Simon straightened up, melting back into his human form as soon as she was gone. He could take the shape of nearly any animal of roughly his same size, and he often did so to h
unt, particularly when people were around. Orlando had told him once that his vampire maker, Kivar, could take and hold the shape of other humans if he chose, at least for a short time. But Simon did not have that gift. He had awakened at sun set nearly starving and had come to the forest to feed, never expecting to see Isabel. What was she doing in the forest?
The stag that had fed him shuddered again at his feet, its strength sapped more by terror than by loss of blood. “Forgive me.” He knelt beside the creature, stroking its warm velvet throat, barely touching the wounds his fangs had made. His prey screamed once, raising its head, then collapsed flat on the ground again, and tears rose in the vampire’s eyes. He was sated; this beautiful thing need not die.
“Hush now,” he soothed, letting his tears fall on the wound. This trick he had discovered quite by accident; Orlando knew nothing about it. The tiny punctures closed with a hiss, healing as his own flesh could heal. “You will be free.” Stroking the velvet nose once more, he stood up and stepped back, purposely looking away—as long as he held the gaze of the creature he hunted, it could not run away. “Go!” he shouted, gazing off into the trees. He heard the stag rise to its feet and felt the rush of wind as it thundered into the forest.
5
Isabel flung her horse’s reins to a groom as soon as they stopped in the courtyard and hurried into the hall. “My lady, we were worried, you were gone so long,” Hannah said, coming to meet her. “Good heavens, what happened to your gown?”
“Nothing—I’m all right.” Everything here seemed peaceful enough; she saw no sign of imminent invasion. Susannah was bringing dinner out of the kitchen, and Orlando was sitting with his feet up by the fire, or had been—he got up as soon as he saw her coming toward him. “Where is Simon?” she asked. “Is he still downstairs?” She started toward the cellar.
“No, my lady,” the dwarf said, running to intercept her before she reached the door. “He went to the forest to meditate.”
“The forest? Of course.” Where else would he have gone, her fortunes being what they were at the moment? He had no armor—not even a sword. She turned back to Hannah. “Go fetch Kevin, please, and any other men inside the gates—Raymond is outside, too. Tell them to bring whatever weapons they can find. They will have to go and find him.”
“That is hardly necessary,” Orlando protested. “I’m sure he will return within the hour—”
“Not if he is eaten by a wolf,” she cut him off. Hannah turned pale, but she ran for the door to the courtyard, calling for her husband as she went.
“A wolf, my lady?” Orlando said as she went. “What wolf?”
“The wolf we saw in the forest.” She turned to Susannah, who had set down her tray to come examine Isabel’s ruined gown. “Where is Brautus? Is he well?”
“Well enough,” Susannah said.
“Go and see if he is able to come down to the hall— help him if you have to.” The maid nodded, setting off. “But don’t let him know you’re helping.”
“Have no fear, my lady,” the girl said over her shoulder. “I know what to do.”
Kevin and the others were already coming in with Hannah, armed with farming implements and axes— Raymond’s cousin still carried his ancient-looking battle pike. “Where has he gone?” Kevin asked Orlando.
“I couldn’t say,” the dwarf answered, giving their weapons a wary glance.
“Did he at least take a horse?” Isabel said.
“No, he did not,” Orlando said with an odd little smile. “He did not need one. Truly, you need not fear for him, Lady Isabel. I’m quite certain he is safe.”
“You didn’t see that wolf, little friend,” Raymond’s cousin laughed. “Big as a pony he was, at least, as long as a man is tall, and black as Satan’s nightgown.”
“Indeed?” Orlando said, arching an eyebrow. “As black as that?”
“More to the point, a woman was killed last night on the king’s own road by what may have been this same beast,” Isabel interrupted. This seemed to shake the little wizard’s composure somewhat—he stared at her, surprised. “Her throat was ripped open and her heart was torn out.”
“And her blood,” Raymond added. “There was no blood left in her.”
“What about the others, my lady?” Kevin said. “Not that I am not heartsick to think your cousin might be devoured, but we have friends in those woods as well.”
“I know,” Isabel said, touching his arm. “We will bring them all inside, of course.”
“But here is your kinsman, my lady,” Hannah said as Simon came into the hall. “May the saints be praised.”
“Absolutely,” Orlando agreed, going to meet his master.
Simon had known Isabel and her retinue were alarmed by his presence in the forest in his wolvish form, and he waited what he’d hoped was a reasonable interval before following them to the castle. But he’d never expected she would have already raised an army before he arrived. “What’s wrong?” he asked, going to her but sharing a look with Orlando.
“A wolf, master,” the dwarf answered, looking properly solemn in spite of the glimmer of mischief in his eyes. “In the forest. Lady Isabel and her men saw it earlier, and she was quite concerned for your safety.”