Unknown cave in Salesari Range, The Elvan, mid-spring 15 AR

“He’s fucking dead!”

“Shut up and keep moving.”

“How? I can’t see a gods' damned thing.”

“Take my hand and Shut up!”

Leo continued moving through the mountain caves with relative ease compared to the others. He had no idea where he was leading them but his focus wasn’t in front of him but behind. He was forced to move on all fours to get around properly while avoiding putting weight on his injured leg as they made their way through the belly of the mountain.

Behind him was Daoud, the man holding tightly to Leo’s tail, the others formed a chain from there. One that had just broken when a werewolf came from a side passage and killed Tael. Leo hadn't heard it and the entire place smelled like the wolves. He felt sorry that the man’s wife had just become a widow but with the wolf dead and they needed to find a refuge. She would never know his fate if they died as well.

They moved along, stumbling in the dark while Leo listened to growls and cries from their pursuers. It wouldn’t take the monsters long to find them even in the dark but the fact they were still alive showed the wolves were being warier. The monsters had lost a few more of their pack as the group fled into the darkness.

Leo suddenly stopped as he approached an intersection. He sniffed in both directions and paused. The one ahead smelled like fresh air and trees and the one on the right only had the scent of mold, fungus, and rust blew from an air current but he also spotted one valuable piece of information in the low light.

“It branches off. One smells like outside and is probably an exit-” Leo started to explain their choices but was cut off by the rapist.

“Then fuckin’ go!”

“The other leads deeper but is too narrow for them to fit through, I’ll have to take my human form to make it. I have no idea where it leads” Leo finished explaining the second choice. One led to escape, where they may still have to contend with the wolves but the other was safety but they could trap themselves in the mountain.

Leo heard a noise from behind and made a decision without them. He went for the right-hand passage. They could use the same tactic and slowly burn any wolf that came at them. As long as they could survive long enough. He reached the entrance and risked casting [Light]. Daoud nodded and crawled into the passage that shrunk to the point he had to crawl on his stomach with stone scraping both shoulders.

“It opens back up over here! It’s not far!” Daoud called a moment later.

“We have no idea where that leads!” Count Viabold protested as Mason squeezed past him and dropped to crawl through the passage. The rapist, right behind.

“Milord, we don’t but we know neither of our other choices are any better. The way out could just be the exit they used to get around us and chase us in here and they're not far behind!” Leo said, using the honorific in an attempt to satiate the noble. The Count hesitated as Vonus too went for the passage, leaving just three of them.

“Milord, I cannot in good conscious go while you stay... and only the few of us will NOT be able to hold them back long with two being injured,” Decanus Aevald said taking a position at the rear with Leo’s shield.

The count hesitate a moment longer but crawled through the passage. He was a bit heftier than most people but managed to squeeze through. The Decanus gave Leo a look and slid the shield in after the nobleman before crawling himself. Leo could hear the growls and barks getting closer. The moment there was room, he shifted to his human form and crawled, dragging his wounded leg on the ground behind him.

The bandages hung loosely after shifting and would have to be reset when they were on the other side but the Decanus was no better. The man had to lay on his uninjured side and crawl sideways while pushing the shield ahead of him, the cloth that bound his hip shifted with every movement. Luckily there were a few decent men on the other side to speed up the process. They grabbed the shield and pulled it out before doing the same for the Decanus, and eventually Leo.

Leo sat there a moment before adjusting the scraps of cloth around his leg. He heard a low growl and looked towards the tunnel while recasting [Light]. In a scene that made him reminisce about shadowcats and the hideout, he saw a werewolf trying to squeeze into the tunnel. He stared at the beast until the count cast a spell on a piece of rock, sending it careening through the tunnel and smashing into the wolf's face. It didn’t die but it yelped and backed away.

“Ummm… Hey, Leo? Count?” Mason called from behind them. “There were people here.”

Leo looked at what mason was holding and found the source of the rusty smell. It was old mining equipment laid out. The heads of a few rusted pickaxes and hammers, the shafts long since rotted away.

Leo cast his [Light] around the room and took it in. He realized it wasn’t a natural cavern they stood in but the chamber of a mine. It looked strange to Leo. He’d been in the den, a long-abandoned mine, and saw how the tunnels and chambers would twist through the earth, following one vein of ore or another. The room he was in was symmetrical with a vaulted ceiling carved into the stone and benches on either wall.

