The wagon came to a squeaking halt and Karan and I rose from the bed. I strapped on my sword belt and swung my rifle over my shoulder, limped over to the door in the back of the wagon and stepped out to find my squad.

Karan joined me on the top step of the wagon and we looked out at our surroundings. The wagon had come to a stop in a dusty yard near a crudely fenced horse pen. Dust billowed in the air from the passage of the animals and wagon. The rebel encampment was located in a small clearing in a seemingly random area of the forest, I could see no sign of a trail leading into or out of either side of the clearing. Several small log cabins dotted the area and people looked out at us from all of them, a few holding small children.

I hobbled down the steps of the wagon and saw Jason leading a horse into the pen, his broken arm held to his side in a sling. Lisa was speaking to her oxen in a soothing voice as she unhitched them from the wagon. Risha was passing food amongst the squad, making sure everyone had something to eat. The rest of the squad was taking care of their stolen mounts as well, brushing them down and leading them to troughs to drink. Nicolas and Ian the Elf were speaking to a small group of rebels, among them an elderly Elf to whom Ian deferred whenever he spoke.

“This must be an old Elven village,” whispered Karan.

I turned to ask her what she meant and saw that she was looking up into the trees. I followed her eye line and saw a village built in the trees. There were huts built against the sturdiest trunks of the trees connected by wooden walkways with swaying bridges between them. It was clear that no one had lived in them for a long time. Most of the huts were overgrown and in various stages of disrepair, holes in roofs and walls were common and several of the bridges had fallen from the trees.

I forced myself to focus, I had questions that Nicolas needed to answer. I made a wobbly beeline for the knot of rebels he was speaking to, my hand unconsciously traveled to the hilt of my gladius. As I approached with Karan behind and to my left, Isaac joined us and fell in behind me on my right. We approached from behind Nicolas and he turned when the rebel’s eyes widened, when we got near several of the rebels snarled and drew back from us.

“Peace Drake,” Nicolas pleaded, holding his hands out in front of him. “Please take your hand from your weapon. I will answer all your questions.”

“What is their problem?” I snarled, pointing at the rebels still staring at us and fingering their own weapons.

“They are Wolves,” he started to say.

“What!?” I shouted, beginning to draw my weapon. Before my gladius had cleared its scabbard the old Elf’s walking stick slammed down on the pommel, punching it back down.

“They are guests in my village,” he said, holding my eyes with his own, “as you are. Guests in my village shall not draw weapons on one another.”

I drew in a deep, calming breath and let go of my weapon.

“They are here seeking sanctuary from the evil that plagues our land, much as you are,” the old Elf continued.

“They seek sanctuary? Can they not fight for themselves?” Isaac asked.

“There are things about this evil you do not know. Please, join me in the council hall and we shall talk more of this.”

The old Elf, his name was Eldarion Leaffall, turned out to be the leader of the council and Ian’s father. He led us to the largest of the log buildings, it contained a large circular oak table ringed with matching chairs, he took a seat on one side of the table flanked by his son on one side and Nicolas on the other. He bade us sit opposite them and as we took our seats he spoke.

“Our raid leader has been informed of your arrival and should be joining us soon, in the mean time I would be happy to answer any questions you have. I will start by answering your question from earlier. The Wolfen here cannot fight for themselves because they are the weaker willed of their race. Their warriors leave them here while they raid because these new Wolves have several unique powers. Along with an apparent immunity to most magics they have the ability to dominate the minds of weaker Wolves and force them to do their bidding.”

Suddenly the presence of the larger Wolf in the attack on the caravan made sense to me. He was controlling the rabid Wolves and directing them during the fight. I said as much to the two Elves and Ian agreed.

“The Regent’s sorcerers discovered that rabies weakened the Wolves’ minds and made it easier for their unholy creations to tame them. We have taken to calling these new beasts Hybrids, due to the process of their creation.”

“As good a name as any I suppose,” I said, “During their attack on our barracks I saw one of the beasts absorb some magic bolts that were cast at it by one of our magi.”

“Yes,” replied Eldarion, “The runes that the Regent’s sorcerers use to merge man and beast give the abominations some limited immunity to magic. If the spell is too weak, or if the spell caster puts too little energy into the spell, the runes will absorb the damage.”

“How can we hope to stop creatures that powerful?” Karan asked.

“I have no doubt my spear will still work on them,” Isaac reassured her.

“Indeed,” the old Elf said, “and as I mentioned, even runes this powerful have their limits. If enough damage is done, the rune can be overloaded and the Hybrid will become susceptible to magic once again. And, of course, they are still weak to silver. Not as weak as Wolves, it requires a direct hit to a vital organ to put a Hybrid down for good. There are other factors that are becoming relevant as well.”

“Becoming relevant? What is that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“My race was old when the mountains were young,” he began, “A few stories have survived from those times, passed down through the generations. One such tale concerns the time when humans were relatively new to the world. It was a time of Old Gods, not like the lofty deities of today, these Gods were not afraid of meddling with the world.

“The Gods were having an argument about what to do with this new race of men. Certain beings among them believed that the Humans were a plague upon the world and that, in order to stop it from spreading to their other creations, they meant to see Humanity destroyed. Chief among them was Ordus, God of Order, who loathed the Humans’ aptitude for chaos. He saw them as barbarous creatures, capable only of fighting with the other races and amongst themselves.

“The leader of the faction of Gods opposed to the destruction of Humanity was Ordus’ brother, Khaos, I think you can guess his aspect. He, of course, loved the Humans and the turmoil they brought to the world.

“Each side kept the other from direct interference with our world, so they poured some of their power into chosen animals. These animals would be their Avatars on our world. The chosen animals gained great power and took on humanoid shapes. Some of our scholars have theorized that lycanthropes are the descendants of these Avatars, but that is a discussion for another time.

“The Gods ordered their Avatars to gather followers for them among the Mortal Races; the Gods took strength from the mortal’s belief. This plan worked almost too well, as worship of the deities spread fast and far. However, the Gods didn’t realize the consequences of their actions. On one hand, the Gods could now wield their influence over us to their own ends. To their dismay, however, they discovered that our worship had given us the power to influence them as well.

“As the Age of Man progressed and your young race spread across the world, humanity’s influence among the Gods began to spread as well. The darkness within humanity inevitably lead to the corruption of the Avatars whose Gods were most popular among the humans. As humanity’s empire spread, their desire for Order became stronger and the followers of Khaos were forced to hide their worship. Grimtooth, the Avatar of Chaos, always an unpredictable being, began to take on the violent aspects of his human followers. Their bitter resentment over being forced to worship in secret, combined with the jealous hatred of Khaos for Ordus’ rise in power, pushed Grimtooth into insanity. He and his followers broke away and formed their own kingdom, a kingdom of constant war, suffering, and death.

“Eventually, Khaos’ followers spilled out into the kingdoms of the other Gods. Grimtooth’s campaign of violence forced the strongest of the other Avatars to band together to stop him. A schism developed between those who sided with Grimtooth and those who followed Ordus’ champion, Brightwing. this schism lead to the War of the Gods and the chaining of Grimtooth. Shortly thereafter the other Avatars vanished. It was believed that they would return if the Avatar of Chaos was ever freed.

I believe that the Avatars are returning in you and your companions, Drake.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 16