The Den, Forest of Dain, Kingdom of Dain- Mid Summer 14 years AR

“So what’s the move?” Ser Finn asked as the group of 14 looked down at the cave opening, “Smells like were-oof.”

“Don’t say their fucking name, they don’t deserve one,” Afgheir said but it was Ser Erik that had slapped the young knight on the back of the head.

“Smells like the… rabid… shit-eaters… yeah rabid shit-eaters were here,” Finn continued his observation with the tradition of calling werewolves anything but werewolves added in. Afgheir nodded approvingly.

“Not bad, using that. It’s your decision, your highness but it’d be a risk to leave any at our back. My suggestion is head down there and kill them all and take their young,” Afgheir stated.

The first part of the legionary veteran's plan to kill them all made sense to Jon but he got caught up on the second part, “Take their young?”

“They’d be no different than you. They’d be driven by instinct and look dirty and feral but no different than a human child. If they’re young enough they can be integrated into society and eventually become lycans,” Ser Erik said standing up and drawing his sword, “As long as there’s time to teach them what’s going on with their body and either get them on the path of the old way or new way. Least we can do is give them a chance at a normal life instead of turning into a monster.”

“Or ahem… if they’re children that were bitten after growing up in civilization,” Finn gestured to Jon, who’d technically been bitten by a werewolf and not a lycan. He understood if he was offered a chance to survive what was coming on his 16th birthday. How could he argue against others getting the same option?

“So what’s the plan?” they continued staring at the entrance as Ser Erik crouched down behind a fallen log that was covered in claw marks.

“Finn, do you remember me telling you of the Imps?” Jon asked looking at the familiar situation. Finn just smiled and pointed at Jon before nearly bounding towards Ser Erik. Words were exchanged before Ser Erik looked back at Jon with a slight grin and nodded.

An hour later they had their plan ready to go and were about to kick it off. The bulk of the group stood hidden around the small bone-filled entrance. Ser Erik and Ser Afgheir were above the cave ready to cut off any attempt at escaping back into the unknown. Jon, well...

“This isn’t what I had in mind,” Jon whispered loudly with a rope tied in a harness around his body, the other end of the rope they’d salvaged was tied around Finn, who was on all fours in his lycan form, ready to yank Jon out by running at a full sprint. Ser Roverus was standing by to feed more rope and to Jon’s disdain, vines that had been tied together.

“Just go, boy!”

“Yes Ser,” Jon’s reply was filled with sarcasm. He understood the point of baiting an enemy out of a secured location, he’d suggested it after all. The issue was in the fact that what Ser Afgheir had proposed was more akin to fishing than an ambush, John was literally the bait on the end of the line.

THUNK

THUNK

THUNK

Lacking a drum, he’d been supplied with a dented steel greave from Ser Roverus. The plan called for him to bang it with the back of his broadaxe while walking into the cave. At any other noise, Finn was instructed to run as fast as he can, which to Jon sounded like the equivalent of being drug behind a horse at full gallop. If nothing came out, Jon would use [Heal] and try again.

He was glad to see that there was some light in the cave thanks to luminescent moss. Once he was inside he realized it wasn’t a natural cavern but an old mine with multiple shafts branching off leading downward. He started moving to the one on the right but stopped when the thought of being yanked around a corner crossed his mind. He took the one straight from the entrance ahead instead.

The trip downward was largely uneventful except giving a THUNK every couple steps as he tried to survey the dark, he knew [Light] but didn’t want to give away his position. A mistake that led to him walking straight into a nearly vertical shaft.

“Fuck!” his voice echoed through the mine. His eyes widened and he tried to roll himself into a ball a split second before the rope suddenly tightened and subsequently snapped sending Jon tumbling down the shaft.

**********

Jon groaned and sat up, he lost his helmet at some point during the fall and felt his throbbing head. His fingers came back sticky with blood. He instinctively started channeling [Heal] through his hand but stopped immediately when a pair of eyes glowed in the golden light. He reached for his belt but his broadaxe was also missing. Before he could pull his dagger he was lifted off the ground and slammed into the side of the shaft.

Hot breath blew on his face and he closed his eyes but the end never came.

