A crash and a spray of splintered wood issued from behind the warrior woman. Clawed hands reached through and jerked at the shattered plank. The beast in front of Nila rushed at the one that was tearing its way in through the wall. Nila leapt onto her side and rolled toward the place where Dom and Freddie had concealed themselves. She popped into a crouch and grabbed her injured shoulder. Her eyes studied the spectacle but she didn’t move.
Tad sprang to his feet. John-John dashed from under his haystack and into an empty stall. Freddie and Dom followed.
The wolfish intruder forced its body through the opening in the side of the barn. Two hairy forms collided. One sent the other smashing into the mare’s stall, creating a panic in the helpless animal. She shield and flashed out her hooves.
The other beast turned on Nila, whose eyes widened with panic. He right hand went for the ax lying on the ground.
Freddie rushed to the scene, a shovel in hand, and swung it at the snarling creature. “You leave our woman alone,” he cried, his little face twisted into a rage.
Dom joined him with a garden hoe and John-John with a pitchfork, and the three of them hacked, jabbed and thrust. The second beast threw itself fangs-first onto Nila’s attacker and the two thrashed and tore at each other. A shovel made contact with a skull, producing a yip from a gnashing mouth.
Nila stood on one leg, ax at the ready. “Boys, get back.”
Nan and Sev swooped down through the ceiling and circled the beasts. John-John’s pitchfork landed a blow. A howl rang out.
“Quit that. You’ll hit Hameus,” Nila cried. Her eyes worked to separate the mass of man-beast spinning and snapping in front of her.
The blade of the ax clipped the shoulder of the beast that had already suffered under John-John’s weapon. It lunged at its twin and tore into a front leg. Both beasts hobbled apart. The bloodiest one ran howling through the barn door.
Nila dropped down beside the remaining beast. “Hameus?”
The creature looked up at her and whimpered. It tried to rise but quieted as she lay a hand on its head.
“I always hoped I’d see you again.” Nila smiled down at him. “I dream about you. Remember, you saved me that night in the forest? Three times now. Don’t you see?” Her eyes shone. “You’re not a beast. You’re my hero.” She shrugged off her scarlet coat. The hairy, red fabric slipped from her shoulders. She touched the beast’s jaw and lay the coat over his hairy frame. Her fingers grasped his front paws. Her right hand traveled down his wounded leg and rested on his heart, her eyes still on his. “Hameus, they say you’re my true love, and I’d like a chance to find out if that’s the case. What do you say?” The hand on his heart moved to stroke his head. “Come back to me and we’ll find out together.”
Hameus stared into Nila’s eyes. His face jerked and contorted
Nila scooted back but whispered out, “Hameus?” Worry creased her forehead.
Man and beast struggled against one another, writhing and twitching beneath the red fabric.
Maybe using the boginn imp’s coat was a mistake. The creature had dabbled in chemistry. What if it his magic didn’t mix well with Hameus’s curse?
Hair and claw morphed into smooth flesh and human fingers until Hameus lay on the ground before them in his rightful form, stark naked except for the red coat covering his body from torso to knee. He sat up and drew the cloak around his middle. Nila smiled at him, her countenance melting into pure joy.
“It’s you…” Hameus gently touched her fingers with his and pulled her toward him.
Nila leaned in and allowed him to press a slow kiss to her lips.
Chapter 19
They all stood in the center of the barn waiting for Hameus to retrieve some of his grandfather’s clothes from the loft. Sev and Nan perched on a stall, whispering furiously to each other.
“Where were the two of you?” Tad asked the birds.
“Distracted by the howls coming from back toward the cabin,” Sev said. “Didn’t you hear them?”
Tad shook his head. “We were a little busy in here.”
“I went to investigate but I didn’t find anything lurking around the cabin or in the woods,” Sev said.
“Your imagination?” Tad said. “Both beasts were in here.”
Sev looked sideways at him. “I know what I heard.”
