Author's Notes: Hey everyone, hope you liked the last chapter. Well, in this chapter I will attempt to finish this story arch up.

Karl hurried back to the inn to inform Werner of what he had seen. He had told the Watch that he had been chased by footpads; his dirty and torn cloths helped lend credence to this story. He and the watch had searched the ally and, not surprisingly, found nothing. He did not tell them about Franz Stoker or the warehouse, he had a feeling that it would not be a good idea to accuse someone like that on just his say-so.

Werner looked in surprise when Karl came in. "My boy, what happened?" He listened intently as Karl told him what had happened since he left him earlier. Werner had Karl repeat himself on several points; he seemed particularly interested in Karl's description of the robed assailants. "Now," he asked when Karl had finished his story; "Are you sure that Franz did not see you?"

Karl thought for a moment; "I do not think so. I was in the alley and he had just come out of a lighted warehouse and was still standing in the light of the doorway."

"Exhalent, having him know we are on to him would hinder our efforts."

"Who were those men, there seemed to be something wrong about them."

Werner looked troubled for several seconds before speaking. "You are right to be disturbed and I am afraid that I must disturb you more." He took a deep breath and then continued. "Those were not men, they were Skaven."

Karl's breath caught in his throat. He had heard stories of the rat-men back at home, everyone had. Rats that walked as men and ruled and underground kingdom as big as the Empire and at times rose to make war on the surface.

"You have heard of them I see." Werner said sadly.

"Yes but I thought they were only a legend, a story to frightened children with."

"I wish they were but they are not. They are real and so is the threat they pose to the Empire. For years they have infiltrated, attacked and manipulated the kingdoms of men. At times openly but more often in secret using human pawns."

"Then why do more people not know about them?"

"Many reasons, for one thing consider what would happen if their existence became common knowledge. An enemy beneath us that is our superior in numbers and can strike any time. It would throw the nation into panic if it became common knowledge.

"Those who know of them, like myself and now you, work to counter their influence while others go about in blissful ignorance."

"But what are they doing with Franz?"

"Well, not all who know of them seek to defeat them. Some betray humanity for personal gain. For all their vileness the Skaven do wield great power and influence through their agents. They are capable of being powerful allies to those without morels. It would appear that Franz has higher ambitions than being the head of a guild."

"So, do you think that he is working alone?"

"No, I do not believe so. While some of the killers may have been mercenaries I do not believe they all were. No I think it more likely we are dealing with a cabal of some kind. If we can determine what they are attempting to do we would have a better chance of determining where they are hiding and what they will do next."

He lapsed into deep thought, occasionally muttering to himself as thought things over. Suddenly he shot up in his seat. "Deaths, disappearances…" he muttered to himself. "Karl! The girl, Esmeralda, she said all those deaths occurred around the quarter-moon correct?"

Karl thought for a moment; "Yes, I believe she did."

Werner's face grew grave. "Then it is as I feared. I believe we are dealing with the Cult of the Yellow Fang."

"The Cult of the Yellow Fang; what is that?" Karl asked.

"It is a cult of humans who believe that the Skaven are destined to rule the world and they seek to gain a favored position with their future masters by helping them destroy the Empire from the inside. One of the strictures of the cult is that they sacrifice someone on the quarter moon. I have never heard of them being this far south before. It seems they are expanding."

"What are we going to do now?" Karl asked, a slight feeling of fear growing in him as he realized the magnitude of the foe they faced.

"Well, as Franz does not know that he has been found out we shadow him. The next quarter moon is tonight and the members are encouraged to attend the sacrifices. We'll follow him there and hopefully round up all or most of the members; solving the murders and ending the killings and the threat they pose to the city and province."

As they had many hours toll dark they sat down to eat breakfast. As they ate they discussed their plans for that night. Karl pointed out that they would need the aid of the City Watch that night. Werner agreed and outlined his plans.

After they finished eating they would go and bring Captain Henricus up to date and have him assemble his men and have them in readiness. That night Werner and Karl would go to the Stoker house and follow Franz when he left the house. Once they determined where the sacrifice would help Werner would go and fetch the Watch. To ensure that no one tipped Franz off the men marked for the raid would be kept at the watch house and not be told what was going on till the last minute. Karl pointed out that with this plan the sacrificial victim, whoever they were, would most likely die before the Watch could arrive. Werner sadly agreed but said he could not think of anything better.

They had just finished eating when there was a loud pounding on the door. Karl took up his sword and pressed himself against the wall and opened the door a crack. A body threw itself against the door forcing it open.

