Velona, City in The Kingdom of Stilyra- Early Spring 15 years AR

On the first day of spring, Dani walked down the street and into the Riverfront Tavern. It was kind of dirty, a hangout for the sister-city game, and despite the name, was two blocks away from the riverfront. Yet it was where she went to drink with her friends and they kept the drinks clean of filth, the fact it was cheap didn’t hurt either.

“Ahhh, Miss Magus. Good day to ya,” the barkeep greeted her when she walked in and started pouring an ale, “First one’s on me as always.”

“Thank you,” she said, accepting the free drink. The barkeep usually did it as a thank you for driving off the gangs, who were now starting to return but he still did gave her a free round whenever she showed up. She figured it was to encourage them to come back once the bridge reopened or a thank you. Despite not having Solara to frighten the various criminals sitting around his tavern, none of them did anything when she was there. She’d even see them stop a brawl when she walked in once. Just the benefit of being an Academy Magus.

“Don’t look so down Miss, I know you want to get back to Saena but least you still have your health, heard the slums are moving bodies daily now,” he said, referring to the magic pox gripping the city and the quarantine area they’d dumped anyone who showed symptoms, ignoring the protest from the healthy residents of the slums.

The Duke of Vayla had even sent word from the war front. He ordered the Count, his subordinate, to close off the city. No one in and no one out with few exceptions. Anyone that was still in Velona was there until the Duke said otherwise. In true noble fashion, one of the exceptions was for ‘those whose actions were necessary for commerce’ which Dani and nearly everyone else took as ‘rich people can leave, the rest stay’.

She finished her drink and laid coin on the counter. He nodded and took her mug to pour her another, “I guess, has there been any word on a cure? I haven’t heard a thing.”

“None at all miss,” the barkeep said and then pointed at the ruffians in the corner with a mini-cask, “those lot hear quite a bit but so far all the city is doin’ is keeping folk from dying faster and making sure no one sent to the slums leaves... Whole lot of mess.”

“I’ll fookin say! The fookin’ badges are everywhere nowadays, how’s an honest man suppose to make a living. Even wit’ all the empty houses can’t even, ah… get work cleaning one,” one of the ruffians said, “Even had to get out of our… vacation home down in the old sewers. They done chased us right out.”

“They’re stuffing sick folk down there?” the barkeep sounded incredulous. Dani had no idea what the old sewers were. Well, the name was fairly obvious but she didn’t even know a place existed or people were down in them.

“Nay, they’re puttin’ those fookin’ brats down there. They ain’t sick and the only orphanage not full up is in the slums.”

“They’re putting children down there? That’s horrible. They’ll get sick just being around that filth!” Dani spoke up and the gang members looked at her and blinked.

“Beggin’ your pardon miss but it’s not all that bad. It’s the old sewers, hadn’t had shit and piss running through it in decades,” The same one answered, changing his tone to be more respectful, “And that was ‘fore we cleaned it up, like a little second city down there now.”

“It is-” Dani was curious and had nothing better to do but a hand touching hers stopped her, she looked to see the barkeep shake his head. She got the distinct impression he meant that she shouldn’t be asking about their business, for her own sake. She did manage to get out two words though.

“Hells right it is!” the ruffian said and clunked his mug against his fellow gang members. Dani raised her mug to them and turned around. The barkeep knew that lot far better than she ever wanted to, she’d listen to his advice.

After another round, she decided to leave but she didn’t head home. She walked through the city to take in the signs of everything that had happened in the past month. Her first sight was of Saena, still going strong across the river. Some of its citizens stood on the docks to yell to their loved ones across the water. They, like her, were unable to go home. A group of workers was also at work pulling corpses out of the water that had gotten hung up on the dock. The slums were downriver which meant it wasn’t people with pox and more likely it was people that had tried to swim across and drowned… or had bowmen from one of the cities kill them, evidenced by the arrows sticking out of one of the corpses.

“Make way!” a voice startled her and she quickly moved to the side of the street without even looking who said it. Dani observed from there, a group of guards with long pikes and bows was giving a family of eight a wide birth. The family looked healthy but for one small girl, she had red dots all across her face and hands.

