SMP story, part 1...
Title: The Wolf and the Seal
Author: skylark97
Fandom: original
Rating: Eh, somewhere in PG-13 land
Word count: 16,778
Notes: This was written for tsu_chan55 for the snail_mail_porn March betrayal challenge.
The Wolf and the Seal
Wolf watched warily from his cage as the Ringmaster took center stage in the main tent. Assistants were wheeling a large glass tank full of water in behind her as she gave a great bow to the audience. It was a full crowd tonight, as far as Wolf could tell as he peered out at the stands. The advertisements for the new attraction must have brought people out in force.
“Ladies and Gentlemen! Tonight, we have a special treat for you.” Gesturing grandly, the Ringmaster turned back to the assistants who were now leading out another boy about Wolf’s age.
Like Wolf, he was wearing the same standard red silk pants and red vest of the circus. He had a thin gold collar on, and Wolf could see that they’d lined the boy’s blue eyes with kohl in order to make him appear more exotic. God only knew the circus took great pains to make sure Wolf looked particularly wild and vicious when he was called upon to perform.
There were faint red rings around his wrist that Wolf doubted the audience noticed. He saw them straight away, of course. Wolf knew what chaffed, raw skin looked like after a couple of days clapped in the ringmaster’s heavy steel manacles.
“May I present to you,” the Ringmaster grandstanded for the audience, “for the first time in polite society, the amazing sea boy, Seal!”
Amazing sea boy? What the hell was he? Craning his neck, Wolf tried to get a better look at what she was holding. Chances were, this kid was the real deal. Manacles weren’t used on those who faked it. And imposters didn’t last terribly long with this circus troop.
“Now, I know he doesn’t look like much.” She laughed, obviously catching on to the fact that the audience was less than impressed with the skinny kid before them, and she poked at Seal’s bare arm. Wolf didn’t blame Seal in the slightest for shrinking away from her or her fingernails. “He’s merely a half grown boy. But this,” she unfurled a long length of animal skin and Wolf’s eyes were drawn to both it and the angry jerk Seal gave at seeing it, “possesses the power to transform this normal looking boy into a creature of legend.”
Wolf snorted as he paced to the edge of his cage. What was this amazing sea boy going to do with some animal’s pelt? It would have to be something spectacular for the Ringmaster to be carrying on the way she was.
A platform was wheeled up beside the glass tank and the Ringmaster held the pelt out in full showman style in one hand while she grabbed Seal’s upper arm with the other and pulled him up the platform. In almost a motherly gesture that was completely at odds with everything Wolf had ever known from the Ringmaster, she threw the pelt around the boy’s shoulders bringing it together in the front before pushing the boy backwards off the platform and into the glass tank of water beside it.
There was a loud splash, followed by the stunned silence of the audience. Craning his head as far out of his cage as the bars would allow, Wolf caught a glimpse of the boy’s new form.
“Brat!”
Dammit! Snapping his head back from between the bars, Wolf resisted the urge to snarl and bare his teeth as Emil, the lion tamer, opened his pen and reached for the collar of his vest. Struggling would only make it worse, and he wasn’t about to just give Emil a reason to wail on him. So Wolf went limp and let the man drag him out of the boxcar pen they kept him in between performances. Emil, of course, was not at all happy with his compliance.
And pissing off Emil made Wolf happy. He lived in perpetual hope that one day Emil’s tigers, Kaja and Kong, would eat the nasty little man.
“You look wild enough for tonight. No need for make up,” the Ringmaster declared, between performances, as Emil dragged Wolf past her towards the entrance to the main ring. There was one last tiny check up mirror placed in the archway for the troop to use before parading themselves in the ring and Wolf caught a quick glimpse of himself. His light red hair had been cut in a deliberately messy fashion, so it hung in awkward dirty chunks in his face and it fell over his shoulders and across the steel collar he sported around his neck. There were thick dirt smudges across his cheek and on his shoulders from where he’d tried to wrangle his way between the bars to get a better look at Seal. And his brown eyes were almost feral, he supposed, as Emil grabbed a long chain and snapped the end of it onto his collar and pulled.
He looked pathetic, really. Much more like a feral mangy mutt than any kind of glorified and bloodthirsty beast.
Stumbling behind Emil, he tried to keep up as the man walked quickly before bowing in grand fashion and yanking Wolf into the lion cage behind him. Wolf heard the audience gasp in shock as Emil shoved him towards the perch between Kaja and Kong, snapping the bullwhip when Wolf didn’t move fast enough for him.
Distantly, he could acknowledge that the Ringmaster was calling out to the audience, working them and explaining as Emil snapped the bullwhip at Kaja and Kong alternatively, putting them through their paces and cajoling them into the tricks that they’d been raised from kittens to perform.
He was aware of it all happening around him, but yet not at the same time. Each time the bullwhip snapped he flinched. Each time Emil barked out an order, he had to resist the urge to comply and cower. It was like this for every show the circus preformed, and for every show, Wolf spent this time in stark terror, standing rooted to the perch Emil had coerced him onto with the whip. This was something to be endured. If he could have blacked it out, he would have.
After Emil raced the tigers around the pen, they returned to their perches on either side of Wolf. Looking blankly ahead, Wolf was vaguely aware of the hush that fell over the crowd at the Ringmaster’s introduction of him.
He watched with wary, helpless eyes as Emil pulled a pig sticker from his belt and walked up to Wolf. An evil grin on his butt ugly face, Emil used the knife to slash a thin cut across his forearm before shoving the new blood in Wolf’s face.
The change was almost immediate as the blood permeated his senses. His bones snapped and rearranged themselves. He fell to his knees, roaring as the fur and claws sprouted.
And then the whip fell, fast and furious across him.
~~*~~
What seemed like hours later, Emil roughly dragged Wolf’s limp body back to his boxcar cage and hoisted him into it with one heave, the doors locking firmly behind him, swearing the whole time. Good, Wolf hoped he’d herniated a disk or something.
Lock him in and lock the rest of the world out. He was just fine with the forced solitude.
Changing unnaturally was exhausting. On the full moon, it happened as it was supposed to. Slowly, painlessly, and with him in complete control of his faculties. But the circus wasn’t interested in him changing only once a month in a non-lethal fashion for their performances. They wanted the snarling and the blood and the excitement. Audiences paid to see a dangerous beast, not an overgrown puppy.
So they forced the transformation. Each time, leaving him in his cage exhausted and sore from the change and covered in bleeding and oozing strips from where Emil had beat the feral out of him for the sake of the audience and their paying tickets.
Groaning, Wolf tried to hoist himself up into a sitting position, but the effort failed and he lay back down on the old blankets of his home and panted from the exertion. Emil had been extra angry this evening. Most likely he was upset by the idea that Seal might have upstaged the tigers and Wolf, and thus, Emil’s performance, and he’d taken it out on the werewolf’s hide. Heaven forbid that someone steal his dubious limelight.
“Oh Wolf, you poor thing.”
Cracking an eye, Wolf grunted at Gladys, the circus’s resident bearded lady. She was a big blonde lady with a big blonde beard that fell to the middle of her chest, and she was the oldest and the only friend that Wolf had at the circus. On nights like this, she’d pass bandages and antiseptic to him through the bars, which was what she was currently doing as he struggled again to lever himself up off the floor of his cage. “Was it a good night?” he asked, fishing for information in a hoarse whisper as she clucked her tongue. It wasn’t that he cared how much the circus brought in. He certainly saw none of the profits. But money influenced mood, and it was better to know when he should be ducking.
“With you and your new cellmate, Shelia’s dragged in twice the cash flow that she did last year when we were in this area. She’s beyond thrilled. Emil’s a little put out that his performance was moved to the end. You know how the man thinks. He wants to be dead center in everything, the selfish little prick,” Gladys snorted. And Wolf favored her with a weak grin.
Wait a second. “What cellmate?” He asked, trying to clear his throat before giving up the effort to exhaustion.
“Can’t you smell him, honey?” Gladys laughed. “He’s cowering over there in the corner of your cage. Probably scared beyond his wits at that vicious little display Emil treated everyone to.” She pointed to the far corner behind him, but Wolf didn’t have the energy or the heart to turn around and face the stranger. “Maybe if you ask him nicely, Seal will help you with your wounds. Once he stops being terrified of you, of course,” Gladys said gently, not that it eased the sting any. “I have to go before Shelia sees me. You know how territorial she is about her favorite attractions.”
Yes, because heavens forefend that someone befriend the devil’s spawn. Shelia wasn’t interested in Wolf’s obedience, he’d long since learned. He’d tried to please her, and upon discovering that she was impossible to please, he’d simply tried to exist. She wanted to be alpha bitch? Well, it wasn’t like he could stop her from his side of the bars. “You better go,” he agreed wearily.
And with that Gladys was slinking off into the night. Probably to find Hamish, the trapeze artist’s tent. Wolf could smell the sexual tension that came off the two of them any time they came within a hundred feet of his cage. Hamish was a beady-eyed little midget, but who was he to question true love when he didn’t really even know what love was in the first place? He just knew they stank of pheromones when in each other’s presences.
Speaking of smelling things, he could smell the terror now, as it emanated in waves from the far corner where Seal was apparently huddled. And really, the kid had nothing to worry about. Wolf didn’t have the energy to sit up, let alone attack his new roommate. Thankfully, Emil had thrown him in close enough to his pile of blankets, most of which came in handy during the colder nights like tonight. It was a struggle to even get one of them thrown loosely around him, and he knew that come morning, his back would be one huge, tender and painful mess.
