16. GRANDMOTHER.
"Did you hear something?" Jamie asked, in a nervous tone of voice.
"Just the usual noises that you hear out in the woods," Sam replied. "Well, not that much, actually, but I didn't hear anything that sounded really weird."
"I thought that I heard something," said the younger boy. "Off that way." He pointed towards the east.
"What did it sound like?" Rahne asked.
"I don't know," said Jamie. "It was just a noise, that's all. I couldn't hear it all that clearly."
"It could have been anything, you know," said Amara. "A squirrel, maybe, or a deer, or even a falling branch."
"Yeah, but after everything that I've heard about this place, I'm not so sure," said Sam. "I mean, after what the dwarves told us, it sounds as though most of the locals here aren't all that friendly. Well, other than Hrimhari," he added quickly, before Rahne could say anything.
"What do we do if it isn't friendly?" Jamie asked. "And what if it wants to eat us?" He moved a little closer to Sam.
"We'll worry about that when it happens," said Sam. "Come on, now. We can handle it, can't we?"
Amara hesitated, then nodded. "I suppose so," she said. "All the same, though, I really wish that the others were here. I'd feel safer then."
"So would I," said Jamie. Rahne said nothing, but shifted into her wolf- form, and sniffed the air. Then she quickly morphed back to her human-form, a very alarmed look on her face.
"There is something comin' our way!" she said to them.
"What is it, Rahne?" Sam asked her. "Can you tell by its smell?"
"It's something like a wolf," she replied. "But not quite. There's something different aboot it."
"Different?" asked Amara. "How is it different?"
"I canna say," Rahne answered. "But I dinna like it. It feels - unfriendly. Very unfriendly."
"That's not very comforting," said Sam. "So it's not this Hrimhari guy again, is it?"
"No, it's definitely nae from him," she replied. "It's a new smell, entirely."
"So what do we do?" Jamie asked.
"Keep on walking," said Sam. "Head straight for the north edge of the woods, and don't stop for anything. Maybe we can get out of this place before it reaches us."
"And if it does catch up with us first?" Amara inquired.
"Then we'll just have to put up one big fight," said Sam. "Maybe we can drive it off, the same as we did the dark elves."
"Very well, then," said Amara. "But if we all get killed and eaten by that thing, Sam Guthrie, then you will most certainly be feeling my displeasure."
"If the two o' ye keep on arguin' like that, then that creature will almost certainly find us a lot sooner, unless it's stone-deaf," cut in Rahne sharply. "Less talk, and more speed."
The four young mutants proceeded on through the woods. However, it was not long before they could hear something large making its way through the undergrowth to their right, drawing closer. And then, a long-drawn-out howl echoed, coming from the same direction.
"Run!" shouted Rahne, changing into a wolf even as she did so. "Now!"
The other three New Mutants followed after her, but Sam and Jamie were soon lagging behind.
"What's the matter with you?" asked Amara, turning around and looking back at them. "That creature is after us! You two can't slow down now!"
"Sorry, but this armor is a bit on the heavy side," replied Sam.
"Then get rid of it!" shouted the Nova Roman princess.
"Yeah, but if it does overtake us, then we're gonna need it," Sam replied. "The armor, I mean."
"And if you keep the armor, then it's definitely going to overtake us," Amara retorted. "That's just like you boys, too. You would have to be clinging on to something so ridiculously macho. Why -"
An even louder, closer howl cut her off. The four New Mutants halted and turned around, as an enormous shape emerged from the trees, and advanced upon them.
It looked like a wolf, but much larger, almost the size of an elephant. On a closer inspection, however, the head did not appear to be entirely lupine in form. Rather, it was a blend between the features of a wolf and an old, lean-visaged, grey-haired hag. It stared down at the youngsters, blinking at them, and then snarled hungrily. Slaver formed at its mouth, and dripped down upon the ground with a hiss.
"What is that thing?" asked Jamie.
"I don't know!" cried Sam. "But I don't like the looks of it at all."
Amara hurriedly produced a ball of fire and hurled it at the wolf-creature. The monster merely blew upon it as the fireball hurtled towards it, snuffing it out. Then it leaped at them, growling savagely.
