Chapter 10

Karith had not seen much of Tarn over the past couple of days. He had not been at breakfast or dinner, and she had remarked as such to both Marianne and Alfred, but neither was forthcoming with the whereabouts of their master. Truth be told, all they really knew is that he had left the castle two days ago and had not returned since. Karith was not overly concerned, since he had disappeared several times earlier in her captivity. Actually, it was nice not having him around fawning over her like some lovesick schoolboy. His attentions were a little unnerving in their intensity, bordering on obsession, what with the way he went about trying to make her stay, as he called it, more pleasant. As far as she was concerned it would be more pleasant if he just left her alone. She had thought that after his failed dominance try he would have backed off but nothing could be further from the truth. If anything it made him more resolute in his actions to win her over. She finally concluded, with a chuckle, that Tarn believed that Mann was a Wyrm and that Tarn had some small chance of weakening the bond she shared with him. He was in for a rude awakening when he finally met her bond-mate, a meeting that she was truly looking forward to, in a vengeful, put him in his place sort of way.

Her thoughts drifted from Tarn to her father, with whom she was not very pleased. She always knew he was singularly focused on his craft, but this bordered on obsession, an unhealthy obsession. To think that he would risk all to forge a sword that equaled what Toledo master swordsmiths were purported to be able to create! She feared that the obsession would ultimately consume him. She needed to do something about it, to get through to him somehow, to make him see how dangerous a weapon that powerful would be in the hands of the likes of Tarn. He just would not listen, to the point of completely dismissing her and carrying on as if nothing she said made any difference. There must be something she could do, but nothing really came to mind. She could, she supposed, take the metal bar and hide it but she was afraid that Tarn would be able to sense it and retrieve it. And really, where could she hide it anyway? It was not like she was left to her own devices for any length of time and could smuggle it out of the house and hide it somewhere. No, she needed to keep trying with her father and hope she could break through with some common sense. Speaking of which, she thought, with Tarn out of the residence, maybe now would be the best time to start that. She finished breakfast and went in search of her father.

The camp was up, fed, packed, and back on the road in good time. A second peaceful night was over; no late night visitors, nor signs or noise of dogs; the watch had nothing of importance to report. Whatever happened two evenings past was nothing but a distant memory now. Not that Mann had dropped his guard. Nothing could be further from the truth. He was still wary and continued to watch their back trail as well as the woods to the right.

The caravan had crossed into the lands of the County of Tyrol and were on pace to make Sterzing by late afternoon. They planned on an evening's rest and a good night's sleep before they tackled the day long climb over the Brenner Pass and down into Innsbruck, Austria. A rider had been dispatched with letters for the Bürgermeister of Sterzing, informing him of the royal caravan's arrival.

Mann had felt the steady rise in elevation, signaling the change in scenery; gone now were the rolling hills and pasture/farming lands of just a few days ago. The scenery was more rugged and dense with forests and cliffs, interspersed with the occasional alpine meadow. The temperature had been steadily dropping as well, and if the grey overcast sky was any indication there would be snow soon. Even the moods of the travelers changed. Gone were the merriment of yesterday, replaced with a quiet anticipation of the long hard climb across the Alps and with it the very real chance of death by cold.

Maria did not understand why the weather had turned cold so early in the year. She and Alexander had made the same trip last year and had returned about the same time, but the weather, while chilly, was never this cold, nor was there ever a real chance of a snow storm. She remarked as such to Mann, with Alexander nodding in agreement. Benito remarked, off-handedly, that it would seem that Mother Nature was conspiring against the travelers. Maria and Alexander laughed it off, but a chill went down Mann's back, and not from the cold, either. He began to wonder what was against them and how did they know he was part of the caravan. He cautioned everyone that the trip might grow more difficult with the advance of bad weather and precautions should be taken. Benito suggested that heavy coats and linens be unpacked and donned in preparation for the snowy pass. Alexander agreed and had the word passed along.

Mann still wore his leather armor and trusty cloak, which did a remarkable job of keeping out the cold, even the occasional biting wind. While Thorn, too, seemed to not notice the change in both terrain and temperature, the same could not be said of the other mounts, who were already struggling with the changes. All of this added to the uncertainty of the other night and kept the conversations to a minimum.

Mann began to get that itch at the base of his neck, the certainty that they were being followed and close. He whispered a warning to Benito who had it quietly passed along, down the line. He scanned the brush and trees on either side of the road for signs of their trailers. Thorn lifted his head up and snorted as several other mounts whinnied, the white's of their eyes bulging. Mann got a brief glimpse of brown and white darting amongst the trees off to his right.

"Wolves!" He hollered out to alert the riders. "Control your mounts and watch the wagons!"

