by Lee Savino
“Hold,” I shouted. “The enemy lies ahead.”
The pack strained at my command, but as the most dominant wolf, I held them with my power.
My own beast roared to life, fighting for control. The woman had been barefoot, frightened, wearing no more than a thin white garment—a simple shift that she might wear to sleep. She should not be out in the wilderness, anywhere near the disgusting draugr. She needed help.
She needed me.
“She smells of strawberries,” Leif said in awe. Of all the wolves, he was almost strong enough to break my commands. In a daze, he made to move forward and I whirled with a growl.
“No. This prey is mine.”
Hazel
My change of direction took me back out of the forest, into the Grey Men’s path. I veered again, finding shelter in a knot of scrub pine on the edge of the great sandy clearing, much too close to the cave I’d escaped from for comfort. I dropped down behind a boulder to catch my breath.
I did not know where to go, where to run. The Grey Men were everywhere. They’d followed me since I escaped from the cave where their master—the Corpse King, a sorcerer with enough power to make these awful creatures his servants—slept in a spelled state.
The Corpse King had drained my friend, Sari, of all her blood. If I hadn’t escaped, I was going to be next.
A hissing noise told me the Grey Men were nearing my hiding place. I crouched, trembling. I had a stick in my hand—a piece of a witch’s staff that had magically come to my aid, but no weapons. My life at the abbey, working at the looms with the other orphans and tending the garden, tanned my limbs and strengthened them, but had not prepared me to defend my life.
I gripped the carven wood tighter, ready for the final struggle. The Grey Men wouldn’t drag me back to the Corpse King without a fight.
At least the headache the creatures cursed me with was gone. It had vanished the instant I laid eyes on the giant warrior leading the group of men in the woods. His brow had creased when he saw me, his whole body straining to run after me, even as he raised a hand to make his men stay back. Whatever made my feet want to run to him and hide in the shelter of his arms, I know he felt it too.
Beyond the boulder, a hissing noise heralded the Grey Men’s approach. They were searching for me, combing the sandy area and would soon come upon my hiding place.
A shadow fell across me as I rose to run. I whirled to face the threat.
The blond warrior loomed over me. My heart stopped as I looked up, craning my neck as far as it would go. Large as an oak, his taut muscle stretched his leather jerkin and breeches. He still held his great axe and shield, yet his footfalls were as light and silent as a predator’s.
He stalked closer and I let out a squeak.
“What are you doing here, little rabbit?” His eyes pierced me, hot and golden.
I backed away, edging around the boulder. At this moment, the warrior was more of a threat than the Grey Men.
He laid down his weapon, hand outstretched as he approached. “Easy, easy,” he almost purred. The sound soothed the tension from my spine. “We must go from this place, lass. You are not safe.”
His large hand, rough and scarred, reached for me. Another step and he’d have me in his grasp.
I panicked, staggering back. “No.”
“Stop,” he snapped and my knees almost buckled at the command. He had some sort of power over me—I wanted to do exactly as he said. But I was done taking orders from men.
He lunged for me and I darted out of reach—right into the cold, dead hands of the Grey Men.
Knut
A snarl broke from my chest as my woman ran straight into the enemy’s clutches. The draugr hissed in triumph, grey fingers latching onto her lovely arms with a bruising grip, dragging her back, away from me.
She cried out and my vision went red.
I caught up my axe and I charged.
The creatures gave me a blank look of surprise, right before I lopped off their heads. The horrible hissing noise stopped as the blade cleaved their necks, as easily as snapping dead blooms from a flower. Fluid burst from their necks as they fell. I staggered back at the stench.
The woman screamed again, now covered in gore, and fought away from the dead men’s grip. The headless bodies still clutched at her, until I slammed them with my shield and followed it with a kick to get them to release my woman.
Bony fingers caught my arms, pulling me back, and I roared, throwing the draugr off me. The corpse beings had skin clammy to the touch and smelled even worse when their bodies split open. Their rotten flesh wouldn’t tempt a starving wolf.
Corpses piled at my feet, I howled in triumph. This would be a battle for the bards to sing my praises.
“Look out,” the woman shrieked. I whirled just in time to duck a sword. The rusty blade swooped over my head. I charged. The sword swiped at me again and this time I caught it in my bare hand, and wrenched it out of the draugr’s grip before wading in for the kill. I’d lost my shield, but my axe made short work of chopping the draugr into a greyish pile of limbs.
A small gasp made me turn.
The woman stood staring at me, holding the piece of wood to her chest like a babe. She’d shouted to save me. She didn’t know that Berserkers felt nothing in the heat of battle—not pain, not fear.
More Grey Men were closing in as I grabbed her wrist, tugging her forward. “Come on. We must run.”
She looked at my hand in horror. Blood dripped from my palm, but the wound had already started to close—Berserker healing at work. But that wasn’t why she was distressed.
My arm had sprouted fur, and my fingers ended in sharp claws—the start of the Change into the beast.
I pulled her to me and she fought, kicking, until I tossed her over my shoulders.
Steadying her with one hand, I gripped my axe with the other and ran.
