SO SORRY for the absence of posting since the last time I posted for this story specifically. I've still been writing this intermittently, but problems kept me from posting. The primary problem was unfortunately some financial stuff getting an art piece for this story done. Plans for cover art fell apart and then that darned pandemic hit. Suffice it to say, this whole year has been scrambling to survive financially, emotionally, and mentally.
However! one of my best friends is a brilliant artist and took up the concept for the piece I'd been struggling to get done elsewhere. I can't post it here unfortunately, but Starfang's Secrets (StarfangsSecrets on DA and here) made the lovely piece.
Anywho! Buckle up, down, or quite potentially sideways, because this is going to be a lumpy glide. I hope everyone is doing alright in the pandemic stuff. Been up and down for me, but I'm safe and healthy.
Enjoy this continued rendition of my take on "Red Riding Hood".
Something was wrong.
Not just a tingling or nagging sensation. It was a fully blown chill down her spine and sense of dread. The market was in dissonance, though not in such a manner that could be busy. It was more listless.
She'd woken up early, working on her coat project for the third day in a row, only going out around mid-afternoon for supplies for her meals.
The weather was well enough, with clouds shading the town, though not thick enough to be a prelude to rain. However, despite the normalcy of the weather, the sellers in the market were only setting up now, with a far lesser amount of product than usual.
Seeing Jerome in her view, Scarlett quickly made her way towards the large baker.
"Oh… Letty, my dear!" he forced out as happy as he could muster. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"What happened?" the young woman asked gently. His eyebrow quirked up, seeming confused.
"You hadn't heard?"
"I uh… I've been working meticulously on a prepaid project," she explained, rubbing her hands together awkwardly. "Been a bit of a hermit the past two days. Sorry…"
"Ah. No apologies necessary, Letty. I'm sorry for assuming." Jerome offered in return, a sincere small smile reaching his lips. "I'm afraid the past couple of mornings have been met with unfortunate news. Some sort of… thing… attacked two convoys and destroyed everything in it. If that wasn't enough, many merchants, including yours truly, has had our stashes raided."
"So the whole market is short on supplies?" the green eyed girl questioned, feeling there was more of the story to tell. The baker nodded. "What else? If feels like that not all. And… thing?"
"Yes…" Jerome sighed, unsure how to proceed. "It appears Glenn might have been correct. According to those that escaped the convoy attacks, it was some sort of giant… beast or bear like thing. It ravaged the wagons and nearly killed a few of them."
Scarlett bit her lip to keep from saying anything. Who would do this? Why?
She knew Fen wouldn't… but…
"Doesn't help that he came into the market this morning barking about how he told us that he was right," the larger gentleman detailed with a shake of his head. "AND he rambled a few other things, mentioned he knew where the beast lived and took a band of angry hunters and townsfolk to find it…"
The hooded girl froze, barely able to speak. That hunter… knew?
"Wh-where did he s-say?" she squeaked out, trying to sound level toned, yet failing.
Jerome seemed far more preoccupied with his own musings to mind her mannerisms, scratching his head before breathing out, "I think he mentioned something about the bluffs…. You know? The ones to our North?..."
Scarlett was already making a full sprint back towards her cottage, going through a mental checklist in her head.
Deaf to the call of Jerome behind her, she quickly darted through the streets and got through her door, latching the bolt behind her and grabbing a few things, as well as changing from her thin clothes and shoes to thicker clothing and longer boots for the woods.
As much as she wanted to dart right into the woods on a whim, she'd get almost nowhere without dressing appropriately.
"I'll make a stop at Gram's and fill her in, then see if I can't find Fen…" she told herself.
Donning her red cloak once more, she bolted out the back door, a satchel on her side and a dagger strapped to her thigh.
As much as she wanted once again, to ditch the red cloak, she knew that it could be the easiest way for Fen to see her. Everything she witnessed of him told her that his senses far surpassed that of any human. Therefore… it would be easier to let him find her, rather than her find him.
Once again, Scarlett broke into a run, shoulder length brown hair whipping behind her along with her cloak. Her legs already burned a bit from her sprint back from the market, but she treated it as a warm-up of sorts, knowing she couldn't let her stamina run out now.
Careful not to push herself into a dead run, despite her heart wrenching fear wanting to push herself to exhaustion, she forced her body to follow a pace.
Instead of taking the most traveled path, the hooded girl took the most direct path, cutting through the more open area behind her cottage. The woods quickly became more dense, the canopy bleeding rays of sunlight in dwindling amounts.
Reaching the flowing creek, she found a shallow spot and took careful steps upon the rocks that broke the surface of the babbling water.
Over the river…
She hit the ground on the other side running again.
The view around her would be rather spectacular, if Scarlett weren't overly occupied with her current crisis. With the thick foliage and winding roots, as well as vibrant greens of the moss and loam, the young woman briefly wondered why she almost always stuck to the path.
Through the woods…
The green eyed woman could see a distant break in the canopy, with a smoke trail coming up from the center. Picking up her pace, Scarlett could see the not too far off shape of Gram's cabin, letting a burst of adrenaline carry her final stretch.
