Disclaimer: I don't own Neopets the Darkest Faerie.

Chapter 3:

Tor set the jar that contained the harpflower on the counter in Angus' shop. He'd sent Lawrence back to the castle to report in when they'd crossed the gates and in return he would pick up his payment for the job. The trip back had been fast, the two knights splitting a Meerca speed potion between the two of them. Tor felt unsettled by the howling they'd heard. In his time travelling he had not once heard something like that. The most howling he heard at once was during his fight with the werelupe king and the werelupes were cheering on their leader.

"Here you are Angus!" Tor greeting the old grarrl with forced enthusiasm. He just didn't have it in him at that moment to feel very upbeat. Too much to think about, though at the same time it didn't seem very important. Surely werelupes howled all of the time. That's just what they did. They were savage.

"You actually found one!" Angus gasped, taking the jar and holding it up to the light. "And it was picked at just the right time. It could have been picked at any time, but it looks as though you got it when the moon was at its highest."

Tor frowned. "What's the significance of that?"

"Its powers will be stronger. Better."

"Ah," Tor grunted in understanding. He watched the apothecary set down the jar and begin counting out neopoints. "Split it in half please," Tor added quickly. "Someone else went with me. He deserves some payment."

"Of course. Give him my thanks. The two of you saved me many many neopoints and a lot of time."

Tor smiled. "Any time Angus. You need anything else just call for me."

…..

The next day Tor and guardsman Yavik did their patrols near the east gate. It was a beautiful day, cloudless sky, the sun beating down offering just the right amount of heat. Children were playing in the streets; Tor even saw a few trying to sneak a peek at the fight going on in the arena. He would have like to watch himself, but he couldn't. Instead he listened with half an ear to Yavik's small talk and responded when necessary. They weren't the greatest of friends; in fact they barely knew one another other than names and ranks.

The gates game into sight. That's where they were to meet guardsmen Ulfric and Henkel for the next patrols and Yavik was to take their place at the gates and wait for someone else to join him. Rotations were tight these days. Tor squinted his eyes in an attempt to see the two guards. He saw nobody there and frowned. Normally during the rotations you stayed in sight of the next teams. As the came nearer to the gates a gentle wind blew into their faces. Yavik didn't seem bothered, but Tor inhaled deeply to taste the air. He stopped dead in his tracks.

"Werelupes," he whispered hoarsely. Yavik looked to him with wide eyes. "You go and sound the alarms. I'll go ahead."

"What? No, we should stay together. If you're right then you don't know how many there are. You could be killed!"

Tor shook his head impatiently. "I've handled them before. No time for that story now, but even if I am overwhelmed another of us won't make much of a difference! Now go!" he hissed. Without another word Tor set off toward the gates and Yavik raced back toward the castle. Luckily it was a straight shot from there and it wouldn't take long to come back with help. The closer Tor got the more he strained his ears for any sounds of battle. Nothing. Just gentle the sound of the breeze rustling through the leaves. He strained his eyes, even closer to the gates. And there it was. Blood. It was splashed across the ground off to the side.

"Tor!"

He whipped around and pressed a finger to his lips to quiet his fellow knights. Yavik had returned with whoever he could find, Grayson, Cadmere, Ignatius, Aldwin and Ebard. All looked ready for battle, but there weren't many of them and Tor had no way of knowing how many they would be up against. He looked around for any villagers, not wanting them to be caught in the fight. No innocent lived needed to be taken. But this was a relatively quiet part of Meridell and he saw nobody out in the streets.

"Quiet!" he hissed and pointed toward the blood. "They're waiting for us to come out unsuspecting of them. On the count of three, we charge. Got it?"

"Is that the best idea?" Grayson asked. He gripped his sword tight and his eyes flickered from Tor to the blood.

"You have any others?" Cadmere shot back. "We can't just sit here and wait for them!"

"Right," Ebard nodded in agreement. On three. One… two… three!"

They charged as one, swords held high. And the enemies were waiting. Just as Tor crossed through the gates two masses of fur jumped out at him. He slashed his sword viciously cutting straight through the skin. It wasn't immediately fatal, but the nasty creature howled and ran away into the woods. Tor didn't wait to see it run though, instead turning to the second one that he'd dodged at first. He slashed his sword again but the werelupe jumped out of the way and came at him from the side. It raised its massive paw to rake Tor with his claws but met Tor's shield instead. Tor thrust his shield forward and knocked the werelupe off balance before smashing it over the head with the side of his blade, crushing his skull.

"They're pushing through the gates!"

Tor looked over his shoulder and saw that more knights and guards had entered the fight. Thankfully they'd heard the commotion or somebody in the guard towers had seen what was going on. The werelupes were indeed beginning to push through the defensive line. Master Torak was there, swinging his sword, cutting down any werelupes that came near. Tor bounded through the fray to help him. He was knocked aside when a bone crashed into his side. He quickly regained his balance and raised his shield before the werelupe could get in another blow. There was the sound of the bone club on metal. That's when tor took his own shot, slicing his sword back and forth across its chest. The howls were cut off when it slumped to the ground.

The battle raged on. Tor did his best to defend the gates with Torak and Ignatius. He could see the fighting thinning out as the knights began to force the werelupes back. Many were being chased off into the forest and more began to follow. Tor heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the last one disappear. He glanced around to survey the damage. Bodies littered the ground, mostly werelupes, but Tor saw guardsmen Ulfric and Henkel. They must have been caught off guard and killed before they could raise the alarm or call for help. Not even a chance.

"Tor." He looked over to Master Torak, taking his eyes away from the sight of Cadmere who was wounded with several large gashed across the side of his face, helping a limping guard. "What exactly happened?"

"Yavik and I were on patrol, heading to meet Ulfric and Henkel at the guard post to relieve them. But something didn't seem right. I couldn't see either of them and that was unusual so I scented the air. All I could smell was the stench of werelupes. If Yavik and I were to go in alone we would both probably be goners so I sent him to fetch help while I checked everything out."

Torak nodded. "That was brave, but also foolish. But I don't see how there was much choice. You did well today Tor. Get back to the castle, have your wounds clean and get some rest. I will report back to King Skarl. I do not know of and reason behind this attack, but I can say that it is not normal. If there are going to be more attacks, which I expect there will be, we must all be ready. And with things as tight as they already are, a fear how things are going to turn out."

Tor nodded in agreement. He did not see any reason for the attack either, though it didn't seem to be just random. It seemed to have been well planned. And had he not noticed that something was amiss, he and Yavik would have walked straight into a trap. He shivered at the thought of something like this happening again. They were already down two fine men, stretched to the limits and not enough man power to go around. Without help soon things would start going further downhill.