Legacy of Kail - Chapter 9

Looking across the lake, Kail could see a boat coming from the island. Hopefully that meant that Soxolfr was already on his way to towards them, perhaps to help defend against the attack.

“You really think that old man will be of any help?” Kin asked.

“Well, he’s a shaman like me, and he says he can use the Ookami spirit. The Ookami is…. well… something else. It must be of some help in a fight. He should be good to have around.” Kail answered.

“Hmm… Still, I feel like we’d be better served hunting down any werewolves that might be attacking people.” Kin replied.

“Maybe… But I’d like to tell Soxolfr what we found first. Besides, Siegfried should be about, as well as those armoured fighters he trains with. In the forest, up in the trees at least, me and you are at a huge disadvantage.” Kail said.

 “True. I’m much more confident here where there’s more of a clearing.” Kin said. “Although…” he looked at his broken spear. They hadn’t taken the time to try to find the end with the spear-head… so all he had was a stick with blood on the end. He sighed.

 “I guess I’ll be doing the fighting if one of them comes here.” Kail said, unable to keep the uneasiness from his voice. The boat was near the shore now, heading for them. And then…

A roar came from the forest behind them. It was louder and somehow different from what they’d heard so far. It was somehow more inhuman. The picture of a lion came to Kail’s mind. He’d never seen one, only read about them and looked at pictures drawn of them, but the lion was known as the ‘king of beasts’ in the land it was from. It was said to have a mighty roar that would alert all nearby creatures that the one who stood at the top of the food chain was there. That was the effect the roar had on Kail. Just like the werewolf he had met before, it was as if there were two sounds he could hear un unison. One; the loud roar of a beast, and two: the pained scream of a man in pain. A grim reminder that these creatures were once tahke.

They could see red eyes glowing from the shadows of the trees. Then creature stepped from the shadows towards them. This one was larger than the others. Even Kin looked small compared to its height. Two magnificent and deadly horns crowned its head, and a strong and powerful tail followed it as it silently approached. It smelled the air and looked around, finally settling its glare on Kail, who held his sword ready, yet felt unarmed before the gigantic beast. The most unsettling thing about it was not its size compared to the other werewolves, nor its calm demeanour nor its red eyes. It was its fur. Unlike the other werewolves, its fur was a stark white, waving around its frame in an almost ghostly fashion. It truly set it apart from the other werewolves Kail had seen, which had had much darker fur, more animal-like. Then it opened its mouth which Kail was sure was big enough to bite his entire head off, and it roared at them again. The same fear-inducing roar they had just heard. Then its body tensed, ready to attack, drawing Kail from the almost dreamlike stupor he had been in from looking at the creature. He gripped his sword tight.

The werewolf burst into a sprint toward Kail when a piece of wood hit it in its face. Kail looked to Kin in shock, who looked equally shocked at his own actions. He had no weapon, and he must had realised his stick wouldn’t do anything in real combat. Kail looked back to see the werewolf change its target to Kin. It growled threateningly and closed the distance almost instantly. Kail swung his sword at it, hoping to catch it off-guard, but it swung its arm at Kail’s sword to intercept the strike. The strength of it sent Kail’s sword flying out of his hands, and the beast turned to Kail. Then there was a flash of light from the creature’s feet.

“Run!” Kin shouted. Kail didn’t need to look down to realise that Kin had frozen it to the ground. He ran towards his sword, and Kin also took the momentary distraction to run after him, not wanting to be stranded by himself without a weapon against the werewolf. “I’ll support you with my magic.” Kin said. Then they heard the sound of ice shattering. The werewolf had broken free effortlessly, and it turned its attention toward them again.

“Right.” Kail answered. Then, suddenly, loud sounds attacked his eardrums, causing him to drop his weapon and cover his ears. Kin looked at him, confused and panicked, but picked up Kail’s sword as the werewolf slowly and calmly walked towards them. Kail could still hear it though. They were voices. A lot of them. Shouting at him. He felt his vision fade, and realised that the spirit world was coming into view without him willing it. He looked around and saw the ghosts of tahke yelling angrily at him.

