When she was but a human slave, the Speaker was in Yachium when word spread in the city of a hunting group that was destroyed in the Kar Forest. The sole survivor of the group was a warrior named Brand whose testimony was almost too impossible to be believed.

According to the warrior, his group tracked a big wolf pack to the foot of Big Keg. At first, everything was going well. They tracked the pack to a cave and set fire at the entrance to force them out. One of the wolves came out and they killed it. The rest of the pack however stayed inside the cave. Fearing there was another exit, the group went into the cave. The cave turned out to be a man-made cave complex and consist of rooms joined by a single tunnel. Although the group lost a warrior, the hunt was going smoothly.

Then they hit the end of the tunnel.

At this point, the wolf pack had been decimated and only 2 of the adult wolves and the pups were left. The pack had retreated into a big room deep in the cave and the group entered after them. Something amazing happened. A huge green spirit bear formed from the walls and attacked them. The group fought it off and managed to kill it but not before losing some members. Then the body of the spirit bear began to glow before condensing to form a small green crystal. A crystal that was filled with the magic of Stamina!

The group discovered there was a slope going further down into the mountains and decided to go further in to investigate. Down the complex they went where they faced yet another spirit animal; a giant wolf made of smoke. The group fought the spirit animal and lost. In the end, the warrior had to use a Scroll of Recall to escape.

Such an amazing story would have been widely discredited if not for two simple facts. The first was that the warrior returned with the Stamina-filled crystal in his possession, and the second was the fact that unknown to the general public, the hunting group led by Brand wasn’t really there to hunt down wolves. They were sent to hunt down humans.

7 summers ago, 5 mage apprentices disappeared from various places in the Duchy of Yachium. Mages losing apprentices wasn’t that unusual but losing 5 of them at the same time was. The Mage Council discovered the 5 had corresponded with each other and then traced their movements to the Kar Forest. Bounties were quietly issued for the capture of the 5 mage apprentices and the hunting group led by Brand were in the forest looking for them.

Knowing the background, the Mage Council of Yachium was unable to discount the story of Brand but they did not believe the apprentices had the power to summon spirit animals. Instead, they believed the apprentices must have found a powerful mage in the area and joined him as apprentices. The Council labelled this unknown mage a “dark mage” and sent one of their most promising young mage to investigate. That promising young mage was Kyla Sacredhunt.

It was not a quest she was pleased with.

The Speaker served Kyla Sacredhunt as her personal slave since they were children and was privy to all of her secrets; secrets that her former mistress couldn’t tell anyone but her personal slave. Officially her former mistress worked for the Mage Council but as the most powerful mage in the city, everyone knew the Mage Council followed the direction of The Grand without question. And working for The Grand was dangerous.

While many humans in the region of the Kar knew and acknowledged The Grand, Garnock Blueowl, as the most powerful mage in the region, what most humans do not know is how proud the man was and to what lengths he was willing to go to keep his position as the most powerful mage in the region. The Speaker does.

The Speaker’s former mistress could go on for hours about The Grand, speaking of him with a mixture of awe, admiration, disgust and fear. She would tell the Speaker of how The Grand used his fame and power to force his rivals to leave the region or failing that, challenge them to a magical battle. Of how he would give promising mages impossible suicidal task to fulfil and how he would use his position to prevent their rise up the ranks of the Mage Council. So the Speaker knew of the secrets of the man known as The Grand and could imagine why he was here.

Since the beginning of spring, the Kin had been attacking human settlements and the Speaker knew that some humans must have survived the attacks. They must have spoken of the “monsters” coming from the Kar Forest and the Speaker could imagine how the stories would have grown in the telling and how grandiose and terrifying the Kin must have been to the survivors.

These stories would have gotten the attention of The Grand. The Speaker understood why he was here. Once word spread about the Kin, the logical explanation for the mages would be that this unknown “dark mage” has succeed in creating new creatures though magic. Transmutation wasn’t totally unknown but it was widely considered a useless form of magic. The humans had never created anything even remotely as incredible as the Kin. The most human mages had managed were fairies; small flying creatures created through magic that had a lifespan of days at the most. If a mage had managed to beat that magical limit, The Grand would want to be the first to have that knowledge.

The truth was much grander and stranger of course but neither the humans nor The Grand knew that. That was their advantage. The Grand was the lynchpin of the humans and the reason the humans were her at such numbers. If the Kin could kill him, the humans would leave. The Kin would just need to lure The Grand into the tunnels, away from his protectors and overwhelmed him with numbers.

So the plan the Speaker came up with was simple. The humans would first send scouts into the tunnels. The Kin would show themselves to the humans within the tunnels and let at least some of the humans to escape back to their camp. Enticed by reports of the strange creatures within the tunnels, The Grand was to come down to see things for himself. Once he was deep enough, the Kin would attack and kill him. The Speaker understood that no battle plan survives contact with the enemy but their biggest problem was something she had not counted on.

The Creator was not cooperating.

“This is not working!” The Chieftain fumed. “The Creator is killing all the humans!”

The Speaker could do nothing but nod. That was a problem. “Nothing we could do about that.” The Speaker said. “The Creator is just doing what it always does. We just need to adapt.”

“How?” The Chieftain asked furiously. “4 groups of humans already and the Creator is killing all of them. The last 2 groups were big too!”

Indeed they were. After losing 2 scouting group, the humans send in a hunting group of 8. When that group didn’t return, they sent in a group of 12. All were killed. Privately, the Speaker agreed with the Chieftain. They need at least one of the humans to escape. If word got to The Grand about the Porkasus, the Speaker predicated that not only would he come into tunnels, he would do it without bringing any other mages with him. The Grand wouldn’t want the competition.

“Someone needs to go down and demand the Creator stop killing the humans!” The Chieftain almost shouted.

“You’re volunteering?” The Chieftain stepped back at that. The Speaker heard a growl and realized it was coming from her. She continued. “You want to go down and tell the Creator NOT to do something?”

The Chieftain looked embarrassed and more than a little scared. Everyone in the Kin knew of the power of the Creator and understood that none of them were in any position to tell the Creator not to do anything. However threatening the leader of the second most powerful group in the Kin was not a smart play so the Speaker stopped her growling and offered an olive branch.

“Besides, nothing has changed.” At the Chieftain’s surprised look, she explained. “Tre…the Alpha is still on top with most of the Werewolves and the flyers. The humans can’t just keep on throwing people down here. Sooner or later, The Grand will have to come down. Even if he brings more humans with him than we had hoped, the plan reminds the same.”

“But the Creator…”

The Speaker found herself growling again. “Let the Creator do what it wants. The plan reminds. We wait for The Grand.”

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