“So you live outside the village, huh?” Rasla asked to Danner as they went into the slightly burnt woods. “A questionable thing to do with the wolf still around, I’d say.”

The man responded, not taking his eyes of the path.

“Oh, I’ve been living here since… always, I guess. I’m sort of the village’s official hunter one could say, in fact, that’s why I’m the one responsible for tracking the creature and all that stuff.”

“Wow… And you even stay in the same forest…” Erion said. “It never attacked you?”

“Haha, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t.” The hunter admitted. “My old hut was probably the first thing the damn thing burned down. I was very lucky it happened during the day, when I was out hunting.”

“And why the hell didn’t you move?” Harry asked, baffled.

“The house is now made of bricks, as you’ll be able to see in a few seconds.”

A large clearance was right in front of them, notably decorated by ashes and a humble brick house in the middle of it, near a pond newly-filled by the rain. As the clouds started to dry up, a sunbeam fell onto the orange roof and gave the place an atmosphere of comfort and fairy tale unusual in times of bleakness and dark skies. Maybe the local fairies got a little too much inspired by the once-in-a-lifetime presence of a nice place – a couple of them were taking part in acts of questionable decency behind a considerably thin tree.

“Let’s get in, the only thing impeding the wolf from strolling around won’t last much longer.” Danner said.

The six quickly got through the cheap metal door (no wooden furniture present in quite a big radius), letting the magical creatures have their privacy, although it didn’t seem they specially craved for it. The hunter agilely lit all of the lamps in the biggest of two rooms inside the house, offering seats to the newcomers around a modest round table.

“Make yourselves at home, I’m going to make some tea.” He said moving to the oven right next to them. “Do you guys want cake? I have some leftovers.”

No one really objected.

“You can look at the notes I left on the table. There’s some interesting stuff written down there.”

Indeed, lots of papers, maps and a journal were on the round table, everything seemingly related to the fiery wolf case. Maps of the area divided in sectors, drawings of the creature, time tables… All neatly organized and easily readable, surprising for the work of a man who mostly acted by himself.

“This is good stuff.” Rasla glanced through the papers. “Specially this.”

She raised one of the maps, a very simple one marked by four red circles on different spots. An annotation on the top left stated: “POSSIBLE LAIRS”.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Oh, right.” Danner looked up while preparing the beverage. “Hard job it is. I added the most recent one just last week; it’s definitely living on one of these areas, but it’s hard to confirm.”

“Why is that?” Max asked.

“Oh, I don’t think it’d be very healthy to follow such beast to where it lives. I admit I tried it once and, well, look.” He raised his left arm, showing the tightly wrapped bandages from his wrist to his elbow.

“Oh.” The Cavalier went back to reading the annotations.

Soon after, the hunter went back to them, carrying a teapot, some cake and bread.

“Here it is.” he noticed everybody’s concentration. “Feel free to take this stuff, I’ve probably memorized everything.”

“Ok, great.” The Barbarian smiled. “But I don’t think we need much more than the Possible Lairs thing.”

“Really? Well...” Danner put a piece of cake in his mouth. “So I guess it wouldn’t take too long to deal with the wolf, then? You guys will just show up at its lair and kill it?”

“It’s usually how you deal with beasts. No point in running around after them when they outspeed you like it’s a joke.” Rasla told him. “The good ol’ brute force is enough in 99% of the cases.”

She ate an entire bread in two bites. Everyone ate in silence as they put the notes to the side.

“...This tea is pretty good.” Erion said, breaking the ice. “Ohlea herbs?”

“Uhum.” Danner took another sip. “I got it from a traveling merchant that comes around once in a while. Best tea I’ve ever had.”

“It’s pretty good, indeed.” The cook agreed. “It’s better if you add some poiller seeds too, really augments the flavor.”

Anda started coughing after choking a little bit on the tea. After she calmed down, with a few good slaps from Rasla, the party got up, thanking Danner for all the information he had handed over. They picked up the paper with the possible lairs and said their goodbyes, exiting the place and noticing how the sun was almost set.

“I guess it’s time for some ale, right?” Harry laughed. “And then, finally, a good, warm bed. Maybe some food that isn’t monster too – no offense, Erion.”

“Not taken.” He laughed. “I’m craving for a fine steak.”

The group went back through the same road, laughing about their… “unusual” trip to Aseena. And yes, the fairies were still on the action.

…

Her breath was warm, common. It had a different feeling though, a strange sensation. Her thoughts were blurry, they too didn’t feel like usual… Like they didn’t belong to her.

The rain had stopped. Finally, the flames could breathe – they could destroy. She would usually live her life like always, protecting herself from the one who offered threat. But the wolf was force into a new path, she was the threat.

Quick images flashed through the primitive brain.

Puppies? No. The purple shadow hid them.

Humans. Set them on fire.

The trees… So claustrophobic.

She ran startled. She didn’t know why, but her fire was furious – it was spread out, and purple. What happened? Who was she?

Her mind wasn’t hers anymore. Nothing but a puppet. The hands of Evil pulled the strings