The answer, unfortunately, was three days.

I mean, I say unfortunately, but the truth is, the fact that the village elder (whose name we still haven’t even learned yet) managed to summon a rather sizable number of were creature tribes from all over the Plauros region in three days, as well as plan a sort of war council for how to handle Adelwulf’s uprising, as well as what the region should look like after Adelwulf was deposed. True, things get done surprisingly quickly in desperate times, so from the outside three days doesn’t really seem like much. But it was dreadfully boring right in the thick of it. Why? Well, we were told not to leave the village, lest we get lost in the woods trying to find our way back. And unfortunately, the village itself wasn’t exactly bursting with things to do. To top that off, I’m not sure why, but the villagers themselves were kind of standoffish towards us. I mean, I say I’m not sure why, but my best guess would be that they weren’t sure how to deal with Trakban and Arzias. Which, I mean, I guess would make sense depending on how long they’ve been in this village, separated from other races and other groups of people. To be fair, they weren’t exactly rude to us, but it just felt like they didn’t have much to say to us.

Well, the adults didn’t, anyway. The kids seemed to really enjoy talking to us, asking questions about our homes, interesting places we’d been, where we were planning on going after this leg of the journey. They even asked how many werewolves and other lycanthropes we knew, which was particularly embarrassing for me. I mean, I would have no idea if anyone I’d met up to that point even was one because they tended to keep that part of their heritage under wraps.

Anyway, as the various groups of lycanthropes made their way into the village, not much changed as far as we were concerned. The adults mostly ignored us and the children bombarded us with questions about life where we came from. As I write this part of the story, I find myself hoping that those kids never lost that optimistic curiosity as they grew older. As naive a hope as it is, anyway, as a lifetime of mistrust due to their heritage probably doesn’t do much to help them feel safe to carry any attitude beyond cynicism and returned mistrust of the outside world. Still, I find myself hoping that, following our actions for the remainder of this leg of the journey, a form of lasting peace is possible.

Shut up! A girl can dream, can’t she?

Much like our downtime on the ship, we spent a majority of our time in the hidden village sharpening our skills. Trakban continued his studies of the arcane arts, honing his control over the elements and building up his endurance so he could cast more than three or four spells a day. Some of the village soldiers saw me sparring with Fortuna and Arzias and decided they wanted in on the action, providing some decent pointers on how to fight. One, whose entire life had been spent fighting with a sword as large as he was, was even kind enough to give me some pointers on fighting with oversized weapons, which, as you may be well aware, applies to most weapons that I could get my hands on.

He asked me what I was planning on doing, fighting with a normal-sized weapon that would rely much more on my strength than any form of finesse, to which I replied honestly that it was the first weapon of a decent make I’d found, adding that up until that point, the only fighting I’d done involved me smacking people with a frying pan, which hadn’t worked out quite as well as I’d hoped it would. Not to mention, as previously noted in this work, the cleanup was also horrendous. I’ve really downplayed it up to this point, but you never do get used to scrubbing blood off of something, nor do you really get used to the smell. Well, maybe you do, I dunno. I’m not a trained soldier. A fact that makes me eternally grateful to have had Arzias and Trakban along for the ride. I mean, yeah, up to this point, Trakban’s been a novice mage at best, but…well…we’ll get to it.

Upon hearing this, the old soldier decided to give me a few private lessons with a handful of different weapon types to see if we could find one that felt most natural to me. The thing I would say I enjoyed the most was probably the crossbow, although loading it between shots was a huge pain. What the old man said I was best with, however, was the spear. Sure, it required a great deal more dexterity than swinging around a (relatively) long saber, but it was much easier to maneuver, which made a world of difference.

This old soldier actually invited us along for his militia’s morning drills, which, despite being what I thought was relatively good shape for a civilian, I was completely and woefully underprepared for.

They started with a few laps around the perimeter of the village. Five of them. The village itself had a measured perimeter of just over a kilometer. Not to worry, because they broke up the laps with pushups and squats. A set of twenty. Each. Every. Single. Lap.

And they do this every single morning before sparring. And these guys aren’t a full-time city watch. They’re more of a town militia, so they have their own jobs outside of warding off anyone who figures out the trick to the cursed woods. Like, the old man who gave me pointers on sword fighting was a baker. I’m not kidding. I don’t know how he managed to make the time considering he already had to get up long before the sun came out to mix dough and start baking, but somehow he made it work.

So, that was our routine for the three days it took everyone to arrive at the village for the council. The evening of the third day was concluded with a huge feast of animals presumably slain in the cursed woods, procured by Edgar and his scouting team. I sure wish that I had known a banquet was on the docket for this thing, since I had been hoping to get in there, deal with Adelwulf, and get back on track following the Heroes.

