1 The Mad Wolf

  THE DAY A YOUNG LADY IS born into the village of Moonshire, it was supposed to be a grand celebration. A time for community and town folks to get reacquainted and share gossip about the comings and goings of towns and cities far out of their reach and even their influence. As much as people wanted to explore and see the world far beyond their fences and walls, it was too dangerous for people to travel, especially with wild creatures out there ready to pounce. The small village had to be extra careful, and the wolves were the most difficult to predict and protect the people from. Despite traveling in packs, wolves were also known to attack on their own, ambitious wolves who want to be alphas need to prove their worth, and that often meant finding prey on their own and bring back as tribute to the pack. When it was hard for wolves to find creatures to harvest, some would become brave and attack animals on a farm, or worse capture any humans that are not smart enough to arm themselves for protection from the wild. People often get cocky and think that their weapons and numbers are enough to fend them off, but sometimes lone wolves were patient, and were willing to wait for the right opportunity.

  Her father was a man named Alfred Higgins, and while he used to be a soldier for king and country, he was forced to retire as he was injured in combat. He was still good with a sword, but he wasn't as mobile or agile as he used to be in his younger years. Alfred had come home to the village or Moonshire and become the town lawyer, using his mind and wit to help resolve local matters amicably and without causing unnecessary tension within their loved township. Whenever he had some downtime, Alfred would dedicate himself to studying the wolves that often pestered his people and tried to discover a pattern that might made the defense of their village easier to accomplish and save as many lives as they could. It was a pattern that he tried very hard to predict, but the man had failed like so many that had tried before him. He did manage to discover that the longer the winters were, the more hunger and desperate the pack would become and that the village needed to fortify greater during those harsh seasons. As the autumn air started to show up in everyone's breath, Alfred knew that it was soon time to barricade the walls and prepare for their attacks. What he didn't anticipate however was that a single wolf would rung straight into the middle of town and attack random people without any warning in broad daylight. This was unheard of, but the screams had caused Alfred to jolt right out of his office chair with surprise, and to immediately respond. He grabbed a sword from the wall and hobbled out the door as quickly as he could in the direction of the screaming.

  Several soldiers as well as armed civilians all charged to the town square armed with swords, spears and even hammers as they were all eager to defend their town. What awaited them was pure horror, as the single wolf has people, bit and clawed them a little, and then proceeded to attack another.

  "What the hell is this?" One of the soldiers asked. "They never attack by day!"

  "This is indeed strange," Alfred said, as the men he was with had slowly started to close in on the large, fanged, furry creature.

  "Usually, they only attack one person too," Another townsperson said, "This one is attacking as many as he can, and not for food."

  "Has this wolf gone mad?" the soldier asked.

  "Concentrate on the beast!" Alfred ordered, "Grayson, you and the other ill equipped tend to the wounded. Drag them into the pub to take shelter until we can clear the town, and then we'll fetch the doctor."

  Grayson was one of the civilians that was carrying a small hammer, so his efforts were better used elsewhere.

  "Alright, Alfred." Grayson concurred, "I'll take care of the wounded. Just make sure you guys don't end up being some of them."

  "We'll try, but no promises!" Alfred said, as he led the way with the soldiers following behind.

  Just as they were getting closer, the wolf noticed their presence and let go of the civilian that it was currently biting to take a defensive posture. The creature bared its fangs and snarled at them madly, and this was when Alfred noticed something different about this particular beast. It was foaming at the mouth and its fur looked rather rough, which gave him the impression that the beast was ill. It would certainly explain the daytime attack as creatures of all kinds would often break habits if they were not well and not of sound mind. As the other soldiers tried to walk around the creature and surround it, the beast responded by attacking one of them. If lunged at the soldier and tried to bite his arm, but the leather armor he was wearing was enough to prevent the wolf's teeth from breaking his skin. As the wolf was making his attack, one of the other soldiers tried to stab his hind leg with a spear, and the blade at the end barely made a scratch. The wolf turned around and snapped at the soldier that just tried to stab him, but the man backed off enough for the jaws to miss him. Alfred moved in and took a swipe at the mangy beast with his sword, cutting it on the side, where his ribs should be. The beast yelped for a moment as the sword produced a decent gash but what happened next was completely unexpected. Within seconds, the wound sealed itself and healed as if nothing had ever happened. The wolf shook off the wound and then tried to lunge at Alfred, who promptly ducked and rolled out of the way to safety. As the beast was posturing to attack again, in the distance there were more soldiers arrived, many armed with more spears and even bows. The wolf growled for a moment, and then ran away.

  Afraid that it might attack someone else while running away, Alfred chased after the wolf and followed it into an alley he knew to be a dead end. Second later he was face to face with the beast again, as it was trapped in the alley as the village's large walls closed off the street. Rather than retreat, the wolf turned around and was snarling as Alfred as it remembered the temporary would the ex-soldier had given him. The beast then groaned as he started to stand up, using his hind legs for balance as he suddenly went bipedal on him. Alfred stood there and looked at the wolf with amazement as standing up made the wolf grow to at least seven feet tall, making it look more fearsome than it ever had before. Alfred gripped his sword harder and started to strategize what he should next, wondering if taking out one of the lower legs would cut the wolf back down to a more manageable size.