Off in the distance Mann heard the low howl of the pack leader which caused several horses to stop short, almost throwing their riders. Mann noted that the carriage driver was having trouble controlling his team, so he nudged Thorn over and reached out and grabbed the reins going to the lead horse. Between the two they were able to bring the carriage back under control. A quick shout of thanks from the driver and Mann moved forward to help where he could.

The wolves' manner seemed strange to Mann; what was their purpose? It was as if they were herding the caravan toward something. Why were the wolves involved at all? The animals were smart enough to know that they would be outnumbered. Wolves usually only attacked if they were threatened or could boast superior numbers. None of their actions made any sense.

"Benito, something is wrong," Mann called out. "We are being herded, but to where I do not know. The wolves are acting peculiarly; we need to stop our advance."

Benito nodded in agreement and ordered the company to stop while Mann grabbed the reins of the royal carriage. The rest of the wagons followed suit and soon the entire caravan was stopped in the middle of the road, guardsmen on high alert. Mann continued to look around trying to see the wolves, which appeared to have melted back into the woods.

Benito waited several more minutes before calling for the caravan to proceed forward, slowly. Mann released the reins of the carriage's team and moved Thorn away allowing the carriage to start forward. They started at a snail's pace, waiting for the wolves to reappear but they did not. Satisfied that the wolf encounter had been just chance, Benito called for the pace to be picked up and for scouts to venture forward.

Mann was not so sure that the encounter had been random. There was something else driving the wolves or orchestrating their movements.

"Benito, you should have your scouts scan the road ahead for pit falls or some other type of trap," Mann suggested. "Those wolves were trying to drive us toward something."

Benito nodded in agreement and then barked orders to the scouts, who had just started forward. He changed his mind about the caravan's pace and called for a slow walk as they waited news from the scouts.

A screaming wail that was cut off short caused the caravan to stop again. They could hear growling and screams further up the trail. In the distance toward the right of the caravan came the unmistaken sounds of baying dogs on the hunt. Something bad was happening ahead of them, and something to their right, as well. Mann intended to find out was going on around them.

"Captain, protect your charges," Mann called out and put his heels into Thorn's flank. "I will investigate. Antonio, Roberto, on me."

Thorn took off like he was shot from a bow and the two scouts spurred their horses forward to catch up. Benito ordered the wagons circled around the carriage and brought his company into a defensive stance.

Mann galloped up the trail toward the sounds, drawing power in preparation for a fight. Rounding a bend in the road he came upon a grisly sight. One of the scouts was down and it looked like he had his throat ripped out. The other scout was backed up against a tree holding off a snarling wolf. Not too unusual, except this wolf was standing upright on its rear legs. To Mann's left another bipedal wolf ran out of the woods onto the road. The baying was getting closer as he leaped from the saddle and did a complete somersault, landing upright with Caledor in his hand.

The second wolf turned toward Mann and advanced as Caledor burst into golden flames. The wolf attacked swinging its forelegs like clubs, clubs with razor-sharp claws on the end. Mann leaned back as a paw went swinging by and brought Caledor up, cleaving the 'arm' at the elbow. The wolf screamed and lunged forward going for Mann's throat. He brought his left hand up and shot a ball of Eldritch right into the snarling maw of the wolf knocking it back to the ground, whimpering in pain. Mann heard horses behind him and saw Antonio and Roberto leap from their mounts and flank him. The first wolf broke off its attack and turned to engage Mann as other shapes came stumbling out of the woods.

The shapes were grayish, the gray of the dead, hunched over with stringy hair and hands ending in talons. There were about ten or so shuffling along moaning a low bone shivering sound. Their eyes were the red of blood and they smelled like decaying flesh. The monsters split up and ambled toward both Mann and the other scout. Mann had a momentary flash of insight and realized that they were ghouls whose bite or even scratch was deadly.

"They are ghouls," he called out. "Beware a bite or even a scratch from their talons. Either will lead to death. Be on your guard."

Mann engaged the wolf as the three guard pushed the ghouls back. After checking that the members of the guard were alright he concentrated on the task at hand, a large wolf trying to rip his throat out. Out of the corner of his eye he saw two more wolves enter the fray and knew that they were seriously outnumbered now. Lashing out with Caledor he drove the point of the sword through the eye socket of the wolf in front of him. He moved toward the two new wolves attacking the left animal with golden lightning bolts of Eldritch from his left hand. Two more wolves leaped to the attack from the woods and Mann knew that the defenders were in serious jeopardy. It was at this point that something truly amazing happened.

Out of the corner of Mann's eye he saw Thorn gallop over to the two wolves and raise up on his hind legs, striking out with his front hooves. He caught one of the wolves in the forehead with a hoof and silver light exploded from the impact as the wolf staggered back by the hit. The wolf shook off the blow, but Thorn followed up with his other hoof, catching the wolf between in the eyes. Another flash of silver followed by a thunder clap and the wolf dropped like a sack of rocks. The horse pivoted to the left and engaged the second wolf, killing it in almost the exact fashion as the first.

