Chapter 7: Might have transmigrated

She had no clothes on. Nothing at all. My mouth fell open as I stared at her in shock. Then, my wolf senses woke up. I sniffed the air. The smell was strange, rotten, wrong.

Why didn't I notice this before? Why was it hidden from me?

My wolf paced inside me. Something was off. Something dark. But I refused to be afraid. I was a werewolf. Once a beta, now a Grand Alpha.

"Thou hast harmed mine folk!" she said.

But I didn't hear her. Not because I had gone deaf. But because the shock in my chest had frozen my ears.

"Dost thou know how many thou hast wounded?" she shouted.

Still, I couldn't hear well. My ears shook. My eyes wouldn't blink. My lips wouldn't move. I was frozen.

Suddenly, I felt stinging pain, on my neck, my back, and my arms. I snapped my head around, blinking fast. A loud scream came out of me.

It wasn't just her. Three more women stood there. All naked. All holding swords. The sharp tips touched my skin.

Their faces were cold like ice. Their bodies covered in strange, glowing marks I couldn't understand.

I panicked, stepped back and nearly fell, but something sharp hit my back and stopped me.

I turned fast. My knees almost gave out.

More women. Warriors. Dozens of them. All holding glowing swords. All pointed at me.

My wolf stirred inside me, angry, ready to fight. But I held it back.

This place was unknown. These women smelled wrong. They were shifters too, but different. Dangerous. I had to hide my true self, if they hadn't already seen me shift earlier.

"Holy shit…" I whispered as the shock slowly faded.

"What didst thou say?" a sharp voice asked behind me.

I turned around. It was her, the woman who had turned into a bird.

I looked around again, and my eyes widened. The birds that had been bowing earlier, they were all women now.

Shifter birds. All female.

No wonder they kept staring at my lower half. I knew something was off. They were all horny females as I assumed. Strange, wild ones.

"Thou hast harmed mine people!" she growled.

What the heck! It hit me. I was really in the year 1520. Her way of speaking sounded just like the old language in those Shakespeare stories I had read.

"Your people? I have no idea what you're talking about," I snapped back.

My fear had vanished. I remembered who I was. I wasn't going to tremble before a bunch of bird women with swords.

She said I hurt her people… but how? I just landed here. I didn't hurt anyone. Well, maybe that deer my wolf ate last night. Could that deer have been one of them?

"If this is about the deer, I was hungry, okay? Don't blame me," I said in a softer voice, hoping they'd back off before the wrong part of me started reacting again.

"Stranger." She muttered, her hard face softened.

Then she smiled."Ah, thou art hungry? Dost thou desire a deer?"

What? Was she deaf? I never said I was hungry, neither did I ask for a deer.

"We shall fetch thee a deer." she motioned at the other women.

"Hey! What's wrong with your head?" I asked, getting annoyed.

I thought I was facing warriors, but they acted slow. Like fools with swords, trying to scare someone with a weak mind.

She touched her head quickly, her face full of worry. "Mine head? What doth lie upon mine head?"

Fear filled her eyes. The others rushed to her, checking her head like something might be wrong.

"Get out of the way!" I snapped, annoyed by how foolish they were acting.

"I am not in thy way." she replied.

Then it hit me. They weren't foolish. It was a language barrier. I was using modern words, while she spoke in ancient ones. I could understand her. I had read those books so many times. But she couldn't understand me.

"You're standing in my way," I said slowly, pointed at the path, trying to make her understand. But she just kept looking at the ground like she was searching for something.

I dragged my hand through my hair, full of frustration. "Move. Let me pass."

This time, her eyes lit up, and the others looked excited too.

"The path? Dost thou wish to depart?" she asked, tilting her head.

"Thou canst not depart until thou dost soothe mine folk, the ones thou hast harmed."

"I didn't hurt your people," I said, tired now. "Unless that deer was one of you?"

She shook her head."Nay. Not deer."

Thank the moon. Maybe her brain was finally working.

"I killed a deer yesterday because I was hungry. I didn't touch any birds. I didn't hurt your people," I repeated.

"Deer are for feasting," she nodded. "But thou hast harmed mine folk, with this."

She pointed to a stalk lying on the ground. The same one she had dropped when she turned into a bird. The same one I used to wave at the birds before.

Suddenly, it hit me. She wasn't lying. I had hit them. The birds didn't fly away in fear, they flew away in pain.

"I didn't know, I'm sorry," I said quietly.

How could I have known the birds dancing around me were actually women?

"Calm their wrath," she commanded again.

"Fine. I'm sorry," I muttered, looking at the warriors. I pressed my palms together as a sign of apology.

"Not them," she said.

Right. It couldn't be them. The ones I hurt had flown away.

"They abide at home. Come with us," she ordered and started walking. The warriors closed in around me.

"Move forth!" they barked.

How could I follow strangers? But did I even know anyone here? Even that farmhouse I wanted to reach, I didn't know who lived there.

I might as well go with these ones. At least we had something in common.

They were shifters. So was I.

"Wait!" I called out, stopping her.

"Where am I?" I asked. The question had been stuck in my mind since I woke up here.

"Gadzyl Kingdom. Grainstead Clan," she answered, her voice sharp.

"I see," I nodded slowly.

I had never heard of such a kingdom before.

How did she understand me now? Had she been pretending before?

"What day is it today?" I asked again.

"Fifth moon's cycle, the twenty-first day," she replied, already losing patience.

Fifth lunar month? We also used the lunar calendar where I came from. If I remembered right, my coronation had been on the 2nd lunar month, 11th day.

Something hit me hard inside. Had I been here for three months? But, I had only slept one night here.

Fear slowly crept in.

"What year?" I asked, my voice shaky, my heart pounding.

"1520," she snapped.