Aura blended in with the other human servants that the ogres had cleaning up their campsite. None of the ogres seemed the wiser to her presence. She was still in disbelief that she was here. This morning she had planned to spend the day making new kinds of herbal medicines, but her plans were cut short when the Beta had come to her home this evening. Her new appearance baffled her every time she passed a reflective surface. Her hair was pure black but still curly. The shape of her eyes changed to appear human, but the bright gold color had not changed. The lack of fur was an odd sensation for her. She wore a simple brown, ragged dress to blend in. The shift from her beast form to this human form was an agonizing kind of pain. Her body was sore with every move she made. How her parents had done this for years was beyond her understanding.
Her senses and abilities were limited in this human form, but she was still faster and stronger than an average human. She wondered what her limits were exactly. Her present situation wasn't the time to test her skills. She had infiltrated the ogres' camp for a few hours, but she hadn't seen her parents yet. The camp was saturated with sweat, blood, and other sour smells. She had seen ogres of every size that were green, yellow, and purple. There were grunts, snorts, and loogie hacking everywhere. The tents were made of furs, and Aura wondered if any of them were her kind.
Weapons were tossed about, and ogres were drunk and punching each other. Aura kept to herself following the other servants around doing small chores and cleaning up ogre blood and drool. She wondered if her parents were already dead on the battlefield or being held somewhere else entirely.
Cheering erupted on the outskirts of the camp. Ogres were yelling and rampaging around the camp with excitement. A group of ogres paraded through the camp carrying their bounty on wooden stakes on their shoulders. Aura could see the outline of wolves tied to the stakes that they were carrying. There was a large silver and black wolf and a smaller dark brown wolf beside the large one. Aura knew them to be her parents. They were here. Her stomach wrenched seeing her unconscious parents hanging there.
She stalked around behind the crowd, watching the outrageous display of ogres tossing around her parents. Aura had the sudden urge to smash in the skull of every ogre in this camp. She wondered if this was her animal instincts or her desire. The rush of cold magic followed through her body, mixing with her insatiable anger. She took a moment to try to calm herself; this was not the place to shift into her small wolf form.
Aura would need to bide her time to act although her time was limited in this human disguise. A fat ogre grabbed Aura's wrist pulling her into the main tent in the camp. She kept quiet in fear of her disguise failing. Aura stumbled along behind the fat ogre as he stomped around the camp. The tent was filled with rowdy ogre soldiers punching, laughing, and snorting. There was a clinking of mugs and smashing of weapons against each other. Body odor and alcohol soured the air.
"Come, human. Fetch me a drink!" The fat ogre demanded.
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Aura nodded. She ran to the barrels of alcohol and grabbed a mug. Dunking the mug she heard the lord of ogres walk in. He was still dressed in his armor and pelts splattered with the blood of her people. He had chipped tusks coming out of his giant, drooling mouth. His eyes were black as night and soulless. With dark green skin and disgustingly large muscles, he ruled the ogres with an iron fist that replaced one of his hands.
Aura walked past the gruesome ogre lord to the fat ogre waiting for his drink. The fat ogre guzzled down his mug and forced Aura to retrieve another mug full of alcohol. Aura saw other young servants doing the same job as her when she heard a cry from a young man groan. Aura watched the young man be beaten by the lord of the ogres. Her heart ached for the boy as blood gushed from his swollen face. This was how the ogres treat their servants, as trashy slaves. Aura's fangs elongated in her mouth, so she bit her tongue to suppress her rage.
The boy cried as the ogre lord continued his assault. Aura tried to focus elsewhere, but the yelps of the boy could be heard everywhere in the tent. She took one look and instantly regretted it as the boy laid bloody and lifeless. What had the boy done to deserve such a fate? Aura wanted to cry for the boy and rescue him. How could these monsters just end his life for no reason? Aura watched as some other young men carried the boy's body away. She knew right then that she had to make a change in this world.
After a few more drinks, the fat ogre passed out, setting Aura free to find her parents. When she left the tent, she discovered the moons had already risen into the sky. Her parents had now spent two days captured by these awful ogres. She had to hurry because once the sun rose her magical human disguise would fail. Aura began trying to scent her parents in the air, but body odor, fire, and alcohol filled the air. Her senses were dulled in this human disguise, and she was beginning to hate feeling so helpless.
An hour of searching proved fruitful when she finally found her parents battered wolf bodies tied to trees. There were bleeding wounds, a few arrows, and some iron nails in each of her parents' bodies. If Aura had a chance, she would have broken down in tears. This was unjust in so many ways, and she vowed to rip apart the ogres responsible. Aura looked around but found no guards in the area. She tried to stay in the shadows as she untied her parents from the trees. Removing the iron nails was harder. She struggled to pull them off the trunk of the tree. This human body was so weak compared to her wolf form. She had to keep stopping to hide when an ogre or servant passed by.
The moons were sinking in the sky, and Aura still had one nail left in her father's hind leg. She pulled and heaved until the iron nail gave way. Both her parents laid on the ground unconscious, and Aura was exhausted. She couldn't stop; she still had to drag her parents into the forest. Aura grabbed the tails uncaring of any pain she might cause them. Time was running out. She tugged and pulled quietly to keep from arousing suspicion. Tree roots, shrubs, hills were all her enemy as traveled deeper into the Misty Woods.
Aura was pained by her need to shift and her sore muscles. She wondered if every day as a Huntress would be this way. If it was she would need to train hard, this human body was nearly too weak to fulfill this mission. She could no longer hear the hollering of ogres, so she allowed her body to shift. Pain jolted through her body. Bones snapped. Chilling magic course through her veins. Fangs, claws, fluffy ears and a tail sprouted, destroying her human form. Once the shift was completed, her body collapsed next to her battered parents. She sent out a mindlink to Alpha Demos before her eye closed, leaving the world in darkness.
Alpha Demos arrived to find his comrades and their daughter unconscious on the ground under a willow tree. The girl had dragged her parents 3 miles from the ogre campsite. For a young wolf, she had done the impossible in just a day between shifting into another race with the polymorphic ring for the first time and rescuing her parents from a hopeless situation. Aura was already a strong wolf for only being ten years old. Alpha Demos could not be more proud of this young Huntress.