Aldran couldn't help but smirk to himself as he walked around the market he and his wolf-men had just captured. Look at all this fantastic stuff! There's enough food here to keep the clan going for weeks! I knew taking this village was a great idea! This is exactly the kind of victory I needed to convince the others to cement my new position. The wolf-man took a second to examine some of the wares in the stalls when his sister Lidara and his second in command Yulgar came sprinting over. Yulgar was about the same size as Aldran, but his fur was closer to a dirty sand color, unlike the light grey fur that the siblings had. Being the son of one of the other elders in the village, Aldran and Yulgar had grown up together, quickly becoming good friends as they rised through the ranks of their clan. Throughout his childhood, Aldran had put most of his focus into becoming the best warrior he possibly could in an attempt to one day become the clan's Alpha like his father was. As a result, he had been rather isolated from the other children even as he continued to better himself as a fighter. Yulgar on the other hand had always been the center of attention amongst the kids their age and thrived when working cooperatively with the other hunters.

When Aldran was made the temporary leader of the clan after the passing of his father, he realized he didn't have many of the skills he needed to succeed in his new position. As per the rules of the clan, the eldest son of the last Alpha only got twelve months to prove to everyone that he was the right person to lead the others, otherwise the position would be given away to another male by majority vote. Knowing this, Aldran decided to tackle the supply problems the village was having first. He recruited his childhood friend to his cause, knowing he would need the man's charisma and leadership abilities to help make up for the things he lacked. Physically, Aldran may have outmatched the other wolf-man, but he couldn't help but feel inadequate whenever he saw the way the others admired and treated Yulgar. That didn't mean Aldran was jealous of the wolf-man, though. It was a well known fact that Yulgar didn't really have any personal ambition, which was the reason most people liked him. Everyone knew the man hardly ever put his needs above anyone else's, which made him someone people felt like they could always rely and count on. Aldran was actually extremely grateful to have the aide of one of his closest friends. It didn't matter to Aldran if the others wanted Yulgar to actually be in charge, but it did wound his pride more than he'd like to admit.

Even Aldran's little sister Lidara had decided to commit herself to helping Aldran out, too. She had actually been more help with the female wolf-men than Aldran would have guessed initially, despite her lack of experience and normally care-free attitude. He didn't tell her that though, knowing any compliment he'd give would just go straight to Lidara's head and make her completely insufferable for the next few weeks. If it wasn't for the help of the two of them, Aldran wasn't sure he'd still even be in his position of power.

"Chief! The village has organized a force to try and retake the market, just like you thought they would." Yulgar shouted.

"Their finally coming big brother!" Lidara added, unable to contain her visible excitement.

"Good! It's about time those pussies made their move! How many warriors are they sending?"

"Hard to tell from this distance, but I'd say about thirty. The make-up of their unit seems to mostly be elves, but I noticed some humans and even a few chimera ants amongst them."

"Thirty? That's it? And what's with all the different races?" Aldran confusingly replied. Our initial reports said they had close to a hundred people living here... are they looking down on us? Also, how did they get the different groups to co-exist amongst each other? Even the Human Emperor couldn't accomplish something like that!

"That's not all. There's something weird going on with their formation."

"...What do you mean by that?"

"I mean they aren't in a formation at all."

"Huh?"Aldran couldn't help but be surprised by what Yulgar had said.

"That doesn't make any sense Yulgie! Shouldn't they be getting ready to fight us?"

"I told you not to call me that. And yes, they should. Personally, I don't quite understand what they're doing either."

"Of course you don't. You we're never very smart to begin with, Yulgie."

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"Do you want to go little girl?!"

"Bring it, furball!"

"Chief, permission to give your sister a good pounding? Wait, let me rephrase that-"

"Oh Yulgie, I didn't know I was your type!"

"S-shut up Lidara!"

"Make me! Oh wait- never mind, you'd probably just enjoy it!"

Aldran tried not to laugh to himself as he watched the two of them bicker but decided he'd better stop the pair before the fight took a physical turn. "It's weird, I don't really understand what they seem to be planning." Are they seriously going to attack us without a battle formation, or are they just that inexperienced? No, this has to be on purpose. Otherwise, this just doesn't make any sense.

