Lady and the Wolf (9 page)

Chapter 14

Wolf tracked Roland with Arnon right at his side. They managed to break him away from the rest of his men, and direct his horse down to the creek just like they planned.

“Get away, leave me be. I’m not who you think I am.” Roland pulled his sword and swiped it through the air, and then fell to the ground when Wolf was able to make his horse rear up. The man fell into the creek with a splash.

Get around the other side of him
, Wolf told Arnon. When they both had him surrounded in the water, Wolf felt his anger rise to the surface and his bloodlust kicked in. He hadn’t meant to kill the man before he questioned him, but now that’s all he wanted to do. He lunged for Roland and though the man could have raised his sword, he threw it to the side and put his hands out in front of him as he got to his feet. Wolf’s animal body came crashing down atop him, and Arnon ran around and bit the man in the leg.

“Nay!” Roland cried out, trying to push the wolves from atop him. “Leave me alone, you don’t know what you’re doing.”

Wolf couldn’t stop himself now, and he curled his lips and showed his elongated teeth. Then he lunged for the man and knocked him down to a prone position and clamped his mouth around the man’s neck.

He could have easily killed him, but before he went in for the final bite, something hitting him in the buttocks caused him to open his jaws and release the man. He tasted blood and it felt damned good. One more bite and the man was as good as dead.

Ow! She’s shot you in the ass with a bolt
, came Arnon’s thought in his head, feeling the pain as well.

Who? What?
He turned to see the bolt of a crossbow embedded in his bottom end and he knew at once who’d done this to him. He looked up to see Winifred standing at the edge of the water, aiming her crossbow at Arnon now.

He couldn’t let her shoot his brother. He’d give his life before he let her do it. So he left Roland bleeding on the ground and with the pain of a bolt in his backside, Wolf darted after his lover.

“Don’t kill him,” shouted Winifred as Wolf lunged at her, knocking away her crossbow in the process. “He’s your -,” she said as she hit the ground hard. The crossbow fell from her hand and Wolf heard Arnon’s thoughts in his head.

I’ll kill him, I will.

Nay, Arnon. You’ll leave him be. Let me handle this.

Then the sound of hoofbeats through the forest grew louder and also the sound of swords clashing as the two sides fought in battle.

Nay.
Wolf shook his head and willed himself with all his might to shift back into his human form. He had to stop this melee before his men were killed. They weren’t prepared for battle with Roland’s army that was twice the size. He had to stop them, but he couldn’t do so unless he was in his human form.

He looked up to the moon and thought about being human. He thought of making love with Winifred and how it felt. He needed to feel human emotions, not animal instinct if he was to shift back to his human form at will. But it was getting harder and harder to do so, and it took all his energy each time he shifted.

Sure enough, he felt his bones moving and the intense pain that always accompanied his shift. Then his body changed back from animal form to human, leaving him lying naked on the cold earth, shaking like a leaf with sweat dripping from his brow.

“Wolf, are you all right?” Winifred crawled over the earth toward him. When he felt the pain in his bottom, he remembered that she’d shot him with a bolt.

He reached back and pulled it from his backside and threw it to the ground.

“You shot me in the ass. Of course I’m not all right,” he ground out.

“I had to stop you from killing my grandfather, because he isn’t who he seems to be.”

“Of course he’s your grandfather, who else would he be?” He pushed up to his feet and she took off her cape and put it around his shoulders to hide his nakedness.

“He’s a very powerful warlock,” she told him. “Hecuba told me so.”

“Please don’t tell me you gave the old hag the mirror?” The feeling of dread overcame him.

“I did, but it doesn’t matter. What really matters is that you just tried to kill your own father.”

“My father is dead, Red. I told you – your grandfather killed my parents.”

“I’m not dead, I’m right here, Hugh.”

Wolf heard a deep voice from behind him that sounded nothing like Roland’s. His heart jumped as he recognized the voice of his father. His head snapped around and he laid eyes on a man he hadn’t seen for a year now.

