Were-Beasts

I have reread Poul Anderson's The Broken Sword (London, 1977) to the point where Skafloc transforms into a wolf, then an eagle, then an otter. However, I have already discussed his werewolf experience here. As an eagle, he experiences sharp sight and:

"...the glory of flight, of wind and skyey endlessness..." (p. 128)

- like one of Anderson's Ythrians.

The otter:

sees further and hears as well as the wolf;
smells better than a man although not as well as the wolf;
tingles with sensations in every hair and whisker;
is swift, supple, lustrous, vain and frolicsome.

A smaller animal, like a weasel or a rat, would have been better for burglary but Skafloc has only three magic skins.

By changing between shapes, he enters Elfheugh and acquires the broken sword which is engraved with runes:

"He had the feeling that the mightiest of these were hidden on the tang." (p. 133)