Armageddon
It had been a long day and Bruce decided to camp there for the rest of the day and the night. It was mid-day but Bruce thought he and his friend had been through enough and didn’t need to start back right now. Neeka was still unsaddled and free to roam and Bruce wondered how far Neeka’s new abilities allowed him to hear his thoughts.

“Quite a ways Bruce. I’m thinking there may be no limit actually, but I’m not interested in testing that right away.”

Bruce chuckled and thought back, “So can you hear everything or only what I want you to hear?”

“That’s hard to say.” came back the clear reply from his friend. I think I can hear only what you want me to, but, like before, I can still pick up your strong emotions.”

Bruce nodded and said, “That makes sense I guess.” Bruce walked over to Neeka and rubbed his friends chest where the sapling had wounded him. The healing was complete and there wasn’t even so much as a scar.

“Let’s stay here for today. You go find something to eat and I’m going to get Macor ready for travel.”

Neeka snorted in disgust at the mention of the Lion’s name. “Dig a hole and put him in it.”

“You know I can’t do that.” Bruce replied. “We’ll take him back with us.”

Bruce felt the immediate thought from his friend. It certainly wasn’t verbal but most like a mental, “Hurumph!” as Neeka sought out some lush long grass.

Bruce went to the felled Lion and thought he looked ever so much like a statue now. Bruce knew he was alive, though he could see no sign of breathing nor hear a heartbeat when he put his ear to the Lion’s chest. Yet, somehow, Bruce knew the Lion was still alive and would be for some very, very long time. He placed a hand over Macor’s golden eyes and closed his eyelids. No sense, if Macor ever did awake, that he do so blind,

He then went to Macors tent and found a blanket. He covered the Lion with it, not so much to keep him warm, his fur would do that easily, but to keep the sun off the mage and keep any small preditors away.

Bruce spent the rest of the day building a litter for taking the Lion back to his home. He built it out of sturdy treelimbs found in the woods and bound then together with vines also found growing there. As he collected these things and worked on building the litter he gave silent thanks to the forest for providing them and for help during the battle. He heard the slight whisper of the wind through the leaves and realized it was the forest again communicating in its own way back to him.

After the litter was built, Bruce went back to Macor’s tent and built a fire. The one that had been burning earlier in the day had all but died out. He used some remaining embers and small twigs to get a fire going and then built it up enough to start a pot of water boiling. Bruce went into the tent and found where Macor stored his tea. He brought a handful and dropped it carefully into the water boiling in the pot.

The steam produced a wonderful aroma. Bruce let the pot boil for a couple of minutes and then pulled the pot off of the fire to let it steep. When he looked up Bruce was surprised to see that night had almost fallen. It was getting dark and the fire was the only real light by which he worked now.

“Huh,” Bruce said somewhat surprised. “I guess it took longer to build the litter than I thought. I guess it’s a good thing I planned to stay here the night.”

He poured himself a cup of Macor’s fine tea and sat in one of the chairs near the fire. He stretched his legs and put his big feet near the fire. Bruce liked his feet being warm. He was just relaxing, sipping his tea when he heard a voice right next to him ask,

“Would you care to share some of that tea. It smells wonderful.”

Bruce jumped up startled and turned towards the voice and found himself facing the largest Wolf he had ever seen. Facing was not quite the correct term. Bruce was tall. Tall even for a Moose, but his muzzle barely came to the Wolf’s waist. Bruce looked up and saw this gigantic Wolf smiling down at him. His golden eyes and the turn of his muzzle indicated no threat and the relaxed stance and grin on his face told Bruce he was in no danger.

Bruce was shaken and startled and asked, “Who are you?” He recovered some of his composure and followed that question quickly with, “And how does something as large as you move so silently?”

The Wolf tipped back his head and laughed. It was a good honest laugh.

“I like you Bruce! We’re going to be friends! Yes, I know it will be so! As for my name, I’m called Armegeddon out of pack. In pack I have another name but that is a Wolf thing.”

“Armegeddon.” Bruce repeated. “Fits.” The Wolf who had so silently made his was into Bruce’s camp was perfectly black. Except for the eyes and teeth Bruce could not have seen him coming if he had been looking straight at him.

Again the Wolf laughed, “Yes, I guess it does. So, are you going to offer me some of this tea or are you going to keep it all for yourself?”

“Sure. I’ll be glad to give you some but the cups I’m using are far too small for you. Did you bring your own bathtub or swimming pool?”

