Fortress of the second army-under construction, The Kingdom of Stilyra- Late Winter 15 years AR

“We were sleeping next to that?!”

Leo ignored Mason's comment and slung his sword over his back before dropping to all fours to run toward the sound of fighting. As he ran, soldiers, slaves, and camp followers screamed and ran out of his way. They either didn’t know he wasn’t a werewolf or it didn’t matter either way with panic setting in. One bowman even jumped and loosed an arrow but it went wide.

When he got to the edge of the fight he stood up and looked to see what was the situation. Several dozen werewolves were tearing their way through the southwest corner of the camp. Soldiers were trying to fight but they were having little luck and Leo could pick out the former legionnaires from sound alone. They were yelling at them to bring order or screaming how to fight the monsters. A fruitless task as the panicked soldiers that had never seen a werewolf could only focus on one thing.

Leo turned toward the nearest fleabag. He dropped to a four-legged stance and sprinted straight at it as it ran through a group of retreating soldiers on two legs. Most had their armor off and the werewolf's claws were leaving grievous wounds on anyone within reach every time it swiped its claws.

It cut down a mage that had turned to cast a spell but before she could release another, and without the werewolf getting the chance to brace, Leo tackled the monster to the ground. The two rolled to the side and before they even stopped moving he felt a crushing sensation as the wolf bit down on his arm.

“You stupid fucker!” Leo yelled and grabbed it by the top of its head, digging his claws into its eyes. It immediately let go and started swiping wildly while roaring with pain. He caught one of the monster's arms and kicked off, rolling his enemy over on its stomach. Without wasting time he rolled the other way onto its back before it could get up and started punching. One savage blow after another pounded into the werewolf's head. It wasn’t enough to kill it but it was enough to knock it out.

Leo rose to his feet and drew his sword. He pointed it straight down and thrust it into the side of the werewolf’s skull.

“A fucking lycan?” a nearby soldier asked with a look of fear and awe on his face. He had an insignia on his armor denoting him as a former Decanus of the legion, a low-ranked officer.

“You know the wolf pack tactic?” as Leo looked at the nearby soldiers that were now staring at him stunned.

“Of course… You lot listen the fuck up!” The Decanus started to bark instruction as he caught on to the fact his fellow soldiers were in a position to listen. He started to explain how to fight against the monsters that had attacked them.

Leo didn’t wait and immediately ran off towards the next werewolf. One that was barely being held at bay by a group of soldiers with long spears. But rather than surround the monster, they stood in a straight spearwall formation. It was a good tactic for fighting people but they weren’t fighting people. They learned this as the werewolf knocked the pointed tips out of the way with a single fast swipe of its arm, the force behind it enough to jar the spear out of a soldier's grip and then it rushed in to grab a shield. The soldier had it strapped to his arm and was pulled out of formation along with it.

Leo leaped over the slightly crouching soldiers and slammed his shoulder into the werewolf, knocking it to the ground. He quickly grabbed it by a leg and swung around, tossing it towards the startled line of soldiers. It landed hard and looked up at Leo with a growl. A fatal mistake as multiple spears stabbed into it from behind.

“Surround them. Those in front keep their distance, those behind attacks,” Leo said as he picked his sword back up and looked for his next target, “They’ll turn to go after whoever hurts them so thrust and back up quickly. Those in front be ready to strike as soon as it turns away.”

With a quick explanation, Leo sprinted off to the next fight. He could only smile. Fighting people had been hard on his conscience but fighting monsters? That, he could do!

A few hours later, Leofrith stood at attention with his cellmates. After dealing with the second werewolf, they’d caught up to him. The camp had been subject to pure chaos but a lycan warrior running across the camp wasn’t hard for his cellmates to spot. As they said, he was the hairy one with armor. Once there, they entered into a system of him either throwing the werewolves down while they stabbed and slashed away or he'd kill them outright while they dealt with others.

“Eighteen werewolves dead by your hand… Seems you’ve earned that tattoo, Mister Leofrith,” Leo bowed his head at the Duke's compliment. He’d been called forth to appear before the Duke that was in command of the army after the fight had ended. In total 64 werewolves lie dead but dozens had fled into the forest when the soldiers started fighting back in earnest, “Not to mention this wolf pack stratagem…Hmmm.”

