Author's Notes: Hey everyone, I hope that you like this and it makes up for the delay. You can probably figure out by now who owns what.
Karl was awakened by shouts and screams. At first he was still half-asleep and unsure as to what was going on. As he came awake, he became aware of the clash of weapons, the blowing of horns and the braying of beasts. They were under attack! He fought to get free of his blanket and then got to his feet. He had slept in his cloths, but he had not time to put on his boots, he simply rushed barefoot towards the sound of the fighting. Unfortunately, there seemed to be fighting going on all around him, he was not sure which way to go, a state which appeared to be shared by those around him, with a number of men milling about and looking confused.
Karl looked around, but he saw none of the sergeants, nor any of the Von Dorchene. He was not sure how what happened next happened, but it did. Inhaling deeply he took in all the scents and focused on what he thought was the largest concentration of Beastmen and began running towards it. As he did so he took in those milling about, clearly not knowing what to do. Without thinking or even knowing where the impulse came from, he found himself calling out to them in a commanding voice.
"FORM UP AND FOLLOW ME!" He had no rank or any standing with which to command them, yet at that moment he was the only one who seemed to have kept his head and when he charged forward many of those near him followed.
They ran through the dark, the sounds of battle increasing as they moved closer. Fires were beginning to spread throughout the camp. While this was causing destruction it also provided more than ample illumination to the struggle unfolding. The Beastmen had hit the camp and appeared to be driving for the center, cutting down the scattered resistance offered by men stumbling from their tents. The only serious opposition was being offered by a band of men led by Sir Franka who had drawn themselves up in front of Lady von Dorchener's wagon.
The lady herself was standing at the entrance of the wagon looking down on the conflict. She was clad in a simple night robe and her hair was hanging down about her shoulders. Her arms were spread out wide, she was chanting and Karl felt the magic gathering around her. With a final keening cry lighting appeared as if from nowhere and began to rain down on the attackers. Unfortunately, it was not enough and the attack pressed on. Sir Franka was at the front, both thrusting and slashing with her spear. Several Beastmen went down, but her advance put her ahead of the rest of the men and she was in danger of going too far and being overwhelmed.
Fortunately, there was a benefit as well. In the gloom the Beastmen were drawn to the conflict and were not looking for other attackers, meaning Karl and the others were able to get extremely close without being seen. Indeed, for a moment Karl thought that they might get all the way to them without the Beastmen noticing it. However; about ten feet away several of the brutes noticed them and raised the alarm. Concerned that they would lose their advantage Karl yelled out a command and they all surged forward.
While the Beastmen may have raised the alarm, but in the confusion of the battle and with the majority of them being unable to hear the alarm being raised, Karl and his men smashed into the flank before a defense could be organized. After that Karl lost control of his men at that point and he found himself swept up in the fighting. Hacking and slashing at everything which came close enough. The fighting was fierce for a few moments, but then it started to slacken off. To his surprise Karl realized that there were not as many Beastmen as he had at first thought. Nor were there any of the larger beasts, all that he and the others were fighting were man-sized or smaller and none appeared to be particularly burly or heavily muted for their kind. As he thought these thoughts Lady von Dorchener sent another bolt of lightning crashing into the foe. This proved too much and they broke and fled. A cheer went up and some moved to pursue, but Sir Franka called them back.
"NO YOU FOOLS!" She called out to them.
"If we follow them they'll turn on us in the dark! We need to find the Baron!"
"The girl is right," Lady von Dorchener said, stepping down from the wagon and walking past Sir Franka without looking at her; "We must find my nephew. The fact that he and his sons are not here means that the camp is still under attack." Sir Franka bristled at the treatment, but said nothing. Indeed, all their attention was drawn the sound of more fighting taking place in various parts of the camp.
"WITH ME!" Sir Franka called as she headed towards the fighting which sounded as if it were the closest.
"Wait." Lady von Dorchener said, in a voice which stopped all who heard it in their tracks. She looked at those present and seemed to locate Karl at almost at once in spite of the darkness.