Hameus climbed down the ladder fully dressed in pants that were too long, a button-up shirt that was to small, and a wool coat that was too big for him. “It’s a good thing Gram thought to hide these out here.” He looked down at his clothes. “I never told her I knew exactly what she did with my grampappie’s things. She just couldn’t bear to get rid of anything of his, but didn’t want me to know how she misses him. She thought she hid from me real good when she’d sneak up here and dig through all his old stuff.” He hopped from the second step to the ground. “They’re a little big but better than walking around in the nude.” He grinned at Nila and held out the red coat to her.
“How’s your arm?” Nila asked, transferring the coat to Tad in a single, fluid motion. But her eyes remained on her hero.
Hameus looked down at his left appendage. “It’ll heal.” He pulled his lady into his arms.
She winced as her weight shifted to her injured foot.
“Sorry, love,” Hameus said and scooped her up.
“I broke your curse. I believe that means I own you,” Nila said with grin.
“From the moment I saw you, so alone and fascinating standing there in the moonlight, looking like my favorites star in all the sky.” Hameus brushed his lips across her cheek. “I knew you were beautiful even before I saw your face.”
The three boys frowned as they watched the pair kiss.
“We saw her first,” John-John mumbled. His little face twisted into a pout.
“Something still isn’t right,” Nan said.
“Yes, where is Pip?” Tad asked. “I have a thing or two to say to him about letting these boys get themselves in the middle of this case.”
“The black bird?” Freddie said. “Getting away from him was easy. First he talked and talked, and then we fed him some crème tart and that put him to sleep.”
“Forget Pip,” Nan said. “I warned you he is not suitable to look after children, but…I sense we have not unraveled the final mystery of this case.”
So Nan was the worrier. “What more could there be? The Lady said to avenge them for their loss and we have. I will record the case in the register, the Chassiri will go after Dame Muriel, as you said, and these two lovebirds will be married.”
“As soon as possible,” Hameus groaned out and gave his lady a kiss on the neck. “I’m done being a confirmed bachelor.”
Nila pushed his head back and looked into his eyes. “Was that a proposal?”
“Um…yes.”
“Then I accept.” She pulled his head back into her neck.
Tad shrugged and turned up his palms in reply to Nan’s woeful musings. “See?”
But Nan wasn’t looking at him. “We did not slay the beast.”
Hameus lifted his lips from where they had made their way up to Nila’s. “John-John and I got her good. She won’t be back. But which of you hit me in the head with…it must have been a shovel?”
Dom and John-John pointed to Freddie, who looked away.
“She?” Nan said.
“Yes, the other beast that looked like me was the female variety. Strong, though, just like my woman here.” Color rose in his cheeks as he looked at his ladylove.
Sev eyed Nan. “You think there’s still unfinished business?”
“I believe so,” Nan answered.
“There was no curse on Nila,” Tad said. “The whole thing was a trick to get her to come here and hunt Hameus.” Even he had figured that out.
Hameus’s brow furrowed. “Somebody will have to fill me in on what I missed. I don’t care much about that at the moment, but…later.” He aimed his puckered lips at Nila again.
“A
nd yet…” Concern pooled in Nan’s tiny, black eyes. “So much trouble to punish Hameus for killing the wolf, and then to just disappear? Plus the howls Sev heard. The beast may have been injured but I don’t believe it just gave up. I think it was calling for help when it ran off. The blood moon is still in effect and I can’t imagine Dame Muriel will let it pass without another attempt at vengeance.”
“Then we’d better get these two someplace safe,” Tad said. And he was tired of watching them smooch and coo.
“I take it you really are a mythical creature sent by Lady Love to get me?” Hameus said with an amused look at Tad.
“Obviously I am not any kind of mythical thing.”
“You can’t blame me for thinking so. The old biddies in Gram’s sewing circle told stories about you, how you come to make bachelors like me get married if we say we’ll never fall in love. Who could believe a story like that? They said you were devious, but I must say I’m happy with your work.” Hameus laughed at his own words and squeezed Nila. She rested her hand on his chest as he dipped his head down to give her another sweet kiss on the lips.
“Devious? What did they say about me, exactly?” Anger stirred in Tad’s stomach. No wonder Hameus disapproved of those old gossips. And they hadn’t offered Lady Love’s agent any breakfast, either.
