After what felt like an hour of arguing and back and forth, the consensus of the group of caravan owners was that we should send someone in to save Korr'tak, but not all of the hunters. That started the second round of arguments though. Who do we send on the rescue mission? Too large a group would leave the caravan vulnerable, too small of a group wouldn't be able to deal with the umber hounds if we ran into them. And the biggest problem? More than half of the caravan owners vehemently refused to allow Piper to go along for the rescue mission. Above all else, they didn't want to risk the only healer on this escort trip. They would apparently rather let Korr'tak die than let Piper go along and risk not coming back.

  This meant that I would have to go, I was planning on doing so anyway, but my ability to heal on my own would make all the difference. The problem with that is Valkin, the leader of their group had begun to insist that he go as well. It would be best if I could do this with my own team so that I would be free to shapeshift at my leisure, instead, I'll have to either do everything in my human form or reveal my ability to shift. Neither sounded like a good plan against three umber hounds, adolescent or not.

  ("I should go,") Luna told me. ("I have some healing potions that we found in the dungeon. It should be helpful in lieu of a healer.")

  "Luna and I are going," I told the group. "I've fought an umber hound before and Luna's magic will be helpful." I paused to sigh. "Since Valkin insists on going too we should probably bring at least two more people with us. Maxwell?" I asked turning toward him.

  He grimaced. "If we're going into the den of an umber hound, my skills won't be as useful. It would be hard to maneuver my shield in a... cramped place like a cave."

  I... don't think he ever had any issues with the other places we fought together but if he didn't want to go I wouldn't force him.

  "I'll go," the other wolfkin, Norrik, said. "I'm also a defender, if your defender isn't confident in there, I'm the better choice."

  I sighed. The more people from their team that go, the harder it will be to hide my shifting.

  "I'll be our fifth," Aria suddenly said. "I'm a good tracker, it'll make it easier to find him." She tilted her head to the sky. "There hasn't been any more snowfall today, the tracks should still be traceable."

  "That's plenty! That only leaves four people with us!" one of the draco owners said, butting into the conversation.

  Valkin nodded. "This group will be plenty and it will leave you with a balanced team to protect the caravan too. We'll get him and come right back."

  The draco grumbled. "Fine, but if your group isn't back by sun-up tomorrow, we're leaving without you!"

  I nodded. "We'll be back by then, count on it."

  "Give me a small amount of time to talk with my team, Helena," Valkin said to me.

  "Sure, we'll be ready soon too. Meet us near the front of the caravan," I replied.

  The group of merchants dispersed and we hunters split into our own groups to talk. Piper looked at Maxwell. "Are you sure it's a good idea to send Luna without either of us there?"

  "Luna volunteered for it," I told them.

  Piper hesitated. "It's not that I don't trust you, Helena. I do, but we haven't left her side since the three of us left our hometown together."

  Luna stepped forward and put her hand on Piper's shoulder before talking to all of us through the rings. ("I'll be okay, Piper. Helena will protect me. All of us have seen how much she can survive, we'll be fine.")

  Piper frowned, then pulled Luna into a hug. "Just come back in one piece, little spitfire. We've been through too much to lose you here."

  ("I'll be fine,") Luna insisted but she smiled and hugged Piper back all the same.

  Aria stood awkwardly by Maxwell and he turned to face her when Luna and Piper pulled away from each other. "You be careful too, Aria. I'm counting on you to bring these two back in one piece."

  Aria smiled. "As if these two need my help. But don't worry, we'll look after each other." She almost looked like she was going to go in for a hug herself but she ended up stepping away before committing.

  The three of us were first to make it back to the front of the caravan but the other two from their team followed pretty shortly afterward. Once all of us were together, I led Aria to the tracks. Thankfully, the snow had stopped for the last few hours so the tracks wouldn't be lost yet. I primarily tracked by scent and sound so we would need to rely on Aria to find Korr'tak as long as I couldn't shift in front of the others. I wasn't planning on holding my transformation back if I needed it to fight the umber hounds, but until then I would keep my secret to myself. That scary drakken in the city had warned me not to show up in stories or reports and I didn't want to piss him off if I could avoid it.

  As the four of us followed Aria through the woods, Valkin turned to me. "What kind of fighting style do you use against monsters? I don't see any weapons on you. You're as sturdy as a golem so I wouldn't be upset if you fought unarmed, but I didn't see you take a stance right away when we fought earlier."

  I glanced at him before shifting my eyes back to Aria up front. "I primarily use a two-handed axe. Right now I'm keeping it in a spatial ring."

  He nodded. "A two-handed axe is slow but effective. You said you've fought umber hounds before, how fast are they?"

  I hummed in thought for a moment before answering. "Pretty fast but I was weaker when I fought it. I'm not entirely sure if I could give you a good answer to that. These ones are adolescents too so they will be slower and weaker than the one I fought back then."

  Norrik snorted. "I still can't believe a human like you took down an umber hound before. How many did you hunt it with?"

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  I sighed and shook my head. "I was alone but I got really lucky. It jumped on top of me and practically stabbed itself to death on my knife. I nearly died."

  The wolfkin stopped and looked at me aghast. "If you almost died what makes you so confident now?"

  "I'm immeasurably stronger now than I was when I fought it. I'm confident that I shouldn't have any trouble with another one and adolescents will be even weaker. We can take them, I'm more concerned about you two since I don't know how you fight either."

