The walk from the northern edge of Dale into the small town square had been quick. The people were much more like what she was used to, not like the Ereboreans, who were definitely distinct.

The buildings in the town square were old stone, with a small, pretty old church in the centre of town. The whole town itself appeared to have been surrounded by an old stone wall, with a large cross at the old gateway through which the road entered it. There had also been a larger church just outside of the town boundary with a large graveyard. It was odd having two churches for such a small town. The market stalls in the centre were buzzing, and children played noisily around the fountain in the centre of the square. It was probably much prettier when the sun shone. She checked her phone but there was clearly no reception here either. And so she walked around for a bit, until she finally found the pub.

Tucked away down a narrow cobbled street, just off the southern edge of the square was the 'Wolf's Head Inn'. It was a quaint and dark place with old fashioned dark wood décor and dark carpets. Pushing the hood of her mac down, she looked around, before the spotted the man seated on his own in a booth at the back. He waved at her but it was subtle, and she needed to double check for a moment that he had indeed waves at her.

Making her way through the modest crowd she walked over, and he stood just as reached him holding out his hand to shake hers.

"You must be Shobha. I'm Greg." He smiled, gesturing for her to take a seat. "What can I get you?"

"Oh… um just a light beer. I'm driving back so…"

"Of course, don't worry I've ordered a couple of portions of their chunky chips. You won't taste them like this. They grow the potatoes here, and it must be something about the soil, but I have never tasted better chips than out here." He laughed as she raised her eyebrows at the thought. "You would think chips were chips right? Grab a seat I'll be back with your drink."

She sat there looking around. Everyone was rather pale here, they wore darker colours, and much less make up than even the Ereboreans. There were various shot guns, pistols, axes, swords and other weapons displayed on the wall, clearly antiques, but very well looked after, someone clearly dusted them regularly as they all looked shiny. Perhaps they were even in good working order.

Greg came over with a couple of pints, setting one in front of her before taking a seat.

"I hope you're not out here just for me…"

"Oh no, the MOD run exercises on the borders of these areas." He suddenly looked a little nervous, his hazel eyes scanning her face. "So have you settled in well?"

"Um I guess. It's been work mostly, but everyone is quite nice, so I'm well looked after." She wondered why he had suddenly changed the subject.

"Listen, don't take this the wrong way, but, why did you take this job?" He took a sip and tried to explain himself a bit better. "Why move out here? You seem like a nice girl…"

"I don't know, a change of scenery I guess." She frowned at his directness. "You seem nice but you're here."

"I drew the short straw this time, but when we come up we get things done and then get the hell out." He checked his watch again. "So you're heading back after this, are you sure you won't stay?"

Shobha chocked on a gulp of chilled beer.

"Oh no I mean, it gets a little scary out here after dark." He back tracked again. "You know all rural, no lighting."

"What exactly are you doing out here. And don't down play it – " she felt irritated now. He was doing this as a chore. There was nothing social about this. "I know bull shit when I hear it…"

"Jesus Shobha, you're your fathers daughter aren't you? Shame you didn't go into defence work yourself." He sat back relaxing in his seat, a smirk slowly playing on his lips. "We run training ops out here. There are creatures that lurk around these parts. Not sure exactly what. But from time to time lost hikers, campers who stray too far north, just disappear. No bodies… just maybe a tent or a backpack found weeks later. I was looking into a man who disappeared recently. By the time we hear it, they're cold cases sadly."

She leant back watching him trying hard to keep her calm.

"You know about it?"

"No. No…"

"It's been going on from time to time, at least what we know. God knows how much more happens that we don't know about, but no one wants to stay out here to monitor it either. One of our own was posted out here around twenty, twenty five years ago maybe. One day he disappeared. Door broken in. No trace. All his stuff still there. Food still on the table." Greg looked around, and leant in to whisper. "The people around here know something, but keep tight lipped."

