The Order of the Wolf had existed for several hundred years before the War of Liberation. In fact, it was the Order of the Wolf’s withdrawal from the war between the nation of Philippa and the Anglish Empire that cost the nation its sovereignty. The Order withdrew into their secret holdfast during the Anglish occupation and discreetly sent out warriors as mercenaries during the Anglish Empire’s rule.

The War of Liberation was a strange, chaotic time. No historian could tell you how long the war lasted, time seemed to behave strangely. The sky split open, air crystalized into glass, horses stampeded across the oceans and under the mountains. Fish drowned in the ocean, and it rained burning gold. All the rules that seemed to govern the world were disturbed when what some called The Final Solution forcibly tore a God from the sky and smote them upon the ground.

A comet fell from the sky that day and tore a rip in the ground as it landed. From that day, chaos churned the land of Philippa. Brother turned against brother, parents against their children, armies crumbled, nothing could stay cohesive for very long. Even the Order was affected, though they created strict and rigid rules of behavior for their warriors to combat it. And, truth be known, they used it as a screen to keep the curious and the determined away from their secret demesne. As long as people were fighting each other, it kept them from looking for the Order’s home ground.

Because of the events that cost Philippa its independence, the Order of the Wolf refused to countenance servitude to any power.

Alysia and Lynnabel eyed the Yamato very carefully as they went about their business. Whatever lurked in the ground beneath Philippa was one of many things that they used to screen away intruders. If the Yamato meant to remove that screen, then it fell to the Wolf sisters to respond to that.

“Alysia, what are you doing?” Lord Captain Aldric’s voice piped up from behind her. As she turned around, the man waved his hand dismissively to indicate that whatever her reply was, it didn’t matter.

“I need you to rouse Daveth from his tent. Morden came back early; we’re going to get this done as quickly as possible.” He ordered, and she gave him a contemplative look.

“I have morning patrols, Lord Captain.” she deflected, but he flapped his hand again. “Go get him and bring him to the command... building.” He gestured to the half-sunken building they’d been using to plan their strategies.

She frowned at him. Did he not know? Was he not aware? Or was this some sort of deliberate provocation? Humans could be surprisingly perceptive at times, and at others, overwhelmingly oblivious. She wasn’t certain if Aldric knew what he was asking.

Waking Daveth was dangerous. There were stories about how he’d strangled soldiers to death in his sleep, or knifed them, or crushed them. Audra apparently had been the only one to escape his violence. Even then, It was possible that with her passing, he was even more violent, though she was not particularly known for her ability to judge a man’s worth.

She eyed the Lord Captain very carefully, to see if there were any sign that he was aware of how dangerous his second-in-command was. She wished for her sister; she was sharing the Lord Captain’s bed and could have provided some valuable insight into the Lord Captain’s character.

She saluted silently and set off through the streets of whatever ancient city this had been towards where Daveth made his den. She couldn’t help but think of it that way; he seemed dangerously unhinged to her, a beast in the shape of a man. This land did him no favors; it seemed that whatever curse the thing in the earth put out, he was surprisingly susceptible.

The building he’d chosen didn’t have a door; he’d draped the massive cloak that Alysia had made for him across the entrance. She wasn’t sure if she should be pleased that he was still using it, or if she should be offended because he was not using it for its intended purpose.

She hammered her fist on the wall in a brisk tattoo. “It’s morning, Lord Commander.” She called out.

Daveth immediately raised his voice. “I’m up. Get in here.”

She wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so after a moment’s thought, she pulled aside the massive cape and slipped inside.

Daveth was up and dressed, and hunched over a small pot that bubbled mysteriously over a small fire. As she took in the scene, he dusted his hands over the pot, letting some herb or seasoning fall in.

It really was like a den, she decided. It was filled with the smell of him, of sweat and leather and woodsmoke and whatever spices he’d put into the pot.

