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Aein was lying on the ground, spooned against Lars, when the sound woke her. At first she was confused. The sun was still up. It was midday. They were still in the clearing. And then she realized she was hearing snarls and growls.
"Something is coming," she said, shaking Lars.
Lars was awake and on his feet in seconds flat. Every guardsman learned from their first week that an inability to be able to wake up could be a matter of life and death. He grabbed his sword and Aein picked up hers. The sounds of the animal were getting closer.
"Where's Finn?" Lars asked.
They had decided to rest for the day and recover from the previous night's adventures. Solid earth was such a luxury, it seemed a waste to leave before they even had a chance to enjoy it. It was becoming more and more clear that the other creatures in the swamp stalked this place like predators at a water source waiting for their prey.
Aein scanned the edges of the clearing. The fog still lingered just beyond the trunks of the cypress trees making it impossible to see. "I assume he's the one we're hearing."
Lars shook his head as he adjusted his grip on his blade. "That is more than one werewolf."
Aein's throat became dry. Was it one of the werewolves that escaped from Lord Arnkell's control? Was Finn facing one of the monsters who could snap out of silver? One of the werewolves that could kill other werewolves?
It was.
Finn came tearing into the clearing. A wolf twice his size chased him. Without hesitation, Aein and Lars lifted their swords and attacked. The wolf was so focused on Finn, he didn't even acknowledge them, and there was no reason for him to, really. Lars and Aein's swords bounced off the beast's thick fur. The wolf turned around and snapped at them the way a person swats at a mosquito before grabbing Finn by the hind-leg.
Aein hated to be dismissed as a minor irritant.
She came at him again, striking his nose with her blade. The blow was enough to get the werewolf to let go of Finn. She tried not to focus on the fact that Finn was having a difficult time standing. The wound on his haunches was unlike anything Aein had seen. Most of the time werewolves bled red, just like any other animal. But this time, his wounds were oozing silver.
Aein ripped the silver harness she wore from her torso and swung it in a slow figure-eight before her.
"Come on, puppy," she said as foam drooled from the mad wolf's mouth. "Let me teach you what an alpha has to say about your behavior."
The werewolf leaped forward and she smacked it on the nose with the silver chain. It surprised him more than anything else, causing Aein to curse. The silver should have burned him like a brand and it didn't.
"Do we have another plan?" she shouted to Lars.
"Brute force?" he replied, running at the werewolf. The beast leaped out of the way as Lars struck it with his sword. The wild wolf turned, his teeth inches away from Lars's calf. Though he missed, Lars lost his balance and went down. Aein whipped the werewolf again with the silver harness, but it didn't do much.
Finn recovered enough to jump on to the back of the wolf. He bit into its ear. The werewolf cried out, but then shook Finn so hard he flew off.
Aein had taken the momentary distraction to run to Lars, but Lars waved her away. "GO! Help Finn!"
Aein did not argue. She turned back towards the wolf with her sword raised, hoping to find a weakness. But the animal heard her coming and with a swipe of his head, knocked her off her feet. She scrambled backwards like a crab as the wolf snarled, sizing up where to go in for the kill.
Finn pulled himself from the ground. He was still stunned, but the moment he the wild wolf came after Aein, he attacked. The mad wolf threw Finn off again, and this time, Finn's enormous body crashed into Lars and sent them both sprawling.
Aein tried to scramble to her feet, but she stepped on the rocks they had placed around the campfire and stumbled. She reached down and grabbed a log.
The werewolf flew at her. She raised the log as his jaws opened wide to rip out her throat and thrust the wood between his teeth. He stepped back, gagging and coughing. It wasn't going to be enough.
"Tree!" Lars shouted at Aein. He was already scrambling up a trunk.
She didn't wait for a second invitation and picked the one closest to her. She barely reached the first branch when the werewolf came around and lunged at her heels. His weight was so enormous, the tree began to tilt.
Aein looked at Lars across the clearing, seeing her own fear reflected in his green eyes. They had escaped death far longer than anyone else in the swamp, but this was it. There was no way out. They could not defeat this animal. He would not be deterred. Help was not on its way.
Finn made one last, desperate attempt to pull the werewolf away from Lars and Aein.
"Run, you idiot!" Aein yelled at him. "Get to Queen Gisla! Don't waste your time here!"
But he didn't listen. The two werewolves were like a tornado, swirling and biting at each other. Aein screamed as the werewolf sank his teeth into Finn's shoulder and tore out a chunk. Finn stumbled from the pain.