  Norrik fell back into our group and we continued to move forward again. "I use a mace and a shield. Smaller than the one that your friend has, but I'm more maneuverable too. I can use magic to ground and brace myself when taking attacks. That in combination with my shield, means I can shrug off most attacks without taking any damage. Umber hound hide is tough so my mace should be good against this enemy."

  "I'm a duelist," Valkin offered. "My weapon of choice is a long thin sword called a setique, it's best against humanoid monsters but it's good for piercing through monster's joints as well. I'm not sure if my weapon will be able to pierce umber hound hide, but even if it can't, I have a backup club I can use."

  "Luna is a fire mage, she'll mostly be on support and crowd control. We'll need her help to light the place since umber hounds fight in the dark. If we can't handle them with our weapons, she can probably kill them with her charged magic," I said. "Aria is a scout and an archer." The two of them nodded, Aria's skill set pretty much spoke for itself. Either the arrows will pierce the umber hound's hide or they won't.

  Aria signaled us to stop and spoke to me through the rings. ("We're getting close. Tell the others to be quiet from here on out. I can see the rocky outcropping where they must have made their den.") I relayed the information to the others and then Aria fell back to us and we continued forward into the cave.

  From here the footprints were visible in the muddy dirt. The cave was warm enough inside that the snow at the mouth of the cave was melted and faint trails of vapor flowed out from it. The footprints were overlapped so much here that it was clear that the umber hounds traveled in and out of this entrance often. As we got closer I started to feel a bit of the humidity from the cave and it smelled oddly fragrant, like fresh plants mixed with the smell of hot water. The mouth of the cave was wide enough to walk through in pairs.

  "I think there must be an underground lake in there," Aria commented. I didn't know any words that would translate to hotspring but that's the implication I got.

  "Who should go first?" Valkin asked me. Quickly realizing that he had ceded leadership to me, probably from the result of our duel, I looked over our group.

  "Me and Norrik first, then Valkin and Aria. Luna will be in the rear and make sure nothing comes in behind us. I'll tell you through the rings if we need your eyes up front."

  Everyone nodded and took the positions I laid out. I got the feeling Norrik didn't like me much but he didn't balk at the order I chose. I opened my lantern a little to let more of the actual light filter through. I couldn't see it with this blindfold on but I thought it would help the others and it made my vision a bit more clear.

  "Can everyone see well enough with this lantern?" I asked.

  "Will the lantern give us away to the umber hounds?" Valkin asked.

  I turned to Valkin in confusion. "Umber hounds have glowing eyes that let them see in the dark. You... didn't know that?"

  "I've never fought one," he said defensively. "I've fought other kinds of hounds and wolves though."

  Shaking my head, I turned back to the cave. "It won't make much difference. We need to see in there and our chances of seeing the glow of their eyes is just as likely as their chance to see the glow of my lantern."

  Norrik and I led the group into the cave side by side. Luna periodically lit match-sized fires to test the air quality as we progressed. It didn't smell like anything flammable was in here but it was hard to tell. Luna assured me that she knew what she was doing so I trusted her to continue checking for us. She also told me that the magic fire she uses in combat shouldn't create smoke that would hurt us or eat up the air that we needed to breathe. I passed that along to the others. If the umber hounds were living in here there shouldn't be much to worry about in terms of air quality, but it was best to check regardless.

  I started to pull out my weapon, but I realized there would be a problem with it in here. It was too big. I was going to be forced to use a sword. At least that would allow me to use my giant shield at the same time. I pulled out the long sword Maxwell had taught me to wield. I wasn't as comfortable with it as I had become with the axe, but it was good enough.

  "I thought you used a two-handed axe?" Valkin whispered.

  "I do... but I don't think it will be easy to use in this hallway," I replied.

  "Using your shield is better anyway. It'll make it easier to protect everyone," Norrik said.

  "Shh, I hear something," I told the others.

  I closed my eyes and tilted my head. It sounded like whimpering. If I was hearing it right, that was a good sign. It meant that Korr'tak was alive. When I felt confident I wasn't just hearing things I turned to the others. "I hear someone, they're alive and it sounds like they're awake. Like muffled crying."

  Norrik perked his wolf ears and they swiveled around listening for any sounds. "I don't hear anything, are you sure you're not making this up? Human's ears aren't supposed to be that good."

  "I think Helena will be able to prove it soon enough, there's a fork in the cave up ahead. I can see it from here," Aria told the group.

  We continued forward a bit, and sure enough. There was a fork leading in two different directions. I closed my eyes and listened deeply. My hearing is much better in my wolf form but it's still plenty good enough to hear the echoing sounds bounce around in the cave.

  "It's that way," I said pointing.

  "How sure are you?" Valkin asked.

  "Nine-tenths," I replied.

  "Trust her," Aria said. "I promise she's not making shit up. Her hearing is that good."

  Valkin turned and looked Aria up and down. "If you're saying it then I'll trust you. A fellow beastkin wouldn't say a human's hearing was that good if it wasn't."

  I shook my head. "Whatever, it's this way," I said leading the group to the left.

  Hello! Helena is getting sick of their bullshit lol. Not much to say about this one, but next chapter we get a fight! Thanks for reading!

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