Greywolf - The City of Ruin

Dawn was barely lightening the sky to the east as we crept towards the ancient ruin that was once a city.

Its ruins nestled against a cliff side surrounded by hills, its walls crumbling with large gaps between them. The main gate to the west was in better condition, with a tower on each side, but the other three towers weren't in nearly as good of shape. Especially on the east side. A swift moving large stream had eaten away the walls, collapsing them, as it did with the tower, but there was another set of tall hills with steep slopes just beyond, so it was doubtful anyone had escaped that way.

Considering how barren and cold this place was for dozens of leagues in any direction, it's doubtful anyone tried. According to Castor, most of the people he saw were women and children, with only a few old women and no men whatsoever, living in a combination of tents and ancient buildings partially rebuilt. Castor also caught the scent of food cooking, and saw women drawing water from the stream and carrying it back while the Daemo watched.

In fact, they were watching the prisoners so hard that they weren’t paying attention to anything else. Even though the sky was still dark as Muzen's heart, the tree gave off a sickly yellowish glow that let us see the Daemo standing on the broken walls and towers, along with those stationed between the gaps.

Most of them resembled the man-like Daemo used as guards by much of the civilized world, with armor and weapons made out of their own secretions, except these had heads resembling beasts. But there were also squat Daemo with round heads and no necks, while others resembled a mix of animal parts with man-like faces. The Daemo above the gate was a large warrior with an eye on a stalk between its broad shoulders, while the huge monster, crouched down in the space where the city gates used to be, was a three-headed dog.

Every single one of them had their backs to us. "They've gotten lazy," I whispered to Attila as we slowly climbed up to the small plateau the ruin was built upon. Asena and Titan were beside us, their attention focused on the three-headed monster filling up much of the space inside the open gateway, while Hypam and her warriors followed close behind.

The creature had all three of its heads resting on its yellowish-green paws. "Lucky for us," he whispered back as spearmen with large black shields got into position as well. Behind us, Hypam made the sound of a bird call, and everyone with our group stopped moving. "We're in bow range of the gate," he whispered. I nodded, following his lead as we crouched down on the dry earth. As we waited for the other groups arranged around the gaps in the walls to respond, he reached out and fingered my armor. "How did Varsena do?"

"Best armor I've ever had" I whispered back, glancing down at its thick, transmuted plates, before hefting the Artifact katana that Varsena had also transmuted. "This too."

Attila held out his Artifact battle-axe, pointing at the small cracks on both blades, like pebbles thrown at a mirror, and I gave him a wry smile. Then both our heads turned as a bird call chirped from the darkness to our right. More bird calls chirped from farther down the broken walls, and Attila must’ve been counting them, for as the last one sounded, he whispered, "Everyone's in place."

He gestured at Hypam, who nodded back and motioned for several warriors with shields to cover her and the half dozen Fire mages as they cupped their hands. Seven spinning balls of fire lit up the space behind the spearmen holding up their shields, as seven boys of the Horde, each carrying a mage's bow with an arrow nocked, stepped forward. Each Fire mage attached their spinning fireball, now giving off sparks, to the arrowhead, and the spearmen knelt as the mages stood up. Then they took aim and fired.

Seven fiery comets streaked over our heads as one of the creatures, farther down on a broken piece of wall, gave a shout. The two headed monster over the gate turned around as the arrows struck it and exploded. It blew apart, the pieces dissolving into slime while the two-headed dog monster shook itself awake and turned around.

Titan and Asena were already moving. The creature rushed towards them, and Titan rushed forward as Attila led the rest of us at a slow jog. Titan stopped and raised his tower shield as the two-headed monster slammed into it.

The creature bounced off as if hitting a stone wall. Asena bellowed an ancient war cry as she descended upon the monster like a storm of steel, and the rest of us took off at a run around them towards the main gate. Glancing up, the monsters on the walls were dissolving as arrows hissed overhead like angry serpents, the sound of shouting and pounding feet now coming from all along the broken wall.

As we passed the fight, Asena ripped into the beast's side as Titan split one of the skulls almost in half with his sword. We left them behind as we reached the open gateway.

The first of the Daemo stumbled out of the tower doorways to either side of the main gate, pitted weapons in their hands, and I rushed to meet them. The first swung its sword as it overextended itself; I dodged, then slashed its rat-like face before it could recover. It dissolved as the warriors assigned to clear this tower passed me and engaged the Daemo crowding the doorway. I got out of their way as I turned around.

Attila was fighting alongside a big warrior wielding a long handled mace and round shield, the Daemo reeling under their onslaught as more warriors joined them. Attila blocked a blow with the haft of his axe, then swung at the Daemo's unprotected side as the warrior crushed another Daemo's skull. They pressed onward and I moved away from them into the city.

