The Traveler: Name of the Wolf

Chapter 7

                All eyes were on the priest now, who looked back at them somewhat uncertain.

"You cannot believe this heathen...!" he said. Zen stood up.

"Maybe, maybe, but if one Black Claw survived, why not another? You came here, after your brother's death, yes..."

"I am not..."

"If not his brother, then what, his cousin?" There was silence.

"...I was nothing like my brother...! I hated it, the north, the death, he reveled in it. It's why I had no children, no sons or daughter to give to that demon! I went south, I found a god I could believe in, one that asked for the better part of a man, that didn't kick up the beast in men and call it a 'gift'! I have seen the change, it is no gift, it is a foul thing, it is pain, on the recipient, on their victims, and their victim's family! There is no purpose, no reason, just a mindless beast on its hind legs! That's why Black Claw, really lost, they were too busy tearing themselves apart! If Mylik and his brother did kill Yarsh and his brood, then they have ridden the world of a great blight!" There was silence. Everyone but Zen and the chief was surprised. Zen put his staff on his shoulder, and the stones glowed red.

"But he was still your brother..." a tear ran down Grimmor's cheek.

"Yes, he slew his own children, but he protected me. He was how I was able to leave the north. I came back, to convert him..." he was crying now "but he was dead already..." The guards approached him, but Zen stamped his staff, the shockwave knocked back everyone but Grimmor. The others stood up and drew their swords, but Grimmor stood up and pulled out a ring. He was ready to put it on his finger. It was silver, with circular runes and markings. It was thick and sculpted upon it was the skull of a wolf with antlers. "Do you know what this is...?"

"The Ring of the Horned One. While you wear it, you take on the likeness of a man-beast, a werewolf. You probably took it from your brother's possessions."

"I had it when I went south... A 'gift' from my father. I never liked the damn thing..."

"But when you found your brother dead...you went looking for his killer. As a man-beast you could barely recognize a person, but smell, smells you don't even notice, you had found the scent of the killer and followed it...but someone else had a similar scent...the chief's son..."

"I just wanted justice...!"

"But you knew if you changed every night, the town would catch on. That's why you waited for full moon nights. Let everyone think you were a werewolf, hell, you clearly heal as fast as one, no...faster. But let me warn you...I know not what mercy or lack thereof the Chief will show you...but if you put on that ring you will die, and not as a man..." Grimmor looked at him with an angry defiant glare. He then put on the ring. Zen closed his eyes and said a prayer for a moment.

Grimmor roared, and howled in pain. Everyone, everyone in the room could hear the cracking of bones. Out of his pores rose black smoke, and he ripped off his robe revealing that he wore nothing underneath. Clearly he had been planning to change. His muscles expanded and his body hair grew thick and black. Fur covered him as his bones changed. His rib cage expanded, his fingers lengthened, he became double kneed and his mouth became a snout, all the while the sound of bones breaking continued. Everyone but Zen had taken a step back, then Zen took a step to the side as the beast roared.

Mylik threw the sword. It was as gold or bronze, but the blade was shaped like a capital C, with runes in the side. It struck the monster in the chest knocking it down and the runes glowed a bright blue. The pain he felt before was as nothing, as the magic of the blade began to work on the magic of the ring coursing through his veins. Grimmor's fur became as black smoke so did his skin and his flesh. He howled and convulsed in pain, even biting of his own tongue, which turned into smoke. In the end, all that was left, a small human skeleton, with the blade through its rib cage, where the heart was, and a silver ring on a finger.