Jeanne and Maeryn raced up the path and towards the town, barely missing carts and people travelling the main road. Jeanne saw Leonidas and Kveldulf chatting away outside a smithy as they spotted the two women. Leonidas called out, “Is everything al—”

Jeanne grabbed his shoulders, and spoke before he could finish, “No time! Cave guy, need you now!”

“S-Sure,” Leonidas said, utterly confused and followed them.

“I’m gonna assume I should come, too,” Kveldulf said as he followed the group.

Arriving to the cave, the four found the man still lying there on the rock floor. “Oh gods, what happened?” Leonidas asked, removing his satchel and beginning to grab some equip from inside.

“I punched him,” Jeanne replied.

“Did he do anything?” Kveldulf asked.

“He wouldn’t thrashing,” said Maeryn.

“Why was he thrashing?” Leonidas asked as a body from above landed near them.

“That, that was why he was thrashing,” Maeryn replied, pointing to the corpse.

Leonidas and Kveldulf looked around, seeing the carnage around them and their jaws slowly dropped from the sight. “How did we miss this?” Leonidas asked.

“I just blame it on stress,” Leonidas replied, before getting back to the attending to the man.

“What on earth happened here?” Kveldulf asked.

“We don’t know,” Jeanne replied. “We saw the man walking in here, scream, and when we came in we found … this.”

“Well … this is interesting to say…,” before Kveldulf could finish another body fell from the rocky ceiling, “… the least.

“Perhaps we could do this somewhere else,” Leonidas said.

“Wouldn’t that be bad for the patient, Doc?” Kveldulf asked.

“No more than the concussion Jeanne gave him.”

“I did not want to,” Jeanne said adamantly.

“That’s wonderful,” Leonidas said, grunting as he grabbed the man’s shoulders, “can someone get his legs for me?”

Jeanne grabbed the man’s legs and they hauled him outside as Leonidas looked over him again. “Is he alive?” Jeanne asked.

“He’s breathing,” Leonidas said, opening the man’s eyes. “And everything else seems to be doing what they need to. So I don’t think you put the man down with a single punch for good.”

“Oh good,” Jeanne said, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

“I’d think you’d be happy you knocked him out with one punch?” Kveldulf said.

“Not when we need information,” Jeanne replied. “If this was a bar fight, that’d be a different story.”

“That’s a good point,” Kveldulf replied.

“Oh!” Leonidas exclaimed, “I think he’s coming to.”

The others gathered near as the man began groaning and opening his eyes. They watered as the sun struck them and he lifted a hand over to shield the rays away. He didn’t make any words as he turned his head back and forth. As his sight steadied, they grew wide and he tried to stand up and towards the path away. But before he could stand on his feet, his knees buckled and he began falling to the earth.

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Leonidas and Jeanne grabbed him before he hit the ground. “Whoa there,” said Leonidas, “you had quite the tumble.”

“I need to get out,” the man said, “I can’t be here.”

“It’s all right,” said Kveldulf, “whatever was in the cave is gone.”

“It … it’s gone?” the man asked.

“Long gone, most likely,” Jeanne said.

“Wait …,” the man said, “You hit me!”

“Yeah, and you didn’t stop thrashing!” Jeanne replied.

“Let’s not do this here,” Kveldulf said.

“What were you doing here in the first place?” Maeryn asked.

“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter much now, does it,” the man replied. “I was making a supply run for the gang here. You know, mostly dry goods, get some word on what’s happening around these parts. Things like that.”

“And what happened that the gang would’ve had … that happen to them?” Jeanne asked, pointing back to the cave.

The man looking down, giving an exasperated sigh. “More than likely it was the fucking brothers.”

“Brothers?” Kveldulf asked.

“Aye,” the man said, “two of them. Their skin was paler than snow, and their eyes red as hateful fire.”

“Did they have a particular taste for blood?” Maeryn asked.

The man nodded quickly. “Aye, they did, almost addicted they were. Eating meat almost raw from the bones, like animals living in the wilds. No sign of decency at all.”

“Do you think they were responsible for what happened?” Jeanne asked.

“Without a doubt,” the man replied. “They wouldn’t know loyalty if stabbed them in the face. That’s why their own kin threw them out.”

“Their own kin kicked them out?”

“That’s what they said. Though they never went into details. Didn’t need to. If they were my kin, I’d cast them out and let the hounds have their way with them.”

“Well, that explains why they’re not with the others,” Kveldulf said.

“Definitely say a lot, in all honesty,” said Leonidas.

“Why did you and your gang let them stay then, if they were so … vicious?”

“Our line of work, vicious has its advantages,” the man said. “And they were good at what they did, when there was knife work to be done.”

“What prompted them from doing this before?”

“They weren’t the brightest, to be honest, when it came to deciding what to do . And their wives and children seemed to be wanting a place they could call home, aside from the constant moving and camping.”

“They consider this a home,” said Maeryn.

“Oy! It’s not the Jeweled Palace, but it was fine place to call your own,” the man said.

“I think that’s not something to be drawing lines in sand on,” said Leonidas.

“Right,” said the man, “in any case, they mostly used the place to keep their women and children when they weren’t on the move.”

“They didn’t stay here?” Kveldulf asked.

“Nah,” the man said. “This was more of where they’d stay put during the winter, before spring came. Though sometimes, they’d stay for longer or come here whenever one of them was injured.”

“Were they injured often?” Jeanne asked.

“Sometimes, usually it wasn’t anything major for them. One of the little ones would be ill or one of the wives was recovering from what their husbands would do to them. But not long ago, they came back and one of them was looking worse for wear. Seemed like he had been blasted in his stomach by lightening or something like that.”

“He sure did,” Jeanne said with a proud smile.

“Did they say what they were planning to do once they were done here?” Kveldulf asked.

The man shook his head. “They weren’t much talkers beforehand, and this last time they were almost completely silent.”

“What did your leader think about the whole thing? Was Mason not wanting to get rid of them?” Jeanne asked.

“He wasn’t fond of them, but like I said, they were good at their job. And with the influx of traders going up and down the rivers, he needed every man he could get.”

“And their viciousness never butted heads with Mason?”

“Generally speaking, they could keep their bloodlust in check. But back in the summer, we had taken a ship full of goods and killed most of the crew beforehand. The captain left one survivor live, their captain I think, for a ransom. Well, the two brothers, who were kept from gutting the man during the raid, decided to strip the man naked, mount on a horse we had gotten a while before and send them both off the cliff near the hideout and onto the rocks below.”

The four Wolves looked at the man with disgust as the story set in.

“Well …” Leonidas said, breaking the silence. “That’s something.”

“So, what would’ve caused them to … do what they did in the cave?” Maeryn asked the man.

He shook his head. “I wish I knew. But I could tell whatever happened before they returned had them on edge. Like something they couldn’t beat or frighten had come for them. And … there was something else.”

“What do you mean?” Kveldulf asked.

“They seemed … scared?”