"NO!" Aein cried, starting to climb back down the tree.
But Lars shouted at her, "He'll only kill you! Remember your duty! Our job is to survive!"
Tears filled Aein's eyes. If only she had her arrows. If only she had a silver dagger. She ripped off branches from the tree and threw them at the werewolf in frustration, but his eyes were set on the kill. He lowered his head and growled, staring at Finn as he limped backwards. Aein didn't want to look. She didn't want to see Finn end this way.
"Not this way..." she wept. "Please don't let it end this way..."
Aein screamed as the werewolf took Finn down and Finn did not get up. His eyes were open, but the light was dimming.
And then, there was a noise from overhead. It sounded like a flock of birds. Not just birds, Aein realized. The screams of eagles and hawks filled the sky.
"What?" she whispered.
Aein looked up as fifty raptors descended. At once, they were on the rogue werewolf, tearing at him with their wicked claws and biting him with their sharp beaks. There were so many of them, the mad wolf disappeared beneath their bodies. It was a seething mass of feathers and fur and noise. The werewolf's snarls were furious and pained as the raptors ripped him to shreds.
Aein didn't wait to see the outcome. She scrambled down the tree trunk and ran to Finn, cradling his shaggy head. Her heart stopping as he did not even acknowledge her presence. "Please don't die," she wept. "Please don't die."
And then, the cries of the werewolf stopped. The wings of the birds ceased. She looked over her shoulder. All that was left of the wolf was bones.
And then all eagles turned to Aein.
Her blood froze in her veins as the birds took her in. There were too many of them.
"Aein?" questioned Lars nervously.
The raptors all took flight. Aein pulled out her sword to defend herself, lifting her arms before her face as she braced for the tearing claws to rip her apart. But instead, the birds flew past her and settled upon Finn.
"Get away from him!" she cried, trying to push them away from her friend.
But they didn't tear into him. They lifted him into the air. Some held clumps of his fur. Some flew beneath him supporting his body with theirs. Higher and higher they went. They carried him over the treetops and out of the swamp.
Aein leaped to her feet and screamed. "Come back!"
She tore off out of the clearing after them, her tears blinding her eyes. She could not see the way. She tripped on a root and fell hard on the ground. Her sword clattered out of her hand. By the time she looked up, the birds and Finn were gone. She rolled on to her back and the sound that came from her felt like it might rip her in two. Her chest heaved as she tried to breathe.
It could not be true. It could not be real. Where had they taken him? Where? Was her friend's life now no more than a meal for some nest? Not after all this... Not after all they had been through... Not like this... Another sob wracked her body.
"Aein?" came Lars's voice softly.
And then he was wrapping his arms around her, holding her tight against his hard armor. She screamed again in anger and frustration and sadness. It could not be possible. It could not.
Lars rocked her back and forth, their bodies clanking from their chainmail. He pressed his lips on her temple. She felt his own hot tears fall upon hers.
"He can't be dead..." she wept. "He can't... he can't..."
"I don't know, Aein. I don't know," Lars replied, his voice catching in his throat.
"He's not," said a woman.
Shocked, Aein looked up. Her sword was out of reach. She had no way to protect herself, but there was a part of her that was so broken, she would not even have tried.
The lady delicately picked her way from the land into the water. She was tall and slender. Her skin was a dark as Queen Gisla's. Her short, black hair formed tiny curls close to her head. She was dressed in a single sheet of cloth pinned at the shoulders with gold brooches and tied around her waist with a golden rope. She showed no sign of having traveled through the swamp.
"Who are you?" challenged Lars.
"I am a friend," said the woman, "My name is Ragnhild and I have been watching you for many weeks now. You know me."
Aein wiped the tears from her eyes. She felt Lars hold her closer, as if preparing to lift her and run if this woman was lying.
With a smile, Ragnhild shifted. One moment she was a woman, the next she was a hawk. With a flutter, she was a woman again.
"You were the hawk that followed us!" said Aein.
"You can shift whenever you like," added Lars breathlessly.
"Such is the way of my people," she replied as she looked at Lars. "Such is the way of our people." Ragnhild pointed the direction the birds flew. "Your friend is not dead. His injuries are grave, but my friends have taken him to try to save his life. Those rogue wolves have decimated our kind. Anyone who fights them is worthy of our protection and care. Shall I take you to your friend?" The woman motioned over her shoulder. "Follow me."
Aein pointed back at their campground. "Our things..." she protested.
