TORELLI

In the dark shadows of the deep old wood full of rustic charm, an hour or two before sunrise, they speared through the air slobbering, sulking, seething in synchronized gait and footing. Soon the longest day would become the shortest night of the solstice. It was the earthly order of things and they worked as they were bound.

‘Is there no other way for us?’ Jesse looked straight ahead.

He stood, slim and straight. There was sorrow in his eyes, but behind it lived a firm purpose. He shook himself hard and set about sniffing the ground.

‘It is because of our way there is no other. If the demon eventually gets away, he will come back for us and hunt us like thieves and brigands, murder us, as he would murder that poor innocent priest’  Jake returned

Jesse shook his head sadly as his face furrowed.

‘It will not end in one death. I have seen it. Jesse shook his head slowly and closed his eyes, as though he saw the horrors to come.

‘Wait!,’ Jake’s whisper brought much relief to Jesse who pricked his ears high. ‘ I think I can smell something’

Jesse’s eyes were now cast on him, all the hopes and pleas of his life were packed in his steady gaze. He was now in human form.

‘This way’ Jake pointed in front of them

They trudged on and kept staring ahead as the knuckle of land, bumpy and green with distance, began revealing its secrets. Snatches of overheard discussion reached them as they crept on. And there was the demon and the priest enclosed in a circle of death-eaters. Its voice was guttural and therefore inaudible. 

The leaves stirred in dense mass as both gazed steadily. Then gradually, anxiety mounted to terror, and a different kind of fear, almost like a hunger, came down upon Jesse again. 

‘ Torelli is at it again! Isn’t that the priest? And what are those things standing around them’

‘ Alvaro’s gone after him,’ Jake snarled ‘ and those things are death-eaters. That is the name given to the most ardent followers of Torelli. The group consists primarily of wizards and witches who are pure-blood supremacists and who practiced the black magic with the least care, with malevolence, and without regard, neither with reverence or respect to the law of wizardry. They are his primal force and his mark is blazoned on their forehead. That’s what summons them to congregate in such fast manner’

At this, anxiety seized Jesse

‘And is that what you intend us to fight!’ 

‘Shut up bastard!’ Jake’s voice came repressed ‘ They can’t harm you. Or I either’

Yet the epoch of Jesse’s incredulity was somewhat far away.

The air brushed Alvaro’s fur slightly, as condensation escaped his cringed snout. His slobbering brushed hungrily against sharp, ivory, and saber-like canines; the slobbers at this point was no longer a mere disembodied presence upon the immaculate earth but instead, was something akin to its heartbeat. Both beasts stood, sizing the other enemy. His ears were pulled forward and lips tucked up. His four black pores trod firmly on the earth as they moved around in circles, eyeing him dangerously and growling murderously when he felt that Torelli would strike. Even at that, he kept abreast with the burly men and their bludgeons. They looked on from the fringe like spectators of a thrilling spectacle.

The atmosphere was taut like that until Torelli made to run. But Alvaro was too fast for him. He leaped in the air, seized him by the throat and flung him to the bough of a tree, and closed in on him snarling murderously. One of the death-eaters choked and cringed with hate.

For a brief moment, Alvaro’s onrush was checked by the unexpected composure of Torelli who laughed a mirthless, hard, soulless laughter. But it was only a momentary check, as the tense silence between blasts of thunders.

The second rush was greater than the first. The snow soon swallowed up the two men or beasts precisely. Then Alvaro’s unmistakable whimper rose above the tumult and the death-eaters chuckled. The silence continued. Space was made around the two men, and Torelli, wiping blood from his nape, began to speak, a devilish smile accompanying. 

But Alvaro was truly a red-eyed devil as he drew himself together for the spring, hair bristling, mouth foaming, a mad glitter in his bloodshot blue eyes. 

Straight at Torelli, he launched his weight of fury, charged with the pent passion of his journey and the former impression. In mid-air, just as his jaws were about closing on the Torelli’s skull, he received a shock that checked his fury and brought his teeth together in an agonizing clip.

He whirled over and fell aplomb but he stood almost immediately again and with a snarl that was part bark and more scream, he made for Torelli who grinned a wolfish grin. And again the shock came and he was brought down crushingly to the ground. 

