Chapter 12

Wolf's Howl

The night was still. A quiet calm that racked the nerves and unsettled the bones. Baylee approached the camp with caution, her staff ready by her side. The camp was sorted into the new arrivals, who had pitched up tents, and those that had arrived early, who had set up wooden cabins. Baylee approached one of the cabins. A musty smell came from the room. She peered in through the crack in the door. There was no one. It was empty.

The next cabin, the next tent, all were empty. She nodded to Dane who had already flashed out his battle sense the moment they had entered the camp. He shook his head.

"There is no trace of anyone," Dane murmured. His eyes surveying the air. "Did something come get them?"

Vernon sniffed the air. "Hard to say. This place is...too clean?"

His hands came upon a cooking pot. The lid had been sealed shut. He opened it and it was empty.

"It looks like everyone just got up and left? Any sign of clothes?"

Baylee shook her head. "I looked through the cabins. Everything is missing. This might be..."

Thoughts raced through her head. Her eyes squinted into a scowl. "This could be really bad. I think it is..."

"Everyone!" shouted Grey, near the woods. His eyes had made out something strange in the darkness. "I think I see something."

"Don't touch it!" shouted Baylee, quickly coming to his side. The rest of the group followed. They could see a strange mound of dirt at the edge of the campsite.

Vernon smiled. "It could be a trap. Let this old fellow show you how it's done."

Vernon approached the mound. His hands softly digging the earth. One could see his balance leaned towards his back, ready to leap back at the first sign of danger. His hands digging. His eyes suddenly turned wide.

"Baylee," said Vernon. His voice grim. "You have to take a look at this."

Baylee's walked towards him. Her eyes turned serious.

"Everyone else stay back. What did you find?"

Baylee's eyes recoiled in dread. Out of the mound, half buried, was a decapitated head.

"Uncle Halley," Baylee whispered. She remembered the old wizened adventurer who had spoken to her many adventures back. She was younger then, more foolish. He had helped her when her party had wiped out, and brought her back to the surface. For him to have met such an end. Her heart could only weep.

Vernon dug deeper into the mound. His hands touching what was a corpse. Baylee moved to block the uncovered body from the children. Her eyes staring back. They couldn't see. They were too young to know. Grey only looked at her curiously. Knowing there could be danger. He stayed back obediently.

"I think I found something," whispered Vernon. His hands slipping up a bloodied note. There were only two words written on it, in blood. A dying message. "Knights. Gil."

Then it was true.

"Fellows!" shouted Dane, "Have you found something!"

"Yeah," shouted Vernon. Baylee turned to stop him, but was too late. "Halley is dead. They took everyone to Gil."

Baylee moved to the side, revealing the dead body. Mylene, Grey, and Dane gasped in horror. Grey could only feel a growing sense of dread of what would happen at his village.

Sho! Father! Mother!

His thoughts full of worry and regret. He ran into the woods towards his village.

"Grey!" shouted Baylee, but it was too late. A gust of wind and he was gone.

"You!" said Baylee, turning to Vernon. Vernon looked at her blankly. How was he suppose to know how the child would act?

"Never mind," snapped Baylee. Her thoughts churning. "Dane take the girl to our camp. Vernon follow me. We have to leaving this place now!"

In the forest, voices seemed to echo throughout the air. Grey! How his heart could only feel fear and pain. That dead body, the image of his parents lying in the same manner, cold in the dirt. He could not bear it. Even as a kid. He might be able to trick the villains who had taken them. They might still be alive held as prisoners. His thoughts raced. His heartbeat quickened. He ran.

Gil was nearly fifty miles away but for Grey it seemed like moments. He arrived at the entrance of his village. The shops as quiet as the camp before them. A long large banner waved over the village entrance. "Welcome to Gil."

He walked cautiously along the walls of the houses. His body making its way to the library. He opened the door and with a soft creak. He was inside. Books lay scattered about. The window wide open, clanging ever so slightly against the wall. He walked the corridors he had walked all his life. The darkness making all things strange and unfamiliar. His body ached with fatigue. Even with the help of the wind boots. He was still a child. He collapsed on the floor, and started to cry.

Had everyone died? He could only imagine the horror on their faces. Sho! He had told her he would protect her. Did she call out his name in her last moments? Where was he to be found, but down in some dungeon. He dried his tears and made his way upstairs. He could not let himself believe it. He had to keep going. At least till he knew for sure.  His hands trembled as they came across his father's study. It was pitch black. His hands reaching for the window, he touched something wet and hard.

