The Wolf's Right

Viola sat on the old creaking wooden chair, her elbows resting on the stone table with her chin balanced precariously in her cupped hands. Lazily her vibrant dark green eyes passed over the old battered text that lay open on the table, her body still reeling in pain from her last transformation and with the height of the full moon cycle she would have very little time to recover her strength. Slowly she lifted her head up off of her hands and stretched her neck, there was a rather loud crack followed by another shooting pain that traveled slowly down her spin and around her chest. Quietly she let out a compressed sigh and rubbed her neck, even though it had been years since she mastered her transformation it was always a challenge to keep control and stay hidden from the village. She longed nothing more than to run in the wild with the other wolves, to stay in out in the forest where her heart truly belonged, but alas her half human side would always win and keep her with her village.

“Viola, you in there?” A husky dry voice came from the other side of her front door, it was quickly followed by a loud repetitive knock. Viola stood up with a smile on her face, and gently patted down her light green skirt and fixed her sandy tunic before moving across to the door.

“How can I help you today Salmos?” She asked sweetly as she opened the door, brushing her blonde hair out of her left eye and tucking it delicately behind her ear, revealing both of her dark eyes and the faint vertical scar that crossed her pale face. With little difficulty she heaved the heavy oak door open, revealing Salmos on the other side.

“Ah Viola, you look as sweet as ever.” Salmos said, a sickly smile crossing his small rounded face, he puffed out his chest and tried to cover his bulging stomach by crossing his arms. “I have come to see if you have considered my offer?”

“I am not interested Salmos, and I never will be.” She rolled her eyes, but the smile never left her face. Salmos was a overweight and disgusting slob, but she was sure that he would never hurt her.

“Alas such a shame, we would have looked so good together.”

“Yes, but you are destined for one other than I.” She placed her hand over her still hurting chest in a dramatic fashion “Now was their anything else? I am not feeling well and I would rather be left alone.”

“No, no, that was all I wanted to ask.” Viola shook her head and made to close her heavy wooden door on the man, his fat and grubby hand stopped her, a rather slimy expression on his face. “By the way, some of the villagers were complaining of hearing Wolf howls late last night. Now you know as I do that it was your family that drove the blasted beasts from our land not a decade ago. I was wondering if you had heard anything?”

“No,” Viola slowly hid her face behind the door, trying to conceal the obvious look of guilt that she was sure was plastered over her face at the very moment.

“Very well,” Slowly he remove his hand from her door, a somewhat suspicious expression crossing his face.

As soon as he had gone, she quickly closed the door. She let out a huge and length sigh, she had long suspected that Salmos had his suspicious about her monthly excursions of illness but he had never acted or shown any signs of interest towards her condition. She quietly let out another sigh, maybe she was just over thinking it Salmos had after all been her father's best friend surely if she could trust anyone in her village it was him. She ran her fingers gently through her hair, and another twang of pain ran through her back that this time caused her to bend over in response to the pain. Once she had finally managed to get over the surge of pain, she stood back up and decided that she did not want to mope around the house all day wallowing in her own pain, instead she would go into the village, maybe find a nice piece of meat that she could eat during her transformation, she liked her meat best that way. With the thought of a lovely piece of meat clearly lodged within her mind she quickly but carefully grabbed her pure white  cloak from the stand by the door and carefully placed it over her shoulders.

*****

“Viola it is good to see you out and about, Salmos said you weren’t feeling very well.”  The old lady from the butcher asked as Viola entered the shop, who had to very quickly stop herself from drooling.

“Yes, but even the sick need to eat.” Viola quickly turned her attention from the meat to the old lady and smiled sweetly, before returning her gaze to the lovely meat that the old lady was currently cutting.

“Looks delicious doesn't it my dear.” The old lady smiled politely as she noticed Viola’s gaze transfixed on the meat. “Would you like me to cut you some?”

“Ah,” The question brought her quickly back to her senses and she gave her pouch a quick pat making sure that she had enough gold to make the payment. “Yes, if it is not too much trouble.”

“Not at all, just give me a few minutes. Have you seen the newcomer in town dear?” The old lady returned to her slicing and as she always did proceed to talk about the latest gossip.

“No, I have been down for the last few days.”

“Ah thats right, well the newcomer came in yesterday, I must say he is quite the looker, if only I was only a couple of years younger.” She stopped her slicing for a few seconds and seemed to lose herself into her own daydreams, but Viola shook her head this was quite common with the old  lady. “Anyway, apparently he is a hunter and came in her asking about if there was anybody in the village with a particularly large appetite around this time of the month. In fact he seemed rather disappointed when I said I couldn’t.”

“That is a shame,” Viola responded without thinking too much, she was currently looking over some of the rather vicious looking knifes that lined the counters.

“He then started asking strange questions about wolves, but I just told him the story of your father.” Slowly a small feeling of fear started to creep around her insides, what kind of hunter would be asking about wolves and appetites. “He seemed rather taken with the story, asked if I would tell him where you lived.”

“Did you?”

“No, I would never.” The old lady acted shocked but the large smile on her face said otherwise. “I told him that if he wanted to talk to you, he would have to find you on his own.”

“That is good, that last thing I need at the moment is uninvited guests.” Viola turned back to face the old lady who was currently packaging Viola’s slices into a neat package.

“There you go dear.” She smiled as she handed the meat over to Viola, who in turn handed her some coins out of her pouch.

Viola gave the old women a quick wave before leaving the shop, though she was not overly confident  that the older woman actually saw  her, because she had already returned to her slicing. Quietly and calmly she started to make her way back home, greeted by most of the villagers with a wave or a call. As she reached the entrance to the village she stopped by the large wooden statue of the Hero of the Village. It was badly worn from the weather but the main features were still clear, much clearer than she could remember that was for sure, in the statue’s right had it help a perfect model of her father's famous crossbow, and in the other the head of a wolf.

“He looks like a great hunter.” A smooth and calm voice said from next to her. She quickly turned and was faced with what looked like a replica of the statue. The man before her had a crossbow that was similar to her fathers slung over his back, a quiver of bolts hanging off his side. His face was hidden by a forest green traveling cloak, though a black leather tunic was clear underneath it.

“He was.” Viola answered, she was confident that this was the hunter that the Butcher had told her off, he slipped down his hood and gave her a confident bow.

“I am Krais, the Hunter.” Well the old women had been right about one thing, he was good looking.