In theory, it would be best to bandage up tonight, but he couldn’t move. He didn’t want to move. And he was sure that if he did, Seal would most likely flip out on him, and the last thing he wanted to deal with was someone who had the potential to be either hysterical or violent or both. “I’m not gonna hurt you kid. Relax,” he managed with a strained croak, hoping that Seal knew he was talking to him. Past that, he was willing to let his eyes drift shut and just stay still. Pulling in a breath and then releasing it until his own scared tremors died away.
“Do they do that every performance?” The quiet, almost solemn voice scared about ten years off Wolf’s life seeing as how he hadn’t been expecting Seal to even speak to him. He gave a hurt hiss.
It dawned on Wolf that the sight of the strips currently displayed on his back might be the reason behind Seal’s fear.
“They won’t do the same to you. Different situations. Different attractions,” Wolf managed, his hoarse voice still managing to sound bitter. “Nobody lives in fear of the bloodthirsty selkie,” he couldn’t help but add in spite, uncomfortable with the idea of having to share his sanctuary and his jail with someone else. Particularly someone else who in all likelihood was not going to be at all amenable to Wolf. Not many people were, after all.
“I,” Seal paused, “I could help you with that.”
“What?” He couldn’t have been more shocked if Seal had produced the key to the lock on their cage and proposed that they leave. Seal had to have seen the performance. The way he smelled indicated as much. And while Wolf was never entirely conscious of the proceedings, he knew enough to know that it was frightful to watch. There was almost always a town or two every year that tried to crash the circus grounds and lynch the dangerous werewolf the troop was hiding.
“They have no right to keep us locked up in here,” Seal whispered vehemently and suddenly, making Wolf jump as he touched a bare spot on Wolf’s arm. He was beside Wolf, touching Wolf. Was he insane? “To them, we’re little better than animals.” Seal’s fingers were smooth and gentle and quavering slightly as they traced over Wolf’s elbow. “This is going to sting a little bit.”
Opening his eyes, and glancing up disbelievingly. Wolf could see that Seal was kneeling beside him, a bottle of antiseptic in one hand and a piece of cloth in the other. “It usually does,” he said cautiously, keeping his tone neutral. He was tense as Seal placed the cloth gently over the wounds, and he hissed slightly as the alcohol stung.
“We have to get out of here,” Seal whispered furiously, seeming to get more and more indignant with each bandage he applied to Wolf’s back, his blue eyes flash angrily as his black hair fell in his face. Yes, because it was just that easy, and Wolf was just that incompetent that he hadn’t managed to free himself before Seal’s timely arrival. Wolf rolled his eyes before frowning slightly at the boy beside him. He couldn’t work himself up into genuine anger though at Seal’s words. Who wouldn’t want to escape after all?
The bandaging was done in short order, and while it felt uncomfortable and confining, Seal’s amateur job was worlds better than anything Wolf would have managed on his own.
So what the hell was the matter with this boy? Either he was too stupid to understand that Wolf was the spawn of Satan, or for some heretofore unknown reason, Seal didn’t share the same opinion that just about everyone who had ever come across him shared. Maybe it was more that shared circumstances that drove Seal to his side? Compassion forged out of necessity? A friendship started out of pity? Either way, Wolf would take it and be grateful, he decided. If Seal was the village idiot, he certainly wasn’t going to try and enlighten him.
“Thank you,” he said quietly, relaxing against his blanket. “It’s not much, but there are blankets in that corner,” he lifted a finger in the direction Seal had been huddled in, “and the chamber pot-like hole is over there in that corner. You might want to get some sleep. You’re looking at the crew that helps clean up after the animals in the morning after they’ve been fed.” And god only knew that morning usually came all too soon. They used chains on Wolf, keeping him tethered from pen to pen as he cleaned. They wouldn’t have to do that with Seal, he imagined, given the fine filigreed gold collar he sported as opposed to the heavy steel one Wolf had.
There was some rustling and Wolf was surprised when Seal pulled up his blanket surprisingly close to Wolf. “We have to get out of here,” Seal repeated, his face merely inches from Wolf’s, giving Wolf the opportunity to study Seal’s high cheekbones and the bump on his nose where it had probably been broken in the past. “We have to plan our escape,” Seal murmured sleepily before his eyes fluttered closed. After a few minutes, Wolf listened as Seal’s breathing evened out and deepened in sleep.
Their escape, huh? Wolf blew out a small sigh. As if it would be anywhere near that easy. What, did Seal think he hung about this place because it was so unbelievably fun? And besides that escape to what? The world outside these bars was just as harsh as the one within them.
Frowning, he reached out cautiously to pull Seal’s hair out of his face. To think that he felt so comfortable just drifting off to sleep with Wolf sitting there. He’d seen the show, hadn’t he? He knew exactly what Wolf was capable of, right?
And yet he wasn’t huddled in a corner screaming at Wolf to stay the hell away from him and he wasn’t attacking Wolf in an attempt to subdue him. Wolf suspected that lack of fear was what had gotten Seal captured in the first place, but he wasn’t going to complain over the circumstances. If Seal felt relaxed around him where everyone else Wolf had ever known was edgy and hostile, Wolf was fine with it.
And only when he was certain that Seal was asleep did he sneak closer until his arm could be flung over Seal’s waist and he could snuggle his head against Seal’s side. It had been so long since he’d been able to touch skin that wasn’t his own, to hug sides that didn’t belong to him, and he savored the sensation. Given the way Seal didn’t even twitch at his touch, Wolf could do this and Seal would never know. He’d wake up before Seal for sure.
~~*~~
Wolf woke up slowly, noticing as he did so, the feel of someone’s breath against the top of his head. Opening his eyes, he jerked, more than a little surprised to find that he’d managed to inch his way over until he was half on top of Seal in his sleep. Seal had his feet all tangled up in Wolf’s while Wolf’s arm was flung haphazardly over Seal’s middle while Seal’s arm was curled carelessly over the tops of Wolf’s shoulders.
Scrambling up abruptly, Wolf ignored the twinges in his back as he came up against the bars and hugged his middle. “Sorry,” he said, sure that his face was turning red even as he was saying it. He’d meant to wake up before Seal. He should have woken up before Seal. Not that the daft kid was aware of the fact that he should be at least a little bit apprehensive around Wolf or that he should fear waking up to discover a werewolf half sleeping on top of him.
“Why?” Seal asked simply, scooting up until he was almost nose-to-nose with Wolf. “It did get pretty cold last night. And you were hurt.” Seal explained away for him. “I sleep like this all the time with my brothers and sisters. No big deal.”
“Sure,” he murmured.
“Okay brats, get your lazy asses up,” Emil ordered, and Wolf jumped as Emil jabbed a finger at one of his bandages between the bars before grabbing Wolf’s collar and clipping on the short chain. “Who’s afraid of the big, bad Wolf?” Emil snickered as Wolf slowly, painfully, pulled himself to his feet.
“Asshole,” Seal muttered and Wolf had to hide a grin. Although, Seal was lucky Emil hadn’t heard him, or he’d be in a world of pain right now.
“Get to, freaks,” Emil grinned and Wolf grabbed his chain before moving to the door, which Emil unlocked. He tolerated it as Emil grabbed the end of the chain and yanked him down, making Wolf stumble slightly. Given Seal’s indignant squawk, Seal wasn’t as accepting of the behavior as Wolf. Well, he’d learn. Wolf bit down on his lower lip as Emil reached up and boxed Seal’s ears hard. The bastard laughed as Seal stumbled out of the boxcar. “Since there’s two of you, it should only take half the time,” Emil sneered, pulling the main leader chain out and hooking it to the smaller chain on Wolf’s collar.
“But he’s never done this before,” Wolf protested before thinking better of it. Emil gave him a nasty cuff to the side of his head. He could smell the stale beer on the man from a mile away, and Emil sober wasn’t exactly a treat. Emil hung over was just someone a person didn’t talk back to unless they were in a position to defend themselves, which Wolf most certainly was not. Swallowing down the enraged snarl that was itching to crawl up his throat, Wolf moved to help Seal up onto his feet.
“I’ll be back in two hours.” Emil stomped out of the tent all together. Sighing, Wolf could tell from Seal’s confused expression that none of what was happening was making a bit of sense to the kid.
“We have to get the horses, the elephants, and the giraffes’ pens cleaned out. There are shovels over here,” Wolf trudged to the far corner of the awning they were under and pulled two shovels out of the storage bin, handing one of them to a perplexed Seal. “The dung goes into one of those wheelbarrows that Emil will come and get later. Don’t pile ‘em too high or you’ll get hit again. Those buckets over there are supposed to be to rinse the floors and give them water, so be careful and don’t use a lot to clean out the cage. They all drink a lot and it’ll get hotter in the afternoon. ” The elephants knew him on sight and smell, they weren’t as wary or as hostile towards him as Wolf suspected they would be to a complete stranger like Seal, so he took those pens, waving Seal over to the horses.
“Why do they keep you chained up?” Seal’s voice came around fifteen minutes later, muffled from the way he was bent over, shoveling manure. “And why the hell won’t you move, you damned horse! I’m trying to clean there.” It took Wolf a good five minutes and a raised eyebrow to figure out that Seal was addressing him with the first question and not the horse whose pen Seal was standing in.
“Because I’ve tried to runaway in the past. Made it two towns over before they caught me, but they haven’t trusted me since.” Or really, before that even. It had just been a careless mistake where someone had forgotten to lock his cage and he’d taken advantage of it. However, the next town over had gotten wind of his performance in the circus and instead of welcoming him with open arms or letting him blend into their background, they’d tried to hogtie him to a stake and burn him to death.
