Chapter 12

We reached the edge of the great forest to the north of the great plain and turned west. We were getting close to my old home, but there was no way that we could make it that far before the snow came and blocked the roads. I discussed the situation with my family, and we decided to find a town where we could spend the winter. A few days later, we came to a rather large town that was located on the bank of a large river.

We drove our carts into town and had started to look for the town elders when there arose a great collective groan coming from hundreds of people. The sound seemed to originate at the river bank, so we went to investigate. There we saw a horrible sight. Several young women were tied to stakes at the edge of the water and a great beast was advancing toward what looked like the sacrificial victims.

The beast must have been a hydra, for it had many heads shaped like the head of a snake and the body of a giant water serpent. I couldn't imagine how it got this far north, since it was native to the far south, but there was no question that it was about to eat the women victims. I shouted to Orda, "Find a torch to sear the neck as we cut off a head. That's critically important!" She ran to do my bidding as the rest of us morphed into wolves and attacked the monster.

There were a dozen heads, so that was more than we could bite in one pass, but we could manage if Orda was quick to return with the burning brand. We followed our usual mode of attack by going for the creatures throat, or in this case, throats. Each neck was about three feet long between the junction with the body and the head, and, presumably, severing the neck anywhere in its length would be sufficient. The problem was that the hydra grew two new necks and heads for every one we chomped off. That's where the fire came in: I wanted to cauterize the stump of the neck before a new pair could grow.

I had learned that trick in one of my visits to the coffee shop in the little town where we had spent nearly four years. On of the favorite stories there was of the labors of Heracles, which included his fight with a hydra. There was a further complication in that one of the heads was immortal, but I had an idea for that when we got that far.

We had positioned ourselves between the hydra and the victims to block its path, but I didn't want to start decapitations before the fire arrived. Orda showed up at last with a firebrand and I morphed back to human form. I took the brand from her and ordered her to morph, then I shouted, "ATTACK! TRY TO CUT ALL OF THE THROATS AND I WILL BURN THEM WHEN YOU DO!"

The result of that command was a maelstrom of leaping and biting werewolves. The hydra didn't stand a chance as far as saving its existing heads went, but a few did get a chance to grow back before I could reach them with the firebrand. Our great advantage was that we were immune to the bites by the hydra in the sense that it could not penetrate our skins, but some of the bites were strong enough to break bone, especially on our legs, and we had to pause in the fight while a broken bone grew back.

The fight lasted only about 15 minutes, and it would have been over before then, except that the hydra was able to break both my arms at one point and I dropped the torch. Luckily, it did not go out, but it was a close thing. The 12 seconds that it took for my bones to heal was enough time for the hydra to grow several more heads, but we finally had the hydra reduced to one head and a lot of stumps.

That head was the crux of the problem: there were only two ways to damage it, one was to crush it with stones, and the other was to burn it to ash. I wanted to burn it, because that was the only way I would be sure that the monster was destroyed. The monster was trying to escape, so I shouted, "MORPH BACK AND GRAB IT BEFORE IT GETS AWAY!" It took all six of my family hanging on, and even the kids tried to help, before we were able to anchor the hydra on shore.

Trudy and Big Noise were holding the immortal head and I stuck the torch in its face. Naturally, this just increased the amount of struggling by the hydra. Then I had a brainstorm. There was a long, heavy rope lying on the ground, surely used for holding boats to the bank for unloading, so I set the torch aside and grabbed it. I tied it around the hydra's active neck, and, with the help of Trudy, Big Noise, and Holly, managed to tie the hydra's neck in a knot around the rope. Now, with Big Noise hanging on to the hydra's head, we were able to pull it tight enough so that it could not work loose without hours of effort.

This gave us the advantage we needed to hold the hydra's head still while I burned it to ash. When that happened, the beast collapsed. This added another 20 minutes to the fight, so we were all very tired when the battle was finally over.

An elderly man came up to me and said, "Thank you for killing that beast. It has been troubling our town for six years. We have tried to fight it, but it has always defeated us. Every time we fought it, it increased the number of victims we had to provide each year. People with daughters have been leaving the town, and I don't blame them. How can we repay you for what you have done for us?"

"We are journeying north, but we have too far to go to beat the snow. We would like to spend the winter in your town and leave in the spring. Will that be possible?"

"Of course it will! There are several abandoned houses; take what you need."

I thanked him and we introduced ourselves. I explained that we were werewolves who had dedicated our lives to helping people, so the town had nothing to fear from us. I could tell that several people were relieved to hear that we were not dangerous. I think that they were afraid that they had just swapped one tormentor for another.

With the help of the head man, we found a suitable house and moved in. The house was quite large, so we had plenty of room to spread out. We wound up having separate bedrooms for Orda, Jonga, Trudy, Elger, and me; for Big Noise and Holly; for the girls; and for the boys. However, Rose spent a lot of time in the bedroom with Big Noise and Holly. She did not take part in the sex play, but she spent a lot of time learning by observation and by masturbating to the couple's rhythm. It was obvious that Rose would join that group as soon as she was old enough.

The boys, Big Noise, and I paid our way by hunting. Big Noise and I worked as wolves, but the boys were not old enough for that, yet. Nevertheless, they did learn a lot and provided the hands we needed, so it was a very useful and profitable association.

One night, I was sleeping after a full sexercise session, but we had those every night, so that was nothing exceptional. What was exceptional was the dream I had. In the dream, I could see a number of elderly men and women sitting in an arc in front of me. The surroundings were somewhat foggy, so I was never sure just exactly how many people there were in the arc. Though there were a number of people I was sure were involved in the conversation, I only heard one voice, that of a man who appeared the be the eldest of the bunch.

"Vilkatas, we are very pleased with you and your accomplishments, so far. We expect great things from you. We think it is time for you to hear more of the story and why we have selected you to be our instrument on Earth. Our communication time is short, so we don't have time for the full story, tonight.

"Earth is in great danger, but we have time to prepare for the catastrophe if we start working soon enough. Up to this point, you have only tasted the abilities that you will eventually be capable of, but we also need to warn you of the immediate dangers you face.

"I must tell you about amber and iron. We were initially forced to work through the shaman of your village, so we had to resort to the kind of symbolism that he could understand. The shaman was a kind man who was always mindful of the needs of his people. I regret to tell you that he has now died, so you will no longer be able to meet with him. However, do not panic! You will soon have all of the amber you need to act the way your amulet does.