Weekly Drabble #259: Under the Rising Moon (Patreon)

This week's prompt comes from Knightress with 'battle within' and a story that is a prequel to a different work in the same setting. Hope you enjoy!

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Under the Rising Moon:

Her curiousity finally overwhelming her good judgment, Meredith set out to the forest just behind Fraydrich. The sun was setting and though he wasn’t running, he kept a brisk pace such that Meredith had to hurry not to lose him, while still staying far enough behind that he wouldn’t know she was following him. He’d told her not to many, many times and until now, she’d obeyed. Many women would have been suspicious about a man who disappeared at sunset and didn’t return until morning and Meredith had been one of them... at first.

She and Fraydich had shared a home and bed for just over a year now, and she’d stumbled, almost literally, onto the real reason for her lover’s disappearances and odd behaviours. To say it was a shock was a massive understatement and at first, she would have preferred infidelity. After an adjustment period, she had decided to keep her ‘stray’. She had always been curious, to an unseemly extent for a lady her grandmother had told her time and time again. Her mother had done little about such a fault while her father had encouraged the attitude, so after she had come to terms with Fraydich’s... condition, she’d peppered him with questions about it.

He’d answered as best he could, though he didn’t know everything. He’d been surprised (and occasionally a little exhausted) by Meredith’s curiousity, but also relieved. She was the first woman he’d been with for some time and certainly the first relationship to last more than a few days since he’d become afflicted. He’d been afraid to lose her, but even more afraid of what she might think. The young woman liked to imagine that she’d proven his fears groundless – at least, once she got over the initial shock.

Today, she wanted to see for herself. He’d asked that she not and so far, she’d kept to that agreement but finally she’d become so curious that she couldn’t. She’d just take a peek, she told herself. Just a peek, just to see for herself. Just so she’d know. Just a little look, that was all.

So she’d waited until Fraydich had headed out, until he’d disappeared off into the distance and then hurried after him, being careful not to be caught. He was wary; he usually was when he was on his own and especially when he left for the night, but she knew the area well and was light on her feet. It took some effort, but she was able to follow him to the woods just north of her home. From there, he took a game trail deeper into the forest. She wasn’t afraid of getting lost; it would be a clear night with a bright, full moon. To get out of the woods and back into town, you just had to keep the moon on your left. Her father had taught her that when he’d taken her into the forest, teaching her which mushrooms were safe to eat, never to drink water downstream of a pasture without boiling it, how to make teas from certain wildflowers and more.

Fraydrich had been born and raised in a larger town and even now, he was still a little awkward and out of his element in the wilds, though by necessity, he’d learned quickly. Meredith had helped with that and she knew the place he would go to. Deep in the forest, but guided by some landmarks – the big three trees, the stone frown, the little hill. It was a place that no one should be able to find him – no one except the woman who loved him.

There was a small clearing here. The forest was broken up by small,stony hills left by the retreat of ancient glaciers that the trees had grown around and over. Trickling through the rocks, a small brook babbled and splashed as it wound towards the river on the northern edge of the forest. There was a small pool here, willow trees and widow’s stew mushrooms growing along its banks. The latter had gotten their name from a woman that had used them to poison her husband. Even a small slice could make a man incredibly ill, but they weren’t what had Meredith’s attention.

Fraydich was already there, the sun starting to set and darkness spreading across the forest. He had a small pack with him, though he didn’t open it. If anyone came across him entering or leaving the forest, he could say he was camping. Meredith crouched down behind a wide, heavy tree next to a large fallen log as Fraydich drank from the small waterfall. She didn’t have to wait long. As night fell, Fraydich checked his surroundings one final time, but aside from his unseen girlfriend, he was alone.

She peeked around the large trunk, blushing a little as she watched him disrobe, folding his clothes and hiding them in a crevice in the rocks. She ducked back out of sight as he turned towards her, perhaps sensing her attention. The young woman stayed silent, waiting several moments more before moving to look over the edge of the collapsed tree. Fraydich was stretching and she bit her lip as she watched. The growing gloom didn’t hide everything, but as the last whisks of the sun vanished, her enthrallment of staring at her lover’s body ended.

It started with a gasp, a sudden, rough inhalation as Fraydich clutched at his chest. He started to tremble and shake with increasing violence, like he was having a fit and he dropped to his knees in the short grass. He gritted his teeth, suppressing howls of agony, but he grunted and rasped painfully nonetheless. Meredith turned pale as she heard the cracking of bones and the popping of ligaments, saw Fraydich’s back shivering like there was something moving beneath it, something that was trying to get out.

