Illusion rolled the die; a nervous expression crossed her face as she waited for the outcome as did several of the other gods watching the game board. A smile crossed her face, it was a high roll, more than enough for her selected party to be successful. She watched them rush forward to face the monsters in the capital as they neared the figure in dark robes. In the party was an armored warrior, a priestess, an elven archer, a dwarven mage, a thief and a lizardman, this party of mostly silver-ranked adventurers clashed with the forces in the center of the capital…and were annihilated within a matter of minutes.
"The party has fallen…they could not get past the monsters. The Necromancer remains alive." A pained expression crossed her face as she reached towards the game board to remove the fallen pieces. "I can only be happy that this was not the same party that I've been following, though they are moving closer to the Capital."
Truth slammed his fist down upon the table as he and the other gods complained over the status of the game.
"This is absurd! The game board is in utter chaos, the capital has nearly fallen after almost a month of dealing with this siege!" Truth growled as he stood, glaring down at the token representing the Necromancer. "Another one…we have another damn token that manipulate the rules of the game! This one by all accounts might as well be a God as no matter what we roll, he can't be defeated!"
"This is all your fault Wisdom!" The God of Knowledge had a scowl upon his face while pointing a finger at Wisdom.
"How dare you!"
"No he's absolutely right! You and your damn impulses may have doomed this game!" Truth too was rather furious as he berated Wisdom. "You carelessly give out wisdom to those who are undeserving and now you've created the next god…a god who does not follow our rules!"
"How was I supposed to know he'd go this far with his ridiculous plan. Every mortal I've given a bit of wisdom to eventually destroyed themselves or was slain!" Wisdom grew nervous as he looked around at other gods who were also upset with his current lack of foresight. "What about Earth Mother? This is also her fault as that mortal was once a follower of hers!"
"He made his choice to change his line of thinking long before you bestowed him with wisdom. The mortals are free to worship whoever they desire." Earth Mother looked toward the game, but her eyes were not focused on the capital, before narrowing her gaze towards Wisdom. "Do not go blaming others for a mistake you have made. You are not a child."
Wisdom growled in frustration as he now looked over the game, a simple flight of fancy now made him the target of the other god's anger. This God of Resurrection had perfected his craft, able to revive the dead not as mindless undead, but beings of enhanced strength and capable of following commands. Wisdom knew the gods were forbidden from directly acting in the game, but there had to be a solution available for him to use that would put in back in the good graces of the other gods, and just when he was ready to give up, a sudden idea came to mind.
"Then how about this, let us pair them against one another."
Wisdom smiled as he moved towards the game board and placed the token for the armored warrior near the token figure in the dark robes. The other gods moved to look at the game, there they could see Wisdom was looking to have Goblin Slayer fight against the Necromancer.
"You want to have these two fight one another?" Chaos, though thoroughly enjoying the bloodshed in the capital, was not one to have a new god join their ranks.
"Yes. These are two tokens which do not adhere to the roll of the die. If we are lucky, they will destroy one another, and even if the warrior falls, he may weaken the Necromancer enough that the Hero will defeat him." Wisdom sneered as he knew Truth did not care for the armored warrior. "The armored warrior is already on his way towards the Capital and they both desire to destroy one another. He is not a hero, it is highly unlikely that he will vanquish the false god, but if he were to fall…I highly doubt anyone will truly regret his loss."
Earth Mother and Illusion both had a frown as they had come to admire this armored figure, but the other gods were in agreement for this plan, if nothing else the Hero was also on her way towards the Capital and would undoubtedly defeat this evil as she had so far. The threat of the Necromancer was so great that even demons and the forces of evil were combatting transformed humans, even the goblins were hiding away as several of their transformed brothers would slaughter all in their path, so Wisdom's plan seemed like the only plausible one to them. Though Earth Mother was not happy with this decision, she turned her attention back towards the game to see the various parties seemed to be finally converging, though for her, the dire wolf token was approaching a village, but she could see three other tokens approaching as well.
xxxx
Wolf continued to move through the forest, determined to get back to his own pack and his mate. He stayed with the fellow pack long enough for the male alpha to recover enough strength where he could move about much easier. Though there had been an "invitation" as it were to join their pack, Wolf had his mate and his own litter still out there, he needed to get back and make sure they were safe. Though he was not aware of the time he had lost, nearly three weeks had passed since he and the monster had fallen into the river, but now he could pick up on linger scents of his mate carried through the wind.
