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The platoon streamed into the camp like millions of ants, except their numbers weren’t nearly that many... unfortunately.

It looked like Orion’s group had already arrived, and that his platoon’s numbers had significantly grown since their last meeting a week before.

Sascha had led her own platoon of over fifty canines for two days practically nonstop to get there.

That completed the week cycle.

She was proud that Orion had gathered so many warriors.

Sascha’s group stopped and rested at one side of the Twilight Pack’s clearing, and then Orion’s did the same thing on another side of the clearing.

The white she-wolf’s platoon was extremely exhausted, their gasps and groans and howls of soreness sounding loudly over the Twilight Pack Clearing.

She’d pushed them hard upon returning to camp. She wondered if they’d be able to start the battle today! Sascha raced off from her group to Orion’s, and immediately spotted him in the shade of a Twilight Fir.

“Orion,” she greeted him. “How did your week go?”

“It went fine,” he answered with exhaustion. “We recruited over one hundred warriors.”

“Wow, that’s impressive!” Sascha exclaimed. “My platoon only recruited about fifty warriors. So in total we got approximately one hundred and fifty to join our cause, that’s very good.”

Not to mention the other thirty Twilight Pack members. That was a huge army of wolves and dogs!

“Listen up!”

Sascha heard the Twilight Pack Alpha call out sternly. It was time.

The war would begin soon.

The pack of nearly two hundred gathered tiredly below the Alpha’s Ledge that was just above the den, where Sascha had stood and announced the gathering of recruits for the war against Harloc.

“The time has come, my pack. This is your last chance to retreat from this cause. Once you cross over the mountain, you will be in Harloc’s Land. You won’t be able to turn back from there.”

The alpha let the words sink into his pack and the other recruits.

Sascha wondered if any of the wolves would back off and run away. She wouldn’t have called them a coward if they had. In fact, it would have been a wise decision.

Before she knew it, the Twilight Pack alpha spoke again as Talomi and Orion came to sit beside her. “Sascha and Talomi, my beta male, will lead you all into battle.” Talomi puffed up his white and ice blue striped fur with excitement. Sascha was happy for him; he’d be leading the pack into battle alongside her.

But she also felt bad that Orion hadn’t been chosen to lead along with them. He had done a lot of work, getting those one hundred recruits. “I think that was a good choice, Talomi,” she told him, referring to what Thor had decided upon who should lead the gigantic platoon of canines.

“My dearest Twilight Pack,” Thor began bitterly, addressing only his pack. “Remember, this is your choice. It is not mine. If any of you die, do not blame me. In fact, I wanted to stop you from joining this battle. This is a suicide mission, I hope you know that!”

Sascha heard no voices after that.

No responses to their alpha.

It looked like no one thought it right to leave their mission to kill Harloc. The white she-wolf looked up to Thor, and saw something in his eyes. Sadness…?

Or perhaps it was more like a troubled look?

She couldn’t exactly tell because she was not close enough. But she knew that the alpha was not enjoying having to watch his pack go off to war.

Sascha stepped forward and stood directly below the Alpha’s Ledge. “We must go now,” she told them all. “Akemi needs to be rescued, and Harloc needs to be put to rest once and for all.”

Howls and cries of agreement rose loudly once she’d finished. It was nearly as loud as thunder on a horrible stormy night. Sascha was surprised Harloc didn’t hear them and swoop over the mountains to kill them.

It was time to put an end to the Twilight Pack’s seemingly endless misery.

She led them over the mountains, marching in place like soldiers going off to war. Talomi padded hard in place beside her at the head of the platoon, his head held high with pride. Talomi’s amber eyes glowed with vanity, and he held his ice blue striped tail straight out like a point. Sascha’s eyes did not contain any emotion and she brushed away the feeling of fear to prevent the other wolves from smelling her burning fear.

Her fur lay flat against her back, and her tail was kind of drooping low. She did not have the pride and glory that Talomi was feeling as he led the pack over the mountain. She still worried that they might not be coming back alive after the battle with Harloc.

They were almost in Harloc’s Land which was located on the other side of the mountain. She could smell the smoke, the horrible smell of smoke that took her back to the night that Tairek died and the druids were captured. It seemed like she’d forgotten about them and was focusing more on a dumb pack of wolves. But then again she was not doing that, she was going to rescue her friend from a blood-hungry dragon that ruled this part of Great Britain.

Letting her heart sink deeper into the thought of what she should be doing right now, she felt fear and guilt.

What if the druids had been killed by now?

What if she’d failed them and her prophecy?

Tairek would have died for nothing!

But what choice did she have? Sascha had to help these wolves especially now after gathering so many recruits.

And she definitely couldn’t leave Akemi to die.

“We descend from here,” Talomi called out over the giant platoon, distracting Sascha from her thoughts. They were there so soon? It seemed like only minutes ago they had been standing in the Twilight Pack Clearing, listening to Thor’s speech to the platoon.

