System of the Beast Slayer [litrpg Adventure]
Copyright© 1999 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 93
The Werewolf’s ghostly pupils watched the moon, half-hidden between the pines, and its low, hoarse voice matched the patter of rain. “My name is Aaron. I was born to a farmer’s family in Rivendell Valley, and most of those around me were farmers’ children, but Shena was different.”
“She was the town clerk’s daughter, literate and gentle by nature, with hair the violet of iris blooms, and a smile more innocent than a fawn’s.”
“If fate had not intervened, a beauty with such birth and looks would never have crossed paths with a clod of dirt like me. She would have married the reeve’s son, or perhaps a minor noble, living comfortably as a lady.”
“But perhaps it was fate. The year she was seventeen she slipped while on an outing and fell into the Nevy River, and I recklessly jumped into the roaring water to save her ... When our eyes met that first time, we fell in love, and soon after began to meet in secret.”
The Werewolf’s great, deep green eyes softened, folding into a serene, happy reverie. Each glittering tooth in that blood-lined maw seemed for a moment like a white gem, suffused with sweetness and romance. The two birds perched on its shoulders felt the same joy and waggled their plump bodies like pendulums.
“An ill-born peasant and the clerk’s daughter together—unthinkable, and yet fate arranged it. A year of trysts later, Shena bore the fruit of our love—Fenn and Tawn.”
“Wait!” Roy cut in abruptly, and, to the Werewolf’s mild surprise and reproach, asked, “You mean Shena was eighteen ... um ... I’m curious, how old were you then?”
“I was twenty-eight, still a confirmed bachelor...” The Werewolf dropped its head and, much to Roy’s surprise, twisted a grin that reached its ears; there was an unexpected bashfulness there.
“Eighteen ... twenty-eight ... peasant ... rich beauty ... what could they possibly have in common?” Roy’s thoughts spun; his face flickered through odd expressions, his lips parted as if to speak, then he swallowed the words.
“All right, fortune smiled on me; I believe your fate then.”
“Indeed I was fortunate that Shena favored me. After she was with child her condition became heavier; to escape family blame and the town’s scorn I eloped with her. One night we slipped away from the town into the vast forest.”
At that, the Werewolf clenched its paws and bowed its head. “I was a fool, unprepared. We lost our way in the woods, food and water ran out...”
“And then you met that woman?” Roy interjected.
The Werewolf nodded heavily. “A priestess in the forest named Rachel saved us. She brought my family to a ruined shrine and tended my wife until the birth.”
“I need to confirm one thing...” The Witcher frowned and his expression grew grave, “Before she cared for you, did she demand anything special, any payment?”
“No!” the Werewolf answered stoutly, though both men could hear the weakening in its voice.
“Only after Shena delivered did Rachel hold baby Fenn and toy with him, then make her cruel demand.”
Its voice rasped and its face contorted with a howl of rage, “She demanded we leave Fenn with her as payment for saving us! A newborn, not yet fed a mother’s milk, to be taken away! What cruelty is this?”
“Can you imagine?!” The Werewolf raged at them, and Roy involuntarily stepped back, raising his crossbow.
“To leave your newborn in that dank, foul little hut, to inherit the old hag’s trade as a lonely, miserable charlatan, to serve that nauseating spider-god for life! Even if she wanted me as a servant forever, I might have agreed. But she wanted my child—”
“As a father I refused her outrageous demand!” A flash of red fury crossed the Werewolf’s eyes and its voice cut like a cold blade.
Its gaze went vacant, as if roaring at something that was not there. “We lay in the shrine waiting for Rachel to bleed out, and afterwards we saw those strange symbols painted in blood across the floor.”
“The next day, the nightmare began.”
The Werewolf sighed long and deep.
“The curse did have its merits; once I became a Werewolf I grew resistant to sickness and tireless, and I formed a bond with the children and with Shena, a kind of telepathic link that let us communicate. I could hunt easily and provide for them. I even took to performing tricks and we toured the world.”
“But Shena could not bear her frog shape. She loathed those slimy, disgusting creatures. Her spirit was tormented; after two years she fell into despair and died.”
...
“At first I was alone in the troupe; I thought to disband. But when I looked at my two children trapped in bird bodies and suffering, I forced myself onward and kept roaming, seeking any way to lift the curse.”
“Until I studied fairy tales, the tale of the Frog Prince ... and consulted many experts. As you know, I told the troupe that searching for true love was not idle talk but a way to break the curse. Perhaps one pure kiss from a beautiful woman could undo it. I have chased that hope for years, but I could not move my heart to another, so no one granted me true love. The children have suffered the curse for five whole years.”
“Do you still love your wife?” the Witcher asked.
“Love! I would gladly follow her into death. But—” The Werewolf looked at his two “children” with a gaze full of affection, “I cannot abandon them. I cannot bear them to face the world alone.”
“You should love her. Shena bore your children and shared your burden. Rachel’s curse targeted you, yet your family’s blood and fate were bound to you and unknowingly shared the curse. That is why, though you became a Werewolf, you retained human reason.”
“And another thing...” The Witcher’s brow arched, “You lied to us earlier. Though Rachel worships a dark god, her priestesses still follow ancient custom.”
“A priestess who desires a child as the shrine’s heir must first bind that child’s fate to her; the usual way is to employ the Law of Surprise.”
“Given your circumstances, the Law of Surprise only works if claimed before the child is born.”
The Law of Surprise is an age-old custom: the rescuer may demand, as reward, the first thing the saved person finds at home, or something the saved person already possesses unknowingly. Many Witchers came to take apprentices by that law.
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