by Mac Flynn
We were winning, but things weren't won yet.
CHAPTER 4
The werewolves I had tackled didn't stayed down for long, but Hazel took care of them. With a quick swing of her hand she tossed the projectiles at the werewolves, and they munched on the treats. One of the small objects rolled onto the deck and into my foot. I picked it up and frowned. It looked like a simple acorn. Hazel's magical acorns did the trick, though.
In a few moments half the crew were writhing on the ground clutching at their throats and returning back to their normal, swearing selves. The ones that remained surrounded Erik, and included Captain Black.
I saw Methuselah appear from the shadows behind Erik and jump at the remaining cannibalistic werewolves. His first target was the captain. Methuselah took on his shadowy form and engulfed our old ally.
"No!" Marge screamed. She rushed forward and jumped into the mess of darkness.
Methuselah reverted back to his solid form, and he and Marge tumbled from the darkness and crashed into the wall leading to the captain's cabin. Captain Black himself was intact, blood and all, but he swayed from side to side, and I noticed there were a few bite marks on his throat from fangs. I clasped the acorn tightly in my hand and rushed over to him. I slammed the nut into his partially open mouth and spoke the words.
"Taste fresh no more after you eat this core!" I shouted.
He snapped his jaws shut, but I didn't see him swallow and there wasn't any sign of transformation. He snarled and tried to grab me. I stumbled back and Erik slid between us. Erik punched his hand into Black's mouth and spoke the words.
"Taste fresh no more after you eat this core!"
Black's eyes widened and he stumbled backwards clutching at his throat. He fell to his knees, and I was relieved to watch his transformation return him to his normal grumpy old self. In a moment he was his curmudgeon old self, and he looked around in bewilderment.
"What in all the seven seas happened?" he spoke aloud. His eyes fell on us, and he raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing here?"
"Saving your skin!" Marge snapped as she extracted herself from her minor brawl with Methuselah. She marched over to the captain and slapped him in the face so hard that his head snapped to one side. "That's for going off and doing something stupidly brave!" She grabbed him by the shoulders, lifted them onto his feet and pressed her lips against his in a passionate kiss. When they broke apart, both of them were breathless. "And that's for doing the heroic deed."
I didn't get a chance to tease them before the fight took precedence.
"A little assistance!" Hazel yelled.
There was still a few of Captain Black's men to take care of, and some of them had figured out that Hazel was a source of trouble for their cannibalistic companions. They surrounded her and threatened her with their gnashing teeth and sharp claws.
"Belay that, mates!" the captain ordered them.
"They won't listen to you!" Marge told him.
Erik and Marge rushed forward and slammed her shoulders into the crew. The werewolves stumbled back, and Hazel to the opportunity to toss them their little doggie treats. They snapped up the nuts like they were steaks, and each in turn clutched at their throat. In a few moments the remainder of Captain Black's crew were their normal selves.
The captain himself turned to us and frowned. "Now will you tell me what happened?" His eyes turned to Erik and me, and he jerked his head to Marge. "Last I knew you were blustery going with her."
Erik put his hand on the captain shoulders shoulder and smiled. "The plan never changed, but can you tell us we last remember?"
The captain furrowed his brow and rubbed his chin. "Well, we were sailing past Market Island to the Den when-" he paused and his eyes widened, "-when those damn boats came up and boarded us! They started showing things into our mouths and the men changed into these monsters!"
"They fed you werewolf meat," Erik revealed.
Captain Black's lips curled up in a snarl. "The monsters."
The sound of a cannon interrupted our reunion. The ball itself fell short of our left side by ten feet. Erik and the captain flew to that side and leaned over the railing.
"That's my own ship firing on me!" the captain yelled.
"The men on the other ships are still controlled by Blackwood," Erik explained. He looked to Hazel. "Is there any way you can spread out your magic to them?"
Hazel frowned and tilted her head up to look at the crow's nest above us. "I would need to get up there, and your help in tossing the nuts would be useful."
