Jeanne woke up from her makeshift bed to see Kel, Ben, Sil, Maer, and Gab sitting by the fire as Cid, Hy, and Doc were going over a map. Jeanne walked over to the campfire, the others seeing her walk up and waving to her. “Hey Jeanne,” Kveldulf said, “good to see you’re up. Sleep well?”

“As well as you’d expect,” she said, rubbing the back of her head.

“We figured you’d need some extra sleep after that fight yesterday,” Silvius said, handing her a plate of fired bacon and eggs.

Jeann took the plate and started eating the contents. “Thanks, how is … everyone doing?”

“We’ve been feeling better, knowing that the two vampires we’ve been hunting are finally taken care of,” said Gabriel.

“It’s been nice not to wake up in the middle of the night not knowing if someone was sneaking up into the camp to kill us in our sleep,” said Benkin.

“You can say that again,” said Maeryn.

“I could but I forgot what I said,” Benkin replied.

“Of course, you did,” Maeryn replied, shaking her head.

“So …,” Jeanne hesitantly, “What did you all talk about?”

“Well we’ve been mostly debating about the air speed velocity of bird to carry coconuts to this part of the world,” said Kveldulf.

“Really?” Jeanne asked.

“Not really,” Kveldulf replied, “We’ve mostly been enjoying a nice quiet breakfast.”

“Oh,” Jeanne said, her cheeks beginning to feel warm as she sat down and ate her breakfast.

“Are … you’re concerned about what went down yesterday, aren’t you?” said Kveldulf.

“I mean, I said a lot of stuff before Guthrum finally decided to step out and do something,” said Jeanne.

“How much of it was true?” Silvius asked.

“Honestly, I didn’t get a chance to finish. There was a lot more I did to him before he finally … expired,” Jeanne said.

“Well, I can’t say I would have been as merciful if it had been any of my relatives,” said Silvius, “Though I don’t think I would’ve gone as intense as you had, but that’s just me.”

“We know I feel about family,” said Kveldulf.

“And I’ve said what I did to the people who took my sister,” said Gabriel.

“I threatened a man who asked my sister to a walk in a city garden,” said Maeryn.

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“Really?” asked Silvius.

“I just wanted to make sure boundaries were respected,” Maeryn replied.

“That’s fair,” said Silvius.

“But we’ve known you long enough,” said Maeryn, “to know why you did what you did.”

“How long did it take you to get to this conclusion?” Jeanne asked.

“Jeanne,” Kveldulf said candidly, “this conversation that we’re having right now, lasted than the conversation we had about yesterday.”

“Oh,” Jeanne said surprised. “That was a fast one.”

“Like we said, we’ve known you for a while, we know about what happened to your sister. And it’d be hypocritical if we were judging you,” said Kveldulf.

Jeanne, put her plater of food aside and walked up to Kveldulf and without a word embraced him tightly. “Thank you,” she said, choking up as Kveldulf returned the embrace.

“It’s all right,” Kveldulf said, patting her back comfortingly.

Cid, Leonidas, and Hypatia walked up to the campfire, “Is everything all right here?” Cid asked.

“Jeanne is getting some support,” said Silvius.

“Ah,” Cid replied.

“Jeanne,” said Leonidas, “you want to go for a quick walk while Cid figures out our next move?”

“I thought we need …,” Hypatia began to say before Cid calmly put his hand on her shoulder. “Oh … oh … got it,” she said nodding quickly.

“So what is our plan of attack?” Benkin asked.

“First, we need to locate where the rest of the wives are at,” said Cid, “and I think getting them to a safe location would be a top priority.”

“You think it’ll be hard to find?” Gabriel asked.

“I can’t say,” Cid replied. “I’m not sure if they are camped in any cave system nearby, or by some camp out there in the woods.”

Silas walked up, with two buckets of water in each hand. “The man who call Guthrum said he was resting in a gave a couple of miles west of here, called the Devil’s Maw. If he had anyone waiting for him, I’d say it was there.”

“We are much obliged for the help,” Cid said to Silas, “given everything that has happened.”

“My heart aches as I cannot begin to find the proper words, but if I can keep another soul from suffering the same fate as myself and my family, I will do what I can,” Silas said with a trembling voice.

Jeanne walked over to Silas and without saying a word gave him a comforting hug. The man, beginning to tremble, slowly embraced Jeanne and began to weep without reservation for his terrible loss.

By midday, The Wolves had reached a large cave opening situated into the side of a tall rock wall. It was as monstrous as the last two they had come upon, but they still had their weapons already prepared to engage any threat their way. Kveldulf, neared the opening and called out, “Hello! Is there anyone there?”

They were met with a silent pause.

“If there’s anyone in there, we’ve come to get you out,” Kveldulf called out once more.

Still they were met with an uneasy silence.

“Guthrum is dead,” Cid followed. “He can’t do anything to you anymore.”

Maeryn leaned forward with her eyes squinting. “I think someone’s coming out.”

Slowly a figure emerged from the cave, a lone woman. Her fists clutching over her chest before The Wolves could recognize her. “Oh gods, that Cyneswith,” said Silvius.

“Come on,” said Cid, “let’s get them out of there.”

As they moved towards the cave, three other women and a half dozen children emerged from the open. Many holding each other tightly and looking at the mercenaries as if they were moments from being put to the sword.

“It’s all right,” said Cid, “we’re taking you away from here.”

“Is it true?” Cyneswith asked them. “He’s dead.”

“Jeanne saw to the task herself,” said Benkin.

Cyneswith and the others looked to Jeanne, stunned. “You did it?” Cyneswith asked.

Jeanne nodded. “He’s dead, for good.”

Cyneswith began shaking and trembling as Jeanne wrapped her cloak around her. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

“He killed my son,” Cyneswith said, her voice breaking. “He killed my little Denin.”

“I know,” Jeanne said to her, wrapping her arm around Cyneswith’s shoulder, “and we made sure he paid for all of it. But let’s get you all to somewhere safe.”

“Where are we taking them, anyway?” Kveldulf asked.

Cid shrugged. “I can only think of one place where they might actually be safe before we go back out on the march.”