He had been careful to avoid the humans, sticking to the forest for cover or traveling under cover of night when he had to move across the open plains. His nose told him there were still plenty of humans in the area, as well as scent of those monsters they battled though they seemed more spread out than before. He reached the top of a hill and down below he could see a large human settlement, smoke billowing out of the chimneys, so this village had not been affected by the Necromancer's forces…at least not yet.
Wolf quickly crossed the road and back towards the woods, it would do him no good to be spotted by these humans, they were nor likely to be welcoming to him as his packmates had been. He would continue to move forward, avoiding this human settlement, when he suddenly heard the sound of humans nearby, young voices coming from the nearby meadow. Wolf cautiously moved through the shadows to investigate the sounds, there he found them, it was a young boy and girl happily playing in the field. The young boy had a small wooden sword in hand as he ran through the tall grass followed by his friend who too had a small wooden bow in her hands. Wolf sat as he continued to watch them from the shadows, he was able recall a similar situation with the boy and girl in the village near his new home.
Wolf suddenly heard new voices and turned his head toward his left to see five more children rush out to play with their weapons, a mixture of boys and girls who all ran around the field. Wolf's mind went back to his mate and his litter as he let out a low whine; he had to reach them, to know that they were still okay, he had only been gone a short amount of time when his previous mate and cubs had been butchered by the goblins, this time he had been gone much longer and that made him anxious. There was a suddenly rustling sound that once again drew his attention, it was the sound of one of the children moving towards him. The first little girl had lost her grip on her bow when it flew out of her hands, landing near the trees; she rushed over to retrieve her weapons to join her fellow adventurers on their quest to slay the dragon, but once she found her toy she paused as she slowly looked up and there near the trees saw a large creature looking back at her.
"Hello?" She curiously tilted her head as she looked up at the creature, though a little nervous because of its red eyes, it was not acting aggressive. "What's your name?"
Wolf himself towered over the young child even while sitting, seeing the young child reminded him of the small female dragon who would always come up to pet him and Snow, unconsciously his tail started to wag. Wolf stood and walked toward the young girl; she was nervous it might try to growl at her yet watched it bend down to pick up her wooden bow in its teeth and hold it out for her to retrieve. The young girl saw this and smiled as she carefully reached out with her hand to grab her toy and hopefully pet the big beast with her other; Wolf lowered his head as to allow the girl to gently pet the side of his head.
"Hey what are you doing? Did you find your weapon?"
The young girl turned her head back to wave at her friend with her small bow in hand and started to run back towards them but stopped when she turned back to look at Wolf.
"Come on. They won't hurt you." She reached out with her hand, calmly motioning for him to follow her.
Wolf was hesitant for a moment, his instincts telling him he had to get back to his own pack and to be cautious of humans, yet his familiarity with other humans made him ignore this and follow the young girl. Her friends all stopped what they were doing as they watched her call to something in the woods and to their surprise watched as a massive black creature slowly emerged. The older children immediately thought it was a bear given its size, but then noticed there was broken chainmail covering most of its body and it was more dog-shaped than bear-shaped.
"What is that? A monster?"
"He's friendly." The young girl stopped as she waved toward her friends, and Wolf stopped beside her and once again moved into a sitting position.
The other children were shocked by this and though still scared, slowly made their way over toward the giant wolf that sat beside their friend. One of the elder boys noticed something hanging off its neck and reached out for the tag.
"Is he someone's pet?" The young boy looked at the tag in his hand and gasped when he read the characters and realized this was not a pet but an adventurer. "This is a Guild tag, he's obsidian ranked…looks like he's called Wolf."
"This giant monster is an adventurer?" Another one of the boys, reached out to gently pet the side of the black wolf and could feel the cuts and scars under his fur. "Look at the damage to his chainmail, he's seen quite the number of battles!"
The seven young children were in awe of meeting an actual adventurer, or a familiar to registered adventurer; as they were close to the Capital, they were curious if an adventurer had become separated from Wolf here. Well until he was reclaimed, the children would continue their "quest" to fight against the forces of evil and chaos. Wolf could feel something pushing along his left side, and he turned to see three of the young boys struggling to get the dire wolf to roll onto his side. Wolf groaned before relenting and rolling onto his side where he lay for a few moments while the boys cheered.
"We did it! We vanquished the fearsome black wolf!"
"The heroes are victorious!"
"No!"
