Transport

I stood as still as a statue, hidden within the flickering shadows of the room. "Where are they?" The girl whimpered as she feared for her very life, out of the darkness I heard a female voice yell out, "NOW!" As soon as the word rang out through the room the half-elf woman loose an arrow into the sorceress' knee, the man smacked her in the back of her head with his hammer, I came out from behind the curtain, took the dagger and imbedded it in between the area of her shoulder and neck, and as she tilted her head upwards to yell out in pain I balled up a fist and uppercut her as hard as I possibly could knocking her out cold. "Well, that was easier than I thought." The other two gave me a strange look, "Let's just get her up." As the half-elf spoke with the young elf girl while I and the other man cuffed her and tied her up, but not before tending to her wounds. We couldn't have them get infected or anything like that and have her dying. "So what should be our next move?" The half-elf laid out a map, "Well first, we'll take our cart with her in it for maybe a full day's trip to Poppytown, we resupply our rations and we move on and leave the girl in the iron forest, turns out she's the daughter of one of the elder's daughters, she's been missing for months. Finally, we arrive home and deliver the prisoner, and you get your reward." "sounds great, how long will that take?" "I estimate about a week, a week, and two days at most." "Sounds fine by me, You guys set up the cart I'll let the crew know to leave without me." They nodded and said my goodbyes for the moment.

As I arrived at the docks, it seems repairs were still being done on the ship, but they did look close to done, I saw Voyage standing near it watching it all be done, "Well, it seems your mission was quite successful I would say eh?" I nodded, "Yeah, came by to say you all can go on ahead without me. Headed to Ulvenguard on foot, said it'd take about a week or so to get there."Aye, I get ya, we were gonna take the slightly longer way back, it's around the same route we took, only we avoid the thunder coast's waters, takes a few more days to go around it entirely, I'd estimate it'd take about two more weeks to go around the whole area." "Well, I wish you all the luck on your journey, and may the allfathers bless your sails." "Aye, and may they guide ye on your journey." I shook her hand and went on my way back to meet with the spies.

I came back as they began to put our target in the back of the cart and locked it, "Are you ready to go?" I nodded and sat alongside the spies with the child in the middle. As the half-elf stated it took us about a full day to reach Poppytown, I walked into the pastry shop where I was recognized by the elven woman who worked there and I bought a pastry for myself and for the elven girl to enjoy while the others resupply, gathering rations, blankets, supplies to make a couple of tents, and some flint and steel for fire. It took us another day or so to leave poppytown and reach the outskirts of the Iron forest. Before we set up camp I made sure Honoa, our prisoner, was still in the cart. I watched closely as her chest was slowly rising and falling, she was still breathing, still able to move around somewhat, we've given her some food to eat from time to time, though she doesn't speak, she does eat what we give her. It's best not to be cruel, not unless they deserve it. I decided to let the woman rest, let the UNG handle it. The little elven girl watched as the half-elf and the human set up tents and started a fire, the young elven girl stood close to the fire and wrapped herself tightly in her blanket as a cold wind began to blow through and the three moons that laid claim over the sky shed a beautiful light in the clearing.

As the fire kept us warm and the moons high above shed their light, we all heard a distant wolf howling far off in the distance, perhaps looking for its pack or warning them of danger ahead, or maybe they had successfully gotten a kill to feed them. Whichever one it was, it still startled the little elven girl, She told the half-elf something we couldn't understand, "She said, she's scared they will come after us." I looked over at her and gave a reassuring smile, "Tell her that it's alright. There's no need to be afraid of wolves anymore. That age has long passed." She repeated my word in elvish, and the little elven girl responded by asking her why there was no need to fear them. "Well, there are two main reasons. One was because, long ago, when Ulvenguard was still a small village of refugees and common folk of all kinds, wolves would come from what would later become the mountain castle and attack the village, many would wake to the sound of howling and screaming as anyone outside would be mauled and ripped apart by these wolves. Many would fight back, but few would return. One man, who would later become the first king of Ulvenguard was among those who fought back, alongside his friend an orc known as the outlaw king.