"You," she said pointing at Karl; "Take the men who came with you and check on the livestock."
"My lady," Sir Franka said, the restrained anger clear in her voice; "We need everyone we can get. There is not even any fighting going on in that direction anyway." At last Lady von Dorchener deemed to look at her guardian, casting a look at her in which distain was clearly evident.
"That is why you fight battles and others plan them." As Sir Franka bristled, but before she could say anything Lady von Dorchener spoke again.
"Think girl!" She said, venom in her voice.
"The beasts lust after animal flesh, all those horses and other livestock would be a feast for them. And do you truly think that it is a coincidence that that is one of the few direction from which there is no sound of fighting coming?" Sir Franka's face flushed, whether from anger or embarrassment Karl did not know. Regardless, she raised no further protests and merely nodded as she headed off towards the sounds of fighting, her men following behind. Karl was heading in the direction of where the livestock were kept, when suddenly Lady von Dorchener was beside him and, in spite of himself, he felt the urge to cower away from her glower.
"Ensure they are safe. You have failed once, beast, do not do so again." He merely nodded and headed off at a run. At first it seemed that Lady von Dorchener's fears were unfounded as there was no sign of any Beastmen. Then the wind shifted and he could smell them.
"THERE!" Someone, one of scouts Karl thought, shouted as he pointed into the gloom. Peering through the gloom Karl saw that there was indeed a large force of Beastmen moving towards the livestock.
As they drew closer there were several oddities about them. First, all of them appeared to be the smaller varieties of Beastmen, including a number which appeared to be mutated humans and not Beastmen at all. Even more odd was the fact that they were not simply rushing forward as appeared to be their usual tactic. Also, they were clearly trying to mask their approach as they carried no torches and were moving low to the ground and had smeared mud and feces on themselves, both making them harder to see and smell. They had also been moving into the wind before it shifted, ensuring that even the animals would not have smelled them and raised an alarm through panicked lowing. All this out of character behavior made Karl uneasy, but he did not have time to worry about all of that at the moment. They were here and he had been given a task, one he was especially eager to accomplish and not just because of Lady von Dorchener's threat.
He had allowed himself to be lulled into a false sense of security along with many within the camp. He thought of his sleeping through the alarm and he felt his face burn with shame. Here was his chance to make up for what he had done. As he continued to look at the beasts he saw that there was indeed no large ones among them. That caused him to smile. In his experience the runts broke much easier than their larger compatriots, especially if those compatriots were not present. Seeking to win an easy victory and redeem himself he charged forward, the others following behind.
Unfortunately, they made so much noise that the Beastmen heard them coming. Seeing that their efforts at stealth had failed the Beastmen rose to their feet and launched a counter-charge. The two sides came together with a thunderous crash of bodies and weapons. While the journey and the rough living many had done before and during the journey had made the men more than a match for the creatures one on one, the enemy outnumbered them by at least four to one. Furthermore, by simply charging in pell-mell the humans were not in formation and so the Beastmen were able to more effectively employ their superior numbers. Beastmen were dying and some were running, but humans were dying as well and the Beastmen had many more and slowly the numbers began to tell against the humans.
Karl looked about as he hacked and slashed, desperate to find some way to turn the tide, but he could find none. Where before he would seek out their leader and try to break their will to fight by killing it. Here; however, there was no sign of a leader of any type, something which Karl found strange in and of itself. Even stranger, the creatures were fighting with unusual ferocity. It would have been even worse for the defenders except for another unusual behavior on the part of the Beastmen. While they were killing any humans who got near to them they did not, as they normally would, pursue those humans who broke and ran away from them. Instead they stayed mostly together in a body and drove onwards towards where the panicking livestock was corralled.