Esmeralda burst into the room. Her hair was a mess, her cloths were torn and there was thin trickle of blood was at the corner of her mouth. "They took her!" She screamed as soon as she caught her breath.

"Calm down child," Werner urged her; "Now please explain, who has been taken?"

"Lady Selena, her brother Franz burst into her room and took her! He had several men with him and when I tried to ask where he was taking her one of them struck me. You have to find her! I saw the look in his eyes, he's mad! Her father had to leave the city on business and I have nowhere else to turn to!"

Werner cursed; "It seems we have spooked him and forced his hand. We shall have to alter our plans."

"But we don't know where they went." He turned to look at Esmeralda; "They did not say where they were going did they?"

She shook her head. "No, they did not."

"If I may suggest," Werner said; "I think you should go back to the warehouse. We know that some of his associates were there it seems a logical place to begin. I shall go and rouse the Watch."

"I am coming with you." Esmeralda said to Karl.

"It will be dangerous." Karl said.

"I don't care about danger!" She snapped angrily. "I care about her and she is in danger, I will not leave her, you know what I can do in a fight!"

Karl could not argue with that, but he still did not want her to come. These were not footpads they were going up against, these were Skaven, and they would be foes of a far different caliber. Besides, if she were there he would not be able to use his wolven form.

"You would not be able to keep up or fight in that dress your wearing." He tried desperately.

Without a word she drew her knife and cut two gashes in the dress to give her legs more freedom. "Anything else?" She hissed. Knowing he was beaten Karl shook head and they took off.

They darted through the streets, her appearance drew some looks and shouted remarks but they ignored them. In practically no time it seemed they arrived at the warehouse. The body was gone but Karl could still smell the blood. Inside they found no one but from the smell Karl could tell there had been people here.

In addition to the other smells he could smell another scent, it was an animal smell but wrong somehow, tainted in some way. Having spoken with Werner he now knew what it was, it was the stench of Skaven. He found Esmeralda looking oddly at him and realized that he was growling deep in his throat.

"Well," she said; "It does not appear that anyone is here. Now what are we going to do?"

Karl had no idea. As he cast about to buy time to think of something his attention was caught by a collection of barrels off to one side. They all smelled of salted meat but the smell coming from one in the middles was old. On a hunch he went up to it and shook it slightly. Where all the other barrels were full this one was empty. He grasped it with both hands and pulled.

Up it came. Throwing it to one side, which provoked a surprised gasp from Esmeralda, he found a tarp underneath. When he pulled the tarp aside he found the mouth of a tunnel, the smells of their quarry was coming from it and was fresh.

"They went down the tunnel." He announced turning back to Esmeralda. "Go to the Watch house and find Brother Werner. Tell him what we found and bring them here. I'll go ahead and scout it out."

She hesitated, clearly not wanting to leave, but at last nodded. "Be careful." She admonished as she turned and left.

He dropped down into the tunnel and began following it. It was not very tall and he had to stoop in places. It was unevenly dug but the floor was smoothed by the passage of many feet over it. The further he went the stronger the smell of Skaven grew.

He wasn't sure how long he was in the tunnel before he began to hear the voices. It was too far away to make out individual voices but he could tell that some were human and others were clearly not. Rounding a corner he saw light up ahead and the voices were becoming louder.

At the end of the tunnel it seemed to drop off. A ladder led down to a cavern some eight feet below. Lying flat on his belly he crawled to the edge and looked over the lip. Bellow him was a scene that made his stomach clench with disgust.

The cavern was filled with men and women wearing heaving robes covered with hair or fur. They were facing away from him in a semi-circle around a raised area on which was a stone block with strange symbols carved on it. Between the humans and the block were half a dozen figures, they wore no robes this time and Karl saw Skaven clearly for the first time.

They were indeed like giant rats though they stood on two legs and they had arms with hands instead of forelegs. In a way they reminded him of himself in his wolven form, only as rats. Inside the wolf growled, angry to be compared to rodents in anyway. His own anger grew when he realized the reason for the furs; the humans were trying to look like the Skaven.

At the block was another Skaven. Unlike the others, whose fur was mostly black, this one's fur was white and it had horns, curly like a ram's, growing from its head. It raised his head and let out a screeching call.

From a side passage out came Franz and several other men, also clad in furs, entered. Two of whom were clutching a crying Selena. They brought her to the block and threw her down roughly on the block and bound her hand and feet.

The white-furred Skaven approached her. With one of its paws it tore the front of her dress exposing her chest and ribs. As if that were a signal the crowd immediately began chanting in high-pitched voices, as if they were attempting to imitate the Skaven in their speech.