“Does your eminence truly wish to send this lot? They’re slaves, even worse they are violent criminals!” The Count of Nola protested.

“We cannot abide by those monsters in our lands again!” The Duke slammed his hand down hard on his desk, “Yes, I intend to send them! Not only was he effective in countering those monsters, he even took command of these slaves and even my own soldiers, effectively turning the chaos into a coordinated response on the field! That said, they will not go alone, of course. Some knights and legion veterans will accompany them. But do not question my judgment again!”

“Of-of course your eminence,” the Count said with a bow.

“That settles it, you leave as soon as you’re ready,” the Duke said but he wasn’t looking at Leo or his cellmates, he was looking at the Count. He pointed at himself with a confused look. The duke continued with an aloof tone like it was a casual conversation, “We cannot let them go without someone in command. Ready the knights of your house, those who you wish to bring, I’ll have the veterans sent to you... Oh and Count, he knows the wolves better than you, I advise you to heed his and our legion veterans' advice and until these monsters are put down... his collar stays off!”

Leo ran his tongue over his teeth at the thought of being able to shift freely without a collar but clenched his jaw tight when he gave up on his brief thought of escape and running to the Elvan. He doubted he’d be able to get away without fighting the knights and soldiers, he didn’t want to kill innocent men. That WOULD make him a criminal.

**********

North of Lindum, The Kingdom of Ederath- Late Winter 15 years AR

Jon trudged through the snow alongside all his friends and settlers. The recent warm snap had ended and they spent the past day huddled in any shelter they could find due to a late-season blizzard. Altogether, the people lost a few toes but no lives. Jon had offered to one day pay to have a healer grow them back but any that had suffered responded with ‘That’s alright my thane, didn’t use that toe anyways!’ or something of the sort. His [Heal] spell could efficiently close the wound after the blackened digit was amputated, causing no pain… but he still added a trained healer, someone who knew more than [Heal] and [Purify], to the list of things they needed.

At least he had the proper materials on hand to train someone. One of his more expensive purchases in Lindum was three spell books, one dedicated to the healing arts. He just needed to find the right people to handle it. That was a problem for later though.

For now, he needed to focus on getting his people there, they’d been traveling through the hills that made up the border of his lands and was worryingly named the troll hills. After fighting the massive monsters north of Saena, he knew there was no way his current group would be able to handle it. Though he’d been assured by Afgheir that hill trolls were exceedingly rare in the troll hills, despite the name. The only reason they were named that was the ancient Utinum Empire named it and the Ederathans hadn’t changed it because they hadn’t settled it. In fact, the monsters used to wander the lands but when Ederathans first explored the area centuries before, the trolls were either killed or driven north.

What lay to the north was what Afgheir warned him about, there were orcish tribes in the north as well as barbaric human tribes. The people known as orcs were generally stereotyped as being violent and unpredictable. Yet Jon was told they could be reasoned with and generally got along with lycans, both peoples having been depicted as monsters at one point or another. They were the size of lycan males in their tall human form with tanned skin and tusks growing from their lower jaw. They stayed away from lycan lands and the human tribes had long been taught, battle after battle, that they shouldn’t pick a fight in Ederath. He was told not to fear an invasion but was warned to ensure they didn’t venture too far north of his lands without learning what tribe lived there first.

As for which tribe it was, Afgheir had just shrugged. The tribes had villages, some towns, and even a single city named Migandi but the tribes were mostly nomadic. There was no way to know who his current neighbor was other than walking past the giant stones carved with ancient runes that marked the border and saying hello.

“You sure we can’t ride on the caravan?” Aethred asked to Jon’s right, he looked over at his friend that was bundled up in a cloak and furs from a bear they’d hunted, “Sunada’s riding.”

“There’s a reason for that, idiot! And you know it, so shut it,” Erin scowled at him while walking through the snow that made it halfway up her knee and the occasional hole or depression sent her buried to her waist.

