The Forest of Aisling: Dream of the Shapeshifter (The Willow Series Book 1)

by D. S. Elstad

  Static was all I heard at first but then Bram’s garbled voice came through. “Yes…I’m ok, we killed two of th–”

  A low growl rose in my chest and turned itself into a howl. I threw my head back and swallowed the rainwater. I felt revitalized, which was just what I needed to take down the Cyclops. I began my charge towards him while he stood at the front door turning it into a pile of toothpicks with one quick blow from his club. He reached up, grabbed the top of the doorjamb, and ripped it off, clearing the way for him to enter without having to duck. He was just getting ready to swing his club again when I soared into the air, landing on his back and forcing him face-down to the ground. He tried to rise but I sank my teeth into the side of his neck and twisted. His left arm reached back and he yanked at my fur but was unable to get hold. I lifted my head and felt my teeth sink deeper into his neck, then I heard a pained gasp.

  I held on, shaking my head, ensuring that I was fully latched onto his neck, and slowly stepped off his back, dragging him to the driveway. A choking sound was coming from his throat which let me know he was almost gone. I released the bite for an instant and rolled him over with my snout. I then sunk my teeth deep into his neck once more and could feel the life drain out of him. I let go and howled, absorbing the relentless torrents of rain. The giant’s body lifted and became transparent, just as the other one had done; after the mist encircled and morphed him, it made him disappear into the splashes of rain.

  A lightning bolt struck right after that, and then another, this one struck the roof of the house. A fire immediately took off and began to spread. The rain had no effect on the fire; it was acting as lighter fluid.

  I ran to the house and entered the living room, which had been destroyed. Furniture was overturned and a small fire was smoldering in the corner of the room. I padded my way to it and put it out with my foot. I listened for the others but heard only the fury of the storm blowing through the broken door and windows.

  Unable to mindspeak or shift, I knew I needed to recharge, so I went to a dark corner of the room and sat down. I channeled my hearing to other areas in the house but nothing was coming through. As I sat there I could make out movement in the hallway. I remained sitting in an effort to regain my strength.

  Suddenly Quinn literally came flying through the door and landed on the overturned couch. He was flat on his back and moaned in pain as I saw the Lizardman making his way to Quinn. He had a knife sticking out of his back and was moving slowly. I finally was able to shift to my smaller self when I saw Aaron close in on the lizard and plunge another knife into his back. The beast swirled and lashed out its claws at Aaron, nearly connecting with his face. Aaron jumped back, grabbed a coat tree and swung it like a baseball bat, sending the creature reeling. It landed at the base of the couch where Quinn was now standing. He had an end table raised above his head and slammed it down on the skull of the green-tinted creature. A sickening crackling sound was heard, followed by Quinn’s bellowing, “Yeeeesssssss, take that you snake,” as he held onto his side.

  The Lizardman did exactly as the Cyclops had; its lifeless body rose in the air, becoming transparent and morphing before disappearing into the cloudy mist.

  I had shifted and went running to Quinn and Aaron who both looked horribly beaten and bloody.

  “Where’s Bram?” I screamed, holding onto the two of them.

  Before either of them could answer a tremendous boom came from the attic. We all looked up, only to see bits of plaster breaking off the ceiling in the living room. Seconds later a huge hole had opened up and a bird’s beak, the size of large watermelon, appeared through the falling plaster. It pecked away at it until the hole was big enough to drive a Volkswagen through.

  We all just stood and stared in amazement when the beak appeared through the hole once again holding onto another Lizardman, depositing it through the orifice. Another lifeless body succumbed to the transparency and mist before disappearing.

  The beak reappeared through the ceiling, followed by the brown feathered head of an eagle. He let himself drop to the ground and flapped his wings, turning his head in my direction.

  “There you are,” I said, mouthing my words wide.

  Bram was able to shift quickly and surveyed the damage, “Sorry about that, Da,” he said apologetically.