"I shall send one of our people to bring your items to you," said Ragnhild walking away. "When we arrive, I shall teach you about the shift, Lars. Come. This area of the swamp grows more dangerous." And then she transformed into a bird and flew into the forest.
Aein gripped Lars's arm. "What if it is a trap?"
"But what if it is not?" There was a desperation as he looked after where Ragnhild left. "What if she holds the key to shifting and can teach us how to stop it?"
Aein hated that it was the shift he cared about, not the fate of Finn. She twisted the words in her mouth to not sound like an accusation. "But what if you die?" said Aein. "I have lost Finn and I could not bear to lose you, too."
Lars leaned his forehead against Aein's. "It is just you and me. And we will not survive the swamp alone. The only reason we made it this long is because of Finn. If he is alive, we owe it to him to find out, even if this is a trap set for us by the fog. And if this Ragnhild, who has followed us all these days, is telling the truth, she may hold the salvation of our people, too."
The hawk-woman cried from far ahead and Aein and Lars glanced that direction. Aein's heart beat hard in her chest.
"Come," Lars said, holding out his hand to her. "We die here on our own or die following the bird. Death is inevitable. So how shall we meet it?"
When he put it in those terms, those harsh, realistic, callous terms, the answer seemed easy. Aein grabbed his hand and let Lars pull her up. What other choice was there? Aein tried to stop herself from holding on to the hope that Finn was alive. She wanted to believe. She wanted desperately to believe Finn was being cared for and could be saved. But there was not a healer in the world that could repair the wounds she saw. The swamp was too cruel a place for salvation to drop out of the sky at the exact moment they needed it. The only reason to follow this woman instead of continuing to Queen Gisla was to learn about the shift, Aein told herself. If she clung to this hope that Finn could still live and then it was ripped away from her, she would not be able to go on. Better to believe he was gone and move forward.
But a part of her kept praying to the gods she was wrong.
She looked at Lars. He was limping. "Are you all right?" she asked, gripping his upper arm. She hated that she had not noticed he was injured until this point, that she had been so focused on Finn that she had missed the fact her future husband had been hurt, too.
He winced as he took the next step, hopping gingerly on it. "Nothing that another shift won't fix." He stared ahead at the hawk who took off and flew to another branch a few yards deeper into the swamp.
The hawk cried out for them to hurry.
Aein wrapped Lars's arm over her neck and supported his weight so he could move faster. "What did that wolf do to you?" she asked, glancing at the dark spot in his tunic.
"I fell wrong," said Lars. "Cut myself on something sharp. Who knows what that could have been..."
She looked behind them once again. Tendrils of white were crawling across where they had just walked. "Ragnhild should have said we were hurrying because fog is behind us."
Lars heaved an exhausted sigh. He wiped his face. "Must have smelled my wound," he said, shaking his head. "It always comes for the pain."
Aein hated the swamp to the depths of her being. The hurt and pain turned into rage. "Haven't we had enough today?" she asked the fog. "Haven't we given you enough death and destruction to fill your empty belly?"
The hawk cried out again, urging them to go faster, but the fog caught them. It always did, thought Aein as the whole world became white and her vision reduced to a few inches in front of her. She tried to push back the claustrophobic fear, tried to push back the knowledge there could be monsters a fingertips-length away and she would never know.
The fog seemed to delight in Lars's wound. Aein reached out and squeezed his hand. Despite all the time they spent in the swamp, the fog continued to weaken Lars whenever he faced it. The memories of what he had done when left on his own were always there, brought forward for him to remember whenever the fog decided he had too much peace or happiness. And watching Lars in pain hurt Aein, because none of this would have happened if it wasn't for her.
But over the weeks Aein, unlike Lars, had grown tired of the fog's terror. She had grown tired of listening to the repeating loop of horror it played for her. The immediate dangers that faced them as they tried to survive were worse than any memory.
But this time, the noise of Finn's battle surrounded them. This time, the fog found that tender chink in her hardened soul. The memories of Finn's dimming eyes as his spirit left him cut her to the bone. The weight of his head as he faded in her arms. The fog relished in her pain. It tasted it and gleefully pressed harder, like a sadist with a finger in a wound.
Aein stumbled and Lars caught her. She was glad he could not see her well through the fog. She let the tears run down her cheeks so he wouldn't see her wiping her eyes. "What do you think happened that allowed that wolf to harm Finn?" asked Aein, trying not to let her voice betray her.
"I don't know," he replied.
