Aaron didn’t sleep long. The sun's rays just began to seep through the trees when he started the last leg of his journey to the wolves’ last known location.

It wasn’t until noon that he was able to find the spot. It was in a large clearing that was littered with tall grass. It must have looked very serene before it was disturbed.

And disturbed it was. Ferns were pressed to the ground, dirt was stirred up, and blood droplets could be found in the field. A fight must have taken place here.

Aaron's eyes moved around as he searched the place for clues as to where his targets could be found. He noticed that the blood seemed to increase the further he went north. There, on the edge, blood formed a trail that led away. While Aaron wasn’t skilled in tracking animals, he was confident that he could follow droplets of blood.

Although the blood must have been at least a few days old, Aaron thought that after finding no more immediate clues, following the trail would be the best course of action.

Aaron grabbed his warhammer and slowly started to follow it. He kept looking around, making sure that there would be no surprises. He had heard enough stories from people who met their end in seemingly peaceful forests.

Evening was nearing as the monotone walk abruptly ended. Aaron almost stumbled into another clearing.

It was a beautiful place in the forest. The evening sun filtered through the tall trees before it landed on a small hill. The hill consisted of big rocks that were covered in dirt and grass. It almost seemed like it didn’t belong in such an otherwise flat forest.

The blood led to what appeared to be the entrance of a den. Whose den it was, Aaron didn’t know.

He slowly started to make his way to a position that was a bit more out of the way. He wouldn’t want to be seen before he could plan ahead.

He sat down on a stone that hid behind a broad rock. If Aaron wanted to take these beasts on, he would need a plan.

First things first, he needed to know what he would even fight here. While it was entirely possible that the animals here were the ones he was searching for, it could also be something else.

But how could he do that? Aaron thought long and hard before coming up with a very simple solution. He would just have to wait and keep the entrance in view.

Because wolves are most active in the mornings and evenings, Aaron hoped that he would see them when they returned from a hunt at dusk. It did feel like he was wasting time, but he didn’t really know what else he could do as he wasn’t about to rush into a den without any knowledge of what was within.

With that in mind, he settled down and began to watch.

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The sun had already been gone for some time when Aaron heard something. He quietly started to try and figure out where the sound was coming from. Luckily, as a dwarf, Aaron was able to see much more than a human at night.

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As the animals finally came into Aaron's view, he silently cursed. Six wolves slowly trotted down a path toward the entrance. The two wolves at the end dragged the body of a larger animal, possibly a deer, behind them. It seemed like the hunt was very successful.

As quietly as he could, Aaron began to make his way to a place closer to them. He wanted to see if some of them had more magic than normal. While his sensing ability was good, he wouldn’t be able to sense them from his original position.

His heart started to beat faster and faster the closer he came. The minutes seemed to stretch as he wasn’t able to hear anything else other than his beating heart.

He finally came to a stop behind an outcrop of rocks that was able to hide his shorter body. He had to calm down, and that quickly. As Aaron took a quiet deep breath, he started to try and sense the wolves.

It wasn’t easy. Sensing so many targets at the same time was always connected to additional strain. Sweat started to appear on his forehead as he was slowly making progress.

The two that were closest to him were the ones he was able to sense first. Luckily, they weren’t much when it came to magic. Sure, they had a bit more than what other wolves might have bound to themselves, but Aaron didn’t think that they had yet learned to use spells.

As Aaron worked on the next two, he tried not to think about what would happen if they were to smell or hear him right now. With nothing prepared, it would be an ugly fight.

The dwarf let go of a breath he didn’t know he held as he finished with the next two wolves. One of them had enough magic that Aaron was sure it would be a harder enemy to fight, but the other one was in the same category as the other two.

Aaron just started to relax a bit while working on the last two when he suddenly felt it. It was like a cold glass of water was poured over his head. Aaron quickly pulled his magic senses back and didn’t dare to move. Even breathing seemed impossible.

In the corner of his eye, Aaron saw the wolf in the far back turn around. The others stopped moving after a quick yowl.

The wolf paced around as it kept its eyes on the edge of the clearing, sometimes stopping to smell the air.

A few times, Aaron even thought that it looked directly into his eyes before turning around.

Aaron thought that he could win against that wolf, but it would be a hard fight. With the others, it would be impossible for him to fight them head-on. He would need a trap or something like that.

After what seemed like an eternity, but was most likely just a few minutes, the wolf stopped. With a quick growl, the others quickly started to pull the deer cadaver toward the entrance. This time, every wolf, with the exception of the one that sensed the probe attempt, pulled it.

Aaron stayed still for a long time; he only sat up when he saw the moon on its way above his head. Even though the last few hours were spent mostly sitting around, Aaron was exhausted. He wanted to go and sleep, but he didn’t think that he could do that with everything he would have to do.

He thought about what kind of trap would work best. The biggest problem with traps in general was that Aaron wasn’t a trap master. Because of that, most sophisticated traps wouldn’t be feasible.

Another problem was that it wasn’t a singular beast he would need to trap. The more traps there were, the more could go wrong.

With that in mind, the only trap he thought he could make in a reasonable time frame that would help against so many enemies would be a pit.

The next thing Aaron needed to know was where he could dig it. While he thought about the location, he remembered a particularly interesting one.

On the way to the den, he had seen a smaller clearing that had such thick undergrowth intertwined with the trees that it was inaccessible from one side.

While he made his way toward his goal, Aaron started to plan out the pit in detail. It would need to be deep enough to make it hard to scale the walls back up. Pointed pillars could also help by injuring those that fall into it. It would also need a thin stone layer above that is covered in dirt, undergrowth, and other items that hide the trap beneath it.

Someone without magic would need weeks, maybe even months for such an undertaking, but Aaron thought that he could do it in one night. It would be grueling work, but he would complete it. He had to, as he didn’t have much more time if he wanted to be back in the initial ten days.

With his plan all sorted, Aaron started his work the moment he set foot in the clearing.