The creature approached silently and cautiously. I pulled out my sword and took a battle stance. My metal spheres rotated around my body as it approached and started circling the camp just out of sight. I stayed between the camp and edge of the forest all the while circling with the creature. I could see the glint of two pairs of eyes reflecting in the firelight, the large creature was equal with my height. I decided to appraise the creature.

  Name: Direwolf

  Race: Wolf

  HP: 40/40

  SP: 70/70

  MP: 0/30

  EE: 150/150

  Attributes: Speed

  I hated when my premonitions came true. I’m not sure who tipped off the others, but the others burst out of their tents, weapons at the ready. They were only lightly armoured because they hadn’t enough time to get properly kitted. The creature quickly left, running off into the forest.

  “What’s happened?”

  Asked Tobias.

  “A direwolf.”

  “Well, I suppose that is not too unexpected in this part of the woods and given their recent incursion.”

  “It wasn’t alone. I can’t be sure, but I think may have been a goblin rider.”

  Tobias looked towards the dark forest for a while as if contemplating our next move,

  “It might be a scout for a larger raiding party. We’ll need to be more vigilant so I’ll stay up with Hana for the next shift and you can rest if you are still able. Keep your weapons and armour on.”

  “How did you know I was facing a monster?”

  “Hana woke us up.”

  Good on you Hana. Her ears were like flipping radars. With both Hana and Tobias in the team I didn’t expect any problems, so I slept reasonably well considering the circumstances. Trying to sleep with my armour on introduced a level of discomfort I wasn’t used to. I didn’t like sleeping in a tent in times where monsters moved in near proximity because it didn’t supply much in the way of protection. Anyhow I managed to get enough sleep.

  That sunrise we didn’t spend much time messing around and quickly packed camp. Most of the team felt eager to get going. Subconsciously we all wanted to get out of the forest. A small bit of sparring and training that afternoon during our short break took everyone’s mind off the previous night’s events but our all actions also took on a much more serious tone. In the sparring I received a few hard knocks from Tobias’ sword, even made of wood the sword hit like a hammer.

  There were no incidents during the day, but we all shared the premonition that if something was still going to happen, it would be that evening. Our reasoning being that direwolves preferred the cover of the forests to the open plains, and they operated mostly at night. Because it would be our last night in the forest the monsters would figure that out as well.

  Unfortunately, despite our efforts we couldn’t exit the forest and spent another night under leafy coverage. It was highly likely that if attacked, it would be that night. We all kept a full vigil that night. We never set up the tents up and only one person slept at a time, and that while fully armoured. Stoking four fires at the corner of the camp kept our spirits up although there was little in the way of the camaraderie like the previous evenings.

  Hana first picked up the approaching wolves, and moments later I confirmed.

  “They’re here and they have surrounded us.”

  I said in a calm voice, as if resigning myself to a designated fate. I surprised myself at just how calm I felt. I drew my sword and activated my spheres. For the briefest of moments the Red Sparrows gawked at my orbital display, but they quickly refocused when the direwolves and their goblin riders came directly at us without circling around.

  Not all the direwolves carried riders but that didn’t matter because within seconds the first wolves reached us. We previously agreed that Hana, Tobias, Aliz and I would take outer defence using swords as our primary weapons. Without thinking about it, I activated sword that weird flame skill and my sword lit up with a red flame while my rotating spheres glowed red in the night.

  The first goblin rider bounded into the camp within my sector, giving myself barely just enough time to deflect the direwolf’s bite with my buckler and to parry the goblin’s axe attack from above with my sword. I cut the goblin axe cut in two as the knife sliced through the handle like a hot knife through butter. Unfortunately, the goblin rider came through unscathed. The first attack wave melted into the forest while the next wave of wolf riders attacked in turns.

  Another wolf tried the same attack against me as the previous wolf, no doubt a tried and tested method they relied on through time. I wasn’t going to fall for that twice. I aimed for the wolf’s eye using my spheres while using the shield to stop the goblin’s axe. Those wolves were fast, but not fast enough. I heard the wolf cry in pain as my spheres hit its mark. Even if it managed to avoid my spheres, it distracted the wolf enough to allow me to dodge its attacks.