However, during one of these nights the outlaw king had died, angered at the loss of his friend the future king of Ulvenguard took his spear and his axe and walked without stopping, without food or water, and came to the mountain where they had come from." The little elven girl was hanging on to every translated word, "There he came face to face with a terrifying white wolf, it stood 15 maybe 20 feet tall, it's growling shook the earth itself, it's maw was covered in blood and drool, its eyes were an ice-cold blue. Unfeeling, merciless, that is all he could feel coming from this enormous monster. But this man, this future king, he did not back down, he challenged this beast, and a great battle took place that day. Many say that the battle lasted until sunset when the man plunged his spear into the beast's heart. Soon, it was as if all the wolves were released from a trance and thousands of them ran off in different directions. As if by magic, the spirit of the wolf appeared before him, glowing blue eyes, and the same size and shape as the beast only decorated with various markings and glowing brighter than the sun during the summer solstice, the spirit bowed its head and leaped into the air and into the night sky. Forever guiding and protecting Ulfguardians wherever they go."

The child smiled as I finished the story, "And what about the other reason?" I heard the man say, "Oh, the other reason, is the wild souls." the little elven girl tilted her head in confusion, "Well, I guess we have time for another legend." The young girl sat up excitedly, "Well, Although Ulvenguard natives are all firm believers in the allfathers and eventually wanting to join them beyond the platinum gates in the grand haven, there is an alternate afterlife. Before entering the platinum gates, the allfathers offer the deceased a choice. Enter the platinum gates and rest in eternal glory with your ancestors or return to the land of the living as an animal to keep an eye on your loved ones and run wild and free. Those who choose this path are ultimately given their animal form and run wild, of course, they do indeed check in on their loved ones, but many simply want to run around free as a bird, or in some instances, as a wolf." More howls are heard in the distance, the girl no longer fearing them yawned as she asked to be put to bed, as did the rest of us.

Early in the morning, we set out to leave the young girl with her kind in the iron forest. The fog slowly crept through the trees as we passed by. It was rather peaceful, I heard birds chirping among the trees, it was sweet and calming. There aren't many villages or towns within the iron forest, but the ones that do usually indicate that we were nearing the main elven town of Lithtum. It was a relatively big town, full of shops and homes and such, protected by its town guard like any other, only this small town was walled off in a dense area of the forest to protect against the blood berserkers and sons of midnight. That reminds me, I never explained who or what the blood berserkers were.

To keep it somewhat brief, Blood berserkers aren't any specific race, though they do keep to their villages and towns within their territory. Very few leave their lands. My mother was part of their land, she was going to be part of a forced marriage, however, she did not want to go through with it. For this, she was exiled but she was still able to tell us what life was like for her and many others. For instance, the blood berserkers were not all human, some were half-human, such as half-orcs and half-elves, there were also elves, dwarves, orcs, dragonborn, and tieflings. Primarily those races in particular. They all believed in one singular god. Raeyr, God of War and blood. To earn his favor and be a part of his ever-growing army, you must prove yourself in battle by being drenched in blood and gore before dying, having fought until your very last breath. During battle, they will also cover their face in blood or a red mixture that appears like blood and fly into a frenzy when attacking their opponent, and it almost seems as if they are indestructible. Those who have had the displeasure of fighting a blood berserker can attest to the fact that when face to face with them they can take hundreds of blows and still be standing, they can break axes, swords, and spears. They are brutal and unforgiving people.

Thankfully, we did not have to deal with them as we entered the town with ease and gave the little girl back to her mother. We explained the situation and found out that her name was Dara. We stayed in town for another day and continued fourth to Ulvenguard. It took some time, but we managed to make it back home in one piece along with the prisoner. We took her to the UNG, where the spies left me alone with her as we waited for the other guardsmen to pick her up for questioning then to a holding cell. "Do you think you've won Ulfguardian?" "What do you mean?" "I mean, do you honestly believe you will see the last of me? I remember you well, all those years ago, and here you are, still a little cub among wolves. One day I'll escape, I'll come back, and when I do you will regret even-" "I'm going to stop you right there. You think that after all these years and from what I have seen and gone through so far, that I would be afraid of you? No. You should be afraid of me. You endangered the life of a child, terrorized thousands of people in your life and you expect me to let all of that affect me? Should you ever escape I will find you, in the deepest caves, on the highest mountains, in the vast oceans, nowhere is safe for you to hide, not even the shadows will keep you from me.

Because like my father before me, I was born in the shadows, I was raised in darkness and have never known fear." I put her on her knees and stared deep into her eyes, "The next time you cross me, I'll make sure it's the last." Her pupils constricted to a smaller shape and I could tell she took my words to heart. The woman I met earlier took her in and paid me, "odd, usually they start kicking and screaming as we take them in, this one seems more willing. What did you say to her?" "Nothing too important. Thanks for the coin. I'll let you know if I find anyone else to bring in." She nodded and walked off to join the others, and I went home. Who knew work like this would be pretty fun?