The trail was easy to follow, a blood trail that accompanied scuffled snow and occasional holes where the dire wolf had simply collapsed. The scent of blood carried on the wind, invading the armour whenever I breathed in. It hung within, the scent of iron slowly fading into the background.

The dire wolf pack lay ahead, crunching sounds abound as the demon ground the bones to powder with its teeth. It was dark black, with fur that now was stained with blood. The corpses of the pack lay ahead of it, and it chomped down on the closest one.

I snuck up behind it, not breathing. Timing my steps, I inched ever closer to the horned beast. I stood behind it, and readied myself quickly, the blade slamming into the side of the cloven beast’s neck. It sunk in, but glanced off the creature’s spine. It turned, and with a roar slammed its fist into my chest. I was flung back, a trail of disturbed snow where I’d slid, mixing pink snow.

I stood, using the sword as a support to push myself up. Stepping to the side, I barely managed to avoid the beast, and it barrelled past me. Its long claws raked across my armour, opening small gashes in the outer layer, where I had placed my insulation. I swiped my sword at it again, but it rolled aside, its fur brushing across the sword instead.

It grunted, flames coming to life at its side, I ducked to the side, the snow instantly melting as they passed. I charged at it, catching its claws on my shoulder. I plunged four inches of the blade straight into its chest. It bellowed, and I twisted the blade, drawing it out slightly before stabbing it in at a different angle. With my left hand I shoved it back off, and drew back, running as flames once again spread across the ground.

Now I waited, dying was far from dead as they said. It roared and charged at me, whilst I remained at distance. Occasional gouts of flame, and sometimes snow and ice, would assault me. Soon it began to falter, blood loss finally overcoming it. I circled, only willing to close from behind, and stabbed it left handed a few more times.

My arm was numb, the right shoulder throbbing from the blow it had received. I walked back the way I came, finding the dire wolf a few steps more from where it lay. It bristled as I walked over, but seemed to calm as I came fully into view. It tried to shift aside as I got closer, but was too weak to do anything but whine as I carried it back to the farm.

Lapi, as we’d named her, turned her head from the fields, spitting out the thorax of a Devil Stinger. It had been helpful, now that summer had almost arrived the forest stirred, churning out creatures with almost disturbing regularity once a week or so. Lapi didn’t deal with the slimes, growling and sometimes barking to draw our attention to them.

Lapi trotted up to me, head turned away while held high, I rolled my eyes, sheathing my sword as I began dragging an Ankle Nibbler towards the mess hall. She followed, never looking directly at me while doing so. Her fur hadn’t fully grown back, scar tissue having grown across most of her wounds, disinfection and stitching helped there. I’d literally poured alcohol into her wounds during the first night, disregarding her whimpers. Lapi still didn’t seem to have forgiven us that, most of the farmhands and the family would likely never forgive me.

I suppose one of the few bright sides to rabid bunny variants was that the meat was coming to me instead of the other way around. That was both good and bad since the meat came with fangs and claws, in packs. I stacked the creature with the others, we’d likely make a stew of it tonight, while preparing to salt and preserve the rest.

Lapi leaned in, sniffing delicately at the stew, before leaning back to lay down. I stirred the stew, trying vainly to keep even heat throughout the huge pot. Elli had prepared the spices, the meat and the greens, I just needed to stir it until she finally said it was okay. Lapi sniffed again, pulling herself upright immediately afterwards. Seeing this, Elli did a quick taste. “This is perfect. Alright, time to eat.”

Lapi used to try to push forward, now she queued, like lightning she sped to form the first in line, looking upwards expectantly. She received two bowls, one that she held in her jaws and one placed between her ears. I had no idea when she’d picked up that particular skill, though dire wolves seemed far more intelligent than regular ones. She lay down the bowl in her mouth, and I took the bowl from her head as she scampered to her spot half a metre beside me, digging into her meal.

We ate in silence, occasionally interrupted by praise for the meal that Elli had prepared. I prepared my sword again after I’d finished two bowls, having taken night watch for tonight. I went to relieve the current watch. My armour had changed, though now it still used all of the material from the original. It made for better protection, and if I ever faced another of those demons I’d need it.

Gornath was the one I was taking the place of, and I waited for him to pass the edge of the farm closest to the mess. He nodded to me in greeting, and I raised my sword, sheathed, to respond. “The dire wolf not with you now?” He asked, a smile barely visible beneath his helmet.

“She’s going for thirds.” I replied. “All quiet?”

“Mostly yes, but I would say be careful, there’s been some rustling in the vegetation.” He said, gesturing to the wilderness beyond.

I nodded, beginning my circuit as he made for the mess hall.

