Rollus shifted onto the side of his foot and scratched this top of his forearm, an idiosyncratic tic he was prone to when nervous. “my Grace, as I said, the soldiers were hungry and cold. This is the dead of winter, and you can't tell you all of them will survive the ensuing battle, do you?”
“I never bring my men into a battle I think they cannot win. Every death affects me.”
“Be that as it may, I thought maybe they would do well to relax a little before possible death.”
“Relax? Have you lost your mind? The last thing they need to do is relax. Those who relax, die. You know this Rollus,” Zamir said, his eyes penetrating deep into his friend's soul. In addition to being an accomplished military general, an undefeated hunter, Zamir was also a fantastic judge of character. He could sense with some super consciousness whenever someone withheld any shred of truth from him. Never before would he have believed this superstition, which came and went from his mind of its own accord, as if it stemmed from another personality altogether, would slither to life in the presence of his best friend. Zamir took a step closer to Rollus, who stared at him, stone faced through his crystal blue yes, small and embedded in his skull like ghostly marbles.
“My dearest friend,” Zamir said, looking Rollus' face through and through. “Is there something you want to tell me?” Rollus didn't answer Zamir for a few seconds, and the two men just stared at each other, Zamir studying him for any imperceptible sign that would betray his intentions, and Rollus was immovable, with not a single sign there was anything in his heart roiling beneath the surface of his placid demeanor.
“No, my Grace. My heart and mind are with the ensuing battle, which we intend to win.”
Zamir took a breath, his black hair obscuring the left eye. He placed a strong hand on his friend's shoulder. “Make sure to watch over the men tonight, as I sleep. Even great generals need their rest.”
“I will make sure of that, my Grace,” Rollus said, turning on his heel toward the exit of the tent. Near the exit, Zamir stopped him.
“Oh and Rollus,” he said.
“Yes, my Grace?”
“Make sure they put that damn bonfire out, before the wolves attack us in our sleep.”
“Most certainly,” Rollus said, without turning to face Zamir. Then he left the tent without another word. Zamir removed his undershirt, revealing a tan, massive chest and chiseled abs. He removed his underpants and crawled onto his sleep mat. He lay there for half an hour, his arm hanging across his forehead, his eyes staring past the ceiling of the tent, thinking. His instincts were never wrong, not when he wasn't even trying to probe for information from Rollus. His friend's behavior outwardly revealed nothing was amiss in his intentions, but other variables pushed the animal part of Zamir to think there was more than meets the eye. But, perhaps he was wrong. He had been wrong before, he thought, as he finally rolled over onto his side and fell into a deep sleep.
CHAPTER 36
The night was quiet for several hours after all Zamir's men fell asleep. He was never a deep sleeper, so when the noise from the intruder came, his eyes opened directly. He jumped out of bed, pouncing onto his feet, naked and without armor, and peeped through the small opening in his the entrance of his tent. He could see nothing except several of his men sleeping, some atop the wooden tables, some right on the ground. The dying embers of the bonfire lay at the center of all the guys, their swords strewn all over the place. This chaotic site boiled Zamir's blood, not just for the danger it posed should the Obotrites attempt an ambush, but the fact that Rollus would never let this happen. Something was definitely up with him. Zamir pulled on a pair of pants, grabbed his sword and slipped out of his tent. He covered all directions around him, to see nothing out of the ordinary. Then he stepped over the men strewn through the camp, still asleep. He heightened his sense of sound to any to all directions. He wondered if his mind was playing tricks on him, as he looked out once again to the now black sea that was the barren field in the darkness. The stars shone in the night sky, diamonds tossed on black velvet. The chill air sliced through Zamir's clear nostrils, waking him up for good now. He remembered the woods earlier, before the bonfire had distracted him, and the brilliant red light obscuring his vision. The memory sent panic through his spine, as he paced onto the side of the camp, the point on the perimeter nearest the edge of the forest. He stood there watching the trees, still as rods, not a single sign of life. There was movement in the shadow of the forest. Zamir could not mistake it, and being the proactive leader he was, he decided to meet the intruder head on, whoever he was. He feared a Obotritian scout had located their hideout and informed the rest of his troupe. They might have sent an assassin to scope things out, or take advantage of Rollus' bad decision when he let the men start the bonfire. He ran straight into the wood, on his bare feet, chasing the shadow as it withdrew