Mann moved to intercept the last wolf when two large dogs, Alpine Mastiffs, crashed through the brush and charged said wolf, which turned to engage the dogs. Mann changed direction and moved to his left to aid the guardsmen when a cloaked figure stepped onto the road from the same location as the dogs. The cloaked figure wove its arms in an intricate pattern as a silver beam of energy shot out from the hands, striking ghouls left and right.

The combined forces of Mann, aided by his horse, Thorn, and the guardsmen, coupled with the hooded stranger and the dogs, turned the tide and eliminated the threat of the ghouls and the werewolves. When the last of the ghouls were cut down the hooded stranger turned toward where Mann and the guardsmen stood and spoke a single word.

"Hold"

Mann instantly felt the power of the spoken magic flow around the men as the guardsmen stiffened up caught in the spell. Mann had but a moment's thought to protect himself and decided on his only course of action.

"Careem!" "El!" Mann quickly spoke both the counter rune and the rune of protection.

The hooded stranger threw back its hood revealing a beautiful woman, who was vaguely familiar to him, and shouted a command to her dogs.

"Kill him!"

The dogs leaped to the attack only to be bowled over by a charging Thorn, who swept the dogs aside with a swing of his powerful neck. The horse turned toward the woman and then reared back on his legs, pawing the air as silver sparks of energy danced off of his hooves. Mann leaped to his left and spoke the rune of binding.

"Et!"

The women's arms dropped to her side as three golden rings appeared around her waist, binding her arms in place. Thorn dropped down on four legs and then pawed the ground in agitation. Mann patted the horse's neck and turned toward the dogs.

"Down!" Mann commanded the dogs, who dropped to the ground, and then approached the woman.

"Who are you?" The woman asked, struggling against the bindings.

"Just a man trying to prevent you from being a danger to me," Mann replied, and then turned back to the guardsmen.

Mann reached out and interwove his power into the spoken word of power until he subverted it to his own and released the word and freed the men.

"Antonio, send a rider back to inform the captain as to what has happened here," Mann commanded. "Take the other guardsman and scout forward, but be extremely cautious; there might be other fell things on the road."

Antonio brought his sword up in acknowledgement and sent Roberto back to the caravan and then he and the other scout mounted their horses and proceeded forward. Mann turned back to the woman and noticed for the first time that she looked remarkably similar to Karith.

"Be cautious, My Lord," Caledor warned him. "She is a Wyrm."

"You do not know who or what you are dealing with," the woman declared.

Mann's bindings faded as an amulet around the woman's neck flashed with a silver light and for a split moment the two adversaries eyed each other intently before she vanished in a clap of thunder. Her dogs stood up and disappeared into the brush, as well.

"Well, that was interesting," Mann declared, still staring at the spot where the woman - well Wyrm - disappeared. "Caledor, is she gone?"

"Yes, My Lord. I sense no trace from her."

Mann sheathed his sword and began investigating the trap site for clues to the woman or information about the werewolves but nothing was jumping out at him. There were no clues to who she was or where she went for that matter. He satisfied himself with the knowledge that at least he knew of another player, speaking of which he smiled as he turned to where his horse was munching some grass. Moving around to the front of his horse he reached out and grasped the bridle and slowly lifted Thorn's head unto they were eye to eye.

"Well my trusty stead, there is more to you than meets the eye. What kind of horse uses Eldritch?"

Thorn continued to look at Mann and slowly cocked his head and nickered causing Mann to break out in laughter.

"All right, my friend," Mann replied, the amusement evident in his voice, and scratched him behind the ear. "You can keep your secret; I will not press you right now."

The clippity-clop of approaching horses caused him to turn around and face the approaching sound. The Sergeant, Alphonse, and four guardsmen rounded the bend in the road and came to a halt in front of Mann.

"The Captain's compliments, milord," Alphonse brought his sword up in salute. "He sent us as soon as he heard the news from the scout. We are to be at your disposal."

"We need to clear the area and dispose of the dead before the caravan approaches," Mann responded and swept his arm around.

"Milord, the Captain bids me to tell you that the caravan will not move until you return."

"Well then, we had best get to the grisly task at hand, Sergeant. We do not want to keep the captain waiting."

They dragged the bodies to one central location, then removed the dead scout's personal effects and bundled them up. They swept the area clean one last time and removed all trace of the frightening encounter.

"Milord, is it true that there were werewolves?" one of the guard asked, looking around in fear.

"It would seem so," Mann replied with a nod. "Sergeant, we had best be getting back to the caravan now. There are still several hours to go before we stop for the night."