father and son stepped forward at the reaper’s gesture.  They looked toward each other unassuredly while entering the center of the circle. They stared upon all of us watching with timid glances, but when they layed eyes on the musician it was easy to see confidence fill them.  The musican's music put all at ease and loosened the tongue. They gave one another an encouraging nod and then the father started speaking…

“ am Otor Gilmok and this is my son, Jr.  We was fishing out by our hamlet near Whiterun, on a splendidly warm day.    Jr. caught his first big one, and we celebrated that night.  We set it outside a ways from our camp.  While waiting for evening, Jr. and I played Knights and Brigands—he loves that game—he likes for me to be the brigand and he, the heroic knight, somehow always seems to best me and save the day when we play.  After playing a wrestle match a bit, he always hugs me and I him, and we always tell each other “I love you” before going to bed. 

t was a bit before the moon came up, but it did, and our time had come.  I woke little Jr. and out from our tent we went.  The air was crisp and cool and the gentle breeze could be seen blowing through the branches in the surrounding woods.  I immediately howled to initiate the hunt and Jr. followed.  We started the change—the euphoric feeling of pure strength and adrenaline coursing through our veins.

ur senses heightened—our vision sharpened, and our hearing became greatly enhanced.  To turn to a lycanthrope is a truly wonderful experience.  Jr., eager as always, immediately caught the scent of a nearby fox that was lured out by our fish we left earlier.  He sprung into action and started sprinting through the woods.  I followed close behind to ensure he would be safe, and to steer him away from any other campers.

ost people don’t know, but many of us do not believe in attacking humans.  Some may, but they are outliers.  We truly desire peace between man and lycanthrope—because well, we are men too.  I would summon the transformation to defend my family if needed, but in any other time, I would withhold from any minor threat.  A bully who could be easily put down, would be granted life still.  I wanted to show Jr. that strength was not destroying easy enemies, or defending pride.  Strength was about controlling yourself, and not giving in to anger or rage—those are the traits of a beast, and we were men, not beasts.  I wanted him to learn how to be strong enough, to be gentle.

r. tracked down the fox in no time—he was becoming quite the little hunter, and I was so very proud of him.  He chased the fox down, and pounced it.  The frightened little fox made its barking sound, and Jr. held it up high to show his father.  He was always very careful with the smaller animals—wanted to make sure not to hurt them.  We never fed on hunted animals—not yet anyway.  Jr., cared too much for them.  He always said we’re a furry family—that always made me chuckle.  He let the fox down carefully and it trotted away as quickly as it could.

e continued a game of hide and seek for a bit, and as the night started to fade away, I had us head back to camp.  We slept, with full bellies of fish, and soar muscles from constant running.  I slept like a log, and when I woke, I saw Jr. smiling in his sleep—he was rather content.  He had a grin from ear to ear.  This was one the of the only times I could rest, as the little fellow was non stop energy when he was awake.

 stepped out of the tent to start preparing our fishing rods again, but I was taken back at what I saw.  There before, in front of our test, was a slaughtered lamb with its two arms and two legs cut off—making a total of five pieces--if you counted the torso--which were spread out in a circle, surrounding a pike that was impaling a severed werewolf’s head.  The front of of our tent had a huge “X” drawn on it with blood—it was if though we were being marked.

 did not understand who or what would do this, nor did I want to find out.  They were sending a message, and I got the message loud and clear.   I immediately called for Jr. and we went running through the woods again—this time, not as lycanthropes.  We were much more vulnerable.  I was rushing against the foliage and holding onto him tightly so he wouldn’t fall behind.

e stopped only for a moment to listen…  We could hear many noises, but I could not tell if any of them were from someone.  I would definitely need to wait until night and use the advantages of my wolf form to get a better idea of what was happening and to defend myself if needed.  I knew that staying out of site would be the best idea until I could get a better handle on things.  I was running through the thick brush, and as luck would have it, my eye caught site of something shimmering in the sunlight.  I found a very large axe stuck in a tree, close to a nearby cave—someone had been cutting wood!  I took the axe and entered the cave…

fter entering and walking a good bit inside the cave, a very loud slam all of a sudden could be heard at the entrance. I looked back and saw a steel door with spikes, had slammed shut, blocking the entrance.  The spikes were facing outward though, rather than inward toward us….  That made no sense, but I knew I chose poorly entering this cave.

 had no choice but to go a bit deeper, and then I knew what was happening.  I saw another dead lamb, again with its two front legs and two back legs severed, making a total of 5 parts, spread out in a circle which was surrounding a wolf head on a pike…

r. and I were being hunted.  I had suspicions of by whom as well.  He is a bit of a boogy-man story for lycanthropes, but I had doubted I would ever meet him.  If what was told of him was true, I knew what I was in for.  Jr. was terrified, so I held him as tight as I could.  I had no where to go, so I waited for night—the time I would have the advantage, and if my suspicions were true, I was going to need every bit of help I could get…

ight eventually came after what felt like forever.  Being trapped in that cave was horrible.  The anxiety, the hunger, trying to comfort Jr.—it was too much.  The moment I could feel the power of my better half pulsating through my veins, I immediately gave in.  I could feel the hair threading through the skin, and once again the euphoria of changing into the wolf, fully immersed me.  There I was with Jr. in wolf form as well, waiting for whatever came next.  I started  walking towards the entrance to tear down the steel door, when all of a sudden I could smell him—someone was incredibly close to us.

ut he came from the shadows from a slightly elevated ledge.  Adorned in full silver armor that had seen its fair share of glory.  Claw marks were left all over it rather than buffed out.  His visor hid his face, but I could still feel his eyes piercing through to me.  The armor for his shoulders were draped with werewolf face skins—an incredibly sick and twisted display.  His belt had wolf tails draping down in the style of an elite’s garb cord.  The sword he held was made entirely of silver—even the handle, and fangs could be seen welded into the guard.  The man enjoyed killing my kind, and clearly delighted in displaying it.

t was all too clear now.  The scare to route us out, the axe—or bait—near the cave, the entrance blocking us in and the spikes keeping intruders out: this was a hunt.  To make things worse, this hunter didn’t want to go for an easy kill and claim his prize.  No…  he waited until the prize would be able present the biggest challenge it could  The hunters were being hunted by a depraved Silver Hand—this had to be the legendary hunter, standing right before me.

