Short rusty brown hair encircled a round pixie like face, with soft thin lips and a small nose. Sylvanis could make out some freckles lightly touching her features. She was the obvious True in Sylvanis’ estimation. The other would be her Pure, from the transfer of lycanthropy.
Next to her, walking down the stairs by her side was a man who was taller than her, but not as tall as many men. Average looking, with short cropped brown hair, and an oversized nose on an otherwise plain looking face. Average build, he carried a little paunch.
When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they turned to see the three of them watching them descend.
“We put your parents in bed. They were still unconscious. I hope you don’t mind?” The girl motioned absently up the stairs with one hand.
“No. Thank you. You have both been most kind. Please, sit, all of you.” Indicating the available seating in the room they used to watch TV. A beige couch and love seat faced off against a flat screen TV. Hank and Sim took the couch and the others took the loveseat. Sitting close enough to leave no doubt they were in love.
Sylvanis turned to the two of them.
“My name is Sylvanis. I am a Druidess. I would know your names?”
The man eyed the woman with a silent question, which she answered by glancing to Sylvanis to answer her question.
“My name is Stephanie. This is Jason,” she indicated the man next to her who nodded.
“I am Hank; this is my son, Simon. It is nice to meet you.” Hank added from across the way.
“Hi, Simon,” Jason piped up. “Once again, thanks for saving my ass out there.”
“Hey, no problem, Jason.” shrugging off the thanks. “I’m sure you could have gotten him yourself.”
“Yeah,” Jason replied, meeting Simon’s eyes. Jason broke out laughing. He couldn’t help it. They both knew the Croc would have devoured Jason if Simon hadn’t showed up. But, he was trying to help Jason save some face in front of his girl. Jason was not one for false bravado, so he was okay with admitting he would have been done if not for Simon’s intervention.
Staring at him for a moment, Simon started laughing as well. They shared a laugh as the others watched, some amusement in Stephanie’s case and bewilderment in Hank’s.
Their laughter subsided after a moment and Jason waved Sylvanis on.
“Sorry, please, continue,” he told her.
Sylvanis snapped her jaw shut. The laughter had caught her off guard. It was a real pleasure, though. What they faced tonight was as close to dying as any of them had most likely ever been. The fact they felt comfortable enough with each other to release some of their stress openly was delightful. It boded well for an agreeable working relationship, which they were going to need.
They were going to have to learn to trust each other and to work together. She had no doubt what Kestrel would do next. Though, if Syndor had been alive all this time, he must be aware what Kestrel would want to attempt would be difficult to execute in this age. A confrontation would occur, she knew, but she was certain it would be when Kestrel felt she was ready. Plus, now she knew Sylvanis was no longer alone, confrontation may be a long way off.
Sylvanis cleared her throat.
“As I said, my name is Sylvanis, I am a Druidess. The woman you helped drive off is known as Kestrel. She is also a Druidess. This is not the first time we have fought. The last time, however, was many centuries ago on the land you know now as England. I defeated her, or at least I thought I had.
“She had cast a vile spell triggered upon her death. It removed her essence from her body, not allowing it to move on, and put her body in a form of stasis to wait for her essence to return. That event would be triggered when the last stone of the Calendar, what you know as Stonehenge, fell. Some of you may remember about eight months ago, an earthquake, located near London, caused the last of the stones of the Calendar to fall.” Glancing around for confirmation, they all nodded their heads. They remembered.
“When it occurred, her essence returned to her body. Another aspect of her spell would awaken within the descendants of the Trues, the ones who were loyal to her, the ability of lycanthropy.” She gazed around at all the faces watching her. In Hank and Simon’s face she saw some understanding of what she was referring too. They must have done some research into lycanthropy and understood a little what she was referring. The other two appeared a little confused.
“Any questions so far?”
Jason raised his hand. “What does this have to do with us?”
“Well, Jason, and you don’t need to raise your hand, we aren’t in school.” He dropped it in his lap, chagrined.
“When I realized what she did,” she continued. “I cast a counter spell, one allowing my essence to be reborn when it was needed, the moment being when Kestrel returned to her body. I also made it contain the same provision, to awaken the descendants of the Trues who were loyal to me. Those descendants are you, Hank, and you Stephanie.
“I am honestly sorry for the upheaval this must have caused you in your life. But I assure you, the need is great. Even now Kestrel will be attempting to reach the other Trues who were loyal to her, the boar and the rat. There is no way to know if their line continued, but those who are carriers of lycanthropy, whether they can change or not, are not easy to kill. So, we must assume they are out there, and she will find them.” Hank wanted to interject something, and she indicated with a nod he could talk.
“You said the need was great. What need?”
She knew she was going to like Hank. Thoughtful and straight to the point. She liked that.
“Kestrel is a Druidess, like me. For those of you who don’t know what a Druid is, it is a kind of priest of nature. We were in power around 200 B.C. We tasked ourselves with the preservation and conservation of the natural world. She was under the belief nature would never be safe if civilization was around. It was her personal quest to thwart civilization wherever possible.
