The Werewolves of Nottinghill

by J. J. Thompson

  “Ah, but you are, commander.”

  Aiden frowned at Ellas as she flew across the table and stared at him soberly, her confrontation with Chao already forgotten.

  “We are?”

  “Oh yes. Your powers remain untapped, but you and your partner are a looming threat to the forces of Darkness that are plotting to attack this place. That is why I recommend Chao and some of the mages attempt to alter the magic inside of you as soon as possible.”

  “Are you serious?” Aiden asked in astonishment.

  “I have never been more serious.”

  Chapter 16

  “How long is this going to take? My butt hurts.”

  “It will take as long as it takes. Now shush and let them do their work.”

  Several days had passed since the dramatic revelation of Shendal's possession. The Elder was recovering slowly and was also, by all reports, extremely embarrassed by what had happened.

  In the meantime, due to Ellas' urging, Chao and the mages had decided to attempt to alter the lycanthropy spell on Malcolm and Aiden. Neither man was convinced that they were as important to the gods as she seemed to believe, but they went along with her anyway. After so many years of living with their curse, they were definitely eager to try to get rid of it.

  And so this morning found the two big men sitting on hard chairs facing each other in the center of the meeting hall. The conference table had been pushed up against a wall and the room cleared of all other furnishings. Ellas had mentioned that either Malcolm or Aiden might react violently to the ritual and Tamara had decided not to risk the furniture.

  Now she, along with Chao and Sylvie, were standing in front of the roaring fireplace. The summoner was reading from notes given to him by the sprite, who floated high above his head as she watched the proceedings. Sylvie stood behind Chao with a hand in his shoulder, adding her magical power to his. Tamara stood next to her and kept up a shield around all three of them while holding the notes for Chao to read.

  “I don't think that they trust us,” Malcolm muttered.

  Both he and Aiden wore simple tunics and cloth pants. Their feet were bare and, most telling, neither man was wearing their enchanted pendants for the first time in ten years. There was no full moon due for at least a week, but they felt anxious by the loss of those precious pieces of jewelry.

  “I don't trust us,” Aiden replied nervously. “I hate not wearing my pendant. I haven't taken it off, not once, since Simon and Clara made them for us and I feel naked without it.”

  “Yeah, me too. Just think happy thoughts.”

  Aiden rolled his eyes and tried to concentrate on Chao's chanting. He was speaking in some ancient language that Ellas had written down for him. It was less than comforting for the warriors to know that the summoner had no idea what the words meant.

  Chao stood still, but he gestured fluidly with his metal fan as he went through the ritual. He was focused on the stack of notes that Tamara was holding and would nod for her to flip a page as he finished reading each one.

  “We couldn't have used padded seats?” Malcolm complained quietly. “My butt is being shredded by this damned wooden seat.”

  “Will you please shut up?” Aiden asked as he glared at him. “If it gets rid of our curse, I'd gladly sit on broken glass for a week. Stop whining.”

  Malcolm groaned and clamped his lips together. Aiden was right, of course. Any amount of discomfort was worth it if it meant living a more normal life. But his rear end still hurt.

  Ellas swooped down and hovered in front of the men. She cocked her head to the side and looked at each one closely.

  “Are you feeling any different yet? Any changes or discomfort?”

  “Well, my ass...”

  “Malcolm!”

  “Sorry. No, nothing yet, Ellas.”

  “Hmm. I'm surprised that you haven't reacted,” the sprite said, sounding puzzled. “Maybe it's because the spell is so deeply ingrained after so many years. Unfortunately that could mean that when you do react, it might be rather...violent.”

  “Violent?”

  Aiden stared at her in surprise.

  “What do you mean, violent? You never said anything about that!”

  Ellas sighed dramatically and gestured at the hall around them.

  “Why do you think that the doors are magically sealed and the furniture has been removed? Aesthetics? Males are so silly sometimes.”

  “Oh gees,” Malcolm said worriedly. “That doesn't sound good.”

