A Wolf's Cry

                                                                  A Wolf’s Cry

         Hudson stared through the bushes at the woman across from him.  Many words came to his mind: beautiful, graceful, powerful, but not evil.  He stared blankly at the woman in her silky white dress, trying to remind himself who she was.
         She was Liela the witch.  She had tortured his beloved homeland for nearly twenty years.  She was a sorceress that had allowed great power to corrupt her into the vile creature she was and it was his job to stop her.  Stop her? He wondered. Me and what army?
         He looked away finally to his companion on his left and smiled, seeing the same expression on Theldrin’s face.  Theldrin was an old friend; they’d known each other for over thirty years now.  He was a priest and a great healer, but even the two of them were unsure about how well they’d fare against Liela.
         That dilemma was solved for them as she turned slowly and saw the two companions crouched behind their too-small bush.  “Hello boys,” she said, in her sultry voice.
         Hudson blinked. How had she seen them?  He stood up, gripping his sword tightly in his left hand.  “Leave this place,” he said, “or else we’ll…”  His voice would not carry out his threat as his eyes once again fell upon her beauty.
         “Or else what, you brave man?”  She took a step forward, her voice seductive and charming. “Your old man was most unkind to me.  You must pay for his crimes.”  Hudson didn’t miss the change in her voice and meaning.
         “Look out,” Theldrin cried.  Hudson hadn’t missed the witch’s hand moving in the tell-tale signs of a spell.  He charged, trying to stop her spell while bringing up his shield to deflect it.  He was too slow and the spell passed right through the mundane metal of his shield.
         It hit him squarely in the chest and sent him flying into the air.  The impact made him wonder why the world was suddenly spinning so fast around him.  The answer came in the form of his slamming his helmeted head into a tree with a loud thud.
         “Hudson, you fool!”  Theldrin cried, trying to get to his friend’s side.  As he got up from behind the bush he was amazed to find the witch already in between him and Hudson.
         “Oh, he brought a friend, how nice of him.”  She began to cast again, but Theldrin understood magic much better than his warrior-like friend.  He moved in a circular path around the witch, trying to not give her a clear target in the woods.
         The spell bounced through the trees, filling the area around Theldrin.  He felt the very air around him hum with magical energy.  The spell was assaulting him from every direction, trying to bend him to her will.  “Hudson, stop her!”
Hudson heard his friend, but his whole world was spinning.  Where was Theldrin?  He tried to focus his vision, but he felt himself swoon and nearly pass out.  Where had that pretty humming sound come from?
         Theldrin turned to where he believed the witch to be and hurled his mace in her direction.  He groaned as he heard it strike solid stone.
         “Oh stop that,” Liela said, with a girlish giggle. “Come here, my pet.”  As his mind was being pummeled by the spell he was suddenly tackled from behind.  He fell hard to the ground and it momentarily cleared his mind.  “No, Gulick,” Liela called to her minion, “stop that!”
         Whatever it was on top of him got off, but the spell quickly took its drugging hold again.  He tried to rise, but found his body was terribly slow.  And then something in his mind clicked and he saw Liela in a totally new light.
         The world had finally stopped spinning, but he was weak from the spell and his fight.  He looked over to see Liela and her pet kobold Gulick helping Theldrin to his feet.  Why were they helping Theldrin, the enemy?
         Gulick was the first one to reach Hudson as the group approached him.  He stared straight into that little green face, it standing about as tall as he was sitting down.  That little face that looked like a horrific mix of a rat’s and a lizard’s smirked at the little human.  “He still breatheses mistress.”
         “I know,” she said, holding a large dagger in her hands, “but not for long.”  As she neared him, though, she paused; an evil smile spreading across her face.  To Hudson’s amazement, she handed the dagger to Theldrin.  “If you ever oppose me again, your old friend here will shove that dagger into his own breast, won’t you darling?”  She said, smiling at Theldrin.
