24 AD

As the fire slowly dimmed Helix listened to the sounds around him. He could not seem to sleep, no matter how exhausted he felt. Eslein, in spite of her calm words also seemed to be awake, her breathing light and uneven, changing pace with whatever she was pondering. The smells rolling off her shifted and changed as well. Though something pungent, that made Helix anxious over shadowed the lighter changes.

Maybe that is what suspicion smells like?

The world around him seemed so much bigger, richer, then it ever had before. It was almost frightening how much he could see, hear and smell. Let alone the new 'feelings' he couldn't figure out how to define.

Helix let his mind wander until night melted into dawn. Sometime shortly before first light, Eslein had fallen into an uneasy sleep. Standing, he marveled at how silent his paws could move. It was effortless, and disconcerting. Moving away from the camp he again went hunting. The memory of the rabbits blood and fur in his mouth, still made him want to gag. Nonetheless he scented the air. Deer was close. So was rabbit, birds and... Helix sniffed again. This was a smell he had not caught yesterday.

Using caution, he followed the new scent. A half mile later brought him to a strange sight. Four soldiers, men Helix recognized from the legion he'd marched into the forest with, surrounded an unfamiliar man. He was naked and tied upright to a thick tree. He was, snarling?

In a rush Helix placed him, it was the man who had attacked during the battle, after he had become this, wolf. A strange feeling of possession pulled a quiet growl from deep in his throat. The four soldiers did not hear, but the naked mans head snapped up quickly, eyes searching the brush until they locked onto Helix.

"You did this!" His shriek was half anger and half sob.

The four soldiers drew back slightly, one recovered quickly and slapped him.

"Told you he was off his rocker as well as... unnatural."

"Irrelevant, how do we kill it?" This one sounded frantic. "I ran him through twice! He barely slowed down. If it wasn't for that Alexa woman distracting him he'd have killed me. The sucker even bit my leg!"

Recovering from the slap, the stranger sought Helix's gaze again, making his instincts scream, body tense with the sensations coursing through it. He felt instantly irritated and challenged by the stare, next to that feeling, was the desire to protect this complete stranger.

"Let's try burning him."

The naked mans eyes flicked to the speaker, terror glinting. Helix could not force himself to wait any longer. A howl ripped from him as he sprang down the hill and into the circle of soldiers. His back was to the bound stranger, his fangs and attention on the recoiling soldiers. One cursed, another cried out in fear, they all drew their weapons.

With nothing to loose Helix snarled, and to his surprise spoke, "You will not touch him!

Three attacked while the other fled in terror. Helix dove aside, narrowly missing the descending steel. His mind raced as he took stock of the situation. Avoiding the swords would be easy enough, attacking the men holding them, with only his body and teeth as weapons, was going to be much harder. For a bit he just dodged them, slowly drawing them away from the bound man.

One of the soldiers seemed to realize what was happening and suddenly reeled backwards, his sword sung through the air, finishing in a sickening thud as it severed the bound mans head. The thick coppery smell of blood filled Helix's nose. Rage filled him.

Crouching low he sprang forward, above the two swords and right into the back of the killer. The man grunted as the air was shoved from his lungs. It was the last sound he ever made, as Helix's jaws closed around the back of his neck. With one powerful shake he broke the mans spine.

The other two set upon him in a flurry of blows. One blade cut deep into his shoulder, the other ran through his stomach. Helix howled in pain, tasting his own hot blood. The draw back was worse then the stab, as the blade left his body the pain intensified to a blinding intensity. The wolf fell back, finding himself in a pool of his own red blood.

"We got it now!"

Helix blinked coughing up more red flecks. He tried to move, to roll away, but his body would not listen. A sword was at his throat, then raised high above its wielders head.

A shrill whistle broke the air. "Hey, assholes!" He knew her voice, Eslein's voice.

The men's attention instantly pulled away from Helix, their blades with it. Footsteps were the last sound the wolf heard before his conscious faded away.

*~*~*~*~*~*

"By the gods!"

A soft female voice drifted around him in the stifling warmth. He knew her. Didn't he? Slowly Helix's eyes cracked open. The sky was black, tinged with dancing red, gold, and white stars. No. Not just stars, but also sparks. A crackling fire to his left, the whisper of cloth to his right. Blinking he tried to sit up and groaned in pain.

"Don't you dare! Be still!" Eslein's firm snap brought him back to reality.

"Wha-what?" The fight, and everything before flooded back to him instantly, with it, a sudden awareness of himself. The last dregs of unconsciousness left him as Helix realized he was staring at his own, very human, hand. But... the last thing he remembered was being mortally wounded now, only a lingering, albeit still intense pain remained in his abdomen. His shoulder seemed perfectly fine.