  “Well, enjoy!” Ellas exclaimed with a wicked grin as she flew back up toward the ceiling.

  “Would it be impolite to say that she's a bit of a bitch?” Malcolm whispered.

  “I heard that!”

  “With excellent hearing,” Aiden replied, smiling in spite of himself.

  The men tried to focus on Chao's voice and forget about their discomfort. The summoner had a pleasant tenor voice and he wasn't really chanting as much as he was singing the strange words on the paper.

  “Wow,” Malcolm said a few minutes later. “That feels weird.”

  Aiden looked at him.

  “What feels weird?” he asked.

  “My skin. I'm suddenly itchy all over.”

  The big man was gripping the edges of the chair he was sitting on so hard that his knuckles were shining through his skin.

  “I feel like scratching my skin off,” he groaned. “Ugh. What is happening?”

  “I don't know,” Aiden told him. “All I'm feeling is warm. No wait. I'm feeling very warm. Hot even. Whoa, that happened fast!”

  Malcolm watched Aiden's skin as it became flushed and then bright red, as if he'd gotten a really bad sunburn.

  “That looks worse than my itching,” he said with concern. “Are you okay?”

  Aiden wiped his eyes. They were tearing up and he was finding it hard to see.

  “No, I feel horrible,” he said as he leaned over and rested his forearms on his knees. “But I can handle it. And you can too. Just hang on, Mal.”

  “I am, I am.”

  Malcolm tried to remain calm, but his discomfort was growing by the second. After another minute had passed, he stood up abruptly and began to pace around the hall.

  He stayed away from the magic-users, not wanting to distract them from their work, and began walking up and down the long hall, trying to keep it together as his itchiness and physical distress continued to grow.

  Aiden just stared at the floor, following the little abstract designs in the granite that the floor was made of. He gripped his knees tightly and clenched his teeth, pushing away the pain and waiting for the ceremony to end.

  “Something's happening to them,” Sylvie said to Tamara in a hushed voice. “They're hurting.”

  “Yes, I can see that,” Tamara replied as she flipped to another page at Chao's nod. “But we're almost done. Hopefully they can hold out for a few more minutes.”

  “It's not up to them,” Sylvie replied nervously. “The counter-spell that Chao is casting is twisting and re-molding the magic within them. It's resisting and I'm afraid that...”

  Malcolm threw back his head and roared.

  “Oh God!” Sylvie exclaimed. “It's happening. They're changing!”

  Neither woman had ever seen a person transform into a werewolf. In fact, no one in the castle had. Malcolm and Aiden had kept their curse under control and out of sight from everyone for a decade. But now that it was threatened by hostile magic, that curse was fighting back.

  Aiden fell off of his chair and began silently writhing on the floor. Malcolm managed to stay on his feet, but his body convulsed and spasmed as he staggered back and slammed against the wall. Unlike Aiden, he was moaning and growling in obvious agony.

  “Isn't there anything that we can do?” Sylvie asked frantically. “They're suffering!”

  Tamara watched the two men, blank-faced, but a tear rolled down her cheek as she turned yet another page for Chao, who continued chanting over Malcolm's sounds of distre
ss.

  “No,” she said. “The only way to ease their pain is to get through the ritual to the end. What you are seeing right now is the twisted magic that their pendants have been holding in check for ten years. It's awake now and it does not want to be controlled.”

  Perhaps it was just a coincidence, but at that moment both men stopped moving and looked toward the magic-users at the same time, as if the feral magic within them had heard what Tamara said.

  Sylvie gasped in horror. Their eyes had turned bright green and glowed with their own wicked light. As she watched, Aiden jumped to his feet. His smooth skin began to darken as thick bristly fur sprouted all over his body. There was a horrible crunching noise as the bones of both men altered and thickened, becoming longer and morphing them into a horrendous blend of human and wolf.

  While Aiden's body grew taller and heavier, with light brown fur covering most of it, Malcolm's transformation was truly monstrous. He was already the tallest man in the castle, but now he grew even larger and more massive. As he reared back and roared again, his face lupine and hideous, the watching mages were stunned at how tall he had become.