He eyed her. “Do you have your bowl?” She gave him a puzzled look. Her bowl? It was back at camp, in the tent she shared with Lynnabel, when her sister wasn’t creeping off to spend time with the Lord Captain.

“No... I don’t.”

“You don’t have your bowl? Go get it and come back.” He made a shooing gesture at her. “Run, girl.”

She half-turned to do as he asked, but stopped. “It would be inappropriate for me to dine with you in this way, Lord Commander.”

He smiled at her. “I know. Do it anyway.”

He often did things like this. He had no care for things like propriety. She blinked as a realization hit her; he was implicitly asking her to spend time with him. Time alone.

Well, that had an appeal all of its own. She gave him a small smile and nodded, ducking out of his room.

*****

Daveth met with Malacath and Aldric in the command building. Apparently, while he was sleeping, Aldric, Malacath and Yukiko had spent time in marking out the visible parts of the trench on a map.

“Where were you? Sent for you an hour ago.” Aldric complained.

“Eating breakfast.” Daveth replied simply, and slid the map over towards himself. “There’s tunnels in that mess?” He wondered aloud.

“I didn’t see you at the mess tent, and yeah, we’ve spotted what’s probably some sewage tunnels.”

“Cooked my own meal.” Daveth replied absently. “Any idea where these tunnels lead?”

Aldric rolled his eyes. “Like you know how to cook.”

Daveth grinned. “Do you?” He challenged, and Aldric rolled his eyes.

“I’m too busy.”

Daveth barked a laugh and looked to Morden. “The kingdom have anything to say about their Angel Queen being dead?”

“They took her body down, I learned that much on my own when I passed where you said it was planted. Don’t know if she’s got an heir or if there’s gonna be a succession, apparently everything at the top has gone silent. People are expecting another civil war and a breakup of the baronies.”

Daveth rubbed his chin. “Might give us some breathing room. Might not. I hate the idea of an assault while we’re dangling over a pit.” Daveth remarked curtly. “I say we take one file of men; you, me, Yukiko, and maybe Malacath and a couple of his healers with us, just in case. Leave everyone else up top, triple red.”

Aldric moved to stroke his beard and remembered he’d shaved. He awkwardly thumbed his chin instead. “Infantry? Or should we bring the riflemen?”

“Infantry. Leave the guns up top.” Daveth decided.

“Excuse me, I would like to gain some clarification, if you don’t mind.” Malacath interjected.

Daveth eyed the elf curiously. The man seemed willing to go along with whatever Aldric suggested before.

“As I am given to understand the situation, currently the Yamato have their own command structure, as does the Seventh Seal- and my forces as well, of course.” He glanced at each of them in turn. “You don’t think it’s hasty or perhaps dangerous to drop the command staff of three separate forces into this pit- when we have no idea what’s down there, and no idea if we’re vulnerable to assault up here?”

“When you put it that way, it does seem like a bad thing to do.” Daveth acknowledged.

“Thank you.” Malacath agreed.

“What say you, Yukiko?” Aldric asked.

“I can’t send the Maidens. They don’t have the necessary training.” She replied. “If I had my sister priestesses with me, there wouldn’t be a problem, but for me; I have to go.”

“I’m nominally responsible for them, so I have to go.” Aldric replied. “Though I’ll take Daveth’s suggestion and bring a file of infantry with me.”

“Don’t forget Malacath’s healers.”

Aldric nodded. “I doubt they’d be comfortable taking orders from me so soon, so that means I’ll have you accompany them, Malacath.”

Malacath frowned at that. “They’ll take orders from you. We swore an oath.”

Aldric shrugged. “It’s not about following orders, it’s about comfort. They’re used to looking to you for direction. I’m not going to usurp that.” He looked to Daveth. “I can leave the armies up here to you, right?”

“As if you had to ask.” Daveth replied.

“Don’t spend all day tickling Alysia under her chin and you’ll do fine. Prep the troops- Malacath’s included- for a possible assault.”

