Now What?

"What?" Renat tried to deny Yumeto's claim.

"You can't fool me! No one has an ear like yours when it comes to tinkering. At first I thought the bolt was merely a guess, but you said it with such certainty. And your voice has changed but not so very much. Blazing Bees we got word that you had turned into a wolf, but I scarcely believed it was true!" Yumeto quickly closed the gap between himself and the brown wolf, examining his comrade closely.

"I--" the lanky prince tried to find the words. He had been so quick to answer the scholar's call with his farewell that it had not occurred to him that Yumeto might be testing him. 'I'm such a fool!'

Yumeto went on, eager to get out all his thoughts before they vanished like the morning dew.

"I must admit I am a little jealous by how powerful you look! Isn't it glorious?!"

Unable to put the man off his identity, Renat was relieved that Yumeto had not seen fit to immediately call out the guard. "Glorious is not the word I would use," Renat answered carefully.

"How are you on controlling your wolf side? Surely your mind is more than strong enough to handle it. Only the stupid mongrels seem to be having any serious trouble keeping themselves in check." Yumeto glanced sidelong to see if anyone had overheard.

Renat could see that answering honestly would only prolong the conversation. "Well, I have been called many things, but never stupid," he deflected.

The scientist's truncated tail began to move feverishly. Renat was growing impatient. He needed to end things fast and assist Alaron and Dania in their escape.

Yumeto did not take the hint. "Of course you are not stupid. Even without royal help, you are brilliant. One of the finest minds I have ever known except for maybe Dania. I'm so glad you decided to join the cause. Leaving you out of the planning was more difficult than you think…"

Yumeto continued talking as if the two had always been the best of friends. Had they really been that close and Renat failed to notice? Or was it the lack of company for the scientist beyond Taran that left the man starved for conversation?

It didn't really matter. The end result was that Renat was quickly running out of options if he did not get rid of Yumeto very soon.

The fact that the talkative scientist knew the prince was here at all was a problem already. Things would get much worse when he told others of what he had seen.

"This is such a great boon for our cause! I wonder why Taran did not think to tell me. He must have been put off by how much bigger and stronger than him you are now. Taran is very vain, you know. What did he say when he first saw you like this?" Yumeto finally paused to take a breath.

'You were here and heard it,' the brown wolf thought. While he scrambled for an answer, Yumeto's brow furrowed.

"And why did Taran not introduce us when we came out just now. He ordered you to stand guard like one of the common mutts… ohhhh!" Yumeto gasped. "He doesn't know you are here, does he?"

"Well, here's the thing…" Renat had finally come up with a cover story, but the chatty counterpart cut him off.

"You must have just arrived. You wanted to see Dania first. I cannot much blame you for that. She is his better half or will be when she finally sees sense. I'll go in with you. I want to tell her the happy news." Yumeto laid his finger aside his nose.

Standing his ground, Renat shook his head. "I cannot let you do that. Just let me have a moment, and we can all be reunited." The brown wolf gave a small growl.

Looking up, Yumeto's enthusiasm for entering the room drained slightly. He tapped Renat's furry bicep.

"My but you are big! I cannot get over how much you have changed and how much you have stayed the same. It seems like just yesterday the message ball came from Livie to tell us you had turned. I did not think I would see it for myself so soon…"

The name of the noblewoman made Renat tense. He had known that a message was sent to Taran, but obviously a second message including Renat's escape had not been. Perhaps Livie was trying to save face. Her pride would not allow her to admit defeat.

"Well you've seen me. We will have to catch up later, Yumeto. I have kept you too long..." Renat could feel the frustration in his belly growing.

He breathed deeply. Renat realized why he had never been close to Yumeto. The chatty scientist never let the quiet brown wolf say more than a couple of words at a time.

"You are right, I need to repair this ball..." Yumeto's almond eyes looked down at the trinket in his hand. Renat finally felt the noose around his neck loosening until the man completed his thought, "and give our dear Lady Livie the word that you arrived. And so quickly. She must really have trusted you to let you head this way all on your own."

That was when Yumeto's face changed.

"Except Livie would never trust someone so quickly. She doesn't trust me or even her brother really. There is no way she would send you without a heavy escort...." His expression turned to shock. "You escaped! You are not here to join us, you are here to break out Dania! That is why Taran does not know you are--"

Renat clapped his hand over the man's mouth. His sharp nails scraped the Yumeto's cheek, ripping a small gash in his tawny skin.

Horrified by the consequence of trying to silence the gregarious scientist, Renat pulled back his paw-like hand with a gasp.

"I did not mean to. I have doomed you as well!" Despite being on opposite sides, Renat had no desire to see the other man go through the painful transformation that he had experienced. He truly would not wish it even on his worst enemy, which Yumeto was not.

Wiping the blood from his cheek with his sleeve, Yumeto laughed humorlessly. "Don't worry. It won't do anything. After Livie said you turned from an injury, I tried to recreate it."

He pulled up his bloodied sleeve to reveal scabbed over claw marks along his forearm.

"Elven blood runs through my veins, hindering the change which came so easily to you." Yumeto seemed truly aggrieved. "Applying water from the lake helped to close up the wound, but I won't have to worry about it for long. Dania assures me that she will have a fix and I can be as glorious as you soon enough...maybe even more so! Which is why you cannot take Dania. I need her. The cause needs her. Anyway, she will not go with you."

'So that is why he hasn't called the guards. He does not think I will succeed anyway.' "Why makes you think Dania would not leave?" Renat could not resist the question.

"Experience..." was all Yumeto said with a sigh. "I am sorry that you will not be joining us. I am very fond of both you and your wife. I will ask Taran not to make you suffer too much."

This time when Yumeto went to open his mouth, Renat knew without a doubt that he would be calling for help. He tackled the man to the floor causing the small metal message ball to clang and roll along the ground.

The two locked in a feverish wrestling match, but Renat was immeasurably stronger than the scientist who never spent time doing anything more physical than lifting books. Pinning Yumeto to the ground in only a few short moments, the brown wolf's dark eyes locked with Yumeto's almond ones.

Although, Renat had been in Cafer's war, he had not participated in hand-to-hand combat. He had only done a little close range fighting with a sword and most of that was done in the safety of a practice field.

Feeling the man struggle beneath his grip was an entirely different sensation which filled him with both fear...and exhilaration.

The latter feeling was clearly the predator inside him telling him he had won. It urged him to finish the job. His vision blurred and red creeped in as his head started to swim. The black pupils grew, trying to force his entire eye into the darkness of their void.

"I'm sorry," Renat rasped, his voice deep and husky. "So sorry."

Yumeto watched in horror as Renat's head came at him with blinding speed. Their skulls collided, causing the man to yelp. His eyes opened wide and then rolled back in his head as his body went limp.

Renat grunted and climbed off of the man, rubbing the forming bump on his own skull. "Not my finest move," he admitted to the unconscious human. It was all the brown wolf could think of to bring him back from the delirium. Thankfully it had worked.

Renat had somehow maintained control of his body.

Looking at Yumeto, Renat's brow furrowed.

'Now what?'