Jumping happily on the mountain road, Fanglil enjoyed those cold snowflakes landing softly onto his black fur.
He really needed to stay in wolf shape that morning, he didn't know why, but he could feel his werewolf's blood pulsing in his veins from desire.
Luckily for him, it was highly unlikely to meet someone up there during such a cold and heavy snowfall.
He really needed to stay alone, the full moon was coming in just a couple of days, not the best moment for anyone to meet a werewolf.
That was, at the end, the reason why Fanglil decided to travel through the Kilanthro mountains, he was aware that hardly anyone travelled there during the winter season.
The trees were starting to thin out, probably he could have reached the other side of the mountain before the day was over, if only he had wanted.
But he wasn't in a rush, it was just one of his aimless journey, so he kept on walking between the trees, letting his paws decide where to go.
Then, his good luck gave him a well desired present.
Even if the sun had risen almost an hour before, a small deer was still wandering in the forest, probably, he was going back to his nest.
Fanglil slowly sank into the snow, never losing sight of that delicious prey. He wasn't so hungry, he already ate a squirrel half an hour before, but he couldn't waste such a precious gift from his lucky stars.
Fanglil waited patiently, he had to be careful, even if it was a small deer, its horns could easily hurt him badly.
While planning his next move into his mind, however, a noise came from the mountain road near them. Instinctively, Fanglil turned his head toward where he heard the noise, but as soon as he brought back his eyes toward the deer, the animal had already started fleeing.
"Damn it!" he shouted loudly, forgetting he actually was in his wolf's shape.
"Whoever's there, you owe me a deer!".
"In any case you owe me a deer." Arken said as he passed through some bushes beside the road "I've been stalking that deer long befo..." he suddenly stopped mid sentence, crossing the bushes and finding not a man as he expected but a wolf. He was surprised but recovered, cursing under his breath he quickly knocked an arrow onto his bow and aimed it at the wolf, "Where are you?!" He shouted, darting his eyes around trying to find the hunter but never taking his eyes off the wolf for long.
"What?" was he kidding, why the hell it was Fanglil who owed someone a deer, when he was going to kill it in just a few moments?
The wolf turned toward the bushes at his right, curious to see who was that man who was accusing him.
When, however, the young man appeared beneath the bush, he suddenly got worried about something.
Fanglil got scared too, did he had a monster behind? He turned his head grinding his teeth... and then, he finally understood why the man was so worried.
"Hey, calm down, put down that bow, I'm not going to arm you!". Fanglil cursed for his carelessness repeatedly in his head, how could he forgot to be in wolf's shape? That was what happened if he stayed too long with his family, he completely forgot even the simplest rules of the human world.
Such as the one which said the animals couldn't talk.
-Well done, Fan, now you have to explain this hunter who you are! - Biting his tongue while having such kind of thoughts, he waited to see what kind of reaction the man had.
Arken took a deep breath and tried to calm himself, at least now he knew the source of the voice. He lowered his bow, though he did not remove the arrow, and cleared his throat before speaking, "Excuse me if i do not entirely believe that you shall do me no harm, but might i know what it is you are?". He asked, not moving his eyes from the large wolf.
Fanglil didn't talk for a few moments, trying to find something better to say that just –Hey, I'm a werewolf, nice to meet you! -. Moreover, he actually didn't like to use that name, since usually people used that name with a negative meaning.
Therefore, probably tricked by his smaller animal's brain, he decided it was a good idea to describe him in a different way.
"Well, actually, I'm a wolf, you see, but I can also be a human, if I want to!". Turning his head as a domestic dog in front of his owner, he sat and watched the hunter, inexplicably sure his explanation was more than exhaustive.
"So.. a were wolf? Or do you not call yourself that?" He asked, curious about the roundabout way the wolf had presented himself "Well regardless, I apologise for having scared that deer away, even if i was hunting it first, it was my noise that scared it off." He said as he eased off of his battle ready stance, bowing apologetically before the wolf.