After that particular fierce blow, he crawled to his feet, too dazed to rush, he staggered limply about. His golden coat was sprayed with flecks of freezing wounds. He lay at the foot of an oak, whimpering.

‘It seems boy,’ Torelli said in a deep guttural voice through the priest, ‘ we have learned our places. Certainly, you know yours. And I know mine.’

He beckoned on his disciples so as to leave but Alvaro snarled a third time and made for Torelli. All the pain he had endured was nothing compared with the exquisite agony of this. With a roar and a lion-like ferocity, he hurled himself once more. But Torelli, who was expertly clever, bent. But that was not enough. The flesh in the center of his head snapped off and went with the livid rage of the wolf. 

With unbelievable shock, Torelli touched his head where the tonsure had been made and smiled a second time as hot blue blood streamed down his face. The fight continued and this time around, Torelli was overturned. He was savagely dragged, his cloth ripped and torn apart but his strong palms restricted the assault from getting to his skin. 

Jake who’d been staring unbearably at the fight suddenly dived into mid-air and his clothes ripped apart. In his place was a striking wolf in whose every inch of bearing was authority. Jake had distinctly almond-shaped eyes that tended to be more closely set on the face and were slanted, with the corners of the eyes lining up with the outer base of the ears.

He was as white as snow. His fur, short over the body and longer at the neck was quite smooth, shiny, and bereft of any blemish. In his confident stance, he vanished into a nearby sparse undergrowth with one of them. He came back, with blood dripping from his mouth. 

Jesse only needed to stand listlessly while a monstrous ashy wolf took his place. He was a gray wolf. His coat color was a typical mix of gray and brown with buffy facial markings and undersides, but he was very monstrous.

 In a trice, every one of the men was down. And dead

Torelli remained.

Both large wolves moved in choreographed motions. Their slow, measured steps took them into the dark blue shadows against Torelli’s teeth that were bared in a snarl. White, silver fur glossy and thick.  Their eyes gave out round white eyes as their silhouettes growled. And each of the wolves seen from the other looked like a soft eye of bluish half-light set in the solid massiveness of night. It was a tremendous sight, full of power and beauty. Jake stood, scratching the earth lightly with her paws, and overlooked the scenic picturesque, and there was serenity in her gaze.

Alvaro’s face lightened in a wry smile.

‘Well, well. This just seems to get better and sweeter. And how it appeals to me that we all are in this grand game. I shall fight,’ he turned and began to walk away heatedly ‘but not today

His body receded into a life-gargoyle as he laughed an unearthly laugh.  His serrated wings were beating loudly and a shrill pitch rose from the disgusting thing. He looked up to the moon and gradually flapped away from the earth.

But it was not enough for Jesse who was very much favored and skilled on the whole as war-like physically rooted in the woods. Like one possessed, he flashed and whizzed past the wooded country, his feet barely touching the ground. Jumping feverishly from bough to stem and from stem to branch, he held gargoyle Torelli’s feet and pulled it down. He was livid with rage. The way he slobbered showed it.

 The light died out of the demon’s cheerful face which was trained at the luna beam. It contorted to surprise when the legs themselves were held.

In hindquarters, Jesse dealt savagely with Torelli whose shrill pitch pierced the vastness of the country. When he returned on all fours, he plunged him to an oak, panting. His face drew closer and menacingly towards Torelli’s and they became more enormous as he neared.

But soon, slaps and punches set Jesse down. 

For about a couple of minutes, they tore, gripped, ripped, punched, and sank fangs in the flesh until they fell and rose again. They threw up snow and the ground cracked where they fell.

Jake, who soon recovered, joined the two, panting. Torelli was just unyielding, he had muttered something which served him well over the years and his dead followers were all rising, taking the form of gargoyles. 

At that, both wolves retreated, giving Torelli ample time to meddle with Alvaro who was nearly numbed and was nursing pain on the bough of a tree. 

In the frantic backcloth, it was a different thing altogether. Jesse had stalked on his second victim and had thrown him up. In mid-air, Jake swooped on him and with his powerful jaws, ripped off the gargoyle’s head.