The reason they were walking was to lower the weight of the already heavy caravans while the horses struggled to pull them uphill. Even the drivers had gotten off to lead the horses. The reason Sunada was still riding on it was that they had no idea when they’d run into the Inari. Sunada couldn’t tell how close they were and Jon wanted to ensure they started off with good relations. To help with that, their token Inari was sitting on the driver's seat of the lead caravan. So the first person they’d spot, other than Roland, was her.

“Better than the Inari thinking we’re dangerous and one of us catching an arrow in the eye,” Karli said with a laugh while leading the second caravan, even though she looked just as miserable.

“Well how bout answering a question. Where the fuck are we?” Aethred demanded. He’d been complaining about the weather and conditions since the blizzard.

“Somewhere between Lindum and Strondheim,” Erin said with a grin, her nose red from the cold.

“Fuck you!”

“Okay! Come here and let's go! Might warm me up for four or five seconds.”

“Will you two stop!” Willow bellowed, her normal jovial behavior gone, “It’s too cold for that shit. You wanna go balls deep in each other, be my guest. No! Just crawl into the caravan the moment we stop and get it over with! But stop the fucking flirtin’ till were not up to our asses in snow!”

Jon should have been angered or grossed out at his sister and Aethred having sex but he knew what Willow was doing. She had learned what he’d noticed long ago. If you accused them of being interested in each other they’d usually go from fighting to silence. He just didn’t have the gall to make the accusation, it’d be awkward for him. Aethred immediately started mumbling about how he’d rather fuck the other Erin, the cow and Jon noticed Erin giving Willow a hurt look like the older woman just committed a betrayal.

“Seriously though, it’s not a bad question, Jon. Where are we?” Andrew asked which earned him a glare from Aethred.

“Not sure, we should be just a little more than halfway through the hills, so this is my land but… maybe we should set camp early and get a scouting party together. As long as we move quietly,“ Jon said after a moment of thinking. He didn’t even pull out the map that he bought in Vanhiem. It was more practical than other’s they’d had but not very detailed, plus they hadn’t seen any noteworthy landmarks to check the map for. He’d checked for a better one in Lindum only to find a nearly identical map, the only difference was the area immediately around Lindum was more filled out. Curiously it also had a spot marked ‘that window’ in small lettering with a line towards the Jarl’s estate, so he bought it.

“I go!” Tira volunteered to join the scouts. Jon smiled at her and noted her, for once, fully clothed body. He then looked at his friends and family for more volunteers. Andrew pointed at Sunada, which Jon could only nod to. He was the closest they had to an interpreter and it was obvious that she'd be a detriment in the wild. Aethred gave him a stinkeye and nodded, Erin gave a stinkeye too… the stinkeye from her was directed at Aethred and shook her head. That wasn’t enou-

“I’ll go!” Karli volunteered, “As long as someone takes over with this, I mean… and you’re okay with it… my thane.”

Jon was taken aback by that. Karli had been with them since Nola but she wasn’t particularly adventurous, “Eh, it might be better if you stay behind Karli. I appreciate it but we’re going to be alone in the forest.”

“She comes,” Tira immediately contradicted Jon, which he could only gape at her for, “She want to learn to survive, she comes. It best way to learn.”

“My Thane has already decided but thank you, Tira,” Karli looked a little defeated to Jon’s eye even though she hid it well.

“Okay, why?” Jon asked, when she didn’t speak he did something he hated doing, “Answer.”

He gave an order as a noble. She hesitated but before he had to be more forceful or let it go, she did as he asked.

“I just want to be more like you lot. You’re all a bit weird in a city but a village or forest and you seem at home. Last I checked, we’re going to be living in a village in the middle of a forest without even a road. Like Tira said, I want to learn,” She explained.

“Mini Tira has a fucking point,” Aethred said.

“You’re not supposed to call her that!” Erin reached down and threw a snowball at Aethred.

“Mini Tira?” the redheaded caravan driver and rancher looked at the redheaded lycan.

“It’s because you look like her in a sorta way. Shorter but it’s more than the hair,” Andrew paused her before continuing on, “When Erin made a list of everyone that were comin’ with, she done marked ya as that. I can see it but I think she were only jokin'. Thinkin’ ya shouldn’t take offense. Pretty sure Erin meant it as a, ah... a compliment.”