Fanglil turned up his nose, hearing how the hunter called him. However, the man used it in a different way from other people, there wasn't any kind of disgust in his voice, or yet, it didn't seem at all to the trustful wolf.
Moreover, the way he spoke instantly made him look a really nice person to Fanglil.
He was so polite, so respectful, he even bowed before him to apologize for the deer's escape; the wolf already knew it was surely someone to trust and to get to know with.
"Well, no problem, we could always find another one! So... what brings you up here, it's kinda unusual to meet someone here during this season." While talking, Fanglil started to turn his upper body in his human shape, forgetting he had left his clothes into the little cave where he had spent the night.
"Well i am a fur trapper by trade, I am trying to get some fine winter pelts to sell." Arken said, looking away bashfully as the werewolf changed before his eyes "I do not know if this is against werewolf etiquete, but i would prefer it if you put on some clothes."
Fanglil jumped from the scare when he heard what the man was doing up there. Was he going to hunt him too for his fur?
He was lucky he was already changing into his human shape, so that the man couldn't be tempted by his soft fur....
When he saw him blushing and looking away, however, and then he heard his embarrassed words, he finally realized what he was doing.
"Shi... ehm... sorry, I wasn't thinking..." turning again quickly into his wolf's shape, he instinctively laid down shaking his tail, embarrassed.
Fanglil really wanted to turn back to his human form, so that he could talk with that intriguing man in a more comfortable way, but first, he had to go back and pick his clothes. Therefore, looking at him without raising his head from the cold snow beneath him, he decided to ask:
"Err... would you mind walking with me 'till the cave where I left my clothes, so that I can turn back to my human shape?".
He shrugged, visibly calming down after the werewolf turned back into his wolf form "Of course" he said agreeing to follow the wolf "By the way, if i may ask, do you have a name? Or should i just call you werewolf?" He said jokingly.
Fanglil shivered hearing again that horrible word.
"No, please, don't call me again with that horrible word, just call me Fan."
As he finished talking, the wolf raised onto his legs and started walking down the mountain.
"Come, it's not too far, just some minutes... wait, what about your name, should I just call you man?". After his last word, he turned to his new friend and, smiling as long as a wolf could smile, he winked at him, amused.
Arken chuckled at Fan's retort "The names Arken, pleasure making your acquaintance" He said returning Fan's smile before falling into step behind him.
'He's so polite, where is he from? He can't be born here in Hyoite, no one is as polite as him here...' looking at him, Fanglil tried to guess at his origin. He seemed to have something in common with the Connlaothians, but the wolf wasn't pretty sure about it...
At the end, however, it was pretty easier to ask to him, rather than try and guess it.
"So, where are you from, you're not from Hyoite, do you?".
"Well its a bit complicated, I was born in Hyoite but my mother was Connlaothian and my father was Adelan" He said looking away deep in thought. He snapped out of his own head and turned to the Fan "What about you? Have you always lived here in Hyoite?".
Fanglil felt guilty when he saw Arken's sad look, he had probably talked about something painful for the poor man.
However, the man was pretty quick to change the matter of the talk, and so Fanglil decided not to deepen the topic. At the end, he didn't want his new friend to be bothered from his curiosity.
"Well, I was born here, and I also spent most of my life in Hyoite, but I don't think I can really say I've always lived here... you know, I travelled a lot, I visited even Yoreiq, once, so..." Talking about his travels made him quite dreamy. He really needed to leave that place, it was almost six months he was there in Hyoite, and he was feeling his blood pushing hardly in his veins, forcing him to go away to learn about other places.
Arken sighed, he noticed fanglil's dreamy look and shared it with him "It must be quite nice to travel, i've always wanted to but have never really had the chance" he said "Though now there is nothing holding me back is there" He said the last words more to himself than Fan. He perked up when a thought appeared in his mind, he turned to Fanglil and said "Maybe we could go adventuring sometime, it would be nice to leave Hyoite for a while, if you are so inclined of course." He had decided this friendly werewolf could be trusted.
