“Halt who goes there?” asked the gate guard from the top of the small city’s wooden walls.
“I am Ermergerd of the Bluemoon clan.”
“Why have you brought such a large group here what do you plan on doing?” asked the guard.
“We’re just here to talk with some people. We also need to buy some supplies if you are willing to sell to us.”
“I need to talk to the mayor of the town first,” said the guard before disappearing.
“You think they’ll sell to us?” asked Klyn.
“Dunno, even if they don’t, we can still make it back to the city without it,” said Akira.
Swormp city had a mixture of mostly humans and a few families of werewolves who had been living in the city for several generations.
Several of the families moved to the small city when it was created because they had wanted a less harsh life for their children different from living in the heart of the swamps where the majority of other Clans lived.
The humans of the city did not know that some of their neighbors were werewolves since they went to great lengths to hide it.
The group of werewolf warriors all waited patiently outside the city gates until the guard came back ten minutes later.
“The mayor has made the decision that only two people will be allowed into the city and they must be escorted around to make sure they do not cause any trouble. The rest of you must step far away from the city gate,” said the guard.
“Klyn you go in since you know what herbs you need, take this list and check if they have anything on it for sale. Akira you go and help carry the stuff that he buys and take this list. Those are the names of the families that we have to escort back to the city,” said Ermergerd.
“Understood,” said Akira as he grabbed the paper and looked over the names before pocketing the piece of paper.
“Hurry up we don’t have all day. Make sure you inform everyone and get out quickly,” ordered Ermergerd.
Klyn and Akira were allowed to pass through the gates after a quick inspection. They were given an escort of two unhappy-looking guards.
“Lets split up since it will be faster to get both tasks done if I go and talk to our friends while you shop,” said Akira choosing his words carefully since he did not trust the guards following them.
“Alright, just don’t forget about me and make me carry all the supplies,” said Klyn.
***
“Captain! I just received a letter from the mayor of Swormp city. A large group of werewolf warriors has gathered outside. The mayor said he will try to stall for time but they request that we come and take care of them,” said the excited messenger.
“Their warriors are gathering? Did they give a number?” asked the captain of the small Beorin scouting unit near the Swormp city.
“No, they only wrote that it was a large group.”
“Hurry and send a letter to commander Brutus asking for reinforcements,” ordered the captain.
***
Akira gave the guard the list of names he needed to talk to.
“Please take me to their homes,” said Akira.
The guard said nothing and just walked ahead of Akira after looking at the names.
While walking they passed a small wanted board and Akira was amazed to see a yellow faded wanted poster of him was on the board all the way out here in the middle of nowhere.
He didn’t have to hide his face due to the massive change he had undergone during the awakening.
The guard seeing Akira interested in the board randomly asked Akira, “What did you say your name was?”
“I don’t remember telling you my name, and there is no need since my name is just a normal one. I am just a lackey running errands,” said Akira.
It took forever for Akira to arrive at the first house since the guard seemed to always get lost and kept having to go back and try a different direction when they ended up in a dead-end or passed the street they needed to go to.
Akira knocked on the door several times before hearing footsteps walking up to the door and opening it.
“What is it?” asked the woman in her early twenties not much older than Akira.
Her voice held no friendliness in it when she saw the guard next to Akira. She placed her hand onto the shoulder of a small boy who was grabbing onto her leg with unsteady legs while he looked at the new people outside.
“Hello, I am Blue and I was told to let you know that you have a friend waiting outside the city to talk to you about something important. If you could meet me near the town square when you are ready, I can take you to see them,” said Akira in a coded message that Ermergerd had given him beforehand.
The young mother’s face twitched for a second after hearing the message for she knew what it meant. It would only be used when something big happened. She controlled her emotions since could not show any surprise with the guard watching both her and Akira.
“I’ll inform my husband and we’ll go meet our old friend along with our son,” said the woman with a blank face.
This was to let Akira know how many people were in their family.
Akira waved and continued to follow the bumbling guard. Akira wondered how he even got the job of being a guard if he could not even find the house of someone in a small city that he had lived in all his life.
After repeating the same thing at multiple other houses the guard was growing suspicious.