“The fuck?” Aethred ignored the snowball and stared at Andrew, Jon did as well. Andrew had always been fairly quiet but since the attack on Terra, he’d been even more so. He’d also never been that good at talking with the fairer sex other than Erin. They’d spoken privately and he’d confided in Jon and Erin about their parents dying but lately, he had been nearly silent when talking to others, “Short, big titted, and furry give y-”

Aethred dropped his comment but for once it wasn’t because of violence or a retort. Andrew looked at him with a glare. To Jon it was noteworthy as a punch to the face, Andrew never gave that look.

“Alright, fuckin’ sorry,” Aethred raised his hands in surrender.

The group shared confused looks but each of them couldn’t help but smile. Andrew had a crush! Either that or trying to communicate with someone that didn’t speak their language had piqued his interest enough to finally bring him out of what he’d been dealing with.

Either reason was a good thing and Jon kind of hoped it was both. Then again, he thought as he looked over at Tira, he wasn’t as opposed to fur as others might be. He was a lycan and was courting a lycan. He’d groped Tira in her lycan form and had her wolven tongue run along his neck. He was still a virgin but it was nice having the third caravan back from the Prince, it was now his personal one with Tira. It pained him to think that they’d agreed to wait till he was an adult. It was mainly because she was afraid of hurting him than anything else, but their nights togeth-

“Jon? Jon!?” Erin tossed a snowball at him as they walked, “What’s wrong with you?”

Jon snapped out of it and blushed but tried to play it off, “Karli you can come with but if anyone tells you to do something, you do it.”

Jon knew his attempt failed but there was nothing he could do about it and luckily no one said anything. He just hoped they realized his thoughts weren’t about Karli. The woman in question though didn’t seem to wonder or care. She just grinned ear to ear with the fact she was joining the scouting party.

“Can I speak freely, my Thane?” Willow asked with a less aggravated tone.

“Ahhh, yes?”

She walked up and got close to him, having to waste energy trudging through the snow she wouldn’t otherwise have to walk through. When she got next to him, she leaned into his ear… and yelled, “Quit staring at Tira and pick a spot to make camp! We get it, you got more than a thing for her but I’m fucking cold!”

Jon just stared straight ahead when she yelled. He learned three things. First and foremost, Willow hated cold weather with a passion. Two, he really did have feelings for Tira. Finally, he just stood there while his own ‘subject’ yelled in his ear, meaning he was the least noble, noble to ever noble.

**********

Erin watched as the four marched off in the snow to the north. It wasn’t long before they were over a hill and completely out of sight, she couldn't even see them through the leafless bushes anymore.

“Gotta thing for him, don’t ya?” Willow asked from across the fire as Sunada and Roland looked at them. The former was probably trying to figure out what they said but the latter looked and then made himself busy stroking the fire. The Willow she’d grown to love was back from being a grumpy set of tits complaining about the cold, but she didn’t care for that question.

“Honestly?” Erin asked, slightly tired of the shit.

“Don’t gotta answer, that’s your business.”

“A little… kinda… I mean I don’t know!” Erin let out a bit too quickly.

“So what’s the problem? He’s an ass but that doesn’t mean anything, most men are.”

“I dunno, I just…” Erin looked meaningfully at Roland, she didn’t care about Sunada or Andrew, who’d ignored everything while he wrote in his notes and the Inari wouldn’t understand her anyway. Roland nodded and stood up without a word to walk away. Erin couldn’t help but send a prayer to the gods to reward the man for being so understanding. Andrew was still sitting there but she had confided in him before, he knew. She lied, “No I don’t like Aethred.”

“Well it seems like you do,” Willow said with a smirk.

“He’s alright. Maybe… kinda but I don’t…” Erin lowered her voice to just a whisper, “I like women.”

“Huh?” Willow didn’t hear her but perhaps thankfully Andrew leaned over on the other side of the fire and whispered in her ear, “Ooooh! Each their own I guess.”

