Chương 28: Chapter 27: No Use Crying Over Spelt Doggo

After dinner, in an evening reaching the end of its tether for me, I went for a walk. Gelidia still wanted to grind her Manifestation skill - which she said burned mana steadily as she used it- and I needed to move. Torch was always down for a walk, it turns out. The man said he was 'an out-of-doors kind of person - he felt happiest going outside a door rather than staying inside the door'. I didn't quite really recognize his phrasing, but I could take a running jump and probably figure out what the phrase meant.

"You know, I wanted to ask you something." Torch said eventually, as we reached the fountain at our easygoing pace. To the backdrop of the water's rushing flow from the Lamb mouths in the pillar, he paused to marshal his thoughts. With the blue-green sound of the rushing water letting me see the shape of his face in my mind's eye, I sat on the edge of the fountain and turned to him, folded my hands in my lap patiently without saying a word. Torch stopped in front of me.

"... Ever since I first met you, I've felt a little afraid of you." he began. I let him cook - I knew he was, but it was understandable.

"I saw you at the river... and I think I knew what you were back then. But that's not the whole picture." he went on. I didn't say anything - his pauses didn't feel like they needed filling. He was still cooking this thought, and as the falling sun painted the scene in oranges and pinks, he looked... awkward.

"... And then I hurt you, and I regret that, my friend. I want to... not be frightened of you. And the best way I know how to fight fear is with knowing." he went on. I blinked at him a couple times, and felt my head tilt - a canine gesture that just felt natural.

"I want to watch you change. I know Gelidia says it's disturbing, and I know it might be uncomfortable... but may I?" he asked. I didn't respond right away, schooled myself from just agreeing to this. I wasn't the only one to get this question after all. What do we think - should we let him? The emotional context of the thought was plain enough - what if he found it scary, and was more worried about having me around? What if my new friend found it disgusting or vile? LET HIM SEE. But what if- HE ASKED.

But what if it frightens him MORE? My Wolf didn't respond to that right away. In my mind's eye, she tilted her head at me for a moment, ears perked in my direction, before turning her head away and laying it on her paws with a sigh. When I didn't speak, when I let the moment drag out as Torch patiently waited, my wolf finally spoke, as if from a moment of deep thought. YOU WANT HIM NOT TO BE AFRAID. HE ASKED YOU FOR THIS TO FIGHT HIS FEAR. LET HIM SEE AND WE WILL FIND OUT WHAT FOLLOWS. Holy cow, another new record!

Three in one day! With the counsel of my Wolf, and her input, I made my decision. I respected her thought.

"Yes... if it will help." I said. Why was I so reluctant about this? Because even the woman who liked me said the change was horrifying, and didn't like seeing my transformation. Part of me knew how monstrous it must truly be, and frankly? I could see it being a source of horror in a world that had lycanthropes in it. The one you loved, unstable, becoming a monster to rip you apart. I wasn't like that, but Torch lived in a world with cursed beings like these, who had no control.

I found myself with knots of apprehension in me, and stared at my hands. Torch watched me a minute, then... he sat beside me, hip to hip. He didn't say a word for a long moment, just left me with my thoughts and a silent testament of his presence and support, a leg under him and rested an arm on his knee as he stared out at the quiescent town. Mostly quiescent. As we sat, the Scout touched my arm. He muttered "Also, watch this" quietly.

I lifted my gaze a bit, and watched calmly as two skeletons carried a boulder, another carried bundles of wood, and a fourth had found a bucket somewhere. Each of them had a battered iron helmet, a tattered old green gambeson, and each touched their helmet's visor to us as they went about their business. Skeleton Guardsmen! Out and about in the daylight? I looked at evening sky, and saw that it was getting to be twilight. Call it a couple hours? But already, the undead were getting up and getting at it!

It reminded me of people who woke up before dawn for work, actually - and if the undead were night people, that made sense. Then, it hit me!

"Oh! I think they Stabilized!" I said, and Torch blinked at me. For a moment, his brain spun its gears before they finally engaged and operated at last!

"Aha, this is what Gelidia and you did, is it?" he asked, and I gave a grunt that Roxala would be proud of as I nodded.

