Rodimir the kennel master spluttered and took a few steps back. His war hounds lowered their heads, growling, ears flattened and teeth bared.

"What in the..."

"Evening, Rodimir. I haven't seen you in a while," said Redmane.

Rodimir's brows drew together. His trip tightened on the handle of his axe. "Do I know you?"

"You should."

The kennel master's eyebrow arched way up. The expression on his face made Redmane smile slightly. It was amusing, watching Rodimir try to riddle it out.

Redmane paced toward Rodimir slowly, and his hounds crouched lower, their growls grew louder. A clear warning. You better not get any closer, they said. He didn't even need Beast Speech to know what it meant.

My quarrel is with your master, not you, he said back.

Both warhounds cocked their heads to the side.

He understood us? said the one on the right.

He spoke to us! said the one on the left.

No matter, he's an enemy. He reeks of blood! He's eaten our packmates!

"Do you remember bringing hounds into the larder for a snack," Redmane said to Rodimir. "Then into my cell? for a bit of fun? Do you remember letting them snap at my face, the way you held their leashes just tight enough to keep them from reaching?"

Rodimir's eyes widened, darted to Redmane's long hair. Noting its color perhaps.

"Little Redcap...?"

"I've chosen a different name," said Redmane. "I'd tell it to you, but what would be the use. You won't be alive much longer."

The kennel master harumphed, his mouth twisted into a cruel smirk. "So this Blight jumped you up the food chain a few links, eh? Well then. Let's see what it's made of Little Redcap."

He whistled and the two warhounds bounded at Redmane.

The kennel master wheeled around and ran for the kennels behind him, but there was no time to give chase. One hound was already close enough to lunge for Redmane and the second was a breath behind him. Jaws clamped down on his calf, grinding all the way down to the bone. The other hound leapt up to snap at Redmane's face, a move Rodimir no doubt trained them to execute together, to swiftly take a man off his feet.

Redmane caught the leaping monster by the throat, but only barely. The warhound was infused with unnatural strength, like his masters. It snarled and thrashed in his grip, and Redmane found himself barely able to hold onto it.

So rather than continue to do so, he took hold of the monster's upper jaw in one hand, and its lower jaw in the other. Then he ripped its head in half.

Blood splattered all over Redmane, the other beast, and the grass at their feet. He tossed the carcass and snagged the other one by the scruff of the neck, wincing at the pain when it tried to hold onto his leg with those jaws. There was nothing for it, he had to let it tear off a chunk of his calf to lift it up. It whined sharply when his claws dug into its skin, and then again when he slammed it down and snapped its spine on his bent knee.

He looked up to see six more charging out of the kennels at him, their eyes aglow, flecks of spittle flying from their jaws.

The one in the lead leapt up and he struck it down with a claw.

A second one reached him and he swiped sideways, slashing its head into ribbons of gore.

But then the second, third and fourth all hit him at the same time. Teeth speared into his already wounded calf, his arm, into his hip on the opposite side. And then the last two hounds jumped high, one snapping at his nose, the other leaping up onto his back and biting down on the spot where his neck met the slope of his shoulder.

The weight of these beasts would have brought a normal man down to the ground to become a feast. Redmane could still stand, but their mass made his steps slow and his arms unwieldy. They chewed through his store of Corpus at alarming speed, continually mauling his flesh even as it regenerated.

He'd have to maul them back.

The one latched to his arm would be first. He crouched over and bit the nape of its neck with all the strength he could muster. The hound yipped and convulsed, its own blood spraying out its mouth.

With a hand free, he could reach up and snag the one attached to his back. He ripped it free, got down on one knee and slammed it to the earth a few times before giving it a killing bite as well.

Now he could get the upper hand. Go after Rodimir.

But apparently his foe had the same thought. Because he looked up in time to see the kennel master right on top of him, his axe flashing in the moonlight as it sped down at Redmane's face.

He canted his neck to the side so it missed, struck his shoulder instead. A fresh bloom of pain to match the bite on his other shoulder.

Stolen novel; please report.

Redmane clawed across Rodimir's middle, shredding his leather jerkin. Blood flowed freely from the deep wounds.

The kennel master cried out and struck again with that axe. Chopped straight down as if Redmane's head were a piece of firewood.

He lowered his head and shot into Rodimir like a wrestler, bowling him over, indifferent to the fact that he still had hounds gnawing on his leg and torso. More hounds were pelting out of the kennels, they would be on him in another instant.

It was their master he'd have to deal with first.

Rodimir, flat on his back, tried to bring his axe to bear and Redmane chomped down on the arm that held it. The kennel master cried out in pain, and Redmane was too preoccupied with that sweet sound to notice Rodimir drawing a long dagger from his belt with his other hand.

Then it was Redmane's turn to gasp out, as that dagger punched into his side, all the way to the hilt.

The kennel master's wiry frame didn't look it, but he was strong. Strong enough to shove Redmane off of him and roll back onto his feet. His right arm, mangled by Redmane's bite, could no longer hold his axe. It hung limply at his side as he retrieved the weapon with his left hand instead, grinning at Redmane as hounds encircled them.

"Aye, you've gotten strong indeed," said Rodimir. "But you're still a little runt at heart, aren't ya. And I'm the master of the beasts in this castle, hear?"

