She Wolf Ch. 06

"I guess that's another secret I have."

"Yes it is. Thank you for the information, it is most helpful, and you arrived just in time. We were about to leave, so why don't we follow you down to the road and you can contact your dad and tell him you're on your way."

At the bottom of the drive Hope pulled out her phone to call ahead and gave the travelers a wave before trotting off.

At the airstrip Henry was ready and they loaded gear into the back of the plane. Through a premonition Janet took her bow, although she wasn't clear why.

They made a number of stops along the way, hopping from one airstrip or airport to another -- stretching the range of the aircraft to the limit -- before landing just outside Glasgow. Transportation was waiting to carry them to a private residence just outside Sterling, where Swift had made arrangements to stay with a pack member.

Along the drive between the airport and their destination Charles shook his head. "I'm glad we let someone else do the driving. If I tried to drive on the left I'd have a wreck for sure."

The driver laughed and replied in a thick Scottish brogue "Aye, you yanks sometimes have a time of it, that's for sure. I've watched them careen all over the road. 'Course we're going to be on a one lane road here shortly. Don't worry, we know how drive them. You can't go too fast and have to know where the turnouts are to allow passage from the opposite direction."

In front of a snug dwelling they stretched their legs and unloaded. It would be called small by United States standards, but had all the requisite rooms. The rooms were small, but that made it easier to heat the structure in the long, cold winter. After a welcome meal of bangers and mash and some hearty beer they settled in to relax with their host, Henry MacDonald.

"So, you be off to find Hammer's forge? Never been there myself, although it's said the forge has been there for hundreds of years. Not used all that time, mind you. The English shut it down after the Jacobite rebellion. Only fired up again bout eighty years back by The Hammer's father. Hammer has been working it for about thirty-some-odd years."

"How come you've never been there?"

"Never had a need to. We keep busy with our few sheep and the garden plot. But I can point you in the right direction."

"We could go as wolves, but I want to take my bow. I think I understand now why I brought it."

"Could run there in half a day. Only about twenty miles cross country. Might take more than a day to walk. There's no straight way to get there. A lot of footpaths that wander over and around the mountains. I might find someone to take you to the vicinity as far as the road goes but, like I said I've never been there and don't know anyone who has."

"We printed off a map with a couple of likely locations. Maybe you can take a look at what we marked and point us to the one you think it most likely is. We can run, even with the bow. It doesn't seem like there's a lot of trees around."

"Most have been cut down for fuel through the years. Used wood and peat for fuel until recently. Now we prefer to use the peat in better ways -- to make whiskey."

"I understand that's what gives scotch is distinctive taste."

"Speaking of which, I think we should let you sample some good local whiskey."

In the morning Charles shifted and Janet fitted him with one of the harnesses they had made to carry axes and other gear. After strapping on the bow and some clothing for each of them she shifted and they took off over some ridges. At one point they came to an old shepherd's shack their host had indicated on the map. They briefly shifted to study the map and get their bearings.

"Reminds me a bit like home around here, just smaller mountains than the Appalachians and without the trees. Can't be anything over a thousand feet or so. Looks pretty, in a stark kind of way."

"I'm looking and seeing another group of paintings. I need to see these hills at night, though."

By mid-afternoon they spotted a curl of smoke peeking over a ridge and soon spied a forge, tucked away in a sharp valley between two hills. From their vantage point on a ridge they could see a burly man working away at an anvil.

"Since we don't know if this is the right place, we'd better approach in human form."

They shifted and dressed before descending the hill. Janet carried the bow and quiver of arrows slung over her shoulder. At their approach the smith paused and wiped his brow.

"Can I help ye? Are ye lost? You're way off the beaten path."

"We're looking for Hammer."

"He may or may not be around. What's your business with him?"

Janet stepped forward. "I've been told to look for Hammer."

"Is that so? Who, pray tell, told ye?

"A girl, back in the States. She's a seer."

"Is she now? What's she see with the Hammer?"

"A sword. I'm supposed to get a sword."

"Hmm. Swords are special things. Not everyone gets one made by a smith. Most just buy one off the shelf."

"I don't know why I need it, I just do."