Erik strode over to her and picked her up. He hefted her over one shoulder and moved over to the main rigging post.
"I'm not a sack of potatoes!" Hazel growled.
I folded my arms across my chest. "That's what I keep trying to tell him."
Erik climbed the mast as Captain Black turned to his befuddled crew.
"Man of the canons!" he yelled at them. "If what they're doing doesn't work then we'll have to fire!"
"On our own ships?" one of his men asked him.
Captain Black snarled at him. "You've got a better idea?"
The man shook his head and joined his fellow sailors in preparing the canons for use. While they prepared for the worst I tilted my head back and watched Erik and Hazel reached the crow's nest. They slipped inside the over sized bucket and looked out on the other five ships. I saw Hazel pass something to Erik, and they pulled back their arms. My ears picked up on the incantation as they both threw the nuts to the other ships. Half of Hazel's tosses fell short and into the water, but Erik's aim was true. The acorns landed on the deck of the other ships and the cannibalistic werewolves scrambled to chomp up the strange little treats. In a few moments all the canons silenced. All we heard were the engines of the motorboats. The captain, Marge, and I looked over the railing at the other ships.
Black grinned. "Whatever they did, it's worked," he commented. He stepped away from the railing and hitched up his belt before he turned to us. "Now if that mess is over do you mind telling me what's happened?"
Unfortunately, there was still the motorboats to contend with, and we heard the sounds of gunfire between the sailing ships. We rushed to the edge and looked over the railing. Greg had his hands full with all the small boats as they chased him between the hulls of the larger ships. The foes on board the motor boats weren't cannibalistic, and they fired at him from their bows.
Captain Black whipped his head to his crew and pointed at the boats beneath us. "Get the whiskey barrels ready!"
The men looked at each other, and one of them stepped forward. "The whiskey barrels, captain?"
"That's what I said, now do it!" Black growled.
"But the whiskey, Captain!" another of them spoke up.
"We'll be getting that and more if we rid ourselves of all these varmints for Lord Greenwood!" the captain yelled at them.
There is nothing as motivating to a sailor as the promise of a large quantity of alcohol. The men grabbed the barrels from beneath the deck and rolled them to either side of the ship so they stood against the railing. Captain Black leaned over one side and frowned.
"Now we've got to get him to pass by the ship." He looked to me and Erik who had newly rejoined us. "Any idea how to get him here?"
Erik's reply was to tilt back his head and let out a long, loud, clear howl that reverberated through the air. In a moment Greg steered his boat beside Captain Black's ship with the small armada of motorboats behind him.
"To this side, men!" Captain Black yelled at his crew.
All the barrels were rolled onto the side same as where Greg sped past. Captain Black held up his hand. "Wait for it," he ordered them. Greg's motorboat sped past our position with his foes in hot pursuit. The captain threw down his arm. "Now!"
The men picked up the barrels and heaved them over the side of the ship. The heavy casks crashed down onto the motorboats below us. They crushed our foes and broke holes through the bottoms of the vessels. In a moment the boats were either
without pilots, or sinking, or in some cases both. The werewolves floundered in the waves between the sailing ships.
Black looked to Erik and jerked his head towards our floundering foes. "Should we let them sink?"
Erik closed his eyes and shook his head. "No, or we would be as bad as Blackwood."
Captain Black frowned, but turned to his crew. "Drag out those rats before they drowned," he ordered them.
While his crew fished out our foes the other sailors on the ships hailed us. One of the adjoining ship's captain cupped his hands over his mouth and called to us across the waters. "What happened? How did we get here?"
"It's a long story!" Captain Black shouted back. "Get the others over here and we'll hear it."
Within an hour all the commanders of the ships were in Captain Blacks quarters along with everyone in our group, even Methuselah. The werewolf commanders glared at him, and one of them jerked there thumb towards our resident vampire.