“F-Father?” He strode closer to try to get a good look at him in the moonlight. His image was weak and kept fading in and out to that of the earl.

“It’s me, son.” He wore Earl Chaserton’s crest on his clothes, fading back into the form of Roland. Wolf looked closer into the man’s eyes and a shiver went through his body as the image of Roland changed once again, and the man turned into his father. His father was trapped inside another image, just like he was trapped in the curse that turned him into a wolf. He saw his own bite marks on the man’s neck and the blood dripping from his wound, and realization hit him hard that he’d almost killed his own father.

“You are still alive yet you made me believe you were dead? And you pretended to be someone else all this time?” Wolf couldn’t understand why his father would do this.

“It’s not like that at all, son. I can explain. Just give me a chance.”

“You whipped me and beat me and left me for dead! And you angered the witch who turned my brother into a wolf without even leaving him the chance of ever becoming human.”

“Your brother?” Red interrupted.

“Now, Hugh, that was all Hecuba’s doing. And the earl’s. It happened before Hecuba did this to me and killed the earl as soon as she escaped the hovel. You have to believe me. That man who did those things was the earl, not me, even if I do look like him now. I’m not.”

“Why don’t you try telling that to Arnon? I don’t think he’d agree,” said Wolf.

Winifred looked over to see Arnon watching from the distance. “Arnon is your twin brother, isn’t he?” she asked. “That’s why you two feel the same pain.”

“Arnon’s pain is worse than mine could ever be,” growled Wolf. “And it’s all because of this bastard that Arnon’s been turned into a dumb animal without even the chance of having a half-life. I’ll kill you for that, even if you are my father.”

He lunged forward, but Winifred stepped in between them and raised her crossbow aiming at his heart. “You do that and I’ll shoot you again and this time it’ll be through the heart,” she told him, though she didn’t really mean it. Still, she had to do something to stop this insanity between them.

“My lord, we’re being slaughtered.” Sir Stefan rode up on his horse followed by Dolan. When he saw his father standing in the creek, his mouth opened and he shook his head. “Father?” he asked in a soft voice. “Is that really you?”

“What am I seeing?” asked Dolan with wide eyes, watching the magic before him.

“Call off the earl’s men,” Wolf told his father. “Or can you even do that since you seem to be changing back and forth?”

“I’ll call off the earl’s men if you do the same,” said the man Winifred now knew was named Lucio.

She could tell Wolf didn’t want to do it, and so she intervened. “They’ll listen to me. I’ll call off the soldiers from Tavistock.” She lowered her crossbow and took a step forward.

“Nay, let me do it, granddaughter.” She looked over to see Lucio in his disguise as Roland once again.

“Don’t call her that, you bastard,” warned Wolf. “Especially after you were probably the one to kill her parents as well.”

“Nay, Hecuba did that, not me,” said Lucio.

“It’s true,” added Winifred. “The witch admitted it to me.”

“Let’s call off the battle and meet back at Castle Chaserton,” said the man who now looked like her grandfather. “We will talk there and I’ll explain everything to you.”

“Nay. I don’t trust you. We’ll meet at Babeny Castle instead,” Wolf told him.

“Your men won’t want me there looking like this, and there’ll be trouble,” said Lucio.

“Then meet at the hovel,” suggested Winifred. “It will be private and no one else will be around.”

Both men nodded slightly, and when Lucio headed off to call off the soldiers from Tavistock, Wolf gave a nod to his brother, Stefan. “Call off the men, brother. I’d do it, but since I’m naked and wearing a red cape with a bleeding wound on my back end I think they’d listen to you more at a time like this.”

“I will,” said Sir Stefan with a nod. “Then I’ll escort our father personally to the hovel where we can find out just what the hell is going on.”

“In the meantime, Red, you’ll come with me and heal my ass.” Wolf’s hand went to his back end and he winced.

“I will not!” she retorted.