The Ringmaster and Emil had tracked him down just in time, and if the beating Emil had given him hadn’t served as enough of a deterrent, the smell of smoke and the angry faces of the people who came to the shows would be. Maybe thoughts of escape came to Seal so easily because escape for someone like Seal would be easy. They certainly weren’t going to try and lynch someone who was cheerfully whistling as he shoveled horse manure.
“A better question might be to ask why they haven’t chained you up,” Wolf said softly, slapping Sana the three year old elephant on the flank lightly before peaking out to see that Seal had moved on to the next pen.
“They don’t have to,” the frustration was evident in Seal’s tone. “As long as they have my pelt, I can’t leave. I can’t transform without it. I’m not whole without it. And because I was stupid and careless and arrogant, they have it and I don’t and so they don’t have to chain me because I can’t go anywhere without it. Bastards.” Wolf could hear the bitterness in the confession.
“It’ll get easier,” he murmured. Although, he wasn’t entirely certain he’d meant the words for Seal, or for himself now that Seal was here to stay.
~~*~~
Wolf deliberately dragged a couple blankets over to the far corner of their cage as Seal watched him with confused eyes. It had to end, this weird need to be beside Seal. He’d given in to temptation the first night, but really, he couldn’t be too hard on himself for that. He’d spent years in this cage alone and without another soul to talk to.
But it wasn’t right. He couldn’t continue to sit up and patiently wait until Seal fell asleep and then sneak in like a bandit and practically smother Seal as he fell asleep on top of him. Seal might say that he was okay with it now, but it was just a matter of time really before Seal came to his senses. About everything. It was stupid to get his hopes up. Especially since he should know better by now. It would be best if he did the smart thing and cut it off now before Seal finally understood the severity of their situation.
“What the hell are you doing?” Seal sounded exasperated as he propped his chin up with his hand and watched Wolf work.
“Making my bed,” Wolf answered shortly. The less he said the better. Seal would get it eventually.
“Is this about me teasing you this morning?” Seal demanded. “Geez, I didn’t really mean anything by it. It’s just funny, you know. The way you turn bright red and skitter away. I mean, who knew? The oh so scary werewolf really enjoys a good cuddle.” Seal gave him an impish grin.
Wolf did not return it.
“My back is doing better now.” Although, it was just a matter of time. Tomorrow was the beginning of a three nights of shows, but for now it was as good an excuse as any. Seal had only seen him change in that first show, if he’d seen Wolf change at all. After a refresher performance, Wolf doubted Seal would be as amenable to him as he’d been so far.
“You’re being really stubborn.”
“No, I’m not. I’m just being practical.”
“Practical would be getting your skinny ass over here and sharing the blankets since it’s cold and the floor of this stupid cage is rock hard,” Seal pointed out. Scowling, Wolf had no retort for that. He flopped down on his impromptu bed, back to Seal. Seal would get the hint eventually. Maybe. “Okay, fine. Be that way.”
“Where is it? You know they keep that dirty werewolf locked up somewhere around here.”
Wolf flinched at the rather loud, rather drunken voice. Glancing up, he could make out the lanterns of a few someones who most likely weren’t where they were supposed to be. If Shelia caught them, the local authorities would probably get involved and the circus would have to pull up again because of the ensuing scandal. But since the Ringmaster thrived on that scandal and since the circus often profited from the free publicity and the gawkers interested in seeing what all the fuss was about, she wasn’t as tight with security as she could have been.
“There it is! I can see the hair!”
Lovely. Wolf snarled silently, rolling over so his back was to the bars. Maybe they’d leave. And maybe the Earth would rotate backwards. Great. Just great.
“What’s it doing?”
“Aw man, it’s just sleeping. Hey Perry, wake it up!”
“C’mon beast. Show us your teeth!”
Stubbornly, Wolf ignored them as they came closer to the bars. He cracked an eye to see that Seal was sitting on the blanket bed in the corner watching them with undisguised disgust. Well, Wolf didn’t plan on giving them a show, so hopefully they’d just get bored and leave. It didn’t happen very often, but maybe Wolf would get lucky.
“No fun. It’s just laying there. C’mon Perry, make it move.” The high pitched voice made Wolf roll his eyes. Some idiot out to impress his date and friends then.
“Why don’t you leave him the hell alone and get a life,” Seal snarled. Their audience merely laughed at him.
“Oooh, check out the bite on the little itty bitty selkie! C’mere selkie-welkie. I have a peanut.”
“A peanut? What are you, retarded? Do I look like a goddamned elephant?” Seal sneered. And then suggested something anatomically impossible that the drunk could do with both the peanut and his foot.
“Here, this’ll do it.” The statement was followed quickly with the smashing of a bottle against the bars that coated Wolf with both glass and liquor. Seal gave an indignant squawk, but Wolf resolutely tried to ignore them.
Three rocks and two more bottles later though, and his patience had finally snapped. Springing to life, he threw himself at the bars, startling the drunks enough to send them stumbling back from the cage. They wanted a show? He’d damned well give them one. It wasn’t like they were going to leave until they got it anyway.
He snarled, making sure they got a good eyeful of his abnormally long canines as he threw himself at the bars. He growled and paced and howled and did every other hokey thing he could think of short of changing. And since they’d been stupid enough to arm him with ammunition, he took the rocks they’d thrown at him and threw them back, smiling in satisfaction when he nailed the date on the ass, the prick she was with in the chest and their asshole friend in the stomach. Served them right, he decided, howling at them with the knowledge that he sounded more animal than human. Let them take that back and exaggerate it six ways to Sunday. Good thing that there was a show tomorrow night. Security would be tighter and more people would be around, making a reprise harder for drunks to enact. Not impossible, necessarily, but harder.
Glad that they were gone, he slumped back down onto his now alcohol soaked blankets. Lovely. On the bright side, and least they hadn’t cut him with the glass from the bottles or actually nailed him with the rocks. They’d been terrible shots. He wished all the idiots that came skulking around were as blind. He had a scar under his right eye from where one particularly good shot had tried to take out an eye one night.
He could hear Seal fumbling around with something, but he didn’t have the heart to turn around to look and see what Seal was up to. If Seal had wanted something do with him before, that certainly couldn’t be the case anymore.
“C’mon Wolf.” Seal startled him by tugging on his vest. Turning around, he could see that Seal had taken all the blankets and piled them in the middle of the cage.
“What are you doing?” He couldn’t keep the confusion out of his voice as he asked.
“You’re all wet, and you’re being stupid. Just share the dumb blankets with me.”
Reluctantly getting to his feet, Wolf was bewildered. Had Seal not seen the teeth? Heard the growling? If he didn’t come across as some reject wild boy, he had to have at least come across a little scary. And given the faintest hint of fear that he could smell coming from Seal, the kid wasn’t completely unaffected by the display. “What?”
“Look, what ever it was that I did to piss you off, I’m sorry. But get over it, already,” Seal spit out before physically pulling Wolf over to the blankets and shoving him down onto them. “Honestly. You’d make a mule cry.”
Wolf hid a grin at the exaggeration as Seal plopped down beside him, throwing an arm over Wolf’s middle to prevent him from getting back up without a struggle. He was almost asleep, his head slumped on Seal’s chest, when the low rumble of Seal’s voice woke him. “We’re not animals, you know. We don’t belong in here.”
Wolf wished he had half that conviction.
~~*~~
“What the hell are you doing?” Wolf whispered more than a little incredulously as Gladys, slid a key into the lock on the door of the cage that Wolf had shared with Seal for the past two weeks.
“I’m freeing you both. It’s not right, the way she’s got you both chained up and penned in here. Those sores you’re always walking around with. It has to end, Wolf.” And while Gladys said things like this all the time, she’d never actually unlocked the door before. The small, traitorous part of Wolf wondered if maybe the reason she’d never gone as far as this was because she was just as scared of him as everyone else in the circus. She’d never seemed as if she’d had an ulterior motive for helping Wolf out before, but he never knew.
“Why now?” he asked, running a hand through Seal’s black hair to hide his nervousness at the prospect of leaving. Despite the two weeks he’d been a part of this circus, Seal had yet to learn how to sleep lightly. But with him around, Wolf supposed, Seal didn’t necessarily have to be a light sleeper.
“Because it’s time. Seal’s said that he has family looking for him, and we’re as close to the coast as we’re going to get for the year.” Gladys shrugged, scratching her beard thoughtfully before pulling the door up. “Stick with him and you should be okay.”
“But his skin,” Wolf whispered back. “It’s not like he’s in the cage because he’ll run away if he’s not,” he scowled back at her as Gladys rolled her eyes.
“Hamish knows where she keeps it. He’s smuggling it out as we speak.” She pulled open the door. “It’s now or never, love.”
There were times before the circus, but they were hazy and blurred and Wolf had no desire to remember any better than that. “Seal,” he murmured, shoving Seal’s shoulder lightly. “Seal, wake up.” Seal’s blue eyes popped open and Seal scrambled up onto his knees before looking confused.
Seal wasn’t scared of him. Hell, he wasn’t even intimidated by Wolf. And Wolf was more than a little confused by it.
Wolf’s skin was a map of scars made from Emil’s bullwhip. He had light red hair that most villagers often claimed marked him as the Devil’s child, and since his eyes were so dark that it was hard to distinguish the brown of his irises from his pupils, rumors were spread about how he could suck out someone’s soul with just a look. Seal looked at his hair and said it reminded him of kelp and that his eyes looked like those of an old humpback he once knew. And Wolf didn’t know whether to be insulted or relieved.