The three boys turned to see the young girl rushed toward the downed, wolf, a frown on her face as she looked toward her friends.
"How could you harm this noble creature. He's an adventurer just like us." The young girl moved her wooden bow to the side and placed her right hand upon his neck. "Do not fear Wolf, I'll use Heal to restore you!"
The three boys smiled and moved to the side as Wolf got back to his feet, giving his body a quick shake before looking towards the three boys, his tail wagging and the boys immediately felt bad for having claimed victory.
"We're sorry Wolf! Please forgive us for attacking you!" The three young boys were quick to bow their heads in their apology to the dire wolf.
Wolf not understanding wagged his tail and barked as he moved toward the young trio and nuzzled his head up against the boys. The seven kids continued to play with the dire wolf for a good portion of the afternoon until a scream could be heard, everyone turned their attention to see one of their mothers screaming in horror at the sight of the massive wolf around her children.
"A wolf! Everyone come quick!"
The mother was terrified as she screamed for the villagers to come and chase the beast away which she was sure was trying to go after the children in the field. Wolf knew these sounds the people were making was nothing good, so he quickly took off back towards the opposite side of the woods to avoid the villagers. Though these kids may be nice, and familiar to the ones he first met when he was much younger, these adult humans were not as likely to be friendly. The kids called out for him to stay, but Wolf had long since disappeared into the woods, keeping to the shadows to remain hidden. The villagers were ready with simple spears and clubs to kill the wolf despite their kids telling them that Wolf had guild tags around his neck. The villagers would not allow this wolf to harm their children or livestock and were ready to do whatever was needed to slay this beast, this night the defenses would be heightened. Wolf decided to wait patiently in the darkness of the forest until it was safe to move out, though his actions there meant the village would be on high alert for the nearby Faceless Man.
"Damn it, this village is quite active, I will not be able to contaminate their well with so many about." The Faceless man would prefer to turn these people into useful specimens for his master, but if he needed to kill them that would be acceptable. "This evening then, when they are exhausted, I shall slay these people for you Master."
xxxx
"Keep your guard up! We may have chased that wolf away earlier, but that does not mean he completely given up!"
The guards around the village kept up their vigil despite how late it was, with the possibility that this massive wolf was in the area there was no room for them to slack off. The Faceless Man stood by the road near the outskirts of the village, within the woods was a Hellhound and one of the flesh golem Abominations that eagerly awaited the instructions from their master.
"I had hoped that they would have dropped their guard by now, but it seems that I shall have to act. My master's will shall be done." The Faceless Man would wait to see how these two monsters would fare before he used the elixir himself. "Devour them."
The two monsters let out a horrendous roar as they charged through the woods in a mad dash for the village. The men on guard duty screamed as the horribly mutated monsters charged towards them, tearing through their bodies before smashing through the wooden fencing which was meant to protect them. The other villagers immediately rushed out of their houses expecting to see the wolf attacking their guards but where horrified by the sight of the two massive monsters killing the village guards. The young daughter and her brother hid behind their parents as they saw the strange creature with three arms and three heads used its claws to tear apart one of the other adults when the monster turned its attention towards them.
"You kids run, stay with your mother! I'll try to hold it back!"
The monster roared as it started to run towards the family raising the clawed arms on it right side to slash at them when a large object lunged forward growling and snarling as it bit down on its arm and viciously shook it head. The creature gave a final tug and tore off one of the arms of the Abomination, still growling with the monster's arm hanging from its mouth.
"Wolf." The young girl was surprised by the sight of Wolf coming to their defense.
The Abomination bellowed as it stumbled away from Wolf, blood dripping from the stump where its arm had been. The new noise drew everyone's attention in particular the Hellhound, the massive beast snarled as it stalked toward Wolf, Wolf in turn snarled himself as he began to circle around the red beast. The Hellhound opened its mouth as it breathed for a stream of fire, Wolf quickly dodged the burst of flames then charged in to attack, taking hold of the Hellhound left fore leg and pulling. Wolf managed to bring the creature down, tearing away at as the thick muscles but was forced to jump back when the Hellhound attempted to bite him.
