Chapter 11

The Man Beast

Halt watched Will sleeping in the back of the wagon, his soft fur ruffled in the wind. So much had happened since finding the broken boy barely breathing at the monster's campsite and his mind slipped back to it now and how close he had been to loosing Will.

Halt with the sandy wolf had been watching and listening to the monster Panis Rauly using and bullying Will all night, the boy had become so weak that his body would not even respond to the rapists touch. Every time Will's heart sounded like it would give out, (the heart beat's sounded so soft even to Halt's ears) Halt would give a growl or a howl, which would bring the boy around again to the pain of what the master was doing but at least his heart would sound so much stronger.

When the monster that was Panis Rauly finally fell asleep, with himself still buried deep inside of Will. The boy himself was awake with tears falling down his face obviously in a lot of pain. Halt promised himself that, that the part that was buried deep in Will would be the first part he would rip of first and that the monster would feel every part of himself being pulled off one by one and Panis would be the one that would be left out for the wolves.

"Look at the wards, they are smoking" the sandy wolf said.

Halt turned his eyes from the one he loved to the paper written spell wards on the trees surrounding the campsite. They were definitely smoking, some were even on fire. This was the moment he had been waiting for and he was going to use it to make that man pay with his life for what he did to Will but there was something he had to know first.

"Is it safe?" Halt asked, knowing that Will's life would depend on what they did and Halt would not risk his life anymore no matter what he had to do.

"Almost, a few minutes more and we can get to them. Please let me take care of the rapist Panis Rauly, you take care of your boy. He is so weak now, he will need you to help him survive" said the sandy wolf as the wards failed.

Panis was dressing himself and getting ready to leave the campsite. Will was laying on the ground, his eyes showed no sign that he had felt the man pull out of him, only the pain that was in his body was less and he was not being touched.

Halt and the sandy wolf raced down the hill as the daylight became more pronounced. As they entered the clearing, they moved with remarkable speed, making no sound. Halt could see Will on the ground battered, bruised and in obvious pain laying in front of him, asking with his eyes for him to end his pain.

The monster turned and looked down at the two wolves and could see one of them gently nosing the boy. It seem to Panis that the wolf was trying to get the boy to move a little like he seemed to care about the boy. To think that, that wolf would be the one to eat the slave probably be the only kindness he would see for the rest of his life, which would not be for very much longer looking at how the wolf was acting. The man turned again leaving himself wide open for an attack that he did not think would come, at least not from the wolves.

Lightning quick Halt raced over to the rapist and as he promised Will and himself, the man's lower body was his target. Panis Rauly screamed as his member was ripped off, which made him drop to his knees only to see the dark brown wolf take what he had in his mouth and throw it into the dying fire, only to have the fire flare up a little as it consumed the part.

Panis did not feel anything as his life blood fell on the ground. Not the next attack from the sandy wolf or the next violent attack from the dark brown one but then suddenly he felt both as he was ripped apart. When Panis was little more than a head with a body attached Panis called out for his master only to have the sandy wolf's mouth bite down on his throat silencing the rapist forever.

Halt now turned back into his human form before he went over to Will. As Halt picked Will up, he could feel the chill of Will's ice cold body and fading heart beat. Halt softly stroked his hand over Will's head as tears fell from his eyes, he knew he was too late. Will moaned softly, then started gasping for air as his lungs seemed to be running out of air. Halt knew he was loosing his apprentice and there was nothing he could do about it.

"You must bite him" said a sandy haired man, who Halt realized that must have been the sandy wolf that had helped him.

Halt looked shocked at this suggestion, he was not some blood sucking vampire, some devil made creature. How could he doom Will to this life, when he was cursed to live it maybe forever but then Halt thought would it work.

"Will it work?" Halt asked, holding Will closer trying to warm the boy's body as his breathing settled down again, only to have him gasp again as his heart beat started to fade and again he had to ask himself would it be right to have Will join him in this life when there was so much that he did not know about it himself.

"Yes" said the sandy man and when he saw the look in Halt's eyes that said he would do it he continued "first bite down over his heart, then the two jugular veins and the two femoral arteries" and watched Halt as he did just that.

The two wolf men watched as heat flooded back into the boy's body and his breathing settle down again. So much had happened to the boy but they were going to make sure that his new life would go much better.

A tear fell again from Halt's eyes as he held on to the boy, who was now starting to shake with the change that was happening to his body. "This was the only way" the sandy man said before being being interrupted by Halt rapping a violently shaking Will with a blanket "Will he survive this? he is so weak?" he asked before saying to Will "I love you" and with his wolf hearing he heard "I love you too".

The boy now twisted, moved and then suddenly Will the apprentice ranger turned into Will the wolf. Will had a soft brown coat, a few shades lighter than Halt's, and he was smaller too, he looked more like a normal wolf than the way Halt and the sandy man did. They were a little more muscular in the shoulder and half the size of a horse.

"We had better move him. He is over the worst of the change but better now than later when he is awake. For when that happens I have no idea on how he will take all of this and how he will act to you" said the sandy man, as he moved to the wagon trying to finish harnessing the horse only to have it rear up on him. He knew it was not going to obey his command.

Halt brushed a hand through Will's soft fur "what do you mean by that?" he asked. Then looked down at Will, who moved and whined, Halt leant down to Will and said "Will shss, just sleep it will be alright, I wont leave you" and when the boy wolf snuggled into him and his breathing, which had been ragged settled down. Then Halt turned to the sandy man and said also "what was that?".

The sandy man sighed and let the horse go before strapping himself to the wagon and changed into a wolf before answering Halt " what I meant was that he might act like your child, your beta, or even your mate. You should also know that being changed this way means that he will most likely need you nearly all the time and as for the whine it was probably the first sign that he can hear us now".

Halt thought about what he said and he was right but lovers? Will and him did he love him like that? maybe. He had told Will on the way to skandia that he liked men and at the time Will was confused about his feelings towards this whether he liked men too or not, but right now he knew he had something to say.

"Will... its Halt, I know your probably still in pain and you feel strange but you are safe. So just rest will rest I am here and he is gone".

Halt softly brushed his hand against Will's head as looked up at the burning body of the monster. Now was time to move, Halt stood up picking Will up at the same time and placing him on the wagon. Halt smiled maybe things would be alright now.

An: and that is how the monster died. did I do enough to him. more soon.