The Werewolves of Nottinghill

by J. J. Thompson

  “You did not,” he muttered to himself.

  The men found Tom standing by the open hatch leading down into the castle. The guardsman smiled in relief as he spotted Malcolm, but he looked concerned when he saw Aiden carrying Barnaby in his arms.

  “What happened?” Tom asked them. “Was the youngster hurt in battle or...?”

  “No, we had a little trouble with our landing when we Gated back,” Malcolm told him with a little laugh. “Barnaby's leg's broken but it's nothing that Katherine can't fix. How are you and the others doing?”

  The guardsman's hair wasn't red like the mage's, but his face was covered with more freckles. Aiden noticed just how pale Tom was beneath those freckles as the man answered Malcolm.

  “Frankly, we're in a bad way,” Tom told them. “Between the handful of elves and our few remaining guards, we're able to cover most of the entrances to the castle, but not all of them. I think that we could hold out for a long time against the goblins, but those ogres are going to force their way in soon, just like they did at the main gates.”

  He looked soberly from Malcolm to Aiden and back again.

  “I think that we're done, commanders,” he said flatly. “We're trapped like rats in here and the mages are all too exhausted to transport us to safety. This may be our last stand.”

  Malcolm glared at the man in fury.

  “This is not 'our last stand',” he declared angrily. “God damn it, Tom, they're just goblins! And at their core, goblins are cowards, each and every one of them. Kill enough of the little cockroaches and the rest will turn and run. You know that!”

  “I do,” Tom replied, nodding. “And if it was just them, I wouldn't be as worried, although there are a hell of a lot of them. But those ogres are different. They're like tanks. We can't touch them through their armor, no matter what we throw at them. Hell, we even turned the ballistae on them when they smashed thought the gates. All that happened was that we knocked them on their asses. Then they got up and kept coming. Spells bounce off of them. Arrows too. Plus, there's that wizard out there somewhere. He's the one that sprang the trap on Chase and her archers, you know. At least that's what the Elder, Dianis, said. And as long as the head rat lives, his troops won't stop their attack.”

  Aiden had only been listening with one ear as he considered their options. Now he stepped forward and nodded down at Barnaby.

  “Tom, can you take our young mage inside? Katherine can work on him and at least ease his pain for now.”

  “Um, sure,” Tom replied in surprise. “You're not coming?”

  “No, I think that Mal and I have business elsewhere.”

  Tom gently took the unconscious mage from Aiden and seemed to understand what the man meant to do.

  “You're going to take a walk on the wild side?” he asked with a crooked grin.

  Aiden laughed and even Malcolm managed to smile at the man.

  “You could say that. We have to stop those ogres, obviously,” Aiden told him. “After that, I don't know. Try to find the wizard, I suppose. Tell Tamara what we're doing, would you? I don't suppose that she'll be able to help in any way, but if she can, we'd appreciate it.”

  “I will.”

  He took a step toward the hatch, turned back and looked at the men.

  “Good luck, commanders,” Tom said. “Please don't throw your lives away if you can help it. We'll need you both if we make it through this.”

  “If we can't save our people, there won't be any reason to make it through, will there?” Malcolm told him. Then he smiled at the man. “Now get inside and take care of Barnaby. And take care of the others as well.”

  “With my life,” Tom promised them.

  They waited until the guardsman had disappeared down the steps inside the hatch and then closed it behind him.

  “We're taking on the ogres?” Malcolm asked eagerly as he followed Aiden.

  “Seems like the best plan, don't you think?” Aiden replied. “Stop the biggest threats first and then work our way down from there.”

  “Works for me.”

  They hurried toward the western side of the roof where it overlooked the courtyard. When they got there, both men knelt down and peered carefully over the edge.

  The courtyard looked like a war zone. All of the small buildings that the craftsmen had built had been smashed to rubble. Malcolm saw the debris of the smithy and he cursed softly.

