The area in front of the mountains was a mass of werewolf warriors milling around trying to find others of their own wolf pack they had been assigned to. It was a complete mess.
A short time passed by before the officers had finally gathered everyone into their proper wolf packs inside of the larger wolf packs controlled by even higher-ranked officers.
Wulfric's earlier guess several weeks ago on the size of the full strength of the werewolves army wasn't off by much.
The army had over 15,000 regular warriors with 1500 in the reserves, for a total of 16500 warriors. The 1500 reserve warriors were given the task of keeping the caves and civilians inside of them safe.
Varbu, Chack, Maya, and Mileena were all given the job of helping defend the caves as well.
Akira thought it was unfortunate that they were unable to join the main army along with him and with Klyn.
Azura was also left at the caves to take care of the people of the blue moon clan while the others fought.
Several hours ago Akira had been called away from the forge and led to a large group of a few hundred other werewolves. He had little to no knowledge of who most of these people were as it was his first time meeting them.
As he looked around for a familiar face he was somewhat happy when he found Ardolf and Klyn were both in the same wolf pack as him. It looked like Dolph and the other werewolf warriors he had met on the trip north had all been assigned elsewhere.
“This army structure seems like a mess how exact is it set up?” asked Akira as he walked over to the two friendly faces.
“So you finally arrived,” commented Ardolf.
“It may be a mess right now but it has worked for every war including the great wars. As for the army let me explain it to you.
First, you have the scout unit which is only used for keeping a low profile to gather information on the enemy and find dangers ahead of the main army or whatever unit they are attached to. There are only 5 warriors in each scout unit.
The next is just a regular wolf pack with 20 warriors, above it is the omega wolf pack with 100 warriors, then the Epsilon wolf pack with 500 warriors, Beta wolf pack with 2500, and lastly the alpha wolf pack which is the full strength of the werewolf army.
Each wolf pack is led by an appropriate level officer except for the scout unit's they have no officers,” said Klyn as he pushed his glasses back up in a smart way.
“I am the officer of the 5th omega wolf pack which both you and Klyn are part of. The 5th omega wolf pack is part of the 3rd Epsilon, 1st beta pack,” said Ardolf.
“Although you are second in command under me in one of the Bluemoon clan wolf packs. The grand elders are still skeptical of your prowess and have not given you an officer position.
Grand elder Wulfric asked me to pass a short message along to you that you need to keep fighting honorably and if you do so you will be recognized since the other grand elders are keeping an eye on you,” said Ardolf.
“I can do that,” said Akira nodding.
He wasn't all that troubled by being given the position of a grunt warrior. This way when he became an officer he would not be looked upon as someone who received favors by being the grandson of a Grand elder.
“You have been put in the second wolf pack along with Klyn. You both are two of the three warriors in the second wolf pack that are not veterans of the last war. The officer commanding the second wolf pack is Botolf from the Redmoon clan,” said Ardolf.
“Who is the third person?” asked Klyn.
“Go and see for yourselves,” said Ardolf with a knowing smile as he pointed to a small group of middle-aged veterans.
Akira and Klyn immediately walked over to the group and introduced themselves.
“So you're the grandson of Grand elder Wulfric. Huh... I was about your age when I fought in the last war. I was in a different unit that coordinated many of our attacks along with Grand elder Wulfric,” was all Botolf said before turning to Klyn.
“I won't be a nag since I know that shaman chants are not easy to use and take up a lot of energy but that does not mean you can be a slouch and not do your job correctly. I expect you to provide buffs when we need them for a big fight.”
“I will do my best!” said Klyn.
Botolf turned away from them and continued to chat with the other veterans of their group.
“Why are you here?” asked a voice from beside Akira. The voice was not hostile but it was not warm either.
“Oh... cousin nice to see you as well,” said Akira a little surprised at seeing Frang.
Now he knew why Ardolf had smiled earlier. He guessed that Frang had been put in the same unit as he was for the same reason, for both of them to gain experience and prove their strength.
“How weird is that, both of you are the future heads of your clans and in the same wolf pack, and we are all lowly grunts,” said Klyn with a laugh trying to smooth out the mood and make sure an argument didn't start.
“Ha! I may be only a warrior now but I'll show that my skill is not something to look down on!” said Frang.
“Same here,” replied Akira.
Botolf watched from a distance as the three greenhorns talk to each other. He had heard from Redbeard that the two cousins had quite a few arguments already and now it was his job to keep an eye on the two to make sure they didn't act up. What a headache this was going to be.
“Alright! Everyone in the 5th omega wolf pack gather up!” shouted Ardolf.
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The warriors of the 5th omega stopped their chatter and walked over to Ardolf in a loose semi-circle.
“We have just been given our first two orders! We are to go with the 3rd Epsilon wolf pack and talk to the Griiq tribes to see if they will be helping us in the future fights to come. Then we have to meet back up with the 1st beta pack near the border where we will receive further instructions. Let's go,” said Ardolf.
***
The 3rd epsilon wolf pack had been camped outside the Griiqs main city for over two days as the officers led by Redbeard who was the officer of the 3rd epsilon, tried to get an answer out of the Griiq elders who were reluctant to do anything, even with the possible crisis knocking on their door.
Akira sat and waited along with the rest of the warriors. It was boring and frustrating knowing that other wolf packs were getting to the front line and could be already fighting the enemy while they were sitting and doing nothing.
“How am I supposed to become an officer if all we do is sit around!” complained Frang.
