The life of Knight Wolf cont pt 2

The morning after the attack,  the Lycan family made sure to burn all the windigos and to take their dead home, to bury them honorably. Many had died, only a few adult men where left, Gabriel included now more than ever, once the last carriage had collected theirs and head home, Joshua and Gabriel began to bury their father. Inside were the women of the family asleep from the ordeal, and from crying out in grief from the loss of a father and a husband. Their lands had been burned in the battle, a choice no one regretted for it helped kill many of the monsters that would have besieged them. Once their father had been buried and his grave marked, the family came out to give him a final farewell and wish him a joyous afterlife. The women returned to make whatever food they could and the boys set out to see what could be salvaged from the lands,it wasn't until the mid day sun was high above them that they heard the clatter of horse hooves approaching them. In the distance they could see a small force, no more than 15 men approaching them with banners held high, the nobles of the land approached them, surely they could have seen the fire and smoke that burned from night to morning but now is when they chose to arrive. Their mother walked out of the house with Emily asleep in her arms, Gabriel stands tall and goes to greet the nobles, they slow as they see him approach and one guard addresses him. "Boy, where is the man of the house," the guard asks while looking around. "I am he, our father has been killed and I now stand as the head," he says as the nobles and their guards begin to look about the land. "Very well, I introduce Sir Bernad Chamberlin, owner of these lands and all who dwell on it, he will speak to you and you will speak only when allowed," the guard says as he backs up with his horse and a man in shiny and expensive looking armor appears, he is pale with blond hair and pale blue eyes, he looks of slender build, he obviously does not work any kind of labor. Holding up a napkin to his nose he approaches, Gabriel kneels down, not because he respects him but because this is the law. "Tell me farmer, what is this stench and what is it that has occurred here, you may speak." Gabriel stays kneeling ,"The smell my lord is the burning corpses of windigos, and what happened was that we were besieged by a horde of them." "Is that so, and please tell me how it is they there are so many slain and how you remain alive," Bernad asks obviously showing no care for their well being. "Our family from all over the kingdom were in attendance, many of the men fought and many were slain but we held the lands my lord," Gabriel says and this  alarms the noble, he stares at Gabriel almost as if disgusted by him. "What is your family name?" He asks, and Gabriel replies proudly," We are the Lycans my lord." Bernad makes sure to appoint that name, "Stand farmer," he orders and Gabriel does as told, "did you fight and slay monsters as well?" Gabriel replies, "Yes my lord." "Very well," the noble says as he pulls out his sword quickly and removes the young mans head. Emily wakes to the sight of her brother being killed  and Elizabeths screams in terror and agony, Joshua can only watch as the headless body of his brother falls to the floor. His mother puts down her daughter and she runs to the corpse of her child. "If farmers are learning to use the sword and defend themselves, they will soon learn to attack, and one day that sword will be pointed at us, search for all the members of this Lycan family and kill them," Bernad orders as he cleans his sword. "Sir, what of the women and children," a guard says as Joshua runs to his sister, the noble looks at them ,"Kill them, no one must know of these events," he says as he begins trotting away. A guard starts to approach the children, Elizabeth sees and charges the man, "Run Joshua, Take Emily and run!" she screams as she holds the guard in place for a moment until a blade is seen running through her, Joshua and Emily watch in horror as their mother looks at them, "Run," she whispers. Joshua pulls Emily's hand and turns away and begins running, he aims to run behind the house and into the dense forest a quarter mile behind their home, just as he turns the corner another guard appears his sword in hand and raised ready to strike. Joshua pushes Emily and narrowly dodges the strike, he looks to the mans side and sees a dagger, he reaches for it and pulls it out, he quickly stabs it into the mans neck. He feels the mans blood splatter on to him and the guard falls dead, Joshua cannot hesitate, the words of his father echo in his mind, Emily is priority, he must get her away. He picks up the sword of the slain guard and grabs Emily, they