  “Daniel isn't going to be happy,” he muttered. “He loved his little shop.”

  “So did I,” Aiden replied. “Bastards. There was no reason to tear down those buildings. Just maliciousness.”

  Below them were the main doors into the castle and that is where the ogres were gathered.

  “Wow. They really are tanks, aren't they?” Malcolm said as he saw the six armored monsters smashing at the doors.

  There wasn't enough room for them to use a ram, or maybe the ogres were just too stupid to try. Instead, they were bashing at the heavy doors with their fists. Even so, the doors wouldn't last much longer.

  Dozens of goblins were rampaging around the courtyard, breaking anything that hadn't already been destroyed. On the walls, Aiden saw even more of them. Fortunately the roof was a couple of stores higher than the battlements and the enemy couldn't see them.

  “They've destroyed the ballistae,” he noted as he stood up.

  He began removing his chain-mail tunic and Malcolm got up and did the same.

  “That's all they know how to do,” the big man told him. “Evil, spiteful animals. The perfect tool for the dark gods.”

  Aiden kicked off his boots and unbuckled his sword belt.

  “Agreed. Well, if we can break some of their toys, that should piss off the lords of Chaos, don't you think?”

  Malcolm grinned at him as he dropped his own belt.

  “Oh yeah. You ready?”

  Aiden smiled, finally allowing his rage to take over.

  “First kill is mine,” he said with a chuckle.

  “You wish.”

  The men exchanged a last, long look and, as one, turned and leaped off of the roof. As they fell like twin meteors toward the ogres below, they unleashed the monsters within and howled in fury.

  Tamara smiled at a little boy who was clinging to his mother. All of the castle's children were gathered together in the main hall and their parents were trying to calm and reassure them. But an atmosphere of dread permeated the castle and several of the youngest children were crying.

  The mage sighed and walked over to the conference table, looking around at the others gathered there.

  The Elders had been inside of the castle when the attack began and had survived. Now the three of them sat together and spoke softly in Elvish. Tamara could see the same exhaustion on their faces that the rest of them were feeling.

  Chase was lying on a mattress against the wall close to the roaring fireplace. Katherine, who was in constant motion as she moved around the hall from one patient to the next, had done all that she could for the captain. But Chase's wounds had been many and deep and the cleric had told the Elders that she held out little hope that the captain would survive the night.

  A dozen more mattresses had been dragged into the hall for other injured people, all of them guardsmen. None were as badly injured at Chase was, but Katherine was being kept busy caring for them. Tamara could see that the woman was in her element as a healer and her caring nature seemed to help her patients as much as her powers of healing. She was also keeping the spirits of the children up as much as possible and the entire room was calmer for her presence.

  Sebastian sat next to his sister and, like Sylvie and Veronique who were sitting further down the table, looked as pale and drained as Tamara had ever seen him. She was relieved that none of them were wounded, but all of them, including herself, were almost powerless after their attempts to stop the ogres from breaking through the main gate.

  Chao sat alone at the end of the table, close to the fireplace. Ellas was sitting on his should
er, her wings drooping dispiritedly. She was talking to the summoner, speaking directly into his ear, but Chao kept shaking his head and he seemed to be doing his best to ignore her.

  Two guards were stationed at each entrance into the hall and, as Tamara sat down heavily at the table, she heard the pair at the main doors speaking to someone out in the hallway beyond.

  “Now what?” Sebastian asked thinly. “Surely the ogres haven't broken in yet?”

  “It is only a matter of time, my friends,” Dianis told them bluntly. “Elves aren't fatalistic by nature, but we are realists and we see no way out of this situation.”

  Tamara shook her head.

  “I refuse to accept that, Elder,” she replied sharply. “And I will fight to save my people with my last breath. It can't end like this. Humanity has survived for a decade against everything that the dark gods can throw at us and we will survive this as well.”

  “I hope that you are right, lady mage,” Shendal said, his voice wavering weakly. “I only wish that there was more that we could do to help you.”