  “Good God, could he even fit through the door now?” Sylvie wondered. “He has to be at least ten feet tall!”

  “At least,” Tamara agreed, her voice shaking. “And he's probably twice as heavy as he was. Aiden too. Damn it, I don't know if this shield will stop them now.”

  Sylvie's expression became determined as she pushed back her fear.

  “It will hold,” she said evenly. “I can guarantee you that.”

  Both Aiden and Malcolm tore through their shirts as they changed and, when their bodies had finished altering, they stared with animal-like fury at Chao and the two mages.

  Malcolm stalked forward slowly until he was standing hunched over next to Aiden. He growled softly, a deep grumble, and Aiden growled back. It was impossible to tell if they were actually speaking to each other, but they were communicating in some way because Aiden then turned to the right and Malcolm went left as they split up and began to approach the trio of spell-casters.

  “They're going to attack,” Sylvie said as she made a gesture with her free hand.

  The shield began to hum with power, sparking and crackling as she strengthened it, adding her power to Tamara's. The sounds mingled with the growls and slavering of the werewolves and it became hard to hear Chao's chanting.

  The summoner soldiered on anyway, resolved to finish the ceremony and free the two men whom he considered his friends from their suffering. He stayed focused as he read off each word precisely from the notes that Ellas had given him. One mistake and he would have to start all over again. And the three of them might not survive a second attempt.

  Ellas was watching the entire tableau from a safe distance near the ceiling of the hall. She darted this way and that, anxiously hoping that Chao would finish the ritual quickly. Unlike Sylvie, she was not sure that the shield would be strong enough to turn back a determined attack.

  As Malcolm and Aiden positioned themselves on either side of the three magic-users, a dozen feet from the shield, they lowered themselves to the floor, muscles quivering with power.

  “They're going to leap at the shield together!” Ellas exclaimed to herself. “And that silly Chao has not finished the counter-spell yet.”

  With a frustrated sigh, the sprite drew a tiny wand from inside her gown.

  “Oh well, as I always say, if you want something done, you should do it yourself,” she muttered. “And I refuse to allow Chao's incompetence to get him killed. Not today.”

  The werewolves howled in unison and leaped toward Chao and the mages, their razor-sharp claws extended and their fangs bared. But before they could slam into the shield and possibly shatter it, they were flung backwards. Each of them smashed into the walls of the hall so hard that the hall shook and then both Malcolm and Aiden collapsed and lay curled up, quivering and shaking.

  “What happened?” Sylvie exclaimed in confusion. “They didn't even touch the shield.”

  “I happened,” a high-pitched voice said from over their heads.

  Sylvie and Tamara looked up and saw Ellas hovering just above the shield. She was holding a glowing wand in one hand and looked very pleased with herself.

  “You silly humans were taking too long and I did not want you harmed, so I intervened. Now chant faster, Chao,” she said sharply. “They won't be out for long.”

  The summoner didn't stop speaking but he nodded, acknowledging that he had heard her.

  Ellas flew back toward the ceiling, just in case either werewolf regained its senses. They were only stunned. Werewolves were incredibly resilient and tough and they would be back on their feet in moments.

  Tamara flipped to another page and breathed a sigh of relief. It was the last one.

  “Almost done,” she said to Sylvie.

  “Good. The werewolves are coming to their senses. We don't have much time.”

  Both Malcolm and Aiden pushed themselves to their feet, growling and moaning as they shook their heavy heads in confusion. Aiden remained bent over, breathing heavily while Malcolm seemed to recover quickly and glared at the magic-users with naked animal hatred. He threw back his head and howled, a chilling sound of mindless fury that echoed throughout the hall.

  Chao chanted louder and, just as the werewolves seemed about to leap at them again, he finished the counter-spell and turned to look directly at Malcolm.

  “Invectis!” he shouted in a commanding voice.

  Malcolm opened his muzzle to reveal his gleaming fangs and took one step toward the magic-users. And then he stopped. He blinked several times and raised his heavy paws to his head.