Wolf continued to growl as he readied to attack the Hellhound once again but suddenly cried out in pain, the cause of which was the Abomination had rammed its claws into Wolf's side, breaking through more of the chainmail. The Abomination roared as it tore its claws out of the dire wolf and then slashed at the body with the other claw on its right side. Wolf once again cried out, the chainmail taking most of the damage, thus the cut along its body was not as deep but turning its attention back toward the Abomination was a mistake. The Hellhound pounced on dire wolf, sinking its fangs into Wolf's hide while clawing at the fur and flesh. Wolf cried yelped as he was forced to the ground due to the Hellhound's weight, he tried to get back up but was unable to push the Hellhound off that is until the monster actually threw Wolf to the side. Wolf lay there on his side, panting heavily as his blood splattered along the ground, the children who had been playing with him only a few hours ago could only watch with wide eyes as Wolf struggled to get back to its feet.
The Abomination and Hellhound slowly stalked toward their prey growling as drool spilled from their mouths while Wolf struggled to get back to his feet. The villagers were frozen in place as they watched the fight, thought they should have been running for their lives, they found themselves unable to turn away from the battle before them. Wolf snarled as it turned to face his attackers, blood dripping from his body, his chainmail barely hanging on, but he could not run. He could not hope to fight both of them at the same time, he would have to quickly deal with one then focus on the other before it they killed any other people.
The Hellhound and Abomination both charged forward as did Wolf, but he quickly rushed past the Hellhound to tackle the Abomination. He lunged for the main head and bit down, crushing it within his jaws, scratching and tearing at the monster's flesh as he forced it to fall back due to his own weight. Wolf quickly moved for the next head and also tore into the flesh, trying to kill the monster until something took hold of his back leg. The Hellhound pulled back on Wolf's leg, crushing the bone as it dragged the dire wolf back to the ground. The Abomination struggled to get back up, with two heads crushed and an arm missing, its body was now very sluggish, the villagers now snapped out of their stupor and rushed over to repeatedly stabbed at the body with their spears until it finally died.
Wolf yelped as the Hellhound once again sank its fangs into his back, growling as it attempted to tear the flesh off. The moment the Hellhound released its grip, Wolf turned and began to snap and scratch with its claws at the Hellhound causing it to back away while Wolf slowly got back to his feet, carefully limping with its broken leg. The two massive beasts growled at one another before charging forward, Wolf moved to the side, but due to his injuries was slow as the Hellhound's horn pierced Wolf's shoulder, tearing into his flesh, but Wolf lunged forward and sank its fangs into the monster's throat. The Hellhound tore it horn free and roared as it thrashed about in an attempt to remove the dire wolf, but Wolf continued to growl as it continued to tear the monster's throat, it's blood spilling across its mouth. Wolf pulled back, tearing a massive chunk away from its throat; the Hellhound staggered back, struggling to roar as blood ran from its mouth and its neck. After several moments, the Hellhound finally toppled over, dead from the blood loss; Wolf stood over the body of the fallen Hellhound, panting very heavily as it struggled to stay on its feet.
Wolf suddenly heard heavy footsteps and the screams of people, before it could turn around something slammed him down upon the ground. The Faceless Man had seen the dire wolf come and attack his master's creations and quickly downed his own vial of the elixir and transformed into a wolf-like brute. It waited for the dire wolf to be physically tired from its battles before charging forward to attack.
"Foolish creature, you shall not interfere with my master's plans!" A sinister sneer on the monster's canine face as it continued to push the dire wolf into the ground.
The mutated Faceless Man laughed as it then dug all its claws into Wolf's sides, pushing them in as far as he could, even feeling them move into its rib cage. With the creature crying out, the monster lifted up the massive wolf then hurled it towards the nearest house, smiling as the blood stained the side of the house and watched it crumple to the ground. The children were terrified by the sight, their parents held them tight as they wanted to run over toward Wolf who lay there motionless.
"Stupid creature, I shall feast on your flesh before I slaughter these villagers." The monster took hold of the wolf by its body and slowly raised it up where he could see the guild tag hanging from its neck. "A guild tag, ha ha ha ha, you're an adventurer? What fool gave you a guild tag?"
The monster continued to chuckle as it held the wolf near him, the dire wolf's legs hung limp from its side, its head and neck leaned to one side as its bloody tongue hung from its mouth. The monster sneered as he shook the dire wolf to confirm it was truly dead, when the wolf's eyes suddenly opened and it lunged forward. The Faceless Man was completely caught off guard as the dire wolf tore into his throat, gorging itself on the monster's blood and flesh as it continued its frenzied attack.
