Treaty Bound

Chapter 3: The Change

   The moon was already in the sky, glowing dully compared to the brightness of the sun setting on the opposite horizon. It was a full moon and the face smiled down on me mockingly as if it knew what was coming for me. A thought occurred to me just then and even though I knew to be quiet I couldn't keep myself from laughing.

   In the middle of the forest, probably moments from my own death, it had just occurred to me; my mother had thought I was bitten by a werewolf. That is what she meant when she told my father that my wound was cursed. Those stories of people turning into werewolves under the full moon had always seemed so ridiculous to me. Wolves obviously changed anywhere and any place they chose to. Being proven right at the time didn't really help me feel any better though.

   "Well mom, at least you don't have to worry about your son turning into a wolf anymore," I said aloud, looking to the moon with a mix of anger and fear.

   The first wolf appeared after the sun had fallen completely from the sky and the last pink glow of sunlight was fading. Its fur was so black that all I saw was some movement between the trees as it seemed to pace back and forth in front of me. If it had not come crashing through the woods in its haste to get to me I doubt I would have known it was there at all.

   It was not long before it was joined by a second wolf. This one seemed to glow like a ghost as it weaved its way through the trees toward me. Like the first, it stopped maybe twenty feet away and paced between the trees. I could tell this one was looking at me and I got the impression that it was waiting for something.

   It then occurred to me that it was probably waiting for me to run in terror so it could give chase. Well, I was not going to give it that satisfaction. I stood my ground and stared into the white wolf's pale blue eyes, daring it to attack me. When that didn't work I yelled at them, "come and get me already! I'm right here! What are you waiting for?"

   I could have sworn I saw the white wolf smile at me but with the sun's light now gone I couldn't be sure. I didn't have much time to think about it though as the first wave of pain washed over me. I fell to my knees, mouth open wide in a scream that never came.

   I am a blacksmith by trade, not a wordsmith of any kind. Even if I was a poet or playwright I still doubt I could find the words to describe what it's like to shift from a human to a wolf. Even so, it's too important to the story for me to not at least try. So I will attempt to do so to the best of my ability.

   At first, it felt like every muscle in my body suddenly cramped up as they began to change in size and shape. I tried to scream but the pain was too intense and the scream too big to force out of my throat. Pop, snap, crack! The sound of bones being pulled out of sockets as they warped and changed was deafening to my ears. Yet I now realize that outside of my body the sound was as silent as my scream.

   The unexpected pain and noises left me confused and disoriented. My thoughts came and went so fast that they all just seemed like a jumbled mess. Suddenly one thought pushed all others aside and this time it didn't slip away: give in and let it happen.

   My skin was burning now as it too began to stretch and shift. Everywhere my clothes touched my body felt like a red hot iron against my skin. Fighting the pain it caused led me to pull my shirt off and let it drop to the grass. My legs burned but I couldn't get my pants off. Exhausted and unable to fight anymore I collapsed to the ground, excruciating pain flaring along my body at the point of impact.

   Give in and the pain will end. To say this was a thought that came to me would not be exactly right. I didn't think the pain would end I somehow just knew that if I gave in it would end. I didn't stop to question how I knew this or where this understanding was coming from but I gave in to the pain eagerly.

   I suddenly found myself a passenger in my own body. The pain was still there but I could barely feel it. Somehow I felt it wasn't my pain but someone else's. This other mind was very primitive and didn't think or respond in any language I understood. It seemed to run completely on instinct and feelings, leaving me completely unable to communicate with it.

   As I looked out of eyes that were mine, but at the same time not mine the normal colors of the night time forest slowly turned grayer, not completely fading away but dulling considerably. For some reason this made the different shades of gray stand out more clearly, allowing me to see the black wolf fully for the first time. He had stopped his pacing and was now standing next to the white wolf, whose glow stood out even more brightly now. The red and black wolf I had seen in town earlier in the day now stood to the right of him protectively. All three were standing very still, watching me nervously.