Looking about Theobald saw that they could not stop the Beastmen from reaching the animals, there were simply too many of them and their unnatural drive and focus giving them a drive and will that seemingly could not be broken. The humans were either being pushed aside or cut down by their foes in their rush towards their objective. As he looked between the beasts and their prey a desperate plan struck him. If was to work he would have to act fast. He grabbed the shoulder of a man moving away from the fighting, nursing an arm which was clearly broken and with a deep gouge in it.
"QUICK!" Karl yelled in the man's face.
"THEIR AFTER THE ANIMALS! GET SOME MEN! BREAK THE CORRAL OPEN! LET THEM OUT!" The man seemed somewhat concerned, but Karl's order had been given in a commanding voice and so he merely nodded his acknowledgement and set off. Soon the man and several other men were headed towards the animals. Perhaps sensing what the men were trying to do the Beastmen seemed to redouble their efforts, which actually worked against them.
In their eagerness to reach the animals the Beastmen began to ignore the humans in their entirety. The humans, especially those with military experience, were quick to take advantage of this. While some stayed in front in an effort to slow the Beastmen down the majority moved to attack at the flanks. The number of Beastmen falling in comparison to the number of humans rose drastically, but still the Beastmen pressed on.
Karl had just cut down another Beastmen when there was a crash and several whooping cries rang out. Risking a glance behind him Karl saw that the men had succeeded in breaking down the pen holding the animals and were scattering them in all directions. The Beastmen gave a cry of outrage and looked as if they wished to give chase, but the animals were fleeing in all directions and were running far faster than the Beastmen were capable of.
Just then a horn sounded off in the distance. That seemed to take the fight out of the Beastmen. They seemed to deflate as their drive and coordination deserted them. Where before they were a wave driving all before them they were now a confused and frightened mass united only in their desire to escape. Unfortunately for them their attack had carried them deep into the camp and with the humans pushed to the side they now found themselves surrounded. They at last they began to behave like their kind normally did, they broke and fled. While the humans killed many, the majority of them escaped into the night. The humans gave a half-hearted attempt at chase, but they were exhausted and did not have the numbers to do so even if they had not been. Shortly thereafter Baron Theoderic von Dorchener, as well as well as Sir Felipe von Dorchener and Sir Fernando Von Dorchener and Lady von Dorchener arrived, accompanied by a body of men which they had gathered from the rest of the camp. There was still some fighting to be done, but the main enemy attack had been broken and by the time the sun came up the Beastmen had all been killed or driven off.
As men scoured the camp ensuring that all the Beastmen within were dead and that a second attack was not imminent possibility the Baron called the rest of the men in the camp together. The Baron stood on the back of a wagon so he could look down on the assembled people. His face was thunderous, as were the faces of his sons who stood on the ground in front of the wagon. For a moment the Baron glowered out at them, he seemed to be attempting to bring himself under control. At last he seemed to do so and began to speak, though anger still tinged his voice.
"I cannot express how angry and disappointed I am. When the alarm was sounded YOU SLEPT!" The last words were shouted out at the top of his lungs, causing those who heard him to flinch back.
"YOU DISOBEYED A DIRECT ORDER! PEOPLE ARE DEAD BECAUSE OF YOUR ACTIONS! BY THE GODDESS! IF I COULD I WOULD HAVE A FEW HEADS TO SET AN EXAMPLE AND HAVE THE REST FLOGGED!" In the middle of group Karl tried to crouch down in an effort to make himself smaller, while within him the Wolf cringed and whimpered. The Baron looked as if he would say more, but he stopped himself, shook his head and after a moment he took a deep breath and began to speak again.
"Send out patrols, find the enemy, make sure we are not surprised again. If does, I will personally behead as many of you as I have to until my orders are obeyed. NOW GO! And find the animals while you are at it." Clearly being dismissed the assembly broke up, many practically running. Henri was getting a group together to go scouting and Karl was more than willing to go, wanting to get away from the camp and the Baron. Before he could; however, a voice sounded behind him.
"You." Turning around he found himself looking at Sir Franka.
