Wolfsbane

Wolfsbane, Chapter 16, By Ruth Nalio

Trystan…

Why the hell hadn’t she let me kill the bastard? I knew she wanted revenge, but damn! And I couldn’t just leave her alone to go after him because of the other werewolf! Damn the woman! And the blood all over her was simply driving me mad! The bastard would have to die for every drop she lost!

I followed her through the woods until she got to her horse. Once there I turned around and headed back to where the man had run away. I was going to track him down, rip his throat out, and leave his body on her steps for her to find. If I didn’t rip him to shreds first, that was. My body shook, I wanted to rip him apart so badly!

I followed his scent through the trees before finding the scent of a horse. I wasn’t going to let that stop me though! I took off running after the scent only to come to a stop when I came to the edge of the woods. I wasn’t going to risk going too close to people. I growled and turned around. The man was damned lucky!

I was in such a rage that nothing had color to it, everything was red, and I wanted more red, blood red. I charged through the trees and caught the scent of a deer. I chased it down and ripped its throat out. I decided to take out my anger on the deer by ripping it to shreds. I tore one leg off at a time before it was nothing but a bloody mess of what used to be a deer. I was too angry to even eat it.

I didn’t sleep at all that night. I had run through the woods looking for the scent of the other werewolf then I would run back to where the man had left the woods and paced back and forth in the trees. I howled at the moon, letting all of my frustration and anger seep into the sound of it.

By the moon, I’d get a hold of that mongrel and rip him apart. I launched myself at a tree and ripped off branches and bark. I even got halfway up it before I fell and took off running into another tree. I bit through a log the size of a grown man’s thigh with one bite. I threw back my head and howled the most angry howl of my life. Red, it was all red, the entire world.

I sat down panting and snarling at nothing. It was as if everything had been drenched in blood. I looked around at the damage I’d caused and saw that the first tree I’d slammed into was nearly knocked out of the ground. The tree was as big around as Autumn! This was the first time I realized the full extent of my strength.

I took off through the trees, with murder in my eyes, I was going to kill something that deserved it if it were the last thing I did. I was going to find that other werewolf if I had to run along the river for an entire day and night.

Autumn…

I walked in the back door as quietly as possible so as to avoid Father. I was going to have to tell him but I didn’t want to tell him tonight. I made it down the hall and nearly to my room when I stepped on the squeaky floorboard I always forget about. “Autumn? Is that you?” Drat. I squeezed my eyes shut at Father’s voice.

I pulled my shirt together as I heard him walk up behind me. “How did it go? Did you get any?” I took a deep breath and turned to face him. His eyes grew wide as he took in my appearance. “Autumn!” He breathed and reached out to touch my face. “What happened? Are you ok? Have you been bitten?” He looked me up and down.

I took another deep breath, “No werewolf bit me.”

The relief on his face was only momentary, “Then what the hell happened? Are you ok?”

I took yet another deep breath, “I got ambushed. There were two werewolves; I didn’t see the black one until it attacked the red one just before it jumped on me. I missed with both my bullets, I’ve never missed with my first before so I didn’t even think to take more than two.”

“If you didn’t get bit, what happened to you?”

“Well, I took off running when they were fighting and climbed up a tree so they couldn’t get to me. I was in that tree for hours. Then the black one came back and-” I didn’t know if he’d even believe me.

“And what? Did it climb up the tree?”

“No, it acted like a love-sick puppy. It was wining and rolling around and everything, then he just pissed on the tree and walked away.”

“So did you fall out of the tree or something? I’m not understanding how you got hurt.”

I took another deep breath, “When I finally got down I went straight for my horse. I was so mad I didn’t hear anything. That’s when Howard Kale showed up.”

“Howard? He’s dead, Autumn, how could he have shown up?”

“I thought he was dead too. He slammed me into a tree and broke my nose, then when he realized who I was he started laughing. He told me he’d faked his death. Then he,” I swallowed, I didn’t want to tell Father any of this.

“He what, Autumn?” Father said softly, glancing at my clothing for the first time.

I loosened my hold on my shirt and was careful to cover most of my breast when it fell aside then quickly pulled my shirt back together. “He bit me, and slapped me, and through me on the ground, and, and, he pushed his hand down my pants.” I locked my jaw at the anger filling me and closed my eyes.

“Oh my Gods, Autumn!” Father said in a horrified whisper and wrapped his arms around me.

“He didn’t r**e me. He tried, but he didn’t. He was going to, and then the black wolf showed up again. That’s when I got away. The wolf started going after him and I started yelling at it, I was so mad, I wasn’t going to just let the wolf get my revenge for me. I began throwing rocks at it and it looked at me like I was nuts.”

Father let out a small laugh, “You are nuts. You threw rocks at a werewolf! How in the hell did you even get away from it?”

I let out a small laugh, “I told him that I wasn’t going to let him take my kill from me and to get, and he did.” I shrugged.

Father looked at me like I was crazy. “Are you sure you didn’t fall out of the tree and hit your head?”

I narrowed my eyes, “I didn’t fall out of a tree. The damn wolf is crazier than I am, is all.”

“Obviously. I’ll have Mattie take care of you, she’ll get you all cleaned up and then you’re going to bed. No more werewolf hunting this month.”

