The whole garrison went silent and everyone focused on the water, but nothing happened for almost a minute.

  "Are we sure she is still inside?“ Asked Nogryl, and then with a splash, she emerged far from the spot where she dove, before quickly running towards the nearby forest as the guards shot towards her.

  With a painful sting, one of the arrows found its way into her back, perforating her armor and her ribs.

  "What are we waiting for?" Yelled Henry and jumped from the tower into the moat before quickly emerging from the water.

  "He is crazy; if he continues chasing, he will most likely be ambu..." Alwin's speech was interrupted by a loud splash, as Nogryl had already jumped into the moat.

  "Well, what should I do?" He thought before jumping into the water and following Nogryl and Henry.

  The rest of the soldiers did not leave their position, as the garrison commander suspected it could be a mere distraction, but being under Nogryl's command, the trio could do as they pleased.

  The three of them ran across the field that surrounded the wall and reached the forest, where not even the moonlight pierced and the darkness was as thick as fog.

  Henry lit his lantern and lowered it downwards.

  "Here, let's follow the blood trail!“ He shouted with a bloodthirsty voice before disappearing into the woods, and the two followed after him. With a heavy breath, Nuula ran through the woods as she grew more and more tired from the exhaustion and the blood loss.

  Her sprint slowed down rapidly before she collapsed. A couple of minutes later, Henry found her laying on her back on the forest floor, unconscious in the middle of a small glade, with both of her swords beside her and an arrow in her hand.

  She was pierced with two more arrows, and her other hand was covering the wound on her stomach as her black blood pooled around her, letting out a thick black smoke.

  He pulled out his sword to finish her, grasping the handle with both of his hands and raising the blade in front of him, ready to stab her straight in the chest, and he saw the reflection of his grim face in it.

  His eyes were bloodshot from exhaustion, his eyebrows grim, and his face covered in dark ash from the burning church. After looking his reflection in the eyes, Henry looked down at the fiend, and her pale face in the grass looked very calm, as if she were sleeping.

  With her eyes and mouth closed, Nuula almost looked like a normal human being. Her white hair was spilled around her head, and her body was bleeding. Henry stopped for a moment, but then he remembered her monstrous teeth and her black, empty eye sockets as she laughed with a candle in her hand, ready to burn him alive.

  "Killing her is a right thing, Henry; don't be a coward!“ he thought, but he simply could not do it. Instead, he thorn a piece of her cloak and tied it tightly around her wounds to stop the bleeding.

  Soon after, Nogryl and Alwin appeared from the thick forest, taking a moment to catch a breath, before asking:

  "What are you doing? Just kill her!“ But he replied,

  "Look.“.Both of the men approached and saw her laying on the ground helpless.

  "I agree, she's worth more alive than dead; imagine what the town will say if we show them a living gorugolm; we will be promoted!“ Alwin replied.

  "No, I do not think that's what the boy had in mind,“ said Nogryl, and he placed his hand on Nuula's warm forehead. Even after he was changed, there was still some goodness in him.

  "Let's carry her to the tavern; Lynda can take care of her wounds.“

  "Are you crazy? The garrison is on high alert; they will never let us pass unnoticed.“Alwin replied.

  "Then we shall wrap her in a cloak, and Henry shall report to the garrison commander that she escaped. I will carry her to the tavern personally, and if anyone asks what I am carrying, we'll simply say that Alwin is wounded; they most likely won't waste the precious seconds examining who's inside the cloak. Alwin, you'll need to leave the town for a couple of days.“ Nogryl was not the brightest man, but he was a quick thinker in times of need.

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  "Agreed.“ Both of the men replied, and after pulling out the arrows and stopping her bleeding, Nogryl placed his cloak on the floor as the men rolled the wounded gorugolm into it, after which Nogryl lifted her and walked towards the town.

  All of the militiamen had to know the basics of first aid, and the lesser knights, such as Nogryl, were also trained as healers, so everything went according to plan so far as the men walked towards the gate.As they walked through the dark forest, Nal'zuk spotted them from a distance from a top of the cliff. He had his bow in his hands and he was riding a massive black wolf. Under his black hood that his long ur'glun ears pierced, two glowing orange eyes could be seen, and as the moonlight barely reached his face, it showed a scar inflicted by Nogryl's torch. He silently growled as the rage boiled inside of him after witnessing that his friend was caught and that there was nothing that he could do; he was simply helpless and for better, because interrupting them at this moment could only prove detrimental for their plan, and it could result in her death.

  "I swear to the living darkness from the abyss, upon my living breath and my bones, I'll take the life of this bastard Nogryl! I'll make him pay for slaughtering my kin! I'll make him pay for every defeat that his hand inflicted upon us!“ He growled through his crooked teeth as the rage burned inside his heart while his wolf howled at the moon.

  Nal'zuk was more rational than the rest of the ur'gluns, but he was prone to anger. Yet he had the wits to control it and channel it; it consumed him from inside and turned him into the beast that he is, one of the most effective ur'glun hunters, but also an outcast for disobeying his superiors.

  Not even the ur'gluns trusted Nal'zuk, yet he was beloved among the other outcasts, such as Nuula. After the Ur'glun tribe faced a defeat against the humans, Nal'zuk was enraged, and when the victory was at his fingertips, it was taken away from him.

  With the burning rage, he dedicated every single moment of his life to bettering himself to slay the man that he hated the most. With that in mind, he tamed a wild wolf. It was not a rare occurrence to see the wolves that big, almost the size of a horse, in the forests of the outer parts of the kingdom.Those wolves most often dwelled near the mountains, and not all of them would grow that large, but those that did were often tamed by the braves of the Ur'glun warriors or chiefs and could be used to transport them into battle with deadly effectiveness.

  While the men carried Nuula towards the town, Nal'zuk rode back towards the den of his clan, through the thick forest and the mountain fog.

  "Here we are, on the rim of the forest, Alwin. Go somewhere wherever you please, while Henry and I carry her to the tavern.“ Said Nogryl.

  "Huh... finally, good luck!“ He said and walked off into the forest as Henry and Nogryl left the woodland towards the gate.

  "Are you sure they will trust us that this is Alwin? Alwin is shorter by a head!“ Heny stated, worried that they would get caught.

  "Do not worry, they probably do not even know who Alwin is; now get your serious face and follow me.“ Two of the men approached the gate, and after Nogryl said that his friend is wounded, nobody even asked anything.

  When they passed through the large gateway in the wooden wall, they went separate ways: Henry towards the commander of the garrison, and Nogryl towards the tavern.

  While he was carrying the wounded Nuula wrapped in a cape, he could see the people rushing around him, extinguishing flames as the church burned. The whole town was in a rush, and nobody paid attention to what he was carrying.

  By the time he arrived, the sky on the east was already gaining the red glow, signaling that the sun is about to rise.