“ know who you are” I said to him, as he started to approach.  My eyes must of been playing tricks because as he walked closer, it looked like mirrored images of him slowly followed.  He drew his weapon and started scraping it against the wall which made an incredibly sharp ear piercing sound—especially to a wolf.  He was toying with me.  Jr. started growling, but I knew to step between him and this hunter.  “I know who you are!” this time shouting.  “I am the bane of your existence” was his only reply.

“e have done nothing to you, nor do we hunt humans—we’re not that kind…”  he immediately cut me off, proudly declaring “I’m not too kind either” and immediately lunged at me.  He hit me with such a force, I would have sworn I was in a fight with another lycanthrope.  He started rising, making me me think he was going to slash down, so I raised up to meet him. But before I could, he quickly knelt and slammed the handle of his sword down in my foot—which was pointed and immediately entered the body—silver inside a werewolf.  I could instantly feel numbness spreading through my entire foot and ankle.  Before I could react he took the blade and forcefully jabbed it up into my throat. 

 tried to move away, but he had me pinned against the wall and I had no where to go.  The numbness started spreading up my neck and into the bottom of my mouth.  I clawed into his armor, but I struggled to pierce through—I just left marks, like the many other victims.  The master hunter wasted no time in grabbing his handle again and used it to start pushing the blade inside my throat against my right side.  I never felt such immense pain—his sword inside me caused such intense agony that it paralyzed me entirely, I could feel my body submitting to pain and begging for release—for the blade to finally leave me.

y applying the pressure as he did, he was using the sword as an ore steering a ship, and I went where he was directing me.  He had guided me slightly away from the wall to create room and as soon as he did that, I lashed out with every ounce of energy that I could muster, but when I lashed out, he rapidly blocked against my arm before I could strike—he made sure there was little distance between us.  After blocking my attack, he twirled around and before I knew it, he was behind me.  He used his gauntlets to shield his hands while he pressed on the erect blade sticking through my neck still and started sawing down in the upper part of my back.  I could feel it overwhelming me and draining the strength from body. 

f course I tried to turn around, but as I did this, a mirrored image of him appeared on the opposite side and slashed at me as well.  As quickly as his manifested doppelganger appeared, it vanished.  I was so confused, I didn’t know where to strike.  He did though, I felt his dagger jab into my kidney from behind.  Again, he twirled in front and ran his silver dagger straight into my heart, piercing it.  I could feel it beating from within, punctured and bleeding internally, and paralyzed from his blade, I had no more fight in me, and I collapsed.

fter seeing this, Jr. ran and lunged toward the hunter.  I tried to yell for him to stop, but had not the strength to warn him away.  As he jumped toward the hunter, the skilled master threw his dagger into the growling jaws of my son.  Jr. collapse to the ground, feeling the same disabling effect of the silver in his mouth as I felt in my body.  He was convulsing on the ground when the hunter confidently walked over to him, and rolled him over so that his stomach was on the ground—with his head facing down against the blade piercing up into his mouth that was resting on the floor beneath him.  The hunter slammed his foot in the back of my child’s head, driving the blade deeper into the roof of his mouth and piercing his brain—it was an instant death.

hortly after that, he picked up Jr. in his arms, and walked over to me and placed him in mine…  I was allowed the privilege of holding onto my son as the last minutes of my life were passing away.  He withdrew the sword from my neck, and I stared up at him.  I had no energy to speak and could barely breath.  This fighter ended my life as a lycanthrope in a matter of minutes—what most men feared, seemed to strengthen this fighter.  My eyes grew heavy and I slowly drifted off…

 must have passed out for a few minutes, and when I opened my eyes again…  I was still in that cave with the hunter staring at me.  He said to me, “I want you to feel everything” and then gripped the sides of the gaping wound in my neck and started pulling apart, prying open the wound, slowly tearing skin away.  I would have screamed but I couldn’t even barely muster a growl.  But damn it hurt.  I could feel my flesh ripping away and the tearing sound was so frightening, knowing this was my body.  I could hear him laughing as he tore my wound wider so that I would bleed out faster.  I started convulsing and blacked out from the burning pain.

ater, I opened my eyes again, and I was in my human form, with Jr. next to me as well.  We were on this grassy plain, and I could hear the soft music playing, so we walked towards it.  I’m not sure why, but it seemed like the right thing to do.


he musician, grinning his usual grin, calmly stated "it is the only thing you can do", and continued dancing merrily around as shadows continued prancing around the circle, in tandem to his soothing melody.  He glided along the grassy plane, continuing his waltz and leading us where he wished.  None of us were sure what would come next, but as long as he played, we would be fine.  We would always be fine with the tranquil melody enveloping the grassy plain, until he deemed otherwise.  We would follow him, we would always follow.

Continue. . .