Daveth broke the squads up into their individual files and began setting up deployment points and fallback positions, defensible positions, killboxes and ambush points. It came as a surprise that one of the better killboxes in the city ruins had his hut at its heart.

“It’s things like this that make me think the world has a sick sense of humor.” Daveth muttered darkly to Alysia, who shrugged indifferently.

The drills continued all day, with a break for lunch. Again, Alysia was able to join Daveth for the meal, but just like breakfast, he was quiet during the meal and simply ignored Alysia’s conversation gambits.

After lunch was rounds of mock battles.

Well, that was the original plan, except that Malacath’s forces were completely different from Daveth’s view. They used magic for everything. They didn’t carry shields; they simply reinforced their armor with magic until it was nigh-impermeable. By pouring magic into their swords they could carve their way through anything. Any shortcomings were covered with magical gear and spells.

The Goldwings had a variety of different magical disciplines under their belts, but the Colors were extremely focused on one magical discipline revolving around a specific element.

In a brawl, the spellknights would move together in a coordinated unit, their magically powered blades cutting through anything without resistance, their armor shrugging off arrows, sword blades, spear thrusts, anything that Daveth threw at them.

“I’m outclassed.” Daveth finally admitted to one of the Goldwings during a break, who introduced herself as Teryl.

“I don’t think so at all.” She remarked casually. “You make effective use of the terrain, you know how to switch tactics on the fly. It may not look like it, but we’re all working very hard to understand your... unpredictability.”

Daveth shrugged. “The only things I haven’t tried yet are cavalry charges, dropping a building on you, and shooting you with the rifle squads.”

She burst into laughter. “Any one of those things would definitely kill us, Commander Daveth. You know your craft well.”

“What’d happen if you couldn’t use magic?” He asked curiously. “There’s been a couple of times when we’ve been in places where magic was scarce.”

The elves’ eyebrows climbed. “I’ve never encountered such a place. Are they common?”

Daveth gave her an ambiguous shrug and a nod, which could have meant anything.

“Strange.” She muttered. “We’d likely have to rely on crystals to pull through.”

Daveth recalled the late mage Corvin’s story about being stuck in a magically deprived battlefield for months.

“And when those ran out?” he asked, and her eyes opened wide.

“That happens?” She blurted, surprised.

Daveth nodded gravely.

“Will you teach us to fight without magic?” She asked suddenly, grabbing his arm. “I’d hate for us to be a liability.”

At the dinner call, Teryl joined Daveth and Alysia in the mess.

“I’d never once thought it would be so difficult to fight without magical power.” She remarked. “It was an eye-opening experience.”

Daveth had led his troops against hers and smashed through their barricade like it was kindling, and scattered their lines with practiced ease.

Their entire strategy revolved reinforcing with magic. If you weren’t strong enough, enhance your strength with magic. If your sword wasn’t sharp enough, use magic to strengthen it. Their armor, while robust, was designed to be lightweight and flexible, rather than capable of withstanding the rigors of aggressive combat without magical reinforcement.

“I’d like to have you train us as aggressively as you did today.” Teryl urged. “You’ve pointed out some glaring gaps in our knowledge of war, and I’d like to mitigate them as quickly as possible.”

He nodded.

Daveth opened his eyes to a familiar oceanside view. His back was against a low stone wall, he rested on dark, rich soil. Tiny seedlings struggled to grow under a sky that knew no sun, only roiling, burning clouds that shed a comfortable yellow-red glow. Not far away, the soil gave way to pebbled sand; an inky black ocean lapped against it.

Off to the side, the stone foundation and hearth of a house long since destroyed remained as testament that something had tried to build a house here at some point.

He looked up; embers and sparks drifted on the wind, gleaming and winking out.

“Where am I?” He muttered, not expecting an answer.

A girl’s voice from behind laughed delightedly. “You always ask the same things, Daveth.”

He tried to turn, but his body was sluggish and didn’t want to move. He felt inordinately heavy, as if his body had been filled with sand.