The evening was spent with the leaders of the various groups of lycanthropes chatting away, reminiscing about the past, catching up on how their lives had been going, and lamenting the loss of those who were unable to attend. I was really quite surprised at the sort of camaraderie that was on display, even between different species of lycanthrope. Or I suppose as you moved outside of just werewolves, the proper term would be werecreature. Let me explain.

Everybody knows about werewolves, so I can spare you the details there. But then there are lesser-known transformations such as weretigers, wererats, werebears, weredeer (which was particularly odd because they seemed fine with us eating venison from deer that Edgar killed in the cursed woods), and so on. Surprisingly, for a group of people whose transformations covered so much of the food chain, there was relatively little animosity among them. Well, with the exception of the fact that everyone seemed to dislike wererats equally for some reason. But even then, they were at least cordial towards them. I guess the rationale is that wererats tend to be thieves, but these guys didn’t seem to be all that bad.

I dunno. Maybe traveling with Fortuna softened me on that a bit.

Either way, just judging from the banquet, you’d think that this coalition of werecreatures was ready to go to war for one another. Unfortunately, the council meeting would prove to be a bit more challenging than throwing a huge party with a nice meal. We’ll go ahead and skip to the meeting because nothing of real consequence happened at the banquet.

—

The village elder had us convene in the village hall, a barn-sized single room building in the center of the town not far from the elder’s house. To be honest I’m not convinced it wasn’t an actual barn, but there was a table, some chairs, a pulpit, and a serviceable wooden floor that you wouldn’t see in a typical barn, so it’s possible it was a converted building. Besides the four of us and the village elder, there were representatives from the different werecreature clans, totalling ten people in the room.

The weretigers’ representative, a large half-orc woman (which even as I write I’m aware of how terrifying a combination that could be) wasted no time. “So, why is it you’ve dragged us out here? Of course I’m always up for a party, but if I know you wolves, you wouldn’t bother calling upon us if you wanted something out of us.”

The village elder straightened up, responding in a matter-of-fact tone, “As you are well aware, our happy little corner of the world has seen a change in management in the last week or so.”

“Yeah, and I’d figured you’d be happy about that since it’s one of your kin on the throne,” a mousy young human woman, the wererats’ representative, snarked. “I mean, aren’t all you werewolves related somehow?”

“You neglected to mention that,” the weredeer, an elf man of…some age. I dunno, it’s hard to tell. “Who’s to say this isn’t one big trap?”

If this upset the elder, she didn’t show it. Instead, she chuckled, saying, “Oh trust me, Lord Tesodine, if I wanted you off the board I’d have done it years ago. Unless you’re saying you’d like to go a few rounds with this old woman?”

Oh no. I could see this going badly. We’d just started the meeting and people were already challenging one-another. And yet the weredeer, Lord Tesodine…laughed? And not the standard elvish “I’m better than you'' smirky chuckle, either, I mean, this guy laughed as if joking with an old friend.

He said, “It gladdens me greatly to see you haven’t lost your spark, Lady Adelwulf.”

I blinked. Wait. He…did he just call her Lady Adelwulf?”

“Now there’s something you neglected to tell us!” Fortuna spat. “When were you going to mention that you were going to have us kill a family member of yours?”

The elder’s–Lady Edelwulf’s–face hardened. “I don’t believe you ever asked. But for the sake of clarity, that thing is no longer my family.”

The werebear representative, a relatively tall dwarf who was seated next to me, must have seen my confused expression, because he leaned in close to clarify to me in a strange drawl of an accent, “The Lord Adelwulf that rules over this land is this here Lady’s ex-husband. To say there’s bad blood between the two of them would be puttin’ it lightly.”

I opened my mouth to ask a further question before Lady Adelwulf said, “Is there something you wish to share with us, Master Mountainbane?” seemingly annoyed at the diversion.

“Nothing, Madam,” Mountainbane said unfazed. “Just fillin’ our guests in, is all. Just wanted to make sure we’re all on the same page.”

Trakban frowned. “Why were you not forthright with this information?”

“I do believe that Master Mountainbane has explained all that there is to explain regarding my ex-husband. If you wish to hear my sob story, we may speak about that later, but in the meantime, I have a tyrant to depose.”

“That sound good to me,” Arzias said, apparently following the meeting a lot more closely than I’d imagined she would. “When we get to kill bad guys?”

The weretiger laughed. “Now there’s a lady after my own heart. I mean, I still have reservations, but gods save me, I love the enthusiasm.”

“Enthusiasm will only take us so far,” the weredeer elf said, unconvinced. “I do suppose I am as out of the loop on the story of Lady Adelwulf’s marital problems as our guests here, so forgive me for having questions.” He opened his mouth to continue, but upon seeing an irritated glare from Lady Adelwulf, he said, “Then again, I do suppose it would be fine to wait until later to discuss that hot piece of gossip. Very well, please enlighten us on your plan to depose your former beloved tyrant.”

