“We’ll start searching the woods — from what we’ve heard, the creature usually comes from the north, so that’s where we’ll go. Keep close to the supply line,” he added, nodding to the little clump of servants. Anna ducked her head, wary of letting Donal see her. At the back of the group, masked by the taller servants, she knew she ought to be invisible, but she kept her head low just in case. No sense getting yelled at for being somewhere she shouldn’t before she had a chance to get a good look at this so-called supernatural creature.
The soldiers set off, their weapons drawn and excitement palpably emanating from their bodies. They were keen as mustard to get hold of this creature, to get a bit of glory to tell stories about on long winter nights. Anna knew the feeling. She felt a little of it herself — her heart beating hard, her hands itching to grip the dirk she still had stashed away underneath her jacket. She was ready to go — ready to fight whatever they found out there. If they found anything at all, of course, she corrected herself — but in the tense atmosphere of the night, surrounded by excited soldiers and frightened servants, the anticipation of the battle almost a physical force in the air, it was hard to believe that they were going to find a simple wolf in the woods. No — it had to be something more than that, right? The villagers wouldn’t have gone to all the trouble of boarding up their village for a little old wolf. Anna was looking forward to seeing this creature, whatever it may be.
And she wouldn’t have long to wait, she realized. A thrill of fear ran up her spine as, splitting through the air from the north, there came a sonorous, booming howl.
Chapter 32
She’d thought the men were energized before — she hadn’t seen anything yet. As the howl sounded, she saw the soldiers stiffen, flexing their hands on their weapons, their bodies thrilling to the ancient sound of their prey. There was something very primal about this, all this, the hunt and the blood roaring in the ears and the men, now, moving off in one group toward where the howl had come from. It was a strange howl, low and deep, nothing like the howls she’d heard … then again, she’d only heard coyotes, not wolves proper, as far as she knew. She’d only heard wolves on television and in movies. It was very possible that wolves sounded just like that — a low, mournful sound that felt like it had the power to shake your very bones apart. That was possible, right? It was possible that that sound wasn’t supernatural?
Were there even wolves in this part of Scotland at all?
The servants were on the move, shuffling after the men, but with more to carry and less enthusiasm for the fight (after all, with the exception of Anna they were all unarmed) they didn’t do a great job of keeping up with the pace. Anna searched the rapidly advancing group ahead of them for Brendan, or Donal — someone in charge, someone who’d notice that they were outpacing their supply chain and give the order for them to circle back. But Donal had his sword out and was ready for the fight, and Brendan was too busy keeping the men in line to worry about pace. Anna considered calling out, warning them that their supplies and weapons (and, importantly, first aid equipment) were in very real danger of falling behind them. Not to mention the servants, who had no way of defending themselves against an attack — or attackers. What if there was more than one wolf? she thought, trying to lengthen her strides to encourage the servants to move faster. Wolves tended to hunt in packs, didn’t they? And wasn’t that the reason they howled in the first place — to communicate with one another, to tell their packmates where they were? She was beginning to worry, quite seriously, that they were in trouble.
Before too long, the men were completely out of sight, and Anna found herself in the midst of a group of servants who were beginning to realize they’d been abandoned in the midst of the forest. They slowed to a stop, looking around at the trees, frowning at each other in the light of the torches they’d brought with them. Are wolves attracted to torchlight? Anna wondered. It might serve them to put the torches out… but that would probably frighten them even more. These weren’t soldiers — they had no discipline, precious little control over the kinds of emotions that could run away with you in high-pressure situations like this one. It would be important to them to be able to see. She made a resolution to avoid scaring them as much as she could — but she had to admit, someone needed to take charge. This wasn’t a great position to be in.
“Should we keep walking?” Emily asked, looking uncomfortably around the group of gathered servants. There was a chorus of shrugs. One man put his armful of spare weapons down on the ground and sat down next to it, looking defeated. Several more joined him, and before long they were all sitting on the forest floor, huddled together and looking rather miserable.
“They’ll be back for us soon,” Amelia said brightly.
Anna smiled a little to herself. The girl had sounded strong and confident — a confidence she almost certainly didn’t feel, judging from the way her hands were shaking. But she was trying to bolster the spirits of her companions. That was a good instinct.
“Maybe they’ll find the creature and take it down before they even notice we’re gone,” a man put forward, smiling.
There was a chorus of agreement, the servants smiling hopefully at each other in the torch light. Anna kept her eyes on the treeline, scoping out their surroundings. They were sitting in a little clearing in the forest — hardly a point of much tactical advantage. Trees on all four sides, at least a dozen approaches to their position. If a wolf pack wanted to surround them, it would have no problem doing so. Even a single wolf could come from any direction. The element of surprise was squarely in their foe’s hands… or paws.
