The Wolves barely stopped in time for the guard to raise their hand. “What on earth has gotten into you lot?” the guard asked.

“We’d like to speak to Captain Laurent, please,” Cid said politely to the guard, trying to catch his breath.

“All right, all right, let’s not start a stampede when one isn’t needed. Might cause others to lose their wits before they know better.”

They arrived to Laurent’s desk, who upon seeing them as blinking rapidly.

“Is everything all right?” Cid asked the captain.

“I was expecting to see your entire group here, if I’m being honest,” the captain replied.

“Well, we didn’t come here for a social visit,” said Cid.

“That’d surprise me more if you did,” Laurent replied.

Cid recalled their recent events to the captain, who sat back in his chair.

“Has there been anything odd happening in the city in the last few days?” Cid asked.

“No,” Laurent said, shaking his head. “It’s been more or less business as usual.”

The Wolves exchanged puzzled glances. “Nothing at all?” Maeryn asked.

“Honestly it’s been quiet for the most part,” said Laurent, “Even in some of the rougher parts of the city.” Laurent’s last words began to register a new context as he started tapping his finger on his desk.

“Maybe we could check out the lower wards,” said Cid, “See for ourselves.”

“Hold that thought,” said Laurent, “Sergeant Elywen, I’ll out of the barracks for the time being. If anyone asks I am inspecting the guard posts in the lower wards.”

The woman he spoke to threw a quick salute. “Yes, sir. Be safe out there, sir.”

“I am the very soul of caution,” he said to her, “But I think my seven companions should be enough to avoid any major incidents. Right?”

The Wolves nodded agreeably.

“I feel as if a great blunder as been made,” Laurent said aloud.

“I’d blame her,” Leonidas said, pointing to Jeanne.

Jeanne shook her head, mocking Doc and going, “bleh bleh bleh,” motioning him speaking with her mouth.

“And the feeling is now certain,” said Laurent.

***

Reaching the gate to the Lower Wards, they found several guards standing before a blockaded entrance. “What’s going on here,” Laurent demanded, “By whose authority is this blockade even here?”

“The City Council’s,” said a guardsman. “They declared the Lower Wards be quarantined and blocked off.”

“Why?”

“We were not informed, captain, when the order came down to set up the blockade.”

“And I wasn’t informed of this?” Laurent asked, becoming incensed.

“We were told they had already spoke with you on the matter and you were supportive of the plan, captain.”

“I was told no such thing, nor is this what I would approve of in the slightest,” said Laurent, “Break this thing down, and make way.”

“But captain The Council –”

“Is not here!” Laurent interjected, “And if they have an issue, I would suggest they move their enlightened asses here and discuss it here in person,” ordered Laurent.

The guards pulled down the wood pieces, opening the large gates to let the captain and The Wolves into the ward. As the doors closed behind them, Kveldulf could not help but think of the lines from a song he heard years past:

Wolf of the isle, bearing bloodied fang,

Filled with darken spirits, murderous and cruel.

By want you rip flesh from bone,

Never resting, ‘til spear sent to earthen grave.

As they moved deeper into the city, Maeryn and Cid were the first ones to cover their nose as they neared the Lower Wards of Koulberg. Flies were rampant in the air. Leonidas tied a fabric around his mouth and nose and covered the rest of his head with his helm. Benkin smacked one of the minute knaves on his neck. “Bloody annoying little buggers,” he said.

Maeryn, covering her nose, asked, “Is this normal for this part of the city?”

“I can’t say this is the nicest in terms of scents and local wildlife,” said Laurent, “but it usually isn’t this bad.”

“And where is everyone?” asked Silvius. “I haven’t anyone out since we passed the ward’s walls.”

“There’s not even stray cats or dogs or anything else,” said Benkin.

“Yeah,” said Cid, “I’m noticing that, too.”

“Are you feeling anything, Doc?” Hypatia asked.

Leonidas’s left hand, shook terribly, causing him to clasp his right over and pressed against his torso. “Something happened here,” he said shivering.