The girl hopped down from the wall and sat next to him. “This is Renyi Zhixin-li, the Realm of the Phoenix.” She answered.

“I ... think I remember.” He muttered, and tried to raise his hand. His arm barely moved.

“Yes, but you always forget.” She chided him gently. Her hair and dress were flames that radiated a comfortable warmth; in her eyes a living flame danced in the pupils.

“You... don’t like answering questions.” He recalled.

“I don’t mind answering questions.” She contradicted. “I don’t like answering stupid questions. Or repeating myself.”

“...sorry.” He managed.

She stood then, and eyed him carefully. He didn’t want to meet her gaze. There was something hungry, predatorial in that burning raptor’s gaze. Something else lurked there, too. A brilliant, ancient intelligence that vastly outstripped anything he’d ever known.

Staring into her eyes was like gazing into what lay beyond the cliffs of infinity.

“You’re hurting.” She decided after what seemed to be a millenia’s worth of time.

He struggled to find words, but they slipped from his mind like sand spilling from his fingers.

She knelt next to him, and he averted his eyes. Whatever she was, she inhabited the body of a small child, with a child’s innocent lack of modesty.

She held out her hand, and a small flame burned in the center of her palm.

“I took this from you a long time ago because I thought it would bring you peace.” She explained, reaching out to lift his chin and turn his face to hers. A complicated expression grew on her childlike face. “It’s a protection of sorts from some things. But it’s also a curse.” She tenderly stroked his face. “It will bring you no peace.” She finally admitted. “Knowing that, would you take back what you once had?” She asked curiously.

He shook his head against her hand. “I don’t understand.”

“Mortals often say that.” She replied. “Would you like to be whole and complete again, even knowing the burden that comes with it?”

He looked at the flame that danced in the palm of her hand and heard the echo of mocking, lunatic laughter and the savage roar of a beast that walked like a man.

A monstrous form hurtled across a forgotten battlefield like a comet, hands splayed like curving claws. A thousand soldiers flung themselves at him; he swatted them away like flies. In his furious rage he toppled buildings, destroyed fortifications, and crushed all opposition and still he hungered for more.

He saw all of it in the heart of the flame that flickered in her palm. Unswerving, relentless power that burned in his heart like a torch.

He shied away from it. It was too close to what he had been before he’d been taught to control his rages.

“Will I lose myself?” he asked her, fear etched in his face. She smiled at him. “You would be regaining what I once took from you, Mortal.” She disagreed. “The limitless power of the Marauder.”

She leaned forward and whispered into his ear and his hand twitched, brushing the pouch at his waist.

Morning found Daveth irritable and cranky. He stumbled around, blinking at everything as if his eyes hurt. His head pounded like he had just finished a week-long bender and came out the other side. There was a feeling like ants beneath his skin and needles behind his eyes. He wanted to lash out, find the nearest human-shaped thing and smash it to pieces. A double thump on the wall of his room announced the arrival of Alysia. He turned towards the doorway.

Alysia woke from her dreams with a frown. Lynnabel greeted her with a warm smile.

“You always have that same expression when you wake, sister.” Lynnabel teased gently, and then tapped the spot on her own forehead, just between her brows. “Your expression scrunches up right here.”

“Is there any Sister that welcomes her dreams?” Alysia complained irritably, tossing aside her thin blanket and moving towards their shared tub.

“We all dream of the Beast, sister.” Lynnabel replied as she poured a kettle of boiling water into the tub. “But when we wake, it is a new day, with new challenges and delights.” She poured several buckets of water into the tub, and moved to her truck to get some towels as Alysia slipped into the now lukewarm water and began her morning ablutions.

“Is the Lord Captain and the Yamato woman still in that pit?” Alysia asked and Lynnabel nodded.

“They have yet to emerge, it seems. Likely the Lord Commander will have us drilling and patrolling again today.”

“I think I shall ask to spar with him today.” Alysia decided. “I feel like I am beginning to understand his unpredictability. There may be a chance for victory this time.”

