Unexpected Heroes

Chapter 41 - Learning

APOLLOS' POV.
Lance explains, "Becuase of the amount of pure magic in the air, we can only be our true selves, inside and out."
I nod, and sigh. The sun rise is a strange set of hues, almost alien.
I sigh again.
Lance whispers, "You're shifter vision will cause you to see things you normally don't. It may allow you to trip less,"
He winks, and I glare at him.
Libby is also a wolf.
The words of the mage the day we were cursed come back, "You have the heart of a tiger, and the strength and wisdom of the wolf. I see a dark future, but it will save many from an even darker and miserable one. You were not cursed by accident, for that spell is not known to man anymore. Only dragons and fay.
The fays must've had a reasoning for turning you into this... you should go talk to them."    

I groan to myself, and ask Arthur, "Why'd they make him do it?"
He pipes up, "Do what?"
I mentally face face palm,  and reply, "The curse? The shifting? The socially awkward after affect?"
He nods, and sighs.
He replies with the snap of a lion, "The king will tell you that, impatient little mud-belly."
I freeze, eyes becoming sharper.
I growl, sounding like a tiger, "What did you call me?"
Lance is gone, but Libby is still there.
The man, Arthur, grabs me suddenly.
I screech, and wrench free.
I nearly choke.
I stop my struggle, and lay down.
The rope tying me to this man is too tight for me to slip it, like what I did at the pound.
I growl, but he just scoops up the slack, and drags me along.
Lance! Save me! Help? No? Too stuck up to?
I hear Fays laughing at me, which makes the tiger agitated.
Then, the internal war began.
The tiger and the wolf fight for supreme reighn of my actions, but niether can win because they are the same person.
I end up stumbling and growling, looking very drunken.
Arthur stops.
The sound of hisses and growls echo in my mind. The feeling of being bitten and clawed covers me.
I cry, "No! Stop! You both freeaking win!"
A purr and a grunt echo into the air.
The townsfolk freeze, terrified of me.
I feel the tiger merge with the wolf, making a hybrid that serves them both.
Arthur stares at me like I'm some strange beast that missed dinner.
I ask in a throaty growl and roar, "Something wrong, Arthur?"
He screams in suprise, "Wha... what did you say?"
I whisper, tilting my head, "What do you mean?"
I hear a muffled whisper spread through the crowd.
One grumbled, "Is this the Apollo who is said to be able to save us from this war? He can't even control his inner animals!"
I lower my head, whiskers brushing my chest. I'm the size of a Siberian Tiger, but with the torso and head of a wolf. My tail is sleek, and my eyes are wolf like with the abilities of a cat.
I sigh, and the animals inside me grunt indignantly.
Libby whispers, "We'll be meeting the king soon. I suggest you make yourself something less freaky."
I nod, and the wolf comes back.
I have the cat's tread and agility, but the wolfs' keen brain and wits.
The rope sways, like a laundry line.
I suddenly get an idea.
I grab it in my jaws, and clench down.
Ow!
I release, a burning pain in my mouth.
Libby is trying not to laugh, and Arthur and the townfolk are laughing.
I lower my head, staring deeply into the cobbles.
Arthur gets an idea, and cries, "Let's fly! It's quicker!"
I growl, "Let me call Pandora."
I whistle, and she comes.
She snarls, and I climb on.
She takes to the sky, and severs the rope.
Now, a  rope dangles around my throat like a collar.
I stand on Pandora's shoulders, staring at the strange sky.
Its' morning, but it's a dark grey.
I don't like it.