"The guards, and a few of the merchants so far, but I guess so!" I grinned. In the middle of our little chat, from the sunset where it had blocked our vision, a skeleton in an apron had shifted out of a half-collapsed doorway, and waved to us. It regarded us with glowing blue eyesockets as we stared under shielded eyes. In my mind's eye, with the help of wolf-ren, there was more that I could see about it than light could actually show me. I could see...

a human figure wrapped around the bone, much the same way I could see Gelidia - but much more faintly. I could see... the outline of a portly human figure, something heavyset and weighty, and the skeleton still moved with exaggerated motions as if this was still the case in death.

"The name is Albertson." Said the skeleton, and he moved his jaw subtly as if shaping sound with lips and cheeks he simply did not have. He hooked his thumbs in his tattered and awful apron.

"Ahm th' town Baker, miss Goldtail, master Axebright, and I've a bit of a pickle. Could I trouble you a moment?" he asked, and the Scout and I glanced at each other before nodding to the man.

"I'm a member o'tha Merchant Board in town, and the Alderman of the Merchant's district. I didn't mind givin' up m'Harrier core, m'pa's Baker core was m'retirement package anyhow. I hung up m'pole-axe a lifetime ago, and t'weren't a big loss." he explained, and his accent had hearth and heather in it that I found pleasant to the ear.

"Nothin' but stains on it anyhow." Torch seemed to accept that, and nodded at the man.

"Makes sense to me. Well met, Albertson." Torch said, and offered his hand out with only barest reluctance. Albertson took it and shook with a firm grip, and where he touched Torch, spectral flesh appeared for a moment - a big man's hand, on a forearm that punched and kneaded dough all day, I figured! Albertson must have been a big man, in life! He shook firmly, and nodded at Torch and I, before addressing me again.

"It seems rude t'call ya Hound, marm, even if it's your title. Feels like I'm talking to my poor dog Spelt." he said, clearly worried.

"But it's your noble title. Would it be well if I called you something else?" I blinked at him. I was a noble? I felt my face unfreeze into a smile and said "Emily is fine!" I said.

"Alright, Emily it is then." he said easily.

"I could use a couple pairs of strong hands if you're willing. Speaking of ol' Spelt, he's pinned under some debris. Come to that, m'shop is half collapsed with a big sodding boulder of green rock embedded in one o' m'walls!" he explained, and we, Torch and I, got up to follow him! Oh no, a puppy was pinned under the debris? How terrible! Poor baby! Never mind it was dead - maybe doggies could become undead too? We ducked into the bakery through the ruined doorway.

The bakery's roof had collapsed inward, crushing down half the room under the weight of a poisonstone rock the size of a wagon wheel and all the masonry of the house next door. I couldn't see any dog in the debris with my eyes, and there was no sound from the pile - it was still daylight, and only by skills, I assumed, was Albertson moving around. I didn't figure the dog had subsumed, if it was undead at all, so if it was in there, it wasn't moving until night. Fortunately, all this needed was some elbow grease!

I had elbow grease to spare, and I could use the chance to grind both Samu and Bestial Might, right? Right! The trick was making sure this jenga tower of a collapse didn't actually get worse, or damage the building still further. The biggest barrier was the boulder of poisonstone. I looked at the pretty green rock carefully from any angle I could reach it at, starting from the angle closest to the door to the one behind it, deeper into the shop.

It wasn't even all that big, and looked like it had broken sometime after hitting masonry. Knowing how hard that stone was, that made sense - it was a crystal, after all, but that only made it deadlier. Sharper.

"Mister Albertson, do you have... a pair of boots I could borrow, and some gloves? I think I can move this poisonstone boulder out, but I don't wanna cut myself on any of it." I asked, suddenly self-conscious of the nasty little shards found near where poisonstone had broken. I hadn't seen glints, but that didn't mean there weren't any! Albertson didn't respond - just ducked into the shop's interior. He returned with some great big boots, and some oven mitts, but also a leather apron.

Accepting the items from him, I tied the apron around my body, put on the mitts which reached to my elbow and were way too big for me, and put on the boots which mostly just flopped about on my feet, but that would come with me, I figured.

"You sure lass? You're not much bigger than-" the baker began as I slipped my arms around the boulder carefully and hefted it with just a bit of stamina and a grunt of effort.

