Dark Moon (22 page)

When the long-haired Lycan decapitated Ian, Dani opened her mouth to scream.  A hard hand clamped across her mouth and an arm circled her waist like a band of steel.  She was yanked backwards against a hard body and a low voice whispered in her ear.

“Quiet, girl.  If they discover you, they’ll rip you to shreds.”

She struggled against him, kicking and flailing wildly, but he held her tightly and dragged her further into the alley.  He twisted her around and pressed her back against the building.

“Stop struggling!  I will not harm you.”  He snapped.

She sagged against him, staring up at him with wide, frightened eyes as tears dripped down her cheeks.  When he was confident she wouldn’t run, he loosened his grip on her and stared down at her tear-stained face.

“Shh.  Stay here.”  He demanded.

He peered around the building before stepping back.  “What’s your name, girl?”

She stared silently at him.  He was only a little taller than her and he had light brown hair and hazel eyes.  She knew instinctively that he was a Lycan.

“Your name.”  He prompted.

“Danielle.”  She whispered.  She began to shake as the image of Ian’s headless body flowed through her.

“Oh, Ian.”  She moaned quietly before covering her mouth with her hand.  The man in front of her hesitated and then drew her into his embrace.  He hugged her gently, rubbing her back, as she trembled and cried silently.

She jerked away from him and made a break for the street when Sophia howled loudly.  He cursed and hauled her back against him.

“No, Danielle!  Stay with me.”

“I have to help them!  I have to – “

“You cannot help them!  Do you hear me?  There are too many of them.  They’ll kill you or take you prisoner along with your friends.”  He shook her firmly and she moaned again and slumped against the building.

He looked cautiously around the side of the building and Dani took a deep breath and peeked around his trim body.  The Lycans were leading Sophia and Kaden into the forest, and a crowd of humans had gathered around Ian’s head and body.

Dani started towards them and the man pulled her back roughly.  She glared at him and punched him hard in the chest.  He flinched and she drew back when his eyes glowed at her.

“Don’t be afraid of me.”

“I’m not.”  She muttered.

“Aye, I suppose not.”  He leaned into her and inhaled deeply.  “What is a human doing with Lycans?”

“My father is a Lycan!”  She said hotly.

He frowned and inhaled again.  “Yet, you are a full human.  How odd.”

She gave a trembling sigh.  Her brief burst of anger had left her and she was crying again.  “Please, let me go.  I have to get back to my family and tell them what’s happened.”

“Do you live here in town?”  He asked.

She shook her head, staring numbly at him.  “No.  The Lycan is my cousin.  Her family lives about half a day from here by horse.”

He frowned at her.  “You cannot travel home by yourself.  It isn’t safe in the forest, even if you stick to the road.”

“I don’t care.  I have to go!”  There was a note of hysteria in her voice and he rubbed her upper arms soothingly.

“Alright, Danielle.  I will escort you home to your family.”

She blinked at him.  “I – why are you helping me?”

He shrugged.  “I never could resist a damsel in distress.  Let’s go.”

He led her down the alley and she gave him a nervous look.  “Do you have a horse?”

He shook his head.  “No.  What need would I have for a horse?  When we are out of the town, I’ll shift and you can ride on my back.  It will be faster.”

Dani nodded and followed him as he walked quickly towards the edge of town.

“What’s your name?”  She panted as she struggled to keep up with him.

“Andric.”

***

Dani clung tightly to Andric’s light brown fur as he loped through the forest.  After leading her from the alley, he had made one stop at the hotel.  She had waited nervously in the street before he returned, carrying a large leather bag in his hand.

Without speaking, he had taken her hand and led her out of the town.  They had followed the road, Dani tensing when they passed a wagon of humans heading towards the town, but Andric had smiled easily at them and spoken briefly with the eldest man.  Half a mile outside of town, they had moved into the thick trees, neither speaking until they were deep within the woods.

Andric had dropped his bag on the forest floor and quickly unbuttoned his shirt.  Dani, her face flushing, had turned away.

“Where is your uncle’s home?”  He had asked as he stripped off the rest of his clothes and stuffed them into the leather bag.

“Near the big lake.  Do you know where that is?”