“You were the one to give me the wound, and I know Arnon is feeling the pain as well. Now if you won’t do it for me, do it for him. But either way, do something before I bleed to death.”

She smiled and nodded, thinking of the humor of this situation. Wolf had made an ass out of himself when he used her, and now she was making sure he never forgot it.

“Let’s go,” she said, taking him by the arm, hoping that when they got to the hovel she’d be able to make him feel better in more ways than one.

Chapter 15

Winifred spread the healing balm on Wolf’s butt, and then reached over and kissed his other cheek before she pulled his braies back into place. He laid on his stomach on the bed of the hovel in the knoll. His chest was bare and his body tempted her again.

“I’m sorry I shot you, Wolf, but I didn’t want you to kill your own father.”

“He’d better have a good explanation for what he did, because I still want to kill him,” complained Wolf.

“He will explain everything, I’m sure. Just give him a chance.” She crawled into bed with him, and curled up next to him and rested her head against his back. “I know what we did was only lust, but I have feelings for you, Wolf. I know it’s silly, but I think – I think I’m falling in love with you.”

He turned to the side and pulled her into his arms and kissed her gently atop the head. “I am sorry for misleading you, Red. I have to admit at first I only did it to lure your grandfather to me, but once I had you in my arms, I started to have feelings as well. I think I’m falling in love with you, too, if that is at all possible.”

“Why not?” She pushed up to one elbow and looked at him. His steel grey eyes now had a newfound sadness within them. “We can be together, can’t we?”

“Why would you want to? I’m an animal half the time. You deserve to be married to a man who can protect you at all times and treat you the way you deserve to be treated.”

“Marry? If I didn’t know better I’d say that you were asking me to be your wife.”

“Well, what if I were – what would you say?”

“I’d say . . . yes. I’ll marry you, and I don’t mind that you’ll have days when you act like more of an animal than others.”

They kissed to seal the betrothal, and a low voice was heard from the door.

“How quaint. The enemies making an alliance.”

“Grandfather!” Winifred shot up off the bed, feeling like she’d been caught doing something wrong. Then she stopped and shook her head. Just because he looked like her grandfather didn’t mean he really was.

“You’ll excuse me if I don’t sit up, but I’ve got a pain in the ass at the moment,” said Wolf.

The door opened wider and in walked Stefan, followed by Arnon who sneaked into the room and lay down by the hearth. The brown wolf licked the wound on his back end.

“We’re all here now,” said Stefan. “Tell us what you have to say, old man.”

“First things first.” He shapeshifted back into the form of Lucio but with difficulty. He was now a much younger man with black hair and features similar to Wolf and his brothers. “The armies have been called off and though there have been quite a few wounded, no one was killed. I’ll use my magic to help the healing go faster so no one dies.”

“You can do that?” asked Winifred, curiously.

“Just watch.” He walked over to the bed and held out his hand but Wolf stopped him.

“I don’t want your help,” he spat.

“Wolf, let him help,” begged Winifred. “Please.”

After hesitation and a whimper of protest from Arnon, Wolf finally agreed. “Fine. But don’t try anything else, or you’ll regret it, I warn you.”

“I wouldn’t think of it.” Lucio waved his hand over Wolf’s wound and Winifred watched in awe as the wound closed up and stopped bleeding.

“It’s . . . healed!” she exclaimed.

“How do you feel?” asked Stefan.

“I don’t know.” Wolf reached back and rubbed his bottom and then sat up on the bed. “I guess I’ll live.”

Arnon stopped whimpering and just panted with a half-smile on his face.

“Explain,” ordered Wolf. Stefan and Lucio sat down on chairs and settled themselves. Lucio’s image kept fading in and out to that of the earl, and it was unnerving.

“I made some mistakes in my life, boys,” said Lucio, looking at three of his sons. “I never told you the truth about me, but I’m a warlock. I am hundreds of years old, and I have many magical powers.”

“So are you invincible?” Wolf put his arm around Winifred and pulled her closer.