His hands feeling in the darkness, it was the legs of a person. His father. How could he not recognize the clothes he wore every day. He hung suspended in the air, a noose around his neck.

Grief rising in his chest. He heard a loud bang behind him. He turned and two men stood at the door.

"I thought I heard something. I guess we missed one Gresien."

"I say your right Mayberry. It's a little kid. Maybe, he was hiding behind one of them couches. Come here little fellow. Let us take you to safety."

"Villains!" screamed Grey. His eyes covered in tears. He rushed at them with all the fury he could muster. He swung at the first man in front of him. The man laughed and struck Grey in the chest. Grey gasped and fell to the floor. Grey may have been fast for an ordinary child, but compared to men. His strength and speed was nothing but a joke. The large man heaved him over his shoulder and carried him outside. The sound of laughter ringing in his ears.

They walked a moment in the darkness, then coming up a large bonfire in the woods a while away from the village. They passed several other people, their faces shrouded in the darkness. Grey could feel each shadow smiling, laughing. A large man with a broadsword, chuckled endlessly in the night.

"She was a pretty one I tell you," he said, drinking out of his mug. His friend to his right laughed heartily. "I even got a souvenir see?"

The man pulled out a small bundle of hair. It's ends pinned together by a grass hairpin. Grey watched silently. His eyes staring at that piece of hair.

"Here we go fellow. Time to join the rest of your folks."

The man carried lifted Grey in front of the bonfire. Horrid charred faces, contorted in pain and anguish, stared back at him from the blaze.

He could only let out a coughing wheeze. His tears mixing in his throat. The man tossed Grey into the fire.  

"Grey!"

Wind as cold as ice blew in from the forest. Baylee! Grey felt himself floating in the air, landing in her arms.

"Silly kid are you alright?"

"Who are you!" roared a large man. The rest of men behind him readied their weapons.

Baylee stared at them coldly. "I am the one who is going to kill you."

She let Grey down besides her. The air chilling around her very breathe.

"Get her!"

Men rushed in from all sides. In their hands primitive daggers, swords, axes, and shields. Weapons from a forgotten age.

Baylee whispered an incantation and motioned her hands. Ice spears jetted from beneath her feet, skewering them all. She spun her hand in a clockwise motion and the spears turned in unison drilling through their heads. Their bodies bursting. The rest of the men who had not attacked could only recoil in fear.

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"Ah, another one." murmured a large man in the group. He pushed pass those in front of him. His face shrouded by a helmet of plate. "You adventurers are quite tenacious. Who would have thought in a week there would be so many of you here? Truly like roaches."

He pulled out an axe larger than even the largest man. Fifteen feet long. It's girth was enough to give the men around him pause. His armor glistened under the moonlight. A pitch black.

"Who are you! Why have you done this! Are we not on the same side?"

The large knight chuckled.

"Same side you say? You come into these dungeon and take all you can. You fight not caring about those around, hurting countless innocents. All for what? For the title of hero? Nothing but a group of thieves and vagrants."

"You!"

"You save a few and kill hundreds. Death is all you deserve. Come enough talk. You think you are strong? Come face me then."

Knights. In this world where only 5% of the population were adventurers, the ones that kept the peace, that fought in wars, were undoubtly the knights. An order charged with protecting the common folk from harm. Their skill with mana was nonexistent but paired with high grade gear, a skillful knight can take on even the strongest adventurer. Baylee's eyes were raised in a tingle of fear. There were nearly 100 adventurers in the adventurer camp. Did this fellow kill them all?

"What? You afraid? It's like you fools to be scared when faced with true skill."

The knight rushed towards Baylee. His axe dragging on the floor, parting the earth beneath his feet. Baylee picked up Grey and tossed him to the side.

"Master!"

Baylee swung her staff up. Ice jutted out from the ground. The knight plowed through them like nothing. His armor didn't even receive a scratch. He swung down with incredible force. Crack! Miss! Baylee rolled to the side. The axe swung again. Miss! Slashing the end of her robe.

Baylee stood with her staff ready. She did not bother to attempt to cast a spell. Knights! A mage's worst weakness was truly exposed when they did not have time to cast. She could do nothing but defend.

The knight swung again. However, flashes of light suddenly appeared in front of Baylee. Spider Silk Illusionary Formation! The knight's axe was blocked and sent backwards by several dozen blades. Vernon appeared behind the knight. His dagger in hand. He stabbed at the knight's back. Ping! It deflected off the armor. The knight swung and the rogue vanished back into the darkness.

