Cruel and Unusual - serialised novel EXCLUSIVE to Steemit Part 13

Cruel and Unusual - serialised novel EXCLUSIVE to Steemit Part 13

Exclusive for Steemit - serialisation of Cruel and Unusual – my second novel

Again, I would like to encourage you to catch up on the previous episodes. It's starting to get real for Jack...

Episodes:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

The book advised that though it may seem a good way of getting rid of an enemy, changing such a person into a powerful and unrelenting beast was not a good idea in the long run. For, warned the author, the enemy would then be a stronger and more powerful foe than he ever was before and unless you were planning to change him in order to then denounce him as a ‘Weerwolf’ and so have him (or her) burned at the stake, it was best not to. Even if your plan was denouncement, it was still filled with great risk to one’s person and community as a whole.

As Jack read on, the book told that the easiest method of becoming a ‘Weerwolf’ was to have one bite you, for if you survived, you would become a beast at the very next Full Moon.

That method was simple but filled with great risk, for you may die and be destined to walk the earth as undead, rotting as a corpse would, able to communicate with humanity, saving the one, the ‘Weerwolf’ that killed you until at last, the ‘Weerwolf’ was driven insane by your haunting and committed suicide.

Jack read the passage again.

The least complicated way to become a Weerwolf is to cause such a creature to bite you. This would immediately result in you becoming a Weerwolf at the very next Full Moon. Though why any person would choose to put him or herself in such great peril is beyond comprehension as the dangers…

Jack stopped reading and instead brought forth a memory from his mother’s graveside. David had said “I loved your mother, I still do, but this was her choice.”

Jack realised what David had meant at last. It had been her choice to not be bitten by him all those years ago.

Almost frantically, Jack read to the end of the section devoted to ‘Weerwolves’. There were methods on becoming a ‘Weerwolf’, some which were permanent - such as being bitten - and others by using magical items.

A Wolf Belt for example, bestowed upon its wearer, the form and power of a wolf but as the wearer removed it, he would gain his usual form. That would seem the most ideal method but for one detail. A Wolf Belt was very difficult to come by. It was usually given only by the Devil himself and so was not widely available.

However, there were other means at his disposal. Given the right circumstances, with the correct use of ingredients and complex potions prepared to exact prescription, a person could use the pelt of a wolf to become a wolf. Jack’s questing mind then took that theory further. Using the same potions and ceremonies and the pelt of a Werewolf rather than an ordinary wolf, would he then be able to hold back the ravages of time, as his father seemed to be doing? In effect, become immortal.

The very next day, Jack informed the governors of the hospital that he was taking an extensive leave of absence and would inform them upon his return, but his advice was for them to find a more permanent replacement for him rather than a temporary one.

Employing an agent to take care of his affairs in England, Jack had his possessions put into storage, packed a large trunk and left for Europe.

Jack became as a man obsessed. He followed every lead, every rumour, legend and story that mentioned Werewolf, man-wolf or even tame wolf. He sought men and women who were purported to have the power to alter their form - to wolf or other. He soon discovered Were-bears and Were-foxes abounded, especially in the dense forests of Germany.

Jack sought Wolf Belts - and found none. He became an expert on Wolfbane and Deadly Nightshade and began studies on the Foxglove - all of which are lethal poisons and yet can send the user into a delightful, if oft-times fatal trance.

His studies took him into the Black Forest and Bavaria and beyond even those remote countries. He filled notebooks with his findings and had to purchase an extra trunk in which to carry them. Jack discovered entire villages that lay claims to Werewolf infestation yet on arriving at said village; he found that they had invariably ‘cured’ the Werewolf by burning it at the stake.

There were many such stories - far more than he would ever have guessed at - too many for mere coincidence. He became frustrated with tales of murders blamed upon Werewolf activity yet to his civilised mentality; it was more likely the murderer was nothing more than vicious, greedy or lustful.

Eventually, Jack’s enquiries brought him to a village, much the same as any other, where a few coins bought him information on a woman who was so skilled a healer that other villages knew of her also and sick and ailing people were brought from far and wide for her help. She was not thought of as a Werewolf and because of her success in healing, had escaped being burned as a witch. Jack paid her a visit.

He stayed for three months.

Soon after leaving Bavaria, his quest took another direction. Tales of Shaman and powerful medicine men who could change their form to any animal reached Jack and he extended his tour to America - The New World.

It seemed to prove an unfortunate waste of time for Jack, the Shaman he sought were either on Reservations and unwilling to talk with him or more often than not, untraceable because of the nomadic lifestyle that the Red Indians - as they were called - led.

By pure chance, Jack heard a rumour. Up in the Canadian mountains, an old Indian had been seen with a captured wolf in his camp.

This was cause for speculation because the man was alone and yet he had captured and caged the biggest and fiercest wolf ever heard of. Of course in tales such as these, the animal in question was bound to be the largest specimen ever - otherwise the tale would have lost the point of its telling. Yet how could a frail and ancient man have captured the wolf by himself? If he was not alone at the capture, why was he alone afterwards? And, most puzzling of all, why was the wolf bound tight with ropes? Not to mention the question of how on earth did they manage to get the ropes on it? They could hardly have waited until it was sleeping.

The tale was that three trappers had found it, but only one was left for the telling of it.

Jack had a new quest - to find that man.