She guessed it was true. Time did fly when you were just thinking.

Out of curiosity the white she-wolf looked out from the top of the mountains into Harloc’s Land, and she could hardly believe what she saw there.

The land had many cracks in it, there were no trees, and there were a few tar pits with animal skeletons stuck in them. There was no snow, probably because the dragons had burned it all.

It was a wasteland!

How could anyone, even a dragon, possibly survive here? There certainly wasn’t any prey. But then Sascha realized something...one of the reasons Harloc terrorized the animals outside of his Lands was possibly because he needed to eat.

Of course! He hunted those on the outside, and brought them back and killed them for his food. Even if those animals were wolves. She felt sick at the thought of Akemi being eaten...

“Remember what Thor said, this is your last chance to turn your back on this battle. We cannot afford to have cowards with us,” Talomi continued loudly so that every wolf and dog may hear him.

Sascha noticed that a few of the recruits ran away, turning their backs on the upcoming battle. That was wise of them, she supposed. Adam and Chino were still with the platoon though and had not run away.

She hadn’t expected them to run away; they seemed like strong and brave warriors. She hoped that none of them would lose their lives in the battle that was to come.

“I will take that as a sign that you are all ready,” Talomi yelled out over the platoon and then turned to Sascha. “You give the signal for us to move out.”

She nodded and then looked around for a place she could tower over the gigantic pack to give the command to move downward.

She saw a bit of a hill to her left and climbed up it. Sascha was now looking out over the pack that was expecting to hear the words that would command them to descend to battle.

“All wolves and dogs, listen to me!” She stated deafeningly. “This is a battle that must be fought... to save Akemi, and to restore your freedom! Move out, now!”

The canines howled with agreement.

When Sascha reached the head of the platoon again, they rushed down the high mountain. The wolves caused tremors to go through the earth, their paws hitting the dirt hard. It was both like an earthquake, and a warning of their presence. Harloc and his Doragontaigun Horde would for sure feel the trembling in the mountains.

She wondered what would be waiting for them when they reached the ground and were out of the mountains.

After about fifteen minutes they had reached the bottom of the mountain and had entered Harloc’s Land. Talomi was still beside her and she turned to him, her black nose sniffing the air.

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“The air doesn’t smell of dragon. I can’t pick up one trace of it,” she told him. “Organize the platoon. Make sure they are aligned properly, like a King would order his knights to do.” The ground was so hot! It was obvious that the dragons burned their own territory to keep it at a bearable temperature for themselves but anything else that strayed into their territory would die from the heat!

The wolves were starting to sweat, but being as big as they were they probably would not die from the extreme temperatures. After all, the wolves still had the winter breeze to cool them off.

“Nothing’s happening,” Talomi whispered to her, disappointment in his voice.

She didn’t reply. She was busy looking around for any movement. But Talomi was right, nothing was happening.

“I wonder what’s...” she trailed off as she began to see a dust tornado rushing toward them. It was almost as big as the mountain in back of them. Glowing blue lines encircled the dust tornado, along with many strange symbols.

A powerful entity, one to be feared from the depths of the soul.

“What is that?” A random dog came to stand beside her, ears rotated backward with fear. The dog was right! What could it possibly be? Then the dust cyclone stopped directly in front of them.

“Why do you enter my Land?” The big dust storm spoke, its voice louder than the loudest thunder, as if it were a god. It forced everyone to crouch down with horror from the sheer start.

“ANSWER ME!” The voice of the twister added, seeming so loud it could shake the earth to its core. There were then whimpers of terror all around her, even from Talomi.

Sascha only did what her instincts told her to do next. “We are here to take back our freedom! We are here to rescue my friend from Harloc!”

“Why if it isn’t Sascha, the little white pipsqueak,” the dust cloud spoke harshly. “I have been waiting for your arrival for hundreds of years. At last you have come.”

And then the cloud disappeared into thin air, causing an uprising of dust everywhere you looked.

Wait... this cloud wasn’t just a normal talking dust cloud. It was Harloc!

Sascha knew it by the way he acted, though she’d never even met him before.

Suddenly the dust cleared and she saw dragons closing in on the platoon quickly in the distance. They were silhouettes in the now dusty barren lands, but she knew they were coming for them. When they were so close Sascha could almost leap forward and touch them, she gave the go ahead.

“Spread out and attack as many of them as you can!” She yelled quickly.

She raced straight forward at one of the dragons and just in time remembered what to do. Sascha copied what Master Rei had taught her back in Windstorm City, and relocated all the power into her back legs.

With that, the brave white she-wolf took a massive leap upward and unsheathed her claws. Her long white fangs seemed to extend forward like a shark’s as she opened her mouth.

Sascha sank her pointed white teeth into the dragon’s abdominal area, soon feeling the warm blood gush out of the wound. It soaked her down from her chin to the tip of her tail, vibrant red against her snow white coat. In the heat of the battle, she was enjoying this. Inflicting wounds on the dragon, feeling the blood soak her fur.