To Gram's house I go…
Breaking into the clearing around the cabin, Scarlett called out, "Gram?! Fen!"
Too breathless to make another yell, she kept running, stumbling on shaky legs up the steps and knocking on the door.
"Gram, where's Fen? Are you there?!"
There was a couple breathless seconds that felt like long and dragging minutes as she awaited a reply. With her recent activity and heaving breaths catching up to her, the hooded girl fell into a heap in front of the door.
Jarring her head back towards the door, she heard it being unbolted saw it rip open, with the slightly shorter and older woman standing there.
"What are you yelling about?" came her annoyed tone. "I know I can't hear as well as I used to… but you could wake a hibernating bear shouting like that."
"I need to talk to Fen. Now!" she rasped out desperately. "The town got all stirred up and that damn hunter got them thinking it was him. They know where he lives."
Gram's usually placid or serene expression became contorted in mild discomfort, brows knit together in confusion or thought.
Scarlett stood solid on her feet once more, lips trembling a bit as the elder woman seemed to mull something over…
...and then she put her fingers in her mouth and let loose an ear splitting whistle, making the hooded girl clasp her hands to her ears.
"Fen is out gathering me some ingredients," she explained. "If he didn't already hear your yelling, he certainly should have heard that. The boy has been around more often the past few days to check up on me like I'm some sort of invalid…"
The freckled girl pursed her lips and kept from saying anything, letting her Gram continue.
"...But… whatever gets you two interacting again."
Not a moment too soon and the aforementioned wolf boy leapt from the depths of the woods to the west of the cabin, with Scarlett assuming he was using the higher branches so as to avoid interaction with people. He wasn't dressed in the clothes she gave him, but instead donning his usual loose blouse and wraps.
"Everything ok, Gram?" he vented out, approaching quickly, then perking up as he noticed the red hooded girl. "Oh. Hello, Scar!"
She leapt at him and threw her arms around his chest, the young man's arms pinned down beneath her embrace.
"Wh-what's… wrong?" he stuttered, blushing mildly.
"She's saying that hunter knows where you live and went to find you there," Gram mentioned to spare Scarlett's breath.
"They're headed to the bluffs, I heard," the younger woman explained.
At both of their lines, Fen froze, arms trembling and pupils going to slits as he jerked his head in the direction of the bluffs in mention.
"No!" he cried out, shirking away from her as he examined something in the distance.
Gram and Scarlett turned and craned their necks to look at what he saw.
The two of them grimaced, with the latter going wide eyed in shock.
Coming up from that exact direction… was a heavy plume of smoke.
0000000
An hour earlier…
The whole group of them, just a few over a dozen and led by Glenn, found their way up the bluffs to survey the area.
The aforementioned large man looked on in contempt at the peak of the hill, mulling over the past few days. He hadn't even been sure things would work in his favor, but… he had to make the effort, as no one else would listen to him.
Ever since hearing about the red hooded woman and remembering parts of that hazy night, the hunter began staking out the region, catching a shadowy glimpse of the shapeshifting beast through a spyglass from afar. He also noticed there were other 'wolves' around, though he couldn't take a chance on them not being abominations as well.
Going home after seeing that, in a rage and drinking as much as he had around his own home, he simply stared at the floor for hours before realizing that maybe… just maybe… he could get one last shot at turning his recent wild goose chase into a heroic mission.
He remembered smiling, a brilliant idea coming to him as he stared at the bearskin rug on his floor. For most of that night, after making some bitter coffee in a pot over the fire to sober up, the hunter took that bearskin, turning it into an improvised outfit.
In the darkest hours just before dawn for the next couple mornings, Glenn found and attacked the cargo of any supply convoy going to or coming from Stone Glades, using daggers bound by corded leather to mimic bear claws and making all kinds of noises to appear beastly.
To his luck, most of the sleep laden supply runners chose flight over fight and ran upon hearing and barely seeing him tear everything apart. It made it that much easier to allow fear and rumor to set in, with it being worse as he kept up the charade for a second morning.
To his greatest joy, the rumors turned into a wildfire of dissention, made more 'real' by the happenstance that a few people saw his bear like outfit and ran with it.
And now…
"Lay down some pitch and oil, then burn it," Glenn commanded the nearest two of his group to do.
"But… why?" one of them questioned meekly.
The large grizzly man whirled and growled, poking a finger into his chest, "That thing isn't here right now, and we need it to come back. It seems to be smarter than your average mindless animal. If we burn that beast's home… I'm willing to bet that'll make a homecoming all the quicker… So… burn it."
"R-right!" the other hunter agreed, making his way towards their supplies, his partner following.
Glenn stood there and looked down the hill from the bluff, clenching his fist. He was so close. With his group taking up positions at the bottom of the incline, they would be ready for whenever that beast returns. Others around the region would set up traps and come when called.
The two hunters returned, stuffing pitch, oil, and any nearby leaves and sticks into the den opening they found. Glenn pulled out a flint and sparked the whole mess himself, relishing the spread of flames as the dry brush from fallen leaves began to catch fire too.
