Firetale (16 page)

“
Your narrow escape has wiped the
smile right from your face.”

Soundgarden
, “Hunted Down”

The U
.S., some town. Present
days.

Judge Caius easily picked up the
trail of the werewolves. They openly walked through the thicket,
leaving traces
of urine and hair. It looked as if they had taken to the
mountains. Both monsters, still young and inexperienced, moved
heedlessly, clearly in a hurry. Caius inspected the werewolves’
traces and concluded that they were not simple lycanthropes.
Periodically he saw footprints of four wolf paws, then two paws and
two human hands. Sometimes he saw only human footprints. It was a
cloudy morning, and the Judge deduced that these two could
transform at will in the daylight. But, judging by the messy
traces, the transformation was easy only for one of them, probably
the older one. The second was not yet able to control its shape and
was changing into a wolf, and then back into a man. Using his sense
of smell, Caius determined that something was wrong with one of
them. The werewolf was injured or sick, and the second was helping
him through the woods, away from people.

This alarmed
the Judge. Werewolves were not
hostile to each other, but they did not live in packs like wolves.
Despite all the legends, these animals were similar to each other
only in appearance and preferred to settle in solitude in the
wilderness, where people rarely visited. Sometimes madness struck
werewolves, and then they became mardagyle, wild creatures that had
lost the ability to regain their human form, indiscriminately
devouring livestock and attacking people. But Caius rarely heard of
cases of this disease, and it had never occurred in North America.
Here werewolves hardly ever crossed the borders of each other’s
territories and almost never made their way through the woods
together. Perhaps, the Judge thought with satisfaction, this case
would be more interesting than he had first imagined.

He
had been sent to a town, a rare
occurrence. Usually Judges of his age and experience determined for
themselves the route of their movements across the country. If a
Judge received
an assignment
, the matter allowed no delay. Caius had been given an
assignment for the first time in a year and a half, which surprised
him, and he was disappointed when he arrived in the town. A local
boy named Danny Bright had gone hunting alone, and, he said, was
attacked by a huge bear, sustaining severe injuries. A group of
hunters heard his screams and found him. They took him to the
hospital, despite his protests. His wounds were serious, and the
doctors thought he would not live through the night. But to their
surprise, Danny’s condition improved during the evening, and he
even asked the nurses to let him go home. That night, he
disappeared from the hospital. No one was surprised that Danny went
hunting alone and did not want to go to the hospital. The people in
town thought Danny was quiet and polite, but not the brightest bulb
in the shed, and nobody kept company with him. His only relative
was his Uncle Caleb, an old drunkard, deaf in one ear, who,
according to the townspeople, did not like Danny, but rather
tolerated him. When the police went to Caleb’s house looking for
Danny, Caleb told them that the boy had not come home, had not
called, and that he, Caleb, did not know his nephew’s whereabouts
and was too old and too busy to find out. The police kept watch at
Caleb’s house for a couple of nights, but there was no sign of
Danny, and after a few days they ended the surveillance. They
figured that if the lad was strong enough to leave the hospital and
the town, it was unlikely he was dying somewhere.

The townsfolk discussed the disappearance
of Danny Bright, the police faked some vigorous search activities,
and a young newspaper journalist from a nearby town arrived to
cover the story, so excited that she couldn’t say a pair of words
without blushing. But two days later, the town had a new topic for
gossip. On local farms closest to the forest, chickens and rabbits
began to disappear. Sometimes the animals were found mauled. The
townsfolk concluded that it was the same bear that had attacked
Danny. But Caius knew that for the last thirty years, local hunters
were wounded only when they shot themselves, usually because they
were drunk, and no wild animal had ever attacked
livestock.

