“All of the advantages of being a werewolf, but none of the curse.”
Friya smiled again. “Correct.”
“Well, what are you waiting for? Sling that cloak over your shoulders and get your werewolf on!”
“Right here, right now?”
“Why not? Shit, whenever I get a new weapon, I can’t wait to try it out! Come on, show me what Friya the werewolf can do.”
“I’m as excited about this as you are, Vance, but… I’ve never done anything like this before.”
“You do know how to use the cloak, right?”
“Y-yes. I have studied the old tomes that speak of how to use it, and I have dreamed many times about it.”
“Then you have to do like I would: dive straight in. No ifs, no buts, no hesitation. Just go for it.”
“All right,” she said, all jittery. “But can we do it in private, just you and me? I don’t want the others to see if… if something goes wrong.”
I turned and spoke to Rollar, who was riding along on his direbear a few yards away. “Rollar, Friya, and I are just heading into the forest for a few minutes. Lead the army on, and we’ll catch up with you when we’re done.”
Rollar chuckled. “All right, Lord Vance. But don’t take too long in the bushes, see? I’ve heard about your—how should I put it—powers of endurance, and you won’t want to have to run five miles to catch up when you’re done, eh?”
I laughed. “Seriously, we’ll just be five minutes.”
“A quickie, eh, Lord Vance? Nothing wrong with that, nothing wrong with that at all!”
“Sure, Rollar—a ‘quickie.’ I’ll be back soon; you take charge.”
He nodded and took my spot at the head of the army. Friya and I dismounted our respective rides and walked off into the trees. Once we were out of sight of the army, she stripped off her furs and stood naked. With the beautiful woman before me, I somehow managed to remain in control of my higher faculties.
“Not that I’m objecting,” I said, my eyes locked on her gorgeous naked body, “but do you really think we have time for this?”
“I’m not taking my clothes off so that we can fuck,” she said, although she couldn’t help angling her hips and turning her body slightly away to give me the most enticing view. “I have to be naked before I put the Cloak of Changing on. Clothes or other items would interfere with the changing process.”
“Oh, I see,” I said, a little disappointed that we weren’t actually going to squeeze a quickie in. “Well, go on then, get it over with before you get me so hard that I can’t stop myself…”
Friya grinned and slipped the enchanted wolfskin over her shoulders. She whispered some magic words, then, abruptly, her entire body was swallowed by a whirling brown tornado that appeared out of nowhere. It spun crazily for about three seconds before it disappeared as quickly as it had materialized. Friya was gone too, and in her place stood a seven-foot-tall werewolf.
I’d heard all about werewolves, of course, but I’d never seen one. Her lupine face bore massive fangs, and her eyes glowed with a bright yellow light. Unlike a wolf, she stood on two legs, her body muscular and her posture bent. On the long fingers of her massive, furry hands were huge sickle-shaped claws. A mere mortal would have run screaming at the sight of this terrifying beast.
“Damn,” I murmured. “You look like you could do some serious killing.”
The werewolf let out an unthreatening growl. I figured Friya could understand what I was saying but obviously couldn’t speak while in this form.
“Show me what you can do,” I said.
She dropped down onto all fours and sprinted through the trees at a blistering pace. There was no way even the fastest runner in the world would have much of a chance of escaping a werewolf.
“Damn, you’re fast. Let’s see how strong you are.”
She raced back to me and looked around for something to test her strength. There was a fallen pine nearby, a large, rotten log that even Drok would not have been able to pick up. Friya picked it up with ease and tossed it through the woods. It exploded with a deafening crack against another tree. She roared with delight, a tremendous, raspy sound that would have struck fear into the hearts of anyone within a three-mile radius.
“It looks like you’re a little brawnier as a werewolf than you were as a woman,” I remarked with a wink. “Good. You’ll be able to fight as ferociously as any of us. Better change back now though, before the army gets too far ahead of us.”
She nodded and growled. Again, the brown tornado appeared and disappeared before I found the gorgeous Friya naked before me again, no sign at all that she’d been a huge werewolf only moments before. As tempting as it was to have some fun with that stunning body, we didn’t have the time.
When we returned, Anna—who had been quiet for a while—was waiting for me up front. She looked concerned.
“What’s wrong, Anna?” I asked.
“It’s Lucielle,” she said. “She’s in terrible danger. I can feel it.”
“How do you know that?”
“Well, for one thing, I can feel the power of the Beauty Mirror fading. And I don’t know how to explain this, but I’ve always had some sort of strong connection with the Charm Goddess. Through this ineffable tie, I can feel that she is in pain, that she is growing weaker.”
Friya nodded grimly. “This is a sure sign that the Charm Goddess is in great peril,” she said. “Many gods link themselves to a mortal and can send messages of distress through their mortal link. Also, in my own dreams, I
