*****
“Okay so the wolves like the lowlands,” said Rolfo, a giant ginger-haired man. Paul learned that about fifty bears from Scotland joined Aupon last year, and Rolfo was spearheading the war plans.
Rolfo spoke passionately about dismembering and slitting the throats of werewolves. His daughter, a shaggy-haired girl of about eighteen, drew a rudimentary map in the dirt, outlining the mountains, rivers, and woods.
“So we need the height of the mountains for a sneak attack?” said Paul, rubbing his chin, “But we would be exhausted from the climb. We need a clearing.”
“He’s right,” Aupon said.
“Let me finish. We need a lure. The wolves hunt by surrounding their prey. They have to expect us so we need something that will surprise them and bring their guard down,” Rolfo said with a jagged tooth smile.
“You found her,” Aupon said, clapping his hands.
“Wait, what?” Paul said, looking around the camp. He didn’t see Andre anywhere.
“Calm down, lad,” Rolfo said, “We only have the girl. Your brother evaded us.”
Paul breathed a sigh of relief. He would trust his life with the werebears, but he didn’t want to force Andre. He wanted him to come willingly. This was, after all, were they belonged.
“We will find him, son. I promise we won’t hurt him,” Aupon said, putting a hand on Paul’s shoulder.
“Where is Amy?” Paul asked, scared to know the answer.
“Asleep so to speak.Just some herbs to keep her calm, until we are ready. And no you can’t see her,” Rolfo said, looking over his daughter’s sketch in the dirt.
Paul started to speak but thought better of it. He just hoped Andre wouldn’t do something stupid. Before Paul could finish his thought, his ears twitched. Not his human ear, but his inner ear. The ear that allowed him to pick up bearspeak.
“Bro, bro, can you hear me? I don’t know how this works, but I’m just going to think as hard as I can, and hope it gets through to you. Don’t try to find me, but if you ever want to see me again, I would listen very closely.”
Andy was speaking telepathically to Paul, and Paul could only hear him because they were blood. Paul tried to look impassive. It was hard because he could feel every tendon in his neck about to pop.
“What the hell are you doing?” Paul said in his mind to his brother.
“Holy crap, I can hear you! This is crazy, man!”
“This is not a game, Andre! Where are you?”
“That’s not important. You won't get to me in time. Let Amy go.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Everything okay, son?”Aupon asked, interrupting Paul’s train of thought.
“Shut up, Andy,” Paul said, turning to face Aupon with a weak smile.
“No, everything is fine. Just worried about my brother,” Paul said, clearing his throat.
“Are you sure? You seem distracted,” Aupon said, drawing the attention of the rest of the camp.
“Yea? I—we have never spent too much time apart. I’m worried about him. I just want him safe,” Paul said, shrugging his shoulder
“What’s going on, bro? Shit, do they know we’re talking? Say something! Pauly, you there,” Andy said, rattling Paul’s brain. Paul was sure he looked mad, trying to talk to Aupon and block out his brother’s incessant question.
“Shutup, Andy!,” Paul thought as loud as he could.
Aupon narrowed his eyes, and a lopsided grin filled the lower half of his face. Paul felt like those amber eyes could tell he was lying.
“You know, Paul. There is a legend of bears who can hear the thoughts of all bears—not just that of family,” Aupon said, squaring to face Paul.
“Oh?” Paul said, his voice sounding unnaturally high.
“Mmmhmm. It sounded crazy to me but look around you,” Aupon gestured around to the thousands of bears crowding the forest floor.
“I don’t follow,” Paul said.
“I’m saying we trust you so trust us. And I’m saying I wouldn’t want just to be thinking willy-nilly and risk one of these werebears from proving that theory is a fact. After all, we are from all over the earth. Who knows what powers we have? I would hate to have my thoughts on the wrong end of a cub discovering a new ability. After all, everyone here tells me everything, even the seemingly boring stuff,” Aupon said, with a thunderous laugh, “It’s like they can’t help it.”
Paul laughed weakly, understanding. Aupon walked away to the strategy meeting, leaving Paul standing alone by a tree. Paul felt panic pull at his stomach. He felt sick. There was no way to win. No out with all of the bears surrounding him here and the wolves roaming out there.