“Aye.  I am familiar with the area.”  Andric had replied. There was a low popping noise and he had barked softly at her.

She had turned around and picked up the leather bag, slinging it over her body as he crouched down.  She had climbed on to his back, sinking her fingers into his fur and hanging on tightly as he moved quickly through the trees.

Now, she glanced up and stared at the late afternoon sun.  They had maybe another hour o travel to get to home, and she breathed a sigh of relief.  She had alternated between bouts of terror and disbelief over the last few hours and she was anxious to tell the others what happened.  Her fear for Sophia and Kaden was making her feel nauseous, and more than once she had wept silently as Andric carried her through the trees.

She realized that Andric was slowing down and she slid off his back when he stopped completely.  The fur on his neck was standing up and he was inhaling deeply.  She felt a prickle of fear against the back of her neck.  The forest was too silent.  No birds sang and no small animals rustled in the underbrush.

She looked around fearfully as Andric nudged her towards a cluster of large trees.  She slipped around them, leaning against the largest one as Andric shifted to his human form.

“What – “ She began softly and he shook his head, pressing up against her and clamping his hand across her mouth.

He placed his mouth at her ear and breathed, “Gogmagog.”

She stiffened and moaned quietly behind his hand.  Adrenaline rushed through her and she stared wide-eyed at him.  Gogmagog’s were hideous human-like creatures who lived in the outskirts.  They were rumoured to be over twenty feet tall and had the strength of thirty men.  She had never seen one, had never even heard of one leaving the outskirts, but she knew the tales of them.

She was beginning to tremble wildly against the Lycan and when he tried to draw away, she put her arms around his naked waist and clung tightly to him.  He stroked her hair and put his fingers to his lips.  She nodded and they stared silently at each other as the minutes stretched out. 

There was nothing but silence and she was just starting to relax when she heard the low grunt.  Her fingers tightened on Andric’s skin and he gave her a reassuring nod as he pushed her back into the undergrowth.

The grunting continued, a low and inhuman sound, and Dani and Andric clung to each other like frightened children when the ground began to shake under their feet.  She stared up at the Lycan, her own fear increasing when she saw the fear in his eyes.  He smiled reassuringly at her but his hands tightened around her back when the grunting grew closer.  It was rhythmic in sound, a loud grunt followed by a whistling breath as the creature inhaled. The bushes trembled and the creature made a thick, coughing noise before the sound died completely.

Dani held her breath.  The whistling breathing and grunting had been bad but the silence was much worse.  She strained to hear in the silence.  Andric, a look of alarm on his face, was sniffing the air lightly. 

A hand, shockingly large and covered in thick black hair, shot through the bushes and grabbed Andric around the calf.  It yanked hard and he was pulled from her grip and dragged away as easily as a child.  She had one last glimpse of his pale face before he disappeared.

The Gogmagog roared with pleasure and Andric howled loudly before the air was filled with snarling and growling.  She leaned down and picked up a large, thick branch from the ground, holding it tightly, as the Gogmagog roared again.  This time it was tinged with pain and Andric made a howling sound of triumph that cut off abruptly.

There was a loud thudding noise that made her cringe and then Andric was barking and snapping, and the Gogmagog was making harsh grunts of frustration. 

“Stop moving!”  A thick voice muttered and all the hair on her arms stood up.  The voice was gargled and almost too distorted to recognize as human.  Andric growled again.  Her hands tightened on the branch when the creature made a thick mutter of approval and Andric whined, a loud sound of hurt and fear that made her heart pound in her chest.  She hesitated only briefly before stepping out from the cover of the trees.

Her mouth dropped open and she stared in repulsion and fear at the creature standing with its back to her.  The legend was wrong, she thought numbly.  The Gogmagog’s were not twenty feet tall, but the beast towered at least twelve feet in height.

His hair was a rich black and it hung to his shoulders in a tangled mess of twigs and leaves.  He had the fur of a bear wrapped around his massive body.  The bear’s head and claws were still attached to the fur, and she stared mutely at the sunken holes where its eyes used to be. 