At that, Lady Adelwulf smirked. “As you can see, we have a minotaur in our midst. I have already spoken to him briefly about my ideas, but I would like to use him as bait. Now, yes, I have committed a bit of a social faux pas in not being fully transparent about my relationship to our good Lord Adelwulf, but as it turns out, my ex’s strange hatred of the minotaur species could prove to be a great asset in our pockets. Trakban here will be the vehicle by which I return to my estranged husband’s side, just in time for me to drive a silver dagger into his back.”

“And what are the rest of us to do?” Trakban queried. “Specifically, my friends and traveling companions, but even the other werecreatures.”

“The other werecreatures will be there to secure our escape route should things get too hairy,” Lady Adelwulf replied, before chuckling, “Pun not intended. As for your traveling companions…I should be needing their assistance in dealing with my estranged husband and his backup.”

“Wait…you need us?” I asked, pointing at myself awkwardly.

“This is the future I have foreseen, yes,” she said ominously.

“Is there anything else we need to know?” Trakban asked.

“Unfortunately, the more information you have going into the situation, the more likely the future will change, and not for the better. With what little information regarding the future I’ve given, some things have shuffled a bit. As much as I truly dislike saying something like this, I’m going to have to ask you to trust me.”

The werebear tapped me on the shoulder. “She doesn’t dislike sayin’ that at all.”

“I heard that,” Lady Adelwulf muttered ominously, unamused at the comment.

“I ain’t apologizin’,' Mountainbane said in response, folding his arms.

Fortuna raised a hand, trying to get us back on track. “If we’re going to be helping out against a bunch of angry, hostile werewolves, shouldn’t we have some silvered weapons of our own? I mean, I don’t see my daggers doing much against lycanthropes.”

“Unfortunately we don’t exactly have a wealth of silver weapons in the village. Plauros isn’t a region that’s exactly flush with the stuff. Why else would we have settled the place so thoroughly?” Lady Adelwulf said flatly. “That being said, normal weapons hurt us more than you’d think. Sever enough nerves and spill enough blood, and anything dies. That being said, your minotaur friend’s magic will also prove helpful in the battle. And besides, you are there as backup. I’ll be doing the heavy lifting.”

“You do heavy lifting?” Arzias asked, raising an…eyebrow? I guess that’s what you’d call it. “You no look that strong.”

“I will be fine,” the old woman said, smirking. “You just worry about yourself and your friends.”

“That me can do,” Arzias responded with a huge toothy grin.

“What about after?” The weretiger asked. “Don’t tell me you’re planning on taking the throne yourself?”

“Of course not!” Lady Adelwulf replied sharply. “This region has been under the thumb of a single powerful person for far too long. It’s time for a change. Which means in a metaphorical sense, as well as a real one should the opportunity arise, I mean to destroy the throne.”

A thick silence hung over the council chamber as everybody glanced one to another. I glanced around the table to see the reactions of the other representatives.

The weretiger’s eyebrow furrowed as she leaned into her hands contemplatively. The wererat leaned back into her chair, staring at the ceiling. The weredeer sat with a stony expression. The werebear nodded. My entourage leaned forward, waiting for the next revelation. Edgar, seated beside Lady Adelwulf, also gave no expression.

The weretiger finally broke the silence. “You mean to destroy the throne?” she repeated in disbelief. “After all this time of living in hiding, you’re not going to just take it for yourself after getting your ex out of the way?”

“Were I even remotely interested in what that monster is up to, do you think I’d be hiding in some village in the midst of a cursed forest? Why would I not be at my rightful place by his side?”

“It just seems awfully convenient that you’re making your move now,” came the unconvinced reply.

There was a buzz throughout the room as people voiced their own takes on the subject.

“If you are that unsure, then in the moment you feel I am most likely to betray you, I welcome the challenge,” Lady Adelwulf said in a measured tone. Though I would remind you that in that scenario, I would have gathered my formerly scattered and weakened rivals into one location when I could very well have chosen to hunt you all down instead. Why, even in this situation, I could have feigned being late to this meeting, instead opting to burn the town hall to the ground with you all in it. I have had many opportunities to betray you up to this point, opportunities that would better serve me than stabbing you in the back at the very end of the operation, that I have chosen not to take. Care to guess why I would do such a thing?”

“I…ummm…” the weretiger stammered.

“I thought not. The answer is if we are to survive, we do it by working side-by-side or not at all. Unfortunately that also includes working alongside the other races in the region. Humans, elves, minotaurs, all included.”

The silence resumed as people looked at each other, before the werebear, Master Mountainbane, finally said, “I suppose you have me convinced. When do we start?”