into the heart of the darkness. Faster and faster he ran, his heart pounding out of his chest, and he could hear the sounds of the spy getting closer. Zamir's speed continued to pick up as he came upon what appeared to be a person running on all fours, his arms and legs down below him, moving effortlessly through the tangled limbs and logs, the cold puddles, the mix of snow and ice, all through the freezing air. But Zamir felt no fear, and instead he continued giving cash, determined to catch whoever had broken the perimeter of his camp. The shadow then morphed into something else, a half wolf-half man, his legs extending out past him, elongating, his knees buckling under the weight of his transforming frame. The man's jaw extended down past his chin, and his teeth sharpened themselves before Zamir's very eyes. The man stopped against a tree, backed up against a rocky area of the forest, staring straight into Zamir's eyes. The creature continued to transform itself through and through, growing black fur on his back, tearing its clothes off, as his hands became massive paws, his fingernails became razor-sharp claws, and his backside lengthened itself into the shape of a dark, furry tail. The man's nose emerged from this change as a wolf's nose, after the change was completed. Zamir feared nothing when it came to his own safety, but did stand there in awe of the site he witnessed, a veritable werewolf, stories he had forgotten since the time he was just a boy. The wolf was massive, with black fur and green eyes, as he stood there growling and barking at Zamir. He could tell the wolf didn't feel fear either, as his green, glowing eyes emanated a mysterious yet appealing force of nature Zamir seemed all too familiar with. The wolf stopped growling at him for a split second, and the two creatures just stood there in silence, watching each other.
“What are you?” Zamir asked. The wolf licked his lips before jumping full force onto Zamir, his powerful jaws aimed directly at Zamir's jugular. He fought the wolf off with all his might, screaming for the fight of his life, but the wolf was too strong. The harder Zamir fought, the stronger the black wolf seemed to get. He couldn't hold his violent snapping back for long, and before he realized what had happened, Zamir felt a powerful sting on his shoulder. He looked down at his shoulder to see a gaping wound, bleeding buckets as the seconds passed. He made on final push against the wolf, throwing him against the tree with all his strength, sending a searing hot jab through his exposed muscle tissue. He heard a small yelp from the wolf in the darkness, but once Zamir looked over at where the wolf had been, it was gone. Zamir blinked hard in his eyes for a second, trying to right his mind.
Screams reverberated through the forest, familiar voices of people he knew. His men. They were in trouble. Holding his shoulder, he ran back through the forest, blood trickling down his naked front, leaving small dabbles on the ground, bright red in contrast with the brown leaves. He ran as he heard the screams getting worse, now clearly intelligible.
“No! Fight the demon. Kill him. Joslyn help me!” Through the tree line he couldn't make out who exactly was shouting, as virtually every single one of his military warriors were attacking some bustling beast. The creature threw all them off like irritating ants, slamming them into the fire embers, against the wooden log tables, and into the dirty field. A shrill fighting voice rang out through the air, and Zamir doubled down his pace, trying to get there as quickly as possible, before all his men were killed. As soon as he got to the edge of the forest, he threw his massive arms down on the tree limbs in his way, breaking them in one fell swoop, ejecting his entire body into the air, out onto the airy black field. He looked to upper right, and saw the massacre taking place in his own camp. At least half of his warriors lay dead, splintered by the giant wolf which he himself had just fought off. The other half of his tribe continued to fight the creature, in the buff, their naked, hairy legs dangling from the massive beast's back, with nothing but the swords strewn piece meal through the whole camp. They had been woefully unprepared for what would find them tonight.
“Rollus!” he said, not having any idea where his friend was. The image of all the death and destruction before him devastated Zamir, but what's more, he was more devastated by the thought of his best friend in danger. He ran over to the carnage, glancing at the dead for no more than split second. The glint of silver caught his eye, and he turned to find one of his men holding up a sword in the air.
Zamir rushed over to him. “Joslyn,” he said, putting his hand on the man's chest wound, in an attempt to stop the blood flow. “What happened?”
“A—Ambush,” Joslyn said.
“Where is Rollus?”
“Can't breathe.” Joslyn put up his sword to Zamir, trying to tell him to fight the wolf. Screams came from behind Zamir, and he turned around to see the wolf tearing some meat from another warrior's back, gnawing and chewing him to pieces.