“Where DAD?!”

“Huh?” Jon was dumbfounded at the sound of a lycan voice right next to his head.

“Where DAD?! He NO here!”

“Ummm, who?” He was pulled away from the wall and slammed against it again. The force knocked the breath out of him. Neither of his hands were held and he was being tossed around by his chainmail.

“DAD!” the growly voice yelled and started sniffing him, “Smell blood! Who you?!”

Jon shivered when he realized the lycan holding him could barely speak, smelled like blood with a mix of rot, and was deep inside a werewolf den. It wasn’t a knight of Ederath that held him. The werewolf continued to sniff him and found his injured head. It immediately started licking the blood off him.

“Dad bite you?” it asked.

“Ummm, yeah I was bitten,” Jon wasn’t sure what else to say but the strange talking monster relaxed its grip.

“Dad went to fight other pack! He no come to den! Pack not come to den. Smell pack blood. Where pack?”

“Ummm, the fae showed up…. Ah little flying things with bright lights, they umm... a big fire.”

“Fire?”

“Ahh, makes light and smoke and it’s hot…” The werewolf dropped him and started headbutting the wall repeatedly. Jon just stared in the dim light as the werewolf switched to throwing itself into the wall.

“I know this!” It stopped the self-abuse and seemed excited for a second before the voice became much quieter, “Pack in fire? Dad in fire?”

“Yes pack in fire… Who’s your dad?”

“Dad like me, smart wolf. Talk. He alpha, I daughter.” Jon remembered the large werewolf that carried itself differently than the others. It was at the heart of the horde when the fairy circles started forming their magic.

“Dad in fire?!”

Jon didn’t know how to answer her. She was obviously intelligent and her tone sounded panicked at the prospect but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to be the one to break the news. At the same time, if she was even moderately intelligent and she realized he was lying, she could tear him in half out of spite.

He nodded and after realizing the motion meant nothing to the werewolf added, “Yes, dad in fire.”

“Dad… die?” Even in the faint light of the moss, Jon could see the werewolf sit back on its haunches as it started hyperventilating and whimpering, “Dad die.”

Jon reached out and put his hand on her shoulder before he even realized what he was doing, “I’m sorry… umm do you have a name?”

“I daughter…” she seemed confused at the question. Jon wasn’t sure if she even had a name but felt the need to ask. She was obviously unique, or at least he thought she was, “Who you?”

“I’m Jon.”

“No fur?”

“No, no fur. I’m not grown yet.”

“When fur?”

“First week of… ahhh, two winters… when it gets cold.”

She seemed to be deep in thought after that and started inspecting him by smelling him and looking at him, forcing him to turn. Jon couldn’t do anything but go with it.

“I alpha now! Just got fur, you mate!” She picked up Jon under one arm and started running through the dark tunnels with ease.

“I’m what?” She didn’t answer but he soon found them in a larger cavern with far more glowing moss lighting it. She set him down and ran to a corner. As she moved Jon noticed her more feminine form. He’d never noticed that werewolf and lycan females had curves and breasts before. He’d never really seen the latter sans armor and with the former, he was focused on the deadly teeth and claws. He also noticed she was missing her left hand.

After a moment she came back and handed him a slab of what appeared to be meat.

“Ummm… I’m not hungry… This isn’t, ah, people with no fur?” he asked, hoping he wasn’t holding a piece of a person.

“It prey… scales,” she said taking it from his hands and biting a chunk off after swallowing she added, “Mom say no, I no eat no fur.”

“You don’t eat people?” Jon was surprised with that, she’d been told not to so she didn’t, “Where’s your mother?”

The werewolf slumped her head and drooped her ears, “Mom die. Scale not prey. She no want fur… not prey make her rock.”

“Basilisks… ah I know the scale, rock… not prey. We killed them.”

“You kill? Strong mate!” She moved in close and turned to present herself to him, he couldn’t see much when she raised her tail but he looked away regardless.

“Ahhh… ahhh, I have a mate,” he said and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“I fight mate!” She said defiantly then looked at her stump of a left hand, “Grow claw back. Fight mate!”

