Shades of Grey

JZASACH— DECEMBER 1843

That night, I sat atop the Hallington roof, waiting for the full moon to come into view. A sinister hush had fallen over the city, as though the citizens were waiting to see if I was any match at all for the Witches. The thought made me shudder.

“You can almost taste the doubt,” Forma said, sitting next to me on one of the roof eaves.

“Oh shut up,” I berated.

“Grey, what happens if the Witches don’t listen to you? What if they put some kind of horrible curse over you, worse than that of the Jzasach men?”

I turned to her, frowning.

“Since when are you afraid of a Creature? You were excited about the prospect of attacking witches a month ago.”

“I didn’t say I was afraid!” she cried defensively.

“I heard it in your voice.”

“No you didn’t. It was just…trepidation. I just want it to happen already so I can stop thinking about it.”

Forma hugged her knees and avoided my eyes. I laughed and looked over the city.

“I agree,” I replied after a minute. Forma relaxed and leaned back against the roof, staring up at the black sky.

“So, what are you going to do if things take a turn for the worse?” she asked.

“I’m going to fight.”

Forma laughed.

“That’s reasonable, I suppose.”

We sat in silence for another minute as the clouds broke overhead, revealing the full moon.

“Here it is,” I said softly.

As the moonlight enclosed the city, the expected pained screams began rattling the foundations of the city structure. I did not move as the cries became shrieks that soon evolved into dark, raspy growls.

“It’s time,” I whispered.

Forma gave me a calm grin and we both stood just as a loud cracking of wood shook the roof under us and we heard padded feet swiftly ascending the stairs below.

Forma transformed quickly into a Griffin and I leapt onto her back just as a powerful wolf broke through the roof beneath us. Forma hovered in flight for a minute as we looked for the first time upon the face of a snarling, transformed werewolf.

It looked as though someone had found a way to augment a timberwolf, making it as tall as a man and as wide as an ox. The eyes were jet black with a small orange centre, a colouring that sent chills through the bones of the prey, which in that instance happened to be Forma and myself. As if to emphasize this dreaded fact, the wolf (we assumed it was Mr Hallington) roared at us, revealing his strikingly white canines that extended all the way around his huge, malformed snout.

I looked down and saw that every wolf in the city had gathered below us, looking up with eyes that were just as ravenous as Mr Hallington’s.

Without a second thought, Forma took off, streaking through the air with speed that I had never before seen her achieve, the hordes of wolves running stealthily after us. I reached for the compartment under my left shoulder blade and pulled out several Narcombs, readying to hurl them at our wolfish pursuers.

I began pulling the small activation cords and throwing them below. I listened to the sudden glorious yelps as fractions of the vast horde were caught within range of the Narcomb detonation and fell to the ground in a deep coma.

“As long as we stay in the air, we should be fine!” I cried over the wind as I threw several more bombs into the pack. However, no sooner had the words left my mouth than a particularly fearless wolf decided to leap from one of the nearby building ledges towards us. He soared through the air headed straight for Forma. She adjusted her flight path just in time to miss him as he plummeted down to the pack below.

“Easy for you to say! I’ve got to do all the work!” Forma snapped back, banking left sharply and sailing into a nearby open bedroom window and landing on a large four-poster bed, sending me rolling once over the mattress and onto my feet on the other side. She promptly changed back into herself and leaned against the bedpost, trying to catch her breath as I quickly locked the thick oak door.

“Grey, I’m going to die, I can’t fly anymore!” she gasped.

“What do you mean? You flew for ten minutes!” I cried.

“Well excuse me! I was going faster than I’ve ever flown in my life! So unless you have some variant of the Sorceror’s Stone given to you by Lord or Lady Who-ever that will prolong my energy, I suggest you shut your superior Hunter mouth and think of another plan!”

I raised my eyebrows. She had never shouted at me so strongly before.

“Alright, we’ll think of something else,” I said, trying not to listen as the padded feet began ascending the stairs outside. “Do you wish to rest for a bit?” I opened my pocket for her. She shook her head, standing up straight and breathing normally.

“No, I’m alright to change, just not to fly.”