She didn’t want to sound violent, but when anyone was in battle they usually enjoyed the glory of winning. But they were far from winning at the moment.

She looked up quick enough to see a hand full of claws the size of swords coming down on her, and she leaped away. This was her first battle… and it felt absolutely great!

Luckily she had dodged the dragon’s fist full of claws, now she had to act quickly. She ran around to the other side of the dragon as quickly as she possibly could and then leaped up into the air.

She bit into the dragon’s thigh, her fangs going deeper this time. Blood welled from the wound a lot more than the one that Sascha had inflicted on the dragon’s abdominal area.

It could only have been three seconds before the dragon reached its head back, razor sharp teeth coming straight down at her.

She did not have enough time to react before the teeth closed in around her sides, thankfully the teeth did not go in too deep. It pulled her trying to dislodge her from the dragon’s thigh.

Out of pure instinct the she-wolf let go so that she would not be shredded. But she was now being shaken like a helpless kitten in the jaws of the murderous reptile! She screamed in pain, it’s sword like teeth were putting a large amount of pressure on her lungs, but were not piercing them.

The pain was almost unbearable for her, but she was a warrior; she had to stay strong and angry during this fight. And she would do so if it was the last thing she did!

The dragon twisted its neck around and then threw her forward, into the air. The white she-wolf thrashed in the air as she came crashing to the hot ground.

Her body kicked up dust as she skidded over ten feet of battle field. Moaning with pain and shock, she struggled shakily to get up onto her paws.

She was bleeding heavily from both of her sides, and every time she breathed it caused a significant amount of pain in that area.

Had it punctured her lungs?

When she looked up for the dragon she’d been fighting, it had already disappeared. How unfortunate! She had wanted to completely defeat him.

Sascha looked around the battlefield to check up on everything that was going on. She was shocked to see the bodies of her warriors lying on the ground in pools of their own blood, and some of that blood was dragon blood fortunately.

The platoon had killed one dragon so far, and its body lay like a mountain in the middle of the battle. Some of her warriors had died already! Her fears seemed to be coming true, and she did not know what to do about it.

Sascha panicked. What if she had led them all to their death?

“Sascha!” She heard a voice call to her over the howling and roaring. It was Talomi! She turned around and saw him running up behind her.

Soon they were nose to nose.

“How is the battle going?” She asked her war partner quickly. To get the battle status would be a very helpful thing, and very useful.

“Many have died,” Talomi answered, then pushed her down to the ground as a dragon attempted to swoop down and carry them off. They didn’t want that happening again like it had with Akemi.

“Thank you,” Sascha said to him gratefully.

“We need to attack more dragons!” Talomi growled fiercely and then pelted away toward a smaller dragon with a cluster of dogs fighting against it.

She followed him close behind as they raced to their friends’ aid. To her, this was another opportunity to kill a dragon.

The male white and icy blue striped wolf leaped up higher than Sascha ever could, his fangs bared like Harloc himself. He snarled as he flew through air, his claws unsheathed and aimed for the dragon’s huge eyes.

Talomi’s claws raked across the tender eyes of the dragon, ultimately blinding it. It roared in pain, and dropped down to all fours. Sascha leaped up and sank her teeth into the dragon’s snout, blocking the nostril airways.

Dragons did not know how to breathe through their mouth, so this was a very important move for the she-wolf. The dragon swung its head back and forth, to and fro, shaking her and trying to get her off. But she refused to let go of her grasp on the opponent.

Talomi came out of nowhere and bit into the dragon’s horn that was on the back of the head, instantly twisting and snapping it off. He was a natural warrior! Talomi hit the ground perfectly on his paws, half of the dragon horn being firmly held in his mouth like a dog holding its bone. The dragon spread out its wings and as quickly as it could it fled from the battle, trying desperately to get rid of the warrior dogs that clung to it.

Sascha let go of her grasp on the dragon’s nostrils, leaping down to the ground and landing quite easily on her paws.

There were still wolves fighting on the battlefield, but now it was another dragon down. Seeing the defeated reptile fly away in fear, looking for a place to lick its wounds, Sascha felt very proud of herself.

She had defeated a dragon with the help of the pack.

King Xanthus could feel how frozen he was. It looked like whoever had cast this sleeping Wish on his kingdom had certainly done a good job at it.

After fighting within his dreams for a while, the powerful king had gained the power to ignore the Wish.

“Anfurizu!” Xanthus grumbled the spell under his breath. And then the King was finally able to move and stand up.

The King had been asleep for nearly a week and up all night last night trying to gain back his ability to move, and had had no choice but to use magic.

Xanthus stood up quietly, sneaking out the door cautiously. He headed for the dungeon, a blood-thirst written on his face. He could do with taking out his anger on his druid prisoners; it was at long last that he’d be able to do so!

Within a few days, they would all be dead and this mission would be accomplished.