In the bedroom she found Lady Deanne and her daughter Inessa. They cowered upon hearing the door open, but their looks of terror instantly changed to relief upon seeing Ellyrie.

"Oh thank Aeterna" Deanne rose up to her feet and hurried over to the captain. "Thank the Pantheon it is you, I was certain we would be meeting the Reaper before help arrived."

Ellyrie let out a sigh of relief and bowed to the lady. "I am glad to see you and Inessa are alright, but what happened?"

"Catastrophe, lady Ellyrie." The lady looked close to tears. "They came without warning last night, killing everyone and taking what they could get their filthy hands on! I hid with my daughter, praying to Aeterna that they would not find us."

"Well it seems that they didn't." Ellyrie looked around the room, her stomach churning at the rampant destruction.

"Oh but they did, lady Ellyrie." Deanne shuddered and looked back to the closet. "This fiend, this monster, I could scarcely look at it! A silver demon she was, lady Ellyrie, covered in scars, some sickening ritual to gain favour with an idol I am sure, she took my necklace and left, the greedy creature."

"Scars? Silver?" Ellyrie laid her hand on Deanne´s shoulder. "I have seen someone like that, can you describe them more?"

"More than that, lady Ellyrie." Deanne met her gaze and leaned forward. "One of her brutish friends called her name, Demadara, what a guttural, brutal name, so bereft of elegance."

Ellyrie stepped back, raising her hands to her head. She had talked to that woman. Given her money, encouraged her. She felt sick, her breath quickened. "Do you have any idea, any idea at all where they went?"

"They mentioned the Landsea up east, they likely took the old airship to, wait, lady Ellyrie!" She reached out her hand as the captain turned and walked out the room.

"I will leave some of my knights here to keep you safe, but I must go." Ellyrie was already marching down the hallway This woman is more dangerous and important than you can imagine."

At the plaza she took her horn from her belt and blew into it. It´s call echoed through the ruined city and summoned her companions toward her. The captain looked into a row of grim, determined faces, mirrors of her own. "The people who did this, are the same people who we are after, Sky Knights. Cairon, take some of our knights to keep this place safe, lady Deanne and her daughter are still inside."

The red haired Sky knight gritted his teeth but nodded. "Fine, but if any of you get hurt while I'm not there, I swear by the pantheon you will not hear the end of it."

He took ten of the lower Sky Knights with him, the rest departed with Ellyrie toward the "Herald". Aeneya was still at the helm, the fires below burned bright and they set sail within minutes, racing north-east.

"Throw more crystals to the fire." Ellyrie stood at forward of the "Herald", a hand on her blade. "They have a whole day of a lead on us, we must capture them before they reach the border."

"That should not be a problem, captain." Thaeus sat by her side, a book in his lap. "I visited the harbour master´s office to see what ship they stole. It is an old merchant vessel, in terrible condition."

He looked up and into the darkened clouds. "We will likely catch up to them before they reach the great river. Our greater concern should be being prepared." He looked up to Ellyrie with a warm smile. "It would be best if you tried to get sleep, captain. I can take the first watch."

She wanted to say no, but her eyes were burning. "Thank you Thaeus, I can take over after Mellador."

She made her way to her quarters, finding Melnia sitting at the table. She was not reading, instead the young woman stared out of the window at the rapidly shrinking city on the horizon. She did not salute when Ellyrie entered.

"I felt something very familiar down there, El." Melnia looked over her shoulder as El laid down on the bed. "There was something in the air, something very, very old."

"They stole a lot of things from the Academy´s vault, they probably started using some of them." El laid her head on her arms and gazed out the window. "Most of those things must be hundreds of years old."

Melnia shook her head. "Older. Many times older." She got up and began to pace in a circle. "The more I see, the more I feel, the more I understand why they want me hidden away. These things make no sense, captain."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Ellyrie closed her eyes. "Can we please talk about this later, I have watch in a few hours and." She yawned, a shudder running down her back. "I don't feel very well right now."

"Of course, captain." Melnia nodded and returned to her seat, hands folded in her lap. "I am sorry for bothering you."

"You're not, you're not." Ellyrie muttered half aloud, before her voice was lost and she drifted into sleep.

