A few hours later the group could see a line of trees in the distance, a sign of yet another stream or creek cutting through the flat grasslands around them. Most were too small to bother putting on a map but this one looked bigger, the trees thicker.

“That must be the Green River,” Andrew said point to the line of green stretching across the horizon, “Means where nearly there, right?

“Pretty much,” Erin was pointing at a tiny wavy line on their map, it intersected the road and on the other side was a blotch of ink a merchant had dabbed on marking Habernack, their next stop. They could have made camp in the plains but like anywhere, camping in the wild could be dangerous. The plains were no exception, dangerous monsters and venomous snakes were known to prowl the grasslands between settlements. They hadn’t seen anything worthwhile on their journey though.

As they neared the trees it became obvious that Erin was right, the treeline marked the edge of a shallow valley much wider than any ravines they’d cross already. The trees weren’t as thick as that near Terra and the sunlight broke easily through the canopy to shine down on the underbrush. They had to slow down as the road made its way down with a few switchbacks. The sounds of birds and critters came from all around them.

“Ahhhh,” Jaesmin sad, closing her eyes and letting her horse stay on the path by itself. She took a deep breath and looked to be relaxed to Jon’s eye. He felt it too, it felt nice to be within the trees, a slight breeze and, for a moment, shielded from the sun by the leaves. He chalked it up to being just a break from the summer sun and the fact it was far removed from the Dain. They continued down until they reached the valleys flat floor. Jon closed his eyes to take in the pleasant sounds.

“Eyes up,” Leofrith said from his horse ahead of the wagon, Jon opened his eyes and got his feet under him before he stood in the wagon. Up ahead was a second wagon and the river beyond. A group of people standing around while three of them messed with a wheel. Jon sat down and started pulling his gear back on. He’d practiced earlier so he could get it on quickly and without help. He didn’t want to wear it constantly on the hot day.

“Excuse me, you don’t happen to have a mallet would you?” one called out as they approached, “Rock cracked the wheel. Few good hits and we can be on our way.”

“Ah, yeah we’ve got one,” Andrew yelled back ignoring the tension from both parties. There was always the possibility that they were bandits and if not the strangers probably worried about the Badgers for the same reason. The wagon came to a halt and Jon jumped out of the side. They’d been given tips by Daren and Willow, one was to never sit in the wagon when dealing with other people on the road. You made an easy target for bowmen or mages if it was an ambush. The people were armed but none had their weapons drawn so he left his maul propped inside the wagon, it’s handle easy to reach. A man approached and was handed the wooden mallet.

“Must be new adventurers, huh?” he glanced at their supplies, they’d laden the wagon with enough food to get them all the way to Ederath and had a wide variety of goods and materials. Leofrith had spent a lot of coin to make sure they were prepared for anything he could think of, “Don’t often see people carrying that much stuff with them round here.”

The man was wearing mismatched clothes Jon noted. A long sleeve shirt made of thick fabric you’d normally see people wearing in the colder months, the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. It was obviously an expensive tunic by the dye alone. His pants were the opposite, tattered and dirty; and he wasn’t wearing anything on his feet. Jon noticed that most of the stranded travelers were dressed similarly. They were all wearing long sleeved garments at least.

“Are we far from Habernack?” Leofrith asked another of them. They already knew they were close so Jon didn’t understand why he’d ask, “You must have just come from there?”

“Umm… We did indeed. It’s not far, 7 miles at most.” the man said and pointed to Jon, “Mind helping us lift? You’re a big lad.” Jon just nodded, he felt like something was telling him that this wasn’t right. Something was wrong. Their wagon was pointed away from the village, why would they leave the safety so late or had they been stuck with a broken wheel all day?

He walked to the rear of their wagon and grabbed the frame with the strangers, he noted that his group was out of the wagon or dismounted and either staring as in Aethred’s case or watching the others out of the corner of their eyes. The strangers were doing the same. They heaved the wagon up a few inches off the ground while two quickly straightened the wheel and started hammering pegs to hold it on. Jon glanced in the wagon and what he saw was confusing. It contained a wide variety of things as well but it was just as mismatched with them as their clothing was. It had children’s clothes for one, there wasn’t a child among them. Jon heard a crack in the trees nearby.

“Ahh, thank you,” the man said, and started looking through one of the crates, “hold on up, let me get you something as a thank you.” A faint crushing sound like someone was stepping on dried leaves.

