It hurts. Wounds are kept even after I transform. My back leg is still wounded and the trip to the fort took way longer than expected. My leg is hurting like hell and I still have to climb up that tower to give the maps to Veria. I'm exhausted and I need a bath.

"You are late."

Well fuck you too Veria, I just ran through several kilometers of ice and snow and got wounded by an angry bipedal gecko, all of that to get you some poorly drawn piece of paper that might save the life of all your friends, but sure, blame me for being late you brutish bloodthirsty coldfaced warmaid!

I'm tired. Really tired. Veria noticed it. That or my blood covered leg, I'm not sure and I don't care. She took me in her arms and checked my injuries then proceeded to bandage the worst ones. The cold made most of them worse than they should have been but it will heal in a day or two. After that she took the maps as I slowly fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

When I woke up, Lein smiled at me. We were in her room. She took me in her arms and hugged me tightly. When she finally let me go, Veria came in without a sound.

"Lein I'm sorry but I'll have to borrow Fenrir for a while."

"Why? Did he do something wrong? You didn't even tell me why he is wounded."

"I... Sent him on a scouting mission"

Veria practically had to force herself to spit those words. Lein's face flared in anger.

"What? You sent fenrir on a mission? My pet on a military recon operation? Is this a joke? I really hope it is."

The constant flow of aggressive questions was too much, even for Veria. She just stared at the ground with a guilty expression. When Lein ran out of breath she answered.

"I did what was the best for both Fenrir and you, if we don't do our best against the upcoming threat, he might get more than a few wounds."

Lein was sceptical but relented.

"Can I bring him with me in the the command center?"

"After I am done cuddling."

Lein hugged me for another half hour before Veria could finally bring me to the room where Reus was already comparing the goblin's map with his own. Veria dropped me on a chair, in front of a old wood plank.

"Those pests wanted to hide some of their troops in the forest overnight an use them to cut our retreat. They are way smarter than I thought but it should be manageable."

"That is if your estimate of their numbers is right. Lets ask our little spy if his observations are the same."

She turned toward me and asked:"Are there more or less goblin than Reus estimated?"

We stared at each other.

"You know cats can't talk right?" Reus asked.

"They don't need to."

As she said that I clawed the wood in front of me with my claws to draw the numbers: three, zero, zero, zero. Reus stared at us in disbelief while Veria kept asking.

"How many shamans?"

The wood was creaking every time I clawed through the worn out external layer of it. Comunicating this way is slow but it's the best i can do right now.

"Twelve, that's a lot. How many hobs."

The sound of the wood creaking and shattering is getting on my nerves.

"Three hundreds. Wolves?"

My nails are now covered in splinters and rotten wood.

"Two hundreds. Anything else?"

Nope, I'm not writing "Hundreds of iron weapons and shields, three hundreds bows and a goblin general with an enchanted ice sword" on this rotten piece of wood. Let's use forced empathy and sugestion.

Veria let out a strange moan as I entered her mind. I stared into her deep, cold, blue eyes and she stared back. To ease the conversation, I directly read her mind. I tried my best to convey a innanimate threat to her.

{Is it a siege machine? No, weapons maybe? Yes they have better weapons, a hundred or so of them. Also something that goes far. Slings? No. Bows ? Yes a lot of bows, probably two or three hundreds.}

Everything is going smoothly for now.

{Hmm the leader is strong. Also evil. Very evil. A demon? A goblin demon? A goblin general. He is very dangerous. Yes extremely dangerous.}

Oh come on it's obvious he is dangerous for a reason!

{Truly dangerous. And cold. Magic cold? A magician? No. A magic tool? Yes, an ice magic tool. A weapon? A weapon. A spear? No. A club? No. A sword? Yes. Red on it. Blood? No. Runes? Runes.}

Veria kept staring at me even after I left her mind, she seemed dazzled. Reus barely glanced at us as he kept looking at the goblin's map.

Once she had enough time to get back to us, Veria rushed to the table.

"What's wrong?"

"Goblin general. With an enchanted weapon. And they also found bows and metal weapons."

"Oh, we are in it deep aren't we?"

"Yup"

Veria and Reus restarted their strategy from scratch with the new informations I brought.

I left as soon as they used the word tactics. I may have a lot of intelligence but I still hate war tactics. I mostly just hate fighting with more than a party of adventurers. Most of the times when I fought with bigger groups were terrible. I hope this time will be an exception. I really hope it.

When I was crossing the courtyard, I heard Lein's voice.

"It's unfair if you have a familiar! It's like a two on one!"

"A sore loser aren't you miss? If familiars are this strong then get one yourself."

Someone is quite daring. Saying that to my master is asking for problems and I'll be happy to oblidge.