“We can do nothing but follow orders this is also an important thing to show that we can be trusted,” said Akira.
“Plus if we can get the help of the Griiq we can outnumber the human army by a lot,” said Klyn as he used a stick to draw in the moist sand.
The three were the youngest in their wolf pack and so they had decided to stick together and get along rather than fight and argue with each other. This made Botolf quite happy since it meant he didn't have to babysit them.
“Akira! Come here!” shouted Ardolf near the city gates.
Both Klyn and Frang looked at Akira curious at why he was being called.
Akira shrugged his shoulders before jogging over to Ardolf.
“Redbeard wants to talk to you,” said Ardolf as he led Akira to the large mud brick Ziggurat that was in the middle of the city.
Redbeard was impatiently waiting for them at the top of the hundreds of stairs.
“Akira I just remembered that you have a friend that is a Griiq. So you should know how to get them to agree on something right? Plus they should know you as well. So can you put in a few words for us to Griiq elders to hurry up their decisions?” asked Redbeard.
“Uh.. well I wouldn't say my experiences with Chack and the other Griiq were anything but normal. I can still try to help but I am unsure how much help I can provide,” said Akira.
“Good, follow me.”
Akira was led inside the uppermost building and down several sets of stairs that descended inside of the large Ziggurat until they came to a large and dimly lit Square room that had many rows of benches and chairs.
The Griiq elders sat on the benches while the werewolf officers sat on the chairs that had been brought into the room.
The slow discussion they were having stopped when Redbeard entered the room with Akira and Ardolf behind him.
At the sight of Akira, several of the elders began to whisper to each other.
When the three of them were seated a Griiq elder stood up.
“I see you have brought a troublemaker to the meeting. Were you going to try and use him to help your case?”
“Stop nitpicking at every little thing. That was in the past and since it seems like you have already forgotten, I will remind you that he along with Chack completed the halls of heroic trials. That's more than you have done in your entire life,” said another elder who Akira recognized as Chack's father.
That shut up the elder who had tried to derail the meeting and the discussion on what to do with the possible invading human army continued.
When Akira was allowed to speak he was only able to say a few sentences before sitting back down.
With Akira's presence and the few words he had spoken, he was able to change a few of the Griiq elder's minds as well as pull some of the elders that were still in the middle and unsure what to do towards the possibility of helping them.
By the end of the day, the Griiq elders had finally reached a decision. In the end, they had decided that they would not send any warriors to fight on the front lines along with the werewolves but they would send their warriors to the borders of their own territory and stop any human soldier that tried to pass through their own lands.
Although the decision was beneficial to the earth tribe it was not what Redbeard had been hoping for.
With the Griiq guarding the connected northwest area of the werewolf territory the werewolves could focus on other areas along the border and not worry too much of a surprise attack from that side.
“I'll be sure to let the grand elders know of the help that you provided when I write it up in my report,” said Redbeard as he and the other officers along with Akira descended from the tall Ziggurat to return to the waiting warriors outside the city.
***
It had taken Rodger over a fortnight to lead the large army through the muddy swamplands.
He was beginning to really hate the swamplands.
The heat had caused several of the soldiers under his command to get sick from too much sun exposure as they traveled.
The humidity of the swampland's made him feel like every part of his body was always wet and sticky, and the mud was even worse it got everywhere and into everything and caused massive delays.
The supply wagons pulled by large draft horses always got stuck whenever they had to go through a particularly wet area.
But that was not the worst of it! It was the damn insects and the large monsters that lived in the Swamplands that had caused him so much grief as he lost nearly a hundred men to them mostly at night when they were paroling.
It had gotten so bad that the soldiers would not patrol around the camp and instead stood right next to the bright fires which did little more than let you see what it was that was going to eat you.
To combat this Rodger had decided to have the army march at night and sleep during the day.
Although marching at night was far harder than during the day, especially in the swamplands it made it so that they would not be sitting ducks for the lurking monsters and would be able to react to any surprise night attack.
When they reached the large campsite at the small town of Madham the tired and muddy soldiers all gave a sigh of relief.
***
“How many soldiers did you bring with you?” asked Brutus as he looked up from a letter had been writing at his makeshift desk set up in his tent.
“20,000...but 213 are either sick or are recovering from a wound, we lost 137 to attacks from the local monsters during the night,” reported Rodger hesitantly not sure how his father would take the news of the deaths.
“Heh...The weak will be culled and only the strong will remain after this war. You did a good job good in bringing the army here in once piece. With over 19000 soldiers we have enough to crush anything the werewolves send at us,” said Brutus who was surprisingly calm about it and even gave Rodger a few rare words of praise.
“Father about Akira can we...”
“Don't talk about that mutt. I have my orders. We are to capture him and take him to those that want to...talk to him. If you can not control your feelings and do as ordered then I will remove you from command. You may be a Prince now but you are still my son and I expect you to act like it and not dishonor me during the coming battles,” said Brutus sharply interrupting Rodger.
“Although I want you to fight with honor...If you come to an unwinnable situation where you will face death... you must retreat and regather with others so that you can continue to fight at a later date. I do not want you to be a fool and die like your brother,” said Brutus in a softer and quieter voice that Rodger had not heard in many years.
“Father...”
“Enough talking. Go see that the soldiers get settled in and when that is done bring the officers to my command tent.”
Rodger let out a sigh and left his father's tent to complete the orders that had been given to him.
As Rodger disappeared into the mass of tents two dark-robed figures passed the guards near Brutus tent and entered the tent.