Suddenly a wolf broke through the door and lunged towards me. Forma changed immediately into a werewolf of double size and leapt between the wolf and myself. They both charged and began to fight.

I leapt around them and tried to run to another room, but I met with the remainder of the voracious pack in the hallway, all of whom looked at me with piercing orange eyes. I took a steadying breath and carefully drew my Ampoule Pistol, moving as slowly as possible…

I then began shooting as many ampoules of tranquilliser as my pistol would permit, managing to knock out about a third of the pack before running out of ammunition. I quickly re-holstered my Pistol and began to fight with the other wolves using a doweling rod I saw lying along the floor, striking the wolves on the head and batting at their monstrous snouts. Forma joined me minutes later, still in the form of the large wolf.

“Where’s the other wolf?” I called.

“Sleeping,” she answered plainly as she knocked another wolf into the wall with her teeth.

“Careful! Remember, these are men! They do not know what—”

As if to directly gainsay me, three of the wolves grabbed my coat edge with their teeth and threw me through the wall into a small bathroom. I hit the far wall and crumpled to the floor in a cascade of broken wall tiles. The wolves took advantage of my weakness and ran towards me, growling and snarling. I stood quickly and proceeded to draw my Lagorgian Club.

No sooner had I beaten my way through the pack and gained access to the overcrowded hallway when Forma suddenly leapt over them in the shape of a Magorgian Beast, her talons extended and at the ready for me to grasp.

I re-holstered my Club and grabbed her strong ankles, tucking my legs in as she flew straight through a large stain glass window at the end of the hall.

“Well done Forma!” I cried jovially. “Your energy has returned, then?”

“Enough of it,” she replied.

Five wolves suddenly made a great leap from the broken window towards us and landed atop Forma, three of them gripping onto my legs with their massive claws while the other two climbed toward Forma’s neck. They began cutting and scratching until she reflexively released her talons and accidentally dropped me as she was forced to change into a Darklight Dragon to shake them off. I fell through the air, fruitlessly trying to dispel the inevitable consequences of gravity while simultaneously trying to fend off the powerful jaws of the wolves.

Just as I saw the ground racing lethally up towards me along with the painful thought of Forma forever stuck as a Darklight Dragon, I stopped just above the cobblestone streets, hovering centimetres away from death. The wolves that had fallen with me floated above ground as well, but unlike me they were released after a moment.

“So, this is the notorious Creature Hunter that has claimed she will defeat the Kuligari Witch Clan of the North?”

The voice was silky and musical, almost calming. My upside down frozen form was then turned upright and I got to look upon my saviour.

She was tall and wrapped in black silks that fell softly around her slender, pale body. Her eyes were dark and her demeanour was haunting and she carried herself with a sort of siren-like confidence that would have attracted any world-weary traveller: unmistakable traits of the Kuligari Witches.

“Well, had I known I would be facing the Kuligari, I would have brought fewer weapons,” I quipped. She raised her eyebrows and smiled, impressed.

“She has wit as well as audacity. I can admire that. However, I must ask why you are so keen to save these dogs?” She gestured around her as the wolves, who had been clamouring to be the first to consume me, now sat complacent and subservient by her side.

“Release me and I might have an answer for you.”

Her smile vanished as she released me from my frozen state. I fell to the cobblestone ground and stood, trying to calm my heart, still frantically beating from my nearly fatal fall.

“Her Majesty Natara would not be happy if she knew that the Jzasach Curse had been exposed by a brainless, adolescent Hunter who does not understand what she is getting herself into.”

“I know exactly what I’m getting myself into and I am completely ready for any possible outcome. And I would love to speak with your queen.”

She laughed.

“No, you see, that would require divulging the location of the Kuligari Camp and you, as a Creature Hunter, should know that we do not reveal our location to anybody, much less someone who means to annihilate us.”

I looked at her, nodding understandingly.

“I can respect that answer,” I replied, slowly reaching up to the compartment under my coat for my two throwing knives.

“You cannot save them,” she stated matter of factly.

“You think so?” I prompted, gripping the hilt of one of the knives. A collective growl of intimidation sounded from the wolves around us.

“It is forbidden.”

Before I had a chance to process her sentence, she uttered an incantation and a thick stream of black smoke shot forward and engulfed me.