Erevan and Anna pull the sled loaded with four werewolf corpses through the snow, far away from the village and down an embankment. They’ll arrive at the entrance to a cavern. Erevan will turn towards Anna as they arrive.

“Don’t be alarmed. This man is a friend.” Erevan says.

“Why would I be scared?” Anna watches Erevan step up in front of the cave barely holding himself upright.

“Hvardrik! I have come to bargain.” Erevan shouts into the cave mouth.

There is a stirring of bones and earth at the entrance to the cave. The bones form together, rising upwards, becoming an eight foot tall behemoth skeleton.

“Oh, they put Larry on guard duty.” Erevan remarks.

“Larry!” Anna steps back, holding her hands up defensively.

“Yeah, my friends a necromancer.” Erevan shrugs.

“Brother!” Anna says, almost scolding him.

“Don’t worry. If anything I am a bad influence on him.” Erevan looks back at Anna.

“How could that be?” Anna asks astounded.

“I bring him all his bodies.” Erevan states. “Brought him a yeti last time.”

“We can’t give him these bodies.” Anna hisses.

“We are.” Erevan replies bluntly.

“I don’t think your company appreciates my line of work.” Hvardrik calls out from inside the cave.

The Raven walks out into the light, his eyes adjusting quickly, as the sun glints off his skeletal facial tattoos.

“He’s a Raven?” Anna says dumbfounded.

“Yes, and like myself, he is liberated.” Erevan folds his arms. “Friend, I have brought you four Lycan corpses.

“Oh, those are always fun.” Hvardrik smiles. “I assume you want to experiment on them like old times?”

“I would, but urgency requires I be healed first.” Erevan lifts his ripped shirt showing the bload soaked bandages.

“I knew I smelled something fresh!” Hvardrik smiles. “I can fix you up. Follow me inside. Larry can bring the sled.”

“He better be careful with the ballista.” Erevan says.

“If he breaks it we’ll go steal a cannon for you.” Hvardrik muses as he turns and walks deeper into the cave.

Anna and Erevan follow him as torches flicker to life along their path. Entering into a major cavernous space the two see Hvardrik’s home. Erevan is pleasantly surprised at the progress of the base. It looks like some sort of dark and twisted castle with towers and walls manned by skeletal archers. A dozen zombies are swinging pickaxes, clearing away a path around the castle, preparing for some kind of moat.

“I like what you did with the place.” Erevan says.

“Yeah, could use some color though. Everything is so dreary when you have no money and you live in a cave with dead people.” Hvardrik rambles as they walk to his keep.

With a hand wave the gate slowly opens. A handful of undead inside crank it open all the way. Allowing for the egress of the trio. Erevan walks into the keep’s foyer seeing there are now a few furnishings.

“Nice rug.” Erevan comments.

“Thanks, I’m trying to make the place feel like home…” He pauses turning to Erevan. “You’re teasing me aren’t you?”

“Why does a necromancer need so many tiny sculptures of cats?” Anna asks while peering into a cabinet.

“Are you sure that you haven’t lost your edge?” Erevan snickers.

“Oh, you know I’ve never had any.” Hvardrik turns and storms into the next room.

A large dining hall, but his alchemical equipment and ritual circles are still in here. A dozen beakers, tubes, stoves, tongs, and a dozen small compartments in a shelf with alchemical goodies. The center of the room has a long table with a handful of mismatched chairs around it. Not exactly a dining set from a craftsman.

“I don’t have a lab yet.” He comments. “So we are just going to have to do it here.”

“No problem.” Erevan slides up on the table.

“Lean back.” Hvardrik helps Erevan lean back laying down flat. “I can use a spell to mend your clothes later, so don’t freak out.”

Hvardrik slides scissors across his midsection cutting away the clothes and bandages. He rips all of it off. The poultice is soaked in blood. Completely ineffectual by this point. Hvardrik lifts a slashed flap of skin and winces.

“Why did you wince?” Erevan asks as he tries to keep his eyes open.

Staying conscious is a struggle for the hunter as the pain starts to set in. Especially now that they are out of the cold and in a warm dining hall.

“The werewolf must have slashed through your intestines. Your body is poisoning itself. You’ll die.” Hvardrik looks up at Erevan.

