As the dawn approached and sunlight invaded the dark of the cave, he opened his eyes. He had put off the inevitable for long enough. He stood up and stretched. He was tired. More tired than he cared to admit and his body and mind were responding like he had been coated in tar. He wiped at his eyes and stretched. His alpha should be back soon and then they would have to leave this place, this forest that was protected by Tasha and her ‘pack of the brotherless’, whatever that meant.
He stepped over to the boxes and grabbed a handful of dried berries and some dried beef. He didn’t know when he was likely to eat again. He felt guilty eating the food stuffs of other people but Tasha had said to help himself if he was hungry.
With his stomach satisfied, he exited the cave. He was almost surprised to see Aceso, once again just a black and white she-wolf, lying down right outside the cave. She lifted her head as he seated himself on the dirt next to her. She didn’t make a sound, she looked at him. He heaved a heavy sigh and meet her eyes.
“I never got a chance to thank you last night.”
Aceso cocked her head to one side. She looked puzzled and he began to wonder if in fact what had happened had been nothing more than a dream within a dream.
“You, ah, you saved me from those things in that dream. You, you got hurt.”
Aceso nuzzled his arm and nodded her head once. He looked into her eyes and he knew that she knew what he was talking about. It had been no dream. She stood up and walked out past the fire pit. He watched her as her tail swung as she made her way over to the spot where she had stood last night in the shaft of moonlight. She turned around and met his eyes. She lowered her head in a bow.
Her hind legs expanded rapidly, growing in width but lengthening as well. Aceso’s fore legs contorted as they shot out from her body, growing in length and expanding in muscle. She hunched over as her tail lengthened; her neck shortened as her snout shrank in on itself pressing into her face. Her ears reached up, growing tall and pointed on top of her head.
William watched her change, each contortion of her body he knew well, but when he changed it brought about a searing agony, while Aceso’s face was serene as she changed. Aceso stood up on her hind legs hunching forward as her whole body seemed to melt and dissolve in front of him into a shapeless formless mass, a shadow. William’s eyes went wide in terror and recognition. Then the shadow was gone.
Standing in front of him, where Aceso had been, now stood a seven-foot-tall werewolf. She was covered in black fur except for her chest, which carried a white starburst. William stared in shock. What the hell was that? Did I really see that... that thing? Shaking the thought away as something he must have imagined, he stood up and met the creature’s eyes.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“William, I am Aceso. I’m sorry I accepted your oath of fealty. I know that was wrong. I did it so I could better protect you and escort you to the mountain.”
He held up his hands. “What are you talking about, ‘the mountain’? Tasha mentioned that too. What are you saying and where are we going?”
“We’re going to the mountain to the north. I believe you call it Mount Shasta. Once we get there your questions will be answered by those that are much better than I am.”
None of this made sense and he shook his head and lowered his eyes to stare at the ground.
“William, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you these things earlier. Unfortunately, I, like Tasha, can’t answer all your questions. I travel with you in my original wolf form because in that form I can better avoid the darker things in this world. The trap you fell into last night was set by our enemies. I can’t tell you any more than that. I don’t know why they attacked you but I can only assume it’s because you didn’t know what was happening. They are attracted by large groups of us. In this forest there are eight of us. Our combined energies would have drawn them here to capture and kill as many of us as possible.”
He looked at her. “What were those things, Aceso? What did they do to me? Were they using more pheromones? How did you find me in that place?”
Aceso lowered her eyes and shook her head. “William, I’m your alpha by your oath. But not even I can answer those questions, not yet. I have already told you far too much, things that I am not really at liberty to do so. I should not have brought you here. The pack of the brotherless is not spoken of and Tasha gave you more knowledge than she should have. I can only tell you that the dream you had was no ordinary dream. You won’t have any more dreams like that, though. I will protect you and shield you from those things that would do you harm. I have been ordered to bring you to the mountain and I will. You are very precious to me as you are to all our people.”
He looked up at her. Aceso shrank and reformed back into her original wolf form. He threw his hands up into the air in frustration. I guess that conversation is over. Aceso stood there on all fours once again, nothing more than a beautiful she-wolf. He stood up and walked over to her.
As he approached her, she turned around and started jogging into the forest. His brain was numb with everything that had happened, and his fatigue didn’t help his state of mind at all. He knew that he wasn’t likely to get anymore answers from her and Tasha and her pack was nowhere to be seen. He made his legs move, one in front of the other. He leaned forward and his legs jerkily threw themselves out, one in front of the other. He soon found his rhythm and he followed Aceso through the forest. Aceso was dodging in between the trees at a speed that was incredible considering the injury she had just recovered from. He couldn’t help but wonder why she had run off into the forest last night. Did she run off to hunt? He didn’t know and he probably wouldn’t get an answer from her even if he asked. In the course of two days, he had slept an entire day and found out more than he ever wanted to know, but not enough to make sense of anything.
At least he knew where they were going, Mount Shasta. That must have been the mountain he had seen off in the distance with its snowcapped top. That thought made him feel a lot better. Maybe this trip wasn’t going to be as long as he thought.