She took another sip, attempting to calm down as the waitress brought over their chips.

"D'ya want any sauces with that?"

"Ketchup for me please, love." He smiled and looked over at Shobha. She was still lost in thought.

"Any sauces lassie?" She tilted her head towards Shobha, waving her hand in front of her face. "He must be a brilliant date… now I see why yer single Greg."

"Oh – mayo for me please."

"Aye." She walked away and was back in no time setting two small bottles on the table.

"Thanks." Greg nodded.

"Enjoy."

After several moments of silent thinking, he interrupted her.

"Better eat something, or that beer will go to your head."

She reached out on autopilot and picked up a chip bringing it to her mouth slowly. He was right the chips were something else, but she couldn't enjoy them now. All she could do was think of how that wolf thing had attacked her, and the dreams she had about it.

After good ten minutes of silence, where she had been so close to revealing everything on several occasions, she decided she would think a bit more about it before confessing. Up to now he was a stranger. And just because he spoke about attacks it didn't mean she could trust him.

"Look, Shobha, your father knows about the attacks too. He wanted me to give you a couple of things, just to keep you safe." He reached down onto the seat and pulled up a couple of packages. "This is a satellite phone. Our latest model, light weight, easy to use. I have pre programmed it with your father's number and that of the MOD base locally. Better ring us first, we can send someone out. If you are even lost, or scared, keep it on you all the time. It has GPS tracking. We can locate you using the signal. You'll be safe in Erebor, but I don't know about anywhere else."

He pushed the first package over. Then he pushed the second towards her.

"There's also a medical kit, flare gun, plenty of cartridges to go with it and a decent utility knife. Keep these in your car all the time. And there's mace. Well, it's actually a mix of mace and bear spray. It will hold anything off for a bit so you can get away. There are three cans, one for your car, one for your handbag and one for your house. Always keep one within reach. That's from me by the way. Our lads are changing your tyres right now as well. The new ones are reinforced run flats. You can go a good hundred miles even if you lose tyre pressure. If for any reason you have to travel at night, don't stop. There will be no AA call out to fix your car here." He downed the rest of his pint, checking his watch again.

Somehow she should have been more upset by all this, but it was a strange comfort to think there was a way to reach her parents even though she felt she had moved to the edges of civilisation.

"We need to get going. I'm not staying here tonight. And you need to get back before dark." Greg stood up as she grabbed the two packages, tucking them under her arm. "Let's head back to the car- I will walk you over. The boys will be parked there. It's Toms turn next time. He will probably check in on you in a couple of months. Unless you head home before then."

….

As she started her car and locked the doors, she realised she had spent two hours in Dale. It was a cloudy day, and already the crowds from the town square had cleared up. The van parked behind her pulled out, and headed out of town as she turned her car around to head back to Erebor. It would be dark fairly soon, but she imagined she would get home before then. The drive between Erebor and Dale had taken around an hour. Although the distance wasn't great, the roads were narrow, and winding with deep ditches either side, so travel took time.

But then she stopped, realising she should have popped to the rest rooms before setting off. Looking around perhaps the quickest thing to do was to stop at the church. So getting back out, she locked her car and walked down fast, following the road out of town.

The church was not far but looked old, empty and quite creepy against the bleak backdrop of the miles of scrubland that extended beyond it. Hurrying through the path, overgrown with grass from either side that extended through the large graveyard, she finally reached the large wooden doors. Somewhere nearby a raven cawed loud, shattering the silence that surrounded the outskirts of town making her jump.

Placing her hand on the old latch she pressed it down and pushed, doubting whether it would even be open, but the door swung back with a loud creak and she stepped through into the dark and large stone building.

"Hello there…" she spoke, but heard no reply back.