I kept my eyes scanning across the edges, the buildings shielding my eyes from the flame over at the mess. It definitely helped my night vision. I ran a bit, keeping the next patroller within sight range. We also had an inner cordon, just in case, though I rarely ended up there.

Lapi trotted up beside me. It took me a while to realize she was trying to signal me, her movement was stiff, and low rumbling came from her chest. Occasionally her snout pointed discreetly towards part of the wilderness. I didn’t break from my path, reaching down to scratch her back in acknowledgement. The wilderness seemed clear, but I doubted Lapi was using sight to identify them.

Her body language definitely wasn’t for demons, she used to flinch at the scent that had soaked itself into the wooden sheath. Now she still found it uncomfortable, but tolerable enough to sleep curled up against my bedding. I didn’t know what it was now, except that it was dangerous enough that she didn’t lead me straight up towards it. It quietened as we passed further, a bit of stiffness kept as a ruse. It was nearly dawn when Lapi brought me into the forest area, deeming it safe enough for myself to enter.

The vegetation had been disturbed, the grass trampled and flattened. I stepped softly throughout, attempting to find something that might hint at their nature. A set of footprints caught my attention, imprinted into soft loamy ground. Triple digits, shaped like a mammalian foot rather than avian, probably was goblins. The other vegetation implied a larger presence, a bear?

I clicked my tongue, a few others from the patrol came in as well. Lanth looked at the tracks and the broken vegetation. “Goblins, a troll and wolves.” He said, gesturing to the faeces that lay beside one of the trees. “They must have a nest nearby.”

One of the patrolmen spat at that. “Goblins? We’re going to need to head to the city.” It wasn’t that busy now, which meant we could spare enough people to actually get to the city safely. Teb agreed on that point, Lanth, Caio, Yinea, and a few others were sent, as I went to ascertain the location.

Lapi followed me, treading with light tread across the brush she occasionally took different paths, seeking to keep the both of us downwind. In a while I followed her instead, trusting her ability to seek and to lead. She in turn continued not to give me any acknowledgement.

A cave opening lay ahead, the wolves slept in front of it, the alpha staying awake to watch for intruders. Lapi pressed herself down into the vegetation, before giving me the first straight look of the week. I lay down as well, careful not to produce sudden movement.

The goblins had probably gone to sleep, though sentries were definitely a certainty. Did goblins have night vision? I wondered. The cave didn’t seem to have any visible lighting, though perhaps there were turns that obscured them. I slowly retreated, Lapi following suit.

As I walked I counted my steps, recording my displacement from the cave entrance. Page helped by providing estimates made based on my spatial sense, allowing me to corroborate my records. We reached the edge of the forest soon, Lapi pulling up beside me. I turned, attempting to mark down the location in memory, solicitating Page’s help in doing so.

[The dire wolf is pretty attached to you. Though I have to say that ignoring you for the very action that saved its life strikes me as rather, what’s the word? Yes, peevish.]

I smirked beneath the helm. Lapi seemed to be physically stopping herself from turning to query me. We headed back to the mess, awaiting news from the city.

They arrived with a single soldier. He approached Teb, whilst the others who’d come back walked off. “That’s all they can spare?” I asked, surprised.

Lanth shrugged. “I don’t know, they said that they didn’t have enough manpower to deal with this, as most of them were pushing back the demons.” The soldier’s eyes settled on me for a moment, before conspicuously flitting to the others on the farm.

I briefly wondered if one would fake being that bad at subtlety but decided against it. They can’t possibly be that callous can they? I thought. I suppose it didn’t matter too much. Teb walked over, while the soldier stood back staring into the distance.

“He’s new.” Teb said, his voice subdued and worried. “He says that the barracks had asked that he be accompanied by three others, who would listen to him and support him.” He turned to me. “They specifically asked that you be one of them.” That confirms one of a few suspicions. I thought.

The other two volunteers were Yinea and Lanth, I suppose it was a perfect complement. Lapi tagged along because we couldn’t get rid of her, a large gaping maw filled with teeth was a fairly persuasive argument to the soldier.

We were outside, almost several hundred metres from the cave, watching the wolves through the slits among the trees. Yinea held her sling, already preparing a number of stones to throw. I circled along with Lanth and the soldier, coming into it at crosswind. We waited, and when Yinea was ready, a stone flew from the trees, slamming into the alpha male in his skull.

We sprang into action, charging forward as the wolves began to turn, disoriented and briefly without leadership. Lanth of course, had the wolves within reach first, and pierced it, careful to control himself and prevent from going too deep. He pulled it out, thrusting again as I entered the fray, taking measured cuts across the wolves. The soldier struck them with his sword, heavy blows meant to cleave them apart. In a moment it was done, and we prepared to enter the den.