Mika hopped across the floor of the temple, frantically beating out the fires that sizzled and burned his hair, clothes, and body. His hair was the worst; he could feel the flames as they chewed through his thick brown mane and reached for his scalp. Smacking himself on the head with the flat of his already scorched palms, he managed to extinguish his burning locks, but not before he was nearly choked by the thick clouds of acrid smoke that smelled like burning feathers.
Ignoring the pain in his palms, he slapped at the flames on his cloak, flames that seemed to grow taller with his every movement. Finally realizing that the air was fanning the fire, he disengaged the hasp that held the cloak at his throat and dropped it to the floor where it burned merrily until it was but a pile of ash.
As he beat out the last of the stubborn embers that had eaten their way into the thick leather of his tunic, he heard an ominous growl. Starded, he looked up and saw a sight so frightening that his heart lurched in his chest and then palpitated wildly.
Standing on top of the altar, head lowered, ready to spring, was Tarn. Or what had once been Tarn. Now it was some dreadful parody, some horrible apparition that looked like Tarn, but wasn't.
The creature had nasty greenish-gray skin, with only the barest hint of fur growing in a few meager clumps on its body, between its ears, sprouting between its spavined ribs, and at the very end of its tail. Even these few small bits of fur were ringed with scrofulous, flaking skin.
The terrible chest wound still gaped wide, and the flesh beneath was a sickly shade of gray. A pale, watery ichor dripped from the wound, and where it fell upon the altar it hissed like acid and ate its way through the stone.
Its teeth were bared, showing corpse-white gums thick with foamy spittle that dribbled over its lips.
But the creature's eyes were the absolute worst, for they burned with a dreadful intensity that showed no sign of recognition.
"Tarn?" Mika said in a quavery voice, hoping that his friend, the wolf, would come to his senses. The creature's ears pricked at the sound of Mika's voice, but it did not have the desired effect. Instead of recognizing him, the wolf lifted its dewlaps and snarled, a deep, throaty sound that rose from the animal's chest. Mika knew that sound all too well; he knew that it signaled an impending attack.
"No, Tam! Look, it's me, Mika, your old pal!" Mika said fervently, a sick smile on his face.
But even that failed to work, and the wolf that had once been Tam dropped into a crouch and hurled itself at Mika.
Mika dove aside as the troll wolf lunged past, its teeth snapping futilely at the spot where he had been. Quicker than Mika had expected, the creature landed, twisted, and flung itself at Mika again. Mika threw up his hands, deflecting the wolf as it attempted to rip out his throat, causing it to fall to the ground, momentarily off balance.
Mika seized the opportunity to run, placing a marble pillar between himself and the troll wolf while he tried desperately to think of what to do. He had wanted to turn Tam into a troll wolf, and he had gotten what he had hoped for. Now the problem was to stay alive until the wound healed and he could turn Tam back into a normal wolf.
The book! Mika felt for the spell book, hurting his burned hands in the process. But the book was gone, as was the pouch it was kept in. Mika chanced a brief look out from behind the pillar and spotted the book where he had left it, on the ground halfway across the temple on the other side of the wolf, who was even now getting to its feet and looking around for Mika.
Their eyes locked; Mika felt a shiver of fear run down his spine as the cold, dead eyes stared into his own.
Mika swallowed painfully and ran his fingers through his hair as he tried to think of how he might evade the troll wolf and reach his spell book. Perhaps there was some other spell he could try, some other way he- Mika stopped in mid-thought and looked down at his hand. In it was a large, brittle clump of frizzled threads. Except it wasn't thread, it was his hair. He dropped the awful stuff as though it were a handful of maggots and touched his head gingerly with his other hand. Another brittle clump broke off and, as he stared at it sorrowfully, he realized that all of his hair had been fried by the intense heat of the demon's passage.
Hardly had he taken in the thought when the troll wolf made its move. Padding softly toward him, it paused no more than a man's length away and eyed Mika, obviously wondering which way he would move around the pillar.
Deciding, the troll wolf slunk around the right side of the column, the side closest to the fallen spell book. Moving more swiftly, the troll wolf dashed forward, its teeth clacking together sharply, and Mika yelped and ran from behind the pillar with the wolf in close pursuit. He pounded across the pavement, bellowing with every step, not only from fear but from the awful pain of his burned feet which were already beginning to swell inside his badly charred boots.
Mika ran for the edge of the room, hiding behind each and every pillar, hoping to confuse the wolf, throw it off the track. But the troll wolf was not deceived and followed Mika every step of the way, snapping at his heels and trying to slice his hamstrings.
"Tam! Там!" screeched Mika. "Stop! Don't you recognize me? It's me, Mika. Tam! Stop!"
But the troll wolf, undeterred, continued to do its utmost to catch and kill him, all the while growling and snarling in a most hideous manner.
No matter what Mika did, he could not shake the wolf who seemed to divine his purpose and who came between him and the spell book at every turn. The spell book was his only chance. Without it he would never be able to change the troll wolf back into a normal wolf, and he himself would be troll meat. Already he could feel his strength ebbing, and the pain of his burned bodv was growing acute. And even" time he moved his head, bits of hair and eyebrow fell off
There was only one good thing to be said of the situation. The awful wound in the wolfs chest appeared to be dosing. Already the lips of the wound had drawn closer together, and less raw, pink flesh could be seen. If Mika could only last long enough, the wolf would be cured.