“Ummm, what about joining another pack? Yeah, you could find a mate and not have to build a new pack,” He quickly said, he didn’t want his first time being with a blood-covered monster.

“I alpha!”

“Grow cla-” He stopped himself, she seemed to understand him when he spoke and only had problems speaking herself, “You could challenge the other pack's alpha after you grow your hand back.”

“Where other pack?” she seemed to be seriously considering it.

“Outside… they’re outside,” a bit of hope began to build but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to lead her into the ambush, “I know them, I can talk to them and you can join the pack.”

She thought for a moment before laying him out on the floor. She laid her head down on him with a yawn, “Sleep. New pack in light.”

He tried to get her to go outside or at least get off him but nothing seemed to work. Strangely they didn’t sleep, they just talked. He learned quite a bit from her as the night went on. She was the youngest in her pack and had only recently turned. She tried to challenge her father but ended up losing her hand in the process, which also prohibited her from hunting. She also dropped the mating argument after deciding that she would maul his mate to establish dominance and then he could mate with both.

He eventually dozed off in peace while she nuzzled him. The smell was horrid but she was surprisingly gentle. It was still extremely awkward but at least it was far from the worst he’d dealt with because he wasn’t attracted to fur in the slightest.

The following morning he woke up to her running back and forth, smashing herself into the walls of the cavern. She intentionally ran herself into corners and even picked up a battered shield to beat herself over the head with. He asked her what she was doing but she didn’t answer until she was thoroughly beaten.

“Aaagh… do when wake! Head voice stop.”

“What voice?” Jon asked a thought starting to dawn on him.

“Voice say mate you, eat no fur. I no listen.”

“You never listen?” Jon asked, knowing full well how hard it is to ignore the beastmind.

Instead of responding she picked him up but instead of leaving the way they’d come in, she entered a different passage. Again Jon tried to get her to put him down but he was once again forced to give up. Strangely enough, he tried because it was uncomfortable and not because he feared for his safety. Eventually, she brought him into a different chamber in the mine.

“See, no eat only bite!” she pointed in the corner, Jon’s eyes tried to focus on the humanoid shape lying there. He cast [Light] on the person and despite the torn and burned clothing with the exposed skin covered in soot, he recognized her.

“Cara!” he ran to her and checked her pulse and made sure she was breathing.

“Know?” daughter approached them and nudged Cara gently. Jon nodded, a gesture that daughter had figured out already, and looked over his friend. Her clothing was barely holding on while most of her was exposed. But as Jon touched the fabric he realized most of the damage was from burning.

“In fire, you sleep, I find. I bite,” she pointed to a torn-up patch of Cara’s tunic, near her shoulder, “She no die.”

“You went out last night? Did the other pack leave?” Jon asked after processing the idea that daughter had saved Cara from the wildfire.

“No, I go,” She waved her hand in one direction before waving it in another, “no go.”

There was another entrance, she slipped out the back. Jon tried moving Cara’s clothes around to cover her private areas, it wasn’t much but he owed her that. Daughter got up and walked to the other side of the cavern and came back a moment later with a scrap of cloth and offered it to Jon. He looked at it for a moment before laying it over Cara’s sleeping form.

“Where’d you get that?” Jon asked, looking at the scrap of cloth. Daughter pointed to where she had just walked to. Jon could make out a pile of stuff but that wasn’t what he was wondering, “No. I mean, who gave it to you? Where was it before?”

Daughter sat quietly for a moment staring at the cloth. It was a tabard with the red and yellow crest of the kingdom of Stilyra on it, “Big alpha give. Say dad make new pack, bite dad, mom, daughter, others. Pack come here.”

“Big alpha…” Jon wasn’t sure what to think of it, werewolves didn’t have a military structure but it sounded like daughter and her family were bitten and ordered to go to Stilyra, “Is the big alpha in the Dain… ah, the forest?”

Daughter shook her head, “Dirt… water… other dirt. Come no fur.”

