Martin Millar - Lonely Werewolf Girl (54 page)

"What are you doing?"

"Practising my teleporting."

Vex rubbed her elbow ruefully, and brushed off some debris.

"Go away you stupid Hiyasta," shouted Kalix.

"Okay I'll be right up," replied Vex, and clambered over the
fence in the direction of the front door. Kalix wouldn't have let her
in but Moonglow appeared back from the shops at that moment and Vex
came up the stairs with her. Vex was looking miserable and clutching
her arm. Unlike Malveria, Agrivex was not the sort of elemental who
spouted flames in times of emotion, but her unhappiness over her injury
did give her a slightly pink hue.

"I bumped my elbow."

"I'm sorry," replied Moonglow.

"It's really sore," said Vex.

Moonglow noticed that Vex was still holding her arm out.

"Eh… do you want me to rub it better?"

Vex nodded enthusiastically. Moonglow rubbed it better. By the
time Kalix arrived Vex had recovered and she greeted the werewolf
cheerfully.

"So what's happening?"

"Go away you stupid Hiyasta no one wants you here," said
Kalix, forcefully.

"Right. So what'll we do? Watch TV? Listen to music? Maybe go
shopping?"

Kalix was perplexed. Vex was apparently impervious to insult.
Hoping that she might just go away, Kalix turned on her heel and
hurried back to her room. She slammed the door then turned to find Vex
standing on her bed, looking pleased with herself.

"Look, I just teleported from the kitchen to your bedroom,
totally successfully. So, what's on TV?"

Kalix gave up the struggle. She couldn't get rid of Vex and
would just have to put up with her for a while.

"There's nothing on TV. TV is awful. I need more channels."

Kalix was annoyed because she hadn't seen Sabrina the Teenage
Witch for several days. It was only on once a week, with a repeat on
Saturday, and this just wasn't enough. The cable channels ran it twice
every day. As for SpongeBob SquarePants, Kalix's favourite cartoon,
that was hardly ever on terrestrial television. There were so many
programmes and their TV could receive so few of them. Vex was sure that
Moonglow was behaving unreasonably.

"The girl just doesn't understand how you need more TV. I
mean, it's fine for her, gallivanting around at college and learning
stuff but that's not how other people want to behave. Other people want
to watch television and she has a moral duty to help them."

Vex shook her head.

"Adults have no morals. Aunt Malvie promised me new boots and
would she come through with them? She would not. It's a scandal. So
what's the plan for persuading Moonglow to go with cable?"

Kalix didn't have a plan.

"She just won't do it. Last time Daniel mentioned it she got
really annoyed."

"Well it's your lucky day," announced Vex. "I have an idea."

"You do?"

Kalix, despite herself, felt impressed. She'd failed to think
of anything at all. Vex put her head close to Kalix's and began to
whisper, careful not to let anyone overhear. From Kalix's descriptions
of Moon-glow's unreasonableness, Vex wouldn't have been surprised to
learn that Moonglow had planted a listening device in the room.

"That's maybe not a bad plan," muttered Kalix.

145

Gawain hadn't recovered from the shock of seeing Kalix kissing
Daniel. Sleeping with Thrix hadn't made him feel better. He didn't know
why he did it. Thrix was very beautiful but she was not a sympathetic
companion, and Gawain felt she was no more pleased about the affair
than he was. Gawain had romantic ideals of love, and his affair with
Thrix didn't seem to fit in with any notions of romance he was familiar
with.

He spent most of his time hanging around the fringes of
Kenning-ton, secretly guarding Kalix. To atone for abandoning her at
the castle, Gawain had decided to protect her in London, even though
she was now no longer his. As dusk came Gawain would prowl the streets
and alleyways of South London, looking for anyone who might be trying
to harm her. He'd already noticed Gregor MacRinnalch sniffing round the
area. Gawain had not confronted him, but followed him at a distance.
The three Douglas-MacPhees had also made an appearance. Gawain loathed
them. So far they had not come near Kalix's house. If they did, Gawain
was determined to kill them.