Anna clasps her hands to her mouth and shrinks back.

“You can’t just magic it away.” Erevan smiles.

“No, I can close the wounds, but the damage has been done. The contents of your intestines are all through your body.” Hvardrik says.

“What a shit way to die.” Erevan lays back and closes his eyes as Anna begins muttering.

“I’m sorry brother. I’m so sorry.” Anna backs against the wall and Hvardrik lowers his head sniffling.

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“Dilute the werewolf blood and inject it into my bloodstream.” Erevan mutters.

“What?” Hvardrik looks up at Erevan.

“Dilute it with wolfsbane and liquid silver. It’ll cause the curse to be killed in its incubation period. Father was experimenting with five parts werewolf blood, two parts wolfsbane, and one part silver.” Erevan explains.

“Did it work?” Hvardrik asks.

“Not on the rats, no.” Erevan says. “Try it on me.”

“I don’t have silver.” Hvardrik says. “Erevan?” The hunter doesn’t move. “Hey, buddy? What do I do if I don’t have silver?” He shakes Erevan’s shoulders but gets no response.

“I have silver treated bolts.” Anna pulls the box of bolts on her side around to show him.

“Okay, I can get those melted and extract the silver.” Hvardrik will take two bolts from her. “I am going to prepare the alchemy station. Can you go get the werewolf blood for me?” Hvardrik digs through his equipment as he speaks and turns, handing her a large metal syringe.

“I can do this.” Anna says before rushing out to the werewolf corpses.

Anna tries the headless corpse first, it’s blood is too thick to get much of. She then tries another werewolf who is missing most of his torso. The blood won’t flow out of them either. Anna tries the armless werewolf that had buckshot in its brains. That one isn’t working either. She hears a metallic tap as something hits the stone and rolls away.

She looks up at the fourth and final body. A buckshot bearing pushes out of its face and hits the ground. Tapping on the stone and rolling over to her foot. Leaving a trail of blood along its path. The werewolf’s eye reforms and flicks around.

“Fuck!” She screams jumping backwards.

The werewolf throws the other corpses off itself and rises from the ground. Anna scrambles back to the keep.

“Werewolf!” She screams.

Arrows fly past her from the keep walls. Undead run past her. She skids to a stop and spins around ready to join them in the fight. The werewolf throws one zombie to the side, bashes the skull of a skeleton, and charges through another undead. As more of the necromancer’s army charges across the cavern at the wolf.

Anna’s eyes peer past the werewolf only a few feet from her. The sled with the wolves on it. The sled with the ballista on it. She raises her hands, feeling out in her mind for the siege weapon, seeing a line of arcane energy link her and the ballista. With a flick of her hand she shoots the werewolf in the back.

The beast staggers, dozens of zombies dogpile onto the beast. Larry runs up from behind and wraps his arms around the horde of zombies. Crushing them inwards around the beast. Anna climbs over the undead, as a clawed hand shoots out of the horde. The werewolf reaches up, desperately trying to claw itself out of the mound of undead flesh.

Anna jabs the syringe into his arm and yanks back on the plunger. The tube fills with the dark blood of the werewolf. The beast lashes out and she falls back, tumbling off the horde’s dog pile.

The Raven runs back to the keep, the undead pulling the crank, closing the gate behind her. She runs into the dining hall where Hvardrik is boiling some wolfsbane in a beaker.

“What was the commotion?” The necromancer asks.

“One of the werewolves wasn’t dead.” Anna says.

“Oh, great.” Hvardrik says, throwing his hands up. “Well, let's see if this works.”

Hvardrik fills three beakers with the blood, measuring them to be decently equal parts, before adding in the wolfsbane. He puts two in Anna’s hands and grabs the third.

“With me.” He says as he walks into the next room.

There is a large forge with a few undead pumping its bellows. Inside is a pot with a few melted arrows. Hvardrik waves his hand muttering an incantation. The silver pools upwards and flows out of the metal pot. He deposits a few drops of silver in each beaker.

“Alright, we need to get this into the syringe and inject it into him.” Hvardrik says as the two walk back into the room with him.

Blood is pooling off the table and one of his arms hangs limply. Hvardrik sets the beaker down on the table, takes the other two from Anna, and starts filling up a syringe with the formula. Anna moves to Erevan’s side and listens at his chest.

