The Ranger Of The Wilds

The Black Forrest, Unknown Territory, Amid The Brindewoods...

Heavy swollen clouds of the darkest grey blanketed the sky as many a man, woman and child began to fear the onset of the furious tempest. The sound of steady hooves echoed as they rapidly beat against the forest floor kicking up leaves and dirt along the way. A lone rider had been tasked with escorting a swaddled babe through the thick of the towering Brindlewood trees, a massive forest of thick roots and vines where many lives are lost to vile and equally large and vastly dangerous beasts that call it home.

On the back of a speeding steed black in color and from the very stable of a noble king himself. A young and inexperienced squire had been tasked with taking the boy, a pale lad with a head full of raven hair and unseemly dark eyes, as far away from the kingdom as possible given the nature of the vile curse set upon him, the young princeling and firstborn son of the noble king.

The rider had meant to give him a decent start as his kind heart had not been of the nature to throw the child to the wolves so to speak, but the massive dire beasts had cornered him and his steed in a bid to claim him, the horse, and the child in the wake of their ravenous hunger.

A loss of footing saw to the steed tumbling following the sharp turn at a nearly rocky cliff. Bucked from his horse, the rider had scrambled to keep the young prince safe but had broken his leg and had no experience with a weapon aside from polishing it. The noble king had entrusted him to this dangerous task but he had been unable to see it through due to the brutal dire beasts that plagued the forest. They circled him, sharp teeth and glowing red eyes as they snarled and snapped ready and impatient to have at their fresh meal the scent of blood from the already killed horse filled the air as they tore it apart and greedy eyes focused on the wounded mortal before them clutching the infant prince in his weak thin arms.

Mustering his courage, he had hoped the wolves would just devour him for his failure to keep the prince safe and leave the boy alone until someone could see to his welfare properly, Terror filled the lad's young heart but not for himself, he'd been worried about the baby and with the last of his courage, he decided to shield the small infant prince with his body as best he could when the prowling brutes on massive four legs and terrible saliva soaked jaws of blood set upon him ripping his attire and flesh alike to shreds.

He had died like a knight despite never becoming one and the beasts ate their fill before taking a moment to sniff the baby finding that it strangely smelled as if it had been one of their kind. The largest and the bravest of them had taken the child into his mouth as it would a wayward pup and carried it back to their den. There was little time to linger as other more vile creatures had taken in the scent of spilled blood and as such had come for their share of the spoils.

The dead squire had been none the wiser as his corpse lay ripped to shreds beside that of his horse their soft guts and organs half eaten and blood pooling along the darkened forest floor. The enormous dire wolves had taken their leave of them having their bellies full and their instinct once more on the protection of their pups and the females at the den.

The journey had been a swift one, as they had not strayed too far from their den, a large and cozy cave hidden deep within the side of a small mountain. The rocky cliffs had been ideal to stave off other predators that roamed the area and the forest as the boldest of the dire wolves had managed to reach the den with the infant child in his mouth. He placed the infant at his mate's feet and she sniffed him before licking his hair as if it had been fur believing him to have been a runaway pup as she set about fitting her teet into his mouth while he suckled her milk unaware that she'd been an entirely different species.

The dire wolves took their turn patrolling and bringing food back to the females as they sniffed at the pups and headed on their way to their respective posts. They had long been the enemy of the mortal humans who had been unaware that they possessed any form of intellect and could actually speak.

"See to it this one doesn't get away again." said the boldest of the wolves, the Alpha of the pack.

His mate snarled and licked at the nursing furless pup. He seemed to have calmed down a good deal as he suckled her teet his lack of teeth being something of a boon for her given the suckling of the other pups often causing her pain.

The tiny boy began to drift off as she licked him ensuring that he'd been well and comfortable before resting her head against his little body in a bid to keep an eye on him as she slept.

The boy had been unaware of the fate he'd been given in the wake of a tyrant battlemage's curse and the truth about his nature even amongst the dire wolves that had apparently taken him in as a family.

SEVERAL YEARS LATER...