A shower of dirt fell around us as the chamber shook. The green fire was gone, in its place a jade dragon on a golden chain. My hands placed the chain around my neck and tucked the dragon down my shirt with a will of their own.

“Drake! The Commander’s awake!”

I leaped to my feet and stumbled over to join the others. For a moment a menagerie of animal faces looked up at me. I blinked and rubbed my eyes and my squad was back. The Commander was sitting on the floor clutching his head and wincing.

“We need to go,” Risha beckoned from a doorway near the back of the room.

“What happened lieutenant? What did you see?” Bowen asked.

“I’m still piecing it all together in my head,” I replied, “For now Risha’s right, the bad guys know we’re here and we have to leave. I’ll explain when there’s time. Up we go Commander,” I angled his arm over my shoulder and levered him up.

“Whats the situation son?” he mumbled.

“The wolves are onto us sir. We’re falling back to make plans for a counter-offensive.”

“Carry on then,” he said, getting his feet under him and jogging on his own. We piled out the door after Risha into another earthen tunnel, this one sloping gradually upward. Turning to glance behind us revealed a short stretch of the tunnel we were passing through and then a yawning blackness.

“Gran is severing the connection to her realm so the Wolf cannot follow us,” Risha told us, “Keep moving.”

A light came into view in the tunnel ahead of us. As we drew closer it became an empty doorway that lead into a darkened warehouse. As the last of us tumbled through the door and landed on the floor of the warehouse; the door slammed behind us and winked out of existence. The warehouse was sparsely furnished with a few scattered couches and some cots in the corner behind a privacy screen. In another corner was a small kitchen with a wood-stove.

Risha muttered an arcane phrase and crystal globes on the ceiling and walls lit up the gloom.

“We are in a safe house,” Risha informed us, “We can rest here awhile and plan our next move.” She then made her way into the small kitchen area and passed out some fruits and vegetables for us to snack on while she began cooking in earnest.

“Did anyone else see a wolf battle of bunch of smaller animals in a clearing? Or was it just me?” asked Bethany. I felt like I had seen something similar on a larger scale, but it was still jumbled up in my mind at that time. I still wasn’t sure any of it was real, so I didn’t speak up.

“Wasn’t just you, nope. I saw something similar,” Private Bowen assured her, “But I also got a definite sense of danger from the Wolf. I can’t quite explain it but the thing smelled evil, like rotten meat and bad eggs combined with a beach at low tide.”

“What about you Lt.? You got to sit by the fire.”

I closed my eyes and began playing everything I could remember back in my mind and described it as well as I could.

“It started off with a face looming at me from across the fire, did any of you see anything across from me?” I asked, looking around.

There was a chorus of ’no’s and a round of shaking heads.

“You just sat there, gazing into the flames and then your eyes drifted closed and your head drooped to your chest. That’s the last thing I remember seeing before the visions and waking up to a shower of dirt in my upturned face,” Isaac said.

There was unanimously murmured agreement to Isaac’s tale.

“Looks like your were singled out for something special,” opined the Commander. I thought I saw a glint of understanding in his eye but decided not to push anything just yet.

Continuing on with my recollection of events I told of the torture pits and captured wolves beneath the Regent’s castle.

“So that’s why he wanted all those pelts, I knew something was up,” Kearse growled.

“What do you know about this Commander?” I prodded.

He sighed and took a deep breath.

“A decade ago, Regent Braden was traveling home with his parents, his father, Brenth, was the Regent at that time. They were returning home triumphant but troubled from the war with the greenskins to the north. Near the end of the conflict the greenskins seemed to have found a new type of magic, it made them bigger, meaner and crazier than ever. By this time it was too late for the greenskins to turn the tide, but they took a heavy toll. The Regent and his son were the heroes of the battle, their strength of arms was crucial in defeating the Troll King and ending the conflict.

“During the battle young Braden disappeared into the dungeon below the Troll King’s keep, he was feared lost in the labyrinth beneath. Then, early the next morning, he staggered out of the woods, disoriented and seemingly mad. He babbled about runes and wolves for an hour and then collapsed.

