In the Company of Wolves

Under full moon ten wolves came skulking,
With silent step and black fur hulking,
To infiltrate a village sleeping,
For its children they came reaping.

Some were devoured and two brothers were taken,
Back to their den where they’d awaken,
And feed upon the savage teat,
Of mother made of fang and padded feet.

Hidden beneath an old dead tree they wallow,
Nurtured beasts in a cave-like hollow,
Growing with time into wolf-like men,
Worse than wolves, when they left that den.

In the deepest forest where a cottage hides,
The brothers killed two men but spared their brides,
They claimed this den and the women within,
To make them their own and breed their kin.

News reached the castle from across the land,
A tale of wolf-men and their carnivorous clan,
The King was disturbed by this horrific event,
And to the shadowed wood his finest were sent.

With silvered blades and torches bright,
Six brave knights rode through the night,
Through twisted briar and raven’s cry,
Beneath the pale and watchful sky.

They found the cottage black with dread,
Its doorway stained a sullen red,
Where the brothers rose with a sinister grin,
Human without but beast within.

When dawn at last embraced the glen,
No howl remained of wolfish men,
The women freed from fear and grief,
Were led to warmth and sweet relief.

So ends the tale the old tongues tell,
Of wolves that dragged two boys to hell,
And knights who rode where nightmares tread,
To keep the living from joining the dead.