Hunters went out in force to shoot the
bear but were unable to find it. When Judge Caius arrived, the bear
hunt petered out. Soon Caius himself became the main topic of
discussion. Everything associated with him sparked interest,
especially among the children. They discussed his long, shabby
brown leather coat and his old minivan, a Stout Scarab with painted
windows and extra lights on the roof. The main topic of
conversation was the stranger’s inquiries about the disappearance
of Danny. The police asked Caius why he had come to the city, but
he put them off. They weren’t sure how to behave with a stranger
who looked as if he might be a retired police officer—or perhaps an
undertaker—so they left him alone. The hunters looked at him in
disbelief and kept their distance. Only the children were
interested, telling each other stories about the stranger with the
long coat and strange car. The most popular tale was a horror story
that said that Caius was a demon in human form that stole children,
hid them under his coat, and took them in his car to a land of
nightmares. Caius did not like the attention, but eventually he got
used to it. As long as it did not impede his mission, there was no
problem.

The Judge checked his weapons.
For hunting werewolves
, he took two harpoons with silver arrows. There
were different ways to kill a werewolf: blow it up, chop it into
pieces, inflict so many wounds that it would be powerless to heal
them all at once. Or just wait for him to die of old age. Silver
was still the most terrible plague for werewolves, but it had to
stay in a werewolf’s body for a certain amount of time to kill it.
The closer to the heart or brain the wound was, the faster the
creature died. Bullets were not ideal. Bullets could pass through
the body of a werewolf, resulting in an injury as serious as a
mosquito bite. A bullet would, however, provoke the werewolf to
attack the shooter. Arrows were similarly ineffective. You could
cover the shaft with silver, but this would not be enough to send a
mature werewolf to kingdom come. Besides, the monster could pull
out an arrow that struck him and escape. That’s why Judge Caius
chose harpoons.

Harpoons for
hunting werewolves were
different from those used for spear fishing. They were much
heavier, used gunpowder instead of compressed air, and had
reinforced arrow bracings to prevent the monster from escaping. A
harpoon that found its mark never passed through. When it entered
the body, steel clutches attached to a silvered tip burst open
inside, making it impossible to pull out the arrow. Similar
clutches were hidden in the butt-end of the harpoon, and after a
successful shot, the hunter could remove the cover from the
butt-end and plug it into the ground. The arrow and the harpoon
were linked with a chain, limiting a werewolf’s movements. The
werewolf could not escape, and a Judge could wait until the monster
died in agony, unable to flee or remove the arrow from its body, or
finish the beast with one shot to the head or heart from another
harpoon. Carrying two harpoons was not easy, but after learning
that there were two werewolves, the Judge was glad he had brought
both.

Caius
followed the traces out of the woods.
As the Judge expected, the werewolves had moved to the mountains,
probably hoping to hide in caves. The Judge found traces of fresh
blood on soil and rocks. The scent was neither human nor werewolf.
Apparently, on the way to find shelter, they had decided to hunt.
For Caius everything was going as well as possible; if the monsters
had eaten recently, they would have to sleep, and the blood of
their prey would show him the way to their lair.

The blood trail soon led the Judge to a
cave. Observing the utmost caution, Caius approached the entrance.
His shoes and arms were wrapped in thick cloth so he wouldn’t make
noise while walking. The Judge uncovered one of the harpoons,
leaving the second one behind. There was no sound from the cave,
but the traces of blood left no doubt that the monsters were in
there. The entrance was wide, and it was impossible to enter
unnoticed. Caius pondered his options and decided that appearing in
the open could be dangerous, but the werewolves were young and
inexperienced. Even if they did notice him, they might hesitate and
give him the few moments he needed.

The wide entrance allowed gray daylight to
fall into the cave. It was surprisingly clean and seemed as if it
might have been inhabited. A fire burned in the center of the cave,
near which a naked girl slept. The Judge was momentarily surprised.
It obviously was not Danny Bright. The girl was young, eighteen or
nineteen years old, with short brown hair and a slightly upturned
nose. Her body had not lost all of its girlish fragility, but had
begun to assume feminine curves. The girl slept uneasily, as if
dreaming, and as she tossed and turned and moaned in her sleep, a
wave swept through her body, and fur of the same chestnut color as
her hair covered her skin. From her mouth, which was smeared with
blood, came growls instead of groans.