In spite of all appearances, Seal had the distinction of being the only person in Wolf’s experience to have willingly reached out and touched him. Gladys snuck him bandages and antiseptic through the bars, sure, but she couldn’t touch him. Wouldn’t touch him? He was never sure. It all got confused in his head.
Seal slept beside him at night. Seal let Wolf curl up beside him, and sleep with his head on Seal’s chest. Seal didn’t push him away or treat him like a leper when he came near. Wolf could touch Seal, and Seal would touch him in return.
“What’s going on?” Seal blinked sleepily before standing. He then immediately made for the door that Wolf hadn’t moved an inch closer to, despite it’s being wide open. “Are we escaping?” The question was directed at Gladys. Wolf wouldn’t have to explain what was happening, Seal would figure it out. After all, this had been what Seal had been planning for every second of every day since he’d been brought to Wolf’s cage.
“Yes, love, you are. But if you aren’t quick about it, you won’t make it. You know Shelia can smell a rat a mile away.” Gladys smiled as Seal hopped out the open door. Hesitating, Wolf made his way towards the edge of the cage. Seal turned around to give him a hand down and Wolf tried to gauge the look in Seal’s eyes. This was freedom, right? This was what Seal had wanted from the moment that he’d been thrown into Wolf’s cage.
Maybe, a long, long time ago it was what Wolf had wanted too. Maybe every full moon, he still did. But this wasn’t the full moon. The one and only thing that was going to make this escape any different was that Seal was here with him, escaping with him.
“We haven’t got all night, Wolf,” Seal reached up and Wolf felt himself taking Seal’s hand before hopping out of the cage.
“There’s Hamish,” Gladys added, relieved. Hamish, small little man that he was, scurried up to them, tossing a bag to Wolf before threading his fingers through Gladys’ hand. “This is where we leave you, boyos.”
“What about you?” Wolf asked. Gladys had been good to him. And while he couldn’t exactly fathom her romance with the strange little trapeze artist man, he could smell it nonetheless.
“Love, I’ve been let go. Downsized, if you will,” Gladys let out a soft belly laugh. “I just had to stick it to that bitch of a ringmaster one last time. That I could get you and Seal out, well, that was an added bonus.” She winked and Wolf nodded, understanding better now, as he hugged the bag to his middle.
“I assume,” Seal trailed off, gesturing to the bag.
“Of course,” Hamish giggled. “Wouldn’t be much of an escape for you, now would it, if we didn’t get your pelt back to you.”
“Thank you,” Seal smiled a genuine smile and Wolf almost smiled one in reflex. “Best of luck on the outside.”
“And to you, too.” Gladys murmured, hesitating slightly before pulling a startled Wolf into a brief hug. He could smell the faint twinges fear on her as she held him for a second before letting go. He made her nervous. He suspected he always had.
“Thank you for everything, Gladys,” he murmured before turning to follow Seal. He’d never see her again, he knew. She was gone for good whether they got recaptured or not and he owed it to her for every time she’d brought him what little help she could despite the fact that his existence unnerved her.
“Whatever you do, don’t lose that,” Seal whispered to him, grabbing Wolf’s arm as they snuck out of the main tent and towards the edges of the fairgrounds. He snorted, like he had to be told that.
Seal was shorter than him, smaller than him, so it was easy for Seal to slip underneath the chain fence. So there were a few scratches, but he made it under the barrier in short order. The grounds themselves were practically deserted, lending Wolf to think that they probably had about a good two hour head start before the troop started heading back in from whatever tavern or bar they’d found. It wouldn’t take them long to discover the empty cage.
Two hours wasn’t a lot of time. Not when Shelia had horses and dogs and tigers at her disposal to use to track them down. God only knew, it wouldn’t take Emil with Kaja or Kong too terribly long to find him. While Emil didn’t like him, the tigers certainly did. Wolf had spent four years cleaning out their pens before he’d been reassigned to the elephants.
“Do you know where we’re going?” He half snarled, feeling uncomfortable without the surroundings of his cage and trying not to think about what had happened the last time he’d tried this. “Do you even know where we are?”
“Calm down. Of course I do,” Seal smiled back, ruffling Wolf’s reddish blond hair out of his brown eyes and smiling a cocky smile. “I used to play here all the time as a kid.”
“What’s to stop Shelia from tracking us both down? What’s to stop them or anyone from the town who saw last night’s performance from finding us and throwing us back into that cage.” He tried to cover his nervousness with a growl, but he suspected from the way that Seal rolled his eyes that Seal saw right through it.
“My grandparents will know what to do when we get to them. They’ll, of course, chew me out for having been so careless as to have gotten myself caught in the first place.” Seal grinned, shrugging a shoulder before grabbing Wolf’s wrist and pulling him along the edges of the fairgrounds to the forest that bordered it. “It shouldn’t take too long to get to their cottage. They live just on the edge of the sea.”
“But the sea is miles from here,” Wolf protested in a hiss as they started crunching through the undergrowth of what was shaping up to be a pretty dense forest. He had to duck at least three times in a two minute span to keep from getting swatted in the face by branches, and he’d had to keep a steady grip on Seal to keep Seal from tripping over the littered debris of old tree branches and bushes on the forest floor. That Seal thought this to be a merry little hop, skip and a jump to the sea astounded Wolf. He’d never taken Seal for a thoughtless dreamer before this. Village idiot, sure. Delusional? Not so much. “She’s going to catch us.”
“No she won’t,” Seal smirked confidently. “We’ll be long gone before that.”
“How the hell can you say that?” Wolf shot back, getting understandably annoyed and apprehensive. “We have two hours at the most before they start scouting for us. Those tigers might not want to sniff you out, but they’ll find me in short order. Are you planning on ditching me half way into these woods?” The question was meant to sound sarcastic, but Wolf didn’t exactly not mean it either. There was nothing stopping Seal from simply abandoning Wolf here and now and letting Wolf fend for himself. They’d been cellmates for two weeks, and while Seal wasn’t exactly scared of Wolf, he couldn’t be sure that Seal exactly wanted him around either.
“Don’t be a grumbley ass,” Seal chided. “Of course I’m not leaving you behind. We just won’t be going in a way they’ll expect, or be able to follow, I might add.” Seal tugged him past a particularly huge willow tree and with a splash, pulled him knee deep into freezing water.
The moon was three quarters full, and Wolf could see that the water Seal had pulled him into was part of a river that was flowing gently through the thick vegetation on either side of its banks. The moonlight bounced off the ripples around them, making Seal’s skin look paler than normal, but Wolf wasn’t sure if it was the moon or just the naturalness of being in water that made Seal’s usually dark blue eyes shine.
“I can’t swim,” he blurted out, hugging the bag Hamish had handed him closer to his body as Seal laughed. Scowling, Wolf was so glad it amused Seal. Maybe it would amuse him even more when they headed downstream and Wolf drowned in midst of their escape attempt. Seal might be a creature in tune with everything that was aquatic, but Wolf wasn’t.
Hurt, Wolf whirled around to storm away when Seal grabbed an arm to stop him. “Oh lighten up. It was just funny the way you said it, is all.” Seal reached up, cuffing him affectionately upside the head, confusing Wolf all the more. “Let me see the bag.”
Uncertainly, Wolf handed it over, watching as Seal pulled a long gray animal pelt out of it. “How’s that going to help us escape?” he asked as Seal tossed the bag back to him. Peering in, he could see that Gladys had had the foresight to pack them some supplies. A blanket and an extra set of clothes. There was even a couple of bills rubber banded together at the very bottom, and it made him smile in spite of himself.
“I’m going to change, and you’re going to hold on for dear life,” Seal said matter-of factly. “I’ve swum on this river my whole life. It leads back to the sea and back to my home. As long as you don’t let go, it’ll be fine.” With the pelt in hand, it almost looked as if there was an entire glow about Seal as he threw the skin around his shoulders. It was much more impressive on the banks of the river than it had ever been during the middle of a circus performance, Wolf had to admit, as Seal transformed into a selkie before his eyes.
To Wolf, he seemed impossibly huge. A larger than life version of the seals that traveled with the circus, only Seal had more elaborate flippers and there were markings that curled up the sides of his neck to where there were tiny fish like fins to denote his ears. He was sleek, graceful looking with the pale gray of the pelt covering his whole body leaving nothing that truly reminded Wolf of Seal except for the mischievous blue of his big eyes.
Seal had whispered to him once, after the first week of performances that he was actually quite small for a selkie. No one could have proved it to Wolf at this particular moment though. He watched as Seal gave him one slow, languid wink before hopping slightly and diving into deeper water. Terrified for a second that Seal was going to leave him here on the banks of some stupid river by himself, Wolf stumbled out farther to follow him.
“Seal?” He tried calling quietly before almost shrieking as something brushed up against his side. Blinking, he looked down just in time to see Seal reaching up to butt his shoulder with his slender muzzle. “You ass,” Wolf blew out, exasperated. Gingerly, he ran his fingers over the silky soft skin while Seal waited patiently for him to get used to the change. “You really think this is going to work,” Wolf said flatly.
For his troubles, he got a flipper full of water splashed in his face. Sighing, he slid his arms around Seal’s neck, being careful not to hold on too tight, despite the fact that the whole situation was completely unnerving him. He couldn’t swim. If he let go, even by accident, chances were he’d drowned. But none of that seemed to matter to Seal who took Wolf’s grasp as assent and pulled them both out into the deeper water of the center of the river and started swimming almost joyfully for the sea.