That was an interesting question (and one Anna didn’t dare raise with the group for fear of damaging their fragile good spirits.) Were the creatures intelligent? The Seelie and Unseelie Fae, from what she could gather, were two sides to the same coin… one group wicked and mischievous, one kind and noble — if difficult to understand, and a little bit playful at times. And the creatures who had brought her to this place, they were certainly intelligent. From what Maeve and the others she’d spoken to had said, the Seelie Fae had a better understanding of the universe than even regular human beings… well, that was certainly true now, in medieval times, Anna thought — they hadn’t even made a concrete connection between poor hygiene and infection yet. That being said… it wasn’t as though her own time was much further ahead in terms of scientific literacy. There were still thousands of people who believed the Earth was flat, for God’s sake. They were making progress, she had to believe that — but it was slow. Who was she to assume the Seelie Fae weren’t smarter than all of them?
And if the Seelie Fae had human or above-human intelligence… then so too did the Unseelie Fae, she had to assume. So, this wolf — would it strategize? Should she be expecting an attack from a dumb animal, or from an intelligent operative? Impossible to know. Keep to what you do know, Anna, she counseled herself. They had some supplies — the net in her arms, the first aid supplies, and the equipment for fire lighting. Should she at least make sure the servants were armed? The armful of spare weapons weren’t particularly impressive, when she looked at them. Long blades, not quite sword length but too long to be knives, made of iron, from what she could tell. Better than nothing, but there were only six — not enough to equip all dozen or so of the servants. The question was — who should get a knife?
“Does anyone know how to fight?” she asked, trying to sound like it was a question to pass the time — but the servants all looked at her with dawning worry. Well, so much for keeping up morale. “I just thought — maybe some of us should take the knives, just in case. I’m sure Brendan and Donal wouldn’t mind.” Relying on the authority of the men made her feel sick to her stomach, but she had to admit, it was effective. The servants all looked at each other. The men among them all grabbed a weapon, and she fought the urge to roll her eyes.
“Do you want one, Anna?” Emily asked, her face full of concern.
“Me? Why?”
�
�Well — you know how rumors get around,” Emily said in a rush, sounding apologetic. “Everyone says the Sidhe brought you through because you’re a warrior woman from another world.”
She stared at her for a long moment. “They do?”
“Is it true?” one of the men broke in. “Because aside from playing at soldiers with my brothers as a lad, I don’t know one end of a sword from another. You could have mine.”
Anna looked at the man, oddly touched by the gesture of support. Having spent so long talking to men (and women, for that matter) who thought that her gender meant she couldn’t possibly know how to fight, having a group like this believe in her ability to fight felt really good. She shook her head, smiling at the man and handing back the blade. Then she reached under her jacket and withdrew the black dirk she’d been holding. It looked menacing by torchlight, the light flickering off its rough iron surface, and the servants made appreciative sounds.
“If it’s a wolf,” she said, deciding that the time for trying to keep people from panicking was well past, “it’s important to stay close to each other. Wolves hunt by picking off stragglers, right?”
“Right,” Emily agreed. “My family always lose the older sheep who can’t keep up with the flock.”
“Exactly. We don’t want to be the old sheep. Stay in a group. Use the torches to try to frighten it away — wild animals don’t usually like fire.” She took a deep breath. “But I’m no expert in the Fae. This creature might be smarter than a wild animal. Does anyone know more than me about that?”
The man who’d offered her his blade raised his hand, hesitantly. “The more human-shaped it is, the more likely it is to be intelligent. That’s why Nessie’s about as bright as a dog, but Maggie’s as clever as any human.”
There was a murmured chorus of assent to that. Anna nodded, filing that piece of information away. “Good. So, if this creature is wolf-shaped, it’s likely to be about as dumb as a wolf. Good. So, use the fire. What else?”
“Iron. They hate iron.” That was Emily, her face drawn but brave in the torchlight. “If it knows we have iron, it should keep its distance until the men can get here to kill it.”
Anna nodded. “Right. Iron. I’ve got these nets with iron weights in them, some of you have some weapons… can they smell it, or does it need to touch them?”
“A horseshoe above the door keeps them away, I think they know it on sight,” the man said again. Anna looked up at him.
“You know these creatures well.”
“Aye,” he admitted. “My ma was a Changeling — she told a lot of stories about the Land of the Unaging. It’s come in handy.”
“That it has,” Anna agreed, smiling around the circle at them. She could see that they were feeling more confident about whatever battle was looming ahead. That was good. Morale was important — and sometimes, just going over a battle strategy was enough to make people feel more powerful, more like they were in control of what was happening to them. “With any luck, the men have caught the creature already, but if not…”
That hopeful sentence was cut short by a cracking of twigs in the forest behind her. Anna whipped around, rising to her feet in one fluid motion, her hand gripping tight around the black dirk that had been resting in her lap. The servants gathered close to one another, rising to their feet as well, the supplies on the ground forgotten as they drew close together for safety. She glanced behind her, noting with approval that they were already distributing the torches so that the servants on the outside of the circle would be able to wave them at the creature. The blades, too, had been handed to people on the outside of the huddle. The wolves would have a hard time permeating that little huddle.