  "The right leg," Alfred whispered to himself, "I'll take that one out first."

  The wolf didn't care, because while Alfred was going over that, the beast was making plans of his own. It had stood up not to make himself look more threatening but to make the balcony of the building closer for it to reach. The wolf jumped as high as he could and was able to grab the balcony rail of the second floor, and then used his arm strength to heave himself up to the other floor. Once on the second-floor balcony the wolf jumped up again, this time accessing the roof of the building, which was higher than the wall. This allowed the wolf to clear the wall and jump safely to the ground below which allowed him to run away from the village free and clear. Alfred stood there, as he couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. He had heard tales of wolves that could stand and walk around like humans, but just dismissed them as tales parents told their kids to scare them from wandering in the woods alone. As he walked back to the town center to help the wounded, Alfred had decided to keep the details of the wolf and his ability to stand and jump to freedom to himself. There was no way anyone was going to believe it. Alfred witnessed it himself, and even he couldn't believe what had transpired himself. It just seemed unreal, even to him.

  "Where's did that damned wolf go?" a voice called out, as Alfred arrived at the scene of the attack.

  "He's not here," Alfred answered, "I tried to pursue it, but it was just too quick and in case you haven't noticed, I'm rather slow as well. Not a good combination. We'll form a search party in the morning and try to hunt it down."

  "Why tomorrow?" Grayson asked, as he noticed Alfred had returned.

  "Because Moonshire needs to be fortified." Alfred answered, "Defense needs to be our top priority, not chasing whatever attacked us back on his own turf. Right here needs where we keep our focus, unless you want to see a repeat of what went on earlier today?"

  "No, no," Grayson replied, and he meant it. His arms were covered in blood from helping the doctor deal with the wounded.

  "How many people were harmed?" Alfred asked the civilian.

  "I counted at least a dozen," Grayson answered, "And you need to get in there as soon as possible."

  "Why?" Alfred asked, slightly confused. He wanted to stand guard in case the beast tried to return.

  "It's Elena," Grayson said, "She's in there with the other victims…"

  Before the man could say anymore, Alfred pushed past him and ran into the pub where all the wounded were being treated. The barkeep had allowed the tables to be used as medical beds so that every patient could be lying flat for the doctors to treat them easier and make them comfortable as quickly as possible. Almost every table in the main room had people on top of them, as the wolf had managed to harm a lot of people before he and the soldiers could intervene. He scanned the room quickly and tried to find the woman named Elena, who had been his wife of ten years. He was pacing around the room and in the end, it was his wife that spotted him first.

  "Ally," she called out, "I'm over here."

  Alfred jogged over to her table and took a gander at her wounds. The wolf had taken a hold of her upper right arm, as there were several gashes made by its teeth. The doctor had already treated her as her arm was wrapped up and she was resting with a pillow under her head.

  "My god, are you alright?" Alfred asked his beloved.

  "I've been better," She playfully answered. "I lost a bit of blood, but the doctor said I should be fine as long as I get plenty of rest and water."

  Alfred looking down at the lady's bigger than usual belly, that was sticking out rather proudly.

  "What about the baby?" Alfred asked.

  "As far as we know, it's alright." Elena answered, "That mangy thing just chewed on my arm like I was a dog's toy. The baby wasn't harmed at all."

  "Thank the gods," Alfred said, as he put a hand on the belly and was thankful that their child was going to be alright. "That thing hurt a lot of people today."

  "I can see that," Elena said, gesturing to the others in the room. "What would cause a wolf to get so out of control."

  "If I had to guess," Alfred started, "I'd have to say it was ill. Animals that are not feeling well can sometimes abandon their habits and schedules. His head was so foggy that he couldn't think straight, or as much as they usually do."

  "There you go again," Elena said with a chuckle, "Being a smarty pants."

  "I saw something like this on the war front," Alfred said, "Sometimes the coyotes in the prairies did the same thing, attacking at abnormal times of the day. They would attack and hunt during the day if they lacked water or didn't feel alright. He was also foaming at the mouth, so there's a good chance this beat was also quite ill."

  "Can it be spread, this illness?" his wife inquired.

  "I'm not sure," Alfred answered, "but until we do, just get some rest."

  "Alright dear," the pregnant lady said, "Just don't go too far away."

  "I promise," Alfred said, leaning over to kiss her brow. "I'll be back with something to eat later after I check up with the town doctor. Just rest."

  "I will," his wife said, smiling back. "Don't worry about me. I'm not going anywhere."

  Alfred started to look around for the doctor, when suddenly one of the patents lying on the tables started to spasm and convulse. From his days on the war front, Alfred knew that wasn't good as he ran over and tried to apply pressure to prevent the patient from rolling off the table and harming themselves. The doctor came over to help out and the two men held on until the person finally stopped shaking. As they rolled to person's back onto the table, Alfred noticed something.

  "That," Alfred said, pointing to the person's mouth. "That's the same kind of foam I saw in the wolf's mouth. What is that?"

  "It could be an infection," the doctor guessed, "But I've never seen one work so fast so soon after being bitten by an animal. This is very strange."

  "This isn't good, is it doc?" Alfred asked.

  "No, it's not." The Doctor confirmed, "These people are in for a very long night. Many of them might not survive to see the morning."