"Really?" The man wearing fine garments looks at the other man dressed in farm clothes with skepticism. "What's your name?"

"What's your name?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"My name is Arthur." He gives the man a cold stare. "Now that I told you my name, why don't you tell me yours."

"I'm telling you the truth. This man stole from the farm I was working at." The man pleads for them to believe.

"Okay." Arthur says. "Tell us your name first, then we can figure this mess out."

"Daniel." The man says.

"Okay, Daniel. Why are you helping this man if he stole from your work?" Arthur asks the visibly frightened man.

"Go ahead. "Thomas says. "Tell them why you're helping me." Thomas grins at him knowing what fate is in store for this deviant. "When I broke in to steal a horse, I found Daniel fucking one of them. Son of a bitch came inside of it too." One of the soldiers nearly pukes inside his helmet.

The soldiers are quick to surround Daniel who has no chance of fleeing or fighting back. Arther steps towards him and stabs Daniel in the stomach. He wrenches over in pain, falling onto the ground into the fetal position. His intestines spill out of the opening. He tries pushing them back in, but more squeeze through the gaps sliding across each other like wet noodles.

A soldier pulls out his dick and starts pissing onto Daniel's guts. A few of them laugh in unison, making fun of him as he cries and bleeds to death. He cries out to his god for help, begging for forgiveness only to be ignored by no one.

After the soldiers have had their fun, they allow Thomas to pass through, jokingly asking him to bring them more criminals. Thomas quickly flees the area still wondering where the wolf pups have gone. Once he is far enough away, he steps off the driver's area and checks the carriage. He opens the door to see Skoll lifting up the bottom of a seat and climbing out of it.

"That was a close one." Skoll says as he lifts himself out of the small wooden compartment. Fenrir and Luna pop out of the other end of the carriage, lifting up the wooden seat just as Skoll did on his side. "I was worried they would check the seats." Skoll stretches his arms and legs.

"Coulda told me about your hiding spot." Thomas leans up against the cart and pulls out a tobacco pipe. He takes out a pouch and pours tobacco into the pipe and lights it. "I was worried you were going to kill them, insulting your mother like that." He takes a hit off the pipe.

"Come on, even Skoll figured out she was already dead." Fenrir says with confidence crossing his arms. "She prepared us for a situation like this. It just took us a while to accept that It was actually happening."

"Seriously? So what was the plan if I didn't come along to help?"

"Leaving the country was our priority." Luna states. "Our main concern was if you would hold us back."

"Even if that is true." Thomas feels hurt that they think he isn't good enough to keep up with them. "You seem awfully calm about all of this."

"She put us through combat situations in the morning every day. In the afternoon, we could do whatever we wanted." Skoll says with a playful grin.

Thomas stands there dumbfounded. He wonders what kind of training regiment they had to go through to suppress their emotions to this extent. Not even veteran fighters would have the willpower to completely hide their fear, sadness, or anger. Even so, Thomas knows that when they reach safety, their brains will flood their minds with an array of emotions.

....

Meanwhile at the capital of Atraya, Kell and Shelly sit at a wooden table across from each other. Kell is as relaxed as a person could be. She takes a sip of her tea from a fancy cup that is ready to be refilled at a moment's notice by a maid standing next to her, ready to fulfill any need she desires. The room walls are furnished with decorative weapons and paintings of the ancestors who lived here.

She stares into the perplexed eyes of Shelly who is fidgeting her fingers to release some of the tension building up inside her. Shelly takes her eyes off Kell and focuses on the intricate design of the table. She follows the pattern of the carved lines. Its chaotic pattern comes together and forms a single shape that borders the whole table. "What's wrong?" Kell asks.

Shelly shifts in her chair as she tries her best not to look Kell in the eyes. Knowing that if she does, she wouldn't be able to lie to her. If Kell finds out her intentions. There's no telling what kind of torture she would be put through. "I was wondering who designed this table."

"It's ugly I know. I was planning on castrating the man who carved this grotesque piece, but it keeps slipping my mind." Kell tells the maid to have one of the knights bring her the man who carved the table. Shelly sips her tea in horror as she realizes she was the cause of that man's unfortunate demise. "Sir Bertal has promised to promote me to General after my Father's untimely death."

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"Congratulations." Shelly does her best to sound as enthusiastic as possible.

Bertal opens the door and walks in, he takes a seat between Kell and Shelly. "The king has agreed to your promotion, Kell." Kell is about to thank him for his hard work convincing the King, but Bertal interrupts her. "However." Bertal pours himself a cup of tea and takes a sip of it. "He wants you to capture those wolves before he will let you become a General."

"That's impossible!" Kell slams her fists on the table knocking her cup over. The contents spill and drip onto the floor. "There's no way I could catch up to them before they cross the border."

"That's why you cross the border!" Bertal says with conviction. "We can't let Zephyria get their hands on them. Those demons must be put to death. Who knows what kind of evil they will unleash on the world if we let them live? If they can't see the danger, then we have no choice but to save Zephyria from themselves and the world." Bertal points his finger at Kell.