The horizon remained empty during her watch, as well as for the next day and the next night.

On the day of their second pursuit, as Ellyrie was practicing her forms in the lowest deck, she heard the muffled call from above. The two words she had been waiting for all this time.

"Ship sighted!"

The captain raced up the stairs, sword drawn. It was finally time.

"Ship sighted!" The call rose Demadara out of her slumber on the main deck. She got up and stretched her arms, staring out at the horizon. There was indeed a ship, sailing towards them at an impressive speed.

"Timae" Demadara did not turn to look at the fox woman at her side. "It looks like we need to fall back on the contingency plan."

Three bright lights appeared in the sky, they raced towards them. Demadara quickly stepped aside, and a large arrow, as long as her arm, pierced into the rotten wood where she had stood.

"And hurry it up. From top to bottom."

She saw another three arrows, and ran under deck, followed by Timae, who split and took another set of stairs to the lowest level of the ship.

Parsae had stormed out of her room, locking eyes with Demadara. They exchanged a nod, and the mage went up to the main deck.

Demadara herself took to Bernard´s room, after grabbing a large bag. Bernard had stored the treasures of their crew in his chamber. Most of it was not worth a second look: meagre coins of low value, silver, all she could get were a few gems, and most importantly, her gold bar. She held it in her hands, a warm smile on her face as she looked at herself in it´s golden reflection.

"What in the name of Cel Celene are you doing Demadara!" Bernard´s voice had her turn around slowly, her smile fading as quickly as it came.

The brigand was pointing his sword at Demadara, shaking with rage. "Why are your people killing my crew, and what are you doing with my treasure?!"

Demadara took a step back and shrugged. "We're being attacked, your people are worth more dead as ammunition than alive. And we are in the air, not like a Sky ship needs many to sail."

Bernard was throthing at the mouth. "You promised on your father´s life, after everything he did for you, you ungrateful brat! You spit on his name and his honour, when he finds out about this-" He had kept staring into her eyes after they had flashed bright. No amount of despair or dread could move his frozen muscles anymore.

"How can he find out about something if he's dead? Damn idiot." Demadara slowly walked towards him, prying the sword out of his stiff fingers. "He's been worm food for so long there's likely not even a trace of him left."

Her hand was finally calm as she placed the blade on his neck. "You people are all the same. He was a damn idiot too, took off my chains, and just went to sleep. So I took out his friends, and finally slit his throat. Just like this."

It was a single stroke, a splatter of blood, a falling corpse. Sword in hand she walked to the top deck. Timae had manned the helm, while Parsae stood at the aft, a large number of fresh blood crystals in her hand. She was holding up a barrier to block the incoming arrows.

"What are you waiting for, blast them out of the air." Demadara called out to the mage as she got closer.

"At this distance it would take a lot to hit them, girl." Parsae shook her head and crushed another crystal in her hand to hold off another salvo. "And they most certainly have defence of their own. Let them come closer, that way we will get to trade in this lousy ship for a better one!"

Demadara took her place at Parsae´s side. The other vessel had closed much of their distance by now, enough that she could tell what they were facing. Her eyes widened and she took a step back. "That's the "Herald of Justice", that ship belongs to the captain of the Sky Knights!" She gulped and looked over to Parsae.

"Never heard of them, so they can't be that great." Parsae rose her hand to let another volley break against her barrier. "I can take them."

"There's six of them, and at least thirty other knights, we are three people, Parsae!" Demadara clutched the heart close to her chest. "Maybe you can, but we are also here, and I don't fancy mine of Timae´s chances."

"Well, then it is time to let fate take helm, no?" Parsae smiled and crushed another crystal. "Because never in a thousand years can we get away from them at this pace. Like it or not."

Whatever Parsae had wanted to say, it got stuck in her throat. A howl echoed through the skies. It froze the air, and even the ships seemed held in place as the noise breezed over them.

Timae fell to her knees behind the wheel, holding her hands above her head. She was shaking in terror, crying to herself.

Parsae and Demadara stared down. Far below them, ice had begun to form, in the shape of a spear. It grew and grew at an alarming rate, reaching the very skies. And at it´s tip sat a small figure, clad in a simple dress with an immensely long, bushy tail and hungry eyes.

The wolf had come.