Warrior Wolf

Screams echoed through the night. Where once there was music and chorus of creatures, the woods had fallen silent, each tiny critter fleeing in terror from the horrors that had reached them. Not even the littlest bird dared to remain. And a human child dashed through the undergrowth, gasping so hard it seared her lungs. She was a small thing, had barely seen thirteen summers, and was still on the vestiges of childhood. And she ran with all the might she could muster, her bare feet sore from pounding the packed dirt. The moon was full and bright, casting light through the foliage onto her path, but it offered no other help. She finally arrived at the spring. It was a small pool of water in a near perfect circle, that was fed from several several cracks in the mountainous wall behind it. The trickling streams glistened white from the moon, where the trees had been cleared. In the rock had been carved a small alcove, where a red-brown stone statue only three hand-lengths long stood with her arms out over the water. Shining, brilliant silver wire draped around her shoulders, and around her feet, with tiny silver pendents dangling from her wrists like bracelets. It was to this statue the girl looked as she collapsed at the edge of the pool. Bloody, shaking, and sobbing, she wailed. “Great Goddess, hear me!” She shrieked. “Fanged-Men are attacking our village! Everyone is dying! They have great strength and devour us like goats! I beg of you, help us!” As she had spoken, the moon’s reflection in the water shimmered and glowed, until a brilliant light suddenly basked the child and surrounding wood. She gasped, covering her face to keep from being dazzled. The form of the woman was near-impossible to discern from the white light she radiated, but the grim sobriety was clear on her face. The Goddess knew, as she looked upon the splattered, cut child, that she would never stand against even one of these monsters, let alone the coven. “Only something inhuman can stand against these devils,” the Goddess intoned. She held her arms out toward the child, like her statue behind her. “Thus, you shall take the power of beasts. So long as I watch over my domain, you shall have this power.” The light that had bathed the pool a moment ago now poured out onto the child. A sudden, searing hot pain engulfed her, and she cried out as her body left the vestiges of childhood to become a beast. The stars blinked and flickered, like they couldn’t bear to look upon the scene. The dying cries of the warriors evaporated into the night sky. The stench of death and blood were ripe and sickening, and the monsters with human faces relished in the agony and terror of their prey. The once proud village lay in shambles, planked walls cracked and broken in, shattered pieces and bodies caked with blood. Monsters were fierce, with the bodies of men but the teeth of tigers. They gave chase to their pray, aiming for the adults and grabbing them to bite into their necks. The people of the village shrieked in pain as they fought the grips of their attackers, but the foul creatures were strong. The great warriors had rushed them, taking their spears and sickles to pierce them, but the stabs and wounds were like mere pebbles to them. They rounded and turned on their attackers, ripping them the same as their prey before. The villagers that still lived either fled or were paralyzed with terror. Everyone knew that this would be the end. The great Chief defended his village valiantly, but as his son was grabbed by a fanged-man, he felt true and utter hopelessness. He screamed for him, sure that he would see his child eaten right before his eyes. A beast leaped from the shadows; black as night. It pounced the fanged-man that had hold of the Chief’s son, the impact forcing him to release the young man. The fanged-man shrieked in shock and pain, and every other demon stopped their attack or feeding to look upon them, shouting and jumping as the beast stomped on the fanged-man’s body. The beast then grabbed him with its maw and slammed it against the ground with a smack, until the fanged-man went still, and his attacker looked up to growl down the others. It was a savage beast, twice the length of a man and nearly as tall. Her coat was black as the shadows, eyes a fierce golden yellow. Her teeth were white as the moon, but red from the blood on her muzzle as she bared them in fury. The Chief’s son gaped, frozen in awe from his spot on the ground. The great Wolf barreled for the next enemy. In true vengeance, she leaped for the throat. This time, the fanged-men, as baffled as they were by this appearance, were ready. He bared his own fangs, arms meeting her and grabbing her head to try to wrench her down. They became a mess of claws and teeth, and vicious snarls. The fanged-men and villagers watched apprehensively, afraid to move and riveted to see the victor. He keened and clawed at her, until she finally snatched his arm, and spun to strike him against the hard planks of the nearest hut. She stepped on him and tore him apart like a hunted animal. The other fanged-men shrieked in fury, abandoning their prey to prepare for battle. Like a woman possessed, the Wolf dropped the carcass of her enemy, and leaped into the fray. The fanged men never stood a chance. She killed two before the remaining ones decided it too difficult a task and retreated. She gave chase, but it was already near daybreak. As the sky lightened to signal dawn, she collapsed just outside the broken village, exhausted and spent. Her wounds and blood glistened in the darkness as scars of battle, and as she shrunk and shifted back into a human, a ripple of hushed shock spread through the handful of villagers. She was indeed naked, but the awe of the transformation had stunned them too much to be scandalized. She was tall, and thick with muscle, clearly strong despite the blood and wounds covering her. The Chief’s son approached first, but his older, wounded father was only two steps behind. “Hashina!” Jawena, a small girl only eight winters old dashed to her, throwing herself upon her cousin and weeping. “Help her!” She begged to the Chief's wife, the Healer. Then the villagers gasped, and the Healer hurried to her side, realizing the power of the goddess had indeed answered their prayers.