Walking up the isle towards the large marble altar she spotted the enormous frescoes either side, and in between the beautiful, old stained glass windows. But they were not traditional scenes from the bible. There was a gory image of a wolf like man, being chained, and tied down and a knight fighting the creature with a sword and spear. It was hardly a fair fight. The fresco before showed a wolf man tearing a man to shreds, with all the gore involved. Then the one before showed the wolf creature fighting another creature that was depicted as a pale thin man. Moving in for a closer look she spotted the pale man had fangs. A vampire!

Moving along the fresco prior to this had vampires, and yet more gore as they were shown feeding off women and children –

"Hello there…" someone called out from behind, startling her. "Can I help you?"

She spun around to spot a young woman emerge from a small doorway, locking it behind her. Every footstep and every turn of the lock resounded loudly in the eerie stone space.

"Oh um… I'm sorry the door was open and I wanted to use the loo. I will leave a donation." She added in case the woman thought she was being cheeky.

"Let me show you…" she simply led her along silently without any further chat to a door not far from where she stood in truth.

Shobha didn't take long, but when she returned she found the woman standing there waiting.

"Don't worry, I am locking up today. Father Cornell is out blessing a local farmers new barn." She explained as though that would make sense to her. And when faced with a confused look she explained further. "The old one was broken into and several new calves went missing."

"Ugh that sounds terrible." Shobha sympathised. For her baby farm animals were the reason she became vegetarian. "I didn't realise there were big predators around here…"

The young woman scrutinised her carefully, and then suddenly recognition washed over her face.

"You must be the new Doctor at Erebor." She offered her hand to introduce herself. "I'm sorry, I'm Sigrid."

"Shobha. Nice to meet you, Sigrid." Shobha smiled. "So they've warned you all about me have they?"

"My father is the Mayor, he was made aware during a meeting with Lord Oakenshield." She chuckled. "What's it like living in Erebor?"

"Well I'm just outside of their town, in the hospital accommodation, so I nave only just started to explore the town recently. Why, have you never been?" She raised her eyebrows surprised.

"No… you are probably one of the few 'outsiders' who has. Even their trade is done through our town. That's probably all that keeps Dale going." Sigrid explained quietly as though giving away a trade secret. Her hazel eyes constantly scanned her visitor. While being clearly rather young, she was well dressed, in clothes way beyond her age and her hair braided and pinned back. "We tend to turn away any visitors that come up this far to be honest. And the only people we get staying out there are the soldiers running their military exercises, but they have real guns."

It felt as though she was receiving a warning from Sigrid. It would only be a matter of time before the young girl sent her on her way, so she needed to ask as many questions as she could, while she seemed happy enough to answer.

"You've got some fascinating depictions on your church walls…" Shobha gestured around her.

"What you mean gory?" Sigrid chuckled.

"Well… they're a bit too cool to be in a church aren't they?"

"Oh you mean the vampires and werewolves? They say that our ancestors were plagued by vampires, and so they enlisted an ancient clan of highland warriors to help them, only to find they were lyncanthropes! Some demanded women in payment for controlling the vampires, some just took them apparently, and so the church sent knights to help control them. The legend goes that these werewolf warriors were given land to settle peacefully, and a truce kept between the people of Dale and them that us mortals would guard their secret from the outside world, and in return they would protect us from vampires… but the churches, the town wall and gates were built and consecrated to guard us from the vampires. Even now when new buildings are built, they are blessed so the cursed cannot cross the threshold without permission."

Shobha frowned staring at the paintings. So she was attacked by a werewolf that day!

"Do you think they are still out there… werewolves I mean?" She asked still engrossed in the images.

"I don't know. We are still not permitted the venture out after dark. And most people in Dale stick to that rule. Certainly no one leaves beyond the town wall. My grandpa would scare us saying the dead were buried outside of town so any that rose from their graves could not cross over the town wall. But whether it's just because the scrub land out there had lots of hidden crevices, ravines, gullies and uneven terrain that even trained special servicemen can get injured in… I don't know." She gave Shobha a sidelong glance again. It almost felt as though Sigrid wanted to reveal something, or expected her to do the same.

