The days passed as the pack prepared their plans. Their planning, in the end, was useless. They attacked, unbeknownst to the clan, but not to Rynn or the priestess, that they had attacked Helderal, the town whose walls were shaken by the vile worm only weeks before. The town itself was on stable ground, as many of the homes and buildings had already been rebuilt, and an added measure of guards at the fallen wall were placed to compensate for the lack of protection against wild beasts and the occasional evil being that wanted to pillage and burn the shackled village.
The door was wide open for the furry wolves.
They crept into the town under the cloak of a moonless night. Although it lessened the wolves' strength, it mattered little to the tender flesh of humans. Their pointed claws tore through their armor, their sharp fangs dug into their flesh, and their powerful jaws broke their necks, swiftly, and painfully. The wolves brought no fire with them, as only two within their ranks could create a fire, the two bipedal creatures they had found. They overran the city, crushing every guard and helpless human being in sight, caring not if they were children or adult, babe or elderly. The priestess cried out in outrage, seeing the wolves ravish the bodies of children lying dead among the dead. Rynn reassured her that this was for the best: "Where else would they go?" she retorted, casting her saddened gaze upon the ground. Even in war are the children sheltered not from naught and left open to any and all injustices that man, or beast, allot.
The night began with the ceremonial howl towards the night sky, in accordance to their rules of war. Since there was no moon this night, their cries were more eerie than petrifying. Their howl was meant to allow the defender the chance to prepare their defenses. But on this night, the defenders did not know why the wolves howled so on the cool, windless night upon where no creature dared to make a sound. Unnerved by the quietness of the forest around them, the human village was already alert, hands cupped to ears for any compromising sound from any would-be attacker.
But they knew not of the padding of a wolf"s feet, silencing their run even through the sticks and leaves of the outlying forest.
They humans knew not to look at the very ground in front of them, looking instead at the tree line in hopes of catching a glimpse of their enemies before they were able to obtain too much ground towards their fallen wall.
Indeed, it was a valiant effort on the part of the human town, but in the end, it was futile. They did not care to look beneath their very noses as they wolves snuck into their town and took their positions, awaiting the signal from Rravka.
A movement from the treetops as a raven flew high into the night sky caught the guard"s eye. Its cry rang throughout the hushed town, their eyes following the movement of a black shadow in the starry night sky.
The call rang through the alleyways, through the halls of each house, and through the ears of each being upon the ground.
The wolves were in position.
A terrific howl released itself from the throat of Rravka, sitting atop the town"s useless arch above the ruined wooden gate that was once used to allow friends to pass within and keep enemies frustrated without.
Gates work only when they are in full repair, and they are the only opening to the worlds outside.
The packs sprang into action even before Rravka had time to remove himself from his lofty position atop the ruined wooden gates. He leapt down upon a spear-carrying man, horrified by the sight of the wolf as it flew through the dark sky and clutched his neck, breaking it instantly. He was dead before his body hit the ground, and even before Rravka had landed as well. Another guard, seeing a lone wolf, tried to take advantage of the moment"s pause as the animal landed on the ground, but did not make two steps until three other wolves had latched their claws and teeth into the man"s arm, leg, and face, as another ripped out his throat. The priestess thought she saw the leader smile, a crimson flash that blinded her eyes.
In another corner of town, men fell with wolves upon their backs, as even more wolves came at their faces and necks, delivering the final blows as they lay on their stomachs. Blood spilt onto the ground, onto the pelts of the wolves, and flushed down their throats. The warmth brought their excited states into an even greater frenzy, causing the bloodlust in their eyes to show as plain as day in the moonless night.
The archers atop the walls had not the time to let fly an arrow as the wolves came at their sides and behind, snapping their bows before breaking their arms and sending them tumbling over the side of the walls, falling to their deaths as the wolves at the bottom jumped upon their bodies, making sure they were corpses lying still before they moved on to find other living prey.
They leapt through the glassless windows of homes and ravaged those found within, spreading their blood across the walls as they pulled and tugged at their bodies between two clamped jaws. They shook the bodies of the children they had held tightly between their pincer-like teeth, breaking their necks and hurtling them into the walls and through windows and doors, only to be trampled by the stampeding of wolves and men alike, the latter fleeing and the former hunting. They felt no pain"they were already dead. And if they were not, they were soon to feel Death"s embrace.
A mage desperately tried to barricade himself within a mortar tower constructed only days before as a lookout for evils approaching on the horizon. Fireball after fireball caught wolves as they tried to gain entry into his corner, sending them hurtling back out of the building with their fur on fire, rolling quickly on the ground to put out the flames. The mage forgot that his sanctuary had an opening at the top, where the wolves flooded through like a river rapid, coming over the tops and down the stairs of the spire, and others still using not the stairs for their descent but the very air itself. The mage, distracted by the lengthening shadows from up above, looked up in time to see a claw making his left eye useless as another tore through the flesh in his right hand. Yet another wolf, intent on gaining revenge for the mage"s fire spells, bit into his knee from behind, putting the mage into a kneel even as other piled on and tore at what skin and flesh the could. A blackened wolf, parts of its fur turned to ash, called the others off the body, some forcibly. The mage was confused at the actions of the wolves; they were releasing their grips and not delivering the killing blow. The human looked up and gazed into an eye of an angry wolf: one of its eyes would be forever closed, scarred by the strange gestures of this mage. His throat lay upon the ground in a matter of seconds, leaving him gasping for breath, lying in extreme agony for only a few moments before he felt the lasting darkness that was death.