"-my daughter who can't do THAT, Nevermind!" he said, and I lugged the thing out of his shop and carefully set it down on the street. Torch started getting masonry, and carrying it, armfulls of bricks at a time, out of the shop, revealing the real problem. When the poisonstone had hit the shop next door, crushing it utterly, it had struck the bakery on a bit with a wooden support in the wall.

This had snapped the thick log stuck into the ground in something like concrete - I had no idea but it looked VERY sturdy, and it had made a log snap rather than move out of the foundation so it had to be - and took a good bit of masonry and wall with it. The shop next door was just outright collapsed... so I solved this problem by shifting my body under the beam, and pouring on the stamina into my muscles until they could accept no more.

My muscles bunched on my back and shoulders, and I felt my body begin to tremble with the effort... but by degrees, I began to get traction. The wood and stone creaked, but... lifted steadily. Wood crackled, and stones fell around me, but the huge, heavy load of them began to shift as I got them up a little ways, making the bit of wall lighter and lighter above me. When I could see them again, Albertson's skeletal jaw was hanging open, and Torch's eyes were wide.

They shifted to help me, but I shook my head, an inhuman growl escaping me as I strained with effort.

"No!" I snarled, and I felt the deep growl from my breast as I hefted. They recoiled "If... this... falls you'll... be crushed!" I growled. Then Albertson's gaze alighted on something under the wreckage I'd lifted. He nudged Torch and pointed, and they both shifted past me under my arms to get what they'd spotted - I couldn't see it, it made no sound, but they grabbed something under the rubble, and tried to pull it. They wound up pulling something off of whatever it was and Albertson cussed sulfurously!

Then the pair pulled again, this time reaching more under the rubble to free something that rattled and made hollow noises as they moved and shifted it, and came out with... the skeleton of a dog in their arms. It was a fairly big skeleton, but Albertson cradled the thing's head in his arms like it was a baby. I could see its lower body had been crushed pretty badly, but using his apron like a basket, the baker had gathered up the beastie's remains in his arms and took it out of the shop.

Torch watched him do it, then called to me "He's out!" he said. I hefted the wall, and gave it a final heavy SHOVE, spilling the debris into the street through the hole in this building and the building next door with a CRASH. Just like that though, the shop was just... covered in small bits of masonry, and had a huge hole in it! Not nearly as bad! Winded, I checked my status. [Health: 180/200] [Stamina: 145/225] [Mana: 125/125] So I'd hurt myself a little doing that, and spent a...

crap-load of stamina, almost half in one go! But still, that had had to weigh like a thousand pounds, right? At least! I felt weird and shaky, and stepped out to find the Baker.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" I asked, and Torch looked at me funny. I could almost hear his gears grinding as if he wanted to say 'It's dead! It's not fine!' but... undead town, right? The Baker nodded and said"He's free at least! I could hear him last night scrabbling around in there, my poor boy - thank you, Missus!" the skeletal baker said damply, got up, and threw his arms around me in a hug!

His flesh appeared around him as he did so, spectral and wispy as it was, and I could see him clearly for the big man he truly was. And I could see he was crying big gummy tears!

"thank you thank you thank you miss!" he wept, and I pat his back. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

"Anytime, fellow - glad to help out." I said. Good girl! You have freed Spelt, Bonehound Guardian level 6, from under debris. Bonus XP is gained for dealing with a dangerous obstacle! Bonus XP is gained for moving several objects heavier than you! Again the World called me a good girl, which was... why was everyone saying that to me? In any case, it was awesome that I actually got XP for helping out! No level up notification, but that was alright.

The real reward was the act of helping itself, but it was nice to be recognized for it! Also, WOW. The DOG was higher level than me! I inspected the dog's owner, next, even as I hugged him back firmly. Alderman Albert Albertson, Skeleton Baker, level 6, relieved, grateful Wait his name was... Albert, son of Albert? And he was an alderman? That was... a name. Did people have lots of names like that? Was that normal? It seemed so. It seemed like a name was something folk in this (what, world? Locale? Continent?) tended to pass a down like an old sword or a good pair of old boots. They gave it to their kids! The undead baker eventually got ahold of himself, and palmed tears from his eyes, then said"When I get the bakery going again, miss, I'll give you a loaf a day for free - you've done a great service for me." he said. I beamed a smile up at the big man and his bushy mustache, and he smiled back in turn like a happy walrus, his spectral vision fading as he broke contact with me, returning to a skeletal shape.