"Well you're welcome to visit me in Erebor. I don't exactly have any guests." Shobha offered, still engrossed in the various frescoes.

"You know that you require official permission from Lord Oakenshield for even visitors."

"What?!" She turned to Sigrid, for a moment certain it was a joke about how he was moody, controlling and arrogant, but the woman's face was deadly serious. "Really? No – you are joking… right?"

"No. I thought you knew. Didn't they go through the rules… I am guessing you were here to meet someone –"

"Oh God! Honestly, that man is so anally retentive, he pulls a new rule out of his arse every time I meet him." Shobha groaned, and then covered her mouth with her right hand as her hostess winced at her bad language, realising she was in a place of worship. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to swear… I will leave an extra donation-"

"Don't worry Shobha! You do make me laugh… Da always said outsiders cursed in a way no one could match here… But really - You've met him?!" Sigrid chuckled and then raised her eyebrows. "He only ever speaks with Da… and Da says he has no time for outsiders, unless he must."

"Well… I think I really fu – fudged him off!" Shobha guffawed with delight at the thought that she must have truly irritated that arrogant prick in order to warrant a personal visit to her house that Monday!

Sigrid watched the young woman's defiance with a sense of vicarious satisfaction plastered across her face.

"I wish I was there…" and then suddenly noticed the time on her watch. "Oh my, we need to get you back on your way! It will dark soon!"

And then she linked her arm in Shobha's beginning to walk her out.

"I will lock up and walk you to your car… although I do hope you will tell me about it the next time I see you."

"Well then, my dear Sigrid, we will have to meet again, so I can tell you all about it!" Shobha giggled as they walked towards the entrance of the old church.

"I can't wait! Please visit soon! And don't worry about staying late, you can stay over for the night."

….

She had been driving for twenty minutes already now, having spent almost an hour in the church chatting with Sigrid and looking at the depictions on the wall. Suddenly her mind was deep in thought about the legend of the Dale townsfolk that had been revealed to her. Could it be that the Ereboreans were the werewolf clan? They clearly had no farming means or industry, but they lacked nothing in their market places. So surely they must have imported everything, but there was no influx of lorries or goods vehicles that she ever saw. And just like Sigrid had mentioned, perhaps that's why all their trade was done through Dale!

In the horizon Erebor loomed, a lonely mountain in a harsh land, bathed in the glow of the setting sun. Some stars were already twinkling faintly. She was late getting back, but hopefully no one would notice. During the continuing monotonous journey along the narrow winding road, her thoughts soon turned to the Ereboreans. Were Fili and Kili also werewolves? It was hard to imagine, although they all did seem particularly hairy.

Suddenly she was forced to slam the brakes when a large dark shape appeared in the road. Despite travelling at a reasonable speed, the car collided hard with the thing. Whatever it was, it remained at the foot of her car.

"Fuck!" Her heart pounded. It was most likely an animal but she couldn't see it. So shifting the car to reverse she pulled back. In the headlights, the shape looked almost human! She had never hit anything before let alone a man!

Checking her phone, there was no reception.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!"

She would need to check on this person. Unbuckling her seatbelt, she opened the door a little, still watching, but the shape remained still. So taking care she stepped out of the car and moved towards it slowly. It looked like a man wearing a fur coat and a wolf's head.

As she moved closer still he seemed to be changing into a man in front of her eyes slowly. And so feeling more confident she moved closer and crouched beside his frame.

"Hello, can you hear me? I'm going to check your breathing…" she reached out to touch its jet black furry body, but no sooner had she set her hands on it, than it began to stir.

Suddenly it had reared up again, looking like the wolf-like creature she had seen before.

It knocked her onto her car bonnet, growling, as the sounds of further howls surrounded her. Watching on in horror as the creature leant over her pinning her down, it's hot breath falling against her skin, she was certain that this was her final moment alive. But it surprised her completely.

