One by one the beasts emerged from the thick underbrush, rough coats of varying colors capable of stopping sword blows and jaws lined with teeth capable of shredding a man in two, Direwolves. The Naulos mountain range northeast of Myrmien were rife with packs of these creatures, larger than wolves and around half the size of a war horse, these pack hunters ranged far and wide within the forests that had long encompassed the mountains.

Many a villager would head out to collect firewood never to be heard from again, only a few scraps of bloodstained clothes and dirt. Brazen enough were these creatures that they sometimes congregated in large packs attacking even armed caravans, always disappearing into the dark depths of the forest when a response was formed to deal with them. Guards and soldiers were trained to never follow them, harsh lessons learned from past experiences, stepping into their territory was simply asking to be picked apart one by one.

Yet now a pack of ten wolves led by such a monster was emerging at the outer edges of the clearing, two of the pack hanging back as lookouts, their sensitive noses sniffing at the air picking up the appetizing scent of prey. Their eyes adept at adjusting to the darkness of the surrounding forest, only slight slivers of moonlight penetrating the thick canopy. In the distance the fire acted as a beacon, the shining light illuminating the night and attracting the hungry predators. Tied to stakes within the ground around the fire were ten horses, all of which were slightly larger than a pony, with a single guard resting against one of the more strikingly beautiful white mottled mares.

However, contrary to what one might have expected neither the horses, nor the guard seemed to take notice of the slowly approaching predators. For their part the horses continued to casually graze upon the surrounding vegetation. The woman guarding the horses slowly rose from her seated position, spear firmly in hand, shield remaining upon the ground beside her. Striking amethyst orbs glinted in the moonlight, cutting through the darkness, with the wolves themselves appearing to hesitate for a second before being reprimanded by the alpha.

The yipping and biting continued for a few more seconds before the alpha managed to reign in its pack. In this time their opponent had yet to make a move, remaining in place, purposefully allowing the alpha to get its pack in order and waiting for them to come. For their part the wolf pack appeared suspicious of the veritable feast laid out for them, sniffing the air trying to detect any anomalies within the vicinity. Finally, seemingly assured that this was not in fact a trap the pack made their move, five charging toward the woman, two remaining at the rear, while the other five proceeded towards the horses.

Ignoring the five charging towards the herd at her back, the woman charged towards her challengers, the alpha and four of its packmates. Attempting to split the woman’s attention the attacking beasts split off in all directions, encircling their target. Coming to a stop the woman’s eyes panned over the surrounding, she was in the center of the creature’s kill circle, with one of the younger wolves making the first move. Just as her head shifted towards the left, the wolf on her right towards the rear lunged toward the back of her neck.

It did not so much as scratch her armor as the spear rose to meet it, the head of the weapon was merely moved into the expected path, then with a simple thrust it entered through the bottom of the jaw, penetrating the brain. Before the rest of the pack could react, her muscles flexed and she flung the body forward into the alpha, causing momentary surprise and confusion among the attackers. In that short gap she had already approached one of the other wolves, a dagger came plunging downwards, penetrating the creature’s skull, and dropping it lifelessly to the ground. Less than thirty seconds had passed, yet two of the beasts were down, the alpha was pinned beneath its dead packmate and unable to command the rest thus resulting in their ill-conceived rush towards the woman.

In a single fluid motion, the woman pivoted her body, avoiding one of the attackers, while her spear came down on the other, severing the head from its body. Then before the second wolf had time to turn and attempt another lunge, she was upon it, having abandoned her spear and lunged onto its back, pulling the beast down to the ground and immobilizing it. Plunging her gauntlets into the creature's semi open mouth; she placed one hand on the bottom jaw, and the other on the upper jaw then began to pull. The beast struggled desperately, attempting to break away from the monstrous force causing it such pain, yet with the tendons on its back legs cut and the constricting force slowly depriving it of oxygen its struggle weakened. With legs tightly wound around the base of its neck the woman continued to press, her amethyst eyes illuminating the hint of a smile upon her lips, then there was a loud snap and the beasts’ jaws were hanging listlessly at odd angles, the light from its eyes gone.

The fight was over, not just here between the woman and the group of five, the others group had also found trouble on their end when moving to attack the horses. Even as they had approached the horses had remained calm, and the reason became apparent immediately as dozens of arrows cut through the air, accurately impaling the attackers. Emerging from the trees were six cloaked figures, their bows shouldered, and daggers drawn, each approaching a downed beast and quickly dispatching it.

Noticing the futility of the raid and fearing for their lives the remaining two wolves who had remained on standby turned tail to run. They would not make it very far, as they reached the edge of the clearing and perceived safety they fell forward howling in pain. Unbeknownst to them the area they had chosen to flee to had been seeded with traps, the caltrops penetrated their paws, digging deep into the flesh and making it impossible to flee. The downed beasts did not receive much time to cry in distress, for as soon as they were down two shadows descended from the branches above, their axes severing the heads of the wounded creatures.

Now it was the alpha alone, struggling to free itself from its companion when it noticed it was alone, the sound of fighting long since over. Then came the footsteps, both the monstrous woman and the numerous cloaked shadows standing aside and kneeling before the approaching figure. On its part the alpha had ceased its pointless struggles, its eyes simply observing the cloaked figure.

“My Lord, it would appear that the test was a success.” The woman was first to speak, even after the engaging in such fast-paced combat the woman appeared to have not depleted any of her stamina as her breathing remained even. “That appears to be the case Maati, the beasts were unable to so much as catch a whiff of our scent, possibly a side effect of the pheromone lure. If we can collect the proper ingredients from the beasts from the Jormani forest, it could become an essential part of our hunting groups.”

Not stopping, the leader walked right up to the woman and stuffed a green pill between her partially open lips. “Make sure to chew this time, you’re running a bit hot… I believe I’ve told you many times Maati not to allow the aggression to take hold. Don’t power through things, we are humans not beasts, there is a reason we have tools.” Maatilani nodded her head before slowly chewing the object, the tenseness in her muscles gradually relaxing while the amethyst glow in her eyes dimmed slightly.

While the group had begun conversing amongst themselves, they had ignored the alpha who remained in place, wiggling slightly to get free from its current predicament. Slowly but ever so slightly it made some progress, all the while the humans seemingly ignored it. While the human leader’s back was turned the alpha managed to break free and rather than wait to assess the situation, bounded into the forest. As it made its escape the beast failed to notice the feeling of the clay vial shattering upon its back, the bio luminescent liquid created an eerie greenish yellow glow that could be seen from quite a distance in the darkness.

“Well, ladies and gentlemen, let’s go ahead and follow our guest back home. If we’re lucky the pack should have more than one or two cubs. Four of you will remain with the horses and maintain the perimeter, while you’re at it, get to skinning the dead; I’m sure we can get a good price for the pelts in Merlabria, and the meat should be fine and help supplement our supplies.” Truly even the bones would be collected, useful for fashioning arrowheads.

After settling who would be remaining to handle the necessary tasks the others began their trek through the forest. Their focus remaining upon the splotches of light spread along the forest floor. Like a pack of bloodhounds, these men and women had the scent of their prey, now it was only a matter of time before they cornered it and retrieved their prize.