“Brenth and Gwen, his wife and Braden’s mother, stayed with their son in their large wagon for the entire trip home. One night, about a weeks march from the old Regent’s palace, the rest of the entourage was awoken by a desolate howling. We ran to the Regent’s wagon and discovered the entire Regent’s guard dead with their throats torn out and Braden holding the bloodily rent bodies of his mother and father. The howl was coming from young Braden’s throat as tears ran tracks down his gore streaked face. His night shirt had been shredded to bits and there were claw marks all over his torso. He fell unconscious just as I reached him and did not wake up again for a week.

“We patched him up as best we could and brought the bodies back to the palace. As soon as we got the new Regent into his bed his eyes opened. Over the following year he slowly returned to his health and became his old self again. After burying his parents and the customary week of mourning, he announced his plans to extend our territory out to the now empty Greenskin lands. He took over the Troll King’s palace and had it renovated and expanded upon. He had a statue of his parents built in the gardens.

“We were so glad to have our Regent back that we forgave him a few eccentricities. He kept his private chambers sealed at all times and, except for his personal guard (a group of mercenaries he hired) no one was allowed in there or beneath the palace basement without his explicit permission.”

“Didn’t you find that odd?” Jacob asked.

“Of course we did,” Kearse replied, “but it wasn’t as if he neglected the running of his realm in favor of these things. He still attended every council meeting and signed off every requisition order himself. He took the time to address the troops personally whenever he ordered them on a tour of duty. He was still mostly the same person, though he was far less tolerant of Lycan from then on, whom he said were the beasts that had murdered his parents.

“We kept seeing more and more Lycan attacks across the realm, and when the Regent ordered a bounty on werewolf pelts last year we grumbled a bit but he pointed to the increase in attacks and we accepted it. Whenever we would investigate these attacks we found evidence of larger wolves than we had ever seen, foot prints, claw marks and a few eye-witness reports. We could never track any of them down, however. Their trails always went cold. I think I now know why the Regent had me bring this Hunt together.”

My jaw dropped and he began to nod. Another piece of my vision rushed back to me, branding irons and wolf pelts and a howling Regent.

“What is it?” Karan pressed, “Why did he...?” realization dawned on her face, “Gods preserve us.”

“Blood magic,” whispered Jacob, his face draining of all color.

“He needed a final test for his creations,” Kearse continued, his mouth a grim line, “and who better to test them on than those who would be best at hunting them and would therefore pose the biggest threat to him and his new army.”

“Then why even build us a barracks, why not just gather us all outside the city or something?” Isaac queried.

“The barracks was my idea,” Kearse said, hanging his head, “He put me in charge of getting all the best wolf hunters together in one place. It would have been too suspect for him to turn down my request for a formal training site. I should have seen it.”

I put a hand on his shoulder, “There’s no time for self-recrimination now Commander, we may be all that stands between these creatures and an unsuspecting world.”

“You’re right but I don’t think I should be the one to lead us against them. I’m afraid that honor must fall to you Drake.”

“I will consent to that on the condition that you keep the title of Commander and offer me your wisdom and aid whenever I ask it.”

We gripped each others’ forearms and made a pact of it.

“Now,” I said, turning to Private Morefield, “You said something about blood magic. Share with us what you know.”

“Blood Magic is the lowest of the low, pure evil boss. It requires pain and suffering to activate the magic, more often than not sacrifice as well. Hence the burning brands, captured wolves and the reward for pelts. There’s a ritual whispered about in some circles that binds the terrified and enraged spirit of the deceased to a living host. If the sacrificed creatures are shifters I imagine that it would grant the host the ability to transform into an even stronger creature.”

“If he has a dungeon full of wolves, why did he need to pay for those pelts?” put in another soldier, Richard, around bites of the banana he was eating.

“I think he was using those pelts to experiment with, to make sure his minions had the rituals memorized correctly and to give his jailors more time to inflict pain and suffering on the captive Wolves,” Kearse replied.

