Howl of the Heavens ch.05

     Deep in the forest a great form carries a large sack of his own creation; this figure is none other than Rhuen on his daily search for food to give to his pregnant mate Versa.  

 

      Rhuen utters to himself, “All I can find in these miserable woods is small prey.” with clear disdain on his almost wolf like face he looks into his bag filled with three small deer, numerous squirrels and other small woodland creatures.

 

       “Long ago when I was here, even in these cooling months there was plenty of large prey, great antlered beasts and even bison were to be found in these mountains.”

 

    As Rhuen approaches the edge of a cliff he could hear cows and goats below. Looking down he thinks, “Damn it! I really don’t want to take the livestock from these humans again. That one human spotted me just taking chickens, and I was nearly spotted numerous times before that taking their beasts”

 

       With a deep sigh Rhuen finishes his thought, “but I don’t have a choice. With a pregnant mate to feed, if I try to just take the local wildlife there won’t be anything left in this area…”

 

        “It seems I have no choice.” He finishes with a shrug, and with that he jumps down the cliff side. The screams of goats could be heard echoing across the small valley beneath the cliff.

 

    The Next day coming down Pine Ridge’s main street is Nick Jones’s old red pickup truck complete with all his furnishings from his trip in the bed of the truck. He is on his way to stay with his grandfather because he is afraid to leave him alone with that thing he saw still lurking about. As Nick drives up to his grandfather’s house he sees a green pick up truck

 

       “When did grandpa get a new pick up?” thinks Nick as he parksbeside it in the large drive way at the end of the street. As Nick walks inside he is greeted by his grandfather and sees a strange man he has never seen before sitting at the table.

 

       “This is Mike the Werewolf hunter I told you about, remember?” says Jeff.

 

       “Yah, I remember but that was like a month ago.”

 

       “He has been having trouble, I think in finding it.”

 

     At this Mike looks up and sees Nick for the first time and stands saying, “Oh yes you must be Nick your grandfather has told me about you, hope you don’t mind my staying here for awhile. Your grandpa has very graciously allowed me to rent the second guest room.”

 

      Before Nick can ask any thing Jeff whispers to him, “my rates are cheaper than the Brooksville Lodge and we’re closer to where he is searching for the monster.”

 

      “Grandpa” Nick says, “This monster story from great grandpa and the other folks in town is nothing but superstition from the Indians that used to live here, besides even if it was real no one has ever had any trouble with any thing around here attacking people or live stock.”

 

      Jeff looks at Nick sternly and says, “I saw this thing with my own eyes, I saw that grey haired woman who always goes to the trading post turn into some kind of giant wolf thing right before my own eyes. So don’t you tell me what is real, and I have it on good word that this man here is the best man for getting rid of werewolves.”

 

        “Okay, Okay” says Nick holding his hands in front of him in mock surrender, “I give,”

 

      He leans closer to his grandfather and whispers, “you aren’t paying him or anything are you?”

 

    “Nope he’s paying me for the room so I am the one making money” whispers back Jeff.  

 

     “So” says Nick, “what have you found out so far?”

 

     Nick takes a seat across from Mike who looks up from his papers and answers, “Nothing, Nothing makes any since I have been writing down every sighting and description given and it’s not coming together.”

 

      He picks up various papers with exasperation on his face as he talks, “the locals tell me stories similar to your grandpa’s about seeing a grey furred clearly female wolf creature on the other side of the nearby mountain, and the one people have been sighting recently is almost always spotted on the near side of the mountain, is black furred, and clearly male.”

 

       “That’s what I saw attacking the chicken coop about a month back.”

 

     “So you’re the one that saw it?”

 

   “yes, it was about a month ago just before I went on my trip, I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of the chickens out back and saw a large black figure leaning over the coop and it disappeared into the woods.”

 

     “Just like what a lot of people have been telling me.”

 

    Mike rubs his chin as he continues with a thoughtful look in his eyes, “So the locals tell stories of a grey female and now all they see is a black male, and on top of it the stories don’t co-inside. One moment its twelve to fourteen feet tall or even twenty feet tall then some one says its six or seven feet tall and its eyes are described as being red, blue, green, and even purple by some, but then again eyewitnesses tend mess up on the size of things. I am also starting to think that their may be more than one or that the sightings are a little off from exaggeration and from people not seeing it clearly.

