Chapter 3

The rattle of chain and shouting of men are the next things I remember, there are cries and groans all around me, it's clear, I have died and gone to hell. Opening my eyes is painful as a bright light seers into them, blinking rapidly I get most of my sight back, and for once I wish I was blind.

Bars. Wrought iron, well made thick enough to keep in a bear, I'm imprisoned, but in these bars is heaven compared to what lies outside. The bloodstained dirt floor enveloped in chaos, people being tortured, burned, beaten even held in cages. It's mayhem. To the left of my cage a man is being burned by a another, to my left a woman hangs on to a broom with white knuckles she sweeps furiously cleaning a wooden floor as a man with a whip barks orders at her and a man emptying boxes into a pantry. The man has no shirt allowing me to see massive scars criss cross his back, the woman seems physically unharmed but god only knows what she has endured in other means, considering all that is going on at the current moment.

The sight makes me nauseous, I go to cover my eyes with my hands when two large clubs go there instead, no not clubs, paws. For a moment I fight against air as I reach for them, but when my efforts fail I realize why, I am not being grabbed by another creature, the paws do not belong to something they belong to me. For a moment I wonder what I did, but clearly it was the only thing that makes sense when the metal fused itself with me it also fused with my necklace, so when I killed it the metal, the wolf's tooth and my own DNA were squished together. How will I do anything like this, I'm a wolf with a humans brain, and closer examination shows that my fur unlike that of a normal wolves is made of steel and yet extremely warm so my guess is, it's hollow.

If Tim and Sarah could see me now, I'm not so much a moron after all, I guess hanging around listening in on their conversations has paid off, mind you if they saw me the would probably be more interested in the fact that when I turn my head I can see the rest of my wolf body. And what's more is I'm big, like really big, my back sits level with the chests of humans and I'm lying down. It is only now I notice the room has gone completely silent.

A man in fur clothing stands in the doorway as everyone gets down on a knee, he seems to be some sort of ruler. He stays quiet for a moment before giving a speech as he walks to his throne, "my friends, I am so proud at how far we have come together, tonight would not have been possible without your help! This marks the most successful raid yet and it was well worth it, as we speak the profits are being divided evenly to be handed out tomorrow and with the tax we can repair and refuel! Cheers!"

His speech is extremely inspiring if I did not think these guys were criminals, and as the room echoes with their cheer, he sits down on his throne. The room returns to its rambunctious party, while the man sips from a silver goblet, yes goblet, he apparently has no clue what day and age it is, as he controls a group of pirates drinking from goblets.

My cage is plenty big enough for me to stand on all fours and my legs are in a perpetual cramp, so giving in to my urges I stand stretching as tall as I can feeling the fur stick up on my back. The brief moment of ecstasy is concluded with a feeling of claustrophobia, the entire room has changed from drinking to staring. Not like, "holy shit a giant ass wolf with a steel pelt" no not the logical one more of a, "ooooh!!!! Shiny!!" I could rest my chin on the tallest persons head, hell I could bite heads clean off, yet they look at me with little fear. That scares me, and I'm the wolf.

The man on the throne less than a foot away from the cage is the first to speak and with something like admiration, "my, my, it's awake, hey there little fella'" who does he think he's calling little "where did you come from?" I don't like bullies and I sure do not like his taunts, so I lunge.

If I was out of this cage he would be headless, I would have had it for lunch. Sadly though I slam against the bars with a tremendous force, if the cage was not mounted to a steel platform, it would have flown as if tossed. But it is so all I get out of it is a sore nose, everyone jumps in surprise, all but the man I was after.

He is unfazed and if anything he's amused, "got a temper on ya I see, well you will have time to prove yourself." And then to the crowd he announces, "tomorrow he fights!" Which is eagerly greeted with a general, "whoop" and apparently he is done with partying so exiting through a door in the wall ten feet behind the throne. Even if he was not afraid of me the others are as none come within a meter of the cage.

As the party settles down a slave rolling a large cart of raw meat stops outside my cage, the fear is clear on his face and as he drops the meat through the bars he jumps back every time combined with the fact he is missing his left middle, ring and pinky fingers. He's been attacked by some other animal, presumably what I'm going to fight tomorrow and let's hope to god I don't get a hundred eighteen. After all now I really am Jack Wolf.