Trouble stirring in the forest

Lucian, Fitz and Antony left Gismead early in the morning to escort two first ranked nobles who were staying in the neighboring kingdom of Pathagonia back to Gismead. Lucian had been reluctant to miss Riley's exams, but it was his duty to go so he did. He thought that he could possibly stop by her mansion to ask how her exam went after he had completed his mission.

Antony, Fitz and Lucian had left Gismead hours before the sun was supposed to rise and arrived in Pathagonia a few hours after the sun had risen. The trip through the forest had been a peaceful one, and at some point in their journey Antony and Fitz had fallen asleep on the backs of their horses leaving Lucian to be on the lookout.

Once they got to Pathagonia, they met up with the nobles, who had had their own guards with them. Lucian knew That the Lords would be well protected with just their personal guards alone. It wasn't actually necessary for himself, Antony and Fitz to be there. However since they were first rank nobles, Prince Geoffrey insisted on knights from the Knights Order accompanying them back to Gismead.

Lucian, and Antony lead the way in the front of the group while Fitz stayed at the very back to insure they were all safe and that nobody lagged behind.

About three quarters of the way back to Gismead Lucian called for everyone to take a break from traveling. It would also give the horses a chance to replenish themselves.

Antony saw that Lucian looked a bit tense and gave him a hearty slap on the back. "Come Lord Lucian don't be a sad sack!" He grinned playfully.

Lucian tried to smile, but he couldn't ignore the warning bells that were going off in his head. He didn't know what was wrong with him, his shoulders were tense and his stomach was in knots.

He looked around the woods again. He couldn't see anything that was out of place. All he saw were the nobles and their guards relaxed and sitting on the grass, the two carriages that the nobles were traveling in and their fine horses nibbling on shrubs.

The two Lords that he was escorting today were both first ranked nobles, each were promoted to first rank after becoming renowned heroes during the Great war. Lord Baratheon Arkane and his young son Torryn Arkane. As well as Lord Gavriel Xerxes.

Nothing seemed out of place, which frustrated Lucian even more. He had good instincts, they had never been wrong, so then why were they screaming at him to get up and run when he couldn't see any danger...?

"Something isn't right..." Lucian said lowly to Antony as he scanned back over the forest clearing.

"Come now Lucian. This a quiet forest nothing ever happens here..." Antony reminded his friend.

Lucian wanted to believe him, but ultimately he had to trust his instincts. Something was wrong.

Lucian spoke up so that the whole group could hear him. "Come all, we only have a little way until we reach Gismead. Let's get going." He urged.

"Come now boy!" Protested Lord Gavriel. "We've only just sat down to have our luncheon. Let's enjoy the forest for a little while longer."

"My lord, I think it's best that we head back immediately." Lucian replied firmly, he didn't like the Gavriel addressed him as 'boy'.

Gavriel snickered. He didn't appreciate being ordered around by some boy. "And what seems to be troubling you so, boy?" He glared at the young knight, wanting him to apologize for his rudeness.

"I can sense that something is off." Explained Lucian.

"Oh, I see, you can sense something that I can't! I am a hero of Girannon boy, know your place." He practically growled at Lucian. "As if you could sense something that I cannot." He clicked his tongue. "We will remain here until we finish our lunch." Declared Gavriel, determined to do just that.

Lucian scowled. Why was the lord being so difficult? Lucian was only trying to get them home safely.

"My Lord," Lucian gritted his teeth. "We should head back now to be safe."

"Safe?! Safe frown what exactly?" Snapped Gavriel.

"My Lord..." Lucian was interrupted by the voice of the young Lord Torryn, who looked to be about thirteen years old and he wore a hood over his head so that nobody could see the top of his head.

"Where's the other knight?" He asked plainly to Lucian. Lucian frowned at the strange question and pointed to Antony who had been standing next to him the entire time.

"No, I mean the other knight." He said earnestly. "There were three of you when we began our trip."

The switch flipped in Lucians head and his eyes shot to the back of the group where Fitz had been walking. Fitz wasn't there.

"Where is Fitz?" Lucian grew cold, he should never have let them stop for lunch.

"Fitz!" Shouted Antony.

"Fitz!" He Called out again.

"Fitz!"

There was no reply. Not even the birds squawked a reply to him.

Suddenly a blood curdling scream pierced through the quiet forest. A horrific deranged cry for help.

Immediately the guards were on their feet, swords in their hands.

"Quickly pack away the goods and get back into the carriages!" Ordered Lucian.

This time Lord Gavriel didn't protest. He did as Lucian told him.

