"Growwwlll!!!" Krista snarls - her whiskers twitching. Then she sits up, and bites off the member dangling before her - severing it with her fangs.
Brutus screams, and keels over. Amalthea quickly reaches for her dagger. There is a blur of fighting, and soon more blood splashes onto the sand - joining Brutus's.
"Holy smoke! Krista! She's been bitten by a weretiger!" Harry exclaims.
Skye and the other satyrs are shaken out of their state of shock, as Krista slams the wounded Amalthea aside with a forepaw, and bounds over to you all. She's now a humanoid tiger - all claws, fangs, and bristling fur. And decidedly feral.
"Let's scram!" you yell to Harry. He nods, and together you punch your way out of the satyr' grips - and sprint for the rope at the base of the cliff, leaving the panicking, but knife-bearing, satyrs to Krista.
You get there first, and tug on the rope. Looking up, you see that your friends and centaur allies have witnessed the fighting, and are urging you to get back to the top.
You and Harry both scramble up the rock face - now-rough hands eagerly grabbing the rope, to pull yourselves along. However, you've only gone a few feet up, when an orange mass leaps through the air, and finds purchase on Harry's calf. He yells.
"Krista! No!!" With a rush of adrenaline, Harry manages to kick the newborn weretiger on the head with his free foot - and she falls back down to the cove. Stunned only briefly, Krista turns and sprints for the scattered satyrs.
"C'mon, Harry!" You pull on his arm, and he painfully pushes himself on. You've no time to look back down. When you reach the grass-covered outcrop, Harry collapses, panting. Checking on him, you feel his temperature - then find that his leg-wound is gradually healing.
"Leave me, Ben!" he gasps. Despite the pain, he manages to smile at you knowingly. "You take care of Rachel, now. And the others."
"I can't leave you, buddy!" you protest, as you pull Harry up. Suddenly, you are shoved from behind. You grab hold of the thick grass to prevent your fall, and twist round to see Skye pulling out her dagger from her cord belt. She's followed you up the cliff.
"Can't you now?" She smiles wickedly at you. Then she stabs Harry in the back. With a cry, he pitches forward, and lays still.
"Harry!" You scramble to your feet, back pressed against the cliff face. Skye nimbly steps over Harry, and advances on you with her bloodstained dagger. You won't be able to climb out of this in time...
Skye is bleeding from a gash to her head. She looks mad. "I've had enough of you and your friends, now! So I'll do away with you all - as revenge for you refusing to join our tribe!" Skye grabs your wrist, and presses her blade lightly across the skin. Droplets of blood slowly appear. She's savouring your pain...
"Uhh! Ahhh! Rrrr!! Rrrrrrr!!!"
Both of you freeze, and face Harry - who's convulsing on the grass. His clothes shimmer, then disappear. And his knife wound heals swiftly. His clenched fists turn into claw-tipped paws, and within a matter of seconds he grows a coat of black-stripped orange fur. As he regards you and Skye with grey eyes that become an animal brown, Harry raises himself onto his hind legs, and licks his drooling fangs. His curly hair and human features have been replaced by those of a humanoid weretiger, and his feline tail twitches.
Skye points her dagger at him. "Stay... Stay back!" she croaks, her confidence vanishing. Harry strides forward and wrestles the knife out of her grip, with ease. Then Skye sucks in her breath, as the weretiger slashes her throat.
There's a brief pause - then Harry grabs hold of Skye with both forepaws. Using his new-found strength, he twists round swiftly and flings the satyress off the cliff, to her doom! There's an ear-splitting scream that echoes in the air - which is then permanently silenced as Skye meets earth.
You collapse upon your knees, in shock. Then you wonder how long you have to live...
The weretiger that is Harry sniffs at you, attracted by your fear. Then he shakes his head. "Frr-frr-friend!" he growls to himself. Then, before you can stop him, he licks the blood on your cut wrist.
A roar and a scream from the cove distracts you both. You see Krista in the light of dusk - now a fully-fledged tiger, slashing at the remaining satyrs, as they camber onto some low, subsided rocks, to escape her. They are still fighting back with their knives.
"Ssisterrr!" Harry growls. He gives you a last glance, then grabs the still-taut rope, to head back down to the cove and join in the battle.
"Ben - come to us!" Ixion yells to you from the edge of the cliff top.
Shaking, you gradually pull yourself along the rope. Reaching the summit, you fall down into the waiting, welcome arms of Rachel - who strokes your strawberry-blond locks. She tells you they've all seen the transformations of Krista and Harry. You feel numb.
Themis draws near, and examines your injured wrist. There's already a stubble of orange hairs emerging from the skin. "This is not good," she declares. "The gibbous moon is rising - and the rush of adrenaline is speeding up the infection - like it did in your friends, Ben! If you change into a weretiger, you will not be able to become a centaur! The...DNA...of one species will resist that of the other."
"You know, then?" you pant. Themis nods.
"I told her, Ben." Marina lowers her equine body to the ground besides you. "I'll be proud to have you and Rachel as my siblings!" She kisses you on the cheek. Both she and Rachel are crying. "It's wonderful, Ben! I feel stronger, and wiser. I want to learn philosophy, and how to perform archery! It's a new world to explore!"
"We've got to stop the satyrs!" you gasp. You tell the centaurs what Skye imparted to you. Then, you sit up and hold Rachel's hand. With your other hand you grab Themis's. "Perform the initiation on me and Rachel - now. Please! Before I become a weretiger!"