Wordlessly, he waved the two to follow him, going down the hill bluff to take up his own position and wait…
0000000
Fen looked on in horror, his legs stiff for a moment until Scarlett released him.
It was then that he acted without much thought, only hoping the wolves were alright as he bolted forwards.
The red hooded girl tried to call after him, in the hopes he would stop or let her catch up. He couldn't wait though, shifting swiftly to his wolf form, clothes adjusting easily.
His speed increased twofold, able to use all four paws to close the distance faster than in his more human form. To his left, the sun was beginning to set, with the moon becoming more vibrant on his right. Refocusing forward, the wolf boy powered on, letting out pants and whines as he tried not to be distracted by negative thoughts. He just had to get there, then try to deal with the problem.
His thoughts then migrated to worrying over Scarlett, knowing her stubbornness would lead her to him. If he was fast enough, hopefully it wouldn't matter. He didn't need to get her caught up in this anyways.
Coming up on the incline up towards the bluff, Fen could see the flames now, pumping his legs harder to try getting up there quicker.
Turning his head at the sound of a few twangs, he couldn't react fast enough, feeling a thigh being sliced into by an arrow, another few missing him narrowly. He tripped and rolled, becoming a tangled mess of limbs and fur, whining slightly.
Before he could recover, a net was cast and anchored by hunters that closed in. Fen tried to get back up, but was swiftly kicked in the belly, eliciting a pained whine. In such a state, he accidentally shifted his state to humanesque, with everyone in attendance drawing a breath.
"That's… impossible…" one human gasped.
"Glenn was right…" another breathed in a low tone.
The others began to murmur, surprised gazes turning from shock… to disgust and hate.
"Now does everyone believe me…?" a voice growled nearby.
The wolf boy tried to shirk away, but was quickly hit with the butt of a musket. He could smell it now, though the smoke definitely masked it. It was that hunter, the one who had some sort of obsession with proving he was something evil and worth slaying.
"This is the beast I spoke of, taking multiple forms and deceiving us, but only a devil's creation for savagery."
Glenn kicked him, the larger man delivering more of a pain inducing hit than the one from before.
"S-stop…" the young werewolf rasped out, with another series of stunned gasps from the group around him.
"He… talks?"
"Does that make this worse?"
"Of course it does!" Glenn bellowed, reaching out and grabbing Fen's ears, dragging him forward, but still keeping him bound by the net, with someone else binding his arms. "Look at this! This abomination is in a half-baked human form. By looking like this, it tries to gain our sympathy. I won't be tricked!"
Fen desperately attempted to wrest himself from the much larger man's grip, but with those hands on his ears, each squirm was met with painful pulling, to which he whined like a wolf.
His gut was then impacted with the large hunter's fist, with the wolf boy being dropped to the ground to groan in agony.
"This thing," Glenn began with a sneer to his lips and venom to his tone, "terrorized the town and ravaged our supplies, threatening your lifestyles and livelihoods. Have at it…"
At first, no one moved, but Fen could see the looks on them all changing, shifting from confused and uncertain, to vengeful and spiteful.
It was a familiar look, with the young werewolf remembering the looks on those men who tried to take him all those years before.
Another strike interrupted his thoughts, with a member of the hunter's group yelling, "He's right! This thing destroyed our town's supplies!"
"He ruined my shop's shipment!"
"... nearly killed my cousin…"
The wolf boy was getting hit from all angles, with boots, fists, and whatever blunt objects they held. Fen couldn't fight back, his body shaking as he tried to figure a way out of this. It wasn't that he was unable to defend himself, but more that he wasn't able to bring himself to. As much pain as he was in, he didn't see a way out of this that excluded potentially harming someone to save himself.
Tears began to stream from his eyes as he felt trapped, and not only by the net and the bindings. He felt trapped in a circumstance he couldn't change. They looked upon him for what he was, not who he was.
More painful strikes impacted him.
They were spiteful of what they think he was because he was not human. He was outside of their ideas of what it meant to be part of their world. Since he was outside of it… he was a threat.
Someone threw a rock at him, sharply hitting his hip and causing Fen to yelp.
He didn't want this. He avoided them as often as possible to let them live without him. He lived away from them, cut himself from Gram to protect her, and was content to live his whole life away from them.
At this point, the blows just felt far away, each one a dull pain that echoed in his body like he was underwater. Fen instead just covered his eyes and clenched his jaw, silently begging for it all to stop.
The towering hunter that led them instead allowed for it to continue, talking to a few select men.
"The lot of you take the supplies back to town," Glenn ordered gruffly, the ones he spoke to nodding in affirmation. "We'll wrap up here and make sure there aren't anymore…"
Trailing off, he stared back at Fen, brown eyes focused on him with more ill intent than the wolf boy wanted to see. There was a hunger to his stare, not one for sustenance but in its stead was one of want to inflict pain and misery.
With his gaze unwavering, the leftover hunters made sure to bind the werewolf well and tie him to a tree, while the others packed up and left them to their mission. That left only about ten people, of which was all those with bigger weapons and of larger stature.