"Scatter!" shouted Sam. He and Amara ran one way, Jamie and Rahne the other.
The wolf-creature paused, for a moment apparently uncertain over which two mutants to pursue. At last it turned towards Rahne and Jamie, and advanced upon them, with a howl.
Rahne morphed into her wolf-form at once, and growled back at it, carefully standing between Jamie and the monster. The wolf-creature halted, and stared down at her, a look of utter astonishment upon its features.
*What are you doing here?* it asked her. *Why do you run with the two-legs, little one?*
*They're my friends!* Rahne replied, feeling astonished herself at being able to speak with this creature in the same way that she could with Hrimhari, but standing her ground all the same. *You mess with them, and you'll have to answer to me first!*
*And you side with them against me?* the wolf-creature asked. *We have no business with the two-legs, nor should we. They are prey, not friends. Why do you defend them?*
*Because I'm one of them,* Rahne said.
The wolf-creature stared at her in complete and utter astonishment. *One of them?* it finally cried. *How is that possible? You are clearly a wolf!*
*Not by birth,* the young mutant girl answered. *Here, I'll show you.* She shifted briefly into her human form, then reverted to a wolf. *I'm a human who can become a wolf when she wants to, that's all.*
*So you are one of the two-legs, with the presumption to masquerade as one of my kind,* the wolf-creature shrieked, its eyes blazing in anger. *Then you are an abomination, and must be destroyed alongside them!*
It lunged forward at Rahne, but before it could reach her a flash of grey rammed into it, knocking it onto its side. Hrimhari stood over the monster, growling fiercely.
*You dare attack me?* cried the wolf-creature, staring at him in disbelief. *Your own grandmother?*
*I will not let you harm her,* said Hrimhari. *Leave her and her friends in peace, and I will not have to fight you.*
*You would take up the cause of the two-legs intruders against me?* his grandmother raged.
*Yes, I do,* he answered.
*Then you shall share their fate, traitor!* she roared. She rose to her feet and lunged at him.
They fought back and forth, snarling and snapping at each other, tussling about upon the snow. The New Mutants hurriedly crowded together, watching the battle in horrified fascination.
Amara raised one hand and produced a fireball. She was about to throw it at the wolf-creature, but Rahne shifted back into human form and stopped her.
"Nae, Amara!" she cried. "Ye might hurt Hrimhari instead!"
"But I've got to do something," Amara protested. "I don't think that your friend can hold out against that thing for very long. We've got to find some way of taking it down."
"If Hrimhari can't do it, I'm not sure that we can either," said Sam. He raised his sword unsteadily. "I don't think that even this is gonna do that much good against her."
Rahne ran at the wolf-creature, shifting into wolf-form as she did so. She leaped on its back and pawed at it fiercely. The creature shook itself, knocking her into the snow, then redoubled its attack upon an already- wearying Hrimhari.
Hrimhari fought valiantly, but she was larger and stronger than he. She forced him onto his back and opened her jaws wide, preparing to lunge for his throat and deliver the final blow.
Wolverine lunged out of the shadows and threw himself at her, with a snarl. The force of his impact was strong enough to bowl the wolf-creature over again. Hrimhari righted himself and stood on his feet again, if somewhat wobbily. Rahne rushed to his side to support him. Amara, Sam, and Jamie were too busy staring at Wolverine, however, to pay any attention.
"Logan's here?" said Amara.
"That's not all," said Jamie, looking up. Storm was swooping down, riding the winds on her cloak, while Rogue and Evan rushed up through the trees. "They've found us! Yay!"
"You wanna pick on somebody smaller than yourself?" asked Wolverine, unleashing his claws as he faced the monster. "Then pick on me!"
The wolf-creature snarled as it rushed at him, but before it could reach him Storm cried out in a commanding voice. "No! We have no time for further fighting!" She raised one hand and gestured imperiously as she spoke.
A fierce wind promptly arose, blowing directly for the wolf-monster. She struggled against it, but it only grew the stronger, until she was forced backwards. Blasts of lightning shot down from the sky, only narrowly missing her. Thunder rumbled from the clouds above, growing steadily louder.
