The Masked ones

The Masked Ones

Chapter 2: Make your choice...

"Groan..." I awoke to the sound of rustling leaves above my head and something nudging my side...

"Come on, wake up! We have a problem!" said a raspy male voice and I was nudged again.

I sat up and said: "Alright, alright. I... am..." that was when I noticed the change in my voice. It was female and sounded like silk. It sounded exactly like...

I was again nudged in the side and I turned around to see who it was. My heart nearly stopped and my eyes felt like they widened tenth times their size. Right beside me floated a giant head of a purple wolf... a purple wolf with a white mask whose eyes where shining in a blue and purple fire... and he was grinning at me.

"Good to see you are awake Lamb. I was starting to worry." said the wolf head with the same voice I heard before. As he opened his mouth, I could see the same blue and purple flames in his mouth. I could only look at him in shock before I found my voice again and asked: "What is going on here?" My voice still sounded like that of Lamb.... wait a minute... he just called me... Lamb?

I lifted my hands and looked at them. They were covered in long white fur and I had only three fingers and one thumb. I actually hoped to see only my fur covered gloves I wore for the costume, but no such luck. This were clearly not my gloves, but my REAL hands. I thought about moving my fingers and the fingers reacted accordingly.

"I don't know. The last thing I remember is, you buying this bow from the merchant. Then I woke up next to you in this clearing, surrounded by trees." said the wolf head and chuckled "Luckily, you still have the same scent as you had as human. Otherwise, I would have probably eaten you. Hahaha!"

"You would have eaten me!?" I screamed and crawled a bit away from him. "Who are you anyways?" I asked.

"Don't you remember me? We have been together for some month now. I was with you on this Convention. You even made me this Mask." said the Wolf.

I looked at him and then asked: "King? Is that you?" Yes, I named my dog King. Not really original, but I liked it.

The wolf, King, came over to me and nuzzled my head fur. I just now noticed that I had really long, fluffy, white hair on my head. I hadn't really time to examine my body further. I was a bit distracted by the giant wolf head talking to me who turned out to be my dog King.

"Yes. It's me. But I think with this new body, you can call me Wolf." he said and licked my mask. I rubbed the spit off and noticed another new thing. The mask didn't come off. I tried to get it off, but it wouldn't move a bit. I turned back to him and asked: "Is that why you called me Lamb?"

"Yes. We both have new bodies, and with that, new names." said King, now named Wolf.

Before I could answer, we heard a scream from the forest in front of us and saw something running towards us. I stood up fast, and instinctively reached for my Bow that was lying beside me. I took it in my hand and stood up on my feet turned hooves and aimed at the forest. I firstly wondered how I would shoot without an arrow, as suddenly a white arrow, shimmering with ethereal brilliance materialized as I stretched the string.

Wolf took place beside me and prepared to attack whatever would come. We certainly didn't expected a little blue horse running from the tree lines. And we totally didn't expected a dozen dogs chasing it. The dogs had all different kinds of weapons. Some had spear, some had swords and some had simple clubs. They all wore what looks like iron armor.

I turned to the little horse and I could see the fear on the face of the little horse as it saw us and suddenly came to an stop in front of us. It looked at us fearfully and then back at the dogs who had stopped and where now also looking at us with me still aiming my bow at the Dogs.

"I don't know who you are stranger, but this has nothing to do with you. Lower your bow and go away." said one of the larger Dogs, who seems to be the leader. I looked down at the little horse, which I now would rather call a pony to his size and thought about what to do. The pony looked female, with night blue fur and a lighter blue mane and tail. I also noticed not only wings on her back but also a horn on her head. Her eyes hold great fear, but also a shimmer of hope as she looked at me.

I looked at Wolf who already know my decision and gave a nod while fletching his teeth in an grin. I turned to the dogs without lowering my bow and said in a calm voice: "I'm Kindred. The eternal Hunter. Everything is going to meet me one day. Will you embrace me or will you feed the wolf?"

Even when my voice was calm and light, it rang around the clearing for everyone to hear. I could see some of the dogs becoming scared, clearly not expecting that I would dare to challenge them. I don't even know why I said that. But I had other things to think about.

I made my choice. Now, the dogs had to make theirs.

Just a few seconds later, the leader ordered the attack. And so... the hunt begins.