Darkness came soon after Chris, Spring and her brother Bo had settled down. Thick clouds at the horizon blocking out the light of the sun. Now it meant to wait until the sun was only a couple of hours away from rising again. The point where even the most determined guard had trouble staying awake after being woken way to soon for the shift change.

The attack was risky, if the enemy noticed them too soon they would be forced to either retreat or take heavy losses in a head on fight. Not that there were an awful lot of soldiers left to lose, after the last couple of fights their number had dwindled to twelve soldiers and two kids.

The force encamped at the bottom of the hill was far greater and if Erik was to judge there were even more coming to unite their forces. Even more important to cut down their numbers before that happened.

With the night came the cold, the last couple of days had been frosty, the plants covered in a sparkling armor with the rise of the sun. The leaves on the trees had not yet fallen off, the weather was being strange. Winter should be at least another four weeks away, it had barely turned to autumn yet.

Next to him Spring had fallen asleep, still covered in dirt and smelling like a rancid piece of dung. Bo was out and about gathering something Erik was sure he did not want to get stung by. Summer and the others were still hiding in the cave, there had been one close call when one of the soldiers had wandered too far to take a leak and nearly fallen into the mouth of the cave.

Luckily one of his comrades saw him and pulled him back to his post before any of Summer's soldiers had over reacted and killed him. The camp quieted down quickly after the sun was gone, most of them too tired to resist sleep for long. The guards fought their silent war with sleep and Erik was surprised to see that only one of them lost his battle.

He had always thought the soldiers of Goldhill to be complacent and arrogant, not expecting an assault on their camp so far within their territories but what he saw spoke of the opposite. Not many soldiers would be so valiant in their duties when the chances of an attack were so low.

Spring stirred in her sleep mumbling something about honey, the girl was pretty much the only one that managed to sleep before an assault such as this. Every other soldier would be happy about not losing their food, let alone calmly curl up and sleep for a couple of hours before the fight.

It was different for Erik, the idea of sleeping right before a battle was less than appealing to him. The wolves always smelled bloodshed before it began, making the dreams especially bloody.

Over the last couple of months Erik had begun to accept the spirits as part of himself, learning from their experiences rather than blocking them out and fighting for control. The last part occurred every now and then when he was tired or his resolve weakened.

Chris rolled on his back, the stars shining through the trees and their needles, his nostrils flared as he sucked in the air, tasting for a change he knew would come sooner or later. The smell of snow was faint, barely noticeable in fact but still there, drifting down from the mountains surrounding their position. The cold taste had something soothing and the beasts within his mind calmed down. Early in the morning he would be descending through the forest to march into the enemy camp and deliver death upon death, preferably without resistance

Not at all what he had expected his biggest victory to be, but the only way they stood a chance of succeeding tomorrow.

Looking at the stars Erik thought back to the times he, Cara and Al would watch for constellations during their trip to Blackriver, he wondered what the two of them were up to right about now. Probably experiencing some great adventure, he just hoped none of them had the bad luck of finding themselves in enemy territory at the time winter would hit.

Summer had heard about a cave not too far from their current position which they could use to stay hidden during the winter, if they had enough food.

The time passed as he watched the stars and listened to Spring's breath, every now and then sounds escaped the branches of the trees. The moon rose in and trailed over the sky, while Erik just stayed still and waited for time to pass, for the suspense to ease and the bloodshed to begin.

The moment they had all been waiting for was upon them, Erik woke Spring as Bo appeared from the shadows, covered in mud and gripping his knife tightly. the three of them slowly made their way down the slope and towards the camp, Erik's senses flared up and he noticed the four guards.

all four of them were still awake, he cursed silently, two were at one end of the small canyon and two on the other side. Well within shouting distance and worst of all they were leaning against trees, huddled in their blankets against the morning frost.

Summer and her troops would be waiting for him to give the signal, any delay would be interpreted as to dangerous to attack. Spring pulled at his arm, when he turned the girl had drawn her axe and blade, both of which were to big for her.

She signalled him to go for the right one while she would be taking care of the left, the determination in her eyes had him consider it. The girl was one of the best infiltrators they had, silent and small enough to not be noticed he did not doubt that she could sneak up on the soldier. What he did doubt was if she could follow through with killing the man quickly and quietly.

When spring saw the doubt in Erik's eyes she held her dagger up, something gleamed on the blade, something oily, poison. He shook his head, of course the girl knew what was at stake. Erik took a deep breath and nodded, Bo followed his sister to the other side of the canyon where the two of them disappeared between the green bushes without making sound.

Erik sat down and unstrapped his boots, as soon as his feet touched the frosty ground he turned them partially into wolves paws. Fur sprouting from his skin, the bones twisting and moving about to match the paws of a large wolf.

His eyes got sharper and his ears changed as well, everything her needed to make sure this would work. Silently he began moving through the bushes, listening for every noise with his improved hearing. The twins were moving fast through the sides, making little noise but it was enough for him to hear their excitement.

One of the guards coughed silently and the noise seemed like a thundercrack to him, he froze and waited before he resumed his way through the thin bushes. His prey came into sight through the branches of a small tree, his head was turned to the side, eyes watching a sleeping soldier close to him, a woman. Luck seemed to be on his side, he fastened his steps, his knife raising, the thin blade aimed at the man's throat.

At the last second the man turned away from his comrade, just in time for Erik to ram the dagger square through his throat, one hand clenching over his mouth as a gurgling sound was about to escape his throat. The man spasmed a couple of times, one hand weakly pulling on Erik's before he slumped despair in his eyes.

On the other side of the canyon the second Guard put up more of a fight, a knife was buried in his throat and Bo was clenching both hands over his mouth, voam trailing through his fingers. Spring was still holding the knife in the man's throat, shock in her eyes as she hesitated for another second. Then she tore the blade through the front of the neck leaving a ghastly cut from where blood gushed, steaming in the cold air.

