The first indication that there was something wrong was the air. Before the hive knew it, the air in the tunnels became smoky. Several of the wolves noticed it and began looking at the entrance with hostile gazes. Lacking the wolves’ sharp senses, the hive didn’t know what was happening. It spread its’ senses outwards.

There was a fire at the entrance of the tunnel and it was a big one. The hive also saw several humans there, two of whom had bows and arrows at the ready. When a wolf came out of the tunnel, the humans released the arrows and they flew towards the wolf. It died almost instantly. This was the first time the hive seen a human used the bow and arrow and it was impressed both by the weapon and the surge of energy it gained from the death of the wolf.

“Hunters again?”

“No,” one of the spirits said. “Some of them looked different. They are dressed differently and have different weapons.”

“More knowledge for us when they die then,” several of the spirits laughed and cheer.

“If they die you mean.” Another spirit said. “They’re not coming into the tunnel.”

“You’re right. We need to make them come in and kill them.”

“Why bother?” one of the spirit asked. “The humans are here for the wolves. Let them kill each other. We get their energy without doing anything.”

“Good idea”

“If the humans come in you mean. If the wolves go out, they will just be picked off by the humans.”

“True. We need the humans to come in to give the wolves a chance.”

“How? The smoke is forcing the wolves out of the tunnels!”

“Can we get rid of the smoke?”

“No idea…let’s try.”

The hive had no idea what to do; it had never tried to control the air of the tunnels before. However, it did believe it could. If it could control the energy and earth within the tunnels, then it made sense to the hive that it should be able to control the air too.

The hive focuses on the smoky air in the tunnels and tried to gather the smoke to one location. To its’ surprise, the air began clearing almost immediately. Moving air was a lot easier than moving the earth. Now the hive had the problem of what to do with all the smoke. One of the spirits suggested the hive moved the smoke to the lower level because…well, the smoke didn’t affect the hive and the smoke need to go somewhere.

After some confusion about the moving smoke, the wolves began to settle down and their panic subsided. The humans at the entrance however were getting agitated. The hive focused on the humans and there was a human wearing heavy metal that seems to be commending them to enter the tunnel. The hive knew from living with the wolves that all pack needed an alpha, this human must be this group’s alpha.

As the human entered the tunnel, the hive saw that there were 8 of them. Looking at them, the hive guessed that 2 of them were hunters. It was half-wondering what the others were when the group reached the first room. The wolves attacked immediately.

A human holding a big piece of metal in front of him pushed into the room. He was holding a sword in one hand and the big piece of metal in the other. On either side of him was a human holding a sword, one of whom was the alpha. The other human held his sword with both hands. All 3 were wearing heavy metal.

The 3 humans pushed slowly into the room, holding off the attacks of the wolves. Behind them were the 2 hunters and a human carrying 2 very small swords in each hand. The hunters released their arrows but the short distance between them and the wolves affected the usefulness of the arrows. Then one of the hunters took aim and shot an arrow into the ground. The moment the arrow hit the ground, it spilt apart into 4 pieces. The 4 pieces flew at random across the room but luckily for the wolves, none of them were hit by the smaller arrows.

This was the first time the hive seem combat skills at work.

Behind the hunters, the remaining 2 humans walked into the room. Both of them were carrying wooden sticks. The hive noted that one of them was hairless and the other was waving his free hand in some strange way. Before the hive knew it, a ball of fire came from the human’s hand and flew towards the wolves. The ball of fire exploded and fire engulfed one of the wolves.

This was the first time the hive seem magic.

The wolf on fire was put out of its misery by an arrow. Two other wolves were affected by the fire and had fallen to the ground. The human alpha stabbed one of the wolf dead before it could get up. However when the human with the big piece of metal moved forward, trying to cleave the other fallen wolf with his sword, the wolf jumped up and clawed the human in his face. The human screamed and hit the wolf with his big piece of metal. The human holding the 2-handed sword killed the wolf.

That was enough for the pack. The rest of the wolves turned to the back tunnel and escaped to the second room. The human did not give chase. The hairless human with the big wooden stick went to the injured human and put his hands on the injured face. The hairless human chanted a few words and his hand glowed with a golden light. The wounds on the face of the other human began healing.

This was the first time the hive seem healing.

Two of the humans began talking and the human alpha spoke to them. Strangely, the hive discovered it could understand the alpha.

“You two, speak in Common.” The alpha shouted. “No other language allowed during a mission.”

“Sorry boss,” the human who threw the ball of fire said. “We were just saying this cave don’t look natural. It looked like someone made it.”

The alpha looked around the small room before nodding his head. “True…must be some bandit hideout before the wolves came.”

One of the hunters shook his head. “This area is too far from the trade routes. No caravan come anywhere near Big Keg.”

“That’s what makes it a good place for a hideout.” The human holding the two small weapons said. “There are worse places to lay low when things get too hot with the city guards.”

The hairless human stood up. The healing was done and the alpha addressed the group.

“Okay, same tactics as before. Tare, save your archery skills unless you get a clear shot. These wolves are fast. Jundal, make sure that fireball spell of yours is at the ready. Everyone equip any area of effect combat skill you have. This pack got more wolves than usual but as long as we don’t take any silly chances, we will all be home in time for the Summer Festival.”

The group of human cheered and headed deeper into the tunnel, totally unaware that the hive had been watching them the entire time.