As I came closer, I saw Lein, covered in sweat, dirt and a few minor wounds, got up from the ground. The man smirking in front of her is the blondhaired doofus that I met when exploring the other day. Next to him, a paragon dog growled at Lein. These rare breeds of dog are known to be loyal servant and the best familiars when it comes to defense. They are also known for their golden fur and gigantic size compared to other dogs. Though they are way dumber than wise beasts.

"Well guess I have one now." Lein said smugly when I jumped in front of her.

"Ha, you think a cat will save you?" the man responded in the same tone.

Some of the soldiers that were watching the scene started whispering about wise beast and magic cats. Receiving none of the approval he expected, the dog tamer whistled to get his familiar's attention and took on a fighting stance. Lein did the same behind me and I hissed at the dog, who barked back. Lein instantly started chanting and our opponent tried what I suppose was the strategy used in the previous match.

The dog charged at Lein and his master knocked an arrow on his bow. A simple startegy, yet terribly efficient against mages, just don't let them cast. But now I'm here and i'm going to destroy that shoddy teamworks of theirs.

As soon as the dog was in range, I used sugestion to calm and disorient him. I took advantage of the resulting opening to pounce on his back and set him on fire with my beginer spell.

Your target is burning, inflicted 31 burn damage.

Wow, paragon dogs are way more resistant than golbins. Though they also burn quite well. And might share the same brainpower.

The dog started a mad dash toward the crowd, getting a few grunts from the audience that dodged the burning tamed wolf.

Your target is burning, inflicted 24 burn damage.

Your target is burning, inflicted 26 burn damage.

None seemed to care much but I could hear the splash of water behind them. At least someone felt concerned.

While I was enjoying the burning mutt's smell, his master shot an arrow toward Lein who used her ice magic to create a defensive wall between them then resumed chanting. The man pulled out a dagger and circled around the defensive formation only to meet my claws. I scratched his face and Lein froze his feets, making him fall heavily on his back.

Your target is grazed, inflicted 15 sharp damage.

Your target is frozen, inflicted 12 cold damage.

Your target fell over for 7 blunt damage, stunned for 1 second.

"Our win!"

The soldiers whistled and cheered. One of them even screamed: "Albius lost to the lady! Seems the house of Hormal is not that much of a tamer lineage."

"Shut up! She just has a stronger pet, she can't even direct him properly."

"My fenrir can decide for himself, he's a wise beast not an overgrown golden wolf."

Albius's face became bright red at that comment. Insulting his dog is apparently off limits. He got up while trying to keep his composure though he was obviously angry and walked away without a word. The now half gold half black dog followed, leaving a faint scent of burnt fur behind.

The soldiers all kept cheering and brought Lein to some sort of tavern set in a small wooden house. Everyone was trying to get her to drink and cheer with them, some with ulterior motives, but most just trying to blow off some steam before the battle against the goblins.

At the moment I decided to claw the eyes of the leecher staring at Lein's chest, Veira and Reus came barging in.

Reus spoke first:"Silence please! We are going to assign roles for the upcoming battle."

The merry atmosphere of the improvised pub instantly vanished, replaced by a heavy and cold military one.

"A troop of over three thousands goblins is coming." Several soldier gasped at the news.

"Their intent is to hide some of theirs in the forest while the sun is out, then force us out of the fort by attacking the nearby towns and use the hidden troops to cut our retreat."

Veria proceed with the actual orders, she assigned squads to different places and summarized their objectives. When she was done she shouted at everyone to get going.

Lein walked toward the door but Veria stopped us.

"I have a special task for you."

"I though a greenhorn adventurer that can only kill green goblins like me is useless."

"Not useless but quite insufficent. Sadly the enemies are far too much and we have few soldiers, any helping hand is welcome."

"Speak then."

"I need you to go with the second regiment in the forest and help kill the goblin ambushers. I think Fenrir's high mobility and stealth are quite adapted to the situation."

"So it's Fenrir's help you want, not mine."

"Ice magic is also welcome but could end up being insufficient."

"Sure. Who am I supposed to go with?"

"The tall woman in a leather suit over there. She's called Ophelia, an old aquaintance, you can rely on her."

"Alright then."

"I love you Lein, don't die out there."

"Aye aye m'aam."

I'm getting some weird motherly vibes from the cold warmaid.

Lein followed the women named Ophelia through the mass of soldiers gearing up. When we reached her she looked at Lein and spoke in a cold tone quite similar to Veria's.

"You are Lein right? Just get your horse and follow me." She said while leaving the stables.

Lein smiled and "transformed" me with the same trick as when we first came in the fort. Ophelia smiled at the at the performance and guided us outside. We waited with her for a few minutes. When all of the second regiment was ready and mounted, Ophelia gave a brief speech about the mission and the soldiers deployed.

We are supposed to stay hidden in a small woodcutter cabin in the woods and catch the night team of goblins when they infiltrate.