It honestly looked nothing like the bodies she’d seen being hauled away, covered in dark lesions and blistering pox. It looked more like hen-pox, a common disease that just made you itchy for a few days before they went away. The city wasn’t taking any chances though and Dani knew the entire family was being sent to the slums.

She watched them go and made her way to the highway that cut through the city. On one end, the bridge was no longer just lined with soldiers. A wooden fortification had been built and it was manned by soldiers from both noble houses. The other had the large gates barred with the Count's soldiers ensuring no one passed. The highway itself had lost much of its liveliness and signs of the riots that had spread throughout the city were still plainly seen as she walked down it towards the place she had rented a room.

Burnt buildings and smashed doors and shutters lined the street. The owners of the properties either having been wealthy enough to flee, not willing to invest the coin to have them fixed, or they were sent to the slums. The riots started not long after the gates were barred, the news had spread through the city like a coat of tinder. All it took was a single ember to light it and it came in the form of a man killed by one of the guards for trying to force his way past the gates with the wealthy. It was a chaotic night but it only lasted a single night as the Count ordered his soldiers to cut down the various mobs roving the city, leaving hundreds dead by daybreak.

Dani had spent the night and the following day in the attic of the home she currently rented in. She along with the family and three other tenants decided they could go out the single window in the attic of the two-story home if it was fire, Dani could cast a spell on them to survive the jump. That was one thing but if the rioters came in for something else it was better to be out of reach. Luckily none of the mobs made it onto their street and they were safe.

Dani was brought out of her thoughts as she spotted two teenage kids running with a sack over each of their backs headed toward an alleyway, she followed them curiously. She knew they had likely just stolen something but she wondered about the story she’d heard about the children in the old sewers. She wanted to see if they were among them.

Sure enough, she saw them lift a stone grate to slide it to the side and dropped their goods in before crawling down themselves. She felt sorry for them and one noticed her, looking at her with wild eyes before lowering himself in and grabbing the grate to slide it back into place. It shuffled around and soon slid back into its slot as if they’d never been there.

Dani watched for a second and made a decision. She marched with a purpose to the old market. Unlike one would expect with the city being closed down, goods were not limited. The various merchants and haulers that brought food into the city were allowed to pass freely. It made sense from the cities standpoint and the vendors? They made ample coin by using the crisis to inflate prices, claiming a limit on goods.

The prices didn’t matter to Dani as she walked up to a wagon laden with foodstuffs, Jaes had sent her a good amount of gold when the Academy managed to send her clothes and spellbooks across the bridge. She walked up to the man and looked at the list of inflated prices, “I want…”

A half-hour later she was pulling a handcart down the street with enough food on it to feed a dozen people for a week or two, or a couple of hundred orphans for the next day or two. She struggled with the heavy cart but made it to the alleyway. She caught her breath and after making sure no one was watching she made her way to the grate. She tried to lift it but couldn’t

“How in Hel’s name did those two get… this… thing … I’m a fucking idiot,” Dani realized they probably didn’t drop their supplies down to the ground, there was someone below pushing the grate up and caught the goods.

She held her hand on the grate and cast [levitate]. It wouldn’t work on something as heavy as the stone but it would effectively reduce its weight. She got a grip on it and gave it a tug and finally got it to budge. She slid it out of the way and moved to grab a sack of potatoes but when she got back she looked into the hole to see a young woman staring back up at her with brown eyes.

“Umm… hi, I’m Dani… I ah... I just heard about the orphans down there and thought I’d ummm… bring food… What’s your name?” Dani stumbled with her words, not having expected to see someone. She’d wanted to leave the goods anonymously.

The woman however just stared back, which gave Dani the chills but she had heard some were from the mainland. Meaning it was possible, they didn’t speak common. The stranger did however accept the sack of potatoes when she lowered it down. It only took a few minutes to lower the supplies down after which the woman looked up at her, “Umm… that’s it… I’ll bring more! Just… that should last you a few days, I think? Right? How many of you are down there?” The woman just looked at her for a moment, “Right… Okay, bye.”

Dani waved and grabbed the grate to move it back into place just as she was closing it she heard the woman say, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, see you in a few days,” Dani said after a moment before going to return the hand cart. She thought she’d seen sharp canines when the woman finally opened her mouth to speak but smacked herself in the forehead and laughed.