Author: skylark97
Fandom: original
Rating: Eh, somewhere in PG-13 land
Word count: 16,778
Notes: This was written for tsu_chan55 for the snail_mail_porn March betrayal challenge.
The Wolf and the Seal
Wolf watched warily from his cage as the Ringmaster took center stage in the main tent. Assistants were wheeling a large glass tank full of water in behind her as she gave a great bow to the audience. It was a full crowd tonight, as far as Wolf could tell as he peered out at the stands. The advertisements for the new attraction must have brought people out in force.
“Ladies and Gentlemen! Tonight, we have a special treat for you.” Gesturing grandly, the Ringmaster turned back to the assistants who were now leading out another boy about Wolf’s age.
Like Wolf, he was wearing the same standard red silk pants and red vest of the circus. He had a thin gold collar on, and Wolf could see that they’d lined the boy’s blue eyes with kohl in order to make him appear more exotic. God only knew the circus took great pains to make sure Wolf looked particularly wild and vicious when he was called upon to perform.
There were faint red rings around his wrist that Wolf doubted the audience noticed. He saw them straight away, of course. Wolf knew what chaffed, raw skin looked like after a couple of days clapped in the ringmaster’s heavy steel manacles.
“May I present to you,” the Ringmaster grandstanded for the audience, “for the first time in polite society, the amazing sea boy, Seal!”
Amazing sea boy? What the hell was he? Craning his neck, Wolf tried to get a better look at what she was holding. Chances were, this kid was the real deal. Manacles weren’t used on those who faked it. And imposters didn’t last terribly long with this circus troop.
“Now, I know he doesn’t look like much.” She laughed, obviously catching on to the fact that the audience was less than impressed with the skinny kid before them, and she poked at Seal’s bare arm. Wolf didn’t blame Seal in the slightest for shrinking away from her or her fingernails. “He’s merely a half grown boy. But this,” she unfurled a long length of animal skin and Wolf’s eyes were drawn to both it and the angry jerk Seal gave at seeing it, “possesses the power to transform this normal looking boy into a creature of legend.”
Wolf snorted as he paced to the edge of his cage. What was this amazing sea boy going to do with some animal’s pelt? It would have to be something spectacular for the Ringmaster to be carrying on the way she was.
A platform was wheeled up beside the glass tank and the Ringmaster held the pelt out in full showman style in one hand while she grabbed Seal’s upper arm with the other and pulled him up the platform. In almost a motherly gesture that was completely at odds with everything Wolf had ever known from the Ringmaster, she threw the pelt around the boy’s shoulders bringing it together in the front before pushing the boy backwards off the platform and into the glass tank of water beside it.
There was a loud splash, followed by the stunned silence of the audience. Craning his head as far out of his cage as the bars would allow, Wolf caught a glimpse of the boy’s new form.
“Brat!”
Dammit! Snapping his head back from between the bars, Wolf resisted the urge to snarl and bare his teeth as Emil, the lion tamer, opened his pen and reached for the collar of his vest. Struggling would only make it worse, and he wasn’t about to just give Emil a reason to wail on him. So Wolf went limp and let the man drag him out of the boxcar pen they kept him in between performances. Emil, of course, was not at all happy with his compliance.
And pissing off Emil made Wolf happy. He lived in perpetual hope that one day Emil’s tigers, Kaja and Kong, would eat the nasty little man.
“You look wild enough for tonight. No need for make up,” the Ringmaster declared, between performances, as Emil dragged Wolf past her towards the entrance to the main ring. There was one last tiny check up mirror placed in the archway for the troop to use before parading themselves in the ring and Wolf caught a quick glimpse of himself. His light red hair had been cut in a deliberately messy fashion, so it hung in awkward dirty chunks in his face and it fell over his shoulders and across the steel collar he sported around his neck. There were thick dirt smudges across his cheek and on his shoulders from where he’d tried to wrangle his way between the bars to get a better look at Seal. And his brown eyes were almost feral, he supposed, as Emil grabbed a long chain and snapped the end of it onto his collar and pulled.
He looked pathetic, really. Much more like a feral mangy mutt than any kind of glorified and bloodthirsty beast.
Stumbling behind Emil, he tried to keep up as the man walked quickly before bowing in grand fashion and yanking Wolf into the lion cage behind him. Wolf heard the audience gasp in shock as Emil shoved him towards the perch between Kaja and Kong, snapping the bullwhip when Wolf didn’t move fast enough for him.
Distantly, he could acknowledge that the Ringmaster was calling out to the audience, working them and explaining as Emil snapped the bullwhip at Kaja and Kong alternatively, putting them through their paces and cajoling them into the tricks that they’d been raised from kittens to perform.
He was aware of it all happening around him, but yet not at the same time. Each time the bullwhip snapped he flinched. Each time Emil barked out an order, he had to resist the urge to comply and cower. It was like this for every show the circus preformed, and for every show, Wolf spent this time in stark terror, standing rooted to the perch Emil had coerced him onto with the whip. This was something to be endured. If he could have blacked it out, he would have.
After Emil raced the tigers around the pen, they returned to their perches on either side of Wolf. Looking blankly ahead, Wolf was vaguely aware of the hush that fell over the crowd at the Ringmaster’s introduction of him.
He watched with wary, helpless eyes as Emil pulled a pig sticker from his belt and walked up to Wolf. An evil grin on his butt ugly face, Emil used the knife to slash a thin cut across his forearm before shoving the new blood in Wolf’s face.
The change was almost immediate as the blood permeated his senses. His bones snapped and rearranged themselves. He fell to his knees, roaring as the fur and claws sprouted.
And then the whip fell, fast and furious across him.
~~*~~
What seemed like hours later, Emil roughly dragged Wolf’s limp body back to his boxcar cage and hoisted him into it with one heave, the doors locking firmly behind him, swearing the whole time. Good, Wolf hoped he’d herniated a disk or something.
Lock him in and lock the rest of the world out. He was just fine with the forced solitude.
Changing unnaturally was exhausting. On the full moon, it happened as it was supposed to. Slowly, painlessly, and with him in complete control of his faculties. But the circus wasn’t interested in him changing only once a month in a non-lethal fashion for their performances. They wanted the snarling and the blood and the excitement. Audiences paid to see a dangerous beast, not an overgrown puppy.
So they forced the transformation. Each time, leaving him in his cage exhausted and sore from the change and covered in bleeding and oozing strips from where Emil had beat the feral out of him for the sake of the audience and their paying tickets.
Groaning, Wolf tried to hoist himself up into a sitting position, but the effort failed and he lay back down on the old blankets of his home and panted from the exertion. Emil had been extra angry this evening. Most likely he was upset by the idea that Seal might have upstaged the tigers and Wolf, and thus, Emil’s performance, and he’d taken it out on the werewolf’s hide. Heaven forbid that someone steal his dubious limelight.
“Oh Wolf, you poor thing.”
Cracking an eye, Wolf grunted at Gladys, the circus’s resident bearded lady. She was a big blonde lady with a big blonde beard that fell to the middle of her chest, and she was the oldest and the only friend that Wolf had at the circus. On nights like this, she’d pass bandages and antiseptic to him through the bars, which was what she was currently doing as he struggled again to lever himself up off the floor of his cage. “Was it a good night?” he asked, fishing for information in a hoarse whisper as she clucked her tongue. It wasn’t that he cared how much the circus brought in. He certainly saw none of the profits. But money influenced mood, and it was better to know when he should be ducking.
“With you and your new cellmate, Shelia’s dragged in twice the cash flow that she did last year when we were in this area. She’s beyond thrilled. Emil’s a little put out that his performance was moved to the end. You know how the man thinks. He wants to be dead center in everything, the selfish little prick,” Gladys snorted. And Wolf favored her with a weak grin.
Wait a second. “What cellmate?” He asked, trying to clear his throat before giving up the effort to exhaustion.
“Can’t you smell him, honey?” Gladys laughed. “He’s cowering over there in the corner of your cage. Probably scared beyond his wits at that vicious little display Emil treated everyone to.” She pointed to the far corner behind him, but Wolf didn’t have the energy or the heart to turn around and face the stranger. “Maybe if you ask him nicely, Seal will help you with your wounds. Once he stops being terrified of you, of course,” Gladys said gently, not that it eased the sting any. “I have to go before Shelia sees me. You know how territorial she is about her favorite attractions.”
Yes, because heavens forefend that someone befriend the devil’s spawn. Shelia wasn’t interested in Wolf’s obedience, he’d long since learned. He’d tried to please her, and upon discovering that she was impossible to please, he’d simply tried to exist. She wanted to be alpha bitch? Well, it wasn’t like he could stop her from his side of the bars. “You better go,” he agreed wearily.
And with that Gladys was slinking off into the night. Probably to find Hamish, the trapeze artist’s tent. Wolf could smell the sexual tension that came off the two of them any time they came within a hundred feet of his cage. Hamish was a beady-eyed little midget, but who was he to question true love when he didn’t really even know what love was in the first place? He just knew they stank of pheromones when in each other’s presences.
Speaking of smelling things, he could smell the terror now, as it emanated in waves from the far corner where Seal was apparently huddled. And really, the kid had nothing to worry about. Wolf didn’t have the energy to sit up, let alone attack his new roommate. Thankfully, Emil had thrown him in close enough to his pile of blankets, most of which came in handy during the colder nights like tonight. It was a struggle to even get one of them thrown loosely around him, and he knew that come morning, his back would be one huge, tender and painful mess.