  “Wha... what... is... happening?” he muttered thickly.

  The sounds were barely intelligible coming from his wolf-like snout, but they were definitely words.

  “Chao?”

  The three spell-casters turned to look at Aiden. He was leaning back against the wall, staring down at his furred hands tipped with pointed claws.

  “What did you do?” he continued, his words much more understandable than Malcolm's. “I... turned?”

  “You did. Both of you did,” Chao replied with a wide, relieved smile. “But the counter-spell worked! It erased the dark influence from within you and gave you control over your bodies again.”

  “But...”

  Malcolm walked forward slowly, his expression obvious even as a werewolf. He was horrified.

  “But we can't live like this!” he said, his voice becoming clearer the more he spoke. “We're monsters!”

  Aiden pushed himself away from the wall and stalked toward his partner. His movements were now fluid and much more controlled. Somehow, even as a werewolf, he still looked more graceful than Malcolm did.

  Both of them met in front of the shielded magic-users and stared at each other.

  “Wow, look at you,” Malcolm said softly, his words gravelly but understandable. “You're finally taller than I am when I'm not...this.”

  “Me? Mal, you're frigging huge! How... How does it feel?”

  “Feel?”

  Malcolm looked down at his hands and curled them tightly. He raised his arms and stared at the corded muscles wrapped around them, then down at his body.

  “Well, it looks like I'm wearing a fur rug,” he joked. “But it feels amazing. I think that I could reach the windows,” he looked up at the stained-glass panes high above them, “in a single bound. Is this how Superman felt the first time he knew that he was different?”

  “You aren't Superman,” Aiden said with a rough laugh. “In fact, neither of us are human anymore. Chao, please,” he said as he turned to look at the summoner. “Please tell me that this isn't permanent.”

  Chao shook his head just as Tamara canceled her shield. It disappeared in a shower of sparks, leaving behind a smell of ozone.

  “You are not. You are both now in control of your own bodies. Feel free to leave your pendants in your quarters f
rom now on. You won't need them anymore.”

  “But we can't walk around like this!” Malcolm exclaimed as he held out his arms. “The entire castle would attack us, including our own guards, and I wouldn't blame them a bit. I mean, thanks for giving us back influence over ourselves when we're werewolves, but I was kind of hoping that you would remove the curse forever.”

  “Why must men make everything so complicated?”

  Ellas flew down from the rafters to hover next to Chao.

  “Your explanation leaves much to be desired,” she berated him. “You can't just tell them that they control their own bodies now. You must explain how they are to do that.”

  With a sigh, the summoner gave both Malcolm and Aiden a long-suffering look.

  “I would, Ellas, but you never told me that.”

  She seemed to be caught by surprise.

  “I didn't?”

  “No, you did not. You dictated the counter-spell, which I obviously repeated faithfully, and that was all. So, if you would like to explain things to Malcolm and Aiden, I am sure that they would appreciate it.”

  Tamara had never seen or imagined what a werewolf would look like when it smiled, but it was just as horrifying as she might have assumed it would be. And yet amusing at the same time, because she knew Malcolm and Aiden so well.

  “We definitely would appreciate that, Ellas,” Malcolm said with his fangs bared in a wide grin.

  “Yes please,” Aiden added, looking equally amused.

  “Ah. Of course. Well, it is very straightforward actually,” the sprite told them. “All it takes from you is an effort of will. Just picture yourselves as you look when you are human and keep that picture in your mind as you tell your body to change. And that is it.”

  “Seriously?”

  Malcolm sounded dubious.

  “Just like that?”

  “Yes, just like that.” Ellas snapped, sounding testy. “Do not over-complicate things. Your true form is human and it will take a lot of will and effort to remain in your lupine form. The hostile spell has been tamed and you are now the masters of your own bodies. Actually, if you both fell asleep right now, you would wake to find yourselves human again. But you must quickly learn how to consciously alter your bodies and now is the best time. So just do it.”