 

     But what boggles me the most is how much it is killing and taking live stock, the folks here say that they never lost live stock before except to the occasional coyote and never spotted the grey one taking livestock. And this black one is almost always spotted taking livestock and a lot more than its size would suggest. It doesn’t fit any description I know of for a werewolf or a skin walker, I even thought maybe a windigo or other unlikely furry monster found its way here but they just don’t fit.”

 

     Nick notices that Mike looks genuinely baffled. At that moment the phone rings. Jeff answers the phone and turns to Mike saying, “its Mr. Anderson again, he says the black wolf creature just took another of his dairy cows.”

 

    “What?” asks Nick.

 

     “Mr. Anderson’s dairy farm,” answers Jeff, “a ways out side of town has been hit the worst by the monster; it has been taking cows, goats, and even stole his prize lamas a few days ago.”

 

     Mike stands up and asks him, “when was this, during the night again?”  

 

    “No” says Jeff, “It was only just now he called right after he saw it rip out the cow’s throat and run off into the woods.”

 

    Mike gets up and as he heads out the door yells back, “Tell him I will be heading out to the woods near there to see if I can’t pick up on its trail.”

 

       Nick just looks at his grandfather Jeff as he relays the message to Mr. Anderson over the phone.

 

    Near Mr. Anderson’s dairy farm Mike has out his rifle and walks as quietly as possible through the woods; when through his rifle’s sight he spots a seven foot tall bipedal animal. He can’t believe what he is seeing; its muzzle, tail, and large fox like ears don’t fit the description of any thing he has seen until now, and that’s not the weirdest part to him, even given its size he thinks it shouldn’t be able to carry that whole cow over one shoulder with only its right arm around it.

 

     “Any way” thinks Mike, “its time for you to die.”

 

    He raises his rifle and is stopped short as the creature speaks. “I think not little human” it says while turning around to face him.

 

     “What” thinks Mike.

 

     “I said” says the Black wolf like biped, “I think not”.

 

      Mike lowers his rifle a little and says “You think not to what?”

 

      “To what you were thinking human, it’s not time for me to die.”

 

      The wolf like creature drops the cow and crosses his arms before him staring at Mike. Mike can’t bring him self to say anything, he can only run all this through his mind.

 

     “impossible” he thinks, “its just standing their like its not afraid, I mean I faced un-afraid werewolves before but they always run around me in circles or try to charge me in a rage they never just stand their and stare at me. And its voice isn’t a growl or that weird singing that skin walkers talk in.”

 

      The black bipedal wolf like creature just stares at Mike who is standing their dumbfounded by what has just occurred. The creature picks up his prey with one hand and in a blink is gone. Mike is instantly snapped out of his daze by this, he looks round quickly, no leaves kicked up, no broken path in the forest, and no signs that it ran anywhere.

 

      Mike thinks to himself, “a demon, it’s not a werewolf at all, IT’S A DEMON!”  

 

     Mike quickly pulls out the one object he has kept secret and sacred, a golden cross. He lifts it to the sky and yells to the heavens, “in the name of God, the Holy Ghost and our Lord and savoir Jesus Christ I command ye demon to reappear and obey me, I command ye now to appear!”

 

        A rush of hot air spinning about the clearing is his answer which is shortly followed by a thunderous voice, “PATHEDIC HUMAN, YOU WOULD TRY AND CONTROL ME! YOU WHO CAME HERE TO HUNT MY MATE AND NOW DOG ME IN YOUR FUTILE ATTEMPT TO KILL ME, FOR THIS I SHOULD RIP YOU APPART!”

 

      A terrible updraft is felt at this last part as the voice speaks, “MISERABLE BEAST WITH YOUR PUNY GUN, I DO NOT OBEY YOUR WEAK MAGICS, I AM NOT PART OF YOUR THEOLOGY AND MYTHOS. GO BACK TO YOUR ORDER PRIEST.”

 

       At this the voice and the wind fades away. Mike couldn’t help but feel fear at this last comment and for what this voice was saying, it seemed immune to the sacred cross and seemed to recognize it as the symbol for his order. He had thought this a mere demon now it seemed that it was either a higher demon that was too strong to be commanded by his cross or something entirely new he had never faced before

 

     “Either way” he thought, “this won’t be as easy as I thought.”