I took off the huge boots and gave them back, and he accepted them with a nod. But when I tried to offer back the apron and mitts, he shook his head.

"Nono miss, those are m'spares. If'n you'll be opening the old Inn, or even just cooking in there, y'might need'um." he said, and I smiled at him. I leaned up and kissed his cheek, which formed around my lips to show his blue blushing face a moment before I stood back again. Flustered, he used his apron to scoop his dog bones up again and bustled into the store. with a"Thank you! I'll be gettin to it!" Torch had a weird smile on his face as he shook his head, regarding me.

"Well I'll go to the foot of the stairs." he said "This town, Lambstock, it really is going to be a Monster town! I've never heard of such a thing." he said.

"Life is certainly gonna be different in this neck of the woods, that's for certain." he said. I beamed at him.

"Hopefully, better!" I said. I could feel things inside me happening. It wasn't time yet, but my body feel was taking on an edge to it that was starting to feel familiar. It wouldn't be long now, at all.

"I think it's about time... do you still want to see? You sure?" I asked, and Torch glanced at me, nodded. We walked then, and as he led the way towards a street I hadn't gone down, I untied the apron, and said "Here, could you hold these for me?" as we walked. He glanced back at me, taking the mitts and apron, then did a double take as I pulled off the tunic he'd given me while we walked! Hurriedly, as my breasts came into view he averted his eyes with a soft curse.

Next came my pants - they had indeed gotten a bit more comfortable as my keester stretched them out and my broader hips stretched them, but they were loose over my legs since they were for a man who was just overall larger than me rather than my figure. I had to pause as I wiggled my hips and squirmed out of them, but once I'd gotten them past the crest of my backside, they were easy to remove and I once again walked beside Torch, bare.

"You are NOT Shy about being naked, miss." he said, and I could hear his criticism.

"I figure its because I'm spending half my time naked and getting hurt if I burst out of my clothes - MAN that hurts by the way, I never wanna do that again. In leather clothes? No stinkin' way." I said easily, and felt my Wolf enjoy the open air on my skin. It did still feel a little strange, being openly naked, but that part of me... was increasingly distant.

"That... makes a lot of sense, but another time? Warn a man first." he said.

"Fair enough. It's... it's coming." I said as we made it to another gate and stepped out into the gathering evening. I walked a short distance as he hesitated, and settled down into the grass, feeling the warm cool fibers of it shifting against my skin as I lay on my side. I could feel heat flush my body, and feel my heart rate start to pick up as Torch settled down on a log, and turned his eyes on me. He blushed a little, but it was more embarrassed than anything else.

There was an air of admiration, I must have been pretty fit to look at, but it went no further than that in his scent. His scent was primarily nervous. He was frightened of what was going to happen next. LET HIM SEE What a beautiful night to have a curse... Heat came in waves, and I analyzed the feeling carefully, trying to keep my breathing even. Then heat became a burning, became... a spike of tension! I felt muscles bunch, and cramp they clenched so hard!

I didn't make a noise apart from my breathing taking on a shuddering pace as I tried to breathe... just breathe... just... b-breathe! My whole back cramped, and arched painfully as I began to pant in short sharp little gasps. I could feel as the muscle-locking transformation spread down my limbs, feel muscles bunch to their breaking point and bulge my skin taut! I could feel my skin itself ache and stretch painfully, with my mind fully conscious and aware in the center of the nightmare.

Still it was better than previous changes had been. The grass didn't feel awesome against me - it tickled and filled my perceptions with a sensation very much like being stabbed with needles, but it was tolerable as tears flowed from my eyes - I couldn't help it. I let out a breath in a huffing rush as if I was being submerged in icy waters, but it sounded deeper, and I realized that once again, I was growing from the inside.

The core of my body first, chest cavity swelling out against my straining flesh, then my hips, then my arms and legs, voice growing deeper and deeper, and then my head. It felt almost like something was pushing into my head from inside, narrowing my vision to a dark tunnel as my face swelled out into a muzzle. Was that my heartbeat... or Torch's, pounding in my ears?

