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terror. They would find her and
burn her alive and she would never see Bernard again! A moan rose
in her throat before she could stop it.
     
    The hunters halted. "It's there, in the
brush. Ready your weapons."
     
    Charlotte's nerve broke. She covered her head
with both arms. "No! Please don't kill me! I've done nothing
wrong!"
     
    None of the hunters moved. If only she could
see their faces! "Tie me or whatever you wish, but please don't
hurt me again!"
     
    "Again?" said one of the men. "Show yourself.
Slowly."
     
    Charlotte crept out of the brush, trembling
so badly she could scarcely move. Any second she expected to feel
the terrible liquid burn of another fireball, and her scar
throbbed.
     
    The men wore the green-dyed leather of
professional hunters, and one bore the gold wings of a mage
embroidered on his left shoulder. All carried guns but the mage,
who pointed at her. "The white wolf! Macnair and I saw her down by
the coast, where the talking wolf warned us off!"
     
    "I can talk, too," Charlotte said, terror
making her pant. "I won't hurt you, please don't shoot me!"
     
    "What's your name, wolf?" a gunman asked.
     
    "Lady Charlotte Preston, of Halfmoon
Manor."
     
    "Preston!" exclaimed the mage. "Bernard
Preston's wife? Was he the one who yelled at us?"
     
    Charlotte nodded.
     
    "I told you he'd pioneered a cure!" the mage
told his fellows. "Let's take her to the tower at once!" He waved a
hand and a coil of rope appeared. "I'm sorry, Lady, but we must
bind your forepaws at the very least."
     
    Charlotte sat on her haunches and extended
her arms, still expecting a fireball at any second. But a tiny ray
of hope gleamed in her heart for the first time. "Bernard already
went to the tower. He knows the elixir formula and wishes to pass
it on."
     
    "Excellent!" said the mage as he bound her
wrists. He appeared barely five and twenty, with a sparse growth of
beard peppering his chin. She could scarcely believe that he had
cast the fireball that had scorched her back.
     
    She rose to two legs and walked out of the
woods, surrounded by wary hunters. All this time, tension vibrated
within her like a plucked guitar string. Where was Bernard? Was he
safe? She had heard no ruckus from the tower, and he was not there
now, as they crossed the green toward it. Perhaps they let him
inside and all was well. They would open the door for her, and
inside Bernard would be surrounded by mages, all scribbling on
parchment as he dictated the elixir's ingredients.
     
    As they neared the tower, the door opened.
Bernard bounded out on all fours. Behind him strode a gray-bearded
mage with a staff.
     
    Charlotte halted and stifled a scream. Allard
didn't spare her a glance--all his attention was fixed on Bernard.
Bernard crouched on his belly and moaned. Then he snarled.
     
    "Muzzle this one and take it to the pens,"
said Allard. "It's as vicious as the rest."
     
    One of the hunters said, "Isn't that Bernard
Preston?"
     
    Allard stared at Charlotte. "Perhaps it was,
once. What is this?"
     
    Charlotte gazed at the snarling beast her
husband had become. Her grief rose like the tide, and broke on the
rocks of her indignation. While werewolves terrified her, a mere
man did not. So what if he wielded the power to destroy her? She
would defy him, for Bernard's sake.
     
    She drew herself up and tilted her chin. "I
am Lady Charlotte Preston of Halfmoon Manor."
     
    Allard glanced from her to the men around
her, as if calculating. Charlotte kept her face composed. The
hunters had spoken to her and knew her identity. If Allard used the
Staff to remove her sanity, the men would know and perhaps deduce
his intent to spread the curse to all Grayton.
     
    Allard kept his staff on Bernard. "Take her
inside, then. I'll give this one to the wolf handlers."
     
    As the men escorted Charlotte into the tower,
she stared after Bernard. He cast her a backwards glance, but there
was no recognition in his feral yellow eyes.
     

Chapter 9: Crushed