Jesse ducked blows as he made for the somewhat genial-looking gargoyle that looked every inch, the leader among the death-eaters. He held him down as the gargoyle yelped with demonic indignation. He numbed him with a blow and threw his body in the air. Jake of course knew what would follow. 

‘Impressive!’ Torelli smiled‘ Impressive. I have never seen an assault of this magnitude escape’

His death-eaters were scattered about the ground, their heads severed from their lifeless bodies.

‘It appears we have been missing entertaining fights’ Jake whispered to Jesse.

Torelli stopped halfway again and turned slowly, staring unbelievably at the two monstrous wolves and then to the gargoyles. But his shock gave way to a wan of smile which was more sinister and dangerous than the shock.

He spread his hands and his long black villainous jacket began to form a crevice and rip apart. His body cracked and sinews moved. His fingernails narrowed into saber claws. They were large, hairy, and dangerously clawed hands of a beast. He bent like an animal and headed into the woods.

‘A werewolf?’ Jesse asked, wide-mouthed. ‘ But it is almost dawn?’

‘ Don’t be so dumb’ Jake snarled ‘ he is a demon. Alvaro is very lucky that he did not, as he normally did on several occasions, come here alone. Take care of Alvaro while I take care of him!’ 

He jutted through the air like a spear and madly made for Torelli in a devilish stride or two. But Torelli, amidst outbursts of strange laughter, suddenly turned and gripped his neck, and with great strength lifted him up to strangle him, the eyes themselves transforming with rage- they were quite short of humanity. His white teeth champed with fury while his eyes blazed as if the flames of hell blazed right behind them. 

He dropped Jake and ran full-out. He was faster than Jake and he moved swiftly, straight toward a stream. An antler jumped out right in Torelli’s path. With a deft movement of his claws, the antler’s head flew through the air and went rolling across the snow.

But he slowed a bit and stood on his hind legs. Just for a few seconds, as he contemplated the facade, seemingly. And during that hesitation, Jesse caught up. 

Thankfully enough, the slight webbing between each of his toes allowed him swift and facile movement over the snow.

Jesse let loose a roar, quite charged. He lept through the air for the throat of Torelli with his canines bared in a snarl. Torelli swung his claws towards Jesse but he twisted with unnatural speed. The claws only sliced fur.

Torelli could not use his claws any longer as Jesse was too close. All he could do was claw at him, and that wasn’t enough. 

A vicious battle broke out. Jake sank his canines into a death-eater and yanked him back out.

Torelli broke into another run and was way out in front, weaving through the woods in devilish speed and beastly stride.

 The vegetation grew thick just ahead of Jesse and Torelli soon disappeared. But he could still smell him. He could smell the minuscule traces left by Torelli’s feet. He could smell about ten thousand things right then, but he focused hard on one smell. He put down his snout and shouldered through the path.

It soon thinned out. He looked left, right. But he saw nothing. It was then that Torelli’s red eyes betrayed him, they shone in the distance.

Again, Jesse took after him in full blast. He timed his approach and fired his haunches. He flew through the air, aiming for the neck. But it was too strong to rip off. 

The two stared balefully at the other for a few seconds until Jake approached menacingly and stopped as well beside Jesse, snarling. 

‘I shall fight, but not today’ the demon said, forming rapidly back to the priest’s form who fell flat. And then appeared on the horizon abound of black clouds drifting towards the alps. Bats!

Soon it covered half of the sky, and the solid mass was now broken by tiny eyes of light like shining stardust.

Then they heard his mirthless, hard, soulless laughter somewhere in the distance. It was like a sharp wail.

‘I shall fight, but not today,’ the voice said again and resonated throughout the vast plain. 

And there was silence. Deep, awful, cold silence. A strange stillness seemed to fall on everything.

There were many trees around, which made it gloomy. A deep, dark-looking pond evidently fed by some summers and springs was what stood in their facade. With a drooping head and a tremulous tail, Jake mashed his way through the snow, floundering and stumbling between whiles. He raised his head after some time, shocked. 

‘He is dead!’ he sobbed.

Just immediately, Alvaro emerged from behind, whimpering. Evidently, he was badly hurt. Just yards away, he tumbled and made as if to stand but could not coordinate his limbs. Then with his great golden head on his paws, he closed his eyes.

‘Nooo!’ Jesse cried in the direction of Jake.