At last, the wolf-creature turned and fled, howling in frustrated fury. She vanished into the tree-cast shadows. Once she was out of sight, Storm gestured, and the fury of the elements subsided.
"All right, you lot," said Wolverine, looking the four New Mutants straight in the eye (Rahne had returned to human form and joined them). "You wanna tell me just what you've been up to here?"
"And where did the other wolf come from?" asked Evan, staring at Hrimhari. "That's what I'd really like to know."
"I'm more than a little surprised to see it myself," said Storm, "but that can wait until later. As Logan said, just now, the four of you have much explaining to do."
"Well, Bobby wanted to see what Forge was up to," said Sam in a nervous tone of voice. "So I broke down the door so that he could have a look inside. It's my fault. But it isn't theirs," he went on, indicating the other New Mutants as he spoke. "They actually tried to stop us from fooling around with the equipment, especially Amara."
"Thank you," said the Nova Roman princess, in a rather stiff tone of voice, but with a look of relief in her eyes all the same.
"Well, we'll sort all this out back at the mansion," said Wolverine gruffly. "What I want to know right now is just what you kids were doing, getting into a fight with that monster - and what is this other wolf doing here?"
"That's a long story," said Rahne. "We can tell it to ye on the way to the Volva's mound."
"The Volva's mound?" Rogue asked. "What's that?"
"We'll explain about that as well," said Amara. "But we really ought to go there."
"We should be taking you kids back home," said Wolverine. "And as soon as we find the other four, that's just what we'll be doing."
"We know," said Sam. "But we need to find the Volva in order to find Bobby and the others. That's why we're headed there."
Wolverine and Storm looked at each other doubtfully, as did Rogue and Evan. At last, Logan spoke in a grumbling way.
"All right," he said. "We'll find this Volva or whatever it is with you. But there had better be a good explanation for this. And you're all still in a lot of trouble when you get back. Now start talking about what this is all about on the way. And I still want to know who this furry friend of yours is," he added, glancing to Hrimhari, who was staring back at him cautiously.
"Well, it began like this..." said Sam.
"Did you hear something?" Jamie asked, in a nervous tone of voice.
"Just the usual noises that you hear out in the woods," Sam replied. "Well, not that much, actually, but I didn't hear anything that sounded really weird."
"I thought that I heard something," said the younger boy. "Off that way." He pointed towards the east.
"What did it sound like?" Rahne asked.
"I don't know," said Jamie. "It was just a noise, that's all. I couldn't hear it all that clearly."
"It could have been anything, you know," said Amara. "A squirrel, maybe, or a deer, or even a falling branch."
"Yeah, but after everything that I've heard about this place, I'm not so sure," said Sam. "I mean, after what the dwarves told us, it sounds as though most of the locals here aren't all that friendly. Well, other than Hrimhari," he added quickly, before Rahne could say anything.
"What do we do if it isn't friendly?" Jamie asked. "And what if it wants to eat us?" He moved a little closer to Sam.
"We'll worry about that when it happens," said Sam. "Come on, now. We can handle it, can't we?"
Amara hesitated, then nodded. "I suppose so," she said. "All the same, though, I really wish that the others were here. I'd feel safer then."
"So would I," said Jamie. Rahne said nothing, but shifted into her wolf- form, and sniffed the air. Then she quickly morphed back to her human-form, a very alarmed look on her face.
"There is something comin' our way!" she said to them.
"What is it, Rahne?" Sam asked her. "Can you tell by its smell?"
"It's something like a wolf," she replied. "But not quite. There's something different aboot it."
"Different?" asked Amara. "How is it different?"
"I canna say," Rahne answered. "But I dinna like it. It feels - unfriendly. Very unfriendly."
"That's not very comforting," said Sam. "So it's not this Hrimhari guy again, is it?"
"No, it's definitely nae from him," she replied. "It's a new smell, entirely."
"So what do we do?" Jamie asked.
"Keep on walking," said Sam. "Head straight for the north edge of the woods, and don't stop for anything. Maybe we can get out of this place before it reaches us."
"And if it does catch up with us first?" Amara inquired.