“You sure have a lot of people that are ‘friends’ with the townsfolk,” said the guard sarcastically as he led Akira to the last house on the list.
“What can I say, we know how to party and make lots of friends. If you came to one of them you would understand,” said Akira.
“Hmph, as if that would ever happen.”
Akira finished informing everyone that he needed to and decided to go help Klyn while the families got ready.
He found Klyn waiting outside a shop with only a few items from the long list that he had been given.
“Were you not able to find what you needed? “ asked Akira.
“No, they say they have it, but since they don’t normally sell it, most of the items have to be fetched from another building they use for storage,” said Klyn.
“It’s taking them this long to gather the items? Aren’t they all regular items?”
Klyn shrugged they couldn’t force the people to move faster and since Ermergerd ordered they get the items they had to wait for them to return.
Akira grew impatient after waiting for another half hour. The families would be all gathering at the town square right about now so they could not waste any more time.
“Klyn let’s go they can send the supplies out to us when they are ready we have some friends to talk with right now,” said Akira standing up from the spot he had been crouching.
The two guards followed behind them with panicked looks on their faces as they hurriedly whispered to each other.
The families that had gathered were each carrying several bags of their important belongings.
While they waited they quietly talked to each other and continued to watch the passing people, afraid that something might happen.
“Great! Looks like everybody is here. Let’s all go meet your friends that are waiting,” said Akira.
“Wait, you can’t!” said one of the guards as he placed his hand on Akira’s shoulder to stop him.
“Are you trying to pick a fight with me?” asked Akira as he removed the guard’s hand from his shoulder.
Both Klyn and Akira placed their hands on their weapons ready to defend themselves and the families if a fight broke out.
Five other adult male werewolves walked forward to join Akira and Klyn to show their support, while the women continued to protect the children.
“No…Haha… I just…wanted to say…um.. I like your shield it looks nice,” said the guard stumbling over his words as he tried to think of a plausible excuse.
“Thanks, I like it also. Let’s go everyone, we shouldn’t keep your friends waiting,” said Akira leading the group to the city gates.
The guards could only stand there with a dumb look on their faces and could do nothing else since they were outnumbered. 3 to 1.
When they reached the gates they were forced to stop since the gates that had been open earlier were now closed.
Akira looked over to the guards and asked, “Are you going to open the gates or am I going to have to do it myself.”
“No need to get excited,” said the guard before hurriedly running up to the gatehouse and exchanging a few words with the captain of the guards.
The two guards walked over to the gate and ever so slowly started to open it. Akira pushed past them as soon as a space wide enough was opened and gave the gates a good push to help the weak guards.
He stood next to the gates making sure they stayed open to allow the families to pass through.
“Thanks,” said Akira to the two guards as the last person past through.
“Uh..,” the guards didn’t know what to say so they just watched as Akira walked away.
***
Two men stood on the wooden wall just close enough to see the gatehouse and anyone that passed through it.
“No! They’re going to get away! What are those families doing with them?” shouted the mayor in anger his chance of getting benefits from befriending the Beorin kingdom was slipping through his fingers.
“If you can delay them a little longer commander Brutus will arrive with reinforcements,” said the captain of the scout team who had just arrived only a few minutes ago.
“They’ll be long gone before he gets here!”
“I only have 20 men with me right now but if you lend me your guards I can try and keep them busy.”
“Quickly before they leave!”
***
By the time Akira had finished the task of leading the group of families the waiting wolf pack night had already fallen.
“What took you so long?” asked Ermergerd annoyed at waiting so long.
“It was out of our hands. They were taking forever to do anything, so we couldn’t get everything you wanted,” said Klyn.
“I had a feeling that something was off because the escorts were acting odd,” said Akira.
“Did they attack you?”
“No.”
“Then you don’t need to tell me. You’re in charge of making sure the families get taken care of on the trip back,” said Ermergerd.
Whit that they were dismissed. Akira took the families to the center of the wolf pack and let them rest.
“We should be leaving as soon as they send us the rest of the supplies,” Akira informed the families before leaving and walking over to Mileena and Maya.