Glenn strode confidently up to him, promptly putting a fist into his gut, much to the cheer of the other hunters.
"Now…" he snarled in a menacing tone to Fen, meaty hand grasping his neck firmly before continuing, "...where are the rest of you?"
"No… others…" the wolf boy rasped out weakly. "I'm… alone."
"I highly doubt that…" another hunter jeered. "We saw your other form. Wolves travel in packs."
"That's right," Glenn agreed with a derisive sneer. "I'm willing to bet you have a partner or a pack. More monsters like you! Now tell us!" His exclamation was accompanied by his fist to Fen's chest, making him gasp and lose his breath.
The wolf boy gave no answer, his mind far more enthralled with mulling over something else.
Monster…
Was that what they truly saw in him? Just a snarling savage creature that only had a thirst for blood.
Fen let his blue/amber eyes wander their gaze around in empty observance. He was met with many fiery stares, ready to light him aflame by look alone.
By contrast, he could feel the fire inside himself dying slowly, the light in his eyes fading to a dull tone. His ears pinned down, a whimper escaping him as he bit down to stifle it, a fang piercing his lip and causing blood to dribble to his chin.
He was going to die, surrounded by people but never more lonesome.
"Fen!" Scarlett's not so distant voice shouted for him.
Eyes going wide, head whipping around to locate the source of the voice, the wolf boy was greeted with the ripple of a red cloak billowing behind a small woman.
He wanted to yell and call to her, begging her to turn back, but that thought was quashed when a couple of the hunters turned to see her.
"Grab her!" Glenn vented quickly. "She was with him!"
Given over to a sense of loyalty brought about by their blind rage and the larger hunter's recent 'vindication', the others acted without hesitation, approaching the red hooded girl with malicious intent.
She ducked a sloppy grab from one of the hunters and drove a fist into his exposed gut. Another came in, with the young woman reflexively pulling out her dagger and making him stumble back.
Glenn closed in while the other two were beaten back, grabbing and twisting her wrist until Scarlett screamed and dropped the blade. She tried to punch him in the face, but he moved behind her, using his other hand to grip her by the back of the neck and bend her over, further using her twisted arm as leverage.
Instead of screaming further, she appeared prepared for the cheap move, snarling in a very unladylike manner.
The lead hunter leaned in, eyeing Fen from the distance, whispering to Scarlett, "I must say… this position seems more appropriate for you… Maybe I should kill you in front of him."
Fen felt that dying light, that dwindling flame, reduced to a flickering ember… now broiling and bolstering itself into a raging inferno. It burned from the inside, threatening to burst.
It became such a virulent force within, that it smashed through a barrier in his mind, erected through fear of reprisal and rejection.
With the sun dipping below the horizon and the clouds parting to unveil a radiant moon, Fen gave in for the first time in a long time and relished in it, feeling the invigorating energy coursing through him and letting out a long breath as the werewolf released a mental restraint on himself.
Fur began to envelope every inch of his body, becoming thicker and coarser. His bones cracked and muscles stretched, body changing and becoming more built and powerful in appearance. His face became encased in fur, looking far more wolf than human as he smoothly morphed into a hybrid of his wolf and human forms. Claws extended from his now more paw like hands, with pads emerging from the fur covered digits and palm.
He used his claws to swiftly cut the bindings, Fen's growing body straining the ropes that held him in place. The werewolf now stood on large and heavy hind paws, haunches raised and toe claws giving the earth a testing scratch.
The previously distracted hunters did a double take upon seeing their quarry now free, with scraps of rope hanging from his shoulder and arms. Fen shirked them off, baring his fangs and letting loose a bone chilling growl that overcame any other sounds and turned the entire forest nearby and it's occupants silent.
"F-Fen?" came Scarlett's breathless voice, with the young werewolf flitting his gaze for but a moment to her. He couldn't discern whether her gaze and tone were that of fear… or worry.
It wasn't relevant. No matter his reservations or self-depreciation, Fen would protect her with everything he had.
0000000
Scarlett looked on in wonder and awe, seeing the change of Fen from his human form to… this.
With the light of the stars and the moon cast upon them, along with the waning corona of the sun leaving the edges of the sky a vibrant purple and orange, she could see him quite well.
Mostly a charcoal color with silver and grey, he was covered completely in fur, yet stood with the stature of a human on two feet, even if his feet and hands more resembled paws now. The hooded girl could now see why he deigned to wear loose or flexible clothing, with his form now looking twice the mass of his normal self. His arms were thicker in muscle mass, as well as his legs, powerfully built but still lean. His height was increased, or maybe that was from walking on his transformed paws, heels raised like the hind legs of a wolf. Fen's normally curious and innocent face was now reflective of a wolf as well, contorted in emotions she couldn't quite read.
A hunter tried to stab at him with a bayoneted musket…
...to which Fen dodged with unnatural speed and raised an open paw, claws out and ready to do some damage.
The young woman stared on wide-eyed, wondering what he intended to do…
...when the werewolf closed his paw at the last second and instead used his other arm to swipe at him and toss him aside. The man went flying about ten feet before hitting the ground rolling, stopping a few feet later.
