4 1264, Pek 13

Late that afternoon, several hours of shopping later, the sun still up but nearing the top of the wall so that part of the city was in shadow already, Jassen returned to the Tiger-Wolf. His armor over his shoulder and wearing the clothes and shoes he had purchased. The rest of his purchases, more clothes, shoes, and other items to be delivered over the next week. By a week from his arrival at his family's tavern, he would be fully resupplied, including weapons, and other supplies.

He walked in and saw that the Dracos was back, along with the other guards. He looked up at Jassen as he entered and did a double take. Looking over at the bar where Kreff was, then back at Jassen. Jassen stopped next to their table. “Good afternoon gentlemen. Can I buy you a pint?”

The Dracos leaned back, looking up at Jassen. His eyes going wide as he recognized the voice from the previous night. “Uh. Sure.”

“Same as last night?” Moving past.

“Sure. Thank you.” He said after Jassen, then looking back at the others at his table in shock.

#

A few minutes later Cleef dropped off the Ale’s for the Dracos and the other guards there with him. They were suddenly very busy that day. Every table was full, and they’d had to call in extra help. She was still confused by who this seemingly familiar Tiger-Wolf was. This stranger who had walked, soaking wet, into their lives.

So many people wanted to get a look at this new resident of the city. Another Tiger-Wolf, and if rumors were to be believed, he was 20 feet tall and entered the city by leaping over the wall. Most knew such things were crazy, yet still they came because insane rumors of him killing guards as he entered the city and leaping over the wall might be absurd, but that there were so many wild rumors with one unchanging core fact; there was a new Tiger-Wolf in town. That alone almost required people to look for themselves.

#

Excerpt from:

Tiger-Wolves, A Discussion of Origins, Legends, and Facts.

By Jack Plarret, Master Librarian of Kreeh

Published: 1242, Arc

Tiger-Wolves seem on the surface to be just another hybrid, just another crossbreed between a tiger and a wolf. While hybrids were not common, they did happen from time to time, but Tiger-Wolves were not in fact simple hybrids. Most hybrids were sterile, whereas Tiger-Wolves breed true with each other, and when they mate with a wolf or a tiger, there is an average fourty percent chance that the resulting pups will be a full blooded Tiger-Wolf.

Speculation by scholars throughout Creedeth and the surrounding nations is that they are an old species, perhaps a holdover from ancient times when the ruins were not ruins, but thriving cities. Few other than advanced scholars knew the truth; certainly not Tiger-Wolves in general, or the small family of them that made the city of Kreeh their home.

After Keer and Leeth arrived in the city, there was speculation that they were refugees, escaped slaves, etc... Though as they settled in, the newness of the Tiger-Wolves wore off, especially by the time of the birth of their second son Jethen. What they really were, and where they were from, became the obsession of only the scholars of the library.

Tiger-Wolves were so named because that is what they look like. While the similarity of appearance to a wolf or a tiger varies by individual, generally their fur is that of a wolf in length, yet their coloration is that of a Tiger. Their tail is longer than a wolves, and yet is not as long as a Tigers, while bushier like a wolves. Their tails were also prehensile, something they tended not to advertise, but with training, they can learn to grasp and wield a club with their tail.

Their muzzle is longer than a tiger's, more canine, but not as long or angular as a wolves. While very much feline in appearance, though the canine influence is clear. Ears are very feline, but taller. The variation between individuals is sufficient that individuals with very strong wolf or tiger appearance are possible, but no matter how strong that appearance, there is always something that makes it clear that they are a Tiger-Wolf.

The big surprise however, especially for those that do not know of Tiger-Wolves, is that they are far stronger than they look; stronger than most people twice their size.

Females are just as strong as a male Tiger-Wolf twice their size. The mated pair that made Kreeth their home demonstrated this on many occasions when they first arrived, the female, Leeth, proving to be at least as strong as the male, Keer, despite her smaller size.

#

The Chief investigator in charge of documenting the Tiger-Wolves when they first arrived in the city, and current Master Librarian of Kreeh, sat in the back of the tavern watching Jassen. He knew his name, and suspected who he truly was, but he needed to know for sure that what he had learned in the years since the elder Tiger-Wolves Leeth and Keer first appeared in Kreef. It was one thing to say you were a slave and a gladiator, and they certainly had the skills and scars, but to say that most Tiger-Wolves led such a life. That was something he did not want to believe, no matter what his contacts from other parts of the world said.

With a few drinks and a few gold coins, he had a drunk fox paid up shambling slowly towards the bar, intent on bumping into Jassen. He didn’t want the drunk to get hurt, he just needed him to grab onto Jassen and pull his shirt off. He needed to see the scars he was sure were there. Just as the older Tiger-Wolves had. Scars he truly did not want to see, though he knew in his heart he would.

He’d been the only one to interview the Leeth and Keer right after they arrived. He knew what they were, and where they came from. He helped them get settled. Helped them build the tavern, and oversaw the birth of all three children. He hated to think that the younger son, thought by most to have been lost to the river, was in fact taken back to where they were from. Especially as it had been his council that had stopped the parents and the Barron from chasing after the boy all those years ago.