“Sir! Looks like they’re bringing the supplies out!” shouted one of the werewolves watching the city gates.
A group of sixty guards exited the gates carrying large sacks of supplies and headed towards the waiting werewolves. When they were over halfway to them something unexpected happened.
They dropped the sacks and pulled out their weapons.
“Ahhhh!” someone let out a scream as an arrow pierced his shoulder. Several more arrows began to fly in their direction wounding other warriors who had been caught off guard.
The sixty guards charged forward to engage the werewolves and try to keep them near the city.
“Ermergerd! We’re under attack! Ermergerd!”
“Klyn, where are you? Buff me!” ordered Ermergerd with a roar.
Klyn ran over and quickly shot off a few quick chants to buff Ermergerd.
“Everyone get into formation and pull back! Protect the families!” roared Ermergerd as he transformed mid-step while running towards the werewolves that were already engaged in a fight and were under constant fire from the arrows coming from the archers on the city walls.
They were forced into an all-out melee fight as they pulled back to get out of the archer’s effective shooting range.
The families they had come to escort back to the city had been safely put in the middle in order to protect them from the enemy’s swords and spears as well as the flying arrows.
The young children were crying loudly from the loud and frightening battle clanging all around them along with the smell of fresh blood splattering everywhere.
The young mothers tried to calm them down by carrying them in their arms and holding them close to their bosom to protect them while trying to keep the fear out of their voice as they sang a lullaby.
The retreat stopped when they reached the woods which blocked the archer’s view. Now that they didn’t have to worry so much about the archers on the wall.
Klyn was busy repeatedly chanting and buffing everyone he passed and making sure that the families were all safe and sound. As he passed Akira and the two Nyantail sisters he also gave them a quick buff.
Ding!
-
Received Strength buff.
Received faster regen buff.
They refocused their attention on the guards that were chasing them and launch their own all-out counter attack stopping the guards from moving a step forward.
“Kill them all!” growled Ermergerd.
One after another the warriors were transforming and launching themselves at their tormentors slashing, tearing, and ripping them apart.
Akira was no different he joined the rest and ran towards the nearest enemy.
His steps stopped when he saw who it was.
It was the guard that had been his escort all day.
“So you did want to join the party and find out what fun it is! I’ll make sure to show you a good time. Let’s dance,” said Akira with a snarl as he transformed and pounced at the guard.
He slammed into the guard knocking him into the ground. The force of the impact of both the tackle and hitting the ground knocked the guard’s helmet off and it was sent bouncing several yards away.
The two started rolling around on the ground trying get the upper-hand. But it didn’t last long as the fight soon became one-sided due to Akira’s strength. He was able to subdue the struggling guard before grabbing onto his head and jerked it to the left to break his neck.
Swish!
Two swords came close to pricing Akira in the chest but missed and dug into the ground when he rolled away from the new attackers.
Mileena appeared behind the two guards and gave them each a few stabs before retreating when they turned around to try and hack her in two, which allowed two arrows to pierce through the newly created holes in their armor.
Akira now on his feet finished them off with a [Sword Slash].
The three of them continued to fight together while Klyn joined them and continued to make sure their buffs were up continuously. He even used a few longer chants to help debuff the enemy.
As expected the werewolves with their amazing strength were able to tear into the enemy and dominate the fight when the numbers were near even. The wolf pack slaughter many of the enemies with no deaths but several wounds were earned some were far worse than the others.
Only 15 soldiers of the enemy were left standing but none of them were wearing the armor that the city guards had worn and were all far stronger.
BuuuuRuuuuuu! A warhorn in the distance sounded.
It was not anything the werewolves recognized letting them know that it had to be more enemies that were about to join the fight.
The thought of more enemy reinforcements soured their moods while enemy soldiers cheered up and fought even harder to survive.
The werewolves were far from home with multiple civilians under their care and with an unknown amount of enemies that could keep getting reinforcements they had no choice but to leave before they were outnumbered.
“Retreat!” shouted Ermergerd making the decision to escape while they could.
The last remaining 10 soldiers that had made it through the fight alive did not follow them and let them go, choosing to let the new reinforcements under Brutus to chase after them.