Hameus finished his kiss but was still staring into Nila’s eyes. “Huh?” he grunted as if Tad’s question had just reached his ears. “Oh, well they said we should avoid you if ever we came across you, that you’d mix up a love potion or put a hex on me. And by them, I mean Ulga, with Connie nodding. Those two seem to have one mind. But Gram must have decided my condition was worth risking having you involved.” He chuckled. “Even if what the old biddies said is true, I’m mighty satisfied to stay potioned or hexed.” He turned a besotted smile on Nila.
“Oh…” Nan paced to and fro on the top of a stall. If she had hands, she would have been wringing them. “Rumors, terror, deception…knitting…”
“What are you mumbling about?” Tad asked. He put on his biggest smile. “We solved the case.”
Nan ignored him completely. “Nila, your betrothed…Jandar…Did he happen to be mute?”
Nila turned her eyes up toward the rafters. “I spent as little time with him as possible, but he never did speak, just grunted like the giant, lumbering fool that he was.” She laughed. “But that would make sense if he was really the beast himself and not a man…” Her eyebrows drew together and her smile vanished.
“And Hameus, Gram said that as soon as you were dressed after recovering from your transformation, your memory of the event vanished, and so did your memory of Nila.” Nan’s voice trailed away. “Oh my.” She continued to pace.
Sev stared at the she-bird. “Are you thinking…?” His voice was uncharacteristically high-pitched.
Tad looked back and forth between the pair of pigeons. What could they be babbling about now?
“Yes.” Nan nodded repeatedly. Her eyes flashed to Tad. “Get Hameus’s ax. Gram is in mortal peril.”
When Tad did not budge, Nan swooped down on him and pecked at his behind.
“Ouch! Nan, what are you…?” Tad swatted at the fat bird but hastily retrieved the ax from the ground.
“All of you, to the cabin, now,” Nan screeched.
Her tone had everyone scrambling out the barn door. She chased the lot of them down the path to the cabin, the fading light making it hard to spot her until a beak nipped at a bottom. The party stampeded up the steps and across the porch.
But the door of the cabin was barred from the inside.
“Break it down,” Nan cried.
Hameus dumped Nila into Tads arms with a, “Sorry, love,” and snatched the ax that dropped onto the porch planks. Tad sank to the ground under the she-warrior’s weight.
Hameus bashed at the cabin door. A wolfish snout snapped through the opening he had made. With one smooth motion, Hameus brought the edge of his ax down between the creature’s eyes. A beastly shriek sounded from inside, but the hairy form stuck in the door sank to the ground and flopped out of view.
Hameus shoved his way through what remained of the cabin door and charged inside. “Get away from her!”
Howls and yips radiated from inside the cabin. Tad and Nila scrambled to their feet. Tad dashed himself through the door. Nila hobbled in after him, shouting orders over her shoulder for the boys to stay outside.
Tad’s stomach tightened at the spectacle in front of him. Dame Muriel stood over Gram in her true terrorizing form, wearing her scarlet cloak and a blighting expression. The silver pendant had returned to its place around her neck. Gram seemed to have been lashed down to her chair, her whole body frigid, though there was no sign of natural bonds. Her mouth was open and little gasps of air came out. Terror flickered in her eyes.
Two wolf pups that appeared to still be wet from their birthing stood at Dame Muriel’s heels. They turned snarling lips and red eyes on Hameus, who was just pulling his ax from the side of a huge black wolf that lay in a pool of crimson on the floor.
“Not again!” Dame Muriel shrieked and turned her malignant eyes from the wolf to Hameus.
“The Chassiri have got your scent, Muriel!” Nan’s voice called out. There was no bird chirp or tweet in her tone, but only fire and windstorm. “You’re reign of terror is at an end!”
Dame Muriel’s advance on Hameus stopped. Her eyes flashed around the upper regions of the cabin. She hissed at Hameus, scooped up the two wolf pups, and hurled herself head-first at the window. The piece of leather gave way and the witch’s body sailed through the opening and out into the darkness. The expected sound of her crashing to the ground did not manifest. She was simply gone.