"Ma…master…"
The monster gurgled on its blood as it fell backwards hitting the ground with a heavy thud, the moment he hit the ground, his grip on the dire wolf's body lessened and Wolf rolled off to the side where he struggled to get back to his feet. Wolf slumped to the ground, he would wait there for a bit to try and regain his strength, but the battle had finished. Something struck his head, the clay jug shattered as the liquid contents splashed all over his head, it stung as it went into his eyes making him yelp in pain while trying to rub his face along the ground. Though its eyes burned, he looked to see many of the villagers throwing stones at his injured body.
"He's the last one! Get your spears and finish it before he can get back up!"
The villagers had watched everything and having confirmed that the other monsters were dead, they would quickly finish the downed wolf and be finally free of the threat to their village. Wolf could hear the approaching footsteps, but struggled to get back to his feet, there was pain with every bit of movement as it whined in its struggling! It looked back towards the approaching shapes, the alcohol in the jug continued to burn, the shadows were changing, they looked like the goblins that laughed as they stood over his bound body in the cave. His eyes winced with every bit of pain and the shadow of the goblins changed back to that of the villagers, the expression on their faces was not that different from the goblins he had remembered in the cave. In the end, it would die before having reached his mate and litter, these humans were no different than the others that tried to hunt him in the past.
"Get away from Wolf!"
Wolf lifted its head a bit to see the young children throwing rocks at the adults in an attempt to keep them for getting any closer with their spears. Suddenly he saw two of the young girls standing directly over him trying to help get him back on his feet.
"What the hell are you kids doing? Stop throwing rocks this instant!"
"Get away from that monster, so long as it's alive, it's still dangerous!"
"Wolf is not dangerous!" One of the boys angrily continued to throw rocks along with his friends. "He came and saved us! He has a guild tag…he's an adventurer who saved us from those monsters!"
"Wolf please you have to get up!" The young girl from earlier pleaded with tears in her eyes. "You need to run before they hurt you!"
Wolf struggled but eventually got back on its feet and limped away from the village as quickly as it was able to, blood constantly dripping from its body with every step it took. The villagers were quick to take hold of the children, but now the massive wolf was now out of sight having crossed the road back towards the forest. The villagers would attend to the dead monsters in their village for now, they could always follow the blood trail later to finish off the injured animal. Wolf finally collapsed near a large tree, panting heavily as he closed his eyes to rest, the battle had been long but he had been victorious. Those little ones had bought him enough time to move away from village where he might be safe for the moment, those wicked humans that hurt him even after he came to save them.
"My brave creature, you fought valiantly! Goblin Slayer and the others would be proud."
Wolf's ears twitched as he heard new sounds, he strained to open his eyes and standing near him was another human, though he could not understand it, he was in the presence of the Earth Mother. He growled, though it was weak, after the actions of the humans in the village save those young ones, he was far from trusting. The women glad in a green drew with bright blue eyes and flowing blonde hair had a sorrowful look upon her face as she walked closer towards the growling animal.
"Do not be afraid Wolf. I mean you no harm. You who have protected my little one like Goblin Slayer have earned my respect and gratitude." The Earth Mother calmly knelt down and placed her hand upon his injured body. "I know you are suffering. With the other gods still watching, I am not allowed to offer you a full heal, but as a child of my domain allow me to stop the bleeding of your serious wounds."
Her hand began to glow and this light covered Wolf's body, though they were not healed, she had stopped the bleeding from the stab wounds he had received in battle. Wolf whined as he lay there, he was no longer growling as this woman reminded him of one of his packmates, his tail wagging weakly.
"You must stay strong Wolf. Aid will come tomorrow from friends. You will find your mate and little ones; they are not far from you now." Earth Mother sat by the tree where she gently placed Wolf's head upon her lap while gently stroking his head. "You and Goblin Slayer still have a great battle ahead. Do not hate these people Wolf, they are afraid. Very soon, you shall be reunited with your pack and your long journey will have reached its conclusion. For now, rest."
Wolf easily fell asleep upon this woman's lap, he could feel a gentle warmth flowing through his body which seemed to ease his pain for the moment. Earth Mother smiled as she continued to pet Wolf, proud of all he had done since joining with Goblin Slayer and happy that he had a new family waiting for him. The battle with the Necromancer was far from concluded, and Earth Mother feared that it would far bloodier once they reached the Capital but had faith in the groups that were fighting to defeat the evil that infested the area.
xxxx
"Alright. With the bodies of those monsters dealt with, now we focus on hunting down that injured wolf."