“Musta been where the workers took breaks… we must be deep if they had this instead of going out,” Daoud pondered aloud as he looked out of the small doorway, “or not.”

Leo got up and limped to the door. He had to duck to get through as it was only five and a half feet tall. Outside the room was a stone hallway that led to the left and a raw stone wall to the right. The group looked between the two entrances to the chamber and decided on the carved hallway. They walked down it and looked in the few other doorways that lined it, each going deeper than the one they’d come from but similar dimensions otherwise. They looked finished. They had benches and a stone platform raising from the floor of the far wall.

“Dwarves?” the Count asked to no one while looking at the short stone platform. No one answered either as they made their way further into the tunnel.

At the end of the passage, they walked into a large room that was twice as tall as the others and several times as wide. It had stone benches and a few tables carved from the same. Along one wall was a countertop of sorts with shelving cut into the stone behind and a doorway that, after a quick inspection, led to a kitchen. A second hallway led the opposite direction and a stone staircase led to the open second floor where more doorways could be seen. It looked like an inn.

Leo limped forward, providing the light. The worry of werewolves already faded from his mind at their new discovery, though mainly because he couldn't smell them there. He exited the building and looked around a wide street passing within the mountain and the motif carved into the stone depicted a short woman with near mutton chops on the front of the building. The dwarven statue was well proportioned and only scantily dressed. Not an inn, a brothel?

He had never seen their cities before but he read of them and had no doubt in his mind. He said confidently, “Dwarves.”

An hour later the group found themselves entering a massive cavern. Leo knew the others couldn’t even tell how far it went with massive pillars the size of houses reaching up into the darkness and stone buildings laying below. They were looking from a street that rose up a few stories above the main level of the city and seemed to extend around the perimeter in a massive circle.

It was a strange place and they had learned only a few things of import. For one, the city was thoroughly abandoned. They had walked along tunnels and wide street-like corridors but had yet to see, hear, or smell anyone. The buildings were abandoned and only piles of dirt where wooden furniture once sat remained.

“So where to?” Mason asked while looking into the darkness

“If it’s a city there must be a gate,” Vonus suggested.

“Fuck the gate, where’s the treasury,” The rapist let out with glee. The look on his face repeated on the more financially motivated criminals a moment later.

“What makes you think there would be anything in there? They likely took it all when they departed,” The Count suggested but in the glow of the spells Leo could see a bit of desire on his face.

For his part, Leo was more concerned with the first but he could already see where the second was probably located. At the center of the city was a tall structure that rose from the floor to the ceiling of the mile-wide cavern. It wasn’t a support, or at least not only a support, as he could make out a large arching entrance even from half a mile away. The only reason he could see at all was his lycan vision but he debated about telling the others. There wasn't much reason to hide it though...

“Do you see something, Leo?”

“No gate but there’s a fortress in the center,” he decided on a bit of honesty, leaving out the grand size of the fortress that looked to be built of a single giant piece of stone and rose 10 stories above the ground.

“Then we go there,” the Decanus said, “Might be a place to take shelter while we look for a way out and if those fucks have a way down here, I’d rather be in the middle of a fortress.”

Leo and the rest nodded at the veteran’s comment. Leo looked over the edge and back and forth along the wall they stood on, “Now to find a way down.”

“What’d those short fucks do?! Lock something in here!? Lock themselves out?” The rapist vented out but for once Leofrith couldn’t be annoyed at the man.

He was annoyed as well. His leg felt better but after at least a week of being stuck underground, they had more issues. They searched everywhere they could and the only way out they’d found was right back into the wolf den. The one obvious route out of the mountain from the city had led to a cave-in.

“It’s not all bad, we might be able ta face the wolves now,” Mason said and held up his spear and shield while he wore a helmet and chainmail. All three items were looted from the city and were miraculously not rusted. They appeared to be steel but it was a variation that he didn’t know.

A lucky find at least among the rest, even when it should have reached halfway down the man's thighs it only reached his waist. They were also lucky that dwarves were just short but it was like a squashed down human rather than a miniature one like a halfling.