“Andy, if you can hear me, runnow, ask questions later,” Paul said, feeling tears pull at his eyes. He had already lost his father, his step-father, his mother, Amy, and now Andre. It was too much. Yes, Andy would have to run now, and ask questions later. It was the only way.
*****
It had begun. The werewolves and were bears faced off in the blinding white snow. The stronger werebears were holding back on the perimeter, but many large polar bears were on the front lines. The werewolves looked menacing, rich coats of white, black, and gray. All Paul could focus on was the enormous wolf in the dead center of the pack, with blue-black fur and a white patch of fur between his ears. He must be Corion. He was almost as large as a bear.
Aupon walked out front, changing into a man. He squared his shoulders howling loudly, mocking the wolves. The other bears laughed, but it sounded like growls and snarls. Paul was in his black bear form on the front line, his eyes scanning the trees and the snow for any sign of his brother.
Corion, rose on his hind legs, and pale white human skin cut through the fur, and he was a man. He had the same shaggy auburn hair as his sister with a small patch of white hair gleaming through the red.
“I want no trouble, Aupon. I just want my sister,” Corion said, his voice low and silvery like he was trying to cast a spell. The wolves flanked to his left and right. About a hundred wolves growled, their heads dipped low. They looked like they could strike at any moment.
“I’m afraid, your guard dogs don’t share your sentiment,” Aupon said with a sneer, “If you want no trouble then leave our land. You know the law.”
“You know I can’t do that,” Corion growled.
“Oh, right. Forgive my manners,” Aupon said, waving some grizzlies forward. Paul watched them lead a tied up Amy forward. The ropes were in their mouths, and in a blink, they were men again. Amy looked near death. Her face was swollen, and her knees wobbled as they shoved her forward. Paul had heard her shrieks cut through the night last night as the werebears tried to get her to give up the location of her brother’s den. He hung his head, ashamed for letting them do this to her.
“Amelia!” Corion yelled, stepping forward. Two of the wolves next to him blocked his path. Corion bared his teeth but froze.
“You have much indignation for one who’s breath still smells of the blood of werebear cubs,” Aupon yelled, and a chorus of angry werebear growls followed. Bears stomped their front legs, and the ground shook. They were ready for blood. Paul concentrated, still trying to hear his brother. There was nothing.
“And you are innocent, Aupon? You, the Ravager of the North! The self-proclaimed King of the Forest! Who gave you that right?” Corion asked, pointing a finger.
“Nature,” Aupon hissed.
Aupon raised his hand to give the signal to attack. The bears were primed, ready to jump. Paul strained every corner of his mind to hear Andy.
“Andy, are you there?”
Before Aupon’s long, black arm could cut through the air, a whoosh of brown cut into the middle of the standoff. Andy rose on his hind legs and transformed for all of the wolves to see.
Paul gasped, and transformed in a whirl.
“Andy!” Paul yelled, panicked. He broke the flank to get to him, but two large polar bears blocked him.
“Take me!” Andy yelled at Corion.
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Corion tilted his head, appraising him.
“I do, Amos, grab him. What game are you playing?” Corion asked as two gray wolves, rose into human forms and grabbed Andy roughly.
“Stop! That’s my brother. Let me go!” Paul yelled, his voice a hoarse cry.
“Oh, really?” asked Corion, a wicked smile spreading across his lips.
“Silence!”Aupon commanded, “Do you think I won’t kill half of your men, or your sister right now, try me?’
Corion stroked Andy’s throat. His right hand alone transformed into an enormous clawed paw. Corion looked at Paul and lightly ran a claw along Andy’s bare chest. Blood slowly trickling down.
“Enough!” Paul yelled.
“Your brother is a bleeder,” Corion said with a chuckle.
“It’s alright!” Andy said, his shoulders shaking. It wasn’t a deep cut, but it still looked painful.
“So is your sister,” Rolf said, pushing a weak Amy forward.
Andy’s eyes widened at the battered sight of the woman before him.
