A/N: Hellu!! How are y'allz today??? Anyone figure out what Malus Lupus means yet??? First to get it will get a character in the story!! XP

Chapter Three

~*~

It had been three months since the incident with Mary had happened. Tanis came by the clearing every Wednesday and Sunday with goods to trade. Malus had also started trading with the other shops in Shannon's Burg. He was soon a well-liked person, especially with the Fall's and the Gobs, but also with all the younger children. They looked up to him and saw him as a hero.

There were no more metal traps, but he kept patrolling for signs that someone had come to harm or planned it. That was how he came upon the strangers. There were three of them, two children-a boy and a girl-and an old man. The males were dressed in long black cloaks, like his, and both carried rowan staffs. He knew that rowan wood was something malevolent witches couldn't touch. He watched them while in his owl form, seeing as how the sun was setting. With a hoot, he fluttered away when the girl looked up at him.

She smelt of Magic, but it was different then his own. It had a taste of darkness to it, as if it had been abused before. But it seemed to be changing, slowly but surely, and his Magic told him it had something to do with the boy. Quickly, he flew to Shannon's Burg and transformed just before entering it. He didn't want everyone to know he could shift shape. It would do to have a few surprises up his sleeves if he was ever attacked. Quickly, he found Tanis at his shop, skinning the corpse of a freshly killed buck.

"There be strangers approaching from the north," he told the man, solemn. "A man and two children, but he be ready for a witch if ever one 'twas to be after him." In the months he'd been living and visiting Shannon, his speech had deteriorated into something less cultured that felt more natural. Tanis frowned slightly, before understanding lit his eyes.

"Ah, must be the Spook," he said calmly, nodding his head; Malus arched one thin black brow, waiting. "He's one of those that fight the dark to keep people safe. One of them children must be his apprentice. Don't know 'bout what the other one could possibly be for, though. Apprentices companion, most like." As Malus' speech had deteriorated, becoming less formal, Tanis's had as well, becoming more open and relaxed around him. They were friends, as strange as it seemed.

Malus had stopped giving the town's people rubies and other precious stones for the moment, and had instead gone to making their houses safe against evil and putting a ward around the entire place to keep evil from them. No one had died from a forest mishap since he had arrived. No longer did creatures of the dark sneak in and steal the villagers' children. Malus made sure of that. He never played with children his age, fitting in more with the adults. He was too jaded to relax and play. Dairius Fletcher, the town mayor of sorts, was a cynical man who trusted Malus's ideas and plans. He especially liked the fact that the boy-witch took his job of protecting the town very seriously, even if he could be caught wrestling his wolf every once in a while when he was exceptionally bored.

"What they be doing here?" Malus asked warily. He wondered if someone in the village had finally gotten tired of him and wanted him gone. The thought made his chest clench with betrayal and an old loneliness. Tanis, seeming to sense his young friends dark thoughts, quickly answered him,

"You've not been in town for the last three days, Malus. Little Sarah Gilbert and Martha Susan went into the woods Thursday morning an never came back. Their parents went into hysterics when the hound dogs panicked and refused to go near the east side of the wood. An' the little one's Pap's were both raised believing tha' witches are the Devil's spawn." The tanner snorted at the last, even as Malus nodded. He knew that Thomas Gilbert and Aaron Susan would rather have him hanged then have him help. All the same, he wondered why Dairius hadn't told him.

With a sigh, he handed over a couple of coins and picked up a nice fox fur. He'd started collecting furs, covering his home with them. He also collected anything shiny, much like a Magpie, and he appreciated paintings. Not to mention his affinity with bones and claws and such as well. Having Dagger leaving skulls and such lying about made him grow used to the bright white things that littered his stone shelves.

"I best be leaving, Tanis. Dagger has been getting antsy of late. Restless, like. Might be the missing pups, now that I know about it. 'Twould make sense of his constant pacing.." Malus had also developed a taste for wolf-speak, in a way. He called children pups, old folk elders, and Dairius was the alpha. Shannon's Burg was his pack. He protected them. "Pass th' news of the Spook, will ya?" When the tanner nodded, Malus turned and left, waving back at the children who saw him, as well as their parents.

As soon as he was out of sight, he used his Magic to teleport him straight to his cave. He'd learned the ability to teleport just recently, and still found the feeling of being sucked down a long, thin tube to be disconcerting. Striding into the warded cave, he placed the newest fur with the many others, before settling down to wait for his constant companion to return from hunting. The young wolf had grown since that night when Malus had saved him.

Where as before, the wolf had been little more then a pup, barely reaching the young boy's waist, now he was giant among his kind. His large, broad and furry shoulders reached Malus' nose now, and his eyes were the same piercing green as his masters. He'd also gained a near inhuman speed and understanding of the human language do to the immense exposure he had with Magic. And, Malus had discovered that he could understand the wolf as well. Not as he would another human, with words, but with body language and emotions. He understood the little whines and growls and yips as if the wolf simply spoke in English. He found it much easier then having to guess what the wolf wanted all the time.