"Her Ladyship wishes to speak to you, come with me." With that she turned and walked away, forcing Karl to hurry to catch up. She clearly did not wish to speak to him and he did not feel like talking either so they proceeded in silence till they reached Lady von Dorchener's wagon. Ebbo was there, wringing his hands, clearly still trying to get his nerves to recover from the night before. He said nothing and merely motioned them inside.
The Lady herself was waiting within, still wearing the soiled clothing from the night before. She had been sitting at the table, apparently deep in concentration. She rose as they entered and stood contemplating them for a moment, as if she had to remember who they were. After a moment she shook her head and seemed to recover her focus. She looked at Sir Franka and made a dismissive gesture with her hand.
"Leave us and see that we are not disturbed." Sir Fanka bowed and withdrew. Once they were alone she began to speak again.
"That was clever thing you did with the livestock. It seemed that they were the primary target."
"Really?" Karl asked in surprised voice.
"Indeed." she said.
"They appeared to be attempting to kill them in an effort to cripple our movement. The other attacks, the ones conducted by the larger Beastmen, were meant merely as distractions."
"That does not sound like them. I have always seen the big ones use the little ones as fodder, not given them the main task."
"You are correct. In truth, I do not think that the Beastmen are the ones in charge. I believe someone or something else is using them." She paused and looked about the interior of the wagon.
"I have been attempting to divine who or what this is, but so far I have met with no success. That is were you come in. I do not want you to go out with the scouts. My nephew does not want them to go far and not for long. I want you to go alone so that you may use your abilities to the fullest. Find the Beastmen and find out if there is indeed something else controlling them. Once you have done that return and inform me."
"I won't be executed for desertion when I return?" Karl asked. She made an impatient gesture with her hand.
"I shall take care of that. Now go, we may not survive another attack." He rose, bowed and departed.
As they would only slow him down and there would be no one around to see him in his other form he left his weapons with the rest of his belongings. Despite the tightening of the watch around the camp Karl still found it quite possible to slip out. Once that was done he made his way to the forest. Once there he changed into his wolf form and began his hunt. His plan was simple, he would follow the trail the Beastmen had left when they fled from the camp back to wherever they had come from and then, once he found them, learn what Lady von Dorchener wanted to learn and then return. Fortunately, finding the trail proved to be no difficulty.
The Beastmen had made little effort to hide their trail when they had approached the camp and none whatsoever as they had fled. In addition to the stench of the creatures there was the trampled vegetation, dropped weapons and other gear, blood and Beastmen who had either succumbed to their wounds, or who had fallen and been trampled by their fellows in their flight. Thus Karl's biggest problem was ensuring that he did not go too fast and overtake them by accident. Occasionally he saw or heard patrols from the camp, some rounding up the scattered animals others also following the trail of the Beastmen to ensure that they were indeed gone. The Baron had; however, ordered them not to go far and Karl soon left them behind.
The trail led deeper and deeper into the forest, eventually the more obvious signs vanished as the Beastmen moved through the forest which were their natural environment. This; however, did not hinder Karl as the creatures were unable to mask the smell of so many bodies, but as he proceeded deeper into the forest a new problem presented itself. The trail split, going off in many directions. Karl was confused by this for a moment, then it became clear. The attack last night must have been conducted by a collection of tribes and now in the face of defeat they were scattering. While they were scattered and thus a diminished threat, whatever had brought them together was still active. Lady von Dorchener would have known if the one which forged the alliance had been slain and would not have sent Karl out to look for it if it was the case.
No, the cause of the attack had still to be hunted down. The more he thought about it the more he was certain that whoever, or whatever, it was, was indeed not a Beastmen. None that he had faced had ever shown the level of cunning that they had displayed last night. That was an unpleasant thought. For something to dominate the creatures, bring so many of them together and force them to act in ways contrary to their nature meant that it must be a formidable force indeed. One which could quite easily have other means of dealing with the caravan and its people.
