As soon as our eyes meet she gets to her feet and walks out of the cave. She is almost as big as the tiger and if anything she feels even more dangerous. Her silver fur gives her an appearance of great age and dignity yet she moves like a young wolf, every step full of restrained power.

Great Mother Wolf says "Thank you for answering my call young one."

"It's an honor to meet you great mother wolf. How can I help you?"

Great Mother Wolf says "A while ago my daughter and several human heroes went into an old abandoned fortress. They have yet to return and I am concerned for my daughter's safety."

"An old abandoned fortress? Can you tell me more?"

Great Mother Wolf says "It dates back to the ancient empire, what do you know of it?"

"Quite a bit actually. If it is a fortress this far north that fell, was it due to the civil war or the dragon's rage that it fell?"

Great Mother Wolf says "Oh, you do know quite a bit! It fell during the civil war and it was never cleaned up. The massive amount of rotting corpses caused the area to become cursed."

"Ah, so it is overrun with the undead?"

Great Mother Wolf says "Yes, exactly! The group of heroes had a paladin and a priest so I thought it would be a good place for them to grow stronger."

"Alright, I have experience dealing with the undead so I should be able to handle it. Not to be rude, but is there going to be a reward for my help?"

Great Mother Wolf says "Yes, if you save my daughter I will help you twice, once in this small war and again in the demon war."

"You are quite knowledgeable yourself. Very well, I accept your request."

Great Mother Wolf says "Good! Thank you! Brother raven will guide you to the fortress."

"Alright, I will leave right away."

Once brother raven indicates the direction I take off at full speed, since I already know he is way faster than I am. After riding the tiger running may be a lot slower but it feels much better. Brother raven easily matches my speed and floats just a little ahead of me to show the way.

"Brother raven, at my speed how long will it take to get there?"

Brother Raven says "Three, maybe four days."

"Will you be going inside with me?"

Brother Raven says "No, I'm used to the open sky. Small cramped places do not suit me."

"Fair enough."

Pushing myself as much as I can, we arrive at the fortress early in the evening of the third day. Outside we find a lot of destroyed skeletons and zombies, it doesn't look like the heroes had any problems before entering. Day or night won't matter once I am inside so I meditate for a couple of hours to recover and then head inside.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Brother raven is going to wait outside, if I run into something I can't handle I will retreat outside and he will help me. The great doors of the fortress are standing open so I walk right in, signs of battle damage are all over the place. Once inside I find more evidence of destroyed undead, following the signs leads me to a second gate.

The first gate didn't show much in the way of damage, this gate and the portcullis in front of it, however have a hole burned right through them. It does not look like recent damage so it must have happened when the fortress fell. After walking through the hole, I don't even have to duck, I find myself in a small courtyard.

Opposite me there is another gate, and there are openings on the left and right. I head through the left opening first, it turns out to have been a stable. A quick check shows nothing of interest until I get to the last stall, inside is a statue.

The statue is of a four legged lizard, maybe they used these as mounts back in the ancient empire. It looks like it was quite a fierce beast, but why would they make a statue of it? After finding nothing else I head across the courtyard to check the right side opening.

Beyond the opening is a large empty room, whatever was in here has long rotted away. It might have been a warehouse or maybe a barracks, no real way to tell. With nothing else to do I head through the third gate, the doors are completely gone, maybe they were blown up.

After passing through the gate I have my first encounter with some undead. Ten skeletons move to attack me, remembering my last encounter and my conversation with Ruby. I don't bother to draw Blitz. I simply use my fists, each punch turns a skeleton's skull into fragments.

After dealing with the skeletons I take a look around, I am in another courtyard, this one is much bigger though. Other than the gate I passed through there are two openings on each of the other walls. Since I prefer to be methodical I start with the first opening on the left, which turns out to have a bunch of zombies inside.

After dealing with the zombies the same way as the skeletons I find that I am in a hallway with a bunch of rooms on the left side of it. It looks like these were personal quarters from the size of them, but again nothing has survived the passage of time. Moving on to the second opening I find a similar arrangement, although the room at the end of the hallway is slightly bigger and has something still in it.

It is a large bed, and just from looking at it I can tell it is enchanted, this must have been the room of someone rich and important. Imagine having the money to spare to have a bed enchanted, then again the old empire did have a lot more magic so maybe it isn't so unusual. If I had a way to, I would definitely take the bed with me, but even if it might have fit my pouch is already full.

The dust on the floor of the room has already been disturbed so the heroes probably found it as well. I guess it wouldn't fit in their inventory since it is still here. After studying the bed for a minute I can tell it is enchanted for comfort and good rest, and it is big enough for me and all the girls.

If I can find a way to move it I will come back for it, but since I don't need sleep right now I move on. Next I move into the first opening on the wall opposite the gate. From the stands and racks I am pretty sure this was an armory, but it is empty of weapons and armor now. I wonder if they found it this way or if the heroes emptied it out.

Moving on to the next opening I follow a short hallway which then opens into a large room, a room full of statues. Walking around looking at them I realize one of the statues is familiar, it's that hero I let go, Justin. Another of the statues is a large wolf, is this the daughter I am looking for?

Hearing a sound of movement behind me I draw Blitz and spin around while at the same time closing my eyes. With thoughts of a medusa or something similar I put my faith in my hearing. Steps getting closer, it has four legs, a dragging sound would indicate a tail.

It suddenly sounds very familiar, could it be another basilisk? That would explain why the heroes are all statues, but killing the basilisk won't return them to normal. Well, the first thing is to kill the thing without opening my eyes.