Unamused by Erratus' now characteristic antagonizing, Gonye sighed deeply and began backing away. Joining his four men for a quick exchange of words he eventually broke away from the group and once more began to lead the party north through the sea of leaves and trees. The group marched silently north and as they continued deeper and deeper into the woods where their vision soon became more and more restricted by the mists and fog. The crinkling of leaves brushing by careful legs and the occasional sound of a twig breaking off in the distance or the sudden sound of shuttering foliage were the only noises that seemed to exist in the woods. Just as Gonye had said, not a single creature dared make a noise if it could help it. The only animal that seemed to even appear to the group was the occasional silhouette of a wolf in the distance. The wolves appeared to have been stalking the group since they had entered the Guardian woods and every time one appeared within visual distance of Gonye and his men it vanished behind a tree or into the thick veil of fog which continued to be woven thicker and sturdier with each deliberate step. Closer and closer the group edged nearer to the heart of the woods where it grew colder, quieter, darker. The light mist that rubbed every so gently across the skin and left the ground just barely wet like a constant morning dew now became a ocular blocking wall of water and grey. Soon the group had instinctively come close together and even the wolves seemed to have completely vanished, still not a single man spoke, and each of the mercenaries continued to cautiously wade through the leaves holding their breath with each step. But then, the tension in the air broke. Like a terrible, wrathful strike of lightning three wolves pounced from beneath the thigh-high foliage the group had just been passing. Tearing away at Gonye's throat and leaving him upon the ground, the first attacking wolf broke away from the group leaving Gonye in shock, choking to death on his own blood. Another wolf ripped away completely at the neck of one of the brigands, leaving behind only his decapitated body, the man's head still in the beast's mouth as it dissolved into the distance. The last of the wolves bounded for Erratus, aiming to inflict the same killing blow his pack had performed earlier,but now on the unsuspecting thief.

______

"Have you not been told?" Nadya seemed shocked by Talaitha's words. "Gennenberg was abandoned some time ago, all the people were evacuated across the river to Sol Erra. Not a single soul lurks in that city. Don't tell me you didn't know that?"

_______

Closer to the river side Nero had finally settled down to catch his breath as he watched the sun which was now hanging in an early evening position. Night would be coming soon and Nero was unsure whether his mercenary guides were aware. "Where will we be staying during the night? What will we do?" Nero eventually spoke up to the two men who were still sprawled out against the ground.

"We'll head inland, make a camp, sleep, get up early and then get to our destination before afternoon. If things go accordin'ly we'll be able to snatch up Kariya and meet up with the Cap'n before night fall tomorrow."

The mercenaries seemed overly optimistic that their plan would work out according to their schedule. Nero on the other hand foresaw much more than a quick jaunt about the country side. "And what about the husks out here?" Nero questioned once more as he moved to stoop over the pair of bandits.

"There ain't none this far south, just in the east and north." one of the mercenaries spat as he slowly worked his way up. "But since you seem to be in such a damn hurry let's get on the move on to set up a safe camp some place." turning towards Nadya and Talaitha the mercenary began to shout. "Hey you two! Get off yer asses we're going!"

Erratus was taken completely off-guard by the ambush. Performing such an attack, these wolves were either very stupid, or very confident in their ability to kill swiftly and silently. It was all the nomad could do to reflexively raise his cane to protect his jugular. As the beast bit down on the staff, Erratus did his best to hold it at bay. He took a quick glance to see how the others were faring. Gonye was on the ground, bleeding from his throat. One of his men lay decapitated on the forest floor. The other two wolves had vanished back into the mist, possibly to regroup for another attack. The nomad wondered if the wolves would leave if he shouted loudly, but that didn't seem like the best idea.
"Lucia, a bit of help?" He requested softly.

Taliatha returned a confused glance back to Nadya, mouth agape. She was embarrassed, but she really could not blame herself for something she never learned.
"There goes my sheltered upbringing..." she muttered, shaking her head.
Pulling herself back together, she looked up at Nayda again and asked,
"But, why did they all leave? What was the reason?"