Kin stepped in front of Kail, sword held at the ready, and slowly and calmly crouched down and put his hand onto the ground. The ground froze where he touched it and spread from his hand towards the werewolf. The werewolf noticed what was happening and growled in annoyance.

They must pay for what they’ve done to us!

Kail tried to differentiate between the voices and quiet them down.

Turned us into monsters!

He realised these were ghosts of the tahke that had been turned into werewolves.

It’s his fault!

The werewolf in front of him was the ‘leader’ of the werewolves. He was the alpha of the pack.

The werewolf roared at Kin once more, then pounced from his spot, jumping to the side of the frozen ground effortlessly, running around it and then jumping at Kin. He held the sword out in front of him but he wasn’t confident it would help. Then he was rolling across the ground. Something other than the werewolf jumping at him had knocked him away. He slid across the frozen ground he had made and looked up. It was Kail. He had knocked Kin out of the way and taken the werewolf’s attack. They tumbled across the ground together. Amazingly Kail stood back up, but he didn’t look like the Kail that Kin knew. His eyes glowed red, just like the werewolf’s eyes, and he growled a similar growl to them. He held his hands ready as if they were claws and he actually jumped at the werewolf to attack first. They locked hands, and somehow Kail didn’t get effortlessly pushed away, although he did slowly get pushed back.

Kin took the chance to join in the fight. He ran towards them, sword ready. As he did so, however, the werewolf lifted Kail off the ground and threw him away, but Kail twisted in midair and landed on all fours. He then jumped once more at the werewolf. The werewolf held out its arm in defence and Kail grabbed onto it, attempting to bite it. It then swiped its arm with such force that Kail couldn’t hold on. Kail went flying into Kin, sending them both to the ground. Kail jumped to his feet to get back to the werewolf, but Kin grabbed a hold of his legs from the floor. He had no idea what was going on with Kail but he realised that their best chance would be to attack together. Kail ignored him, growling and trying to shake him free. The werewolf approached.

Then a torrent of water came from seemingly nowhere, assaulting the werewolf and sending it tumbling to the ground. Kin looked around and saw Soxolfr walking towards them without hesitation. Close at his heels was Ylva; his granddaughter. Soxolfr moved his palms forward as if he was attacking the werewolf and water jettisoned out of the lake and slammed into it. He made it to them and grabbed Kail by the shoulder. Kail immediately stopped struggling against Kin and fell down to his knees.

“W…what just happened?” he asked. He looked to Soxolfr then down to Kin who was still on the floor, grabbing his legs. Soxolfr then strode away from them and towards the werewolf. It roared at him, although its roar seemed more quiet than before. It also seemed like the werewolf had become smaller. It jumped at Soxolfr but more water slammed it into the ground, and it stopped moving. Soxolfr stopped a safe distance from it. Ylva helped Kin to his feet.

“I… think I got possessed…” Kail said. Kin handed him his sword back. “Thanks.” he said as he struggled to his feet. They all looked to Soxolfr and the werewolf. The werewolf was getting back to its feet, but it was the same size as Soxolfr, and its fur was falling away to the floor.

“Its…. you.” Soxolfr stated in confusion. The fur fell away completely to reveal a tahke that neither Kail nor Kin had seen before.

“That’s definitely not the doctor.” Kin said.

“No…” Ylva said, dread clear in her voice. “That’s… my father.” Kin and Kail looked at each other in shock.

“Torbjorn.” Soxolfr said. The man looked around, shock and confusion clear on his face. Soxolfr slowly approached him. Torbjorn grabbed his head with one hand and held the other before him, signalling for Soxolfr to stay away.

“Stop!” Torbjorn said, although no one could tell if he was speaking to Soxolfr or someone else. Soxolfr didn’t stop, however.