   I could not tell you how I knew they were nervous anymore then I can explain how I knew she was being protective of him. For that matter, I could not say how I knew the black wolf was male and the other two females. It was just suddenly as obvious as telling a human male and female apart. Even more unsettling is that I somehow knew the black wolf was their leader, their alpha.

   As my sight faded the scent of the forest around me grew to be overwhelming. Some scents I knew like oak, grass, and the violets that grew all over the forest floor but I never smelled them so distinctly. There were also now hundreds of other smells that I doubt any human man had ever smelled before. It was just too much new information from a sense I had hardly used before for my mind to process all at once. The other mind, the wolf's mind I assumed at this point, was able to pick them with ease: ants, leaf rot, a squirrel that had been here not long ago. It ignored what it deemed not useful and focused on what was with startling ease.

   Then it started working out more complex combinations of smells. The black wolf smelled of tanned leather, campfire smoke, and fish. The scents of mint, soap, silk, came from the white wolf. Earth, pine, blood, the red and black wolf. How it knew what smell belonged to what wolf I couldn't understand but I knew it was right.

   Sweat, hot spices, and a strong smell of some kind of wood that even the other mind didn't know alerted me to the presence of a fourth wolf. This scent was older and not from the wolf itself but off the leaves and branches it rubbed on as it passed. Now it could be anywhere and the wolf did not like that at all. I felt the hair all along my back bristle for the first time and realized the pain was gone and I was no longer a man.

   It kicked off what was left of my pants and stood up to its full height, looking left then right for the other wolf. While it looked I marveled at the feeling of my new body. I knew werewolves were much larger than wolves but I was still surprised to find that I stood maybe even taller now then I did as a man. My long muscular body was boiling over with energy and I longed to run or maybe that was the wolf that wanted to run. To be honest I was not sure if there was much of a difference anymore other than it was still in control of our body.

   The black wolf stood to his full height then and everything about his posture said he was dominant. I noticed that he was taller than me though not by much and while he was thin and long I was larger and stronger. So my wolf ignored him and continued to look for the fourth as if the three in front of me didn't matter.

   The black wolf growled and I felt his dominance hit me. It washed over me like a wave as he tried to force his will upon me. For a second my whole body wanted to lower itself and bow to his will but only for a second. My wolf didn't lower itself in submission or growl its own dominance in defiance. My wolf just seemed to shrug it off, his only concern being where the fourth wolf was hiding.

   I, on the other hand, was shocked by this use of... well, I didn't know what it was. Was it magic, like the fey can do? Or was it something else? Werewolves were terrifying enough without magic or whatever that just was. What else could they do that we don't know about? My wolf may have been calm but I was far from it at this point. I had been chased from my home by a pack of werewolves, painfully changed into one myself, I was no longer in control of my own body, and now I find that they could do some kind of magic!

   The red and black wolf moved closer to her mate and lowered her head to cover his throat protectively, never taking her eyes off me. The white wolf lowered herself almost completely to the ground and whimpered as she looked up at her alpha. I didn't need my wolf's help to understand that he was more than a little unhappy about my defiance. He made a sound that could have been a short growl or possibly a grumble and she leaped up and trotted toward me submissively.

   My wolf and I watched her, both unsure of what to make of this as she came near us, her head held low, ears back and tail tucked firmly between her legs. It was a show of submission, that was obvious even to me, but who was it for? The black wolf or myself? We couldn't tell. We were even more shocked when she rubbed her head against our neck and down our side affectionately. If that had not explained things, the scent coming off her as she passed made everything clear. She was in heat and had just offered herself to us.

   Excitement and desire rushed through the wolf's mind as he started to follow her. All thoughts of the hidden fourth wolf were forgotten as she started to lope off into the forest and I found myself following her. Stretching my muscles for the first time felt amazing but I had had enough of the craziness for one night.

   I pushed back against the wolf's mind, determined not to let my first time be with a strange wolf in the middle of the forest. Only minutes ago I was sure she had been hunting me for sport and now she wanted to mate with me. None of this was making sense to me and I pushed hard against the primitive mind for control.