The hooded girl then tried to not fixate on Fen, as much as her mind wanted to process everything about him currently, noticing Glenn's grip was definitely weaker, the large man likely distracted.
She took the opportunity, rolling forward and pulling her arm from his grasp, kicking out a foot to catch him in the shin. It didn't break anything, as was her hopeful intention, but she clipped his muscle mass well enough to make him stumble. What was left of his grip on her relinquished from her in shock and pain.
Getting her feet under her, Scarlett tried to locate her dagger, seeing it was in between herself and another of Glenn's group.
"Kill her!" the aforementioned man vented out, murderous intent at its highest yet.
The lackey listened, trying to slice at her with a short blade. He made about two swings that came up short before another hunter was thrown his direction and knocking him over.
Scarlett looked over and noticed Fen gazing her direction, engaged with defending himself from the rest of the group. Despite their fear, it appeared these men were acting more according to blind hatred, throwing themselves at the awakened werewolf with almost reckless abandon.
Fen let out a whine in pain, as one of the hunter's let loose a crossbow bolt that he almost avoided, but it nicked his upper arm. If the men of the group had any fear or were close to turning tail, that knowledge that he could be hurt erased it and renewed their assault. Regardless, he was knocking them out or aside, dwindling their able bodied numbers slowly.
She found her dagger and scrambled to pick it up, not overly confident in her unarmed skills against experienced hunters. Another of them tried to attack her, flailing wildly with the blunt end of his musket. Ducking under the blow, though more from adrenaline instead of battle honed reflexes, she sliced upward with the blade, cutting through fabric but misjudging the distance and barely giving him a scratch.
He reacted by pulling back and haphazardly striking her, not successful in delivering a significant hit, but still stunning her. It gave him a second to rear back and try again…
...but the hulking mass of Fen in his werewolf form intervened in the visage of a shoulder ram, tumbling the man into a tree and making him slump to the ground.
"Do you even know how to use that?" the wolf boy's voice asked her quickly, surprising her with it's more gravelly and raspy tone.
Nevertheless, her sass overstepped the rest of her thoughts, firing back to him with, "Of course I do! Their bodies apply the same logic as my scabbard… 'Insert pointy bit here'!"
Fen huffed in mild amusement, but it was swiftly ruined by the battlecries of some charging hunters, trying to pin the werewolf down while a few others attempted to fire arrows or crossbow bolts at him.
He instead charged forward, using his greater agility and strength to leap over the hunters and knock them over from behind. The young man should be using every weapon at his disposal, claws out but digging into his own palms instead, as he couldn't override his fear of killing someone.
Not in front of her…
He was about to go for the ranged attackers, when two of the three he just knocked over got back up and targeted Scarlett for their next attack. Now with a little more fear laden adrenaline in their systems, they were more reactive and kept their distance, with the werewolf trying to draw them away from her.
Glenn was mostly nursing his jarring leg pain for a minute, but recovered and circumvented the field of battle, finding something he could shoot with. Grabbing a crossbow from their packs, he found the three that were trying to get a shot at the werewolf, gaining their attention.
"You… Don't target him," the larger man told them, the three looking befuddled. He then pointed to the red hooded girl, barely holding her own against another hunter that strayed towards her. "Aim for her."
They looked confused, considering the beast before them felt like the larger threat, but they all nodded and took aim.
"Ready…" Glenn called out loudly, making one of the others nervously twitch, unsure why he would make it known while the werewolf was busy.
Fen's eyes found that voice and honed in with predatory slits, blue/amber eyes ablaze with a need for a savage justice.
"Aim…" The four men found their target.
Pausing and noticing they weren't pointing the path of their weapons at him, the wolf boy's eyes went a little wider as he found the source of their target.
With an echoing snarl, he drove a fist into the gut of one of the men keeping him occupied, kicking the legs out from the other one.
"...Fire…"
Arrows flew and bolts were loosed, with Scarlett turning to notice only too late whom they were aiming at, with only enough reaction time to clench herself and brace for the pain.
Hearing the whizzing of the various objects coming towards her, she closed her eyes, hearing a few sickening thuds of arrows into flesh. Her teeth grit and waited, expecting to feel piercing, stabbing, all encompassing pain…
...but opening her eyes revealed a large shape blocking her vision, arms now wrapped around her and heaving breaths, accompanied by pained whines, reaching her ears. The hooded girl smiled for a moment, then felt him trembling, a growing snarl emanating from Fen.
He released her and turned away, to which Scarlett gasped out, choking back a gurgled cry upon seeing four protrusions from Fen's now bloodied back. They were closely grouped, with two arrows and one bolt embedded into his left upper back, just below the shoulder blade. The last bolt pierced him on the same side, but lower, more towards his midsection from behind.
In the moment just as they fired, the werewolf lowered onto all fours, digging in with all the power he had, leaping into the path of the arrows and taking the hits for her.
… just as Glenn hoped.
The two now glared at one another, though the larger hunter was sneering, enjoying his quarry dripping with blood and greatly weakened.