"Well, swords would be a special order items. Takes time to make one. A good one, that is."

"I was hoping you'd have one already made."

"Well, lassie, I might have to check my special orders. Who would it be for?"

"It's for Celestial."

Hammer straightened and his eyes narrowed. "Well, I might just have an order for Celestial, but she'd have to pick it up herself."

Janet held out her hands and concentrated on her hands until the arrowheads glowed.

"That's impressive, I'll vow."

"I'm Celestial and this is Fang."

"Now, I've heard of this Celestial and Fang, but you don't look like what I expected."

"Maybe you should show us Hammer."

"You're lookin' at him."

"Not what I expected either. Let's stop dancing around and reveal ourselves."

Janet and Charles undressed and shifted. Hammer observed, then followed suit. Three wolves sniffed each other. Hammer stared into Celestial's eyes before shifting back to human. Celestial and Fang shifted.

"Sorry, but I've got to be careful. My real name is Gordon; only lycans know me as Hammer."

"So, what about the sword?"

"Don't have one."

At Janet's startled look he continued "I have two. One for Celestial and one for Fang. Now you look like a big fellow, so I believe you can handle a claymore."

He walked behind a pile of wood for the forge and brought out a long sword to be wielded with two hands. "Try this out for size."

"I've never used one, but I've seen them used in the movies."

"Can't always believe what you see in the movies."

Charles gripped the long sword with two hands, raised it and swung down and then out to bring it up again and changing directions for a back sweep, sweeping in figure eight arcs.

"Not bad. I can give you a few pointers on form, but you have the idea. Put some weight behind it and it can do some real damage. Now, for the other one, it can be handled with either one or two hands and, lookin' at ye I think I may have to make some adjustments for it to suit ye perfectly."

He produced a shorter, lighter sword with a shorter hilt to be used with one hand, although with a bit of extra length to accommodate the other hand, if needed. "I'll need to see you with it to get the balance just right for you. The claymore can be wielded with brute strength, but a really good sword like this should fit you like a glove. Grip this and let me see how it suits."

The blade gleamed as if polished. She studied it in her hand and began to swing it in various directions, slashing and stabbing.

"Not bad at all, if I say so myself. I think the blade is good, but I need to adjust the hilt for a better grip by your hand. Let me work on it a bit."

He thrust the hilt end into the fire until it was red hot, then withdrew it and worked it carefully -- heavy strokes and lighter taps.

"That might be better. Let's just cool it and you can try again."

"No need to cool it." She gripped the hot metal and slashed again. Hammer's jaw dropped. "Whoa, lassie. I need leather gloves. How can you do that?"

"It was a gift from a shaman. A man who gave his life for me. I avenged his death, but many more died in the fight on the side of good."

"I heard something about that. Word gets around, even over here. Well, here, let me give it just a little more so it really fits your hand."

Shortly she had it in her hand again. "This feels good, like it doesn't take any effort at all."

"That's what I aimed for."

She held the sword high over her head and her hand glowed. The entire sword glowed fiery red until she lowered it.

"It's really yours now, lassie. The blade isn't as quite hard as the claymore because I worked some silver into it."

"Thank you. I have one other request. I have a bow. It came with a silver arrow that I used to defeat MRKX, as you may have heard. The bow will shoot any arrows, but I was wondering if you could fit my arrows with silver points. Points this size and shape."

He studied her hands. "Ahh, yes. Silver to injure evil. You know what? I just happened to lay in some silver just the other day. Almost like I knew I'd need it. I'm no silversmith, but I think I can fashion some as you want. They don't have to look like jewelry, after all. They just have to be sharp. Leave me your arrows and come back tomorrow. I'll finish personalizing your swords also."

The next day the pair returned to pick up the swords and the arrows.

"I added something to your sword. Wrapped the hilt and personalized the blade. It won't work for me, so let's see what happens when you hold it up again."

When she raised the sword it glowed again, but 'CELESTIAL' burned with bright white light. "I love it!"

"I fixed your arrows as I think you wanted. Since you have your bow you might want to try one. I gave you a few extra, so you have an even dozen. I thought you might like to try it, so I set up a target out on the hillside. While you're examining the arrows I can string your bow for ye."