Lord Baratheon grabbed his son and hoisted him up into the carriage. And locked the door behind him before young Torryn could protest.

Lord Baratheon then walked over to Lucian.

"Its a pack of them. All demonized." The Lords eyes scanned around the area, his pupils shifting between objects far in the distance.

"You can see them?" Lucian turned back to the Lord, he saw that the lord had three massive scars across his face, it looked as if sharp claws had marred him once, Lucian also noticed that the lord's eyes were a pale yellow.

"Yes."

"Wolves?"

"Demonized wolves."

Lucian's throat went dry as he thought about what Lord Cornelius had looked like when he first met him in Willow's Town after he had been attacked by a demonized wolf. His body had been in shreds before Riley had healed him.

Antony's eyes were wide with horror after hearing Fitz's scream. His best friend was out there. All he wanted to do was go and find him, before he was eaten alive by the monsters, but he knew he couldn't leave the group because that would mean the end for him too.

Lucian was starting to hear the faint sound of growling in the distance. A deep malicious growl that stirred Lucian into action, Lucian quickly followed through with the emergency procedure and used his wind magic to send an emergency letter to the palace requesting for assistance.

"Lord Baratheon, can you see where they are exactly?" Lucian asked hoping that the pack would be in one concentrated spot.

"They've surrounded us."

"Alright then." Lucian breathed in a deep breath and calmed himself. All that he could do was fight until reinforcements came.

"Listen to me." He spoke up so that everybody could here him. "All that we can do is fight, and try and hold them off until help from Gismead arrives. Right now, we are circled around the carriages, so let's try and hold this position as long as we can. Any of you guards who are capable of long range combat please stay on the outer circle so that you can repel the wolves away."

"Yes Sir." They replied back in shaky voices. They were terrified and Lucian could see it.

Lucian counted that there were altogether twelve of them: the two lords and the son, three knights, and six guards. However the boy was locked up in the carriage and Fitz was probably dead, so only ten of them would be fighting.

The growling and snarling became louder as the first few wolves appeared from out of the bushes, bearing their horrifying dagger yellow teeth and their blood red eyes. They were massive beasts, reaching up to Lucians chest.

"Fire spear!" Chanted out one of the guards. A small spear made of flames launched at the wolf. The wolf pounced to one side and dodged it like it was nothing. The guard that chanted the spell yelped in despair.

That attack seemed to provoke the wolves as they began to snarl viciously at the group and more of them emerged from the shrubs baring their teeth. It wasn't long before the group was surrounded by more than twenty horrifying demonized wolves.

The group kept shrinking back against the carriages until they were all backed up against the wood.

"Father Let me out! I can help you! Please!" Shouted Torryn from inside the carriage.

"No Torryn. You need to stay safe inside the carriage." Baratheon refuted, his eyes were fixed on one the wolves I found don't of him, his sword ready in his hand.

"Listen to your father boy, he knows what he's talking about." Added on Gavriel.

The group couldn't get any further back, it was now or never.

"May the Gods help us." Lucian muttered. Just then the first wolf took a mighty leap forward his shape helper teeth and blood red eyes aimed at the party.

Riley

It wasn't long after I had changed out of my poofy white dress and into a more comfortable softer fabric dress, that I was planning on taking a nap in the drawing room in, when a knight in a Royal uniform burst into the room, a flustered Agnes following closely behind him.

"Lady Delton, please come with me immediately the First prince is in need of your assistance!" He announced.

"Uh Alright..." My eyes were wide at his intrusion since I didn't think the prince would call on me so quickly. It hadn't even been an hour.

I got off the sofa and ran with the knight down the stairs and outside where I saw prince Geoffrey and a few other knights on horses outside waiting for me.

"What's going on?" I questioned.

"I'll tell you on the way there." Geoffrey replied as he suddenly put his large hands around my waist, I tried to hide the initial gasp I made at his touch by coughing awkwardly, as hoisted me up onto his horse. He then climbed on behind me and grabbed hold of the reins on either side of me, sort of enclosing me in the space in front of him. I leaned forward in order to avoid touching his chest.

He then began to tell me why he had ushered me out of my home so suddenly, what he told me made me break out into a cold sweat, I was so worried about Lucian. He told me that Lucian and his party had been attacked by a pack of demonized wolves half an hour ago, while they were escorting two first rank nobles back to Gismead from Pathagonia. They only had ten people who had to fight against a whole pack of demonized wolves. A really dire situation.

