Over the next week more recruits trickled in along with the first snows of winter; some were veteran hunters and some were completely new to the hunt. We started up a few training exercises, mostly with practice weapons while we got to know each other. It’d been a long time since I’d fought another human being, compared to a wolf most people seemed to move in slow motion.

Isaac impressed me with his training regimen and his combat capabilities. Once he set his will on doing something, it got done and no obstacle would stand in his way. He and I became friends after we fought each other to a standstill in the training room. That match was talked about for days, we each broke our training weapons over the others head simultaneously.

I spent some time getting to know Karan as well; she came from a broken home, her father left when she was young and her mother worked day and night to support them both, the silver the Regent was paying would help her give her mother a better life and that was all she’d say on that subject. So we talked about the new rifles the Regent had supplied and how well built they were; how we had both become hunters to help our mothers; our opinions of the other recruits; and how bull headed Isaac could be.

Not everyone was as friendly as these two however. A few days later I met a man named Glenn Becksworth, a trapper from the mountains with the features of a rat and the attitude of a boar. We took an immediate disliking to one another. He would often say that a woodsman had no place among soldiers, making sure I was near by to hear him.

* * *

Becksworth’s cronies cackled when he challenged me to a practice match and by this point I had had enough of him and readily agreed to hand him a beating. Word spread quickly through the barracks and people packed the training room, waiting for the bout to begin.

We both grabbed wooden gladius’ from the wall and strode to the training ring.

Glenn stood across from me, eyes narrowed, chest puffed out. His lip turned up and he spat at my feet. “Time you learned a lesson, whore son,” he snarled.

After a few testing blows, our wooden weapons clashed with the crack of wood on wood, the blades sliding along each other until the hilts locked together. We briefly struggled to push each other out of position but quickly realized we were evenly matched in terms of strength. Glenn reacted a bit quicker than me and angled his sword to slide mine left while he swept his right foot out and took me legs out from under me.

His training blade came down inches from my skull as I rolled out of the way. He slashed at me again before I could scramble to my feet and I rolled away again. This time my opponent was ready for the roll, his slash was a feint, he used the motion of his swing to throw himself into a handspring that brought his knees down onto my shoulders, pinning me in place. He brought his gladius to my throat.

“Good match,” I wheezed, “You got me.”

No response. The blade pushed harder.

“Glenn?” I patted his thick calf, “Fights over man,” the pressure of the blade made my voice a whisper. It was becoming difficult to breathe.

His eyes were locked onto something on the other side of the room, I twisted my head in an attempt to get a look at what he saw but the crowd of soldiers blocked my sight line. I looked back at Glenn and saw his mouth form into grim line and his head nod once with finality. I began to struggle in earnest now as he drew a dagger from a hidden sheathe in his belt and blackness crept into the edges of my vision.

The other soldiers saw what was happening now and rushed forward. They wouldn’t make it before the dagger connected.

Just before the tip of the dagger punched through my left eye and found a new sheathe in my eye socket, I marshaled my remaining strength and kicked up with my waist while twisting my shoulders. I felt the blade strike my cheek, the adrenaline dulled the pain as the other soldiers pulled the cursing Becksworth off of me.

“Drake!” Karan shouted, dropping to her knees near my head, “Are you alright?” A look of confusion twisting her features.

“Is it bad?” I asked, putting a hand to my cheek.

I felt only unbroken skin under my probing fingers. I looked at my hand; there was no blood.

Becksworth was shouting something about a woman as four soldiers held him back, one of them had taken the dagger and tossed it aside.

“I have to kill him!” Becksworth shouted, struggling against the arms holding him, “It’s the only way!”

“The only way for what mate?” asked one of his cronies. Even they looked worried now.

His answer was a roar of effort as he tossed aside the men holding him.

Karan had helped me to my feet by now and we were ready for his charge. She stepped to the side and aimed a kick at his jaw. It connected solidly and his head snapped back. While he reeled from the kick I sidled around and locked him into a sleeper hold. I carried him gently to the ground as he slowly lost consciousness.

“This dagger is a fake,” Isaac said, bending the blade with his hands.

“What the hell?” I wondered aloud, releasing the now sleeping Becksworth.

“Let’s get him secured somewhere and then see what information we can get from him,” Karan suggested.

“Yes, let’s,” I agreed.

* * *

His eyes snapped open as soon as the water hit his face and he struggled briefly against the rope holding him to the chair.

“What in...?” he sputtered, there was genuine confusion in his eyes as he took in his surroundings. “Why am I tied up?”

“What is the last thing you remember?” I asked him.

“I was walking down the hall outside my room,” he concentrated, “and I ran into...someone...”

“Who was it?” I prodded, “Think!”

“I...I can’t remember, it’s all fuzzy.”

I loomed over him and grabbed a fistful of his shirt, “Push past it!”

“I’m tryin’!” he snarled up at me, “Might help if you took a step back!”

Then he quieted for a moment and I moved back.