“If I said I was, would you boys stop trying to kill me?”

“The way I see it, you deserve to die,” said Wolf.

“Aye, I agree,” said Stefan, and Arnon howled his approval. “You deceived not only us, but also our mother.”

“I loved your mother til the day she died, but I didn’t deceive her. Not really. She knew about my powers and begged me to never tell a one of you about them or what I could do.”

“Why not?” Stefan looked up in surprise. “It could have come in handy in battles.”

“That’s exactly why. We both knew that my magic should never be used for anything but good.”

“What happened with the witch?” interrupted Wolf.

“Ah, yes. Hecuba. She was my test, and I failed. You see, I grow older at a much slower rate than most humans. Once all our children were born, your mother started to show signs of aging with the toll the births took on her body, but I still looked the same as the day we were married.”

“So you had a wandering eye.” Wolf shook his head in disgust.

“I hate to admit that I did. I met a beautiful young maiden named Sheena. I wanted her badly, still having the craving lust I had in my younger days, and so I took her in secret to my bed. This continued for quite some time. At the time your mother was very ill, and unfortunately I was too distracted to be there for her when Hecuba took her life.”

“You bastard,” growled Wolf. “As far as I’m concerned, it was by your hand that she died.”

“I told you, I’m not proud of my choices, nor do I claim to be a saint,” spat Lucio. “Warlock blood runs through my veins and makes me restless. Anyway, I didn’t know at first Hecuba was around or that she’d killed my wife. After your mother died, I was going to marry Sheena. But one day, I noticed her reflection in that hand mirror she loved so much, and to my horror I realized she was an old hag who was even older than me. I recognized her as a witch I once knew named Hecuba.”

“So what happened?” asked Winifred. “And what really happened to my parents and my grandfather? Hecuba said she killed them.”

“Yes, she did,” he said, raising his hand in the air. “When I noticed who she really was, all the stories of the evil hag, Hecuba, came back to me. I knew she was not only vain but also very dangerous. I told her I didn’t want to see her again and banned her from my castle. But she told me if I did that, she’d tell all of you the truth about me.”

“What would have been so bad about that?” asked Winifred.

“My thoughts exactly,” said Lucio. “I told her it was time for me to tell my children about being a warlock, but before that could happen, she brewed up a whirlwind of a battle between the de Bars and the Chasertons who were once allies.”

“I remember that day,” said Wolf. “My father – you,” he said through gritted teeth, “told us we had to fight or we’d all be killed.”

“That’s right,” admitted Lucio. “You see, Hecuba took the form of one soldier from the de Bar side, and then another from the Chaserton side and provoked each side to fight. If they refused – she killed them. And that’s what really started the battle between us.”

“Why couldn’t you just have told us all this?” asked Wolf. “Why all the secrecy?”

“Aye, that would have settled everything,” said Stefan.

Arnon howled his agreement to the situation.

“I was going to, but then the old hag decided to punish me by punishing each of you. She turned Arnon into a wolf, and when I tried to stop her, she did the same to Hugh.”

“You’re a powerful warlock, you could have done something to help us,” said Wolf with disgust dripping from his words.

“I did,” he told him. “I used my magic on you, Wolf, and tried to undo her spell. It started to work, and that’s why you are a wolf only half the time. I might have been able to do more, but she used her magic to fight me. I ended up going to Roland and telling him the truth, and convincing him to trap her in this hovel we’re in now. I made it many years ago, knowing that a witch’s power would be very limited inside here. It’s made from the wood of Rowan trees from inside the magical standing stones, so the wood counteracts the magic.”

“That’s why the witch wouldn’t step foot inside the hovel when she was in the form of the woodsman. She knew if she did, she’d be trapped inside the hovel again,” said Winifred.

“That’s right,” said Lucio with a nod of the head. “And I would be trapped here again if all of you hadn’t stepped back over the threshold. You see, the longer a witch or warlock is in here, the more the wood drains them of their power.”

