Out of the Wilds

Chapter 3

The big man locked the door behind them and set his daggers down on the dining room table before rounding on Wulfric. "Alright, now I'm not blind to what happened back there lad, I know you saved my life and put yourself at risk ta do it, but I think I'm owed an explanation as to how you turned into a great fanged beast."

Wulfric removed his coat, stretching and letting himself relax a little. "It's still surprising to me that you people are so surprised by this, back among my people this is all well known." He shrugged.

"So this is... something to do with you being a, what did you call it, a Valdyrkin? Can all your people turn into that?" Ben asked.

He shrugged again. "Not all, but some. Valdyrkin are the family of the wolf, some of us are more close to our wolf kin than others. We are called the Varulfur, in your tongue I think the closest word is werewolf. We have the power to change our shape, to take on the form of wolves, of men, and of something in between. That third form was the one you saw back there. We're a minority among the Valdyrkin but well respected, everyone in my homeland knows what we are and how our powers work. I guess that knowledge hasn't traveled very far."

Ben thought about it. "I mean, all I've heard are stories, but they sounded too outlandish to be true. All I've heard about your people is that you're a bunch of snow dwelling barbarians who worship wolves, I think I heard one trader telling me about shapeshifting wolf beasts but I thought he was just spinning drunken tales."

Wulfric cocked his head. "Not... entirely wrong. We worship one wolf, singular, the goddess who is our mother, and the patron of the north. Our father is the human war god, if you must know, so we're half way in between. And we're not beasts, at least no more so in any of our forms."

"And how exactly did you gain this power?" Ben asked.

"It is my birthright. I was born this way, most Varulfur are."

Nodding slowly, Ben seemed to be catching on now, giving Wulfric another look over. "And what about your clothes? They just vanished and then appeared again."

Wulfric shrugged. "It's just how it works. My clothes and things I wish to keep with me are taken with this form in the change, when the other form replaces it, and then returned when I change back."

Ben shook his head, running his hand through his hair. "Well, you're certainly very powerful in that form, and you wiped the floor with those thugs back at the warehouse."

The Valdyrkin held up a hand. "I'm not invincible in any of my forms, Ben. I can heal much faster than most but if you cut me, I bleed, fur or no fur. I'm hardly some unstoppable beast no matter what your legends say."

Ben nodded quickly. "Right, right, I wasn't meaning to say... ah hell, look I was just a bit hopeful is all, that maybe together we could put these bastards out of business for good."

He gave his friend a reassuring nod. "It's alright Ben, I know you want this. But this hideout of theirs... I don't want to go charging in there blindly. If we can find it, well maybe we could have a better idea of what we're dealing with. Who knows maybe we can spy on them or something, at least have some idea of where it is."

The big man agreed. "Right, best not ta run off without knowing what you're doing. Even if they are spineless curs, they're dangerous in numbers. Let's just get down there and have a look around. I'm pretty sure that between the two of us we can find this hidey hole of theirs, at the very least."

Wulfric grinned, fang like teeth gleaming in the light. "Yes, I think we can." It felt good to have a packmate again.

They waited until the cover of night for their next excursion, licking their wounds and recovering. The plan was simple enough, though that was more because of the number of unknowns in it than any elegance of planning. Based on the papers that Ben had pulled from the man's pockets, he had narrowed down the rough location of the hideout. But that was still a decently large stretch of sewer and abandoned tunnel that wasn't on any map. Once they got down there, they would rely on Wulfric's nose to try and get them closer. Once they found the hideout they would have to see if they could snoop on the smugglers somehow. He didn't much like the idea of marching into his enemy's den, but they had to move sooner than later. Before long the smugglers would find out what had happened to their friends at the warehouse, and they might get spooked. They could move shop, or go silent and undetectable down in the labyrinth of tunnels. If they did that, the trail might go cold for good.