         “Anything for you, mistress.” He held the dagger over his heart and waited patiently for further instruction.
         “But I’m not done with you,” she said, turning back to the dazed warrior.  “Your father took my ear with that spear of his.  I’ll make sure you pay for his crimes!”  She slapped him across the face.
         Stars exploded in his eyes as he tried to keep his attention focused on the real world.  “Sleep now, and remember what I’ve said.”  The grass seemed to rise rose up and meet him halfway as he fell and knew no more.
         Liela watched as the young elf fell down into the grass.  She had learned one main thing since that encounter with his wretched father: make them pay or else they will come back. 
         She was the smartest person in the land, she knew that death did end troublesome people, but the lesson did not hold in the minds of the family, just a seething feeling of revenge.
         She muttered a few words over the unconscious man and felt her magic wash over him.  She smiled as she heard the tell-tale sound of bones crunching and organs squelching as his body transformed.  She smiled, “Come home, my dears.  Let’s leave this dog to wallow in self pity.”  She laughed at her own little joke and walked off into the woods.  She doubted the elf would ever come back; good people always cared too much for these people called friends.
         Hudson woke up.  The first thing that he noticed was that he was face down on grass; the smell of fresh grass filled his nose.  He pushed his chest up off the ground and slowly opened his eyes.  The world’s colors seemed dull before his semi-conscious mind.  There was something awfully close to his face, so he attempted to swat it away.  To his surprise he felt that the gray block in his vision was attached to his face!
         It was a furry piece extending nearly four inches into his vision.  He realized then that it was a muzzle!  This woke his mind up and he began to test the rest of him.  He found a tail trailing behind him, dragging through the grass, and his feet had become the digitigrade legs of a quadruped.  He was a dog!
         The world’s colors were much duller to his new vision, but the sounds were incredibly clear.  He heard the birds all around him, especially that obnoxious crow above him.  He turned his head up to see the bird, but found it hard to pick the thing out.  He could smell and hear it though, and that was enough for his instincts.
         Before he gave it a second thought he jumped into the air, launching himself into the branches of the tree.  The bird gave a cry of alarm, but he felt his teeth dig into something soft and there was a loud snap.  He landed perfectly back on the ground with the bird held tightly in his jaws.
         What have I done?  He dropped the bird and stepped back, but he felt sticky blood already in his mouth.  Again before he could think, he was upon the meat, greedily ripping at the dead bird.
         What am I doing?  He backed away, but all that was left of the bird was a twisted pile of gore and bone.  He looked away, but it was painfully obvious what he had done, as the sticky fluid dripped down his furred chin.  He tried to turn away, to get away from his kill, but instincts would not allow his new body to leave it.
         He stood there for several moments, wrestling with his feral mind to retain his human morals.  He finally won over and wrenched himself away from the meat, but his feral mind knew other things as well.  With fresh meat came other predators as well, he had to leave, now.
         He dashed out of the clearing, but a new smell assaulted his nose, human.  His mind immediately told him of the danger of humans.  They hunt the pack and take their skins.
         Wait, humans are dangerous?  A part of him told him that that was not true.  He tried to focus his mind, where was this human?  He wanted to be with someone, anyone.  He was a human without a friend and a wolf without a pack, how much more alone could he get?
         He crashed through some bushes and saw the human.  She sat beside a stream, putting on her longs robes after a refreshing dip in the spring.  He gave a yip of surprise and hid in the bushes.  If only she knew he was a humanoid, this would be awkward.  Now he had to force his intelligent self not to stare at the elven, not human, maiden getting dressed by the stream.
         Aywin heard the yip of a dog and quickly pulled her robe on the rest of the way and pulled out some venison from her pouch.  She held out the venison.  “Don’t be afraid.”
         She had always had a knack with animals and she prided herself in her ability to calm any beast of the forest.  “Where are you?”