“So although you’ve healed me, you might be vulnerable now as well?” asked Wolf.

“Aye,” he answered with a nod. “So if you want to kill me – now is your chance. By staying in here, my magic is fading quickly.” Lucio locked eyes with Wolf and before anyone could say anything more, Winifred heard the sound of a sword being unsheathed, and Stefan held the tip of the blade to Lucio’s throat. Arnon growled and showed his teeth, and took a few steps forward.

“Put the sword away, Stefan. Back off, Arnon, this isn’t going to solve anything,” Wolf ordered.

“What do you mean? He deserves to die for all of this deception, and I’d be happy to carry it out right now,” snapped Stefan.

“If he dies, our curses may never be broken.” Wolf stood and walked across the room to don a tunic hanging on a hook on the wall. “He’s our best chance to finally stop Hecuba.”

“She killed my family as well,” said Winifred getting off the bed and walking to Wolf’s side. “I will do what it takes to stop her too.”

“No one can stop her,” said Lucio sounding tired. “The best we can do is to try to stay out of her way or follow her and clean up her messes. But without magic – I’m not sure it’ll work.”

“You have magic,” said Wolf. “So use it.”

“I’ve made a mess of things, my sons, and somehow I think it’s best if I never used my magic again. I can’t go back to Castle Chaserton now, because you all know the truth and it wouldn’t be fair to Winifred.”

“Neither can you come to Babeny,” said Wolf. “Everyone thinks you’re dead, and it would be too hard to explain the last year without revealing your secret.”

“I’ll stay here and live in the hovel and never use my magic again.”

“You’ll be safe from Hecuba here,” said Wolf. “We know now that while you’ll be powerless, she’ll not cross the threshold unless she wants to lose her powers as well.”

“She has her mirror, so she can see what we’re all doing,” Lucio reminded them.

There was silence, but then Winifred was the one who spoke up. “Then you’ll go on pretending to be my grandfather and I’ll call you grandfather just like I’ve been doing.”

“Red, you can’t be serious,” protested Wolf.

“Why not?” she asked. “It would help matters and only the people in this room would know the truth. With your father’s help we can make alliances between our families once again.”

“My squire knows my father’s secret as well,” said Wolf with a sigh. “I’m not certain he’ll be able to keep his mouth shut.”

“I can put a spell on him to forget what he’s seen and heard,” offered Lucio. “By posing as Roland Chaserton, I will be able to help bring back the alliance between Tavistock and Babeny once again, just like Winifred said. The men will follow my orders. Plus, I’ll be there to help anyone who falls prey to Hecuba and her magic in the future. Only this time, I’ll be more aware and stop her before she can harm anyone else.”

“That’s fine with me,” said Winifred. “What about the rest of you?”

They looked at each other and then Stefan nodded. “I’d like you to be there to protect your family, Father.”

Arnon howled.

“What about you, Wolf? Do you agree to this as well?” asked Lucio.

“If I don’t, you’ll probably just use a forgetting spell on me as well, and I don’t want to forget – certain things in my life.” He looked over at Winifred and winked, and she felt her cheeks redden. She grinned and looked to the ground.

“No, I don’t want to forget certain things either.” Then she looked up to the man named Lucio. “Grandfather, is there any way we can break Wolf’s curse and reverse Arnon’s as well?”

The man smiled at the way she’d addressed him. “I’ll see what I can do. Actually, if I can lure her to the creek, I might be able to get Hecuba to reverse the spell on you boys. I’ll get her to use her magic, and then try to redirect it in the manner I want it used.”

“Can’t she see in her mirror what we’re doing and saying right now?” asked Stefan.

“Nay. The mirror can see out of the hovel, or things outside the hovel, but it can’t be used to penetrate the magic that surrounds and protects this place,” explained Lucio.

“The magic here is strong to have been kept a secret from me the past year, even with my heightened senses in my wolf form,” said Wolf. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get to the creek and conjure up the old hag, Father, and let’s try to use her magic to our benefit this time.”