Lucia resisted the urge to cry out in surprise and horror at what had just happened. Thankfully, she was not attacked herself, but it was apparent that there had already been a casualty, as one man was missing his head. She looked over to Gonye for some sort of direction but he too was on the ground bleeding from his neck profusely. Another wolf had gone to attack Erratus who was defending himself from the creature with his cane. The rest of the wolves could not be seen through the dense fog, but she knew that they were probably still there.

"Lucia, a bit of help?" He requested softly.

Immediately she strung her bow with an arrow and fired at the occupied wolf's unprotected neck. Her greatest fear was that combating the wolves would bring too much attention to their group and disturb the guardian.

The wolf eagerly removed his mouth from Erratus' cane as Lucia drew back her bow. Attempting to evade the shot the wolf bolted away from the group but the arrow still found its mark as it tore deep into the wolf's left shoulder. Sliding against the wet, messy ground the Wolf turned back towards the group, pushed it's body against the ground, bore its teeth and allowed its fur to stand up on edge as if it were growling, yet no sound was made. Realizing though that it had missed its opportune moment to strike the beast eventually turned away and concealed itself once more in the woods. The whole attack happened almost silently, only the sound of leaves and Gonye's choking had made an audible noise. Quickly one of the mercenaries rushed over towards Gonye and crouched down beside his body to check on his leader's state. By now Gonye's choking had ceased, though that could have easily been attributed to his breathing ceasing as well. Gonye was quite clearly dead now and with his death the group was left leaderless and directionless.

"Lieutenant..." one of the mercenaries whispered as he carefully shuffled his way beside Gonye's body. "Lieutenant?" he repeated once more but received no response from his comrade. "Hector what do we do? Did the cap'n give you any orders? Do we know where we're goin'?"

"No" he answered softly as he continued to look down on the corpse of his fallen leader. "I don't know where we are, I don't know where we're going.."

"So we're out here to die then?!" another mercenary spoke out in anger, close to an actual shout. "That's it? We're just gonna get picked apart and-" the mercenary froze in fear as he took notice of eyes of pale blue shining far in the distance. The group had been surrounded. More than sixty eyes shimmered about the party, slowly closing in. No doubt the wolves had returned to finish the job.

"These... are our lands..." a chilling voice crawled gently through the air as the eyes silently closed in.

_______

Rising from the ground as the mercenaries instructed, Nadya brushed herself off before answering Talaitha. "The infection drove people west, but the city itself wasn't evacuated until the threat from some barbarian group in the north became a reality. Most of the people moved to Sol Erra about four years ago and since then not a soul has lived in the city, I think" Nadya turned away and followed after Nero and the mercenaries who had already made some progress in traversing the flat lands that were further inland. "You shouldn't be embarrassed that you didn't know, I'm certain many people haven't even heard of the places on this side of the river." Nadya laughed for a moment before continuing, "That's good though.. I can be certain now that all of us don't trust Gonye and his lackeys."

While she had never had the opportunity to become close to Gonye, his death had a profound effect on her. He had been the first person ever to properly teach her other means of producing magic and actively tapping into the magical wells of energy around her as well as within her. Had he lived longer he could've taught her more, perhaps even spark a friendship between each other and tear down all those unpleasant walls of uncertainty and mistrust that had always seemed to be raised between them. That however did not seem possible any longer, and quite frankly Lucia felt that it was unfair. Why did these things always seem to happen to her, people she got to know just ended up being trouble or leaving her.

"Yes, these are your lands," replied Lucia bravely as she stood her ground and faced the shimmering eyes. "And while we were travelling through them peacefully, you brought harm to us. In fact, all that enter your domain are in danger." A subtle wind began to blow and the tips of her fingers crackled with energy "Why is that? Are you that incapable as a host, no, as a guardian, to protect those who enter your domain without insult or intent to bring harm to you or your land?" she shuffled through her bag and brought out her woven lightning silk. "You're a monster, and you have no more right to claim this land as your own than we do if you do nothing beyond attack the innocent. Nature bows to no one." She pulled one of the threads to the silk and it began to change back into lightning coursing around her hand, waiting for her to direct its path.

