, looking like a miniature Colosseum. It was built several stories high, and closed off from view, but in each direction there were arched doors leading into it. She could hear the shouts, louder now, clearly coming from behind its walls.
Before the building milled hundreds of people, some of the most seedy people she had ever laid eyes upon. Some were barely dressed, many had huge bellies sticking out, unshaved and unbathed. Wild dogs roamed amidst them, and Ruth growled, the hairs on her back standing up, clearly on edge.
Vendors pushed carts in the mud, many selling pints of gin. From the looks of the crowd, it seemed most people partook. The crowd jostled each other roughly, and most of them looked drunk. Another roar rose up, and Caitlin looked up and saw the sign hanging over the stadium: “Bear Baiting.”
She felt sick to her stomach. Was this society really so cruel?
The small stadium seemed to be part of a complex. There, in the distance, sat another small stadium, with a huge sign which read “Bull Baiting.” And there, off to the side, set apart from these two, was another large circular structure – although this one looked different from the others, classier.
"Come see the new Will Shakespeare play in the new Globe Theatre!" yelled out a passing boy, holding a stack of pamphlets. He walked right up to Caitlin, and shoved a pamphlet into her hands. She looked down and it read: “the new play by William Shakespeare: The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.”
"Will you come, Miss?" the boy asked. "It's his new play, and it's going to be performed for the first time in this brand-new theater: the Globe.”
Caitlin looked down at the pamphlet, feeling a rush of excitement. Could this be real? Was this really happening?
“Where is it?" she asked.
The boy chuckled. He turned and pointed. "Why, it's right over there, Miss.”
Caitlin looked to where he was pointing, and saw a circular structure in the distance, with white stucco walls and a Tudor wooden trim. The Globe. Shakespeare's Globe. It was incredible. She was really here.
In front of it, thousands of people were milling about, entering from all directions. And the crowd looked just as rough as the crowd entering the bullbaiting and bearbaiting. That surprised her. She had always imagined Shakespeare theatergoers to be more civilized, more sophisticated. She had never really considered that it was entertainment for the masses – and the crudest type of masses at that. It seemed to be right up there with bearbaiting.
Yes, she would love to see a new Shakespeare play, love to go to the Globe. But she felt determined to fulfill her mission first, to solve the riddle.
A new roar arose from the bearbaiting stadium, and she turned and focused her attention back on it. She wondered if the answer to the riddle lay just beyond its walls.
She turned to Caleb.
"What do you think?" she asked. “Should we see what it's about?”
Caleb looked hesitant.
“The riddle did mention a bridge,” he said, “and a bear. But my senses are telling me something else. I'm not quite sure – ”
Suddenly, Ruth growled, then took off, sprinting away.
"Ruth!" Caitlin yelled.
She was gone. She didn't even turn back to listen, and she sprinted for all she was worth.
Caitlin was shocked. She had never see her behave that way, even in times of utmost danger. What could possibly pull her so much? She had never known Ruth not to listen.
Caitlin and Caleb broke into a sprint after her at the same time.
But even with their vampire speed, it was slow going through the mud, and Ruth was way faster than them. They watched her turn and weave through the masses, and they had to jostle their way to keep sight of her. Caitlin could see, in the distance, Ruth turn a corner, and sprinted down a narrow alleyway. She picked up speed, as did Caleb, pushing a big man out of her way as she did, and turned down the alleyway, after her.
What on earth could she be after? Caitlin wondered. She wondered if it were a stray dog, or if perhaps she had just reached a tipping point with hunger, and was chasing after a meal. She was a wolf, after all. Caitlin had to remind herself of that. She should have searched harder for food for her, and sooner.
But when Caitlin turned the corner and looked down the alley, she suddenly realized, with a shock, what it was.
There, at the far end of the alley, sat a young girl, maybe eight, in the dirt, cowering, crying, shaking. Towering above her was a large, beefy man, no shirt, his huge belly sticking out, unshaven, his chest and shoulders covered in hair. He wore an angry scowl, revealing his missing teeth, and he reached back with a leather belt and whipped the poor girl in her back, again and again.
"That's what you get for not listening!" the man screamed in a vicious tone, as he raised his belt again.
Caitlin was mortified, and without even thinking, she prepared to burst into action.
But Ruth beat her to it. Ruth had a head start, and as the man reached back his arm, Ruth sprinted and leapt into the air, opening her jaws wide.
She clamped down on the man's forearm and sunk her teeth all the way in. Blood sprayed everywhere, as the man shrieked an unearthly shriek.
Ruth was furious, and would not be appeased. She snarled and shook her head to and fro, tearing more deeply into the man’s flesh, and would not let go.
The man swung Ruth to and fro, only able to do so because of his considerable size and because she was still not yet a full-grown wolf. She snarled, and it was a sound scary enough to raise the hair even on the back of Caitlin’s neck.
But this man was clearly used to violence, and he swung his big beefy shoulder around and managed to slam Ruth against the brick wall. He then reached over with his other hand and whipped his belt down hard on her back.
Ruth shrieked and yelped. She finally let go, dropping to the ground.
The man, a look of hatred in his eyes, reached back with both hands, ready to bring his belt down with all his might on Ruth's face.
Caitlin sprang into action. Before the man could bring it down, she lunged forward, reaching out with her right hand, grabbing his throat. She drove him back, by the throat, lifting him up, off the ground, higher than her, until she slammed him into a wall, bricks crumbling.
She dangled him there before her, his face turning blue, choking. She was much smaller than he was, but he didn't stand a chance in her iron grip.
Finally, she