After ten minutes of waiting, the wolf returned with a large buck clamped easily in his jaws. Malus smiled at him, but he knew that it was tense. Dagger placed his meal on one of the furs and settled at his master's side.

"Two pups are missing," Malus told him, and Dagger growled in anger. "I know. They've been missing since Thursday." The look the wolf gave him was searching, worried. "Not little Mary, my friend. Our pup is safe." A question and anger replaced the worry. "I know, I was irritated to, that we were not informed. The pup's are Sarah and Martha, and you know how their Sire's are 'bout us witches." The wolf rolled his eyes; Malus smiled in agreement.

"They've called in a Spook. He arrived today, to the north." Dagger nodded, his left ear flicking in the direction and his eyes blinking twice in a row. He'd seen them. Malus nodded. "Apparently he's a good guy, though. Wonder how he'll like stayin' near this witch, eh?" He chuckled, and Dagger opened his mouth in a 'smile', showing off his white teeth, sharp as his namesake. Sharper, more like, seeing as how Malus' Magic made everything stronger and faster then it was meant to be if there was long-time exposure.

"Well, eat your meal, ya lazy thing. Afterward we'll be patrolling our side of the forest and looking for the pups. Might take all night, so be prepared." Dagger nodded, heaving his large, graceful body to his feet and returning to his deer. Malus liked the wolfs paws. They were bigger then his head and Daggers' jaws could crush a deer's skull with little resistance, as he proved while eating.

"You make a mess you clean it yourself," Malus warned before heading towards one of the back tunnels. He wound his way deeper and deeper into the earth, following a familiar path. After fifteen minutes, he entered a small cavern.

"Inside the cavern was a large stone platform with a comfortable looking chair sitting at it. Books of varying ages and loads of paper covered in his very own elegant print were scattered in a seemingly chaotic mass. Quills and ink bottles were among the mess. Calmly, Malus took a seat and dragged one thick, old book to him. It was in Greek, but he'd made it a necessity to learn all the languages he could, and was now fluent in seven, not counting English. They were Latin, Greek, French, German, Spanish, the Old Tongue, and something much older then even that. The last one was an accident.

A little into his first month, he'd come upon a strange creature in one of the tunnels. It was sick, dying and its Magic was too wild for his own to work on it. Malus had tried to help, but the creature had waved his efforts away and told him that it was useless. It had then told him that it had no reason to live, and that it would leave him it's knowledge, because he had tried to help it even though it was far from human.

It had touched his forehead, and, suddenly, centuries worth of knowledge in spells and curses had filled his head. And, finally, before he passes out from brain-overload, the creature had gifted him the Forgotten Tongue. It was a language spoken long before the Dark-Made-Flesh was created. Who exactly that was, Malus had no clue, but the language came with a price. His senses were morphed, heightened to beyond human. In essence, he was no longer a human witch, but something else. Something more; something dangerous. He could rip a heart from a man's chest, and would feel like he was reaching through the thinnest of papers. It was exciting and terrifying at the same time.

Malus had discovered at that fateful day, that he had no need for such power for himself. He would use it, though, to protect the pups of Shannon's Burg. His Pack. He would kill for them, die for them. He would torture, mutilate; burn, rape, steal, and be their monster. He would do anything, anything, to keep them safe. And he'd not bow to any but himself to do so.

Sighing, he read the ancient tome before him, writing down the herb lore within it, learning potions and poisons alike. It was harder, because it was written in Greek, which, though fluent in, he had trouble reading. And the fact that the book was old and it's ink faded, didn't help.

Suddenly, his Magic gave off a tremor, similar to that of a small bell going off. Quickly, he stood, and headed for the cave mouth. Tanis was heading for the clearing, which meant he wanted to talk. Malus clicked his tongue softly as he left the cave, and Dagger instantly abandoned his meal and was at his side. Malus put a hairsbreadth of concentration into his Magic, and they were invisible. Silent and unseen, the two ran at inhuman speed, blurring the world around them to nothing more then a green-brown smear. They reached the clearing in minutes, where as before it would have taken them an hour, maybe two. The clearing was much closer to the town then it was their cave, so they didn't have long to wait before Tanis arrived, with others.

Standing with the tanner was a tall, barrel-chested, black-haired man with a severe face and large, serious, bushy eyebrows. That was Dairius, the mayor. Behind them, Malus was shocked to see, was the Spook and the two children, the girl fidgeting nervously and peering around herself at the woods. Malus realized that she sensed his residual Magic, and smiled slightly.

"Malus?" Tanis called, and, with a deep breath, he and Dagger stepped out of the tree's, becoming visible, as if they had walked out of the very air.

"Ya interrupted Dagger's dinner, Tanis," Malus said, patting the gargantuan wolf's shoulder cheerfully. "Now I'm goin' ta have to deal with him sulkin' all night." The wolf huffed at him and seemed to say 'I do not sulk'. Malus just smiled fondly. The ten-year-old gave the others behind the tanner a curious but wary look over.