In theory, it would be best to bandage up tonight, but he couldn’t move. He didn’t want to move. And he was sure that if he did, Seal would most likely flip out on him, and the last thing he wanted to deal with was someone who had the potential to be either hysterical or violent or both. “I’m not gonna hurt you kid. Relax,” he managed with a strained croak, hoping that Seal knew he was talking to him. Past that, he was willing to let his eyes drift shut and just stay still. Pulling in a breath and then releasing it until his own scared tremors died away.
“Do they do that every performance?” The quiet, almost solemn voice scared about ten years off Wolf’s life seeing as how he hadn’t been expecting Seal to even speak to him. He gave a hurt hiss.
It dawned on Wolf that the sight of the strips currently displayed on his back might be the reason behind Seal’s fear.
“They won’t do the same to you. Different situations. Different attractions,” Wolf managed, his hoarse voice still managing to sound bitter. “Nobody lives in fear of the bloodthirsty selkie,” he couldn’t help but add in spite, uncomfortable with the idea of having to share his sanctuary and his jail with someone else. Particularly someone else who in all likelihood was not going to be at all amenable to Wolf. Not many people were, after all.
“I,” Seal paused, “I could help you with that.”
“What?” He couldn’t have been more shocked if Seal had produced the key to the lock on their cage and proposed that they leave. Seal had to have seen the performance. The way he smelled indicated as much. And while Wolf was never entirely conscious of the proceedings, he knew enough to know that it was frightful to watch. There was almost always a town or two every year that tried to crash the circus grounds and lynch the dangerous werewolf the troop was hiding.
“They have no right to keep us locked up in here,” Seal whispered vehemently and suddenly, making Wolf jump as he touched a bare spot on Wolf’s arm. He was beside Wolf, touching Wolf. Was he insane? “To them, we’re little better than animals.” Seal’s fingers were smooth and gentle and quavering slightly as they traced over Wolf’s elbow. “This is going to sting a little bit.”
Opening his eyes, and glancing up disbelievingly. Wolf could see that Seal was kneeling beside him, a bottle of antiseptic in one hand and a piece of cloth in the other. “It usually does,” he said cautiously, keeping his tone neutral. He was tense as Seal placed the cloth gently over the wounds, and he hissed slightly as the alcohol stung.
“We have to get out of here,” Seal whispered furiously, seeming to get more and more indignant with each bandage he applied to Wolf’s back, his blue eyes flash angrily as his black hair fell in his face. Yes, because it was just that easy, and Wolf was just that incompetent that he hadn’t managed to free himself before Seal’s timely arrival. Wolf rolled his eyes before frowning slightly at the boy beside him. He couldn’t work himself up into genuine anger though at Seal’s words. Who wouldn’t want to escape after all?
The bandaging was done in short order, and while it felt uncomfortable and confining, Seal’s amateur job was worlds better than anything Wolf would have managed on his own.
So what the hell was the matter with this boy? Either he was too stupid to understand that Wolf was the spawn of Satan, or for some heretofore unknown reason, Seal didn’t share the same opinion that just about everyone who had ever come across him shared. Maybe it was more that shared circumstances that drove Seal to his side? Compassion forged out of necessity? A friendship started out of pity? Either way, Wolf would take it and be grateful, he decided. If Seal was the village idiot, he certainly wasn’t going to try and enlighten him.
“Thank you,” he said quietly, relaxing against his blanket. “It’s not much, but there are blankets in that corner,” he lifted a finger in the direction Seal had been huddled in, “and the chamber pot-like hole is over there in that corner. You might want to get some sleep. You’re looking at the crew that helps clean up after the animals in the morning after they’ve been fed.” And god only knew that morning usually came all too soon. They used chains on Wolf, keeping him tethered from pen to pen as he cleaned. They wouldn’t have to do that with Seal, he imagined, given the fine filigreed gold collar he sported as opposed to the heavy steel one Wolf had.
There was some rustling and Wolf was surprised when Seal pulled up his blanket surprisingly close to Wolf. “We have to get out of here,” Seal repeated, his face merely inches from Wolf’s, giving Wolf the opportunity to study Seal’s high cheekbones and the bump on his nose where it had probably been broken in the past. “We have to plan our escape,” Seal murmured sleepily before his eyes fluttered closed. After a few minutes, Wolf listened as Seal’s breathing evened out and deepened in sleep.
Their escape, huh? Wolf blew out a small sigh. As if it would be anywhere near that easy. What, did Seal think he hung about this place because it was so unbelievably fun? And besides that escape to what? The world outside these bars was just as harsh as the one within them.
Frowning, he reached out cautiously to pull Seal’s hair out of his face. To think that he felt so comfortable just drifting off to sleep with Wolf sitting there. He’d seen the show, hadn’t he? He knew exactly what Wolf was capable of, right?
And yet he wasn’t huddled in a corner screaming at Wolf to stay the hell away from him and he wasn’t attacking Wolf in an attempt to subdue him. Wolf suspected that lack of fear was what had gotten Seal captured in the first place, but he wasn’t going to complain over the circumstances. If Seal felt relaxed around him where everyone else Wolf had ever known was edgy and hostile, Wolf was fine with it.
And only when he was certain that Seal was asleep did he sneak closer until his arm could be flung over Seal’s waist and he could snuggle his head against Seal’s side. It had been so long since he’d been able to touch skin that wasn’t his own, to hug sides that didn’t belong to him, and he savored the sensation. Given the way Seal didn’t even twitch at his touch, Wolf could do this and Seal would never know. He’d wake up before Seal for sure.
~~*~~
Wolf woke up slowly, noticing as he did so, the feel of someone’s breath against the top of his head. Opening his eyes, he jerked, more than a little surprised to find that he’d managed to inch his way over until he was half on top of Seal in his sleep. Seal had his feet all tangled up in Wolf’s while Wolf’s arm was flung haphazardly over Seal’s middle while Seal’s arm was curled carelessly over the tops of Wolf’s shoulders.
Scrambling up abruptly, Wolf ignored the twinges in his back as he came up against the bars and hugged his middle. “Sorry,” he said, sure that his face was turning red even as he was saying it. He’d meant to wake up before Seal. He should have woken up before Seal. Not that the daft kid was aware of the fact that he should be at least a little bit apprehensive around Wolf or that he should fear waking up to discover a werewolf half sleeping on top of him.
“Why?” Seal asked simply, scooting up until he was almost nose-to-nose with Wolf. “It did get pretty cold last night. And you were hurt.” Seal explained away for him. “I sleep like this all the time with my brothers and sisters. No big deal.”
“Sure,” he murmured.
“Okay brats, get your lazy asses up,” Emil ordered, and Wolf jumped as Emil jabbed a finger at one of his bandages between the bars before grabbing Wolf’s collar and clipping on the short chain. “Who’s afraid of the big, bad Wolf?” Emil snickered as Wolf slowly, painfully, pulled himself to his feet.
“Asshole,” Seal muttered and Wolf had to hide a grin. Although, Seal was lucky Emil hadn’t heard him, or he’d be in a world of pain right now.
“Get to, freaks,” Emil grinned and Wolf grabbed his chain before moving to the door, which Emil unlocked. He tolerated it as Emil grabbed the end of the chain and yanked him down, making Wolf stumble slightly. Given Seal’s indignant squawk, Seal wasn’t as accepting of the behavior as Wolf. Well, he’d learn. Wolf bit down on his lower lip as Emil reached up and boxed Seal’s ears hard. The bastard laughed as Seal stumbled out of the boxcar. “Since there’s two of you, it should only take half the time,” Emil sneered, pulling the main leader chain out and hooking it to the smaller chain on Wolf’s collar.
“But he’s never done this before,” Wolf protested before thinking better of it. Emil gave him a nasty cuff to the side of his head. He could smell the stale beer on the man from a mile away, and Emil sober wasn’t exactly a treat. Emil hung over was just someone a person didn’t talk back to unless they were in a position to defend themselves, which Wolf most certainly was not. Swallowing down the enraged snarl that was itching to crawl up his throat, Wolf moved to help Seal up onto his feet.
“I’ll be back in two hours.” Emil stomped out of the tent all together. Sighing, Wolf could tell from Seal’s confused expression that none of what was happening was making a bit of sense to the kid.
“We have to get the horses, the elephants, and the giraffes’ pens cleaned out. There are shovels over here,” Wolf trudged to the far corner of the awning they were under and pulled two shovels out of the storage bin, handing one of them to a perplexed Seal. “The dung goes into one of those wheelbarrows that Emil will come and get later. Don’t pile ‘em too high or you’ll get hit again. Those buckets over there are supposed to be to rinse the floors and give them water, so be careful and don’t use a lot to clean out the cage. They all drink a lot and it’ll get hotter in the afternoon. ” The elephants knew him on sight and smell, they weren’t as wary or as hostile towards him as Wolf suspected they would be to a complete stranger like Seal, so he took those pens, waving Seal over to the horses.
“Why do they keep you chained up?” Seal’s voice came around fifteen minutes later, muffled from the way he was bent over, shoveling manure. “And why the hell won’t you move, you damned horse! I’m trying to clean there.” It took Wolf a good five minutes and a raised eyebrow to figure out that Seal was addressing him with the first question and not the horse whose pen Seal was standing in.
“Because I’ve tried to runaway in the past. Made it two towns over before they caught me, but they haven’t trusted me since.” Or really, before that even. It had just been a careless mistake where someone had forgotten to lock his cage and he’d taken advantage of it. However, the next town over had gotten wind of his performance in the circus and instead of welcoming him with open arms or letting him blend into their background, they’d tried to hogtie him to a stake and burn him to death.
