Chapter 6

I tried to make it clear to Orda, Junga, and Trudy that they did not have to stay with me any longer than they wanted to. I'm not sure that they understood that I did not own them, and they could leave any time they got tired of me or found a better offer. At first, they thought that I was throwing them out, and they became hysterical over that idea, but I finally got through that I was happy with them and not abandoning them. Once they realized that, things settled down and we became one big happy family. Even the children got less quarrelsome and were nicer to be around.

I asked Orda, "Where did the names for the children come from?"

"They were given by Thunder Man one day when he was in an especially foul mood. We expected him to change them when he calmed down, but he never did."

"Well, those names are OK for young children, but WE will change them when the boys get older." At that point, Orda and Junga kissed me, and I forgot what we had been talking about.

The cart was quite large and had four wheels spaced widely apart, so the cart was very stable and had a great deal of room inside. It was so large that it was difficult for four horses to pull it up much of a hill; therefore, we were restricted in the roads we could use. Nevertheless, that was not a problem for what I had in mind.

I wanted to return to my old village and try to persuade the shaman to make more of the werewolf amulets. I had grown quite fond of, no, I was in love with my wives, and I wanted them to stay with me forever. I felt the same way about the boys and about Holly. I also wanted to allow for any more children that I might have. I had plans for a large group of werewolves of my type, if I could manage that.

We had been on the road a week when I thought of this, so I aimed us northwest. My wives were a little upset by this travel direction, since they had never been so far north or west. I tried to reassure them that I knew what I was doing. I could tell that they thought that I was crazy, but they loved and respected me enough to go along with my wishes.

We had traveled quite a distance and had crossed several rivers, some of them large. Fortunately, the cart was also a very effective boat and we were able to cross the rivers without undue difficulty. It was getting late in the traveling season, and I was in a hurry to reach my old village, so, when we reached the edge of the forest, I steered us along parallel to it to make the traveling easier. The cart was too big to try moving through the woods anywhere except on a cleared road, so I was looking for the one that led to my village.

We had stopped for the night and made camp. It was Junga's turn to gather firewood to cook supper, and she was doing that while Orda was caring for the children and Trudy was preparing to cook supper. I had slipped away from the cart and changed into my wolf form to hunt for the next day's food. I still had not told my family about my shape-shifting ability.

I was returning to the cart with my kills, four rabbits, when I heard Junga scream in pain. I shifted to wolf form without dropping the rabbits so that they would be with me when I shifted back to human form (don't ask me to explain, I don't understand it either, but I have no compunction about making use of the ability). As a wolf, I raced to the site where I had heard Junga's scream come from, and saw a monster bear in the process of killing her.

I did not hesitate, but launched myself at the bear's throat. I grabbed hold and held on with all of my strength and tenacity. The bear tried to squeeze me to death, but I held on, even though a multitude of ribs were broken and at least one lung was punctured. An ordinary wolf would have died from the bear's squeeze, but, fortunately, I was immune to that. Finally, the bear died and I was able to let go and crawl away. I was injured badly enough that it took nearly 15 minutes for me to heal, and I had to wait that long before I could minister to Junga.

There was no question about it, Junga was dying! There was only one thing that I could do to try to save her—I bit her near where the bear had wounded her. My only hope was that she would convert to a werewolf quickly enough to survive a serious mauling. Her skin was badly torn in several places and her left breast was hanging by a mere thread of skin.

I changed back to human form and used my hands to push the torn skin back into place. Just as I finished that, my other two wives showed up, carrying lances, to try to help Junga. Of course, they would not have been able to do anything but annoy the bear into attacking them, so I was glad that they were late arriving on the scene.

The two women "stood guard" as I carried Junga back to the cart and tenderly laid her on the bed. As I laid her down, I could already see her wounds start to heal. Thank Dievs, I had bitten her soon enough to save her life. All three of us gasped in relief as we watched the wounds heal. We could see the torn flesh grow back together. Orda and Trudy were astounded and I was relieved as the miraculous healing took place. Then Junga began to change in other ways. In slow motion, as if she was learning how to do it, her clothes disappeared and long hair grew in its place. Her body started to change shape as she slipped into wolf form.

The two women were petrified—too frightened to move, but I tried to sooth their fears by telling them that I knew what was happening, and I would reverse the changes once they had settled in. In about 10 minutes, we saw a full grown large female wolf lying on our bed. I then took the extra amulet from around my neck and slipped it over Junga's head.

It had hardly settled into place when Junga regained consciousness, and I spoke to her, trying to calm her. "Junga, do not be frightened. You have undergone a wonderful transformation which has cured you of the wounds inflicted by the bear. You are now in the guise of a wolf, but simply think to yourself that you want to be human, and you will change back."

There was a moment's pause while my words sank into Junga's consciousness. I saw realization come to her eyes and, suddenly, with no discernible time lapse, there she was lying on the bed in her original human form, but looking about seven years younger. We all hugged and cried our joy. The tears flowed for nearly 15 minutes while we all expressed our relief that Junga had returned to us.

After things had calmed down a bit, Junga said, "All right, Vilkatas, I think you owe us an explanation. I know you saved my life, but I want to know how you did it."

"The answer is both simple and complicated. First, let me say to all of you, don't panic over what you are about to see and hear. You are all perfectly safe, so there is no reason to be fearful.

"I must tell you that I am a werewolf, and have been one since I was about three years old. Yes, I have killed people, but only those who deserved it, people like Hard Rider and Thunder Man. And, yes, I can change my form back and forth at will from wolf to human to wolf, just as Jonga just demonstrated. Here, I will show you."

I shifted back and forth from wolf to human to wolf to human so that they could see how easy it was and that no harm was done. I said, "Jonga can do the same thing any time she wants to. But Jonga must wear the amulet to be able to shift from wolf to human. Let me show you what I mean. Jonga, I am going to remove your amulet. When I do, you will immediately change into a wolf. I want you to try to change back without the amulet. After a minute or so, I will drape the amulet around your neck, and I want you to try to change again. We'll talk after that."

I removed the amulet from Jonga's neck, and she immediately reverted to a wolf. I gave her some time to try to change back, unsuccessfully, and then draped the amulet around her neck again. She instantly regained her human form and smiled at me.