“Ah, that’s okay,” Jon said and grabbed the mallet, heading back to the wagon. He wasn’t sure what was in the crate but he did notice the hilt of a weapon. Another snapping branch. Jon played it like he hadn’t noticed. He tried to signal Leo but Leofrith’s eyes shifting left then made eye contact with Jon and gave an exaggerated sniff. Not sure what he should be smelling, he sniffed and suddenly grew more worried. He could smell the iron tinge of blood on the breeze. His eyes scanned the forest, the source of the strange sounds that had drawn his attention wasn’t there. He set the mallet in the wagon and gripped his woodmaul by the haft near it’s head. His unease shifting towards anger.

“Now, now. No need for that,” A voice behind him said. Jon spun and saw more people coming out of the woods from behind him, they were dressed much like the others, “Just give us the wagon and horses and you’ll be on your merry way. You can even keep some coin, few coppers. Growing lasses and lads gotta eat.”

“We’ll kill ya if ya try anythin’. Ain’t no issue killing some brats,” Another standing near some bushes said, she pushed the branches back with her spear and Jon spotted the round face of a child, the boys throat was slit. Even Jon could tell the cut was fresh having seen plenty of gruesome wounds lately. The boy looked around 9 or 10 years old.

“W-why would you kill a child?” Cara asked, she shakily moved up to get a better look but backed away when the woman leveled her spear.

“He tried sumfing,” a lisped voice said from the other side of the wagon. Jon kept his eyes on the closest ones but knew they were being surrounded. He glanced and saw that only he and Erin had their weapons remotely ready thanks to the nature of their arms, can’t sheath a woodmaul or spear. Leofrith stood at the front while Andrew the back. Jon assumed Jaesmin and Aethred were holding the other side of the wagon while Cara still stood to his left.

“Put down your weapons and step away from ‘em.” Jon thought of the second bit of advice from earlier that day, ‘never willfully disarm yourself. If a bandit tells you to drop your weapon and they’ll let you live, don’t believe them. Why the fuck would you trust them NOT to kill you, they’re bandits!’ His friends must have been thinking about the same advice as none of them moved to follow the order.

“You- you’re the one that killed the child?” Cara said shakily pointing towards the woman who’d revealed the dead boy, she just grinned and nodded. She started to saunter towards Cara. Jon heard a faint crackle.

“Little fucker bit me, what you gonna do bo-” the woman was cut off as Cara screamed, it wasn’t in terror but in anger. Jon barely had the chance to turn his gaze to her when a white light blinded him for a moment and nearly instantly thunder fell.

AAAAH- BOOOOOOM!

Cara’s first true BOLT erupted from a point about an inch from the tip of of the finger she had been pointing at the murderer. It started off small but quickly expanded to the size of her fist as it arced across the air in a fraction of a moment. The bolt of electricity slammed into the woman’s chest causing her to drop to the ground but the lighting continued to flow into her for an entire second. When it stopped the bandit lay in a twisted heap on the ground, a fist sized hole in her chest was smoldering and burnt to the bone. Her clothes were alight and faint burns twisted and turned across her exposed arms and neck. Magic lightning was apparently far worse than the natural kind. The scene was quiet for a moment as the only person who knew what was coming was Cara. Everyone else just stood in shock, it didn’t last.

“You fucks!” the man in front of Jon rushed towards him, sword raised high for a downward slash, Jon raised his woodmaul to block but something was screaming within him. A pressure or instinct telling him there was something else. Jon didn’t realize but when he turned to face his attacker, he’d missed something in the forest but something else within him didn’t. The haft of the woodmaul made contact with the descending sword and Jon followed the instinct at the same moment jerking his head back just before an arrow whizzed past an inch in front of his face. He hadn’t even noticed the archer in the trees.

Jon managed to hold his ground against the adult who happened to be around the same size as him. He pivoted while holding the haft in his left and the blunt side of his ax in his right catching the sword with the head and pushing it down and away. A new instinct grew quickly inside of him, one calling for him to threaten his assailant, make him feel fear! Jon bared his teeth and felt something strange happen in his mouth but he ignored it after a glance at his still human hand. His vision shifted slightly, it became clearer, more detailed and a growl emanated from his mouth. The man’s eyes went wide as he drew his sword back to thrust. Jon choked up on his ax.