They had spent a good amount of time searching for a way out and in the process, they discovered that quite a bit of the city had plenty of items left behind. Most were worthless and had long since deteriorated but the rare square silver coin, armor, and an enchanted pickaxe were good finds. Why they hadn't found anything before? They only surmised that the ones living above had the chance to flee or they were in a construction area where no one was living.

“Not all bad? Our choices are fucking fight monsters or starving to death,” the rapist threw a piece of one of their only options for food at Mason. It was a mushroom, the other option was rats.

“Calm down. It’s been a week at least, I think,” the count said. He gave them a questioning look but the rest of them could only shrug. No one had any idea how to tell time underground, “The situation above might have changed by now. Mister Leofrith is fully healed and as Mister Mason said, we are better armed than we were.”

The count had taken a bit of a shine to them in the past however many days. All accept the rapist who someone had finally asked for his name but the man told them to refer to him as ‘Bickox’. Whether it was an unfortunate name or he wanted people calling him ‘big cock’ was a toss-up. He still was referred to as the rapist or asshole if at all.

“We’ll leave in the morning,” Leo decided for the group. He wasn’t the leader but no one argued, “We need some sleep if were to fight our way out.”

**********

She couldn’t remember her name or where she was from. She couldn’t even speak anymore at least not as she could before. What started off as feelings and urges had become her or it was something else entirely and it replaced her. It didn’t matter, either way. She didn’t comprehend it and was focused on something else anyways.

She smelled the other pack, the one that had invaded her pack's den and killed them. She would find them and make them pay! They were just prey to her.

"Hunt, smell," she growled to herself as she moved through the lingering scent. It wasn't strong but it was there.

She dropped down into a cavern from the tunnel above. The walls of the cavern were strange, they’d been dug out and looked like they had claw marks on the stone. Her instincts told her they weren’t from a simple animal though. She sniffed but could only vaguely sense the invaders. They had been there.

She followed the scent through the twisting unnatural passages. They changed directions sharply and the floor was flat. It was a confusing maze, so she doubled back anytime she came to a fork in the tunnel. She let out a little to mark the way back with her scent before continuing. The scent would also lead others of the pack to her if she howled.

"Prey! Prey ahead!" She growled quietly again as the scent got stronger as she found a tunnel they'd gone through more than a few times by how strong the smell was.

She made her way upwards and soon found herself in an even stranger place. She didn’t like it and momentarily backed down into the more familiar shaft. Her instinct told her to be wary but after listening and sniffing she moved back up.

It was a large cave with straight sides and a curved roof. She spotted the exit to the strange cavern and carefully made her way to it. When she exited she found herself in a huge cave with strange square rocks that had holes in them all around her. She peed again at the exit and trotted out on all fours to explore the new place.

The instinct to be wary was overridden by the instinct to become the alpha’s mate and reproduce. And what better way to gain his favor and seed than to find the ones that dared attack her pack! A new den wasn't bad either.

**********

Jorvik, Capital of the Kingdom of Ederath, mid-spring 15 AR

Jaesmin sat on the side of the room, playing a game with Astrid. It was King’s Table, a game Jon had made long ago. She first played it sitting on the docks while they were fishing but she had never become very good at it. It wasn’t studying the Temple scriptures, so it wasn’t deemed worthy of her time. A fact that came to bite her when Astrid moved a piece, putting Jaesmin’s king between it and another.

“I win!” Astrid called out happily. Even with Jaesmin’s lack of experience, it was the expected outcome. It was more challenging to play the black pieces. If chess were a battle it would be between two armies of equal strength. King’s Table, however, was an ambush.

One side surrounded the other and the goal was for the white pieces to kill the king or the black pieces to move the king to the corner and ‘escape’ the ambush. It was a way to pass the time but Jaesmin was already growing tired of it. Luckily salvation came before Astrid could finish resetting the board. A knock on the door drew their attention.

“I apologize for the intrusion. Princess, it is time to return to your quarters,” Elmon said and Astrid’s shoulders drooped. Behind him was Dame Helga, Arn, Cara, and a severely beaten Freya. Stoki was reading a book on the other side of the room on a lounger and Dani was studying in her room.