         There it was.  It was a wolf; its coat was very well kempt and it was still hiding in the bushes, staring at her with golden eyes.  She slowly walked forward, still holding out the venison to this oddly shy predator.  “What’s wrong, not hungry?”
         The wolf took a step towards her.  It sniffed the air and immediately pounced out of the bushes.  She tried to pull back, so it wouldn’t topple her, but its strong legs had carried it on top of her and she tripped on her robes as she fell under the weight of the wolf.
         It bit down hard into the venison and ripped half of it into his mouth.  She tried to push it away, so it wouldn’t bite her hand off, when she felt a connection to the creature.  It was strange, this never happened unless she was with other druids, unless--
         “Stop!” she cried, hoping the man would hear her.  Its jaw was halfway down to the venison again when it stopped.  It looked at her out of confused eyes.
         “You’re not a wolf, I can feel that,” she explained, hoping he would understand.  “I’m Aywin, a druid.  I can help you, but please get off of me.”
         The wolf gave a lonely whimper.  It got off of her and stood facing the stream, its tail dragging on the ground.  It shook its coat, but there was only a small twig that came off.
         “There, now I can talk to you; and if you trust me, you can talk to me as well.”  She got up and dusted herself off.  The wolf looked at her with eyes full of trust and hope.  What happened to this man, she wondered.  How can he so easily trust me, especially with the mind of a wolf surely trying to run from me now that I have no food?
         She began to mutter her spell and tapped the wolf’s muzzle.  It gave a shake as the magic fell over it.  “What does that do?”  He asked, but quickly stopped, his eyes widening in shock.
         “You can talk like you did before you were transformed.  Now, I can try to restore you to normal, but I need to know what happened.”  She sat down in front of him and looked intently into his face.
         He told her of their quest to defeat Liela.  He described the battle and of Theldrin’s odd behavior.  He spoke of her threat to kill him and how she had apparently stuck him in a wolf’s body. 
         “Well, that’s quite a story,” she said, the first thing she had said since he started his story.  “Unfortunately, my magic is not as advanced as Liela’s, thus I can’t turn you back into an elf.  I can, however, keep this speech spell on you.  So, what’s your plan now?”
         He stared down at the ground.  What can I do?  I want to please my father and remove an evil presence from this land I call home, but that would endanger Theldrin.  Plus, even if I did face her, could I keep my feral instincts in check that are constantly trying to overpower me?
         She looked down at this man.  What had he done to deserve such a heavy burden?  His new wolf legs certainly did not help in bearing the load.  Why was it that these good missions always ended up so difficult?
         “I have an idea,” she said, looking over at him.  “If you’re willing to go back, then I have an idea that just might work.”
         “I’m all ears,” he said, and indeed his ears did point forward to hear her better.
         Liela stood there, smiling at her little Gulick.  He seemed very glad to have a new pet to boss around.  Theldrin seemed very pleased to polish her entire room numerous times and then go out and clear out the privy outside without any complaint.
         “Move, worm, keeps scrubbing the floorses!”  Gulick kicked at the man on the floor, but his weak body did not truly harm the elf.
         “If it pleases the mistress,” he said, and continued scrubbing the floor of her bedroom.  His whole life seemed to please his mistress, and that was good enough for him.
She turned around and walked out the door.  Her home was not some castle on top of a high mountain or some cliché of a cabin in the middle of the woods.  Her home was part of the woods.  Her magic had transformed the inside of a tree to fit over eight rooms and still seem like a normal tree from the outside.  She loved extra dimensional space, it was quite handy.
She stared up into the canopy of her tree and inhaled the night air.  She was honestly surprised.  She had expected that brat to come back already so that she could finish him off.  Why did heroes never do what they were supposed to do?  She sighed and twiddled her thumbs.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a howl coming from nearby.  Finally, what took him so long?  “Don’t come any closer, dog.  Remember, I have your friend.”  She was answered by another howl, this time from much closer.