For a moment Karl hesitated, he was heavily outnumbered and was not sure he could take them even in his wolf form; the smart thing would be to wait till the Watch arrived and evened the odds. Then Selena cried out again and guilt tore through him. He remembered the night he had spent in the room with Olga, the way he had felt when he thought about the fact that he was a monster and still could not help one woman. Now here he was again, unable to save one person, not this time.

With a yell he jumped down into the cavern. He charged into the mob slashing left and right with his sword. Their strange speech turned quickly to very human screams of pain and fear. He killed several before the others fell back forming a circle around him, to his surprise he recognized one of the bodies as Hector, the servant of Von Galt.

Suddenly Franz, divested of his robe and with sword in hand stepped, out of the crowd. He stared at Karl for a moment and then sneered as recognition dawned on his face. "So, it's the good Brother's pet peasant. It was you, I assume, who followed me the other night when I disposed of that old fraud the other night."

"Correct, rat-lover," Karl spat. He gestured at Hector's body; "I see you are not above working with peasants and other vermin, even selling your own sister to them." He said, nodding toward the Skaven who had clustered around the one with the white fur. "How could you betray your own flesh and blood to those things?!"

"You don't understand." Franz said. He spoke calmly but his eyes were a mixture of awe and terror; "You have not seen their cities, their armies and industry. I have, they are our superiors in every way. We cannot win a war with them; we can only come to an accommodation with them.

"Do you know how I lost my hand? I told everyone that we were ambushed by Beastnen and everyone died but me. As you may have guessed that was a lie. We were ambushed alright; but by Skaven not Beastmen. And I was not the only one taken. I managed to gain their confidence by telling them that some of those taken with me were planning an escape.

"After that I persuaded them that I could be of more use to them here than as one of their slaves. So I returned and they had some of their other servants come here and I recruited others, like poor Hector there. It's been a very profitable arrangement, they remove people who stand my way and I look after their interests here in the city and send them slaves. They always need more and the city is full of people that will not be missed."

Karl flushed with anger. He found he hated Franz and the other cult members more than he hated orcs, Beastmen and even the Skaven. They were traitors to the Empire and the human race and he would see them all dead for that. But he could not do it alone; he had to keep him talking till the Watch arrived.

"So tell me," He said, trying to sound casual; "It was you, you killed your brother; not the servant; and I assume you killed him too."

Franz smiled. "Well, aren't you the clever one? Yes, you got right. I had found out that the boy was working for the Alptraums, not as an assassin but as a spy. I simply sent the boy on an errand, where my associates dealt with him and brought my brother the wine myself."

"I see," Karl said. "And if you don't mind my asking, what about the others? You'll forgive me but I feel I would really like to know."

"Oh, why not?" Franz said affably. "Where to begin? Well, why not at the beginning with those loons the Leitdorfs? Elise was easy; she often received gifts so I just had one of Marco's more respectable acquaintances deliver it laced with a little something extra.

"As for Hans, well, we decided that something a little more direct was called for. As he talked with my father and me I arranged for some of the faithful to go to his house and wait in ambush for him. As you no doubt remember, it worked splendidly. To be honest, I enjoyed killing those two the most. Served them right, treating my family like servants after all the years of faithful service we have given them.

"After that was Johan Alptraum. We were originally going to attack him and leave some evidence that the Leitdorfs were to blame. Unfortunately, his brother and father came out; we couldn't kill them because we needed them to blame the Leidorfs. That time we used mostly Marco's thugs, with just one of us to ensure they got it right.

"I, of course, have already told you about my brother. Finally we have poor Katharine Von Galt. Strictly speaking she wasn't necessary; her father scarcely matters politically."

"Then why kill her?" Karl asked.

"Oh, Father originally planned to wed me to her to win them to the Leitdorfs cause. Well, I had no desire to be wed to a mouse-haired cow. So she had to go. Fortunately we had an agent in place. Hector was already one of us so I simply supplied him with the means to dispose of her."

"And the Lord High Justice?"

"That was all the Skaven; they believed that he was getting too close to the truth so they sent one of their assassins to deal with him. Well, I trust I have sufficiently satisfied your curiosity?"

"Thank you," Karl said with a sardonic bow. "Oh, just one more thing; why have the Skaven not killed me; in fact they have not done anything since I arrived."

"Well, and please don't be offended, but you are not really worth their time; so they leave such things up to me and the other human agents. I failed the first time when you killed those I sent so I have to do it now to atone for my failure. Well, I have enjoyed this little talk but I fear I have to kill you now." So saying he drew his sword and dropped into a dueling stance.

