Ollie and I locked eyes for a moment before he turned his head to look at something in the distance, which I could not see because of the buildings surrounding the street. After turning to look at me for the second time, Ollie took flight and flew away, deciding that killing me wasn't worth the risk, even after all he said about sacrifices. Cowardly, but with our size difference the amount of mass he could regain from eating the horses and the third, he probably wouldn't be able regenerate after few hits anyway, while I did not only heal fully, but actually gained mass from just eating the closest thing to spicy chicken wings one can get in the medieval times. And I can definitely heal from few hits now, so the fight would be even from that point of view, but how the fight went just now would mean that he would probably lose. I still keep my ears open and my gaze in the sky for a surprise attack just in case.

Having waited little longer than one would think to be the sane limit of precaution and slipping little on the paranoid side, I undo the transformation. As I feel my frame shrinking and my senses dulling, my legs fail me and I face plant on the cobblestone road, unable to move my arms to guard my face. My breathing gets ragged as I fail to even nudge my limbs and I begin panicking till the moment the wolf comes on my view. Looking at it staring at me helps me to collect my thoughts. I did tell it to not make any mutations permanent, so of course it would leave me crippled like after Ollie's attack to make me keep the mutations permanent by choice. And for extra dose of irony, this way the wolf is keeping its side of the deal as accurately as it can.

I'm brought out from my comfortable haze that I go into when I'm "talking" with the wolf by approaching footsteps, returning into my panicked state, mindlessly trying to move my limbs to no avail. Can't even turn my head to look at the approachers without transforming. Waiting as they check through the rubble around me for survivors, feverishly thinking why they're completely ignoring me, the man clearly in sight. I begin panicking once again, realizing how much it sucks to be completely paralyzed from the neck down. But my impatience is rewarded as one man walks into my view, so I can see his standard guard uniform boots in front of my face, and begins talking.

"By the orders of the king, John from the western outpost, you're hereby to be executed on the spot for your crimes against the kingdom."

"What crimes?"

"Stealing livestock from the local nobles, attacking their workers, causing commotion in the society of wise, holding the headmaster Lewin and the scribe Jonah hostage, stealing from the society of wise and conspiring with the demon that attacked the capital. How do you face these accusations?"

"Not guilty, Lewin and the scribe Jo... Something can prove most of those false, and I can't believe that I have to make this clear to you, but I obviously was fighting the demon, not allying with it."

"We have the confirmation from all parties that these are crimes committed by you, and the royal degree to prove this execution to be the kings will."

"So that's how it is, the king shits his breeches after hearing about our little fight and decided that killing both of us is the only correct choice. Typical in these kinds of situations really, so here's the typical response; I will resist the imposing of the judgement."

"I will add defamation of the king and resisting the authorities in your list of crimes then, any last words?"

"To hear those you have to wait till the day I die. You can quote me on that if you want."

Well, the peaceful resolution of this was thrown through the window when the king got paranoid about me and Ollie so might as well transform, even though that will waste all what I just ate. But then yet again, not being able to heal while being a werewolf is better than not being able to heal after being killed.

The guards ax came down with a painfully slow movement from my eyes and I moved away from under it faster than the guard could react. The ax struck the cobblestone with an audible clink as the blade chipped and the guard dropped the ax after his arms went numb from the recoil. This ought to be easy I think just before the one guard behind me stabs me with his spear. It seems that I don't have to worry about healing; these guys cannot even harm me through the scale-fur armor I'm wearing. I'm still not going to fight, that would simply inconvenience me in the long run, if the people that trust me heard that I attacked the kingdom's equivalent of the police. Not that I know, maybe the guards are so corrupt that they would cheer after hearing that I killed a few? Not risking it though.

Few jumps get me on the roofs of the ruined buildings, away from the guards' reach, where I spot something interesting in the distance; Ollie flying away from the castle. Was the cause of the guards attacking me Ollie after having one-to-one with the king? No, there was no time for that, the guards would either be sent out as this moment or just preparing to leave if Ollie was the one convincing the king to attack me. The command to get rid of me and Ollie would have to have been given earlier if the guards were to reach my locations just after the fight. But then what was Ollie doing there? I decide to linger around the area of our fight, in full view but not in reach of the guards to see if there are any new developments happening here. My form doesn't waste energy after the transformation is done, so I can just run or fight if it comes to that.

My decision pays off as carriage, far more luxurious that the one I was riding on arrives after half an hour of waiting and listening the guards shout insult at me. A man steps out, and from the reaction of the guards who fall to their knees, I can guess him to be the king. Blonde man with parted hair and short trimmed blond beard and mustache. Square jaw and stern expression with youthful vigor make him look early thirties, but one can see the forming wrinkles around the eyes and the mouth that reveal his age to be over forty. Dressed in carmine cape and darker red colored outer jacket the man stands pretty tall, probably around 6-6.2 feet. The kind of king who was crowned after taking the kingdom by force, by war, which supports what William has told me about the recent history of the kingdom.

"So you're the fabled Wolf that fought the demon?"

"Do you really need to ask when I look like this? If you're trying to be polite, start with an introduction."

The king hesitates for a moment and begins speaking:

"No, I won't give my name for a demon, and even if you were a man, there would be... Circumstances that would make that very difficult request to fulfill."

"Well I'm John, not a wolf."

"Then John, I have a mission for you."

"After trying to execute me? This is the point where I tell you that's rich, and you answer 'so are you if you complete this mission'."

The king looks at me with a quiet anger burning behind his stern expression. Not used for somebody being rude and dismissal of his royal bullshit perhaps?

"Yes, I do believe so. Complete this mission and you will be rewarded according to your wishes, excluding the ones that would go over what I can provide."

"I accept, mostly for the added convenience of not being attacked on sight."

"The demon has attacked my castle and kidnapped my children and it is your mission to kill the demon and return my children to me. The demon said to me that it has taken my children to abandoned fort in the east, near the remains of small village called Corian and that if anybody else than the wolf tries to approach he will kill them."

Now I feel like total dick, listening to this man telling me about his kidnapped children as I dismissed his reactions of as the tantrums of a noble, while they were that of a heartbroken and scared father.

"So how many of these children are there?"

"My eldest son and the heir to the throne, with the looks of my mirror image's."

"Wait, only one? I got the impression that..."

The king looks at me with cold and indifferent eyes. So the other kids don't matter as long as he gets his heir back? No longer do I feel like dick for instantly hating this guy.

"What about the rest?"

"Now, I do think it is the hero's choice who he saves and it is not my place to tell you if you should risk losing him for the others, but only he matters. I hope you understand that."