After I healed Cornelius from his attack back in Willow's Town I had done some research on the wolves. Demonization was what happened to animals when they came in to contact with Zeref, which is a kind of dark magic but the very worse kind, an evil kind of magic that almost acts as if it has its own conscience. If animals eat a fruit or meat tainted with Zeref they transform into malicious evil demonized entities whose only purpose is to kill and cause pain. It was a rare phenomena yet it did occasionally happen, however hearing about a whole pack of demonized wolves seemed unreal.

Demonized wolves were twice the size of regular wolves and much stronger and more vicious and more bloodthirsty. They killed for sport not for food. In the book that I read, it said that it takes three knights to take down one demonized wolf. Hence the situation was dire, fighting outnumbered against demon wolves was like signing your death certificate, hence we needed to get there to help them quickly.

The horses that we were riding on were enchanted with wind magic so that they could travel at an impressive speed, it almost felt like riding in a car.

Finally we reached them. It was a really bloody scene. I could already see three men lying on the floor, they were dead. There throats had been ripped open but their bodies hadn't been eaten, it proved that the animals were just killing for the sake of killing. I had to turn away because it looked so gruesome.

"Keep your eyes on the living, Riley." I heard the soft deep voice from just above me ear and it made my heart skip a beat.

The knights behind me jumped off their horses and began fighting with the wolves and helping out the surviving fighters.

"Where is Lucian?" I asked feeling very concerned.

"He is probably further ahead, the wolves must have intentionally driven them apart." The prince and I and the other soldiers rode on.

We heard the screams before we actually saw them. A man ran out infront of our horses screaming like a mad person, desperate to be saved, as a huge black wolf chased after him. The man's left arm and left leg were badly injured, I could see blood oozing out of them as he ran across the clearing, desperate to escape. I feel ashamed that my initial reaction was to cringe and turn away when that poor man was running for his life.

Two of the knights jumped off their horses and ran to aid the man. The pair fired two fire spears at the wolf that successfully hit it. The wolf then suddenly combusted into a huge black stinking flame and was burnt to ashes. It was hard to stomach what I was seeing, all the blood and the gore made me want to throw up, I even felt the urge to hold my stomach as if that would put a stop to my nausea.

But then I realized that I had a job to do. I immediately projected my healing spell onto the man and watched relieved as his wounds began to heal. The man stood still, unsure of what was happening, and just watched, wide eyed as the spell enveloped him and healed him. It was comforting to see the astonished smile on his face as he looked down at his healed body, completely shocked.

Third Person

The guard couldn't believe what he was seeing, insure if he had gone insane or imagined it, he tentatively touched his arm and his leg where the wolf had slashed and bitten him. He was almost shocked to find that he was actually healed as his fingers traces of his undamaged flesh. In a few moments he had been completely healed. His pain, his fear, his despair it was all gone. But how...?

The guard looked up to where the magic had come from and saw a vision before him. The most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. Her hair was as dark as ravens feathers, her eyes too. Her beautiful clean skin was emphasized by the pure white dress she wore. In the midst of this horror scene, she was like a sacred spirit sent from gods. A blessing.

The guard immediately got down on his knees and pressed his head to the floor. Presenting the sacred spirit with the lowest most respectful bow he had ever given anybody.

"Thank you" He sobbed out. "Thank you!"

Riley was touched by his actions. And she felt really grateful to the gods for giving her such power. She told herself that she would go and visit the church of Magic to pay her respects to the gods as soon as she got the chance.

Lucian's breath was rugged and ferocious as he decapitated his seventh demonized wolf. He may have managed to kill quite a few of them, but they had managed to inflict quite a lot of damage on him. He knew that if he didn't get Riley to treat him, his life would be in danger.

Lucian swore angrily as he saw three more wolves approaching, surrounding him so that he couldn't keep his eyes on all of them at once.

"Ring of Fire!" He chanted hoarsely and winced as he felt the painful feeling of straining his magical powers. He realized that he would soon reach his limit.

A ring of fire formed around him acting as a barrier to keep the wolves away from him. The wolves were undeterred though and managed to break through the ring and come charging at him viciously. Lucian readied his sword and assumed a defensive stance and waited for the impact.

"Mud spikes!" Chanted five voices. "Wolf impalers!" The group of knight chanted to together. Instantly spikes made of rock and soil shot up from the ground underneath the wolves and ripped right through them, impaling them.

Lucian almost fainted at the relief of the enforcements arriving. He couldn't help but chuckle at the good timing.

"Lord Lucian, it is good to see that you can keep a sense of humor about you, even in situations like this." Chuckled Geoffrey as he observed the smile on Lucian's face.

"Your Highness." Lucian bowed to the prince. "It's better to keep in good spirits." Lucian grinned. Geoffrey laughed.