The sun had long since set as we made our way back into Issel. The Wultr, though healed, were ragged and starving after their ordeals, and it was somewhat of a relief that the Issel guards let us into the castle without much fuss. I could tell they were nervous with our presence, and to be fair, it made sense. The Woltar were scary enough, but now Grastad was tromping sixteen feet tall, drinking their ale and eating their food like he’d not been fed in a year.

Johan came and found me once everyone had settled down. His face wrinkled up with concern. “Lord Clive, there is going to be no food left if the beast kin continue eating in this way. We expected our supplies to last another six months, and that was with three hundred children to feed.”

“Yeah. They’re greedy bastards, all right. But you're going south tomorrow or the next day, and they’ll be hunting the whole way to Far Reach, so I wouldn’t worry, Johan. It’s probably a two-week journey. Feeding them up now will only help you and your men in the future. They won’t forget your kindness.”

Johan scanned his lounging visitors with doubt in his eyes. They didn’t make a pretty sight, it was true.

There was shouting from above. It took a minute to get clarity, but I soon learned that Halbraker had arrived at the castle. The large doors opened to admit the burly Dwarf who looked about as happy as when I’d left him. He was followed by ten others, who didn’t seem to harbor the same resentment and talked to some of my team from Far Reach while Halbraker made a beeline for me.

“You’re back then, lad, and you found the Wultr. Well done.”

“Thanks, Halbraker. What brings you here?”

“I thought you might want to sleep in the guardhouse in a bit more comfort.”

“That is very kind of you,” I gushed. I hoped my sarcasm was evident. “What’s the real reason?”

He puffed out his cheeks in frustration. “That is the real reason. We need to get a good start on tomorrow.”

“Ah, there it is,” I laughed. “Well, I’m sorry, Halbraker, but I still have to talk with the Wultr here about finding Wind of the Wild, and I…”

“We know where Wind of the Wild is and how to get to him, Clive. Stop pissing about and let’s get going.”

“I hadn’t finished, Halbraker… and I want to spend the evening forming further bonds with future residents of Far Reach. Which I intend to still do. Don’t worry, though, we will be along first thing in the morning to get moving onto our next location.”

“Bah, you’re impossible. Be at the tunnel for sunrise. We have a schedule to keep,” he said, stomping off.

“How can we have a bloody schedule if we barely know where we’re going or what we’ll face each step of the way?”

Halbraker spun and marched back. “I have a schedule, which is to get you to Prismar so I can hand you off and go back home!” he snapped.

“Hand us off?” I asked, baffled.

“Yes. A squad of guards from Agorak are coming to take over, and the day can’t come too soon. Then they can deal with yer shite.”

I was surprised Halbraker was harboring such a grudge with me. I didn’t think things had gone that badly, but the whole kids from Issel thing seemed to have ruined our relationship completely.

“Well, Halbraker, I’m sorry you feel like that. I’ll see you in the morning so we can get to making your dreams come true.”

He went to go when I pulled him back again.

“Just one more thing, Halbraker. How come you didn’t tell us about knowing how to reach Wind of the Wild?”

“Because I didn’t know until this afternoon when I got Kalin to ask around in the Dwarven towns to the north and east of here.”

“Well, thank you for finding a way then,” I replied with real sincerity this time.

He waved my thanks off, muttering something about a schedule as he left the castle again.

“He really doesn’t like you,” Sania said, coming to stand next to me.

“Yup, I picked up on that, too. Thankfully, Darkness still does.”

I didn’t feel one hundred percent confident in that assertion. Sania didn’t look entirely convinced either. But she didn’t reply beyond taking my hand and leading me to a clear spot of ground where we could sleep for the night.

The following morning, I spoke with our new recruits for Far Reach, wishing them luck and speed on their journey south. I just hoped that the Wultr young and old had survived in the absence of their warriors. It was a clear worry for those we’d rescued, and they were clearly itching to get back to them, though it wasn’t spoken of.

With that done, we made our way to the tunnel entrance not long after the first rays of dawn. Halbraker was waiting with the door already open, making at least the effort to offer a neutral expression.

“Morning,” I said as I passed.

“Two days and a half days to get to the exit into the Palathi Peaks if we move with impetus. Are you ready?”

“Impetus away, Halbraker. I try not to make a habit of wishing my life away, but on this occasion, I will make an exception and join you,” I replied with a wide smile for the taciturn Dwarf.

Someone snorted behind me as we set off. My first instinct was to assume it was Sania, who rarely kept her amusement contained. So I was mildly surprised to find it was in fact Danivra this time.