Hazel
The wind knocked out of me, I couldn’t shout. Hands braced on the warrior’s back, I raised my head enough to see the Grey Men slithering after us. The warrior plunged into the forest, moving faster than was humanly possible.
He’d caught the blade in his hand. He’d destroyed the Corpse King’s servants with inhuman strength and speed, and for a moment, I’d caught a glimpse of the beast-like form underneath his human one, the monster waiting to break free.
Whoever my captor was, he was more than a man.
As my breath returned to me, I started to struggle. I still held the piece of the witch’s staff—my left hand clutched it so hard I may never pry it free. I knocked the warrior’s legs with it and his hand clapped my bottom.
“Stop that,” the warrior grunted.
He plunged into a stream and waded forward. When he reached a deeper pool, he swung me down. I yelped, thrashing in the freezing water.
He caught me in his brutally strong arms, an arm around my waist and hand over my mouth.
“Be silent,” he rasped into my ear. “We must wash the living corpse’s scent from our bodies. This way, they cannot track us.”
My teeth knocked together under his palm sealing my lips, but I relaxed.
“Good girl,” he murmured. “It’s going to be all right. I’ll not let them take you.”
My legs were almost numb before he swooped me up in his arms and waded out of the pool. The freezing water didn’t seem to affect him.
Too cold and shocked to cry out, I clung to him, a source of heat if nothing else. I could struggle and scream, but no one besides the Grey Men would hear me. Whatever this warrior was, I was stuck with him until I could escape.
Desperate to get warm, I pressed my face to the warm flesh at the base of his throat, just above the collar of his jerkin. My body shook against his massive chest.
The warrior strode through the woods, carrying me as if I weighed no more than dandelion fluff.
“What were those things?” he murmured.
“I don’t know,” my teeth chattered as I answered. “They brought m
e into the cave so their master could drain me of blood.”
A growl rumbled under my ear, but it wasn’t directed at me. He pulled me in closer.
“Did you see the mage that made them?”
“The Corpse King. Yes, I saw him.” He had looked like a corpse, wrapped in grave clothes, lying on a stone slab with his armor nearby, ready for when he would rise again and lead a conquering army of his Grey Men. “He still sleeps. The servants brought us there as a sacrifice to set him free.”
“Us? They captured more than one of you?” Abruptly, the warrior changed course, darting faster between the giant trees.
“Yes.” I didn’t know why I was telling him this, or why I felt so safe in his arms. I didn’t even know his name. “There was another young woman with me, named Fleur. Please, you must help her.”
The warrior cursed and broke into a run that had the landscape blurring around us.
I slipped an arm around his shoulders to hang on tighter. He wore a slight frown as he wove through the trees. If I met him in a village market, I would think he was a flesh and blood man, a hardened soldier, mercenary even, but one who followed a code of honor. Maybe I could trust him.
You can. His voice spoke right into my head. Another sign I was hallucinating. The warrior wasn’t even looking at me, but ahead at the trail.
Gripping the staff, I did the same and shrieked as a giant wolf bounded into our path.
“Hush, lass, ‘tis only Rolf.” The warrior carrying me stopped dead in his tracks and spoke to the wolf. “But where are the others?”
“Knut,” two warriors appeared, bursting from the trees. One brown haired with thick black brows, the other a redhead. “We got separated when a party of draugr attacked. Who is this woman?” They gaped at me.
“Never mind,” Knut told them. “The thieves we sought—they lost their quarry. The spaewife Fleur is in the cave with the sleeping mage who made those Grey things.”
“Grey Men,” I corrected softly, and he heard me.
“Rally the pack to attack these draugr, these Grey Men,” Knut ordered.
“What are you going to do?”
“Get this one to safety.” His arms tightened around me.
“You defy the Alpha’s orders?” This from a brown-haired, frowning warrior. “You were to lead us to hunt the traitors.”
Knut’s answer was a low growl.
The brown-haired warrior raised his hands and backed away. He and the wolf trotted off, but the red-haired one paused. “Who is she?”
Knut’s answering growl sent tingles up and down my spine.
“She is mine.”
Knut
As Leif, Brokk and Rolf raced back towards the fray, I set a course for the west. The mountain where my pack made its home was many leagues from this evil, stinking place. My woman would not be safe until she was there with me, protected by the entire pack, living in the shelter I built for her and marked as my own.
She was mine, as I claimed, though she did not know it yet.
“My warriors will go back. They will save your friend. She is one of our pack and was taken from us several days ago. We have been searching for her and the trail led us to you.”
An unforeseen treasure. A gift from the goddess I will not ever give up. I, Knut, a warrior to the bitter end, disobeying my leader’s mandate. I would rescue her, and accept my Alpha’s punishment.
We reached the river again and she struggled. “Put me down. I want to walk.”
I held her fast. “We will travel faster if I carry you. Besides, you have no shoes.”
“I do not know you,” she pressed her hands against my chest. “I do not want to go with you.”
I saw red again, and fought for control. To wait so long for the woman to break the curse, only to succumb to it now--it would not be born. I had to rein in the beast.
“Stop, little one. You are not thinking clearly. You are in shock,” I growled.