The next day, the villagers readied a small hunting party of eight men with spear to go and finish off the injured animal. The bodies of the three monsters had been put to the torch, the children cried out for their fathers to stop as Wolf was good, but they would not listen to the whims of mere children. The blood trail left behind by the injured animal was easy enough for them to follow, they just needed to be careful on their approach, if they were lucky perhaps the wolf had died of its wounds the night before. Just as the hunting party was ready to head out they heard the sound of horses approaching, everyone looked down the road to see a large caravan of horses and wagons coming down the road bearing the insignia of the King.
"The King. Everyone, quickly present yourself, the King is coming!"
The villagers were quick to ready themselves and bowed their heads as the wagons came to a halt near the village entrance. To the villager's surprise, it was not just the King who emerged but the fabled Hero and her party as well as the gorgeous Sword Maiden.
"Your majesty. You honor us with your presence. We could never have expected to meet so many illustrious individuals this fine day."
"But is it a fine day? I see signs of an attack on your village and the smoke from some large fire. What has happened here, perhaps it may pertain to the quarry we seek." The King had a slight frown on his face as he looked over the damage to the village fencing.
"We were attacked by unknown monsters last night your majesty. A horrid creature with three arms and three heads, and a red beast that could spew forth flames from its mouth."
"Those are the monster used by the Necromancer. Damn it, so he's come this far as well." Hero growled as she slammed her fist into her open palm when thinking about not being able to kill him at that moment more than a month ago.
"Necromancer?" The villager was clearly confused by the name of this person they sought.
"A fiend looking to rule the world with his dark magic." The King was quick to clarify as he saw the six burial mounds for the fallen from the attack. "I am pleased to see that you and your people came out relatively unharmed. Did you all defeat the monsters or did some adventurer pass through here?"
"We were fortunate your majesty, the monsters turned on each other and made it easier for us to deal with them. There were two other monsters, one was a horrid wolf-like beast that could talk, and the other was a massive black wolf."
"A massive black wolf?" Sword Maiden was immediately captivated as she and other thought about what this meant. "Tell me, was there an armored adventurer with this black wolf?"
"There was no adventurer with it, just some…"
"No, he's wrong!"
A young girl and her brother broke free from their parents and ran up toward the heroes.
"Wolf is not a monster! He fought the monsters and saved us!" The young girl was eager to convince the heroes of Wolf's innocence.
"Wolf?" Hero was like Sword Maiden, very interested in the name these kids mentioned.
"Yes, it was a massive black wolf, he had a guild tag around his neck and it read Wolf." Her brother was quick to add any extra detail that would prevent them from hunting Wolf down.
"You saw him, you really saw Wolf? Where is he?" Sword Maiden was anxiously looking around trying to find his shadow.
"Wait, this creature is an adventurer? Your acquainted with this animal?" The village elder was clearly confused by this sudden turn.
"Acquainted with him, hell we've fought alongside his master through some pretty difficult situations. Nothing on this earth can stop those two when you get them going?" Hero smiled as she now recalled all the things Goblin Slayer had been through. "Where is the giant furball?"
"He was injured protecting us and…the people tried to kill him while he was hurt. We threw rocks to stop them long enough for Wolf to escape into the woods." The young girl could feel her eyes tear up as she remembered seeing his limp away covered in blood.
Sword Maiden gasped as she heard this and once again began to frantically look around for him. Hero growled in anger as she clenched her fists, she looked back toward the villagers who were nervous that they had angered the legendary heroes.
"You damn idiots! What's with the spears, don't you dare tell me you intend to finish him off after he saved you!"
"Well…we didn't know that…"
"So help me, if he is dead, my wrath will be the least of your concerns. You better pray that Goblin Slayer never hears of this." Hero looked about the ground and spotted the dried blood trail leading towards the woods. "There, the blood trail. Come on!"
Hero and her party, along with Sword Maiden, followed the blood trail in hopes of finding Wolf still alive, none of them wanted to be the ones to tell Goblin Slayer that something had happened to his dire wolf. There they found the dire wolf laying on his side underneath a massive tree, he was not moving it from their first glance it seemed as if he wasn't breathing.
"Oh no, gods no. Wolf!" Hero was quick to call out as she rushed toward the downed creature.
Wolf's eyes opened as he raised its head and began to growl at those approaching, barking a couple times before he continued to snarl at the people. Hero, Sage and Sword Saint all stopped a good distance from Wolf who continued to growl, the trio of women spread themselves out and raised their hands as they slowly approached.
