The dragon knight that was riding the wyvern drops down into a clearing. He walks over to the small three-room house that is positioned in the middle of the open ground. The stone house that was once the dwelling place of the three wolves now lay barren. Desolation of the domicile once housing three magical creatures created by nature herself. The knight unsheaths his massive greatsword which is as long as the knight's body and uses his great strength to destroy the house in one swing.

The sword cuts through the stone like butter, its magical armament giving it enough durability to cut through anything it comes into contact with. Magic extends out from the tip of the sword, giving it enough length to reach the other end of the house. Rocks, furniture, and stored and preserved food get thrown aside following the path of the swing.

The knight becomes infuriated. No one is here for him to purge. The sunlight glints off his green dragon-scaled silver armor revealing the master craftmanship of all dragon knight armor. After making sure no life forms inhabit this place, he sheaths his sword and rides back to the village.

The wyvern reaches the village and comes in for a fast landing, using the ground to slow itself down kicking up large chunks of the dirt road. The knight jumps off the tall beast, landing on the ground with a loud thud. He sees a crowd had formed a circle around something, yelling and screaming at what he presumes to be a living creature.

"Ahhh. There you are." Bertal says as he awaits good news while approaching the knight. "So, what did you find?"

The knight shifts uncomfortably in his suit. He tries to hold off telling him, but he notices Bertal's facial expression changing for the worse the longer he waits. "Wenslo is dead. Stabbed in the back. No sign of Thomas. Failed to find the perpetrator."

Bertal takes a sigh and hesitantly looks over his shoulder at Suriel. "Do I have to do everything around here?" He turns his head to the knight as he finishes his sentence. "Every time I give you knights a job, I end up doing it for you. So tell me. Why does the kingdom need incompetent knights like yourself?"

The knight stays silent, not wanting to incriminate himself further. He watches as Bertal walks away, doing a half skip toward the mangled body. He orders the towns folk to decapitate her, shove her head onto a spike, and place it on the road leading to town with a sign displaying the words devil lover. Bertal jumps for joy as the crowd cuts her head off and defiles what's left of her corpse. After that, a few towns folk drag what is left of her into the outhouse throwing her body into the shit hole.

"Now then, madam." Bertal addresses Shelly who by now is sitting in the carriage trying to ignore the war crimes she just witnessed. "Are we going to have a problem?"

Shelly refuses to look at him but nods her head. She hides her shaking hands between her legs and continues to stare straight ahead, forcing her face to be expressionless. "Good." Bertal says with a smile and he steps away from the carriage to carry on with his business.

....

After a few hours of walking, Thomas lets the wolves take a break. Thomas falls onto his back, exhausted from the searing heat and long walk. Skoll leans over him, staring at him and wondering why this human is so out of breath.

"We should go back for her." Luna is starting to regret her decision to go along with this plan. "She would never leave us behind, so why did we do it to her?" She turns her attention to Fenrir who seems just as grief-stricken as her. He turns his head away from her contemplating if she is right or not.

"There's no point if all of you are dead." Thomas barely manages to say through his heavy breathing. "They don't have any proof of her crimes, it's unlikely that they can prosecute her without finding the three of you." Luna isn't buying his nonsense. She may not know the inner workings of human culture, but her gut is telling her that her mother is in danger. She takes a deep sigh knowing that it's too late to go back. Her thoughts cluttered with the constant fear of her mother dying.

"Where are we going?" Fenrir asks.

Thomas is surprised by the serious look on his face. Showing a level of maturity that the others can't. Meanwhile, Skoll does everything he can to distract himself from his own thoughts. He lives in his own little world filled with rules that are custom tailored by his imagination. He snaps out of it for a second, his mind coming to terms with everything that has been going on. "We shouldn't be here." Skoll says in a panicked tone, grabbing his head in pain. "We should never have left."

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"Everything's going to be alright." Luna says to him. "Hero's don't cry, they suck it up and save people." Luna tries her best to sound like she means what she says. Hoping that Skoll will believe her words and find the courage to continue on.

After a few more minutes, Thomas manages to convince everyone to keep moving forward. Assuring them that the place they are going to is friendly to magical creatures such as themselves. However, word has spread fast about a murderer in the area, and the possibility of devilish creatures.

Thomas scouts some of the nearby towns to see if he can procure a carriage to take them the rest of the way. Walking through the forest has proven to be too slow for his liking. However, he is unable to convince anyone to rent their carriage to him, and he doesn't have the currency on him to buy one at this moment.

He heads back into the woods where he left the pups. He slumps down against a tree and dreads the long walk they have ahead of them. "It's a five-day ride by carriage. Walking through the forest slows our progress but is much safer." He hits the back of his head against the tree, becoming more frustrated with himself. His half asses plan caused this mess, but it's not like he could have planned ahead in these circumstances.

"Just rob a carriage at night." Fenrir suggests. "They're more likely to find us the longer we stay on the run." Thomas nods his head in agreement. He can't argue with that kind of logic. "We can travel at night too. I can see in the dark, so there's no need for us to get caught because we have a lantern telling everyone where we are."