The sounds of his pain grew louder, turning to ragged moans as he clawed at the earth with hands that swelled, fingers extending. His legs snapped and muscles stretched excruciatingly, his body pulsing and rippling. His skin disappeared as a carpet of black fur erupted from his bare, twisting flesh. The crunch of his jaws breaking was the loudest of all, broken bones grinding against each other and extending out into a dark muzzle, his teeth lengthening into sharp, cruel fangs. Meredith suddenly felt ashamed for intruding on this moment, when Fraydich was at his lowest, but she continued to watch, unable to move.

Every month he went through this. She’d teased him that it could hardly be as bad as her monthly ordeal, but seeing this, seeing the way his body remade itself in such an awful fashion... she didn’t think her joke was very accurate. She could hear the sick, wet ripping of the flesh inside him as it fell apart and regrew to fit the new body, the way his bones crackled as they shifted position, extending and re-shaping themselves in horrific ways and the desperate, pained panting coming from a mouth and throat increasingly less capable of human speech. She didn’t know if she could have gone through that without screaming, but he did. Somehow.

Finally, it seemed to be over. He lay on his stomach, quivering for several moments before picking himself up onto all fours. Were it not for the moonlight streaming through the canopy and giving Fraydich’s dark fur a silver frosting, he would have been like an emptiness, a terrifying void with no features. From hands and knees, he picked himself up, becoming a towering, terrifying beast that was neither animal nor man. Dark fur, a head and face much like a wolf’s, but not quite. Long arms much like a man’s, but ending in vicious claws, as did his feet. His broad chest rose and fell, his breath slowing as he recovered from the change.

Throwing his head back, the werewolf howled to the moon, a cry louder and more horrifying than any Meredith had heard before and she clapped her hands over her ears. She’d had her peek, she told herself. She should head back home and leave Fraydich to the night. She was about to back away, when her foot slipped in the litter and made a soft scuff of dried, dead leaves. It was barely audible, but-

-Fraydich’s head snapped towards her, angry, hungry red eyes catching sight of the intruder and his lips curled back from his teeth, large hands, each capable of disemboweling a man, twitching. He stepped forward, growling...

Meredith swallowed and stood up. She knew she couldn’t outrun him, and her father had taught that running made predators chase you. Never let them think of you as prey.

You know me, she thought, her lips quivering. You know me.

The werewolf’s mouth parted in a louder, lower rumble, but it trailed off as his red eyes widened. He snuffed carefully, taking another step and another. The young woman didn’t run as he approached, staying stock still as he dropped to all fours, circling around her cautiously. After a few turns, he stood back up, towering over her. He lowered his head, sniffing at her carefully. He grunted, his eyes widening as he bent even lower to look into her face.

She was trembling. “H-hello,” she stammered. She didn’t know, didn’t truly know whether the man was still in there right now. She thought he was. She didn’t see rage in those eyes now, and the hunger had faded. Instead, there was recognition and a touch of sadness. He hadn’t wanted her to see him like this.

“I know,” she whispered. “I know you didn’t... but I had to. I had to see.” Though her hand was shaking, she raised it carefully, touching the side of his face. He flinched and almost pulled back.

“Sssh,” she told him, putting her other hand on his other cheek. “It’s all right. I see you. It’s all right. I’m still here.” She touched his wide, heavy chest next. Then his powerful arms and the thick, coarse fur over them both. “This is you,” she said in amazement as he let her explore his changed body. “This is part of you too. I told you I wanted you. I said you didn’t have to hide. Not from me. Never from me.” She cradled his heavy chin in her hands and gave him a kiss between his eyes.

He whuffed at that. She stroked his black fur. He licked her face and she laughed, her fear dissipating. This was her Fraydich, every bit as much as the nervous, thin young man that she’d first found oddly charming all those months ago. After a few minutes, she heard his stomach rumble. “Do you need to hunt?” she asked.

Fraydrich looked away. She put her hand on his head. “Go then,” she told him. “Go find a deer or something. When you’re not hungry anymore, I want you to come back here. I’ll be waiting for you.” She gave him a scratch behind his ears. “And then,” she whispered to him. “You can chase me.”

At that, his head cocked and his eyes widened. “Yes,” she told him. “You can. But you’ll have to be careful.”

He rose back onto his hind legs, looking down at her again. “I told you,” she reminded him. “You don’t have to hide from me.”

The werewolf stared at her for several moments more, then turned and loped into the forest. In seconds, he vanished among the shadows. Meredith let out a breath and looked around the clearing. It was a warm night, so she didn’t need a fire. She lay down with her back against one of the willow trees overhanging the brook, sitting in the moonlight and looking out at the night around her as she waited for Fraydich to return to her.