Deadlier Than The Male - Exclusive for Steemit - Two Wolves and a Shapeshifter on the run

A few days into their travels and Hazel and Anton both sensed Wolves close by as they were looking for somewhere to make their camp for the night. Hazel warned Nichasin to concentrate on his cloaking. Then they saw four horsemen riding hard behind them. Hazel pulled over to allow them past and called Anton to heel with “Rex! Stay!” Anton had the presence of mind to obey and Nichasin pulled close to Hazel so as to part block the approaching strangers’ view of her.

All four riders looked at the small party but Hazel instead of looking down and therefore arousing their suspicion, looked right at them and nodded. They returned the nod and they continued on their way, at a harder pace than were Hazel and Nichasin.

“That was clever, not being afraid of them seeing you. It made them think you have nothing to hide.” Nichasin said.

“Yes and this dirt makes me look nothing like female.” Hazel replied.

“They were Wolf but I didn’t sense them until you had told me to concentrate. I’m glad you are aware.”

“Do you think they are after us Nichasin?”

“I don’t know but we had better be especially cautious from now.”

They decided to move off the road a way for the evening’s camp just in case the four riders came back. They found a small copse that would hide them from the road and provide a little shelter. The food that the landlord had packed had been eaten long before, even though they had supplemented the supplies with game caught in the field. And so, their supper consisted of rabbit and water again.

The following morning just as they were about to set off again, they heard galloping horses and sensed Wolves. Anton, Nichasin and Hazel ran to the edge of the trees and looked over the field, being careful to conceal themselves. They saw the four horsemen from the previous day riding past at a furious pace. They gave them a few minutes to get far away and they mounted up and rode in the opposite direction, over the fields. Anton was keeping up well and Hazel assumed that his strength as Wolf would be equal in this form too. They rode for miles cross-country, keeping as parallel as possible with the road they had been travelling on but they would need to stop and rest the horses very soon. Another copse gave them that chance.

They unsaddled the horses and rubbed them down, and then Hazel walked them around until they were cooled off. Their legs were rubbed and their feet were checked, and then they were tethered on the farthest side of the trees so they could graze without being seen from the road.

The copse was only a few hundred yards from a wood and Anton trotted over to it to investigate. He had only been gone a few minutes when he came back. He snagged Hazel’s sleeve with his jaws and pulled her. She followed him, changing to Wolf as she went.

The wood stretched a long way in front of them and she could hear running water. They loped where Anton led and she saw it was indeed a river, quite a fast running one too. There was also a boat tethered to a small landing dock but she could not understand why a boat would be in the middle of the wood with no real means of transporting cargo to or from the landing area. Then, looking up and down the river, she realised there were no trees all along the bank but there was a path worn along the side of the river. It appeared that the boat would have a horse tethered to it in order to float upstream. She assumed the owner used it for transporting goods or smuggling, which meant there was a larger watercourse attached to this one, or within hauling distance. If they followed the river they would be safe from their pursuers.

They managed to follow the path through the woods - or forest as it turned out to be - for many days, sometimes veering from the river when the path was overgrown or non-existent. They caught a deer one evening and that lasted them a fair few meals. Then the river started meandering through more open countryside, vineyards and farmlands. They found it better to sleep during the day and travel at night through this countryside. They were all on edge from their constant watching for those horsemen, always following the course of the river. When they once came to a fork in the river, Anton took the left fork. Hazel thought his reasoning was because of the inconvenience it would cause to cross the river.

Almost right after, they encountered a town and had two choices: to either skirt around or go through, keeping to the river. They decided to keep to the river and go through. The town of Nevers was not busy but around the quay were still some activity; boats were being loaded with boxes full of delicate things if the manner of the men were anything to go by, either wines or pottery. They also were loading sacks of grain and bundles of wool onto the boats. The boats however, did not look large enough to take extra passengers plus their horses and so they continued riding rather than enquiring for passage.

Out of the town and back into countryside, they set camp later into the morning than they had been used to because of clearing the town. They did not wish to be close to anywhere populated and the town supported many farms and villages along the road leading back to Nevers.

It took five days – or nights - of hard riding to achieve Lyons where they could take passage on a boat. Before they arrived at the city, they made a temporary camp where they could wait in comfort. Leaving Hazel with Anton whilst he changed out of his dog form, Nichasin took the horses into Lyons and sold them for a reasonable price. Then he bought a dress and a warm cloak for Hazel, food and skins of wine and a new hat for Anton and breeches and shirt for himself. Then he booked passage on one of the boats for the three of them. He met back with his companions and Hazel took the dress to change. She bought back the bundle of breeches and shirt and gave them to Nichasin to put into one of the bags. Nichasin took the clothes, but stared at Hazel’s hair, she had grown it long again, to fit in with female norm.

They did not have to wait long for the boat to leave; they were booked on the evening sailing. Before they arrived at Lyons itself, Nichasin was growing anxious. Hazel noticed his agitation and asked: “Nichasin, what is it? There is something amiss, please tell me.”

“The moon is tonight, Hazel. I cannot control myself. I will have to change.” Nichasin whispered, close to panic.

“Anton, Nichasin can feel the moon’s influence. But I cannot. This is another symptom of my advance?”

Anton laughed. “No Hazel, it is more a symptom of Nichasin not having the flower that you had sewn in your cloak. Nichasin, here, put this somewhere about your person, hide it well but keep it close.” Anton took out a few dried flowers, crushed and crumpled, but Hazel recognised them.

“They are the flowers that Sebastian told me about. They were where we buried him.” Hazel said as Anton also passed her one of the blooms.

“Yes Wolfsbane. They will act as a shield for you both tonight I hope. I am not sure how it works, but I took some just in case we should need to disguise Nichasin’s urge.”