Thomas sits up from his slouched position and thinks for a moment. "You might be right."

Later that day after the sun had set. Thomas and the three wolves sneak up on a farm and head to the stables where the carriage and horses are kept. The wooden stable looks like it's about to collapse in on itself, not because it looks old, but by how the structure is tilting to one side.

"Someone's inside." Luna points out to the rest of the group.

"Alright. I'll go in first and deal with him. Stay out here until I give you a signal to come inside." Thomas explains to the wolves right before he takes off toward the stables. He crouches down and slowly makes his way to the entrance, being careful not to step on anything that could break or make noise beneath his feet. Once he reaches the entrance, he peeks his head inside. 'Why would anyone be in the horse stable this late at night?'

He walks past the horses in their stables that are trying to get some sleep while fending off flies and other forms of bugs attacking their face. They ignore Thomas and focus their attention on matters they deem important. They regulate themselves to staring at specific points across from their stables. Their minds wander, bored out of their minds and yet they remain docile.

Thomas comes across a large stable, one where he is unable to see a horse who is usually poking its head out the side. He finds this strange. Then again, this could just be an empty stable used for storage. Since this is where the noise is coming from, he cautiously takes a peek over the chest-high door.

What Thomas sees is revolting. A vulgar display of a man whoring himself out to a horse. He stands atop a stool with his pants around his ankles penetrating the beast with his snake. His sack slaps against the creature with each thrust. With one last thrust, the head of his penis enlarges as he shoots his load into the beast with another louder moan.

Thomas nearly expels his stomach contents, managing to hold it in and swallow what little came up. He takes a sigh and rushes into the stable tackling the man to the ground. The man panics. His body is unable to come to terms with the events so it freezes up momentarily. "Wait." The man says. Thomas was about to stab him to death, but against his better judgment, he decides to hear this man out.

"If you're here to rob this place, I can help you." Thomas looks at the man while still holding a dagger to his throat trying to decide if it would benefit him to keep this man alive.

"Can you drive a carriage?"

The man quickly nods his head. Thomas removes the knife from the man's throat and sheaths it. The man pulls his pants up and does what Thomas orders him to do. They bring two horses out to pull the carriage, leaving the one that had been violated back in the stable.

Thomas changes his outfit with an extra one laying around that just barely fits him. The wolves climb into the carriage as Thomas sits next to the man not wanting him to leave his field of view while preventing him from seeing the wolves. "Onward." Thomas commands. The man drives the carriage toward their intended destination.

The trip is long and silent. The man knows his crime is punishable by death. He has no choice but to follow Thoma's orders to the letter. At night, the wolves sneak out to hunt for food, only sleeping during the day. Thomas isn't going to risk this man telling the authorities about the wolves' existence if they get caught.

When they come across the border between the kingdom of Atraya and Zephyria, ten Atrayaian soldiers guard the path. "Shit!" Thomas starts to panic. It's too late for the wolves to jump out and hide. Thomas orders the man to keep driving and do what the soldiers say. "Charge forward only when I give you the signal." Thomas says to the man.

The carriage comes to a rolling stop. Pebbles and sticks crunch beneath the wooden tires as it stops not ten feet from the soldiers. Their armor is made out of cheap chainmail and leather bindings. Their swords are crude but sturdy. Two soldiers walk up to Thomas informing him that they need to inspect the inside of the carriage. Thomas agrees without hesitation. As the two soldiers make their way to the side of the cart and ready themselves to open the door, Thomas gets ready to signal the man.

The soldiers open the doors and are greeted by an empty cabin. One of them steps inside for a quick inspection before stepping out again. "You're free to go." The soldier says.

Thomas is left stunned, but manages to regain his composure to ask the soldiers a question. "Did you guys hear anything about this fugitive on the run?"

"They haven't found him yet." One of the soldiers responds. "Got a whole army looking for him." The soldier spits on the ground. "They killed that devil-loving bitch. Lookin' for the devils as well."

"I heard they don't exist." One of the soldiers speaks up. "Got half the army looking for one man, the other half looking for fairytale creatures. Of course they have us doin' the most boring job they could think of."

Thomas tips his hat at them." Well, If you don't mind. We'll be on our way."

"Hold up." A man dressed in fine clothing walks up between the soldiers. "These morons forgot to ask you for your pass." He comes off as intimidating despite his small stature.

"What pass?" Thomas asks.

"We can't let anyone through who isn't able to identify themselves. Can't let a murderer into their country without some backlash."

"Alright." Thomas digs into his pockets and hands him one of his many fake IDs. The man glances over it and nods his head in approval. He hands it back to him and extends his hand towards the man driving the carriage.

The man glances at Thomas, worried. "Forgot your ID didn't you?" Thomas asks. "I guess you have to stay here."

"I can't walk back that far." The man protests.

"Sucks to be you." Thomas laughs.

"This man stole the carriage from a farm." The man informs the soldiers.