"Vernon!" cried Baylee.

"This fellow's armor is quite freakish. For my daggers  that can cut through dragon scales to not even leave a mark. We should leave now Baylee!"

"You think you can leave?" chuckled the knight, regaining his balance. He raised his hand. Out of the darkness, several soldiers appeared. So many the entire forest seemed to move. Baylee could only gasped in shock. She had not sensed them at all through her battle sense. What sorcery was this?

"The king has sent an entire army here. You think you can fight your way past one hundred thousand men?"

The overwhelming force that is mankind! This man did not kill all those adventurers this army did! Even if one adventurer could kill a hundred or even a thousand men. They were only human and would gradually tire out and die a horribly slow death. No escape!

"Vernon!".

"Ah, how stupid," muttered the rogue. "It looks like this is really where I will die. Baylee. I did not really like a fellow like you who always nags a lot, but to die with such a famous person. Perhaps people will also remember my name. Let us fight till our guts puke out. Maybe we will take two thousand down with us instead of a thousand."

A loud explosion could be heard. Blades and Spears. Swords and Shields. All clashed in a chaos that surpassed imagination. Vernon slashed through the masses as if they were paper but hundreds poured in from all sides. His invisibility did not stop people from touching him. And when his body nudged another. A sword would surely follow.

Baylee looked as hundreds moved towards her. Her eyes could only think of Grey huddled a few feet away.

"Silly kid!"

She ran to him. Blades of ice spun in the air cleaving men in half. Arrows rained from the sky and a sphere of ice incased Baylee and Grey in a protective shield. A countless men hammered at the shield from the outside. Their axes cleaving at the ice. Ice spears shot out of the shield with tremendous force. Skewering a dozen men at a time. A long blade of ice, flashed from the top of the sphere and spun around, cutting all those that drew near. The ground froze over and icicles burst from the floor, stabbing men by the soles of their feet. These icicles grew larger into trees, stabbing everyone near in with branches as sharp as knives.

"Grey!" whispered Baylee under her breathe. Her voice grown horse. A dozen spells came out at once but even so men flooded in from all sides oblivious to death. Oblivious to doom. Mindlessly dying in doves.

"I am sorry Grey," said Baylee. Her hands stroked Grey's hair. "Please forgive your master for

not being able to keep you safe. I can only hope we can meet again in another life."

To be faced with a slow death or a quick glorious one. There was no hesitation!

The ice shield shattered into a thousand pieces. All the men around her died stabbed several times over, gurgling blood on the ground. Baylee raised her staff and the shards spun in the air. The air shuddered. The ground shook. Baylee leaped up and hovered over the ground. Her staff was a spiraling torrent. The ice gathered in front of her, piecing together as if parts of a puzzle, forming a shape. Teeth. Paws. Fur. A Giant Frost Wolf! Incased in its center, Baylee weaved her magic. The magical construct let loose a frightening roar!

Baylee smiled at Grey one more time. Her voice as clear as day.

"Little Grey. I shall be going off first!"

"Ah!" Grey screamed.  

The Giant Wolf rushed into a group of charging men. It's teeth sinking into blood and bone. A hundred more died in an instant. The large knight chuckled at this and ran up to meet Giant Wolf. His axe glistening. He heaved a mighty blow! With a howled shriek. The Wolf's head was severed from its body. The magic gone, the construct shattered into pieces. Baylee laid bloodied on the ground. Her eyes full of hatred.

"A Frost Wolf?" chuckled the knight, "I have heard of some famous genius that has such a special attack. So that is you? How pitiful. Die knowing us knights are greater."

Baylee could only cough blood. Her thoughts full of rage. The original adventurers were knights. To die from such an ignorant person. How shameful! The axe swung down. Baylee's body jerked. She fell. Her eyes as distant as the wind. The knight looked at the fallen body with disdain. Wiping off the blood off his axe. He stepped over her as if she were a disgusting thing. The men around him took turns and spat on her face. Kicking and stabbing her still form.

The knight walked up to Grey. Grey! His mind anguished beyond fear. The knight kneeled down and said. "Kid, you seemed special to that person? May I ask your relation?"

"I-I am her apprentice."

The knight nodded, shaking his head. "Ah, truly a pity then."

A dagger sank into Grey's chest.

"Where the master goes, the apprentice follows."

Grey sank to the ground unfeeling. The pain in his chest was nothing compared to that of his heart. His eyes closing with nothing but regret.