CHAPTER 14

EWODEN

Kain had left the mansion some time ago, and Ewoden was not long after in his departure. Vorador had given him his own quest. He was to travel north and then when he reached the ridge of mountains, he would turn east. According to the ancient vampires directions, after a few miles he would come across the ruins of an old city. Vorador had heard rumours that It was there that Werewolves beset travellers.

"Old city?" Ewoden repeated, looking confused as Vorador pointed to the far north eastern region of Nosgoth.

"The ruined kingdom of King William the Just." The ancient explained.

"Who?" Ewoden asked looked slightly confused.

"After your time." Vorador continued with a short grin. The map he had laid out across the table showed a very different Nosgoth to the one the former Sarafan was used to. There were several cities, towns and settlements in area where he knew were none. Then again, after seven hundred years he supposed there would.

After gathering what supplies he could from the nearby settlements without drawing too much attention to himself, Ewoden began north. He was warned by Vorador to avoid the roads. Bandits often waited in the wilderness and Sarafan patrols had set up checkpoints through most of Nosgoth. And the vampire king lay to the North was well, and he was not as human as the ones he had met seemed. Armed with Havoc, Malice, his Box and a quiver full of arrows Ewoden left the mansion and began northwards through the swamp.

This region had not been pleasant when he first saw it, but in this new era it seemed even more repulsive. All the trees were either dead or dying, vegetation of all kinds lying in rotting rows. The stink from the scummy water flowing through the dead roots was overpowering, and the former Sarafan was glad when he finally cleared the edge of the trees and walked out into open countryside.

Although that sight wasn't picturesque either. Where Ewoden expected to see rolling green fields, he found himself staring out across s grey and scared land. The thick, never ending expanse of an overcast thunderstorm overhead; the land was carpeted by darkness. It looked like hardly anything new or green had grown in Nosgoth for at least a hundred years.

As he began down a slope, his compass directing him ever north; a faint flicker in the corner of his eye was brought to his attention. The average traveller would pass it off a trick of the light, but Ewoden was experienced enough to know better. Something, very skilled in stealth was following him; and he had a faint idea what. Grinning, he turned and carried on as if he hadn't noticed it.

On this trip, he had decided to take his Sarafan armour with him and leave the Wraith armour with Vorador. It would do well to keep the knight façade up, it might allow him free passage through Order controlled territory and other human settlements. And creatures of the night would be less inclined to attack a Sarafan than an ordinary human.

Days came and went, and all the while Ewoden carried on northwards towards the ridge of mountains that formed the border of Nosgoth. Beyond those lay an expansive, seemingly never ending sheet of ice. Still far away from that point, the former Sarafan stopped onto to refill his water skin from streams and to hunt animals when he noticed his supplies getting a little low.

On the fifth day, Ewoden set up camp on the banks of a large river that flowed southward. He close that clearing because he could see anything that might try to approach in any direction, and he kept one of his Axes close by at all times. The remains of a rabbit lay picked clean of flesh by the skin, the bones charred from the camp fire.

Ewoden had been lucky to find a wayside tavern. It Hadn't been the friendliest place in the world, but it did sell good Mead. That had kept the chill out of his bones for at least a while. Finishing off his small meal, he looked up towards the sky. The sun had already set, and the full moon was high in the sky.

That made him think. Seroli were simply cursed humans. One could only tell they were Werewolves when they changed at the sight of the full moon. Even if he would present himself as their ally, they would be unlikely to reveal themselves willingly, and catching them in their changed state was completely out of the question. Still, he supposed something would come up. He wished now he'd asked more questions from that Edward character when he met him.

A distant howling caught his attention. Realizing the obvious, he cursed and reached for his Axe. The howl came again, only this time from much closer. Without warning, a sudden black shape came crashing through a pair of dead trees, soured past the Former Sarafan and landed with a loud thud nearby. Turning, Ewoden confronted the creature with one hand on the Axe Malice and the other ready to cast a spell.

Basically humanoid, this creature had thick black fur covering it's entire and canine head with a long snout and wet nose, a pair of pointed ears lanced upwards. A thick mane of wet dog like fur hung down it's back a long busy tail. Each finger and toe had a long, jet black claw on it and seemed sharpened to perfection. It's golden yellow eyes latched onto the human, filled with hunger and animalistic rage. Slowly it's lips parted and Ewoden got a close up look of it's razor like teeth.

It howled into the air before charging with intense speed. Ewoden barley had enough time to dodge out of the way before it came at him again, mouth opened wide ready to snap shut. Throwing his free hand forwards, Ewoden cast a fire ball spell and sent the creature tumbling into the river.

