Vuk, was the messenger that the grand elders had decided to send to the Griiq and inform them of possible future troubles.
But as soon as he arrived at the main Griiq city he found that they were already having some sort of trouble.
The Griiq warriors were grouped together at the city gates with their weapons pointed at one man.
“Go away Human, we will not allow you to eat us.”
“Just give me the information or the person I asked for and I will leave!”
“We don’t know what you are talking about!”
“Then you leave me no choice. I’ll have to use force to get you to talk!”
“What’s going on here?” asked Vuk as he transformed and walked up to the group that was arguing.
“Stay out of this werewolf or I’ll kill you,” said the man in black robes raising his empty hands as if to use some special technique.
Vuk was not afraid and continued to walk forward and stood next to the robed man. He was a head and a half taller than the hooded man and by far more muscular. Everything about him gave off an intimidating feeling that a normal human would shake and quiver in fear from.
“Human, I suggest you stop pestering our neighbors,” said Vuk.
“You don’t have the strength to do…” before the man could finish his sentence Vuk slammed a furry clawed fist into the man’s chest and kicked him away causing a loud crack to be heard from the man’s body.
“Aaaahh!”
“Leave now while you can,” said Vuk.
The hooded man slowly got up while holding his chest and cursing under his breath and got onto a mount that looked like it was nothing but skin and bones. He hurriedly escaped from Vuk and the city with moans of pain coming from his mouth as he rode his mount.
“Thank you, furry guy, for saving us when you were just passing by,” said one of the Griiq warriors.
“That guy has been bothering us for weeks!”
“I was not just passing by and did not come to save you it was just a coincidence that I arrived in time to help you. My main purpose for coming here is to warn you of grave news! In the future, a large human army will be entering the swamplands and they might enter your territory. You need to make preparations for this!”
“Oh..thanks for ruining our happiness.”
***
Akira let out a sigh of relief as he stepped off the [Nouds Wind] ship and onto dry land. It had been a quick but stressful few weeks of travel back south.
The temperatures of the south were extremely noticeable from the north were the nights had been cold and the days warm. Even though it was fall, the heat in the swamp continent was still high, although it was not as hot or humid as it was in the spring and summer months.
“We should go to the elders right now so we can give the full report. The enemy’s army should not be that far behind us,” said elder Bleddyn.
As soon as the grand elders found out that the peace delegation had returned they sent out someone to fetch them and bring them to the main meeting hall.
Akira once again stood in the bowl-like cavern meeting room next to elder Bleddyn, as he gave the full report on what had happened during their stay, the king’s demands, and the reasons the king gave to why they were attacking.
“This makes no sense!” said grand elder Seoc.
“I knew this Akira pup was bad news! Ever since he has appeared nothing but bad things have happened!” said grand elder Tormoid.
“Watch your tongue!” shouted Wulfric angrily.
“Enough! We do not need to fight amongst ourselves! We already have bigger problems to take care of than waste our time on bickering between each other,” said Grand elder Dùghall slamming the butt of his staff onto the stone floor.
“Bleddyn, what about their army? You mentioned seeing a portion of it what do you think of their strength from the first great war when we fought them?” asked Grand elder Aaron.
“The army that they showed us was full of fluff and pointless maneuvers…But their armor and weapons it is far superior to what they had in the past. Some of it even better than what we have, and when you add that to the numbers they can conscript into an army…” said elder Bleddyn.
“So what if they have large numbers and good equipment. They are still green beans, so the weapons and armor in their hands will just be a waste,” said grand elder Garnal.
“We can do nothing about it now since Beorin has already sent out their army to fight us we must finish our preparations before they get here,” said grand elder Griogair.
“Immediately go and gather each clan and small villages and have them meet at the base of the mountain for an important announcement,” ordered grand elder Dùghall.
Several messengers left the room in a run hurrying to spread the news of the important meeting.
***
A large stage had been erected near the bottom of the mountain allowing the grand elders to look over the massive crowd of werewolves who were all packed around the stage. Almost all the werewolves in the swamplands were gathered here.
Akira stood on stage along with the other peace delegation members and the grand elders. He stood to the back and right of Wulfric.
Dùghall stepped forward when he felt that everyone had arrived.
“As you all know some time ago we sent a delegation to the human kingdom to work on stopping a war from breaking out. The peace delegation has just returned today and we now know the full details and results.”
Grand elder Dùghall paused to let his voice carry out over the large massive crowd.
“It is with a sad heart that I must inform everyone that the peace delegation has failed,” said Dùghall his loud voice again echoing throughout the nearby mountains and hills.
Akira could head cries of shock and a few curses from people near the stage.
Upon hearing this all the warriors young and old in the large crowd knew what this announcement meant.
Every warrior in the crowd started to bang the butts of their spears on the ground, others their swords on their shield in a slow solemn rhythm.
The large crowd began to buzz with conversation but it was interrupted when Dùghall spoke again.
“Although a new enemy has shown their faces fear not! We are well prepared and have a mighty army that will crush anything that comes near us!”
The banging and clanging of the warrior’s weapons picked up speed.
“From today forward, WE GO TO WAR!” shouted Dùghall.
The noise from the warriors and the shouts from the civilians was deafening. Several warhorns added their noise to the cacophony of the crowd.
There were even a few warriors who had been whipped up into a frenzy and transformed in order to let out wild howls.
The mountains and surrounding hills only made the sound of everything even louder as everything echoed a few times.
