Love's Fate

Cahn stretches himself out in his tent and lies back onto the hard ground. They've given him animal skins to sleep in, but he feels uncomfortable in them, and he's always slept on the floor. He's used to it. He still feels strange when he wakes up, having to orientate himself in his current form. It's been so long and he still doesn't feel home in this body.

The rays of the sun start creeping in through the slit where his tent flaps don't fold over completely. It's time to get up, he has to relieve the night guard of his duty of watching the princess. Cahn only has a few hours to rest every night, but he's fine with that, he doesn't need more. If he's not sleeping he's guarding Princess Reah, to whom he has been assigned as guardian against the terrors of the Other World.

The Kingdom has been at war with the Other World for centuries, longer than anyone living now can remember, and the royal family is constantly in danger. It's impossible to tell when they will strike, and no one can afford to lose princess Reah, heir to the thrown when king Holden steps down.

When the princess awakens, Cahn is already at his post outside her tent. He nods his respect to her every morning as she comes out, noting how the sun lights up strands of her dark red hair, and wonders if he'll ever learn to love the way they do in this world. He's seen people love, smelled the scent they give off when they're around each other, and heard the lilt in their voices, so different than when they address other people with whom they don't share the same feelings. But he's never felt it for himself before. Some of the guards have told him to be careful, that any man would fall for the princess if they spend enough time with her, that her timeless beauty and gentle nature was almost like a curse, inescapable if you fell in love with her. But then, he wasn't a man, was he. He's been her guardian now for six years as they've travelled across the land, presenting the princess to the nations to spread hope and urging them to stay strong, and he's never felt anything that he could call love for her. Respect, yes, but not love.

A beast like Cahn could never love. Isn't that what they were saying? He heard the princess talk to her people, telling them about the inhabitants of the other worlds, about his own kind. He's heard her warn them against their cold heartedness and lack of restraint when it came to killing, even women and children. He had known that most of it was true, although they didn't really understand. Would a heartless beast yearn for love? Perhaps the fact that he was a Giant Wolf, like the others from the Other World, was what was stopping him from loving. Perhaps that was why he didn't see anyone, not even her, as anything but a duty, even if there were some that thought his body - the one he changed into before he came, and stayed in ever since - was attractive, handsome even. He's rejected so many women, he'd stopped counting. What was the point if there was nothing behind it but a shallow tolerance for this weak race?

Cahn thought back to the early days, when he'd just come to this world, his body still unsure of its limitations after having been free in a much bigger, more agile one before. He felt naked without all the fur covering him, and eating was difficult with blunt teeth. He had made sure to keep his sharp sense of hearing and smell, and his night vision, but even so his body felt like a cage.

Then, as continued, he learned how to be like the others, how to move so that he didn't give himself away, and how much of what he noticed to keep to himself so that he didn't seem different. It was frustrating, but it had to be done. He had learned their fumbling fighting skills, learned to stumble even though his strength was far more than any man's, and before long he proved himself so that he was taken into the Royal Guard and assigned to Princess Reah. The work wasn't a challenge. He could sense danger a mile away, although he would have defeated them easily if he hadn't, and the princess was never in any real danger. But it was his job, and he did it as best he could. That was part of who he was, loyal until the end. Even when the lines of who he was loyal to - his own kind, or this one - was starting to blur. How long would he still be stuck in this sad world? He couldn't remember how it felt with his big paws in the snow anymore, or the wind tugging his fur this way and that. He only had faint reminders in dreams now, or when a particular scent travelled on the wind and caught him off guard.

After months of travelling Cahn realizes that they are close to home, and the King is awaiting word of their arrival. He doesn't know what will happen once the princess is safe within castle bounds, if he will be relieved of his duty, but he looks forward to seeing the rich country again, with the green that almost looks like the forest he grew up in, and the water that's cold against his nose when he pretends he's still the real him, and pushes his face in so deep his ears are underwater. Within days they see the castle walls against the hills in the distance, and excitement ripples through the camp they set up. It won't be a day's travel and then they'll have delivered the princess safely to her father.

When they enter the castle gates they're greeted with dancing and flags, and the people bow deeply to the princess. It seems that she has gained in royalty in the years she has been gone, having left a girl and returned a woman, ready to be their queen. Cahn enjoys the sounds of laughter and celebration, and the flags are a nice change from the dull browns and greys of the tents they have been living in for so long. Then the wind changes and suddenly he catches a scent, drifting across the crowds on the wind, and reaching into his soul. He breathes in deeply, and feels giddy. It's some sort of perfume, he gathers, because he's never smelled anything as sweet before, but it numbs his mind and he can only drink it in. His eyes travel unregistering over all the faces surrounding them, and suddenly a pair of striking green eyes capture him and his heart skips a beat.

A moment later, she's approaching them, and Cahn feels his mouth go dry and his palms sweat. This is a new sensation for him, he's never had sweaty palms before, and he grew up with his paws dry and receptive to the ground he travelled over. In confusion he looks down, and when he looks up again those eyes are smiling at him before this woman embraces the princess.

