Will was standing when he regained consciousness. An odd way to awaken, but not the first time. He was also naked, which made it doubly awful. His mind was dim in the mornings. A hawk was screeching loudly nearby, frustrating him beyond belief.
He picked up a rock to throw near the hawk to make it leave.
He looked over at it. It tilted its head before flying away. His night trickled slowly back to him.
"Elizabeth!" he shouted, frantically running after the hawk, "Elizabeth! Hawk!" but the hawk had already caught the morning breeze.
Despair crushed down around his heart. He trudged back to the camp, tears clouding his vision.
Near the fire, he stepped on a rock. When he looked down, the words "I love you" were smeared across the rock in charcoal. That broke him. He fell to his knees and cried like a child. She still loved him, even though he had tried to kill her when he turned. His heart clenched in a painful vice and he let out an agonized scream.
After several minutes of violent emotions he spied another collection of rocks with more writing on them.
"Voice" sat next to "bishop." "Wolf" sat next to "you," and "hawk" sat next to "me." She was trying to speak to him and it brought around another wave of emotions. Debilitating grief, violent anger and a burn for vengeance.
He sat in front of the stones, with unseeing eyes, unable to come up with what their next move was. He had led them into a curse!
Eventually, the smell of food wafted over to him. He smiled, which was more of a grimace. Of course she made him breakfast. And he was starving. He also spied his clothes folded in the shelter. He put those back on, and ate his fill, feeling mildly better.
He quickly cleaned up camp, saddled up Goliath and leapt on. He then sat confused. Where to go? How to break this curse? Never in his life had he heard of such a thing, let alone imagined what to do.
Suddenly, he heard a hawk's panicked cry. Elizabeth! he thought, jerking Goliath around and galloping towards the noise.
He stormed upon a man- a hawk catcher!- with a handful of hawks in his cage, a new hawk clutched in his hand.
"No!" Will roared, throwing himself down on the man. He couldn't lose Elizabeth like this! The hawk in the man's grasp fluttered away as Will tackled the man to the ground. The man screamed as Will leapt up to free the rest of the hawks.
"No! Please!" The man shouted, trying to stop Will. Will didn't notice the man's efforts. "The bishop commanded us!" The man cried.
The Bishop? He said he would catch her. What if he'd already caught her?
Will's battered soul could not handle more of this. He shouted again, like a man demented, screaming for Elizabeth. The hawk catcher cowered away as Will pulled each hawk out from the cage. They all flew away without backward glance, to the deep dismay of both men.
Will crashed to his knees and stared after them. The hawk catcher ran off, determined to return later when the black haired man was gone. Will turned his eyes to spy a hawk sitting in a tree watching him.
Could it be?
"Elizabeth," he croaked, lifting his hand to her. The hawk flapped from the tree and landed smoothly on his arm. It looked at him and at the cart and back at him. It looked at him with accusation, lifting her wings and flapping indignantly. He gave a half crazed chuckle.
"You are smart enough to avoid capture," he told her, sliding the back of his fingers along the breast of the hawk. She looked down, and then adjusted her stance. His hand slowed.
He was reading too much into the hawk's actions. As if Elizabeth was awake within the hawk. He knew from the snippets of memories from being a wolf that he was a dumb creature, only with unexplainable urges. Such as the woman must be cared for like a mate. Will gave a rueful grimace. She was his mate, his other half.
Will glanced at the cart behind him. He held onto the hawk while searching the cart. Soon he found what he was looking for. Anklets and jesses, and in another box he found a hood.
"It's alright," he said in a low murmur, slipping the hood over her head and eyes. The hawk lifted its wings in frustration, crying over and over. She tried to fly away, but Will kept hold of her. He took a piece of cloth from the cart and wrapped the hawk in it, containing her struggles and wings. He buckled an anklet each leg and threaded and tied the jesses to the anklets.
