Hidden Dangers of the Wood

Fenris returned to his cave shortly after dawn, dragging several logs and Ceourl furs behind him. His mate and her sisters had already risen, the latter cleaning the mess from the birth while the former fed her child. Fran smiled at him warmly as he entered, her eyes darting to the cargo he had brought in.

"If I do not finish the room I started last night, I will never be able to share the bed with you and our son," he whispered to her with a sly smile as he passed her, stopping to plant a kiss between her ears.

Fran's sisters turned to look at the sound of her giggling. Even Vorpellus started laughing. Fran's felt as though her heart would melt when she saw the tender look on her mate's face as he gently picked up their still laughing son. The small boy went wide eyed and quiet as his father lifted him to face level, his gaze fixed on his father's ears. Fenris chuckled as their son reached out and poked one his ears with his little fingers, quickly pulling his hand back.

"You stay with your mother for a while, little one. I have to finish making a place for your aunts to sleep," he said to the boy with a small smile.

"Dah!" The baby exclaimed excitedly, making Fenris' smile widen.

"I will not be long," he said to the boy, reaching out and rubbing his thumb between the boy's ears that were so much like his mother's.

"There is a freshly skinned and cleaned Ceourl hanging by the entrance if anyone is hungry," he called over his shoulder as he dragged his work materials into the freshly dug room.

The younger of the healers went out to retrieve the carcass, surprised to see that none of the Hellhounds had touched it, though two of them were just beside the entryway where it was hanging. She commented on this to her sisters when she returned to the main chamber.

"I imagine it is that they would not dare take food from their master unless he offers it to them," Fran said, much to the surprise of her sisters.

"What do you mean?" The younger healer asked her.

"Have you never seen a pack of hounds in the Wood? The pack will not move in to feast upon their kill until their alpha takes the first bite and steps away. You both have learned by now that Fenris is held as the alpha of every canine beast in the Wood," she said, smiling at Vorpellus as he tried to crawl towards her.

"I may have precious little experience on the matter, but I had thought that newborns did not show this degree of intelligence or mobility," the older healer said in a stunned voice as she watched Vorpellus crawling towards his mother as though he were many months older.

"That may be the case with Hume children, but you must remember that Vorpellus is a Viera sired by the first being to walk in the shade of the Wood," Fran replied to her sister.

"Fenris told me yesterday that the Wood was still young when he first wandered into her shade, that it was She that made him into what he is now," she added, her gaze fixed on her son.

"Then he is indeed old beyond reckoning," the older Viera said in a hushed voice.

"What of it?" Fenris asked defiantly as he emerged from the back room, fixing the older Viera healer with a stern gaze.

"I meant no offense Lord Fenris," she hastily said.

"I did not take offense, but please do not imply that I am some old man," he said with an exasperated sigh.

"Of course not. My apologies, Lord Fenris," she added.

"Why have the two of you taken to calling me 'Lord' Fenris all of a sudden?" He asked.

"You were the Wood's firstborn, it is only right that we show you the proper respect of your station," the younger healer answered, making him release a heavy sigh.

"Please, just call me Fenris," he said.

"Never did I think to hear a Viera call me 'Lord'. Hah!" He said as he stepped outside to prepare a fire.

Fran rose, picking up young Vorpellus in her arms as she carefully followed her mate outside. She gasped and instinctively stepped back as one of the Hellhounds approached her, extending its nose towards the baby. A short warning growl from Fenris was enough to make the hulking hound back away, its tail tucked between its legs.

"She just wants to greet her master's offspring," he said to Fran calmly. "They are not accustomed to being civilized," he added in an apologetic tone.

"I did not mean to react so," Fran answered sadly. "I am not accustomed to being around wild animals in the Wood that do not mean harm," she added in an apologetic tone of her own.