‘Why would a lycan child be coming from the south? Poor thing must have broken teeth. I’ll see if I can get some willow bark for the pain.’

**********

2nd Army-Detachment under Count Viabold of Nola, The Kingdom of Stilyra- Early spring 15 years AR

Leo could nearly smile as he walked along. Looking at the forest. It was far less dense than the Dain but it was at least a forest in his sight instead of bars of a cage. He sniffed and recognized a few scents, one in particular that they were looking for.

He pointed upwind and touched his ear. He could hear it as well. A distant grunting. It was too far off for the humans among him to hear but that’s why they’d brought him. The group headed in the direction he indicated and soon he stopped and crouched down. The grunts could be heard plain as day to all of them now. Leo shifted his eyes to see body heat, it was a strange sight both for him and others. To others, his eyes went completely white but to him, the world turned into black, white, and shades of gray. The warmer the object, the whiter it would be.

He could spot their target easily, a light gray moving through some distant brambles. He knew what it was and its brown skin and thin fur would have made it much harder to see without his enhanced vision. He pointed towards it, his own hand a similar shade of gray in his vision, compared to his colder surroundings.

They started making their way closer but as they neared, one of the soldiers stepped on a branch with a loud snap. Leo looked back at him a moment before their query came screaming out of the brambles. Leo slammed into its broad flank as the soldiers moved into spear it in the head.

“Well, that oughta feed us for a while.”

“That’s a big ass piggy!”

“Watch where your steppin’ next time!”

Leo, the soldiers, and Daoud and Vonus looked down at the monstrous pig, it wasn’t magical but it was massive. It wasn’t their actual query for the expedition that was much smaller and far less prepared than the one to the Dain. They estimated they’d be facing forty or so werewolves, so the Duke had sent Count Viabold of Nola with Leo and his cellmates plus thirty legion veterans and anyone in the Count's household the man wanted to bring. It was pretty obvious to everyone that the Duke had taken the process for making cement and now everyone else in the army that knew had been sent on a suicide mission, the Count included. Leo understood why his father hadn't trusted the countess, her willingness to take advantage of those in need but now he knew how ruthless the Duke was as well.

Because of that, the Count had ordered a slower march through the forest, and in time they lost the trail. They’d been ordered to hunt the wolves until either three months had passed or they killed the monsters. If they failed, the Duke would simply send word to Salesari to request help from Rangers or Ederathan knights, which was probably how he planned on dealing with the wolves anyways.

Leo of course spotted signs or caught wind of their scent at times but they were always older. He honestly wasn’t sure where the monsters had gone but suspected the mountains to the west.

“Alright, let’s get this over with. We keepin’ the liver or heart?” one of the soldiers asked while pulling out his dagger and with a grunt lifted the boar's head to slit its throat to let it bleed before the blood congealed. Leo walked up and pulled out the Defiant Dagger. They had allowed him to use his own weapons and the dagger that his father used to end his life was still among them. Rather than gut the boar, he started cutting the gums to cut as low as possible while he wiggled the tusk back and forth. The soldiers watched curiously before he pulled it out, he set it down and started on the second. A minute later and the job was done. He turned and handed one tusk to Vonus, the one that had spotted the boar's scat and the other to the soldier that had actually finished off the huge pig.

“Gotta keep a trophy,” Leo laughed as the others joined in. It wasn’t the Dain with his friends and the knights and Rangers but in the past few weeks, it had become more bearable. He wasn’t as conflicted being out in the wilderness. It beat killing Ravennans. While he stood smiling in his human form and looking at Vonus study at the tusk like he had no idea what to do with it, something slammed into Leo’s side hard enough to lift him off his feet.

“Fuck!” he heard someone yell and felt claws digging into his stomach. A roar came and the monster that had attacked him rolled off. Leo looked, he hadn’t smelled anything coming, hadn’t heard anything coming, but a werewolf had taken him by surprise and hit him in the side.

He got to his feet, ignoring the deep wounds to his stomach but he didn’t even need to do anything. Rather than when the werewolves attacked the camp and caused chaos among the inexperienced ranks, these were legion veterans who’d spent years holding the lines against monsters just like it. Had it been more than one it would have been a tougher fight but just one? They made quick work of it and one moved over to cast [Heal] on Leofrith’s wounds.