"Run…" it growled deeply. "Run… silly girl."

Her eyes, closed before in anticipation of being mauled, flew open to watch it move off into the darkness. She didn't need to be told twice. Scrambling off her car bonnet on adrenaline fuelled wobbly legs she lunged into her car and shut the door behind her. Then suddenly thoughts of urban legends where attackers were hiding in the back seat flooded her thoughts, so she quickly locked the doors and knelt on her seat to take a good look with the light on in the cabin, satisfying herself that she was indeed completely alone in the car. But her relief was short lived as the howls grew louder again, triggering her to switch the cabin light off and belt up. She had left the engine running and so within no time she was off.

Focussing only on the road now, she sped up going as fast as possible, everything around her fading into a blur, when out of her peripheral vision she noticed a red shape running at her. It seemed to move at a ferocious pace, and despite her speed, it was heading straight for her car from her right. Surely if it hit her the car would flip over at this speed, and she couldn't possibly go any faster on these roads without ending up in a ditch. Suddenly everything felt as though it was slowing down. Breathing deeply several times to draw the calm she mustered when managing a trauma call in the resuscitation bay, she carried on a little slower watching it approach her through the darkness. There would be no outrunning this, by car let alone by foot. And then just as it was about two metres from her she slammed on her brakes. The road was dry enough for the car not to lose grip, but the judder of the ABS kicked in as it strained to a sudden halt, beyond the anticipation of the creature. It stood on the road on the beam of her headlights, snarling, a wolf with red fur, on its hind legs. It was now becoming herder to ignore that these were indeed werewolves, and yet Thorin had been very dismissive when she had even hinted at it. It looked as though it was readying itself to attack her car, so she hit the car into reverse, looking over her shoulder, and stopped after a few meters. She would never escape it like that, it was not possible to reverse so fast in the dark on these roads. So her only chance was to hit the thing head on and hope her car could plough through. Keeping it in gear, she revved the engine so it understood her intent was to step on it. But it appeared the creature had no intention of backing down, it brazenly took a step closer, baring it's teeth. And just as she anticipated its charge at her, the black wolf she had encountered before leapt at it, pushing it out of the way. They rolled off the road as a mass of fighting beasts, and seeing the path cleared of any obstruction, she stepped on it building up speed fast, heading for home. She couldn't help but wonder about the dark werewolf. Did it intend to save her? Or were they locked in some sort of fight regardless? Perhaps a battle over territory, after all, she had never seen the red wolf before.

….

As she stepped out of the door to dreading the daylight inspection of her car, she found a black SUV parked in the drive, and the very scary looking Dwalin leaning against its shiny black panelling, smoking his pipe. It was a very incongruous look. He was rather large and intimidating in his presence with visible tattoos on his face and neck, and heaven forbid where else he was inked, dressed in black trousers and a long sleeved shirt, but the pipe softened his look. It belonged better with a friendly old grandpa than a security man.

She imagined he had another message from Lord 'misery-arse', and so took her time locking up before making her way out. Dwalin remained as he was patiently, a faint grin threatening to break on his lips.

"Morning Dwalin…" she began walking over, wincing as she caught a glimpse of the large and ugly dent in the bumper and bonnet of her car. It was big and ugly enough to warrant shedding a few tears for her precious BMW, but she restrained herself in front of her visitor. "And to what do I owe the pleasure today…?"

"Morning lass… that's a nasty accident ye've had…" he seemed to watch her carefully for a reply, and she was in no way going to admit to the truth, in case she had broken some archaic and useless Ereborean curfew law! It would only give the miserable Lord Thorin yet another reason to get upset with her.

"Ugh… Gosh! Look at that!" Shobha looked at her car, pretending to be shocked. She was quite sure her acting was in no way even up to radio standards, but if they could pretend that there were no werewolves stalking the lands near Erebor, she could pretend that she had not accidentally collided with one! "Vandals… I guess they don't like nice German wheels up here. Shocking!"