  “You have lost many elves on our behalf, sir,” Sebastian told the elf. “You have done all that you can. Our fate is now in our own hands and we will have to save ourselves, if we can.”

  The main doors opened as the guards there pulled them back and everyone at the conference table turned to look in that direction.

  Tamara pushed herself to her feet as she recognized the man who stepped into the hall, carrying someone in his arms.

  “Tom!” she exclaimed. “Is that Barnaby? What's happened?”

  Katherine hurried across the room and led Tom to the closest empty mattress. The man gently lowered Barnaby on to the pallet and then stepped back to let the cleric do her work.

  He turned and walked over to Tamara. He slammed his fist to his chest in a salute and nodded at the others around the table.

  “Barnaby managed to transport Malcolm and Aiden back to Nottinghill,” he reported. “Unfortunately, he had a bit of a rocky landing and broke his leg, but I think that he'll be okay.”

  “He got them back?” Tamara looked back at her brother and he grinned wanly and gave her a thumbs-up.

  “We weren't sure if Barnaby could actually make it,” Sebastian said. “He volunteered to go, but still, it was a long shot. So where are our two burly friends now?”

  “Fighting the ogres,” Tom said simply.

  “What? All by themselves?”

  The entire group around the table were caught by surprise by Tom's statement.

  “What can two warriors, even ones as strong and skilled as Malcolm and Aiden, do against those beasts?” Dianis wondered. “Not to mention the hundreds of goblins out there and their wizard, wherever he is?”

  “Not two warriors, Elder,” Tom reminded her. “Two werewolves.”

  He smiled and shook his head.

  “There are people in this castle who were afraid when we learned of their curse. Well, that curse may actually save their lives. And if it does, the next person to bad mouth the commanders in my presence will regret it.”

  Tamara nodded at him and patted the man on the shoulder.

  “Take a seat, Tom. You should rest while you can.”

  She turned around and sat down again as Tom made his way down the table and sat next to Veronique, who leaned over and began speaking to him quietly.

  “As for us,” Tamara said to the other leaders, “We can't just let Malcolm and Aiden fight against our enemies alone. Surely there is something that we can do to help them?”

  “Of course there's something that can be done, if this foolish man would allow me to do it!”

  Chapter 24

  Everyone looked down the table at Ellas, who had sprung up from Chao's shoulder and was now hovering over his head.

  “What you are asking for is not something that I can give,” he told the sprite angrily as he looked up at her. “It could upset the fundamental balance of this entire planet. Don't you understand that? Why must you be so obtuse about this?”

  Ellas swooped down until she was an inch away from Chao's face. She shook an angry finger at him and, to his credit, the man did not even flinch.

  “I am not obtuse. And stop using words that you think I won't understand. You have a chance to save your people, you foolish man, and you are worried about balance?”

  She shot up over his head again and pointed around the room at the children clinging to their parents.

  “Would you allow your so-called moral objections to stop you from saving them?” she asked Chao in obvious fury. “Do you know what the goblins will do to them when they get in here? To all of your people? If you will not take a risk to save yourself, will you not do it for the children?”

  Tamara stood up so quickly that she knocked over her chair. Sebastian stared at her in surprise, but she ignored him. The mage strode down the length of table until she stood a few feet away from Chao and Ellas and she glared at both of them.

  “Be quiet!” she exclaimed angrily. “Both of you! You're arguing like petulant children while our world falls apart around us and I've had enough of it. Chao, tell me what is going on, and be quick about it. We have very little time left.”

  Ellas began speaking and Tamara glowered at her.

  “Silence! You'll get your chance to speak when Chao is done. Understood?”

  The sprite stared at the mage, wide-eyed, and then nodded meekly.

  “Good. Chao, go.”

  The summoner sighed and rubbed his eyes.

  “Excuse my bad manners, Tamara,” he said in embarrassment. “I did not mean to make such a display in public.”