His voice was muffled and she realized he, too, was trying to hide the effects of the fog on him. She gave his arm a heartening squeeze. He breathed deep, and they both focused on their conversation like a lifeline, as if figuring out what was wrong with the mad wolf could somehow change things.
"When the wolves transformed in Lord Arnkell's camp, there was nothing that spurred it. I only escaped because I was human when it happened. It was just that one time they shifted and they never shifted back," he said, finding his footing as the mud and water squelched around his boot. "Once they turn into those... creatures... they lose their humanity. Sun up, sun down, it doesn't matter. They stay wolves."
Aein crawled over a waist-high tree root that had grown over the path and offered her hand to Lars. He gripped her forearm and used it to steady himself as he crawled over.
"How long until sunset?" he joked.
"Soon." Aein wondered if Finn was still alive, if he would transform healed and whole. Or if he was permanently injured. Or if he would ever turn into a human again now that he had been exposed to the wild wolves. Would he become one of them?
They continued on, engaged in their pointless conversations. They traveled for hours as the fog toyed with them — disappearing and then reappearing just when they thought they were free. There was no sign of life. Not a single frog croaked, not a single insect hummed. The only sound was the water lapping around the roots of the trees and their footsteps. Night was coming, but the hawk made no sign that they should slow for a rest. In fact, when Ragnhild flew away, she was replaced by an owl.
They stopped for a moment when the owl politely transformed to introduce himself. It was a man dressed in long gray robes, the same color as the fog. Aein realized it was better for remaining camouflaged. He kept some of the traits of his owl shape, though, even as a man. His skin was dusky and olive-colored, his nose was shaped much like a beak, and his large eyes were rimmed with long, curly lashes. He held himself with the same deep peace and authority as Ragnhild and regarded them with a thoughtful air.
"My name is Kaleo," he said. "I shall be your guide through the night."
Lars sat down on a tree root, taking the opportunity to rest his injured leg. "I shall shift with the sunset and can be eyes and ears, too."
Kaleo looked at Aein. "Can he be trusted to control his inner spirit after the turn?"
"He is safe to be around when he becomes a wolf..." she replied, not sure she understood Kaleo's question.
It seemed to be the correct one. Kaleo smiled apologetically. "There were many accounts of what happened today and I wanted to make sure he was not the wolf who attacked your friend."
The fact Kaleo knew of Finn and the circumstances surrounding his injuries caused Aein's heart to thump. He must have seen him. Or spoken to someone who had seen him. He had to know something. "Do you have any news of our friend?" Aein asked, stepping forward.
Kaleo help up his hands in peace. "He is alive. He will be cared for." Kaleo looked at the sky. "We would best travel through the night."
Aein deflated, disappointed that this was all Kaleo had to share. Exhaustion overwhelmed her and her shoulders slumped. "I shall need to rest," said Aein. "We have traveled all day, and battled this morning and this afternoon."
Kaleo regarded her. "You do not shift?"
Aein shook her head. "No. I ate some berries."
Kaleo's face paled at the words and she could see him recoil from her before regaining control. "I have heard of such a horror."
"It is not a horror—" she began and then stopped herself. "It is the reason why we came to the swamp."
Kaleo did not seem to understand what she was saying, but he hid his confusion under the guise of politeness and pointed ahead. "There is a place not too far where I can let you rest, but it is dangerous here and best if we do not stay any longer than we have to." He motioned to Lars. "Can you be her protector while she sleeps?"
Lars nodded, his red hair catching the last rays of the setting sun. It had grown so long that it seemed like a mane, Aein thought. It was as if part of his shaggy wolf-self was beginning to bleed into his human side.
"I can," he replied as the last rays of the sun set the sky on fire. He was at once wolf.
This time, however, he did not greet the shift with his usual sigh of disappointment. The relief from his wounds made his animal form worth it. Kaleo faded until he was once more an owl. He hooted and then took off into the air, his giant wings making no sound in the wind. As they began walking again and Aein's joints popped and cracked from overuse, she found herself looking at Lars and Kaleo with jealousy.
Aein tried to remain on alert as they trudged on, but exhaustion was setting in. She found herself tripping and falling as much as she was walking. Finally, they arrived at the spot Kaleo promised. He settled on to a tree branch and hooted comfortingly.
Aein did not need any more urging. She fell to the ground and rolled on to her back. Lars was immediately at her side, offering his shaggy body as warmth for the night and she took the invitation. Perhaps she should have lit a fire, but for the first time since being trapped inside the swamp, Aein felt strangely safe, as if she could sleep without care knowing that two creatures of the night were protecting her.