The morning dawned cold, and dark clouds filled the sky. Cade knew the rain was inevitable, and he wanted to be on the road back to Pinewood by then. Cade had gone to the wagons as soon as the sun broke the eastern horizon. He had not slept well, and he wanted to get moving to distract his turbulent thoughts. His mind kept circling back to the strange report from Mal, and something about it made him feel very uneasy. Cade still wasn’t sure the reports were even true, but something had been disturbed by it. Cade began preparing the wagons for the trip back home Zaka was sitting nearby, watching him as he worked.

It wasn’t long before the traders began showing up to sort the rest of their goods out. Most of them were going to sell off the rest of their stock to local merchants and all of them needed to go acquire other things before they left. Cade hoped that they would go about their tasks quickly. Roland showed up with food from the kitchen from the inn and two steaming mugs of coffee. The drink surprised Cade. It was rare for the inn to have it. The beans to make coffee were only grown far to the south, and they didn’t often get them this far north. He took a mug and several sausages from Roland with a word of thanks. The coffee had a bold, rich flavor, and Cade savored its warmth in the morning chill.

“Lords, I don’t remember the last time I had coffee.”

“Mags said they had to beg it out of the last merchant who came from Covenhall. The finest Pagos coffee in the land. They don’t have much, but she made some for us.”

“That’s a good woman right there.”

“Aye. Mind you, our coins are a bit lighter because of it.”

Cade took another drink of the coffee, enjoying it immensely.

“Worth it.”

They clinked their mugs, and sat down on the back of a wagon to eat their breakfast. Roland pulled out a hunk of roasted pork and tossed it to Zaka, who attacked it, almost playfully. Cade smiled at this. Sometimes, he forgot that Zaka was still a young wolf.

By mid-morning, the traders had completed their sales and had returned to the wagons with their purchases. Cade and Roland made sure that everything was packed correctly, and made sure the horses were properly harnessed and saddled. Thunder rumbled to the north, and Cade felt a sense of unease returning. A cold chill crawled up his spine, and it had nothing to do with the coolness of the wind that was swirling from the coming storm. He saw Zaka prowling slowly towards the road leading out of the town. Roland came up beside him, watching the wolf as well.

“What’s got Zaka’s attention?”

“I have no idea. Something definitely feels off though.”

He felt Roland’s attention shift to him.

“We are about to do something stupid aren’t we?”

Cade, despite the rising feeling of tension within him, felt a grin split his face.

“You know it.”

Roland sighed, and they began following Zaka. One of the traders called out to them, but Roland put out a hand, signaling for them to stay put. Zaka led them out of the square and past the archer’s tower. Cade glanced up and saw a guard up on the walkway. He whistled sharply to get his attention.

“What is it, Cade?” the guard called down to them.

“Something’s got Zaka’s attention. Keep an eye on us, in case we need back up.”

“On you, lad.”

They refocused on Zaka, who was still moving forward, out onto the open grass. The tree line loomed ahead. They continued to approach the trees, until Zaka came to a stop a short distance away. Cade could feel the presence of something in the shade of the woods. He felt the tension from Zaka, and knew the wolf was absolutely sure of something foul in the forest. Cade shed his jacket, uncovering the throwing knives he kept in his vest. He pulled the short axe and dirk from his belt. He glanced over at Roland and saw the big man had dropped his jacket as well, and pulled out his own weapons.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

