A large tree breaks with a thunderous sound; beside it stands a wolfman with bloodied fists.

“That damned herbivore destroyed everything we’ve been working for! Three weeks of planning lost in a fit of rage!”

His lieutenant, a Foxman, stays quiet; he knows better than to offer an opinion without being addressed first.

Lord Wolfe asks him, “What is the extent of the damage? How many did we lose?”

“Two-thirds of the stock, sir.”

“The Dwarf?”

“Dead, it seems like the lord was especially targeting him.”

He knew that before asking, there was no way he could have survived lord Hippo’s stomping, but he still needed to ask.

“Feed the remains to the troops! I want every last bit of the Dwarf recovered, even if we cannot benefit from its knowledge, we might yet absorb some of its might.”

Before following after his master, Fuchs gave the order to serve everything unfit for preservation and process the rest for transport. He nevertheless answers slavishly, “It will be done as you command, my lord!”

Wolfe knows perfectly the pointlessness of his order, the dwarf’s value was its knowledge, and a dead meal gives no power.

How did it come to that? Everything was going so well; by including weak and despised batmen among his scouting parties, they had shown unprecedented efficiency, and his harsh discipline had reduced the amount of useless death. Three times as much cargo and slave as usual and not a single good lost to a blood frenzy… At least up until that damned fool came and ruined everything.

“The bastard did it on purpose, there is no other way. When was the last time the mighty lord Hippo observes a slaving raid?”

Apart from rare occurrence of mythical Beastmen like Frost Wolf, or Basilisk, the strongest are always the same three races, Hippopotamus, Elephant, and Rhinoceros. Lord hippo though, is unlike any who came before him; he became the leader by slaughtering all the other champions regardless of whether they opposed him or not.

“Never. Such matters are below the great champion. He was to sabotage you, powerful herbivores may be irrational and prone to frenzy, but killing over two hundred slaves without provocation is unprecedented.”

It is well-known that carnivores can absorb the power of their vanquished foe by drinking their blood and devouring their living flesh, while herbivores can only grow through training. However, in this case, a few magic items and a few dozen meals of dwarf wouldn’t make up for the difference.

Defeated, the lord asks his right arm, “Can we somehow make up for the losses?”

“We hit all major villages, and unless we travel further inside, there are only fortified cities.”

With their equipment, attacking a fortified city isn’t an option, the same from traveling far into enemy territory.

Wolfe sigh, “I rescind my previous order, there’s no way to eat two hundred slaves worth of food with our number. Order the excess to be salted and smoked; Luckily, one the caravan we hit had a shipment of salt.”

“Wonderful idea, sir! I wouldn’t have thought of it myself.”

“How long will it take?”

“Likely the better of the week.”

“You have four days, privilege guts and recovered meat over our usual rations.”

“Yes, sir!”

<><><>

After killing the slaves and his valuable prisoner, lord Hippo found another way by taking half his troops on some supposedly important mission, but he didn’t care if it meant the damn herbivore wasn’t here to do any more damage.

Wolfe orders a Rabbitman servant to bring him the remains of the dwarf. As expected, consuming gives him no rush of power. Feeling defeat for the umptieth time in a row is too much for the wolfman. Blinded by rage, he grabs the poor servant and rips his throat with his teeth to drink his blood and eat his flesh.

When the Beastman leader rage rescind, he looks at the mess he’s done and screams “Fuchs!”

Not even a minute later, the Foxman enters the room. His sight quickly falls on the Rabbitman’s corpse, and all can mutter is “Oh.”

“I know, you don’t have to tell me; after all we’ve gone through to maintain discipline, I messed up! Honestly, I just wish this bastard had challenged me to a fight, at least I would have had an honorable death.”

“He’s afraid the changes you bring, and that’s why he needs to undermine you.”

“Whether I had a good reason changes nothing; he’s won, I broke my own rules.”

“Sir, I cannot allow that bastard to bring you down, I’ll assume responsibility and take the punishment… We are falling behind the other species, in number, equipment, territory, and you’re the only one doing something about it!”

The speech touches Wolfe deeply, he always suspected Fuchs’s loyalty, as most leaders do when they have subordinates, they know to be far more intelligent than themselves.

“I… I’ll find a way to keep you alive, old friend; you’re too precious to lose on a stupid mistake.”

“Thank you, sir, it was an honor serving with you.”

They both know that the fox would make a better leader, but in Beastmen society strength is everything, and a weak Foxman is not fit to rule.

<><><>

The troops stare silently at their officer; despite being a weak fox, he survived the battering; a feat very few can claim. Until now, they obeyed him because their leader ordered them to, but now he has earned their respect.

The proud fox stands up before the servant applies the healing spells. He’s exhausted but determined to show his worth, to bring the changes envisioned by his master. Again, the sight moves Wolfe’s heart, and he comes to stand beside his old ally and friend to address the men.

“Soldiers, learn from what you’ve seen…”

A Batman screaming interrupts him, “Wrong! Silence everywhere! No noise, something’s wrong!”

Bolts fly across the sky, piercing through the sentinels, the batmen, and the two leaders’ chests. The battered Foxman dies instantly, but the wolfman survive. Despite his injury, he orders his men to disperse. No normal bolt could penetrate his armor and though skin so easily, whoever shot them is using enchanted weapon, there is hope though; unlike bows, crossbows cannot be fired in quick succession.

As though to prove him wrong, series of bolts follow one after the other; seven in total and at this point though, his troops were decimated, and the remaining run around in panic.

Many shadows approach, and they are almost as large as they are tall. The dwarfs walk silently despite being fully dressed in chain-mail, and as if to mock the proud Beastman race, they wordlessly and efficiently plow through the panicked soldiers.

This is too much, this isn’t a fight; just a one-sided slaughter. “Fight me, cowards.” screams the wolf lord.

The attackers stop an instant to talk among themselves in unintelligible words. Two of them walks towards him, but this not the fight he hoped for; in an instant, the two enemies come from both sides to shatter his arms and legs.

Unable to move, he can only watch as the dwarfs continue the butchery.

<><><>

A splash of water awakens the defeated leader. He quickly realizes that they healed him, but only enough to keep him alive in a diminished state; even moving his head is beyond him.

“Where’s my son, beast.” asks a powerful figure standing over him.

Wolfe has no hope, but either way, he will have his revenge, “Fools, my troops were but a scouting party, you will never escape lord Hippo’s wrath.”

The figures talk among themselves in their own language.

“What’s a Hippo?” asks one of them in the common language.

“A mighty warrior you can’t ever hope to beat. He and his troops will soon be upon you to exact our revenge!”

His speech agitated the dwarf, he hopes the fear of the impending army will stop them from making away with the slaves.

Someone kicks his broken arm, “I don’t give a damn about your hippo, beast. Where is my son?!”

“The dwarf is no more, lord Hippo stomped him dead, and you will soon join him!”

The figures discuss among themselves again and separate to search the camp. Which of his revenge came true will forever remain a mystery, because his last sight was a hammer descending toward his face.