100% Wolf (11 page)

'Want... ?' the ghost echoed.

Freddy was so frustrated he forgot to be frightened.

'Stinking socks! Don't you understand anything
I'm saying?' he yapped.

'I think so,' came the sad reply.

'Well, I don't think you do,' Freddy woofed. His
courage was returning rapidly. The ghost wasn't so
terrifying, once you got to know him.

'How long have you been haunting here?' Freddy
continued, deciding not to be frightened any more, if
that was at all possible.

'Haunting here?' the hound repeated.

'Yes. How long have you been a ghost? When were
you last a living dog?' Freddy persisted, talking slowly
and loudly, as one might to a deaf foreign ghost. 'Why
aren't you in hell?'

He jumped back in surprise when he saw the dark
shape rise quickly to its feet. His terror mounted again
as the hound began to walk towards him. Its chain
scraped harshly against the stone floor. Freddy held
his breath with fear, for now he had made a hellhound
angry. Why couldn't he just keep his mouth shut? As
the creature's huge head approached him, Freddy
clasped his eyes tight shut again. With a terrible shiver,
he felt the ghost's warm breath over him once more.
After some moments of silence the creature replied
quietly.

'Not a hound.'

Freddy gasped with relief. The monster didn't
sound as if it was about to tear him limb from limb. It
just sounded confused.

'I beg your pardon, sir, Mr Ghost Hound,' Freddy
managed to croak politely. 'I didn't mean to be rude.'

'Not a hound.
Wolf,'
the creature murmured,
louder this time. Then he held his head high and gave
a crashing roar. 'I am a wolf!'

Freddy gasped with amazement and terror. He
opened his eyes and saw the ghost hound clearly for the
first time. He was a beautiful black wolf with brightly
flashing green eyes. The great animal bounded to the
oak door and pounded it with his heavy paws and for
a glorious moment the wolf's power shone through.
Freddy watched with awe, but then the inner light
grew faint once more and the animal slouched back
onto the cold floor.

'Sorry, Mr Ghost
Wolf
... I didn't realise ...'
Freddy began.

'Why call me ... ghost?' The wolf looked up. It
began very slowly as if trying to remember the words.

'Because I thought you were dead,' Freddy said
at last.

'Nearly was,' the wolf murmured in agreement.

Freddy began to have a think.

'So you're not dead then?' he asked at last. His
speech was becoming faster and clearer with every
moment. His head and eyes were more alert too.
Freddy began to feel mightily relieved and gave a silly
woofy giggle.

'They told me you were dead, a
ghost hound,'
he
admitted.

The wolf slowly came over to look at Freddy.
The poodle was still nervous but bore the inspection
well, pushing his chest out proudly.

'In that case, you have been a very brave pup,' the
wolf replied.

Freddy felt himself grow with pride. He very nearly
revealed himself as a wolf too, there and then, but
stopped himself just in time. He didn't want this new
friend to know of his disgrace.

'What strange manner of dog are you, pup?' the
wolf wondered, peering at him through the gloom.

Freddy sighed.

'I'm a poodle,' he admitted with a groan.

'A clever poodle,' the wolf decided and Freddy felt
cheerful again already.

'Well, yes,' he yipped eagerly.

'It is so long since I met a creature who could
understand Wolfen. I had almost forgotten how to
speak it,' the wolf replied with a nod. 'I'm glad you're
here.'

Freddy almost burst with pride.

'But how can a
dog
speak Wolfen?' the wolf asked.
'I don't understand.'

'Erm? Just lucky I suppose,' Freddy didn't
understand himself – he hadn't even realised he had
switched from speaking Dog to Wolfen. Language was
complicated for werefolk. Everyone knew that when
in wolf form a Fangen can understand a human,
but in human form they can never understand a wolf.
But as a dog Freddy seemed able to understand
humans, dogs and wolves. While it was extremely
useful, it only served to remind him of his mixed
blood, and so of his disgrace.

The wolf wasn't convinced but Freddy didn't have
time to chat.

'Well, I am glad to have met you, Mr ...
Wolf,
but
I must try to escape now. My best friend is in terrible
danger,' the poodle cried.

'Escape?'
the wolf laughed with a deep rumble.

'Do you think it's impossible?' Freddy asked
sorrowfully.

'Nothing is easier,' the wolf continued. 'For you,
anyway, little pup,' he added sadly.

'How? If it's easy, why are you still here?' Freddy
yapped in disbelief.

'I'm too large and I'm chained up. I can only go
out the way I came in – through the door. And if they
loosened these chains no man or beast would stop
me. I would be free and I would have my revenge!' the
wolf howled, standing fierce and proud once more.

Freddy wisely stayed silent and inspected his toes.
For a few moments anyway.

'When can
I
escape, then?' he asked eventually,
when it seemed the wolf had forgotten all about him.
The animal was pacing strongly around the cell, now
fully alert and awake.

'How about right now, little pup? Go and save
yourself and your friend.' He gave a smile full of sharp
fangs and his eyes glinted green. That was when
Freddy saw it, hanging around the wolf's neck.

'A Moonstone!' he cried.

The wolf turned and looked at him curiously.

'It is indeed a Moonstone. How could a
poodle
know such a thing?'

The wolf leaned closer and then jolted upright. He
had in turn seen the stone hanging around the little
pup's neck.

'A Moonstone?' he growled. 'Tell me why you wear
this, pup.'

Freddy sighed. Any moment now, his disgrace
would be revealed and his new Wolfen friend would
turn from him in disgust.