The Ringmaster and Emil had tracked him down just in time, and if the beating Emil had given him hadn’t served as enough of a deterrent, the smell of smoke and the angry faces of the people who came to the shows would be. Maybe thoughts of escape came to Seal so easily because escape for someone like Seal would be easy. They certainly weren’t going to try and lynch someone who was cheerfully whistling as he shoveled horse manure.
“A better question might be to ask why they haven’t chained you up,” Wolf said softly, slapping Sana the three year old elephant on the flank lightly before peaking out to see that Seal had moved on to the next pen.
“They don’t have to,” the frustration was evident in Seal’s tone. “As long as they have my pelt, I can’t leave. I can’t transform without it. I’m not whole without it. And because I was stupid and careless and arrogant, they have it and I don’t and so they don’t have to chain me because I can’t go anywhere without it. Bastards.” Wolf could hear the bitterness in the confession.
“It’ll get easier,” he murmured. Although, he wasn’t entirely certain he’d meant the words for Seal, or for himself now that Seal was here to stay.
~~*~~
Wolf deliberately dragged a couple blankets over to the far corner of their cage as Seal watched him with confused eyes. It had to end, this weird need to be beside Seal. He’d given in to temptation the first night, but really, he couldn’t be too hard on himself for that. He’d spent years in this cage alone and without another soul to talk to.
But it wasn’t right. He couldn’t continue to sit up and patiently wait until Seal fell asleep and then sneak in like a bandit and practically smother Seal as he fell asleep on top of him. Seal might say that he was okay with it now, but it was just a matter of time really before Seal came to his senses. About everything. It was stupid to get his hopes up. Especially since he should know better by now. It would be best if he did the smart thing and cut it off now before Seal finally understood the severity of their situation.
“What the hell are you doing?” Seal sounded exasperated as he propped his chin up with his hand and watched Wolf work.
“Making my bed,” Wolf answered shortly. The less he said the better. Seal would get it eventually.
“Is this about me teasing you this morning?” Seal demanded. “Geez, I didn’t really mean anything by it. It’s just funny, you know. The way you turn bright red and skitter away. I mean, who knew? The oh so scary werewolf really enjoys a good cuddle.” Seal gave him an impish grin.
Wolf did not return it.
“My back is doing better now.” Although, it was just a matter of time. Tomorrow was the beginning of a three nights of shows, but for now it was as good an excuse as any. Seal had only seen him change in that first show, if he’d seen Wolf change at all. After a refresher performance, Wolf doubted Seal would be as amenable to him as he’d been so far.
“You’re being really stubborn.”
“No, I’m not. I’m just being practical.”
“Practical would be getting your skinny ass over here and sharing the blankets since it’s cold and the floor of this stupid cage is rock hard,” Seal pointed out. Scowling, Wolf had no retort for that. He flopped down on his impromptu bed, back to Seal. Seal would get the hint eventually. Maybe. “Okay, fine. Be that way.”
“Where is it? You know they keep that dirty werewolf locked up somewhere around here.”
Wolf flinched at the rather loud, rather drunken voice. Glancing up, he could make out the lanterns of a few someones who most likely weren’t where they were supposed to be. If Shelia caught them, the local authorities would probably get involved and the circus would have to pull up again because of the ensuing scandal. But since the Ringmaster thrived on that scandal and since the circus often profited from the free publicity and the gawkers interested in seeing what all the fuss was about, she wasn’t as tight with security as she could have been.
“There it is! I can see the hair!”
Lovely. Wolf snarled silently, rolling over so his back was to the bars. Maybe they’d leave. And maybe the Earth would rotate backwards. Great. Just great.
“What’s it doing?”
“Aw man, it’s just sleeping. Hey Perry, wake it up!”
“C’mon beast. Show us your teeth!”
Stubbornly, Wolf ignored them as they came closer to the bars. He cracked an eye to see that Seal was sitting on the blanket bed in the corner watching them with undisguised disgust. Well, Wolf didn’t plan on giving them a show, so hopefully they’d just get bored and leave. It didn’t happen very often, but maybe Wolf would get lucky.
“No fun. It’s just laying there. C’mon Perry, make it move.” The high pitched voice made Wolf roll his eyes. Some idiot out to impress his date and friends then.
“Why don’t you leave him the hell alone and get a life,” Seal snarled. Their audience merely laughed at him.
“Oooh, check out the bite on the little itty bitty selkie! C’mere selkie-welkie. I have a peanut.”
“A peanut? What are you, retarded? Do I look like a goddamned elephant?” Seal sneered. And then suggested something anatomically impossible that the drunk could do with both the peanut and his foot.
“Here, this’ll do it.” The statement was followed quickly with the smashing of a bottle against the bars that coated Wolf with both glass and liquor. Seal gave an indignant squawk, but Wolf resolutely tried to ignore them.
Three rocks and two more bottles later though, and his patience had finally snapped. Springing to life, he threw himself at the bars, startling the drunks enough to send them stumbling back from the cage. They wanted a show? He’d damned well give them one. It wasn’t like they were going to leave until they got it anyway.
He snarled, making sure they got a good eyeful of his abnormally long canines as he threw himself at the bars. He growled and paced and howled and did every other hokey thing he could think of short of changing. And since they’d been stupid enough to arm him with ammunition, he took the rocks they’d thrown at him and threw them back, smiling in satisfaction when he nailed the date on the ass, the prick she was with in the chest and their asshole friend in the stomach. Served them right, he decided, howling at them with the knowledge that he sounded more animal than human. Let them take that back and exaggerate it six ways to Sunday. Good thing that there was a show tomorrow night. Security would be tighter and more people would be around, making a reprise harder for drunks to enact. Not impossible, necessarily, but harder.
Glad that they were gone, he slumped back down onto his now alcohol soaked blankets. Lovely. On the bright side, and least they hadn’t cut him with the glass from the bottles or actually nailed him with the rocks. They’d been terrible shots. He wished all the idiots that came skulking around were as blind. He had a scar under his right eye from where one particularly good shot had tried to take out an eye one night.
He could hear Seal fumbling around with something, but he didn’t have the heart to turn around to look and see what Seal was up to. If Seal had wanted something do with him before, that certainly couldn’t be the case anymore.
“C’mon Wolf.” Seal startled him by tugging on his vest. Turning around, he could see that Seal had taken all the blankets and piled them in the middle of the cage.
“What are you doing?” He couldn’t keep the confusion out of his voice as he asked.
“You’re all wet, and you’re being stupid. Just share the dumb blankets with me.”
Reluctantly getting to his feet, Wolf was bewildered. Had Seal not seen the teeth? Heard the growling? If he didn’t come across as some reject wild boy, he had to have at least come across a little scary. And given the faintest hint of fear that he could smell coming from Seal, the kid wasn’t completely unaffected by the display. “What?”
“Look, what ever it was that I did to piss you off, I’m sorry. But get over it, already,” Seal spit out before physically pulling Wolf over to the blankets and shoving him down onto them. “Honestly. You’d make a mule cry.”
Wolf hid a grin at the exaggeration as Seal plopped down beside him, throwing an arm over Wolf’s middle to prevent him from getting back up without a struggle. He was almost asleep, his head slumped on Seal’s chest, when the low rumble of Seal’s voice woke him. “We’re not animals, you know. We don’t belong in here.”
Wolf wished he had half that conviction.
~~*~~
“What the hell are you doing?” Wolf whispered more than a little incredulously as Gladys, slid a key into the lock on the door of the cage that Wolf had shared with Seal for the past two weeks.
“I’m freeing you both. It’s not right, the way she’s got you both chained up and penned in here. Those sores you’re always walking around with. It has to end, Wolf.” And while Gladys said things like this all the time, she’d never actually unlocked the door before. The small, traitorous part of Wolf wondered if maybe the reason she’d never gone as far as this was because she was just as scared of him as everyone else in the circus. She’d never seemed as if she’d had an ulterior motive for helping Wolf out before, but he never knew.
“Why now?” he asked, running a hand through Seal’s black hair to hide his nervousness at the prospect of leaving. Despite the two weeks he’d been a part of this circus, Seal had yet to learn how to sleep lightly. But with him around, Wolf supposed, Seal didn’t necessarily have to be a light sleeper.
“Because it’s time. Seal’s said that he has family looking for him, and we’re as close to the coast as we’re going to get for the year.” Gladys shrugged, scratching her beard thoughtfully before pulling the door up. “Stick with him and you should be okay.”
“But his skin,” Wolf whispered back. “It’s not like he’s in the cage because he’ll run away if he’s not,” he scowled back at her as Gladys rolled her eyes.
“Hamish knows where she keeps it. He’s smuggling it out as we speak.” She pulled open the door. “It’s now or never, love.”
There were times before the circus, but they were hazy and blurred and Wolf had no desire to remember any better than that. “Seal,” he murmured, shoving Seal’s shoulder lightly. “Seal, wake up.” Seal’s blue eyes popped open and Seal scrambled up onto his knees before looking confused.
Seal wasn’t scared of him. Hell, he wasn’t even intimidated by Wolf. And Wolf was more than a little confused by it.
Wolf’s skin was a map of scars made from Emil’s bullwhip. He had light red hair that most villagers often claimed marked him as the Devil’s child, and since his eyes were so dark that it was hard to distinguish the brown of his irises from his pupils, rumors were spread about how he could suck out someone’s soul with just a look. Seal looked at his hair and said it reminded him of kelp and that his eyes looked like those of an old humpback he once knew. And Wolf didn’t know whether to be insulted or relieved.
