I ran as quickly as I could and burned up the rest of my stamina in the process. When my green bar completely emptied, I was unable to move and fell on the ground. I ignored the ensuing pop-up. My entire body was paralyzed save for my mouth, which I opened to spit out the dirt that had inadvertently entered my mouth.

I lay on the cold, hard ground and tried to remain silent. I wanted to hear any more sounds of collapsing ceilings or worse—footsteps of wererats pursuing me. Thankfully, there was only silence. I stayed still for a few minutes until I regenerated a single point of stamina. Finally, the paralysis in my body started to fade. I made small movements of my arms, which had sprawled out in front of my head on the ground. Finding success in moving my arms, I started crawling along the ground until my green bar was a quarter full. Then, I pulled myself back to my feet and jogged.

When I saw the light ahead of the tunnel a few minutes later, I decided to let go of my remaining shred of manhood and screamed at the top of my lungs, "HELP!" I yelled and yelled like a little girl until I saw shadows at the opening of the tunnel and torches. I fervently hoped that no wererats were nearby because my screaming would surely attract their attention.

Several brave members of the Watch entered to investigate the noise and accosted me a few yards into the tunnel.

I waved my arms frantically and said, "Your captain is in trouble! He and Maisen are making a last stand against the wererats in a chamber straight ahead!" I hoped that my voice reflected the urgency that I felt in my heart.

Gurgne squeezed past the gathered Watch and gave me a green-colored vial to drink. For good measure, he also gave me a yellow-colored vial. He turned toward the Watchmen. "Please send in reinforcements immediately. You may still be able to save your captain. The Butterfly School will guard the opening," he proclaimed.

Hivande nodded in appreciation of the dog man’s offer. He had returned to the dojo after dropping off the injured at Watch Headquarters for quarantine. And now, the captain’s life was in peril! This day was getting worse and worse! "Nelkyn! Please inform HQ and ask for reinforcements!" he barked. When the runner disappeared, Hivande turned to the rest of his men. He noted that their eyes were peering into the tunnel. "We must hurry. All members of the Watch shall enter the tunnel with me to save our Captain. Let's go!" he ordered. The officer squeezed past me and Gurgne and went deeper into the tunnel.

I allowed Gurgne to lead me back to the surface. I looked up the sun directly overhead. I judged the current time to be around noon or shortly thereafter. I really need to buy that pocket watch one of these days. Only a handful of hours had passed since the fateful trial of Ebenthal began this morning and it turned into a total catastrophe! Wererats were running wild in town and the commoners were shuttered inside their homes like little pigs waiting for the big bad wolf to come and blow their houses down.

I didn't think I would ever see the sun again, given my close brush with death due to my duel with my nemesis, Ebenthal. I looked down at my body, and noticed, for the first time, all the wounds that I had accumulated from my desperate fight against a more powerful enemy. I had bled all over my green and brown outfit that I had purchased just yesterday. "I will need to be quarantined," I said quietly.

"Yes," the Master of the Hunt agreed. "But before you go, I want you to tell me what happened," he requested.

I looked around to find a spot where I could have a quiet and private discussion with him. I led Gurgne across the courtyard to the pond and peered down at Mof, the electric catfish and family pet of the dojo.

Mof jumped out of the water in greeting but did not splash its tail to drench me with water today.

"I think he likes you," Gurgne smiled, baring his large canine teeth. Mof had a well-deserved reputation as being mischievous and enjoyed dousing people with water. Gurgne suspected part of the reason was that Mof wanted them to draw fresh water from the well to replenish the pond occasionally. Mof was smarter than an average fish, not that the dog man made acquaintance with any other fish for comparison, though.

I ignored the master's teasing since I was not in the mood for it. I sat down next to the pond and slowly recounted the events underground. I told the dog man almost everything; I only kept out the part where I heard the "Kekeke" sound, the smell of sulfur, and the mysterious boost of energy that helped me end the fight with Ebenthal. I had my suspicion but needed to speak with and thank my benefactor first. Besides, I had also made a promise to the Grandmaster and, thus, I was forbidden from telling even Gurgne.

The dog man was perceptive and realized that I was withholding something. However, Gurgne understood that I had my reasons and declined to press me further.

When I finished recounting the harrowing events underground, I asked the master a question. "How does the Watch quarantine people?"

Gurgne nodded in understanding of my apprehension at being quarantined. "It really depends on the reason giving rise to the quarantine. But since time is short I will answer your question directly. When the presence of wererats is confirmed to be the cause of injuries to the town folks, the injured are jailed under the presence of a moon. The Watch will literally have jails set up in the Public Square and put those under quarantine inside these outdoor jail cells in order to determine if any of the injured had turned into a wererat. Recently turned people have less discipline to maintain their human form under moonlight, and this is how we discover if any town folks have turned. Ebenthal's plan to keep his lair directly under Tregome was ingenious because he could pull recently turned wererats off the street and hide them in his lair. I assume that was Ebenthal's intent—to turn the entire town of Tregome into his were-pack," he explained.

I nodded in confirmation. "Before our fight began, I convinced Ebenthal to reveal his plan. Just like you expected, he wanted to turn Tregome into an outpost for his were-pack and other agents of Chaos."

The dog man nodded. "This is why were-creatures are so dangerous to humans. Non-humans are, for some reason, incompatible with were-blood and thus, we are not capable of being turned into were-creatures. Humans, with their inherently Neutral alignment, can be turned into agents of Chaos. Thus, the Watch and the Church are very vigilant in finding and killing all the were-creatures they uncover. Of course, the were-creatures' abilities to shapeshift and blend into the commoners make their eradication a rather difficult task," Gurgne lectured.

"There is no cure for any human who turned into a were-creature?" I asked.

"None," the dog man answered and my heart sank.

I began to understand and appreciate the danger of the were-packs. I also understood how Kalistra could have developed such overwhelming hatred for them. In addition to her mother, the cat girl had probably lost her friends too when they contracted the disease and were killed by the Watch.

Suddenly, a Watchman cut into our conversation. The man, dressed in chain mail armor, wearing a helmet and carrying a sword and shield, turned to face me. "Milord, I have been ordered to escort you to Watch Headquarters for quarantine," he said.

I looked up at the caption over the guard's head and it read, "Name: Laquirk, Level: ?, Disposition: Cautious." "Yes, I will go with you," I nodded in acquiesce. I turned to the Master of the Hunt. "I will see you tomorrow," I bowed deeply.

"No, we will see you tonight once you've been set free," Gurgne grinned.

I grinned back and started walking toward the exit out of the dojo.