“Clive, I’m impressed. I hadn’t realized you had such a high skill level in passive aggressiveness.”

“I surprise myself sometimes. Though, I don’t think I’ve made the relationship any better with Halbraker, but I get the impression he never wanted to be here in the first place.”

“Yes. I got that impression too, and he is a fool for that. I believe, when we are successful with this endeavor, we may well make history.”

“I’ll settle for keeping me and everyone else alive a little longer.”

“Also an admirable aim.”

“I think I’m going to need to change,” Grastad said a few minutes into our journey, bringing an end to my internal conversation with Danivra.

I turned back to look at the huge Nysti. He was a few rows back from me, but he did almost fill the tunnel with his bulk, stooping uncomfortably to avoid his head grazing along the ceiling.

“Do what you’ve gotta do, man. Thanks for the warning though.”

“I thought you would appreciate it. All right, gimme some space.” He grinned, then morphed.

I exchanged confused glances with Sania at the change. Grastad had gotten bigger. At least it seemed that way to me. He’d increased in width and length, but I supposed on the plus side for the enormous brown bear, he now had about two foot of head clearance in the fifteen-foot-high tunnel.

After that little interlude, punctuated with huffs, puffs, and sighs from the increasingly irritated Halbraker, we were off again.

The other Dwarves leading us didn’t seem to share the same negative attitude toward me or us as a group, but the souring of relations with their leader made the atmosphere generally more subdued and uncomfortable.

On the evening when we settled in the towns along the way, we now sat removed from each other for our meals, and communication all but died out completely.

On the third day of travel, when we expected to reach our destination, there was a noticeable change in terrain and environment. For the first time since entering the Nideland, the walls were noticeably less polished as we entered a narrower tunnel that followed a slight incline.

A few miles later following that path, the tunnel had narrowed so much that Grastad could go no further without becoming wedged. We ended up having to back up enough to discuss our best route forward.

“If you want to go up to the Palathi Plateau, this is the way. He’s a going to have to go back to the last town,” Halbraker snapped, waving his hand in Grastad’s direction.

Grastad morphed into his human form remaining on all fours. It would have been comical if not for the circumstances.

“If that’s what we have to do, then it’s fine. This is no fun in here for me.”

“I’ll send someone back with you,” Halbraker replied. “We’ve got rooms prepared for the next leg. They can take him there to wait for us.”

I shook my head. “I’ll send some of our people, too. Grigor, Danivra, pick a person each to accompany him. Grastad, pick a Nystiobek, too.”

When we finally got back to our trek, it quickly became obvious that we’d made the right decision sending him back as the tunnel grew narrower still, with the other Nystiobek and Woltar, including Sania and Grigor, choosing to revert into their animal forms.

By the time we reached the doors to exit the Nideland, the ceiling height had dropped to six feet high, and I was starting to freak out within the confines.

Exited the tunnel, I was speechless as the cold air hit my lungs, and I took in an awe-inspiring, panoramic view of Kalabri from the side of a snow-capped mountain thousands of feet above the ground.

There was a vastly different feel about the place compared with the Craster mountains, with a feint hum of controlled magic permeating the thin air.

“All right then,” I said as upbeat as I could in the freezing cold. Thankfully, none of our group were too shabby in the area of Constitution. “Let’s get hunting again. Can anyone smell a powerful Wultr?” I laughed.

I noticed a different expression on the Wultr around me, and on the elves' faces, too. They were all looking above the entrance of the cave we’d just exited. I followed their gazes up to a distinctly average-sized wolf. The averageness stopped there.

Wind of the Wild: Level 163, Amarok (Wultr III).

“Well fuck.” I said, taking in the wolf and giving him a wave, despite everyone else being frozen with fear.

What really caught me off guard was that even Danivra seemed mildly terrified of the scrawny looking wolf. To my eyes, he looked just like a real wolf when compared with the Wultr in their wolf forms, who looked more like caricatures.

After a few moments of shock, the Wultr with us all lay flat in the snow in total silence. This was not what I’d been expecting, but I wasn’t going to get all-star struck.

“Hey, Wind of the Wild. Would you speak with us?” I swear to god he raised an eyebrow at me and seemed to study me intently for the first time. I groaned inwardly knowing what he would see.

“Speak and I will listen,” he said into my mind, which was quite frankly terrifying.

“Okay. We’ve come north to offer help to those displaced from the war with Destruction and Justice. We can give them a safer place. Not that we don’t have problems there too, mind you. And we’re fully aware that the armies plaguing Kalabri will eventually come for us too.”