“Tannin!” princess Reah cries and throws her arms around the woman. Cahn can't believe his ears, but as he looks her up and down, he realizes it must be her. The younger princess, Reah's sister. She was just a child when they left the castle, only 13 years old then. But now, as she was standing here before them, she was all woman, graceful and elegant and proud, and fully aware of her power of seduction. Her voice sounds like a thousand bells in harmony. Long after she's gone it still chimes in his ears, and for the first time in his life he feels something similar to hatred towards her guardian, for having the right to be with her. No not hatred, jealousy.

As the days pass and the princesses spend time together, Cahn can't keep his eyes of Princess Tannin. His senses feel numbed, he's not alert to his surroundings anymore, and though he's frustrated with this weakness that overcomes him when he's around her, he aches to be around her more. It's in the small hours of the morning one night, with the bright stars shining down on him, when he realizes that this is what it's like to fall prey to love.

The horns sound, and the women are sent inside the castle. They're attacking, the creatures, and everyone is shouting in terror. Then Cahn picks up their scent, and bristles. He hears their paws on the pine needles in the woods as they run through the trees, their sharp teeth bright glistening in the early morning air. As they draw closer he can feel his body urging to change back to his true form, can feel the howls of his nature tugging at his chest. When he's sure the princesses are inside and guarded, he runs into the woods, and before he's in the trees he feels his body rise and expand, his skin tingle, and he grunts when he front legs hit the ground and he's running on all fours again.

How he's missed this! The pleasure of being himself again ripples through him and a howl rips from his chest and pierces the quiet of the morning, then answers of his brothers travel back. He snaps his teeth, jumps over fallen logs, runs faster than he has been able in years. Then he spots the grey through the trees, and weaves his way towards them

“Brother,” he calls out, and the grey wolf turns his head, his eyes dark and ominous.

“There you are, Cahn, we have missed you!”

“And I you, it's been too long.”

They wait until more arrive, and then, when they're all assembled, the leader gives the orders. They are to attack the castle, leave no survivors. They're going to finish this war once and for all.

Cahn stills as this information sinks in, and his feelings respond. The war has gone on for too long, it has to stop. But his loyalty has been torn, he shudders at the thought of losing Princess Reah, who he's been guarding with his life for so many years, and Princess Tannin, who he wishes to be with for the rest of them.
He realizes everyone is looking at him, and his hair rises at the back of his neck.

“We were asking about their weaknesses, Cahn, you've spent all this time with them. What do you have to report, where do we start?”

Cahn goes cold. This is what he was sent here for? To find the best way to kill them? His emotions flare and his lips pull up in a snarl. The others are startled at first, not expecting this reaction, but very quickly it turns into a fight between them. Before long, he flees the pack, bleeding at his neck and legs, hearing their snarls behind him that if they ever find him, they'll kill him.

He changes to human form once he reaches the edge of the woods, and limps the remaining distance to the castle. He has to find the princesses, he has to save them. He gets them out to safety, and the wolves have to retreat after much fighting because they can't find the royal family.

When the war has died down, and it's safe for the people to come out again, the kind holds a ceremony in which he honours Cahn for his bravery. Cahn stands on the platform with everyone's eyes on him, and he's overcome with a sadness that he's never known. He is bound to this shape forever, and even though his love for Tannin and his respect for Reah is worth it, he will never be able to be himself again, never be the wolf he was. He is the greatest man of them all, but will always be less than the wolf he was.

Chapter 1
Cahn is Princess Reah's guardian for 6 years now, but he isn't human. He's a Giant Wolf, sent from the Other World to this one to pose as a human, and he has managed to work his way up to guarding the royal family. Even though he's good at what he does, he yearns to love the way humans do.

Chapter 2
Cahn thinks back to how he came to this world, and the changes and adjustments he had to make to fit in. He compares his limitations to his freedom, and he wonders what this form can offer him. It's strange that he's guarding his enemy against his own kind, and he feels his loyalty start to divide

Chapter 3
Upon their return to the castle he realizes that the little princess Tannin, princess Reah's younger sister, has changed from a girl into a woman, and the love he never thought he'd feel hits him hard. He feels ridiculous to be so weak around her, but at the same time this feeling is addictive, and he needs more of it

Chapter 4
His own kind attack the humans without warning, and at first he joins them, but when he realizes that he has been placed there by his wolf brothers to give them entrance to the castle so they can kill the royal family, his loyalty makes the final shift from his own kind to the people he's come to love.

Chapter 5
A fight breaks out between the wolves, and Cahn gets badly hurt, but he flees to warn the princesses, risking his life, because the wolves will kill him for his betrayal if they ever find him again. He goes back and takes the royal family to safety until the danger has passed

Chapter 6
Cahn is honored for his loyalty and bravery, and awarded a place with the royal family forever. The people respect him, but sadness washes over him that he can never be what he was born to be, he's bound to the small human form now forever more. The trade is worth the love he feels with the humans, but the loss of himself is pain he'll have to endure forever.

Characters:

Princess Reah - Dark red hair, slightly tan skin, soft brown eyes. Regal.

Princess Tannin - Olive skin, black hair, fierce green eyes. Confident and proud

Cahn - well-built warrior, taught, deep grey eyes, sandy hair. Big for a man, small compared to the grey wolf he becomes, nearly four times the size of a standard wolf, agile and alert in both forms

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