Whatever buildings had once stood there were now only jagged stones like broken teeth, the area around the massive Daemo tree, glowing its sickly yellow color, clear of anything else. The tree stood at least fifty feet tall, with its trunk sprouting tentacles like ropy snakes beginning to move about. Its roots extended outward several horse-lengths, resembling giant, pod-like feet, and I watched its trunk split open lengthwise near its base into a gaping maw. Shite, what a monster!

I was thankful its tentacles couldn't reach anywhere close to us as the first spearman ran past me, and planted himself at the point where the shield wall was supposed to form. Looking past the tree, the open area extended for a bit, then became a small city of tents and restored buildings, with animal pens and patches of tilled earth like gardens. The wind shifted, and the smell of too many people crammed in together with their animals made me wrinkle my nose. To my right, Daemo at the gaps in the walls were being driven back by the fighters as the Daemo on the walls dissolved under a rain of arrows.

Turning back towards the gate, the warriors were streaming into the tower doorways on both sides, while beyond them, Asena cleaved the two-headed creature's other skull in. The huge monster collapsed in a heap and dissolved.

Standing between the towers, Attila raised his battle-axe as he yelled out something in triumph. I grinned, and raised my katana... wait, his eyes have gone wide and his expression's sliding into horror. I whirled around as the spearman behind me screamed.

Wotan's blood, the Daemo tree's moved closer. Several of its tentacles wrapped around the spearman's legs, and were pulling him towards its gaping maw as its roots... no, they're not roots. They're pod-like feet pulling the creature towards us. The spearman dropped his weapon and shield and now clawed for the knife at his belt. I looked past him at the tree, and saw more tentacles waving about just inside its mouth. Then looked up as several more whipped downward straight at me.

Without thinking, I created a gate and stepped into the Grey. Instinctively, I did my complete circle with the katana out, scanning the ground and the sunless sky above me for Shadow creatures. Nothing. The sky was clear, and the area around me empty of everything except detailed shadows of Daemo reeling back before the Horde warriors pouring in through the gateway or the gaps... straight into the tentacles of the tree, waiting to kill them all.

I ended my circle and stared up at the shadows of the tentacles creeping towards me. There was no way I could kill this thing. Shite, I don't think Asena or Titan could get close enough before it wrapped those things around their necks and strangled them. It was too big, and I knew it would be on the warriors before Hypam and her Fire mages could hurt it. There was no way I could kill this thing alone.

"Not alone," a dark voice growled inside my head. I shuddered in fear of what I realized I’d been sharing the Grey with all along. Yet, as I looked up and up at the tentacles, hundreds of them streaming out like cannibal vines, I knew it was right. There was only one way to stop this creature.

Sheathing my sword, I raced past the shadow of the warrior, now holding the knife in his hand, and headed towards the gaping mouth. As I got close, I could see it had a few eye-stalks with bulbous eyes, mixed in with the ropey tentacles, three of them directly over its open maw. All of them were fully extended, straining forward to see better as the tentacles made a shadowy canopy over my head.

Stopping in front of the mouth split up and down, I tried to stop the feeling of panic threatening to overwhelm me as I opened a gate and stepped through it. The cavernous mouth filled my sight, large enough to swallow a Warghorse, and its charnel house threatened to gag me as I closed my eyes and became the gate.

My Shadow wolf leapt through me, taking my strength again as it dove straight into the gaping maw.

I fell back, landing hard on the ground as the grey Shadow wolf ripped apart the interior tentacles with its claws and teeth, then began tearing its way deeper inside. The Daemo creature shrieked as the tentacles torn away dissolved into slime and vanished.

It stopped moving as the Shadow wolf scrambled upward, perhaps into one of the creature's chambers, and even though it was lost to my sight, I could still hear it tearing apart the Daemo creature's insides as its tentacles whipped about in a frenzy. It let go of the spearman as it stuffed dozens of tentacles into its mouth, but they couldn’t reach the Shadow wolf, for the sound of frenzied ripping inside the hideous trunk continued as the creature shrieked again. Some instinct made me look up.

One of the eyes was looking right at me. Dozens of tentacles stopped thrashing and whipped straight down to grab me... as hands grasped my armor and pulled me backwards.

Color bled away from the world as the tentacles became detailed shadows. Behind me, papa said in a mild voice, "You know I'm not always going to be around to save you, right?" He didn't wait for a response, but instead picked me up with surprising strength and slung me over his shoulder, carrying me to where Attila's shadow self looked to be shouting out orders. Papa made a gate and walked through it.

Attila jumped back as papa dumped me onto the ground. "Guard my son," he snapped as Attila gaped at him. Asena and Titan were running towards us, the Daemo tree still shrieking as papa added, "None of you realize how dangerous it is every time Greywolf's forced to summon his Shadow wolf."

Asena stopped beside us, with Titan close behind. "You bastard," she snarled. "In other words, once it finishes off the Daemo, it'll come after the rest of us."