In response Karl drew his own sword, though he could tell that blade on blade he would be no match for Franz in a fair fight. Franz obviously knew this as well as he shook his head mockingly. "A brave effort but you can't win. Even with only one hand I am one of the best swordsmen in the province."

"That may be true," Karl said, releasing his sword with one hand. "But do you know the real advantage of having two hands in a fight is?"

"Do tell me."

"You can use two weapons." So saying he reached back and pulled out the pistol that Snorri Ironbeard had given him. Bringing it up he aimed, pulled back the hammer and pulled the trigger. Franz barely had time to look surprised before the bullet took him in the face.

The crowd around him cried out in surprise and then rushed him. He rapidly fired the last two shots downing two more but failing to halt the onrush. Before they could reach him a cry went up from the tunnel. Out of it poured the City Watch, Werner at their head.

They were not alone; alongside Werner was Esmeralda and with her were a number of brightly dressed rough looking men he took to be Strigany. The unusual allies swarmed down the ladder and thundered into the assembled cultists. Initially they held the advantage, the Watch had superior discipline and the Strigany were far better fighters, laying in with knives, short swords and a variety of other weapons. He was surprised to see even Werner laying into them with a short sword.

But the cultists had superior numbers and under the commands of the white-furred Skaven they began to fight back. They surged forward to try to prevent the Watch and their allies from all getting down the ladder. Worse, the Skaven finally got involved in the fight.

He had seen them before and had known that they were fast but now, uninhibited by their robes, they were far faster. While not as fast as the vampires he had faced they were far faster and far more agile than any of the humans present. Though there were only a dozen of them, the one with the white fur hanging back, they quickly made their presence felt. They move among the humans slashing with curved swords and throwing shuriken into any target they reach.

Karl saw that he had to something or the situation could quickly become a massacre. Just them a new problem presented itself. The horned Skaven raised a staff and with a screeching call sent a bolt of green energy from the tip of it towards a knot of combatants. It struck the group and exploded, killing members of both sides.

Karl rushed toward him. Slashing and shoving aside everyone that got in his way. Fortunately, most of the cultists did not seem to realize that he was among them in their rush to get at the Watch.

He finally reached the platform and jumped on it, now there was only the block with the still crying Selena on it between them. The creature looked at him with eyes filled with hate and madness. It raised its staff and pointed it at him. Another blast shot from it at him. Karl jumped to the side and the bolt narrowly missed him. Unfortunately, his jump carried him away from the Skaven sorcerer; even as he scrambled to his feet it began another spell.

Suddenly Esmeralda, shrieking like a banshee, burst from the struggle and landed on its back. It screeched in rage and dropped its staff and tried to claw her off. She hung on and kept stabbing it with her knife. Karl got to his feet and started towards them when he found his path blocked.

At their leaders cry the other Skaven had rushed back to defend it. Karl was pleased to see that there were fewer of them than there were before; they clearly had not been having it all their own way. Still, more than half of them remained and Karl was not sure he could deal with them all, especially since he had to remain in his human form.

Fortunately for Karl most of them went after Esmeralda, seeing her as the immediate threat to their lord. Six of them went at her while the remaining two went for Karl. He grinned, they were fast and agile but not as fast and agile as the vampires he had faced before.

Using a trick Sir Mettellas had taught him he feigned to the one on his right, as he had expected it fell back while the one on the left lunged in to attack. He waited till it was committed to its attack then spun to face it. As he twisted his body he moved his sword to his left hand slashed out. His aim was good and though the blow was not as powerful as it could be it had enough power to slice into its ribs. It emitted a squealing cry but Karl was already turning to face his other assailant.

He was surprised to see that it had already recovered and was coming at him, the blade in its right hand already slicing down. Instead of trying to get out of the way or blocking the strike he used another tactic that Sir Mettellas had taught him. He stepped into the attack while going down on one knee; as he did this he brought his left arm up and caught his assailant's downward forearm on his own, halting the strike. At the same time he thrust upward with his sword, taking his opponent under the ribs with such force it came up out its back.

Pulling his sword loose from the corpse he turned to see how Esmeralda was doing. She was not doing well at all; she was being forced back by her assailants. She had done for one but she had received several wounds as well and she seemed to be weakening fast. Furthermore beyond her the sorcerer was beginning to get back up. It shook its head to clear it and then it raised its staff and pointed it at her back.

Karl saw that he could not reach her in time so he shouted a warning at the top of his lungs, even though he wasn't sure she could hear him. She seemed to; however, as she threw herself to the side and the blast of energy incinerated one of her attackers instead. Her legs seemed to fail her and she fell to the ground and lay there panting heavily.