The soldier next to Erik, the woman stirred in her sleep, he crouched down and silently moved towards her. She opened her eyes sleepily, reaching for them with one arm to rub the sleep away. The blade struck right below her chin, blocking her airway and severing at least one artery as he pulled it through her throat. She was dead before her hand reached her eyes.

The twins had subdued their target and were now sneaking towards Erik, heavy breaths escaping their lips. Spring was shaking a little, Erik signed them to get to the others and begin the main operation.

He himself began with the grisly work of murdering the sleeping soldiers. When he had signed up for the division the belief that drove him was to make the world a better place, now he was not so sure something like this could lead to something better for everyone.

Within minutes the remaining soldiers and Summer were swarming over the sleeping enemies, while outmatched four to one sleeping soldiers do not put up a fight. A scream sounded through the air, one of Erik's comrades had stood on crows feet, small iron traps with four needles bound together in the middle forming a sort of star that no matter how you threw it always had one thorn raised into the air.

The camp began to stir, Summer's soldiers hastily trying to kill as many of the now waking soldiers as possible before they were outmatched. Shouts grew louder, weapons were pulled and within minutes the camp was a chaos of fights, small groups of soldiers that had just awakened tried to raise their dead comrades only to be cut down from behind.

Erik and his comrades had killed most of the soldiers in their sleep but the remaining forces were still sizeable enough to cause them serious harm. Summer called the troops back to her side, the enemy had closed ranks and while most of the soldiers were not wearing their full gear her soldiers had not yet formed up and were easy pickings for the enemy.

Both sides were now in battle formation, Erik and the twins staying at the side, waiting for an opportunity to strike over the flanks and disturb the enemy lines.

The two lines advanced towards each other, when Bo pointed behind enemy lines, a single figure stood behind, hectically trying to slip into his armor the commander had sent the troops to battle so he might get dressed in peace.

Erik sat out, followed by the twins, his legs and ears had turned back to normal, he drew his second, slightly thicker, blade. As they passed by the enemy soldiers one of them turned towards their direction, the soldier yelled a warning and two more turned towards Erik and the twins but luckily the commander did not hear his soldiers. The front retreated, they broke the formation and ran towards the still oblivious commander. The twins split off from Erik, one darting to the right the other to the left. Bo threw a rock at soldiers still following Erik while Spring ran towards the front line where a couple of Goldhill's soldiers had engaged Summer and her troops.

The commander looked up when the soldier form before yelled a warning again, his eyes widened as he saw Erik approaching him both blades at his side. He dropped the helmet and closed one hand around the hilt of his sword, Erik threw the smaller blade, not the smartest choice but he had to kill the man fast if he wanted to get out of this alive. There was no way he would survive fighting the eight soldiers behind him with the sparse armour and weapons he had taken for the job at hand.

The knife struck the man straight in the face, pommel first. The impact was enough for the commander to stumble backwards, his hand reaching for his cheekbone. Erik leapt forward dagger slicing through the man's throat as he ran past him and towards the safety of the woods.

A cracking sound from the bushes in front of him sounded, something darting forwards so fast it was nothing but a blur to him. The bolt struck his shoulder and knocked him off balance, he fell to the side as the second bolt passed through the air where his throat would have been moments before.

Pain shot through his right arm, the bolt had lodged itself in his shoulder, cracking the bone. He pulled himself upright and ran to the left, the soldiers following him were forming ranks making a shield wall facing the unknown assailants.

Erik pulled himself upright and was nearly hit by another bolt, the wooden projectile scraping past his head trailing a small line of blood slightly above his ear. Cursing, he rolled to the side and behind a small rock. Behind the enemy soldiers Summer and her men came running, with a war scream they tore into the shieldwall from behind, the enemy wavered.

The bushes from where the crossbow had been shot parted, three lines of heavily armed infantrymen walked towards the skirmish, their sigils bore the stag of Goldhill, heavy infantry.

Erik pulled the bolt from his shoulder, the pain blackening his vision for a second, the first lines of soldiers had nearly reached the battle their brothers in arms were losing.

"Retreat!" Erik yelled as loud as he could, "It's an ambush!" he wasn't sure about that, but either way Summer and the remaining men were in no condition to fight what looked like and entire company of heavily armed infantry.

He himself was beyond the reach of his comrades, gritting his teeth he did the only thing he could, run.

He chose to run towards the side of the mountain, changing his form as he ran, from a human back to the form of the wolf, leaving behind everything he owned as his clothes slipped from the now unfitting body.

He could hear screams of surprise, a bolt shot past him as he dove into the bushes. Above them the sky opened its gates and white spots drifted towards the ground.

His paws struck the ground as Erik clumsily adjusted his run to the body of the wolf, vision changing he nearly ran straight into a wall of stone as he reached the side of the canyon.

Turning right the wolf stopped, listening for followers, a couple of footsteps sounded from afar but not the sound of a pursuing army.

A growl escaped him, he had hoped the soldiers would take his chance for a bad omen and follow him, if they decided to stay behind Summer and her group were in trouble.

Time to delay the enemy, hopefully the sight of a larger wolf would do the trick, Erik searched his mind for one of the old wolves that had roamed this world centuries ago.

He felt himself changing as his form changed again, the change was not easy, other than the form of the small wolf he was used to the larger one was more complex, the spirit less inclined to help.

After minutes of concentration and pain as muscles mended and bones snapped into place Erik was whole once again, his eyes now on the same level as they would usually be, as he raised his head.

Turning his head he guessed his size to be about as large as a small stag, yet twice as wide. Fear would be the optimal distraction for Summer and her soldiers to get away.

With a powerful leap Erik vanished between the trees.