“You’re a-” Jon never got to hear what he was about to be called as he swung his weapon around hard with two hands. The sharp edge of his maul buried itself deep in the mans skull. His weapon dropped as the man did but dislodged before he hit the ground. Jon looked right and moved towards the young man who was sloppily chopping at Erin’s shield as she tried to get her spear into position.

He rushed his new target and slammed into the bandit from the side. Jon didn’t feel afraid at all, he felt free and angry at the same time. The man falling to the ground had dared to threaten his sister and his pack, for that he’d die! Jon raised his ax and brought it down quickly in the familiar motion as if he was chopping wood. He’d accidentally pointed the edge upwards but it didn’t matter as the hammer side shattered the mans ribs. He raised it again and came down on the man’s head caving in his skull. When Jon turned to his next target he could only see the people who attacked them scattering towards the trees. Five total and a quick look told Jon 6 lay dead or dying around the two wagons. Jaesmin launched herself into the trees after three of them.

“Wait!” a voiced called out to her but Jon just smiled. The feeling inside him, the instinct that had risen up told him a new thing. Still no fear and not anger, it was one of triumph and thrill. He looked towards the woods, a feeling growing in him. His prey has fled and his packmate had issued a challenge by giving pursuit. He dropped his maul and took a deep breath and a feral, primeval, savage sound escaped his mouth as he opened his jaw wide. It wasn’t a scream, shout, yell, or even battle cry. It was a sound no human should be able to make. John roared! He took off after Jaesmin in a full sprint, jumping over logs and crashing through branches, it was time to hunt.

**********

Jaesmin heard a deep roar from behind but gave it no attention. She didn’t know who it was but instinct told her what it was, it was a challenge. Not just a friendly one to her but also to the fools that dared face the pack, for them it meant fear. She charged through the brush and spotted her quarry, the man with the lisp ran for the GreenRiver. She turned her pursuit and followed in a wide arc approaching from the side, He glanced back but only directly behind him, her prey didn’t see her.

‘wait, prey? What am I doing?’ She willed herself to stop, something was different. The feeling inside her overwhelmed her though and she charged on only slowing as she neared her target.

When the man made it to the river he stopped as he realized he couldn’t cross, the current there was too fast. He looked back and forth with a dagger shaking in his hand. He started running down river which was away from the road but straight towards Jaesmin. A part of her was thrilled the fool was coming at her, she’d didn’t slow any more just moved quickly and quietly as the sound of the raging waters nearby covered the sounds of her steps.

She charged from nearby bushes when he turned to check behind him again leaping up high and slamming into the much larger mans chest. He fell backwards as she clung to his shoulders with human hands. Less than human teeth exposed in her open mouth; all four canines and the four teeth directly behind them were slightly elongated and considerably sharper.

She wailed on the man with her fists as they landed on the rocky riverbank. She only stopped a moment to toss the dagger he’d dropped as they fell before continuing her savage attack. The hunt was over, the prey was hers, but she wasn’t going to let him die easily… he would suffer! He would feel agony before she tore the heart from his ches-

‘NO! Gods damn it!’ she internally yelled at herself, pushing the bestial feelings back down causing her to hesitate. The man took his chance and stopped protecting his face to throw her off, he rolled over and crawled on all fours towards his dagger. Jaesmin grabbed his leg, digging her fingernails in with little effect She bit down hard on his ankle following the instinct to disable her prey before it could escape. Her bite couldn’t make it through the leather but did cause him to panic and start screaming in terror. His other boot impacted her face, throwing her off him again. She got up grabbing her broken nose and forcibly snapped it straight. Jaesmin could feel the unbearable pain and her eyes watered, but the prey was willing to fight back. It’d pay for that! She ignored the pain and roared at him. His screams had turned to sobs and mumbled prayers as he reached his dagger and she pounced, leading back to her prey screaming in terror. Be afraid little prey!

His head slammed into the ground and she yelped as the dagger entered her side. Had she the time to put on her leather armor it might not have penetrated as easily but it was below her ribcage and the man let it sit as he went to protect his face again. The beating continued. His nose broken, eyes and cheeks beginning to swell, his lips split. An urge hit her to bite him again, tear out his throat.

‘NO! No fucking biting.’ It’ll die to fast! She didn’t really try to bring herself to reason this time. Rage, fueled by vengeance for threatening her pack and the thrill of the hunt, consumed her as her fists hammered the suddenly quiet man.