"I'm sorry Sir." Kell says. "I was nieve thinking that the King's conviction wasn't strong enough to go to war over matters the world doesn't think is evil. But now I realize that we must become the savior of this world and cleanse everything that is evil."

Shelly excuses herself to leave the room, but as soon as she reaches the door, Bertal calls her name. Shelly stops and slowly turns around to see what he wants. "The purge begins. All those who oppose or think we are in the wrong are going guilty of blasphemy."

Shelly's eyes widen, and she rushes out of the door as fast as her legs let her move. Bertal is quick to stand up and grabs a decorative crossbow off the wall and aims it at her. He fires the arrow and hits her dead center in the back. The arrow pierces her spine causing her to become paralyzed from the waist down. "My legs, I can't move my legs." The fear in her voice echoes through the hallway as maids and members of royalty look on in horror.

"It's okay everyone. Just relax." The majority of onlookers sigh in relief when they realize that the castle is not under attack. Bertal walks up her to and grabs her by her throat. An aura with a blue hue glows in his hand. "There we go." Bertal says. "I thought about killing you, but I think a better punishment was to keep you alive so you can watch as we succeed in purifying this world. As such, I can't allow you to deceive anyone. So that's why damaged your voicebox so you can no longer speak."

Shelly tries to scream, but little sound escapes from her mouth. "Oh, and we can't forget about those deceiving hands of course." Bertal takes out a dagger and starts slicing through her wrists. The onlookers laugh at her pain. She is unable to scream, but the tears running down her face tell the whole story, she's in hell.

An hour later... Kell rounds up her troops at the city gates ready to take off and hunt down the wolves. She looks over her army of thousands of men wearing steel plate armor protected by magical fortification spells. It never ceases to amaze her the speed at which this kingdom's army can assemble. Two Dragon Knights fly in and settle down in front of the footsoldiers.

Kell stands tall and gets ready to address her newly formed army. Her biggest army to date that she has ever commanded. "LISTEN UP!" She yells to get everyone's attention. "This is the day we declare war on everyone who turns to evil. Zephyria is protecting demons in their land and must be punished for their insolence. This war will be swift. We will kill the wolves and take over the capital. Everyone who stands in our way will be cut down and judged by God in the afterlife. Now, who is ready to fight for their Kingdom and their God?"

The soldiers all chant in unison. "DEUS HOC VULT. DEUS HOC VULT."

....

Several weeks later. Thomas and the wolves finally reach their destination and find themselves at the Zephyrian capital, Silverfalls. A majestic city that was formed around the biggest silver mine in the world. Even hundreds of years after its founding. The silver mine continues on to this day. The city is built into the side of the mountain where the mine is. Some legends say the mine is one of the many treasure hiding spots where the God of greed hid all his silver.

The castle at the back of the city reaches one-fourth the way up the two-kilometer mountain. The tallest parts of the castle are carved directly into the mountain to provide stability for such a high structure. The castle itself is decorated with silver, making it the most expensive castle in the world. The city has a high tourist rate which brings in enough money on top of the silver they sell to neighboring countries. Thus this city is also one of the biggest in the world reaching a population of seven million people.

Word by now has reached the entire kingdom about the invading forces. However, the rest of the kingdom lives in poverty and is not suited for any confrontations. The kingdom's borders are weak, but most countries refuse to take them over because of how strong the capital defenses are. Until now, no one had even thought of raiding the city.

The three wolves stand in awe of the city and how it reflects the sunlight. Most of the buildings' roofs are plated with silver, allowing the sunlight to reflect off its surface thus making the city cool in the summer heat.

As they enter the city, the three wolves hide in the cart and wait for Thomas to signal when it's safe. He had told them how he has someone on the inside that will make sure nothing happens to them. Zephyria as a kingdom is much more tolerable when it comes to magical creatures, especially new ones.

Silverfalls has been studying new species for decades. They found that it was important to get ahead of these matters just in case there were creatures deemed too dangerous for humanity.

Thomas rides the carriage past the gates. The guards talk to him for a minute before letting him through. The first thing the wolves notice is how loud the streets are. Crowds of people shopping at local vendors, enough that Thomas has a hard time trying to make it through.

The road to the castle is straight and wide. The cobblestone path provides a smooth but long trip. Everything extends forth from the capital building as if the castle itself was a waterfall. Once they reach it, the sheer size of it up close is enough to impress even the most highly ranked royal from any capital on the earth.

Thomas pulls the cart to the side of the building where one of the many tunnels carved into the rock resides. The tunnel is tall enough to fit two carriages stacked on top of each other. The crude chiped rock keeps the record of its own construction by recounting every mark left on its walls by primitive tools.

Thomas pulls up to a gate where a hooded figure stands watch. "I have something Donavan wants to see." Thomas says in a neutral tone.

"Really?" The hooded figure says with a feminine voice. "Finally going to repay him for everything he's done for you?"

"Not exactly. Trust me, this is something that he will want to see."

"Is that so?"

"Please, Nikki. Let me through, and I promise I'll pay him back tomorrow."

"Not good enough." She says as she makes her way to the carriage. "Let's see what you have inside."