Hostile werewolves were not the only creatures spotted by
Gawain. He was certain he'd seen some hunters, sometimes driving,
sometimes on foot. There was one in particular, a stocky, powerful man
who several times had walked down streets close to where Kalix lived,
and paused, as if he almost sensed something, before moving on. Gawain
had the uncomfortable feeling that this man knew a lot about
werewolves, and was a danger to Kalix.

Gawain told Thrix about these encounters. She seemed
interested. Though she took information from him she was very reticent
about handing any over in return. She wouldn't tell him what was
happening in the clan feud, or who exactly was hunting for Kalix. And
she wouldn't tell him much about Kalix's new lover. Thrix said that it
was better for Gawain to try and forget Kalix. Kalix had moved on.
Thrix was vague on details, but Gawain understood from her that Kalix
and her new boyfriend were in love.

So Gawain spent his cold days and nights on patrol, never
going too close to Kalix's house for fear of leading anyone to her.
Occasionally he'd withdraw for warmth to the cafe at the Imperial War
Museum, in the large park in Kennington, but he never stayed long. He'd
be too troubled by the thought that at any moment Kalix might be in
danger, so he'd hurry back into the streets and continue with his
lonely work.

Further north in the city, Dominil was also continuing with
her work, though she ached so much she could hardly rise from her bed.
Strong as her regenerative powers were, they couldn't heal her as fast
as she'd have liked. Muscles that had been ripped open by Sarapen's
teeth needed time to heal, even for a MacRinnalch. Three days had
passed since the kidnapping. Three days lost. Dominil refused to rest
any longer. She dragged herself to her feet and headed for the shower.
She briefly regarded her wounds in the long mirror. There was a bloody
scar on her thigh and her body was covered with scratches and bruises.
She also had a black eye, which she found faintly amusing. She hadn't
had a black eye since she was a very young werewolf.

The shower took away some of the pain. Dominil took the
opportunity to wash her hair. Her long white hair was one of the few
things she was vain about, vainer than anyone would have guessed. She
dressed as quickly as she could and breakfasted alone in the kitchen.
It was late morning and the twins were still asleep.

Dominil planned to have her revenge on Sarapen but she'd filed
away her fury for later. At this moment she had other things to do.
Dominil finished her breakfast with a small sip of laudanum. She took a
pair of Beauty's sunglasses to hide her black eye and limped out into
the grey morning drizzle, already concentrating on the task in hand.

146

Baron MacAllister had intended to withdraw his werewolves from
Colburn Wood without fighting. He had been instructed by Sarapen to
demonstrate his defiance to the Mistress of the Werewolves but not to
engage in combat. As soon as Eskandor's werewolves crossed the bridge,
the Baron was meant to pull back, remain on the borders of his own
lands, and await further instructions.

Unfortunately, as Rainal had pointed out to Verasa, werewolves
were not good at restraint when faced by an enemy. The Baron tarried
longer than was wise. The moon was up, his force was all in werewolf
shape and he delayed his retreat till the MacRinnalchs were in sight.
He planned to march his company away in good order, showing that they
were not afraid. This was a mistake. The new Baron was young and had
never been in battle before. He didn't know how a large group of
werewolves, faced by an opposing group of werewolves, would react. As
soon as the MacRinnalchs caught sight of the MacAllisters, they set up
a terrible howling, and began to rush forward.

Eskandor MacRinnalch was also partly to blame. He had intended
to order the Baron out of the woods, and give him time to leave. He
should have sent a messenger ahead, instead of leading his whole force
so close to the enemy. Before Eskandor or Baron MacAllister could do
anything to prevent it, battle was joined. The whole host of werewolves
met in the middle of a clearing and began to fight, some on two feet,
laying about them with their claws, and some as full wolves, rushing
forward to rend with their jaws. There was no stopping the werewolves
now. It was a fight to the death, a battle on a scale not seen among
the Scottish werewolves for more than a century. The fifty MacAllisters
were outnumbered by the eighty MacRinnalchs but no one hung back from
the fray.

Each side flung itself on the other in a flurry of terrible
violence. Werewolf hides, almost impossible for human weapons to
penetrate, split open freely under the werewolves' own jaws and claws.
All over the clearing they rolled on the ground, trampled and bit each
other, clawed at each other's flesh, inflicting dreadful wounds and
sending werewolf after werewolf off to the forests of the werewolf dead.

