Arron Liken's Arc

Chapter 5 of 11

Selene's cold light faded from the flowers. Arron held Lilly's hand and looked north, toward the black pines. The hunter was coming. He needed the black wolf now more than ever. The wolf had saved him twice on the road here. It had led him through the cave to this valley. But it never followed him out. Arron scanned the tree line. No black shape moved among the trunks. "There was a wolf with me," Arron told Lilly. "It fought the hunter in the cave. It should be here." Lilly's ears flicked. She pointed to the temple steps. "Someone's here already." A man walked out from behind the pale stone. He wore a black coat crossed with leather straps. A sword hung at his hip, its blade marked with a snarling wolf's head. Victor Crowe. The hunter drew the saber slow, so Arron could see the fierce carvings along the steel. "You dropped your guard dog," Victor said. He wiped the blade on his sleeve. Dark blood smeared the cloth. "Big black thing. Followed me from the cave. I fixed that on the way here." Arron's chest went tight. The wolf had not abandoned him. It had died buying him this last stretch of road. Rage burned up through him. He shoved Lilly back toward the temple doors. "Run inside," he said. Victor came fast. He slashed at Arron's throat. Arron dropped and rolled through the flowers. The wolf-marked blade could kill him in either shape. He had no weapon. He had only his hands and his teeth. He shifted. Fur burst across his arms. His jaw stretched. He met Victor as a wolf, half again the man's size. Victor grinned and cut sideways. The blade sliced Arron's shoulder. Pain flared white. Arron did not stop. He drove his weight into Victor's chest and knocked him flat. The saber spun loose across the steps. Victor scrambled for it. Arron's jaws closed on the man's wrist first. Victor screamed. Arron dragged him down the steps, away from the blade, and pinned him against the stone. Lilly stepped from the doorway. She lifted the saber in both hands. The wolf's head on the hilt caught the gray light. "Don't," Victor gasped. "You need me. I know others who hunt this valley." Lilly looked at Arron. Arron held Victor still. Then he loosened his jaw and shifted back to a man, his shoulder bleeding. "He killed the wolf that saved my life," Arron said. He took the saber from Lilly. "But he just told us something." Victor spat blood. "I told you nothing." "You told us you're not the last," Arron said. He pressed the marked blade flat against Victor's throat and held it there. "Now you'll tell us where the rest are." The hunter was down. The wolf was gone. Arron had lost his one ally and won the very weapon made to kill him.