Harlan said good night to the count after their talk, feeling like he forgot something, probably wasn’t important.
He decided to go and start on his sheep and foxes.
The procedure was simple enough, put a mimic soul in them. The hard part was going to be teaching them based on what Harlan thought the animals did.
Balor had finished his classes some time ago and was able to help with it.
“First we must decide, what is it that we want them to do? Then we need to teach them. I believe that memory copies will work better than trying to make a doll learn how to move as an animal would.”
“I don’t like the idea of it. Foxes aren’t like dogs, they can’t really be tamed in the same way. I really don’t want the babies getting hurt.”
“How about we map out a single fox soul? Find which memories are which and then pull only the movement and general personality.”
“Every action is in some way based on instinct with animals. I think I just need to spend time watching foxes and then pass that along to the dolls. I already know enough about sheep. I think I am just going to test that first.”
It took 2 days of practice, but his wooden sheep was just like the real thing, overly so. It kept trying to jump into dangerous situations and he needed to herd it to safety. It took another day to make it into an idealized version of a sheep, one that wasn’t quite so dumb and stubborn.
He could’ve done it sooner but Jaramis didn’t like testing around the children and Harlan wanted to see Autumn and them, leaving more or less just the night to work on it. The foxes just sat around in a drawer, they didn’t know how to do anything and they wouldn’t try to learn unless Harlan actively taught him.
He decided to show the sheep to Autumn before giving it to the maid.
“It really does move like a real sheep.”
“It moves better than a real sheep, because it doesn’t toss itself into holes or briar bushes.”
Jaramis was the only one who didn’t laugh at his joke, having never had to herd sheep before.
“So it’s a small golem?”
“Uh, I guess? I’ve never really seen a golem, I just know they are made from petrified trolls and the army uses them sometimes.”
“That is an interesting application of this magic, do you think you could replicate it? Golems are expensive and hard to make, counts or obscenely wealthy merchants will sometimes have them as guards. Though if you have only just now started on it I am sure the royals have battalions of them already.”
“I am actually already working on 2 more of them, but I won’t say what they are for, it’s a surprise.”
“Are you aware of how ominous you really are?”
“Jaramis!” Autumn whisper yelled at him.
“Yes, I know, I was in town and people looked at me weird. Only an old blacksmith and the couriers treated me normally.”
“Have you had a talk about the couriers with my father yet?”
“No? Why?”
“It’s not my place to say. But you should show that sheep to him.”
Jaramis wasn’t quite ok with Harlan being around, but seeing him jump to making a small sheep instead of a giant golem had made him a little less uneasy about him.
The count was a busy man, Harlan couldn’t just burst into his office whenever he had a question, he decided to find and watch foxes for the day until dinner came around, the count considered anything after dinner to be personal time and rarely worked during it.
It took Harlan nearly an hour to find a single fox, then he realized he really wasn’t that inconspicuous, so he worked on that.
By the time he felt like he could silently follow and watch a fox he realized the sky was dimming and headed back.
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But something else had decided now was the time to strike.
Harlan left Balor at the mansion to train the counts men according to their deal.
He barely noticed the thing, he was in the middle of a jump making it harder to avoid the attack. He grabbed the wolf and used it to redirect his momentum.
He noticed it was hard and cold, not a wolf then.
It snarled silently, looking like any normal wolf, but its mouth was full of needle teeth instead of what it should have.
They circled each other for a time before the wolf thing jumped at him once more, Harlan hit it with an uppercut in its jaw.
The beast didn’t flinch, Harlan bruised his knuckles, his fingers felt off, maybe broken. And the beast got some scratches in. Its legs and claws grew slightly, turning near misses into direct hits.
They would be fatal if he was a normal human without the ability to stop the bleeding at least. His left arm was basically worthless now, he couldn’t regrow and attach tendons and muscles yet.
He drew Lugh with his good hand and ran, deflecting what blows he could.
Harlan quickly realized he wouldn’t be able to do anything to hurt it, any time he did hit the beast its fur and fake skin broke but the insides were metal.
The beast came to his left and right causing him to veer off course, after a few minutes he realized that it was leading him deeper into the forest. He heard a bear roar distantly, he decided to go there, maybe he would get lucky and find hunters, at the very least he might be able to distract the thing chasing him for a moment.
He ran as fast as he could, the wolf would’ve already caught him if he couldn’t move behind trees and trip it up by making small holes or bumps in the ground.
He finally reached the bear. Only to see a wolf much larger than it surrounded by wargs.
But yet it wasn’t a skoll.
Fenrir were past skolls in their metamorphosis, but Harlan barely knew anything about them, they tended to live far in the north, in the lands too hostile for normal people and too worthless for the kingdom to try and settle.
Its coat was black like a warg but solid, it didn’t devour light as a Void Stag yet it was still dull.
It had 3 eyes, two as a wolf should, then another on its forehead, they were yellow while the sclera was that same void black as the stag coat, only making the iris seem brighter.
It turned towards him, not yet hostile. Then it saw the wolf and it was very upset.
Harlan barely got out of the way as it launched into the fake wolf, crushing its chest in its massive mouth that opened disturbingly wide. The wolf pointlessly struggled to escape the massive beast's grip.
With a crunch the fake wolf was split into 3 parts. The fenrir looked at Harlan with curiosity.
It towered over him at 10 feet tall at the shoulders then it got smaller, down to 6 feet.
“What would the manling be doing? Chased by a false thing? The wrong thing? What would he do? To bring that thing into our meal?”
Harlan wondered if he hadn’t just traded the executioner's axe for a sword.
He gulped loudly.
“I’m s-sorry… I was hoping to get away from it by taking it to the bear I heard.”
“It does not answer my questions? Does it presume to not need to?”
“I-I don’t know why it was following me, it jumped me out of nowhere, I was just trying to look at foxes.”
The fenrir inhaled deeply.
“You stink of them, pale manling. Why does it smell of those who kill without reason?”
“Fomorians?”
“Ah… you manthings, your words, your names. You seem to know, but you don’t yet. You are not them in spirit. Leave this place, I have done my work.”
It stopped for a moment, its eyes looked into the darkness at the forest's edge before speaking again.
“Take the false thing with you.”
“T-thank you… I will leave now.”
The fenrir ignored him, tearing large chunks off the bear, throwing some to the wargs.
Harlan didn’t have a very developed internal compass, he had no idea where he was anymore.
He walked until it was dark, then looked at the stars to try and find out which way should lead him back home. The wolf golem was heavy, far heavier than Harlan originally thought. And it was starting to wear even him down.
Just as he saw the sky start to lighten he heard a noise faintly in the distance.
It was human he thought, he HOPED it was human at least and not some skinwalker or something worse.
He walked towards the voice, eventually finding it was a guard from the Redwall mansion.
“I FOUND HIM. Sir Fomoria, are you alright?” the man noticed that one arm was limply hanging, blood was pooling in it like a sickly waterskin.
“WE NEED A HEALER HERE. just lay down, you will be alright.”
“Make sure you take this thing back with you… I’m going to just rest now…‘
“HEY, stay awake now. HEALER NOW.” The man started slapping Harlan increasingly hard to keep him away.
Before he fell asleep he saw more people running towards him.
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Even with all the blood she had spilled, she still couldn’t get rid of every knot, she worried all of her work would be for naught and so she pulled in extra help.