"What is a thing like that doing here?" he asked the captain.
"He's as much a thorn in Blackwood side as we are, and that makes anybody welcome," the captain replied.
"If a vampire is involved then what about us getting to the Den?" another spoke up.
"That plan hasn't changed," Erik told them. He stepped into the midst of our group and looked at all the curious faces, mine included. "We will endeavor to take the Den from my cousin."
"Wait a sec," I interrupted the meeting. I looked around at all the sailors. "What exactly happened to you guys?"
Captain Black snarled. "We were ambushed and island away from the Old Den," he explained. He pointed down at the map on the table in the center of us. "It was at Market Island that those damned motorboats came upon us and their crew boarded us. We would've been a match for them if they hadn't started stuffing our faces with those pieces of meat and turned us against each other."
"It was the flesh of other werewolves that they fed you," Greg revealed to the sailors.
Several of them snarled, and a dark shadow passed over Captain Black's face.
"Those monsters!" he snarled.
"But where's Draco, your second mate?" I persisted.
Black snorted. "I wasn't going to have the wrath of his mate on me head if he was killed, so I forced him overboard into a boat so he could get back." Black closed his eyes and shook his head. "I don't know what happened to him after that. Hearing what that meat was about I'm glad I did."
"Our foes are desperate enough to do anything to defeat us," Erik agreed. "But we have also determination on our side, and we know our purpose is true and good."
Marge snorted. "I hate to remind you, but Blackwood has the upper hand. He's probably already reached Wolf Island and might've killed everyone on it."
Hazel marched forward and stopped in front of Marge. She stuck her face into that of the werewolf. "Sandra would never let herself be killed!"
Marge jerked her head towards Methuselah. "He said she wouldn't lift a finger to save us. What makes you think she's going to save herself?"
"I don't know anything about her saving anybody else, but I know she's not dead!" Hazel insisted. "Everyone on this lake would know if someone killed her!"
Erik raised an eyebrow. "How so?"
Hazel turned to him, and looked him up and down. "When someone with magic dies the magic inside of them is released. If Sandra was killed, she would have enough magic inside of herself to light up the sky over this lake."
"Wait, so a witch's last act is to be a light show?" I spoke up.
Hazel sneered at me. "It isn't for anyone's benefit but nature. The magic inside of us returns to the ground spreads out for future generations to claim."
"That's all nice and dandy, but that still doesn't get us any closer to repaying Blackwood for what he did to us," Captain Black interrupted us.
"The captain does have a point," Greg agreed. "I do not believe a plan to assault the Den would work."
Erik pursed his lips and grudgingly nodded as he looked over the map of the lake. "I must agree. Unfortunately, no one has ever taken the Den by force."
"Then maybe he hasn't taken it yet," Marge suggested.
Erik shook his head. "I'm sure the guards inside and around the Den helped him gain entrance."
I looked over the map, particularly the area of Wolf Island. I traced a line along the rocky outer part of the small bit of land. My eyes widened as a memory hit me. I whipped my head to Erik.
"What about the Diggers?" I asked him.
Erik raised an eyebrow, which was soon joined by a smile. "That is an interesting suggestion."
"Diggers?" Marge repeated.
I turned to her and grinned. "There are a bunch of over sized rats that live beneath the Den. They've promised to protect the werewolves."
"But that was before Blackwood created a wedge between their people and my family," Erik reminded me.
I folded my arms across my chest and frowned at him. "You have a better idea?"
Erik looked over the expectant faces of our friends and allies, and shook his head. "No."
"What exactly are you two blabbering about?" Marge persisted.
"I think we can get the rats to help us take over the castle," I explained to her. "They know that foundation better than anybody."
"Can these rats can be trusted?" Captain Black asked me.
"Well, they didn't kill Erik and me the last time we met them," I replied. I turned to Erik. "Besides, when we tell them Blackwood is the one who caused the earthquakes they'll definitely want to help us."