But Anna knew it wasn’t enough to keep them safe — not for an extended period of time, anyway. If there was a wolf circling them (and a cracking of twigs further up seemed to suggest that that was the case) it would be patient. It would wait for a break in their defenses, for someone to move away from the group a little, or for someone to lose focus. All it would take was a second — and once the wolf was among them, there was no relying on their discipline. Anna knew that she had to be the point of focus for any attack that came. Of all the people here — good people, brave people who’d come out in the middle of the night to help keep the people around them safe — she was the best equipped to fight an enemy. She was tough, trained, capable.
And if it was her fate to be mauled to death by a supernatural wolf in the forests of medieval Scotland, well… at least it was a more interesting death than some she could name. And in the end, Anna was a soldier. On some level, she’d been ready to die since she signed up. Feeling that curious courage filling her body, Anna took a few steps away from the group, her weapon in hand and her blood singing in her ears. It was time to take on this creature once and for all.
Chapter 33
The first thing she saw was two points of glowing red light, low to the ground. For an odd moment, she almost thought they were torchlight, or something. Had the men returned to protect their supply line? Perhaps they’d caught the wolf in the forest and were now moving back through to rejoin the main group? That would be a relief. But then she heard a low, rumbling sound that felt like it wanted to shake her bones apart. Horror dawned on her as she realized what it was — a growl. Like a dog who’d had his bone taken away — but so much lower. So much more resonant. So clearly coming from a much larger ribcage than any dog she’d ever met.
The points of light grew brighter, and she heard more twigs snapping, as if under the paws of some enormous creature. She flicked her eyes into the forest on either side of the group of servants — if there were any more wolves waiting to flank them, this would have been the perfect moment for them to strike. But something told her that this creature hunted alone. Call it intuition. Call it the recognition of a kindred spirit. But as the points of light moved closer to her, Anna realized that they weren’t torches — they were eyes.
“Stay behind me,” she said in a low, flat voice that carried into the forest around them. The voice of a soldier. Direct — to the point — and impossible to mishear or misinterpret. “Stay close together. Don’t look it in the eye if you can help it.”
It was only her training that stopped her from panicking as the creature moved closer. It seemed wary of the torchlight, circling around on the edges of the disc of light thrown out by their torches, but as her eyes adjusted to the gloom, she began to be able to make out the shape of the animal. It was a wolf, just as they’d heard — an enormous wolf, the size of a horse at least, covered in thick, shaggy black fur. But there was something strange about that fur — something matted and ugly about it, as though it wasn’t a pelt made up of individual hairs, but individual slabs of matted wool covering the animal’s body. It had a huge muzzle, its lips raised in a snarl, and she could make out a set of wickedly sharp teeth. On its great paws — each the size of a serving platter — she could see sharp claws, leaving divots in the soil of the forest floor with every step it took.
And its eyes. Its eyes were the truly supernatural part of its appearance. They were glowing — not just reflecting light, as most animals’ eyes did, but actually glowing with their own interior light source. They looked for all the world like great coals, smoldering in the creature’s face, and something told Anna that if she was unlucky enough to get close to those eyes, she would feel real heat radiating from them.
It lifted its great head now, its frightening jaws parting as it uttered a huge, booming howl. The sound shook her to her very bones, deep and menacing, reverberating through her ribcage and making her teeth chatter. And at the same time, she felt an alien sense of fear spike through her mind, lancing through her body to the ground. Her training kept her on her feet, her practice at ignoring unhelpful feelings — but the servants behind her weren’t so lucky. She heard half of them cry out, or scream, and she chanced a glance behind her, seeing that several of them had fallen to the ground. She turned back to the wolf, her heart pounding, fee
ling sick with the fear that had split through her body at the sound of its awful voice. That had to be supernatural. She’d never felt fear like that in her life. Wasn’t it often said in stories that creatures could strike fear into the hearts of men? Anna braced herself, clutching at her weapon for courage. It seemed that was a much more literal story than she’d given it credit for. Best to avoid letting the thing howl again — she wasn’t sure she could handle another of those lightning-strikes of terror.
It was circling closer now, emboldened by the visible signs of fear in Anna and in the servants behind her, who now needed no further instruction to be huddling closer together. She glanced behind her at them again, frowning to see that the torches had fallen, and she jerked her head. Amelia was in the front line of the group, a torch in her hand, and though the girl looked terrified, she raised her chin and shook the torch bravely toward the wolf. Brave girl, Anna thought. Maybe she and Malcolm were a better match than she’d thought.
Malcolm, she thought. And Brendan, and Donal — where were the men? Surely on their way, if they were hunting this beast. They’d have heard the howl. But how far away had they gotten in the time between leaving the village and now? It seemed that this creature had circled around behind them to pick off the defenseless group they’d left behind. Typical, she thought with gritted teeth. If any of them survived this, she was going to have a strong word to Donal or to Brendan about how to organize an assault. But for now, all of that had to fade away. It was just her, the group she was defending, and this enormous wolf, which had now moved forward into the torchlight, still growling low in its throat. The growl didn’t have the same supernatural power as the howl, it seemed — though it was unnerving enough in a deeply ordinary way.
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