“I remember a voice,” he said, “A woman’s voice. Telling me to challenge and then kill you so that she and I could be together. And I remember a great wave of wanting wash over me. I wanted her more than I’ve ever wanted anything... after that I’m in this chair.”

“What did she look like?” Karan asked.

He shook his head in bewilderment.

“A woman you wanted more than anything and you don’t even know what she looks like?” Karan pressed.

“When I dig for a face, everything goes all woozy...” he trailed off, eyes rolling into his head, his skull lolling on his neck.

Kearse entered the room, “Let him loose.”

“Commander I...” he cut me off with a gesture.

“I gave you some time with him, this ends now,” he said, steel in his voice, “You won’t get much more from him anyway,” he pointed at the now unconscious man tied to a chair.

I sighed and cut the ropes, Kearse waved two soldiers in and they hauled Becksworth off to the infirmary.

“I talked to some of the troops,” Kearse told me, “No one saw him talking to anyone. Nor has anyone seen any strange women wandering the halls. I suspect magic and I will have Nicolas on guard from here on out.”

I took a deep breath and let the anger leave my system. “Thanks Commander.”

“I don’t like anyone messing with my boys, and I really don’t like it when they get away with it,” he assured me. “Now, on a happier note, all of our officers have arrived and I’m putting on a pageant of sorts tomorrow. Full uniforms. Sharp as knives. Have your men ready.” He squeezed my shoulder and left.

* * *

I was tracking a Wolf down the cobbled lanes of a city, it had entered the home of a local businessman and had killed his wife and young son before he had driven it away with fire.

Stalking down an alleyway I heard a crash from the far end. I ran down the darkened alley and rounded the corner to find a man, collapsed on the ground, his blood leaking into a puddle of rainwater. I reached out a scaled hand to turn him over.

Staring at my hand, turning it over and flexing the scales I noticed a reflection in the rapidly reddening pool of rainwater. It was my reflection; and it was wrong.

I jolted awake in the wee hours having thought I heard a hissing. My small room was all in order, everything where I had left it. The window was closed and locked, the same with the door. Still, I had a feeling that something was happening.

I opened my door and peered out into the hall, nothing was amiss there either. Padding softly down the stairs to the main dormitories I peeked my head into the men’s bunk room. I saw several soldiers tossing and turning but they didn’t seem to be in distress. Isaac was making a strange grunting noise in his sleep, his face remained peaceful though.

I padded over to his bunk on tiptoe and lightly shook him awake.

He came awake slowly from a deep sleep, “Huh? Wuzzat?”

“Shh. Its me. You alright?” I asked in a low voice.

“Yeah, sure. What are you doing here? Was I shouting?”

“No. I just woke up with a strange feeling,” I said, “I came down here and heard you grunting in your sleep and wanted to make sure you were alright.”

“Fine,” he said, “I was having a rather odd dream though. I remember trees, vines and rainfall.” His mouth turned to a thoughtful frown. “Its gone now.”

When nothing else happened I bade Isaac a good night and returned to my bed.

When we asked Karan about it the next morning she said she had dreamed of flying.

Asking around we discovered that a few others had had vivid dreams as well, though they could only remember vague impressions of them. Mostly they involved comfortably moving through some kind of unfamiliar landscape, no one felt any ill effects so we chalked it up to excitement over the coming ceremony.

That evening we went down to the refectory which had been turned into a feast hall and dance room. An orchestra sat at the back of the room, adding to the formal atmosphere.

I must admit the three of us looked good all polished up. My deep blue jacket and pants were freshly cleaned and pressed, the silver buttons on the coat recently shined. Isaac and Karan looked dashing in their green coats and creased black pants, Karan had her hair tied back in a ponytail that left her bangs free to frame her face.

“Well you’re looking lovely this evening,” I said.

“You look pretty handsome yourself.” She reached up and adjusted my collar.

I patted Isaac on the back, “That color really brings out your eyes,” I laughed.

“Shall we dine?” he asked, adopting a formal tone.

The culmination of the evening’s festivities was the bestowal upon the officers of a pin with the newly minted symbol of the Hunt. A stage was erected over the dance floor and the officers were called up one by one to receive their pins from Kearse.

I accepted my pin in a small blue case; I pried it open and looked within. The pin was silver, of course, and depicted a wolf’s head in profile over top of a circle intersected by two perpendicular lines, as if the beast were in a cross-hairs.

After the ceremony Kearse wandered over to where we stood, Isaac and Karan admiring my new pin and showing me the brass badges they were given as well. The Regent wanted to be sure members of the Hunt had a way to identify each other.

“Not bad,” Kearse said, puffing his red swathed chest up to better display his pin; which was golden.

“That the color the old folks get?” I quipped.

“A case of saving the best for the best I believe.”

“If you two cocks are done preening, I’d like to dance,” Karan said, then pulled Isaac and I out to the dance floor where the stage had been removed and a trickle of soldiers were starting to pair off.

Had we known how all of this would turn out we might have been a bit more solemn that night. I think the Commander had some idea and wanted us to have fond memories of the evening. Sadly, we wouldn’t even get that.

Next Chapter: Chapter 9