Erik gave a nod. "You have a point. We will see if we can convince them to help us." My mate turned to the captain. "We will need your best boat and oarsmen to get us to the far side of Wolf Island."
"You've got that, and me," Captain Black agreed.
Marge grabbed his arm and gave it a rough tug. "And you're not going anywhere without me," she insisted.
"And I'm not waiting anymore to see Sandra," Hazel insisted.
"I, too, will go," Methuselah offered.
Erik looked to Greg and smiled. "Do you also offer your services?" he teased his servant.
Greg bowed his head. "If there is room in the boat."
CHAPTER 5
We broke up the meeting and set sail for Wolf Island on our last adventure. I just hoped it wouldn't be our last everything. My imagination filled my mind with thoughts of horrible deaths, or worse, a life as one of those cannibalistic monsters. I could just imagine myself as a slobbering idiot munching on bones
"Thinking thoughts too great for man?" a voice spoke up.
I started from the railing of the ship and turned to find Erik walking up to me. He joined me at the railing.
"Only if you count horrible deaths as too great for werewolves," I quipped.
He smiled. "Tomorrow may be a good day to die honorably."
I snorted. "I'd rather schedule that day a little farther into the future. Say like a hundred years."
"Why not two hundred years?" he suggested.
"I'm kind of being serious about the hundred years," I told him.
"As am I with the two hundred," he returned.
I turned to him and frowned. "This has got something to do with what you didn't want to tell me about a while back, isn't it? About how old everybody is?"
He gave a nod. "It is. You see, werewolves age very slowly, about half the rate as a human. So you see, two hundred years isn't too unbelievable."
I clutched my head in my hand and shook it. "Five hundred year old witches-"
"Six hundred," he corrected me.
"Really old hags and really old flea bags," I quipped. I dropped my hand and rolled my eyes. "What unbelievable thing are you going to tell me next? That you love me?"
He caught my eyes with his and I noticed something in their depths I'd never seen before. It was a tender look, a fleeting glance of hope, fear, and-love?
A small, sad smile slipped onto his lips. "Perhaps now would be a time to express ourselves
freely before the final battle." He clasped my hands and I blinked back at him. "Our beginning was not as we both wished, but I don't wish for our end to be as displeasing to us both."
"What are you-" I didn't get to finish my question before he answered it with a passionate kiss.
His arms wrapped around me and pressed me against his body. My flesh warmed to his touch, and I groaned into the kiss. He reluctantly broke us apart and smiled at me.
"You are not displeased?" he teased.
"Shut up and kiss me," I retorted. I grabbed his head and leaned forward for another kiss.
The next one was as breathtaking as the first, and a little longer. Our lips meshed against one other and our bodies ground against each other. By the time we broke apart I was seriously considering a trip to the captain's quarters.
Erik searched my face with his beautiful blue eyes. "When this is over, if we find we are victorious, then-" I pressed a finger to his lips and smiled at him.
"We're going to win," I insisted.
He grasped my hand and pressed the fingers to his lips. There was a small smile on his lips. "Yes, and when we are finished with my cousin we will explore the islands together on a true honeymoon."
I snorted. "Where's the fun in that? We'll be bored with no one chasing after us trying to kill us."
Erik clasped my hands in both of his and the grin on his face was lecherous. "I believe we can find ways to entertain one another."
I rolled my eyes and playfully pushed him away. "Just like a werewolf male." I turned back to my spot at the railing and looked out over the dark water and thick fog. A cloud as heavy as the fog settled on my chest and I sighed. There was so much that could go wrong. I glanced at Erik as he joined me by my side. "You really think talking to the Diggers is going to get them to help us?" I asked him.
He shook his head. "I wish I knew, but we can only try."
"How long is it going to take for us to get to the ten on this over-sized toy, anyway?" I asked him.
"The Captain has informed me that we will arrive within four hours," a voice spoke up, and Greg made his appearance at the railing.