“To do that, she felt she needed to subjugate mankind. To do this, she created the first Trues, which she used to pass lycanthropy on to others; many times, by force. She created an army of Were-beasts.” Sylvanis recalled all this as if through another’s eyes. Though they were hers, they were also someone else’s.
“I was left with no other choice but to create my own Trues.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt,” Simon said, “but you keep referring to Trues. I think I know what you mean, but could you clarify?”
“Of course, Simon, my apologies, sometimes you assume others understand your terminology, when there is no way for you to know.” Sylvanis paused to clarify the explanation in her head before she went on.
“Trues is a term we used when we refer to the first eight who were given lycanthropy. Then there are the Pures. Those which were given lycanthropy directly from Trues. The rest are considered Weres, or those who got it from Pures. Got it?”
Glancing around, she was looking at a room of confused expressions.
“Okay. Think of it like this. Trues are like grandparents, Pures are like parents and Weres are like grandkids.”
Again, she gazed around, this time though, she saw comprehension.
“When I created my Trues, I tasked them with creating an army with which to fight Kestrel’s. I would not allow force to be used to recruit, which in some ways put us at a disadvantage. In other ways, it was a boon.”
“Well, to make a long story short, we were able to defeat Kestrel’s army, mainly by killing some of the Trues.”
“How did that help?” A voice from the back of the room made Sylvanis and the others turn.
Standing at the back of the room were two individuals. The male was tall, lanky of form yet muscular with broad shoulders. Brown unruly hair covered his head and a face which was angular with a squared chin, rounded on the edges.
The woman was a touch shorter, a fighter’s body with slim but muscular arms, not a shred of fat existed on her body as far as Sylvanis could tell. Short c
ropped tawny red hair stood upright topping a long attractive face. She gave the impression of feminine brutality- a strange contrast.
It was the male who had spoken though and was waiting for her response. He appeared ignorant of the group occupying the room, some of them rising to their feet in anticipation of violence.
Sylvanis noticed the female was aware of the possible danger and had changed her stance to square her body off towards Hank, whom she must have assumed was the worse threat. Smart girl, Sylvanis thought.
If she wasn’t missing her guess, this was Wolf and Tiger. Hands clenched tightly into fists, the Wolf stood erect and his eyes were cold rage.
“Once killed,” Sylvanis offered up. “All Pures and Weres who are recipients of his or her lycanthropy, whether directly, or indirectly, lose their ability to shift and become non-weres.”
Tension left the Wolf’s body.
“I need your help then. I need to kill the Boar; he infected my girlfriend.”
The others relaxed audibly, and perhaps for the first time; the Wolf became aware of the others in the room.
“Ah, so the Boar has awoken.” Sylvanis mused, not liking the idea that perhaps all of Kestrel’s minions’ scions were alive. At least all of hers were, it was a start.
“I will do what I can to help release your girlfriend from the Boar, though it will not be easy. Right now, Kestrel will be tracking him down, if she wasn’t the one who sent him after you in the first place. It would be like her.”
The man appeared confused. “Kestrel?”
Sylvanis closed her eyes and sighed. She had always been patient, but she found in this body things grew tiresome fast. Summarizing, she told him what she had told the others, though she didn’t elaborate as before.
“That is what we are up against,” she told him. “Kestrel will begin using her Trues to start gathering an army. Fortunately for us, but unfortunately for those who she comes across, the survivability rate is low when exposed to lycanthropy. Most perish when their bodies start to try and fight off what they believe is an infection, which ordinarily leads to heart failure.”
It was Simon who spoke up at this point. “How is it, of the two of us here who were exposed, we lived?”
“One thing Kestrel never knew, and we never told her was the bond between the two involved in the transfer somehow seems to increase the rate of survival. Also, if the person is agreeable to becoming a lycanthrope, it also increases their likelihood of survival. Or, so we believed. It was how it worked out, anyhow.” She shrugged, a slight gesture.
“So, you see? Your relationship to your father and Jason’s relationship to Stephanie was what saved you.”
Sylvanis stopped to consider something she hadn’t thought of yet and gave voice to the troubling thought.
“Of course, this was before we had real doctors and defibrillators. I am not sure what will happen now that these things are in existence. It may be possible to ensure everyone who gets lycanthropy survives.”
Sylvanis straightened her back. This was the part she dreaded from the first. She was not like Kestrel. Did not demand obedience. If these people were to help her defeat Kestrel, it would be on their terms, not hers.
“Now, here is the thing. I cannot make you help me. Nor would I want to. If you choose not to help me, I will bid you farewell, and you may go. I can tell you this, though. If Kestrel creates a strong enough army, there will not be many places to go to get away from her. So, in the end, you will have to fight or die. At least now, at this point, we have an excellent chance to stop her before she gets too strong. So, I beg of you. Please, help me defeat her.”
Taking a moment, she studied each of them, trying and make a connection, and to hopefully transmit wordlessly her dire need for their help.
No one moved. It was clear they were all digesting the information she had dumped on them and trying to make up their minds.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Hank gather himself to stand. She had faith he, at least, would help her. Before he could stand and speak, the man at the back walked forward to stand before her. The intensity in his eyes startled her, and strangely, reminded her of Calin.