“So the transformation can be reversed….” he said. Then Torbjorn screamed in pain. His body contorted, and he started to grow in size. Soxolfr held his hands up and water moved through the air from the lake towards him, but before it reached him Torbjorn jumped forwards and kicked Soxolfr to the ground. The water fell. Torbjorn stood with one foot atop him and transformed into the werewolf that had instilled fear in them all. He then, as they watched, swiped his claws across Soxolfr’s chest. Ylva screamed out, and Kail and Kin both shouted out in shock. Kail ran forward with his sword, even though he realised he wouldn’t be a match for the beast. It locked its eyes onto him, stopping him in his tracks. It then looked past him to Ylva. Time seemed to stop for a moment. Kail wasn’t sure how long it went on for, but afterwards the werewolf turned away from them and ran into the forest.

“Wait!” Ylva shouted. Thankfully he didn’t turn back. Kail walked over to inspect Soxolfr. He was… dead. There was no movement, and the wounds the werewolf had inflicted were undoubtedly fatal. There was not much of his chest left. Kin and Ylva moved to join him, Ylva notably hesitant. “Grand…father…” she whispered weakly. She crouched down next to him and started to cry over his body. Kail didn’t know what to say. He realised it would probably be best to say nothing.

“Well, that didn’t go so well.” Kin said. Kail turned to him to give in a disapproving scowl, but then he heard a voice call his name. He looked around in confusion. There wasn’t anyone nearby.

Hear me, damn ye. Came the familiar voice. His sixth sense activated, and he saw the ghost of Soxolfr standing before him. There you are. Soxolfr said.

Soxolfr… Kail started. What could he say to the man he had just seen die?

Stop right there, alright? Soxolfr responded. I don’t need your sympathies. Nothing that can be done about it now. But one thing I DO need you to do, is I need ye to awaken Ylva’s shaman powers, alright? See, neither me nor her are like you. Our family has always had a shaman, but we pass down our shaman power to our child when they take over charge of the village. But…. Well I died. To be honest I didn’t see that coming… Torbjorn… Knew he was still out there… But didn’t realise we could turn them back! Even if it’s only temporary, this could help.

So what do you want me to do? I don’t know how to turn someone into a shaman. Kail responded.

All I need is to possess your body, and I’ll do the rest. Soxolfr said.

And… how do I do that? I’ve never done it on purpose before. Kail replied.

Just keep a clear mind and relax. Soxolfr said. He reached a ghostly hand towards Kail. Kail prepared himself. Suddenly he could feel Soxolfr. Their thoughts were one. He turned to Ylva, seeing her both as his granddaughter and as the tahke girl who he didn’t know much about that was mostly the head of the village. It was a strange sensation. Then he held out a hand and grabbed her shoulder.

*

Kail awoke in a familiar room; the same room he had first woken up in in the tahkean village. He lay on a bed once again. As he looked around, however, he noticed that another bed had been put in the room, with someone sleeping in it. Kail then saw Siv, who noticed that he had woken up.

“Good morning.” she said. “How are you feeling?”

Kail checked under the blanket to make sure he had clothes on, then rose to his feet. He felt… perfectly fine.

“Good.” he said. “The last thing I remember is…” Soxolfr took over my body. Everything came back to him.

“Ylva told me to fetch her when you woke up. Stay here. I’ll go and get her.” Siv said. Kail didn’t respond, deep in thought, so she left the room.

“Kail.” came a voice. He looked over to the other bed to see that they had woken up its occupant, whose identity surprised him.

“Siegfried?” he asked, stunned. “How did you get injured?” he asked. The five-horned tahkean pulled down his blanket to reveal a… missing arm. Kail was speechless.

“I met my match yesterday.” Siegfried said in a grim tone. “One of the werewolves… it wasn’t like the rest.” he started. Kail thought of Torbjorn. Had it taken out Siegfried on its way to them? If even Siegfried couldn’t match it, then did they have any hope?

“Did it have white fur?” he asked. Siegfried looked at him in confusion.

“No… I haven’t seen one with white fur. This one… it was… a lot bigger than the others, and stronger, but it didn’t have any horns, which was the most strange thing about it. No tail either. But it… somehow managed to bite into my arm. So… To be safe I had to… cut it off. I don’t want to become one of them.”

