Valcyn stared, unblinking as he took in the burning village. One of his officers-one of the few vermin that actually had ambition and a decent sense of rank-voiced what everybeast in the column of fifty was thinking. "By Hellgates…what have they done?"

The village that they had come to raid had been set ablaze and abandoned. Several bodies lay around the center, most likely creatures that had wanted to stay and fight and had been killed for their deviance. In the east, it was a possibility. Valcyn looked at the officers and indicated the village with a sweep of his paw. "Take your commands and search it. Anything you can find, bring to me. Go!"

The vermin moved out, groups of five going into the small settlement. One group walked past a barn, poking their weapons into snowdrifts and looking inside huts to see if there was any food that had been left. A noise inside a barn drew the attention of two. They turned and slowly walked in, back to back, pointing their spears into the darkness.

One, a ferret, looked around. "'O's there?"

There was no answer. The pair moved deeper into the barn. The ferret spoke again, this time to his companion in a whisper. "Don't look like anybeast's 'ere, mate. We should go back. Mate? Grimjaw?"

He turned around. His weasel companion was gone. Turning back around, he began to back out of the barn. Another team that was passing the barn saw him. Their officer pointed his spear at the frightened beast. "Where's your team, maggot?"

"Me an' Grimjaw 'eard a noise in this barn, boss! Now 'e's disappeared, and I don't know where!" He turned back around, meaning to indicate the rest of the barn. "See? Ye can't see 'im any…waaaagh!"

Grimjaw's corpse dangled on a rope from the ceiling, his dead eyes mad with fear and his mouth open in a perpetual scream of fright. The ferret screamed again as a dark shape shot from the shadows, tackling him and dragging him out of sight. The officer shouted at the top of his lungs as the ferret began to scream. "Ambush!"

It was too late. Other teams all around the village were suffering the same fate. Mostly random soldiers, but sometimes entire teams, were being led into dark buildings and slaughtered, their screams creating a horrific cacophony of fear.

In the square, the troops that had stayed to guard the plaza where Valcyn was awaiting reports looked around nervously. Valcyn was nervous too, though he projected an aura of calm for his underlings. "Stay."

A weasel felt something brush his leg. It was a paw. Then a dagger flashed out of the snow, driving into his chest. He dropped so quickly that he didn't even have time to scream. The bodies that were in the square darted into buildings as other sentries began to die when arrows began to hiss out of the darkness, screaming as they died. Valcyn stood, pawing his sword anxiously as the survivors from other groups began to flood into the plaza. One officer that managed to survive reported to Valcyn and snapped a hasty and very poorly executed salute. "It's a trap, Chief! They're all around!"

Valcyn motioned towards the only group of sentries that hadn't lost anybeast yet. "We'll take that route out. Clear the way."

The officer was leading the survivors down the path when an enormous shape shot out of the door of a hut and grabbed him, bearing him into a nearby building. Valcyn heard the ferret's screams as he was brutally killed. The once-organized retreat became a fully fledged rout. Vermin panicked, trampling each other in an effort to get out of the village before they became the shadow's next victim. For many, it didn't help.

One stoat at the end of the group was hit by a rock from a sling and was catapulted through a rotting wooden wall. A shape followed him in. The hapless creature barely had time to scream before the figure drew a sword and ruthlessly cut him down.

As the remainder of the force finally made it to a safe distance away from the village, Valcyn squinted and saw a small number of other figures moving in the opposite direction before disappearing into the woods. He growled to himself. These attacks were becoming an annoyance. They had to stop. But that would come after the squirrel Thyre was dead. Valcyn had all the time in the world.

So you can see, Valcyn doesn't have as much control over the east as you thought he did. R and R!