She laughed "Bet you can't, but you can try."

Hammer scoffed at her doubt but, try as he might he couldn't string the bow even with his bulging muscles. She set down the arrow she had been examining and bent the bow to string it with ease.

"Want to try and pull it?"

He fitted an ordinary arrow and turned toward the target, but couldn't put it back far enough to shoot. She took the bow and arrow from him and easily pulled it and let the arrow fly to go almost completely through the target.

"I'll be damned. Must be a magic bow."

"Just like your sword the bow was made so only I could use it. The arrows are beautiful. I think they are perfect. Thank you."

"I made yours more personal too, laddie."

Charles examined where Hammer had etched a snarling wolf near the base of the blade. "It's beautiful. What do we owe you? We're prepared to pay you what they're worth. You put a lot of work into these things you made. The silver cost something."

"They are a gift. I was supposed to make them for Celestial, and am honored to do so. They come with my blessing. Here's something else. I've got a lad who works leather. He's made scabbards for ye after he wrapped the hilts."

Each sword slid smoothly into its scabbard, and the pair admired the leather craftsmanship.

"Just out of curiosity, how many swords do you make?"

Hammer laughed "there's not much call for real swords, but I'm about the last one left to make them the old way. Some get them for use in renaissance fairs, although most of the fighting is done with dull blades. I gave you razor sharp edges, on both of them. My reward will be to hear about how you use them."

"How do you get your mail?"

"Mail? I don't get much. A lad in town brings it out to me. He's one of us -- brings mail out here and then returns as wolf."

"We are staying with the MacDonalds. I'm going to send you something through them, but don't know when it will be. Thank you."

Hoisting their weapons the pair set out on foot to return to their hosts. The MacDonalds were very interested in the swords. Henry MacDonald examined the claymore. "Nice new one. Not many made these days. I've got one, ye know. Over four hundred years old. Saw some action against the English. Sadly, there weren't enough of them that day and the English had muskets and cannon -- not exactly a fair fight. But then again, war isn't fair, is it? Let me show you the mighty MacDonald claymore. We had a true broadsword too, but it was lost in the fight."

He returned from a basement with a long object wrapped in cloth. When the cloth was removed, a fancy scabbard was revealed, bearing the MacDonald crest in gold. The sword itself was longer and heavier than the one Charles had. He admired the etching near the base of the blade and the mother of pearl on the handle.

"This is beautiful. And to think of the history behind it."

"It has been hidden for a long time. The MacDonalds were almost wiped out in the ensuing rout. The English showed no mercy, slaughtering the fleeing and the wounded alike. They saw the MacDonalds as leaders of insurrection. They were right, of course. We wanted no part of them or any lowlanders who had joined them. We couldn't even display the clan tartan for a long time."

"We think we have history because we go back to the 1700's or 1600's. We don't know anything about real history. I look at Hadrian's Wall, built by the Romans here a thousand years ago, and marvel. Roman cities buried under modern ones. There are standing stones like Stonehenge all over Scotland dating back thousands of years."

After a night wandering the Scottish hills in the moonlight Janet had ideas for a new painting series. Fang accompanied her so she'd have her now trademark wolf to include in the scene

Upon return home they searched the area around the cabin until they had found wood they could fashion into likenesses of the swords. The internet provided plenty of instruction on how to fight with swords and they practiced several hours a day, honing footwork, feints, slashes and stabs. In between practices Janet worked on some Scotland paintings, including one of a forge with a smith at work. "That's for Hammer."

Ray drove Hope up to see the sword she got. "I've never seen a real sword."

"Neither have I, Hope. The smith had one for Charles, too."

Ray hefted the claymore. "I can't imagine fighting with these. I'd hate to be struck with one, but I guess that's the idea."

Hope touched Celestial's blade with a finger and shuddered. "It sure is sharp. This is a serious weapon."

"Hope, do you have any idea why I needed this or when I might need it? I haven't heard anything about a disturbance anywhere where I would need be involved."

Hope shook her head. "Right now I just know you need it."