In mere moments, the entirety of the town guard's remnants lay across the streets, walls, and objects of the town. The wolves took no prisoners, as no race took prisoners as wolves, killing them at the most opportune time to the slayer. Wolves were feared for their strength, and most of all, their agility; if one allowed a wolf to close the gap between the hunter and the prey, there was no escape from their life stealing jaws.
No wolves had ever been taken as prisoners. They were killed, and their bodies usually lay in the wind, spreading the scent, drawing a target in the minds of scavengers far and wide; it also drove the minds of the wolf"s clan into a blind rage. The perpetrators usually never returned to town to tell their tale of the wolf they downed. If they did, the wolf did not survive their wrath.
There was one survivor, walking free amongst the scurrying packs of wolves. They did not notice the blonde-haired man, but merely passed him as if they were one of him. They did not smell him, and so did not look for him. His blonde hair fell onto his shoulders, clearly not washed for a few days as a blind man could have seen the dirt contained within the once marvelous locks of hair.
He and the priestess locked gaze for what seemed like years to grey-clad woman. Rynn became worried but she made no movement, and followed her gaze to its source, becoming frozen herself.
"Who is that?" Rynn wondered aloud in amazement. Rravka waded in through his sea of fur, noticing the strange behavior the two humans were exhibiting, and rightfully becoming worried that his wolves had let the man roam free among them. A few wolves dared to bare their teeth against the man, he saw, but they merely slumped as he paid no attention to them and the wolf gained no support from brothers and sisters. The few who did stop to notice were far and few, not enough to put the man on guard, but only, it seemed, to put the man even more at ease in his surroundings, surrounded by the wolf pack so bathed in the blood of his own kind.
"Is he..." began the priestess, confused and growing worried that she would ever seen this certain man ever again in her life time. "He can not be the same one who wanted him dead"" She began to mumble and became incoherent to anyone but herself. Another wolf stopped to show its prowess, but was tackled by yet another one of his kin. His head buried under the paw of the others, he tried to resist, but could not as another snapped at his ears, purposefully missing them by only an inch.
"He is the one of legend! He is the one that shall lead us to""A quick look in Rravka"s general direction halted the thought halfway, as a grey blur made its way to the traitor"s vicinity. The wolf was knocked into the air as Rravka came bounding up, knocking him even further away from his place of departure. The wolf slammed hard into the wall, whimpering as the superior came near.
"If I ever, hear that again"" Rravka let the threat hang in the air, and allowed his soldier to imagine the consequences for himself.
"I would not harm my own kind," said the man, now standing but a few feet behind the clan leader. "It is such a terrible injustice, to harm one of your own kind; you never know when there will be no more left but just the two of you"or even one, in my case." The smile came slyly as Rravka returned his unappreciative stare.
"And just who are you, might I so graciously ask, O great one?" questioned Rravka angrily. He was in no mood to be disputing his leadership in this clan, especially to a human of which his wolves did not already kill, but let free to walk around as he wished.
"I am the one," the man spoke clearly, so that all those around could hear, "that will bring the wolves back to their former glory!" His shout was accompanied by the unsheathing of his sword and its thrust into the air, as if to defeat an invisible foe only he could see. He smiled back at Rravka, knowing this round was won.
Wolves all around sat on their hind and raised their muzzles to the sky, letting out their howl to the misplaced moon. "He has brought the moon out from hiding!" remarked many of the wolves as they first turned their head towards the heavens. Shocked to see it in sight, they howled with even a greater fervor when they had first assaulted the town. The man could only smile in Rravka"s direction.
"What moon do they see?" Rynn questioned. She looked up to the sky, and saw no moon. She looked around her and noticed that even some of the wolves were puzzled by the actions of their brethren.
"What moon do you see?" the wolves asked to their comrades.
"The only moon there is!" came the unified reply.
"It is no moon they see," the priestess began to explained, "but it is merely some illusion, a parlor trick, to make it appear as if the moon it out on this night"but only to those the illusionist has influence over. Therefore..."
"He can not fool us," finished the alpha male. "I know not what had happened on this night, but I assure your safety, Rynn and priestess. No harm shall come to you by this strange human or my disillusioned wolves while I still reign in power, even if it costs me my very own life." He finished his promise with a menacing growl that put the two women on their heels, for fear he would jump on them.
A few of the other wolves not entranced by the singular man began to gather around Rravka, and looked to him for guidance and support. The band that surrounded the wolf leader was far less than even half of those who lay lazily at the feet of the man unhurt. They gave a cautious glance his way and back at Rravka. They left the town that night and camped outside the walls, greeted by the first rays of light from a bright shining sun.
The night was over, but the day had just begun.