"Then we'll just have to put up one big fight," said Sam. "Maybe we can drive it off, the same as we did the dark elves."
"Very well, then," said Amara. "But if we all get killed and eaten by that thing, Sam Guthrie, then you will most certainly be feeling my displeasure."
"If the two o' ye keep on arguin' like that, then that creature will almost certainly find us a lot sooner, unless it's stone-deaf," cut in Rahne sharply. "Less talk, and more speed."
The four young mutants proceeded on through the woods. However, it was not long before they could hear something large making its way through the undergrowth to their right, drawing closer. And then, a long-drawn-out howl echoed, coming from the same direction.
"Run!" shouted Rahne, changing into a wolf even as she did so. "Now!"
The other three New Mutants followed after her, but Sam and Jamie were soon lagging behind.
"What's the matter with you?" asked Amara, turning around and looking back at them. "That creature is after us! You two can't slow down now!"
"Sorry, but this armor is a bit on the heavy side," replied Sam.
"Then get rid of it!" shouted the Nova Roman princess.
"Yeah, but if it does overtake us, then we're gonna need it," Sam replied. "The armor, I mean."
"And if you keep the armor, then it's definitely going to overtake us," Amara retorted. "That's just like you boys, too. You would have to be clinging on to something so ridiculously macho. Why -"
An even louder, closer howl cut her off. The four New Mutants halted and turned around, as an enormous shape emerged from the trees, and advanced upon them.
It looked like a wolf, but much larger, almost the size of an elephant. On a closer inspection, however, the head did not appear to be entirely lupine in form. Rather, it was a blend between the features of a wolf and an old, lean-visaged, grey-haired hag. It stared down at the youngsters, blinking at them, and then snarled hungrily. Slaver formed at its mouth, and dripped down upon the ground with a hiss.
"What is that thing?" asked Jamie.
"I don't know!" cried Sam. "But I don't like the looks of it at all."
Amara hurriedly produced a ball of fire and hurled it at the wolf-creature. The monster merely blew upon it as the fireball hurtled towards it, snuffing it out. Then it leaped at them, growling savagely.
"Scatter!" shouted Sam. He and Amara ran one way, Jamie and Rahne the other.
The wolf-creature paused, for a moment apparently uncertain over which two mutants to pursue. At last it turned towards Rahne and Jamie, and advanced upon them, with a howl.
Rahne morphed into her wolf-form at once, and growled back at it, carefully standing between Jamie and the monster. The wolf-creature halted, and stared down at her, a look of utter astonishment upon its features.
*What are you doing here?* it asked her. *Why do you run with the two-legs, little one?*
*They're my friends!* Rahne replied, feeling astonished herself at being able to speak with this creature in the same way that she could with Hrimhari, but standing her ground all the same. *You mess with them, and you'll have to answer to me first!*
*And you side with them against me?* the wolf-creature asked. *We have no business with the two-legs, nor should we. They are prey, not friends. Why do you defend them?*
*Because I'm one of them,* Rahne said.
The wolf-creature stared at her in complete and utter astonishment. *One of them?* it finally cried. *How is that possible? You are clearly a wolf!*
*Not by birth,* the young mutant girl answered. *Here, I'll show you.* She shifted briefly into her human form, then reverted to a wolf. *I'm a human who can become a wolf when she wants to, that's all.*
*So you are one of the two-legs, with the presumption to masquerade as one of my kind,* the wolf-creature shrieked, its eyes blazing in anger. *Then you are an abomination, and must be destroyed alongside them!*
It lunged forward at Rahne, but before it could reach her a flash of grey rammed into it, knocking it onto its side. Hrimhari stood over the monster, growling fiercely.
*You dare attack me?* cried the wolf-creature, staring at him in disbelief. *Your own grandmother?*
*I will not let you harm her,* said Hrimhari. *Leave her and her friends in peace, and I will not have to fight you.*
*You would take up the cause of the two-legs intruders against me?* his grandmother raged.
*Yes, I do,* he answered.
*Then you shall share their fate, traitor!* she roared. She rose to her feet and lunged at him.
