Awakening to the sound of a horn Will quickly wake up and grab his two sword from the ground, looking around for enemies.

"Artír, what is happening?" Will asked the dwarf.

"Prince, one of scouts have disappeared early morning just a few meters away, we don't know how. We have to venture on." Artír explained the situation.

Thinking for a moment Will begrudgingly agreed and called his soldiers to quickly pack their belongings and after just a few minutes the caravan was fully loaded, tired eyes were soon on most soldiers. Counting their numbers Will accepted that one of the scouts were missing from the group.

Walking for several hours Will looked over towards Artír and saw the crudely drawn map of the area, asking for their location Artír answered, "It seems like our journey is going faster than excepted, we have traveled a third of the way through the forest and we will end up close to the stone road afterwards."

"Great." Will commented.

Suddenly Will lifted his hand up in the air, signaling the caravan to stop, in the dead silence of the forest the group could hear the echo of howling through the forest, a few of the novice soldiers were nervous, but they looked over towards their leader and saw his calm reaction they calmed down a bit.

"Scouts, how many?" Will asked.

"Not certain prince, but at least a dozen, maybe more. Woodland wolves usually hunt in packs, but we are unsure how large these packs are in this area." One of the scouts reported.

Waiting for several minutes they could slowly hear the bushes all around them shake, sensing danger Will called for the soldiers to draw their weapons. Suddenly from the bushes over twenty large wolves were seen rushing towards the group, large in size, their dark fur like lightning through the forest as the soldiers began counter attacking their opponent. Will had his two swords drawn and began attacking one of the large wolves attacking their wagons. The battle raged on as Will slew the wolf in front of him he looked around and saw a few dead bodies of his soldiers and wolves, rage filled his mind and he began rushing over towards a soldier on his right to help slay the wolf.

The battle continued as the soldiers began winning against the wolves, but suddenly Will stopped in his onslaught as he saw a large silver wolf with scars riddling its body, standing twice tall over the other wolves Will readied his swords in the familiar sword style of his home.

"Must be the pack leader." Will thought as he twirled his blades in a routine pattern. Reading his posture the wolf suddenly howled and began rushing towards Will, parrying the claw with his sword Will stumbled back, the wolves strength higher than he had anticipated. Understanding pure combat would only lead to injures Will instead began evading hastily around the wolves claw and jaw.

Artír looked on as he slew the last wolf at Will's battle and rushed in to help but was stopped by Perran.

"What are you doing Perran, we have to assist prince Will." Artír lashed out against his friend, anxious.

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"Stop Artír, This battle is the princes alone, its a fight between leaders." Perran explained, clenching his grip on Artír's shoulder.

The two dwarves watched on as Will's evading had successfully inflicted serious wounds into the wolves hide. But Will accidentally parried one of the wolves claws with his blade, pushing away the claw Will hadn't time to react and the wolves strong jaw sank into the princes shoulder, biting deeply. Will roared out a cry of pain but resolving his mind he tightened his grip on his brothers sword in his right hand and forcefully plunging the blade into the wolves hide, striking its heart the wolves dropped its bite on Will's shoulder and dropped dead before Will's feet. Seeing their leader killing the leader of the wolves a battle cry was roared out from the remaining soldiers. Two soldiers rushed over to the prince to help him with his injuries.

Sighing in relief Artír loosened his grip on his weapon. "See, our young wolf succeeded." Perran spoke.

Not hearing the conversation Will was helped by one of the soldiers to the wagons to get treated and met Artír on the way.

"How many did we lose?" Will asked, ignoring his injury.

"Too many I'm afraid, Only Frederick of the veteran soldiers, the others were newcomers." Artír told the prince with a heavy heart.

"Please bury their bodies, we must allow their souls to pass unto the halls of Hel." Will ordered.

"Will do your highness." Artír and Perran accepted the order, calling for a few able bodied soldiers to help in the ritual burial.

Securing their camp with runic enchantments the soldiers were treated by the civilians and Will ordered scouts in pairs of two to scout ahead for enemies or any signs of life.

"Artír, tell me exactly how many soldiers did we lose." Will asked.

"Your highness, seventeen of our soldiers were killed, we only have around twenty abled soldiers left, most of them experienced soldiers and a except for the loss of Frederick the soldiers from Almadas are still alive." Artír answered. Sighing in remorse thought about their plan and the treacherous journey they still have through the Cymbal forest.

An hour later the scouts returned and reported that signs of a monster has been spotted to the east, and its close to the outer part of the forest.

"It seems like we have to abandon the forest and try to get through Sharlev." Will explained to his soldiers nearby. After waiting for another hour Will set their plan in motion and the caravan began heading east to kill the monster and leave the forest.

After treading the silent forest for two hours they finally entered a wide glade, where the soldiers could see several obelisks at the centre of the glade.

"Do you have a plan prince Will?" Artír asked, placing his trust in the young wolf.

Thinking for a moment he realizes the only plan that have success. "I have, you, Perran and Caja take the caravan and civilians to Sharlev, show them my insignia and they will know you are subjects of Almadas. Hopefully you will gain entry into one of the border towns while me and the remaining soldiers slay the monster and then meet up with you."

"A daring plan, if its your plan we will follow it." Artír accepted, taking out his map he showed it to Will, Perran and Caja." We will head towards the town of Ishban." Pointing at a location on the map the group agreed and began conveying the plan to the rest of the soldiers.

Hiding one of the wagons behind a dense part of the glade the three soldiers and the civilians quietly escaped while Will formulated their attack.

"We wait here until the monster has appeared, Filís you take half of the soldiers and go to the right, the others follow me, we will use the same tactic as before." Will explained. "Any questions?" Hearing no remark he nodded in satisfaction and the two group split up. Waiting for another hour they finally saw a cloaked person entering the glade carrying the dead corpse of a boar.

"Great Hyrix, answer my call and partake in my offering." The mysterious man called out and a few moments later dark mists began appearing on the monuments and before the two groups a large bewinged creature sat perched on the largest of the stones. looking at the cloaked man.

"It seems like you have of no value to me anymore, I yearn for elven flesh, not boars and deers." Hyrix hissed at the man. As it spoke dark mists appeared on its palm and black tendrils shot up from the ground, screaming in fear the man tried to escape but to no avail he slowly was dragged underneath the earth. Watching the monster Will prepared to engage it but abruptly stopped when he noticed a large mist entering the glade, obscuring the area from the rest of the forest.

Will looked over towards the monster once again and saw it was also confused but a terrifying smile appeared on its cracked lips.

"It seems like an elf has returned to be slaughtered, maybe the fool was of use after all." The creature spoke as it evaded several projectiles flying from the mist.

"NOW!!" Will roared out as the soldiers followed his command and rushed towards the enemy.