The Hunt

The elder wolf raised his head with a new found strength.

"Awooooo"

The two other wolves howled in response while the other wolves watched on in silence.

The broken spirit of this wreck of a den seemed to be stirring up with unknown power.

"What's the plan?" Nix asked looking at me.

Ullr and Sif both looked at me as well, waiting for a response.

The former obviously giving me the reigns to train my decision making and the latter because she's a glorified saint. She loves life and goes out of her way to help people. Seeing the wolves she's likely already decided to help them.

With everyone staring at me it seems I've instantly become team leader.

"We first need information. We need to know if there are anymore bandits besides 12. We also have to know where the wolves are. How are they distributed. Are they all separate or together. How do they communicate. Anything that can give us an edge. Finding out all this information is first and foremost"

And as if right on cue Muninn flew of my shoulder and landed on the back of the Elder wolf.

"Munnin will tail the elder wolf while following the scent of his kin. He will get close to where the bandits are and after scout out the area. This will let us know the situation, and layout of their troops."

[Tactical UAV inbound]

"We are to follow behind them for now and then come up with a plan once we're there."

The three of them nodded and watched as the elder wolf lead the way.

_____

About an hour of trekking later Munnin told me they were close.

Muninn then took to the skies to get info.

At this moment, I am so glad I got Muninn as my first contracted pet. Seeing as I'm feeling bad for the wolves I might as well not be a hypocrite and treat Muninn better.

[Why not release him?]

... okay I am a hypocrite but we don't have time to have this philosophical talk.

Staring at the images Muninn is sending me, these bandits have made a hideout on a small hill in the forest.

The hill is about 9 acres so about 1800 feet wide and 1800 feet long (548 meters).

They seem to have cut up some of the trees to use as a makeshift wall between the trees. Behind that is several structures. A stable for animals, a hall of course, some sleeping houses and what looks like a prisoner area. Munnin is informing me he's getting broken memories and crazy thoughts from there.

I read the memories and I can tell they were from some women. I stopped going through the memories at some point because of what they had done to those women. I could feela cold rage flowing through me.

This just got a bit worse. My mind working over drive to figure out a plan.

"Okay hold here." I said to the group.

I take out my journal and rip a piece of paper out. Taking a spare pen I start sketching their hideout.

"There is a whole hideout with seven buildings." I point out what these structures were.

... "They have three watch towers at these points and each one has one guard in it at any time. There are actually 14 bandits and they each do their own things. Most of them keep to the mess hall while others are sleeping or taking care of their needs in this building."

I then look at Sif, "Sif no matter what happens you are not to approach this building." I am not mentally scarring any kids here. Actually Sif is not gonna be involved in this until we rescue those poor women. She gonna heal them.

This raid were holding is more of a test for Nix and more so myself. Murder is wrong. Period end of story. Unless it's last resort we have to take these fellows alive.

"Our goal here is to be discreet. Muninn tells me most of the men here are rank 1 with two people being rank 2. There are also 11 wolves to worry about and 3 undead wolves." It looks like we thinned their pack.

The plan is that we are going to knock out and take every bandit one by one when they are not in that hall. Also at that time, Nix has to break those women out. He's the only one able to do so. Plus seeing them, I hope Nix will finally grow a bit of empathy. He seems so disciplined at times that I feel as though he has no emotions. It may be drastic but this world is a bit meaner. Showing him the realities of it might make him appreciate what he has more.

[That goes for you too]

Yea but Sif calls him ice block. Atleast I have a heart but I guess that would be a fitting name for Nix considering his parents.

[Stop dragging attention away from yourself]

Once we capture a sufficient amount of the enemy and free the women, we need to somehow draw them out their camp. I'll have a trap set up to incapacitate most of them. We can then pick off stragglers.

It's a simple plan but a lot can go wrong in just a moment. I am attempting to iron out details so that we have the best chance.

Thankfully Muninn has 600 ft in diameter of range for thought stealing, and unlimited range with me.

I'll have Sif set up outside the gate but still in that range.

Ullr, Me and the other two wolves are to play a game of ghost recon with the separated bandits silently picking them off.

I'd like to actually like to have Nix join me on this, but we have too many tasks.

Ullr is technically just gonna watch and only get involved when necessary. He's my tactical nuke in a sense.

[Your really taking this training seriously]

I'm currently having Muninn continuously update me on the bandits locations. The second at least 7 are out of the building we strike.

_______Nightfall______

In a filthy hall in the base, several pen were drinking and playing a sort of card game with each other.

"Hey Ben, How about we go and have a look at our ladies, I'm sure they miss us."

Another voice responded while slamming his mug on the table, "as if, I haven't seen a beautiful woman since we left the kingdom. We were promised wealth, and crossed the damn desert only to get wild women inches taller than me. They don't even have gold here so what can we even loot off them!"

The lanky fellow who first spoke went up to the clearly upset stocky man named Ben and said, "Thats not something we should worry about. We should let the boss handle that while we go ahead and let loose on these natives."

Ben looked at his lanky friend and sighed. "Your right Will. Let's go blow of steam."

"Let's bring Edward and James, they've been so busy training their wolves that they likely have a bone to pick with a pair of legs!" William said casually.

Ben thought about it for a moment. "Yea sure, they can probably take my wolf after to train."

Getting up, both of them walked over to Edward and James' table and convinced them to switch wolves for a bit in exchange for some "gold".

After they all got up with a knowing glint to blow off steam.

_____

Right outside the prison area.

"Okay James here's my wolf. I call him Wolfmeat. Take care of him in your training." Ben said this while passing him a few coins.

William and Edward made the same deal as well.

"Good now let's go have fun," William said.

Walking into the disgusting prison the four men picked their targets. The floor was covered in hay and fecal matter..

Each woman was filthy with ripped clothes everywhere. Two were chained to the wall face first. And the other two were tied regularly to a pole.

Ben zeroed in on his target not knowing what was to happen to him. He removed his pants to reveal a pulsating spear.

The room was set up with two jail cells holding two of the girls each so Will was right next to him.

Ben then used his hand to left up the rump of his victim. As he was about to penetrate her he got an extremely strange feeling. Then suddenly saw William fall over on his back before he knocked out.

Both men were on the floor passed out.

The other two, James and Edward, didn't hear their compatriots fall over. Actually they did but they believed it was the sound of something else.

They were too distracted and had already penetrated their prey.

Before they could thoroughly enjoy themselves they got light headed as well. They both simultaneously removed themselves and began looking around to only notice a five foot blue eyed child staring at them intently.

"Despicable", he uttered before quickly placing his hands on them.

They then felt thousands of volts go through them before they passed out.