“Amy. Oh, my god,” Andy said, fighting to free himself.
Amy collapsed face down in the snow, at Rolf’s feet.
“Give her to me, or I paint the snow with his blood!” Corion said, staring at Amy’s body.
Aupon clenched his first looking down at Amy and then up at Corion.
“Aupon, please!” Paul said, pulling to free himself.
Aupon nodded to Rolf. Rolf picked up Amy. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head. She was alive, but barely.
“Trade,” Rolf said to Corion’s men.
Corion nodded at his men. In a moment, Amy’s body was tossed to the werewolf side, and Amy collapsed into Corion’s arms. He smoothed her hair, and quickly untied her. Amy coughed up blood, and buried her face in her brother’s neck, weeping loudly.
“Amy,” Andy said, reaching out his hand to touch her. Paul pulled his hand back before two black wolves could bite him.
“Will she be alright?” Paul asked.
“Like you care. I remember you, Pauly. I knew you would only bring her harm,” Corion said, handing his sister to some other wolves. She climbed on the back of a great gray wolf, and he ran off in the dense snow, disappearing in seconds.
“So we are all good?” Andy asked, looking from Aupon to Corion.
Aupon and Corion sneered at each other, neither saying anything. Paul pulled Andy back. Andy looked confused, but Paul could feel the electricity in the air. Ancient magic.Ancient anger dancing between the two creatures.
“Andy, your brother has a saying that I think you should heed, run now ask questions later,” Aupon said, his giant arm whipping through the arm.
Aupon transformed into his grizzly form, lunging at Corion who darted out of the way just in time. Corion was a wolf in seconds, and lunged at Andy, but Paul pulled him out of the way. The brothers darted into a full sprint. There was no time to transform. They would be able to move faster in human form through the chaos. The bears were too large to get around any other way. Paul pulled Andy, who seemed to be in a daze until he seemed to find his footing.
“I don’t understand,” Andy gasped, cutting through branches, and leaping over branches.
Paul looked back, and the snow was red with blood. Growls, snarls, howls, ripped through the air. Birds were zooming out of the trees as massive bodies slammed into redwoods and oaks. Some trees splintered, and the sound thundered through the air as the mighty redwoods came crashing down around them.
“Paul, what’s happening?” Andy demanded.
“War!” Paul said, picking up his pace.
Werebears darted past them; some looked at them wondering why they were running away from the fight. Thankfully, no one stopped them. But Andy and Paul were running against the tsunami of bears, and it was getting too crowded. The snow had made a narrow path to the fight, and every one of Aupon’s bears wanted a piece of the action.
Paul looked back again. The ground below was absolutely covered with the bodies of werewolves. A few bears were scattered amongst them.
“Shit!” Paul said. Amy
“Wait, what? You think they will get to her?” Andy looked over his shoulder.
“No telling. Some are staying to fight, but once it slows they will want to get the other wolves. I doubt all of the werewolves are down there fighting.”
Andy’s eyes darkened with understanding.
“We have to get her,” Andy said.
“God, I was afraid you were going to say that,” Paul said.
“Plan?” Andy asked, darting out the way of several black bears running past them.
“Transform. Run right into the thick of it. We will blend better that way. Just watch your back. Keep running. They couldn’t have gotten far,” Paul said, skidding to a halt.
Paul took a deep breath, then collapsed on all fours, running right into the mess of bodies and blood. The growls grew louder as they closed in. Andy closed in next to him growling. It would take a miracle, but they would have to try.
*****
“Are you alright?” Andy asked in bearspeak, as they cleared the fighting.
Paul growled a response. A wolf had clawed him deeply across his chest, but he got away. Paul looked down, and the snow had a trail of giant drops of blood.
“Shit, I’m going to lead them right to us,” Paul said, looking at the trail of blood.
“No worries. I see a campfire. There is still time,” Andy said.
“I see it. Transform. We don’t want to scare them.”
Andy rose into his human form, skidding a wave of snow into the air a few yards away from the camp fire. Women and children jumped up, staring at them.
Paul groaned as the pain of his injury weighed on his chest.
