*This story idea was something I first came up with almost 5 years ago when I first joined YWS. I went back to look at what I had started and realized my writing sucked terribly then, so I rewrote it.*
I walked up to the bar tossed a Serand onto the counter in front of the innkeeper. "Single room for the night and a meal," I say, my voice a little harsh from the lack of use. The old man looked up from the mug of mead he was nursing to the coin, and then finally to my face.
"That kind of service will cost you two Serands, my kind gentleman." I grimace at his exorbitant price, but I reluctantly lay another gold coin on the counter next to the first. A smile breaks across the innkeeper's wrinkled face as he sweeps the coins off the counter and deposits them into his coinpurse. "Welcome to the Berand Inn, Sir. If you'd like, I will give you the key to your room and you can go put your gear away while I prepare your meal."
I thank the man as he hands me my key and make my way to the stairs. The bar was almost completely empty, everyone already having their fill of mead. The only patrons in the bar were me and two men sitting in the far corner. Both of them sat facing me, watching as I started up the stairs.
The room the innkeeper gave me had a single bed, no windows, and only a single lantern sitting on a nightstand next to the bed. Despite the lack of windows, the cool pre-winter air blew in from the cracks between the boards, making the room only slightly warmer than the outside. I toss my light pack onto the bed followed by my quiver only half full with arrows and my bow.
By the time I make my way back to the bar, the two men from the corner are both sitting at the bar eating a stew from a bowl. I have to stop myself from turning around fleeing back up to my room as I see the symbols embroidered onto the back of the men's red shirts: A full moon with two silver swords crossed in front of it. These men were Hunters for the Order of Lucas. As I make my way to the table, I can feel the almost unmistakable itch across my skin from the presence of the pure silver I knew they carried.
"Here you go, sir," the innkeeper says, setting venison stew in front of me as I sit at the bar. He sets a mug of mead down as well. "Compliments of those gentlemen over there." I lift it to my lips and pretend to take a sip. I can smell the lightest scent of something mixed in with the drink. Poison? No, at least not the most common ones I know of. Drugs? Not that either. It take all of my self control not to jump back and yelp as the mead brushes against my skin. It was silver dust. If I had been foolish enough to drink that, it would've been enough to burn a hole straight through me. I set the mug down and do my best to conceal the new burn on my upper lip and enjoy the stew.
I push my bowl away and the innkeeper offers me seconds, but I kindly refuse him. I keep an eye on the two men further down the bar who also seem to be doing the same thing to me. Finally one of them gets up and sits down on the stool next to me. Very quickly, the itch from the silver turns to a burn, but I manage to hide the pain behind a mask of indifference.
In a voice just above a whisper, the man says, "We know what you are, beast, and so does innkeeper here." I look up at the old man and finally notice that he keeps taking fearful glances at me. "Me and my associate down there have two options for you: you can either die now or come with us. Personally, I like the first one, but my orders are to try and bring you monsters in."
"And what if I don't like those two options?" I reply. "What if I want to create a third option that says that you will let me go on my own merry way?"
The man laughs and pulls a silver dagger out from his sleeve and slams it down into the wood in front of me. "That's not how this . . ." Before he could finish the last word, I summon up my strength and strike him in his chest with my arm. He seems to have seen this coming and only gets knocked back a couple of feet into a table and not across the room like I had intended. His partner already had already cleared its scabbard as I sat up and was quickly closing the distance between us. I turned and ran, diving out the window and transformed in mid-air. Fur sprouted out from my skin. The bones in my arm and fingers grew longer, while my nails changed into sharpened claws. My nose and mouth begin to elongate, transforming it from a human's face to a wolf's. Two powerful and heavily muscle legs hit the ground as I land with a shower of glass shards. I tear off last few scraps of the clothing that was whole only a few seconds ago and turn to watch the two Hunters climb out the window, screaming obscenities into the night. Without giving them a chance to draw closer to me, I drop on all fours and flee towards the forest and disappear into it's dark embrace.
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