Page 17 of Father of the Wolf

The spirit drifted closer to Athair and held out a hand to stroke his head. At her touch, Athair flinched and snarled in anger. Then he seemed to calm somewhat.

As Dàn touched Athair’s mind, he realized the spirit had taken away most of his rage. But his pain remained. Athair was still far from in control.

The shaman and the leaders approached the circle, intending to restrain Athair and expel them from the town. Dàn knew that would not be dramatic enough for the shaman or Bequlf’s plans. They still needed to publicly discredit their leaders.

Now was the time. Dàn knew they had a choice. Just possibly, Athair could make his escape without being too badly injured.

The shaman stepped boldly into the circle, clearly tempting Athair to attack him. And he certainly would have if Dàn had not mentally held him still. Until that moment, he hadn’t been sure he could. He flooded Athair’s mind with his own control, providing the strength Athair needed to dampen the pain and shift back to human form.

As Athair shifted, the shaman grabbed him roughly and dragged him from the circle in front of Sandulfr. Bequlf and several of his gang followed and took custody of Rath and Dàn as well.

“You brought this animal into our village. It is your duty to protect our people and yet, you risk us all for these strangers,” the shaman challenged Sandulfr.

“I don’t understand what happened,” Sandulfr said. Then he shifted his attention back to the more important details. “Although Athair of the Eagle Clan failed to hold his form for the ceremony, he certainly hasn’t proven to be dangerous in any way.”

“Only his weakness, and the strength of my spirit guides, keep him from savaging everyone here and it was your poor judgment that welcomed him into our midst. You always place the welfare of others ahead of your own clan. You may not care for the safety of our young, but others do. This is only one more example of your inferior leadership. You are not fit to be Alpha of the Bear Clan.”

Bequlf suddenly stabbed Dàn in the back with a short knife. Although the wound was nowhere near fatal, the sudden pain pulled Dàn’s concentration from Athair, who was again assaulted with the drug-induced pain and rage. He abruptly shifted back to wolf form and violently struck out at those nearest to him. He had the shaman on the ground in seconds and was tearing into him. The area turned into complete chaos.

Several of Bequlf’s supporters attacked Athair to rescue the shaman, who was seriously wounded. Some were armed with weapons, and some shifted into wolves using tooth and claw.

Rath had seen Bequlf stab Dàn and had shoved his own guard aside to pull Dàn away. Mentally, he shouted at Dàn, “Is it now? Or should we wait for them to kill us?”

“Now!”

“Good,” Rath answered aloud in a gruff voice. Clouds boiled above them, and lightning shot across the sky. Rath’s best magical talent was weather control, and he could perform with grand style. He was also quite good at non-magical defense, which he demonstrated by slugging Bequlf and dragging Dàn behind him.

Dàn focused on Athair’s fight for freedom. He had a pack of eight wolves attacking him. They darted in and out around him jumping at him from behind, giving Athair little chance to defend himself. Several of the bystanders had taken the leaders to the side to protect them from being hurt. Others were attending to the shaman, Belquavir.

One of the wolves started to dart in after Athair and a bolt of lightning took him out of the fight, and possibly out of existence. That left an opening to one side, and Dàn told Athair to go that way, to run. Athair was torn and bleeding and wouldn’t be able to take much more.

Whether he was aware of Dàn’s urging or acted out of the instinct to survive, Dàn didn’t know. Athair broke free of the pack and ran. Rath brought in heavy fog to aid in his escape. Within the blink of an eye, Athair was gone from sight with the pack fast on his heels in pursuit.

Dàn followed the chase, mentally aiding Athair as he struggled to stay ahead of the pack. He provided strength and guidance to Athair while disorienting the others.

“Dàn, we’ve got a problem here.” It was Rath.

Dàn looked around to find Bequlf and his remaining supporters gathering around them in a loose circle. Rath continued to fist fight with anyone who got within his reach as he altered the storm’s focus to aid them.

“We need to get out of here. Any bright ideas?”

“Let’s run,” Dàn suggested. He could use very little magic here while helping Athair to make his getaway. And someone was beginning to counter Rath’s storm. If they were to use his weather to escape, they had to do so now.

Rath growled something like, “How about a breeze?” Just then a forceful wind blew through the clearing, throwing people to the ground. The wind formed a dozen small tornados that scattered the people but did almost no actual damage to them or the property. A pocket of calm air surrounded and moved with Rath and Dàn as they shifted into wolf form and dashed for the fog enshrouded woods.

They had run for only a few miles before Rath’s weather and their camouflage was lost and they could hear the pack closing in on them from at least two sides.

Rath asked Dàn, “What should we do?” He fully expected Dàn to know how to get them out of this trouble.

But he didn’t know. This was part of that very much unappreciated void in his premonition. He had no idea what to expect, but he hated to admit it. “I haven’t any idea.”

That stopped Rath in his tracks. He gaped at Dàn. “What?”

Dàn urged him to keep moving, while trying to explain. “I cannot see what is coming. That might be bad for me. I think we should separate. You can catch up with Athair and help him.”

“Not happening.”

Unfortunately, that was the response that Dàn had expected. And against all reason, he was pleased by Rath’s stubborn loyalty. Glad to have Rath at his side for whatever was to come.

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