Andric had shifted to his wolf form and the Gogmagog was holding his body high over his head.  He raised his knee and she realized with horror that he was about to break Andric’s back.  She ran forward and swung the thick branch at the creature’s exposed legs.  It was like hitting the solid trunk of a tree, and she nearly dropped the branch when the shockwaves reverberated up the wood and into her arms.

The Gogmagog rumbled in surprise and looked over his shoulder.  He grinned, revealing black and rotting teeth, and threw Andric against a large tree.  There was a sharp crack and Andric whimpered quietly and collapsed on the ground.

The Gogmagog turned towards her.  His chest was massive and his arms thick with muscle.  He clenched his hands into fists, his knuckles cracking, and Dani screamed with terror and backed away.  She raised the branch and swung it at the beast.  He caught it deftly and ripped it from her hands.  He broke it in half as easily as a twig and grinned again at her.

“Human.”  It whispered before reaching out and snagging her upper arms.  Dani screamed again, the sound echoing in the forest, as he dragged her towards him.  She kicked frantically at the massive creature’s shins but he shrugged the blows off easily. 

He was bending towards her when Andric leaped on to his back.  He scrambled up the Gogmagog, his claws tearing through the bear’s fur to leave shallow bloody grooves in the beast’s skin.

It screamed angrily and, still holding Dani by one arm, swung its other arm behind him and beat at Andric’s body.  Andric howled and Dani watched numbly as Andric scrabbled even higher and sunk his teeth into the side of the Gogmagog’s throat. 

She tried to yank her arm back but the beast held it firmly even as Andric’s teeth tore his throat open.  Blood poured out of him, coating his chest and Dani’s face and upper body.  She struggled and writhed against him, keeping her mouth and eyes closed against the flood of hot liquid.  She felt the creature’s grip loosening and when she yanked against his grip again, he released her.  She staggered back, falling on to her ass and wiping at the blood covering her eyes, as the beast screamed again weakly and sank to its knees.  The ground shook and it gave her a final look of dumb surprise before falling flat on its face.

She scrambled back, her heart pounding and her blood pumping through her veins.  She couldn’t stop her small gasps and whimpers and she swiped her arm across her mouth and eyes, trying to clear them of the blood.  She collapsed on her back, staring up at the sunlight filtering through the trees.  She moaned in fear when a hand dropped on to her stomach but it was only Andric.  He stared down at her.

“Danielle, are you hurt?”

She shook her head, grimacing at the drops of blood that flew from her hair and he helped her to her feet. He was holding his left arm against his side and he winced as he took a step back.

“You’re hurt.”  She whispered.

“My arm is broken and I think a few of my ribs as well.”  He replied grimly.  “I’ll be fine in few hours.  My body will heal itself.”

“Aye.”  She whispered.

He looked her over, staring at the blood on her shirt, before rummaging through the leather bag.  He took out his pants and shirt and handed the shirt to her as he struggled into the pants.  “Take my shirt.  Yours is ruined.”

She held the shirt tightly and glanced around him at the body of the Gogmagog lying on the ground.

“Is it dead?”

“Aye.”  He pressed his left side gingerly and winced again.

“I – I’ve never seen one before.  Have you?”

He nodded.  “Aye, but never this far in from the outskirts and never one by itself.  They travel in packs like we do.”

“What is it doing here?”  She wondered as she pulled her wet, sticky shirt over her head.  She used the relatively clean back of it to swipe at the blood on her chest and abdomen.  Anxious to get the shirt off, she realized too late that she was standing half-naked in front of the Lycan.  Her face beet red, she turned around quickly and slipped his shirt over her head.

“Sorry.”  She muttered when she turned back.

He stared at her and then grinned boyishly.  “I don’t mind.  I like a free-spirited girl.”

She flushed even brighter and dropped her ruined shirt on the ground.  “Can you walk on it if you shift back?”  She pointed to his arm.

He shook his head.  “No, I don’t think so.”

She slung the leather bag back over her body.  “It’s not much farther to my uncle’s home.”

“Lead the way home then.” 

She nodded and started past him.  He caught her arm and lifted her grimy, bloody hand to his mouth. He kissed the knuckles gently.  “Thank you for saving my life, Danielle.”

A shiver went through her and she pulled her hand out of his grip.  “I didn’t, not really.  You saved mine.”