The princess glared at the chamberlain but got up with a pout. She nodded to her new playthings and stomped out the door. It was a very different reaction than Jaesmin had expected. The girl had been timid before in the Dain but now she was acting like a brat. Then again it wasn’t like she could get away with it in the forest.

The chamberlain left with the princess and the others entered the room. Dame Helga walked in last and waited a few moments before shutting the door behind her.

“I must speak with you all," she said. The tone of her voice told Jaesmin it was an important matter.

“Huh?” Stoki let out. He had gone back to his book as soon as the princess had left.

“Will you please fetch Miss Yelhanna?" Helga requested.

Dani had been listening and walked out of the room without anyone having to get her. She sat down next to Jaesmin as Helga gestured for the others to join them. Freya came as well but decided to stand, shaking slightly as she did. Jaesmin knew the feeling, sometimes sitting hurt.

“I just wish to explain my Queen’s desire to you. Something you may have noticed in the forest,” Helga said and looked pointedly at Jaesmin and Cara, “Astrid has very little experience with others near her age. Her father and mothers are ancient, as are her brothers... She hasn’t had much chance to be around young folk like yourselves. Because of that, she does not know how to act around her peers, so she tries to adapt or copy.”

“Is that why kept copying us in the forest?” Jaesmin asked bluntly. She thought back to Astrid joining a hug or playing a prank on Aethred. Even going as far as to mimic their postures when she joined them around the fire.

“Yes…” Helga said but didn’t look angry at the question. She actually looked slightly ashamed. The room became silent for a moment as they all sat and contemplated what they had learned. Jaesmin most of all, having known the princess longer than most and better than Cara.

‘So all those times she joined us for no reason or did strange things like laugh at jokes she didn’t understand… it was because she wanted friends or at least peers? She just doesn’t know how to come by it naturally?’

“Gods’, that would be a tough one. No friends because you're a Princess and everyone’s afraid your older brother will rip out your spine or something,” Stoki broke the silence. Jaesmin doubted that Prince Lief would do such a thing but she wouldn’t put it past Prince Erik if he thought someone was a threat to his sister. Arn smacked their friend, he had every right to be mildly offended. Once Jaesmin thought about it for a minute.

'Wait one fucking minute? Is that an insult to lyc-'

“That is why I hope you will get to know her and she will get to know you. I do not expect you to become lifelong friends but let her see how people interact with each other and include her. It is a request from her majesty Katla but it is only a request,” Helga stressed the last part and looked at Jaesmin, “It is the reason my queen sent you the invitation.”

“I mean… I don’t see why not?” Dani was the first to speak. Freya was the second, well she groaned and nodded through swollen lips.

“It would be my honor,” Arn said gallantly to the knight. Dame Helga rolled her eyes but thanked him with a nod.

“Sure,” Stoki joined in.

“I wouldn’t have any issue spending time with Astri- the princess,” Cara said but nearly fell back to the rule that on a campaign, they referred a knight as Ser or Dame and a squire by their name. It didn’t matter if they were actually nobility or royalty.

“You may refer to her as you like, so long as it’s polite,” Helga informed them, “It wouldn’t do her any good to be treated as a superior if she is to learn how to behave around people. Even when she's older and rules a city or commands an army, she will hopefully have learned how to let people close to her, she'll need confidants.”

“Oh… Ah… I’m in,” Jaesmin realized she was the only one that hadn’t agreed to it yet. Dame Helga gave her a nod and smiled weakly. Jaesmin realized it was a touchy subject for the knight. She wasn't sure if it was worry about Astrid's wellbeing or what she was doing.

“Well, I will ensure that there is a break in her training schedule. Any suggestions for an activity?” The group looked at each other with confused looks but Jaesmin smiled. It caught everyone’s attention. She knew the perfect activity, one that got her more comfortable around commoners.

“Let’s take the princess fishing!”

It took an entire week to get everyone together to go fishing. The act of acquiring permission from Astrid’s parents was quick enough but the small fishing trip turned into a fishing expedition soon after. Jaesmin freaked when she learned that the list of people going to the small pond number fifty!