Fen felt differently though…
He felt more desperate… more savage… and less restrained.
Arching his head up, he let out a reverberating howl that made the hunters reach to cover their ears, stunning them for a moment. Even Glenn flinched and cupped an ear.
Not holding himself back and wanting to end this for Scarlett's sake, as well as before he likely collapsed, Fen bolted forward and grabbed one man by the shoulder, slamming him into a tree. Without even caring to take notice how much damage he did to him, he moved to the next, sinking his claws into another man's leg and opening his maw, his victim screaming in pain, to grip him with his jaw by the shoulder and toss him upwards. When he landed, his crumpled body was in an unnatural pose.
Glenn was now befuddled and actually afraid. In a moment of fear, he pushed the last man at the werewolf, watching him wind up and slam an open paw into his back. He didn't use his claws, but the force made the man impact the ground face first with a crunch, blood seeping from his potentially broken nose.
The man of large stature was now stumbling backwards, beginning to blubber in outright terror at the force of nature before him. He'd never felt such fear at anything, usually being the biggest, the strongest, the most intimidating.
With his last ounce of waning rage, he gripped the hilt of his short sword and cast it out, trying to cleave a paw from this monstrosity.
Fen closed the gap with inhuman speed and caught his wrist, the other paw punching upwards and breaking his arm just above the elbow. Glenn cried out, only to be stifled by a giant paw grasping his throat and squeezing slowly, leaving his broken arm to hang uselessly.
The last hunter's leg was now assaulted by the werewolf's destructive claws, with them sinking into one of Glenn's thighs and ripping the flesh apart. He couldn't even properly let out a strained sound of agony enveloping him with the iron clad grip to his neck.
The man lost all sense of pride, dignity, and hatred, only haunted by the empty feeling of his existence likely being snuffed out by the very prey he wished to hunt. Fear was all that was left.
Glenn was lifted by the neck, the werewolf's grip grew tighter as he snarled and growled, eyes glowing with intense disdain for the man before him. Predatory slits haunted him, getting closer as he was pulled in, unable to fight back.
Fen raised his left paw, claws out, reared back, and ready to deal a blow he knew could end this man. End his threat. End his intrusion.
A hand held him by the forearm, gentle though unwavering. The wolf boy stopped his noises and turned his head, blue/amber eyes meeting a mossy green pair.
"Fen…," Scarlett breathed. "Stop. It's okay."
The young wolf began to tremble, finally letting clarity into his mind once more, the hunter in his grasp barely aware or even conscious.
"You don't want to do this," she cooed to him. "You won. Any further and you'll regret it. I've seen how you get when you believe you've harmed others… killing him won't do anything for you, no matter what he's done."
"He tried to kill you…," Fen weakly defended, already knowing her argument was too true. "If I let him go… he'll c-come after us. A-after you."
"Stop…"
She need not say anymore, with the werewolf breathing out slowly and dropping the hunter from his grip. He slumped in a heap on the ground, breathing in long wheezes, leg liberally bleeding, but not fatally so by itself.
Hearing the snap of a branch far away, Fen jerked in it's direction, preceded by his twitching ears. A lone light formed in the distance, the shape indicative of a torch flame, forcing the wounded hybrid into action.
The werewolf scooped the hooded girl up in his arms, pain in his shoulder be damned, and ran.
He didn't care to look back and figure out who happened upon them, assuming it was the ones who left before, coming back to check in. No matter, he couldn't let Scarlett get caught up in another potential conflict.
Whatever the case, he knew he wasn't up for another bout, his body slowly but surely reaching its limit, the wolf boy's wounds draining him of all his strength.
For an almost indeterminate time and distance, Fen powered forward on sheer willpower alone. Scarlett was unable to keep herself silent as she repeatedly made clear with her pleas for him to stop and let her down. It wasn't for her sake, but his, as the young woman noticed his increasing difficulty in keeping pace. Unfortunately, he appeared fairly deaf to her voice, making her settle in with a teary pout.
Eventually, his legs stopped pumping like before, dragging with each step. That led to him slumping against a moss covered, thick rooted tree. Panting heavily, Fen lowered Scarlett into the groove between two winding and gnarled roots, the covering of dense moss serving almost like a cushion.
"Fen… are you okay?" the hooded girl questioned in worry, wincing as she felt ridiculously stupid for asking, remembering the arrows sticking out of his back, as well as noticing other minor cuts and wounds. "I… I mean… F-Fen?"
Looking up, she got a much closer and more satisfying view of his hybrid form. Moonlight seeped through the thick canopy, giving his fur a gentle glow. It also made the blood seeping from him glint with a pale sheen, reigniting her worry.
Tired eyes of the werewolf locked onto her, maw parted as he let out heavy breaths, each accompanied by whines and whimpers.
"Why did you do that?" she inquired simply, a tear or two falling from her freckled cheeks.
Fen braced a paw against the tree, hunched over her and reaching out with the other paw, outstretched and open. Scarlett put her much smaller hand into his palm pad, raking the tips of her fingers out until her whole hand was spread into his. Her other hand made its way under his wolf-like muzzle, fingers digging into his fur and affectionately scratching his chin.