"I..."  Words, words were hard. Clearing his throat he tried again. "Thank you."  When she did not answer he let his gaze slide to hers. Eslein was looking at him, expression stormy.

"Sorry?" He tried instead.

She let out an exasperated sigh. "What the hell are you thanking me for? All I did was rescue a half dead wolf pelt and drag your sorry ass here."

It dawned on Helix that she was still speaking her language and he was speaking Greek. Nonetheless they both seemed to understand each other. Filing the thought away, he once again tried to rise.

Eslein was not as nice this time. Her hand shot down forcefully shoving him back to the ground. It hurt, his head, his abdomen and most of all his pride. "Stay."

Grunting he lifted his hands in surrender. "Okay, but I'm fine."

"Fine? Fine!"

Helix knew he'd made a poor word choice.

"You were dying! There was more blood loss then anything could possibly live through. You had a hole threw your freaking body and then you started shrieking, howling and thrashing right before your entire body changed before my eyes! I heard your bones break, watched your hair fall off and smooth human skin appear! And you are fine?" By this point she was screaming.

"Ahm. Thank you for healing me anyway?"

She huffed. "I didn't. You healed yourself while you've been unconscious."

He was not sure how to respond to that, so he stayed quiet. For a few moments they simply looked into one another's eyes. A strange feeling tickled at the back of his mind. Helix quickly shifted his eyes to study the sky. "Any thing to eat?"

Eslein moved away then returned. A chunk of what smelled like over done rabbit in her hand.

"Thank you."

Nodding she moved to the other side of the fire. "Why did you attack those men?"

Why? That was the question wasn't it. He had not known the stranger. The soldiers had technically been his brothers in arms, although he did not personally know any of them. Walking away would have been smarter, but... "I felt compelled to help."

"Compelled?"

"Yes."

She blinked at him, the look on her face clearly stating that she expected more information. Helix shrugged. "Everything was different. I felt, feel different."

"You mean you felt like you had no choice but to attack three armed men with nothing but your teeth?" She sounded dubious.

"I had a choice. I just-" This topic was getting old fast. "I just felt like it was right."

Eslein snorted. "Maybe.  But it was still stupid."

Helix again tried to stand, and for the first time realized her over robe was covering his very naked body. Blushing profusely he darted back under the bit of cloth. The witch watched him. Mild amusement danced in her gaze but she held her tongue.

"I need some sleep, wolf man. Do wake me up if needed." With that, she lay down, her back to Helix.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The night was long and quiet. A soft breeze blowing scents in from the trees beyond the fire light. Helix lay still for awhile unsure what to make of his situation. He was human again. Maybe? He still smelled and saw everything with the same extra clarity he had experienced as a wolf. Glancing at the robe covering himself, a blush rose again. Eslein had obviously seen him naked.

While the thought bothered him, it did not bother him as much as it once would have. Eslein was not Sal. Where Sal had manipulated and tricked him every step of the way, Eslein had been kind, cautious and even caring. Probably because she felt she owed him for helping her escape Sal's torturous heat cells. Whatever Eslein's reasons, he found himself grateful this night.

Glancing at her sleeping form, a strange thrilling shiver ran up his spine. Small droplets of sweat began running down his face the longer he looked. Turning his face away Helix swallowed. This would not do. Listening carefully to Eslein's breathing he found her fully and truly asleep.

Standing, Helix bit his tongue to hold in a groan of pain. Everything was stiff. His abdomen felt like he'd just been thrown in the sparing ring and lost, with a beating afterward. Slowly he folded her robe, setting it neatly beside her before slipping into the trees.

Putting the witch woman out of his mind Helix assessed the situation. He had to have clothes. Then he would decide what to do. Sniffing the air Helix could just barely scent the blood of one of the men he'd killed. They would have some sort of clothes, and weapons.

It did not take long to find the bodies, Eslein and left them where they fell. A quick glance and sniff told him she had taken the time to go through their pockets. Each body had a lingering trace of her scent. The weapons though she had left.

Moving quickly Helix picked one of the men who was about his size. The trousers were bloody, but otherwise unscathed. The shirt however was both bloody and also had some rips. Still it was better then nothing. After grabbing one of the swords and belts, Helix made his way to a nearby stream and cleaned the clothes as best he could before sliding them over his naked body. A small sigh slipped from him as he buckled the sword round his waist. Standing still for a moment, eyes closed,  he could almost believe the past few days had never happened.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hello all!
Sorry this took so long. I was in Disney World and before that I was prepping my home and work for my vacation! I should be more available now!

Please vote and share if you like it!