“All right, everyone keep a look out for anything,” said Cid, resting his right hand on his hilt. The others moving their hands to their weapons.

Their horses moved slowly down the city streets. Many of the side streets and alleyways were cloaked in shadow. There was little noise aside from the breathing of the horses and the distant caws of seagulls. Kveldulf darted his eyes back and forth, trying to see the enemy in the darkness, sneaking within the metropolitan fens around them.

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The stench of the surrounding area began growing in intensity. Putrid, rotting, with something unusual. Kveldulf took a long whiff and turned to Cid. “The hell is with the smell around here?”

“I couldn’t tell you if I tried,” Cid replied. “I’ve been to many a city, ill and better, and this is not a smell I’ve ever seen before produced.”

“It doesn’t smell right here,” said Maeryn.

“We should try and get to the officer’s post,” said Laurent, “it should be a short ride from here.”

Turning the corner, they found the guard outpost a short distance away. Laurent’s face went white as they found the bodies of civilians and guardsmen all slain. Their bodies torn to pieces, entrails, blood and visceral spread out over the streets and walls.

“By the gods,” said Kveldulf, “what horrors happened here?”

“This isn’t even the scene of a battle, but a massacre,” said Kveldulf.

“Is this entire section of the city devoid of people?” asked Jeanne.

“I want to say no,” said Cid. “But signs are not looking good to disprove this assumption.”

Maeryn dismounted her horse and knelt down, looking at the ground and examining it closely.

“What are you seeing?” Kveldulf asked.

“Tracks,” she said, “some human, elf, dwarven, and some of these are – unusual.”

“What do you mean,” asked Silvius.

“They’re nothing I’ve ever seen before,” she said. “It forks out at the end, and there seems to be hairs, I think.”

“That’s odd,” Cid said, visibly confused.

Maeryn looked up and around the nearby rooftops. She sniffed the air and spotted something on the roof to her left. In an instant, she loosed an arrow and a figure fell from the rooftops and slammed onto the ground. Everyone drew their weapons, dismounted and neared the dead creature with great caution.

Moving towards the figure, they saw it was with six appendages, two pairs where the arms and legs would normally be. The extra pair pushed out from around the hips and carried no vestige of human limbs. In its place were thin, thick haired protrusions jutting out rigidly. The clothing was ripped and torn from the mass of the creature.

The exposed parts had no skin. Instead, what covered their flesh was a hard surface, reddish-brown hue. Their eyes were small and black, situated more to the side than directly in front. Where their mouth should be held pincers and more of the thick hair along the length of the forceps. Two large antennas stuck out from the head and occasionally twitched as the creature laid there on the ground.

“What is that?” Silvius asked.

“That is a murmek,” said Leonidas.

“And for those not familiar?” asked Laurent.

“It’s a hybrid of ant and man. Some sorcerers tried to combine the two into a mix due to the loyalty and ferocity ants possess for their leader. As you can see, the results are not what one hoped.”

“I’m starting to suspect this might’ve been what the energy burst at the ley stone was all about,” said Cid.

“Likewise,” said Leonidas. “I’m also starting think that –”

As he spoke the laying murmek sprung to life, grabbing the doctor in its clutches. Benkin plunged his blade deep into the fiend’s head and pulled back as hard as he could. A bluish green fluid poured from the murmek as it chirped and gurgled on its own fluids.

Kveldulf and Jeanne helped Leonidas to his feet. “Are you all right, Doc?” Kveldulf asked, dusting off the poor doctor’s armor.

“A little startled, but I’ll live,” said Leonidas, breathing quickly.

“I thought the fall would’ve killed the thing,” Benkin said as he cleaned the blade.

“Most insects can take a fall surprisingly well,” said Silvius. “They’ll be comatose for a while, but since their skeleton is on the outside, generally it doesn’t have the same impact as for people with an endoskeleton.”

“Better take the head then,” said Benkin as he decapitated the corpse.

“Please do,” said Leonidas, now looking at the other rooftops.