This was just plain foolish.  Why would he dare announce his presence after I threatened to kill his friend?  She sensed that there was more going on here then met her ears.  She summoned a small light and held it towards the source of the sound.
It was indeed the wolf; she snickered.  “I’ve caught you now.  Too bad you don’t have your little friend anymore.”  She laughed, but her laugh quickly subsided.  She narrowed her eyes and concentrated on the wolf.  Something was off, but she was not sure what.
This was certainly a wolf, the large fangs and rough fur told her that, but it didn’t look like any of the others she had transformed.  It appeared sleek and smaller than she would have expected.  It looked like a female.
“What trickery is this?  I did not turn you into a bitch.”  She stepped forward and attempted to cast a spell to answer her question.
Her spell never finished.  She was interrupted by a large weight flying out of the forest and slamming into her back.  She gave a scream and fell face first into the grass.
Hudson stared at the witch that now lay underneath his paws.  He breathed a little easier, that had actually worked!  So long as she was out here, Theldrin was much safer.
  He opened his jaws and drove them down around her neck, just like the crow.  He gave a yip of surprise as his fangs connected, but could not even puncture her skin.
“Fools,” the witch cried.  She stood up with an amazing burst of strength.  Hudson was sent skidding across the grass, his claws digging a groove into it as he fought to maintain his footing.  “You do not know what you are dealing with!  I will squash you like the insolent insects you are!”
The same sound that Hudson heard as he lost consciousness sounded again.  Liela’s bones were crunching as she began to grow larger.  Her hind legs bulged outwards, beginning to rip at her tight fitting robes.  There was a loud crack as her spine became fitted to a quadruped and she fell to her hands, which were quickly growing larger.  To Hudson’s horror more legs began to sprout from her side as the hideous transformation neared its end.
What now stood before the horrified Hudson looked like a giant blue lobster, with its front legs ending in pincers that were larger then Hudson was.  Its mouth resembled that of a giant ant, and it looked hungry.  It had the tank-like shell and its 6 legs skittered on the grass.
         Hudson’s elation suddenly dwindled as he stared at the monstrosity.  “My word, she’s a Relver!”  Aywin said, quickly returning to her elven form.
         “You are pathetic little mortals,” she reached a hooked claw at the staring Hudson.
         He knew he had to move, but his legs were paralyzed at the sight of this monster.  By the time his legs seemed to answer to his brain’s urgent calls, the claw was around him and lifted him up into the air.
         He tried to reach over the back of the claw to bite the more fleshy leg, but it was too large.  He howled in fury as he clawed the pincer holding him, but it seemed to do very little to the thick armor.  The claw squeezed, crushing his ribcage and making breathing difficult.
         “Mistress looks out!”  Hudson recognized the voice as Gulick’s.  He couldn’t see over the claw, but he very easily heard the roar of pain that erupted from the monster’s mouth.
         “You couldn’t hold me prisoner forever, demon!”  Hudson knew that voice anywhere; that was Theldrin.  The claw that held him loosened and he squeezed out of its crushing embrace.
         As he fell to the ground, he evaluated the situation.  Theldrin had driven a knife into the underbelly of the witch and Aywin was on the ground, grappling with the small kobold.  But there was a problem, the blood pouring from the wound of the crab-like creature fell onto Theldrin and his mail armor immediately began to smoke.
         “Get out of there!”  Hudson cried, but he realized with the crab’s sprawling legs his friend would be hard pressed to escape the falling acid.  With a howl Hudson launched himself through the air, aiming for the thing’s face, but he miscalculated.  He instead hit the very top of her head, sending him spinning through the air.  As he righted himself, the thing moved and he scrabbled with his claws, trying to gain a foothold as he slid off of its back.
         He slid down the crab’s back and neared the leg.  He dug his claws into the fleshy and blood began to ooze out of the wound.  It felt like someone had poked his paws with a branding iron.  He immediately pulled back, but lost his balance.  He tumbled off of the monster and fell hard onto his head.