  “Aim for the wolves.”

  Cortez’ voice erupted above the battle calls and growls. I couldn’t believe such a loud voice came from a small man. Another wolf cried in pain as Tobias hammered a direwolf and rider pair down to the ground. I quickly took note of our situation. Tobias already killed two wolves and one goblin, the rest of us only managing to injure wolves or goblins up to that point. The attacks suddenly ceased, and our attackers returned to the forest and out of my sense range.

  Cortez warned,

  “Don’t relax, they’re only regrouping.”

  As if confirming that statement, howling erupted from the forest around us.

  “How many of them do you think there are?”

  Asked Aliz.

  Cortez who was directing the fighting from the top of the cart, said,

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  “More than thirty wolves.”

  Hana looked sternly at me,

  “Shane. Build a tower.”

  She knew very well what she was asking for. I had hoped that it wouldn’t come to that, but she was right, we didn’t have a choice. A fort arrangement would negate the surprise element from the wolves’ attack and allow us a more defendable position.

  

  

  A green circle of squares about three and a half meters in diameter formed in my heads-up display superimposed in the area at the middle of our camp.

  

  

  The ground between us started to heave upwards as I created the top of a round tower with battlements. I stopped there and shouted.

  “Everyone, get into the middle and protect me.”

  I ordered them, pointing to the centre of the raising column of earth as I jumped onto it. Despite what must have seemed impossible for them they didn’t hesitate and joined me. Credit to the professionalism of the Red Sparrows they didn’t wait and ask questions, they kept fighting. I first created castle ramparts and a solid base, but the wolves were large and more than capable of jumping over those walls at their current height. I kept raising the height of the tower while a large moat started forming around the tower as I borrowed more earth from the surrounding area. The moat would eventually create a large gap and make the structure more difficult to attack. The direwolf attack paused momentarily. I suspected that they were reassessing the situation.

  “It’s starting again, they’re attacking.”

  Shouted Cortez.

  “Keep them busy until I can raise this tower high enough.”

  I shouted to Tobias. I was already drawing spare EE from my storage to compensate for my expenditure. The tower had a small platform to move on, but at the time we were focusing on surviving. Hana shifted from her sword to bow and at once started to make an impact.

  “Good move Hana.”

  Corey was just as effective. There were dual howls of pain as both their arrows hit home.

  Meanwhile the tower kept rising until there the wolves were incapable of reaching us. At that point the goblins called off the attack. The battle was over in less than ten minutes. It was just as well because my spare EE was nearly spent.

  For an hour we stayed on top of the tower in case any further attacks, but no more wolves were forthcoming. While we waited, I added a round narrow staircase down the outside of the tower. Wolves would not fit on it and goblins would be easy pickings coming up it. Besides I could always remove the staircase if they tried.

  When we returned to ground level, Hana and Corey stayed on the tower as watches while the rest of us looked at the state of our gear in the wagon. From the onset it was clear that a raiding party attacked us for the purposes of looting stores because some of our food was missing. The scout from the night before must have been to figure out what we were carrying and what our fighting strength was. I bet they hadn’t considered a tower in their strategy.

  They did seem confident enough that they could take us on. With thirty direwolves we should have died that night. It was a sobering thought. I was glad to be alive.

  

  

  That was the second time Ara saved us. Unfortunately, the wolves took one of the horses during the battle. They were so large and powerful that they could run off with a horse and they did that so quickly not one of us noticed it. When my EE recovered sufficiently, I kept our remaining horse in a temporary earthen enclosure lean-to with a steep roof so that wolves could not use it as a steppingstone to get further up the tower.

  I decided to leave the tower as is, and as an act of defiance to the monsters, I emblazoned my lion’s standard onto the sides of the tower.

  The parapet where we were sitting was just wide enough for our feet to touch the other wall if we lay down. Four of us could lay down head-to-foot while two others were always standing on guard. Cortez unable to hold himself in anymore finally asked the question I had been expecting a while ago.

  “Are you a magician?”