The thought cheered Mika considerably. Hobbling along with an awkward gait quite similar to that of a child with full diapers, he wobbled across the open space between yet another set of pillars.
The troll wolf was pacing him now, licking its grinning jaws in anticipation. There was no need to hurry, the human was his.
As though sensing the troll wolfs thoughts, Mika picked up a large chunk of marble fallen from the roof overhead, grunting with pain as his swollen fingers curled around the stone. If the wolf came for him, he would brain it, friend or no friend. You had to know where to draw the line at a time like this, and being eaten by a friend was where Mika was drawing the line.
Now they were pacing together, step by step, Mika walking backward, holding the chunk of marble above his head; the troll wolf followed close behind, watching for its chance to catch the human off guard.
Slowly, slowly, they circled the perimeter of the ruined temple, slowly coming within sight of the precious spell book. Mika gauged his steps carefully, eyes glued to the troll wolfs chest, watching for the moment when the terrible wound would close completely.
The troll wolf drew nearer. Slaver foamed around its teeth and dripped off its tongue. Deep snarls erupted from its throat, thick and heavy with menace. Its dark eyes seemed to glow with hatred, and never once did they leave Mika's face.
In spite of himself, Mika was frightened. Knowing that it was really Tam didn't help one bit. Being killed and eaten by your best friend was somehow worse than being killed by an enemy.
As they crept within reach of the spell book, two things happened at once: the edges of the wound came together, and the troll wolf made its move.
As though realizing that Mika was about to end its existence, the troll wolf sprang for the man who had once been his friend. But hoping to catch him off guard, he leapt only to groin height, jaws open wide, teeth gleaming in the soft, filtered light that streamed through the broken dome.
A very real shriek of terror poured from Mika's lips. Leaping backward, he brought the hunk of marble down as hard as he could, smashing it on the top of the troll wolfs head.
The troll wolf staggered back drunkenly, its eyes crossed and its tongue lolling out the side of its mouth, which was, for once, closed. It tried to focus and took several additional steps before it keeled over and fell directly on its muzzle, sprawled in a half- kneeling position, its scrawny, hairless rump stuck in the air.
Off balance, Mika tumbled to the ground himself, crying aloud as he struck the flat of his burned palms against the gritty paving stones. Blinking back the tears of pain that came to his puffy, lashless eyelids, he scooted across the distance to the spell book and erabbed it in his shaking hands.
Breathing deeply, he pulled himself into a seated position, trying to find a spot that did not hurt. He flipped through the pages of the book quickly, looking for the spell that would return Tam to his normal state.
Puffy fingers pointing out the words, he mumbled his way through the spell, committing it to memory between frequent groans of pain. This time he concentrated on the spell totally, trying to get it right, wanting no mistakes. Yet he was forced to hurry, fearing that the troll wolf would regain consciousness and try to kill him before he could memorize the spell.
Just as Mika had feared, the troll wolf raised its uglv head, stared Mika in the eye, and snarled. Mika snapped the book shut, met the troll wolfs gaze even- lv. and began to chant.
The troll wolf snarled, and the sound turned into a choked, garbled whimper that seemed to stick in its throat.
Other changes occurred simultaneously. Even as Mika watched, hair began to reappear on the troll wolf, pushing through the greenish-gray skin like a needle through cloth. The dead look faded from the wolfs eyes, replaced by one of puzzled concern. Soon, the last vestiges of the awful troll wolf were gone, leaving the welcome vision of Tam in its place.
With the return of Tam came pain. Mika became aware of just how terrible he felt. Every last bit of his body was either burned, scorched, or blistered, and in some instances, all three. His eyelids were thick and puffy, and his lips were grotesquely swollen, fat imitations of themselves that protruded far out in front of his face, as did his nose, which, when viewed through crossed eyes, looked like a bulbous over-ripe rutabaga. Even the spaces between his toes and fingers hurt. As he sat there feeling pitiful, the last of his hair broke off and fell to the ground.
It was too much. Mika felt a tear tremble on the edge of his fat eyelid and trickle down his burned face. In his imagination, he heard it sizzle as it dissipated on his hot skin. He sighed deeply, echoed in turn by Tam whom he had almost forgotten in his misery. He glanced up.
Tam looked almost worse than he did! There, square between the wolfs eyes, on the very top of his head, was an enormous lump which seemed to grow bigger even as Mika watched in amazement, making Tam look like some kind of hairy unicorn. The lump appeared to throb as it rose until it nearly equaled the wolfs ears in height.
Tam whimpered and pawed at his head, but as soon as his paws touched the incredible lump, he howled aloud. Mika noticed with interest that the wolfs eyes were still crossed.
There was nothing that Mika could do for him; all of his healing herbs were strewn on the floor of the temple, mixed and trodden underfoot. Nor did he have the strength to perform another spell.
Mika put the spell book down, then sagged slowly and very carefully to the ground. Cradling his head on the spell book, he closed his eyes with a deep sigh.
Later. I'll fix the eyes later, he thought as he drifted into an exhausted sleep, Tarn's whimpers, as well as his own, echoing in his ears.