As soon as Freddy had been taken from the cell,
Hamish gave Bruno a secret wink. They waited until
the Commander and Cerberus walked past and
disappeared into the office at the far end of the long
corridor. The dogs in all the cells were now very quiet,
sad and fearful for the foolish pink poodle. He was only
a puppy, after all. Hamish gave Bruno the nod; it was
time to unleash his secret weapon, one so dangerous
that they kept it only for emergencies.

The terrier walked to the far end of the cell where
he would be safe. The boxer, with a look of total
innocence, moved to stand next to St John, who was
busy licking his paws. Bruno held his breath and then
released the SBD. The terrible gassy fart was indeed
Silent But Deadly.

St John went green and looked close to fainting.
While he was in this weak state, and before he could
cry for help, Hamish flew over and landed on his
head.

'Go, quick, Bruno, find her. I can keep this fellow
quiet. Phew, that's some smell you've made, lad. Well
done.'

Bruno smiled proudly. In an instant he had pulled
up the iron grate and disappeared into the drains.

'Why do you wear the Moonstone, pup?' the huge
wolf repeated softly.

'Why do you?' Freddy replied, trying to delay
answering the question. The wolf sighed.

'It is a sad story of betrayal,' he rasped.

'You can tell me,' Freddy yapped. 'I don't have
to escape right now. I can wait for a few minutes, if
you like.'

The wolf laughed deeply.

'What a funny pup you are,' he answered. 'Locked
up with a dangerous ghost hound but happy to hang
around.'

'Ghost
wolf,'
Freddy corrected and they both
laughed.

The wolf lay on the stone floor and began in a soft
rumble.

'I am not what I seem, little poodle,' he began.
'Normally I would never tell a mere dog this great
secret, but I trust you not to be afraid.' The wolf
smiled, already fairly certain that Freddy was not
a
mere dog.

Freddy preened himself happily. Of course, as soon
as he saw the Moonstone, he had already guessed
some of what the wolf had to tell him. But he hadn't
guessed it all.

'I am no ordinary wolf, but a werewolf. Do you
know what that means?' The wolf paused.

'Of course I do! I'm not stupid,' Freddy yipped,
insulted, and the wolf laughed again.

'Of course you do,' he agreed. 'So normally I would
be a man.'

'Yes, except on the first night of the full moon,'
Freddy answered.

'Exactly, but when a werewolf wears a Moonstone
...'

'You can't transform back into a man again,'
Freddy yapped furiously. 'And now you have to look
ridiculous forever!'

'Quite so. I must look ridiculous forever. Excellent,
pup,' the wolf laughed.

'Stinky feet! I didn't mean you,' Freddy said in
confusion. 'You don't look ridiculous, you look ...
fierce.'

The wolf chuckled throatily once more.

'Some years ago, I was leading the Blood-Red Hunt
through the woods, when my brother howled to me
to come quickly to the Stone Circle. When I arrived
I found that Cripp was there – the wolf hunter,' the
wolf hissed out the hated name. Freddy growled with
disgust.

'It was a trap. Somehow my brother knew the
hunter was there,' the wolf continued.

'Your own
brother
betrayed you? What did Cripp
do?' Freddy yipped.

'The pathetic wretch was trembling with fear as he
held his gun. I leapt for him, but my brother knocked
me from behind – Cripp never saw him in the trees.
When I fell, the hunter shot me.'

Freddy woofed with outrage.

'With a silver bullet?' he cried. The wolf indicated
yes with his ears. 'How could you survive?'

'It missed my heart, only catching me in the
shoulder. See the scar?'

Freddy could just make it out in the gloom.

'I chased Cripp down to within an inch of his
terrified skin. I had lost so much blood, however, that
at last I collapsed and he escaped me. When morning
arrived I was too weak to transform back to a man.'

'I know Cripp got away because I ...' Freddy
began but came to a standstill, for he didn't want the
wolf to guess his shameful secret. The wolf did not
appear to have heard him, however, and carried on
with his story.

'That morning, my brother, who had transformed
back, found me. He put this Moonstone around my
neck and brought me here. I haven't left this dungeon
in six years,' the wolf concluded with a sorrowful
howl.

Freddy was appalled.

'But why would he do that?' he cried.

'So he could be the leader of the Great Pack,' the
wolf explained. 'He never forgave me for being chosen
ahead of him. He is the Grand Growler now, so he
informed me several years ago.'

Freddy was stunned as the truth dawned on him.
It was too awful, too terrible and also too wonderful,
too magnificent to be true.

'So what's your name?' Freddy bellowed.

'Flasheart, Flasheart Lupin.'

Freddy couldn't speak. He couldn't dare to believe
it. The joy was beyond anything he had ever felt
before.

'And what is your name, pup? What are you
really? No mere poodle, I know that much. How do
you understand Wolfen? And why do you wear a
Moonstone?'

Freddy flopped onto the floor, suddenly deflated
by reality. He knew that his father would be like all the
other wolves and call him a disgrace. In fact, his father
would be worse, for he was such a famously brave
wolf, so proud of the memory of Sir Rathbone. He
would be ashamed to have a son like him. There was
no escaping it. Freddy gave a huge sigh and began.

'I'm supposed to be a werewolf like you,' he said
sadly, waiting for his father to laugh out loud or roar
with disgust. When he didn't Freddy carried on.

'I don't know why I'm not. I never wanted to be
a poodle, but when I transformed I looked like this.
Only not pink, and with no silly bald patches. My
cousins did that, and I'm still going to get them for
it. Anyway ... the Fang Council was furious with me
and expelled me from the Great Pack.'