The fighting spread from the clearing to the ground beneath
the trees, ground that was thick with bushes, dead wood, and thorns.
The werewolves crashed through the undergrowth, snarling and biting all
the while. Some of them found themselves flung back into the stream and
there they fought furiously, seeking to drag their opponents under
water and drown them before scrambling ashore and heading back into
battle.

There was terrible slaughter. When the battle was over, many
werewolves lay dead, including the new Baron MacAllister. Eskandor was
badly injured. The surviving MacAllisters retreated and there were few
MacRinnalchs in a fit state to pursue them. The wood, normally alive
with the night-time activities of its animal inhabitants, lay eerily
silent, as the squirrels, foxes and badges hid in their lairs, waiting
for the violence to pass.

147

Moonglow sat on her bed, reading
Bleak House
,
a lengthy work by Dickens. She'd dragged her quilt over her legs for
warmth and was propped up comfortably on her pillows, making good
progress. Unusually, Daniel was at this moment doing much the same, in
his room. It had been intimated to him by his tutor that while the
English Department did not expect their first year students to perform
academic miracles, they did expect them at least to read some of the
course books. Daniel had arrived home with the look of a condemned man
on his face, and a copy of
Bleak House
in his bag.

He realised he might have made a strategic mistake in being so
annoyed with Moonglow over Markus. It meant he couldn't really ask her
for help. He considered approaching Moonglow with a full apology, and
begging her to hand over her notes. But Daniel set his mind firmly
against this. He was furious with Moonglow and was even prepared to go
to the lengths of reading Dickens to demonstrate his displeasure.

Moonglow was interrupted by a peculiar snuffling noise outside
her bedroom door. She put down her book and turned her head. She was
momentarily alarmed to see a snout appearing through the door. A large
wolf padded into her room.

"Eh…" Moonglow didn't know whether to panic or not. But there
was something friendly about the wolf. It was medium brown, shaggy even
by wolf standards, and it seemed to be wagging its tail. The wolf
bounded onto the bed and started licking Moonglow's face.

"Kalix!" cried Moonglow, and began to laugh. "You're a wolf!"

Kalix, in her full wolf form, licked Moonglow's face again,
and pawed at the bedclothes. Moonglow patted her on the head. The wolf
seemed to enjoy this. In fact, wolf-Kalix seemed far more
enthusiastically friendly than werewolf-Kalix ever had. After licking
Moonglow's face some more, she bounded round the room, in a manner
which could almost be described at frolicking. Moonglow laughed as
Kalix rolled over. She thought she'd never seen anything as beautiful
as Kalix in her full wolf form. Abruptly Kalix departed, leaving
Moonglow delighted at the whole event. She loved Kalix as a wolf.

Wolf-Kalix hurried back to her own room where Vex was waiting.

"Did it go well?" asked the young elemental.

Kalix nodded enthusiastically.

"Okay," said Vex. She knew they had to act quickly. In the
form of a full wolf, Kalix would soon forget what she was meant to be
doing. Vex picked up the TV guide, rolled it up and stuffed it between
Kalix's jaws.

"Go get her," she said.

Kalix bounded back along the corridor and into Moonglow's room
then leapt on the bed, wagging her tail furiously.

"You're back," cried Moonglow. "What's this?"

She took the magazine from Kalix's jaws.

"The TV guide?"

The wolf looked at Moonglow as appealing as she could, which
was very appealingly indeed. Her wolf face was really so beautiful. She
licked Moonglow's nose. Realising that this was a plot by Kalix to
persuade her to install cable TV, Moonglow burst out laughing. It was a
funny idea. She stroked Kalix's coat.

"You think you can persuade me to get more TV by being such a
beautiful wolf?"

Kalix nodded her head enthusiastically.

"Well maybe," said Moonglow. "I'll think about it."

Kalix rolled around on the bed some more then rushed back to
her own room. There she continued to bound around.

"Hey, stop it," said Vex, as Kalix started growling and
sniffing around under the bed. "Change back."

Kalix, by now forgetting all her human thoughts, looked
suspi-ciously at Vex, and growled. Vex rolled up another TV guide and
whacked Kalix on the nose.

"Change back you idiot."