When the wolf heard his words, his look became even more dreamy than ever.
"Yes, of course, that's a great idea! Let me just pick my clothes up and we're going to travel all around the world!". As he spoked, he run toward the near cave and, as he arrived, he quickly grabbed his clothes with his teeth and, without turning into his human shape, Fanglil ran toward Arken shaking his tail happily.
He didn't know why he was so happy to travel with that unknown hunter, but he inspired trust in Fanglil, and it was enough for him.
"So, I was going toward Connlaoth, is this ok to you? Or you were thinking about another goal? I mean, I have nothing to do there, so, we could go anywhere, so..." his tail kept on moving ceaselessly, as excited as he was.
For a foreign look, he could actually look as a simple domestic dog.
"Great!" He said as Fanglil came back with his clothing "I have no qualms with going to Connlaoth though we shall have to be careful. I am not sure how they may act if they find out about my parents... You see my mother was a knight of the white lily, im not supposed to exist."
Fanglil looked Arken doubtful; what was he talking about, why he wasn't supposed to exist? It didn't make sense to him, everyone in the world was supposed to exist, it wasn't something that someone could pretend to decide for someone else. He tried to think about that white lily Arken talked about, but he actually couldn't remember where he heard that name before.
-Maybe I should spend some time in Connlaoth, I fear there's a lot I don't know about that...-
While thinking about it, he started changing his shape without caring about cover himself from Arken's sight, as focused on his tale as he was.
And then, while finally putting his pants on, he suddenly remembered where he heard about that weird order.
"Wait, I remember that name! So, your mother was a Mordecai, wasn't she?".
Fanglil knew very little about them, he never met a Mordecai, nor he ever wanted to, since he always feared they could hunt him down as a magic-user. That was the reason why his face suddenly became nervous and his eyes looked at the man with a worried gaze.
"So... does this make you too a Mordekai?". By the time he finished to speak, his anxiety had already gone.
At the end, that man was too kind to be a mere mage-hunter like the Mordecai.
"Depends on who you ask, i consider myself a mordecai insofar that i can nullify magic, but i do not share their beliefs." He shrugged again "They would never accept me, nor I them for that matter. So no I am not a mordecai, but i do have a mordecai's power. So wish to go to Connlaoth right now or do you have any business left in Hyoite?"
Fanglil was pleased to hear his answer, the man couldn't speak better than that.
"Yes of course, let's go!". Putting on his fur waistcoat, he got closer to his new friend and started walking with him up the road.
"So, you said you can nullify magic, is it true? I mean, I think my change of shape could be considered magic as well, but I actually could do it even if I was close to you... or can you just decide when to use your power?".
"Well that might be the case but my power is a sort of variant on that of normal mordecai, though i am unable to project a field like they do, I have the ability to imbue any item with the power to nullify magic, for a time at least."
Fanglil listened curiously to Arken's explanation. He had no doubt anymore, he absolutely had to spend some time in Connlaoth, he knew so little about how things worked there.
"So, you're saying you can create an artifact that could work as a Mordecai, nullifying magic around it?".
Fanglil's mind started to work more like a human one, finally. Maybe, that new friend of him could help the wolf to find out something he always wanted to know.
He shook his head "Not precisely, you see the artifact does work like a mordecai but only if a mordecai could only make a field around his skin, the artifacts really have no range whatsoever. Its most effective on shield or other large surfaces if you are looking for defense and on weapons since it would make them more effective against magical creatures, I would assume."
Fanglil snorted, disappointed.
"What a shame, I thought it could be the perfect chance to find out what kind of effect they could have on someone like me." He heard a lot of different theories about it, and very different between them. While some people just said a Mordecai's aura was useless against them, others asserted it could be even deadly for a werewolf.
Fanglil had no idea who was right, but he did know one thing for sure: he didn't want to find out on his own fur.