Gonye's recent demise was the last thing on Erratus's mind. His primary concern at the moment was self-preservation. If the five survivors fought now, their titles as survivors wouldn't last very long. They would all die, if not by the wolves then by the beast that lived here.
It is for this reason that the nomad was unsettled by the lightning currently crackling around Lucia's garments. Even wool wouldn't build up such a static charge. Could this be magic? Erratus quickly threw his arm in front of the girl, lest her brashness be the end of him. He then addressed the creatures surrounding them.
"So these lands are yours?" He began, making his tone as condescending as possible. Being a traveler, the thought of someone owning the land sounded silly to him, but he kept that to himself. "That's not the impression I got. You behave as a bunch of children who are up after curfew, sneaking about silently in fear of being found out. Tell me, what is it that you're so wary of?"

Slowly the Wolves began to close in after their time of sitting idle, obviously they didn't take well to both Lucia and Erratus' mocking. "Monsters?" the voice once more whispered as the remaining mercenaries began to form a defensive perimeter. "We are no more monsters than you. Humans may have won the war but we still hold dominion here, not even gods dare challenge our claim. And as for being afraid..." In the distance the familiar sound of a burning fire could be heard, yet no fire appeared visible to the eye. "When they burned her parents-" the wolves came to a sudden halt as a terrible gust of wind crossed the forest floor. Far in the distance a fiery illumination glowed through the fog while the silhouettes of crowds of people surrounding the fire became painfully clear. "I wonder, did she cry?" the gentle voice that had been whispering and taunting earlier became distorted as if multiple voices of different tone and pitch began to speak. "Maybe you should ask her?" the voices teased Erratus before they once again returned to assaulting Lucia. "Did you want to burn with them? We could arrange this for you, just call out to us. scream... Let us know that you want to burn like the terrible witch your are. We'll let the others go. we promise"

Lucia was mildly terrified of the apparition conjured before her, though it had also reopened a wound that had yet to heal. A single tear slid down her cheeks as she remembered the frenzied moment she was torn away from her parents. Her hair had yet to show signs of silver as she had not manifested any sort of magic, so she was deemed innocent and incapable of raising the dead as her parents had been accused. The elders of the village, all people she was distantly related to, held her back while she frantically cried for her parents. The last she saw of them before the flames completely consumed them was her mother's long silver hair flying in the wind.

That was then, and this is now. Her parents were long dead and gone. What she was seeing was an illusion, nothing else.

"Yes," replied Lucia shakily "I am a witch, an abomination, a curse to mankind. You know what I can do? Not only can I confine the forces of nature to strands of thread, but I can also see the strings of energy of all things. While I'm more than capable of weaving it all together, I wonder. What should happen if I cut them...would you cease to exist? Or perhaps I should knit your life force into Gonye? I am not afraid, and you will not get me to scream."

Erratus no longer tried to hold Lucia back. The visions the wolves had conjured were clearly of great significance to her, and it was doubtful that there was any way to stop her now. The nomad was also convinced that nobody was getting out of this unless they confronted the creatures. Rather than waste his energy trying in vain to think of an alternative solution, he prepared himself for battle. He wouldn't be taken off-guard by the beasts again. He stood back to back with Lucia, ignoring Gonye's still-cowering men.

The wolves remained frozen as the fire in the distance burned, and burned, and burned until it vanished from sight. Even after the fire had vanished the wolves refused to move, their eyes continued staring without fail but the shadowed bodies remained frozen in place. "You're cheating..." the twisted voice spoke once more though this time its tone had changed to a broken whisper. "You're cheating... You're cheating, you're cheating, YOU'RE CHEATING, YOU'RE CHEATING, YOU'RE CHEATING!" the voice slowly rose to a ear shattering, horrendous cry. "YOU WEREN'T- NOT THERE- SEALED!- THE BRAT- YOU CHEATED!" the voice seemed to break apart as it continued to shout and just as its voice broke so did the forest. The trees began to fall apart, the forest floor dispelled to dust and soon there was nothing but black. Erratus and Lucia both ceased to exist to one another... In this darkness the pair remained trapped in their own cold void for what felt like ages. Nothingness chilled the bone and left a terrible feeling of uncertainty and an even more terrible reality of hopelessness. Erratus and Lucia both were unable to move or speak, they were both forced into a vegetative state. Forced to watch darkness for all eternity without even the ability to move- Until a familiar voice began to speak. "They're comin' back... Go check on the others, Arryn...."

