"What kind of devil are you?!"
Holo stood opposite the man in the fur coats, baring her fangs and growling at him. Hans just smiled down at her from his high vantage point. He had to be, she thought, at least a head taller than Lawrence. He was undoubtedly a large and strong man, but he was just a Human. If he continued to push her like this she would hurt him, if only to make him stop. He was Human, and she was a Wolf.
Hans just shrugged at the accusation. "So you do not wish the avenge your fallen pack mates, or reclaim you lost homeland? You will not even attempt to drive them out for their crimes?"
Holo waved her hand at him, shouting over the last words of his question. "These people committed no crimes! That was years ago! Before any of their times! None should be judged by the transgressions of their ancestors."
"Then those of your kin who died here will know no rest." She snarled at him, and he smartly took a step back. "It is not I you should anger at, Holo. It is those sleeping contentedly in the valley down below us. Those who have slain Wolves."
Holo clenched her fists. "No one down there did any of that! I..." She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to see the lines of his face underneath his thick beard. "I will not be manipulated by some Human trying to use me for his petty revenge. I know these people did something to you, but I don't know what. Tell me, what grudge do you hold against them?"
Hans' eyes grew thick and fiery, a sort of rage burning in them that Holo had never seen before. "I saw them killing your kin, Holo. Just as I saw them kill my own, for they are one and the same."
Her eyes shot wide open. "You...?"
"You and I are the same, Holo. I've been waiting for a long time for you to return, so that I may see the power you hold. The time has come for you to reunite with your kind and fight like one of us. We can not let this go undone. They must be punished."
Suddenly short of breath, and unsure what to do, Holo stepped forward and reached out to him. He didn't react, and she pulled back just as quick. "But... no... if you go down there and attack... if what you claim is true, then they will only kill you as well, will they not?"
Hans shook his head. "It is the church. Those who came before and died refused to show their true forms. They were killed when cornered because they remained in Human form. If you are there, you can change everything. You can drive them out."
She looked up at his solid frame, his eyes peering out from among many furs. "Why can you not do it then? Why must I?"
He sighed and looked away, as if embarrassed, looking down over the town. "I cannot. I was born like this, and I have never taken the form of a Wolf. I can fight, but not like you can. I hoped that... seeing you do it might show me how to transform as well."
Holo looked down, her eyes hovering over the town. "...I cannot. It is wrong to take another's life, and I cannot... will not take life. I am sorry, but I just cannot."
After a few seconds that seemed to Holo like an eternity, she heard him let out a deep breath. "I see. Then I will go." He turned and began walking away, leaving her with his coat. He called back to her without even looking over his shoulder. "You had best return. Lawrence will be worried if he wakes and you are not there."
Holo inhaled and exhaled once before moving. Her breath was visible in front of her, swirling through the cold Winter air. She started down the hill, heading for the town, when she felt the presence returning. The creature was creeping up behind her, almost effortlessly silent. She stopped cold and waited until it was right behind her before turning.
She spun on her heel, glaring down at the small creature. All her frustration boiled over, and she shouted at it. "What do you want from me!"
She stopped herself when she finally saw it well for the first time. It was no bigger than she had expected; the size of a rabbit or ferret. Its shape was similar to that of the other small animals as well, but it was far more intelligent than any of those. She could sense its overwhelming intellect.
And then it spoke, it's mouth never moving. "I do not want anything from you, Holo the Wise Wolf. I am simply following you. You have no need to fear me. When I find what I am looking for, I will stop."
She stared at it, trying to make it waver. It simply stared at her, its face unmoving. Its eyes didn't blink. Its mouth just stayed in what looked like a sickeningly innocent smile. It disturbed her to no end, but she could not perceive any lie in its words. Whatever it was looking for, it would leave her alone once it found it.
"What is it you want, then, with someone else? And what makes you think you can find them by following me?"
Only its tail moved, twitching back and forth. "Mathematically, it is inevitable that you will cross paths again. I want to meet this person because they have a certain quality valuable to me. When we meet, I will simply ask them to make a contract with me."
Holo raised her hand, and the creature wisely took that as a sign to stop talking. "I do not wish to hear any more. If you insist on following me around, and you speak the truth in that you only want to meet someone I will cross paths with in the future, then I must ask that you keep your distance. Your presence is... unsettling."
It made a bobbing motion with its head, as if nodding in agreement. "As you wish. I will remain out of your sight."
With that, it turned and hopped away towards the trees. Holo was left unsure how much of what it said she could trust, but she let it go. If it said it would stay away from her and not bother her, then she would accept that as truth until she saw otherwise. She turned and began again walking down to the town. The cold air was beginning to seep through the fur coat and chill her. She felt the need to rest more than she had in a long time.
As she walked into town, she made sure to pull the coat up over her ears. Her tail wrapped around her waist beneath the coat, making her look as Human as she could. She was walking to the tavern when her mind turned to the man who had appeared in their room. He was neither that creature, nor was he Hans, and from the sound of it he had nothing to do with either. Three strange entities had visited her in one night, but at least she now understood more about two of them.
Still several buildings away from the tavern, she was thinking about how the man could have simply walked through the solid wooden door, when a reddish glow caught her eye from the building beside her. She stopped and looked up at the shop. "What is...?"