In the meanwhile, the snowfall around them was getting more intense every single step they took. Trees had almost abandoned him, all but a couple of them which shape was nearly visible through the snowstorm.
Looking the road in front of them, and then Arken at his left side, Fanglil seemed to become a bit worried.
"It's gonna be a hard journey, you're sure to be ready for it?".
"I could enchant your clothing if you want, it should have the same efect" he said to fanglil " And i may not look it but ive survived 21 years in the Hyoite trundra, a little snow wont break me, I cant wait to explore every inch of this world!" He said, ginning gleefully to his new friend.
Fanglil opened his eyes wide, surprised.
"Really? So, if you enchant my clothes, they would have the same effect as the Mordecai's magic, right?". If it was so, he absolutely had to try it.
As excited as he was, however, he managed to realize his previous words could have been a bit pretentious, if not even offensive. Luckily for him, Arken didn't seemed to be offended, on the contrary, he was smiling happily at him, almost as excited as he was about all those amazing developments.
Too excited to apologize after having understood that Arken wasn't upset for his words, Fanglil removed quickly his waistcoat even before his new friend had answered his question, dying with curiosity.
Arken took the waistcoat and consentrated for a moment, enchanting the clothing "I would recoment touching it before putting it on completely, just to be sure it wont harm you, i am honedtly not sure what this will do to you" he said as he handed back the waist coat, curious as to what would happen.
As Arken warned him, Fanglil suddenly realized how stupid he had been. If those magic did hurt him, he would have then been forced to travel shirtless until they have reached Connlaoth, probably.
At the end, however, it wasn't such a big deal; he could always travel as a wolf until they reached Connlaoth.
After a moment of uncertainty, Fanglil finally grabbed his soft waistcoat, ready to sustain an unbearable pain.
However, nothing happened at all.
Excited, he quickly put on his enchanted waistcoat, shouting from the happiness:
"It was true, Mordecai's magic has no effect on me, yay!". While celebrating, however, his mind was suddenly crossed by an evil idea, and he was too happy to consider its consequences.
"Wait, what..." grabbing his throat with an expression of pain painted onto his face, he suddenly fell into the cold snow heavily, hardly preventing him from bursting out.
Arken scoffed " nice try, but if it did affect you it would probably only make you not be able to turn into a wolf, plus...your throat isn't covered by that waist coat" he said the last part with a sheepish grin.
"Damn it, you're too cle... wait, what? I couldn't be able to turn into a wolf anymore, are you kidding me?".
Scared to death, he instantly crouched on his knees and started changing his shape.
Luckily for him, his skin was quickly covered by his soft, sweet black fur, filling Fanglil's eyes with tears of joy.
"Thanks the heaven, I couldn't live without transforming again!". As happy as he was, he already forgot about the failure of his trick, but he simply turned back again to his human form, thinking again about Arken's words.
"So, this means I'm actually immune to Mordecai's magic, am I right?". It was perfect to know such a wonderful thing. Now that he knew the Mordecai couldn't do anything to arm him, there was no reason he couldn't spend some time in Connlaoth.
Arthen couldnt help laughing at Fanglils display of panic "It didnt affect you because you were born able to transform im assuming, if it was someone who was turned into a werewolf then it would hamper their transformation, and only temporarely, not forever" he said still laughing lightly at his friend." How long do you think it will take to arrive at Connlaoth by the way?"
That made sense, Fanglil thought, and he found himself laughing with his friends even if he wasn't even sure about what made him laugh so widely.
What was really important to him, however, was that the Mordecai couldn't do anything to him, nothing more than some common men, and that was enough to him.
Hearing Arken's question, Fanglil turned south, looking up toward where it was supposed to be the mountain's peek. Heavy clouds were hiding it, yet the wolf could guess how long they had to walk to reach it.
He waited some moments, thinking. They could also abandon the street and go westward, it would have been quicker, but he wasn't sure Arken could walk safely through all those rocks.