  He didn’t have a framework for what happened, but he read enough stories to make a conclusion.

  “No, I’m not.”

  “Well, whatever you are, you saved us tonight.”

  Said Tobias.

  The rest nod their heads in agreement.

  Personally, I wouldn’t go as far as saying that, but I did significantly improve our defence in our favour. At first light I walked around the area where the battle had taken place. I found a sword from one of the goblins lying on the ground. It was a basic sword by my standards, but overall, the quality wasn’t that bad. Cortez looked at the sword I was holding and commented that it was the best sword he had seen from a goblin. Cortez commented that most goblin swords were hand-me-downs or stolen off other adventurers and even then, they didn’t usually look after their swords too well. That was the first time he had seen a sword made specifically for the smaller goblin hands. Better equipped goblins implied better commanded troops, which was concerning. For me it was the second time I’d seen that. My storage was filled with their swords from my first battle at the mesa. I still wanted to melt them down to make other weapons, so I added his sword to my collection.

  When I was about to fall asleep, I was surprised to feel Hana climb under the sleeping bag next to me. She cuddled closer to me and whispered.

  “Thank you Shane.”

  If I had to sum up my feelings for the evening, they were all eclipsed by that one moment. I could feel her hand on my back as we fell asleep, I couldn’t feel any better.

  We didn’t plan to have breakfast that morning because we were eager to leave, so I whipped out the rabbit meat I cooked with Hana in the forest. They wordlessly ate it with gusto until they consumed every morsel.

  “Oh my goodness, what was that?”

  Asked Corey.

  “Tandoor cooked rabbit meat on a skewer with roasted vegetables.”

  “Yeah, but I’ve never tasted rabbit meat like this before. It’s totally delicious.”

  I realized that I had added my combination of spices to the meat when I cooked it. I tried to replicate the tandoor styled flavouring, which when I explained it to them, they made a unilateral decision to make me the team cook going forward.

  “Hold on a moment, I didn’t mind helping to cook but I’m definitely not going to do all of it!”

  In the end I offered to help teach Cortez how to use spices to which they happily agreed. Even Cortez seemed eager to learn. As for the rest of our group, I felt sorry for the poor horse that didn’t have a companion and would have to work twice as hard. I suggested that we lighten the load of the cart by utilising my storage to which they readily agreed. To lighten the cart load further, we walked a brisk pace alongside it rather than sitting on top.

  Before lunch we exited the forest and entered the plains laying before the marsh. A few kilometres before the marsh and the ground became noticeably softer. In the background, the white capped mistral mountains looked closer although they were still far in the distance. We arrived at the water edge of the marsh after four hours since exiting the forest. For as far as my eyes could see there was nothing but a sea of reeds and water. As much as we enjoyed the scenery, we were eager to set up camp early that night because none of us had any sleep that previous night, including our horse. We travelled in a western direction along the shore and close to the end of the day had the good fortune of finding another larger group of twelve adventurers camping out there. They were also on a marsh-iron ore search on behalf of a private sponsor from Obon. Their expedition team consisted of two logistical supports, four archers, five fighters and one tank. They also had encounters about two weeks ago with goblins while traveling here through the forest. But they were only a small scouting group and their attacks were light compared to our encounter.

  They considered us lucky that the direwolves broke off their attack, we didn’t mention how that came about because of the nondisclosure agreement we signed. I think they were burning to say something, but even if they did, they probably realised no one would believe them anyhow. Our team must have looked a sorry state because they offered for us to camp with them and even made us dinner. The adventurers were planning to pack up and leave for Obon the next day. Although they wouldn’t say how much iron they had obtained, it was obviously enough for them to pack it in and head back.

  With the other group camping next to us, we used that opportunity to all catch up on sleep while they kept guard. It was unlikely there would be an attack by direwolves from the forest, they didn’t like open terrain and preferred operating in the woods. There was a couple of occasions before midnight where the sound of happy talk and laughter from the adventurer’s camp woke me up. I assumed they had a good haul and were looking forward to heading back. It was a good sound to hear and brought back good memories of my family camping trips when I was younger.