Now she looked as though she belonged to someone, and not just any hawk to catch or kill. He removed the cloth and her hood, placing the hood in a pocket of his cloak. The hawk lifted each leg, hopped about and tried to bite the things off. She turned to screech at Will before pecking at the anklets.
"No, I'm not going to remove them," he said. The hawk wailed at him, flapping her wings.
"No! Because now someone will think twice about killing you or capturing you. Those jesses mean you belong to me," Will told the bird, feeling a wrench in his soul at the last statement.
She did belong to him, and he to her. But what kind of state were they in? Not even a full day in and he was falling apart? He had to do better, for Elizabeth. For them both!
He offered his hand to the hawk, who flew up to land there. He kept a tight hold on the jesses as he got on Goliath and they started walking.
Perhaps, he could find some paper and writing utensils, so they could have a proper communication.
Oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
My darling Elizabeth,
The Bishop came upon me after you had first vanished and told me of part of the curse. Only that you would be a hawk by day and a woman by night. He was determined to catch you, and has sent out hawk catchers. I imagine he will also send out wolf hunters as I appear to be a man by day and a wolf by night. We should leave to avoid the bishop's hunters, but I don't know where to go. South to Rome? North to some pagan priest? East or west?
I miss you. I love you. You are my best reason for living. I'm sorry I cannot be here for a glimpse of you during the change, but I don't trust myself. We'll break the curse soon my love.
Elizabeth had read the letter three times already. She didn't know what to do either. She never imagined this predicament as a possibility.
She sat close to the fire in the darkness, eating food Will had made. The wolf had returned to her about an hour after her change. He stayed by her side like a shadow.
She hated the darkness. Feared was a better description, after her step fathers trick. Only when she was with Will that the dark lost its edge. But being a lone woman in the black forest, the fear crept up around her. As tight and menacing as the cursed storm.
She shook her head. She clung to the hope that they could break the curse, and soon. The idea of her being captured as a hawk was second only to Will's death, as a human or a wolf. That is what The Bishop's wolf hunters would do. Kill him and skin him. She leaned onto the wolf, petting along his other side, feeling better having him in her arms.
The wolf sniffed her head quickly.
Where should they go? The wind picked up, causing a chill to run through her. "Perhaps south to Rome and wait out the winter nights somewhere warm" she thought. And if that didn't work they could go north to the pagans in summer time.
She sat down and wrote Will a letter, not long enough for her, but she knew the paper would be hard to find. As their money dwindled, it would be even harder to get. So, she kept her answer short, her preference quick and her love and belief in him as concise as she could. What she would give to see him, and for him to recognize her!
She wasn't the least bit tired and so decided to walk about with her wolf. Will was so big and ferocious looking that nothing, man nor beast approached them. Just like Will in his human form. She gave a small smile at the memory.
Oxoxoxoxo
Will stormed into Rome six sunsets later, scarring up every priest and holy man he could find. Elizabeth interrogated prophetesses and servants of high ranked cardinals.
Nothing.
He called on exorcists and drunken failures. She called on healers
Nothing.
He was bodily thrown from a church for his demands. She eavesdropped from windows of churches.
Nothing.
He spoke into the underground networks for help. She snuck through the underground markets for help.
No one knew anything.
Someone said to sacrifice the hawk to get his love back. But something in him warned that if the hawk died, so would Elizabeth.
Rome had failed them. But they traveled farther South into Naples, and into Sicilia. They turned and went to Byzantine. Any inquiry was met with confusions and dead ends. This type of curse had never been heard of, by the Christians or the pagans.
They traveled from Athens to Olisipo, following any whisper of knowledge. Elizabeth didn't travel at night. Goliath needed his rest and since he was the only one getting rest, Elizabeth was loath to ruin it.
He summarized all his doings to Elizabeth, who told of her own investigations concisely. While they both rationed the paper, neither forgot to assure the other of their continued love and hope. Those were the words both would read over and over even if they were all similar.
Being so far removed from the Bishop made them both feel better.
However, four months of travel and investigation started to wear on them. Neither slept much.