“What?” Freddie whimpered. He and the other boys stood just outside and for once appeared to have nothing to say as they peered around the room.
Hameus was at his grandmother’s side in three strides. “Gram?”
Nan swooped in over the boys’ heads, through the opening that used to be a door, and landed on Gram’s chair. “She’s under Muriel’s terror spell. But how?” The she-bird paced to and fro on top of the chair. “These are the same clothes she had on when we left her.” Her eyes found the basket of food Ulga had brought. “Did Gram eat any of that?”
Tad nodded. “So did I.” Piping hot cider and biscuits, Ulga was Dame Muriel?
“Well, we’ll just have to wait until the spell wears off, then,” Nan said. “That’s safer than trying to counter it.”
“It couldn’t have been the food. Why didn’t it do that to me?” Tad rubbed his tummy.
“How much did you eat?” Sev asked.
Tad held up his forefinger and thumb. “Just a small morsel.” He looked at the empty basket. “Gram must have eaten the rest.”
“Did you not feel afraid after you had eaten it?” Nan asked.
“Yes, actually. I thought I might not make it to the barn.” Relief swept through him at the admission. He was not a coward, then. It was just a spell. “So was Ulga Dame Muriel?”
“Yes,” Nan said. “It was her all along, all these years plotting and getting herself right inside this cabin. And that Connie lady was one of her wolves, and the same masqueraded as Jandar.”
“But my betrothed was a man,” Nila said. “Does that mean there’s a third beast out there?”
“The beast was just a disguise,” Nan said. “Muriel is rather gifted with those. The person you knew as Jandar but never spoke was her other wolf child that also transformed into Connie and into the she-beast we saw tonight, the same that appeared to you so that it looked as if Jandar had been eaten. Then Muriel masquerading as his mother, the hag, lied to you saying there was a betrothal bond in place so you would hunt down and kill the beast, which would turn out to be Hameus. I believe it was Rune who disguised himself as an elf and gave you the cloak and silver-tipped arrows, though. The elf is his favorite costume.” Her eyes landed on Tad’s grumpy face. “Yes, we were listening outside the d
oor.”
But Tad was no longer concerned that the pigeons spied on his conversations and walked through walls. In icy tremor rushed through him at the thought of Rune being involved in the case. “Might the elf have been another one of Dame Muriel’s offspring?” he asked, hoping mightily that it was so.
“Dame Muriel has two offspring at a time, one male and one female, and neither can speak,” Nan replied. “The first wolf Hameus killed was the son and that one…” She looked at the slain beast lying on the cabin floor. “That’s the daughter, Nila’s betrothed, who was also Connie. Muriel used a true love curse on Hameus, so seeking out Rune to orchestrate part of the plan would have been a natural course of action. His magic against true love is many times more powerful than hers. Still, the Lady’s arrow prevailed, with a little help from us.”
“But now Dame Muriel’s got two new wolf children,” Sev said. “I’m just glad I didn’t have to witness them coming into the world. Poor Gram must have gotten an eyeful, though.” He bestowed the old lady a look of pity, but she continued to stare up at the ceiling with hardly a blink interrupting her stupefied expression.
“Hopefully the Chassiri get the witch and her wolves,” Tad said, brightening at the thought of these magical helpers. “They must be very powerful if Dame Muriel is afraid of them.”
Nan appeared not to have heard his plea for more information. Nila and Hameus bore confused looks at the conversation but they didn’t make any inquiries. The boys stood just outside, craning their necks over the threshold but keeping their feet firmly on the porch. Their little faces crinkled up at the sight of the slain wolf.
“The Chassiri will keep her on the run, for sure,” Sev said. “Her trail of magic is still hot so we had better get back to record the case soon.”
Going home? Case over? Music to Tad’s weary soul.
Hameus shook his head. “You mean Ulga and Connie, the old biddies in my Gram’s sewing circle, they were the fairy godmother who cursed me and her wolf child all along? You folks have got to fill me in.”
“Muriel is a witch and not a fairy godmother at all,” Nan replied. “Just another one of her disguises.”
At First Sight Page 13