He leaned right into it, something like a pleased whine making it through the more painful whimpers as he replied to her, "Isn't it natural… to protect what you love?..."
Scarlett turned a deep shade of the color of her namesake, stuttering profusely and unable to look him in the eyes for more than a fraction of a second without casting her own gaze down. Given over to such a state for nearly a minute, the young lady fortuitously found her voice to attempt a thoughtful response…
The exhausted werewolf then finally began to show clear signs of his state, eyes closing and body falling slowly. He sank to his knees, with a yelp of concern from the red hooded girl, subsequently slumping over her.
Though still ripe with worry, Scarlett was partially sated when his even breathing reached her ears, his body held steady by the thick root to her side, with only a part of his weight on her.
She was unsure what to do in this circumstance. As much as the young woman knew of his healing abilities, that didn't make him invincible. Nor did healing automatically remove four arrows from his back. At least… Scarlett had to assume that much.
Taking a deep breath and calming her pounding heart, both from the rush of recent events, as well as what felt like a very intimate confession from Fen, the hooded girl slipped herself from under the unconscious werewolf, whose form still retained its hybrid visage. She tried to survey the wounds, seeing that they stopped seeping blood, the edges looking clean instead of potentially dead or festering.
A series of crunches sounded nearby, prompting Scarlett to turn and see a shape approaching, the young lady putting herself between them and Fen.
"Oh stand down, Little Letty," a sharp tone cut through the air, giving the young woman a start, but easing her nerves upon realizing who it was.
Gram stepped through the layer of leaves and loam, a rucksack over her shoulder and appearing rather gentle in her demeanor.
"H-how?" Scarlett barely had the presence of mind to ask, feeling like this arrival was fortuitous, even if rather too well timed to be an accident.
"Fen and I have this little age old arrangement," the elderly woman explained, kneeling next to the wolf boy and giving him a look, her face screwed into an amalgamation of somber worry and anger. "We meet here after certain… events… that transpire. I expected some cuts and such… but nothing like this…"
"Can you help him?" The red hooded girl asked desperately, tears beginning to form.
"Of course I can," Gram snapped, "but quit your crying first. I'll need an aid to help." Scarlett then bit her lip and stifled a sniffle, not liking how cold her grandmother was being but knowing she was technically right. First came Fen.
Opening her rucksack, the old lady began fishing out many items, ranging from bandages to poultices to…
"...stones?" the younger woman inquired aloud, eyebrows raised. Looking at them more closely, Scarlett noticed their shape being wide and flat, much like the ones she might skip on ponds as a kid. However, these had symbols on them, either etched by tools or marked by chalk.
"Yep!" Gram proudly bellowed. "You're about to see some real alchemy."
0000000
A short while ago, when Fen ran from the scene of the fight…
With the unnatural beast dropping him, his fate somehow spared an abrupt end, Glenn now lay on the ground, broken and barely able to catch his breath.
His vision was clouded, a hazy veil over everything as he recovered from being nearly suffocated by the sheer power exacted on his throat.
He wanted to wonder where that werewolf went, fear creeping back in that he might finish the job.
It was stuttered by the incoming presence of a flickering light, held aloft by a shadowy silhouette. What or whoever it was now stood above him, looking down.
By then, his senses had returned to some semblance of normalcy, even if his throat hurt too much to speak. It was clearly a man, tall and relatively thin, but not malnourished. The newcomer kneeled above Glenn, with him now seeing the light was a torch.
"Well well…" the silhouette voiced softly, tone more curious than fearful. "Look… at… you." Each word was punctuated by a playful poke to the much larger man's nose. Suffice it to say, Glenn was annoyed, though in too much debilitating pain to attempt stopping him.
Instead, he grumbled uselessly, throat burning upon trying to use his voice.
The man pulled out something from a satchel on his waist, spinning what appeared to be an apple in his hand.
No… it was too spherical to be an apple, though the hue was right. Red.
"I could use you," the shadowy man mused out loud, seeming to talk more to himself than the broken hunter. "Gotta clean up this mess somehow… Yep! I'm convinced."
The man reached back into the satchel, pulling out a vial with a cork, dislodging the cork and tipping it over Glenn's face. The large hunter clenched his jaw shut, not sure what was going on but pretty sure this guy was not giving him something good.
A freezing cold touch to his chest made the hunter gasp, the shadowy man taking that opportunity and shoving the vial, bottoms up, into his maw. A putrid smelling and tasting mix ran in a slimy texture down his gullet, causing some painful gagging. With a hand closing over his mouth and nose, Glenn had little choice but to swallow in order to clear his throat to breathe again.
A few swallows and the man let him go, with a new problem arising. Whatever was still touching his chest now burned instead of froze. He felt it coursing from that spot to the rest of his body, with most of the searing heat going to his wounds and broken wrist.
"There we go… Just let it happen," he told the hunter in an oddly gentle, yet still greatly disturbing tone.
