Leo and Iris rushed through the brush. It was the fourth day after they left Lawrence city, and Leo could see the towering mountains of the Worlds Crown ahead of them. Leo thought back to the day before they left, and his expression got darker.
Felix had stolen letters from a noble he was investigating, and as a result they learned what was going on at Tirdaral. The dwarves had caved in their own main entrance to the city, and now the soldiers from the Helian kingdom were steadily digging their way to them. What had caused Leo to be so angry, was that the letters were requests for more trained hounds since they had lost too many to the traps in the maze of tunnels into the mountains. Dogs were descendants of Fenrir just like wolves, so them being treated as if they were disposable had angered him.
Leo and Iris had left the next morning, it was obvious that Hilda didn't want them to leave, especially when she had an idea of what they were doing. But she learned from what Iris had told her over that last few weeks that she lived a dangerous life, even if Iris left out the most dangerous events. And so, after she saw them off the early the next morning, the two left for Tirdaral. Thomas was waiting for elder grandma anyways, so he stayed behind; and Leo told Felix to stay so that he could keep working on the mission that he had from the beastmen, and to keep an eye on Hilda if Shane showed up. He didn't mind Felix focusing on the mission from the beastmen, as they ultimately wanted the same thing eventually anyways.
They had been moving at a fast pace for four days now through forests, and covered what would have taken a week on horseback in that time. As Leo was looking at the towering mountains getting closer, he guessed that they would arrive later on the day. As they had rarely stopped due to the urgency of the situation, both Leo and Iris were showing signs of exhaustion. Finally, he called for a stop.
"Let's stop here for the night, we'll go the rest of they way in the morning and figure out a way through the troops then." Iris was panting quite a bit, so she just nodded. Neither of them had pushed themselves so far before, Leo hoped they would recover by morning. As Leo started clearing a place for them to sleep, Iris walked off to look for berries or nuts to eat. They both agreed that a fire would be too dangerous this close to a military camp.
After eating what Iris brought back, the two laid down together and she went to sleep. It was only late afternoon, but they decided to sleep a little earlier so that they could recover more before the next day. Leo took the first watch, and listened to the forest around them as he thought about the next day. He needed to think of a way to get through the the soldiers, and to the same place they were trying to break into. Then he had to convince the dwarves that he wasn't with the force right outside that was about to kill and enslave them all. Then he would probably have to fight at same force along with the dwarves if he managed to convince them he was a friend. 'Should be easy' he thought mockingly to himself.
Leo continued thinking as it got darker, eventually becoming completely night. Leo eventually had an idea, but figured it would better to sleep on it. The plan he came up with was insane, the fact that he thought so while he was still tired said a lot. If he still thought it was a good idea in the morning then he would go through with it. Leo looked at Iris and felt a sense of regret about waking her up, if he wasn't so exhausted he would let her sleep all night. After waking her Leo enter dreamland within seconds.
Leo woke to the familiar scent of Iris, and the glow of the sun behind he mountains. He shot a glare at Iris and said,
"I thought I said wake me a few hours before dawn." She nodded at his words, neither looking guilty or irritated and replied ,
"Yes, but you needed the extra rest. And don't pretend you didn't let me sleep in either, the dawn came too early after you woke me up. You took an extra hour or two of watch last night didn't you?" Leo suddenly found a stump in the other direction rather fascinating as he pretended not to hear the words of his wife. The two finished the leftover fruits and nuts from the day before, and set out once again.
Only a few hours later they arrived at the edge of a cliff, looking down at the plains leading to the entrance of Tirdaral. Leo groaned as he tried counting the men camped out down there, the number had gotten closer to ten thousand at this point. Leo looked in admiration of the massively carved doors to the dwarven kingdom, still unbelieving that soon he'll get to meet them for real. The doors were carved into what seemed like a cliff, except it extended all the way up to what seemed like the top of the mountain, past the clouds in the sky. He then looked at the piles of rubble next to the doors, and felt a pang of regret at the loss of what he suspected was another example of flawless dwarven sculpting.
Suddenly there was the sound of a small explosion from the mouth of the cave, and Leo smiled. If they had some kind of explosive, then it made the plan he was coming up with even better. Iris was turning pale at the sight of all the soldiers, and asked,
"So the plan is to go through all of them?" Leo laughed at her words, and shook his head. He then started taking off his shoes, while indicating Iris should do the same. She followed his directions with hesitation, and stowed the shoes in her pack afterword. Then, just like when he grew them out of his fingers, Leo grew claws out of his toenails. He then turned to Iris and said,
"We're not going to fight all of them, we're going to cut a line straight through them while destroying and killing as much as possible without stopping. Then we are going to climb the Worlds Crown." Iris's face twitched at his words.