Now it was fully in the moonlight, he could see what he suspected. It was a Werewolf. During the ancient war, the Seroli had been allies of the Vampires. When the Hylden were banished, they inflicted the Seroli with a curse as well. One as equally ironic as the one they gave the vampires.

The Seroli humans were worshippers of a moon goddess and revered the wolf for it's strength and speed. To this end, their curse caused them to mutate into flesh hungry monsters whenever the moon reached it's zenith.

Well, he found them at least. Now what?

There was a brief swirl of darkness by his side. Glancing in that direction, to no surprise he found Sally standing there already in a fighting stance, a dagger in each hand.

"There was no need to follow me from a distance." He told her as the wolf reared itself up on it's hind legs, the claws on it's forelimbs flashing in the moonlight. "I would have let you come anyway." Sally didn't looked in his direction, but simply gained a smile instead. The Werewolf let it's head roll back and eclipsing the full moon behind it, howled into the air before tearing back towards them; it's eyes glowing bright yellow. The two of them darted out of the way as it shot through as he went by, Ewoden swung his axe down the side souring a hit across it's leg. Sally did the same, scaring it through the fur on the left temple.

Screeching, the wolf shot away from them and disappeared into the foliage. Everything else remained silent, yet the pair could still hear it's panting as it silently circled around them.

Ewoden trailed his hands up and wrote arcane runes in the air with his finger, calling for a spell; one that bathed nearly everything around them in a magical light. Even so, the extra illumination did not reveal the creature. It kept outside the circle of light and all they caught of it's super fast form were momentary glimpses of fur amongst the undergrowth.

Then with a sudden howl, it darted straight at them from behind. Acting on instincts, Sally turned and cast a fire ball spell. Leaping into the air, the wolf avoided the spell and came down hard; claws out stretched and mouth wide open as it came towards her.

Shoving her aside, Ewoden took her place as the wolfs victim and two of them tackled each other as they slammed to the ground; rolling across the sands before sliding into the river water. Sally looked back to see what was happened, but all she could make out amongst a chaos of foam and splashing with momentarily glints of the bladed edge of an axe and the sharp dagger like claws. She couldn't go in to help him, the mere touch of that water would dissolve her body.

Suddenly, an armoured leg thrust itself forward and the wolf was send howling with a kick into the air before landing with an echoing thud against the ground. Ewoden roughly pulled himself up, the armour on his leg arm torn completely off and scratch marks carved down his cheat plate.

Loosing strength, he almost collapsed back into the water but managed to support his weight on the axe Malice.

"Is it dead?" She asked him. As if in answer, the wolf grunted and pulled itself up in an almost sitting like position. Ewoden had scoured a few hits as well. Blood was matting the fur on the side of it's face.

Bringing a hand up, Ewoden traced more runes in the air with two fingers before throwing his hand forward; a steady red glow highlighting his entire body. The wolf howled into the air and the charged, it's form blurring as it moved so fast. Before he reached the former Sarafan however, the glow around Ewoden body flowed directly down his arm and into Malice. This was a magic trick he had picked up not from Janos, but from the Order. But concentrated their rage in an attack, a primitive but destructive form of magic could be forced into the weapon of their choice.

Swinging the axe up in an arch, the former Sarafan knight landed a colossal blow across the wolf's chin, blood sent flying into the air. Carving a deep scar across it's chest, Ewoden was hi by the recoil of his own attack. With not enough strength left to withstand, the backlash of magic threw him roughly down back into the water.

Thankfully the wolf was far worse off. The wounds it had suffered were clearly slowing it down and it was obviously it a good deal of pain. Forcing it's way back to it's feet, with hardly any strength left, it howled once again before turning tail and almost galloping off in the other direction; disappearing through the undergrowth. The sounds of it's running fading into the distance.

Ewoden pulled himself up onto the beech, grunting in annoyance. He'd suffered worse during the campaigns of the Sarafan. He was naturally combat hardened and knew how to concentrate to bloat out pain.

Sally nearly went to help him up, but had to recoil went the tips of her fingers burnt at the touch of his water logged armour.

"There's a towel and a few wrappings in my supplies." Ewoden told her and nearly instantly she came back with the objects he needed After drying himself and his armour off as best he could, he turned to apply the wrappings to the many claws marks on his arms and chest. First he applied a salve made from crushed leaves of a certain plant. They helped to ward off infection, still he was going to have a good few scars later on. He looked down at his left arm, where the wolf had sunken it's teeth into his flesh. He decided it was better not to let Sally see that. The former Sarafan bandaged himself up quickly to hide it from sight.

Still he was too late, Sally had seen it. Quickly she grabbed his arm and yanked it into plain sight. The teeth marks in the flesh were more than clear.

There was one thing the Seroli curse had in common with that of the vampires. One who was bitten by a werewolf, would given time become one themselves.