Chapter 5 EPISODE 5

As Ryan left the castle, Talia had an omnious feeling about him leaving. Somehow, she was certain that something bad was going to happen. However, she could not, even if she tried, persuade her headstrong brother from leaving. The only thing left was to hope for the best and that Roman would watch his back.

A rather stupid idea came into her mind and she smiled wickedly. She was going to follow them at a safe distance. After they had left she used an escape route on the fortress wall and emerged into the thick forest. Had she been keen she would have noticed a small form following her from a safe distance. Talia crept silently through the foliage and chose a vantage point where she could watch the proceedings of the meeting. So far, everything looked normal. Ryan was engaged in a heated argument with Sir Redmond. That was to be expected. Crack! She heard a branch break some yards away. She lay flat on the ground and scanned the area at the same time sniffing around. Her eyes momentarily captured movement on some bushes to her right and like a streak whatever it was moved to her left. Whomever was following her was fast and good at it.

Quickly, she shifted into her small silver wolf and without a sound tiptoed towards the intruder. Stopping just a few yards from the intruder's hideout, she lay flat on her belly and arched her hind legs ready to spring. Before she leapt, something caught her eye and she focused on it and recognized it immediately. It was Laura's pink dress. She had followed her without her knowing it.

"You can come out now, i already know that its you" she called out to her after casually shifting back.

Timidly, the little girl came out of her hideout biting her fingernails either from fear or embarrassment. Only she knew. However, Talia took her hand and led her to her hideout and together they continued watching the meeting. Something had happened in her absence since the two men were now on the ground wrestling ferociously. Horror stricken, Talia watched as Ryan shifted into his huge tenfoot wolf. Something was wrong. It seemed as if he was not in control of his wolf. His fur was unkempt and standing on its ends and he was drooling all over. The usually long canines seemed bigger and longer. The eyes had turned from dark grey to pure black. He was wild.

The only thing that could turn a werewolf wild was wolfsbane or the process of mating. Wolfsbane had never affected Ryan since he could regenerate and he was not mating so there must have been something else bigger and far much worse than wolfsbane. Instinct kicked in and she almost leapt to her brother's aid but she remembered Laura. She could not leave her alone in the presence of a wild wolf. Especially one as big as Ryan's. It would be a death sentence for her.

From the corner of her eyes she saw Roman rushing at full speed towards the fight. Though his warrior wolf was big, it could not compare to Ryan's massive form. In a fair fight he really had no Chance whatsoever of winning. However, relying on the advantage of surprise and a lifetime experience, he hurled his wolf on the beast momentarily distracting it which gave the pinned man a few seconds to scramble to his feet and disappear into the thick forest. The two wolfs were now engaged in a deathly fight with claws and sharp canines flashing everywhere.

The massive beast seemed distracted since it kept on shaking its head and blinking in obvious pain. The smaller wolf was more focused and kept its eyes focused on its opponent. Talia could clearly see that Roman was trying to establish a mindlink, which was not working. The two assistants tried to come in between the two opponents but ended up being violently disemboweled under the claws of the beast.

Talia knew that her brother was capable of the worst but this level of violence was unthinkable. From her hideout, she saw Roman's wolf break away from the fight and like a streak disappeared into the forest. He had obviously termed the fight as a lost cause and had probably gone for reinforcement. The beast did not even attempt follow him as new spasms rocked it. Turning its muzzle skywards he gave out a loud hoarse wail. The howl reverberated throughout the forest and soon thousands of answering howls echoed back. The sun seemed to feel the pain of the beast as it lost its bright glory and thick dark clouds covered the sky. The weather abruptly changed as gusts of wind broke through the trees hurling broken twigs everywhere. Surprisingly, none if these strange phenomena affected the clearing where the beast was considering it was the epicenter of the tumult.

The fire was burning deep inside him unceasingly. His head felt like it was about to explode. Whatever it was was eating him from inside, and he had not the faguest idea of how to stop it. His meditative run was not helping either. He had inconspicuously wandered to the outskirts of Seriva Town. Something unresistable was pulling him towards the town. He felt that if he got into the town his pain would ease. A safe distance away, Talia stalked him without his knowledge.

Ryan emerged into the main road leading into the town, he was a half a kilometer away from the town and through his cat vision he could make out human soldiers forming a roadblock ahead. The sight of the soldiers increased his urge of getting into the town and he broke into a trot which increased pace to a rush. He was now moving like a streak towards the men. The only thing in his mind was destroying everything in his way. The soldiers saw him at about three hundred yards and immediately opened fire.

Momentarily, the beast stopped. It lifted it's muzzle skywards, opened its massive jaws and let out a blood cuddling howl. Talia had never heard such kind of a howl. It was like a command to nature. Everything went eerily quiet and calm. Even the men stopped their shooting and started retreating. The massive wolf lowered its muzzle to its original stature, fixed its chilling eyes on the retreating men and charged.

Nothing stood on the way of the wild wolf. With just a swipe of its claws, it smashed the line of cars used to block the road. Some caught fire on landing and others broke into pieces at the impact. The men, now hysterically running for their lives, did not even a chance. Some were sliced in a half as others were smashed to death. None survived the onslaught. The fight did not seem to satisfy the huge wolf yet and it continued into the town center.

Then it dawned on Talia that what had happened to the men at the roadblock was the same thing the beast was planning to unleash on the town. She deemed it wise to intervene though it was a risky move. Shifting into her silver wolf, she burst full speed into the vision of the beast. Instinctively, the beast attacked by diving fangs first towards the intruder. However, Talia had expected this and so she easily dodged the otherwise fatal attack. In retaliation she tried to establish a mind link with beast. She managed to get in but jumped right out as quickly as she had came. She had shared the beasts pain though in a flash and it was unlike anything she had felt. It was like her body was being dissolved in acid with her fully conscious. For the brief time she had managed to get in the mind of the wolf, she had flashes of hateful memories and imaginations of revenge and it was nasty stuff. She had never known her calm brother to carry such kind of hatred for the humans. And now that his wolf was wild and he had the means supported by his immense form it was multiplied tenfold.

The mind link interfered with her concentration and before she knew it her wolf was pinned down under the giant claws of the beast. It lowered its open mouth presumably to tear her apart. She shifted back into her human form and started yelling Ryan's name. The beast seemed to stop in its tracks on hearing Ryan's name. The dark eyes softened a little and so did its grip on her wolf. This was her chance, twisting violently she managed to get away from the death grip and immediately started running. But the beast was quicker. Using all its might it slapped her from behind flinging her effortlessly through the air right onto a wall. The force was so much that the wall crumpled and she went right through it landing unconsciously on a pile of rubble inside the house.

Ryan felt his rage tripling inside him. The violent was oddly satisfying. He raced through the town at times going through walls bringing down huge buildings. The whole town was filled with sreams and shrieks of adults as well as children. Like a flash, he raced from north to south, from east to the west of the town smashing everything in his way. The faster and faster he did it the better he felt. It was like a game to him. He didn't even notice that his fur was drenched in blood and guts. He did not even feel anything as he smashed into stone walls.

Ryan felt free for the first time in his life. He was not trying to cage and control his wolf side. The time round, he had rather loosed it and it felt so good. It was freedom. In fact he felt like a puppy. By the time he relaxed and came back into his senses, a half of the town lay in ruins. Some buildings were on fire and bodies of children and adults were everywhere. Ryan himself was unrecognizable due to how much he was drenched in blood. The odd thing was, he had no memory at all of him doing any of that!