For The Order

Darkness had begun to descend on the one street village. The inn, already on the brink of being at capacity, was receiving more business than it usually would this close to harvest. The villagers had been given a reason to flood the tavern. It was rare that a village that was barely big enough to be on a map would get outsiders passing through. One had been enough to give the folk reason to gossip for a few days. However, when two more took up residence in the spare room above the tavern and started asking questions, it had reignited the gossip.

Inside the tavern wasn’t much brighter than it was outside. The only light throughout the tavern was coming from a small fireplace on one wall and a few oil lanterns scattered throughout the room. Every candle holder in the room was empty and had been for a few days now.

Directly across from the fireplace, nestled into a shadowy corner where the wall met the side of the stairs, sat the only table that wasn’t crowded. Normally with this many customers, every table would be full, however, tonight they were avoiding this table like the plague.

One of the strangers currently sat at the table with the hood of his grey cloak pulled up over his head, a yew recurve bow resting strung against the wall. On his back, under the cloak, was a quiver of twelve arrows. The cloak was designed so that the arrows could stick out through the fabric with a flap to cover the fletching to protect it from the weather.

At just a glance he appeared to be a man enjoying a meal alone. Yet, anyone paying close attention would see that he hadn’t even touched the ale and nibbled at the food. He was watching the other customers in the tavern. Listening to the conversations from the other tables.

Just after full dark, the second stranger can be seen making his way down the stairs, this one wrapped in the same style cloak. Outward appearance looked like the man was unarmed, but hidden under the cloak were two short swords belted to his waist. Once he reached the ground floor he made a beeline for the seat next to his companion, on his way motioning to the barkeep for a plate of the same food.

The two men sat in silence until the one waitress had come and gone from the table. After they were comfortable that they wouldn’t be heard the new arrival, keeping his head as if eating but his eyes scanning the customers, speaks for the first time. His gravelly voice coming out as not much more than a breath he asks, “So, Aldric, have you learned anything?”

“It is as we assumed Ulrich.” Aldric’s voice, still just a whisper, comes out smooth compare to his companion, “Our prey came through here during the last moon. Since then the candle maker had been acting strange. It has been a week since he made any deliveries.”

Ulrich listens closely, thinking over the information. Finally, he says quietly, “Fits the pattern. We are getting closer to him however not close enough.”

“As much as I dislike the idea, we need to split up for now. Ulrich, you go on ahead. Make your way to the next village in the pattern. With any luck, we can catch up to him there. I will stay here and deal with the candle maker. He owns an old barn where he keeps the supplies and bees about a mile out of town. He hasn’t been home and the barn looked like he had been staying there.”

“Remember Aldric, he will be the most vulnerable in the middle of his change. If you miss your chance I will not be here to cover you.”

Aldric nods his head gently under the hood. “I will be careful Ulrich. I have already scouted the area around the barn so I know my way in and a few escape routes just in case. Also, I have my vial of wolfsbane ready. I'll coat the arrowheads in it to slow him down if need be. I am ready for what I need to do tomorrow night.”

Ulrich could only nod his head, “Good. Just don’t get overconfident. Get some rest tonight. You’ll need it. I will settle our tab with the barkeep for the room and food before I leave. After you deal with the monster head straight to the next village.”

Aldric takes the first honest drink of the ale that was sitting in front of him before speaking again. “I will meet you there.”

“For the Order,” Ulrich says quietly before he stands.

“For the Order,” Aldric replies before Ulrich walks over to the bar. Aldric watches as his companion pays the barkeeper for the room and food before going back upstairs. While he slowly finished his meal he kept an eye out for any trouble. He never saw Ulrich come back down the stairs but he knew that when he returned to the room, Ulrich would already be gone.

After finally finishing his meal he slipped a few coins under the wooden bowl for the waitress to find then made his way up the stairs, bow in hand. He needed to get some rest because tomorrow he had to hunt.

~~Sunset the next day~~

As the sun begins to creep down below the horizon the candle maker finds himself once again alone. Standing in the barn where he made his living. The same barn where just a month ago he had been attacked by a creature of nightmares. His right hand came up slowly to his left shoulder, his fingers tracing the still healing bite mark that had been left behind from the attack.

He had been thinking about the night he was attacked when he began to feel it. The change was about to begin. It took him only a few moments to understand what he felt. The hair on his arms and next had begun to stand on end sending a tingling sensation along his flesh. Under his skin, he could feel his muscles begin to tense before loosening up repeatedly almost in a ripple over his body.

Out of nowhere pain begins to radiate from every muscle of Joshua’s body. The pain forced him onto his hands and knees, tearing a blood-curdling scream from his throat. As if not to allow him any respite he can feel every muscle as they stretch beyond their limits. The muscles ripping only to reform again. His entire muscle structure changed to become fit the new form. To the beast, he was about to become.

Suddenly, on top of the pain from his muscles, a new sensation begins to occur. It wasn’t exactly painful. It just felt as if something was being pulled out of his body through his skin. It took every ounce of strength that Joshua possessed to open his eyes and look at the parts of his body he could see. It was at that moment he caught the first glimpse of what he was to become. Black hairs, black fur matching the same shade as his hair, were coming out of his flesh in patches.

