Free Fell (The Sight 2) by David Clement-Davies

although kind was not soft, and was heavily lined by his years in the open. He was much respected by the other shepherds, but the murderous villagers began to shout even Ivan down.
    “We know how you favour the lad, Ivan,” growled Barbat angrily, “but none of us know where he really came from. Don’t thieves and murderers creep out of the snows, like witches’ children? We ought to have driven the changeling out long since. A Jonah, that’s what he is. Ill luck for us all.”
    “Yes,” said Malduk sadly. “Now I think you’re right, Barbat. Poor Bogdan.”
    “You!” said Barbat, glaring at the soldier. “What are you going to do about it?”
    “Sculcuvant, you say?” answered the soldier, thinking of the children he had met earlier. “A changeling?”
    “That’s right. And in league with the devil.”
    Suddenly there was a great howl in the night and the villagers turned, as Malduk lifted the dagger. One of them pointed up the mountainside, and they could see it but faintly in the icy air, a shape etched against the night sky, like a dark shadow. A wolf was high above them.
    “It’s that black loner,” growled Barbat, with a shudder, “the one they spotted last moon, near the stream. The man-eater.”
    As she listened, Alina thought of that face she had seen in her dream.
    “I should get home,” grunted another villager immediately. “They say that one spends all its time stalking humans. With the winter everything’s fighting harder to survive.”
    “Perhaps the black wolf comes from the Helgra,” said a third villager nervously, and the others started muttering.
    “The Helgra?” said Barbat. “What are you talking about?”
    “That Magyar-Dacian tribe that lives below the great castle,” answered the man. “Fearsome warriors, they say, who pay allegiance to none, not even Lord Vladeran, Tepesh, or King Stefan. The Helgra worship the wild wolf as the devil, and wear their coats as talismans.”
    “It’s not the Helgra,” said Malduk suddenly, worried that the villagers would turn from the task at hand. “Changelings serve the devil too. Alin must have summoned it to aid him in his wickedness. We must raise all the villagers.”
    They could all see the sense in this, all except Ivan, and they started nodding and muttering again.
    “He’ll not escape,” cried the soldier, “and he’ll hang for this. Or burn.”
    Suddenly the door to the cottage opened and old Ranna came outside. The lurid glow of firelight shimmered across the snow between the evil old couple, as Ranna hobbled forwards. She had slipped back into the house as the men arrived, and now she was holding a handkerchief to her face and she looked as if she had been crying.
    “You’ve heard then, wife?” whispered Malduk, as she saw her.
    Ranna sniffed bitterly.
    “Yes, husband, and my heart’s broken. How could he? I loved Alin so.”
    The villagers murmured sympathetically at the old couple’s bitter plight. In their hard lives they despised little as much as ingratitude.
    “We must find him soon, men,” said the soldier, convinced now. “Hunt down the changeling, like a wild animal.”
    There were cries and grunts of approval all around.
    “We’ll get the dogs,” said Barbat.
    “Come up to the house first,” said Malduk, “and we’ll divide you into groups. Some to search the farm, others to scour the southern fields.”
    “We’ve men searching the South already,” said one of the villagers, “and others posted right along the path. The changeling won’t escape us. Unless he’s already in the mountains.”
    “Very well then,” said Malduk, “come quickly. But be careful of him. With his lies and his stories, he could enchant the devil. If you find him, don’t listen to a word he says. Stop the child’s throat.”
    “Wait, husband,” growled Ranna. “He won’t escape us.”
    “Why not, my dear?”
    Ranna held out Alina’s handkerchief, with a stifled sob.
    “What’s that?” asked the