He continued on for some time, he was not sure for how long, when a new, but familiar, smell came to his nose. The smell of magic. He growled, there was a magic user somewhere nearby, perhaps he had found the answer, but that made no sense. If the Beastmen had a magic-user among them, then why had they not intervened in the battle last night? Surely, if they are as powerful as Lady von Dorchener seemed to think they were, then their intervention would likely have tipped the battle in the Beastmen's favor. These were questions that Lady von Dorchener would want to know the answers to and so he could not go back until he found them. Thus he continued on, but he was sure to be even more cautious in his efforts to avoid detection.
Eventually he heard the unmistakable sounds of Beastmen: chants, roars and the sounds of fighting. This would work in his favor as it made it unlikely that his approach would be noticed and hopefully he would be able to get close enough and observe for long enough to obtain the answers that he sought without being discovered. So, it was with increased confidence he moved on towards the Beastmen encampment.
He soon realized that there was not one camp, but several scattered throughout that part of the forest. Karl moved among them as he followed the smell of magic, assuming that the magic-user would be in the largest and most important camp. Beastmen moving between camps and the few sentries that they bothered to post forced Karl to move more slowly and cautiously and it was some time before he at last reached the camp which he smelled the magic coming from.
It appeared to be the largest of the camps and was centered around a massive stone covered with runes which glowed with unholy light. At its base was heaped a number of items which Karl assumed were captured trophies from previous battles. There were old pieces of armor and weapons of humans, Orks, Dwarfs and ones which could be elven in make. There were also banners, bones and rotting bodies at the base and hanging from nearby limbs. Karl had only a moment to take all of this in before his attention was drawn to the Beastmen scattered about the camp. The majority were sitting in a lose circle around two Beastmen who were locked in combat. Both were huge brutes, easily eight feet tall and rippling with muscles.
One wielded a two-handed axe and attacked aggressively, clearly trying to overwhelm its opponent through sheer ferocity. Its opponent fought more conservatively, giving ground in an effort to bait its opponent to overextend itself or tire itself out. It was not clear who would win and gain control of the Beastmen, for this could not be anything but a leadership challenge like those Karl had seen before. Before a winner could emerge they were interrupted.
"ENOUGH!" A voice roared in a deep and commanding tone. Instantly the fighting stopped and the combatants turned towards the crowd, from which a figure had emerged.
It had once been a man, though he had mutated heavily. His legs were reverse-jointed and covered in scales and his feet had been replaced by claws. Scales also covered his bare arms, whose fingers sported claws in place of fingernails. His chest was covered by a breastplate of silvery blue which was covered in symbols and runes which Karl did not recognize, but which he instinctively knew were evil. He bore no helmet, indeed Karl doubted that he could do so as from his forehead sprouted a pair of antlers that any buck would be envious of. His face was not covered with scales, but it had bumpy, misshapen quality to it, as if something was growing beneath the skin.
In his right had he had a serrated blade of a color similar to his armor and like his armor was covered by twisting runes. In his left hand he carried a staff of black metal tipped with a glowing gem of some sort. This, combined with his smell, convinced Karl that the mutant was the magic user that he had been sent to find. As he passed through the crowd to stand before the two Beastmen Karl saw that, while the individual was tall, it was at least a foot shorter than the two combatants, even so they both backed away from him, their manner both fearful and deferential. The mutant glared at them for a moment, rage clearly evident. After a moment he began to speak again.
"By the Changer you are a worthless lot!" Though he had started by speaking to the two he rotated so that he was addressing the assembled Beastmen.
"You shame the gods themselves by your ineptitude!
"You were given a simple, one even your small minds could grasp. And what did you do? YOU BUNGLED IT!" This last was screamed out at the top of his lungs, causing all the Beastmen and Karl, to flinch back from it.
"Now, you compound your failures by fighting among yourselves for leadership of this useless rabble!" A look of cruel cunning came to his face and he turned back to the two fighters.
