Legends of Chaos Anthology: The Witches Tower

Part 4: Ambush

Orin awoke just as the morning light began to make the sky glow. He found that his blankets were on him and that Meara was no longer there. Instead, she sat beside Jack, talking by the fire. They were not the only ones up either, as Lucky stooped above them, cooking something for breakfast.

Meara puffed, looking up to the sky, "Not all werewolves go mad."

"What?" Jack asked, confused.

"The other night," Meara rolled her head to peer out of the corner of her eye at Jack, "You asked if Jonathan had gone mad when he, attacked me," She shook her head, "Not all werewolves go mad."

Jack leaned back, looking somewhat surprised, before turning red, "I... Sorry."

"Don't worry. I don't blame you for assuming. Many do," Meara said, "Some completely lose themselves and become feral, forgetting their humanity and becoming ravenous beasts. Those that recover, however, are stuck somewhere in between, constantly at odds with themselves."

Jack locked eyes with Meara in a long glance, "What, what determines if they go ferial?"

"It really comes down to will," the wolf girl smiled with an almost grimace of a grin, her fangs giving the attempt an almost menacing feel as she huffed, "That, and tolerance for pain."

Lucky chuckled, "Meara hides it pretty well."

"Ha! Hardly," Meara barked, "The first change for most is the make-or-break point... It is worse than death— the sheer pain and rage, like burning yourself alive. But it becomes easier with time," the young woman took a deep breath, and slowly let it out, "Now it feels natural, almost second nature."

Jack frowned, "I feel like I upset Orin last night."

Meira shook her head, "It's hard for him. He blames himself. But you shouldn't suppose he thinks any less of you for asking."

"So then, what did happin? when you turned..." Jack trailed off.

Meara smiled, "I think you should ask Orin that when he is ready."

"How will I know that?" Jack asked.

"Oh, you will know," Meara reassured with a flick of her ears that Orin knew was meant for him.

Meara trailed off, her attention drawn away as her ears twitched at something that the others could not hear. She stood, sniffing the air.

"What is it?" Jack asked, sounding apprehensive.

"Quiet," Meara hissed, listening intently.

Lucky carefully set down the ladle and readied his bow. Jack and Orin reached for their own weapons.

Everyone stood there frozen for a long moment, staring into the dark. After a long silence, Meara shifted weary, as she growled, "There is something out there—

Something wrapped around John's neck and, with a yelp, yanked him off his feet and into the underbrush.

"John!" Orin shouted as he sprang to his feet, the camp all around him erupting into combat.

Several golden-hued snakes lashed out of the bushes and trees above, attacking the unsuspecting party.

With a hiss, one of the serpents wrapped around Orin's ankle. The knight had only a moment before he was pulled off his feet and thrown to his back, the snake rapidly dragging him through the mud to the underbrush.

A flash of steel and the tension around Orin's leg slacked. Meara's sword hacked the snake's body clean in two, just short of the bushes it had been dragging Orin towards.

"Help!" Jack gasped as he struggled to hang on to a tree for dear life; another snake rapidly coaled around his waist.

grabbing his axe from off the ground, Orin sat up and hurled the blade from over his head, using the momentum to sit up and spring to his feet. The axe hit its mark, but the edge of the axe head did not cleave the snake. Quickly Cyrus grabbed Jack by the arm as his grip faltered, holding him just long enough for Meara to rush forward and, with a snarl, finish the golden coil.

"Are you alright?" Cyrus asked as he sat him down.

Jack could hardly catch his breath as he clung to Cyrus's heavy leather coat, shaking.

"It got Lucky and Lawrence!" Meara spat, looking around wild-eyed.

Orin saw they had indeed lost the Irishman and Laurence. Melvin, too, was nowhere to be seen.

"Melvin? Jhon!" Cyrus called out into the silent woods. But to Orin's shagreen, there was no response. Only he, Meara, Jack, and Cyrus remand.

"Quickly, the others might still be alive!" Orin said, helping Jack up with one arm, the other firmly grasping the shaft of his axe and pulling it free from the tree.

"Wolfbane, look at the snake!" Cyrus said, appalled.

As Orin glanced down at the discarded coils, the snake's remains turned to cords of fair golden hair.

"Black Magic," Meara growled with disgust as she watched the other chunks of snakes degrade to nothing but locks of golden hair.

Orin looked about the ravine with concern before looking at his daughter. "Hurry, girl. Show us where that tower is. I fear for the others if we do not get there as fast as we can."