"Easy boy, I know your hurt, we've come to help." Hero spoke in a calm voice as she tried to earn his trust.
Wolf continued to snarl as he struggled to move his body while carefully keeping an eye on the three women. Hero and her party stopped as Wolf continued his growling, but it was Sword Maiden who continued forward despite the wolf's barks and growls.
"Sword Maiden, what are you doing?" Sword Saint was worried about what the dire wolf would do.
"You should stay back. He's clearly leery of us." Sage too watched the dire wolf growl and bark at them.
"Do not worry. He is just scared; we must let him know we mean him no harm." Sword Maiden stopped a few feet short of the dire wolf and calmly moved to her knees while holding out her hand towards Wolf. "It is okay Wolf. I know how hard you fought yesterday and how scared you are right now. We want to help."
Wolf growling lowered as the woman held out her hand for him, he strained his neck forward to carefully sniff her hand. He remembered her scent, he had seen her many times and each time she was very friendly towards him. He whined as he laid his head back down and wagged his tail slightly which brought a smile to Sword Maiden's face.
"You just hold still now." Sword Maiden inched closer and carefully placed her hand over hie injured side. "Those foolish people called you a monster and still you fought to protect them and endured such injuries. You deserve a promotion and I will ensure you are fully recovered to find Goblin Slayer. Lord of Judgement, sword-prince, scale-bearer, bestow your blessing upon this your child…Heal!"
Sword Maiden cast the strong heal she knew, a golden light bathed Wolf's body, in mere moments the wounds that covered his body began to heal one after another. Wolf opened his eyes, it was much like the healing he had received in the cave from the little one on his pack. He grunted as he slowly back to his feet, his broken leg now recovered, and gave his body a vigorous shake. He turned to see the smiling face of Sword Maiden and eagerly began to lick her while nuzzling up against her.
"I am so happy to see you recovered my lovely Wolf." Sword Maiden, still kneeling gently hugged the massive dire wolf as it happily nuzzled against her while wagging his tail.
"Okay there Wolf, let's get that broken chain mail off you, can't be very comfortable." Sword saint smiled as she moved in with Hero to remove the constricting pieces of mail from his body.
"What are you doing here boy? Where's Goblin Slayer?" Hero happily went about petting the dire wolf when a frown crossed her face. "What happened boy? Did he abandon you? Or did something happen to…"
"No." Sword Maiden stood with her sword and scales in hand to face Hero and her party. "He would not abandon Wolf and I don't believe he would fall so easily. When we find him, we'll discover the truth, until then, you shall travel with us Wolf."
xxxx
"Will you look at that, more than a month old and now you three can fully see." High Elf Archer smiled as she happily poked at the pup's sides while they playfully growled.
With the two pups that had a mix of black and white fur one had the red eyes like Wolf while the other had the blue eyes like Snow, the one cub that had solid white fur had red eyes just like Wolf. The pups were now large enough that Cow Girl and Guild Girl would carefully allow them to play amongst the grass whenever a free opportunity presented itself. The party eagerly took a break to rest their feet and the horses, while Half Dragon Mother and Daughter went about preparing the food. The younger adventurers enjoyed the opportunity just being able to talk, eager to share their adventurers with those who stayed behind to guard Frontier Town. Goblin Slayer and the other silvers looked over the map Dwarf Shaman had with him to decide what their next plan should be.
"We've marked out all the villages that we covered and found destroyed, next stop is the Capital Beardcutter." Dwarf Shaman sighed as he rolled up the map and looked up toward the sky. "We should reach it by tomorrow morning if we push through the night, tomorrow afternoon if we decide to rest; it's in the direction of those dark clouds, very peculiar they are."
"What do you mean? Aren't they just storm clouds?" Heavy Warrior too looked at the clouds in the sky, noting how dark they were.
"Not sure lad, they seem too dark for storm clouds and I don't hear any thunder rolling in. I have a bad feeling about what's waiting for us in the Capital." Dwarf Shaman frowned but they could ponder over it more after they had they meal.
Xxxx
Elsewhere, the King's caravan was also within short distance of the Capital, if had been two days since their visit to the nearby village and now had acquired one large dire wolf to join them in their quest.
"We'll be arriving at the Capital soon. Seems like forever since I was last there. I hope my sister is doing well." The King was anxious to see the state of the Capital, the rumors he heard while traveling were quite troublesome to say the least.