“The fuck did she come from?” Leo looked down at the corpse of a young girl, the area around her forehead and eyes pulp from multiple spears. The former legionnaires showed restraint but Vonus had kept stabbing to make sure she was dead until he was pulled back.

“Why the fuck are they always younguns?”

“Huh?”

“Think. You were with the what, Pheonix?”

“Griffin…”

“Whatever, you saw so many that was just barely into their fur? I know their lot don’t age much period but that lass barely has hair between her legs. The ones back at camp were the same sort, scraggly beards on young lads that can’t grow em proper, lasses that look like that.”

Leo blushed slightly as he looked between the young woman’s legs when the legion veteran pushed her onto her back. He looked away after because he didn’t have anything to compare it to but the woman’s breasts seemed small and her face, what was left of it, seemed young. Come to think of it it was similar in the Dain.

“You’re just imagining shit. Back on the wolves are sending their young out fore they turn so they can spread. It’s a load of horseshit and you know it.”

“It was the same in the Dain. Hundreds of them but only a few were reported as properly grown,” Leo decided to put in his two coppers. That got everyone’s attention, “But it was in the middle of the battle and the forest fire destroyed most the remains, so we couldn’t be sure.”

Leo knew more obviously but he wasn’t going to discuss Tira with them. He didn’t’ know the strange half lycan well but he’d been ordered to keep her existence quiet. Knowing what the powers of the south would do to her if they found her and caught her, he decided to hold it back. They had no qualms about sending a count to hunt werewolves undermanned, why would they hesitate to kill her.

“Get that thing cleaned, just cut the legs and flanks off and we move. Best not be out here with wolves around and the smell of blood to lead them right to us. They can have the rest,” the group's sole knight said. He was in command and looked around them with his sword drawn. The rest did too, snapping back to the fact they’d already been attacked and werewolves never hunted alone.

Leo ignored the order to process the meat and immediately went on overwatch, his senses far better in his lycan form to notice something approaching. After he didn’t see anything in the immediate vicinity he looked up at the trees. There wasn’t anything there either so he slung his sword and dug his claws into a large pine to start climbing. Below the group continued working having grown used to his lycan form. It didn’t take him long to reach higher up, where he looked around. He could see flashes of body heat but everything was too small to be a threat, birds and rodents.

The knight was right, everything he’d been taught about werewolves said they hunted like normal wolves. They moved in packs but he couldn’t see or smell anything that indicated there were others out there. He knew wolves, as in normal wolves, had outcasts. Lone wolves that were forced out of the pack for one reason or another and had to fend for themselves. He wasn’t sure if that applied to werewolves as well. He also couldn’t help but wonder if they’d just killed another like Tira, a werewolf that maintained at least some of its intelligence causing it to act outside the norm.

He heard a whistle below and looked down to see the group was ready to go. He climbed down the tree, jumping the last six feet, and looked at the group. He just shook his head to report his lack of findings. The veterans of the legion seemed just as confused and more paranoid as they made their way back… where were they?

**********

Inari village of Hani, The Kingdom of Ederath- Early spring 15 years AR

“We should just start, there’s no reason to wait for him,” Erin voiced her opinion to the group. The current discussion of course was the beginning of the search for a decent place to build Strondheim but the problem was Jon was still in his caravan. He’d been there since the execution the day prior. With Andrew interpreting, they question Sunada and only got back that Jon was sick. Her trying to mime vomiting had been cute and pretty funny though.

“Oi, she’s making sense,” Willow walked up to the group with Andrew and held out a parchment. She’d gone with Andrew to try to get a more detailed sketch of the area from the Inari, “He might be feeling better but it’s nearly midday. No reason to waste time.”

“Sure Tira has him all kinds of feeling better by now,” Aethred said causing Erin to involuntarily glare at him. She’d gotten over her mental break by now but she still didn’t like what Aethred was implying.

“You’re the boss,” Andrew said, looking at her. In a way, he was right. These were her brother's lands but that made them Clan Halladson lands. She was his heir and the second in command.

“I’ll go with…” She thought for a moment. She’d been about to suggest a single scouting party led by her but that wouldn’t make sense, “I’ll ask for volunteers. I’ll lead a group with Aethred, Willow with Andrew and I’ll talk to Jon. If he’s feeling better he and Tira can lead the last when they’re ready.”