Without warning the pair awoke sprawled out across the floor, the pitch of a tent roof above their heads. "Welcome back." Gonye greeted the pair from the corner of the tent, wrapping one of his hands in a gauze like tape. "Can your eyes see? Are your bodies able to move yet?"

Lucia stood firm until the voices became more frantic, her resolve began to fall and her heart began to race. What had she done? The voices were making so much noise, what about the creature that would destroy them all if they made noise? In their want for hunting the group, did they forget about the monster? She wanted to tell them to shut up, but she was scared silent by the events that followed. The world itself seemed to break apart and she seemed to decay. What was happening? Was it the beast? Is this what happened to those who were discovered. She thought she couldn't die? Wasn't she infected? All these questions and more seemed to swim around her an eternity until she heard a familiar voice.

It was Gonye's, but how could that be? She opened her eyes, her vision was blurry, where was she?

"G-Gonye?" she croaked "You're alive? What happened?" she struggled to sit up for a moment before laying back down.

"Did I die in your nightmare child?" Gonye finished up wrapping his left hand and took a quick moment to flex the muscles before shoving the hand away behind his back. "They're called Anderlings, the little bastards are suppose to be dead-" Gonye's eyes enlarged for a moment as if he were telling some intriguing tale from some far off place. " 'all hunted by the brave men long ago'. But I suppose these brave men aren't quite as truthful or brave as I'd like 'em to be... Makes me wonder just what the hell else is out here." pausing for a moment Gonye seemed lost in thought, though he brought himself back quickly to avoid causing further confusion. "Anderlings, they're dog-like creatures, little but smart. They hunt in packs but not like you'd expect 'em to. They make eye contact with unsuspecting travelers and suck them into crazy worlds that they dream up using memories they steal from you and information they naturally know. They're an old species. I thought them not to exist and quite honestly even anywhere in the world I thought them not to be here. Apparently the little s*** learned a new trick other than corruptin' minds. They're how to bend their knee to someone. Someone who wants to wake Gelendur from slumber. You two and two of my men passed out cold about ten minutes ago as we were walkin' through the heart of the forest. The remains of us set up camp and we've since been here waiting for you to wake up, if you were wondering." Leaning back against a corner pole in the tent Gonye relaxed himself before he poked his head out the side of the small tent to check on the forest out side. "Praise any god we found a clearing where there weren't many damned leaves.... How do you feel?" he inquired returning his head inside the tent. "You must be terribly tired."

Erratus had shaken off the haze clouding his mind and was regaining clarity. He overheard Gonye explaining what had happened to Lucia and cursed himself for being compromised so easily.
"I take it, then, that these creatures are themselves unable to call the beast to waking?" He interjected, gingerly rubbing his temples. "And if you didn't know they were here, how were you able to avoid making eye contact with them?" Despite having just been rescued, the nomad was as skeptical and untrusting as ever.

"They're mutes, they converse with one another through some... mental channel... or somethin'." Gonye seemed to be either lost for words or just generally not fully knowledgeable of the creatures. "On top of that, whatever generally wakes up the guardian is supposed to be instantly consumed or some nonsense so I doubt they'd volunteer to be bait for something that could very well just go back to sleeping after it devoured 'em." Once he had finished his short explanation Gonye grabbed for his sword and used it as a crutch to push his body off the ground to a standing position. Pushing his sword into his belt he moved in close to Erratus as if he were preparing to reveal a terrible secret. "And as for how I got away without being pulled into a trance," he spoke gravely as he continued to lean forward, coming within inches of Erratus' face. "Guess I'm just lucky!" he exclaimed lightheartedly before backing away and making for the exit of the tent. "We've got our own tent just beside yours. Just try and get some rest for now, it's almost night anyway. We'll try and move out early in the morning and get out of this damn woods. Just remember; don't be too loud and if you need me I'll be right outside. No funny business when I'm gone, she's far too young for you!" he added sharply before slipping through the tent flap