They fought back and forth, snarling and snapping at each other, tussling about upon the snow. The New Mutants hurriedly crowded together, watching the battle in horrified fascination.
Amara raised one hand and produced a fireball. She was about to throw it at the wolf-creature, but Rahne shifted back into human form and stopped her.
"Nae, Amara!" she cried. "Ye might hurt Hrimhari instead!"
"But I've got to do something," Amara protested. "I don't think that your friend can hold out against that thing for very long. We've got to find some way of taking it down."
"If Hrimhari can't do it, I'm not sure that we can either," said Sam. He raised his sword unsteadily. "I don't think that even this is gonna do that much good against her."
Rahne ran at the wolf-creature, shifting into wolf-form as she did so. She leaped on its back and pawed at it fiercely. The creature shook itself, knocking her into the snow, then redoubled its attack upon an already- wearying Hrimhari.
Hrimhari fought valiantly, but she was larger and stronger than he. She forced him onto his back and opened her jaws wide, preparing to lunge for his throat and deliver the final blow.
Wolverine lunged out of the shadows and threw himself at her, with a snarl. The force of his impact was strong enough to bowl the wolf-creature over again. Hrimhari righted himself and stood on his feet again, if somewhat wobbily. Rahne rushed to his side to support him. Amara, Sam, and Jamie were too busy staring at Wolverine, however, to pay any attention.
"Logan's here?" said Amara.
"That's not all," said Jamie, looking up. Storm was swooping down, riding the winds on her cloak, while Rogue and Evan rushed up through the trees. "They've found us! Yay!"
"You wanna pick on somebody smaller than yourself?" asked Wolverine, unleashing his claws as he faced the monster. "Then pick on me!"
The wolf-creature snarled as it rushed at him, but before it could reach him Storm cried out in a commanding voice. "No! We have no time for further fighting!" She raised one hand and gestured imperiously as she spoke.
A fierce wind promptly arose, blowing directly for the wolf-monster. She struggled against it, but it only grew the stronger, until she was forced backwards. Blasts of lightning shot down from the sky, only narrowly missing her. Thunder rumbled from the clouds above, growing steadily louder.
At last, the wolf-creature turned and fled, howling in frustrated fury. She vanished into the tree-cast shadows. Once she was out of sight, Storm gestured, and the fury of the elements subsided.
"All right, you lot," said Wolverine, looking the four New Mutants straight in the eye (Rahne had returned to human form and joined them). "You wanna tell me just what you've been up to here?"
"And where did the other wolf come from?" asked Evan, staring at Hrimhari. "That's what I'd really like to know."
"I'm more than a little surprised to see it myself," said Storm, "but that can wait until later. As Logan said, just now, the four of you have much explaining to do."
"Well, Bobby wanted to see what Forge was up to," said Sam in a nervous tone of voice. "So I broke down the door so that he could have a look inside. It's my fault. But it isn't theirs," he went on, indicating the other New Mutants as he spoke. "They actually tried to stop us from fooling around with the equipment, especially Amara."
"Thank you," said the Nova Roman princess, in a rather stiff tone of voice, but with a look of relief in her eyes all the same.
"Well, we'll sort all this out back at the mansion," said Wolverine gruffly. "What I want to know right now is just what you kids were doing, getting into a fight with that monster - and what is this other wolf doing here?"
"That's a long story," said Rahne. "We can tell it to ye on the way to the Volva's mound."
"The Volva's mound?" Rogue asked. "What's that?"
"We'll explain about that as well," said Amara. "But we really ought to go there."
"We should be taking you kids back home," said Wolverine. "And as soon as we find the other four, that's just what we'll be doing."
"We know," said Sam. "But we need to find the Volva in order to find Bobby and the others. That's why we're headed there."
Wolverine and Storm looked at each other doubtfully, as did Rogue and Evan. At last, Logan spoke in a grumbling way.
"All right," he said. "We'll find this Volva or whatever it is with you. But there had better be a good explanation for this. And you're all still in a lot of trouble when you get back. Now start talking about what this is all about on the way. And I still want to know who this furry friend of yours is," he added, glancing to Hrimhari, who was staring back at him cautiously.
"Well, it began like this..." said Sam.