Glenn couldn't focus on that for long though, as his body felt like it was being assaulted by some violent force. His wrist snapped back into place, thigh healing over, and throat going back to normal. It wasn't a normal process of healing, nor did it even feel to him like it was relieving the pain of his wounds, as it burned. It was the kind of burn that felt like he was tossed into a baker's oven. Like his body was having molten iron poured into his body and melting its way out. It was so strange and violent that he almost wished it would kill him.
Even upon healing his wounds, the man held this strange red orb to his chest as further effects happened. He started growing hair in excess, almost resembling fur, but it was in no way as complete as the beast he tried to ensnare. It was almost haphazard and patchy. Then his muscles seared with pain, though no real changes seemed to happen by his now restored vision.
For minutes, this process went on, with Glenn unable to raise a hand to keep this unknown man from keeping that sphere pressed to him, almost as if his mind was avoiding thinking about trying it.
Eventually… it stopped, the shadowy man picking up the torch he stuck in the ground at some point, bringing it in to inspect Glenn, his face becoming revealed to the hunter.
The man had an angular face, with prominent cheekbones and a hook nose. His eyes gleamed hazel, with thick messing dark brown hair. Most of it was tied back in a lazy pony tail, with a few locks hanging down his forehead. None of his physical features were as disturbing as his tone and demeanor, though his smile certainly put the man on edge.
"Ohhh it worked!" he happily spoke, sounding like a child in his giddiness. "Come on! Get up!" Backing off, he allowed the large hunter to try standing.
"What… what in the blazes did you do to me?" Glenn growled, pulling himself to his full stature, noticing the strangely happy man was a whole head shorter.
"I healed you," he explained simply, as if that were sufficient enough. "Isn't it obvious."
"I… yes… but…"
"And it comes with a price," he finished, stopping the hunter short.
"I don't have to pay you anything…" Glenn rebuked, feeling this was headed a very problematic direction. He then tried to walk away, but was nearly floored by this wave of nausea that overcame his senses.
Turning back to the shadowy man, he noticed that he was smiling oddly, playing with the red sphere between his fingers.
"I don't think you have a choice," the man gently said through a grin that Glenn was coming to associate with the word 'wicked'. "You see… this stone carries the very essence of another human, ripe with their life, harvested for a purpose. I have used it to heal you, as well as change you to suit my needs. By doing so… I have tied its power to you. If I so choose, I could take it back, reverting your body back to its broken state before healing…. That is… unless you follow my every command."
Glenn's eyes widened, not wanting to believe such a thing was possible, but knowing if he came back from the brink of death in such a manner, it shouldn't be out of the question the opposite rang true.
"What if I survive well enough without you?" he ventured to ask the mystery man.
The shorter male shrugged, making a curious hum as he detailed, "I would venture your wounds would cripple you for life, even IF you survived. Honestly though, I would have given you a 50/50 chance at living. Wanna take that chance?"
Clenching his fists and gritting his teeth, of which, the latter felt odd. Reaching up to feel them, he noticed something else and gasped.
"Oh! You like?" the all too giddy man piped up, seeing his reaction. "I haven't used the bear version yet but you seemed to be an appropriate candidate."
"W-what?" Glenn sputtered.
The shadowy man snickered, looking pleased with himself as he spoke, "Though not a complete transformation, you are now infused with the essence of a bear. Just look at you!"
With shaky legs and a chattering jaw, the hunter looked down and was mortified.
He was still human in shape, but his arms were covered in patchy brown fur, hands larger and fingers tipped with claws. Feeling his teeth again, sense bled through his panic, understanding he must have more fang like canines.
"Why?" he asked desperately, unsure how to approach this in his own mind.
"You and these others approached a target of my observation," he explained cooly. "Hurt him pretty good and chased him off before I could even get a look. If I am correct… it was you that started this whole mess. Whatever the case, I need to do some damage control. Good thing is… all the witnesses are right… here." At the last word, the strange man waved an arm out towards the still incapacitated group of hunters.
Glenn understood in part… but…
"There's more I sent back to town," the hunter mentioned. "They know of it."
"Ah ah ah," the shadowy person chided, making a clicking noise with his tongue. "Those people saw you capture a shapeshifting boy wolf thing. NOT his true capabilities as you clearly have been prone to." He snickered almost to spite the larger man.
Not letting him fire a retort or brutish reply, the strange man continued, "All that were witness or victim to his potential are still right here." The man's smile and voice both dropped, becoming much more morbidly serious as he followed up with…
"...kill them."
Glenn made to open his mouth to instantly reject that, but felt his body becoming weak and seeing the man holding the red orb, teasing a thumb over it.
"Do it… or you will be returned to your deathly state… and I will finish you myself."
The hunter looked around, gulping as he silently wondered how he got caught up in this mess.
"You will also follow my next few instructions… to… the… LETTER."
Nodding solemnly, Glenn gave in, unable to look directly at this man as the wicked sneer returned in all its disturbing force.
Yes! Update! Progress.
Still working on all my writing works, so don't fret, as I'm pushing myself to get everything done. Thank all of you for your patience and I hope I've entertained. XD
Until next time, It's been a hustle, Sweethearts!