Flames erupted into the night air, a shock wave sending her flying. Burning pieces of wood fell all around her, sizzling as they landed in the snow. A large wooden plank, engulfed in fire, hit her in the chest and pinned her to the ground. Only a little effort allowed her to shove it off of her, but she quickly found that the coat had caught on fire as well. Pulling it off and throwing it to the ground, she began to stomp on the fur coat to put out the flames.
When she looked up again, she saw the people standing around her. Some were staring in shock at the fiery wreckage in the street, but most were staring at her. She saw Lawrence running out of the tavern, and he stopped when he saw her. She would not call out to him now. They could all see what she was, and reminding them that she had come into town with him would do no one any good.
Everyone was looking at her now. A man shouted from the crowd shouted over the roar of the flames. "She's possessed by the devil! This is her evildoing!"
Others started to shout out against her. Torches appeared in the air over the heads of the crowd. Men started to advance on her. She saw a bow in one man's hands, and she turned and ran between two of the buildings. An arrow flew after her, slicing the skin on her leg and causing her to stumble to the ground behind the buildings.
She hissed in pain, reaching down and covering the cut with her hand. A whistle filled the air, and a large spear buried itself into the ground beside her. She could hear the shouting as people ran to catch her. She felt strong hands grabbing her and lifting her up. Just as she was about to start fighting back, she heard a familiar deep voice.
"Will you not fight? Even now?"
She looked up at the man holding her. "Hans... thank you." She looked to the spear in the ground, and then back between the buildings to where she could still see flames. "...you did this."
He reached down and grabbed his spear, hoisting it in the air. "Of course I did. You would not fight. Now you will fight or you will die."
Holo turned away from the town, walking a few steps to emphasize her intentions. "No. I will run, and I will live. No one will die."
He didn't even turn to watch her go. "I thought you were Holo the Wise Wolf of Yoitsu." She stopped, hearing his words. He continued. "But you are not her. You are just Holo the coward, shame of the Wolves."
She turned on him, eyes burning with anger. "I AM NO COWARD!"
He turned also, holding the spear out to her. "Then prove it! Run and you are a coward! Fight so that I can know you have not lied to me! Are you the great Holo that I have heard so many stories about? Or are you some weak and feeble remnant of an age long passed who plays pretend that she is still alive?"
A second passed, and Holo reached out and took the spear. The air was still, in spite of the mob running after her. She turned to see them coming. Hans turned and walked away into the night. She could see the light of fires starting up all over the town now. She looked at the men charging at her, some with swords and axes in their hands. They were coming to kill her now.
She saw the face of the first man. His mouth was open, a cry of anger coming from deep in his throat. Suddenly, she understood how he felt. He had seen something he didn't understand, and it scared him. He was frightened, as they all were. She had felt that way not many days earlier, when the creature had been watching her. She had been afraid, and she had responded with anger. She would have burned the creature at that moment if she could.
The men running at her, weapons drawn, saw no other possible explanation but that she was indeed possessed. They saw a creature that they knew nothing about, saw that it was a threat to them when it was not, and acted to protect themselves. These men had families. Wives. Small children. They feared for the safety of their children, as Holo had feared for Lawrence's life. She had killed those men that attacked her and Lawrence, but what made them different from these?
The thought froze her. It was only the spear in her hands that kept her from being run through. When they saw it, the size of it, and how easily she held it, they kept their distance. It wouldn't take long for them to work up the courage to move in, and then it would be over.
Then she moved, the spear turning in her hands. She held it up, the point aiming out. Turning her head, she spotted Hans walking away. The rest of her turned to follow, and the spear flew from her hands. In the distance, she saw it strike Hans in the back. He fell to his knees, then onto his side. She ran to catch him before the men could move to take her.
Kneeling down beside him, Holo saw that he was still breathing. She spoke to him, holding her contempt in her words so that he could hear it. "What you ask is wrong, no matter the reason. For my life, I will not kill. For my honor, I will not kill. For you, I will not. They may catch me, and they may burn me, but I will not shed blood ever again."
His eyes opened and looked up at her. "Holo... you have angered me."
She nodded. "You have angered me."
Suddenly, his hand clamped around her throat. He rose to his feet, lifting her several feet off the ground to where her feet were dangling higher than the tips of her ears would usually be. "You will shed blood one last time. You will choose. Do you wish death on every one of these pitiful Humans, or will you fight me? If you fail to kill me, Holo, then I will end this my way. You have angered me, and now I do not wish to fight you. I wish to hurt you. I will burn this world down around you, or you will kill me." He reached around his back and pulled the spear free with a sickening crunch, dropping it to the ground.
His blood coated the spear shaft, and she could smell it. It was the fur coats he wore. They had masked his scent. She glared down at him with a fury she had never known she was capable of. "You..." She choked, his hand tight around her neck. "You lied to me." Her voice turned to a deep threatening growl. "You're no Wolf."
He laughed and shook his head. "No... no I am not."
Then he threw her. She was weightless, flying through the air at an incredible speed. Her body slammed into a building, shattering the wooden walls and crashing to the ground in the streets. Fires raged all around. Men shouted and women screamed and children cried. The night was alive with terror, and Holo felt cold and tired. She lay in the snow, several cuts soaking her nightgown. All she could think was that it was him.
Lawrence picked her up and carried her to the cart, hiding her under cloth sheets. The town burned, lighting up the night as the two of them left. Holo just stared into the dark under the sheet. It was him.
"He hunts by night, by the light of the moon. The Moon-Hunting Bear."