resume their run towards the forest. The others see what he has done, but instead of giving chase, they decide to make sport of them and shoot at them with cross bows. Arrows start landing around the fleeing children while the laughter of the nobles is heard whenever and arrow nearly misses them, as they approach the forest Bernad unleashes and arrow, and Joshua feels a burning sting in his shoulder, the nobles cheer and congratulate Benrad on his shot. "Should we give chase sir," a guard asks Bernad, "No need, they are just children and wounded, let the forest claim them." Joshua and Emily are breathing hard, but still running,  the sun is setting now but they still run until Joshua collapses, his blood loss has yet to be taken care of. "Joshua!" Emily calls to her brother, she tries to pick him up but she is tired and he is heavy, "Come on big brother," she pleads and Joshua begins to stir. He stands weekly and leans against a tree, he looks at the arrow in his shoulder, he remembers what his father told him about arrows. He looks to his sister, "Emily, do you remember how to make fire," he asks as she sniffles, all the current events are beginning to weigh on her, "Emily! You must be strong until we are safe," Joshua tells her as she desperately tries to not cry, "Ok," she sniffles putting on a brave face, "Good, now do you remember how to make a fire?" he asks and she nods, " Ok do your best to make one now, I need to take care of this arrow," he says as his sister starts looking around for brush, dry wood and stones. Minutes later Emily is able to make a small fire, Joshua looks at it, "Good, now I'm going to need your help ok Emily?" he says as he removes his shirt as best he can. "Hold the swords tip to the fire until it gets really red and hot," he says and she does as told. Once the blade is red enough Joshua grabs the part of the arrow that is sticking out behind him and breaks it off, the pain was great. "Emily, once i pull out this arrow, you're going to push the hot part of the sword against the wound, even if i scream you have to hold it there for at least 8 seconds, ok? The same goes for the wound on my back." He says, he is putting on a brave face, but he is terrified of what he has to do. He takes a couple of breaths before he takes hold of the arrow in his shoulder, he pulls hard and the pain screams in his body, he keeps pulling until he feels the arrow pass through completely, his sister does as told and pushes the blade against the wound, Joshua is dizzy with pain, then he feels the pain on his back and he faints. He wakes up minutes later, his sister staring at him crying intensely, holding his hand, he can feel her shaking," Hey, its ok, I'm still here ok," he says reassuring her. He has to reassure her, because its also like telling himself it'll be ok, even if he knows its a lie. Days pass as they travel the forest, eating berries and small game they can catch, they have been following a stream hoping to find someplace or someone to help them. At night they climb trees to sleep in for safety of predators, but unknown to them, a certain creature has been trailing them since they arrived at the stream. After another week of wondering they finally see a trail that passes through the stream, they decide to wait there in hopes of someone arriving. It isn't until late at night that they hear something coming from the trail, they stand at their campfire as they recognize the sounds to be screams and howling, then a horse carriage appears in the trail racing away from a pack of pitch black wolves. The driver sees them, he has his family in the carriage, but they are just children on the side of the road. He cries as he passes them, "I'm sorry! Please forgive me!" he yells as he races by. The wolves instantly see the two easy prey and begin to surround them but are careful around the fire, Joshua knows what he must do, he reacts quickly grabs his sister and runs to the fire, the wolves give chase, he brings up a stick that is ablaze and swings it around. They are terrified, the windigos didn't even have eyes so they couldn't look into them, but these wolves, all their eyes were different colors but they were all fierce, as if staring into something that held unyielding ferocity, their claws were huge, their fangs giant and sharp, their size made their presence overwhelming. "If you know you are going to die," his fathers words echo in his mind. "if you know you are to die then your priority is to save your mom and sister," he turns to Emily and sees a tree behind her. "Emily climb as high as you can on that tree," Emily turns and starts doing her best to climb, the wolves move in closer now that one meal has escaped, "You too brother," she calls out to him once she is on a high