"You want to fight? Very well." Looks of horror came to their faces, one tried to run while the other attacked the mutant, neither effort was successful.
The mutant raised his staff and spat out words which stung Karl's ears. As the mutant chanted blue light shot from the gem to engulf the two terrified Beastmen. As the light engulfed them they shrieked in pain and terror as their bodies…changed. Their fur fell of and their bodies expanded, bulging with muscle and layers of fat till they were nothing but massive blob-like creatures. Limbs, mouths and eyes sprouted from all over their new forms. Their cries were replaced by mindless shrieks and cries. The mutant snorted in contempt and turned to the rest of the Beastmen. He studied them for a moment and then pointed to one hulking brute, who appeared to have been attempting to go unnoticed.
"You are in charge now. Take these two to the pens with the others. I will not accept anymore failures." With that he turned and strode through the Beastmen and entered a small tent which Karl had not noticed before. As the new leader bellowed at its warriors they brough spears and used them as goads to drive the two creatures away. As this happened the rest of the Beastmen broke up and scattered throughout the camp.
Now that the excitement was over Karl moved back a little way and settled down to think. He now knew who, or rather what, was leading the Beastmen and many of the earlier questions were answered. The Beastmen had employed tactics and had behaved in ways opposed to their nature because the Chaos Warrior was leading them and imposing his will on them, or perhaps simply cowing them into obedience. After seeing what he had done to the two Beastmen who had annoyed them Karl would not have been surprised if it had been the latter.
Now, what was he to do? He had found the answers which Lady von Dorchener had sought, he could return now and report, but there was another option. He could attempt to do what Wilhelmina had done with the Beastmen at Hamlinburg, kill their leader and cause them to fall into infighting. The Beastman that the Chaos Warrior had chosen to lead the herd had clearly not wanted to lead and if the Warrior were to be removed it was likely that the new leader would be challenged. Furthermore, it seemed from the various camps that the Warrior had welded several tribes together, tribes that would likely begin to fight amongst themselves if the one unifying them were to be killed. Nor were these the only reasons to strike now. It was clear that the Warrior and his Beastmen allies had not given up on their efforts to destroy the Baron and his people and would attack again. If Karl waited the Warrior would still have to be fought and if he waited till the Warrior's plan came to fruition it would likely be far more difficult and more people would die.
However; there were other factors to be considered. Despite Karl's powers it was clear that the Chaos Warrior was a powerful and skilled sorcerer and likely a skilled warrior as well and also surrounded by his army. It was entirely possible that he would kill Karl. If that were to happen then the camp would receive no warning from Karl and could very well be taken off guard and unprepared.
What to do? What to do? The question ran around and around through his head as he tried to come to a decision. He tried so hard to force an answer to come that his head began to hurt. He did not like this kind of thing, as he did not consider thinking to be his strongest ability. He was much more comfortable simply use force as he understood it and was good at it. But right now thinking was called for. At last he came to a decision. He would not try to kill the Warrior, the risk was just to great. Instead he would observe him and the Beastmen for as long as he dared in the hope that he could gather more information and attempt to determine what their plan was, or at least gather enough that Lady von Dorchener would be able to do so. He looked up at the sky and while the trees blocked much of the light enough still filtered through that he judged that it was either noontime, or close enough. The Beastmen always seemed to be more active at nighttime so he would wait until twilight at the latest. By then he hoped that he would have found what he sought, or if they were moving to attack he would know and would be able to get back in time to sound the alarm and warn the camp. Having made his decision he settled down to observe.
For a time nothing of note happened, the Warrior remained within his tent the entire time and sent and received no messages and no Beastmen dared go near him. The only thing that changed was that the smell of magic grew from the tent. Whatever the Warrior was doing he was summoning a great amount of magic to him. As the time that he had set for his departure grew closer Karl saw that at last the Beastmen began to do something. A shaman who, though the other Beastmen treated him with fear and reverence had a far weaker smell of magic about him than the Chaos Warrior, began to draw patterns on the ground around the stone pillar with Karl guessed was blood. As the creature worked an air of excitement seemed to settle over the assembled Beastmen, clearly something was imminent. Karl did not know what it was and he was not sure that he had time to see what was going to happen.