“I doubt this is the only one of these creatures in the area,” said Cid. “We should try to get back out of the wards before we … aw damn it.”

Several of other murmeks emerged from the alleys and rooftops. The horses bolted away into the alleyways.

“Great,” said Leonidas, “there goes the quick escape.”

Jeanne summoned her stoneskin as she grabbed her war-hammer and buckler. Smacking her weapon against her shield, saying, “Let’s see how well they put up a fight.”

“What happened to enjoying the aftermath of a fight?” Kveldulf asked.

“I think that we’ve past that point,” she replied.

Cid moved to the front, sword at the ready towards the enemy. “Wolves, on me!”

As the murmeks charged The Wolves rushed to engage the monsters. Cid thrusted his blade into the skull of one of the murmeks as Hypatia quickly server the arms of hers. Jeanne slammed her war-hammer into the skull of the murmek charging at her, the creature’s blood and brain splattering over her. As one grabbed her arm she bashed her stone covered head through it’s chitin carapace, killing it instantly.

Leonidas slashed deeply into the torso of a murmek before using his caduceus to crush its head. As Kveldulf cleaved his into two halves. Silvius cut into the neck of one, it’s head dangling from the slump as Maeryn felled several reaching the rooftops as Laurent kept those on the ground from her.

As Kveldulf pulled his blade from the murmek’s body as the others looked around, steadying their breathes. “You think that’s the last of them?” he asked the others.

“I want to say yes, but I would rather not push our luck,” said Cid. “Doctor Leonidas, do we have any injuries needing attention?”

“Nothing terrible that’ll keep us from moving out.”

“I thought they would be a lot stronger,” said Hypatia. “I thought ants could lift ten times their own body weight.”

“It’s a trade off with merging a human with an ant,” said Leonidas. “You lose the independent thinking of a person, and the potential strength that ants can bring to a battle.”

“Good thing for us then,” said Cid, “et’s get back to the gate and inform the glorious Council what happened. Ben, grab a head so we have something to show them.”

“Already done,” said Benkin, holding a severed murmek head.

“This is starting to seem like a weird penchant we’re getting into,” said Kveldulf. “Find something behead something and give the head to the Council.”

“At least it is not whole towns emptying their neighbors for hands and fingers just so they could collect on the bounties,” said Laurent.

“Should we even ask?” said Hypatia.

“Another one of the Council’s immaculate decisions.”

“Come,” said Cid, “I want to get before anymore decide to try anything.”

The group moved down the main street towards the gate. Half of them moved down one side of the road while the other half moved along the opposite side. Their weapons were out, their steps were soft and quiet, their eyes always moving, constantly searching, trying to find the enemy before they could strike out.

Reaching the gate, Laurent pounded against the wood slats, the rest forming a small perimeter. “Open the gate!” Laurent called out.

A small slot hole opened up and a guard’s eyes peered from the other side. “Captain, thank the gods, your alive.”

“Likewise, I’m happy to breathing as well.”

“Those things tried breaching the gate, we barely had time to get your horses in before they hit.”

“Well, that’s one good thing going for us,” said Laurent. “How bad was the attack?”

“We had three wounded, sir. And their effort before that left five fatalities.”

“Oh gods,” said Laurent. “Well, we’ll figure out what the Council thinks of this shortly. Bring our steeds to the Barracks, get some more people to reinforce this damned gate, and where in the hell can we get out of here?”

“We’ll take care of the first two right away, sir,” said the guard. “There is a way out, but it is through the sewers.”

“I wish I was surprised at that,” said Laurent, “but honestly, I’m not.”

“Well, this is going to be a wonderful day for my nose,” said Maeryn.

“You and me both,” said Cid.

“Come,” said Laurent, gesturing the others to follow. “There’s an entry point not far from here. Though I’d recommend you through something on so the smell doesn’t overwhelm.”

“Outstanding,” said Kveldulf, throwing a kerchief over his nose, “this is turning out to be one of those days.”