A shrieking bellow came out of the woods, and the low growth around the trees erupted with the most horrendous things Cade had ever seen. Covered in shiny black fur, the creatures bounded forward on four limbs in a weird loping gait. The front limbs were much longer than the back, and he could see the heavy muscles rippling underneath the fur. The creature’s flat black faces had small beady eyes and large mouths full of sharp vicious teeth. Cade quickly determined that there were more than 10 of the creatures barreling down on them. A vicious snarl came from Zaka, and the wolf bounded towards one of the creatures. Cade saw him hit a creature at full speed, going low to take out its legs. He didn’t have time to see what happened next, because another creature was almost upon him. He set his feet to prepare, and felt a sense of calm wash over him. Everything seemed to slow down, and his mind felt clear. He felt a heat inside of him, and felt it wash through his body. The creature leapt towards him, front limbs extended, sickle like talons seeking to tear him apart. He brought his axe around in an upward sweeping arc. Just before the axe connected with the open jaw of the creature, the blade exploded with fire, and the axe cut a flaming path through the beast’s skull. The body of the dead creature slammed into Cade, and he rolled to keep from being trapped under it. Another of the ugly things greeted him, rearing to slash at him with its claws. He sundered the arm with his dirk, which was wreathed in the same flame as his axe had been, and then he shoved the dirk into the thing’s chest. The flesh around the blade sizzled as he pulled it out, and came back to his feet. Something hit him in the back, and he was knocked to his hands and knees. He tried to roll, but the creature jumped off his back before he could. The agility of these creatures was amazing to Cade, and the creature was coming back at him again. The beast leapt, but dropped flat on the ground and the beast flew over him. Cade felt a claw rip at his leg. He gritted his teeth at the pain, and immediately rolled to his back. He dropped his axe, and pulled out one of his throwing knives and the creature turned for another attack. Cade saw the small knife blade bloom with flame, and he flung the fiery knife at the oncoming monster. The knife lodged in the beast's left eye, and the thing squawked, and then fell over on its side. He heard the sounds of sizzling from the wound, and he saw the flame that enshrouded the small knife was slowly dying out. Cade got to his feet, and saw that Roland was pulling his sword from the stomach of one of the beasts. Cade looked around and saw that the rest of the creatures had gone around them and were now heading towards the town. Cade heard the bell on the tower ringing, and saw that the archer was trying to pick off the creatures. Cade looked to where he last saw Zaka, and saw that the wolf had killed two of the creatures, and he was now limping slightly as he came towards Cade. Cade looked back at Roland, who was staring at Cade. Cade realized that the blade of the dirk in his left hand was still rippling with flames.

“What the fuck?”

“I have no idea. We have to stop them before they get into the town.”

“Right.”

Cade picked up his axe, and the blade again caught fire. He did not understand how this was happening, but he didn’t have time to stop and think about it. They took off at a run towards the town, and they heard the blood curdling bellows of the creatures as well as very human screams of terror.

They saw that the archer on the tower had taken out two more of the creatures. Cade slowed so that he could yell up to the guard.

“How many entered the town?”

The guard looked at Cade, and Cade saw his eyes widen at the site of his flaming weapons. Cade felt a surge of irritation at the weird occurrence, because now it was becoming more of a distraction than help.

“Hey! How many?”

The guard’s attention was brought back to Cade’s question.

“Three!”

Cade picked his pace back up to catch up with Roland and Zaka. They were waiting near the entrance to the market square. Cade saw bodies lying on the packed dirt. Screams tore the air ahead and to their left. They took off running again, avoiding the torn and broken corpses, trying to ignore faces of people they had known their whole lives. Cade saw a dead creature to their right, among more bodies. They turned left down the road that led to the Quill Inn and ran as fast as they could. Cade felt several sharp pains in his right leg and left arm, but he ignored them. Ahead, they saw a group of guards, and heard the roars of the beasts. One of the creatures bowled through the line of guards, and turned back to savage them again. Zaka raced ahead and leapt on to the creature’s back, and clamped his jaws on the beast’s neck. The thing tried to shake and rip the wolf off its back, but Zaka held on. A vicious shake of Zaka’s head ended the creature’s struggles, and the thing slumped to the ground. Cade and Roland ran forward and heard the last beast roar out, but the bellow was cut short. As they cleared the guards, they saw Mallin pulling his sword from the creature’s neck. The older man had blood running from long cuts on one arm, and looked unsteady. He turned and looked at Cade, and his eyes widened in surprise. Lightning cracked the sky above and thunder rumbled.

“Cade, you fuckin’ asshole. Why didn’t you tell me you was a channeler?”