         Stars exploded in his vision as the world was suddenly spinning.  He tried to gain his bearings, but the world would not come in clearly.  He groaned as he felt the battle around him, but the pretty stars would not leave him alone.
         Theldrin saw the blood burning his armor, but he couldn’t stop now.  He had seen her turn Hudson into a dog and she enslaved him.  She was going to die or else he would die trying.
            He pulled free his dagger and plunged it again into the monster’s underbelly. The monster roared, but its pincers were slow as they tried to weave themselves between its other six legs.
         “Take this, witch!”  Two quick stabs brought forth more of the acidic blood and this time his hand was in the torrent.  He felt the very skin on his hand burn as the acid bit deep, trying to eat away all that it touched.  He quickly cast a spell, but all it would do is numb the pain.
         Liela teetered from side to side, trying to hold its balance.  She felt her blood dripping from her wounds and the world was darkening before her.  “Help me, Gulick,” she cried, trying to see her servant.          
         She found the girl, but where was her servant?  Then she saw it.  The girl held in her hand a small rat which was furiously chattering as she held it airborne by the tail.
         She cursed these rotten adventurers, she cursed her own master, she cursed everything and anything that came to mind, but she would not be forgotten.  As the world swam before her vision she fell on top of the troublesome wolf and prepared one final spell.
         “Hudson!”  Theldrin cried.  Hudson heard his name and knew he should do something, but his limbs were slow.  As he began to get up he saw the large shape falling towards him.
         “Oh,” was the only word he could get out before he was smothered by the large weight.
         Aywin flung the rat aside; he couldn’t really bother anyone except some housewives now anyway.  That witch died on top of Hudson on purpose, I’m sure, but why?  Sure she was large, but not even her weight would outright kill him.  Suffocation still didn’t seem likely.  Then she remembered a story she had once heard about these demons who took on human form.  “Damn,” she said as she watched the demon’s body begin to evaporate.  This was terrible, but there was nothing that was within her power to help.  She fell to her knees.
         How could some lousy demon overpower me in animals, my specialty?  She punched the grass in frustration and groaned as she saw Hudson start to move.
         He woke up, but the world was fuzzy.  What was that thing that had fallen on him?  His paw was hurt, he could tell that, but he knew it would heal.
         The most pressing thing was, he smelled humans.  They were dangerous, especially because he smelled more than one.  He leapt to his feet and tried to hear the humans.  He heard one of them coming towards him and bolted away, into the woods.  Why was he alone?  He had to go find his pack, wherever they may be.
         “Hudson!”  Theldrin called after his friend, but he was already deep into the woods.  “Come back here, we won,” he shouted, trying to wipe the acid off of his hand onto the grass.
         “Don’t bother,” Aywin said, her face as pale and unreadable as stone.  “He’s a normal wolf now.  That demon has erased all that was the elf Hudson and left the feral beast.”
         Theldrin stared blankly at her.  After over thirty years together, there was no spell that could end all that so easily.  She lied! “No, that can’t be!” He would have brought forth evidence, but his spell ended and the acid’s pain returned.  It took him a minute to heal his wound.
         “I’m sorry, but there is nothing I can do.  Hudson is gone.  All that’s left is a wild wolf.”  She turned and walked away, leaving Theldrin to bear with what had just happened.
         Theldrin decided to go after him.  He would not allow his friend to be alone, but how could he truly help if Hudson would always run?  It didn’t matter; he was a friend and he would not leave him.  He got up and followed the tracks that the large wolf had made in the bushes.
         I’m coming, friend.
         The village never found out what happened to the two lads that had gone out to face the witch.  The only word they ever received was a note on Hudson’s father’s door:

         They are alive, but I do not expect them to ever return.  Be proud, you have raised them well.  It is a privilege to know them both.
A druid who cares