“So it has taken us four weeks to get down this far. We have travelled fast.” Nichasin said, taking the flower and putting it inside his shirt down where it was tucked into his breeches.

“We still have as far again to go Nichasin.” Anton said.

“Do we really?” Hazel said.

Anton nodded and started off towards the docks. The boat they were to be travelling on was well used but in good repair. Nichasin found the man who he had made the arrangements with and gave him more money. Then they shook hands and the man pointed towards the gangplank. Hazel noticed Nichasin seemed calmer and more collected than he had on the way here, especially when he put his hand out to help her down the step onto the deck.

Because the boat or ‘Cog’ was not meant to take passengers and also because the journey would take less than a day to complete, there were no cabins for passengers. Nichasin was told they could use the sheltered part of the deck to the aft of the boat to sleep on – if they could.

The three explored the cog for the ten minutes or so that it took to get started and then bundled their packs into the sheltered part of the deck and sat down. They ate and drank from their packs and as the moon started rising they were all a little wary to see if the Wolfsbane would indeed help Nichasin and Hazel. It did seem to help, for they were not inclined to change to Wolf, although Nichasin did start absent-mindedly scratching the palms of his hands until Hazel tapped him on the arm to make him stop.

They sat talking or dozing as best they could for an hour or two then all of a sudden they were jolted awake by men yelling and shouting. They all sat up and looked around, wondering where the shouts of pain were coming from, then they saw one of the crew jump down from the aft where the rudder was situated and into the river. Anton rushed up the steps to the aft of the cog and found the man whom Nichasin had organised their travel with on the deck, quite still. Nichasin and Hazel came behind Anton. The man was dead; his throat was cut from ear to ear. Nichasin began moaning, a deep guttural sound. Hazel looked up at his face and found he was almost full-wolf. Then she also heard others approaching, the rest of the crew had been alerted. Thinking fast, she pulled Nichasin over to the side of the boat and shouted: “Quick! There he is, over the side, swim after the murderer!” and pushed Nichasin into the river. He regained his senses and swam after the crewman who had killed the captain.

The rest of the crew either stood and watched Nichasin swimming or ran to their captain. Anton took charge at once. Instead of waiting for the crew to turn nasty and accuse Anton’s party of murder and attempting to flee, Anton told the men to wrap the captain’s body in a tarpaulin and put him somewhere safe until they arrived at their destination where the authorities would be informed. The crew, recognising Anton’s authoritative manner at once obeyed. Hazel watched from the side of the cog as Nichasin gained the riverbank in partial human form and set off at a clumsy gait after the murderer.

It did not take Nichasin long to pick up the murderer’s scent and therefore track him down. He was hiding in a barn close to the river. Nichasin changed to full Wolf and trotted around the back of the barn where he might find another doorway. He arrived back at his clothes without finding another door, so he had to go in.

Nichasin couldn’t change back until he had killed; he was too young but not just that, he had been forced into Wolf form by the smell of the captain’s blood, having attempted to not change –forcing his body not to by using the Wolfsbane – now that he had, he was stuck until he made a kill, this was the perfect opportunity. But he had to be careful.

As he nosed open the door to the barn, he stood back just in case a blow was directed at the doorway, he was right, a pitchfork came crashing down just where he would have been standing, if he had been a man. Knowing now where the assailant was, he leaped at him, knocking him off balance. The man kept hold of the pitchfork but Nichasin was in too close for him to be able to use such a long and cumbersome weapon. Nichasin was all frenzy by this time and tore into the man’s upper stomach, snapping the lower ribs as he thrust his head into the chest cavity. The man’s screams gurgled to a halt soon after and the only sounds to be heard were the slurping of flesh being torn and the low growling of Nichasin getting to the prized glands.

Nichasin changed back to his human form soon after feeding and dressed himself. Then he went to the farmhouse and before he banged on the door, he wet his hair in a rain barrel. The farmer answered the banging and asked: “Who is disturbing me?”

Nichasin replied, “Sir, I am in need of assistance. I have fallen from a Cog and I desperately need a method of getting back to it. Can you help?”

The door opened with obvious caution and a man holding a lantern stood peering out. Nichasin’s clothes and hair were still wet. “How did you find your way to my house from the river?” the farmer asked with as much caution as he had opened the door with.

“I saw the light in the barn sir and followed it up here.”

“There is no light. I was asleep.”

“The light did not go into your house, it went around the side, but I am wet and getting colder by the minute and I decided to try here first. Sir, I have money but I do need to get back to the Cog from which I fell. I am travelling through Spain and I need to get to Marseilles in order to catch the ship my wife and her father will be catching. No doubt my poor wife will be mourning me already. Please, can you help?”

The farmer looked at him for a little while longer then nodded. He closed the door, leaving Nichasin in darkness again, but he soon reappeared dressed. His cart was stood next to the stable and he harnessed his horse without much conversation to Nichasin and soon they were on the road. They were headed for the town of Valence where the farmer was sure there would be a boat or even another cog that would take him the rest of the way to Marseilles.

As they were riding, Nichasin told the farmer a little about his travels. “We are going on to Murcia and then to Portugal. We are adventurers.”

“Your wife is too?” The farmer asked.

“Ah no, she is a gentle lady but she insisted upon accompanying us on this adventure. It may be that we find a place that will appeal to us - somewhere we will eventually settle down and stop our adventuring ways. My father-in-law has been travelling for many long years and it may be time for him to rest his bones in a warm and sunny clime.”

When they arrived at the dock in Valence, Nichasin gave the farmer what would be considered a small fortune. The farmer protested at the amount but Nichasin insisted and the farmer waved happily as he made his way back home.

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