A whole afternoon had been taken up by every werewolf but Klyn and Bo wrestling with the large Gargs.
Now each of Akira’s guards and the werewolf soldiers that had come along were all riding their own Garg companion mount. It was the start of Kodria’s own mounted cavalry.
Klyn, Zundar, Varbu, Chack, Mileena, and Maya who did not have a Garg mount were now in charge of controlling all of the sleds now that had been made into a train of several connected sleds pulled by the spry and limber reindeer.
“Make sure that you don’t cause any unnecessary fights on your way back,” said Akira to one of the soldiers that he had picked to lead the at least 200 Gargs that did not have a companion north to Kodria, where they would wait to be challenged by soldiers when Akira returned.
“We will head straight to Kodria! With our combined strength nothing can stop us,” said the soldier atop his own Garg mount.
Akira watched the Garg pack head north for a few minutes before starting to move again.
“Let’s continue to head southeast to where the Borra clan is staying,” said Akira.
“Grarr, your pack is quite small compared to others that I heard about,” said Akira while riding on Grarr at the front of the sled trains.
‘That’s because we use strength and brains to fight and not numbers to overwhelm the enemy.’
“Yap!” said Fluffball.
‘Does that annoying pup have to follow me all over the place? He is starting to get on my nerves,’ said Grarr as he looked at Fluffball who was keeping up with him as they moved south.
“Fluffball is a really good guy. I’m sure you’ll grow to like him,” said Akira.
“Yap!” said Fluffball in agreement.
***
Akira continued riding on Grarr at the front of the sled train as they walked through a sparsely populated wooded area full of pine trees.
“Now that we passed the rocks and boulders blocking our way we need to move west a bit since we’re getting too close to the twin volcanic peaks of the Smok mountain,” said Akira.
‘I’ve never been around here before so I don’t know everything that lives around here but I can definitely smell Ice Trolls,’ said Grarr as he sniffed the air and scrunched up his face in disgust.
“Everyone be careful It seems like this is the territory of ice trolls…”
Bam! Crack! Crash!
Just ahead of them the loud sounds a sudden battle echoed out as several trees were knocked down or turned into splinters from the fierce and sudden fighting.
With the trees that had blocked their view gone, Akira could now see ten large blue-furred ice trolls who were even taller than Zundar. They were all carrying wooden and stone clubs and were fighting one person who was only one third their size.
“Kyahahah!” a young and childish girl’s laughter rang out from the one who was easily dodging the attacks of the Ice Trolls.
The girl wore no armor on her body as it was covered by red scales and also covered a slim red-scaled tail. Her flowing fire-red hair fluttered freely in the wind creating a wild appearance.
Akira, who could only see her back, had a very bad feeling about getting too close.
Ding!
-
[Akira’s bad feeling] has leveled up by 2!
As the message popped up the red-scaled girl jumped towards one of the Ice trolls and its head disappeared into a mist of bloody pulp while its body was cut in half by a swipe of her tail.
“Everyone let’s hurry and go a different direction,” said Akira quietly.
‘Good idea she gives me a scary feeling,’ said Grarr as he turned away from the ongoing fight and ran in the opposite direction away from the fight and the mountains.
Ten minutes had passed and they were still on edge but the sound of battle could no longer be heard any more since they were far away from the fight.
“Wait!” shouted a young girl’s voice behind the sled train.
Akira ignored the calls to stop and urged everyone to keep going even faster, but the young girl continued to follow them for over an hour. Akira, having no other choice, gave up and decided to see what the young girl wanted.
Zundar came to stand next to Akira while both Vilkas and Dolph joined him on their own garg mounts.
Akira watched as the Red scaled girl ran up to him with not even a hint that she was out of breath.
Seeing her up close he could see that her red scales went all the way up to her chin while her face looked like that of a ten-year-old human girl. Her eyes were a fiery red matching with her hair but also had flecks of gold in them.
[???] was the only thing it showed when Akira tried inspecting her.
She was smiling as she stopped in front of Akira and looked around at everyone.
“You guys look interesting, what are you doing?” asked the girl.
“We’re just passing by to get to the Borra clan,” said Akira.
“Oh? But why are there so many different demon races traveling together?” asked the girl.
“We are from the northern town of Kodria,” said Akira.
“Do they have little dogs like that up north?” asked the girl as she pointed at Grarr.
“Garu!” ‘I am not a little dog!’ said Grarr angrily.
“So cute I want one as well!”
“No there are no native Gargs up north we only just met a few days ago,” said Akira.
The young girl clasped her fist under her chin and looked at the group again as if thinking hard about something.
“Alright! It’s decided then!” said the young girl nodding her head.
“What is?” asked Akira.
“Since I am bored I will join you guys in your adventure to the place called Borra clan!”