"I am sure she is fine my lord." Sword Maiden smiled as she did her best to reassure him.
"My lord, I see a small trail of smoke off to the side, could be travelers or adventurers." The driver at the front of the wagon was quick to call the King's attention.
The King looked out the window of his wagon to see the smoke trail, perhaps these people would have information that would assist them.
"Go ahead and make for that camp then."
Wolf suddenly paused as his nose caught wind of a familiar scent, he picked his head up and there in the distance where the smoke could be seen, he finally found them. Wolf barked a couple times before charging ahead of the caravan, much to the surprise of the others.
"Better get a move on, we don't want our new companion scaring those people." The King shook his head as he watched the dire wolf take off at full speed.
xxxx
Snow's ears began to twitch as she heard familiar bark, she picked up her head and began to anxiously looked around as she took in the scents around her and could smell him. She stood and looked ahead towards the top of the hill, her tail wagging ass she barked a few times, her small pups around her. The other were still enjoying their food when the noticed Snow acting a bit anxious.
"Wonder what's got into her?" Rookie Warrior, still with food in his mouth, was quick to voice his question.
High Elf Archer closed her eyes and focused her ears for anything that might be coming and her eyes were wide when she heard the sounds coming from over the hill.
"No…it couldn't be could it?" She set her bowl of soup bowl down and stood to look to the top of the hill.
The others saw this and their minds immediately to the same conclusion, everyone set their food down and looked to the top of the hill, eager to see if their guess was right. There at the top of the hill was a large black wolf that looked toward them all, tail wagging and barking a few times before charging forward toward Snow. The two wolves happily licking at one another rubbing the heads under the others as a sign of affection.
"Wolf!" Half-Dragon Daughter was over joyed as she rushed forward to greet her long lost friend.
Most of the others too rushed ahead to go and greet Wolf, Goblin Slayer, Heavy Warrior and Spearman still standing in place looking at the sight. Many of the party members were crying as they moved to pet and hug Wolf who was just happy to be back amongst his pack.
"Tough son of a bitch. I honestly didn't think we'd ever see him again." Heavy Warrior chuckled as he saw the reunion. "That's some companion you have there Goblin Slayer."
"Is that so?"
"What do you mean "is that so"…get over there and say hello to your mutt you dumbass." Spearman shook his head as he gave his friend a shove to move forward.
Wolf looked ahead to see the armored adventurer slowly coming toward him, Wolf in turn moved away from the others and walked toward Goblin Slayer. Once close enough, Goblin Slayer got down on one knee and held out his hand, Wolf walked ahead and began to nuzzle up against the armored warrior while Goblin Slayer gently patted his back.
"I am glad that you returned."
"Come on Beardcutter, surely you can show a bit more emotion than that. We have our dire wolf back with us!"
"But there is still others Sir Mage that our companion Wolf must meet."
Wolf began to sniff around and moved his head to look for the new scents and found three small pups barking at him near the wagon. Wolf calmly walked toward the pups, who happily growled and barked at him, Snow also walked by continuing to nuzzle up against Wolf when he got down on all fours and began to wag his tail, the small pups bounding along as they went to play with their father. There were many crying tears of happiness, but now was not that time, they heard the found of horses and wagons, a quick glance to the top of the hill and they could see a large caravan bearing the mark of the king.
The King and the others disembarked and at long last all groups had finally come together, old friends were once again reunited and now the planning for the attack could comence. The first order of business was discerning the status of the capital, how many had been infected and what was the current military strength, from there they could determine how best to divide themselves in order to put an end to the necromancer's evil plot. That night there was a small celebration, the various parties joining together for this grand battle ahead of them and the return of Wolf to his pack. The morning came and with it, the parties loaded themselves up in their wagons and readied for the final journey to the Capital. Each adventurer making a final inspection of their weapons, dividing resources equally so no one person held more than the other, and silently praying to their deities to see them through this battle. The wagons moved past the trees and finally reached the top of the hill overlooking the Capital and there they all came to a halt as a shocked looked crossed their faces. There off in the distance, surrounded by massive stone walls was the capital and the castle, and the entire city seemed to be ablaze, Dwarf Shaman now realized that dark clouds they had seen were not storm clouds but the clouds of smoke gathering over the burning city.
No one who said it, but there was a clear voice that seemed to echo everyone's view before them.
"We failed…"