Once again the sword was almost forgotten, although Janet and Charles practiced outside with the real ones whenever they could, behind the house in Ithaca and in the woods around the cabin.

"You're getting pretty good with that heavy thing. I don't know how you control it with two hands. You weren't given a shield. How do you protect yourself?"

"I guess the idea is to not give your opponent a chance to get close enough to do harm. You're becoming quite a swordswoman yourself."

"The balance is so perfect for my hand. I can slash and change direction quickly. I understand how to step forward and thrust. The hilt is just long enough that I can grip it with two hands when necessary, but it seems to work well with one hand. With our practice swords I can parry you, although your real blade would probably sweep mine out of the way because yours is so much heavier. Yet my footwork's improving and I'm getting more agile and able to step out of the way."

Charles rested the point of his claymore on the ground and leaned on the hilt to rest. "It does take a lot of energy and skill. We haven't heard anything about when the swords will be needed. Maybe that has been to give us time to learn how to use them."

"I would hate for us to have had to use them as soon as we got them. There's quite a bit to learn about using them."

"I have another sword I'd like to use tonight."

"Do you now? I'll have to see if I have the skill to parry it. Or maybe it would be more interesting to see how you can wield it."

After dinner they ran and howled from the ledge. Upon returning they shifted and he pulled her to him.

"Ooh. I can feel that sword. It is a mighty sword."

He laughed and pushed her back onto the bed. "Prepare to be assaulted with my sword."

She laughed and squirmed away from him, but he caught her with one arm around her chest and one hand buried between her legs.

"No fair. You're not using your sword."

"Just preparing the target." She threw and arm around him and rolled over, landing on top.

"I almost forgot what a warrior you've become. That makes the conquest all the sweeter."

With his hand still in her crotch he laid his other hand on her chest and pressed her up like a weight. A finger wiggled into her and she squealed while suspended over him. He tossed her aside and in one movement pushed her onto her stomach and pulled her hips up. She was wet with desire and he thrust into her from behind. "How's this sword thrust?"

"You got me, but can you keep me?"

He pressed hard against her as she wiggled and squirmed, each movement giving more pleasure to them both.

One morning the following summer Hope and Ray came over to the breakfast table.

"Guess where dad's taking us?"

"Oswego?"

Hope and Ray both laughed. "A bit farther than that. We're going to Hawaii!"

"That is a quite a bit farther than Oswego."

Ray added "It was our sixteenth anniversary earlier this year and Elizabeth has always wanted to go. We've talked about it for several years but decided why wait for twenty when there is opportunity now. Hope's fifteenth birthday is soon also, so we thought to celebrate everything at once. Elizabeth has arranged for someone to look after the horses while we're away. I've never taken time off, really. I mean, when you work a farm there are no holidays. But the hay is growing and the horses are in good hands, so I thought it would be an okay time to chance it. I guess we could go in the winter to get away from the cold, but the horses need more exercise in cold weather and the water is always freezing. Didn't want to leave anyone with that responsibility."

"When are you leaving?"

"This weekend. I scored a late package deal for flight, hotel and rental car. We even have a couple of days on a tour of the various islands, so we're not staying in one place the whole time. Elizabeth is in a tizzy fretting over what to pack."

"I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time. I've never been there, but I hear it's beautiful."

Hope added "You'll be going sometime."

Janet cocked her head. "Is that so? When would that be? You seem to be sending me all over the world."

Hope shrugged "I don't know when or where in Hawaii, I just know that you'll go sometime. Maybe we'll see each other there!"

"Not unless you have any more information on my travel plans."

On Saturday Janet and Charles waved to Ray's family as they left on the train to New York City and their flight out of LaGuardia.

The next day Gertrude contacted Janet.

"I just got something from Gray. The leader of the small pack scattered about Hawaii contacted him with a message from the kingdom government."

"What's a kingdom government?"

"It's like a government in exile, except they are still there. They don't recognize the sovereignty of the United States because they say we took their land illegally. There is an actual government that meets on the State House property, which happens to be the last royal palace occupied by the last queen."

"Okay, so there is some sort of government and there are a few pack members. What's the problem?"