Before he could clarify if she meant from across the sea, Cara started to stir. Jon quickly placed himself between his friend and… his new friend? He of course knew Cara’s fighting style when startled. It consisted of [Bolt] first followed by another [Bolt] for good measure and a third [Bolt] if she deemed it necessary. Only after that would she take in her situation. If the first thing she saw was daughter, it was guaranteed that one or the other would end up dead, if not all three of them.

“Cara?” Jon asked, squeezing her hands. Cara’s eyes fluttered open and she started taking in her surroundings, “Listen, she’s not a werewolf. Did you hear me?”

Cara’s eyes shot to the large wolven head that was looking over Jon’s shoulder. She immediately tried to crawl backward away but Jon was holding both of her hands. Lycans and werewolves may be the same subspecies but it wasn’t hard to tell them apart after encountering both of them, whether or not they practiced basic hygiene or were wearing clothes was a quick giveaway.

“Jon!” He just squeezed her hands tighter, he wasn’t sure if she could cast from anywhere other than her hands but even if she could, he doubted she’d be accurate.

“Daughter isn’t a werewolf, she’s not a lycan either… I don’t think. Daughter say hi,” Jon glanced back at daughter. She said ‘hi’ after a second and to his surprise waved at Cara. He hadn’t taught her that one.

“Hi… Jon, why is she naked? Why are you calling her your daughter?” Cara asked and after looking down at herself realized she’d disrobed the tabard she was covered in, “Why am I naked?”

“Find in fire, grab Car… CARa, Cahra, CaaaRA,” Daughter seemed to get preoccupied with the pronunciation of Cara’s name or, as Jon knew, was trying to pronounce it right. They’d gone through the same ordeal with Joon, Jaan, Jan, and a few other variations of his rather short name.

“Promise you won't start casting magic and I’ll let go of your hands so you can… ah…” He’d glanced down to see how exposed she was and stumbled over himself when he realized the answer was once again very. Unlike before, he now had to deal with the owner of the clearly visible nipples glaring at him, so he looked at the wall and let go of her hands.

“I alpha daughter. So I daughter,” she’d decided to answer one of Cara’s other questions.

“She doesn’t have a name, or at least she can’t remember it…” Jon said while slowly exposing daughter to Cara, he placed a hand on the wolf's shoulder “She was bitten with her family and only had her first transformation not long ago. Her mother didn’t want to become… so she went to the village to find basilisks. Her da likely died fighting the fae.” He gave Cara a wide-eyed look trying to draw attention to the last piece. He was pretty sure her father was the werewolf leader they’d seen but he still hadn’t pointed out to daughter that her dad had left to fight the expedition, which included Jon. Partially because he wasn’t sure how to say that but mainly because he didn’t want to admit they were potential enemies in a tightly confined deserted mine.

“That’s horrible, I’m sorry. Daughter isn’t really a name though, I’m a daughter, my sister is a daughter…” Cara said in a way that Jon wasn’t sure if it was compassion or really good acting, “Don’t you remember at all?”

Daughter stared at Cara for half a minute, which only made her start to get nervous, “No name.”

“That’s okay, you can pick out your own name if you want, we can help,” It definitely wasn’t acting as Cara sat up and reached out to hold daughter’s hand.

“I think new pack alpha give name!”

“Oh shit!” Jon said, having completely forgotten about the others that were either waiting outside, had left, or were currently searching the shafts and caverns. Cara looked at him and he quickly turned his back to her, “Ser Erik and others are outside, best I can do is the tabard.”

“Need more not fur for no fur?” Daughter asked and pointed towards the far side of the cavern they were in at the pile of stuff she’d pulled the tabard from. It even took Jon a few seconds to realize ‘not fur’ meant clothing.

He nodded and walked over to the pile while casting [Light], “Cara it’s our supplies, I’m pretty sure that’s your ruck.”

He turned to look at Cara but quickly looked away when he realized that she was trying to wrap her tattered clothes around her breasts. Jon felt like taking a page out of daughter's book and start banging his head against the wall as his face started feeling extremely hot.