An inhuman whine escaped me, and fur finished blossoming over my changed form, giving me some sort of protection, some armor against the stabs of the grass against my raw, tender flesh. My body was an ocean of tingles until I rolled to my belly, and pushed myself up. Shaking off helped dispel the tinglies! The shake went from my head where it began to my ears, to my back and chest, to my hips, and then all the way down to my tail, making a noise like floppa floppa floppa!

I pushed to my paws, feeling how they spread out a bit to support my weight, and rose. I walked around a bit in a circle, and felt my pulse settling down from speed metal, to rock and roll, to folk bit by bit. But I could still hear a furious heartbeat, and smell fear in the air. I looked to Torch, and found him petrified before me on the log I'd left him sitting on. Following my Wolf's wisdom, I approached my friend, slipping to all fours as I went.

He shut his eyes, visibly trying not to flee, and shook like a leaf before me... before I slid my huge head into his lap, nosing his tummy and making a soft grunty, chuffing noise against him as I drew in his scent, and the incidental scent of... his mate, Fel. He unfroze a bit, looking down at me, and I waggled my tail behind my bulky form as I stared up at him. I wasn't going to hurt him, and invited him to touch my ears, to pet my head.

He did so, and I could hear his heartbeat calm as well as he touched my fur, hesitantly at first. He grew more confident, and got at my ears at last, trying out a scritch he'd give a dog, I figured, and... oh yeah. That's the stuff. I wiggled my leg a bit behind me as I made a grunty noise. He wasn't scared anymore, but the change had clearly disturbed him a great deal.

"Thanks, Goldtail." he said, and I leaned up to give his face a lick! My tongue was huge, and big enough to slurp the whole front of his head, making him sputter and GUH, leaning back and away with a laugh!

"Bluh! Damn it woman!" he said, and I relented, panting happily as he laughingly wiped his face.

"Just like a hound!" I got up off him entirely, and squatting down on the ground, I wrote 'ARE YOU STILL SCARED OF ME?' and he shook his head.

"No." he said simply.

"The change is... that is obviously painful. It is still disturbing to watch." he admitted, and I nodded, resigned to this.

'ITS EASIER THAN IT WAS' I said. [Health: 200/200] [Stamina: 185/225] [Mana: 85/125] Forty stamina and mana was what it cost now! It'd taken fifty before - each rank had reduced it by 5 points. F was 50, E was 45, now it was 40 at rank D. No level up yet, but... that was expected. I felt like I was close though.

"THAT is easier?" he said and I nodded.

"Not something I hope to ever experience. No offense intended, my friend." he said and I wrote 'NONE TAKEN =)'. He blinked at the smily face, and I gave him a dopey-face panting doggie grin, tongue lolled out and tail wagging. He chuckled at that, and reached to dig his fingers into my ruff and ruffle my ears. Awwww yis! Then, he got up and we walked together back the short distance towards town once more.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you are very doglike." he said. I wasn't offended by that really! Some of the best people I knew had been dogs. My Wolf didn't mind either. LITTLE BROTHERS AND SISTERS she said, and I realized she was taking part in my memories of dogs as well. Yes! That's exactly right. They're our friends! My wolf approved of that. I could feel it inside us both - we didn't have it in us to hurt a dog, a being who was loyal, brave, and honest like that.

I waggled my tail and shifted to all fours as we walked along, tail bapping him a couple times until I bounded ahead into the town. It was certainly more lively than before. Skeletons were moving with more purpose than previously observed in town - instead of just standing around or aimlessly wandering, I could see one fixing a wheelbarrow's wheel. Another was shifting some debris until... a skeletal horse shifted out of the rubble of what had probably had been a stable.

I could see Albertson and a small cadre of others, holding a clipboard and pointing at things, giving instructions to skeletal guards, and all the while, Shades were moving in and out of walls and buildings, chatting about things inside. Lambstock was dead, but the people weren't taking it lying down, so to speak! They were working, they were fixing, helping, rebuilding even as Torch and I watched.

I approached Albertson and the skeleton council of merchants, I figured, swayed back a step before I sat up on my haunches and regarded them with a nod. After a moment's hesitation, the undead merchant board bowed to me.

"Hound Goldtail - the title makes... a great deal more sense! Hello again, Miss Emily" the Alderman said, and chuckled as the skeleton of a hound limped to stand between myself and him, making an unearthly growling noise. To my shock, I understood!

