Raylas sliced downward, killing the wolf who leapt to grab his throat.

Mist blew into the wind as he gasped for breath. Winter was finally arriving and the wolves were getting hungry due to the lack of game. He was surrounded by three others who were slowly closing in. Raylas swung his polearm in a wide arc, its blade skimming against the fur of the attacking wolves.

“I could use some help over here!” he called out to the rest of the caravan.

The sound of yipping and growls resounded around the other merchants' carts. The pack attacking them was surprisingly large, but nowhere near what Raylas would call worrisome. At least that would be true if he had someone backing him. Unfortunately, his partner decided that helping Raylas was less important than shooting random stragglers to get a few more coins.

“If you don’t cover for me I will rip out a tooth for each wolf you tried to steal from me,” Raylas roared as he swung down, cutting into the nearest wolf’s shoulder.

Raylas tried to pull his blade out but it refused to move. The wolf yipped and jumped away trying to get the weapon out, but it didn’t budge. Instead the pole was yanked out of Raylas’ hands and he stumbled forward as the wolf rushed towards the woods.

“Son of a bi–” Raylas cursed as the two remaining wolves leapt forward. He leapt to the side and avoided one wolf as the other bit into his shoulder. The teeth of the wolf cracked against his armored shoulder, but the power of its bite crunched the metal together uncomfortably. Raylas cursed and threw a fist into the side of the wolf. His spiked knuckles pierced into it as it let go with a yelp, blood from the broken teeth dripping out of its mouth as well as down its side.

The final wolf also regained control of itself and bit into Raylas’ leg. His armor held but one of the fangs managed to find a gap and pierced into his leg. Raylas swore to the Gods that he would hang his partner by his bowstring.

He took a hold of the wolf with both of his hands and squeezed. The wolves yipped and tried to nip at the fingers holding it but Raylas refused to let go. He felt a crack beneath his fingers and the wolf started to flail around when a weight crashed into him, causing him to fall to the ground.

The second wolf with broken teeth leaped at him and tried to bite down on his neck. Its cracked teeth got caught on the chainmail protecting his throat but he felt bits of the shards scratch into this neck. The wolf also managed to get a solid grip on him and began to constrict his windpipe.

Raylas wheezed as he tried to elbow the wolf off but it was surprisingly heavy. Before he could roll over to dislodge, the third wolf bit down on his free arm, crushing his forearm guard. Raylas felt his bones creak beneath the pressures of the wolves, and his gaze was starting to blacken from the lack of oxygen. He cried out and planted his feet beneath him and arched his back and threw the two wolves off of him. Their claws skid on his plated armor as his body rose and the pressure around his neck released as the wolf slid off. Raylas gasped for breath as he took his now freed arm and punched the wolf biting his arm in its head.

The spikes of his gauntlets pierced it easily and Raylas was covered in bits of splattered gore. He took a hold of the wolf's jaws and yanked its death grip off with a snap and quickly rose to his feet.

He turned to see the wolf with broken teeth lying dead next to him with an arrow through its skull. Raylas looked up at the top of the nearest caravan’s carriage and glared at the small man on top.

“Saved your life, Ray,” the halfling cheered, his long brown ponytail fluttering as he danced around. “That’ll be another five copper to me for another pelt!”

“Get down here and say that, halfwit!” Raylas growled toward his useless companion.

Laughter sounded next to him as an enormous man slammed his hand onto Raylas’ back.

“Don’t say that about your hero, Raylas,” he boomed. “Goodwill did great work keeping the main pack at bay while we whittled down their numbers.”

“Leaving me all by my lonesome,” Raylas complained.

“Because he knew you could handle five all on your own,” the giant man bellowed.

“Exactly!” Goodwill cheered from his safe perch on the carriage.

Raylas growled and shook off the gore. Perhaps it was true the halfling took care of the rest of the caravan, but he still abandoned his duty to protect Ray’s flank.

“You will at least buy drinks for stealing my kills!” Raylas declared.

“Deal!” Goodwill confirmed.

Raylas smiled smugly. He was going to drink until his liver burst at the next stop. He would make sure the halfwit regretted the day he stole the kill from Raylas of Eilire.

He turned to look at the corpses. There were only four surrounding him with a trail of red rushing into the woods. A large number of branches were broken and a single line was dragged in the dirt.

