The Queen's Admiral

Chapter 53: Aurora's Legacy

"YOU CURSED HIM INTO A BEAST?! ARE YOU MAD?!" I cried out accusingly. What kind of Godmother curses her godsons instead of helping them? And she's supposed to be my Godmother now too.

"Yes mad enough to save his life even when I don't have to," she replied in an equally stinging tone. "It's better than letting him be eaten alive by those hyenas."

A succession of chilling growls interspersed with hyena laughter caught our attention and made us stop arguing. We listened with trepidation as the roars continued while the hyena laughter faded into urgent whimpers. Then everything was still and all we could hear were the sounds of crickets from the grasslands nearby.

We waited several long heart-wrenching minutes. I didn't want to speak of the possibility that he could now be dead and I could sense Godmother, despite her snappy attitude towards him, cared for him just as much.

I saw something move at the edge of the valley of the bones. A figure appeared to be attempting to climb the rocks to raise itself up to the plateau at our level but it was still too dark for me to see clearly what it was.

"Can you get us there Godmother?" I asked.

She nodded without hesitation. She took my hand and we disappeared again among green flames.

We emerged just at the edge of the valley where something large and hairy lay sprawled on the ground.

"Hans!" Godmother cried out as she ran forward to the large hulking form. She gently turned him over and I was shocked to find a creature unlike anything I've seen in the wild or in books.

He had a head like a bull with horns protruding from his ears and sharp teeth coming out from the side of his mouth while a lion-like mane framed his face. Both his hands and feet were now paws, though the front ones were like those of a bear, while his hind legs reminded me of those of a wolf. He was covered with thick red fur and a darker stripe of hair ran down from his head to his expansive back. His torso was massive and he had sharp claws. I could tell he imbibed incredible strength capable of killing more than one hyena at a time. I now understood why Godmother chose to do this to him. However, as I observed his still body, I noticed he was bleeding from several gashes in his back, arms, legs and head.

A moan escaped his now ferocious mouth and I knew he was in great pain from his wounds.

"Fredrik, help me get him away from here. It's still not safe," Godmother said.

As if by warning, a hyena laughed nearby.

We hurriedly lifted his heavy body between us.

"Fredrik?" his voice had a deeper tone to it but I still recognized it as his.

"Can you walk Sir?" I asked. "It would be faster. We can't really carry you all the way."

"I'll do... my... best..." he replied haltingly as he leaned on us and the three of us moved forward.

"W-what... h-happened... why... do... I feel... different...?"

"Don't try to talk Hans," Godmother said. "Save your strength, we'll explain soon enough."

We walked slowly away from the edge of the valley and back towards the open plain. Godmother led us to a rocky ledge where there were no animals in sight. We lay Admiral Westergard on the ground. He fell unconscious without another word.

I busied myself in making a fire to keep the animals away just as Papa taught me on all those trips up the north mountain while Godmother went away for a few minutes. She returned with some herbs and leaves she found to dress his wounds and some fruit and berries for us eat with a bit of water she collected on discarded husks.