Papa shook his head. "Only Greywolf, and it won't try to kill him." Without explaining his cryptic remark, papa made a gate into the Shadowlands and vanished.

"Hel take that man," Asena growled.

"For all we know he could be the mythical king of the Afterlife," Titan rumbled as he dropped to one knee beside me. "Greywolf, are you hurt?"

I shook my head. "Just sucked dry, in a sense. I'll be better in a couple days."

Beyond the writhing tree, people began screaming, and Titan got to his feet. "Asena, time to get back into the fight."

Attila hefted his battle-axe. "I'll assign a few warriors to carry Greywolf back to the rally point, and join-"

"No," Titan rumbled, "you need to remain here. The situation is chaotic, and decisions will need to be made. Your men need to know where you are and see you standing confident."

"Besides," Asena added, "the way that creature's whipping its tentacles around, it'll likely kill any human who gets close." She thumped the broad axe in her left hand against her armored chest. "We can shrug those off. You can't."

"Not to mention that Ghostdog entrusted his son to you." Titan pointed his sword to the far right, where Horde warriors had stopped advancing as they stared up at the Daemo tree now swaying from side to side. "Asena, keep on my sword side as we pass it by."

"Not a problem." As the two of them ran towards the edge of the tentacle's reach, Asena growled, "Wotan's blood, Ghostdog knew none of us had ever faced this kind of creature before. Why didn't he warn us?"

"At times I wonder if Greywolf's father is playing a deeper game than we know," Titan rumbled back.

The Daemo tree screamed again, the creature shaking itself as if trying to dislodge the Shadow wolf inside it while the tentacles whipped about in a frenzy. Horde warriors were running towards Attila, shouting in their harsh language, and Attila answered them back as a burnt smell touched my nose.

A moment later, Hypam dropped down beside me. "I was past the front gate with my Fire archers and saw what you did. Wysper told me the story of your saving her from Muzen this way, so I know how much strength it took from you." She grinned. "You saved me having to fletch a bunch of new arrows, because that thing would've been tough to knock-"

The Daemo tree trumpeted a ghastly shriek so loud I covered my ears, its tentacles no longer thrashing but standing straight out in all directions. Then it collapsed inward. The vine-like tentacles melted away as its sides liquefied, the tree dissolving into a blob that quivered a moment before the earth sucked it up.

In the hushed silence that followed, the Shadow wolf shook itself and stood up. It was larger than the last time, and now resembled a Warg, with powerful limbs and a larger head with long fangs. It turned in a circle as if looking for enemies, but although the sounds of battle were coming from farther within the tent city, there was no other Daemo in sight. The grey Shadow Warg finished its circle and stopped.

Looking straight at me. The beast's mouth opened in a savage smile as it ran towards us at a lope, quickly becoming a full out run. My heart pounded, Hypam not nocking an arrow but only gaping at the Shadow Warg, the Horde warriors around us doing the same. Attila shook himself as if overcoming an enchantment and raised his battle-axe. "Greywolf's my friend," he yelled as the beast approached. "You can't have him." Shite, the Shadow Warg's going to rip him apart. I tried to shout, warn him to get out of the way, but my voice came out as a croak as the creature tensed itself. Then it leapt straight at Attila as he swung downward.

A grey oval appeared between them and the Shadow Warg passed through it.

It disappeared and Attila checked his swing, gaping at the place the beast had just been as I let out the breath I'd been holding. The Horde warriors seemed shaken, as if they'd just seen a ghost, and a large one yelled something at the others, motioning to where the Shadow Warg had been, then back at Attila.

The others nodded and yelled the same thing. The large warrior began banging his sword against his shield, the others joining in, then more from behind us. Glancing back, the warriors on the walls were yelling the same phrase as they also banged on their shields or thumped their two-handed weapon on the walls or towers.

I looked at Hypam. "What's going on?"

Hypam's expression turned sardonic. "You just gave the warriors the sign they'd been looking for. Ghazan there," Hypam pointing at the large warrior who'd started the chant, “told the others the new clan's spirit just fought for us, and has now entered Attila. News of this is going to spread like a fire on the dry grass."

I shivered as I realized how close a call that had been. "If papa hadn't been waiting for this to happen, it likely would've knocked Attila aside and torn me apart."

"Not true," and we both jumped as papa appeared beside us and knelt down. "It doesn't want to hurt you, it wants to become you... or rather, wants you to merge with it and become a Warg in truth."

"Seriously?" Papa nodded, and I said, "I don't understand. Asena told me that when I was conceived, you decided what elements of yourself to put in and what to leave out." He nodded again and I shook my head. "Why did you make it possible for me to become a monster?"

He reached out with a calloused hand and smoothed my hair. "Your mother told you she was bred by her parents for war, right?" I nodded, and he got to his feet. "So were you. When the dragon closes the last gate, you will understand."

Papa winks at us, then opens a grey gate behind him, steps through, and is gone.