  He then rushed over and held my face in his hands. “There you are,” he whispered.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  We gave ourselves a few minutes to recharge and catch our breath. I bandaged Quinn and Aaron’s injuries while Aaron discussed our next step.

  “Take him to the lake at the park,” Aaron began, “get yourself situated, Quinn, get used to your abilities as quickly as you can. Then make your way to the Causeway.”

  We went to the basement and grabbed all the priceless documents that had been stored so carefully. Upstairs the house was in shambles and soon the basement would be flooded, so we needed to ensure the safety of the ancient papers. Aaron stuffed everything into an oversized suitcase and slammed the lid shut. We returned upstairs and decided it would be best for Bram to get Aaron to his office in town where he had a safe room and could continue his research on how to call forth Lugh if necessary.

  As we stood at what was left of the front door, Aaron looked back into the chaos that was once his home and sadness filled his face. Rain was pouring in through the hole in the roof and ceiling and devastation was everywhere. I grabbed his arm sympathetically and leaned my head against his shoulder. I hated the thought that he was losing everything he had worked so hard for.

  “It’s all right, Willow,” he said, holding onto my hand, “this…I can rebuild.” His expression was bittersweet as he looked down at me.

  We stepped over the toppled tree that now lay on the front porch and looked at each other. I would get Quinn to the lake and Bram would join us there after he got Aaron to safety. I quickly shapeshifted, then grew larger and waited for Quinn to make his way to where I stood. He was still grimacing from the injury to his side.

  I watched in amazement as Bram did the same –shifted and grew – becoming the size of a motorcycle. He looked towards Quinn and me and nodded his head. Aaron climbed on his back and wrapped his arms around his neck. With a quick snap his wings were outstretched and he was in the air.

  I lowered myself to the ground to make it easier for Quinn to climb on my back. The rain had now become hail and was pounding us. I heard Quinn moan a couple of times and raised myself carefully in an effort to keep him as comfortable as possible. He nuzzled into my thick coat gripping my neck tightly and digging his heels into my sides.

  “Ready, Willow!” he shouted.

  I stood up and shook my head, releasing the moisture that had accumulated, then took those first wobbly steps over the soaked ground and fallen trees. Once I had my footing I sprinted into motion. My eyes narrowed as I kept my stare straight, zeroing in on the fastest route to the lake. I instinctively knew which way to go by both smell and sound. Even with the turbulent crashes of thunder echoing in my ears I was able to hear the woods in the distance, and the scent filled my nose as I drew closer.

  I ran along the highway, jumping over sports car-sized potholes. Huge chunks of the road had been washed away and replaced with small rushing rivers. Complete environmental devastation was occurring at an alarming pace.

  In the distance I could make out the entrance to the park and veered across the road, slipping once on the mudslide that had begun to consume what was left of the highway. I found myself on the familiar gravel stone path that snaked its way into Killarney National Park. I sniffed the ground and detected an unusual scent rising from the saturated surface. I stopped, allowing Quinn to readjust himself, when I noticed movement to my right. A blur about fifteen feet away had shot through the rain and actually made a watery path in its wake. Not in any hurry to find out what it was, I turned and quickly padded my way towards the lake.

  The road was completely washed out so I headed through the densest part
of the woods, jumping over fallen trees and loosened boulders. I paused just long enough to channel my hearing in all directions, trying to decipher any threats looming before us. Aside from an odd whisper-like sound, which I wrote off as wind wailing through the beaten trees, I was unable to pick out anything else.

  I slowly started up the last remaining hillside before the lake when another lightning bolt illuminated the ridge in front of us. There I saw, perched like some kind of vultures, creatures the size of a ten-year-old child. There must have been at least twenty of them. I stopped dead in my tracks and mindspoke to Quinn.

  “Do you see them?” I asked.

  “Aye,” he replied.

  “You have to hang on as tight as you can. I’m going to try and rush them and get over the ridge. The lake is on the other side so once I get there you’ll need to make it to the water. I’ll try and get you right to the shore, but, if I can’t, jump off and make a run for it. I’ll fight them off,” I said, my heart pounding, readying itself for battle.

