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Fernando slumped down against the tree trunk, wrapping himself in his woolen cloaked to stop the cold biting his skin. His hands were cold, and he clenched and un-clenched them trying to warm them up so he could concentrate properly. His control was wavering and he needed to have full power over the wolf if his plan was to work. Fernando's eyes rolled back in his head and his thoughts reached out to the wolf. The thoughts buffeted into the wolfs brain, pushing against it's will, trying to break in, to connect the two as one mind.
The wolf lay with it's body on the ground. It's muzzle against the leaves, eyes closed and ears slumped forward in submission. It could feel something - someone - inside it's head. Something new, something that shouldn't be there. It tried to fight against it, but the feeling was too strong, forcing his own thoughts into the back of his brain and fighting for control.
Suddenly the wolf saw images in his head, filling his mind, showing him a story. Fernando was sending his memories across to the wolf. Memories of a man, his brother, tall with bronzed skin, turning into a lone grey wolf. Jenson. He sent images of the wolf running freely through the forest. Jenson. He sent images of another younger human with a pistol in his hand. He sent images of the wolf on the ground, bleeding, dying. Oh Jenson.
Fernando sent his feelings next. The pain he felt was unbearable and he shared that with the wolf. He shared the feelings of sorrow and loss. He took Jenson. He shared the feelings of the connection with his brother being torn apart. He took him from me. The wolf tried to fight against him, he didn't want to feel the pain, for it too had lost a brother. He took them from us.
Finally, Fernando sent another image. A simple though that echoed between their minds; Revenge. Revenge for Jenson. And then the connection between their minds was broken.
Fernando opened his eyes, tears falling down his cheek as he made eye contact with the wolf. The wolf slowly lifted its head from the floor. There was no fear in its face. The anger in the wolfs eyes reflected the anger that Fernando had felt when he'd seen his brother jolt free from the wolf dream, bleeding onto the sheets from a bullet hole in his chest.
The wolf rested it's muzzle against Fernando's hand, signalling to the man that he would help. Fernando lifted his hand, stroking the fur along the wolfs back, and tickling it behind the ears. He closed his eyes again, sending another signal to the wolf. It was different this time - he sent a bond. A connection that would not break outside of the wolf dream. Now Fernando would be able to communicate with the wolf in the waking world, only becoming the wolf as he slept.
Fernando spent the rest of the daylight hours bonding with his new wolf. He told the wolf how he had found its brothers body in a nearby village. The body had been strung up beside a farmers hut and the farmers son had been telling anyone that would listen that he had shot the beast. Fernando told the wolf how he had crept back that night to take the body, and he had burned it beside Jenson's body, burying the ashes outside their home.
The wolf had listened patiently and suggested tactics for their revenge - stealing sheep, stealing grain - but Fernando already had a plan.
An eye for an eye he sent to the wolf, It is not fair that this man lives, while our brothers do not.
The wolf understood. It knew what it had to do. Together they plotted their ultimate revenge and as darkness fell they crept into the village.
I will do this alone, the wolf sent. The bond filled with care and defense, telling Fernando that this wolf would protect him at all costs, You do not need to be here, I will call you.
My body will wait Fernando replied, But I will join you in the wolf dream.
The man lay against the inside of the barn door and within second his eyes rolled into his head and he became part of the wolf.
The wolf turned to regard the man and Fernando saw himself asleep, head lolling forward onto his chest. To anyone who didn't know any better, he looked like a homeless man taking shelter and rest for the night.
The wolf padded gently across the farm, sneaking through the unlocked door with ease and making it's way into the rooms where snoring could be heard. The house held many people, presumably the farmer and his hands and his family, but none of them woke when the wolf crept by.
At last the wolf found the right man, sensing Fernando's anger rise within him and trying to force it back, lest it ruin the plan. The man, barely more than a teen, had light brown hair and an elf like face. He was grinning in his sleep, almost taunting the wolf with his happiness.
The wolf pulled the sheets away from the man, slowly so as not to wake him. Lightly, he stepped up onto the mattress, baring his teeth ready for attack. Quick as a flash, with no time for response, the wolf crushed down onto the man and bit at his throat, tearing it free and cutting off any chance of a cry for help. The body turned still and limp beneath the wolf, bloody pouring onto the sheets, dripping from the mattress to the floor.
Back in the barn Fernando growled in his sleep. His head swung about, teeth bared and dripping with blood. His pulse was fast and the hair on his arms was standing on end. He could taste the mans flesh on his tongue, and he wanted more, but that was against the plan. He pulled himself out of the dream and quickly scrambled to his feet. They had to flee. They had to leave and never return to this tainted village. They had to leave the man for his family to suffer over, like Fernando had suffered over Jenson.
Come he sent to the wolf we must leave before we are seen. We have avenged our brothers now. They will be at peace and we will find a new life, somewhere safe for both of us.