“You sonofabitch,” Zamir said, grabbing the sword from Joslyn's hand right as he expired from the bleeding. He pulled his own sword from its sheath, holding both in his hands. “You attacked my men, when they weren't ready. It's time I sent you back to the underworld, from where you came.” And with that, as the last few of his men continued their struggle to eliminate the beast from the camp, Zamir rushed behind them, holding his silver swords in a large X shape. “Die you supernatural creature!” he screamed right as he came down on the wolf, slicing through the back of its neck in one scissor-shaped swipe. Blood spewed everywhere, as the other men crept away from the scene as fast as they could. But the wolf's blood covered them as well. Zamir stood there, heaving great breaths from his body, his massive chest swelling and drooping in quick intervals. There was nothing but quiet in the camp, save the last dying weeps from the headless wolf lying at Zamir's feet. He looked around the camp, at the dead men missing limbs, at the crushed tents, at the dying coals from the fire, at the makeshift wooden barrel in which his warriors made mead for their last party, before battling the Obotrites. There would be no battle now. They had lost this one, and all other battles to come.
“Where's Rollus?” Zamir asked one man, who sat on his behind, looking up at Zamir from the dripping blood on his brow.
“H—he was last seen in that tent,” the man said, pointing a shaking finger in the direction of a blue tent, the main area where his men ate and congregated when they had free time outside their military duties. Zamir flew over to the blue tent, his heart pounding now, for no amount of danger could make his blood beat faster, but the fear that his best friend might not have survived the attack of the wolf made him feel the greatest fear he had ever known. He pushed back the cloth entrance to the main tent, revealing the most heartbreaking image he had witnessed since he walked into the massacre of Rollus' family many moons ago. Rollus himself, hung by his neck by a rope, swayed from the a tree limb. Rollus' lifeless body, creaking back and forth, haunted Zamir to the depths of his soul, and he cried out in pain. His friend was gone. Sobbing on the floor of the tent, his shoulders trembling, his pain bounced around the walls of the tent, out into the night, echoing through the forest for eternity.
Or so he thought.
Zamir continued crying for several minutes, and he could hear similar sounds from someone elsewhere in the camp. Initially thinking the noises were mere echoes, he soon realized they were actually coming from someone else. Zamir raised his head and walked out of the tent, not bothering to hide the tears streaming down his face from his fellow warriors. If the men did not believe their great leader cared for their well being by this point, they had bigger problems. The sounds of another man's sobs came from the area where Zamir himself slept in his humble hut. He turned his head just right to find the source, and sure enough, it was coming from his own sleeping area. He raced toward the tent, pulled back the curtain, and found a man in the darkness, asleep but crying out from his dreams. Rushing over to the bed, he looked down to find the man was Zamir himself. And before he had time to register the bizarre situation he found himself in, his entire tribe of soldiers massacred by a werewolf from the adjacent forest, his best friend hung by his neck, possibly self-inflicted, and Zamir staring down at his own self—all this sent shock waves through his brain, confusing him to his core.
But, then, he woke up. Jolting from his sleep, his powerful torso sprang from his sleeping mat with such force he nearly sprained his neck. But he was awake, and he realized it had all been a nightmare. He looked around the tent, wiping the real tears from his cheeks, composing himself lest his men see the fear in his eyes and mistake it for apprehensiveness before their main battle. The area around his tent was quiet and the same as he remembered it from before he fell asleep. Zamir rubbed his face, yawning and trying to forget the nightmare he had just endured. He got up from his sleeping mat and grabbed the pair of pants hung over the edge of his side table. Outside, the light from the moon sliced through the opening in the entrance to his tent. He looked down at his belly, as he pulled on his pants, he could see the blue light break on his stomach for a second, a shadowy figure obscuring it for a microsecond. He looked up through the slit in the tent's opening, the same vague fear rearing its head again at the opening of his dream. Zamir got the strongest, most sudden sense of déjà vu, as he pushed aside the curtain to his test and peeked around the camp, which was quiet and still as the night. Fearing that his nightmare was not just a dream, but perhaps a premonition, he rushed over to the main blue tent, fearing the worst for his friend's safety. He wanted to make sure Rollus was okay and not hanging like a blunt log from a rope by his neck. He stopped for a moment before the entrance to the main blue tent, listening for that same terrible rocking he had heard in his dreams. There was nothing, and he pushed aside the opening, he saw the entire tent empty and quiet, the same as it had been before they all fell asleep. He wondered, though, who was up at this time of night, wandering through the camp. Something wasn't right.