“What?” several people let out confusing questions at the girl’s statement.
“Um…the Borra clan is not a place. It’s one of the southern clans of the Earth tribe,” said Mileena.
“Are you sure you can be away from home? You look quite young. Where are your parents?” asked Akira.
“It’s okay, I can go wherever I want. My dad doesn’t care what I do,” said the girl.
“If you say it’s okay then I guess I can’t deny you coming along… oh yeah, my name is Akira what is yours?”
“FleurCarinaEldurWulkanDreki. My dad said he picked a short and cute name for me,” said the young girl.
“Short my rear,” grumbled Zundar.
“Um…can I just call you Fleur?” asked Mileena.
“I don’t mind it,” said Fleur after she thought about it for a few seconds.
“You’re so cute Fleur, how old are you?”
“I don’t know! I never counted,” said Fleur with a shrug of her shoulders.
“Why don’t you come and sit with big sis Mileena and we can chat while we head south,” said Mileena who was also a little sister herself and always wanted to say something like that.
“Oh! I always wanted a big sister!” said Fleur with big starry eyes, as she hopped onto the sled next to Mileena and got under the fur covers with her.
“Well, you’re quite young, so your parents might have another child and then you could become a big sis like me!” said Mileena as she pat Fleur on the head.
“I doubt it. All my dad does is sleep!” said Fleur.
***
‘I can smell traces of those idiots around here. It seems that there are even more of them than there was the last time I fought with them. You guys grow like weeds,’ said Grarr, as they continued to move towards the caves of the east Smok mountain chain.
“It’s good that there is a large number of them since we need as many people as we can get to fight against the demigods,” said Akira.
‘Are the demigods really that strong?’ asked Grarr.
“Right now they are not extremely powerful, but if we don’t prepare for the future there could be massive problems for us all,” said Akira.
“Awoooo!” “Garuuuu!” several howls rang out as a group of ten transformed werewolves with fur all in different shades of white or light gray appeared.
They were all riding their own Garg mounts, but unlike Grarr and his pack, they were far smaller and skinnier when compared to each other.
“Honored guests I am known as Hy. Who do I have the pleasure of talking to?” asked a white-furred werewolf as he brought his Garg mount to stand in front of the other nine werewolves and looked for the leader of Akira’s group.
There was no doubt in his mind of the strength of Akira and his guards by just looking at the Garg mounts that they all rode so he had wisely decided to speak cautiously.
“Lord Akira of the Darkmoon clan, commander of Kodria and its armies, seeks an audience with the Earth clans who live here,” shouted Vilkas as he pointed to Akira who sat on Grarr between both him and Dolph.
“Ah… Lord Akira, you say? So that chief Max and the grand elders can prepare for a meeting with you. Can you tell me what it is that you want to talk to them about?” asked Hy.
“Since we are both from the earth tribe we would like to start trading as well as form an alliance between our clans,” said Akira.
“Understood we will escort you to the meeting caves where you can talk with Chief Max and the grand elders,” said Hy before he turned his mount around and started a quick run towards the meeting caves.
Akira and the rest of the guards and sled train followed behind him. They passed by several hundreds of small and big caves in the mountains which seemed to all have several hundred pairs of eyes staring at them as they passed by.
As they came to a halt near a small tunnel that had thirty white and gray werewolves guarding it Hy stopped and hopped off his mount.
“Please wait here while I inform the chief and the grand elders of your presence and purpose.”
Akira spent the next ten minutes quietly talking with those around him as they were under constant watch by the guards near the tunnel entrance.
Hy returned leading an older man with gray hair who looked to be in his fifties. The left half of his face and neck was covered in old burn scars.
The old man saw Akira looking at his scars and said with a smile “It looks worse than it was. I got these scars when I was a young and dumb pup who challenged someone far stronger than me. I am chief Max, are you Akira?”
“You’re really old,” said Fleur rudely.
“Fleur don’t be rude. I’m sorry sir,” said Mileena, trying to apologize and to smooth the situation out.
“Why? My dad said I should never lie and he looks way older than my dad,” said Fleur as she pointed at Chief Max.
“Who is the charming child?” asked Chief Max as he sniffed the air. “She has a familiar scent but I can not place it.”
“Her name is Fleur, we met on our way here,” said Akira.
“Fleur… never heard of someone around here with that name. We have several rooms already being prepared for you, your companions, and your mounts. Hy will lead them to their rooms while you can follow me to where the grand elders are waiting so we can get to know each other,” said Chief Max.
“Can my guards come with me?” asked Akira.
“It makes no difference to me to just don’t do anything to make the grand elders mad. It’s a real pain to deal with them when they get ornery,” said Chief Max as he led Akira, Dolph, and Vilkas into the tunnel that led deeper into the large mountain.
