"Kath
must be a wolf," the villagers said. "She
has to be."
Kath, to their surprise, laughed harshly. "You're fools. Keeping me alive is your last hope, but
nooooo! You just
have to lynch
me! In killing me, the rest of you innocents are killing yourselves, too."
"She's bluffing!" a villager said quickly -- too quickly, the others might have thought, if they hadn't been caught up in the wolf-catching frenzy. "Only one so wretched as a werewolf would laugh in the face of death!"
"Yeah!" the others shouted. Kath shook her head in disbelief.
"Go on, then," she said. "Soon enough you'll all be dead."
"A threat!" cried another villager. "Lynch her, quickly!"
Kath did not fight them as they shoved her up onto the gallows and tightened the noose around her neck. Someone let the trapdoor loose. The villagers watched in silence as she died. No change came.
Suddenly, there was an awful sound of laughter from behind Folwen, Holbytlass, and Cailín. They turned around to see Meneltarmacil, Shelob, and Wilwarin cackling aloud.
"You... stupid... fools!" Menel managed to gasp out. "Kath was right, but you just wouldn't listen!"
Shelob said something in Gadian that probably went along the same lines.
Wilwa wiped the tears from her eyes and grinned evilly at the three remaining innocents. "It's a shame everyone's dead... I'd say they all spiced up the town a bit."
"Lended a little flavor to an otherwise drab palate," Shelob agreed.
"Well, nice knowing you," Menel snarled as he and his fellow wolves transformed to terrorize the village of Swankytown for the last time.
~*~*~*~*~
WEREWOLVES WIN!
Homo Homini Lupus
Every man is a wolf to another man.
finis