“What’s your name?” I asked. Reaching out, I pressed my hand against her back and could feel the heat radiating from under the clothing. Her face was dripping with perspiration, and her breathing was becoming quick and ragged.
“Arisole,” she whimpered, and clutched her stomach. Her face contorted, and the pressure caused the veins on her face to surface.
“Think of the child, Arisole. You don’t want to harm the innocent.” I thought the change was coming on her again, but she pushed it down.
“But I’m so lonely,” she whimpered. “I just want my family back.” Her body trembled again, and I looked up at Percy and shook my head. This wasn’t good. This was a very sick werewolf. She wasn’t taking to the shifting well, and her body was slowly killing her. It was known to drive some mad; it killed others. Not everyone could survive the werewolf change.
“Arisole, I know someone that can help you.”
“No.” She pushed my hands away and got to her feet. She looked at the child in Percy’s arms, seeing the bloody bite mark on her hand. She recoiled in disgust. “Did I do that?”
I nodded.
She clutched her head. “I don’t remember. I don’t remember hurting her. I just wanted my family back.”
“There were more,” I said. “In another town. A man.”
Her hands flew to her mouth. “I killed him. I didn’t want to. I remember. He looked so much like Henry. I just wanted him to be with me.” Fresh tears spilled anew from her eyes, and she looked behind her over the mountainside. “I can’t live like this anymore. I don’t want to hurt people.”
“You don’t have to. I know someone that is a werewolf, cursed like you. He can help you. Teach you to live a normal life.”
As I pleaded with the cursed woman, torches flickered through the trees. Drawing closer like dancing fireflies, the clearing became a halo of light as townspeople came out of the woods carrying weapons.
“There she is!” A stocky man in a red wool jacket and fur hat pointed toward the trembling Arisole. “That’s the woman that kidnapped my Polina!”
The child’s mother raced toward Percy, and he kneeled to give the child back to her. While the mob of angry villagers pressed on toward Arisole, she turned and ran.
They gave chase, screaming obscenities and threats. I tried to follow. To call out and calm the angry crowd, but I was shuffled to the back, cut off.
The mob stopped and the angry cries died as a heavy silence followed. I pushed through the throng of villagers, elbowing and shoving people out of the way until I came to a cliff. It had come out of nowhere, hidden by the blinding white snow in the darkness. I saw the single set of footprints race off the precipice. I leaned forward and glanced over the edge of the cliff. On the rocks below, I could make out my cloak surrounding a still form.
Was it an accident? Was it her choice to jump over and end it, or was she forced by the crowd? My stomach turned sour with bitterness. It wasn’t her fault she was going mad. For weeks she had fought the curse alone, eating to survive, and she had attempted to create a new family the only way she could. The man in the village didn’t survive her attempts. But the child would. She was bitten and would become a werewolf if not treated with a counteragent. I would need to find the parents and get them wolfsbane as soon as possible.
“Arisole,” I whispered, bowing my head and praying for her. “Your pain is gone.”
I slipped back through the crowd and headed to the clearing. I picked up Rumple who had remained blessedly quiet, and slung him in his leather holster over my shoulder.
CHAPTER FOUR
“Apply this to the cut.” I handed Polina's parents the wolfsbane I had ground into a powder and added to a salve. “Use it in small amounts and watch her closely on the first full moon. Only then will we know if we caught it before it spread.”
I had wasted no time. While the rest of the mob had been in a confused frenzy, I’d gone into town and found the only hedge witch and pounded on her door, pulling her from a dazed sleep. After I’d explained what I needed, the hedge witch gave it to me freely.
“It wasn’t a deep cut, so if this salve doesn’t work, she shouldn’t turn anytime soon. It could take a while.” I continued my lecture on werewolves. “But just to be safe, you should travel to the kingdom of Baist and speak with King Xander. If you leave now, you can get there in plenty of time. There are wards in place at the palace, places where she can be protected if she does shift.”
“How do you know she will shift at all?” Polina’s mother asked, worried, as she dabbed the salve onto Polina's wound.
“I don’t . . . Not really. Some people that are bitten never become werewolves. But if she does, the first shift can be deadly, and she might not survive it. The wolfsbane should lessen the effects of the curse. I don’t know if it will cure it.”
The father, still wearing his fur hat, paced the small living room the whole time I was there. He shook his head in denial. “I think you’re mistaken. It’s just a dog bite.”
Polina was asleep on a cot by the fire. Her face was pale, and a shimmer of sweat appeared on her brow. I briefly touched her forehead. It was burning hot. It could be an infection, or the curse already taking hold.
“I’m sorry.” I turned to the parents. “I want to be wrong, but in this case, I know I’m not. I witnessed the woman’s transformation. I will send a missive and arrange for transportation to Baist if you can’t afford it yourself. If anything, think of your family.”
The mother turned to her husband. “We must, James. We have to think of our daughter.”
“Very well.” He took off his hat, wiped his bald head, and nodded to me. “Make the arrangements. We will do as you say.”
“As you wish.” I gave them a bow and then headed outside. The sun was just starting to rise over the mountain. My feet crunched on the soft snow, and I headed back toward the market to find a mirror vendor. They had become all the rage since King Xander placed them throughout his kingdom. Other kingdoms had followed suit shortly after. For a small coin, you could use them to contact a loved one.
Of course, my six sorceress sisters never needed to use the public mirrors. They could enchant almost any reflective surface to speak to each other. Except for me. I had to pay like everyone else. I shouldered my jealousy as I dug into my pouch and produced a coin, handing it to the same hedge witch I had woken up the night before. The woman stood outside a wooden box with the image of a moon and sun on it.
“Sorry, Auntie, for the rude awakening last night.” I used the familiar greeting bestowed on an elder hedge witch. Even though I wasn’t of the same bloodline or family of magic as my sisters, I was still taken with using the names and terminology. “The sun and the moon are rising.”
The hedge witch’s hair was silver, with a single streak of brown down the side. Her face was kind, and her eyes ringed with laugh wrinkles. “Yes, I see. Never you mind. You were on a mission to save a child. Was it successful?”
“Only time will tell,” I answered.
Her green eyes met mine, and her hands trembled as she clasped and unclasped them. I could see her reluctance to speak, but she found the words, not mincing them. “It was probably too late for the wolfsbane.”