Beastmen from the other camps began to arrive and while there was clearly animosity between the groups there was no violence between them, whatever hatred they had for each other they clearly feared the Warrior and that fear surpassed that hatred. In addition to that fear they all seemed to be caught up in a shared sense of anticipation for whatever it was that the Beastmen wizard was preparing for. This was not good, while Karl did not know what was going to happen, he was prepared to bet coin that it involved another attack on the humans and unfortunately that they were not going to fall into infighting as he had hoped. He wanted to stay longer and see what was going to happen, but it was time to go and it seemed that it was more important than ever that he return and report what he had seen to Lady von Dorchener. She was a wizard after all, perhaps she would know what it was that they were planning and might know how to prevent it.
There were now more Beastmen moving through the forest now, but Ranald was with him and the majority of them did not even see him and those that did took him for merely a wolf and though one or two threw spears at him none gave chase and he got clean away.
He made his way back to the camp, passed through the sentries and made his way to Lady von Dorchener's wagon. Sir Franka was on guard duty outside of the wagon and gave Karl a decidedly unfriendly look.
"What do you want?" She demanded. Karl sighed, he was getting rather tired of everyone he met being rude and condescending to him.
Back when he had been nothing but his grandfather's apprentice at the mill he would have merely bowed his head and accepted such treatment from a lady of noble birth, but much had changed. In addition to being a werewolf he had been involved in various missions and had had various adventures that would kill many noble he was sure. He had fought alongside knights, wizards against monsters and horrors which would freeze He was far from the peasant that he had been and he found that he had had quite enough of being looked down on by nobles, especially a base-born one at that. He knew that that last part was unkind and uncalled for, but he had wanted to think every unkind thing that he could think of to hurt her. Though he wanted to say all of those things he did not and simply said that he was expected. Sir Franka snorted, but stood aside and let him pass.
Inside the wagon Lady von Dorchener was waiting seated at the table, Ebbo was nowhere to be seen. She rose as he came in regarded him coolly. She looked at him for some time and then resumed her seat and motioned for Karl to take the other chair.
"You found something." Her tone made it clear that it was not a question. He nodded.
"Quite a few things in fact." He replied. He then told her all that he had seen. Her expression grew grave as he talked and was silent for some time after he had finished speaking. At length she spoke again.
"You saw only the one Chaos Warrior?"
"Yes."
"To dominate and control that many Beastmen alone means he must be powerful indeed to force them to follow him."
"Aren't they on the same side? I have heard that they fight together." She gave him an annoyed, condescending look.
"They both serve the Ruinous Powers, but they are hardly allies. The Beatmen consider themselves to be the true children of Chaos and consider humans to be inferior to them. However; they will always bow to those who prove to be stronger than them, as this one has clearly done. His standing; however will likely have been negatively effected by the defeat. He tried a strategy of cunning, he will likely try something different the next time."
She fell silent after she said that. She went to the side of the wagon, where there was a small porthole. She opened this and stared out into the gathering dark. She stared out for a minute or two and then, closing it, turned back to Karl. She went to a chest and began removing books and other items. She seemed to have forgotten that Karl was still there until she turned back to him.
"Leave me, there are things which I must investigate."
"You suspect something?"
"I believe so, but I am not sure. We will only have one chance so I must be certain. Now go, this will require time and concentration." Karl rose and departed.
Author's Notes: Hello everyone, I am so sorry that I have not updated in so long. I am annoyed by people who start stories and then don't finish them and now here I am doing it myself, please forgive me. I have been told that Karl should become more independent, I have stared that, though not in the way I originally intended. I will try not to take so long to update the next time. Till then please pray for all effected by the flue and the Coronavirus and all who need prayer. Bye and may Jesus bless you.