She went to her mate's side, noticing that after Fenris' warning growl to the one, none of them dared to approach her or the baby. Fenris got the cookfire lit and rose, turning to Fran with outstretched arms for his son. She carefully transferred Vorpellus from her arms to his, smiling as their son's face lit up as his father took hold of him. She felt filled with love and joy as she watched the two of them interact, their son appearing far more playful with his father than he was with her. She laughed as Vorpellus rached his tiny hand into his father's mouth and grabbed one of his large fangs, jerking Fenris' jaw to the sides. The baby laughed excitedly as Fenris pretended to chew on the boy's hand.

The female Hellhound approached them again, stopping a few feet away and giving a short whine. Fenris chuckled as he turned his attention to his subordinate and she began wagging her tail. He turned his body slightly so that she could see Vorpellus, another whine escaping her as she saw the baby.

"Come and meet him then," Fenris said with a chuckle as he knelt and held Vorpellus so that the Hellhound could smell him.

She gave an excited bark and swiftly crawled forward, the long fur on her belly dragging through the debris on the ground. She sniffed the baby excitedly, cautiously extending her tongue to pass the tip of it across the baby's cheek in a display of affection. Vorpellus giggled and reached out with his small hand, patting the Hellhounds horn and making her tail wag. Some distant sound suddenly made her ears turn back, a threatening growl escaping from her throat as she moved to stand between her master's family and whatever strange threat she had sensed. Fenris passed Vorpellus back to his mother, rising to stand beside his Hellhound and protect his family. His eyes went wide as a light breeze passed through the dark forest floor, carrying with it the scent of decay.

"Take Vorpellus and get in the cave. Now!" He commanded his mate, making her let out a surprised gasp.

Fran clutched her baby to her chest as she made a run for the cave, only to be stopped in her tracks as a skeleton covered in ancient, exotic armor dragged itself out of the ground before her. She felt something grab her ankle as she went to step back, looking down in horror as another skeleton rose from the ground behind her. Before she could call for her mate, he had already reached her and torn the ancient skeletons apart, using his immense physical strength to shatter their bodies in an explosion of bone shards.

Fenris said nothing as he grabbed his mate and sped back to the cave entrance, depositing her and their baby inside before stepping out and pushing a large boulder over the entrance. The Viera could still hear the commotion of the battle outside through the thick stone. Fran worried for her mate, but knew that it was more important to protect their child. She had faith that Fenris would be able to deal with these undead invaders swiftly.

One of the Viera healers suddenly screamed. Fran turned to see her sister pointing at the floor by the entrance, her blood running cold as her eyes beheld what her sister had screamed at. There in the soil, a bony hand was slowly rising, no doubt still attached to a gruesome body. Fran passed Vorpellus to the older of her sisters, calling upon the Mist around them as Fenris had once shown her to do. She drew the mist into her right hand, creating a ball of ice. She slammed the freezing orb of Mist-infused magicks through the skeletal hand that had been trying to reach for them, releasing it into the ground below.

Fenris was busy facing what appeared to be a fallen army, as there seemed to be no end to bony fiends. He was a few yards from the entrance of the cave, trying to keep any of the undead from reaching it. He suddenly felt a charge of Mist behind him, no doubt an action of his mate. He swore as he was forced to leap away to avoid being impaled by the massive spikes of ice that had suddenly begun erupting out like a wave, spreading across the battlefield and destroying scores of the undead fiends. Fortunately, Fenris' Hellhounds had responded to his mate's magicks just as swiftly as he had, all of them reaching safety before the ice spikes could pierce them.

Fenris released a short howl, signalling his pack to fall back. When the last of the Hellhounds retreated to the blocked cave entrance, Fenris began drawing in a massive amount of Mist. He drew it into himself and used the powerful magicks to take on a more lupine form. He resembled a lean werewolf when the process finished, his body radiating a thick aura of Mist. The Mist became fire as Fenris let loose a savage roar and dove into the field of ice and undead.