She obviously noticed his beam of light on her but thankfully she didn’t say anything. He asked daughter to give Cara her ruck and started digging through the others, looking for something that would fit daughter. It didn’t take long to find a lycan sized outfit in what he’d assumed was a squire's pack but Cara objected and insisted that daughter bathe first. Daughter led them to a flooded part of the mine and it took all three of them to get the grime out of daughter's fur. He didn’t have to touch anything untoward but daughter did try to wash them too. Which amounted to inappropriate touching, a few scratches from her claws, and Cara’s breastband getting torn.

Cara just continued, it was dark and Jon could barely see anyways. He of course tried to think of anything else besides his current situation. It wasn’t that hard until their watery alcove was suddenly bathed in light.

“Damn boy, I know the lass told ya to be more confident but…” Afgheir’s voice faded and joined Willow’s as their laughter came from beyond the bright [Light] spell aimed at the three.

“Hi, I daughter!” she introduced herself and stood up in the light. Her fur now clean, Jon realized it was orange for the first time. He also realized her shape more as her wet fur clung to her body.

“Ahem… who?”

*********

Hours later, near midday, the group exited the den. It had taken quite a bit of explaining and a short interrogation with weapons drawn to get Ser Erik and Ser Afgheir to recognize daughter as a potential lycan that was in no way associated with the massacre at Terra or any other human, lycan, or Elvanni deaths. They also managed to figure out a name for her, she was now Tira, which was from the Elvanni word Intira, which meant daughter. The only issue came from the fact that Cara was bitten and Tira had also tried to give Willow the bite after learning that she led the charge to kill the basilisks. After being restrained she did make some decent points in favor of it.

Jon also had to sit down with Leofrith, who had linked up with Ser Erik’s group in the night. The former noble was obviously more than concerned about the fact that Jon was bathing with two other women while courting his sister. Although he forgave Jon after a while thanks to Tira. She refused to wear anything other than lower undergarments and the orange wolf was quickly drawn to the red wolf.

“Well, on the good side o’ things, that lass managed to save quite a bit of equipment from the village. Not to mention the other random bits in there,” Ser Afgheir said the following day when they held a group meeting to determine their next steps. The random bits were pieces of armor from a separate expedition sent by the Kingdom of Dain that fared far worse than their own but at least explained why the Kingdom that claimed the forest hadn’t had a single knight join up with the northern host. There were also multiple legion tabards gathered and a sizable sum of coin. Jon was included in the search and the meeting mainly as an interpreter for Tira, who was quickly improving her speech. Rather she was remembering more of it but he’d had more time to speak with her than anyone else there.

The most valuable part was the information Tira gave them on her family being bitten and ordered to travel to the Northern Isles. It showed how the enemy was managing to spread despite the legions' efforts and suggested that a lycan that had lost their way may be to blame. Jon was one of the few that was privy to the information and he was instructed, in no uncertain terms, that he would never be allowed to divulge it to anyone.

“We head back to the village, it’s the most obvious rally point now that it’s no longer ablaze,” Ser Erik gave his order with little argument.

“After, we go to other pack?” Tira asked while squatting down and looking around like an excited puppy.

“Eventually lass, we need to find the others before we leave the forest,” Afgheir explained, he had grown quite patient with her. Jon didn’t really understand why but Afgheir was also one of the only ones besides Jon that was alright with her lack of clothing. That is to say, it was awkward for Jon but he’d helped bathe her, so seeing her walk around topless was nothing.

“No, not new pack… other pack,” Tira said and pointed towards the east, “Other pack small, not like old pack.”

“Tira, there’s other werewolves out there? Like you but not in our new pack?” Jon asked trying to clarify, she thought for a moment before nodding. A couple of groans let out at that news.

“Do you know where they are? How far?”

“Where? Dad say by lot of water, far?” she just shrugged at the second question.

“Well better that we know,” Ser Erik opined, “How small of a pack are they?”

Tira just shrugged and switched over to the lycan language to explain. They realized during the interrogation that she was fluent like any other lycan. Finn translated for the ones that didn’t speak it.

In total there were around 100, a figure she demonstrated by comparing it to the number of people that now made up their group. Another round of groans let out when it was revealed that Tira's father had told her about another small pack in the mountains of the Elvan.

They soon broke camp and started towards the village in the hopes they could regroup and from there decide whether to push east towards the first pack she’d mentioned.