It took Jaesmin sitting down with Queen Katla to explain her reasoning on why that was a bad idea. It was a very nerve-wracking conversation for Jaes but as she saw it if Astrid was going to learn to deal with others. She needed a chance to get to know them. That wouldn’t happen if there were guards and retainers standing by to order to bait her hook or keep her from talking in front of the staff. It would be no different than when she was fishing and relaxing before her father showed up. Astrid was going through something completely different but Jaesmin understood growing up with a sheltered life.

After explaining, the expedition turned into a small gathering. Jaesmin and her friends would go along with Dame Helga, two other knights, and Astrid. The knights were there to keep the princess safe and keep an eye on Freya. No one knew when she’d go through her first transformation.

“So, Astrid. Ready to catch some fish?” Jaesmin asked happily with a mix of awkwardness.

The princess in question looked at her with studying eyes before looking at the pole in her hand. They had requested fishing poles the same as Jon had made and the design had long since made it to Ederath. A pleasant thought of catching her first fish came through her-. Jaesmin realized she had no idea if Astrid had gone fishing before, “Don’t worry I’ll show you how to use it.”

The girl didn’t answer and they continued on through the forest to a pond that was only a few miles from the city. According to the locals, it was a prime spot for fish at that time of year. It connected with the river through a small channel when the snow melted. The fish would swim up when it flooded but would become trapped when the water receded.

When they got to the pond Jaesmin spotted a small dock on the shore. The pond itself was fairly large but couldn’t be considered a lake. She took it all in but froze when she looked across the water.

There stood two beings in wolven form, looking back at them. Jaesmin reached for her sword but realized it wasn’t there, they had knights protecting them and they were close to the city. It took her a moment to realize the people she saw were wearing armor with plumed helmets tucked under their arms. They saluted and quickly departed into the trees.

Jeasmin felt a pat on her back and turned to see Dame Helga looking down at her with compassion, “They’ll watch the perimeter… They weren’t in the Dain with us.”

She understood Jaesmin’s reaction. It was just like what she’d seen before the Battle of the Willow's Point, wolven faces watching them from across the water. She closed her eyes and breathed for a moment.

When she opened them, she smiled and held up her fishing pole, “Let’s fish.”

**********

Strondheim, Village in the Kingdom of Ederath, mid-spring 15 AR

Erin had a smile on her face before she even opened her eyes fully. She looked at the ceiling above her and smiled even wider. For the first time in a long time, she wasn’t looking up at a ceiling that was only wide enough to cover her bed. She also didn’t have roommates anymore or have to put on shoes to go pee, although she would rather not use a chamber pot if she could help it.

She crawled out of her bed, which was made from her mattress from the caravan and a bed frame Roland had put together. It was just rough-cut logs with notches and groves holding it together. The mattress was supported by a grid of rope strung back and forth but it was still a proper bed. He’d made it to apologize for his incident but Jon had rewarded him by giving him the men’s caravan. The boys weren't using it anymore and Roland intended to try to build more of them. Willow of course moved in with him after they made a rough mattress out of straw and linen. It worked out as it left ample space in the women's caravan for Sunada and Karli and Jon's was currently occupied by Chajin Coda.

She got up and moved to the crate that was her wardrobe and got dressed for the day before heading out the door. In the hallway, she looked back at her barren room before she shut the door with a smile. The hallway was only a little better but did have a bit more to it.

The stairway came up from her left on the south side of the house while to her right was the entrance to Aethred’s room and the exit to the front balcony. The rear one could only be accessed by her or Jon's rooms. The floor was wooden planks and the walls were waddle and daub coated with lime-based paint that was like cement. It was different than the log home she grew up in but it felt right.

She walked past the ancient nipple armor, with matching shield and spearhead, that hung on the wall. It was a bit of an eyesore but there was no telling what enchantments were on it and she only thought it was an eyesore because of the metal nudity, it seemed a bit much.

The door opened down the hall and Jon walked out with Tira, “Morning."

“Mornin’," She said back, pulling her hair to the side to put it up in a ponytail. She'd ended up shaving both sides of her head and kept her hair back like that whenever she could. It kept it out of the way.

“Who making breakfast? Oh, morning," Tira said at the same time as Jon. Erin's stomach growled, so she didn't hold it against her that she was a bit slow to notice Erin.

The three of them walked down the stone stairs to the common room. It was just as sparsely furnished but it did have a table made from scrap planks and two long benches for them to sit on. The rest of the manor was in a similar state.

