There weren't too many shops, and then also they were still far away. Anastasia noticed a secluded blacksmith shop, the owner of which was watching her and the men. When she approached the shop, the owner picked up a metal rod from a stack lying near his feet and got up. He swirled it like a club, and held it between the drunken men and Anastasia. "When the girl doesn't want your company, you should leave!"

Anastasia walked into his shop.

The men looked at the massive blacksmith, and they were outraged. "This is none of your business, fucker!" growled one of them.

The blacksmith didn't budge. "Stay away from her!"

The man with the scar held his metal rod and moved it out of his way. He followed Anastasia inside the shop.

The blacksmith lifted the rod and wielded it like a club again. "I am not going to ask you again to move," he snarled. "I have too many weapons with me, so whatever you think you are doing, you better think reconsider it."

The scar face turned to look at him and in his answer, he plucked a dagger from his belt. His companions followed. As soon as the blacksmith saw this, he unsheathed his sword from his belt. "I told you to stay away from her."

Anastasia knew that a fight was about to erupt. Now they were all standing in a display of daggers and swords. She grabbed her dagger.

The blacksmith snarled. "This is your last chance to leave, otherwise I will call my men from the workshop behind and they will slaughter you!"

However his threat didn't work on the drunken men. Suddenly, one of them lunged with his dagger towards him but he dodged the attack. Enraged as hell, the blacksmith flew into action. Swords and daggers began to fly as the men started throwing things in his shop, while trying to wound him. But the blacksmith was skilled. He eluded their strikes and managed to wound them.

Frightened and shocked at the sudden eruption, Anastasia let out an instinctive scream. She had to help the blacksmith who was fighting with all of them. She pulled her dagger out and flung to the scar-face who was in front of her. The dagger plunged in his right shoulder and he turned sharply towards her with shock in his eyes.

"You are a fiery young chit!" he snarled as he pulled the dagger out. "It would be fun to control you and fuck you!" He started advancing towards her, even as blood gushed from his shoulder. It was as if that small wound didn't matter to him.

Anastasia threw her hand forward and the dagger came back to her. The man's eyes widened. "What magic is this?" he growled. "Are you a fae or a wizard?"

His question made her anxious. 'Stay discreet,' he had said. Before he could think more, she threw the dagger again at him. "It would be fun to take you down, ass!" This time it struck his thigh.

"Ahhh!" the man groaned in pain. Seeing his companion in pain, one of the men who were still fighting with the blacksmith lunged towards her leaving their third fellow to deal with him. He held her hands tightly from behind. The scar face growled as he took the dagger out of his thigh. He walked towards her. "Hold her as I take her, Georgie!" he sneered. "This one is ferocious, and I love to tame feral cats."

"Don't come near me!" Anastasia shouted.

The scar-face started to open his belt. He opened the first button of his breeches, when suddenly a blade-like black shadow flew from somewhere and hit him. The shadow sliced him across the neck, down his chest and into his stomach. He fell on the ground right in front of Anastasia.

She yelped and moved back only to crash in the chest of the man who held her captive. She realized that he had become absolutely quiet-his eyes looking in the front with terror. When she followed his gaze, she sharply drew in her breath.

Right in front of them was a massive black werewolf who had bared his fangs and was growling in a low guttural way. Tendrils of shadow haloed around his entire outline. They swirled as if they were alive, caressing his fur and dissolving in the air before appearing again. The wolf wielded unimaginable power. It was... beautiful. Against the white snow it looked deadly, lethal and... surreal. Anastasia's skin lined with goose pimples. She stared into his obsidian eyes that flickered a golden yellow and her breath hitched.

Next to him was another one-a brown furred beast in his full glory.

"Ileus!" she whispered. How did he know that she was here? And how did he break into shadows and smoke? She couldn't keep her eyes away from him. The natural pull towards him was so fierce that logic evaporated. As she stared in his black eyes that flickered a golden, she knew she had to distance herself away from him. He had come after her to give her back to Aed Ruad. Comprehension shook her.

The blacksmith and the other man stopped fighting as they stared at the wolves with fear apparent in their eyes.

The man who held her captive didn't leave her. Instead he picked her up and walked out of the shop. Shocked as hell, he started to scramble away from them. "I- I will- kill her!" He clutched her waist and lifted her up with one hand. With the other he waved his dagger towards them. "Stay away!" he sputtered and brought the dagger to her neck. "She is going to suffer if you don't back off!" He snarled, looking behind him, gauging his escape route.

The black wolf snarled. He lunged towards them, shape shifted mid-air and landed right in front of him. The man staggered back out of fear. His face blanched.

Ileus's shadows swept behind him and they darkened the moment his eyes met hers, swirling more thickly about his form.