The second
werewolf
,
thought the Judge. He had assumed that the one who turned Bright
was older, but the girl was younger than Danny and very pretty. The
sight of her body, periodically covered with fur, mesmerized Caius.
She lay on her side and he could not see her breasts, but he saw
enough to arouse him. His lust rose, and the Judge barely resisted
the urge to touch the sleeping girl. He knew he should not be
tempted, especially by monsters. He hated himself. He would have to
punish himself. But that would come later. Now he must deal with
the girl, and then find Danny. Lust poisoned the body and the soul,
the Judge was sure of that. It was sent to us by the Devil to test
our faith in God. Lust enervated him and made him lose
concentration.

“
Who are you?” said a frightened
voice behind him. Cursing himself for staring at the girl and
exposing himself to danger, the Judge turned. At the entrance of
the cave was a naked young man, tall and thin, jug-eared, and with
a big nose—Danny Bright. His frightened eyes looked sadly at Caius,
and then at the girl. In his blood-smeared hands, he held the
carcass of some small animal.

“
Who are you?” Danny repeated,
his voice sounding even more frightened than before. The Judge
heard a rustle behind him. He quickly turned back while lifting the
harpoon. The girl had awakened and was now standing. She looked a
little sleepy, but obviously was not as frightened as
Danny.

“
I came for you, Danny,” the
Judge said over his shoulder without dropping the
harpoon.

“
Look, I know the whole city is
looking for me, but I’m not going back,” Danny replied. “We—me and
Jill—will get out of here, and we won’t be anyone’s
problem.”

Jill. The judge
had heard about this
girl in the town. She was one of the most popular school beauties.
She had gone to visit her cousin a couple of days after Danny’s
disappearance. Or so she had told her parents.

“
Whose idea was it to turn you,
Danny?” asked the Judge, turning to the boy.

The boy was surprised at
first
, as if
he saw the face of the Lord, but then his shoulders slumped. He
looked like a naughty schoolboy who had just realized it was stupid
to deny his guilt.

“
I don’t understand what you
mean,” Bright said without much conviction.

“
Mine,” said Jill. The Judge
turned to her.

“
It was my idea. I wanted to
escape from this damn city. And I needed a helper. Someone who
would understand me and never give up.” The girl’s every word was
like a bullet, as if she was firing back, defending her
position.

“
And why did you choose Danny,
babe?” Caius asked.

“
Because he was willing to follow
me. Everyone else wants only my beauty and sex. nothing more. They
did not want to be with me, did not want to get out of here, and
did not want to lead a life like mine. Danny is the only one who
agreed.” With the last sentence, Jill’s voice became
warmer.

“
And you agreed, Danny? Agreed to
be bitten?”

The boy hesitated before answering. “Yes,
I … I was … For us it was the first time. Jill was hurt, and she
bit me a little harder than necessary,” mumbled Bright. The girl
looked guilty.

“
A little harder? Man, she nearly
tore you apart. Are you aware of that?” Caius pointed his harpoon
at Danny.

“
It’s not her fault,” Danny
said.

“
She attacked you.”

“
Not on purpose!” cried
Jill.

“
She didn’t want it!” Danny
protested. “Please let us go. There will be no more problems
because of us. We stole from the farm to help me heal. I’m okay,
and we are ready to go. We do not want to do evil. We never harm
people.” Danny’s voice was pleading. Someone else might have been
affected by the boy’s sincerity, but not Judge Caius. The girl was
a mongrel and had violated the Pactum and attacked a man, even
though the man was not opposed to it. As for Danny, the Judge could
not find him guilty of anything except that he was in league with
the mongrel. But in the end, there were only him and the two
werewolves, and the Judge could pass sentence and give it effect on
the spot.