Raylas grumbled. Stupid wolf stole his weapon and ran into the woods.

“Hey, Rolft,” he called to the big man. “Wolf took my weapon. I’m getting it back.”

“Get it quickly,” Rolft replied. “I can’t hold the boss up when he wants to move the caravan.”

“Shouldn't be too long!” Raylas rushed forward into the woods. There shouldn’t be much to worry about. Their morale was broken and they should be running. If they did decide to attack, Raylas was confident he could run back to the caravan before they could take him out.

The damn thing made a very easy trail to follow. The leaves were rustled by the pole, blood was splattered from whenever it snagged something, and branches were cracked left and right as it stumbled.

Raylas smiled at the five extra coppers he’ll have earned bringing this one back. Though knowing the quartermaster he would only get four copper due to the large cut on the shoulder. But four coppers was still four coppers and every mark counted in his line of duty.

A yip resounded close by and Raylas rushed forward, greed in his eyes. Soon he came upon the wolf who was standing still and struggling to stand up. It shook from effort from the weight of the large blade pushing it down.

“Sorry, bud,” Raylas said. “But I gotta take that thing back. It costs more than your entire pack.”

He reached forward and yanked the blade as hard as he could. The wolf let out a whimper as it fell over onto the ground. Raylas looked over it in pity as he raised his blade.

“Good fight. Rest well in the arms of the gods.”

He pierced the wolf’s heart and waited only a few moments before its life faded from its eyes.

It was at that moment he noticed something strange near the wolf’s head. A glint from the sun revealed a ring lying in the dirt. He reached down and as he picked it up he noticed a bit of white as well.

He brushed away the dirt which revealed an old skeleton lying covered in dirt and weeds. Any fabric around it had dissolved away to leave only the whites of its bones, but there were a few very interesting items around the body.

The ring was made of pure gold with a large sapphire on it. There were also etchings in it which were too complex to be a design, maybe writing of some sort. Raylas would have to ask the merchant about this to see if he could get a good price for it.

There was also a bag which was tied with a drawstring, but try as he might he was unable to open it. A similar design was stitched into the lining of it like he saw on the ring. Perhaps it was a signature of some kind of crafter?

The final item was a dagger which Raylas could feel was magical. At first he thought the blade was split in half, but upon closer inspection he realized there were two blades to it. One long straight one with the other curving around the hilt into a hook shape. It was buried at the skeleton’s hip and when he pulled it out a long sparkling chain came with it. Raylas smiled recognizing a precious metal when he saw one. His heart raced knowing he just found a treasure, perhaps an artifact.

The hook and chain, just like the other two items, had etchings pressed into it. Maybe it wasn’t a design but a magic script? That would mean the ring, pouch, and hooked-knife were all magical.

Raylas licked his lips as he dug around the skeleton searching for more treasure but there was nothing else remaining. He shrugged and put it in his pouch, then took a hold of the wolf and threw it over his shoulders with a grunt. The beast’s fur was a beautiful shining gray, which would sell very well if he could skin it properly.

He thought of the new knife he gained and smiled thinking of the perfect way to try it out tonight. He rushed back to the caravan and arrived just as it started to move.

He dropped the body of the wolf off on a wagon piled with wolf corpses and double checked to make sure his count was accurate. He then moved back to his position where he saw Goodwill skipping happily while whistling an offkey tune.

He rushed forward and swung his hand to smack the halfwit but Goodwill skipped to the side just barely avoiding his armored glove.

“Took ya long enough,” the short man laughed. “I almost wrote you off as dead and claimed the other three for me.”

“You mean four,” Raylas gloated. “Got my weapon back with the beast who stole it.”

“Oh wow,” Goodwill praised in mock awe. “Raylas went out and defeated the mighty wounded wolf pickpocket! What a glorious battle that must have been.”

“Shut your trap,” Raylas growled as he swung to hit the halfling again, only to miss.

“Both of you quit screwing around and get back to guarding the flank!” the captain of the caravan’s guard shouted.

“Roger that!” Raylas and Goodwill saluted mockingly.

“Damn mercenaries,” the Captain grumbled.

Raylas smiled and patted his pockets. Four wolves and some magical treasure. Today was a very profitable day.