It was hard even for Fanglil in his wolf's shape not to fall down in the gorge, he couldn't imagine how dangerous would it have been with just two legs.
"Well, the road climbs up almost until the mountain's peek, so... probably by the end of the day, we'll be just arrived on the other side, then another day to walk down it, or maybe two... yes, I think we could be there in three or four days."
"Hmm, three to four days? Seems doable" After a pause he continued "Do you happen to know if we'll find any wildlife nearby? I would like to hunt some food for the road."
Well, that was surely a good question.
Fanglil stared up toward the peak, thoughtful. It was unlikely they could found some sort of wildlife at that height and with that weather. Therefore, probably they would have been without anything to eat for at least a whole day. And Fanglil didn't like at all that perspective, especially after seeing those exquisite deer fleeing away from his jaws.
"You know, I don't think we could find anything, if we keep on climbing the mountain." Looking around, he finally gazed northward, down where they had just come from and, pointing to a thicker group of trees, he then added:
"However, if we go back down there, we'll probably find something between those trees."
"Very well" he said, taking out his bow and changing direction so as to go to the trees"Do you preffer to hunt a particular way?" He asked looking back at Fanglil.
As Arken's first words reached his ears, Fanglil took of his waistcoat and started transforming into his wolf's shape. Actually, he was about to remove even his pants before to transform, but he luckily remembered he wasn't alone and, moreover, that not everyone was at ease with nudity.
"Well, I'll find the prey, you'll kill it, or you were planning something different?". Fanglil rarely hunted with someone else, but in his mind, that was the only way they could work together. Moreover, his sniff had already started to scan the air, searching for some tasty smell.
Therefore, taking his clothes in his jaws, he started looking for some dry place where to hide them, when he finally had an idea.
"Hey, would you mind keeping me these?".
"You got it" he said as he took Fanglils clothes and slung them over his shoulder, he readied his bow and followed some distance behind his friend, bow at the ready.
Well, it was really convenient to have someone who supported him, Fanglil had almost forgot how good could be to hunt with someone else who actually wasn't a wolf.
As they entered the small scrub, Fanglil crouched to the ground and started crawling carefully and inspecting the surrounding air with his advanced sense of smell.
The sun was high in the sky, it was unlikely to find any kind of animal there at that time, Fanglil was well aware of it. It would be easier if they had waited until the night, when most of the animals would wake up and abandon their home looking for food, but Fanglil had never been a patient man.
Therefore, walking as quietly as he could, he kept on walking between the larches loaded with snow, searching with his nose for a trace.
They had to wait a lot of time, almost half an hour, before he could finally smell a feeble scent of something alive. But when that wonderful smell brushed his nostrils, his eyes glared with hope and his muscles became tenser than ever.
Then, he stopped and, turning toward Arken, he whispered to his hunting mate, excited:
"Don't make any noise, there could be some deer near here!"
He simply noded at his companion and crouched a little lower so as to be careful with his footing he raised his bow just in case anything did not go as planned and he had to take a quick shot and continued on behind the wolf.
As the man behind him nodded with assent, Fanglil lowered his ears and crawled toward were he thought that delicious smell could come, when suddenly a stronger scent irrupted in his nostrils.
"This..." sniffing the air frantically, he filled his lung with that sharp scent. "This is blood!".
Fanglil's eyes were covered by a sudden cloud of concern, he didn't expect to sniff such a smell. Who was bleeding, and moreover, why?
His sixth sense was screaming in panic, yet Fanglil decided to follow that scent raising his ears to grasp even the feeblest noise in the forest.
But all was noiseless, the snow around them covered even the sounds of the scrub, all was silent and motionless.
All but the air around them. The smell was strong, they were close to the bleeding being, and as Fanglil took another few steps, he finally saw some bloody spot behind a tree.
Standing still for a moment, just to be sure no one else was there, he pointed at the tree with his nose and whispered to Arken:
"Be ready, there's something behind there."