**********

She held her shield up as the man on the other side swung wildly at her, the edge only digging into her shield once while the other chops glanced off. Erin wasn’t much of a warrior and only had a basic understanding of how to use her spear but she knew axes thanks to her da and Piers. The idiot facing her didn’t even know how to grip it. She leveled her shortspear and prepared to thrust from the low side.Just like Leofrith had taught her but before she could a large form covered in metal came from her left, a slam from the other side of the shield and a young man holding an ax flew back and slammed into the ground to her right. She barely had the chance to process what happened before the man screamed and was immediately cut short with a sickening crunch. She glanced back at the others after realizing it was Jon.

Cara was taking cover by the wagon, breathing quickly. A flash of flame was flying at a woman clutching an arrow in her stomach and hit her with a muffled explosion, the flame growing rapidly from the point of impact setting her alight. Her bow falling to the ground. The source of the flame stood next to a man on his knees, still falling over as a falchion lay embedded in his shoulder, discarded as it’s owner used her magic. Andrew lay on his back clutching a bloody gash on his arm.A man was drawing an arrow from his quiver but stopped when he failed to dodge the crossbow bolt that pierced his throat completely. Aethred crouched with the crossbow by the wagon, an arrow in his leg and another in his shoulder. The bandits started to run and only the first one to speak to them didn’t make it to the woods as Leofrith ran him through with his sword the moment the bandit turned.

Erin turned to go to Andrew as Jaesmin shot past her towards the fleeing bandits, she turned her head and watched her flee into the trees.

“Wait!” but Jaesmin ignored her and disappeared into the brush followed by a sound a moment later that echoed across the valley. Goosebumps covered her arms as the hair on her neck stood up. The roar only lasted a few seconds, but she saw the source. He stood tall with a straight back only a few paces away. His head angled toward the sky as a deep roar like she’d never heard radiated out from her brothers wide open mouth. She could see sharp teeth exposed and her whole bodied started to quiver. The moment he snapped his mouth shut he too ran into the trees after Jaesmin. Leofrith, who’d paused at the roar, sprinted into the trees on the opposite side of the road. After a few moments, the crashing branches faded and it was silent. For the first time in her entire life Erin had felt fear looking at her brother.

The remaining part of the group looked at each other and Erin could tell she wasn’t the only one that felt terrified. They’d nearly been murdered by bandits but the fight, which only lasted around 15 seconds, was nothing compared to what had just happened. They knew what Jon, Jaes, and Leo were! They all just stood there for a minute or two in shock.

A groan from Aethred brought her back to the ones around her and she quickly moved to inspect the injured. She wasn’t sure if she could pull the arrows out of Aethred and thought it’d be better for Jon or Jaes to return so they could cast HEAL… she hoped they would and that they’d still be them.

‘No, they’re still them’ She told herself deciding to wait as there wasn’t much blood coming from either wound, she turned to look at Andrew but froze as a terrified scream reached their ears. It’d come from the direction Jon and Jaesmin ran. She stared at the trees but there was nothing there, she checked the other side and still nothing. She moved over to Andrew and saw his arm was cut to the bone.

“He was aiming for-for my h-head, I bl-blocked it,” Andrew whimpered out, clearly in pain. There was good amount of blood but the blade had missed the artery. She ran to the wagon and pulled out cloth bandages and went to treat the wound but froze again. Yelling from where Leofrith ran, she could tell it wasn’t Leofrith’s voice but couldn’t make out the words, they stopped a moment latter followed by a high pitched scream from Jon and Jaesmin’s side. She closed her eyes lightly and started controlling her breathing and counting at the same time. It was the technique Jon had learned from his visions, she’d never used it before but Jon said it worked.

She opened her eyes and started wrapping Andrews outstretched arm like her mother had taught her when another scream came, it was a mans voice. It paused as another roar came from downriver, this one wasn’t as deep as Jon’s… She started to shake uncontrollably as it stopped and only a moment had passed before the screaming started again. It abruptly stopped a few seconds later. Her hands could barely hold the cloth as she finished wrapping Andrews arm.

“UGH!” the sound caused her to jerk. Aethred had decided to pull the arrow out on his own and was already binding the wound with Cara’s help. He really shouldn’t have pulled it out.