branch, Joshua backs up and see the sword by his leg, his arm is still injured so he cannot pull himself up, and once he turns the wolves will pounce on him but Emily is safe. "Once they are safe you face your death with no fear and with unyielding tenacity," he slowly bends down and grabs the hilt of the sword, he raises it to a battle ready stance "And if you can," his grip tightens, he counts a total of 6, he lets go of his fear and rivals the wolves snarls "You take as many as those monsters with you." Joshua roars and charges towards the wolves, he slashes once, catching a wolf in the throat, he turns and a wolf bits in to his leg, he hits it with the stick that is ablaze and the fire spreads to the wolves fur, another bites onto the hand with fire, Joshua quickly stabs through the wolf. One wolf jumps onto him and pushes him on his back, its starts ripping at his chest and stomach with its giant claws, Joshua yells and stabs as hard as he can hitting the wolf on the head. He does his best to stand to his feet, blood pools all around his legs, he is shaky and can barely see straight, but his face shows no sign of stopping, he will fight as his father fought. The wolf that was on fire comes back wet, it had apparently jumped into the stream, there are still three left, but three dead. When the wolf that had been burned was about to attack again, a bark from the biggest stopped him, they all slowly back off and melt into the darkness of the trees, but they're eyes are watching him, they know he will die soon and all they have to do is wait. "Joshua!" Emily calls, and he turns to her, "Hurry Joshua, come up here!" she yells desperately, tears racing down her cheeks. He tries to move but falls to a knee, his vision begins to blur more, his breathing hurts, he is beginning to lose focus, "I did my best father," he whispers to himself as he begins to lose consciousness, until he hears a scream, he looks up quickly and sees a man with giant bat wings holding his sister by the wrist, he lifts her up as if to inspect her. His rage reawakens him, "Let her go monster!" Joshua yells to the creature, and the man simply looks at him, "Poor boy it is too late for you, but worry not i shall take care of this one here," it says as it smiles showing its two long fangs. Vampire, Joshua realizes, "Once she is of age she'll become my wife, worry not, I have the power you don't to protect her. He then holds her to his chest, "Big brother help!" Emily yells as the creature flaps its wings and flies into the sky. "Joshua!" her scream fades into the night. Joshua cries, he can't scream, his body can't do anything, he falls to the floor, the wolves see this, their prey is down and now then can move in slowly without caution. *It's not fair!* Joshua yells in his mind *Why us!* His heart rages *Bastard nobles, Damm monsters They took everything!* His vision begins to fade *If only i was strong enough to kill them all!* "Do you desire power," he hears a voice call out to him. "Yes" Joshua answer. "Do you want revenge?" "YES!" Joshua's body moves alarming the wolves. "Become what your enemies are, become a monster and claim your justice from them." the voice encourages. *I will avenge my family!* His body begins jerking more "Choose the beast you wish to become to inflict horror onto your enemies," the voice says. A beast to inflict horrors, Joshua thinks, what monster can cause such a thing, he remembers windigos but they do not alarm him, he has seen trolls golems and even a vampire now, then he remembers the terrified expression of the man on the carriage, he remembers the fear he showed. The wolves eyes flash in his eyes, those eyes that showed no fear, he remembers the fear he felt looking into them, the pitch black fur, the sharp claws and fangs.. yes. "Interesting.. Good..Take the power.. learn to control it.. take your justice." His body stops moving, the wolves relax and begin moving to him again, the full moon rises from the clouds. Just a a wolf was about to bite into him, his body jumps up into a horrible yell, he grows taller, fur begins to appear everywhere, his teeth turn to canines, his body turns into that of a wolf and his yell turns from a scream to a howl louder than any ever heard before. He stands on two feet towering above the wolves, he snarls at them and they cower before him, he is now the alpha, he starts running into the forest and the pack follows. At first he runs on two feet and he is already as fast the wolves, then he launches himself into all fours and begins to leap upon the trees, he climbs up as high as he can until he breaches the top, he roars loud and clear. "Control the power," a shadow whispers from  a distance ,"or become another mindless monster." it says as it fades away.