“Someone is certainly ambitious today.” Lynnabel offered with a smile. “Do you think you can win?”

Alysia scrubbed herself carefully. Cleanliness was important to the Sisters, as it demonstrated a separation from the world and an unspoken vow to exist within the restrictions of chivalric honor. Eschewing the chaos of nature and choosing instead to walk in the light and order of civilization.

Everything held meaning.

“I don’t know.” Alysia admitted. “But every match shortens the gap and widens my chances for success. I don’t know if I will win today, but I will be closer than I was last week.”

“A shame you will be so busy today.” Lynnabel mock-complained. “It seems as though I shall have to eat all of the bacon for myself.”

Alysia stood up in the tub, sending water splashing everywhere. “Bacon?!”

Lynnabel laughed and twitched aside a cloth covering a platter of meat. “It seems as though Morden wasn’t entirely forthcoming about all of the things he bought when he was in town. It seems as though we have some bacon, sausages, chops, and steaks.” She laughed again, prankishly. “He thought to hide it, but he could not keep the scent of it from my nose. Meat, sister. We have meat again.”

“I need it!” Alysia blurted, and then blushed. Lynnabel arched an eyebrow, but kept the smile on her face. She knew why Alysia would say such a thing.

“That is to say... I think I will need more than my share.” She began awkwardly.

“Why?” Lynnabel asked, her face all innocence.

Alysia stepped out of the tub and began to briskly towel herself off. “I should have no need to answer that question, sister.” She retorted as she sat down and began to dress herself.

The walk to Daveth’s quarters was short. He liked to keep a certain distance from the rest of the Seventh Seal, but not such a distance that kept him from responding quickly to a situation. In many ways, he still tried to think of himself as part of the Seal, just another man in the ranks, but at the same time, he was a commanding officer, so he kept a small distance between himself and the people he was responsible for.

Alysia had finally learned something new about Daveth; apparently he had been promoted to Commander just hours before Lynnabel and Alysia had signed up with the Seal. She thought back to the day that she had met him.

He was massive of course, a giant of a man slouching in a chair that was ill-suited for his frame, struggling to accomplish his new duties alongside a hangover. She did not have a positive outlook on him at the time. To her he was just an exceptionally large variety of human. Big, yes, and strong, too. But still just a human with all the foibles and idiosyncrasies that plagued their kind.

Would she have treated him differently if he had been a simple soldier alongside herself and her sister?

She dismissed the thought after a moment’s consideration. There was no point in speculating on scenarios that would never happen.

She knocked on the side of his room and announced herself.

“Come in.” Daveth replied, and as she stepped into the room, Daveth eyed her from his seat on his bed. In that moment that their eyes met she suddenly had the feeling that he’d considered her a threat, assessed her, and summarily dismissed her as being dangerous.

Had he always done that?

“It seems we have some meat, Lord Commander.” She offered, and he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“I’m looking forward to it already.” He replied. “Did one of the scouts bag a deer or something?” He asked, so Alysia relayed what Lynnabel had told her about Morden’s purchases.

He gave her a small half-smile. “Your sister is clever. I’ll have to run Morden into the ground today for thinking he could keep a treat for himself.”

As they ate breakfast, Daveth gestured with his fork. “I think today you’ll lead the drills, Alysia.”

She gave him a puzzled look.

“Don’t look at me like that.” He admonished. “To be honest i.m feeling restless, irritable, and cranky. It’s possible that I could hurt someone today, and so to avoid that, I think I’m going to ride out with the patrols.”

“So it is getting to you.” Alysia confirmed, and Daveth frowned at her.

“You’ve been swapping tales with the Yamato?” He asked, but flapped his hand dismissively at her. “Let it go. It’s safer for the Seal if I’m not sparring with you all right now, and I get to see to my duties while I’m at it. You get a taste of command in leading the drills. Don’t let me down.”

She nodded at that. “I won’t let you down.”