As the fur continued sprouting from his flesh three things began to happen almost simultaneously. Tendons and muscles, ones that were the closest to being formed together, began pulling his internal organs in different directions. Moving them to where they needed to be for the final transformation. Somehow, even with little knowledge of human anatomy he suddenly realized he knew which organs were where, and where they were moving to. The only thing that stayed where they start was his heart and his brain.

While various muscles throughout his body continued to tear and reform, a new sound began to fill the air alongside his screaming. A sound that caused him to drop onto his right side curling up in agony. The bones in Joshua’s legs and arms began to break and reform repeatedly. Slowly transforming them into a new shape.

He knew it couldn’t have been more than a minute before he was back up on his hands and knees, without knowing it had happened. His back arching as his spinal column begins breaking and stretching. It was then he caught a look of himself in a piece of polished metal. Looking at himself he saw for the first time how grotesque his body became mid-transformation. The misshapen lump of what he had become. He had an idea what the finished product would look like, but he would never remember seeing it.

The last thing to begin the change was his head. His body barely able to follow his commands anymore made it difficult, but finally, he was able to look up at himself in the polished metal. Watching in horror as his jaw and cheekbones began to snap and reform. His skin, now mostly fur, stretching and tearing only to heal so it fit his new structure. Stretching as his face began to change from human to roughly a muzzle shape.

His last vision of what he was becoming came from a source he didn’t expect. Looking up from his jaw he was drawn to look himself in the eyes. They hadn’t changed. The bones around them had, but his actual green eyes were the same. For a moment. Suddenly, that all changed. It was as if someone had unplugged a drain. He watched as the blue color began to stream from his irises, pouring down his eyes to disappear under his eyelids. Leaving behind an ugly yellow color. The same color he had seen on the monster that had attacked him.

His vision was beginning to go dark, the beast taking over control of his body. The last sensation he can remember was by far the worse to this point. It felt as if someone had punched him full force in his back. He didn’t have the chance to realize that a silver arrowhead was sticking out of his chest, just a little right of his heart. As his screams turned into a howl his vision goes dark. The beast had taken over.

~~Outside the barn~~

Aldric was already behind schedule as he entered the barnyard. From the screaming inside the barn, he knew that the change had already started and he didn’t have long before it was over. As quietly as he could he rushed across the yard, his yew recurve bow already strung in his hand. Reaching the sidewall he moved along it, careful not to make any noise so that he could get to the small shed built into the side.

Using some old crates stacked against it he climbed up onto the shed and into a small window, letting himself into the second level of the barn where hay was usually stored. With stacks of boxes scattered across the upper level, he had decided to use them as cover as he moved towards the edge of the floor, looking down at the disgusting sight of a werewolf still transforming.

As he watched he flipped the covering off of his quiver and quickly selected an arrow. An arrow that he had prepared before he had left the tavern. Quickly, but carefully, he removed a piece of hard leather that was covering the tip of the arrow, revealing the razor-sharp silver head. A coating of the wolfsbane poison makes it deadly even if he only hit a flesh wound. The wolfsbane did not act immediately, however; it was only a backup plan. If he didn’t hit the beast in its heart, he would be in trouble.

Carefully he placed the notch of the arrow onto the string and let the shaft rest on the top of his hand holding the bow. Letting his training take over he placed the tip of his index finger on the string above the arrow while his middle and ring finger set below it. Closing his eyes for a moment he tried to control his breathing, needing to slow down his racing heart.

Seconds stretched on like hours as he slowed his heart to a normal beat. Finally opening his eyes he looked down at the form of the beast below him. For a moment his concentration breaks as the memory of why he is doing this floods back in. Clearing his mind of what happened his body goes into a motion it has used thousands of times before. The muscles of his shoulders and back begin to pull together doing most of the work as he draws the bowstring back to firing position.

With one final deep inhale his mind races. Imagining the shot over and over again from different angles with every slight adjustment of his aim. By the time he had exhaled, he had the arrow aimed and ready. As the last of the breath left his body, right between heartbeats, his fingertips allowed the string to slide free. Instantly the arrow shot from the bow heading for its target, the beast's heart.

It only took a single second for the arrow to cross the distance between Aldric and Joshua, but when dealing with a monster a second is a long time. Something happened that Aldric was unable to plan for. The beast shifts its body just an inch, but it was enough for everything to go wrong. The arrow slammed into the back of the beast, piercing through to stick out of its chest, just off the mark. He had missed the heart.

He listened and watched as the transformation finished just seconds later. The candle makers scream turning into the monster's howl. Aldric watched for a moment as the beast turned its head to look up at him. Aldric’s eyes came to meet those yellow eyes. At the same time, they both moved. The beast turned and leaped up towards the second floor of the barn. Aldric turned on the spot and rushed towards the window. Without hesitation and without stopping he jumped through the window at full speed. Clearing the shed to land in the yard.

The moment his feet touched the ground he dropped into a crouch to absorb some of the impacts. Without waiting he was up and sprinting towards the forest. As he heard the beast crashing through the wall where he had just jumped from he knew this wasn’t going to get much worse before it got better. The hunter had just become the hunted.