He watched as the drunk approached Jassen. He grabbed Jassen's shirt but lost his grip and fell. He had to give credit to the drunk, as Jassen leaned down to help him up, he gripped the shirt and ripped it off Jassen as he helped him up.

A tear formed in his eye and his heart fell. It was as he feared. Even if this wasn’t the younger brother, this Tiger-Wolf was from their real home. He was, or used to be, a slave, and if those scars said anything. He had been what both Keer and Leeth once were, a gladiator.

The crowd gasped as they saw the scars from claw, and blade, and whip, crisscrossing Jassen’s back and chest like a secondary pattern of stripes in his fur. The brand on his shoulder, the fur permanently burned away, and very old. Clearly there from a very young age, like the father and mother had. They always wore long shirts for that reason. Never taking them off, no matter how hot it was, for that reason.

Standing there, unabashed and unashamed was a Tiger-Wolf that called himself Jassen. With scars not unlike the father and mother of the two that currently ran the Tiger-Wolf Inn. He needed to talk to this new Tiger-Wolf.

#

The drunk ran into Jassen, pulling on his shirt as he fell. Jassen took no offense to it and reached down to help him up. The drunk desperately grabbed at his shirt, causing it to tear and come off. He heard the gasp from the assembled, including from Kreff. Even the drunk looked surprised. Holding the poor fur up, his now shredded shirt still gripped in his hand. “So. Who paid you to take off my shirt?”

It took him a moment, but he realized that this Tiger-Wolf, covered in the scars of battle, was not going to let him go without an answer. “The librarian in the corner. He paid me to do it.” Pointing to the far booth.

Setting the drunk down on his now vacant stool. “Thank you.” Sliding the pint he had just received in front of the drunk.

Walking over and sitting down with the Librarian. “Hello. I am Jassen. So... Why may I ask, did I need to lose my shirt?”

Looking at Jassen, surprise by the forwardness of Jassen′s question. “Sorry about that. I needed to be sure. You are from where the parents of the current owners of this establishment hail. Your scars speak as much.”

Nodding. “I wonder just how much Leeth and Keer told you.”

“Probably far less than would be helpful to you.” Doing his best to not react to this new person knowing the names of the older Tiger-Wolves, that he knew their names all but screaming who he was.

“I’d be curious.”

“What I find more curious is that you know their names.”

“Well. I should know the names of my parents.”

His heart fell through the floor, and he fought a tear trying to form in his eye as his ears fell flat. “Then it is true. You are the lost son.”

“I am, but if you want to know more than that. Come back this evening. I owe my family explanations on where I have been for the past thirty plus years. Given the assistance you gave our family, I’m sure you have a unique insight as well.”

“I will be here.” Standing and facing the booth.

“Do me a favor as well. I am going to want access to the library. I have something I need to research.”

“Let me guess. You don’t have an explanation on how you came to be back in this part of the world.”

Nodding. “Exactly that.”

“Your parents had much the same questions. I will make sure you have the access you need, and will bring you all the notes I have.”

“Thank you Jack. See you this evening.” Standing and heading back to the bar, to pick up another pint and his shredded shirt, before heading up to his room.

#

Jack left quickly. He was the Master Librarian, chief investigator, and the person within the city with the responsibility for the attaining and preserving all knowledge. His commission from the Barron himself, and one of four Grand Librarians whose job it was to preserve all knowledge that was available.

He suspected how it worked, how Jassen and his parents before him were transported there, but he didn’t have enough details to be certain. He believed he understood why the Tiger-Wolves were what they were and why, at least at the start. The records from the ancient times were hard to come by, much of the easily accessible knowledge destroyed during the dark times of the third age.

He also suspected why they were kept as slaves in places like Draakeeth, and what a Tiger-Wolf, like Jassen, might be capable of if he was right. It thrilled and scared him as he headed to his office to collect his personal notes and the small collection of books he knew would definitively answer the question one way or the other.

As the one person in the city that they might call a family friend, he knew most would figure out who Jassen was soon enough. Then would come the questions about where he had been for 30 years, followed by the questions about his scars.

Back in his room, Jassen stripped down and stood in the mirror, looking himself over. Whip scars on his back, most faded. He’d been free for almost 15 years. Scars, more recent, from a sword, another from the Axe of someone he had thought a friend. Yet others from a bandits arrows. Then there were the less obvious scars. The ones his fur covered. The bullet wounds, the stab wounds. The surgery scars.

Should he tell them everything? Feeling at the scars on his chest and sides, the hard lumps and lines, some finer than others. Do they need to know? Would it help, or put them in danger? Should he not move on soon? He knew he probably should. He realized that he also needed to understand how he got there, because if it was what he feared, it was something he was going to need to better understand so he could protect his family here, and with any luck, his family back in Draakeeth.

Locking eyes with himself in the mirror. “Do you tell them it all? Do you Jassen?” He had no answer for himself. He would have to wait for later that night, and what story he ended up telling them.