“Only the scurviest of sea dogs would e’er stoop t’ tha use o’ blood magic. A creature with a soul as black as tar says I,” Ezra spat to the side.

“So, what’s our next move?” asked Isaac, motioning for Richard to toss him a banana.

“I believe we need to speak to Nicolas.”

“The traitor?!” Jason exploded.

“Something I saw makes me think we could learn a lot speaking to him. Maybe he’s not as culpable as he looked. Either way, we’ll find out tomorrow when we get him out of that barracks.”

There were fantastic smells wafting from the kitchen area by this time.

“For now though,” I continued, “we could all use some rest. Let’s eat up and then bunk up. Karan and I will take first watch.”

After gorging ourselves on the finest auroch steaks we had ever tasted, the others fell asleep quite easily. Karan and I took up our watch, we positioned ourselves near some boarded up windows that looked out onto the street. There was just enough space between the boards for us to look out through with little chance to be seen from outside. The street was dark, none of the other buildings nearby had any lights in their windows either. The nearly full moon provided just enough illumination to keep the shadows to a minimum and allow us to see anyone approach.

“What did you see?” Karan whispered, “What makes you so sure about Nicolas?”

“It really is all a blur, but I seem to remember seeing him standing between a wolf and an owl’s nest. Like he was defending the owlets within.”

“Hm,” she grunted, “I suppose it’s possible he will have information that we can use.”

“I sure hope so,” I said.

Looking around the warehouse, my eyes fell on Commander Kearse, he was sitting on some boxes, a reflective look in his far away gaze. Something that the Fox said just before she broke our connection came back to me. The Old Bear. Then the Commander’s eyes met mine and he gave a slight nod of his head.

“Keep an eye out, I need to speak to the Commander,” I told Karan, slipping away.

“Commander,” I saluted, sitting on the boxes opposite him.

“None of that Lieutenant, I’m just your adviser now.”

“True,” I allowed, “But I think you know something more.”

“I wouldn’t say I knew it, but the Fox granted me a vision as well.”

As he told me of the vision, and how all the people I would gather to me fit into it, he never told me it was also a vision of his own death.

* * *

Early the next morning, once everyone had breakfasted, I gathered my troops for a planning session. Taking some charcoal from my pack I drew a crude map on the warehouse wall. Circling our current hidey hole and the guard’s barracks.

“Here is where we are and here is where we need to be,” I began, “Now, it’s safe to assume the barracks will be full of soldiers so my thought is to use a combination of tactics. We break into two smaller squads. One of which will create a distraction in the street in front of the barracks while a smaller group infiltrates the building from the rear alleyways. We do not want a protracted battle in the street, we don’t have the manpower for that. Thoughts?”

“I volunteer for the big distraction out front,” Isaac said, his big, beefy hand waving high.

“Wonderful, consider yourself squad leader. Any thoughts on what your distraction will be?”

“I was thinking of a lightning quick strike at the front of the building and then we draw the soldiers out on a chase through the alleys. If Risha would join my squad we could keep her on the rooftops to coordinate the alleyway mayhem.”

“We’re going to need a getaway plan as well,” added Kearse.

This time Jacob’s hand came up, “I’m pretty good with animals boss. I could go around to the stables and bring some horses to a predetermined meeting area. Maybe cause a little ruckus at the stables as an added distraction.”

“I’ll join the landlubber shaman in case it goes belly up and ’e needs a hand,” growled Ezra, brandishing his hook.

We spent another couple of hours on the details of the plan. Isaac took Bethany and two other soldiers to round out his group. They would hit hard and fast, drawing out as many soldiers as they could before retreating. Jacob and Ezra would head to the stables to the west and cause whatever troubles they could before taking some horses to the meeting point near the east gate. The Commander, Jason and I would enter the barracks from the rear after we heard Isaac’s diversion; Karan would stay behind and cover our escape route, alerting us to any trouble outside. With a last prayer to the gods for success we split off to enact our separate parts of the plan.

Next Chapter: Chapter 12