A smaller table and bench were placed in Jon’s study and a similar one was in the kitchen to prepare food. While Jon’s workroom had crates to use for his projects. The workroom of course being through a short hall that went under the stairs. It was what had been planned to be the back porch but Jon decided to have it enclosed. It had similar stone pillars as the front but the archways were lined with waddle and daub walls, they could remove them if they wanted to use it as a porch again.

In fact, the only two rooms in the house that were near complete were the pantry, which only needed shelves, and the bathing room. The bath was built from concrete and had a drain that ran down into the ground below. It took a while for the water to seep into the dirt and rock but it did drain which made it easier to clean. Besides that, there was a cabinet from Jon’s caravan and half a small barrel full of water where they could wash if they didn’t want to go get buckets of water from the well.

It wasn’t much but Erin loved it as she made her way there and Jon and Tira walked outside, presumably to use the outhouse. Erin brushed her teeth and looked at herself in a polished bronze mirror, “Not bad for a couple of weeks' work.”

“You say something?” Aethred said as he walked into the room and grabbed his own brush to join her in cleaning his teeth.

“Nope!” Erin lied with a mouth full of cleaning paste. She spit it into a pot before pouring some mint water out of a jug and rinsing her mouth. She swallowed the water.

“So what are you doing today? I forgot” Aethred asked when he was finished. He was energetic as always when he woke up, "Nevermind, don't care!"

“Glass. You?” Erin was happy but not that energetic, she wouldn't let Aethred ruin her mood.

“Docks,” Aethred said. It was with the same energy but a little less than thrilled.

“Hunting lodges,” Andrew answered as he came down the steps.

The different tasks were thought up after Erin brought it to Jon’s attention that he was getting sidetracked. He’d been focusing on the lake, the eels, the island, and plenty of other things. She understood that he needed to learn as much as he could about his lands but when people were living in tents and Erin still didn’t have a bath, it became an issue. The solution was for trusted individuals to focus on different aspects, so even if Jon became distracted they would still get something done.

Besides the three there, Roland would be working with a few Inari trying to build a proper boat or two. Karli had her hands full with livestock and was going to be sticking with that, her [Heal] spell working on the animals as well. Garrick would be helping Andrew set up safe places for the hunters to take shelter if they needed it. Willow was in charge of keeping those working on houses on task. Sunada would be helping coordinate the Inari and moving from job site to job site to translate Jon would be doing whatever he wanted, he was the Thane and Tira was focusing on heavy lifting.

The last two, Neera and Ragnar, would help out if they wanted but weren’t technically residents of Jon’s lands. Erin figured they’d be out keeping watch for Ser Hallr and Ser Finn’s return. The two knights had been a week and a half.

Erin walked into the pantry and pulled out a sack full of berries for a light breakfast. She mashed them up and spread them on half-day-old bread. It was nice having a hearth with a bread oven.

She ate quickly and headed out the door, taking only a moment to look at the growing village with stone foundations going up along the main roads. She took a breath of air and made her way to the site of the glassworks. Her task was to teach a couple villagers the process and let them start production. They would, of course, be tasked with making bottles and jars to store food and drinks. But once they got started they could make whatever else they wished as long as they finished what Sondheim needed.

The future building and a larger furnace were planned for later but she was happy to see the masons had finished the two smaller furnaces in the fence-enclosed yard. Her pupils were also waiting on her. A human, two dwarves, and an Inari.

“Alright, let's get started,” Erin said getting more cheerful with every step through the yard.

“Uh… how?” the female dwarf said but soon caught on as Erin started preparing a fire in the first furnace. The others moved to do the same in the second.

“Alright, first we need to…” Erin started explaining the process and pulled out buckets of potash, fine sand, and lime. It didn’t take long for her to go through, she’d been very familiar with the process in Terra and didn’t need a reminder from Jon.

She also pulled out some rendered lard and explained the process of making scented soap. They wouldn’t be doing both but she intended to make a batch while they waited. Don't blame her, she now had a bath but no soap!

“Any questions?” She asked when she was finished. She was met by four blank stares. At least one of them was understandable, the Inari hadn’t understood a word and she wondered if he even realized what they were making. She sighed, “Let’s just do it.”