“He isn’t breathing.” Anna says surprised.

“He’s dead.” Hvardrik states coldly.

“What?” Anna yells as she looks up from Erevan’s body at Hvardrik.

“His body has started shutting down. I can sense that his brain is starting to suffer from lack of oxygen as his heart and lungs have already given out.” Hvardrik walks over, sticks the needle in his neck, and pushes the plunger in.

Hvardrik and Anna both stare at his corpse for a second as nothing happens. Hvardrik turns away, throwing his hands up in defeat. Anna starts to think quickly, grasping at any thing she could do.

“I could burn him, maybe the pain would cause something in his brain?” Anna tries to reason.

“The heart has stopped.” Hvardrik says.

“So restart it. Just give it a kick.” Anna slams her hands down on Erevan’s chest. His body twitches from the impact.

“Wait, that could work.” Hvardrik turns around and slams an open palm on the hunter's chest.

The necromancer mutters an incantation and sends a jolt of electricity into Erevan’s chest. His body twitches, his teeth clench, and his knuckles close tightly. But nothing else happens and his body slowly goes limp again.

“That has to work.” Hvardrik runs over to the other beakers and fills the syringe up again.

“What do you need me to do?” Anna asks.

“Hold a crossbow bolt between his teeth.” Hvardrik says as he leaps onto the table.

The necromancer quickly moves over Erevan, crouching down on top of him, as he raises the syringe above him. Hvardrik mutters an incantation. His fingers grip the syringe tightly as he slams it into Erevan’s heart, pushing the plunger down, as electricity flows through it.

The hunter twitches, his body spasming, as his canines start to shift and grow. He bites through the wooden bolt. Fur starts to spring across his body as Erevan begins to shift. He reaches up with clawed hands grabbing Hvardrik by the throat.

“Buddy?” Hvardrik chokes on the word as he begins to useless slap at Erevan’s growing arms.

Anna mutters an incantation as she slams a hand down on Erevan’s shoulder. As she pulls her hand away the fur there ignites in a perfect hand print. Erevan tosses Hvardrik across the dining room and jumps up to his feet. Standing on the table he pats out the fire on his shoulder. Anna turns and runs to the door leading into the forge room.

Erevan sprints after her, leaps, and lands in front of her. He lets out a howling snarl as he closes the gap between them with slow movements.

“Erevan, if you are in there, is this what you want to do. Do you feel free right now?” Anna says as she starts to back pedal.

“Free?” Erevan mutters the word and rakes his claws across his face. The scratch marks heal almost instantly.

“You value freedom right? That's why you saved me? Well now, let me save you.” Anna reaches a hand out towards him.

“I didn’t save you for you.” Erevan starts to shift back, the fur falling out, and his figure growing less imposing.

“What?” Anna retracts her hand.

“I saved you because I’ve been lost since Dad died. I thought I would find my way if I was with my family again.” Erevan says as his body finally settles back into its original form.

“How long did you know I was enslaved by the Guard Captain?” Anna asks.

“I didn’t.” Erevan shrugs. “I saw you in a vision and sought you out.”

“So you didn’t come to Yokind-Burg to save me?” Anna steps back.

“It was for the opposite reason really.” Erevan shrugs. “I’m sorry to bring you out on a hunt and then, well, die.”

Anna wraps her arms around her side as her shoulders shudder.

“I didn’t think. I’m really sorry. Sorry I attacked you, sorry I brought you to a necromancer’s cave, sorry I attacked that werewolf.” Erevan continues.

Anna wipes a tear from her face as she looks up smiling.

“Were you laughing?” Erevan squints.

“Yeah, at my big dumb brother.” Anna says standing straight again.

“Brother.” Erevan mutters the word.

“Are you two being mushy after he threw me like a child’s play thing?” Hvardrik stands up on the other side of the room.

“Oh, oops.” Erevan says.

“You knocked me unconscious.” Hvardrik rubs the back of his head.

“Did you inject me twice?” Erevan looks over at the two empty beakers.

“No, that would be stupid.” Hvardrik scoffs.

Anna smiles at the two Ravens. The strange necromancer and her lonely brother. A couple of weirdos she might enjoy being around.