"Aye?" Dwalin raised his brow at her sarcastically. "Thorin has asked me to escort ye to and from the hospital since ye had the accident while being out too late. And he asked me to tell ya never to stay out late like that again."

"Oooh that sounds like a threat. I'm not sure those work on grown women." Once again she pretended to look confused, tapping her finger on her lips. "Is that really what he said?"

"Well ye know Thorin, lass…" he scratched his head.

"Thankfully, no I don't know him. But unfortunately, I am getting to know more of him than a simple doctor employed by the local hospital should!" She patted his arm reassuringly. He, like Thorin, was rather tall and broad, which meant even patting his arm requiring her to reach up. "Go on. Tell me what he said exactly – you know that ever since he turned up here that morning, I live solely to raise his blood pressure."

He gave her a wry smile, still inspecting her car.

"He said that even if ye have no concern fer yer own safety, he has overall responsibility of your welfare and would be accountable to yer father. So he cannae have ye doing anything foolish and irresponsible any more." Dwalin grimaced as he finished.

She burst out into frank laughter at that.

"He must have popped a vein over my insolent behaviour!" She carried on laughing.

"He certainly popped something…" Dwalin muttered with a wry smile, implying that Thorin's message had been harsher still.

"So why waste your time? Why not just send a driver?"

"He doesn't trust a driver to control yer tendencies. I'm his cousin, we've grown up like brothers…"

"But What If I manage to corrupt you too?" She smiled, only to receive a disbelieving quirk of an eyebrow. "What if I say no? Flatly refuse?"

"Then I have been granted explicit permission to throw ye over me shoulder, carry ya to the car and throw ya in." He grinned at her as though challenging her to try it.

"Wow! Between the two of you, you really know how to show a gal a good time huh?"

"Alright lassie, ye needn't be bolshie with me." He moved around to the passenger door and opened it, bowing and holding his hand out pretending to be a footman. "I'm just the messenger – and yer driver apparently."

"So how long is this going to be for then?" She asked as she took his hand and clambered up into the large SUV.

"For the foreseeable future…"

…

She stared at her piles of letters twiddling her pen between her thumb and index finger, unable to concentrate. Clinics had been cancelled that afternoon since there was a festival happening in town of some sort, and Lord 'Misery-shield' as she secretly called him, was due to be present, putting her right off any appetite she had for lunch.

"Are ya sure ye don't want lunch from town – they will have a lot of stalls and lots of tasty treats today. It's the start of our summer festival…" Aileen popped her head around the corner.

"Nah… I'm good. Besides it'll be too busy, with all the ceremony going on and stuff…" Shobha smiled still distracted. "Anyway it's on all week – I'll go later on…"

"Lass, ye don't look in the mood for much work – take a beak." She assessed her over her half glasses.

"Oh no, I'm ok. Not one for the crowds, me."

"Oin asked whether ye could see two of his patients at two and two thirty?" She shook her head at the young woman's unwillingness to take part in the festivities. "Are ye worried about bumping into Lord Thorin? Dwalin mentioned he had a message from Lord Oakenshield prompting a visit last week…"

"Ha! Don't worry, Dwalin was a follow up visit – he visited the house on Monday morning before to have a go at me in person!" Shobha explained, her face twisting in disdain at the memory. "Of course I will see Oin's patients. Is he ok? Do you need me to cover the rest of the afternoon?"

"He visited ye in person! Well… that's quite an honour!" Her greying eyebrows shot up.

"If you say so…"

"No lass, Oin will be back after that. He's seeing to Lord Oakenshield. He hurt himself while sparring this weekend." Aileen explained as though giving her a reason. "Nothing serious, mind you…"

"Sparring...? Well, I'm still till not tempted to brave the crowds today, but the likelihood of tomorrow is suddenly much improved…"

….