A Knight in Training

What Peter saw when he opened his eyes was not the abomination of a striga, but of man instead. The man had a sickly, gaunt face, with several missing teeth. Even the ones he had appeared to be rotting, ready to fall out at any given moment, with breath that matched, and a prominent scar across his right eye. Peter attempted to roll away from the man as his toothless grin grew, but he heard the drawstring of a bow tighten behind him.

“Bloody hell, this one’s a thrasher. Kicked ya good in the gut, ya still were shaking about in your sleep without a peep. No matter, will be sleeping for a good while by the time I’m dones with ya.”

“Do not threaten our Lord, treason is punishable by death.”

The rotting man looked away from Peter and towards Jakov. Two other men joined alongside this bandit, their appearance in no better state, nor the malnourished nags they rode in on. Both had shortbows directly aimed at Peter and Jakov’s backs, ready to unload at command. Lyana & Tinnie were no where to be found, their bedrolls unoccupied.

Toothless cackled at the fierce looking squire who glared him down. His sword had already been kicked out of reach for Jakov, but the bandit was more than happy to pick it up himself. He drew the sword and inspected its hilt and blade. His own perverse reflection glimmered within it.

“Quite the handiwork on this one lad, fancy yourself a knight?”

“Knight in training, I challenge you to a duel, whoever wins keeps the blade.”

The bandit pointed the sword at Jakov, keeping the blade inches away from slicing his throat open. “Normally, I’d cut you down where you stand, take your boots, mare and grub and leave your corpse for the worms. What’d some highborn pay for ya, lad? Course, they don’t need all of ya’s. Tell us where your other mates are, or I’ll start with ya tounge.”

“You shan’t touch me!”

The bandit’s eyes grew cold and distant, as if he were looking through the squire. He motioned his wrist back to pierce Jakov in the gut. Peter felt his face and hands grow icy and numb. He yelled out, but what left his mouth was the same bestial roar from before, not unlike a bear’s. Before the bandit could finish his strike, his body froze in place, as if possessed by some other force. His eyes twitched about in a panic, but his body did not react otherwise. Same with the bowmen. With the opening, Jakov lunged for his sword, attempting to leverage it back into his possession. As soon as Jakov touched the bandit, his body came back to life, and he attempted to overpower the young squire.

A sharpened stick shot out from the trees above. The makeshift pike lodged itself into the backside of one of the bowmen. He screamed out in a panic and rolled around in the dirt, attempting to pull it out. An arrow soon followed, this one getting the other archer cleanly through his knee. Yet, Jakov did not share in their camp’s good fortune. The bandit leader overpowered the gangly squire and pushed down to bring the hilt onto the boy’s neck. Jakov pushed back with equal force, the veins in his neck looking ready to burst, but looked ready to give out at any moment. Peter knew if he didn’t intervene soon, the boy would be gurgling on his own blood before long.

Peter ran forward, envisioning himself tackling the bandit and giving the squire enough time to seek shelter in the trees like Lyana & Tinnie while he attempted to overpower the bandit himself. But, what he got was far more effective. Soon, he could feel his limbs widen and bulk, and his weight increased until he had no choice but to run on all four of his limbs. His fingers grew into claws and his hair grew into an ivory white pelt and his teeth grew into long fangs. Peter tackled the bandit in his new bear form, sending the bandit flying into the nearest treetrunk. The excessive force brutalized his back and a deep crunch came from his arm as his body collapsed onto the ground. He roared out once more.

The other bandits screamed in horror and limped away in their crippled state, as their nags bucked and whinnied at the sight of the predator in front of them. One attempted to mount Bura, but she bucked in place, knocking the bandit down and driving the arrow even deeper into his knee. He limped away in a fury on boot.

The bandit leader stood up with a limp arm, and looked in sheer terror at Peter. He never had someone so terrified in his life, and had to fight back against every urge in his newfound instincts to not make a meal out of him. He got to his feet and dashed to his nag, bucking off in a hurry while leading with his one good arm and leaving the other bandits to fend for themselves.

Their agonized screams grew more and more faint, leaving only the squire and the bear. Tinnie & Lyana gave up their positioning from the trees and climbed back down to the forest floor.

“The stories are true, what a magnificent specimen you are.” Tinnie got closer and petted Peter’s newfound white pelt.

Without the adrenaline of battle, Peter soon felt his vision shake and his stomach grow woozy. His limbs shrunk and his vision blurred as a giant flash surrounded him. Soon enough, he was back in his own body, attempting to crawl on all fours. He felt his whole world spinning as he collapsed and saw the three faces of his companions looking down at him as he spun into darkness…