“My name is Clint,” he told her, loudly for the rest of the room to hear him as well. He gave her a slight smile taking the fierceness out of his eyes. He turned to the rest of the room.
“I am also begging you for help. The woman I love is now being held against her will.” Glancing at each one as he spoke. “The only way I can save her is to defeat the monster who gave her lycanthropy. To do so, I must help defeat this Kestrel. So please, join us.” He turned back to her and moved to stand behind her, hands clasped behind him.
Hank again made to stand after lowering himself when Clint began to speak. And once again he didn’t make it up before someone else spoke up.
“Well, hey,” the woman who had come in with Clint spoke up. “I saved your ass once, Clint. I can’t have you go off by yourself and get killed now, can I?” She moved to join them. “You can count me in.”
Clint smiled at her as she approached. “Thanks, Kat.”
Sylvanis nodded at Kat as she passed her to stand next to Clint at her back.
She watched as Hank made a rush to get to his feet, determined to not let anyone speak again before him.
“Dad and I are in as well,” Simon said as Hank got fully to his feet. Hank glared down at Simon who smiled up at him mischievously. Hank snorted.
“Yeah, as Sim said, we are in,” sitting back down unceremoniously.
The room turned as one to gaze over at Stephanie and Jason, who shrank back under the scrutiny.
“Stephanie. Jason. As I said, you do not have to do this. No one will think ill of you. We all understand other people’s lives are involved, families, school and the like.” Mentioning it mainly to remind the others so they would not be angry if the two decided to go.
Stephanie stared at Jason as if searching his face for some clue as to what to do. He appeared to be doing the same. After a moment, he reached across and took her hand in his and nodded. She nodded back. Decision made.
“We will help. Though, to be honest, apart from the abilities which come with shifting, we are not fighters,” she told them.
“You could have fooled me,” Sylvanis corrected. “You saved my parents and fought off two strong Trues long enough for reinforcements to arrive. Believe me, Stephanie. If it hadn’t been for the two of you, I would have been killed, same with my parents.”
Kat took a step forward. “I can teach you how to fight. I have been training for this my whole life it would seem.”
Stephanie and Jason nodded to Kat.
Sylvanis regarded each of them again. Her smile was wide, and her heart was light.
“Okay, so I guess that is it. Thank you, all of you. You may not realize it yet, but you are not only helping me, but all of mankind by doing this.”
Smiling at the group, they smiled back at her, feeling her optimism.
It was Clint who broke the moment with a valid question.
“So, what now?”
Sylvanis pondered this. She had many ideas as to what Kestrel would do next, but one thing was more likely.
“I believe we need to try to accomplish two goals. First, we need to start gathering others who wish to join our cause. Those who wish to become lycanthropes and those who don’t. Second, we need to try and stop Kestrel from getting the rest of her minions together.”
Hank considered something.
“How did she find you? And can you not find her the same way?”
“Kestrel found me because I opened myself up to the Earth to call all of you. Normally I would hide my presence within the biosphere, but I needed to get you here and it was the only way,” she told him. “She hides herself and will continue to hide herself. We will not find her the same way. But I do believe I know how we can find her.”
“How,” Sim questioned.
Sylvanis turned to Clint. “You said you had a confr
ontation with the Boar?”
Clint nodded.
“Was it visible to the public? Did others see you?”
Again, Clint nodded.
“It is a decent chance the last remaining True out there, the Rat, has heard of it and will most likely try and find either of you. The trick is to have them find you first, not the Boar.”
“Right,” Clint agreed. “We must go back to Chicago. Which is fine with me, and it will give me another chance to kill the son of a bitch!” His anger was evident.
“There is one thing I think we should mention.” Kat chimed in.
“What is it?”
“There are three of them.”
Sylvanis was confused. “Three of whom?”
Wincing a little, Kat explained. “Three boars. One True? And two Pures?”
Sylvanis let out a breath. Bad news.
“Well,” Hank interjected, “if what Sylvanis says is true, all we have to do is take out the one and the others will lose their power. And besides, three of them can’t be all bad.”
“Four,” Clint was staring at his feet.
“Aw, shit, you’re right, Clint.” Kat granted. “There’s also Sarah.”
Clint glanced back up, tears welling in his eyes. “She wouldn’t do anything towards us, though.”
Sylvanis took a step towards him and put her hand on his arm.
“I don’t know how to tell you this, Clint, but she will not have a choice in the matter.”
Clint wiped a tear away and stared at her, hard.
“What do you mean, she won’t have a choice?”
Sylvanis searched Clint’s eyes. She didn’t want to have to tell him this, because she was all too knowledgeable of what horrible things could occur.
“A Pure is under the control of a True. They must do as the other commands. If the Boar commands her to attack us, she will be forced to do so, though she will do so halfheartedly. Another reason Kestrel’s army failed. You can command people to fight, but if it isn’t in their heart, or the cause isn’t just, they may fight, but they won’t do it well.”
Clint was staring at her, as if he hadn’t heard what she had said. She could see it in his eyes, though. He was beginning to understand all too plainly what it might mean for the Boar to have control over Sarah. What he might, no, would do to her, and make her do as well.
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