Captain Holt was one of the four captains of Moreland's Rest, a modest sized town nearby.

A few nights back, people in the town had heard the howling out in the forest and had been unsettled.

Captain Holt had set out personally with only two of his subordinates, Sal and the thin man Miller, out to hunt for the direwolf.

Glenn wasn't a town guard but instead a healer by trade who lived in Moreland's Rest.

He had apparently earned a little respect from his work there so had been asked to join their patrols in case things went badly.

Thinking of that creature, it seemed like a damn fine idea to me.

I learned these things by listening to the men talk as I sat behind Glenn on his horse, we were a little less than half a days ride from Moreland's Rest at a leisurely pace.

I also learned that when I had found the road originally, if I had turned in the opposite direction I probably would have made it to civilisation faster.

There was apparently a small mining outpost at the other end of that road that led back to the base of one of the mountains of the Coldwater Ridge.

It was not quite a proper village as it was mostly made up of utilities for their mining operations and a few other things for the people who lived and worked there.

Likely I would have struggled to find everything I needed if I had headed in that direct.

When I had been asked for my name, I hadn't wanted to give my real name in case my uncle had people looking for me still, so I had panicked slightly and given the first name that came to mind.

Althalan, I had hesitated almost as soon as I had started and all that had come out was 'Altha'. Eyebrows had rose at the apparently unusual name but Glenn had shortened it further an started calling me 'Al'.

I caught the dark skinned Sal occasionally giving me an unreadable look from the back of his horse and it made me slightly nervous.

I had the unsettling feeling that I was forgetting something.

Miller, whose first name was actually Davy, but was called Miller because that's what his father, was evidently still annoyed that I had made his captain laugh at him.

He was surly with me at first but quickly recognised that in the other men's eyes he was being more childish than the child with them.

He promptly shut up and stayed quiet.

I could tell that the men saw the huge holes in my story, when Captain Holt had asked where I was from, I had simply told him that I was born on the other side of the ridges.

While it was certainly true, it was also obviously and very deliberately an evasive answer.

The men seemed to silently acknowledge this and didn't press me any further, it was sort of unspoken by the silent shared looks that they wouldn't pry into the secrets I had, not yet anyway.

I had told them that I was looking for their town so I could buy a few supplies, Captain Holt had nodded and said that I could probably find whatever I needed if I had the coin.

While Moreland's Rest wasn't massive it was certainly big enough to have plenty of trade.

Being the closest place to the mining outpost I had missed, amusingly called 'Diggin', Moreland's Rest was where most of it's trade came to and then out of.

The miners of Diggin brought their finds to Moreland's Rest, to either be sold to the town and used there or taken by traders who went further north or west.

I worried that I would get very little coin in exchange for my ingots until I heard that the main thing to come out of Diggin was copper.

When we came around a bend in the road, the trees abruptly stopped and town came into view.

Moreland's Rest was visible, backed by the colour washed sky of the setting sun beyond the few fields, it was surrounded by a thick stone wall.

I could make out the rooftops of maybe twenty or so larger buildings that were big enough to stand higher than the wall that surrounded the town.

They were spread out across the inside of the town at seemingly random places, clearly the town had hundreds more buildings but from my vantage point I couldn't see them over the walls.

As we continued on through the fields Captain Holt would occasionally exchange nods with some of the farmers heading back for the day, we passed but never stopped to actually speak.

A few of them looked to Sal and what was tied to the side of his horse.

A rough burlap sack, the bottom of it dark and damp by what was unmistakably blood.

Before we had set out, Captain Holt had nodded in the direction on the direwolf's corpse and seeming to know what was expected without words, the big oak-skinned southerner had hacked off the beasts head without hesitation, if not quite without a hint of distaste on his face.

I watched the act trying to look as casual as the men but I don't know if I managed it. I didn't vomit or make any pathetic sounds and managed not to look away.

It was what was in the burlap sack and a clear sign to those who knew what to look for that the Captain and his small company had not come back empty handed.

As we reached the walls of Moreland's Rest we approached a thick and sturdy looking gate.

It was wide open at the moment and two guards with similar armour to the guards in our little company straightened up at the approach of Holt.

Their spears stood a little straighter, standing a little taller the one on the left spoke.

“Good evening, Sir.” He said respectfully.

“Evening Wyse, evening Dret.” Holt returned, with a nod to the second guard, the one who was apparently Dret who returned the nod in kind.

We passed through and I got my first up close look of Moreland's rest.

It was no Clearwater, that was obvious but it was still respectable if a little more rough and rustic looking than the city.

The buildings were mostly stone with solid timbers, the roads seemed to be a mixture of hard packed dirt and gravel.

There were townsfolk walking here and there, some calling out to the Captain who occasionally returned some nods.

I could see people spot the bloody burlap sack but no one asked about it directly.

I could hear the busy sounds of work being carried out, the ringing of a blacksmith from somewhere, men and women on errands, carrying baskets or boxes.

Smells of food, people and less pleasant things.

I saw a few young children playing, small screams and laughs coming from them as they ran around.

I saw a few more guardsmen notice their smell company and give small salutes.

Captain Holt led us to a well built building that was quite large, it had a small courtyard that we entered into after passing two more guardsmen who had stood on the outside.

People started to dismount and I followed suit a little awkwardly, a group of three boys and a girl who looked close to my age came forward to take the horses.

I noticed Sal unfasten the sack and walk off into the building ahead of everyone else.

I stood not knowing if I should just leave or even if I would be allowed to. I doubted I'd be brought here just to be told to get lost.

I felt a hand come down on my shoulder.

Looking up and around the healer Glenn stood there.

“Captain will want you to stay a word I reckon, best keep up.” He told me and gestured with his chin towards the back of Captain Holt who was almost at the door.

Looking around the small courtyard I noticed that Miller had walked back to the entrance and seemed to be having a conversation with the two guards there.

I saw them glance over at me once then back to Miller.

Nodding at Glenn's words, having no real choice I hurried to catch up.

I saw the others who were my age give me curious looks as they tended the horses but none of them approached or said anything.

I didn't see anything hostile in the glances, it was just curiosity.

I couldn't help but think I would be curious too, a blood soaked stranger, a boy their own age returning with the guardsmen and Captain who had apparently been out to hunt a monster.

Captain Holt nodded in acknowledgement of my presence without looking at me as I reached his side and he moved on into the building.

The interior was just as busy as the rest of the town it seemed, only it was mostly guardsmen moving about in here.

Some heading out where we had just entered, other coming down or going up some stairs.

Maybe this was a change of shift as the sun had just set or maybe they were just usually this busy?

Captain Holt led me to a wooden door and opened it up, he gestured inside and I entered looking around cautiously.

In the room was an oak table, a couple of benches and it was well lit by an oil lamp on one of the walls.

“Have a seat, I'll be back shortly.” Holt told me, I nodded and sat at the table as he gently closed the door behind him.

I was glad there wasn't a lock on the door because if I had heard it lock after the door was closed I would have probably panicked.

As it was my nerves hit me in full force anyway, despite it being a well lit and an otherwise pleasant seeming, if plain room, it was still most certainly an interrogation room.

I didn't think I had done anything wrong, despite having not told the truth about how I had managed to defeat the direwolf, I remembered the looks that Sal had given me.

I knew that when Holt returned he would want answers from me, answers I wasn't sure I could give.

There was also the possibility that he would hold me here and send word to my uncle that he had a runaway here waiting to be collected.

At least he hadn't taken me directly to a cell, that must have been a good sign, right?