"Wolves That Hunt Fairies"
Tale I: The Red Wolf Cub
Gantlos leaped from his cot as soon as he heard the adolescent wailing in his sleep.
"Mither! Mither! Mither, no!"
The red-haired lad jumped to hands and knees. He reached into the night with his face contorted in the utmost horror, aged many years more than it should have been by the nightmarish memory that had transpired.
Gantlos was certain that was the expression that his mother's death had etched: the bonny healer cut down by the Fairy's soldier.
"Ogron!" Gantlos knelt quickly by his side and placed his hands gently upon his shoulders. He had dealt with night terrors in other victims, and he had learned that being his abrasive self only exacerbated their trauma.
"Lad! Nova's warriors are gone," he began. "We are safe in the forest, surrounded by the same game your father hunted and the bushes your mother plucked for cures. The sun shall rise soon, and it is only me and you and our horses and a brisk ride ahead."
As he spoke, he rubbed his shoulders and back gently, reciting an old tune his own mother used to soothe her children. Finally, Ogron awoke from the evil trance and leaned his weary head into Gantlos's chest.
"Maw," he groaned. "M-Maw and P-P-Paw and Egren and Elené—"
"There was nothing you could do," said Gantlos, wrapping his arms tightly around him. "You are powerful lad, but those Stag-men would have killed you, too. Honest to the Great Hunter, they were too powerful."
Slipping from Gantlos's grasp, the adolescent rubbed one of his sleeves against his wet nose. He curled against his blanket and whimpered.
The town of Nael'luk had been razed to ash and bloodied bodies two days ago. Gantlos has just been travelling through, following rumours that a Fairy who he had been hunting was just a day's ride from the town. Stopping at one of the inns, he had expected a short night's rest but instead had been awoken around midnight to screams and fire.
From what he had gathered in between pommelling the stag-headed warriors, some Fairy, Lady Nova, demanded that no one in the town survive. Gantlos did not ask why, of course; he focused squarely on killing as many of the fairy's damned thralls as possible.
Even his seismic powers had not been enough. He, too, was still young, and the warriors had outnumbered him. He had managed to rescue only one young lad, whom had fought as viciously as he but nearly had his head bashed.
"Mither…"
Gantlos cocked his head and leaned closely.
"How could they do that to Mither?" Ogron trembled as he whimpered. "How could they do that to Elené? She was only eight years young. Eight years!"
Sitting beside Ogron, Gantlos summoned his lantern, which hovered toward him shakily. He snapped his fingers twice, lighting it but turning the orange flame blue. No magickal beings would bother them if the flame glowed like a will-o'-the-wisp rather than a flame sparked by mortals.
"Only fools think Fairies are a kindly lot all the time, lad," said the hunter. "They caused my family unspeakable pain. That is why I hunt them and let every one else know that they should not trust them."
Ogron peered at Gantlos and sobbed, "I thought… I thought they done good in the world… They're s'pposed to help us. I never believed Paw when he said Lady Nova might try t' hurt us!"
The thought had flickered in Gantlos's mind once or twice as to why Nael'luk had been utterly destroyed. Usually, if Fairies wanted somebody, they just went after that one body, not the whole damned village, for the Great Hunter's sake. Fairies were starting to fear the other races—he was certain of it! Not quite sure why yet, but he knew one reason stemmed from a few people growing weary of them lauding their power over the forces of nature.
Gantlos stroked Ogron's brow and head. As much as he had intended to go after fairies alone, he could not abandon this boy after the horror that he had seen.
Not to forget, a wolf is stronger when he has a pack-mate by his side.
"I want to go home," said Ogron, "but I know I don't have a home. I don't have a home—"
"Hush, now, lad," said Gantlos, "before some sneaky gnome hears you and tells his fairy where we are."
The adolescent hushed, though his mouth quivered and his chest jerked with grief.
"I told you that I am not going to abandon you. I saw in you not the seed but the strong sapling of power growing in you. But you need to nurture it, and you need someone to help you nurture it, so that when you are older, you can avenge your family and your people, same way that I am."
"Truly?" asked Ogron.
"By my life," said Gantlos with a smirk.
Gantlos had not been prepared for the embrace, but he did not discourage Ogron. As long as the hunter's heart beat, he would throw himself before any obstacle to protect him. Ogron was sure to have power that might even rival his own one day, and by the Great Hunter, someone formidable needed to put these murderous Fairies in their place.
Disclaimer: The author has written this Winx Club fanfiction solely for entertainment. No money has been made, and no profit in any form shall be gained, from this fanfiction.