“Noble indeed. But that is not why you have invaded my mountains. I see the Dwarves were at least sensible enough to not cross the threshold of their door. Did you know that I would kill them if they did venture out?”

“Uhm, nope. Nobody told me anything like that. Nor that our arrival here would be considered an invasion.”

“Would you have come still?”

I looked around at my friends, and I was beginning to think this was a seriously bad idea. This wolf was far too calm for my tastes, and too clever.

“Yes, I would. Because I need help and I can’t see any reason not to at least ask for it. What’s the worst that can happen? You say no.”

“I would imagine my pack and I killing you all is much worse, yet still not the worst that could happen. Now ask your request and we will see how this will play out.”

“Sure,” I said feigning nonchalance. “Natom Hilgresh wants to kill me.”

“I assume he is after the power of Creation blossoming in you?”

“You sensed it then,” I said, swallowing the fear that had also blossomed.

“I did. And have no fear. I have no wish to take it from you. I doubt your followers would let me.”

“I dunno. You’re pretty fucking powerful, mate. Is this your magic I can feel in the air all around us?”

“It is. But then your group is not without power, and any battle would result in unnecessary loss of life.”

“So we’re not fighting. In that case, do you want to help me against Natom? Maybe move south to Far Reach with us? You do have a pack, right?”

“I do. Six hundred strong deeper in the mountains, near the sacred hot springs. As for moving, I think not, young man,” he laughed. “We have everything we need up here and I have no need, nor desire to travel the world again. Nor do I particularly wish to face Natom Hilgresh. I wish to remain alive and at peace in my mountains. Have you any other strong tier three allies other than the queen?”

“Not exactly. We have an alliance of sorts with Darkness and Devotion, but I need people who I can… erm, that are behind me.”

“Wise to not trust in your current allies entirely. So I assume you are attempting to collect the allegiance of powerful neutrals. Who else do you plan on asking?”

“Halak the Dokalfar mage, Olata the Fae warrior, Cushec the dragon, and Stada the Gran.

Wind of the Wild answered first with boisterous laughter that reverberated around my mind.

“Halak, most certainly. He will follow the queen I am sure. But I would advise supreme haste if you wish to recruit him. As for Olata, maybe. It’s unlikely, but you never know. The last two offering help would amount to the biggest surprise of my long life. Stada is different. He doesn’t look upon the world in the same way most mortal beings do. There is no moral compass with him. As for Cushec, beware. He is the most likely to try and take the seed. His first interest will always be increasing his own power.”

“Well, that’s a bit of a damp squib,” I said more to myself.

Wind of the Wild laughed again, more subdued this time. “Here is what I will do. If you can convince Stada the Gran and any two of the others on your list to stand with you against Natom, then I will be there too.”

“What, really? How the hell will you know?”

Wind of the Wild suddenly vanished from the top of the tunnel, dissipating into gray smoke. I thought he’d gone, but I felt a nudge from behind me, spinning around there he was. Up close, it was even harder to believe he was a threat. On a whim, I focused on the Neuma patterns. There was always a swirling maelstrom of colors around individuals when I looked, and if Wind in the Wild’s suddenly visible aura was anything to go by, the fucker was an absolute beast.

The main bulk of color was gray, but there were streaks of purples and greens swirling around his huge golden core. I even saw a few golden strands weaving in with the other colors, leading me to believe that he was packing a bit of raw Neuma use himself.

“It means I will be there when you need me, if Stada and two of the others stand by your side when Natom appears. Once, and only once,” he said.

“Well, I can’t say I’ll complain…”

Of course the mangy mut had disappeared.

“What happened?” Grigor asked. “Where did he go?”

“Back to his pack, I reckon.”

Grigor looked concerned. “So, what do we do now? Try and track him?”

“Nah, we’re done here. He said he’ll come if we can convince Stada the Gran and at least two of the others to help us out.”

Grigor nodded. “I can’t believe I met him.”

“He wasn’t what I expected. I’ll give you that,” I said. “So do you all shrink again at Amarok level?”

Grigor smirked. “No, Clive, you become as close to a spirit as can be whilst still alive. You can choose your form. I am in awe of the Wind of the Wild. I think it is a humble and honorable form, and should I ever become reach Amarok tier, I will choose the same form.”

“Cool,” I replied, not really sure what else to say. “We’ll get you there, mate. Or die trying.”

Surprisingly, he saluted me with a thump to his chest.

“Okay, everyone. Our work here is done, but we better get weaving. Wind of the Wild told me Halak will probably be glad of our company sooner rather than later.”