“Ouch, that looks worse without fur on it,” Andy said, grimacing at the claw marks on Paul’s chest.
“Thanks for the feedback,” Paul said, putting clumps of snow in the bloody scratches.
“We’ve got company,” Andy said, jutting his chin at a line of women approaching them.
“State your business,” said an old woman with long silver hair. She sounded French, though she was probably Canadian.
“We mean no harm,” Paul said, approaching her slowly.
“What’s going on out there?” she demanded, “Why aren’t the men back?”
“Look, we don’t have time,” Andy said, “There is war! You need to get out of here.”
“Nonsense. We’ve my granddaughter. There’s nothing to fight about,” she said, tightening a shawl over her boney shoulders.
“Granddaughter? You’re Amy’s grandmother?” Andy asked, looking around for Amy.
“Amelia. Just who are you?” she asked.
“I’m Andre, um Andy, and this is Paul. Look, we know her. And I am telling you, you’re in danger. You have to run. Don’t grab anything, just run!”
The old woman was about to speak when Amy stumbled from behind some trees. She looked weak, pale, and bruised.
“Nona,” Amy said in a low voice, “I believe them. We should go.”
“Good. Let’s go!” Andy said, walking towards her.
“Stop!” Amy said, tears brimming in her eyes, “Don’t come anywhere near me. We, wolves, are leaving. You two can go back to your kind,” Amy said, pursing her lips.
“Amy, you’re ill, and not fit to travel,” Nona protested.
“Um, I don’t think we have a choice,” Paul said, looking at a wave. A tsunami of bears and wolves about a mile away raced for the camp.
Nona’s face went ghost-white. The wolves howled in their direction, and Nona brushed her gray hair away from her ear, leaning her head in to listen.
“Oh, no,” Nona said, “Corion is—they say to run. Grab the pups. Run, everyone, quick!”
“There are caves. We can get there undetected if we move now,” Paul said, collapsing on all fours. Paul grabbed children two by two and tossed them on his back. The children held on tight, grasping a
t his thick black coat. Andy followed his lead and threw Amy over his neck along with five young wolf pups. The other women transformed following close behind.
“It’s okay, Amy. I’m so sorry,” Andy growled. Paul heard him so Amy must have too. He had taught her bearspeak, but she didn’t reply. Maybe she was just too weak.
They ran, and ran for miles uphill, and then across a lake to lose the scent, and then down the hill to a row of caves.
Paul squatted low so the pups could climb off, and transformed back, feeling the weight of his wounds.
“You’re hurt,” Nona said, rising to her human form.
Paul nodded, leaning on his knees.
Nona walked outside of the cave and returned with berries and leaves in her hands.
“This will sting, but it will keep out infection,” Nona said. She spit on the leaves, and mashed everything into a paste in her small, frail hands.
“Ow!” Paul said as the purple and green paste touched the bloody gashes on his chest.
“Pain only lasts a moment,” Nona said, “Thank you for saving us.”
“It was the right thing to do,” Paul said with a terse nod.
“What now?” said, Amy walking over with Andy.
Nona looked to Paul, as did everyone else.
“Why are the kids looking at me?” asked Paul.
Nona smiled, “Because the pups think you are alpha.”
“Alpha? No, no, I’m—not a leader,” Paul stammered.
“I don’t know, bro. You sure as hell like bossing me around. Might as well make that alpha status official,” Andy said with a slight smile.
Paul looked to Amy, and she nodded her thanks. Good, they were good. Andy smiled, and Amy reached for his hand, smiling at him. It looked like their feelings were real, and Paul felt a peace about it that he couldn’t explain.
“I can’t promise that I will be a good leader,” Paul said, looking to the wolves, to his brother, “But my brother was right about the forest being our home. So if the forest can be home to an architect, then wolves can be his brothers and sisters. We will have to keep moving, but I will protect you to the best of my ability.”
Paul rose, standing up straight through the pain, and he growled loudly to the sky. The wolves howled loudly in reply, and Paul smiled that his family was once again complete. He would not be a king of the woods, but its guardian.
THE HEALING HEART Page 73