Redmane drew the dagger out of his side, tossed it on the ground. "Not anymore," he said.

Warhounds leapt at him from every side. He ducked one, swiped another out of the air with a claw, and lunged over the next two, headed straight for Rodimir.

The kennel master fended him off with his axe and his one remaining arm. There was no need for him to press the attack, his hounds would do it for him. Redmane charged at him, leapt at him, lunging with bite and claw, and Rodimir kept him out of reach. Backpedaling, sidestepping, swatting claws away with the head of his axe, ducking and weaving away from lunging bites. There was something of a Hunter in him as well. Rodimir knew well how beasts fought, and Redmane was no exception despite his new countenance.

Redmane had to fend off the remaining hounds as well, and it wasn't long until they'd piled onto him once again, sapping his Corpus reserves away, weighing him down. This is when Rodimir went on the attack, axe held high as he ran in to chop down on Redmane's neck. The blade sunk into his flesh again, deep. His vision blurred. Surely he had more life...

Corpus: 221

Perhaps not.

This was too close for comfort.

Time to dig deep. To find greater strength.

Redmane's heart pounded. Sweat and hot blood flowed down his face. He crouched under the weight of Rodimir's hounds, gathering every ounce of might in his body.

The moment he lunged, Rodimir's facial expression shifted from a cruel smile to a look of wide-eyed fear. The hounds yelped as they flew off him, shrugged away like a heavy fur cloak, thrown in every direction.

The last thing Rodimir saw was the abyss at the bottom of Redmane's open mouth.

His leaping bite caught him square in the face. Jaws clamped down on his neck instantly and twisted, snapping it. Redmane's leap came to a graceful end with the kennel master's limp body in tow, crouched like a wolf with a fox in its jaws.

He crouched over the corpse and feasted on it with no hesitation. The remaining warhounds, now masterless, cautiously approached to try to get a bite of Rodimir, sniffing at the bloody grass with their snouts low. But a glance and low growl from Redmane kept them all at bay.

Rodimir, Master of Hounds, has been slain

Tasks Completed: 1/3

Level Up

Level 6 —> 7

Level 7 —> 8

Quality Points awaiting allocation: 4

Wait. Four?

He'd forgotten to add to his Qualities last time. Unfortunate. Fighting Rodimir should have been easier.

As he chomped down the still-warm corpse of the kennel master, Redmane considered how best to spend them. Might was serving him well still, but if he'd been faster off the mark he could have spared himself unnecessary injuries. Rodimir kept dancing out of the way of his attacks, which was vexing. And on the topic of injuries, it would be good if he had more resistance to them. So much of that surplus Corpus went away too quickly.

Perhaps a split was in order.

Grace 4 —> 6

Fortitude 4 —> 6

He felt his skin change texture slightly. It seemed to harden, but not so much that it became taut, restrained his movements. He also felt as though his sense of balance had suddenly improved, and his sinews gained some tensile strength and elasticity. The feelings blended well with the power in his muscles. Altogether he'd be a more effective fighter in every sense.

Killing Rodimir seemed to have made the hounds docile, or at least less hostile. Perhaps he'd been holding their leash with a Skill of some kind.

One of them sniffed his way close again, making Redmane glance up at him. It whined.

Are you going to eat all that?

Yes, said Redmane.

Leave him be, said another hound, who had come up next to the first. There's food aplenty in the kennels.

Yes but I'd like some of that, said the first. It smells so... Fresh.

Redmane bared his fangs. Back off, or you're the next meal.

The hounds backed off without another word.

Rodimir's body had more vitality in it than his lessers, as it turned out. He replenished a good amount of Corpus.

Corpus: 322

The hounds were already sniffing at the carcasses of their dead packmates. Redmane shooed them away and devoured those for dessert.

Corpus: 425

Not quite where he started, but it would have to do.

Redmane stood and wiped his mouth, looked around the castle yard. With the battlements mostly cleared of soldiers and knights already, there was no one to raise the alarm that something had happened down here. No soldiers came running. None were in sight, even. Perhaps they did see what happened now, and cowardice got the better of them. It wouldn't have surprised Redmane, given how they had acquitted themselves in combat so far.

The hounds came up to him, sniffing the air, looking around.

Redmane glanced down at the one nearest to him. It stood right at his side.

Aren't you mad I ate your master? he said.

The hound side-eyed him. Will you feed us?

When I've eaten my fill, you can have the rest.

Good enough for us, said the hound.

Do you know where the rest of them are?

The dog raised its snout in sort of a nod, pointing it in the direction of the small chapel at the other end of the castle yard. It was a squat building of stone, adjacent to the keep but separate, big enough for perhaps a dozen people to fit inside. The warm glow of torchlight shone in its window.

Redmane didn't remember there being a chapel out here before, but then again, it had been a long time.

There's a bunch in there, said the hound. But they don't smell like the master did. They smell like people used to smell. They're all frightened too, that whole area stinks of fear.

I see.

He could go speak to them now. But there were still enemies about. It would be better to clear the castle before exposing any innocents to danger.

And there was always the chance the folk inside would look at him and see an enemy. Best to be as prepared for that as possible.

Which would mean more slaying. More feasting. More power.

Redmane glanced between the gatehouse and the keep. The keep he'd save for last. There was also the castle barracks, which might have some leftover soldiers to cull.

That would be his next meal.