The Mermaid and the Werewolf: Adella’s Tale

Baron and the Wolf

Baron put his horse away after a long day of walking to the next towns market with his fish. The night had a slight chill in the air to it as the sun sent beyond the mountains. He went about his business of feeding his horse and making sure he had water.

We went inside his small cabin he had build. It had a hearth in the center with a pot hanging over the fire that was currently out. His cot lay on the other side of the hearth opposite the door. It was simple but it was off the ground and that was the most important thing.

He started a fire and started the water in the pot boiling as he tossed a few veggies in with the fish to make his normal fish soup. Soon the aroma of the soup filled his small cabin. He took out his plate, one from the Legion and his fork and served himself dinner. He was cleaning up after dinner and he had to walk a ways from his cabin to toss the bones from the fish. It attracted animals if it was too close to him. He tried not to dump it in the same place either.

He walked past his horse who looked up at him with a mouth full of grass and watched him walk into the woods.

Baron found a good spot and dumped the bones and walked over by the creek to wash his dishes. The dark never scared him, it was like he could see in the dark. As he stood up from the creek this scent wafted into his nose. What did it smell like? He was trying to think. He stood motionless just focused on the smell when he heard a mans voice ‘Stand down’ and then laughter from other men.

As looked in the direction of the voice the scent hit him like a ton of bricks. His heart was pounding, his eyes couldn’t focus and his breathing became labored. He could not stop himself from searching out the scent. As he quietly took a step over the creek he felt his jaw snap and his fingers snap, his shoulders snap and pain ripped through his body. Nothing he had ever felt before. He wasn’t sure how long he was on the ground for but when he stood up it did not feel the same. He heard a commanding “Mate!” shout in his head.

He looked down and didn’t see his hands, he saw paws and claws. He took a step to verify he was looking at himself. He turned around on the bank of the creek and looked in the water and saw a reflexion of a wolf. “By Gods, what is happening to me?”

That commanding voice said even louder “MATE!” And started pushing the paws forward and broke into a run. He didn’t know his own size and he was making all kinds of noise.

“STOP!” Baron shouted what he figured was in his head. “Who are you?” Baron forced the body he was in to stop.

“I don’t have time to tell. Our mate maybe in danger.”

“Make the time. I have no idea what is happening. What mate?”

Taking a sigh in his wolf tried explain as simple as he could. “You are a human with a wolf living inside. We share lots of things, like eyesight, thoughts, smells and desires.”

“Why have I never had this happen before?”

“I didn’t know which way to go, we had no conscious connection. Now that I know we have a mate. That connection can be codified.” The voice sounds impatient. “Is that fighting? Our Mate! She must need us.” Again Baron was able to keep the wolf standing where they were.

“That is a camp of Roman Military. We cannot just go running in there. They would surely kill us…me…”. Baron began stalking up to the voices. He found it weird he was walking on four feet.

The scent became overwhelming and he could feel this entity inside him withdraw from being front and center, like it was painful. “What is this mate?” He asked as he got the men his line of sight.

“The person made for us. The person we are supposed to be with, forever. The person I have been waiting for.” The voice sighed. “She smells of..of a rain storm that ins’t here yet but you know it is coming. She smells of a breeze off the sea all mixed together.”

“That’s the smell. The smell of rain.” Baron agreed and crouched down to get a lay of the land. He saw the fire, she saw 2 men standing and talking and 4 men walking away seemingly angry. Then he saw her. She was absolutely breathtaking.

One of the two men showed her to her tent and then sat down. He seemed to be guarding it. Baron was not sure if he would’ve been able to hold back his wolf?.

“She seems safe. Can we go talk about what happened here?” Baron asked looking so hard at the tent like he wanted to burn a hole into it.

“Yes. I won’t go far from her, you understand.”

“Yes, that is fine.” Baron responded and laid his large body in some foliage for them to talk. They could both see her tent. “So tell me what we are? I seem to have more power over you because if it was up to you we would be dead. Are we a ‘we’?

“Well, I have always been here but since you were not raised with humans’ that also have wolves we could not connect.” Baron and his wolf talked for hours while they watched the tent that she slept in. As the sun rose over the mountains they had a good understanding of each other.

They watched the men get up and start moving around. There was some motion away from her tent but Baron wasn’t interested in that. He could hear her yawning and stretching inside her tent. He moved slightly to get a better look at the front of her tent.

The tent flap was pulled back and Adella stepped out of the tent. Her hair free from the braids it cascaded down her back, caressing her hips and legs in white gold locks. She was small in stature, standing maybe a little more than 5 feet, her features were defined and perfect. Her pink full lips parted a bit as she yawned again. She gracefully looked around her face touched by the sunlight Baron almost fell over. He started panting and had to sit on his haunches afraid he might just rush in there and steal her away.

‘Snap’ Baron heard something behind him and he was pulled away and shrunk down into a nearby bush. He could smell someone else in the woods with them. In fact there was a few of them. Baron shifted back to his human self, keeping in the screams because it was horribly painful. He retreated back to the creek and circled around coming up behind the group that closing in on the campsite.

They were Geramniams that were sworn to rid the world of the Roman soldiers once and for all. Their gorilla tactics were foreign to Rome therefore came in quite handy at times like these.

The young man attending to the horses was the first casualty. Baron stayed the course keeping an eye on her tent. Baron could hear them breathing with his wolf so close to the surface. He figured there might be 15 men. As the horse boy bled out he was able to free the horses as a warning to the others.

Soon grunting, the clincking of swords echoed through the woods.

Baron kept his head low and made a break directly for her tent. He pulled open the back of her tent, standing there naked as the day he was born. Her head turned around initially with fear and then with something else. Something he could not place. She sucked in a deep breath and then fell into his arms out cold. He gathered her up, grabbed what looked like her bag and exited the gruesome scene unnoticed. Running as fast as he could back to his place. He crouched as he ran through the field next to his place trying to hide her hair just out of pure instinct.