  A low moan came from Quinn as he dug himself deeper into my back. “Ok, let’s do this,” he mumbled.

  I surveyed the ridge once more and let my instincts take over. A low howl rose out of my chest as I felt my teeth baring themselves with a growl surging in my throat. I stretched out my hind legs, one after another, and then bounded straight up the ridge. I lowered my head, ready to butt anything that might be in my way. An inhuman cry rose from the creatures as they stood and raised their arms, waving spear-like weapons high above themselves. I reached the peak and directed my head to the two creatures directly in front of me. They had their spears pointed straight at my face. I pressed down on my front paws, surging the muscles there and in my back legs, and hurdled above the two, narrowly escaping the spears. As I landed I felt a burning ache in the back of my right leg. The creatures were heaving their spears and a few had pierced my body.

  I kept running towards the lake with one thought in mind, and that was to get Quinn there. The screams from behind me were closing in as I suddenly became aware of flashes of light on the surface of the lake. Lightning appeared to be striking the water. I was only a few feet from the shore when Quinn screamed. I could feel him slipping off my back so I stopped and spun my head back, trying to see what was wrong. One of the creatures had hold of his leg and was pulling him down, and another was driving a spear into the back of my leg. I howled with pain. Quinn was struggling and kicked at the little beast. I saw its gruesome-looking form, with misshapen arms and a goat-like head. Its feet were cloven and a monkey tail had wrapped itself around Quinn’s leg. My first thought was, Thank God these things aren’t any bigger.

  I kicked at the Goatman that had just plunged the spear into my leg and sent it flying a good thirty feet. The other one had Quinn on the ground and was trying to drag him away. I hastily turned and lowered my front paw, pinning him to the ground. Quinn recovered quickly and without hesitation jumped into the lake. I raised my paw and watched the Goatman scramble to his feet and try to run away. I nabbed his tail in my jaws and tossed him towards the ridge. The other creatures were all around me now, poking and stabbing their spears into me. I snarled and latched on to one that had just tried to stab my eye. I clamped down on its throat, and instantly it was gone. It became transparent, the swirling mist morphed it, and in a puff, it disappeared, just like the Cyclops.

  Another had climbed on top of me and was trying to spear my back. I rolled over on my side and forced it off. When I stood, they had me circled and were jumping on me and stabbing at my legs. I howled in pain but also in anger. Adrenaline began pumping through me and I swung into action, spinning and circling, nipping at any creature I could get my mouth on. Once I had them off of me I trampled them and took them in my jaw, sending them reeling, all the while being pierced by their razor-sharp spears.

  Tremendous lightning bolts lit up the lake, followed by an awful bellowing. I turned quickly and choked back the terror that had lodged itself in my throat. There, in the middle of the lake, rising slowly against the crashing surf, was the most incomprehensible horror I’d ever seen.

  Monstrous proportions rose from the depths of the water to heights of at least one hundred feet. The dark gray and black mass was horrifying in its size and shape. I blinked my eyes numerous times in an effort to try and distinguish what exactly it was I was looking at, but to no avail.

  Panic rose through me at the thought of Quinn being in the same body of water with that horror. My eyes scanned the nearby shoreline and further out when, luckily, I caught sight of the long flippers of the pilot whale. I immediately went to mindspeak.

  “Quinn, what is that thing?”

  He didn’t respond for a few minutes. While I stood there, distracted by the spectacle, two more Goatmen jumped on me and began plunging their spears into my sides. I had had it with them by this time and shook then both loose before I plopped my paws on top of them, then watched them float off into nothingness. I scanned the ridge and felt sure that I had managed to rid myself of the annoying creatures.

  “Wil...low, Wil…” Quinn’s voice cracked in my head.

  “I’m here, Quinn, are you ok?”

  “I’m trying to…” his voice faded into the static.

  “What, Quinn, what!”

  I ran to the shoreline, hypnotized by the monster undulating in the water. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. It was silent now but was still stretching itself up into the night sky, almost as if it were growing.