  “You're excused,” the mage said impatiently. “Now, what is going on here?”

  “Well, as you may or may not know, Ellas is no mere sprite. She is, um, well...”

  “I am their queen,” Ellas said loftily.

  Tamara glared at her and the sprite covered her mouth with both hands.

  “Sorry,” she said, her voice muffled by her fingers.

  “As I was saying,” Chao continued. “She is indeed the leader of her people. And because she is, she's the one sprite that I have been able to summon consistently over the past several years. She is naturally the most powerful and clever of her kind and she was able to pierce the hostile magics of the dark gods that surround this world fairly easily, something that other sprites could not do. ”

  Ellas seemed surprised by Chao's description of her and she lowered her hands, clearly speechless for a change.

  “Very well. I understand so far,” Tamara told him. “So what were you two arguing about? And what is this fear that you seem to have of disturbing the natural balance? It seems to me that the world is fairly unbalanced as it is.”

  “That is true. However, what Ellas proposes is something that could be very dangerous to the Earth.”

  He took a deep breath.

  “With my help, she wants to open the way for all of her people to return to the world. They were pulled away from the planet ages ago, during the upheaval of the Divine War, when the gods flung each other into the Void. Well, now they want to return.”

  He looked closely at Tamara.

  “Do you understand? All of them want to come back.”

  The mage was perplexed and glanced between Chao and Ellas.

  “And why is that a bad thing? Couldn't they help us against the goblins?”

  “Of course we could,” Ellas said, breaking her silence. “My people could tear those beasts apart, including their nasty wizard. But Chao will not agree to act as an anchor so that I can open the way for my kind.”

  Tamara ignored the sprite's interruption and looked at Chao curiously.

  “Why?” she asked. “Why would you refuse to let Ellas help us? Chao, we are looking at the possible extinction of the human race!”

  “Yes, I know,” he said quickly. “But you don't understand. You've known Ellas, of course, but not all of her kind are as helpful and, well, as good, as she is. There a
re others: dark fairies, Red Caps, the Sluagh, evil hags; the list goes on and on. We would be allowing these creatures to return to the Earth as well and, believe me, they would bring chaos with them.”

  Ellas rolled her eyes, but Tamara looked at her doubtfully.

  “Is he right, Ellas? Are some of your people evil?”

  “Hmph! Of course not. Well, not really. They are, let us say, mischievous more than they are evil. Yes, I will admit that I am not fond of all of them, but are all of your people virtuous and good, lady mage? The point is that those who think like me, who want to help your race, far outnumber any of the more malicious fay. We will deal with them should they attempt to do harm to you and yours, I assure you. But that is a worry for some future day. Right now, we can save this castle and your future. Is that not worth some risk?”

  “There is one more thing that you should know,” Chao said to Tamara. “And then I will leave this decision in the hands of the Council; it should not be mine alone. But I must warn you that there is something else that Ellas' people will bring back to the world.”

  “Which is?”

  “Magical energy. Like the dragons, the fay exude magic by their very presence. And if all of them return? The world will become thick with that energy.”

  “And that's a bad thing?” Sebastian asked from where he was sitting.

  “It might be,” Chao replied, glancing up the table at him. “Because, while we will all benefit from having access to more magical power, so too will our enemies. We know that the goblins have mages and wizards, of course, but there are other enemies out there who will be empowered as well. Others that we haven't even encountered yet. That is something to consider going forward.”

  “I understand your concern, Chao,” Tamara told him thoughtfully. “And I appreciate it. But right now we cannot take the long view. We must survive first and then, well, we'll deal with what the world throws at us in the future once we're sure that we still have one.”

  She walked back to her chair, picked it up and sat down again.

  “All of you heard that,” she said as she looked down the table. “We may have a way to beat back the goblins, at least for now, but there are risks involved and so this decision must be made by the entire Council, including our allies,” she added with a nod at the Elders.