In spite of all appearances, Seal had the distinction of being the only person in Wolf’s experience to have willingly reached out and touched him. Gladys snuck him bandages and antiseptic through the bars, sure, but she couldn’t touch him. Wouldn’t touch him? He was never sure. It all got confused in his head.
Seal slept beside him at night. Seal let Wolf curl up beside him, and sleep with his head on Seal’s chest. Seal didn’t push him away or treat him like a leper when he came near. Wolf could touch Seal, and Seal would touch him in return.
“What’s going on?” Seal blinked sleepily before standing. He then immediately made for the door that Wolf hadn’t moved an inch closer to, despite it’s being wide open. “Are we escaping?” The question was directed at Gladys. Wolf wouldn’t have to explain what was happening, Seal would figure it out. After all, this had been what Seal had been planning for every second of every day since he’d been brought to Wolf’s cage.
“Yes, love, you are. But if you aren’t quick about it, you won’t make it. You know Shelia can smell a rat a mile away.” Gladys smiled as Seal hopped out the open door. Hesitating, Wolf made his way towards the edge of the cage. Seal turned around to give him a hand down and Wolf tried to gauge the look in Seal’s eyes. This was freedom, right? This was what Seal had wanted from the moment that he’d been thrown into Wolf’s cage.
Maybe, a long, long time ago it was what Wolf had wanted too. Maybe every full moon, he still did. But this wasn’t the full moon. The one and only thing that was going to make this escape any different was that Seal was here with him, escaping with him.
“We haven’t got all night, Wolf,” Seal reached up and Wolf felt himself taking Seal’s hand before hopping out of the cage.
“There’s Hamish,” Gladys added, relieved. Hamish, small little man that he was, scurried up to them, tossing a bag to Wolf before threading his fingers through Gladys’ hand. “This is where we leave you, boyos.”
“What about you?” Wolf asked. Gladys had been good to him. And while he couldn’t exactly fathom her romance with the strange little trapeze artist man, he could smell it nonetheless.
“Love, I’ve been let go. Downsized, if you will,” Gladys let out a soft belly laugh. “I just had to stick it to that bitch of a ringmaster one last time. That I could get you and Seal out, well, that was an added bonus.” She winked and Wolf nodded, understanding better now, as he hugged the bag to his middle.
“I assume,” Seal trailed off, gesturing to the bag.
“Of course,” Hamish giggled. “Wouldn’t be much of an escape for you, now would it, if we didn’t get your pelt back to you.”
“Thank you,” Seal smiled a genuine smile and Wolf almost smiled one in reflex. “Best of luck on the outside.”
“And to you, too.” Gladys murmured, hesitating slightly before pulling a startled Wolf into a brief hug. He could smell the faint twinges fear on her as she held him for a second before letting go. He made her nervous. He suspected he always had.
“Thank you for everything, Gladys,” he murmured before turning to follow Seal. He’d never see her again, he knew. She was gone for good whether they got recaptured or not and he owed it to her for every time she’d brought him what little help she could despite the fact that his existence unnerved her.
“Whatever you do, don’t lose that,” Seal whispered to him, grabbing Wolf’s arm as they snuck out of the main tent and towards the edges of the fairgrounds. He snorted, like he had to be told that.
Seal was shorter than him, smaller than him, so it was easy for Seal to slip underneath the chain fence. So there were a few scratches, but he made it under the barrier in short order. The grounds themselves were practically deserted, lending Wolf to think that they probably had about a good two hour head start before the troop started heading back in from whatever tavern or bar they’d found. It wouldn’t take them long to discover the empty cage.
Two hours wasn’t a lot of time. Not when Shelia had horses and dogs and tigers at her disposal to use to track them down. God only knew, it wouldn’t take Emil with Kaja or Kong too terribly long to find him. While Emil didn’t like him, the tigers certainly did. Wolf had spent four years cleaning out their pens before he’d been reassigned to the elephants.
“Do you know where we’re going?” He half snarled, feeling uncomfortable without the surroundings of his cage and trying not to think about what had happened the last time he’d tried this. “Do you even know where we are?”
“Calm down. Of course I do,” Seal smiled back, ruffling Wolf’s reddish blond hair out of his brown eyes and smiling a cocky smile. “I used to play here all the time as a kid.”
“What’s to stop Shelia from tracking us both down? What’s to stop them or anyone from the town who saw last night’s performance from finding us and throwing us back into that cage.” He tried to cover his nervousness with a growl, but he suspected from the way that Seal rolled his eyes that Seal saw right through it.
“My grandparents will know what to do when we get to them. They’ll, of course, chew me out for having been so careless as to have gotten myself caught in the first place.” Seal grinned, shrugging a shoulder before grabbing Wolf’s wrist and pulling him along the edges of the fairgrounds to the forest that bordered it. “It shouldn’t take too long to get to their cottage. They live just on the edge of the sea.”
“But the sea is miles from here,” Wolf protested in a hiss as they started crunching through the undergrowth of what was shaping up to be a pretty dense forest. He had to duck at least three times in a two minute span to keep from getting swatted in the face by branches, and he’d had to keep a steady grip on Seal to keep Seal from tripping over the littered debris of old tree branches and bushes on the forest floor. That Seal thought this to be a merry little hop, skip and a jump to the sea astounded Wolf. He’d never taken Seal for a thoughtless dreamer before this. Village idiot, sure. Delusional? Not so much. “She’s going to catch us.”
“No she won’t,” Seal smirked confidently. “We’ll be long gone before that.”
“How the hell can you say that?” Wolf shot back, getting understandably annoyed and apprehensive. “We have two hours at the most before they start scouting for us. Those tigers might not want to sniff you out, but they’ll find me in short order. Are you planning on ditching me half way into these woods?” The question was meant to sound sarcastic, but Wolf didn’t exactly not mean it either. There was nothing stopping Seal from simply abandoning Wolf here and now and letting Wolf fend for himself. They’d been cellmates for two weeks, and while Seal wasn’t exactly scared of Wolf, he couldn’t be sure that Seal exactly wanted him around either.
“Don’t be a grumbley ass,” Seal chided. “Of course I’m not leaving you behind. We just won’t be going in a way they’ll expect, or be able to follow, I might add.” Seal tugged him past a particularly huge willow tree and with a splash, pulled him knee deep into freezing water.
The moon was three quarters full, and Wolf could see that the water Seal had pulled him into was part of a river that was flowing gently through the thick vegetation on either side of its banks. The moonlight bounced off the ripples around them, making Seal’s skin look paler than normal, but Wolf wasn’t sure if it was the moon or just the naturalness of being in water that made Seal’s usually dark blue eyes shine.
“I can’t swim,” he blurted out, hugging the bag Hamish had handed him closer to his body as Seal laughed. Scowling, Wolf was so glad it amused Seal. Maybe it would amuse him even more when they headed downstream and Wolf drowned in midst of their escape attempt. Seal might be a creature in tune with everything that was aquatic, but Wolf wasn’t.
Hurt, Wolf whirled around to storm away when Seal grabbed an arm to stop him. “Oh lighten up. It was just funny the way you said it, is all.” Seal reached up, cuffing him affectionately upside the head, confusing Wolf all the more. “Let me see the bag.”
Uncertainly, Wolf handed it over, watching as Seal pulled a long gray animal pelt out of it. “How’s that going to help us escape?” he asked as Seal tossed the bag back to him. Peering in, he could see that Gladys had had the foresight to pack them some supplies. A blanket and an extra set of clothes. There was even a couple of bills rubber banded together at the very bottom, and it made him smile in spite of himself.
“I’m going to change, and you’re going to hold on for dear life,” Seal said matter-of factly. “I’ve swum on this river my whole life. It leads back to the sea and back to my home. As long as you don’t let go, it’ll be fine.” With the pelt in hand, it almost looked as if there was an entire glow about Seal as he threw the skin around his shoulders. It was much more impressive on the banks of the river than it had ever been during the middle of a circus performance, Wolf had to admit, as Seal transformed into a selkie before his eyes.
To Wolf, he seemed impossibly huge. A larger than life version of the seals that traveled with the circus, only Seal had more elaborate flippers and there were markings that curled up the sides of his neck to where there were tiny fish like fins to denote his ears. He was sleek, graceful looking with the pale gray of the pelt covering his whole body leaving nothing that truly reminded Wolf of Seal except for the mischievous blue of his big eyes.
Seal had whispered to him once, after the first week of performances that he was actually quite small for a selkie. No one could have proved it to Wolf at this particular moment though. He watched as Seal gave him one slow, languid wink before hopping slightly and diving into deeper water. Terrified for a second that Seal was going to leave him here on the banks of some stupid river by himself, Wolf stumbled out farther to follow him.
“Seal?” He tried calling quietly before almost shrieking as something brushed up against his side. Blinking, he looked down just in time to see Seal reaching up to butt his shoulder with his slender muzzle. “You ass,” Wolf blew out, exasperated. Gingerly, he ran his fingers over the silky soft skin while Seal waited patiently for him to get used to the change. “You really think this is going to work,” Wolf said flatly.
For his troubles, he got a flipper full of water splashed in his face. Sighing, he slid his arms around Seal’s neck, being careful not to hold on too tight, despite the fact that the whole situation was completely unnerving him. He couldn’t swim. If he let go, even by accident, chances were he’d drowned. But none of that seemed to matter to Seal who took Wolf’s grasp as assent and pulled them both out into the deeper water of the center of the river and started swimming almost joyfully for the sea.