As soon as arken saw the bloody tree he pointed his arrow and started flanking he tree, trying to get another angle of attack in case something came rushing out. As soon as he got into position he fixed his eyes on Fanglil, ready to move in in unison with the wolf.
The blood's scent was stronger than ever, so that Fanglil couldn't smell anything else.
But one thing was sure, whoever was bleeding, he was behind that low snow's mound.
Fanglil saw Arken moving and he instantly understood what his plan was; the man was right, it was better to pop out from different spots.
Therefore, once the wolf had reached his spot, body to the ground, his muscles tensed and ready to spring into action, he glanced back at Arken, asking silently if he was ready to find out what was happening there.
When he say fanglil get into position and look back at him he nooded once and befan mouthing a silent countdown, as soon as he finished he sprang into action hoping to catch whatever was behind the tree bu surprise.
The same moment Fanglil saw his friend jumping out from his hiding place, he did the same, jumping over the little mound.
When he landed, grinding his jaws fiercely and ready to attack, he however had a nasty surprise.
"What... what's going on here, why there's only a deer's leg?". Fanglil stared worried at his friend, lost, hoping his shrewdness could manage to explain what was going on there.
He couldn't understand what was going on, but one thing he knew for sure. Something bad was going to happen.
As soon as arken jumped out only to find a deer leg he turned around, eyes darting " look alive, the blood is still fresh, whatever killed it cant be far off and im not sure we want to meet it, lets try to get back to the road, at least there we can see if anything is coming" As he finished he began moving towards the road, bow at the ready, eyes and ears open tk any noise or movement.
Arken's idea wasn't bad at all, Fanglil quickly understood it.
He was right, the blood was still fresh and, moreover, it seemed as if the poor deer had been killed and devoured the whole body except his tiny leg. The wolf couldn't see if there were some bones around there, but he wasn't too eager to get close to it and search for them.
Yes, Fanglil was sure enough not to desire to meet whatever kind of monster could have done such a mess.
When he started walking quickly behind Arken, however, his careful ears suddenly heard a terrifying growl, and then a lament, or maybe a yelp, he couldn't understand it.
The monster was even closer than he feared, but what was worse, was that he was trying to kill someone else.
Fanglil froze, terrified; he couldn't imagine what kind of monster they could have fought against, but he couldn't simply walk away, letting him kill someone else. What if he was killing another human being, or maybe even a wolf? And moreover, what kind of monster could it be?
Hitting Arken's leg with his snout, he looked in his eyes for a moment, trying to find any advice inside those dark globes; he hadn't the courage to ask him that troublesome question.
When the snout touched his leg and he saw fanglils eyes he knew he had made the right choice trusting his new friend. He grinned as he noded once to the wolf "let's go" running head first into the brush, bow and arrow ready to protect whatever was being attacked.
Fanglil was happy to hear those words, even if he was scared too.
He didn't know what they would have found beneath there, but when he heard again what he finally recognized as a yelp, he run quickly toward the fight.
But when his eyes passed the mound in front of them, finally seeing who was their enemy, he froze in an instant, terrified.
A giant, fierce, dark grey bear, taller than Fanglil and Arken together, loomed onto a devastated wolf.
It wasn't a normal bear, Fanglil had never seen nothing like that before. Its eyes were red as the blood his fur was smudged by, and so its sharp, deadly claws, almost as long as a human's hand. Its pointy jaws were dripping the wolf's blood, tasting it eagerly with its tongue.
The wolf under him couldn't even move just a single leg, his hip was bleeding copiously, filling his white fur with all the blood he had in his body, and his eyes were almost closed; yet, Fanglil couldn't move, as frightened as he was. He couldn't do anything but stare horrified what remained of another wolf near there.
He had been devoured as the deer they found before, but this time, the monster hadn't eaten him yet; he had just tear apart his poor dead body.
Then, finally noticing his new prey, the monster growled fiercely, ready to take another wolf's life.