2 The Cannibal Wolf

Meanwhile, the carriage of the Durtham family had stopped outside the great iron gate of Iron Forge City, which began to slowly creak upwards. The unfortunate man impaled upon the spike slid downwards another few inches, emitting a desperate groan followed by unintelligible gargling.

The men standing guard outside the city stood at attention, not daring to offend the Durthams in the slightest.

The head guard, recognizable by his slightly more elaborate helmet, stepped up and said, "Welcome back, Sir Durtham! You have already returned from your skirmish against the Northern tribes - surely they have been long reduced to rubble in the face of your heroic might!"

While he tried hard to drum up his enthusiasm, Saif could detect a faint quaver in the guard's voice. He found the rest of the spectators hardly dared to breathe, their heads bowed and gazes directed towards the ground. It seemed this Sir Durtham was not someone to be taken lightly. Normally, Saif would have felt sickened upon hearing the head guard's obsequious spiel, but he still felt shocked at the recent events that had transpired, his eyes transfixed on the dull, lifeless ones of the recently deceased elderly man.

The carriage remained at a standstill, parked in front of the now wide open gate, but made no indication of entering Iron Forge City. With each second that passed, the tension in the air grew, and the atmosphere seemed to weigh down on the head guard's shoulders with increasing pressure. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the corkscrew spike atop the carriage began to rotate and retract downwards, unscrewing its prisoner and dumping his mangled body on the ground in front of the guards. He lay there unmoving - it was impossible for Saif to tell if he was alive or dead.

With a shout from the driver, the Rhinoceros Beasts once again began to lumber forward. The door remained tightly shut, having never opened to reveal the man so feared, but the guards breathed a collective sigh of relief upon his departure. The line slowly formed once again, and Saif once again found a spot to stand in, with no sign of the day's earlier events besides the immobile body of the man who had been thrown onto the ground.

"Northern scum!" a guard muttered angrily under his breath and threw a kick at the man with his iron boots, but sensing no sign of life from the body, he merely spit on it and began to drag it away to the corner, where he left it curled on the ground. The line continued to move forward slowly, and soon Saif found himself nearly at the gate, which was now tightly shut once more. The people who were allowed entry instead entered through a small door to the right.

When there were only three people left ahead of him, two men walked out from the small door and to the prone victim of Sir Durtham. Both stood at an abnormally tall height, easily over seven feet tall, and wore distinctive wolf masks over their faces. Something about them gave Saif a very bad feeling, and he subconsciously shrunk himself down to try to blend in with the rest of the wayfarers. From behind him, he heard some people muttering to each other frantically.

"That's the 5th division captain of the Blood Lock Prison guards, the Cannibal Wolf!"

"Quick, duck down, make sure he doesn't see you!" A mother pushed her child's head down, hiding her under her cloak.

Saif noticed that most of the people who seemed panicked were the poor refugees, like himself. It seemed as if they had seen their worst nightmare, their faces turning pale at the sight of the prison guards. The arrogant aristocrats, however, had odd expressions on their face of sick, twisted glee, inducing a sinking feeling in Saif's gut. One of the people in front of him, a middle-aged man who seemed rather wealthy judging by his attire, turned around and caught sight of him, breaking into an evil grin as he stared at Saif as if he were already dead. Breaking into a cold sweat, Saif tore his gaze away from the nobleman and back towards the two prison guards.

The man following behind the Cannibal Wolf, as it seemed the leader was called, bent down and checked the man on the ground for any signs of life. After a minute, he silently stood up and whispered something in the leaders' ear before roughly binding the body on the ground in chains.

Whatever it was the man whispered seemed to make the Cannibal Wolf very happy, as his mouth contorted into a grotesque smile, his eyes now staring hungrily at the man lying at his feet. The very sight of his blackened lips and unnaturally sharp canines made Saif want to puke. Turning, the pair made their way back towards the city, dragging the unresponsive body behind them, leaving a rather messy trail of blood on the dirt path. As they reached the door, the Cannibal Wolf spoke for the first time.

"Bring me 50." His voice had an unpleasant raspiness to it, as if he had something permanently lodged in his throat, but it carried a commanding aura that was not to be disobeyed. Saif was confused as to what the statement meant, but as the three figures disappeared into the city, he got a sudden feeling that perhaps this wasn't a place he wanted to enter into. The events of the day made it seem that entering such an area would be pretty much akin to throwing his life away. Perhaps he could still turn around and try to return to the village life, starting anew.

Just as such thoughts were begin to race through his head, his logic beginning to fade as an irrational fear took over, the guards stationed at the gate began to move in response to the Cannibal Wolf's command. The line had been temporarily stopped and a few guards, armed with heavy iron batons, stepped forward to scrutinize those lined up. They quickly walked past the first two people in line, the aristocrat who had leered at Saif earlier and a young noblewoman, and stopped at the person right in front of Saif. She was a girl around 14 or 15 years old, but traveling alone and dressed in the simple clothes of a farmer, the smudges of mud and dirt attesting to the lengthy journey she must have undertaken to arrive here.

The guards paused for a second, looking to the head guard as if in question. He nodded back to them.

"Grab her, she's obviously just a refugee rat!" he commanded them, looking coldly at the frightened girl. She began to struggle and scream, but with a glancing blow to the temple, she fell like a rock onto the floor. Unceremoniously, the other guard began to tie her up right in front of Saif's eyes.

Seeing this scene, every fiber of his being screamed at him to flee. However, his body refused to listen to him, rendering Saif unable to even move a muscle. Just as he tried to retake control over his own body and turn to run, a strong blow to the back of his head stunned him, and he felt his sight slowly fade to darkness.