“But Father!” I protested.

“No buts, I’ll not risk losing you.”

“Fine. What are we going to tell Mattie?”

He thought for a moment then smiled, “We are going to tell her that you were trying to climb a tree and fell out.”

“Fine, but so help me if it gets around that I can’t climb trees that maid is dead.” I teased.

“And Autumn, we’ll be telling Jude and Trystan the same.”

I groaned, “Can’t we tell them that a horse threw me?”

“I supposed that would work, but then how would you explain your shirt?”

I thought for a moment, “I can change my shirt first and tell Mattie the same thing.”

He shook his head, “I’ll go get her, you go to your room and get changed.”

I changed my shirt quickly and was sure to rub some blood on it to make it look good. I stashed the other shirt under my bed and waited for Mattie to come in. I washed my face in my basin to get the blood off. I lit a lamp and looked in the mirror. My cheek had a small cut on it that I hadn’t realized was there. My nose was still bleeding a bit and my lip was torn up. Bruising was already starting on my cheek as well.

Mattie walked in, “Your father said you were thrown from a horse?” I turned and looked at her. She put a hand to her mouth, “Miss, excuse me for pointing this out but, I’ve never seen anyone look like that when they got thrown from a horse.”

“I was thrown forward, over his head. I landed on my face. Do me a favor and don’t tell anyone?” I acted disgusted with myself as I lied to her.

“What do I tell them when they ask why you’re busted up?”

I sighed, “I guess I can’t hide it from people can I?”

She smiled, “I’m sorry miss. Will you sit on the bed for me?” She walked over and began dabbing at my nose with a wet cloth. “This is going to hurt, I have to put it back in place.” I smiled a devilish smile at her and she rolled her eyes, “I’ll guess you didn’t even make a sound when it broke?”

“Just foul language,” I told her and braced myself for her to set it. It hurt worse than when it had been broken but I didn’t make a sound. I let out a shaky breath and smiled.

“Hold this on your nose until it stops bleeding and only lay on your side.” I did as she said. She took another wet cloth and dabbed at my lip. She narrowed her eyes as she looked at it, “This looks like you’ve been bit.”

“I bit my lip when I hit the ground.” I lied quickly.

“It didn’t go all the way through thankfully. It won't even need stitches.” She dabbed at the scrape on my cheek and looked at me, “You washed your face before I got here didn’t you?”

“Yes, I thought I’d help you as much as possible. I think I hit a rock there or something.” I silently hoped she wouldn’t see the bite on my ear.

“More than likely. Lord Trystan is going to give you a time over this, isn’t he?”

I rolled my eyes, “More than likely.”

“You are still beautiful, all the bruising and blood cannot hide that. Lord Trystan will still fall in love with you, there is plenty of time.”

I grabbed her wrist and held her still, “I don’t want him to fall in love with me. You’ve been talking to my father haven’t you?”

She blushed, “He may have mentioned it a time or two.”

“He’s trying to get you to talk me into liking Trystan?”

She looked down, “Yes.”

I groaned, “Gods, I knew it!”

“I’ll not mention it again.”

“Thank you.” I let go of her wrist and put my hand on my head.

“I’ve done all I can for you.” She said as she stood up. “Would you like a bath to relax your muscles?”

“That would be wonderful. I’ll call you in when I’m done if you would just bring in the water?” She gave me a polite nod and rushed out of the room. I wanted nothing more than to get the filth off my skin. I could still taste blood from my lip but worst of all was the blood trickling down the back of my throat from my nose. I sat up and my head began spinning just a bit.

A few moments later Mattie and a few other servants carried in a tub full of water and herbs for me. I thanked them and bolted the door behind them. I stripped and sank into the water. The cuts on my sensitive skin burned in the hot water. I sank up to my ears in the deliciously hot water. I washed and then just lay there until the bath cooled.

I stepped out and dressed in my nightgown then unlocked the door and called for the servants to retrieve the tub. I sank into my bed and closed my eyes. I was asleep before the servants even closed the door. My dreams were filled with the playful black werewolf under the tree. Funny how the thing was so frisky.

He was tall, his black hair longer and shaggy. Werewolves were big enough to ride, the size of bears. Their ears are slightly pointier than a normal wolf, and their snout is a bit shorter. His tail whipped around playfully and he whimpered up at me.

When I woke Father was inches from my face. I screamed and set up in my bed. “Are you trying to give me a fright?”

“I was worried about you. How are you doing this morning? How’s your nose? Does it hurt? How’d you sleep?”

“Father!” I groaned and pressed a hand to my head to stop the pounding.

“You would have one hell of a headache.” He nodded.

“I’m fine, my nose is fine, I slept fine. This isn’t the first time I’ve been hurt.”

“No, it’s just the first time you’ve been hurt without me there.”

“It’s not your fault.” I dropped my hand from my head. “It would have been worse had you been there. You can’t run like you used to and before Howard came you would have been bitten by one of the wolves.”

“You worry too much about me.”

“Funny, I was thinking the same thing.”

“I’ll have some breakfast brought up and some coffee.” He said excitedly. If I didn’t know any better I’d say that he was happy that I was hurt. Maybe it was that he could treat me like a child for a bit without me complaining. I knew the best thing for me was a bit of rest and he would ensure that I got it.