Karl ran forward as they surged toward her and the sorcerer prepared another blast of power. Suddenly Bohemas burst from the fray and hurled a knife; it flew straight and true and took the white-furred Skaven in the throat. It fell to the ground, thrashed about for a moment and died.

The effect on the other Skaven was startling. They all emitted a foul odor and bolted. They ran past the corps and vanished into the shadows. With their departure the battle swung back in favor of the Watch and their allies against the remaining cultists. Some of them fought to the death, some tried to run and some pleaded for mercy.

Ignoring this Karl went to the block and quickly untied Selena. As soon as she was free she ran to Esmeralda, who was being held by her brother. She looked very pale and her wounds were oozing foul smelling pus. Looking at the dropped Skaven weapons he saw a green paste smeared on the blade, she had clearly been poisoned. As Bohemas held her and Selena clutched her crying Karl looked about for Werner, if anyone would know what to do he would.

Spotting him at last he ran to him, pushing his way to him. "Werner! Esmeralda, she has been poisoned! We need to do something!"

Werner turned and shouted to someone. To his surprise Karl saw one of the Sisters of Shallya from the temple. Werner quickly informed her of the situation and Karl took her to Esmeralda. Immediately she began praying and applying ointments. At her urgings Bohemas and Karl carried the two girls to join the other wounded being carried out through the tunnel.

Karl was at the temple to check on Esmeralda. It had been a week since the battle in the cavern; the battle had broken the back of the cult. Almost all had been slain or taken; a few had escaped and were still being hunted, though Karl doubted they would get all of them. For now though they would be too few and frightened to cause trouble, even if they had not fled the city.

For a while he had feared that Esmeralda would join the dead, and there were already far too many of those already, but on the third day she had rallied under the care of the priestesses and had slowly begun to recover her strength. Bohemas had been with her almost constantly but two days ago he and the rest of his people had departed and none knew where they had gone.

As he entered the room she was staying in she was obviously preparing to leave. She smiled as he entered. "Ah, my gallant hero, come to see me off?"

He made a humorous imitation of a courtly bow. "I greet you fair lady. But where are you going? Your people have already left."

"She smiled sadly. "I know. Bohemas wanted me to go with them but I could not leave Selena. She has sent messages daily begging me to come back. She has been through so much I could not possibly hurt her more. In a way I think of her as the sister I never had."

"Well," Karl said; "Might I at least have the honor of walking you home?"

She laughed and took his arm. The walk was uneventful and the day pleasant, though as the autumn months set in the wind was growing cooler. As they neared the Stoker home she seemed to grow serious. A block before they reached the house she pulled him into an alley.

In response to his curious look she said; "You're not human are you?" Before he could respond she pressed on. "Don't deny it, oh you hide it very well but you gave signs away and we Strigany know many things others dismiss as nonsense.

"I will not say anything; I can see you are of noble character and you hunt those who do evil." She gave him a look that was a mixture of compassion and pity. "The wise women of my people can tell fortunes, did you know that? I cannot but I can see that you have hunted evil before and will again. This is your life, to defend those who would hate you if they knew of you; and for that you have both my thanks and my sympathy."

Before Karl could think off a response she grabbed him and kissed him. She laughed at his stunned expression. "Well, even an unsung hero needs some thanks. Farewell my brave hero." With that she walked away.

Karl returned to the inn and found Werner packing his belongings. Karl was not surprised, the night before Werner had said he was returning to give a full report to his superiors. "Ah, there you are my boy." He said as Karl entered the room. "I am off in the morning; I was able to secure passage with a caravan. It leaves at sun rise so I wanted to give you this."

He reached over a brought out the short sword he had used in the battle. In the center of the cross guard on both sides was the symbol of Verena, a pair of scales topped with an owl head. "I rather thought that you might like this."

Karl tried to refuse but Werner insisted he take it, as well as a sum of money. "I must say I am glad to have met you, you have the makings of a fine investigator and I would be glad to work with you again someday."

Karl expressed similar sentiments and thanked him profusely for the gifts. Karl slept late the next morning and by the time he arose Werner was gone.

Author's Notes: Well that arch is done I hope you liked it. I will admit that was a rather obvious reference to Indiana Jones I did I hope you liked it. Already thinking of what will happen next. Did I do a good job on the mystery next time I'll try to leave more clues so it isn't all just dumped at the end. Would you like to see Werner and any of the others again? Please let me know in the reviews. Bye for now, please pray for the kidnapped Americans, the victims and their families of the LA Airport shooting, the missing hiker in Washington the victims and families of the Sparks shooting, the Americans help in Iran, persecuted Christians world-wide and all others who need it. Till next time bye and may Jesus bless you all.