A werewolf that can bite Siegfried? And it’s not even Torbjorn? Kail’s stomach sank.

“That… doesn’t bode well.” Kail said. Then he thought back to when he had looked at Siegfried’s soul. He looked at it once again. Just like before, it was different to anyone else’s. While most souls glowed a light blue colour, just like most living things, Siegfried’s had black lines running through it like vines on a tree. Kail had no idea what it meant, but he imagined it had to have something to do with Siegfried’s unnatural strength and toughness. The thought of Siegfried turning into a werewolf…. It was not pleasant. Then he wondered… If Salomon was behind this… what could he be after? Could he be after Siegfried? A super-strong, super-tough werewolf. But why? Could he control them? Kail thought back to Torbjorn. If Salomon could control them, then what had happened would make more sense. Torbjorn had seemingly, against his will, turned back into a werewolf and killed Soxolfr. He went back in his mind over what he had learned.

The first ones attacked had been Torbjorn, Siegfried, and Edwin, but Siegfried wasn’t infected because his skin was unnaturally tough. Then Salomon had shown up and the infected had turned into werewolves. The night just gone, Kail had seen a human soul in Salomon’s downstairs room, which Salomon had disappeared with, and then Siegfried had been attacked by a werewolf unlike the others. Bigger and stronger, and able to bite through even Siegfried’s flesh. And it had neither horns nor tail. It had to be the human Kail had seen. The girl that had gone missing. It seemed to Kail like Salomon, if he was behind everything, was trying to infect Siegfried.

“I think… they might be after you.” Kail said. Siegfried looked at him suspiciously. “Think about it… There is suddenly a new werewolf that can injure you. A new werewolf. Also… your abilities are… unnatural.” Siegfried nodded grimly. “If they turned you into one of them you’d be the strongest creature in the whole forest.”

“Perhaps.” Siegfried responded, nodding. “But why do they want that? How would that help them?”

“I think they’re being controlled….” Kail explained. A flash of concern crossed Siegfried’s face.

“Controlled? How? And by whom?” he asked.

“I’m not sure how, but it would make sense. The werewolf we came across last night was…. Torbjorn.” Kail said. Siegfried’s eyes widened in shock. He had been there when Torbjorn had been infected, after all. “Soxolfr found a way to turn him back.” Siegfried raised an eyebrow in interest. “But… Then he turned again, and the way he acted was as if something was forcing him to do it. And then….” Does he know about Soxolfr? Kail sighed. Siegfried looked at him expectantly, but Kail didn’t want to go over the event again.

“If he’s being controlled, if they’re being controlled, then who could be controlling them?” Siegfried pushed.

“Salomon.” Kail said. An awkward silence followed, as Siegfried struggled with the idea.

“What makes you think it’s him? He’s been trying to look for a cure.” he asked. He then held his chin as he ran through events in his mind.

“Me and Kin went to ask him questions yesterday… I saw the soul of a human in the room underneath his main one.” Kail responded.

“A soul?” Siegfried asked doubtfully.

“I’m a… shaman. Just like Soxolfr… That’s why me and Kin wanted to see him.” Kail explained. Siegfried nodded. It made sense. “When I asked Salomon about the infection I noticed that he had another room below, and I could see a human soul. When I asked Salomon about it we were attacked by a werewolf. By the time we killed it… he had disappeared. And the human soul had gone too. You said the one that attacked you didn’t have horns. That means it’s not a tahke…”

“It could be a human.” Siegfried finished for him, his eyes lighting up in understanding. “The werewolves didn’t appear until after doctor Salomon arrived… Have you told anyone else about this?” he asked.

Kail shook his head. “Only Kin. I’m not so sure anyone else would believe me. After all, I’m not one of you, and it would be his word against mine. I have no proof…” he said. Siegfried nodded in understanding.

“If you can find proof, then I will take him down.” Siegfried said, determination clear on his face. Kail thought then that Siegfried was a good person. He simply wanted to end the werewolf affliction and keep his people safe.

Chapter 10