"I'M WATCHING YOU, BIGSTUFF! IF YOU HURT MY FRIEND I WILL HAVE YOUR BLOOD!" the dog, Spelt, snarled up at me in pure defiance! I heard the noises he was making, but the words arrived in my head even so. Instinctively, I knew how to reply.

"I understand, brave spelt." I said in canine, and the dog perked spectral ears at me. Albertson watched over the interaction with some uncertainty, clearly not understanding what was going on. He said"I think I convinced him to Stabilize like me." he explained, voice careful as he, the board, and Torch watched this canine interlude.

"Yes! Even in death, I will serve! I will remain at his side! As my mother did before me!" the dog, which had probably been a golden retriever or some kind of hound judging by his size, said. For all the world, he sounded like he was a bony doggie knight! Guardian, huh?

"Can you... understand him?" Torch asked, and I nodded at him, then nodded to the dog.

"I honor you, Spelt." I said to the dog, and his tail began to waggle behind him, my own matching the gesture amiably.

"You are brave and loyal, and I would sooner chew off my own leg than hurt you or your lord." I said, and the bone-hound stood straight, spectral ears perking above his skull. From what I could see of the dog's expression, he was pleased. WE COULD CRUSH HIM EASILY AND STILL HE DEFIES US. I was shocked at first, but then I caught the emotional context from my wolf. She liked Spelt - he was spunky. She liked that kind of bravery. We agreed on that entirely! Spelt was a good boy.

"What are you, bigstuff? You smell funny." Spelt said, and Albertson, clearly not understanding, gave Torch a helpless look as the dog and I had a conversation together.

"I am a werewolf, stable like you are. I am Goldtail Twice-Cursed, Hound of Lambstock." I said, and the dog's spectral eye-lights in his eye sockets got huge! Not fear, but wonder!

"Hound! That is a title, a word for dog used as a noble title!" the dog said, and did happy tippy-taps in place a moment in his sheer excitement, bouncing in a little circle around his master.

"Master! Master! She is a Hound and she is noble and we are friends now!" he said, and despite clearly not understanding, Albertson bent and pat his bonehound. Bones never touched bones as he did, but I could see spectral flesh meet on both man and mutt as he did so. Spelt's delight was contagious! I found my own tail wagging, attacking Torch's ankles with whumpa whumpa whumpas that had the man laughing and stepping out of the way!

The other members of the merchant board stared on at the scene in awe and growing 'awww!' Your [MONSTER] Lycanthropic Transformation skill has improved, and is now eligible for rank up. Rank C costs 1 Lycanthrope skill point! OH! What the heck? Had it really leveled up outside of transforming? I spent my last Lycanthrope skillpoint easily! [MONSTER] Lycanthropic Transformation, Rank C: 0% - Your cursed body becomes familiar with both man and beast, and you become better able to control your transformations!

That was BIG! I could control it now?! WE GROW CLOSER, THIS IS PROPER my wolf said. Agreed! We make a good team! A GOOD TEAM my wolf agreed I could feel... something new inside me now. I could feel... a kind of... well, a mirror wasn't the right word. It might have been a pool of water reflecting the sky. As I peered into it, inside my mind, I could see my wolf. We were both in the pool together in that moment, side by side and occupying the same space?

It was hard to describe, but I felt how close she was now, and understood... that in hybrid shape, we were truly one flesh. But this was not always the case. WE CAN SWITCH PLACES NOW my wolf observed, and I nodded in the mindscape to her. Sometimes we'll need teeth and claws and four strong paws! SOMETIMES WE WILL NEED THUMBS AND KNOTS AND DEEP THOUGHTS A team indeed. I knew instinctively... that we could not transform right now. We were in hybrid shape - we were already one being at the moment.

I snapped back to focus, and gave Spelt a pat as well. He just tensed a moment, then visibly tried to relax, to trust me. His spectral flesh felt strange, cool, not quite actually real, but I ruffled his ears. I wrote into the dust.

'HOW ARE REPAIRS GOING' I wrote, and the Alderman carefully read the words before responding.

"There is a great deal o'damage, but it'will be done, Emily." he said"It proceeds, it proceeds." he said, and I nodded to him. Torch and I made for the inn - I was hungry, and there was rice pilaf waiting for me! And bones! PILAF IS FINE. BONES ARE BETTER.