"Get up" She ordered.
The werewolf rose and tried to attack her, only to see his muscles stiffen, his whole body slow and stop before he could even lay a hand on her.
She pushed him back with ease and approached.
"We don't have time. Let no one see you like this. The curse will soon recede. Until then, stay hidden. Once it's gone, it will come back."
"What are you..."
He had to hold his head. Rage was hammering his temples.
"Keep that mark on you." She pointed at the stars drawn on his chest. "Even when it hurts. Avoid anger and blood. Do not eat meat. Once the curse manifests again, hide far from anyone and weaken yourself. Cut your limbs if you have to!"
She watched him step back further and fall. That was just too much, too quickly but she could not care less. Her low voice flogged him.
"Do not hurt anyone, not even a graze, or I will kill you, I will kill them and everything around!"
After which she went silent, so anxious as to hide part of her face.
"This is not real..." He let escape.
"You can't stay cursed. I have to make you human again..."
He had something of a mad chuckle, stirred up by rage: "Is the whole castle like you? Are we ruled by monsters?!"
"I am the only one."
"And I would believe you?!"
She picked him up and threw him against the wall, mostly to silence him. Humans were too close around to let screams alert them.
Once more, Joan was reminded of how easier it would be to just finish him there and then.
"Hold on for a month. On the full moon, your curse will be lifted. But until then!" She whispered. "Don't hurt even a worm! Do that and you'll have your humanity back."
He coughed when she releasd him. He had almost choked at her grip.
Before Joan could add another word, she heard a human coming back. Those light steps were familiar, those of the apprentice approaching the door.
Rather than trap herself, the moment he opened it she charged out and made him stumble. The young man let out a cry and faced the silver dog that had almost made him fall.
She faced him, waiting to see if he would approach the door now open.
"It's you again..." The boy wondered.
He did look at the entrance, but then back at her to carefully approach. There was definitely some fascination in his eyes.
She hopped back and then some more, to see him follow each time. So the dog ran away, slow enough for him to chase after. Soon he was out of the hamlet, rushing once more and quickly out of breath again, to reach a nearby orchard where the silver fur vanished.
He could look all he wanted at the roots and behind the trees: she was watching him from the highest branches, well hidden in the foliage.
Once he tired of searching the man remembered his friend, turned around and went back to the hamlet. It would be too late, she hoped, as her blood was starting to settle.
It hadn't been much of a hunt, if that could even bear the name, yet she wished he had insisted some more.
And then she sighed.
The only way to lift his curse was to die.
One hop and she ran back toward the castle, but stopped as soon as she was out of the orchard, just at the sight of the wall. The place looked, more than ever, like a jail and a trap. Joan of Cormoran would need a story for her absence.
Downstream was an old wooden bridge under which she hid to turn back into a human. The skirtle emerged and immediately fell in the water.
She had picked a sharp rock and once she was finished, the cloth was stained and cut.
With this done she returned to a dog and ran back, through the village and up toward the drawbridge, just in time for the merchant's cart to cross it. Not that the guards would have cared much for a stray dog but still, she slipped under and passed mostly unseen.
Inside the bailey she slipped away and along the barracks in search of a place to turn back. Her search quickly led her behind the stables, in the space before the wall where they stored crates and barrels.
There, she spotted the servant, Adele, sitting idle with grass in her hands.
She had a small smile on her face.
Both noticed each other and the woman took fear. Stray dogs could attack for no reason.
This one approached and put its head against her legs. Adele felt relieved. Her hand reflexively started to caress that silver fur.
"Good boy." She said with that void reserved for children. "Are you hungry? You must be, living out there by yourself."
And she giggled.
"I will be like you soon. My masters are not touching me anymore. They only have eyes for their lady from the woods. That's where I will finish."
The woman had said all of that without hinting at an ounce of sadness. She had talked with such quiet detachment as to fool even herself.
And the dog, being a dog, would not react to her words.
"I'm not pretty, you know. That's why they don't look at me anymore. Men only care about beauty and when they are done, they throw you out."
She left her seat and caressed the dog's head one last time.
"Stay here, little guy. I'll see if I can fetch something from the kitchen for you."
Joan watched her leave and considered how people had just left her to stand here doing nothing when everyone was so busy. That was only possible if nobody had bothered checking on her, or even giving her any task.
She had turned into a werewolf, then into a human. Yet her heart would not let her move just yet, as if she had to wait for that woman's return.
It was the horses' agitation, in their stalls, that shook her off of her trance.
When she emerged from behind and walked into the court, people started to notice the lady in a bloodied dress. Guards approached and in seconds her name carried all the way to the keep.
Both twins came out to meet her.
Behind them their father, in quite the mood, followed with his cane. He didn't have a hard time walking and still weighed on it, slower than his sons.
"Get back inside." One of the twins, she immediately assumed Abelard, ordered her.
"Before I do, what news of the assassin?"
"Inside." He simmered.
"What about him?!" The lord exclaimed. "Has our lady warrior found him at last?"
"Your majesty," she bowed, "I would not come back to you otherwise. He was hiding downstream."
Just imagining it made the giant laugh with joy. He approached to hug her but she held him at bay with just two fingers stretched at his neck.
"My apologies, your majesty, but only your son should touch me."
This only made him grin harder and he bypassed her arm to pat her shoulder, then hold her like a drinking friend.
"Now that's a woman! Ruthless and unforgiving! Watch out, Corentin, if you're not equal to the task" he almost went serious a moment "she will kill you."
And then he laughed again, gestured for a mount and for his troop to assemble.
"Ah, I couldn't be in a better mood! Now men, with me!" And he got on the saddle, not without help. "Let's go see what Vautour has to offer!"
He yanked the reins, made his steed rise then pushed it onward to a gallop, followed by knights and their retinue. En route to raid a neighboring domain.
Both brother seized Joan the moment their father was gone and dragged her in.