“Don’t look at me like that, it wasn’t deep. Fucker could barely pull back the string!” Aethred said wincing as Cara tightened the cloth around his leg, Erin could tell it wasn’t tight enough to be a tourniquet but if it wasn’t bleeding bad it’d only make things worse, “Sides if more bandits show up I’m not hobbling around with...ugh,” He snapped the shaft of the arrow in his shoulder, pain shot across his face and tears dripped slowly from his eyes, “with fucking arrows sticking out of me like one of my ma’s pin cushions.”

“Don’t think any of them are coming back,” Erin said, putting a prepared cloth sling over Andrew and helping him place his arm in it. It wasn’t a break but she knew the more he moved it the more it’d hurt.

“Do-do we go after them?” Cara was nervously running her hands together staring towards the direction of the second roar, “Are they going to-”

“Nope, just nope. The pointy eared bastard told Erin they can’t turn into one till they’re 16, remember? And Leofrith’s too uptight anyways, be unpropper for a wanna be knight to turn into a monster.” Erin shot air out of her nose at the comment, she doubted it’d be that easy for Leo. Just will it away with gallantry but it did put her at ease being reminded about the fact her brother couldn’t turn into one yet either.

The four of them just sat there jumping at any noise as time continued on. Erin got up and paced after minutes passed.

“They should have been back by now, what if they’re hurt?” Cara said.

“The idiots ran into the woods, they’re probably lost and walking back,” Aethred tried to calm her down. Another minute passed and they heard someone walking towards them from where Leo had disappeared. Erin could see his gray gambeson and white tabard coming through the bushes, a moment later he appeared dragging two corpses. Without a word he pulled them up and dropped them by the side of the road. One had their throat crushed while the other had a fist sized hole through her head, bits of bark stuck to it. She looked up at Leo and took a half step back as she saw his eyes. His golden-green eyes were the same color but looked off, it took Erin a moment to realize that the irises of his eyes were bigger. He looked around them for a second, walked up to inspect Aethred’sleg with a poke Aethred winced but didn’t say anything. Leo’s movements were strange, but Erin couldn’t really place it. He was walking around like a human would but in a way that was strange for Leofrith personally. His usual stiff posture was relaxed and he moved a bit more gracefully.

“Ummm… are you okay?” Erin got the nerve to ask as he bent down to inspect Aethred’s shoulder leaning in very close. Leo didn’t answer but just glanced at her without moving his head. His eyes locked on her with his brow slightly furled. Meanwhile Aethred, whose head was only inches away from Leo’s, was a somewhat humorous look to Erin. Too many emotions rolled into one. One eyebrow was up, his eyes wide but his mouth firmly clamped shut. He didn’t move a muscle until Leo moved to check Andrews arm. He didn’t inspect it for more than a second before he turned and jogged towards Jon and Jaesmin.

“The fuck was that?” Aethred said, climbing to his feet using the wagon to keep his weight off his injured leg. Leofrith turned a little ways into the forest and beckoned them to follow. Another shared glance and they started towards the woods, Erin was afraid but Leo didn’t stop staring at them until they started moving. At that he looked around and followed a path of broken branches and disturbed bushes that marked the point where Jon had entered the trees.

**********

Jon sat with his legs crossed on the ground, his eyes closed as he meditated. The instincts were still there but were mostly focused on Jaesmin now. It felt good to have a packmate so close. She had found him where he’d killed the last bandit, sitting exactly how he was now. She didn’t say a word but just walked up behind him and sat down pressed against his back, her legs stretched out past his and arms wrapped around him. Even through the chainmail and doublet he could feel the side of her head pressed against him as he held one of her bloody hands.

Like that the two sat, his mind just focused on her and his breathing. Occasionally he’d slip and think about the corpse that lay near him but she’d squeeze tighter when he started shaking. Bringing him back to thoughts about her and breathing. He’d did the same service for her by squeezing her hand softly when she began to tremble.

He’d just killed four people, two fell to his maul but worse was the first person he caught when he was running. He’d tacked the man and after a short scuffle, ended his life with a single punch to the back of the neck. He hit so hard that not only did it break the mans neck, it broke Jon’s hand. The pain was intense but he just ignored it and followed after another bandit. The worst...That one…. the way he’d killed her… he started to shake again and Jaesmin squeezed him tight. A few moments and he was counting breaths again. He heard people approaching and caught glimpses of fabric and blonde hair. His friends were nearly there.

His eyes flashed over to the corpse of the young woman, blood pooled under her head, a chunk of flesh and bit of artery torn from her throat, what was torn away laid next to her... Jon quickly tried to rub the blood off his mouth with his broken hand.