Akira looked at the massive crowd of werewolves and listened to the deafening noise. This was something entirely new to him and he didn’t know what to think about it.
“By tomorrow evening everyone will have received your orders on what to do during this time of war. No one can sit still. We must all work together and support one another in this time of crisis,” said Dùghall.
After his last words left his mouth the grand elders left the stage along with everyone in the peace delegation.
***
Hundreds of warships carrying the whole might of the small army of 20,000 soldiers reached the small town of Bogman where they began to disembark from the ships along with all of their supplies needed for the coming war.
Rodger stood to the side watching and sometimes giving orders as everything was coming out. This was his first actual war that he would be personally participating in.
Although he would not be the commanding general of the army he would still need to show the king that he was not a weak pushover.
He did not relish the task of fighting in this war due to who he would be fighting, but as he was the crown prince and husband of Ruth, he had to obey the king’s orders and fight on behalf of the Beorin kingdom.
“Messenger! Let the officers know that we will be staying here for the night but at dawn, we will set out for the village Madham where General Brutus is waiting,” ordered Rodger.
The messenger quickly saluted Rodger and ran off to follow his orders.
With such a large number of soldiers, Rodger hoped that the war would be over quick enough so that everyone could be home before the winter festivals arrived.
***
While Akira waited for his orders he helped out in one of the many forges in the mountain caves and continued to repair and make basic cheap weapons, shields, and armor for the army.
“Akira!” a gruff voice came from the doorway to the forge forcing him to look up from his work.
“Delgar? What are you doing here? You even brought Glola…”
“I see you’re putting my teachings to good use although the work looks a bit shoddy,” said Delgar picking up one of the cheap swords that he had finished earlier.
“I’m in a hurry right now to help replace some of the old rusty sticks that some of the werewolf warriors are trying to call a sword. There isn’t much time before I get pulled away from here and sent to one of the large wolf-packs to help fight against the invading Beorin army,” said Akira as he went back to hammering another sword.
“We came to give our help to our friends in their time of need,” said Glola.
“You should already know that with the war starting any time now, that this place will not be as safe as the dwarven citadels,” said Akira.
Glola walked passed Delgar and into the room as she let out a laugh.
“Ha! Do you think I would be afraid of such a small war? I may look like a beautiful and young maiden but I am well over 100 years old give or take a few decades. I have lived through many small wars between the humans and dwarves. I also experienced the horrors of the two great wars!” said Glola boasting of her experiences.
Akira was no expert on dwarven ages or what was considered old or young, nor did he know what the dwarves considered to be beautiful so he kept his mouth shut.
But obviously Delgar had an opinion as he coughed and huffed at her shameless boasts. Which was rewarded with a cuff to the ear by Glola.
“Anyways, I and a few other friends I know, came to help repair and make weapons and armor for you so that you don’t have to resort to using crap,” said Delgar as he turned and waved forward two other dwarfs.
The first to come forward was a young-looking dwarf with a bald head and a dark black beard that was well-groomed, oiled, and braided.
“This is Three toes. He gained the name in one of the great wars when all but three of his toes were cut off by a Demigod’s sword when they missed his head and instead chopped at his foot,” said Delgar pointing at the younger black-bearded dwarf.
The second dwarf was an elderly dwarf whose hair was gray as well as his long waist-length beard that had a simple ribbon tying his beard together.
“This is Stone deaf. He is almost completely deaf from using explosives many years in the mine without using anything to cover his ears,” said Delgar pointing at the old dwarf.
“Huh? Speak louder if you’re trying to talk to me,” said Stone Deaf.
“I was introducing you to Akira!” shouted Delgar. Akira’s ears hurt from the loud voice and thought people hundreds of miles away would be able to hear it.
“Why didn’t you say so before,” said the old man.
“Although there are only three of us, with our talent you don’t need to worry about making such cheap weapons,” said Delgar.
“You can count on me! Although I am not a grandmaster smith, I have won a few local awards in my town for some of my work,” said Three toes.
“Huh? Marriage? I’m too old to be thinking about marriage. A fire, anvil, and a hammer is all I need!” said Stone deaf.
“Are you sure he will be okay to work in the forge?” asked Akira wondering if Stone deaf had all his marbles.
“Don’t worry his hearing is crap but his mind is still in one piece and he is still one of the better blacksmiths that I know,” said Delgar.
Stone deaf listened to Delgar’s explanation with a serious face and nodded his head in agreement.
“That’s right when I was younger I did indeed fight a mountain bear with only my bare hands. After the fight my back was scared and bled for months whenever I moved too much,” said Stone deaf looking at the stone ceiling as he recalled the event that happened long ago in his youth.
***
Rodger led the large army of 20,000 soldiers along with many more civilian people who were in charge of the supply wagons which trailed behind the large army.
A man on a half-dead horse joined the supply train in the rear.
Seconds later another hooded person joined him and began a conversation.
“What are you doing here Bonestringer? Aren’t you supposed to be finding the gem you lost?”
“I could ask you the same question Tibia,” said Bonestringer through gritted teeth as his broken bones slowly regrew with the help of the potions he had continuously drank earlier in the day.
“I am on an important mission given by the other Heads,” said Tibia.
“I’m surprised that someone with your background would be given a mission all the way out here in the middle of nowhere. Don’t you know there is a war going on? These troops are not here to play.”
“I know exactly why the troops are here and I don’t intend to stay with them long. I am just using them to get to where I need to be without any hassles.”
“Alright, whatever you say,” said Bonestringer.