“Yep! Can we please stop talking about this!” Erin said a little louder than she intended. She couldn’t help but wonder why the fuck she even admitted to it, “Both!”

“Oi, you lost me there.”

“She lied, she likes both men and women,” Erin blinked at Andrew as he explain before looking at her with a shrug. She wasn’t sure if she should hit him for talking about her business or kiss him for breaking the news.

“Gotcha, nothing wrong with that,” Willow said with a compassionate tone, “Forayed into that myself but I’m guessin’ it’s a bit more complicated. You feel what you feel girl, don’t let anyone tell ya to feel differently.”

“What do you mean you forayed in ta… nevermind,” Andrew asked but lost his confidence.

“Once upon a time… Back with Daren, we ahh… invited another woman to join us… more than once… and occasionally without him,” Willow explained, which led Andrew to get up and walk away mumbling about how he had to pee.

“Go tree?” Sunada asked, which Willow nodded to. Erin agreed there was no reason for her to wander away from the warmth of the fire.

“I mean… I don’t know but in the bathhouse, the first ti-” Erin stopped, she realized what she was saying.

“In the baths?” Willow asked. Erin knew she realized that she’d seen the woman naked, “Don’t have to worry about me. If you haven’t noticed, I know what I’ve got. Not ashamed of it, I even flaunt them. You ask and I’ll give you a look but don’t go grabbing at the girls without askin’ first, you’re a bit young for me... but Aethred?” Willow ended with a wink.

Erin looked at her and replayed what she’d said a few times in her head. When she grasped it, she focused on the question, “He doesn’t like me…”

“How do you know?”

“I had Andrew ask… He’s pretty sure that Aethred looks at me like I’m a sister…” Erin looked at the fire, she didn’t understand why she’d said that but was glad Willow was only asking about Aethred.

“Then make him see you as something other than a sister… you’re not right? I mean I know you and Jon are twi-”

“No! But we’ve been friends since I was born… His da and my da were best friends.”

“Then just ask him to a picnic or a private drink, give him a kiss on the cheek without punching him in the stones. Not gonna tell you to do what I did with Daren but you could at least put the idea in his thick skull that you’re interested. See where it goes from there.”

“What’d you do with Daren?” Erin asked and Willow hesitated, which made Erin regret asking.

“We’d been traveling together for a while, spent some time in the wilds… and well…” Erin listened as the normally shameless Willow actually blushed, “I may have bribed the innkeep for a spare key to his room when we got back to town and… kinda waited for him in his room… naked and told him to, ah… fuck me when he came in… I’m not advising that. It worked for… me…”

Erin got up at that and moved around the fire to sit next to Willow. She hesitated but wrapped an arm around Willow anyways, “You loved him?”

“… In the beginning it was just fuckin’ but by the end…” Willow stopped for a moment to breathe, “In the end, yes.”

Willow sat there for a while, while Erin held her. Sunada seemed to know something was wrong and eventually scooted over and did the same. Erin looked her in the eyes and she only nodded while saying something in her language. She wasn’t sure if Sunada understood or if she was just studying them but it didn’t matter. Suddenly though, Willow stood up, “Roland?!”

Erin looked up at her in confusion while Roland jogged up, “yes?”

“Come on we're fuckin… now,” Willow said and took his hand. The poor man seemed confused and excited while she led him away to Jon’s empty Caravan.

Sunada just stared at them leaving and then looked at Erin. She did the only thing she could, she made a ring with one hand and put a finger with the other in before moving it back and forth. She could only giggle as Sunada repeated the gesture then suddenly stopped with raised brows and a squeak.

Erin just patted the shy Inari on the shoulder while she looked on and said something in her language. She then pulled out a piece of parchment and started writing something but Erin grabbed her hand and shook her head. If willow wanted to have fun or take the first step in her way, that was her business. After a second Sunada pointed at the parchment and then the caravan while she shook her head. Erin wasn’t sure what it meant but she let Sunada write, she hoped it wasn’t about Willow though.

A sudden realization hit Erin and she looked up at the stars, ‘said reward the man but wow, wasn’t expecting that! Just make sure they're happy.’