"Ibas!" Duke got up and approached his brother. The two brothers sniffed each other all over.

"I cant belive that you survived. Didnt you stay to fight with Tyr when the goblins attacked?"

"Well some things happened and now Im here." With his head raised high, Ibas tried to look cool with imaginary sparkles around him. Balto looked to the others for more details on who Ibas was, but they all had different reactions. Radolf was smiling with his usual face, Beowul was even more stonefaced than normal. Ulva just looked annoyed and hid behind Balto. Duke and Ibas was still talking to eachother, when Ibas noticed them.

"Oh, Beowul and Radolf is here too! And... Who is the new one?" Ibas eyes were different from those of Dukes. While Dukes eyes were lazy, Ibas eyes were wide open and with a slight crazed look to them. The two direwolfs behind him didnt seem to be interestet in Balto.

"That is Balto. He is new to the group, but he has his proven himself useful to the clan." Duke said as Ibas walked over and sniffed him all over, but came to a sudden stop when he saw Ulva.

"U-U..." He stuttered while looking at Ulva with even wider eyes. Ulva crouched low to get ready to run. Balto was confused looking at what was going on. Why was she getting ready to ru-

"Ulvaaaaa! Oh how I missed you!!! When I couldnt find you, I thought you were dead!!!" Ibas dashed towards Ulva, but she dodged underneath him and tripped his legs. Ibas quickly managed to get back on his paws and ran towards her. But now she stood behind Beowul, who looked at him with cold eyes. Ibas stopped, quickly acted as if nothing happened and went back to Balto.

"That never happened. So, Balto, I guess you know whats going on with our clan and with the goblins. Long story made short, we want our old home back. I guess you sort of joined our clan, so lets work together!" He stood infront of Balto with a dignified look, but what Balto saw a couple of seconds ago would never dissappaer from his mind, which even Vita saw. Vita was currently smacking the top of another cell as if it was a table, laughing while doing so.

"Ok. I dont like goblins either, so lets get rid of them." Balto nodded. He still remembers the goblin that threw a sharp stick at him and climbed up that tree. Good times.

"Ibas, you said something about having the same plan as me. Could you tell me more later? Im sure Fridolf would be happy to see you." Duke led the direwolfs back to the usual spot.

Fridolf poked her head out from the bush and looked at the big number of direwolfs. She saw the usual direwolfs that were with their group from the start, but was caught by suprise when she saw Ibas. Ibas himself also saw Fridolf and went over to socialise. Balto felt a bit left out, everyone was either busy or already talking with someone. Except for two direwolfs. The two stood behind Ibas when he showed up and right now the two was just sitting down next to each other. Balto walked towarsd them. They seemed to be the cool type, so Balto tried his best to appaer just as cool.

Stolen novel; please report.

The one with a missing left eye looked at Balto from the corner of its eye. That look kinda felt like how Beowul looks at him, but with less 'Ill beat you with a branch' and more 'I will put rocks in your meat'. But that wouldnt stop him from getting to know more members of the clan!

"He-"

"What do you want." The identical direwolfs said spoke at the same time. Both looked at him just like how Beowul would look at him. After a bit of an awkard silence. Balto then gathered his wits again and continued

"Hey, might I know who you two are?"

"Im Finn" The one without a left eye said.

"Im Frode" The one without a right eye said.

"Im Balto, bye now." He quickly walked away to where Duke and Ibas sat. Finn and Frode looked at each other, then going back to staring out into the void. Seems like there are a lot of different types of direwolfs here.

Seemed like Ibus has said all he needed to Fridolf, because he, Duke and Beowul was talking about something when Balto found them. They made room for him before continuing.

"As I said Ibas, are you sure your plan will work? It might get us all killed."

"What could get us killed?" Balto asked them. Duke looked to Ibas, who nodded before starting again.

"The plan is simple. Frode and Finn have been doing some scouting of the area where the goblins reside. It seems that they are spread out to cover large areas, with the hobgoblins spread out in a circle which they defend. Now this is where the problem occurs. The area with the most goblins is the center, but the hobgoblins are surrounding it. There is also that ogre that is a problem aswell."

Balto looked around before whispering.

"Whats an ogre?" Beowul looked a bit dissappointed and Duke smirked.

"Its a really big goblin. Like really big. Also really ugly. The really simple plan is to get to the ogre without alerting the hobgoblins, kill the ogre and hunt down the panicking hobgoblins. They might look a bit tough, but they are just a bunch of cowards at their core." Duke nodded at what Ibas said and took over.

"Now that one of the hobgoblins got killed, we have an opening to kill the ogre. But if we arent quick enough, we might get overrun just like in the past. Even the strongest creatures has to respect the masses after all." Balto nodded. That makes sense. Not everyone can fight like he and Duke can. If someone like Fridolf was to fight more than ten goblins, it wouldnt end in a good way.

"What we need to do now, is to gather our strength before heading out. Me, Duke, Beowul and youself will try and bring down the ogre while everyone else will hold back the goblins. I hope you will fight with us and not run away." Ibas looked deep into Baltos eyes. Balto tried to stare back, but quickly blinked when Beowul blew air into his eyes.

"Stop looking dumb Balto, we need you to be serious in the upcoming fight. You can joke around after we win this fight." For once, Beowul didnt act as if Balto had a massive shitstain on his face.

'Maybe, just maybe, I can finally get to sleep in a proper cave?' Balto thought to himself before going to sleep after discussing the plan. Maybe he would get a gift for being such a good warrior? Like that delicious meat he ate as a cub?