She struggled further and I threw her over my shoulder, peppering her soft backside with a few decisive smacks.
The beast inside me surged to the fore. It wanted to mark her, tear her flesh, taste her blood, give a wound that would scar and show all she was in my possession.
I gritted my teeth, resisting the call to turn into a monster.
A sharp pain blossomed in my backside. I howled and swung her back down. She backed away, still holding the splintered end of the stick she’d stabbed me with.
“None of that.” I charged, easily snatching the piece of carved wood away. I tossed it aside. In a flash, I was in front of her, dropping to one knee and tugging her over it. Her hands hit the ground as my palm connected with her sweet bottom. Her butt cheeks wobbled under the thin fabric. I bared her bottom and turned pink with a few well-placed swats. The beast within in me crowed its savage approval, but I was calm and levelheaded.
She had to obey, so I could keep her safe.
My woman didn’t cry, but let out little angry grunts as I punished her. I did not like disciplining her so soon, but she needed to know who was in charge and this was the fastest way to teach her.
Four more heavy swats and I clamped a hand on the back of her neck, holding her still. My other cupped her glowing cheeks.
“Now, will you listen to me?”
She kicked in response and I let loose on her bottom, a series of forceful smacks to show her I would not tolerate her resistance. After a minute, her frustrated sounds turned to breathless mews. I smacked the tops of her thighs a few times and added one or two to the apex of her legs.
A gasp and a sweet tang filled the air, mingling with her strawberry scent. Arousal.
But I wasn’t the only one who scented it.
The woods around us filled with a sibilant sound, coming closer. Grey Men. We’d lingered too long.
“Be still.” I clasped her in my arms. “Our enemies are near.”
My woman had a dazed expression. Not frightened or upset, but docile. “We will escape this,” I told her. “But you will follow my commands. Understand?”
She had enough presence of mind to nod. Her face was flushed, an after effect of her hanging head down over my bent knee, but also a sign of her excitement. She’d responded to the impromptu discipline. She lay a hand against my jaw, steadying herself.
I stole a quick kiss, just a hard press of my lips against hers. A touch of heaven, in case the next fight was my last. “I won’t let them take you,” I promised and pulled her up. She clung to my hand with both hers.
The hissing came from three sides now.
“They are trying to surround us.” I backed up, taking her with me. “When I tell you to run, you run.”
If she escaped now, I could keep the Grey Men from her and track her later. Perhaps she wouldn’t see the beast come over me, shaping my form into a magical creature twice as tall as her, with fur and claws—a vicious blend of human and wolf. “Now.” I pushed her. My voice was a guttural bark as my throat reshaped. Magic tingled at the base of my spine, my bones ready to crack and shift with the Change. “Go,” I grunted.
When the Grey Men came through the trees at me, she ran to pick up the splintered staff, and whirled with me to face the enemy as if the stick was a sword.
When I gestured to her to flee, she gripped her meager weapon tighter and shook her head.
Fur was already rippling down my arms when I scooped up my woman and dropped her at the base of an oak.
“Stay,” I told her. I wished I could protect her from the sight of the monster I would become, but the spanking hadn’t touched her stubbornness. If I wasn’t so annoyed, I’d almost be proud.
Whirling with a roar, I attacked the creatures before the first wave could reach her. I’d left my shield but still had my axe, sent it crashing into the frontrunner of the ranks of corpse-like creatures, and completed the Change. Rage turned my vision red. Shouting my battle cry, I charged, unafraid. I was suffering under a greater curse than these draugr and capable of far more evil.
Hazel
The monster fought the Grey Men while I cringed against a tree. The transformed warrior had black fur, a giant’s height, inhuman speed, and a heavy muzzle. A tawny fringe along its spine was the only thing it shared with the blond man. That and its fighting abilities.
When the dust settled pieces of Grey Men littered the area. I screamed as a severed arm wriggled towards me and the hand tried to grab my ankle. I tried kicking it away, but it hung on tight until I touched the staff to it. The wood tingled in my hand and the disembodied arm flew off as if lightning had struck it, flopping into the path of the monster. Lethal jaws snapped at it, swallowing it down.
And vomited it back up.
Nasty. It spat, several times. Not good to eat. The voice in my head had a rough quality, closer to a bark than human words.
The monster stood on its hind legs, straightening until it was at least twice as tall as me. It’s form was vaguely man like, with a chest and arms of banded muscle, all covered with black fur.
My breath shuddered through me. I’d seen many horrible things this day, in the lair of the sorcerer, but this beast was the stuff of nightmares.
It bellowed its triumph, and swiveled its head towards me.
Come. Somehow it spoke right into my mind.
“No,” I whispered. As it stalked my way, I scuttled backwards, trying to get my feet under me to run. With the Grey Men dispatched, I had my chance to escape this monster.
It stopped and cocked its head. Grunted as if trying to speak.
I turned and crawled away, only to have a clawed hand grab the scruff of my neck. With a cry, I turned and stabbed it with the staff. The monster bellowed and dropped me in surprise.
Finding my feet, I pushed through the thicket and when it came after me, I let the branches I held snap back into its face.