With his Mist-enhanced form, he decimated dozens of skeletons with each attack, his strikes releasing blasts of fiery Mist that burned away all trace of the undead. He released a wave of all-consuming fire, creating a gap between himself and the oncoming onslaught of undead. He drew even more Mist to himself, super-charging the fiery aura surrounding him. With another savage roar, he tore through the center of the undeads' ranks, destroying everything in his wake with a massive inferno. The Mist he had absorbed was nearly depleted by the time he reached the far end of the undead troops, growling as he saw a hooded figure floating in the air, a dark aura surrounding them.

The hooded figure suddenly threw a wave of darkness at him, sending him tumbling through the dirt. Fenris felt his blood boil as he rose to face the hooded figure that was now slowly approaching him as though its victory were at hand. Never before had he been thrown to the ground in his own territory, and it infuriated him. His rage drew more Mist to him, making the dark figure back away.

The Mist around them suddenly erupted into a massive inferno, the flames having no effect on Fenris whatsoever. He let out a menacing snarl as the hooded figure turned to retreat, only to feel Fenris' fiery claws sink into its shoulders and throw it to the fiery hellscape below. The flames quickly consumed the figure's dark aura and began eating away at their cloak. Fenris snarled as he beheld a male Hume, the man's skin unnaturally darkened, most likely by the dark magicks he practiced. If there was one thing Fenris hated finding in his territory above all else, it was Necromancers. His rage and hatred fueled the blaze of the hellish inferno around them, quickly depleting any protective magicks the old Hume may have had.

Before the raging inferno could consume the Necromancer, the flames around him parted. The old Hume looked up in surprise, only to freeze as Fenris stood before him. Moving so swiftly that the Hume could not follow his movements, Fenris clamped his teeth on the man's throat. The Hume's eyes went wide with fear as he felt Fenris draining him of his blood, not spilling a drop as he consumed the man's life force. As the last of the Hume's life drained away, his dark soul attempted to flee his body. The entity had yet to fully leave behind its mortal shell when it felt something grab hold of it, turning to see Fenris with glowing eyes and blood dripping from his snarling maw. It shrieked as he pulled it to the ground and covered it with his fiery aura, burning it away and leaving no trace of its foul presence in the Wood.

The inferno Fenris had left in his wake quickly died away as he returned to his cave, the Mist he had used returning to its natural state. Fenris was once more in his humanoid form when he reached his cave, glad to see that the entrance was still blocked and his Hellhounds were guarding it. He bit back a curse when he moved the boulder blocking the cave and Fran nearly caught him in the face with one of her icy orbs. Her eyes went wide when she saw the level of destruction he had wrought. The only thing she could compare it to was the destruction the old Archadian Empire's airship fleet had wrought during the war.

"Are you alright?" She asked him, her worry clear in her voice.

"Aye, I am. What of you and Vorpellus? What happened that you had to use your Mist magicks?" He asked, his voice carrying just as much worry as hers.

"We are well. One of the undead was trying to crawl through from under the boulder, so I used my magicks to destroy anything below the ground around us," she explained.

"It was a most impressive display," he said. "You caused spikes of ice to erupt out all over the battlefield. You really did a number on the fiends," he added with a proud smile.

"But what caused so many skeletons to rise?" One of the Viera healers asked.

"A Necromancer," Fenris growled.

Fran shuddered at the level of hatred in her mate's voice, though he dispelled the feeling just as quickly by wrapping her in a warm embrace. She felt herself relax, surrounded by his scent and his warmth.

"Dah!" Vorpellus suddenly exclaimed from his aunt's arms, reaching for his father.

"Is he trying to call you 'dad' already?" Fran asked in amazement.

"He might be," Fenris replied as he took his son. The boy giggled happily as he wiggled in his father's arms.

"Are we safe, then?" The younger of the Viera healers asked in a frightened voice.

"For now," Fenris replied, ignoring the cold feeling in his gut as he held his son and mate.