AWOOOOOM!

"What the f*ck was that?" Lidara tried to yell over the loud noise.

"I think... I think that was a battle horn!" Yulgar replied.

"Damn it! Yulgar, get everyone re-organized immediately! I want everyone manning the barricades! Lidara, you're with me."

"Right away, Chief!" They shouted back to him as Aldran started sprinting towards the main barricade with Lidara in tow. When he finally arrived at the barricade they threw together on the other end of the market he could see the wolf-men on duty all staring at something with their jaws dropped. A few of them looked visibly shaken and Aldran started to worry about the rapid drop in morale his soldiers were exhibiting. Aldran pulled one of the stunned soldiers of the wall with a violent yank of his tail and climbed up to the top of the make-shift wall to take his spot.

"What the f*ck?!" What Aldran saw didn't make any sense. The group that marched towards them looked like they were in some sort of parade and not at all prepared for battle like he thought they'd be. He took a quick head count of the group and realized Yulgar had been right about their numbers. Aldran could see elves, humans, beast-men and even a few dwarves amongst the gathered individuals, but the group was still way too small to challenge them directly.

AWOOOOOM!

The horn from earlier blew again drawing Aldran's attention towards the back of the procession. Four chimera ants were holding a massive palanquin over their shoulders. That must be their leader... I've got to admit, that's one hell of an entrance. We might have more in common than I initially thought...

"Now, that's how you put on a show. Impressive." Another wolf-man had climbed up the barricade next to Aldran and couldn't help but speak his mind as he looked down at the assembled crowd in front of them. This wolf-man's hair had mostly turned white due to his advanced age, but their was still some tufts of amber fur mixed in to his coat. His scar-tissue was quite gnarly and he was missing a part of his right ear along the top. His name was Uvoh and he was one of the few elders who had made the journey with them to capture the village.

"You think so too, Uvoh?"

"Hahaha, I'm way too old to be wasting any of my breaths on lies and falsehoods, but you know that. Still, something seems off here. There must be a reason for all this commotion. Judging by the bad feeling I'm getting, we should find out sooner rather than later."

"I agree," Aldran whispered back so the other's couldn't hear him as he contemplated what the elder wolf had said. This must be some sort of trap but... how exactly is this supposed to help them? Aldran tried to examine different possibilities for their enemies actions but nothing seemed to fit any of the scenarios Aldran had come up with. Aldran broke his chain of thought just as a female chimera ant suddenly marched forward, and the horns blew once more before finally coming to a stop. The female chimera ant pulled out a scroll from behind her back and dramatically unfurled it.

She paused momentarily and cleared her throat before shouting, "My name is Rylix and I'm the Administrator of this little village. It is my honor to pronounce you all the subjects of our great liege, King Adam Vegas. Long may he reign!

"Long may he reign!" The crowd dramatically echoed from behind her, but the chimera ant wasn't finished.

"Wolf men of Helgin Forest, kneel before your new master, or suffer the consequences of your actions! Surrender now and you will be allowed to atone for your wicked deeds through service to your new king!"

"You can't be serious, lady! Don't make me laugh! You and what army?" One of the wolf-men on the wall shouted back to her and many of the others along the top of the wall started laughing, except for Aldran. He was frozen in thought as he picked through the words of the chimera ant. You'll be allowed to leave? What did she mean by that? We've got the place completely captured and under our control, why would we leave? We could easily beat this small group in front of us. Unless... Aldran thought about the number discrepancy they noticed earlier and realized something he was missing. What if this isn't their main force... F*ck me, this is a distraction! "Yulgar, make sure we have an exit! Hurry!" Aldran may have finally put the pieces together, but it was too late for him to do anything about it. Their was movement in the woods on all sides of the market and a number of flags suddenly burst through the trees. Aldran could only watch as the forest around the market became completely enveloped by a sea of flags. There must have been hundreds of flags and they we're all unique, with their own colors or symbols brightly displayed by linen fabrics.

"This is the army. No, wait. This army. That's what my king said I was supposed to say, I think."