The Spook was a scruffy, intimidating man with a bushy beard stained with gray and hard, dangerous eyes. The boy was about fourteen, maybe younger, with brownish hair and gray eyes with an inate gentleness to them, but also a wariness and the boy-witch could already tell that when his apprenticeship was over, he'd be a good person to have at your back. The girl had black hair and dark green eyes, with a heart shaped face and almond shaped eyes. She looked kind of nervous, and had moved a little closer to the boy. Malus finally turned his eyes to the Shannon's Burg Mayor, and let his sadness and hurt show as he met the mans' eyes.

"Dairius," was all he said; the man nodded back slowly, and Malus saw a hint of regret leak into his severe expression.

"Malus," he answered back in his quiet, serious voice. You'd expect a man so large and scary to have a deep rumbling voice, but he had a soft, quiet, nearly tenor-like voice that would set most people off guard.

"What do ya want, Tanis, Dairius?" the boy-witch finally said with a tired sigh, knowing his bright, glowing eyes had aged far more then any child's should. They were soldiers' eyes, the eyes of someone who'd seen too much but knew he'd see more, and worse, and were resigned to a life full of nightmares.

"This is Mr. Gregory, his apprentice Tom Ward, and their companion, Alice Deane," Dairius introduced; and Malus nodded to them, frowning slightly as the apprentice's name tickled something at the back of his mind. "They're here to find the missing children." Malus flinched slightly, and let the betrayal show in his eyes as he fastened them on the Mayor.

"Ah, yes, the pups who disappeared," he said softly, sadly. "The pups you didn't tell me had gone missing in my forest." Dairius looked away, ashamed and unable to meet those ancient, betrayed eyes. "The pups I'm meant to protect, who could be dead because their imbecilic fathers refused to have a witch find them." Malus's voice shook slightly at the 'dead' part, but hardened at the end. Dairius bowed his head silently, knowing he deserved whatever tongue lashing he got. Seeing this, Malus sighed. "It hurts you don't trust me, Dairius, after these long months. But, I shall put my own betrayal aside in this instance. Please do not abuse my trust again, Mayor." Dairius flinched at the title. He knew he'd hurt the boy if he'd reverted to his title instead of his given name.

"Malus," Tanis said hesitantly, looking unsure. The boy waved a hand as if brushing away cobwebs.

"Enough of this emotional stuff," he said, smiling slightly. He turned to the silent three, who watched the entire thing observantly. He gave them a bow. "Malus Lupus, at your service," he said cheerfully, smiling.

"I thought we were meeting a witch," Tom asked, confused and looking around, warily. Malus stifled a groan.

"I am the witch," he said patiently, before using his Magic to teleport in front of the boy, making the girl shriek and stumble back. Dagger snickered; Malus gave Tom a curious look, forehead wrinkling in thought as the boy moved away from him carefully, fearfully.

"Tom Ward," Malus said, frowning. "Where have I heard that name? Tom Ward," he muttered, turning his back to walk over to his wolf slowly, muttering the name over and over again. He looked at Dagger, confused and frowning. "Dagger, where have I heard his name before?" The wolf cocked his head to the side, before understanding that was more human then wolf lit his eyes and he nudged Malus' pocket. Instantly, Malus remembered and grinned, pulling the wrinkled and unopened letter from his pocket. It was the one Mam had given him when she'd sent him here.

"Tom Ward!" He exclaimed, whirling around with a triumphant grin, green eyes sparkling with glee, the letter held up in the air like a trophy. Quickly he strode over and held it out, beaming. "Your Mam gave me this, and I totally forgot about it. We met just before I got here, three months back." The other boy hesitantly took the letter, and read the front. "I met your aunts to, by the way," Malus added, noticing that the other boy, the girl, and the Spook all stiffened at that.

"My aunts?" Tom asked warily; Malus nodded cheerfully.

"The feral Lamia witches with wings? Yup! They tried to eat me, but we came to an understanding." He smiled, as if people with wings and snake-like features tried to eat him all the time. Tom swallowed weakly, before nodded.

"Yes, they're a bit too… Enthusiastic, sometimes," he offered tentatively, unsure. Malus beamed at him for his efforts, before turning to Tanis and Dairius.

"Now that that's done, why are ya here 'stead of searching for Sarah and Martha?" He asked; it was the Spook who answered in a gruff, slightly hoarse, voice.

"We need your expertise on this," he said, his dark eyes telling Malus just how much he disliked the idea. "Apparently, no one knows these woods as well as you do." Malus stared at him with ancient, intelligent eyes, as if he were seeing into his very soul. Slowly, he smiled, eyes warming with understanding and friendliness.

"Let's get started then, shall we?" He asked; Dagger yipped, wagging his tail. This was going to be interesting…

A/N: And so enters the Spook and his Last Apprentice. I know Alice is a bit OOC, but if you could sense Malus's immense power simply by it's after taste, of sorts, you'd be nervous as well!!! Anyways, Review, plz. We love reviews.