  A gigantic splash washed upon me and broke my trance. I looked into the water and saw Quinn’s whale head surfacing, his mouth opened in a perpetual grin. He lifted his body higher, and then dove back in below the surface.

  “I’m trying to get this echolocation thing down. Some weird snakes were in here attacking me. It took a couple of tries but I finally wa–” he cut out again.

  He surfaced once more, and then dived. “I finally was able to use it to kill them. I’ll try it on squid face out there.”

  I looked at the gigantic sea monster, then over to Quinn. There was no way he would be able to take that thing down all by himself.

  “Quinn, have you tried to get bigger?”

  He rose above the surface once more and this time made a nodding motion with his head. “I tried, nothing happened.”

  “Don’t do anything with that monster yet. It’s not moving so leave it alone. Try to get bigger,” I urged.

  “How?”

  “All I had to do was focus on growing. Picture it mentally, try that…visualize. You need to get rid of other thoughts, just think about growing.” I kept my eyes on the middle of the lake while he lowered himself once more into the depths.

  As I watched, more lightning began to build up in the cloud directly above the monster. The thing was just towering there in the middle of the lake. It seemed like it must be waiting for another charge of electricity. When that came, I had no idea what would take place. Would the charge cause the creature to grow or would it be the final blast it needed to take control and attack? I just kept staring, as if that somehow held the thing in check.

  My attention was drawn in the other direction when I heard high-pitched cries coming from the ridge behind me. Bram came crashing down, followed by two birds that were attacking him. They were the same size as Bram but with female human heads and long pointed beaks. Their hands and feet were made up of three elongated digits with long curling nails. Like the Goatmen, they had tails, which they used to grab Bram’s feet, forcing him to the ground.

  Bram stood up and was immediately covered by the birds as they pecked at his eyes and face, holding him in check with their tails. He stretched out his wings and tried to use them as a kind of shield, but the attack was relentless.

  I sprang for the ridge and when I reached Bram I took hold of the bird on top, fastened my teeth around her and pulled her off by her neck. She let out a piercing cry and became uncontrollable in her attack, plunging her beak into my eye and her nails into my mouth.
<
br />   Stupid move, I thought as I clamped down on her hand and spit out the disengaged appendage. The bird screeched in pain and fell to the ground. One more nip and she was gone.

  Bram had forced the other bird to the ground and had it pinned down with his massive claws. He bent over and bit its neck, sending it into oblivion. He stretched out his wings and shook his head.

  I licked my wounds, which were worse than I realized, before I shifted back to myself. Bram shifted too and stood beside me staring at the lake. “What the…?” he asked as he stared at the spectacle looming in the distance.

  The thing had transformed itself even more since Bram’s arrival. Its large snake form now had a more pronounced head with four bulging eyes that lay on either side. Tentacles appeared from its midsection, reaching out at least twenty feet, along with what looked like the same tail as the Goatmen and birds.

  “Who raised the kraken?” Bram asked with a furrowed brow.

  I led him down to the lake to where Quinn had been. I wasn’t able to see him anymore and asked Bram to use his sight. He quickly lowered his head and was zeroing in on the lake. After a few seconds he saw him.

  “There he is,” he pointed to an area close to a small island. I could see his shape now. He looked massive and was circling the island.

  “Quinn,” I thought, “you’re huuuuuge!”

  He laughed. “I’d better be if I’m going to deal with that thing. I feel good about the sonar. I’ve been able to direct it where I want it and control the intensity. I can even –”

  Another bolt of lightning illuminated the skies and made a connection with the massive creature. We watched in horror as the serpent twisted and turned, stretched out its tentacles, then grabbed hold of the electrical charges. Its body flashed and lit up, becoming like an x-ray and allowing us to see inside its tremendous form. The charge lasted about ten seconds and when it stopped the serpent froze, but only for a moment. It let out an ear-piercing roar and lowered itself below the surface of the water, creating a tidal wave that reached us on the shore instantly.