Once more the Wolf laughed, “You are a funny Fur Bruce. Very funny. The forest was right about you! Let me change.”

As Bruce watched the Giant Wolf seemed to blur momentarily, surrounded by a light blue glow and then standing there before him was a Wolf, well actually the same Wolf, just more Bruce’s size.”

“How did you..” Bruce started and then stopped. He was at a loss for words.

“How did I change?” Armageddon smiled, “When you are Faerie Fur many things are possible. You will find that out in the days ahead..”

At that moment Neeka came galloping into the camp and stopped and looked at his friend and the stranger. His thoughts were clear as he sent, “I felt your surprise Bruce. Is everything alright?”

“Well!” exclaimed Armegeddon, “Another Faerie Fur! And one larger than I am!”

“Larger than you? I don’t think so,” Bruce said, and then turned to his friend. “Yes, everything is alright my friend. This is Armeggedon, the Fur we were told was coming.”

Neeka looked at the Wolf and his eyes widened a bit. “He glows!” he thought to Bruce.

“Yes, yes I do Neeka, and glad to meet you too!”

“You can hear me?” Neeka asked surprised.

“Every thought. Actually you are the reason I am here. You are new Faerie Fur and need some guideance. Tarnissaloo has many things to attend to so he asked me to come and give you some of the basics. It’s important that you know just what you have become and some of the drawbacks to what you are.”

He couldn’t stand it anymore and Bruce held up his hand and said, “Will you please tell me what you are talking about? I know my friend here has changed, but there’s more? And what does he mean you glow? You look normal to me!”

The Wolf smiled and nodded, “Yes I look normal to you because you are not Faerie. And there is a great deal more to your friend, much more. You saw me initially in a form I can take on. It is one of my Faerie talents. I have several more. Neeka has his own talents. I’m here to help him find out what they are.”

The Wolf looked at Neeka and explained, “You can see me glow because we are both Faerie. All Faerie will seem to glow to you. You will also see them whether they wish to be seen or not.”

“What? You mean Faerie can be invisible?” Bruce asked.

“Many can, yes, but not all. If they have that talent then yes they can but they will not be invisible from other Faerie.”

Neeka stood listening and finally asked, “So you mean I can do things that I could not before?”

“That’s exactly right Neeka” Armegeddon stated. "For example…"

“For example what?” Neeka asked looking at the glowing Wolf.

Bruce was watching his friend and looked back at the Wolf who was no longer there. “Where did he go?” Bruce asked with surprise.

“Where did who go?” Neeka also asked, but with confusion.

“Armageddon, the Wolf.” Bruce told his friend. He was standing right here.

“OK, now I’m confused.” Neeka said. “He….Ohhhhhhhh!”

Armageddon laughed and Bruce jumped again, hearing the laughter but not seeing the Wolf.

“You can’t see him can you Bruce?” Neeka asked now realizing what was going on.

“No, but I can certainly hear him!”

“I can see him quite clearly.” Neeka said. “I understand. Nothing changed for me but to anyone not Faerie Fur you simply vanished!”

“Quite correct!” Bruce heard the Wolf say as he once again became visible. “To you, Neeka, nothing at all changed, but to Bruce here I simply vanished.”

Neeka nickered in understanding, “Can I vanish too?”

“That I cannot tell you because I do not know. All Faerie have talents and many are different. There are many, many different Faerie Fur abilities and no two Faerie have the same combinations. I have several talents. I can grow to enormous size. Bruce, I can be far bigger than you saw me. I can be invisible. I can also control fire, water and wood. Other Faerie fur can touch things and become an exact duplicate of that thing. I once saw an inch tall Faerie fur hide from a farmer by touching the straw of the farmers scarecrow and hiding with the rest of the straw used as stuffing. That Fur could not become invisible but she was invisible to the farmer who would not consider looking for something as common as straw.”

Armageddon continued, “Other talents include becoming other animals. For example some Faerie Fur, let’s saw a Wolf Fur could turn into a bird and fly away as part of a flock of birds to escape danger. No one would think that a Wolf could fly, but in that case, one could.”

Neeka asked, “So, you have no idea what my talents will be?”

Armageddon smiled, “Nope, none. But that’s why I am here. There are ways to help uncover what your talents are, and even then we may not discover what they all are.”

Bruce was fascinated and asked, “So just how do you find out?”

But that’s a story for tomorrow.