She held out her hand and took the parchment. On it was a crude map. It wasn’t scratches like what Afgheir had given them but it was obvious the Inari that made it wasn’t a mapmaker. In the center was a strange symbol that looked like a house, she assumed it was Hani and from there small details were marked out and labeled in foreign letters. They’d have to go there to see what it was but Erin thought that it might help Andrew with interpreting.

“We kin hulp, ye ken?” Garrick spoke up from the side. Jon still hadn’t made a decision on what to do with the orcs but the orcs had set camp next to them and Aethred had invited Garrick over to learn how to swear. Andrew was working on translating because Sunada or the Inari, in general, interested him. Aethred was trying to do the same with the orcs but for a more childish reason.

Garrick on the other hand was now the new chief of the Catanach Clan. They'd chosen him after crediting him with helping in their release from captivity. He wasn’t as vulgar as one might stereotypically think of an orc and thankfully refused to answer Aethred’s questions. She knew he stayed because he still wanted his people to have the chance to survive until the animals that had fled south from the cold migrated back north.

“They know the land better than us,” Willow opined. Erin pushed her hair out of her face started putting it in a ponytail. Willow was right, they could just ask the orcs if they knew of a place they needed but she wasn’t sure if she should trust them. Willow however continued on before Erin could conclude her thoughts, “We’re looking for a place flat enough to build a large village and plant fields with room to grow. Hopefully by a river and near limestone or ores.”

“Limestone, huh?” Garrick held his hand in his chin while stroking his mutton chops and thought,” Dinnae ken anywhere wi' metal bit ah ken thir's a good bit o' limestone near th' water just north o' 'ere. Haven't seen anywhere fur a village or fields bit we kin keek.”

Erin looked over to Gertrude to get the translation. ‘Ken’ meant ‘know’ and ‘keek’ meant to look. She looked back at Garrick and sighed. Knowing a place to start working would make things move quickly.

They needed to figure out where they’d build so they had enough time to start working. She and everyone else was tired of rations and looking forward to some of the faster-growing crops coming in but they needed to clear fields and plant them. Garrick got up and pointed at the parchment that indicated the water he was talking about was a river.

“Okay. We’ll go there with volunteers. Aethred and I will go downriver, Willow and Andrew up…” She thought for a second before finishing, “Garrick, can we get one or two of your people to act as guides.”

“Sure, na kinch!” Garrick said with a smile, which she assumed meant he agreed.

“Wait, why the fuck am I with you?” Aethred caught on to the team split. Erin glared at him.

“Because you use a crossbow and Andrew uses a bow. One experienced melee and one range apiece,” Willow jumped in with the explanation that was mostly on point. Erin also wanted to try Willow’s suggestion and spend time with Aethred that didn’t involve kneeing him in the groin or giving him a bloody nose. Granted if that were to happen or not was up to him and any jokes he might have but she was willing to try to be nice. Willow continued when Aethred opened his mouth to speak, “You’re not going with me. Fucking questioning Jon and Tira about…”

Erin didn’t think the added part was an act. Willow had been pretty mad when she heard Aethred asking Jon about seeing her naked. Jon didn’t answer but Aethred didn’t let it go until they reached Hani.

“Fine I’ll go with her… but we get Garrick!” Aethred demanded. The orc in question looked a little confused but shook his head and smiled at the events. Erin nodded in agreement, it would probably keep Aethred better behaved and she didn’t trust Garrick but she did trust him more than the others.

“Alright, it’s settled let's get some folks and get goin’. How long will it take to get there?” Willow asked.

“Tis a good donder but nae tae lang,” Garrick explained to confused looks.

“Donder?” Aethred asked.

“It means walk,” Garrick translated for himself. Causing the group to look at him and Gertrude to smile, Erin realized the older merchant must have known Garrick could speak normally or at least in the heavy accent without the slang.

“Then why do you say donder?” Erin let her curiosity get the better of her.

Garrick gave her a tusky smile and winked, “How come dae ye say walk?”

It was a point, Erin just wasn’t sure if it was a good one, but she still had to give him a little credit. Why did they say walk?